𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍 | 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘺

Chapter 71 - The First Task

Betelgeuse swept the stadium's ground with her grey eyes, assessing the situation. Four golden eggs laid in the centre of the field, waiting, unmoving, one for each of the contestant.

Cedric ran through the rocks that littered the field, dodging the fire breath of the dragon. It was an attractive silvery-blue dragon whose flame was a brilliant blue. 

A Swedish Short-Snout.

Betelgeuse leaned against the railing, watching with rapt attention as Diggory pointed his wand at a rock, turning it into a dog that distracted the dragon. Cedric dived towards the centre of the ground, grabbing the golden egg.

Loud applause filled the air as the dragon was detained and the next champion walked in.

Fleur Delacour faced a Common Welsh Green. She managed to lure the dragon into a sleeping trance but was immobilised when the dragon snored and released a jet of flame that set her skirt on fire. Fleur extinguished the fire with water from her wand, then managed to retrieve the golden egg.

Viktor Krum drew a Chinese Fireball. Entering the arena after Fleur Delacour, Viktor used the Conjunctivitis Curse to blind the dragon and retrieve the Golden egg. The dragon, confused and blinded, stumbled around and crushed half the real eggs it was guarding.

And then, it was Harry's turn.

The crowd was making a big deal of noise for the Boy Who Lived.

Betelgeuse observed Harry looking around the stadium with a dazed expression. There, waiting for him, was a Hungarian Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground.

He raised his wand. "Accio Firebolt!" He shouted.

Nothing happened for a moment, and then they all heard it. Speeding through the air behind the boy, Betelgeuse saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount.

The crowd was making even more noise, Bagman was shouting something, Angelina was screaming in Lee's ears. Alicia was shaking Lee's shoulders. Lee looked dazed.

Poor sod.

Harry swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground.

Betelgeuse watched as he soared higher and higher, and then he dived. The Horntail's head followed him; a jet of fire had been released exactly where Harry would have been had he not swerved away.

"Great Scott, he can fly!" Bagman yelled as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr Krum?"

Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck — if he kept this up, it would be nicely dizzy — Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky — he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.

Betelgeuse held her breath, grasping the railing until her knuckles became white.

Harry zoomed around the back of the Horntail. The Horntail did not seem to want to take off, she was too protective of her eggs.

He began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared. He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying.

Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now. She shot fire into the air, which he dodged.

"WELL DONE, DRAGON!" Fred and George shouted from either side of Betelgeuse.

"Boys," she chided softly. Two identical grins and a kiss on her cheek were all the answers she received.

The crowd was still screaming loudly. Harry dived.

Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs — Harry had taken his hands off his Firebolt — he had seized the golden egg.

The noise of the crowd intensified.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr Potter!"

☆☆☆

"Greetings, Captain," Betelgeuse unwaveringly stated as she appeared behind Charlie.

The second oldest Weasley had been tending to the dragons, trying with the other keepers to subdue the agitated beasts.

"Altair!" Charlie bellowed, embracing her and twirling her around as she weighed nothing. "Dragons! Could you imagine? Dragons, Altair!"

Betelgeuse smiled soflty. "Your obsession with the creatures is alarming, Charlie. Do you even think about anything else?"

"I'm afraid no," an accented voice declared from behind Charlie. "He even sleeps with a stuffed Hebridean Black toy."

Betelgeuse watched Charlie huff and tackle the other man to the ground. She waited and raised her eyebrows as the two men grinned and guffawed around before rising to their feet once again.

Charlie gestured to the stranger with a broad smile on his freckled face. "Altair, this is my good friend Nūr."

The young man was tall and broad with straight long black hair and a healthy tan on his oval face. High cheekbones, a straight, long nose and striking black slanted eyes stared back at her with interest.

"Ah, Charlie!" Nūr gleefully exclaimed, seizing Betelgeuse's arms. He held both her arms out, placing his arms over hers. He proceeded to touch Betelgeuse's cold cheeks, murmuring something that the girl could not comprehend. "Амар мэнд ү."

Charlie howled with laughter seeing the Black's startled expression.

"You must be a really special girl for my boy Charlie, eh?" Nūr inquired, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Stop it," Charlie ordered, grinning. "Altair is my little brother's girlfriend, Nūr."

"Which one?"

"I am not Fred's girlfriend."

Charlie gestured with his hand towards Betelgeuse, looking at his friend with an expression that could only mean 'here your answer'.

"You're in denial, Altair. It's alright; we can work from here."

"Charlie, I am serious. I am not your brother's girlfriend."

"Yeah, and I don't sleep with Snugglebug," Charlie deadpanned.

"Who is that?" Betelgeuse inquired, frowning.

"His stuffed Hebridean Black," Nūr replied with a straight face.

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"Амар мэнд ү" Are you well and peaceful?