A couple of weeks after the fiasco with Ismelda Murk, a funeral was held for Rowan Khanna. Both of his parents were inconsolable as the open casket was placed in front of the head table in the Great Hall.

One by one, the students walked over to the casket to pay their respects. Harry and Bianca approached together. They pulled out a drachma each and placed them over Rowan's eyes. Bianca murmured, "Go forth to Elysium. Father will make sure of it."

Harry also whispered, "Say hi to my parents for me. Tell them and Zoe that I love them."

In the crowd, Parvati was a little confused at the ritual. She murmured to Hermione next to her, "What's the deal with the coins?"

The brunette shrugged, "You can ask Harry later. Maybe it's some kind of Greek tradition. Bianca was also raised in a similar household, I believe."

The next day at breakfast, Harry was coolly eating some oatmeal when Fleur slipped into the seat next to him. He glanced at her beautiful face, which was full of mirth. Fighting down an urge to laugh, she slid a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of him. He read it and snorted in laughter. Harry wheezed, "This reporter couldn't help noticing the closeness between Champion Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and one of the Beauxbatons champions. Why are they so close? Are we about to see star-crossed lovers face off against each other? Harry Potter's deep green eyes, the colour of the Killing Curse, glimmered…"

He paused, "What the bloody hell is this drivel? My eyes are not deep green."

Fleur's shoulders shook with laughter, "I know right, mon petit frere? Star-crossed-lovers my derriere. You are a bit too young for my taste, and I detest incest."

Katie slid over to read the article and had a good laugh as well. Harry mused, "Bully for them, let them speculate our relationship."

Over the next few days, Harry and his friends began furiously researching about the First Task. One night, Harry was getting ready for bed when Buzz came flitting over and perched on his shoulder, nuzzling him. He chirped in his ear, "Captain… something big happening in the Forest. Come urgently."

He glanced around him, and Neville was the only one awake. The boy whispered, "What is it?"

"According to Buzz, there is something happening in the Forbidden Forest. I'm going to go investigate. Probably something to do with the First Task. It's just a hunch."

Neville nodded, "Ok, go. I'll cover for you and open the portrait when you get back."

Harry dug into his trunk and pulled out two hand mirrors, giving one to Neville. He said, "This was a gift from Sirius. He, Uncle Remus, Pettigrew and my dad made them when they were young. We can use them to communicate. All you need to do is say, 'Contact' and say the person's name."

With that, he snuck downstairs to an empty Common Room, with Buzz nestling into his pocket. He carefully pried open the back of the Fat Lady's portrait and quietly padded out. Harry avoided several Prefect patrols, as well as Filch and Mrs Norris. As he stuck to the shadows, he made his way near the Beauxbatons carriage. Upon passing it, he spotted Hagrid shuffling his feet nervously outside it.

Harry his behind a broad tree and peeked out at the Gamekeeper. He observed that he was looked a little more groomed, or what passed off as groomed. Then the door opened to reveal Madame Maxime with a silken shawl over her shoulders. The demigod smirked to himself, Old Hagrid had a crush on Madame Maxime.

Harry watch on as Hagrid tried to greet Maxime, only to mangle his French. Surprisingly, the woman didn't seem to mind, but she let herself be escorted down the steps. The two adults walked past the Abraxan stables and forged ahead. Harry discreetly tailed them and he overheard snippets of conversation.

Harry told Maxime, "You'll enjoy this. Worth seeing, Trust me. Only — don't go telling anyone I showed you, right? You're not supposed to know."

"Of course not," said Madame Maxime, fluttering her long black eyelashes. The two adults and their hidden tail, scaled the perimeter of the Forbidden Forest. After a while, the faint sound of men and women shouting, were heard. That was soon followed by a deafening roar, and it sounded big. Hagrid and Maxime both quickened their pace, and Harry also managed to keep pace with the two, while staying out of sight.

The two adults stopped by a clump of trees, while Harry deftly scaled another tree and observed within earshot. To his horror, he spotted a bunch of men and women darting around. However, they were not alone, along with them were a bunch of massive dragons, who were fortunately tied up.

Six enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing on their hind legs and straining against thick chains around their necks. Each dragon was enclosed in a separate paddock, and the dragons were snorting flames from their nostrils. It was fairly dark, so it was hard to make out the colours, but they were all in various sizes.

There was one particularly unruly dragon, which was black in colour and vertical pupils, like a cat. It was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream. One of the men restraining it, who Harry recognised as Charlie Weasley, yelled out a warning to Hagrid, saying that the dragons could shoot flames of up to 20 feet. The one he was holding back, a Horntail, could shoot 40 feet. However, Hagrid looked like a child who had just been dropped off at a local Hamley's and given free reign for an entire day.

Finally, the witches and wizards pulled out their wands and fired Stunning Spells, which eventually subdued the creatures. A panting Charlie walked up to Hagrid and wheezed, "All right, Hagrid? 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 —"

Hagrid's eyes shone, "What breeds you got there, Charlie?"

Charlie recalled, "Common Welsh Green, Swedish Snort Snout, Chinese Fireball, Romanian Longhorn, Hebridean Black and this baby is a Hungarian Horntail. We were hoping to get an Antipodean Opaleye instead of the Horntail, but the Australian and New Zealand Magical Government weren't budging."

The redhead then frowned at Maxime, who was strolling away and gazing at the stunned dragons. He said, "I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid. The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming — she's bound to tell her students, isn't she?"

Hagrid raised his giant meaty arms placatingly, "Just thought she'd like to see them."

Charlie snorted, "Only you Hagrid. Only you would think that watching dangerous fire breathing dragons are a great romantic date, Hagrid."

The gamekeeper murmured, "Six, eh? so it's one for each of the champions, is it? What've they got to do — fight them?"

The man shook his head, "Just get past them, I think. We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why . . . but I tell you this, The Hebridean Black is a nasty bugger. I also don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. The Horntail's back end's as dangerous as its front, look."

Up in his perch, Harry gazed warily at a set of long bronze-coloured spikes protruding from the tail. He then noticed Charlie speaking again and strained his ears to listen. The man said, "How's Harry? Just hope he's still fine after he's faced this lot. I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about him. Especially after the World Cup fiasco ended with him getting kidnapped."

Having heard enough, Harry turned away when something caught his attention. Igor Karkaroff was lurking a few hundred meters away and observing the proceedings. Silently, Harry lowered himself from the tree until he reached a thick branch. He padded lightly across it and deftly leaped into the next tree. This process continued for some time until he was at a relatively safe distance.

Checking below his feet, he saw that the coast was clear, so he clambered down the tree. To be on the safe side, he shifted into his Animagus form and sprinted through the Forbidden Forest. He kept running until he had reached the courtyard and then shifted back into human form. He snuck back inside the castle and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. Along the way, he pulled out his mirror and whispered Neville's name. When he reached the Fat Lady's portrait, she was nowhere to be seen, but it swung open to reveal Neville.

As they crept back up the stairs to their dorm, he whispered, "What did you find?"

Harry whispered back, "Tell you in the morning. Need some time to process what I saw. Night Nev."

Hermione's eyes nearly popped out of her skull, "Dragons! They want you to face freaking dragons!"

The four of them were the last ones to leave the Common room to head for breakfast. Meanwhile, most of their classmates had already gone down. Hermione took a deep breath and turned to Harry, "Okay, tell me again about the different species?"

Harry counted on his fingers, "Common Welsh Green, Swedish Snort Snout, Chinese Fireball, Romanian Longhorn, Hebridean Black and Hungarian Horntail."

Ron winced, "Blimey! The Hebridean and the Horntail are really nasty. Knowing your rotten luck, you might end up with one of them."

Hermione's pacing got all the more frantic, "Oh no! Oh no! That is much worse! I've read that the Horntail and the Hebridean Black are the most dangerous! Harry, people have died in this stupid blood sport of a tournament! Now they want people to face fire-breathing dragons!"

Harry's face grew greener with every word, and then he snapped, "You think I don't know that, Hermione! I'm just glad I found out when I did. It would have been much worse if I went into this completely blind."

Ron jumped in, "Oi! Stop it, both of you! At least we know what to expect! Look Hermione, Harry will be fine. Bloke's been through a lot of shite in the past few years. Harry, what if we relied on some of your demigod training. You've faced how many monsters in your life now?"

Harry screwed up his face in thought, "Yeah, I've fought a few empousai, who are the Greek equivalents of vampires. I fought against Medusa, the Minotaur, all three Furies, The Chimaera, Echidna, a bunch of Myrmekes, the baby Thebian drakon doesn't count, a Cyclops, Python, helped Jackson fight a Hydra, briefly fought Circe, journeyed to the Underworld, held up the sky for several days-"

Neville did a double-take, "Whoa! Back up a sec… Did you say you fought Circe? Like THE Circe from our Chocolate Frog cards? She's real?"

Harry nodded, "Yep… It was only briefly, and she was the better opponent. Didn't actually defeat her because she was distracted by all her other prisoners transforming back into human forms, and escaping. Took that chance to skeddadle"

Ron interrupted, "Yeah, my point is, Harry's been through a lot. I think he can handle a dragon. Though, can you try not to kill it? I don't think our fellow students would be able to stomach that sight."

By then, they had reached the Great Hall. Luckily, there were no stragglers listening in on their conversation as they walked. As the four sat down to eat, Harry stroked his chin, "Right… So how do I take down a dragon in a non-lethal manner? Multiple Stunning spells? A Sleeping spell? Try and force feed it Draught of the Living Death?"

Ron shook his head, "Bad idea, mate. According to Charlie, their hide is pretty tough, so it would be difficult to use a Stunner or a Sleep spell unless you can cast them one after the other. Also, we don't learn to brew Draught of the Living Death until 6th Year."

They ate in silence until a shadow passed by them and someone sat down next to Harry. He looked over to see Fleur sitting next to him with a serious and concerned look on her face. She spoke in a low voice, "Harry… A word, s'il vous plait?"

He replied back in a similar tone, "Is this about the First Task?"

"Oui, Madame Maxime told Marion et moi about what to expect. Harry… I don't want you to die. Firstly, because I care about you. Second, Silena would kill me if anything happened to you. Third, Annabeth, Thalia and Perseus would deal with whatever is left of my corpse. Anyway, she said-"

He interrupted her, "I already know. I sneaked out last night and saw them. I figured Madame Maxime would tell you, and I saw Karkaroff there as well. So no doubt, Viktor and Yuliya are aware. I'll get word to Cedric, since I don't think our classmates would trust the word of a Beauxbatons or a Durmstrang student."

"Oui, you do that. I'll see you later, Au revoir!"

A few minutes after she left, Viktor came shuffling by and stopped in front of him. He gruffly whispered, "She told you?"

"I already know. I sneaked out last night and saw them."

"Da… Karkaroff told me this morning. I later told Yuliya, because I do not vish for teammate to die."

After breakfast was over, Harry hurried over to Cedric's group. Some of the Hufflepuff senior's friends shot him suspicious looks, but Cho and Cedric smiled at him. He cleared his throat, "Hey Cedric, can I have a word? Alone?"

The two stepped away from the group, "So what's up, Harry?"

Harry took a deep breath, "So I snuck out last night because Buzz, my Snidget reported suspicious activity near the Forbidden Forest. The First Task involves dragons."

Cedric's easy-going smile melted and he grew serious, "Are you sure? We're not supposed to know."

"I saw Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff over there, so I'm pretty sure the Krum, Yuliya, Fleur and Marion know about it. I didn't think it would be fair to leave you out."

The older boy studied him for a long time, "Okay… I believe you Harry. Thanks for the warning."

With that, they parted ways and Harry joined his friends to head to his first class of the day. On his way there, they heard the familiar clunking of Moody's fake leg. He called out, "Potter! A word please? In my office please?"

Harry paused and reluctantly followed him into his office. Harry gazed around the room in wonder. It had changed a lot since he had last visited. The office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that Harry supposed Moody had used in the days when he had been an Auror.

On his desk stood what looked like a large, cracked, glass spinning top; Harry recognized it at once as a Sneakoscope. In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Harry on the wall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus.

"Like my Dark Detectors, do you?" said Moody, who was watching Harry closely.

"What's that?" Harry asked, pointing at the squiggly golden aerial.

"Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies . . . no use here, of course, too much interference — students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. Had to disable my Sneakoscope because it kept making a racket. "It's extra-sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kid stuff."

"And the mirror?"

Moody waved a dismissive arm, "Oh that's my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around? I'm not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That's when I open my trunk."

He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunk under the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. Harry wondered what was in there, until Moody's next question brought him sharply back to earth.

"So . . . found out about the dragons, have you? Mighty noble thing you did, warning Diggory."

Harry's throat tightened, but Moody's next words pacified him. He sat down and said, "It's all right. Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been. I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."

He fixed his gaze on Harry, "So, you figured out what to do against your dragon?"

"Still brainstorming, sir."

He hummed, "I ain't going to hold your hand, laddie. But I will suggest that you play to your strengths. Think of what you're good at and work your way through that."

"Thanks professor!"

"Any time laddie! Now shoo!"

Afterwards, he relayed the information to his friends. They got through the rest of the day, and that night, a brainwave struck Hermione in the Common Room. She grabbed his arm and whispered, "Harry, I've got it! See, you're only allowed to take your wand with you. What you can do is use the wand to transfigure your clothes into armour. Then you can activate your rings. Didn't you mention that you have trick arrows?"

He caught on to what she was thinking, "Cor! You're right! I can do this! All I need to do is distract the dragon long enough to complete whatever objective there is."

Over the next few days, Harry practiced switching spells and honed his archery skills. Then, it was the day of the First Task. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure — though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.

Many of his Housemates wished him luck and hoping that he performed well. Just as he was about to follow Ron to the Great Hall for lunch, McGonagall came bustling over. She said, "Mr. Potter, the Champions have to come down onto the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task."

He wordlessly followed her out of the Hall and noted that she looked just as anxious. As she walked him down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on his shoulder.

She said "Now, don't panic. just keep a cool head. We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Professor."

She lead him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.

"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there... he'll be telling you the — the procedure... Good luck."

He nodded firmly, "Thank you professor."

She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry went inside. Once inside, he spotted Fleur sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves. Yuliya was meditating and Marion was uttering a small prayer. Finally, Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry entered, Cedric gave him a small smile, which Harry returned.

Ludo Bagman then swept into the room, "Ahh! Everyone's here! Good-o! Come in, come in, make yourself at home! 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 at them — "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different — er — varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too. Ah, yes, your task is to collect the golden egg!"

There were different reactions from everyone in the tent. They waited until there was the unmistakable sound of hundreds of pairs of feet passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking.

On cue, Bagman opened the neck of the purple silk sack. He offered it to Fleur, Marion and Yuliya, "Ladies first."

Fleur reached in with a trembling hand and pulled out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon — a Welsh Green. It had the Number 2 around its neck. Fleur's face morphed into a determined look. Yuliya pulled out Romanian Longhorn with the Number 4, and Marion pulled out the Swedish Snort Snout with the Number 1. Then Cedric reached in and pulled out the Chinese Fireball with the Number 3. Krum reached in and flinched when he pulled out the Hebridean Black with the Number 5. Harry's stomach dropped to the floor when he pulled out the Hungarian Horntail with the Number 6.

Bagman cheerily said, "Well, there you are! You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Ms Hubert, you're up first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now . . . Harry . . . could I have a quick word? Outside?"

Harry wordlessly followed Bagman outside the tent and he took him a short distance away, into the trees. He kindly asked, "Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?"

He lowered his voice conspiratorially, "Got a plan? Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. I mean, you're the underdog here, Harry... Anything I can do to help..."

Harry smiled, "I'll be alright, sir. I have a plan."

He smiled, "Good! Good, good! Anyway, I've got to run."

Harry soon re-joined his fellow champions and Marion robotically walked out. It was worse than Harry could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed... yelled... gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Marion did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground. Fleur had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent. Yuliya and Cedric were both praying. Meanwhile Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse. Horrible pictures formed in Harry's mind as he heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow... She's taking risks, this one! Clever move — pity it didn't work!"

And then, after about fifteen minutes, Harry heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Marion had gotten past her dragon and captured the golden egg.

"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"

But he didn't shout out the marks; Harry supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.

Then Fleur shakily tottered out of the tent. There was a brief moment of silence, then he heard the sound of singing and recognised the song.

Fleur crooned,

"Nessun Dorma! Nessun Dorma!

Tu pure, o Principessa,

Nella tua fredda stanza

Guardi le stelle

Che fremono d'amore

E di speranza

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me

Il none mio nessun saprà

No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò

Quando la luce splenderà

Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio

Che ti fa mia

Il nome suo nessun saprà

E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir

Dilegua, o notte

Tramontate, stelle

Tramontate, stelle

All'alba vincerò

Vincerò

Vincerò"

Harry smirked, "She really does love that song. Then again, it's Pavarotti. He's a classic."

Then, Cedric was the next one to face his dragon, and there were plenty of oohs and ahs from the crowd. Yuliya was the next one, leaving Harry and Krum alone.

Soon, Harry was all alone as he went over his strategy. His thoughts were interrupted by the Hebridean Black belted out a horrible, roaring sound. This prompted the crowd to draw its collective breath. Bagman excitedly babbled, "That's some nerve he's showing — and — yes, he's got the egg!"

When the whistle blew, he stood up in his robes and made last minute checks. Harry walked out through the entrance of the tent, past the trees and through a gap in the enclosure fence. He glanced around him to a sea of faces, all staring at him. He noticed Ron and Neville trying to calm Hermione down, who looked close to a nervous breakdown. Mackenzie, Bianca and Katie were all clutching each other with pale faces. Finally, he saw the Horntail at the other end of the large enclosure. She was crouched low over her clutch of eggs. Her wings half-furled, and her yellow eyes glaring at him warily. Her spiked tail thrashed around, digging yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground.

He took a step towards her and the dragon's nostrils flared. Getting the hint, he took a step back and she relaxed a little. Glancing around him, he spotted various large boulders strewn across the ground. He raised his arm, and his wand shot into his left hand. Transferring it to his right hand, he tapped his holster and transfigured it into his shield. This time, it looked different from usual. Instead of a generic design, the shield had the image of a Hunter chasing after a boar. It was his way of paying tribute to Zoe. He murmured, "Artemis, give me strength."

Harry then pointed the wand at himself and shouted a spell. In an instant, his robes were transformed into full Greek armour, complete with a helmet and a silver plume. The transfiguration elicited an awed gasp from the stands. He hefted the shield onto his back and darted to hide behind one of the boulders. Harry then took off his rings and turned them into a bow and quiver full of arrows.

The demigod tuned out Bagman's excited babbling and nocked an arrow. Unlike usual arrows, this one had no tip, but was rounded. He aimed and fired at a boulder. The arrow struck the boulder and ricocheted towards the dragon, striking the side of its face. The arrowhead exploded, releasing a kind of gas that lingered around the Horntail. It took a whiff and recoiled immediately, gagging away.

Harry took advantage of the distraction to sprint to another boulder, bringing himself closer. He fired another arrow and forced it to stumble backwards and he advanced. After a third arrow, it recovered quicker than usual, but Harry hefted the shield and protected himself from a sheet of flame from its maw. From behind the shield, he spotted the nest and saw a large golden egg among the lot.

The flames stopped briefly as the dragon drew in another breath. This time, Harry got rid of the shield as his fingers were beginning to blister from the heat. When the next torrent of fire came shooting towards him, he put up a Protego Spell and kept running. Scooping up the Golden Egg, he bolted for the exit, just about avoiding one last blast from the Horntail.

Bagman yelled, "Look at that! Will you look at that! Our youngest champion gets his egg in style! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

McGonagall, Moody and Hagrid came rushing over to meet him. With a wave of her wand, she transfigured his armour back into his robes and shot him a proud smile, "Mr. Potter. That was excellent! Your transfiguration skills could even rival your father's skills! You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score... Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already..."

Harry walked out of the enclosure, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried.

She snarled in a disgusted tone, "Dragons! Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky... Just apply this Burn Heal paste to ease the blisters. Thankfully, you've escaped the worst of it. I do not like my students cooked well-done."

The Matron pulled him inside the tent, which was divided into cubicles. Harry could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry's fingers and the rest of his body.

He sat for a few minutes, before the mouth of the tent flew open. Ron, Hermione and Neville burst in, along with Katie, Mackenzie and Bianca. There were nail marks on Hermione's face, making it clear that she had been clutching it in fear. Ron's face was so pale that his freckles became even more prominent. He squeaked, "Bloody hell, mate! If I hadn't known all the shite you've been through, I'd be pissing myself."

Hermione smacked him on the head, "Ron! Don't be crude! Also, fart arrows, Harry? That is disgusting! I could get the smell from where we were seated."

Mackenzie latched onto him like a limpet and refused to let go. He managed to manoeuvre her so that she was riding piggy back. Katie pecked him on the cheek and held out her hand, "Come on… Let's go see your scores."

Neville spoke up as they walked, "Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground... turned it into a dog... he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well — the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away."

Bianca picked up where he left off, "I think you probably heard Fleur sing. Meanwhile, Krum hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs. I think he got marks docked for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them. The jerk was heavily biased. Yuliya tried to outfly hers with a Nimbus 2001, and the damn thing nearly scorched the bristles. Marion used a Disillusionment Charm to hide her from the dragon. Unfortunately, it could still smell her, and she barely escaped."

Outside the medical tent, with Mackenzie still latched onto his back, he faced the five judges. Madame Maxime was the first judge. She raised her wand in the air. What looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.

The crowd applauded and he mused, "Guess I got points off for the blisters on my fingers"

Mr. Crouch shot a number nine into the air.

Dumbledore, too put up a nine, prompting the crowd to cheer harder than ever. Bagman inexplicably put out a 10.

Harry title his head in curiosity, "Ten? But I didn't get out fully unscathed. What's he playing at?"

Finally, Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too — six. The crowd half cheered and half booed, and his cousin whispered in his ear, "Like Bianca said, he's pretty biased. He gave Krum a 10 despite the damage. On the bright side, you have a two point lead over Krum."

Just then, Charlie Weasley came running over after he and his co-workers wrangled the Horntail away. He cheered, "Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened — but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah — and they told me to tell you you've got to hang around for a few more minutes... Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."

Harry re-entered the tent to find the other champions inside. The atmosphere was a lot more jolly, and any nervousness that had built up ahead of the task, had vanished. Bagman swept in with a flourish, "Well done, all of you! Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth — but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open... see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg — because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

As they left with their eggs, Harry spotted Rita Skeeter making her way towards him. He quickened his pace and dove into the crowd.