The day of the first task was here and the air was filled with nervous excitement, as well as the faint smell of smoke, the twins were even getting into the spirit of things.
"Bets! Place your bets here! Four will compete, but will all four survive?" Shouts of this nature could be heard from the two for hours, even before breakfast, and it was beginning to get on people's nerves.
Harry was sitting with his friends, sans Blaise and Hermione, and they were all worried about Harry's lack of fear and concern. There were only two other students besides Harry, that actually knew what was to come.
So it was that, when the time came, Harry and his friends all made their way down to the Quidditch pitch, or what once was the Quidditch pitch, in relative silence. All except Elias, who was chattering nonstop, worried that he would never see Harry again. Once they drew near, he dragged Elias off to the side.
"I can't say much, but rest assured that I know what I'm doing and how to do it." Harry put his hand on Elias' shoulder and smiled at him, in response, Elias hugged him.
"If you die out there I'll learn Necromancy and kill you myself." The two laughed at that as Harry left him to enter the competitor's tent.
Upon entering the tent Harry's eyes were assaulted by a bright flash at the same time that his hand was shaken and his ears filled with a nasal voice.
"Ah, our youngest competitor has arrived. Come in Harry, I don't bite," came the voice of a blonde woman dressed in a metallic green dress and large framed glasses.
"I'm Rita Skeeter and this is my cameraman Bozo, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr Potter."
"Get out of here, this tent is for the champions," the voice of Victor Krum sounded, cutting Harry off before he could even say a word.
"Perhaps we can talk after, without the chance of interruption," Rita said to Harry as she left, Bozo following a minute later after being caught staring at Fleur.
"Thanks for that Victor, the last thing I want right now is an interrogation, I'm sure Rita is a lovely woman, but right now some quiet would be nice," Harry said to the older student, who nodded in reply and went to sit in the corner.
/^—^/
Out in the stands stood the entire population of Hogwarts, with the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students joining them, as well as a large number of Aurors and ministry officials. Stood among the sea of people was Professor Remus Lupin, who was trying to convince himself that he wasn't about to witness the death of his best friend's only son. So focused on his thoughts was he that it took a smack to the back of the head to return him to the moment.
"Oww that was uncalled for," he whined, causing his assailant to laugh.
"Is this seat taken? I've come up from London to see Harry compete."
"Ah… sure… I don't see why not." Remus struggled to articulate his response, while his new company's reply was cut off by the sound of a cannon and the roar of a dragon.
/_––_––/
Dudley couldn't look, he just knew this would be the death of his cousin. It wasn't until his hands were pulled away from his face that he realised, it wasn't Harry going first, it was Fleur, and she looked angry.
She began doing a dance that reminded Dudley of the belly dancing he had seen on TV with his mom. As the dance went on she began to sprout leathery wings as fire engulfed her hands.
"She's a Veela," Ron called out, seemingly under Fleur's charm as well.
This transformation had the opposite effect that Fleur had hoped for. It caused the dragon to believe there was another female dragon around, which broke the trance and angered her. The dragon sent out a long torrent of fire at the girl, which added to the already growing fire around her hands, which caused the crowd to scream in terror, before realising the fire wasn't doing anything. Unfortunately for Fleur, this meant that the dragon would be trying a different strategy, it began to rise into the air and smacked Fleur out of the air, causing her to crash into the rocks below, making the crowd scream out again. The dragon slowly crept over to the fallen girl and readied itself to either eat or crush its attacker.
Just as the dragon stood over the prone girl, who some believed had been knocked out or worse, she used the fire in her hands to propel herself through the legs of the dragon and over to the eggs. She grabbed the golden one, accidentally crushing the rest in the process, and headed towards the exit to end the task. At the last moment before she was safe she was again knocked out of the air, this time having her face torn up by the claws of the massive beast.
The smell of blood in the air, as well as the crushing of her eggs, caused the dragon to become frenzied. This resulted in it wasting no time in avenging its fallen youth. It lashed out with its tail and hit her so hard that she was lifted off the ground, before crashing back to the ground. There were shouts to stop the task, and spells were sent at the dragon, which it ignored, as the giant creature picked up the unconscious girl and began to eat her. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you asked, the dragon wanted to play with its food and had only eaten her lower half before it was stopped. The telltale green light of the killing curse was the last thing it saw as it dropped the mutilated girl to the ground.
Almost at once, there were several healers on the scene trying to keep the half Veela from dying.
This carnage caused a halting to the events, with even the Ministry contemplating calling off the rest of the tournament.
/_-_-/
Over an hour later it was decided that the event would continue as planned. This was because to cancel now would mean the certain death of the other three competitors. The second person to face the dragons was Harry, and after hearing about what happened to Fleur he was no longer so confident in his plan.
Regardless of all that he was still walking into the arena, just wanting this to be over quickly.
He could see that Fleur's blood had been cleaned up and that the dragon's corpse had been removed. The crowd was silent as Harry walked in, nobody was excited anymore, and it just added to his nervousness.
He rounded the corner and he saw a sight that filled him with relief, or as much relief as can be salvaged from this situation. He was facing a serpentine dragon.
"You smell familiar, you are the wizard who I spoke to a few moons back?"
"Yes, I have been forced into entering this pit to remove a fake egg from your brood. It is an artificial egg, put there to encourage your hostility. I ask you to let me remove it and you will be allowed to leave this place," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. This, combined with the dragon's overall lack of aggression, made some people hopeful, not wanting to see anything like Fleur's attempt again.
"I shall give you the fake egg, but in return, you must return to me one full rotation of the sun after our first meeting."
"I will be there. I promise."
"You may take the egg, but be aware that if you break any of mine I will kill you."
Harry levitated the fake egg carefully away from the real ones, holding his breath out of fear. Once the egg was in his hands the dragon lay down and went to sleep, disinterested in anyone or anything else.
Just before Harry exited the arena he stopped, lifted up the Golden Egg, and the crowd erupted into ravenous applause and cheers.
/-_-*/