The Hungarian Horntail
The next fortnight was something Arthur was willing to face knowing he'd be able to talk with Sirius.
At this point, the shock of suddenly becoming school champion was wearing off and the concern over the first task started taking over.
It was drawing nearer and nearer and Arthur wondered what he'll be facing. He's faced situations like this before, though none of them had many spectators watching him.
And the nerves he felt were beyond anything he felt before any of the Quidditch matches he participated in, even the one against Slytherin that won Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup.
He was wondering how seeing Sirius would make him feel better about going to perform tasks in front of hundreds of people. He wrote back to him, saying he'll be there for him by the fire. David, Chrys and Mike formed a plan to ensure that there weren't any stragglers in the common room that night. They even considered having a backup plan of dropping a bag of Dungbombs, though they hoped they'd never resort to that, otherwise Filch would skin them alive.
Meanwhile, life was getting worse for Arthur within Hogwarts.
Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament. But it wasn't really about the Tournament if you read it, as it was nothing but a completely inaccurate and false account of Arthur's life.
He was flabbergasted because she didn't even talk with him.
Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Arthur; the article, which continued on pages two, six and seven, was all about Arthur, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (which were misspelt) were squashed into the last line of the article and Cedric wasn't even mentioned, something that would irk the Hufflepuffs, and especially Amos Diggory, considering how idiotic and proud he is.
The article appeared ten days ago and Arthur was fuming that Skeeter wrote this from her own twisted mind.
The one part that irked and shocked him was that she revealed his lineage to his two biggest ancestors.
And if that wasn't enough, it turns out that Arthur Pendergast has two ancestors of note. One being the famous king, Arthur Pendragon, and the other being one of the four Hogwarts founders, Godric Gryffindor, who King Arthur descended from. This also explains how he is friends with the Merlon family, being descendants of Merlin, who aided King Arthur.
"I wanted to make them proud." Arthur said of his ancestors.
When he asked the others whether they had any idea how she learned of this, both David and Mike were the most shocked because during the Care of Magical Creatures lesson where they had the Skrewt on leashes, the two actually talked of how Arthur was already dealing with enough pressure being a descendant of his ancestors with being a Triwizard champion, yet she was nowhere near them on the grounds when they had this conversation.
And it also seemed that Skeeter had gone a step further and interviewed other people about him.
Arthur has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Arthur is rarely seen out of the company of one Chrysanthemum Ranger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-Born girl, who, like Arthur, is one of the top students in the school.
To say that Arthur was fuming would be the biggest understatement of all time. As soon as he could, he found Colin and berated him for saying that stuff in the article because there isn't an ounce of truth to it. He made quite the scene in the Gryffindor common room, but he didn't care as he had to set things straight with that annoying kid.
And the idea that he was in love with Chrys sickened him. Not just because she's one of his closest friends, downright platonic with her, but the idea of dating a girl threw him off.
Of course, ever since the article appeared, Arthur had to endure people, especially Slytherins, quoting the article at him whenever he passed them, and making sneering comments.
"No wonder you want to join the Tournament, you just want to bring glory to your ancestors."
"You're one of the top students in the school? Just when I thought you were insufferable enough."
"Hey, Arthur!"
"WHAT?" He snapped, wheeling around in the corridor, seeing that it was Cho Chang, which snapped him out of his temper.
"You dropped your quill." She said, looking shocked.
"Oh, gosh… I'm sorry, Cho." He said, taking the quill back. "I'm just so fed up with Skeeter having made up all that troll dung that I've been in a bad mood."
"It's okay." She assured him. "Good luck for Tuesday, by the way. I really hope you do well."
"Thanks." He said before walking off.
Chrys ended up having her fair share of unpleasantness herself.
Of course, she didn't yell at anyone, but handled the whole thing pretty well.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy shrieked, coming face to face with Chrys after Skeeter's article appeared. "What was she judging against, a chipmunk?"
"No, Pugsy, she just compared me to you, considering how ugly you are." Chrys retorted, walking past a now shocked and glaring group of Slytherin girls with Arthur and David.
There have been times where the trio would go to the library and read some books to pass the time, sometimes doing some work.
One thing that Arthur noticed was that Krum started coming to the library an awful lot. Arthur was wondering what he was doing. Perhaps to study, or maybe even look up stuff for the first task.
Chrys would complain about Krum's presence in the library, not because he bothered them, but because of the groups of giggling girls that spied on him from behind bookshelves, which irritated Chrys.
"Honestly, he's not that good looking." She muttered angrily as she glared at his sharp profile.
The days leading up the first task started blending together and sped on quickly like someone fixed the clocks to work at double speed.
His feelings of concern just kept growing no matter where he went.
On the Saturday before the first task, all students third year and above would be permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Chrys and David told Arthur that he should get away from the castle for a bit, though he didn't really need much persuasion. But he did have one condition.
"I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak, no arguments."
He put it on in the dormitory and went downstairs with David, meeting up with Chrys and set off for Hogsmeade.
Arthur felt more safe and free under the Cloak, watching other students walk past them as they entered the village, most wearing Support CEDRIC DIGGORY badges, and for once, no snide remarks were thrown at him, and no one quoted that bogus article.
"At least no one's looking at us oddly." David said as they exited Honeydukes Sweetshop, eating large cream filled chocolates.
"Arthur, can't you just take your Cloak off for a bit?" Chrys said, feeling slightly stupid, unlike David.
"Look behind you." Arthur whispered bitterly.
Skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged from the pub known as the Three Broomsticks. They were talking in low voices as they passed right by Chrys and David without looking at them.
Arthur had backed himself into the wall of Honeydukes so that Skeeter didn't hit him with her crocodile skin handbag.
Once they were out of sight, Arthur said "She's staying in the village. She'll most likely come to watch the first task."
Of course, the trio all discussed what the first task could be about and what strategies Arthur could use.
"Okay, she's gone." David said. "Let's go and have a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit too cold for my liking."
They found the pub to be already packed, mainly with Hogwarts students who were enjoying their free afternoon, but there was also a variety of magical people that Arthur rarely saw anywhere else. Of course, Arthur knew that there were other wizarding villages, so they must house such people in them as well.
It proved to be difficult to move through the crowd as Arthur edged himself slowly towards a spare table in the corner while David and Chrys went to buy their drinks.
They joined him a moment later and they slipped him a Butterbeer under his Cloak.
"You know, I've been wondering about the house elves in the kitchens. Remind me some time to ask Jack and Kevin how to enter." Chrys said to David, who nodded.
Arthur just had his Butterbeer in silence, watching the people in the pub.
They all seemed cheerful and relaxed. He saw Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot swapping Chocolate Frog cards at a nearby table, both sporting Support CEDRIC DIGGORY badges on their cloaks. Over by the door, Cho entered with a large group of her Ravenclaw friends. She notably didn't wear a CEDRIC badge, so she must believe that he didn't put his name in, which made him feel a bit better.
If only his name wasn't released from the Goblet of Fire. He'd actually enjoy himself, sitting around and laughing, not worrying about homework. He'd even look forward to the Triwizard Tournament, watching the tasks unfold as an audience member.
He started wondering how the other champions were doing. Of course, whenever he saw Cedric, he'd be surrounded by admirers, looking nervous yet excited. Arthur managed to get glimpses of Fleur from time to time in the corridors, and she looked as she always did, haughty and unruffled. Then there's Krum, who'd sit in the library, poring over books.
Then Arthur suddenly thought of Sirius and how he'll speak with him in over twelve hours time, as tonight they would meet at the common room fire, most likely in the same method that Amos used the morning of the day he went to Hogwarts. Of course, that's if everything goes to plan.
"Hey, it's Hagrid!" David said.
Arthur looked and saw the back of Hagrid's enormous shaggy head, thankfully abandoning his bunches, emerging over the crowd. He was surprised he didn't see him till now, considering how large Hagrid is. But he did seem to be leaning low and was talking to Moody.
Hagrid had his usual enormous tankard in front of him, whereas Moody drank from his hip flask.
Madam Rosmerta, the pretty landlady, didn't think of this apparently as looked askance at Moody as she collected glasses from tables around them. Arthur remembered Moody telling them in their last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson that he preferred preparing his own food and drink at all times, as it proved to be easy for dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.
For a moment, as Arthur watched them get up to leave, he waved before remembering that he was under his Invisibility Cloak, so Hagrid couldn't see him. But then Moody paused and his magical eye turned towards Arthur.
Moody then tapped Hagrid in the small of his back (being unable to reach his shoulder), muttered something and then made their way through the pub towards the trio.
"Alright, you two?" Hagrid greeted David and Chrys loudly, the two greeting back.
"Nice Cloak, Pendergast." Moody then said, shocking Arthur as Moody grinned
"Wait, so - Your eye can -?"
"Yeah, it can see through Invisibility Cloaks." Moody said quietly. "And it's come in useful at times, I can tell you."
Hagrid beamed down at Arthur as well. Clearly Moody told him he was there.
While looking like he was talking to David and Chrys, Hagrid spoke in a low whisper to Arthur saying "Arthur, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Wear that Cloak."
Straightening up, he then said his goodbyes to David and Chrys loudly and departed with Moody.
"He wants me to meet him at midnight." He told the pair.
"But your meeting with Sirius is at one o'clock. You could end up being late." David pointed out.
"Well… I'll just have to tell Hagrid to make it quick." Arthur replied.
Just why did Hagrid want to meet with Arthur at midnight?
At half past eleven that evening, Arthur pretended to go to bed early.
With that, he pulled on his Invisibility Cloak and crept quietly back down into the common room.
A few people were still there. Both Colin and Dennis Creevey had somehow managed to get a whole stack of Support CEDRIC DIGGORY badges, trying to bewitch them to say Support ARTHUR PENDERGAST instead. But as of right now, all they've managed to get was the badges stuck on PENDERGAST STINKS.
Arthur crept past them to the portrait hole and waited for a minute or so, looking at his watch. Chrys then opened the Fat Lady for him from the outside, just as planned.
He slipped past her with a quick 'thanks' before setting off through the castle.
The grounds were very dark, as expected at this time of year.
Arthur made his way in the direction of the lights that shone in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Arthur could even hear Maxime talking inside it as he knocked on Hagrid's front door.
"You there, Arthur?" Hagrid whispered as he opened the door and looked around.
"It's me." Arthur sad as he slipped inside the cabin and pulled the Cloak off his head. "What's up, Hagrid, because I need to get back to the castle before one o'clock."
"Got summat ter show yeh." Hagrid replied, having an air of excitement around him. He wore a flower that resembled an oversized artichoke in his buttonhole. He decided to not use axle grease, though he did attempt to comb his hair, Arthur being able to see the comb's broken teeth dangling in it.
"What are you even showing me?" Arthur asked warily, hoping that it wasn't something like another three headed dog or the Skrewts laying eggs.
"Come with me, keep quiet an' keep yerself covered with the Cloak. We won' take Fang, he won' like it…."
He then opened the cabin door and strode off into the night.
Arthur pulled the Cloak over his head and followed after him, finding that he was heading towards the Beauxbatons carriage.
Hagrid then knocked three times on the door that bore the crossed, golden wands.
Maxime opened it and was wearing a silk shawl wrapped around her massive shoulders. She then smiled upon seeing Hagrid.
"Ah… 'Agrid… it is time?"
"Bong-sewer." Hagrid beamed at her, holding out a hand to help her down the golden steps.
Maxime closed the door behind her and Hagrid offered his arm before they set off around the edge of the paddock containing the Abraxans, with Arthur, just bewildered to no end, running to keep up with them.
He suspected that what Hagrid wanted to show Arthur, he also wanted to show to Maxime.
This was confirmed when Maxime asked "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"
"Yeh'll enjoy this." Hagrid said gruffly. "Worth seein', trust me. On'y, don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s;posed ter know."
"Of course not." Maxime said, fluttering her long black eyelashes.
They kept walking, making Arthur more and more irritable as he checked his watch every now and then.
This scheme of Hagrid's just might make him miss Sirius and he can't have that at all. If they don't get there soon, Arthur will just turn back around and head straight back to the castle, leaving Hagrid to enjoy his moonlit stroll with Maxime.
However, when they walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake was now out of sight, Arthur heard men shouting up ahead, accompanied by a deafening, ear splitting roar.
There's only one thing Arthur could think of that could make a roar just like that.
Hagrid led Maxime around a clump of trees and then came to a halt.
Arthur hurried up alongside them and his jaw dropped.
Among the men that were darting around were actually dragons.
Four, fully grown, enormous dragons that reared on their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting, torrents of fire shooting into the dark sky from their open fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks.
Arthur, having memorised the Fantastic Beasts book, knew these dragons.
He spotted a silvery blue one with long pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground. He recognised it as the Swedish Short Snout.
The second one he saw was a smooth scaled green one that writhed and stamped with all its might. A Common Welsh Green.
The third was a scarlet red one with a fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, shooting mushroom shaped fire clouds into the air. Mainly because it looked more oriental, it was a Chinese Fireball.
And finally, there's the fourth one, which was gigantic and black, looking the most-like, which was nearest to them. As it also had yellow eyes, bronze horns and spikes protruding from its long tail, Arthur realised with fear that it was the Hungarian Horntail, which is arguably the most dangerous and aggressive of all the dragon breeds.
There were around thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, attempting to control them, pulling on the chains that connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs.
Arthur watched the Horntail as its yellow eyes bulged with what had to be fear and rage combined. And it was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream….
"Stay back, Hagrid!" A wizard yelled near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do fourty!"
"Isn't it beautiful?" Hagrid asked softly.
"It's no good!" Another wizard yelled. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"
Arthur watched the dragon keepers pull out their wands.
"Stupefy!" They all shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness, a lot like fiery rockets, bursting into stars on the dragons' scaly hides.
Arthur watched the Horntail teeter dangerously on its back legs and its jaw stretched wide in a silent howl, its nostrils suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking. It then, very slowly, fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly black dragon hit the ground with a thud that possibly made the trees behind Arthur quake.
The dragon keepers all lowered their wands and walked to their fallen charges, each being the size of a small hill. They then hurried up, tightening the chains and fastening them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.
"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Maxime excitedly. They ended up moving right up to the fence and Arthur followed them.
The wizard that warned Hagrid happened to Kenny, making Arthur realise that this was what he meant by seeing them all sooner than they thought.
"You alright, Hagrid?" He panted as he came over to talk. "They should be okay now, we put them out with a Sleeping Draught on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet, but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all -"
"What breeds you got here, Kenny?" Hagrid asked, gazing at the Horntail with reverence. Its eyes were still just open and Arthur could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath the wrinkled black eyelid.
"Well, this one's a Hungarian Horntail." Kenny said. "The smaller one is a Common Welsh Green, that blue one's a Swedish Short Snout and the red one's a Chinese Fireball."
He then looked and saw Maxime strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the dragons.
"I don't think you should've brought her, Hagrid." Kenny frowned sternly. "She'll just tell her champion, who isn't supposed to know, none of the champions do."
"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em." Hagrid shrugged, still enraptured by the dragons.
"Talk about a romantic date." Kenny shook his head.
"Four…" Hagrid then said. "...so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do, fight 'em?"
"I think it's simply getting past them." Kenny replied. "We'll be on hand naturally, if things get nasty, extinguishing spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers for some reason… but all I know is that I feel bad for whoever gets chosen to face the Horntail. It's nasty in both the front and back."
Arthur saw five of Kenny's fellow keepers staggering up to the Horntail, carrying a clutch of huge granite eggs between them in a blanket. They then placed them carefully at the Horntail's side.
Arthur knew that there was one constant about all animal life: mothers are very protective. So the task must be getting past these dragons to grab something among their eggs.
Hagrid then made a moan of longing.
"I've got them counted." Kenny said sternly. "How's Arthur by the way?"
"Fine." Hagrid said, still gazing at the eggs.
"Considering all that he's faced, I hope he'll handle a dragon." Kenny said, looking grim. "I couldn't even tell mum about what he has to do for the first task. She's already worried enough for him, especially after Skeeter's bogus article."
Arthur decided that he's had enough and seeing that Hagrid wouldn't really miss him with the dragons and Maxime to occupy him, he turned silently and made his way back to the castle.
If there's one good thing about knowing what the first task will be, it's that he can prepare in the right way.
All he had to do was tell his friends and try to form a plan.
Of course, he kept his eyes forward and froze when he saw Karkaroff in the Forest.
He watched as he hurried in the direction he came, meaning that he was going to cheat to tell Krum what the first task is, as that is what Maxime will do for sure.
This would mean that the only one on Tuesday to not know would be Cedric.
Arthur simply continued on and reached the castle, slipping in through the front doors and made his way through back to Gryffindor Tower, panting and out of breath. He also only had five minutes to talk to Sirius.
"Balderdash!" He gasped at the Fat Lady, who was snoozing in ehr frame in front of the portrait hole.
"If you say so." She muttered sleepily, without opening her eyes and she swung forwards to admit him.
He climbed inside and found the common room to be completely deserted and it smelled normal, so David and Chrys didn't set off the Dungbombs.
Arthur pulled off the Cloak and landed on the couch in front of the fire. The whole room was in semi darkness with the flames being the only source of light.
On a nearby table, the Support CEDRIC DIGGORY badges the Creevyes tried to improve glinted in the firelight. They now read PENDERGAST REALLY STINKS.
He groaned at this before he looked at the fire and saw Sirius' head sitting in the fire.
Thankfully, because he saw Amos doing something like this at Merlon Manor, he wasn't shocked or taken aback.
"Hey, Sirius, how are you?" He greeted him as he knelt down in front of the fire.
He looked different from the last time Arthur saw him back in June. Back then, his face was gaunt and sunken, surrounded by long, matted black hair. Now the hair was much shorter and clean. Plus Sirius' face was fuller, making him look younger, a lot like that photograph of his parents' wedding.
"I'm doing fine. But what about you?" Sirius replied with a slight grin, though spoke seriously.
Arthur went into a whole rant about how he's been since his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, how most people look down on him for various reasons, that Skeeter wrote her stupid article that revealed his ancestry and made up a whole love story between him and Chrys, which he clarified with his godfather and his theories about Voldemort's involvement in all this with his faithful servant, connecting to his drea….
"...and just before, Hagrid's shown me that the first task involves dragons." He finished off, keeping his voice steady.
Sirius looked at him, his eyes filled with concern, which still hadn't lost the look that Azkaban gave them with that deadened, haunted look.
"Dragons, we can deal with, Arthur, but we'll get to that in a minute. I haven't got long here… I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about."
"Like what?" Arthur asked.
"Karkaroff. Arthur, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?"
"Voldemort's followers. It doesn't surprise me he was one, considering Lucius Malfoy knows him." Arthur spat. "What's his story?"
"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year - to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."
"Why would that scumbag be released if he was a Death Eater?" Arthur questioned in shock.
"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic." Sirius said bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names… he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place… he's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."
Arthur didn't exactly think that was necessary because it seemed that Krum was so unlike his fellow students. He was more shy and reserved, not even liking that he was given special treatment from his Headmaster.
"So is there an actual chance he put my name in the Goblet? Because he'd be a good actor since he seemed furious about it, even wanted to ensure I didn't compete." He then said to his godfather.
"We know he's a good actor because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? Now, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Arthur -"
"And the rest of the world." Arthur bitterly butted in.
" - and, reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm, but I don't think so, somehow, I think someone tried to stop him getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely, Mad Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."
"So there's a chance that Karkaroff is trying to kill me. But why bother?" Arthur asked, making Sirius hesitate.
"I've been hearing some very strange things. The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't they? Someone set off the Dark Mark… and then - did you hear about that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing?"
"Bertha Jorkins. And she's not just missing. Voldemort killed her. I also know she went missing in Albania, where Voldemort was reported to be last seen, according to Dumbledore. He took some information from her, no doubt about the Tournament." Arthur explained. "Just how much do you know her?"
"She was in Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Arthur. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."
"Yeah, a trap set by Wormtail. But could Karkaroff be this faithful servant Voldemort mentioned?" Arthur said.
"I don't know." Sirius said slowly. "I just don't know… Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in that Goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the Tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."
"Seems like a good plan on paper, especially with the dragons around the corner." Arthur said.
"Right, these dragons." Sirius now spoke quickly. "There's a way, Arthur. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell, dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner. You need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon -"
"I just saw that with my own eyes." Arthur pointed out.
"But you can do it alone. There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Just -" He stopped and looked like he was listening from wherever he was.
"I think I can hear the family who owns this house. I gotta go. Good luck, Arthur." He then said and with a tiny pop, his head disappeared.
Arthur groaned. He was so close to learning the tip Sirius was about to give him. Why couldn't that family have come back later?
Regardless, he had a lot to talk about with his friends until the first task started.
Ultimately, if Arthur was able to kill a Basilisk, he can face a dragon. He'll be able to calm his nerves enough when he realises his considering that the Basilisk is supposed to be the most deadly creature in the wizarding world.
