Disclaimer:I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter.
Twins of the Moon, Earth and Sun
Chapter 14
To Tickle a Dragon
Jedite shed his disguise as Jed the Hogwarts assistant and went to Karkaroff's ship to search for clues. He was pleased to find it empty. Danessa was still in Hogsmeade and Karkaroff was having a drink with Dumbledore. Krum was in the Hogwarts library. Jedite quickly found a way inside without setting off any alarms. He searched for a library or study of some kind and managed to find it in the lower deck. He grabbed a few books and continued his search to Karkoff's office.
"All right, Karkaroff," said Jedite, "Let's see what you're hiding."
While going through Karkaroff's desk, he heard someone clear their throat. Jedite reached for his sword and looked at the person in the doorway. It wasn't Karkaroff or Danessa. It was Krum.
"Krum," muttered Jedite.
Krum entered his headmaster's office and handed Jedite a book. "You might find vot you're looking for in here."
Jedite took it and glanced at the title. It was in Bulgarian.
"It means Curses of Fear and Pain," Krum translated. "I found it in Danessa's room the other day."
"Why are you helping me?" Jedite asked softly. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"
"Because we both know Danessa's the one voo did this," Krum said.
"But what about Karkaroff?"
"Karkaroff doesn't want to tarnish his new life, said Krum. "He betrayed too many of his old comrades and he's afraid of what would happen if he goes to Azkaban too. I'm certain it's Danessa. She hates all of us. I voodn't put it past her."
"Any idea why she'd do this?"
"Besides the fact she doesn't like being here? No." Krum got quiet. "You should make your getaway before Karkaroff or Danessa gets back."
"Right, thank you," said Jedite.
"Good luck," said Krum as Jedite passed him.
His arms laden with books, Jed went back to his disguise as the Hogwarts teaching assistant. If the curse used on the Goblet of Fire was in one of these books, he'd find it and he will find the countercurse.
In the book that Krum gave him, Jed came across two promising curses: The Nightmare Curse and the Energy Draining Curse. Smiling to himself, he rushed to tell Moody.
"Where did you find this?" Moody questioned.
"Karkaroff's ship," Jed answered.
"You broke into Karkaroff's ship?" Moody demanded.
"Yes," said Jed. "I knew I'd find clues there."
"You could've been caught!" Moody exclaimed. "Walking into the enemy's territory without a plan! You're just asking for trouble when you do that."
"I knew Karkaroff and Danessa were gone," said Jed, still calm. "But Krum was there, and he actually handed me this book. He's also convinced that Danessa cursed the Goblet of Fire."
"did he say why?" Moody asked quickly.
"He told me that Danessa just hates all the students," he shrugged. "And she hates being here. Perhaps she tried to stop the Triwzard Tournament from beginning so she could return home."
"Good hypothesis," said Moody, "but not enough to prove she did it."
"But this book was in her room!" Jed cried. "That's proof enough!"
"And how do we explain how we got it?" said Moody. "You will have to admit that you broke in Karkaroff's ship and then you'd be in trouble!"
"Krum gave it to me," said Jed. "We don't have to tell Dumbledore the truth...we can say that Krum just gave it to us after finding it on our ship."
"It's very hard to lie to Dumbledore and get away with," Moody told him.
Moody performed the countercurse on the goblet of fire and returned it to its normal state. To make sure it wasn't cursed again, the Goblet of Fire was placed in Dumbledore's the countercurse stopped the students from their spellbound slumber, it did not restore all their energy. Madame Pomfrey used charms and potions for her patients to get over their weakness before leaving the hospital Wing. The Beaxbatons and Durmstrang students walked out to their shelters, giving relief to their heads. Though they had already had enough sleep, Madame Maxime ordered them to go to bed early. Natural sleep, she insisted, was better than any rest a potion or spell wound inflict.
A little before midnight, Jilly saw Madam Maxime stepping out of her office wearing her black silk shawl around her shoulders. "Where are you going, Madame Maxime?" she asked. "A date perhaps?"
"Yes," said Madame Maxime and Jilly looked surprised that she confirmed it.
"'Agrid the 'Ogwarts gamekeeper wants to show me something," Madame Maxime explained.
There were three loud knocks on the door.
"Ah, that must be him," Madame Maxime said, going to the door to open it. There on the steps stood Hagrid. "Ah, 'Agrid, is it time?"
"Bong-sewer," said Hagrid, offering his hand to help her down the steps. Jilly walked to the doorway and folded her her arms.
"You be sure to bring my headmistress by curfew, Mr. Hagrid," Jilly teased and Madame Maxime looked at her as if she'd give her detention. Luckily, Jilly was no longer a student. Hagrid laughed.
"I'll bring her back safe and sound," Hagrid promised. "Come along, my lamb—you're going to like this."
Jilly gagged when she shut the door.
Hagrid and Madame Maxime walked off to the forbidden forest and Professor Karkaroff was watching them through the window.
"Where are they going?" he asked his niece.
"Oh, I hope they don't' decide to bathe in the lake," Danessa groaned. "Disgusting."
"The first task is in three days," said Karkaroff. "Do you think this Hagrid knows what it is?"
"Well if he does," said Danessa, "then he shouldn't' be showing it to Madame Maxime."
"I'm going to follow them," said Karkaroff, starting for the door and Danessa hurried to his side.
"No, Uncle!" she exclaimed. "What if Moody sees you? You know he thinks you're the one that cursed the Goblet of Fire and he'll love to catch you snooping around."
Karkaroff groaned. "I told him many times I've got nothing to do about it!"
"I know, paranoid old fool," hissed Danessa. "You should stay here. I'll go see if I can find anything on the first task."
"All right," said Karkaroff. "That's probably a better idea."
"Of course it is," said Danessa, grinning as she walked off the ship. She looked around her, ad seeing that she was alone, she starting to shrink in size. In her place was a small red fox. The fox bounded away in the direction Hagrid and Madame Maxime went. She found them by a fence holding three large and very real, dragons. Hagrid was speaking to a wizard with fiery red hair.
"What sort of breeds do you have here, Charlie?" Hagrid asked him.
Charlie began pointing at the three gigantic beasts behind him. "There's a cowmen welsh green over there, the small one. A Swedish-Short Snout, the blue gray and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."
Charlie noticed Madame Maxime strolling by the fence, gazing at the stunned dragons and he frowned. "I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid." He said. "The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming—she's bound to tell her student what's coming, isn't she?"
"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Hagrid, staring at the dragons like a child at a pet store.
"Really romantic date, Hagrid," Charlie said, shaking his head.
"Now what's so unromantic about dragon gazing, Mr. Weasley?" said a voice. Charlie looked over his shoulder and saw the only witch dragon keeper coming up behind him. She had shoulder length hair with blond highlights and dark brown lowlights. A black jacket hung down to her thighs, flaring at the bottom. Her legs were clothed in black jeans and dragon hide boots adorned her feet. She wore thin purple plastic spectacles. Her arms were folded and she was grinning in a teasing, flirtatious way.
"Nothing," he said. "I was just telling my friend here that he shouldn't bring the Beaxbatons headmistress here. She might tell her student."
"So what if she does?" asked the witch. "It's not like she'll have to face the dragon for her student. The champion has to do that on their own."
She looked at Hagrid. "I'm Eroină
Vâlcea by the way.
"Rubeus Hagrid," Hagrid said. "I"m the
Gamekeeper here at Hogwarts."
Eroină gasped as she recognized his name.
"Hagrid—wait, you're the one who sent us a Ridgeback!" she said.
"That's right," Hagrid said, "Norbert. Is he doing all right? Does he like Romania? The other dragons don't pick on him, do they?"
Eroină laughed. "Your dragon is enjoying himself as much as a dragon could. We received him in pretty good condition too. You took quite good care of him. Was Norbert your first dragon?"
"Yep," replied Hagrid.
"Extraordinary," said Eroină. "You certainly have a gift, Hagrid. My family's been in the dragon keeper business for generations and we're still learning. There's definitely a place for you at a dragon colony if you're interested. We could learn from you."
"Thank you," said Hagrid, smiling. "I'd love that, but my place is at Hogwarts."
Eroină nodded in understanding.
"So three dragons," said Hagrid, "one for each champion. Do they have to fight 'em?"
"Just get past them, I think," answered Charlie. "We'll be standing by incase anything happens. Extinguishing Charms at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, but I'm not sure why."
Madame Maxime rejoined Hagrid. "Which iz your 'ost dangerous dragon?"
"Hmm," Eroină turned around. "They're all dangerous, but I'd say the Fireball." She pointed at the red dragon with gold fringe. "Humans are on their diet list. The other two aren't very aggressive, still they're dragons and dragons are territorial."
"Good thing we didn't bring the Horntail," Charlie said with a whistle. "Vicious thing."
"Why do you say that?" Hagrid inquired.
"Its back end is as bad as its front," explained Charlie. "Its tail is nearly covered in spikes."
"Yes, but we decided to keep it in Romania," said Eroină. "It was our only nesting mother left, and she just laid her eggs a while ago so she's really protective. If we brought her, I bet no student would be able to walk away without a scratch."
"Or a burn," Charlie added.
"I thank you for showing us the dragons," said Madame Maxime, "but I must return. It is late."
"Please be sure not to tell your student," said Charlie.
"Oh, Pierre wouldn't hear about the dragons from me," said Madame Maxime. "I give you my word."
"I'll walk you back to your carriage then," said Hagrid. He didn't want to be parted from the dragons, but he didn't want Madame Maxime to walk back either. He would see the dragons again at the first task. It was in three days—he could barely wait.
Hagrid escorted Madame Maxime back to her carriage. Madame Maxime was quiet, allowing Hagrid to do much of the talking. She said good night to Hagrid and stepped into the carriage. Jilly was in the front room dusting the furniture and ornaments. She paused and smiled at Madame Maxime.
"Did you enjoy your evening, Madame Maxime?" she asked. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon."
"'Agrid showed me dragons," she said.
"Dragons? Here?"
"Yes," Madame Maxime said. "A group of dragon keepers brought them. There are three dragons in the woods. Pierre will have to face one Tuesday."
"Oh no," said Jilly.
"The dragons were a Swedish-short snout, Common Welsh Green and a Chinese Fireball," Madame Maxime continued. "I was told the Chinese Fireball was the most dangerous, so let us hope Pierre won't have to face that one.
"I want you to tell Pierre about the dragons and have him learn up on the three breeds as much as he can. Pierre is not the bravest boy here, and I don't want him to get hurt. I've had enough grief with what happened to the others."
"I know," said Jilly. "It's a good thing the curse was finally lifted."
"Make sure Pierre has a plan before he starts," said Madame Maxime.
"I will, Madame Maxime," answered Jilly. "I will tell him first thing in the morning.
The fox walked closer to the enclosure to get a better look at the dragons. She watched the dragon keepers carry egg-laden blankets next to the sleeping dragons. A dragon keeper sat next to a Common Welsh Green while he played his harmonica. She listened to the dragon keepers talking about the dragons, their jobs and the task. None of them seemed to know what the first task really entailed. After believing she wasn't going to get enough information, the red fox bounded to the Durmstrang ship. She transformed to the Durmstrang assistant and stepped inside.
"Uncle," she said. "The first task is dragons!"
Karkaroff looked not too happy.
"Does Krum have to kill it?" Karkaroff demanded. "That's impossible for one eighteen-year old to do! I've half a mind to write to the minister about this..."
"No," Danessa said quickly. "He just has to get past it. I was listening to Hagrid talk to a couple of the dragon keepers."
"What did you hear?"
"I heard them talk about the different breeds: a Common Welsh Green, a Swedish Short-Snout and a Chinese Fireball. They said the Chinese was the more aggressive one. Oh, and they're all female, nesting mothers in fact."
"Why did they choose nesting mothers?" asked Karkaroff. "Why not three young dragons, or dragons that are too old to fly?"
"The dragon keepers didn't know," said Danessa with a shrug.
Karkaroff started pacing, stroking his goatee in thought. "Not good...not good. Krum is an excellent Quidditch player, but his wand skills...I'm not too sure. Danessa!"
"Yes?" Danessa inquired.
"I want you to tell Krum about this," Karkaroff commanded. "Tell him all about the dragons and practice spells with him."
"But Uncle," Danessa whined, feeling like he just asked her to do the laundry and the dishes.
"Danessa, I will not have my prize student become dragon food!" Karkaroff told her. "I want him to come out of the task victorious. We came to Hogwarts to win!"
"I know," Danessa groaned. "Oh, all right. We'll start first thing in the morning."
"That's my girl," said Karkaroff, turning back to loving uncle mode. He hugged her and sent her to bed.
--
The three champions weren't the only students busy the next morning. The cursed students got up bright and early with more energy than they ever felt. Ian Handler went outside to exercise and play Quidditch. He ran laps all over the grounds, introducing himself to the foreign students as he did so. John Gavington took his guitar and played new song after new song. His music gathered quite an audience. Even the skeptical and judgemental Fleur Delacour was impressed with his music. Many other cursed students went to the library. They did not want a curse to keep them from passing their end of the year exams. Seating was limited yet Amy and Hermione managed to find a table. As Arithmancy was both their favorite subject, they decided to study together for an assignment. Since Cedric had not yet had dreams or visions on the indigo crystal carrier, Amy decided to do an arithmancy sketch on the word "indigo." It probably wasn't a reliable test, but perhaps Amy could find out who was the indigo crystal if she found someone with matching numbers of the color. Hermione did not understand why Amy would use a color test, but did the math anyway.
"General number four, heart number six and social number seven," said Hermione. "That means it's generally practical and inside it's energetic and conceited. It shows that it's scholarly and original."
Amy wrote down the facts. "All right, thanks."
"Why would you test colors?" Hermione asked. "This technique is for people."
"Yes," said Amy, "but it's also used for things. Besides, just practice."
"Yes, that's true," Hermione agreed. "But I guess it is strange to think of a color having hidden feelings."
"Let's start the numerology chart," said Amy,making a mental note to test some names when she got the time.
In a corner near the back, Cedric Diggory sat with a pile of books on dragons. Ever since his vision of dragons in the first task, he was having nightmares of dragon attacks. He knew that he had to learn all he could about dragons so that he could be prepared.
"Thought I'd find you here," said Maxfield, coming to his side. "Found anything interesting?" Maxfield questioned.
"Not really," Cedric groaned.
"There are different dragon breeds, right? Do you know which one you fight?"
"Yes. I'm fighting a silvery blue one," Cedric explained as he searched through Dragons of the World. "It has only one pair of legs. There!" he pointed at the sketch of the Swedish short snout and turned the book to Maxfield to examine. He nodded as he read over the dragon's statistics.
"It has a less human fatality than some dragons," sad Maxfield.
"Yeah, thank Merlin, but that's probably just because it lives in mountains and uninhabited areas," said Cedric. "I'm glad I'm not getting some man-killer, like the Romanian Longhorn or the Peruvian Vipertooth."
"You know what you're supposed to do?" Maxfield asked.
"Yeah," Cedric replied, lowering his voice. "The dragons are all nesting mothers. They're guarding a nest of eggs, and one of them is gold. I have to get past the dragon and capture the golden egg without frying like a piece of bacon."
"That doesn't sound too hard," said Maxfield. "It's not like you have to defeat it."
"It's still a fire-breathing monster, no matter what it is I'll be doing," Cedric said with a frown. "I dream about transfiguring a rock into a dog to distract the dragon."
"Does it work?" asked Maxfield.
"It does until the dragon loses interest and goes after me," Cedric said. "But I'm out of ideas. That's why I'm doing research. Maybe I'll find a clue."
"Good thinking," said Maxfield. "You research as much as you can on this dragon. Your strategy is good, but the flaw is that you might have used a dog instead of something the dragon really eats. Find out its diet and meet me in the Room of Requirement after dinner tonight."
"All right," said Cedric. "Thanks Maxfield."
Maxfield turned and started walking out of the library. He passed Viktor Krum on his way out, who was at the front desk speaking to Madame Pince.
"Oh, why does he have to come here?" Hermione complained, looking at Viktor. "Can't he study on his ship?"
"Maybe he's just here to get a book," Amy suggested.
"Even if he is," said Hermione, "his fan club would be coming in any minute and they'll be giggling away." Hermione got to her feet and started to grab her things. "Let's go somewhere else."
A group of girls came in the library after Krum, one of which with a Bulgarian scarf tied around her waist. Danessa pushed her way through the girls and when they got miffed with her, Danessa glared at them as if she was about to curse them.
"Krum!" she said loudly. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking out a book," he answered.
"We have books on the ship," said Danessa. "You're a Durmstrang student, for goodness sake! Now come on. We have work to do. Out of my way!" she hissed as she pushed her way through, dragging Krum behind her.
Hermione sat down. "I guess it solves that problem."
"That girl is really rude," said Amy. "I wonder how Viktor puts up with her."
--
Danessa dragged Krum into the forbidden forest. "All right, we are going to practice curses. They're probably the only spells strong enough to pierce dragon's hide."
"Probably," said Krum.
"I wonder if Crucio would work on a dragon," Danessa said threefold. "Hmm, let's look for a deer to practice on."
"I'm not going to torture a deer," Krum said surly.
"Yes, a deer might be to small, wouldn't it?" Danessa said. "Uncle told me there were trolls here. We can practice on that."
"I'm not going to torture a troll either," said Krum. "Besides, Hogwart's motto is 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon,' not torture."
"The dragons won't be sleeping," Danessa said. "And how do you know about Hogwarts' motto anyway?"
"I read it in Hogwarts, A History," Krum explained. "I wondered what the motto meant and I thought there was some history behind it. Maybe one of the founders fought a dragon—but I wasn't able to find out."
"Well, then," said Danessa, "let's just move on. The task is in two days and you've got to get ready."
"You just want to look good in front of Karkaroff."
"I beg your pardon?" Danessa demanded, turning and sneering at him.
"I know you're not concerned about me. You've alvoys hated me.
"That's not true!" she said.
"You don't have to pretend." Krum said. "You're not helping me because you're worried about me, you're helping me just so you can look good. You vont to show off. I suppose I need to remind you that my name vos the one that came out of the Goblet of Fire, not yours."
"How dare you!" Danessa snarled.
"I can face the dragon by myself," Krum said. "I don't need any help from you." Krum turned around and started walking back toward Hogwarts.
"Fine!" Danessa yelled after him. "If you burn to a crisp two seconds in, it's your damn fault."
--
Pierre nearly fainted when Jilly told him what was coming. Jilly told him to research as much as he could on dragons and offered as many ideas as she could. However, as Jilly had never faced a dragon before herself, she wasn't sure what to do, much less Pierre. Pierre sat in a quiet place of the carriage studying as Jilly went to search the library for dragons. She returned with only two books: Dragons of the World and Men Who Love Dragons Too Much.
"It was slim pickings," Jilly said as she set the two books on the table. "The majority were dragon keeping books. I suppose if you groom the dragon enough, it might get so comfortable that it would fall asleep."
"It's all right," said Pierre. "I appreciate your help."
Jilly noticed that he was drawing and she sighed. "You've got to be busy. What're you doing just doodling?"
"I'm drawing the dragons," Pierre explained, showing a sketch of a dragon and himself. "Just a way to help visualize what I'm going to do."
"Well, if you run out of ideas," said Jilly, "just pretend the dragon is one of our horses. They're about the same size of a dragon, and can be hard to manage. I bet if you pretend it's an Abraxan, it'll be easier for you to get through the task."
She winked at him and left him alone to concentrate. Pierre flipped through the dragon books but nothing seemed to help. Then he remembered what Jilly said about imagining the dragon as an Abraxan. She was right. The elephant-sized horses could be quite wild. It took Madame Maxime a long time to finally tame them but they could still be rowdy at times. The Abraxans did not like getting re-shoed or even groomed.
Pierre looked out his window to watch the Abraxans grazing. That was it. Imagining the dragon as a Beaxbaton's horse was how he was going to get over his fear. Pierre returned to his desk with a plan in mind. Grabbing his parchment, ink and quill, Pierre started drawing a dragon-free picture.
--
Cedric read up all he could on the Swedish Short Snout and learned that its preferred food was moose. Wondering what the in the world moose was, he presented this information to Maxfield when he met with him later that evening..
"A moose, huh," said Maxfield. "Well, let's practice transfiguring moose."
"Easier said than done," said Cedric. "I haven't even seen a moose."
"Well maybe this will help," Maxfield grabbed a wildlife book and turned to a section on moose. There were several photographs of moose in mountainous and forest regions."
"That thing is huge!" Cedric exclaimed. "We haven't transfigured anything that size before!"
Maxfield laughed genially and put a chair in front of Cedric. "You don't have to worry about the size right now, Cedric. Just try to get the basic anatomy right. Make sure the moose looks like a moose and not anything else."
"All right," said Cedric, pulling out his wand.
"The magical word is Taraverto," said Maxfield. "Try it on this chair."
Cedric stepped closer to the chair, raised his wand and cried. "Taraverto!"
The back of the chair grew antlers and nothing else happened. Cedric groaned in defeat.
"Hey, at least something changed," said Maxfield. "Let's try this again."
Cedric practiced transfiguring the chair well into the night. He managed to get the moose's head and legs, but its structure was still looked like a chair.
"It's late," said Maxfield. "Why don't you go home and get some rest. Here's some late night reading." He tossed the wildlife book at him and Cedric caught it. "We'll practice more tomorrow."
"I'm going to have weird dreams tonight," said Cedric. "I just know it."
--
As the three champions sat nervously in the tent, their supporters hurried to the bleachers and talked excitedly about what they thought what was coming. Would the champions need to go through a dangerous obstacle course or battle with a giant?
As Harry took his seat, he saw Charlie Weasley walking inside an enclosure. He nudged Ron in the ribs. "Ron, isn't that Charlie?"
"What?" Ron looked down at the enclosure. "Yet it is him! What's he doing here?"
Ron got his answer as a silvery blue dragon entered the enclosure. "Hey, that's a Swedish Short snout!"
"I guess that explains why Charlie's here," moaned Hermione.
Maxfield rushed to the bleachers to join the girls. "Cedric's going first."
"First? I hope Cedric has a plan," said Lita. "A good one too."
"Don't worry," said Maxfield. "He does. I've got to sit with the other coaches." He waved at them and took a seat near the judges. Jilly and Danessa soon joined him.
"My brother Charlie got loads of burns when he started working with dragons," said Ginny. "But he must be doing something right if he's been in the business this long."
A whistle blew and the students looked at the dragon enclosed fence. A minute later, Cedric entered the enclosure and the crowd cheered.
"He looks scared," said Serena through her binoculars.
Sthe Short-snout was crouched around her eggs, looking around. Cedric tried to be as silent and as quick as possible. In his dream when he transfigured a rock to a dog, he was making himself seen too many times. The short-snout had already got sight of him and knew he was there. Cedric ducked behind rocks and trees, edging closer to the short-snout and her nest.
When he believed he was close enough, Cedric pointed his wand at the nearest rock.
"Taraverto!" The rock became a perfect moose, antlers and hooves intact. Cedric pointed his wand at the moose again. "Engorgio!"
"Hey, look," said Bagman's magnified voice, "is that...is that a reindeer? What is that?"
The moose grew larger in size. Cedric pointed at another rock, and another, transforming rocks until there was a herd of moose in the paddock. The moose tempted the dragon to leave her eggs and Cedric rushed to her nest the moment he saw an opening. As Cedric grabbed the egg, he saw the dragon's next move. She was going to return to her nest any minute. Keeping a firm grip on the egg, Cedric made his way to the exit. The Swedish-short shot a blast of blue flames on a moose and its jaws went around it. She turned to her nest and when she saw that one egg was missing, her meal fell out of her mouth and she let out a loud shriek.
"Excellent," said Bagman. "Cedric Diggory managed to get his egg without getting a nasty burn!"
The dragon keepers removed the Short-Snout from the pen, revealing where the judges were sitting. Cedric lingered at the exit of the enclosure to to see his scores. Cedric didn't get hurt, but he wasn't quick to get his egg.
Madame Maxime raised her wand and a silver ribbon shot out. The ribbon twisted to the number nine. Miss Jorkins shot a number eight in the air. Crouch and Dumbledore both gave Cedric a nine and Bagman gave him a ten. Then came Karkaroff, who gave him a six.
Cedric whistled. Fifty-one points. That wasn't too bad. He managed to get the egg without getting hurt and he got a good score in return. Now his competition had yet to face their dragons.
A green dragon came in the pasture. As the students and especially Hagrid, marveled at it, Ginny turned to her friends.
"Common Welsh Green," she said. "It's less aggressive than the Hibridean Black that's also found here in England."
"Thank goodness," said Molly.
"It's still a dragon, though," Ginny added.
While waiting for his turn, Pierre was looking at his drawing of an Abraxan horse. He tried to memorize every sinew, every line, every detail so he could replace it with the dragon. He would practice with the Welsh Green, glancing at it after staring at his Abraxan drawing. Then his turn came all too soon. He didn't quite replace the anatomy of a dragon with a horse. This was going to be harder than he thought. As he left the tent, he looked at the drawing and dragon model. For a short few seconds, he saw the model as a golden winged horse and it would return to a dragon.
Pierre turned the corner and he was at the entrance of the corral. At the end of the pen was a much larger version of the model in his hand. Pierre's mouth dropped and his legs were shaking. The Common Welsh Green was stretching her legs, but she stayed close to her eggs. She paced around her nest, looking at the clearing.
Abraxan, Pierre thought. It's not a dragon. It's an Abraxan. Giant flying palomino.
His thoughts did not will the transformation or illusion. The dragon remained. Pierre ducked behind a tree and drew his breath. Bagman was commenting how Pierre was buying his time. Eventually, Pierre would have to make a move. He was wasting too much time. Time was the greatest thing he would be judged on. To pass the time, Bagman told the audience jokes.
Danessa folded her arms, smirking smugly in Jilly's direction. "It's been five minutes. Maybe you need to go in there and get the egg for him!"
Jilly looked at her, her eyes angry. She drew a deep breath, trying to keep her cool and stand her ground at the same time. "He is just going over his plan. You don't just rush in to battle a dragon."
"You do if you want to win," said Danessa.
Pierre took out the paper and studied the sketch again. Pierre closed his eyes and let his mind traveled to when he first saw Abraxans at Beaxbatons. He remembered every memory about the horse.
He decided to do a different move. Instead of looking at the whole of the model, he would look at it piece by piece. He put his hands around it, inching its face free. He looked at it, focusing on seeing a golden horse's face at him.
Then in place of a green scaly face was the beautiful face of a palomino. He uncovered more of the model's body. A shiny coat of golden hair. A white mane. Amber eyes. Feathery wings and a white tall. No talons or claws but hooves. Pirre turned around the tree, holding the now small miniature Abraxan in his hand. He lowered his hand and at the end of the inclosure paced not a green scaly dragon, but a beautiful Abraxan.
The Abraxan's white hair waved in the wind. It pawed the ground. How easy now, was it for Pierre to approach the Axbraxan.
What Pierre did not know, the audience could also see the illusion of the Abraxan.
"How did one of Beaxbatons' horses get away?" said Bagman.
One of the dragon keepers was so fooled by the illusion that he approached the dragon, who was nearly hit with a gust of fire. He saw cleary saw the dragon now.
"What did that kid do?" he wondered. "It's not a switching spell."
"No, it's an illusion of some kind," said Eroină, "but how did he do that?"
Raye turned to Ami, who happened to have her computer on her at the moment. "Ami, what's going on?"
"First there's a dragon," said Mina, "and now it's a giant horse. Where did the dragon go?"
"Oh, the dragon's still there," said Ami, smiling. "But we see the illusion of a giant horse instead. It must be Pierre's knight power."
"But he doesn't know he's a knight, does he?" said Molly.
"I don't think so," said Ami. "But Cedric still has visions, when he's not a knight. I bet Pierre's powers are starting to come more alive, now that he's been revealed as a crystal carrier."
"You think it's possible Pierre already knew about the dragons?" inquired Lita asked.
"I don't know," Ami said with a shrug. "Probably...he might have been working on this plan. He may just beimagining the dragon as one of his school horses, to take the fear away. But he's imagined so hard that we're all seeing the illusion too."
"So, he made an illusion," said Serena. "And he doesn't even realize it!"
First things first, he had to disarm the dragon. He knew in the back of his mind that it was still a dragon and it could still spit fire, though it looked exactly like an Abraxan at this moment.
"Aguamenti!" he sent a fountain of water at the Abraxan's face. "Frigeo!"
The water froze into a giant shard of ice, plugging up the dragons' mouth. The dragon howled with smoke coming out of its mouth. Danessa's smirk faltered to a gaping mouth, giving Jilly the chance to boast.
"Well, it looks like he worked out his plan," she said.
"Rostrum Appaero!" A thick and large muzzle covered the dragon's snout. It shook its head, trying to get it off. Pierre wasted no time. He had to keep conjuring the tools he needed to finish the task.
"Adobscuro!" Giant blinders appeared on the dragon's eyes.
"Laques Evideor!" Chains went around the dragon's limbs, anchoring it down to the trees. The dragon trapped, Pierre rushed to the nest to get the egg.
"Well, I'd say the wait was worth it!" said Bagman. "That was exciting."
Once Pierre got the egg, the illusion was over and he saw the dragon once again. His fear was gone now that he did what he had to do. Pierre waved his wand and shouted "Lanatus Superappaero!" Ten sheep appeared, baaing and grazing. Pierre waved pointed at the ground in front of the dragon and cried, "Sicera!"
A pool of single-malt whiskey appeared at the dragon's feet. Pierre waved his wand last more exclaiming, "Dispareo Nomen!"
The muzzle, ice bit, chains and blinders disappeared, freeing the captivated dragon. She roared in anger then caught sight of the sheep. She devoured one immediately and the aroma of the liquid caught her senses. She bent down to sniff it and tasted the single malt whiskey. To everyone's surprise, she began drinking it.
"Who knew that dragons liked to drink," said Bagman. "Bravo, Mr. Couleer. Bravo!"
The judges raised their wands for Pierre's score. His headmistress gave him a ten. Bertha Jorkins gave him an eight. Crouch gave him seven and Bagman gave him ten. Dumbledore gave him eight and Karkaroff, a six.
"Forty-nine," said Pierre, walking off. "Pretty good, all things considered."
The common welsh green was replaced with a Chinese Fireball.
"Now our last champion," said Bagman. "Viktor Krum!"
Viktor slouched out of the tent and to the fence. He stood there for a few seconds and ran into the clearing, wand raised. "Go Krum!" exclaimed Danessa. She looked at Jilly. "See, that's how you do it!"
"Very daring!" said Bagman.
Viktor pointed his wand at the dragon's eye and screamed, "Conjuctiva!"
He fired the curse, sounding much like a gunshot. It hit the dragon's eyeball and it closed his eyes, screeching and pounding its feet in pain. It's left foot came down, squashing an egg. Danessa went into hysterics as Jilly cracked up.
"Krum, you fool!" she exclaimed. "Youl'll lose points for that!" she glared at Jilly. "What are you laughing at?"
But Jilly was laughing too hard to answer her.
"I suppose Krum wasn't expecting that reaction," said Maxfield.
The dragon was about to smash another egg. Viktor didn't know how it happened, but all the eggs scattered out of the nest to avoid being squashed. Viktor spotted the golden egg and hurried to grab it.
"That's some nerve he's showing—and yes—he's got the egg!" said Bagman. "Amazing, all our champions managed to get the egg without harming themselves. All right, now the marks from the judges."
Madame Maxime—eight.
Jorkins—seven.
Crouch—eight
Bagman—eight.
Dumbledore—eight.
Karkaroff—ten.
Fifty-two. Krum was in the lead. Karkoff clapped hard and Danessa started jumping up and down, shouting her victory. "He got in the lead even though he damaged one of the egs. Hah!" she bragged to the others.
"Come on," said Maxfield, putting his hand on Jilly's shoulder before things got ugly. "Let's go congratulate them. Pierre did do a fine job."
By the time the assistants got down, Eroină Vâlcea and some of the dragon keepers were already speaking to the the champions. "Cedric, excellent transfiguring—how'd you know that moose is part of the Short-Snout's diet?"
"Er…" said Cedric. "Just a hunch."
"Mmmhmm," said Eroină. "And you, Pierre, best conjuring I've seen. How did you manage that illusion?"
"Illusion?" Pierre said.
"We all saw the dragon change into one of your horses," said Charlie. "And it's almost impossible to transfigure something of that size. It had to be an illusion."
Pierre gasped. "I just..imagined the dragon as the school Abraxans," Pierre explained. "I saw it in my mind. I didn't know you would see it too."
"Well, you've got a strong imagination then," said a man next to Eroină. He was tall and had brown hair to his neckline.
"Great curse," said Eroină to Viktor. "You must've known that a dragon's eyes are their weak spot."
"Thank you," said Viktor.
The coaches entered the enclosure. Jilly came down to Pierre and hugged him. "Well, done, Pierre. You were exclellent."
"Thanks Jilly," said Pierre. "Um, the dragon keepers were just telling me who I did."
Jilly looked at the three dragon keepers and they introduced themselves, starting with Eroina. The man with the brown hair to her left introduced himself as Eroină's brother, Nathaniel.
"Oh—er—hello," said Jilly nervously. "I'm Jilly Bean."
"Jilly Bean," Nathaniel said, "so what flavor would you be?"
"Blue," she said, looking at his eyes and wondering how they could be so blue.
Nathaniel laughed. "Blue huh...never had a blue flavored bean before."
"Huh, what?" Jilly said. "Oh, I meant...blueberry." She invented quickly. "Yeah, I'd guess I'd be a blueberry."
"I love blueberries," said Nathaniel.
"Me too," Jilly took Pierre's arm. "Hey, we're supposed to go back to the tent. Bagman wants to talk to us."
"You all did a fine job," said Eroină said as the coaches and champions walked away.
After Bagman gave the champions their instructions, they left the tent and went to join their schoolmates. Maxfield talked to Cedric about his performance and about the next task.
"You've got quite a while until the next one," said Maxfield. "You should be able to figure out the clue, with your clairvoyance an all."
"I guess," said Cedric. "I can't believe how smoothly that went. I thought for sure the dragon was going to get me in the end."
A witch in acid-green robes jumped out in front of them. Cedric gasped and stepped back in shock. "Rita Skeeter?"
"Pleased to know you remember me, Cedric!" she said. "Could I have a word with you? How do you feel about facing the dragon? How about the task ahead?"
"Oh, well," Cedric mumbled. He did not want another interview, but he didn't know how to turn her down politely.
Maxfield walked to Rita Skeeter and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, Cedric has to return to the castle. He's got a lot of work to do, but you are more than welcome to ask me anything!" He looked at Cedric and winked. Cedric hurried to Hogwarts as Maxfield started walking toward Hogsmeade.
"Let me buy you a drink," he said. "We can celebrate Cedric's victory..."
"Oh, I, well, I," Rita stammered in protest and then sighed in defeat. "Oh, very well."
--
When Serena went to bed that night, she wondered if Tuxedo Mask was having this much excitement. What was happening in Tokyo? Was it chaos now that she wasn't protecting it anymore? She knew that the Negaverse was working in the UK. Zoycite was collecting the crystals and Malachite energy, but there could be other monsters running amok in Tokyo. If it was still in danger, then Tuxedo Mask would be fighting all by himself. However, if there wasn't anything happening back at home, would he follow her to Great Briton?
Unable to sleep, Serena went to the window and opened it. "Tuxedo Mask...if you can, please come back to me. It's just not the same without you."
TO BE CONTINUED