Here be dragons...

Right, I was going through the story structure when I just thought that you'd all like to know that this'll be the structure of my story. I'll be going through the main tasks and/or events, but going through what led up to the particular event during the chapter so you're not left behind in confusion. Don't know if you like it, don't really care if you don't like it, I do care if you send reviews however, as many of you know that I try to reply to them all. So, read and review.

Oh, btw, I actually wrote this chapter in one go!!! Took me several hours, but I managed to get it done. I hope you like it, but it came out easily and fun! Read and review, please, I want to hear your emotions when you read the ending. :p

In the tent was sat Cedric Diggory, his face pale and drawn. His emotions were pretty well hidden, but if you looked closely, you could tell that he was trembling slightly in his robes. Wearing his house colours, a slight golden robe with the symbol of a badger on its back, he cut a fine sight, a regular warrior-prince. His boyish looks that were halfway in between of becoming a man made him look young, but determined. His brown eyes flashed with excitement and fear, darting nervously between areas in the tent, not daring to look at either of the champions. His Adams Apple quivered slightly as he regularly gulped quietly.

Pacing up and down the room was Fleur Delacour, her figure slightly shown off in the pale blue robes she wore. Her face was concentrated and she seemed to be muttering words to herself, certain spells that she thought to be useful against the dragon she would face were being said over and over in the hope that should she panic, she would remember at least one of these spells. Her face was also pale, her wand in her hand as it did erratic movements, giving a shadow of a trace of one of the spells. Her long golden hair dangled down her back, a slight breeze drafting through the tent flap, brushing her hair slightly, causing some of it to rise, and giving her the appearance of an angel.

Viktor Krum stood by the corner of the tent, his face surly and hidden slightly by shadows, giving to any who looked at him the appearance of a dark creature. With his red robes, and his favoured fur cloak, his appearance as a dark creature was given further credence. His eyes glinted slightly in the light, his mouth slightly open. He watched the two champions hungrily, regarding what he regarded as his enemies with fierceness. His hand fingered his wand, its tip coincidently held towards the two champions, as though he was prepared for an attack of any kind. All three official champions were in the tent, awaiting the arrival of the judges. In fact, there was only one person missing from the entire thing.

Emerald.

As though the devil heard the word, the flap of the tent and a figure stood in the way of the sunlight, his shadow rapidly expanded ten times its size and drafting the entire tent with its darkness. Emerald stood in the light, his green eyes shining brightly as he took in the entire tent. His clothes were rough and torn in some places. His blue jeans had several holes in them, and he looked dishevelled as he walked forward, a thin item wrapped up in his sheet was held in his left hand as he let himself sit down roughly in a chair. He smirked at the rest of the champions, letting his hand rise limply in a small attempt to acknowledge them. His eyes closed as he lent his head back against the tent wall. 'S'up?' He said drowsily. He didn't wait for a reply as he went on. 'Sorry about being a bit late, I was still asleep ten minutes ago.' He yawned as though to prove that point.

Out of the three champions, only one turned to acknowledge him. 'Emerald,' Cedric said guardedly, watching him. His gaze turned to the item at his side, his eyes regarding it curiously. 'What's that?' He said, still looking at the item.

Emerald looked down; opening his eyes slightly before letting them fall again. 'It's a sheet.'

'What's in the sheet?' Cedric persisted.

'A thing.'

'What thing?'

Emerald didn't bother replying, still sat there with his eyes closed. Cedric gave up, sighing slightly as he turned back to his original pastime, his eyes flickering once again between various items. The silence continued for several minutes, Fleur still pacing up and down, while Cedric and Viktor continued staring at various things. Emerald still sat there, his eyes closed; giving the impression that he was asleep. All of a sudden, the tent flap opened again, the sounds of passing students was once again loud inside the preivous tent, and a man entered the tent, rubbing his hands together eagerly, a small bag hanging at his waist.

'Ah, the champions are all assembled then?' The man asked, smiling boyishly, his hands still rubbing together. After looking around the tent and seeing four people, he smiled again. 'Good-oh!' The man was wearing yellow robes with a symbol of a wasp on his shoulders, looking like a cartoon character amidst the pale-faced champions. The man, upon seeing Emerald, hesitated slightly, but then strode over confidently, his hand reaching towards his shoulder, ready to shake him awake. Just as Bagman's hand touched Emerald's shoulder, Emerald lashed out all of a sudden. Grabbing the man's hand, he quickly slammed a fist against the bone between the wrist and the elbow. An audio snap echoed through the room, and the man yelled loudly in pain. Emerald looked at the man in confusion, shaking his head to lose the sleep still lingering around him.

'Ah...' he looked at the man in slight sympathy. 'I'd go see a doctor if I were you, mate. That's a pretty nasty break there.'

The man smiled painfully at Emerald. 'No...no problem.' He said, taking hold of his wand with his hand. 'Episkey!' The arm, previously looking out of shape, quickly bent into place, the man sighing relieved, before looking at Emerald ruefully, 'A nice hit there, Harry,' rubbing his arm where it had been previously broken.'

'Call me Emerald,' Emerald said idly before he looked at the healed arm with slight interest. 'Nice spell,' he remarked. 'So, what are you doing here anyway?'

The man smiled at the four champions, although not as much as he had done when he had entered the tent. 'Well, when the audience has assembled fully in the stands, I will be offering each of you from this bag,' he pulled the bag from his waist, dangling it in the air, 'a dragon.' None of the champions reacted, Emerald noted curiously. So he hadn't been the only one not told... Bagman appeared to be the only person to not note the lack of surprise on each of the champion's face. 'From this bag, you will be picking out a small model of the dragon you will be about to face! There are different...species of dragons, you see. I have one last thing to tell you all. Your task – for this particular task – is to collect the golden egg!'

Emerald glanced casually at the other champions. Cedric nodded once before he looked at the ground, looking slightly green around the edges of his face. Fleur and Viktor hadn't reacted at all to the man's words. It looked likely that they had already been informed the tasks that they would have to face by their various headmasters. And to think, the idiots had actually signed up for this? At least Emerald had been dragged into this unwillingly; the other three had wanted to sign up for this!

As the hundreds and hundreds of feet passed the tent from outside, their owners talking excitedly to other people, the four champions found themselves faced with the bag as the man opened its head. He smiled as he offered it to the three champions, each of them receiving their dragon. After giving to Cedric one of the last dragons, he turned to Emerald, still smiling. 'Here you go, Harry.'

'Emerald,' he said irritably, knowing what the final dragon would be. He pulled out, as he expected, the Hungarian Horntail. He glared at it as it glared back, small tails of flames darting from its nostrils and impacting harmlessly against Emerald's skin. 'Great,' Emerald muttered. 'How convenient that I would have to pick the biggest and the ugliest one, isn't it?' The man suddenly approached him.

'Ah, Ha – Emerald. I was wondering whether you'd like to have a small talk outside.'

'No,' Emerald said bluntly, looking at the Dragon model in his hand.

'I...uh...' he lowered his voice. 'Since you are the youngest champion of us all, perhaps I can offer a few words of advice?'

'Nope, not wanted, not needed.'

'Emerald, I –' He stopped talking as a whistle blew in the distance. 'Good Lord, I've got to run!' The man said in alarm, hurrying off.

'What did Bagman want?' Cedric asked him, looking at him curiously.

'God knows,' Emerald said, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. 'Let's just get this over with, yeah?'

A few days ago

Emerald, after being named a champion, had become a social pariah, not that he really cared, of course. Slytherin had regarded him with a suspicious eye, but had refrained from asking him what had happened. Rather, they greeted him warmly and offered him their support if he needed it. Emerald was not sure, but he was suspiciously sure that at least two Slytherins were following him, possibly in an attempt to find out how he did it, what he was going to do for the task, or rather, simply to protect him from the rest of the school. Speaking of the rest of the school, they were most certainly pissed off. The gossip from Parvati and Lavender, after he had arranged to meet with them several times a week in exchange for alcohol, was that Emerald was clearly dark now. People were heavily suspicious of him, and there had been talk of an investigation from the Ministry to determine just who Emerald was exactly, and whether or not he was dark. As of yet, there had been no sign of any kind of investigation, and Emerald suspected that Dumbledore had a hand in stopping anything of that sort.

When he had gone down to the Great Hall for breakfast the day after being chosen as champion, hoping to grab some toast as he had accidently woken up too late to bother going to the kitchens, the school, nearly as a whole, had watched him with a mixture of anger, curiosity and sympathy. Ron Weasley, the redheaded kid who was at the Gryffindor table, had almost immediately opened up a volley of abuse at Emerald, accusing him of consorting with the darkest of dark arts, plotting to bring down the Ministry from Hogwarts, and in general being a typical slimy Slytherin. Emerald simply ignored him, although he couldn't help but smirk when Snape had come swooping down, taking 50 points from Gryffindor and assigning him with a detention with the caretaker, who he was assured by various people was a piece of scum.

While Emerald would've normally taken no notice of any problems, he had become more sheltered and watched than ever before. Whenever he left the Slytherin common room, he was sure that he was being stalked by various portraits who wandered around the school randomly. He was sure that some of the ghosts were involved in this as well, as he had seen a few pale heads disappear through walls. Not only that, but a lot of students were following him as well, whispering behind his back about Emerald. Although, Emerald had little problem with the last problem, as some of those people following him were various groups of girls, who giggled when he occasionally looked at them. Viktor Krum had the same problem as Emerald had, although his was larger. Being a sports-star wasn't all it was made out to be, apparently, as large numbers of people basically followed him everywhere.

It had therefore, after several days of mistrust and suspicion, that Snape, after Emerald had retired to the Slytherin common room that he was informed by a gleeful sounding Year 4 Slytherin that Professor Snape summoned him to his private chambers. The Slytherin, still smiling as he led Emerald to where a portrait of a red headed woman looked at Emerald with sadness, opened the door automatically. Emerald looked at the portrait in curiosity, for some reason it aroused some emotion within him...shaking his head, he entered the room.

As he entered, Snape looked up at him, glaring at him. 'Potter!' He snapped. 'Did I give you permission to enter the room?'

Emerald shrugged looking at the various items on the shelves. 'Nah, but you wanted to see me, so can we cut to the chase? I can't be fucking bothered to go through any pathectic power games to show who's in charge or who isn't. You've sent for me, I'm here, can we get on with it?'

'Potter,' Snape snarled, looking at him. 'Let's get one thing here, I'm in charge, and your not!'

Emerald looked at him oddly. 'Didn't I just say that?'

'How dare you!' Snape yelled, walking towards him. 'Who do you think you are?'

Emerald looked left to right, before offering a bemused smile. 'Umm...well, I like people to call me Emerald. But certain people in this castle insist on calling me –'

'Silence!'

There was silence for a few seconds, before Emerald broke.

'You really need a shower, you know.'

'Shut up!'

'Alright, alright! I get it!'

Snape glared at him for a few more second, before snorting in satisfaction, turning away from Emerald and back to a cauldron where a thick green mist was coming from. 'Potter,' Snape started, hidden by the mist. 'Unwilling as I am to tell you this, I am not willing to see you dead, as much as I would desire it. Headmaster Dumbledore has shown a reluctance to assist you during this tournament, whether you did or did not deliberately enter the tournament. While Dumbledore believes in fairness, I, on this occasion, believe I know better than the Headmaster about what'll happen. Right now, if they haven't already, the heads of the two rival schools will be informing their champions about what will be happening in the First Task.'

'And what will I be facing?'

'You will be facing a highly dangerous magical animal, the dragon.'

Emerald stayed silent for a few seconds, clearly shocked, before, 'what!? Your having me face a fucking dragon? A dragon, as in the big, scaly, flying, fire-breathing, human-eating, virgin-despoiling, great big-fucking-monster, dragons?'

'Essentially, yes.'

'Oh fuck me,' Emerald sighed, rubbing his snake tattoo and turning away from Snape. 'I need a fucking cigarette,' Emerald muttered. Remaining silent for a minute, he turned back to Snape, who had been busy while Emerald was processing the information with the potion. 'So what do you suggest I do?'

Snape looked at him, his eyes unreadable. 'You do realise that I've already violated rules in telling you what the task will be, yes? I have little desire to do anymore that could potentially get me in trouble, and could potentially result without any loss of limb on your behalf. If you want my advice, I suggest you do some work for yourself, go work in the library, do research, hell, I don't' know Potter, do something useful with your damned life!' Snape turned back to his potion. 'You may leave, Potter.'

Emerald glared at Snape, but left quickly. As soon as the door had shut, Snape gripped the side of his cauldron hard, looking up at a picture of the same redheaded woman who guarded the entrance to his door. 'He looks just like you, Lily.' He said sadly to the woman, who giggled and continued to play on the swing in the garden, looking content and happy.

Contents of letter,

From: Emerald

To: Sirius Black

Dear Sirius,

I need a big favour...I need you to go and get me certain items that might be disapproved of in the wizarding world. What I need for you to get is...

End letter

Day of tournament

First task

Emerald sighed as he heard Bagman state that Viktor Krum had finally finished, leaving Emerald to have his go against the dragon. He chuckled balefully as he got to his feet. 'Someone is going to pay for this...' he promised himself. Taking hold of the package, he walked through the large tunnel until he reached sunlight.

A great roar of cheering and jeering met his ears as he came walked through into the light. As the crowds silenced down, Emerald looked around the stadium, confused. Where the hell was this dragon...? Suddenly, something heavy fell onto his shoulder. Emerald slowly turned his head, and immediately grimaced. There was drool on his shoulder. Emerald made to turn back to looking for the dragon when he froze. How exactly did the drool get onto his shoulder? He suddenly felt another weigh on his other shoulder. When he looked he saw the same thing. All of a sudden, he heard a growl.

'Oh...shit.'

Quick as a flash, Emerald was running already, just as a blaze of fire hit where he had been standing. 'not good, not good, not good,' Emerald muttered as he ran as fast as he could. He ran for the eggs, just as the dragon landed in front of them, its beady eyes staring at Emerald. 'Wrong way, wrong way, wrong way,' Emerald muttered again as he did a 360 degree turn, diving behind a formation of rocks, just as the dragon fired again.

'You want to pla with me? Then let's play,' Emerald muttered as he unveiled the package. He smirked at what he saw. Thank God that Sirius had done something for him. He quickly pulled out a tranquilser dart. He smirked as he loaded it into his gun. He quickly patted the butt of the rifle as he put it on, hoping that it would hit. 'If it can put down an elephant, it can put down a fucking dragon,' he muttered as he aimed at the dragon's head.

'Scream for me, bitch.' Emerald smirked as the dragon opened its mouth to breath fire. 'Got you!' Emerald fired the dart. Emerald lost sight of it as he saw it fly into the dragon's mouth. A few tense seconds took place for Emerald as the dragon appeared confused, shaking its head and licking its nostrils. 'Come on...' Emerald muttered, preparing to load another dart. Suddenly, however, to the complete shock of the crowd, the dragon collapsed onto the ground, completely unconscious.

Emerald, watching the dragon carefully, approached it, careful to avoid the puffs of fire from its nostrils. He sighed relieved as he reached it, patting it casually on the head. 'You were easy,' he muttered in the dragons ear. He made to go for the egg, when he stopped. Smirking, he pulled out a cigarette and held it by the dragon's nostril, letting the fire reach the tip of it. Pulling it back, he smirked as he took a drag.

'Beautiful.'