The full moon was a few days ago and Harry decided to stay at Sirius's place with us since it fell in a weekend. Not that he could do much, he was forbidden to come inside Remus's room. But he didn't mind. In the early evening, Sirius went to sit with him while I stayed with Moony. Sirius stayed with him until Harry went to bed and Sirius slipped back in the room. He grinned when he saw us playing checkers. While Scotty took a nap, Sirius and I talked. And talked some more. And we agreed to finally send letters to each other once every two weeks or so. The next morning Harry had made breakfast for ten, but Remus and Sirius didn't mind, they ate almost everything.
And now it was the day, THE DAY, the day of the first task and Harry and I didn't sleep at all. None of the Champions did. Because when Harry and I went downstairs at four am, Viktor and Fleur were already sitting at the breakfast table. The elves must've known we were there because a small breakfast appeared in front of us. Not that any of us ate much, more picking at the food then actually eating it. We all slipped out of the great hall when students started to wake up, none of us were particularly excited for all the well wishes and good lucks.
The four of us were camped out outside, sitting under a large willow tree. The branches hanging so low, it hid us from view. We didn't talk about how we were going to beat or get past the dragons, we just talked about classes, and Harry asked about Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
"Oh, Harry, I saw those awful badges those Slytherins wore." Fleur said, even with the spell it was heavy accented.
"Not only Slytherins." Harry muttered. But I already took care of the few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. They won't try something like that again.
"Something funny happened." She continued. "When they say Alexandra, the real champion, they do nothing but the moment they tap the badges to turn into Potter Stinks, the badges get teeth and start snapping at their robes, fingers, whatever is in close contact. Apparently, one of the big dumb ones, lost the tip of his wand because of that."
"Really?" Harry and I grinned in surprise.
"Yes, I saw it happen." Viktor said. "Almost took his finger too." His laugh boomed underneath the tree.
"Who do you think did it?" Harry asked. "The twins?"
"It seems up their alley, but they would have said something. Maybe Hermione?" I asked, but I had a feeling I knew who it was. A dear little cousin of mine.
"Too violent for her, she would do something like vanishing them."
"Her-min-ny is your girlfriend?" Viktor asked.
"My girlfriend?" Harry looked surprised at the question. "Uhm, no. I care about her a lot but-" He was blushing fiercely, and I didn't know if it was because he still had a thing for her, or it was just uncomfortable to talk about. "We're friends, great friends."
That last sentence was like a punch in the stomach because it brought me back to when George said it to me. Forget about them, forget it. I glanced between the vines when I heard people come closer.
"We should get to the tent. People are coming up."
Nobody answered, they all just stood up and the four of us walked to the Champions tent. Just when I was about to step in behind Fleur, my name was called.
"Alec!" I turned to see Jack jogging up to me. He was breathing a little harsh when he stopped in front of me. "Geef me een second." He said, holding his side.
"Maybe it was a good thing you weren't chosen." I joked and Jack glared at me with a grin.
"I want to disagree, but -" He took in a few deep breaths. "But the evidence says otherwise." He laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist and stepped closer. "Goodluck, be careful and don't do anything stupid."
"Have you met me? I've never done anything stupid in my life." I gasped, my lips curling upwards.
"Yeah, right." He snorted. "Remember in second year when you went climbing -" The rest of his sentence was muffled underneath my hand. Then he licked it, and I withdrew my hand quickly.
"Viezerik." I wiped my hand on my trousers.
"Oh, you love me." He purred.
"I do, doesn't mean it's not true though."
He lowered his head slowly. "A good luck kiss." He whispered before his lips touched mine. I cupped his cheek softly, it was a sweet kiss nothing too extravagant. "I'll see you after."
"If I live." I joked but Jack frowned.
"That's not funny."
"Sorry." I called over with a grin as he made his way to the stands. I looked around hoping to spot two red headed twins. I wrote them a note that I would be up early, and they could meet me before the first task. But now they were nowhere to be seen. I waited a few more minutes but when I didn't see them, I headed inside. Just in time to see Skeeter and that photographer take a picture of Hermione hugging Harry.
"Ah, young love." Skeeter smiled.
I charged across the room and stood in front of Harry protectively. "Do you mind destroying that picture?" I asked sneering.
"Why would I do that? This makes it all the more interesting." She smiled.
I started to growl at her, my hand twitching to grab my wand, when Viktor stepped forward. "You have no business here." His accent thick.
"No, matter. I'm done anyway." She said before she swiftly walked out the tent.
"I should go. Goodluck." Hermione said to everyone before she ducked out.
"I'm going to ki-" I didn't finish my sentence as Dumbledore walked in followed by Bagman.
"Ah, everyone is here, excellent." Bagman clapped his hands together. "Time to fill you in. In this bag, you will all select a small model of the thing you are going to face." We shared a quick glance with each other. "Your task is to collect the golden egg." Guarding, not fighting, I knew it. " Miss Delacour." He opened the bag a little.
Fleur put a shaking hand in the bag and drew out a tiny model Welsh Green with the number two around his neck. Bagman shifted the bag to Viktor who was standing next to Fleur. He drew out the Chinese fireball with the number three around his neck. The bag shifted towards me and with a deep breath my hand went inside. I pulled out the Swedish Short-Snout, number one. I had to go first. Then Harry took out the last dragon, a Hungarian Horntail and my breath hitched. It was certainly the most vicious of the four dragons, and Harry had it, the youngest of the bunch.
"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. Miss Lupin-Black, you are first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear the whistle, alright?"
I nodded before he disappeared from the tent. I turned to Harry and clasped his hands in mine. "Concentrate really hard when you summon your broom, Harry. You must summon your broom."
"I know, I can do it. You be careful, alright." He said before he hugged me. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise if you promise."
"Deal." He chuckled before letting go. Then the whistle blew. Fleur and Viktor quickly said their good lucks before I stepped outside the back of the tent.
LB
The enclosure was surrounded by high stands, filled with students. The dragon was resting in the middle of it, one eye open, already fixed on me. Behind her, four eggs, one golden. Before moving away from my spot, I put several protection and shields over me, then I placed a charm over my ears, so I wouldn't be distracted by the crowd. But still my eyes flickered over the stands. Draco was gripping the railing in front of him hard, his knuckles white. A few rows behind him the twins, Lee and Angelina. They stood there like statues, not moving and seemingly not breathing. I quickly averted my eyes, not wanting to turn my back to the dragon. Charlie and his colleagues were spread across the side-lines, ready to jump in if needed. I saw that the dragon was on a thick iron chain. That might come in useful.
Placing a silencing charm on my feet, I moved across the enclosure. The dragon followed my every move, her head lifted a little, but she didn't move, not yet. Harry and I have read countless of books about dragons, but each one is different, and I can't seem to remember if I read about this kind.
When I stepped a little too close, smoke came out of its nostrils before fire blew out of her mouth, straight into my direction. I rolled over the ground away from the hot fire, but I could feel the heat tickling at my ankles. At my feet lay small rocks and I transfigured them into walking, squeaking plastic ducks. They waddled over to the dragon, and I ran to the other side, closer to the eggs, closer to its tail. The eggs, they are probably real, that's why she was so viscous, she is protecting her babies. Like my mum did for me. A flash a green filled my eyes, and I shook the thought out of my head.
This is for you, mum. I thought to myself before I stood up from behind the fallen tree. I cast a spell that made the sight around the dragon blurry for just a few seconds and I made my way towards the eggs, but the spell didn't last long enough, just as I reached the eggs, the dragon started to turn towards me. I ducked and rolled away from the eggs when a blast of fire came my way, I could feel part of my flesh burn.
The dragon was coming after me. It was bigger than me, but her movements were slower, so at the last second, I changed direction and ran towards it, picking up a branch on the way. I think if I could hear the crowd, I would hear them gasping in shock. I slid under her head, wrapping my arms around her neck and swinging myself on her back. I summoned my Patronus, thinking of the joyous memories of my mum and let Loki distract the dragon for me, which helped immensely. The dragon stood still, following the silver wolf who was playing around with a stick. I transfigured the branch into a sword and slammed it between her chains. So she couldn't move from her spot. I jumped off her back and grabbed the gold egg. That's when the tail hit me, and I went flying to the other side of the enclosure. That was the last thing I remembered.
LB
"Harry!" I gasped when I woke up.
"Mr Potter is fine, dear." Madam Pomfrey said, helping me sit up. "How do you feel?"
"My head is pounding." I said, pushing the palm against the side of my head.
"Well, that was to be expected. Do you remember what happened?"
"I had the egg and then nothing..."
"The Patronus was a really smart move, but the dragon wanted to play with it and started copying its movements, so the dragon swished his tail and hit you, you flew a couple of meters in the air, before your head hit one of the trees."
"That must've looked bad."
"It was scary. Charlie Weasley had to carry you inside."
I then noticed I wasn't in the tent but in the hospital wing. "How long was I out?"
"A few hours. I'm guessing you're having a party, so if you drink this one now, and the other in the morning, you can go, but no drinking."
"Why would I go celebrate?" I said before downing the potion. "I'm probably last."
"Actually." The healer smiled broadly. "You're placed first with mister Potter."
"R-really?" I asked baffled. "How?"
"I'm sure your friends want to tell you all about it. Now, up you go. Some of them are waiting for you outside the door."