Chapter 10. One for two

Harry's morning turned out to be unusually scattered. He had argued with Ron last night and now couldn't gather his thoughts. Enormous dragons that Hagrid had shown him kept running through his mind. His thoughts wandered far away, into inaccessible distant worlds where no dragon could reach. His courage, along with all his emotions, travelled there too. Spiraling into the inevitable whirlpool of time, he didn't notice anything around him anymore, just let himself be carried away by the current, desperately clinging to the thin thread that separated him from the dreadful hour when he would face the dragon amidst the cheers and applause.

Harry wanted to cry in fear but couldn't find any tears. He wanted to hide, but had no idea where. He wanted to run and scream, but there seemed to be no way out. In that moment, when everyone turned away from him and only Hermione tried to help, searching for a suitable spell in books, he felt like Atlas, burdened with holding up the sky. He would have straightened his shoulders, but there was no one else to bear this unbearable load.

Even Jeanne, usually cold and mean, was surprised by the absent expression on his face on Monday morning, the night before which sleep had abandoned him, leaving him alone until morning. She didn't know what awaited them. Should he tell her? But if he told her, he would have to tell Cedric too. Gathering his strength to speak, Harry grabbed her shoulder, pulling her towards him without resistance, and whispered in her ear:

"We will face a dragon in the first task."

Letting her go, he looked down at his plate where uneaten bacon still remained. The piece wouldn't go down his throat. Since Harry first saw the dragons, he felt as if he was locked in a cage with them, living alongside, inhaling the scent of burning earth and constantly staring into those yellow eyes with vertical pupils, full of determination. Someone hit Harry on the face and then grabbed his shoulders, shaking him vigorously. Coming to his senses, Harry saw Jeanne. She held him by the shoulders, looking at him, her lips twisted, and confusion was evident on her face.

"You said - with a dragon?" she whispered.

Harry nodded. Jeanne paused for a moment and immediately asked, "Do you have a plan of action?"

Harry only shook his head in response. Jeanne loosened her grip and let him go, her face showing tense contemplation. Harry didn't ask what she was thinking about at that moment.

A little later, Harry met Cedric. He was surrounded by a crowd of friends and giggling girls, and Harry didn't want to speak in front of them. To distract Cedric from them, he subtly put a charm on his bag. It tore, feathers, textbooks, parchment spilled out, and two ink bottles shattered into pieces. Although his friends rushed to help, Cedric distanced himself from them, telling them to go to class, and tried to pick up his belongings himself. After telling Cedric about the dragons, Harry felt a sense of duty fulfilled and headed for his lessons. But he ran into Professor Moody. Moody gave him a crooked smile and invited Harry to his office. In the office, filled with various mysterious contraptions, they sat down to talk. Moody praised Harry for helping Cedric and telling about the dragons, then asked if Harry had any plan. Finding out that Harry still hadn't come up with anything to complete the task and face the dragon, Moody became a little gloomy. Nonetheless, he suggested a suitable plan of action for Harry. Realizing that Harry was good at flying on a broom and hearing his disappointed "but you can't bring a broom with you," Moody gave him a concise "but you can bring a wand." Arming himself with this thought, Harry went to Hermione and asked for her help in studying Alluring Charms.

All day and all evening until two o'clock in the morning, they wandered around Hogwarts and practiced Tempting Charms. In the library, empty classrooms, in the corridor, and in the Gryffindor common room. Harry didn't even care that Professor Trelawney had predicted a terrible, sudden death for him during Divination earlier that day.

"Death, well, let it be!" he couldn't help but say. "Just make it quick. I don't want to suffer."

Even Ron almost burst into laughter at his words. It was as if there were no traces of their previous argument between them, but Harry was still angry at him for interrupting his conversation with Sirius.

Harry trained so diligently that he seemed to have disconnected from reality. Nothing else interested him. He knew his goal - to summon Lightning from the castle when facing the dragon.

"Now I know what to do next time if some spells don't work for me," he told Hermione, glowing brightly with his successes. "Scare the dragon."

The morning of the next day summed up all the previous days. Harry distanced himself from everything and everyone; he didn't notice the mockery or those badges with mocking inscriptions becoming even more inventive in front of him.

"Dragons don't cry, Jeanne Dark, and Harry Potty!"

He didn't even notice that Jeanne had changed her tactics and was no longer personally threatening each student but rather writing their names on a special parchment. He also didn't notice that Fred and George were taking bets on him. Although they promised to share the winnings if he survived, Harry ignored that as well. The classes that day lasted until noon. It seemed that even time itself was betraying him, leading him to the meeting with the dragon. Unable to eat anything for lunch, Harry soon found himself walking with McGonagall and Jeanne to the tent where the Tournament champions were located. Inside, there was a very nervous and tense atmosphere. It was clear from the champions that they were jittery, and even Jeanne didn't seem as self-satisfied as usual. Then Ludo Bagman came in with a small bag made of red silk.

"When the spectators gather, I will open this bag," he said. "In it are copies of those you will have to face. They are all different. Each of you will take turns reaching in and grabbing whoever fate sends you. Your task is to acquire the golden egg."

The champions were later surprised to find that there were five of them and only four dragons. However, Ludo Bagman jokingly said that since two champions were chosen from the same slip of paper, they would have to share one dragon between them. They were also less bothered by the sudden appearance of Rita Skeeter, who was soon escorted out despite her keen interest in intrigues. But then came the agonizing wait. A whistle sounded from outside, another champion emerged, and all they could do was guess what was happening from the deafening roar of the crowd and Bagman's brief comments. Finally, only Harry and Jeanne remained in the tent. Harry didn't even think to ask if she had a plan and what she intended to do. They had not even realized before that they would be sent together against one dragon, and now Harry just silently looked at the ground while Jeanne smiled smugly. Strangely, amidst her smugness, this smile unexpectedly gave Harry hope. After all, a person who doesn't believe in their victory wouldn't smile like that.

But finally, the whistle sounded. It was time for them to go out. Harry barely moved his feet as he headed towards the first task. He saw the female dragon sitting on her eggs at the other end of the enclosure, he saw the stands, and without waiting for anything else, he called for Lightning.

Meanwhile, Jeanne headed towards the tail tip. She approached dangerously close to the dragon and bowed. Jeanne stood before the dragon for a while, still watching. The dragoness did not bow in response, but after a few seconds of eye contact, Jeanne began speaking in an unknown language.

- GREDDAHRE BRUDDARD ARWARA! - she yelled, addressing the dragon. Her voice sounded as loud and low as possible.

- GREDDAHRA! BRUDDARD ARWARA! - she yelled at the dragon again.

- What are you doing, Jeanne?

She didn't answer and continued to speak to the dragon. At one point, the dragoness scraped the ground in front of her with her paw and exhaled flames in annoyance.

- D'REDDAHRE! - roared the dragon.

Jeanne bent down, stepped back, and whispered:

- Now let's quietly retreat... Imagine you're a little mouse...

Both of them darted behind the nearest rock and barely managed to hide behind it. Sitting in this unreliable shelter, Harry could still feel the heat from the dragon's fire.

- What did you say to the dragon? - he asked.

- I asked her to give us the egg without a fight.

- And she replied that she won't give it up?

- How did you guess?

- I just had a gut feeling!

The dragoness breathed fire again towards the rock they were hiding behind.

- Do you have any other plan? - Harry asked.

Jeanne pulled out her wand from her pocket.

Curious wand... The bark of the ancient Fairy Tree from the French village of Domrémy, and the metal from medieval French swords... An extremely extraordinary combination, Mademoiselle d'Arc. I'm sure the story of your famous namesake who lived in the fifteenth century means a lot to you.

"I can burn it to ashes," Jeanne raised the wand in front of her like a sword, her eyes gleaming with malice.

"Let's not do that," Harry refused. "I don't want to learn something new about dragons without being Hagrid..."

Still, it's nonsense. How can this fragile girl burn a fifty-foot dragon? Five trained dragon tamers can't handle it, and she suggests taking it and burning the beast. It never occurred to him that this fragile girl easily outperforms upperclassmen who don't measure up to her shoulders. So he took the simpler approach and, waiting for the Lightning Bolt, sat Jeanne with him.

"Summon a broom too!" he suggested to her. "Then we'll split up and confuse the dragon."

"Do you think I play Quidditch?" Jeanne smirked.

Harry hadn't thought about that. But it didn't stop him from luring the dragoness out of the nest and, deceiving her, acquiring the golden egg. Ludo Bagman praised them as participants who acquired the egg faster than anyone else and as brave experimenters. He even held Harry up as an example to Krum, who didn't even attempt to take off. But everything was still ahead because after the first task, Harry met up with his friends. Ron and Hermione, deathly pale, looked at Harry and couldn't believe their luck.

"Harry," Ron said unusually seriously, "whoever put your name in the Goblet, I've realized they want to kill you!"