LOVE AMONG THE DRAGONS

By Rita Skeeter

The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament was held yesterday at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (for more on the history of the Triwizard Tournament, see page 4). The event was closely held under wraps until that morning when it was revealed that each champion would have to face a live nesting dragon and fetch a Golden Egg hidden within the dragon's nest.

Each champion had the support of his or her family to witness the event. Harry Potter, the illicit fourth champion and Boy-Who-Lived (see page 10 for a recount of his defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), had an additional support cheering for him from the VIP box. A fellow student and Slytherin, Aria Bourne, was caught sneaking into the Champion's Tent to embrace Harry. What more might have happened if they had not been interrupted?

Harry is reaching that age when romance begins to feature prominently within the social life of a person. A great amount of speculation had always past the lips of wizards and witches about who the young wizard might fall for, and it's clear that it may be this fellow classmate and housemate.

Readers will remember that Miss Aria Bourne is no stranger to the spotlight herself. Two years ago, Lucius Malfoy publicly acknowledged a Life Debt between him and her after Miss Bourne's Muggle father killed a wizard attempting to kidnap young Draco Malfoy from Diagon Alley. Readers should also remember that Miss Bourne caused quite a stir when Durmstrang first arrived at Hogwarts, she being the first Muggleborn many students from Durmstrang had ever met! They were quite scandalized by having to sit by her at dinner, and Headmaster Dumbledore forced her to move tables.

What sort of statement is young Harry making by being involved with Miss Bourne? Will their love last for long or will this be a teenage fling? Does Miss Bourne have her sights on the Potter fortune?

"Is that it?" Aria cried. "No recount of the actual Task itself?"

"No one ever said Rita Skeeter was a real journalist," Blaise commented. "But do tell us, do you have your sights on the Potter fortune? I'm sure my mother would be happy to give you the tips of the trade."

Their classmates gave Blaise sharp looks that Aria could not decipher. Blaise did not talk about his family much, except to say if he had a new stepfather or not.

"I've got my own fortune, thank you very much," Aria settled on saying, wiggling her fingers at Blaise, showing off the Flamel heir ring. "I also killed a basilisk if you'd be so good to recall. I don't need the Potter fortune. Not that Skeeter knows any of this."

"If she did her job, she might know about the Flamel fortune," Daphne said.

"Only if she dug about for it," Tracey corrected. "Aria's a minor. I don't think the bank announces the names of minors when they inherit something, unless it's well known, like Harry inheriting the Potter fortune."

"I'm sorry you're getting pulled into the media drama," Harry said. Aria shrugged, carefully using her wand to cut out the picture of her hugging Harry from the newspaper. Even though she and Harry jumped at the flash of the camera and looked like deer caught in headlight, for the most part it was a sweet picture, and it definitely deserved a place in her mementos box.

"When can we expect a date?" Draco asked, a slight bite to his words. Aria raised an eyebrow at him while Draco's fingers curled around the edges of his copy of the newspaper. Harry hid the roll of his eyes behind the Quidditch scores, making Aria giggle.

"Looking for an invite?" Daphne teased Draco. "And when can we expect a wedding date for you and Pansy?"

Now it was Aria's turn to shoot a sharp glance at Draco without anyone but Harry seeing. Pansy and Draco's faces went bright pink.

"Don't give Pansy any ideas," Draco warned Daphne.

"I don't know," Daphne continued, "you gave her that flower ring that one summer."

"We were six, Daphne! And dumb old Cormac McLaggen had just pushed her over. I was being nice."

So maybe that was why Pansy was always a little obsessed with Draco, Aria thought as she tuned out their bickering for pouring herself more tea. Too be fair, Cormac McLaggen was an awful fifth year Gryffindor. Fay and Sophie hung out with him a lot. He and they had proudly sported POTTER STINK badges and had been barred from the Slytherin common room during the party.

Dumbledore stood up from his chair, clapping until he had everyone's attention. While it was Sunday, and many students were not yet up, the professors were always present at breakfast on weekends.

"Attention," Dumbledore called. "I would like everyone to know that esteemed Hogwarts alumnus, Charles Weasley, will be conducting a two-hour seminary on dragons this afternoon after lunch at 2 o'clock. The dragons will be transported back to their reserves afterwards. If you are interested in attending, please congregate at Hagrid's hut at 2. Thank you." Dumbledore settled back in his seat. Immediately the volume in the Great Hall rose as students began to excitedly discuss the seminar.

"I'm not sure I want to go learn about the dragon that tried to kill me," Harry said.

"I definitely want to go," Aria said. "Don't feel like you have to, Harry. I wouldn't want to go to a seminar about basilisks."

At 2pm sharp, Aria arrived at Hagrid's hut with Hermione and Ron. A large group of students from all years and all three schools had come, though the champions were noticeably absent. When Aria had left, Harry had said something about meeting up with Cedric and had been carrying the Golden Egg.

Charlie Weasley was tall and burly, with the standard red-hair and freckles that all the Weasleys seemed to have. He had long hair, like Bill, and it was pulled back in a loose ponytail, making him look even more handsome and carefree. More than one person whispered about how good looking he was, causing Ron's face to go red with embarrassment while the twins snickered. Ginny seemed to think that Charlie deserved the admiration. There were definitely more than one boy and girl giggling over him.

Charlie launched into an enthusiastic lecture about dragons. The group was led to the clearing in the woods where the dragons were being kept, though to Aria's disappointment, they were kept a respectable distance from the cages. The dragons, however, still detected them. The Hungarian Horntail snapped and snarled at them while the Chinese Fireball turned its back, huddling around its remaining eggs protectively. The Swedish Shortsnout glared at them, flicking its tail as best as possible within the confines of its cage. Only the Common Welsh Green remained calm, turning old eyes upon the gathered crowd.

"Our Welsh Green is believed to be nearly a thousand years old," Charlie said, "if not older. It is difficult to determine the age of a dragon without a wixen with the ability to speak to dragons."

"How's that possible?" someone asked.

"There are a few ways to communicate," Charlie answered. "The first is to have what we call the Old Tongue here in the British Isles. It's a hereditary ability, similar to Parseltongue. The last known people in Europe to have this ability were Merlin and Morgana. Parselmouths are also able to communicate a bit with dragons, not as well as those who have inherited the Old Tongue, but enough to communicate small commands and such. And not all Parselmouths can understand a dragon even if they can speak to them."

"Harry could've just talked to the dragon," Aria groaned, causing the Hogwarts students to laugh.

"How do you determine the age then?" a Durmstrang student asked.

"Size, weight, what we know about the breed of dragon, and by looking at shed scales," Charlie answered. "Scales are shed by dragons at regular intervals, and their texture changes over the centuries. So, we can estimate ages. Dragons are intelligent creatures. It's simply that we've lost much of our way to communicate with them."

"Do you name the dragons?" a Spanish girl from Beauxbatons asked.

"We do," Charlie replied. "Adult dragons are trickier because we recognize that they have names. Dragons communicate with each other, and based off their intelligence, we believe they give each other names. Also, if the dragon is old enough to have lived during the last speakers of the Old Tongue, there's a good chance they were named by Merlin or Morgana. Dragons in the British Isles have historically gravitated towards Old Tongue speakers. If a reserve manages to hatch a dragon egg, the dragon will usually begin to recognize the name that the dragon keepers give it."

"What're these dragons called?" A Greek boy from Beauxbatons asked.

"The Hungarian Horntail is called Ördög, the Swedish Shortsnout is Gryning, the Chinese Fireball is called – let me see if I can the pronunciation right – Huŏ Zhū. Or in English, Fire Pearl. The Common Welsh Green is called Bren and—,"

"It's Aerona," Aria spoke before she even knew she was speaking. Charlie's voice stuttered to a stop, and everyone turned to look at her. Aria's face grew hot. Her friends and the other Hogwarts students seemed the least perplexed by her statement, though she was certainly getting strange looks.

"What did you say?" Charlie finally asked.

"Her name," Aria said, a little more hesitantly. "It's Aerona."

A few of the continental students laughed quietly.

"If Aria says the dragon's name is Aerona, then it's probably Aerona," Ginny piped up, looping an arm around Aria's. She gave her brother a fierce look, as if daring him to contradict her. Charlie looked from his sister to Ron who shrugged but nodded all the same.

"All right then," Charlie said slowly, "moving on . . ." he began talking about dragons again while leading the group in a wide berth around the dragons, going into detail about the specific environments made on the Reserve for particular dragons, how they ensured the comfort of all kinds of breeds, and even how they transported dragons internationally. Aria sighed and fell back to the edge of the crowd, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny still with her.

"So . . ." Ron said quietly. "How do you know the name of the dragon?"

"I . . . uh . . . had a dream," Aria admitted. "The night before the First Task. I thought it was just a dream, but then Aerona was put in the arena, and I just knew it was her!"

"You're so weird sometimes," Ron said. "A good weird, but weird."

"Believe me, I could do with a little less weird," Aria admitted. "Or at least . . . I could do with less people knowing about the weird. But I couldn't just let Charlie call Aerona by another name. She was birthed here. She knew this place when Hogwarts was young and the sky much larger."

Hermione patted her shoulder in sympathy. Aria cast one more look at Aerona who was now curled around her eggs, snoozing. A far cry from the young dragon that had taken Aria to the sky.

By the time dinner came, everyone had heard about what about what Aria ad said during the dragon lecture. Aria buried her head in her arms while Harry patted her head sympathetically.

"I knew I could count on you to take the attention off me," he said. Aria peeked at him from over her arm, glaring at him.

"Just hope Rita Skeeter doesn't hear about this," Tracey teased, poking Aria. She slapped Tracey's hand away.

"Attention, students!" Dumbledore cried, clinking his fork against his goblet. Conversations fell silent. "I would like to make an announcement. It is customary, during the Triwizard Tournament, for the host school to have a Yule Ball."

Gasps filled the room. Girls immediately began chatting excitedly. Aria's head popped up, excitement fizzing in her chest. So that was what the dress robes were for!

"The Yule Ball is a time to show off the deportment of each school," Dumbledore continued. Aria snorted. Deportment? At Hogwarts? "Each Head of House will provide the necessary etiquette and dance lessons required to show off the skills of Hogwarts students."

"But we already know all this stuff," Theo complained.

"I don't," Aria said.

"Furthermore, the Yule Ball is for fourth years and older," Dumbledore said. All the younger years groaned. "Third years may attend if they are asked to be a date to an older student."

"We have to get dates?" Harry cried.

"Oh, how romantic!" Pansy clasped her hands together, cheeks going pink with excitement. "I wonder who'll ask me."

"Who said anyone was going to ask you?" Blaise teased.

A date? Aria was glad Draco was sitting between Blaise and Theo because it gave her a cover when looking at him.

"That's so unfair!" Astoria was the most vocal at the Slytherin table. "Some of us deserve to attend a ball more than others." Aria ignored the little girl's glare.

"Astoria's a bit upset that Father's declined all the party invites this year for her and mother," Daphne told Aria. "After the incident this summer, he had come down quite hard on Mother and Astoria."

"I've never been to something as fancy as a ball," Aria admitted. "I mean, the community center has a Christmas party every year and there's usually some traditional family dances, but it's hardly as fancy as a ball."

"We'll help," Tracey assured her. "It's really not that hard."

Aria and Harry shared a look. Tracey was not that convincing.