The First Task was tomorrow. The whole school was talking about it. Everywhere Cassius went, students looked at him and whispered, and he had the uncomfortable feeling that there were bits of his most recent meal left on his face, or that his hair was sticking up, or that his robes were on backwards. Resisting the desire to once again check a mirror, Cassius made his way to one of the courtyards. It being November, they were considerably less crowded, and the cold was worth it. Not only did he avoid a good percentage of the Hogwarts student body, he more specifically avoided Malfoy. Cassius suposed he might be being kind of hard on him, but he felt like he had a bodyguard or something (or maybe it was that he needed a bodyguard).

As usual, almost no one was in the courtyard, and Warrington let out a sigh of relief. He had almost made it all the way across the courtyard, which led almost directly to the Arithmancy classroom, when he heard his name being called. Pushing back another sigh, this time of irritation, he turned around, expecting Malfoy, or even one of the first years from the group that he'd seen whispering in the hallway. He definitely wasn't expecting Potter.

"Um...hi?" He didn't really mean it to be a question, but it kind of came out as one. Potter hadn't really bothered to talk to him since the night they had been chosen and exchanged a few sentences (but then, he supposed, he hadn't exactly tried to talk to Potter either).

"Dragons." Warrington's eyebrows rose, and he thought back to his theory that someone else must have put Potter's name in. With the kid spouting random magical creatures, he was even more certain, and didn't know how to respond. "That's the first task, I mean. We have to steal an egg, and they have a dragon for each of us." Warrington's mouth felt dry. Holy Salazar. He had no idea how to fight a dragon, other than that it was a supremely bad idea to do so one-on-one.

"Why are you telling me?" He asked. After most of a month (well, most of four years really) without any contact, he couldn't think of any reason Potter had. He was giving up an advantage.

"It's only fair. Madame Maxime knows, so she'll tell Fleur, and I'm pretty sure Karkaroff saw too. You would've been the only one." Cassius nodded.

"Well, thanks then." He tried to sound casual. He was pretty sure he'd failed. Potter left, and the uncomfortable realization hit him that he owed Potter something. Then "Dragons?" He figured he had a lot more to worry about than being in someone's debt. And, he figured, intercepting Pucey outside the Arithmancy classroom, a lot more to worry about than classes.

/

"So what have we learned?"

"Other than the fact that it's a really bad idea to take on a dragon single-handedly?" Warrington glared at Adrian, who shrugged. "Not much that you don't learn for the Magical Creatures OWL. They're strong and they breathe fire, which will break through most protective spells. They eat animals and their eyes are weak. They're very protective of their eggs. But I don't know how any of that is helpful." Warrington ceded the point and lapsed into thought.

"I could hit it in the eyes with some kind of curse, but a direct attack seems stupid. Dragons are easily provoked, and doing something the equivalent of poking it in the eye is...rash."

"You could transfigure something into an animal, but the dragon would still probably go after you. They prefer humans." Warrington leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall behind him. They were protective of their eggs, that was the point of the task... But he was good at transfiguration...

"What if I sent the dragon on a wild goose chase? Er... Dragon chase. Whatever." Pucey looked confused, so he elaborated. You know, second year when we learned to change a pebble into an egg, and McGonagall had us do Easter eggs in holiday spirit. What if I made a dragon egg out of a rock, matching the patterns of the others and then... I dunno, levitated it up so the dragon followed it. Then I could grab the other egg, the one I'm supposed to get." Pucey looked thoughtful.

"Not a bad idea. But how do you maintain the floating egg while snatching the other one? It's fine if you're just walking over, really really slowly, but picking something up..." The two relapsed into silence.

"I could kind of fling it up and hope for the best?" It didn't sound like the sort of plan he was comfortable with, and Pucey's face agreed.

"Too risky. Dragons are fast, and besides, it'll notice the missing egg" He paused, then began again. "What about this: you distract the dragon with sheep or something, then enlarge some pebbles into boulders while it's distracted, and sneak over to its nest. By then, it will have stopped caring about the sheep, so you do the egg trick but just throw it. That way you can retreat quickly to the boulders you've made after snatching the egg, and the dragon won't notice anything missing, because it'll have the same number of eggs as before." Warrington considered.

"That sounds... complicated."

"It is. But I think it's your best option. It's a lot of magic, but it plays to your strengths. The complicated bit is the Transfiguration, which I know you can do, and you literally shrink and enlarge your trunk every time you get on and off the Hogwarts express, just because it's convenient. We'll practice of course, but actually... this might work."

"It better work," Cassius replied, "because I haven't got any better ideas."

/

Andrew quite liked the idea once the other two found him, and played his part by creating different terrains and testing Cassius' ability to climb them quickly, timing him for each go, also going with him to get a muscle relief potion from Pomfrey at the end of the day.

After training, the two went to the library, Cassius reading over their copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, not having bothered to bring his own, as he wasn't taking a NEWT in Care of Magical Creatures.

"I can't believe Potter just up and told you what the task was. You're sure he wasn't just trying to scare you?" In that one sentence, Fawley ripped Warrington from his reading. He frowned a bit, but shrugged.

"Nah, Gryffindor chivalry and all that. I don't even know how he found out, but I believe him though. Kid looked terrified." Fawley still looked suspicious, but Warrington shrugged. "If he'd wanted to scare me, he could've looked at the historical records of the tasks. Once, the champions had to fight of the Imperius curse in time to escape from Acromantulas." He frowned. "Of course, that was before the Imperius was illegal. But still. I'll take a dragon over that any day."

"Acromantulas? Salazar, how is this tournament even legal?" Fawley looked so horrified that Warrington started to laugh, earning them a dirty glare from Madam Pince, who had, of course, chosen that moment to walk by. "Let's go," Andrew said. "You going to check that out? You could always borrow a copy from someone in the class."

"Nah, I almost finished anyway. It basically just says they look different, and that they like to eat animals and humans."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I bet Malfoy'd lend you his-" Fawley dodged the book Warrington swung at him, laughing. Warrington just rolled his eyes, putting the book back on the shelf. While he wasn't any more used to the stares, he'd grown accustomed to his friends teasing him about his so called "fan club".

"Nah, I thought I'd ask Davis. She's tried to talk to me a couple times, I'm sure she'd jump at the chance." Fawley made a face.

"Ha ha. You win this round, but don't get to cocky." Warrington smirked.

"This round? Honestly Fawley, I've no idea what you're on about." The look on Andrew's face was almost worth the flurry of birds that began chasing him through the hallway. It was worth it, in fact, until Warrington ran flat into somebody going around the corner.

"'Merlin, I'm so sorry, I was-" Suddenly, an explanation was unnecessary as the birds found their target and descended upon him and, unfortunately, the other person. He hastily reached for his wand to put up a shield charm, but was beaten to it by Marietta Edgecombe (who was, he realized, the other person), looking annoyed, if also the slightest bit amused.

"Are you sure you're the best Hogwarts has to offer? Running away from some birds?" Warrington looked at the birds still attacking the shield from the outside and shrugged.

"Clearly, you've never been in close range of Fawley's avis charm. You don't have time to react, you just run." Edgecombe raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

"Fair enough I guess. Anyway, um, are you ready for tomorrow?" She looked like she didn't particularly want to have a conversation with someone she barely knew, which was how Warrington felt, but he appreciated the effort.

"Yeah, I think, I mean... Well, I'm as ready as I'm going to get." There was a silence, then he realized Marietta was still holding back the birds, which was why she was still there. "OH, hey, um, I can just vanish those, give me a second." For an embarrassing first try it didn't work, but after the second they were gone. "Well bye then."

"Yeah, uh...good luck tomorrow."

"Oh thanks, you too." Merlin, he hated himself. Marietta tactfully didn't say anything, instead just leaving with an awkward wave. Cassius stood there for a minute longer, then proceeded back to the common room, reflecting that he should maybe spend some more time talking to people outside of his house and the first years he tutored. One thing was certain: having a fan club definitely didn't make conversations any easier. Merlin.

Okay, so I'm not really sure how I feel about Marietta, whether it's going to be a friendship thing or a relationship thing. I don't want it to feel too forced, so I'll probably go back and edit it, and I might even take it out. Thoughts?

As always, if you have suggestions on how to help, let me know!