Chapter 36 :

Today was the day of the First Task and Harry didn't feel ready at all. Facing a dragon... What kind of craziness had his life become ? It was weird to think that, here he was playing with his food, and in a few hours he would be in a struggle of Life and Death... He sighed. To distract himself, he looked around the Great Hall.

The first thing he noticed was Malfoy positively beaming in front of his breakfast. It was cute to see him so bright in the morning for once, he had seemed pretty down lately. A stray thought came to Harry that of course Malfoy would be happy on this day, but he heavily beat it down with a vengeful brain wave. Malfoy was nice and happy, showering his fellow Slytherins with disdainful smiles and mocking laughter, he didn't deserve to be insulted by Harry's bad mood.

The other Slytherins were unusual too. They were tense and looked anxious, barely eating their food as they strained to escape Theo's notice while staring at him in unadulterated horror at the same time. Where they had been happy to bully Harry at every corner of the castle earlier this week, they now seemed ready to puke from anxiety just by looking at him... Strange.

Meanwhile, Theo sat unaffected in the middle, stabbing his toast with a frightening solemnity. He was seriously frowning, probably lost in his calculation of Harry's survival chances. He knew what was at stake. And he was worried -though he would never admit it-.

The Champions weren't much better. Fleur was sneaking a peek at Harry while munching worriedly on her orange. Krum and Diggory were clearly uneasy and too queasy to eat. The three of them were frankly white as a sheet, though not as much as Snape surprisingly -what happened to him to make him so pallid anyway? Shouldn't he be happy about Harry's incoming demise?-.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione fraying nerves made her eldritch Hair swarm her head and growl like possessed tentacles. Ron had warned him that It was alive, but Harry didn't think it would be this bad... Everyone was edging away from her. How did she not notice It, he would never know.

Speaking of Ron, the poor boy was sleeping in his pumpkin juice. To be fair, nightmares had kept them both awake all night long, it was no wonder that he was this exhausted.

Harry sighed again, eyeing his breakfast sadly. For his Last Meal to be devoid of treacle tart... Life really sucked.


Way too soon, it was the afternoon and the four Champions were herded into a tent where Ludo Bagman was waiting them for them with opened arms and a bright smile :

"Welcome, Champions ! Welcome to the Triwizard Tournament !" He laughed gleefully. "This is your event !"

He was obviously a showman and this was the moment of his life. Alas, his theatrics were lost on everyone present. Between the Champions glaring balefully at him and his co-organizer Barty Crouch Snr snorting in contempt, they weren't the best audience. Ludo couldn't wait for the Tournament to start proper and for the crowds to acclaim his commentary. His Art deserved to be enjoyed, dammit !

He coughed to get back his bearings.

"Anyway, you all know why you're here, but you don't know for what." He winked at them. "This is the First Task ! A Task of courage where you'll have to face the unknown ! The rules are simple : against all adversity, you'll have to acquire the Golden Egg. But be careful !" He warned in grandstanding. "Between your goal and yourself will be a dra- Erh, a TRIAL, I mean !"

No one reacted, beside Crouch Snr raising a brow at his near-blunder. Ludo felt his smile tense and his eyelid twitch. He took a deep breath. Tried to remember that these young people may not be in the mood since, you know, they were about to face Death and all that. Stiff, he took a bag out of nowhere and presented it the lads and lass.

"Come here, Champions !" He called out. "Come and choose your- erh, Trial !"

Krum was the first. He went to Ludo, plunged his hand in the bag and winced, withdrawing a tiny animated dragon with a numbered collar, that was fiercely biting his fingers. Everyone paled when they saw it and Viktor sighed in resignation.

"Krum will face the Chinese Fireball in third position !" Announced Ludo with a joyful bounce in his step. "Who's next ?"

Diggory looked around, hoping someone would designate themselves, but he quickly backed away when he saw how Fleur was latching onto Harry like a mean, fiery momma bear. Honestly, he'd rather face the dragon. He gingerly grabbed his own animated toy of his foe and hid on the other side of the tent.

"The Swedish Short-Snout in first position for young Diggory !" Rejoiced Ludo. "Next !"

Fleur knew it was her turn. No matter how reluctant she was to leave her smol bean. She tightened her hold on him for a second and released him to go draw her future opponent.

"The Common Welsh Green in second position for Miss Delacour !" Claimed their host.

She closed her eyes painfully, suddenly sharply aware that this was indeed real.

"And last but not least !" He presented the bag to Harry.

The young Gryffindor breathed in deeply. No matter how suspicious it was, Mad-Eye had given him a good advice. « Stick to your strengths ». Harry had thought keenly about it and there was in retrospect one thing that made him stronger than anyone, one thing that always kept him going despite the many hardships : his friends. So he planned with Theo, learned the necessary spells from Hermione and took comfort in Ron's quiet confidence in him. He was as ready as could be. He plunged his hand into the bag.

"The meanest of the mean : the Hungarian Horntail in fourth position for Harry Potter !" Cackled Bagman as he withdrew his toy.

Well, shit.


AN : I managed to write a bit these last few days, so you should get a chapter a week for about 5 or 6 weeks! Yay~!