The next morning flourished with colours of white, blue and yellow, creeping through the windows of Hogwarts. The world seemed ready to begin the day, urging the students to do the same. Newt complied with these invisible rules, being the first of many.
"Ah…" he yawned, stretching his arms and adjusting his eyes to the surrounding light. He surveyed the Hufflepuff common room to view Amelia opposite him and Theseus on the floor.
"Why is he on the floor?" he questioned aloud, "Holy guacamole!" he muttered under his breath, the bloodstains coming into vision. He rushed over to him and shook his shoulder violently, a small pool of saliva dripping from his mouth.
"Urgh…" he groaned. Theseus rolled over, half opening his left eye, both his eyes having bags underneath them. "Don't come near me!" he yelled defensively.
"It's me. Newt." he smiled, "What's happened?"
"What do you mean 'What's happened?'"
"You're bleeding. Hard."
Theseus raised his hand to his face, "Oh god! You're right!"
"Of course I am. I'm looking at you." he rolled his eyes, "Do you remember how you got to the stage of bleeding?" he pressed.
"Nope." he sheepishly smiled, "No recolle--" It suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. "God damn it! It was her!" His voice trailed off as he attempted to stand up, immediately losing his balance.
"We need to get you to the hospital."
"It's fine. It's only a bloodstain."
"And balancing problems."
"You don't need to take me." he smiled, standing up again. "I have a tournament to win." He ruffled his hands through his hair to find Leta walking through the portrait.
"Hi, frog's breath. How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm well…" her voice trailed off, "What happened to you?!" Her eyes widened as she watched the blood seep further down his face.
"Someone punched me. It was all a blur."
"Who. Punched. You." Newt gave his brother a steely glare.
"It was a girl. I know that. I'm guessing it was one of the Silverliner sisters."
"Of course it was." Leta groaned, "And it's obvious which one."
"Amelia," Theseus muttered. "As I was saying to Newt, I have a tournament to win." He turned around on the spot and strolled out to the grassy courtyard, the designated meeting place of the Triwizard champions.
"He shouldn't be going." Leta stomped her foot hard on the ground.
"Then stop him!" He encouraged her. She nodded back with approval.
"What are we doing here?" Henry asked, fidgeting with his fingers.
"The tournament, of course." he smiled.
"Then where's the action? I thought you had everything figured out."
"I do. We're waiting for the others."
"Oh yeah. That Amelia Silverliner girl." He tossed his head to the side. "And Theseus. I wonder where he is?" he mused.
"Right. Here." he panted, "Hello, Henry. Sir." He gave them both a small wave.
"Nice to see your face." Henry teased, pointing to the red streak.
"Nice to see your attitude," he replied, smirking.
"Why don't we have a little 1-on-1 while we wait, huh?" He held out his wand, fingering the edges.
"You're on." A determined grin spread across his face as he gripped his wand.
"No." Dumbledore added, "No duels. We can't risk any fractured limbs, can we?"
"So, let's go through it." Henry smiled, ignoring the Headmaster entirely, "Number one?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" He stared, bemused. He tilted his head to the side, tripping over and losing his balance.
"Are you kidding?!" he facepalmed himself, "The Ten Duel Commandments? Ring a bell?"
"Nope," he replied, dazed.
"Ugh. Amateurs." he sighed. "Are you sure you're up for this?" He held out his hand and helped Theseus up.
"Positive."
"Ok. Who's she?" He viewed a small figure racing down and set of stairs and over to them. Theseus groaned.
"Hell no!" she shouted, "You are not doing duels. You," She pointed harshly at Theseus, "Have a wound. A bad wound."
"So?" He raised an eyebrow.
"So, you are going to injure yourself even more!"
"Someone's being protective." Henry gave Leta an eye roll. "Name, please?"
"None of your beeswax." she replied, "As I was saying, this tournament is brutal enough."
"The tournament that hasn't started." he remarked, "Let's go."
"Disarms only!" Dumbledore pressed.
"Fine…" They both conceded, pointing their wands at one another, adrenaline coursing through both their veins.
"Let the duel begin!" Dumbledore declared.
A moment of silence pierced the air. Henry briefly turned away from Theseus, ruffling his hands through his hair.
"Ventus!" Theseus exclaimed, a large gust of wind cast from his wand, knocking Henry off his feet.
"Good one..." Henry muttered, quickly getting up on his feet. Before he could counterattack, Theseus shouted,
"Locomotor Wibbly! Levicorpus! Ebublio!" He fired his shots one after the other, cackling. "That's what I'm talking about!" he thought enthusiastically.
"Put me down this instant!" Henry ordered, a wobble in his voice.
"That was fun!" he smiled wickedly, "I might just leave you there." he teased, turning away from him.
"Unacceptable," Leta scowled, "So much for sportsmanship."
"AHEM!" Dumbledore coughed loudly, making the three of them jump, "I can see you all are getting along quite well, but this isn't the reason you are here. You know you have three tasks ahead of you…"
"Yada yada yada… Snoozefest!" Henry snorted, "What's the challenge?" he pressed.
"Ask and you shall receive." he paused, "Dragons."
"Jackpot!" he shouted, punching his fist in the air. "This is gonna be good!" He directed his gaze to Theseus, a mischievous grin stretching across his face.
"What ones are we up against?" Theseus inquired.
"That's what I was planning to explain. We'll pull them out of this hat here." He gestured to the dusty, dark brown hat that blended in with the timber table it was sitting on. "You go first, Henry."
"Why me?"
"You're the most pleasant about the whole thing, so…"
"Hah! A pathetic reason if I ever saw one." He tossed his head to the side before dunking his hand in, a Hungarian Horntail latching onto his finger. "Ah!" he winced, the dragon digging the sharp spikes on its tail into his skin. Dumbledore then gave a subtle nod to Theseus, who quickly dipped his hand in and out, receiving a Common Welsh Green.
"You two have a head start over Amelia, who appears to be sleeping on the job,"
"You can say that again," Theseus chuckled, "Now what?"
"You face them, your goal being to snatch a golden egg. I won't reveal the rest." He smirked.
"That sounds easy enough," Theseus muttered, glancing up to see Amelia's fierce eyes. "Ah!" he gasped.
"Hello," she smirked, plunging her hand straight into the hat, a dragon biting hard on her finger. "Ow!" she exclaimed, immediately pulling her hand out, the dragon flinging with it, "What is this?!"
"That's a Chinese Fireball." Dumbledore explained, "You'll face them in precisely 2 hours. Good luck." He shook each of their hands in turn, the three disapparating immediately afterwards, Leta along with Theseus.