With my turn done I could relax and enjoy the next champion's performance, this being Fleur against a Welsh Green.
This species is amongst the tamer ones. They tend to naturally avoid human contact, with the glaring exceptions of when one of these buggers started the Great London Fire in 1666 and the Ilfracombe Incident, when one of them attacked a group of sunbathers in 1932. The second one resulted in the largest mass obliviation of the twentieth century. The most distinctive features of the breed would be its grass green colors, made to match the welsh plains and where its name comes from, its somewhat melodious roar and narrow fire breath. They are generally around 18ft in length, hence generally smaller than the Swedish Short-Snout I faced which averages out at 22ft.
This would be the least dangerous species of dragons us champions would have to face today. The Short-Snout has the most dangerous flame amongst all dragons, the Chinese Fireball would be the most nimble and intelligent, and the Hungarian Horntail is the deadliest and most aggressive. So Fleur does have an advantage going into this round.
Fleur actually had a similar strategy from what i remember of the canon, meaning she basically hypnotized the dragon using her Veela abilities and made it fall asleep. The only difference being the strength, skill and overall smoothness of her application. She managed to instinctively embrace her other side in a bid to confront her foe, boosting her enchanting abilities to a whole new level and letting her put the beast in a deep slumber. This did take a few minutes as the Welsh Green really didn't want to fall asleep in the middle of an enemy infested area, but in the end it didn't matter as it fell. Her aura also had a very strong effect against the overly emotional audience, making the men all basically have nosebleeds and even forcing some of the women to join in.
'Atta girl. That's how you channel a Veela's abilities.' I pleasantly thought after seeing her success.
With the dragon fast asleep, she managed to quietly approach, grab the golden egg from the nest and start walking back as the audience held any noise in to not sabotage her plan. Unfortunately the dragon seemed to have a weird moment in its dream and let out a burst of fire from its nostrils, ultimately causing Fleur to panic a bit as she swiftly put out the burning part of her outfit with a simple water conjuration.
Although her plan was well executed, that moment of carelessness did make for an awkward finish as she exited the arena, but the audience still cheered and applauded her success after she had left.
She came back to receive a good score on average. Maxime: 10, Crouch: 9, Dumbledore: 9, Bagman: 8 and Karkaroff: 4, making a total of 40.
Next up was Viktor facing the Chinese Fireball.
This species is very self explanatory as well. It originates from China and also holds the name of Liondragon due to its mane-like horns protruding from the back of its head. Like I said before, this is a more nimble and intelligent species, known to even be able to coexist with some of its own kind unlike most species. The Fireball part of its name comes from its distinctive fire breath, which comes out in a burst instead of a stream and forms the characteristic shape of a ball. This dragon averages out at around 25ft long, but are less muscular and are on the leaner side due to their quickness. They are also the most wyvern-like from the four species, as their front limbs are a lot smaller than other dragons, mostly due to them using their wings as additional limbs when on the ground to boost its movement speed.
Viktor came out with his game face today, serious and focused on this daunting task. He had decided to go with the simplest and most direct method as he confronted the beast: the Conjunctivitis Curse. It is the standard mode of attack against any dragon mainly due to the fact that it targets the eye exclusively, and eyes are the most obvious and accessible weak points on a Dragon. The curse itself involves causing severe swelling of the eyelids, forcing the eyes to close.
The method is certainly tried and true. Its only defect would be that this is used during team hunts or captures. When used alone it can certainly make the dragon lose you, but without any help to put it down or disable it properly, you will enrage and scare the dragon. This results in a rampaging dragon as it stomps around and shoots fireballs all over the place to intimidate its attacker.
Seeing that his plan made things more chaotic, even if he had succeeded, Viktor decided to dash for the nest. He ran quickly as he tried to dodge the erratic flails of the beast and neared the nest. But during this time, the mother lost track of its surrounding and sadly crushed nearly half of the eggs within the nest. The troubles didn't stop however, just as Krum was able to grab the golden egg, the Fireball's tail swung around and was heading straight for him. Luckily he managed to dodge most of it with the honed reflexes of a world-class Seeker, but his left shoulder still took a grazing hit. He did hold on to the egg through the hit and decided to immediately run out of the arena to safety.
As he was finally out of harms way, the audience let out a collective sigh of relief and began to cheer and celebrate the young man's success. This had been the most daring approach so far, causing many to feel adrenaline in their veins at the sight they were shown. This was understandable since my display was more awe inspiring and Fleur's was serene and beautiful.
Viktor came back out after getting his shoulder checked out and the dragon was brought away with a lot more of a struggle than the first two, making everyone look at the judges for the score.
Maxime: 6, Crouch: 7, Dumbledore: 9, Bagman: 8 and Karkaroff: 10, making 40/50. Karkaroff's obvious favoritism didn't get past the audience as murmures where running through the audience at the score. I even heard people complaining that me subduing a dragon on my own got a worst score than someone who caused half the eggs to get smashed.
To bad for them, they couldn't change anything. So the next champion was set to arrive.
The fourth, final and youngest Champion, about to show them a very difficult attempt: Harry Potter vs. the Hungarian Horntail.
I don't know what kind of fucked up moron decided to pick this species for a supposedly less lethal tournament, but he had to be high. The Hungarian Horntail is among, if not, the most dangerous dragon species in the world. Firstly, the things are twice as long as the Chinese Fireball, averaging at 50ft, and they are not streamlined as they pack considerable muscle. Their breath is up there with the best in terms of lethality, with only a scant few like the Short-Snout topping it, as it can reach up to 50ft away and melt stones. It has defensive spikes spread throughout its body, with lethal horns on its head and a tail made to kill any who comes anywhere near it. This means that anything with a 50ft radius of the monster while face death at any moment. And this isn't counting its particularly vicious temperament in the best of time, something which becomes an absolute nightmare when it is protecting its young. Then you add its eating habits involving the regular consumption of humans when it can, its devastating fangs and claws, its flight speed which can keep up with Harry on a fucking Firebolt, and you have the stupidest decision someone can make as a choice for 17's and under to face.
In the face of that, the young Harry appears from the Champion entrance as the entire crowd wonders how such a young boy can get past such a daunting beast.
Seeing the Horntail noticing him, Harry quickly dove behind a boulder to hid himself and called out the same spell as the canon.
"Accio Firebolt!" He cried out as he stayed being the stone.
Unhappy at the human being too near its eggs, the mother decided to simply roast it. So a powerful jet a flames burst out of her mouth and onto Harry's only protection, causing the audiences tension to rise.
But then Harry's summoned partner appeared and in a swift series of action he had grabbed, mounted and taken off on it as he escaped the danger zone he had been in.
The kid began to fly nimbly through the air as he swerved and dodged anything the dragon could shoot at him. I could see he was attempting to have the very protective mother take flight to give himself a chance at going for the egg, but she was being very stubborn about not leaving her clutch alone.
Harry proved to be too annoying for the the beast to not swat him however. It kept missing every time it shot out some fire, her claws could not reach and neither could her tail. So she finally decided to beat her wings as she prepared to swat away the fly annoying her in the sky. As soon as he saw her legs coming off the ground, Harry took his chance and dived straight for the eggs. Realizing this, the Horntail attempted to use its characteristic tail to squash the pest aiming for her young in fury, making Harry dodge the attack with incredible reflexes and skills, letting only his clothes get torn.
'It seems that getting him healthy and trained had unexpected benefits in the most surprising of places.' I thought with a smile as I remember the kid had gotten injured during the canon.
Having passed his last obstacle, Harry grabbed the golden egg in his arms and flew away as fast as he could in the hopes of not getting attacked again by the enraged mother. And since he had gotten the egg and left the nest area, this meant he had succeeded the task itself and the dragon handlers now had the capture the beast.
As the crowd cheered for the fantastic display of flying prowess, the dragon was being subdued with immense difficulty as Harry was getting checked by Madam Pomfrey as well.
The kid came back with a very excited look as his body was full of adrenaline still flowing through his veins and the cheers of the audience rang loud and clear for him.
Then came the judges score.
Maxime: 9, Crouch: 9, Dumbledore: 10, Bagman: 10 and a flagrant show of bias as Karkaroff shoots out a 4, making Harry's final score 42/50, hence second place after the first task.
After the final scores were compiled, all of us Champions were gathered back together for the explanation which was promised to us at the beginning of the task. That was after we congratulated each other for our own abilities and success.
But then our moronic Head of Magical Sports and Games interrupted our talk.
"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "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 on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down 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!"
With little else to tell us about our task, we each congratulate one another one more time and separate.
Harry meets up with his friends and I meet up with mine as we all head to the castle in a group, with everyone talking about how things ended up and filling Harry with some details he missed by going last.
Then a wild parasite appeared.
It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today and had her favorite Quick-Quotes Quill in hand, ready to make more lies.
"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him, before looking at me with a smirk, "and you as well 'Lord Bones'. I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"
"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Good-bye."
That made me laugh since he wanted to avoid the menace, especially after I showed him what kind of articles she writes and what she had tried to write about him after their first meeting.
Yeah, with my connections I was easily able to block that fake garbage she tried to have published in the Daily Prophet and get the copy. I just had to give them a juicy piece of news, and what better thing to give than some inside info on what had been happening in the wizarding underworld?
The woman looked offended and malicious after being so straightforwardly rejected by the kid.
But I decided to speak up to reminder her of my presence.
"Ms. Skeeter, it would seem you have not taken my warning to heart last time." I say with a calm smile as she spins to look at me savagely.
"Ha! Try to threaten me and I'll have the entirety of Britain believing you're the next Dark Lord by next week! Try to stop me brat. It's not like no ones thought of it. I would just be confirming that little voice in their head asking what if?" She openly sneered at me, almost causing my friends to almost lash out at the woman.
I simply raised my hand to stop my friends with my calm smile still on my lips.
"It is you who does not seem to understand." I say with a smooth and peaceful voice. "I can destroy your life piece by piece. I can make you watch as everything you believe you have crumbles away, as everyone you think listens to you turns a deaf ear, as every bit of that pride you have shatters, and as every last drop of that pathetic power you think you have slips through your grasp."
I then approach her with a near angelic smile on my face and lean next to her ear as she turns very stiff.
"So do keep trying my patience little bug, because you are already on your second warning. One more misstep and you will simply no longer matter in this world. I will turn you into what you fear becoming the most: you will be unimportant. Your voice will no longer matter. You will only be another face in the crowd. Every word you write will be considered as nothing but filth to anyone who sees it." I whisper in her ear as my smooth and gentle voice begins to sound akin to the devils for her.
I then pull away with a bright smile and signal my friends to follow me as we walk away from the the frightened and angry Rita.
"So stop buzzing where I can see you little bug... or I'll swat you." I said in a happy tone as I walk away and don't look back.