Ace was standing in a coliseum rafter, looking down at the arena for the first challenge, when he heard George and Fred walking around, shouting "Step up, folks! Who fancies a flutter in today's bloodbath? Smart money's on Krum to survive! Any bets?"
He turned his head, exhaling smoke as he said "Boys." George and Fred froze, looking at Ace slowly, smiling "Haha… Just for fun, Sir!" Ace walked over and leaned in saying "500 Galleons on Harry Potter please."
George and Fred's eyes lit up as they gave Ace a ticket for 500 30/1.
Ace cleared his throat and nodded, "You didn't see me." George and Fred grinned and said in unison "Pleasure doin' business, sir!" Ace rolled his eyes and stuffed the ticket in his pocket before leaving quickly.
Just as he left, Dumbledore appeared, shaking his head at Ace's back before walking over to George and Fred whispering "2500 on Potter…"
Ace looked around before walking into the Champions tent. He was immediately met with a camera flash and covered his eyes, frowning. He opened them to see Rita Skeeter saying "Young love!"
Ace looked over to see Hermione and Harry hugging. He rolled his eyes and said "Ms Skeeter, you're not allowed in the Champions tent, right?" Rita looked at him and smiled "I don't suppose you should be here either?"
Ace smiled with his hands behind his back, replying "Technically, I'm Harry Potter's guardian. Therefore I am allowed, within reason, to be here at this very moment. You, however…"
He tapped on his chin and looked around, continuing "Oh, you seem to be the one disallowed here? Yes, quite! Perhaps you are the mother of one of the contestants?" he smiled and tilted his head, "You look so good for your age! Truly, what's your secret?"
Rita scowled badly, retorting "Why you fowl-" Ace smiled gently, "Now, now, Mrs. Skeeter, we shouldn't get too agitated. What if you disturb the baby?" Rita gasped and stared at Ace, completely enraged as she said "You!"
Ace waved his hand and gently sent her out of the tent, chuckling "See ya~" before turning to Harry and Hermione. He jerked his head to the side and Hermione awkwardly left the tent.
Ace looked at Harry, saying "There's still a chance to get out of this!" Harry looked at him and said firmly "I'll do it." Ace smiled and said "Brave boy! Alright, Dumbledore is coming, listen good."
Harry got serious while the other three looked over, Ace said "Keep your eyes open on your surroundings, most of the dragons breathe fire, so a good fire protection spell would do you good. When the Dragon opens its mouth, if you can, cast an Aguamenti spell into its mouth. The Dragons are required to stop when you grab the egg, so if you can, rush for the egg with water based charms."
He raised a finger and continued seriously "The dragons that they have are all long range, non physical, breeds. This means most likely, you'll only have to face fire at the most." he looked at the others, saying "Don't die. You're all excellent future wizards…" before looking at Fleur and smiling "And Witches."
He clapped his hands and said "Goodluck!" before leaving the tent, bumping into Dumbledore, who asked "Oh, Ace. Whatever brings you here?" Ace cleared his throat and smiled "Looking for Ms. Granger… Oh there she is! See you, Headmaster!" as he quickly walked away, disappearing back into the coliseum.
He sat on a bleacher and waited.
Cedric, Fleur, and Krum all went up and survived, completing the task, however the bet was who came first not just lived.
Finally, it was Harry's turn!
He walked out and didn't notice the Horntail near him.
The Horntail slammed its tail down and nearly hit Harry several times as Harry ran away, throwing out an Aguamenti spell as the Horntail opened its mouth. The Horntail coughed and spat out water, turning to Harry and breathing out more flames, as though it was angry.
Harry hit behind a rock and waved his wand, shouting "Accio Firebolt!" as the Horntail continued breathing fire at the rock, starting to melt it!
Ace was shocked and gripped the seat until Harry's broom flew by and he jumped on it, flying away.
The Horntail suddenly broke its chains and flew after him however!
Everyone sat there, not knowing what to do.
Ace looked at Dumbledore, who hummed to himself, just waiting.
He asked "Headmaster, uhm… Are we just supposed to…" Dumbledore looked over and smiled "Ah yes! We shall wait and see. Isn't this fun?" Ace was dumbfounded and replied speechlessly, "I guess…" as he lit a cigarette.
Moody drank from a bottle, Snape stayed perfectly still, Minerva was looking back every now and then, Trelawney was…
Well Ace didn't know what she was doing…
And Hagrid was chatting up Madame Maxime!
What a guy!
Ace leaned back and checked his watch while smoking. It was… strangely peaceful.
He half expected a half-time show or something.
Thankfully, not long after there was a loud roar and Harry flew back, scooping up the egg and coming in first place with the least amount of time!
Ace jumped up and cheered "Yes! Hahahaha!" everyone looked at him and he cleared his throat, patting down his shirt as he said "I mean, of course, I knew he would survive." Moody groaned and boo'd him, saying "What a hack!" as he threw away his ticket on Krum.
Dumbledore stroked his beard happily as Snape closed his eyes, a piece of paper with 'Diggory' on it turning to ashes at his feet unnoticeably.
Ace stood up and walked away, saying "If you'll excuse me…" he looked around carefully and came to Fred and George with his ticket, grinning "Pay up, boys." Fred and George froze before paying Ace 15500 galleons.
Ace chuckled happily and stuffed the Galleons in his bag, turning around before freezing as he saw Dumbledore, who asked "Ace? What business do you have here?" Ace swallowed and said "Oh well you see I was asking for directions to the bathroom and so-"
Dumbledore walked past him and said with a smile "My winnings, gentlemen." Ace was shocked and said "You bet too! What are you scaring me for, old man?! Honestly!" Dumbledore chuckled and said "I don't know what you're talking about, Ace." as he walked away with a bag of Galleons.
Fred and George looked at their empty betting box and sighed, "Two bets. Everything's gone! What a tragedy…" Ace gave them 500 galleons, saying "Alright, shows over. Here's your tip, you hyenas. Get out of here."
George and Fred chuckled and ran off quickly as Ace shook his head, turning to the castle, muttering "I wonder…" before jumping on a broom and flying off.
Dumbledore looked up at Ace flying away and stroked his beard mysteriously.
Ace flew towards the castle and looked around before diving down into a ravine.
He landed on the ground and looked at the struggling Horntail, slowly walking over. The Horntail roared at him and Ace paused, putting his hand out slowly as he continued walking over.
At this point, he was starting to sweat a bit. In his heart, he was actually quite terrified.
The Horntail slapped its tail around, roaring angrily before blasting out some flames. Ace put up a shield and said in a very broken form of Draconian, "I no harm. Help good." the language was a mixture of roaring and hissing, it was very difficult to master.
However, Ace had studied the language for a few years now. He had only the basics down.
As a result, the Horntail screeched at him and Ace interpreted it as 'Kill'. He shook a little as he got closer, the Horntail slowly getting up, but falling back down and roaring.
Ace swallowed and came within a meter, saying "Help." but the Horntail slashed at him with his wing, forcing Ace to roll out of the way. The Horntail breathed out flames at Ace, who slapped the ground, pulling up as the stone turned into water, then formed a reverse waterfall, shielding himself.
The Flames were doused and Ace quickly stepped forward, touching the Horntail's neck. The Horntail went ballistic and started thrashing around the place, smashing the ravine's cliff faces, causing rubble to fall from the walls.
Ace threw up a shield and the rocks turned to dust, sprinkling over the Horntail, who turned his head at Ace, biting the air, trying to eat him.
Ace pulled out a wooden stick from his little bag and it turned to steel as he blocked the Horntail's attacks, saying frantically "Help! Me Help!" however the Horntail was in a frenzy, clawing and biting at Ace.
Ace knew this was the Horntail not understanding him and therefore believing that he was a threat. He wasn't too sure, but from what Ron said, his cousin reared Dragons in Romania and Ace was certain there was a significant amount of physical reinforcement training done.
This was only natural, Dragons were very powerful creatures. They needed to be tamed violently as in the wild they communicate through physical interactions, such as choosing their Dragon King and fighting for mates, etc.
However, this Horntail was a bit too crazy. Ace assumed that it was a relatively new addition to the Farm, which was a wonder why it was chosen for the Triwizard tournament in the first place!
He frowned as he fought off the Horntail with the stick, first the Death Eaters at the World Cup, then Harry's name in the Goblet, now a clearly under trained Horntail… And to have it fight Harry of all people!
He was sure there was a conspiracy here, not to mention 3 times is no coincidence, but even twice is too suspicious!
The Horntail breathed out flames and Ace spun the stick, creating a shield before stabbing through it with the stick.
The shield pushed out and blocked the flames at the Horntail's mouth, making it choke as it stopped.
Ace slowly approached the Horntail, saying normally "Shhh…" as he touched the Horntail scales, seeing a huge gash as well as a broken leg and a few shattered scales. He took out his wand and traced over the gash, saying "Vulnera Sanentur…"
The Horntail roared at Ace, who threw up a shield behind him as he continued "Vulnera Sanentur." the Horntail slowly stopped and laid down, snorting out flames from its nose. Ace smiled to himself and ran his wand over the gash again, "Vulnera Sanentur."
The Gash slowly started coming together and healing as Ace turned to the shattered scales, carefully peeling them off and healing the wounds under them before pointing his wand at the broken leg, saying "Brackium Emendo."
The Horntail screeched as the broken bones snapped back together, healing.
Ace reverted the stick to wood and snapped it in half, placing it around the Horntail's leg, saying "Ferula." as bandages wrapped around the leg, creating a split of sorts.
Ace collected the scales and checked the rest of the Horntail for any injuries before stepping back.
The Horntail shuffled and nudged Ace with its head, roaring softly. Ace understood "Thank" from the Horntail, but the rest he couldn't translate. However, he understood the general meaning.
He slowly reached out his hand and touched the Horntail's snout, he stopped and the Horntail looked at him silently. Ace smiled excitedly and stroked the Horntail's head, saying in his rough Draconian "Welcome."
The Horntail roared softly and shook his head before flapping his wings. Ace stepped back and the Horntail screeched at him, roaring intermittently before flying off and disappearing into the Dark Forest.
Ace watched the Horntail go and wondered what it said at the end, it seemed to be a much longer sentence. He shook his head and looked at the Dark Forest, maybe the Ministry wouldn't be able to find him?
He turned to the ravine and picked up the pieces of Dragon that were left, taking all the blood and parts of scales, even horns and spikes that were broken. He put them in his bag and wondered if it was for the best that the Ministry didn't find the Horntail again.
He sighed and flew off back into the castle, he wasn't an animal rights activist, but he didn't think Dragons should be reared for the Ministry. Especially not if they were not even using them. It's not like Dragons were an endangered species.
And nobody was eating them!
So really, there was no point in rearing them. At least, if they were being reared for food, that would make some sort of sense. Ace just had a strange feeling that they weren't for entertainment, but combat!
Combat against who, Ace didn't know.
And he wasn't too sure he wanted to find out…
A few days later