No welcome! No author's note! Only hype! Only Dragons!
On with the show!
Harry Potter, the Champion tent.
Harry was the last to arrive as he walks into the tent, inside were the other three champions, each preparing to take on what was to come, Angelina was stretching in the middle of the tent as she did before every Quidditch game or practice, Krum was pacing back and forth on the far side of the tent, his brow furrowed in worry as he kept stroking his chin in thought, barely recognizing Harry had walked in, Fleur was relaxing on one of the four hospitals beds looking up at the ceiling of the tent with a disappointed frown, spinning her hat by its brim around a finger, her eyes had flicked over to Harry as her eyes flashed orange-gold and she smiles her creepy "I'm going to eat you" smile at him.
"Oi, there you are, Harry," Angelina says as she turns to look at him, her face falling at the sight of the black and silver armor he was wearing, "Oh, Come on, not you too," she says with an aggravated sigh, "I'm the only one who didn't wear armor to this, what the hell!?" she says, leaning her head back with a yell. She was right too, both Fleur and Krum were wearing different sets of armor, Krum had what looked to be a leather tunic with segmented metal plates riveted to it over his chest that came down to a little metal skirt that covered his thighs under his robe. A patch was set on the chest piece, twin axes crossed over two bolts of lightning, and white items were set on a bright red background.
While Fleur was wearing her normal military dress, Harry could see shiny silver chain links hanging just below the hem of her gray military jacket and sticking out the sleeves, the oddest thing was the hilt of a blade hanging off her side, from what Harry could see it was a one-handed blade considering the short handle in the silver guard wrapped around it. Harry wasn't an expert in weapons but it looked like a rapier or saber, one of the long thin ones. The Fae looks up at Angelina's comment with an amused smirk, "Do not blame uz for 'our scool not zupplying ou with better protection," she says with a smirk, as the Quidditch captain looks at her with a glare that makes Fleur chuckle.
"It's not like Hogwarts has just random magical armor just laying around," Angelina mutters as she stands up from her stretching.
"Oh? And what of ze armor zets in ze caztle? Could ou not uz zem?" Fleur says with a coy smile, "I admit, I would find it very amuzing to watch ou fight and die in one of zem," the Fae says with a glint of amusement in her eyes.
Angelina looks at Fleur a bit disturbed, "Amusing? You would find something like that funny?" she says with a brush of anger in her voice and watches Fleur shrug, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Angelina asks.
"Zere is no good wine here, nor no pretty girlz or boyz to warm my bed, you English are no fun," Fleur sighs before sitting up on the bed, "Ze only good thing I have to look forward to is a good fight, but alaz, I was told not to ztart zuch trouble, zadly," She says before swinging her feet over the edge of and standing up before stretching. Fleur walks over to where Angelina was eyeing her warily with a flirty smile, "Unlez you wizh to keep me entertained, a pretty girl like you I can think of many, many zings to do to…Entertain us, hmm?" Fleur says with a smile as she flares her aura causing Harry to hiss in pain as the Hunt comes to the forefront of his mind whispering to him to end the Fea with a pounding headache.
"How about taking a step back before I make you?" Angelina says, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the Fae, unaffected by her Allure, Fleur just laughs as she steps closer, the sound was like nails on a chalkboard to Harry.
"Oh? And how would you do zat?" Fleur says, one hand coming to rest on her sword as she smiles at Angelina. The dark skin girl uncrosses her arms, letting her wand slip into her hand as she glares at the Fae who only smiles wider at her, showing off her sharp teeth, and before Harry could move to back up his captain, Krum speaks up.
"I wouldn't do dat," Krum speaks for the first time, his accent thick in his voice as he looks between the two girls with a bored look. Fleur's smile falters a bit as Angelina turns to look at him with a questioning look, "If she had given her word not to start a fight, then she can't, but that doesn't mean she can't make others mad enough to start one for her," Krum says.
Fleur tisks and turns to look at Krum with an unamused look, "Oh courz ou would know about zat, Bulgarian, and to be ruining my fun like zat," she says disappointed as she steps around Angelina, "But no matter, I do know at leazt one who give me a good fight, izn't zat right, little 'arry?" Fleur says with a malicious smile at Harry, who was trying to bury the urges of the Hunt with the Fae in the room.
Harry glares at the girl walking towards him, he could feel his pupils split as the Hunt pumps through his body, "Get the fuck away from me or I'll put a spear through your chest," Harry all but growls his warning at her, but all it did was make her smile sharper as she advances, her sword slowly being pulled from its scabbard.
As quick as a whip, Angelina turns, wand hand out, the point of it at the base of Fleur's skull, "Don't even think about it, bitch," Angelina says in a harsh voice.
But all Fleur does is chuckle, "Well, well, are we up for a zree way zen?" the Fae says as she stops, eyeing Harry as he flicks his wrist, snapping his wand to his hand as Fleur was starting to draw her sword, "How about you, Bulgarian, care to join in as well? We can trade off partners if ou do," Fleur says as she turns her head to look at Krum who just scowls at her, not answering. But by Fleur's bloodthirsty grin, she was planning to drag him into it one way or another.
But before anyone else could say or do a thing, the tent flap behind Harry opens up, and all four of the champions turn to face Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch, "Well, it seems all our champions are here!" Bagman says with a smile as Angelina drops her wand and Fleur slides her sword back into her scabbard before winking at Harry.
"Excuse us, Mister Potter," Bagman says as Harry steps aside to let the two men enter, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, in which we will be testing your courage and ingenuity in the face of an unknown danger!" Ludo says loudly as he rubs his hands together, "Now gather around, gather around, I've got something for each of you," He says with a smirk before reaching into his robes and removing four tiny golden boxes. But none of the champions even take a step toward him, Ludo sighs before drawing his own wand, and with a wave of it he sends each champion one of the boxes, as they float slowly to each champion they grow to about the size of a Rubix cube before each champion reaches out and taking them.
"Now, before opening them, let me explain what's going to happen," Bagman says with a smile, "Each of you has been assigned a random number, you be going out into the area in that order, your objective is,..." he says, pausing to increase the tension of his words, "Acquire the golden egg," Bagman says, and Angelina lets out a sigh of relief as Krum nods and Fleur frowns, "You may use any and all methods you have at your disposal to get it, so long as all you bring into the Arena is your wand," as Ludo says this he turns to look at Fleur, eyeing the sword on her belt, the Fae just rolls her eyes at him, "Now, if all would open the boxes, just give the tops a tap with your wands," He instructs them all, and each champion does so. The gold packaging melted away to reveal a small glass cube set upon a dark wooded square, and inside the space of the cube were Dragons.
"Dragons," Ludo says in a whisper and with a grin, "Dragons are possibly one of the most impressive magical species in the world, they are found all over it and in all different shapes and sizes, the four we have here for each of you, comes from your school's region of the world, for Mister Krum, who will be our first competitor, we have a Zmey, a terrifying two-headed dragon with the ability to control the weather, breath fire, and cause wind storms with a beat of its wings," Bagman says with a smile to Krum who was busy looking at the miniature dragon sitting and breathing out gusts of flames with a confused look on his face, looking at the dragon then back up at Ludo, before frowning deeper.
"The next one is Miss Deloucur, who will be after Mister Krum, and what we have for you today is a rather famous kind, even in the muggle world," Ludo says as he turns to the French Witch, "A Tarasque, these aquatic dragons are known to be as fearsome as they come and highly magically resistant, so do be careful Miss Deloucur," He says with a smile before turning to Angeline, but all Fleur does is scoff and look even angrier at the small replica of what looks like a six-legged mismatched creature, "Next we have Miss Johnson, and the Welsh Red Scale, this was the same type of dragon that foretold-" but before Ludo could even finish, Angeline had beat him to it.
"The victory of Uther Pendragon over Gorlois of Tintagel by Merlin himself, yeah, I know the story, Mister Bagman," Angelina said, looking at the red dragon not even bigger than her palm and looking nervous.
"Well, ah, yes," Ludo says, with an awkward smile, "They are known as symbols of power and prestige for a good reason, along with a rather nasty temperament," he tells Angelina before turning to the last champion, "And as for our last and surprise champion we have the South American Quetzal, also known as the Rainbow Serpent or Winged Serpent, as beautiful as they are dangerous, once considered protectors of ziggurats there and gods to those who lived in those parts," Ludo says with a grin, "I won't lie, it was a bit of a scramble to get one of those here from the South American Dragon Preserve in Brazil," he tells the champions and Harry looks up from the tiny Serpent with rainbow-colored wings hissing at him in the glass cube.
"But, The Hunters are from North America, not South," Harry asks in confusion, looking at two of the judges.
Ludo opens his mouth to say something, but sighs out and rubs the back of his head before turning to Mister Crouch, "Most of the dragons in North America aren't known to be very nice Mister Potter, they are commonly hunted to near extinction because how aggressive they are," Crouch explains, looking at Harry with steely eyes, "While the dragons we have here, today, are much more agreeable to our efforts when we approached them," He tells Harry, and the Boy who hunts just raised his brow, unsure what to ask about first, the fact they offered something to the Dragons, that the Dragons were smart enough to negotiate, or the fact that they were probably talking about Drakons in North America.
Harry just sighs and shakes his head, the Dragon was going to try to eat him one way or another, so it didn't matter.
"Excellent, Now, Mister Krum," Ludo says as he turns to the Bulgarian champion, "You'll be going first, I have a few announcements to get through before we call you out," He says with a smile, "You'll know when it's your turn at the sound of the cannon going off, after that, you'll walk into the Arena through this door," Ludo says as he gestures to the door opposite to the one the Champions had entered, "That goes for the rest of you, they'll be a ten-minute intermission between each champion, but at the sound of the cannon, it will be the next ones turn, understand?" Bagman asks, and all of the Champions nod.
The Stadium Stands
A small girl in Gryffindor robes sits on one of the highest seats overlooking the crowd of students and the small Arena that the large stands had encapsulated, she was kicking her feet that could not reach the floor from her seat, humming to herself as she inspected the terrain of the area with her fathomless black eyes. It was mostly flat rocky land, with a few trees dotting here and there, and a few larger human-sized stones were jutting out of the ground next to a large pool of water that was much deeper than most people would have guessed. The most impressive part was the complex ward system that had wrapped itself around the Arena in an Icosahedron shape net, it was a powerful one too, made to make an isolated pocket of space that ran on the same lateral definition of time, but reducing the volume and mass of everything inside by at least forty percent, it was some high tier mortal magic and impressive even to someone like her that could literally order anything and anyone to do anything she wanted, as was her birthright, even change the fundamental rules of the universe to her liking in a general area.
"Macha, I'm back," says a voice to the girl's right, her blonde ringlets swinging as she quickly turns her head to her sister. She was dressed in yellow and black robes but her eyes shone like emeralds as she walked over to the young girl.
"Did you get my Butterbeer, Anand?" Macha asks with a smile to her taller sister whose arms were filled with wizarding snacks and drinks.
"I didn't forget, Macha," Anand says as she sits down, piling the chocolates and candies next to her before grabbing a bottle of amber liquid from under her arm and passing it to the younger girl who reaches out to swipe the bottle, but it's quickly pulled back by the older girl, "What do you say, Macha?" Anand asks in a stern motherly voice.
"Thank you!" Macha says with a bright smile before the older black-haired girl hands her the drink with a smile of her own before the young girl pops the cork from the bottle and takes a drink, "That's the good stuff," Macha says with a content sigh as she puts the bottle between her legs.
"Is Badb still not here?" Anand asks, opening a chocolate frog, and snatching it out of the air while not even looking at it.
Macha rolls her eyes before taking another sip of her drink, "You know that old hag, she's never where she should be and always arrives at the worst possible time," the young blonde girl says, as Anand snorts in agreement.
"Well, if I arrived at any predictable time I wouldn't cause as much chaos as I do, Brat," a high whispy voice says as the two sisters turn to see the oldest of the three hobbles over to sit on the other side of Macha, the hood on her blue and silver robes drawn up to hide her milky white eyes as her gnarled and twisted hands were pulled into the sleeves, the hump in her back forcing her to hunch over in the seat, "and where would be the fun in that?" Badb says with a light cackle.
Anand rolled her eyes before passing the hag her drink and bag of cockroach clusters, "And what have you been up to?" Anand asks as the hag opens the bag and pulls out a large bug before popping her mouth, the insect dying with a squeal as the hag crushes it between her toothless gums before swallowing it.
"Watching two men beat each other to death with a piece of wood, and making sure this show is far more interesting than it would have been," Badb says with a nasty grin as Macha slowly turns her head to look at the hag.
"What did you do?" Macha asks, her words coming out as a whisper as her eyes narrow at the crow of war.
Badb cackled as Anand sighed, knowing this wasn't going to end well.
Champions tent
The sound of the first cannon had gone off not even ten minutes ago, and Krum, with his face set in steely determination, walked out of the tent, Harry had tuned whatever Ludo was saying out as sat on the hospital bed not trying to draw the attention of the matron of the Hospital Wing whose face was set in the look she normally gave Harry whenever he had shown up at the end of the year injured in some way, shape, or form. Not ten minutes after Krum had left, he had walked back inside the tent with a frustrated look but a golden egg in hand. Madam Pomfrey had rushed over to him wand out, but Krum had brushed her off, telling her he was fine and the Dragon had given him the egg.
"Why?" Angelina had asked, shocked.
Krum shrugged, "They got their Dragons mixed up, that was not a Zmey, that was a Zmej," he says as if that explained it. Fleur had started to laugh at it before turning to Krum with a smile.
"It seems the children of ze 'tormz 'ave an underztanding, non?" Fleur says, and Krum just scowls at her.
"Mind your own business, Vila, and I will mind mine," Krum says to Fleur, with an eye full of scorn.
"Well, I would offer ou a dance, but I fear I 'ave anozer dance I must attend to firzt," Fleur says as she stands up from where she was lounging on the hospital bed to take off her sword and tossing on the bed and making her way to the tent flap to wait for the sound of the cannon.
The Stadium stands
"I don't get it," Ron says confused watching as the dragon was led from the stadium, the thing gave Ron the creeps, from its two heads with its large underbites and needle-like teeth and the dead fish-like eyes, the scales of the dragon were murky green the perfect color of a river or lake that it could hide in, the forelegs of the beast were long and webbed between what looked like foot long claws along with its large fishtail. The dragon keepers led it through a large gate toward the back of the arena, opposite the champion's entrance.
"Why did the Dragon just…give Krum the egg?" Ron asks before popping some popcorn into his mouth, "I mean, what kind of dragon just gives up a gold egg?" he asks before swallowing.
"A Zmej," was his answer in stereo, Ron was used to Hermione blurting out an answer to any question he asks out loud no matter how dumb they sounded, but to hear another person answer him was just odd, he looks over to Hermione who seemed just as confused before they both turn to look to the three girls sitting behind them.
"Greengrass," Hermione greets coldly, as she sees the blonde Slytherin with a look of careful neutrality.
"Granger," Daphne answers back just as coldly with a glare of her own.
"Weasley," one of the older Slytherins girls says, as she sticks her nose in the air looking down at the redhead, trying to act cold and snooty but utterly failing at it with the corners of her lips twitching as she fights a grin from overtaking her face.
"Ummmm," Ron says as he looks at the Slytherin girl in a beanie with one of the "Support Angelina" buttons on it, "Who are you?" he asks, confused as the two other Slytherins and Hermione look between the two as confused as Ron was.
The girl immediately starts laughing, "No one, Mate, I'm just fucking with you," she says with a grin before leaning forward and extending her hand, "Tracey, Tracey Davis, we've been in the same classes for the last four years," she says with a smirk and Ron blushes.
"Oh, right, sorry," Ron says, taking her hand and shaking it, giving her a look of distrust, "Ron Weasley," he introduces himself, trying to at least be polite.
"Nice to meet ya mate," Tracey says with a grin, "Thought I'd at least introduce myself all things considered," she says before leaning back and picking up a butterbeer at her side.
"What things?" Ron asks, narrowing his eyes at Tracey, who blinked owlishly at him, the bottle halfway to her lips.
"Wait," Tracey says slowly, "You two don't know?" she says with a large grin slowly crawling across her face.
"Know what?" Hermione asks, her eyes flicking between Tracey and Astoria's grinning faces and Daphne's blushing one.
"That Da-Oww!" Tracey cries out in pain because before she was able to say a thing, Daphne had drawn her wand and set a stinging hex at the other girl's thigh.
"A Zmej, Weasley, is a two-headed water-dwelling dragon from Southern Bulgaria, they are known, locally, as benevolent demonic protectors of cities and crops," Daphne says, quickly changing the subject as she glared at Tracey who was rubbing her thigh where the spell hit, "But Bagman called it a Zmey, which is a more destructive dragon from Northern Bulgaria, how they made that mistake is beyond me because the Zemy has three or more heads," Daphne says, rolling her eyes, as Hermione turns back to Ron to finish the explanation.
"Zmej aren't very shy dragons, they're known to help out a hero or towns folks when asked, like the dragons of the far east, who are known as guardians and protectors," Hermione says, glancing back at the three Slytherin girls noting out of the three of them, only Daphne wasn't wearing a scarf, before turning back to the arena when the sound of a cannon goes off.
The Champions Tent
Krum looked bored as he sat in the chair next to one of the hospital beds, Angelina was pacing to release some of the nervous energy she had been building up knowing her turn was next, and Harry, Harry was sitting on the hospital bed furthest from the entrance into the arena, one of his legs bouncing up and down as he looks out into space at nothing, his thoughts a million miles away and racing thousands of miles at once. His hands were clasped together as he tried to think through his plan for dealing with a rampaging dragon, it was pretty simple.
"The simplest plans are often the best in a fight, Graeca, you do not need to plan ten steps ahead, just far enough to keep your opponent off balance," Scáthach had told him during his training, by keeping a plan simple, it would afford you a degree of flexibility that an opponent couldn't predict, if a punch didn't work then elbow them in the face, you build upon the simple to something more complex as the fight continues. Harry's plan was simple, stop the dragon from flying, find a way to keep it still, then summon his spear.
Scáthach snaps a barbed hook off her spear before standing back up and planting it into the stone next to her throne before she turns back to Harry, "I require something that only you can give, Graeca, that way this will not be lone but a trade, to give and give in return so it can not be taken back, understand?" She says looking down at Harry.
Harry nods before looking down, trying to think of something he could give to his teacher. He knew what he wanted to do for her within seconds and looked back up at her, "You want me to free you, right?" Harry asks
Harry tries to push the memory of his teacher and her request from his mind, he would do it either way, He owed Scáthach that much at least for all that he had done for him. Focusing on the Hunt to come helped with that, he could feel it in the back of his mind, waiting and eager to begin, pushing and nudging him to be ready, that the prey was near, and how much the Hunt wanted to taste its blood. He could hear the faint growls and the rattling of broken chains as the Hunt scratched at the door in the back of his mind, Harry lets out a shuddering breath bringing his hand up to his head, pressing balled fists to his forehead, wishing the domain would stop for just a few moments so Harry could breathe and think for himself.
The Stadium Stands
"Well, that was interesting," Blaise says as he watches the Beauxbatons champion walk out of the arena with the golden eye held under one arm and the dragon Tamers come out to try and removed the patchwork of a dragon out of the arena, it was one of the weirdest "Dragon's" he had ever seen, a head like a lion, shaggy mane and all, with two large horns coming from the side of its head. The beast was currently on its back, snoring away, which was pretty funny as its back was a tortoise shell that was rocking back and forth as the six bear feet were kicking in the air as if it was running or swimming as the long, snake-like tail tipped with a barbed stinger was flopping to and fro, it was honestly kind of cute.
"How so?" the wispy voice of Theodore asks next to him, sounding bored of the spectacle that was playing out in front of them, "She just used her abilities as aos sídhe to charm the dragon into sleeping, impressive, yes, but not all that interesting," Theodore says.
Blaise chuckles at his friend's words, "Forgive me, I forgot you don't put much stock in the Muggle faiths," he says leaning back in his seat, "You see, there is this story from around the Death of Christ, one of his followers had gone to France and came across a dragon, a Tarasque, and had tamed it and depending on who is telling the story, it was either with song or prayer," he tells Theodore.
"Ah," Theodore says, eyes never leaving the field, "Interesting to you because it's almost a recreation of it," he says with a shake of his head, "You have the weirdest fascination with the muggles faith, Blaise," Theodore says as he turns his head to the boy next to him, "Not thinking of converting are you?" the mismatched eye boy says with a smirk.
"Theo, I grew up in Roma," Blasie says flatly, "You can take a step out of the Villa without hearing five stories from the Bible, and no, you know exactly what faith I follow," he says before reaching down between his legs to pick up his drink and takes a sip.
Theodore made a noise of agreeing with him, but his mismatched eyes had drifted over the crowd of collected students and visitors, picking out his year mates, looking for a certain checkered beanie. His eyes pass over Draco and his group of slobbering sycophants, it's a shame that Anthony Selwyn and his friend Timidus Travis had seemed to join the rest of them, he would have thought that the older students were smarter than the younger ones, but it seemed to be unfounded with those two.
Theodore finally picks out the checkered beanie in the crowd, animatedly speaking with Astoria Greengrass, who was sitting in the middle between her and Daphne who was speaking to…
"Why in the Shadowlands are Daphne, Astoria, and Tracey sitting with Granger and Weasley of all people?" Theodore asks out loud, shocked the two leading students in their year could sit close to each other without trying to kill one another. Blaise turns his head to look in the direction that Theodore was looking, quickly picking out the checkered beanie in the crowd.
"Maybe Tracey has a thing for redheads?" Blaise says with a grin before Theodore turns in his seat and punches him in the shoulder, much to Blasie's amusement.
The Champions Tent
It was Harry's turn to pace now, Angelina was standing by the door, jumping up and down, shaking her body, trying to loosen it up for her challenge. Fleur had strutted into the tent, telling Madam Pomfrey she was fine before tossing the golden egg to the side with contempt and muttering angry French words under her breath, she didn't seem very happy with any of this before flopping back down on the bed after picking up her sword, bemoaning not having any wine again.
The Hunt growled in Harry's mind, wanting him to tear the whining Fae apart, to feed it, it was hungry and was demanding its due from one blessed with its power. Harry breaths through his mouth to avoid the scent of honeysuckle and blood that surrounds Fleur that triggers the primal urges buried deep in his mind, before breathing out, he could feel Fleur's eyes following him, Harry was about to turn and tell her to stop when he hears her whisper, one so low and soft that he doubts that Krum, who was just a few feet from them, could hear her.
"You feel it too, non?" Fleur says, and Harry stops dead, keeping his eyes forward, "The want, the hunger that can't be filled, a thirst that you can't quench, like the orgasm you can't quite achieve, a tickle in the back of your mind roaring with the want to hunt and kill me, to pin me down and fuck me, to dominate me in some way just to show you the biggest meanest predator around," Fleur sighs out and Harry slowly turns his head to look at the lounging Fae, horizontally split pupils meet vertically split ones, "You have no idea how hungry you make me, I just want to cut out your liver and blend it down with duck fat and shallots and use it as a pate for some crackers, or pull out your intestines to make sausages from your thigh meat," she says, sounding like she was on the verge of a moan, but holds it back with a shuddering sigh that makes Krum look over at her with a raised brow, "So many ways to eat you, and in so many meanings of that word," Fleur says softly as she lays her head down on the pillow with soft sigh of want leaving her.
Harry looks away, trying to ignore the challenge in her voice, and the wants of the hunt growling in his head, he closes his eyes and his mind is once again drawn back to Dún Scáith.
"You can not be serious about freeing her, Harry!?" Zoë growls out, pointing her blade at the Goddess that called the fortress her home, "You have no idea what chaos she could unleash if you set her free!" she yells at her little brother.
"That is a moot point, Lieutenant," Scáthach says looking over at her, "My freedom was all but guaranteed with the release of Cernunnos, it is only a matter of time, but of the three I see breaking the seal that keeps me here, you are not among them, Graeca," she says as she turns back to Harry with a soft smile, "But I do appreciate your offer, Harry, I have something else in mind, something that only you can do, and something far more important than breaking the seal that holds me here," the Witch-Queen says in a soft voice as she holds out the broken piece of her spear.
Harry Jumps at the sound of the cannon going off.
The Judges Box
Zoë watches the flap that leads to the Champion's tent open and like twice before, one of the chosen champions steps out. Zoë was hoping this girl's showing would be more impressive than the last two, while she did get a good laugh out of the mistake that the Tournaments organizers made when it came to Krum's dragon, and had awarded the boy six points because that he had not foolishly attacked one of the more peaceful dragon species and instead he knew to bow and kindly ask for the egg in his native tongue, it wasn't all that impressive or entertaining. It would seem that Bagman, the Headmaster, and Maxine had agreed with her and only awarded the boy half points as well. Mister Crouch had given the boy a two, which was unfair in her opinion, but Kakaroff was far worse, showing a bias for the boy and awarding him with full points. She had not called him out on it because she really didn't care.
The Vila was just annoying, and she had fought hard not to give her a zero on principal, her showing had no spirit but it did show the Fae could at least use the brain in her head, for while dragons were resistant to most mortal magic thanks to their mythological nature, that was only for their scales and bodies. The Fae had turned her allure up all the way and had put the beast asleep with a lullaby, affecting its mind, not its body, so Zoë had begrudgingly given the girl a three, much to the scowl of Maxine, but Zoë once again could care less.
The lieutenant's eyes shift across the arena to the opposite side, watching the gate lift as a Welsh Red stalks out, the beast was a beautiful specimen of its kind, the scales were crimson and looked to be freshly polished, and its face was like most of its kind, regal looking with a ridged crest that came down to its eyes and extending back into a crown around its head with two large horns that bent backwards at a sloping before jutting back up and capped with gold. It trots out of the cage that it called its home, its wings flaring out in a show of dominance as it bends its head back with a roar. The Welsh Red moved with the grace of a cat as it walked over to one of the large stones that stick out of the ground, before stretching its wings fully out and roaring again with the looks of soaking in the cheers of the crowd.
Zoë could help but to laugh at the impressive and prideful beast that was acting like a cat who wanted attention. It was young, barely out of its first century, and illegal to hunt sadly enough, the ICW and the Olympian game wardens would be on the hunts ass about it as soon as they heard and seeing said game warden was Lady Artemis, Zoë was sure the scolding would be mythical in proportion if she caught her hunters like that.
As the Welsh Red turns its attention to the girl across the arena, so did Zoë, the girl's face was set in stony resolve as she waves her wand around causing a wall of stone to burst forth from the ground, providing her with full cover and blocking the view to see what else she may be doing in there. After a moment or two, the dragon gets bored and launches a jet of fire at the wall, unsurprisingly, it does nothing to the wall but undoubtedly turns the inside into an oven. After a minute of constant fire, the dragon finally stops to take a breath, and the earth wall drops, then four people charge out.
"Impressive," The Headmaster mumbles beside her, as Zoë narrows her eyes at the four identical girls, they all seem the same size and shape but Zoë could spot imperfections in them, one was missing its ears, and another was a bit shorter, and yet another had no nose.
"What did she do?" Zoë asks the Headmaster of Hogwarts and turns just in time to watch his wand twist as the barest flash of silver light comes up around them, most likely to make sure none would hear them.
"What Miss Johnson has done has created three golems that look like her, it is a tricky spell to pull off seeing that it combines Transfiguration, Charms, and Runes all for one spell," Dumbledore explains as he watches the four girls run around the arena waving their arms and yelling at the Welsh Red, "it is impressive that she pulled off three so quickly, it takes a few minutes to create a basic golem let alone something to do a complex task," he says as he strokes his beard, watching as the Welsh Red jumps at one of the golems, landing on it and reducing it to earth and stone.
"Not three," Zoë says, watching the Dragon's befuddlement with amusement, "She created four," the Lieutenant says as the Headmaster turns to her in surprise.
"Oh, how can you tell?" he asks, and Zoë points out the one the dragon had just destroyed.
"I had thought that was the real girl," Zoë says with a smirk, "The other three are defective, one is shorter than the others, one has no nose, and another no ears, but if they aren't real, where did the girl go?" Zoë mutters out the last part as she scans the arena before she hears Dumbledore chuckle.
"Oh my, how very clever," The Headmaster says with a twinkle in his eyes as Zoë turns back to look at him confused, "Do watch the egg, Lady Nightshade," was all the elderly wizard says with a smile.
So, Zoë did, she ignored the dragon clawing at the body doubles to watch the golden egg setting in the fake nest among the fake eggs created for the task, one second it was there, and then Zoë blinked and it was gone. Her eyes go wide as she leans forward scanning the arena, calling on the Hunt to do so, and as everything becomes sharper, she sees it. Against the far wall, the furthest from the dragon, she could see dirt move, water in the pond freeze, then crack as if someone was stepping on it.
Zoë smiles, "She's invisible," The Lieutenant says, just as one of the golems throws something at the dragon that bursts into green smoke.
"And that was something like a dungbomb," Dumbledore says, his brow crinkling in confusion just before they widen in understanding, "Ah, the Weasley Twins, of course," he says with an amused sort of smirk.
Zoë had no clue what a dung bomb was, but she could guess as she leaned back in her chair, the girl was quite impressive. As impressive as the Dragons were, they had a few weaknesses one could exploit, like their poor eyesight up close, they mostly hunted by scent while close to their prey, but when flying in the sky they had eyes much better than a hawk, able to spot prey for miles out before swooping down on top of it to snatch it up. The girl had capitalized on that weakness and then turned their biggest advantage against it by using a powerful odor to mess with its sense of smell.
Zoë tracks the invisible girl's progress across the arena using the Hunt, the second golem was destroyed by a tail whip and the third golem falls to a blast of fire from the beast, before the girl makes it back to the start, dropping the illusion on both her and the egg and holding it up for all to see, it takes a few moments after the last golem is destroyed for both the dragon and the audience to notice her, but when they did, the crowd roars as the Hogwarts champion walks back into the tent as the Welsh Red looks around confused, just now realizing that it was bamboozled. Zoë applauds with the rest of the crowd, she was both impressed and entertained, which was just what she was looking for, for all of its debaucheries, she missed Rome, she missed the shows in the Coliseum blessed by the Gods, those were the days.
"Albus," Kakaroff says with a frown, the privacy ward dismissed before Zoë had even noticed, "I thought you said the egg couldn't be spelled?" he says, sounding more curious than angry.
"No, Igor, I said the egg could not be summoned easily," Dumbledore says with a smile, "All other magic could work on it, we just made sure that if a Champion were to try and summon the egg it would take an incredible amount of power to do so, and immediately alerting the Dragon to where the Champion was, inadvertently making the easiest answer the hardest to pull off," Dumbledore says before leaning back his eyes twinkling with amusement as the dragon tamers come out to the field to guild the Welsh Red back to its cage. Why they were called Tamers, Zoë hadn't a clue, you can not tame a dragon, you can bargain or negotiate with one if it was in a good mood, but NEVER tame one, most dragons would find the term insulting if they were told it was used on their "Servants", they were more like handlers if anything.
As the other judges discuss the girl's performance, Zoë ignores them, she already decided what she was going to award the girl, and she could vaguely hear Kakaroff try and downplay the girl's plan and ability, it made Zoë want to punch him in the nose. But as the judges break apart and the girl comes back out the judges give their scores.
Kakaroff went first, sending an olive green ribbon into the air that twists itself into a six.
Next was Madame Maxine, she sends up a powdered Blue Ribbon that creates an eight.
Then, Dumbledore, who also sends up a black eight.
Next was Herself, she points the stick she had picked up off the ground before seeing Harry off before the task, and concentrated on twisting the Mist into a silver nine.
Then Crouch, with a purple five, followed by Bagman's yellow six, scoring the girl forty-two points and putting her in the lead so far. She jumps for joy before remembering where she is and controls herself to take a bow before walking out of the Arena.
Zoë takes her seat again, a pit of dread forming in her stomach for what was to come next. She glances over at Dumbledore and sees his carefully controlled and relaxed face, but there hasn't been a moment in the showings so far that he hadn't had his wand in a death grip.
Cabin #8, Camp Half-Blood, Long Island Sound.
The Hunters of Artemis were all gathered around a large late 50s-era Radio that was installed just for today's events, snacks, sodas, and drinks were scattered everywhere as the group of immortal hunters sat around the Wizard Wireless Broadcasting Network. It had taken some finagling and calling in a few favors from Agent Doe at the DoMC to get it and have it tuned to the British Airways, but Artemis was able to get it.
They had shown up at Camp late in the night a day ago, much to Chiron's confusion, Artemis normally forewarned him when she was going to show up, but between a last-minute request by the Department of Mist Control about a large nest of hydras in the swamp lands of Mississippi, the rush to get the radio and getting to Camp with a snack run in between, she had completely forgotten to contact him to tell him she, her hunters and her handmaidens were staying for the night. But like always, Chiron had welcomed them all by name and with respect, informing them if they were to stay till Friday, they should have enough campers for a small game of capture the flag.
Most of the broadcast was covering the other Champions, which none of the Hunters or Handmaidens cared about in the slightest, but did bring up interesting conversations about the different types of dragons and the different ways to hunt them, there was even a betting pool on which way that Harry was going to hunt the Quetzal and more importantly, how he was going to kill it. Most had bet on killing it with his Spear, some had placed a bet on magic, and only two had placed a bet on "Some surprising way none of us were expecting" those two being Atalanta and Cecilia.
Artemis herself was sitting in a simple silver chair next to the Radio tuning in and out of the broadcast trying to push down the building anxiety about Harry fighting a Dragon, they were incredibly dangerous creatures for one person to take on, and would normally take half her hunt to bring one down, the only reason for that was because the Dragons ability to fly or swim at incredible speed. If one were grounded, it would still take at least ten of her hunters, or five of her best to kill the beast.
Artemis swears to herself that if Harry were to die, she would raise the Ministry of Magic from the ground and slowly kill all who were involved in this plot, and she was pretty sure she could get a hound to help her out in doing it. But Artemis is roused from her thoughts as a yell echoes throughout the cabin.
"EVERYONE! SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT'S HARRY'S TURN!" Atalanta yells, and the cabin falls quiet as the broadcaster announces the next and last Champion.
The Champion's Tent.
Harry stands in front of the tent flap, his eyes closed, focusing on the task ahead of him, on the hunt that was coming at the sound of the cannon, on his plan. Stop the dragon from flying, trap it, call his spear, then kill it before it puts anyone else in danger. It was easier said than done, but that didn't stop him from getting to the stone, that didn't stop him from killing the Basilisk, and that didn't stop him from saving Sirius, and it wouldn't stop him now. Besides, he had a job to do, a request from his teacher, the one who gave him the means to survive this, he owed her that much.
"You are to be my herald," Scáthach said, her blood-red eyes looking into his own, "You are to bring woe to the bones of all who would think that my school belongs to anyone but me, and you are to remind the Draoidh…"
BOOM
The sound of the cannon cuts off Harry's thoughts as he steps through the tent flap, ignoring Angelina's words of good luck. His wand was already in Hand, and he could hear Ludo Bagman yelling something, but he ignored that as well as he opens the tap in the back of his mind, letting the Hunt flood him with a purr, eyes locked on the gate on the other side of the arena where his prey was going to emerge, and as the gate is lifted, Harry bends his knees preparing to take off in a burst of speed, he falters at what looks back from the darkness of the cage, two large eyes shone like molten gold.
The first thing that emerges is a clawed hand, not like the cat's paw that most dragons would have, but a large hand that could easily snatch Harry up and crush him if it didn't slice him to ribbons with the foot-long claws that extended from the fingers, with one black scaled arm dragging its mass from the cage the impossibly large beast emerges. The scales of its body were midnight black that didn't even reflect the sun and seemed to swallow up the light, the scales interlocked like a shield wall or dozens of armor sets melted and blacked to fit the mass of the Dragon, gold threads seem to crisscross its body, looking as if it was used to weld the scales together.
The tail moved and swayed like a serpent, as thick as a tree trunk from the deeper parts of the forbidden forest ending in what looked like an axe head that snaps open and close, fanning itself out, dripping molten gold to the ground with a hiss. Its body was like a lion or a tiger, but as big as a Tyrannosaurus Rex that Harry had only seen in his science textbooks back in his muggle school, it's underbelly was a gray-white color with what seemed to be a large scar going down its chest, a jagged wound that had been dug into its scales years ago to try and get to its heart, now scared over with golden scar tissue. The dragon had two sets of wings, one set located behind its shoulders and the other set in the middle of its back, to extend skyward, scraping across the ward barely keeping it contained, sending a show of sparks down from it. Its head was like a salamander's but instead of smooth skin, it hardened black scales, two long horns extend from the side of its jaw, jagged and ready to gore, and three more extended from the top of its head, two that curved up from its eyes and one from the middle of its forehead that formed a mockery of a blackened crown. It opens its mouth to hiss at Harry, and the boy who lived sees two sets of large teeth, Harry gawks as the front teeth pull up and out of the way as if they were attached to a second jaw that moved them out of the way.
"Half-Blood," escapes the maw of the dragon, before it's roar shakes the world around Harry.
"Whatever the hell that thing is, it isn't a fucking Quetzal," Harry thinks to himself as he takes a step back, just before he feels the wards snap shut behind him, locking him in the Arena with the Dragon before him.
The Stadium Stands.
Anand looks at the beast that had emerged from the gate with a horrified expression that was shared by Macha before she slowly turns her head to Badb, "Fáfnir," Anand says in a whisper, "You brought fucking FÁFNIR here!?" the Mother screams at the Crone as she cackles and the Maiden covers her mouth in horror.
Chapter done!
Okay, I was originally going for only two chapters for the first task, but this is already close to nine thousand words and uploading that big of a document becomes iffy at that point.
Also, it's like almost 7 am here and I'm out of smokes to complete this chapter in its entirety. But from this alone, there is A LOT of shit to cover.
First off, yes, the three sisters are at the task to watch Harry, the oldest decided to fuck with it to cause some chaos for her own reasons we will get to it in the next chapter, and she also fucked with the ward that surrounds the arena that Dumbledore put up, everyone but the sisters are going to be watching something different, though Zoë is going to know something is off, but not what.
Onto the dragons, each dragon was pulled from different myths, some I'm sure y'all know.
Krum basically got easy mode and got cucked out of earning it through his own wit and strength because someone fucked up and asked for a Zmej, and not a Zmey, which I found amusing in my head.
Fleur basically recreated the myth/biblical story of St Martha and the tarasque, which is what she did in the books, I just made it more literal for the fun of it.
Angeline was new so I had to come up with something fun for her to do, did it fit her careful and methodical but daring character that I wish to portray? Idk, you tell me.
Harry, oh, poor Harry, you have the curse of the protagonist and I'm not apologizing for it.
But we also got to see the personalities of the champions as well, Krum being distant but kind, Fleur and her ingrained hedonism thanks to how Fae are, and Angeline being a team player and a BAMF.
For those who are wondering, Anand is Ana from the empress chapter.
The next chapter is gonna be a short one, mostly the fight and the aftermath of what happens.
Kingsaxcul, Out!
