A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews! We finally reached the First Task, I hope you enjoy!
I made a little drawing (it's awful I can't draw) of the Riddle crest. If you want to see it, please look it up on AO3 (same user name), it's at the end of this chapter. Unfortunately, FFnet doesn't let me upload pictures.
Thanks to Sue for beta reading and again thank you Emily for pointing out the mistake in the last chapter :)
On Monday after her training with Igor and Viktor, she turned to her fellow champion before starting her other lessons with Igor.
She had debated whether she should be doing that. She definitely wanted to win or at least make a good impression, but the two Bulgarians had helped her so much, she would have felt awful for not saying anything.
"Viktor, you may want to take a little walk. That way." She pointed towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "Just go forward, along the Forest line. You'll know when you get there."
Viktor looked at her quizzically and when nothing more was forthcoming, he nodded slowly, then turned and walked in the indicated direction.
Igor looked at her for a long moment. "Is this about the First Task?"
She shrugged. "Yes. I found that place I just sent Viktor to at the end of last week and … well, you two have helped me so much, I thought it was only fair." She grinned. "Besides, I already have a plan in place. So don't think Viktor is going to win just because he knows what to expect."
Laughing, Igor shook his head. "I would never."
The next weekend was the first one in which she wouldn't go home to train ever since she had been chosen as a champion. She spent Saturday with her friends who did their best to distract her and on Sunday, early afternoon, she changed into the duelling robes her father had given her, her wand halter at her hip. Daphne braided her hair and formed some kind of skilful bun with it. It looked great and was practical.
For once, she couldn't take her bag with Noodles with her, so she had left him in the Room of Requirement earlier.
When the two girls left the dorm, all eyes were on her. Draco openly stared and she felt a little, satisfied smile come to her lips.
On her way out, her housemates wished her good luck, her friends hugged her and Draco a bit longer than the others. "You're not allowed to die today, Riddle."
She chuckled as she pulled back. "I won't. But if I do, I will come back as a ghost, so you can properly scold me."
"That's not funny." To her surprise, he kissed her cheek. "You'll do great. Good luck."
She felt herself blush. "Thank you."
Then she turned, left the common room and met with Headmistress McGonagall and Cedric Diggory in the Entrance Hall of the castle. Diggory, who was wearing robes that kind of resembled a Quidditch outfit, looked impressed by the sight of her, McGonagall's eyes were on the house crest, before she nodded resolutely.
"Come on then." While they walked, McGonagall turned to her. The woman looked troubled. "Now, don't panic. We've got wizards on hand to control the situation, if it gets out of hand … the main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any worse of you, if you come in last. Are you all right?"
Hermione nodded. "I'm fine, Headmistress. Thank you." She had no intention at all of coming in last, but she wasn't going to argue now. Also, she wasn't sure what the wizards would do, if one of the dragons caught her and bit her in half.
They were going to where the dragons were and when they reached a large tent with the entrance facing them and blocking the view from the creatures, she came to a halt. "You two are going in there with the other champions. You will receive further instructions then." She once more looked at Hermione. She looked more nervous than Hermione felt. Now that it was time, she felt strangely calm.
Upon entering the tent, she saw Fleur Delacour sitting on a stool in a corner. She was pale and looked nervous. Viktor just gave her a court nod, but didn't say anything. Cedric started pacing the moment they were in the tent. Hermione decided to stand next to Viktor and try to ignore everything else.
They didn't have to wait long
Bagman came in, greeted them with his usual cheerfulness and then went on to explain the task. "When it's time, I will offer you this bag." He held up a purple sack. "Each of you will 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.
Some nodded, some didn't react at all. Hermione wondered, if she and Viktor were the only ones who knew about the dragons.
Outside, she heard people talking, moving to their seats, and when Bagman came back, he offered them the purple silk sack. "Ladies first." Fleur seemed to consider herself the most ladylike and stepped forward without hesitation. However, her hand was shaking a little, as she pulled out a tiny model of the Welsh Green. Around its neck was the number "2". She looked slightly shocked, although Hermione thought to herself that she had been lucky. The Welsh Green would be the easiest to get around.
"Miss Riddle, you next."
The dragon Hermione pulled out was, of course the Hungarian Horntail. Just her luck.
Viktor got the Chinese Fireball and Cedric the blueish one she hadn't been able to identify at first. She had looked it up later in the library. It was a Swedish Short-Snout.
Each dragon had a number around its neck and Hermione would be last. They probably wanted to wait with the most impressive dragon until the end to finish the show with a bang.
Cedric came first. Hermione was still calm, almost disconnected, when she heard the crowd cheer, roar, and gasp. Bagman's commentary gave a rough picture of what was happening. "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow … He's taking risks, this one! … Clever move, pity it didn't work!"
In the end, however, Cedric seemed to make it. Unfortunately, the marks from the judges were not announced loudly. She wondered how he had done and how he had managed to get around the dragon.
Fleur was called and went out with her head held high, albeit trembling and clutching her wand.
She took longer than Cedric had, but some time later there was thundering applause and Viktor came next. "Good luck," Hermione whispered.
He smiled. "To you, too."
Viktor, too, made it in the end and when her name was called, Hermione stepped around the tent and to the makeshift arena. There were hundreds of people there and it took her a moment to make out Lucius, Narcissa and Abraxas. Next to Lucius sat Derwin Greengrass and then her friends and behind them their respective parents. Next to Abraxas she saw Cassius and Maeve and Lawrence and Cynthia Nott, her grandparents.
While Bagman was busy telling everyone how terrible the Hungarian Horntail was, Hermione noticed many faces she had seen during the Death Eater meeting all over the stands, Remus Lupin one of the few who smiled at her and when he noticed her looking. He looked nervous and she knew that he was here for her sake. The others had probably mostly come to see how the daughter of their leader would be doing.
For a moment she did feel a bit nervous, but when Bagman told her that she was not to harm the dragon or the real eggs and then gave permission to start, it was fine. She was calm again. She would not give her father reason to be ashamed.
When she stepped forward, she was completely focused and in quick succession placed the Silencing Charm on her feet, the charm to block her smell and then she raised her wand. "Accio firecrackers!"
It took a moment for them to get to her from the castle, but then two bundles of firecrackers flew into her direction. Before they could reach her, she redirected them with her wand, both of them landing on the left side of the dragon, one a bit further away from the other.
The huge black lizard-like creature was crouched close to its eggs, wings half unfurled, yellow eyes angry, irritated by the crowd. Its head shot to the side when the firecrackers landed, its spiked tail was thrashing.
Hermione could hear could hear Ludo Bagman's voice, but she blocked it out. It didn't matter what he said now. It mattered that she would stay focused. She placed the Disillusionment Charm on herself and then sent an Incendio towards the first bundle of firecrackers.
They went up immediately, making noises louder than Muggles in a gunfight and shooting colourful sparks into the air.
The dragon roared menacingly and turned towards the supposed threat.
Hermione started running, Ludo Bagman was shouting something, and then she reached the dragon, ducked under its thrashing tail, stumbled and fell to her knees, got up again and leapt forward, just in time to avoid being hit, and then she grabbed the golden egg.
The dragon was about to turn back to the nest when Hermione shot another Incendio to the second bundle of firecrackers.
A roar, louder than before, and the dragon stepped a few steps further away, towards the noise and the sparks, a burst of flames coming out of its mouth. It hit the firecrackers, which just made them go up stronger.
Hermione started running again, once more narrowly avoiding the dragon's tail, all the while clutching the egg close to her body.
It was only when she was a safe distance away that she stopped, took a moment to get her breathing under control and lifted the Disillusionment Charm.
While she had been focused on the task, she had barely noticed the noises around her, but now the roaring applause was almost overwhelming. Almost everyone was on their feet.
"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get the egg!"
Her friends were jumping up and down and clapping and even Lucius, Narcissa and Abraxas were on their feet while they applauded, so was Lord Greengrass next to them. Cassius and Maeve, too.
She noticed the judges for the first time. Madame Maxime was the only one sitting, looking slightly miffed as she clapped politely. Igor, however, was standing and clapping with a broad grin on his face.
Bagman told her to wait outside the arena so the dragon keepers could remove the dragon before the marks were announced. When she stepped out, she saw her friends leaving the stands in a run and she almost dropped the egg as they were all trying to hug her at once.
"You were by far the best!" Draco explained when they all had somewhat calmed down. "Cedric transfigured a rock into a dog to distract the dragon. It worked, but it was a lot of back and forth and the dragon did catch and burn him. He's being treated right now and lost points for that. Fleur put a charm on her dragon and it did become somewhat sleepy. But it took forever" He grinned. "And when it was finally asleep, it snored and a flame came out of its nose and burned her skirt. She managed to put it out before she could be seriously injured. Krum did well. He hit the dragon with a spell in the eyes to temporarily blind it, but it was trampling around then and squashed some of the real eggs. That cost him points."
Hermione was sorry to hear that the eggs were damaged, but glad that she had apparently not only been the fastest but also the only one who had not lost points by being injured or destroying eggs.
She noticed that the dragon had finally been removed and stepped closer to the arena once more to see her marks. It would be out of 10.
"If anyone doesn't give you 10, it's foul play," Greg commented and she gave him a quick smile.
Crouch raised his wand and what looked like a silver ribbon shot out into the air. It formed a 10. Theo hugged her close. The same with Bagman and McGonagall.
When Madame Maxime raised her wand, a six materialised and protests could be heard from the crowd. "Seriously?" Draco looked outraged, but she just shook her head. She couldn't have cared less, especially when Karkaroff lifted his wand and another 10 flew into the air.
"Well, with 46 you're still far ahead of everyone else. Viktor and Cedric share the second place. And I guess because she took so long and got hurt on top of it, Fleur is last." Theo commented as they stepped away from the arena again.
Daphne put an arm around Hermione and whispered close to her ear. "Just so you know, my father isn't here today."
She frowned. What was Daphne talking about? She had seen him, right next to Lucius. But then she understood. A smile came to her face.
Daphne grinned. "Polyjuice," she whispered even more quietly before stepping aside.
Lucius, Narcissa, Abraxas, Cassius, Maeve and 'Derwin Greengrass' came down from the stands, followed by the others. To uphold appearances, because now many people were walking around, somewhere she had even seen Rita Skeeter with her photographer, she came to Lucius and Narcissa first. Narcissa immediately hugged her and she could feel Lucius' hand on her shoulder.
"That was incredible."
She beamed up at him. "Thank you!"
"And so creative," she heard Abraxas from next to Lucius. "The six points from Maxime were a joke."
Both Cassius and Maeve hugged her, too, and even her grandparents to whom she didn't feel exactly close, praised her.
When she stood before the man who looked like Lord Greengrass, she was pulled into a brief hug. "I'm so proud of you," her father whispered before letting go of her.
All too soon, Headmistress McGonagall came and told her that she was to go back into the tent because Bagman wanted to make an announcement.
Before she could even start walking, a voice, magnified by the same charm Bagman also used during his commentary, demanded attention. "Ladies and gentleman, I'm George Weasley from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and I'm proud to say that the firecrackers Miss Riddle used in her stunning performance today are part of our wide range of products! If you are ever in need of practical joke articles you can always rely on, even if your life depends on it, please contact Fred or George Weasley! We are happy to send of a list of available products!"
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the look on McGonagall's face and quickly made her way into the tent.
There she saw that Cedric and Fleur, who had been treated for their injuries, were already there.
Cedric grinned at her, despite the orange paste all over his face, presumably there to mend his burns. "I heard you did great, Hermione. Congratulations!"
"Thanks, you too!"
Viktor entered next, directly followed by Bagman.
"Well done, all of you!" Bagman beamed. "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 in the morning of 24 February – but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look 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!"
Hermione left the tent and just wanted to go back to the group consisting of her friends, their parents and her father, still standing together when Rita Skeeter shoved herself in front of her. "What an impressive performance, Miss Riddle." The camera was flashing. "That was by far the most creative way of solving the problem! How did you come up with that?"
Hermione smiled modestly. "As I was the last, I did have some more time to come up with something than the other champions." From the corner of her eyes, she could see that both Lucius and her father were watching closely now. Narcissa, too, was looking into their direction, disdain for the woman in front of her evident on her face. "That was a bit of an advantage."
She could see that Skeeter had learned and did not even attempt to use her Quick-Quote-Quill this time.
"Still, very impressive. Can you tell our readers something about the house crest you're wearing on your robes?"
"Well, I think it's quite self-explanatory. It's the house crest for House Riddle, descending from House Gaunt and Slytherin." She pointed to the G and S, entwined with the large R.
"Is that necessary to have a house crest designed for a family that will no longer exist when you marry and take your husband's name?"
"I believe you're not aware of the traditions, Miss Skeeter. If the last heir of a house is a woman and she takes her husband's name after marriage, her first-born will be the heir of her husband's family, the second-born the heir of her family. Isn't that how it goes, Lucius?" She looked past Skeeter and at Lucius, who smiled and nodded.
"That is correct."
"See, Miss Skeeter, there's no need to worry about the House of Riddle. I have no intention of letting Salazar Slytherin's line end."
"Do you think your second child will appreciate having the name of your father?"
She saw Narcissa step forward and lifted her hand just a bit to stop her from interfering. "I firmly belief that by the time my second child is born, there will be no more reason to be ashamed of that name. Have a good day, Miss Skeeter."
With that, she left her standing there.
~tbc~