Chapter 10: The First Task
On the day of the First Task, Peri discovered a tear-shaped vial sitting on her plate at breakfast with an icy blue colored liquid. She picked it up as she took her seat, she scanned the Hall to see if someone was acting suspiciously as if they wanted to poison her. She looked back at the potion again, noticing a small piece of parchment attached by a piece of twine to the vial, "Careful not to get burned" the parchment read. She looked around once more, spotting Harry.
She got up crossing to Harry, "Harry?"
He appeared distant, "Harry," Hermione nudged him.
This got his attention, "Hmm…Oh, Peri? Is it time?" His voice was shaky as he spoke.
She shook her head, "No one has told…" she stopped as Professor Snape and McGonagall approached them.
McGonagall cleared her throat, interrupting them, "King. Potter, the champions are already down at the tents getting ready,"
Harry turned his direction of vision to her, standing up with his fork falling to his plate with a clatter, "Okay."
"Good luck," Hermione said to him, "You'll be fine."
He followed her out of the Hall, "Ms. King," Snape walked ahead of her.
She looked at him, her hand wrapping tighter around the vial in her hand, "I will be right there."
She left moments after making her way down the stone steps, where she reached the edge of the forest, there was a tent blocking off the view of what she believed to be the dragons behind it. Snape exited the tent, the way he was treated had changed after the release of the paper. She knew why it had changed, but still refused to view him as her father. Richard was her father, he had been there since she was two and never left where her father ignored her existence till he had to.
"Um…Peri… you must remain calm. This task is to test your body and mind, how quickly you can complete the task with the knowledge you know…" he swallowed, "You are an intelligent witch. I have no doubt you will not succeed…just…just do not get burned."
She had not been looking at him, she watched the flapping of the tent doors till he spoke those words 'just do not get burned.'
"What?"
He shook his head placing an unsure hand on her shoulder and leading her inside the tent. She spotted Fleur sitting in one of the corners on a low wooden stool. She seemed less composed than usual, pale and nauseous appearing. Viktor appeared nearly drugged or drunk, one of the two. Cedric was pacing up and down while Harry stood watching over everyone unsure what to do. She pushed Snape's hand off her shoulder and then went into one of the changing rooms provided for them to change into.
She closed the curtain, the light above her turning on as soon as the curtain shut. It was the size of a large walk-in closet. A small couch was placed against one of the walls, she set her bag on the small side table next to it removing the skin-tight, black, snake-skinned bodysuit. She began to undress from her uniform, slipping the outfit onto her body, it hugged every inch of her body. It was long-sleeved and easily gave a perfect view of every curve on her body. She examined herself in the ceiling-to-floor mirror, "Beautiful…no sexy," she smiled at her reflection. She pulled her dark hair into a side braid. Her makeup had a Smokey look to it, giving the idea of fire. She reached into the bag grabbing a black silk cloak to hide the outfit until her turn.
She stepped out of the changing room, Bagman looking at her, "Well, now we're all here — time to fill you in! When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it, "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face. There — er —charities, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah, yes…your task is to collect the golden egg!"
They went to their sections of the tent waiting for what felt like forever hearing footsteps and voices speaking excitedly. She overheard Fred and George taking bets on who would win the task. "Five galleons! Place your bets! Who will win? The Fiery Slytherin? Or The Courageous Hufflepuff?"
Bagman motioned them all back to a group, "Ladies first…let us start with the youngest," he held the neck of the purple silk sack. Peri approached feeling the eyes on her as her mother, stepfather, and Snape watched her more intensely than anyone else she felt. She slipped her hand into the silk sack, feeling instant warmth on her hand. The feeling could be described when you get too close to the fireplace when trying to warm up after coming in from the cold. She felt the models within, the scales rough on her hands till one of them became annoyed with her poking and prodding, letting out a blaze of fire to her hand. She grabbed a random model pulling it from the silk sack, "The Ukrainian Ironbelly," she spoke under her breath, which was loud enough to be heard by those around.
"Yes…the largest breed of dragon," Bagman informed her.
She stepped back holding the dragon model in the palm of her hand allowing it to walk around, noticing the number two around its neck. This breed she learned from her reading was a bipedal breed and metallic grey, with an immense wingspan, long talons and rough scales said to be as hard as steel. It can reach up to six tonnes, with deep red eyes. She turned her attention to her dragon to watch the others. Fleur withdrew a Welsh Green that had the number three around its neck. This breed was probably the safest and easiest of the five dragons that would be offered to the champions
Viktor went next, withdrawing the Chinese Fireball, this one had a number four tied around its neck. He did not blink as he took a step back, his eyes staring at the ground. His dragon could be aggressive when provoked and today it probably would be, but otherwise was typically a calmer breed.
Cedric approached the silk bag withdrawing his dragon. A Swedish Short-Snout. This species of dragon is considered to be quite dangerous to the dragons provided to them. As its fire can burn bones to ash and its agile flying. The number on his dragon was one.
The final champion, Harry, reached in and she knew the final dragon left the Hungarian Horntail. He would be number five, their final champion to compete. His dragon was considered to be the most dangerous of all the dragons in existence. Her breath hitched watching him withdraw it from the silk sack.
"Well, there you are! Bagman announced. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the number refers to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see?" He instructed Cedric on what to do before escorting Harry outside for a brief moment.
A whistle blew moments later from somewhere outside the tent. Seconds after Harry re-entered the tent, roars from the crowd signified to those inside the tent that Cedric was now within the enclosure and would be facing his dragon. The screaming and gasping noises from the crowd sent her into a near panic. She projected this bad-ass girl, but deep down she feared death.
"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" … "He's taking risks, this!" … "Clever move — pity it didn't work!" Bagman's voice called out.
Nearly fifteen minutes later, there was a defeating roar that signified Cedric capturing the golden egg.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman shouted
She did not listen to another word, as her mother approached her as she re-entered the tent guiding her out of the tent to where she would get into place to face her dragon. "You will do fine…" she kissed her head, "I have faith you will do fine."
Peri looked at the fear in her mother's eyes, "Mom…"
"You have to go…down there," she gave her a strong hug before pushing her down a tunnel. A door closing behind her preventing her from turning back, she withdrew the vial from her clock pocket, drinking the icy blue liquid within. She took a shaky breath as the liquid sent burning cold pain through her body. Once it subsided she stuffed the vial back into her pocket, proceeding down the tunnel. "One down, four to go!" Bagman called out as a whistle blew. "Ms. King, if you please!"
She exited the tunnel hearing the cheers of the crowd as she entered the arena. The crowd stared at her as she looked over everyone, unbuckling her cloak and letting it slip over her in an almost seductive manner. The men around whistled at her seeing the form-fitting bodysuit. The scales shining against the autumn sun, the Ukrainian Ironbelly erupted in an ear-piercing roar, sending a flame of fire towards her. She let the fire hit her, allowing the bodysuit to light on fire. It was a spell cast on it, to make her appear on fire when it got hot enough. The crowd gasped and then oohed knowing the truth of what was happening as she began running directly towards the dragon. It continued to blow rings of fire towards her, still, the more it hit her the brighter she burned.
"Look at that! The Girl on Fire!" Bagman called out.
She jumped onto a boulder as the dragon whipped around to swing its tail at her, but as it whipped around with its back to her. She bounced off the boulder doing a flip through the air landing on the back of the dragon. It erupted with another ear-piercing roar, she slipped down the opposite side landing in the nest of eggs and grabbing one of them and lifting it in the air as the crowd cheered her for her success and performance.
"Way to go Peri!" She heard Draco's voice over the crowd.
The dragon roared defeat as she was brought to a seat to retrieve her score, "Our quickest to get the egg yet."
Mr. Crouch raised his wand into the air giving an eight.
Dumbledore gave a ten, where the crowd cheered louder
Bagman gave a ten as well.
"You are winning darling," Cassie smiled, squeezing her hand.
Karkaroff raised his wand giving a two.
Bagman stood up again, "That places, Ms. King in the first place position!"
"You couldn't judge for being a parent, but Dumbledore and Karkaroff can?" Peri questioned her mother.
"Shhh…accept your score. You are in first place right now, youngest so far to compete, and did better than a seventh year."
Peri nodded, standing and accepting her score gratefully as flowers from the students were tossed at her. She caught them smiling, loving this new attention. For once she was being loved for being herself.
The rest of the task continued, everyone receiving their eggs, including Harry. His was more dangerous as his dragon broke loose from its chains, and they flew around the entire grounds before Harry nose-dived for his egg. He ended up with the quickest time of all of them.
When the champions exited the tent to head back to the castle, there in the clearing was Rita Skeeter with her Quick-Quotes Quill that blended perfectly into the outfit, "Ms. King, who designed your magnificent outfit?"
"My sister."
She gave a sneaky grin, "Ooo, a secret sister?"
"No," she spotted Hallie walking out from the stands and grabbing her, "My sister. Blood does not determine family."
"Name?" She asked Hallie.
"Hallie Porter…" she looked at Peri confused, "I am going back to Fred." She stepped away from the group returning to her boyfriend, George, and Lee.
"Harry! A quick word?"
Peri grabbed his arm, "Goodbye!" The two said in unison, then she attempted to get words from the other champions but they said no.
Rita Skeeter then spotted Ida and Remy exiting the stands with their mother and Remus, "Lady Emilie!" She gave a pathetic excuse for a curtsy, but Emilie simply ignored her pulling her children away in a hurry.