Ness. Was overwhelmed, not by the fact that he was going up against a powerful dragon, not that his and Harry's lives were in danger thanks to the person behind this whole mess and not by the lovely appearance of Ludo Bagmen, Barty Crouch and an army of reporters milling around the grounds as they prepared for the big event.
But by how palpable everything felt, the high running tensions, the uncontrollable excitement at the first challenge and the fact that classes were canceled for the day and the army of invisible nervous butterflies hovering over each champion who could barely stomach anything from breakfast before they were called to the area to the Qudditch arena and ushered into a big grey tent.
They all wrung their hands, looking nervous but also with a small glint of relief at the fact that they knew what was coming. Ness noticed that Cedric shot Harry a relived look every now and then before he faced forward, listening to the loud chatter outside as people filled into the stands and the announcers—people Ness didn't recognize checked their 'mikes'.
Some of the nervousness died away when Ludo and Barty Crouch entered the tents and explained the rules, Ludo a bit enthusiastic while Mr. Crouch merely stood off to the side, looking like he couldn't be bothered by any of this as he dabbed at his face with a dark red handkerchief.
"Someone's not looking to well." Ness noted, studying the man out of the corner of his eye as Ludo rambled on. The challenge was simple, get the Golden egg a dragon was guarding in the most effective way possible without bring any harm to her real eggs.
Seemed simple enough, until, they had to pick their dragon. Victor went first, pulling out a forest green dragon with lean back legs and a skinny yet powerful arms that hovered above the ground a number two and the name, "Venus Hunter." Was around its neck as Victor took a step back.
Next, was Flur who pulled out the New England Mist Bane Dragon and the number five, Cedric got a Dewdrop Dragon who was the color of the night sky with the number three, Alexander got a Banshee Dragon with the number four.
Adaliz, with Sepri, the River Frost Serpent dragon with number six while Harry got Tira and a number seven, leaving Ness with a Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon with the bold number one.
"Oh good, the nastier the better." Ness mumbled as the champions examined the figurines in their hands and nervously lined up by number order as Bagmen gave some last-minute pep talks before rushing outside.
"They'll call you when its time." Crouch explained before he to left. Leaving the champions to silently form a plan around their respected dragon.
Ness's plan? Summon his bat and try to avoid the jagged spikes on the dragon's tail and if possible, talk her down.
He jumped as he heard his name being called and moved to leave, the morning sun blinding him as he walked down a man made path and into an arena causing the crowds to roar and boo at him as he grinned and pulled his baseball cap on, not caring that he was going to be chewed out for this decision by Professor McGonagall.
If he was going to fight in a wizard's robe and jeans, then he was at least going to do it in his trusty baseball hat. Which had a good 50+ defense rate.
"You smell familiar." The giant dragon about the size of a small mountain rumbled, her dull grayish brown scales glinting in the sun light as she studied him from behind her tail, her body protectively around her eggs with the Golden egg in the middle, sticking out like a sore thumb among the rock colored eggs.
Ness merely grinned as he placed the dragon as Sparik and adjusted his hat, tuning out the roar of the crowds and the announcer and focusing on his right hand as Sparik prepared to attack, snarling, "Even if this is just for show, I won't let my honor be sullied by a mere human!"
"If it makes you feel better," Ness replied jumping back as her spike covered tail slammed down on the ground, kicking up plumes of dust as the club like weapon suddenly came hurtling out of the dust, ready to turn him into Ness-Shiskabob.
"Baseball bat! Please don't fail me now!" Ness opened his right hand, and pictured his new bat there, ready to defend himself from the blood thirsty dragon who was determent to show that she wasn't messing around.
"What's this now!" an announcer yelled as the collapsible bat appeared in his hand and Ness swing his right arm, expending it and striking Sparik's tail.
"Ow!" she drew her tail back with a dragon like look of surprise as she snorted and blew smoke from her nostrils, "How… how did a measly bat harm me?" she wondered, growling in frustration when she spotted Ness slowly inching forward, keeping a careful eye on her tail as he prepared to break into a home run sprint.
"Hey batter-batter!" Ness yelled, dodging another swipe and swinging his bat like no tomorrow, grinning at the loud crack it made as the metal alloy connected with the side of the tail. He dug his heels into the dirt, grimacing as the tail nearly sent him into a wall and cut some of his robes but recovering quickly as he recovered a measly 100 damage from the attack thanks to the bat taking must of the brute force.
"Is he fighting with a cricket bat!?" someone yelled from the crowd as Ness shot a wary glance at his bat, not liking the various dents that were slowly warping the frame.
"No! It's an American Baseball bat!" Ness corrected as he focused on Sparik who was growing livid by the fact that Ness was actually landing some damage to her sturdy tail.
"Wizards!" Sparik snarled as she lashed out with her tail, her growls of rage increasing in volume as Ness dodged and ran toward her nest.
"Yeeaaaa not the brightest idea." Ness decided as Sparik's eyes widened in understanding and her tail swiped back, forcing Ness to make a last minute jump to the side as it returned in front of her eggs, the five foot spikes blocking the golden egg from sight as Ness felt blood trickle from the back of his ankles and the message Mortal Damage flashing in front of his eyes.
At least the cut was a small one, if it was any bigger then Ness would have begun to worry, but it was okay for now and Ness was close enough to do dish out some actual damage to Sparik.
"Eat metal!" Ness yelled, darting in and slamming his bat on Sparik's nose, grinning as the Dragoness reared back in pain, her front legs actually pushing up as her giant black claws dug into the earth.
"Baseball bat for the win!" Ness cheered running in between the gap created by Sparik pushing herself up and carefully grabbing the egg and placing it under his elbow like a football.
"Humans...!" Sparik seethed as Ness scrambled over her massive tail, avoiding the smaller spikes littered around her scales and ran for the arena exit where two Dragon tamers were making their away inside, preparing to apprehend her.
"Well, it was a fake egg if it makes you feel any better." Ness offered, trying not to glance over his shoulder as he heard a murderous roar than an explosion. He risked a quick glance as he felt something hot behind him and yelped as a large vortex of fire slammed into him.
"So Sparik's a sore loser. Nice to know." Ness thought, keeping this thought to himself as he held his breath and waited for the fire to fade out so he could see. He vaguely heard people screaming and yelling for some wizards to control Sparik when the fire died down and the noise stopped.
"On second thought. You aren't human." Sparik decided as Ness coughed and threw his now flaming robe off, scowling in disgust at it before he jogged out of the arena, grinning as he wiped the soot away from his face, ignoring the pain running up and down his body as he announced "Behold! I have a golden egg!" and entered the Champions tent, holding it over his head. He flinched at his less than warm welcoming as the girls screams and the guys looked at him in shock.
"It actually set you on fire?!" Harry asked as Ness dusted off his slightly burned striped sweater and adjusted his hat, "Yea, nothing I couldn't handle though." Ness replied winching as his back-leg muscles burned in pain from the cut being infected with smoke and ash.
"Dragons! Really!" Madam Pomfrey spluttered as Victor was called next, looking a little pale as Madam Pomfrey dragged Ness over to a medical tent.
Fussing over him as Ness protested that only his ankles were hurt and that he was perfectly fine.
"Young man, people do not get a face full of dragon fire and walk it off!" the nurse wizard snapped.
"Wizards and humans don't. But PSI users who have a second skin formed by their powers can sometimes walk it off." Ness thought as he allowed Madam Pomfrey to fuss over him and heal his ankles which burned slightly before the cut healed and forced him to rest before he was called to receive his score. Dumbledore, Madam Maxine, Karkaroff, Bagmen and Crouch were the judges and their perches made Ness feel a little uneasy. Small even as he stepped onto the stage and found himself bombarded with camera flashes before one by one, they gave him a number.
Dumbledore gave him a 7 for his creative thinking, Madam Maxine gave him a 5, probably the only decent number she could come up with without seeming a bit bias, Karkaroff gave him a 3 (Ness deduced it was because he hated Baseball or was disappointed that he hadn't gotten killed in the attack.) Bagman gave him an 8 for some reason exclaiming how the entire fight was daring, dumb and exhilarating while Crouch gave him a 2.
Ness found that a bit odd but didn't complain at his score of twenty-five as he headed back to the medical tent before Madam Pomfrey dragged him back in herself.
It was a little relaxing to just be hanging around the tent flaps, watching the challenge out of a corner of his eye as Madam Pomfrey prepared for the next victim, received them and fussed all over them as she had with Ness.
Victor came back with three ugly claw marks over his clothes and chest, the wound wasn't very deep, but it was enough to make Ness cringe in sympathy as Victor faintly muttered, "Didn't expect the Venus Hunter to be so light on her feet." Before heading out to get a score of 38.
Cedric came next, looking a little sleepy as he accidentally dropped his egg on his foot got fixed up and nearly fell asleep during the judging, not hearing his score of 22, then Alexander who was yelling that he was fine after a loud screeching match with Mimic getting 36, and finally Flur who was looking a green around the edges and struggling to breath as she got 41 points.
Madam Pomfrey kicked him out after Flur's return, forcing him to go sit with the crowd and watch the last two matches and judging from the sidelines.
It was a bit lonely since Ness was near the bottom of the bleachers and had no clue where Ginny and Luna were, but worth it to see Adaliz slowly work her way around the serpent like snake using a water spell to create a small wave of water that danced around Sepri who hungrily chased after it like a toy, not even caring that Adaliz had taken the fake egg until the water smacked her in the face. Causing the snake dragon to give a watery huff and sulk as the tamers pulled her out of the arena, got Adaliz medical treatment she didn't really need and gave her a score of 34, before the tamers brought in Tira who looked less than thrilled at the entire thing.
"And now, Harry Potter!" half the crowd erupted in cheers as Harry stepped out, wand out and his expression determent as he held his wand up and yelled, "Accio!" and waited. It took ten minutes before suddenly his Firebolt shot out from the castle and arrived beside Harry, surprising everyone who then erupted in cheers as the announcer said something that was drowned out by the cheering.
"Smart hatchling." Ness heard Tira rumbled as Harry shot into the air, with a proud grin as he eyed the Golden egg, not noticing how Tira's eyes listlessly studied him, clearly interested in him but at the same time, not as her eyes slowly slid over to the crowd.
"Arrogant wizards." Tira growled as Harry carefully studied her and waited, darting back and forth while trying to gain her attention, "Cheering a hatchling on against a dragon who fans the volcanic embers onto cities as if he's in no danger. Pathetic." She glared up at Harry and huffed, fire building in her mouth as she prepared to attack.
Harry stiffened slightly and flew out of the way, avoiding a wall of fire as Tira gave a motherly roar of anger her curved wings snapping open as she reared back, her tail curling around her clutch of eggs as her wings gave a powerful flap, sending torrents of hot air and smoke toward Harry.
Ness paled as Harry was pushed back, his glasses covered in soot as he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve to prevent a mouthful of ash from entering his lungs. His body shaking as he pulled his arm soot covered arm away and coughed. His reaction proving to be futile as the announcer yelled, "Looks like the Volcanic-Curved Wing is getting to ready to attack Harry! Currently blinded by the fire!" forcing Harry to shake off his coughing fit and scrub his glasses clean while also moving in the air, trying to avoid Tira's next attack.
Tira followed him with her eyes, flames curling around her snout as she reared back and shot another fire wall at him and fanned the smoke from her mouth up at him to create a smoke screen that would force Harry to land.
Harry eventually shot down to the ground, hurtling like a rocket and causing the crowd to scream as Harry prepared to slam head first into the dirt when he suddenly shot upward piercing the lingering smoke like a bullet and looking down at Tira with partially cleaned glasses.
"Go Harry!" Ness cheered, feeling relived as Tira looked up at him in slight shock before she readied her wings, changing tactics. Harry braced himself and waited as Tira flapped her wings, sending huge gusts of air that Harry clumsily flew through then blew out a plume of smoke which flew up toward the young wizard.
Ness briefly saw Harry's eyes flash as he shot downward once more, clearing the smoke and making a sharp right as Tira suddenly lunged up snapping empty air as Harry spun his broom around and dove under Tira who spat an angry flame at the ground, her wings slamming down as Harry reached the eggs, effectively trapping him under her massive wings as she curled into a tight ball, closing any gaps he could have used to escape.
Tira slowly peered inside, mouth glowing with flames that faintly lit up her darkened nest and illuminated Harry and a flash of gold.
"Ooooh that is not good-," Ness started when Tira suddenly reared back, blinking her eyes in shock and pain as a black blur shot out from the wing cage, clutching a golden egg.
"He's done it! Harry Potter's managed to escape the clutches of death and retrieve the Golden Egg!" the announcer cheered as Harry proudly held it up the best he could and flew toward the exit with a huge grin on his face.
Ness was already waiting for him by the exit, relived to see that his friend hadn't gotten himself seriously hurt. "Awesome job!" he congratulated, giving Harry an energetic high five before escorting him to the Medical tent to be fussed over.
"I got really lucky remembering that water spell." Harry admitted, coughing slightly as Madam Pomfrey healed some nasty burns on his hands and face before shooing him outside to receive his score.
He got the second highest score of 43 despite Kakroff's 3 points.
"So apparently, for me to win I'm going to need a broomstick," Ness teased as reporters appeared for private interviews. Ness and Harry quickly ducked behind Alexander and Adaliz who nervously tried to shy away from the sudden attention.
"Come on, maybe we can hide behind the bleachers-," Ness started when someone with an American accent yelled, "Excuse us!" and broke through the wall of reporters with practiced ease.
"Ahoy there!" a young woman chirped as a man slightly older than her stood behind her, an old fashion camera at the ready as he and the woman gave them excited smiles that looked a lot more… human, then the smiles the other reporters were giving them.
"I'm Lily Adams and this is my older cousin, Chip Adams." The woman introduced her voice upbeat and excited as she brushed a lock of brown and lilac colored hair out of her pink tinted glasses, "We're from the Mystic Informant!"
"Mystic…Informant?" Harry questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly at the unfamiliar paper, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I've heard of them before."
"Of course not! We're from America!" Lily explained, "We cover national tournaments, global news, attacks and other things! Sadly, Europe doesn't exactly like our hard work so we don't get published over here."
Chip shook his head in mild disgust and said, "Make one bad joke about a glitter cover robe and you're banned. The animals." Before he turned and got a side shot of Flur and Adaliz who were talking to an envious Rita Skeeter.
"Oh brother." Lily grumbled, rolling her eyes at the memory, before she clicked on a recorder and pointed it at Ness, "So baseball bat! What was it like going up against a Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon?" Lily chipperly asked, "Terrifying? Thrilling? Boring even!?"
Ness blinked in surprise as she leaned forward earning a snort of disbelief from Chip as he took a picture of them and said, "Answer them the best you can, Lily's a bit of a loose cannon."
"Am not!" Lily protested before she turned back to Ness who adjusted his hat and nervously admitted, "I was pretty relaxed during most of it, I've faced worse before and the only thing I had to watch out for was her tail."
"Faced worse?! What could be worse than a dragon!?"
"Soul sucking monsters?" Chip offered with a light laugh that quickly died when Harry and Ness shared a look of discomfort.
"Oh geez…" Chip exclaimed softly, "I was just-,"
"Joking," Harry finished, "We know."
"Besides, it's not every day you meet a couple kids who go up against Dementors." Ness joked.
"Ohhhh, so how did you defeat those guys?" Lily asked, leaning forward once more as Ness felt something, something that nudged his brain into pushing forward the terrifying battle against the horde of black cloaked ghouls.
"We just got lucky," Harry answered, sounding a bit relaxed even though he was skirting around what really happened, "Someone spotted us in the woods and used Patronous, allowing a teacher to rescue us."
"Do you think Sirus Black summoned it?" Lily asked before Chip nudged her and shot her a disapproving glare.
"Stay on topic little Ms. I can talk all day, we have other people to interview." Chip reminded her as the nudging at the back of Ness's mind stopped, allowing Ness to focus on Lily's next question of, "So did you have any clues? Tips about this challenge?" and easily answer it before she turned to Harry, praising his flying skill and asking if he was aiming for the Quddtich World Cup when he got older.
Harry actually blushed a little and bashfully said he hadn't thought about it before he talked about how he got the idea to summon his broom and the last-minute burst of adrenal that allowed him to react to Tira's nearly fatal final attack.
Ness frowned at all the detail Harry was mentioning, nervously admitting that he had been terrified when he realized that the Dragon had lured him into a trap and saw his life briefly flashing in his eyes before he acted on pure instinct.
Chip and Lily suppressed looks of horror for his sake and thanked them for his time, promising to send them both free copies of Mystic Informant when they published it before they went to interview Adaliz and Alexander who were looking a little faint.
"Get ready to run—," Ness started when he saw Rita Skeeter practically glow with happiness at the sight of them when Chip bumped into her and said, "Sorry! I was blinded by your robe!" which was another hideous alligator robe. Even though it was a truthful statement since the sun was reflecting off of the scales, making her look like a green skinned disco ball, the remark was somehow enough to send Rita into a rage and get her escorted off the field by officials as she tried to hex Chip who ignored her.
"Luckkkky." Ness whistled as they watched the horrid woman be dragged away.
"I wonder if Mr. Adams can tick her off all the time." Harry mused as someone yelled, "Ness you moron!" and tackled Ness in a hug.
"Carrot attack!" Ness yelled as he caught a snippet of orange hair before he fell to the ground.
"Really?" Ginny said, glaring at him as she broke apart and helped him stand, "Just, really?"
"That was amazing!" Luna gushed, actually looking wide awake for once, "I thought you were two were goners but then, you just performed miracles!"
"Don't ever do it again though." Ginny warned shooting them both looks, "Or else I'll be forced to tie you knuckle heads up with Spello tape."
"And I'll help." Hermione offered, joining them and giving Harry a quick hug before she praised him for being able to do it and remember the water spell that they had learned last week, "I knew you could do it Harry!" Hermione said, a tired yet proud smile on her face as Ginny bombarded him with questions.
"So… How did you survive the flames?" Luna quietly asked as they spotted Ron numbly approaching them, looking as pale as a sheet.
"Some enemies used elemental attacks against us, so I devolved a second skin to avoid getting killed with my PSI powers, Paula and Poo have one too." Ness replied with a small shrug.
"Here he comes." Harry grumbled just noticing Ron as he awkwardly rung his hands unsure what to say. They just waited while Luna happily waved hello, unaware of the Gryffindors' falling out with the Weasly.
"Harry." Ron finally said, his voice barely above a guilt felt and frightened whisper.
"Ron." Harry replied his voice devoid of any emotion as he coolly stared his friend down.
"Ness." Ness unhelpfully added, flinching as Ginny and Luna punched him in the shoulder for his remark.
"I…I think someone's trying to kill you," Ron finally admitted, flinching at the unanimous looks of 'No! Really?" he received for stating the obvious.
"Finally got that silly idea of us risking our lives for fame then?" Harry asked.
Ron nodded and looked ashamed of himself, pulling at his worn sleeve as he forced himself to continue, "I-I'm sorry, I was just so caught up at the fact that you were going to enter a once in a life time tournament that I sort of… forgot."
Harry stared at Ron for a long moment before he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Next time, try to listen." Harry said with a forgiving smile.
"Or else I'll use my magic on you," Ness added, but he said it with a light teasing smile before he, Luna and Ginny headed inside the castle to have a late lunch and examine the Golden Egg. He was forced to go upstairs with Harry and the other Gryffindors for a party instead of sneaking off to the clubhouse where Selvis was waiting but after watching Harry open the egg and unleash a watery banshee scream which was supposed to be their clue. He was glad Dean and Seamus had dragged him upstairs.
"What kind of clue is that!?" Ron demanded as Fred grumbled, "Judges probably set it up for a sick joke."
"Maybe the clue's hidden inside the egg?" someone offered, cringing as Ness opened his own and peered inside before closing it, "Empty." He yelled, his ears ringing from the wail.
"So… the clue's hidden in that horrid screeching then." Lavender mused.
"How are you supposed to figure it out then?" Ginny asked.
"Who knows?" Ness said with a shrug, "But at least we have a clue." Everyone murmured in agreement before they resumed partying and bombarding Ness with questions about how he survived through the fire and flames.
Ness brushed them off with a casual answer that he just got lucky and that he had no real clue and eventually, they went to resume asking Harry how he got the idea to summon his broom to fight the dragon. Giving Ness some breathing room before Selvis called him, forcing him to hastily head to his thankfully empty dorm room to speak to Selvis in private.
"What's up?" Ness asked, jumping in bed and closing the curtains as Selvis whispered, "First, you're insane and second, Crouch left after your match for a bit. Putting Percy in charge for everyone but Harry."
"He just, left? Right after giving my score?" Ness questioned, wondering why it wasn't a public announcement.
"Yup, I overheard someone say that Crouch was feeling faint and went to sit down in the medical tent."
"He was never there."
"Oh?"
"He only showed up with Bagmen to inform us of the rules and then he left. He never came back."
"You sure?"
"Positive, I was hanging around there up until Flur got her score. Crouch never came in."
"So, he must have been sabotaging something." Selvis murmured, "Or having a meeting with someone."
"Who? Karkaroff never left his post, right?"
"Right, he stayed up there with Dumbledore, Madam Maxine and Bagmen for the entire challenge."
"So, who did he speak to?"
Selvis fell silent for a moment as Ness tried to think of possible suspects of who Crouch could have gone to if he hadn't spoken to Karkaroff.
"Maybe there's another spy in the building." Luna suggested, causing Ness to jump in surprise as Selvis snapped, "Geez! Say hello first!" before he dropped his voice and asked, "But who smarty pants?"
"Maybe Winky."
"Winky? They questioned as movement came from Luna's side of the conversation before she answered, "Well, she was fired, right? Maybe she wound up here."
"Right, Hogwarts has a huge amount of house elves working for them." Selvis recalled as Ness felt his stomach twist in guilt as he remembered Hermione saying the same thing near the start of the year.
"Come to think of it, Winky would know if something was wrong with Mr. Crouch since she's been with him for so long." Ness realized, "But… will she talk?"
"First, let's focus on finding her then worry about if she'll talk or not." Selvis pointed out.
"Point," Luna yawned, "Besides, Crouch isn't due to return until the next challenge with that egg thingy."
"Find any clues from that?" Selvis asked.
"Other than the fact that it screams like a banshee and gives me a massive headache and danger sense? Nope,"
"Bugger, well, at least you have a clue." Selvis yawned, "So you aren't going in completely blind."
"Plus, you'll have Alexander and Adaliz for help, right?" Luna asked.
"More or less, now we can actually form a plan around this one," Ness replied, fighting back a yawn of his own, "Let's continue this conversation in the morning guys."
"Fine with me, I have a Rita Skeeter to skin." Selvis growled before he ended the call, not even letting Luna say good night.
"So, we have an egg that won't shut up." Ness started during a lunch break period at their usual hang out with Adaliz and Alexander who were carefully holding their own eggs, "Any ideas?"
"I say, more dragons." Selvis unhelpfully suggested as he flipped through a dusty book, searching for something.
"Maybe a giant geese!" Luna offered, a bright twinkle in her eye, "They lay golden eggs!"
"They don't exist." Adaliz pointed out, frowning at Luna's strange idea.
"Well, they could." Ness said with a shrug as he went over the date of the next challenge. It would be on the leap day of February, giving them a good three months to work with—and prepare for Crouch's next arrival.
Kakroff was going to need to be watched as well, but since the Durmstrang students only came in for breakfast he doubted the Headmaster had it out for them or even had enough time to set Ness and Harry up.
"It sounds like singing," Alexander mused, closing his eyes in thought, "Actually… I think I've heard it before."
"Where?" Ginny asked.
"Um…" Alexander frowned and opened his eyes, "I don't know. I know it had something to do during a summer vacation with my family but… I was really little."
"Do you remember where you went?" Selvis asked, sitting up slightly as he performed some spell.
"A beach… But that's all,"
"So, water monsters at best." Ness sighed, looking down at his metal bat, it wouldn't be very effective under the water, it would either sink or float depending on the metal Jeff had used to create it.
"I can't swim." Adaliz bemoaned, "I never got a chance to learn since we didn't have a lot of water around my town."
"Didn't your Muggle school teach you that?" Ness asked in disbelief as Selvis spoke up, "Most wizards teach their kids at home before they go to their choice of magic school, less to worry about in terms of a muggle finding out they were a wizard."
"Well, looks like we're going to have to teach you how to swim Adaliz," Ness sighed, glancing outside to see the lake. The freezing lake with the giant octopus in it. Or was it a squid?
"E-er, we're also going to need spells that work under the water," Alexander pointed out, "My cousin tried to show off to a mermaid by summoning an umbrella from the beach side, but it didn't work."
Ginny, Luna and Selvis shot Ness worried looks, silently asking if his powers worked underwater. As far as Ness knew, they didn't, then again, he hadn't really been forced to fight underwater before. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Luna.
"Know any spells Luna?" Ness asked frowning when she shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, magic can still work underwater but it's sluggish, and doesn't pact as much of a punch." Luna answered.
"So, we'll be fighting on land if it comes to an actual battle," Adaliz mused. They nodded in agreement and tried to think up ideas as to what they might face, retrieving an item from under the water, a magical boat race, (Everyone shot Ness confused looks until he sighed and said, Muggle idea.) making their way through a watery obstacle course and one where they had to rescue someone.
Selvis had an idea of a battle to the death over the water which received horrified looks until Selvis deadpanned, "Well, considering the fact that you went up against living dragons that doesn't rule out a battle to the death, now does it?"
"Let's just hope it's an obstacle course." Ness sighed as they went downstairs for dinner, "I'm not in the mood for anymore battles."
Adaliz and Alexander nodded in agreement and changed topic, talking about their interviews as Selvis lagged behind as usual, eagerly listening in as they made their way to the Great Hall.
So random fun fact, while I was writing the part where Ness was shooed out of the Medical tent by Madam Pomfrey, my grammar check wanted me to change it so Madam Pomfrey shot Ness with something, most likely her wand. I think Word has it out for Ness guys. Or, maybe it's mad at me since I just realized that the 'challenges' were actually called trails in the book. Whoops.
Also, I reeaaaally wish that Ron wasn't a hothead! I hate writing fights and then having the two people involved make up, especially if it was a dumb fight to being with! it's too much angst for my goofy little soul to handle thinking about let alone writing it. T_T