O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

XXXII ; the first task

            "sorry. listen, i know hermione and i've told you this, but you really have to concentrate. d'you know what kind of dragon you're facing yet?"

            "hungarian horntail," harry said, growing paler.

            "ah, well," elara said sheepishly. horntails were infamous for their bloodlust and aggression. "if accio doesn't work, just use your stag patronus to distract it."

            "that's... actually not a bad idea."

             "no, harry. that was supposed to make you feel better. if you use your patronus i will enter that ring and drag you out by your ear -- "

            her sentence was cut off by harry, surprisingly, attacking her in a hug. elara stumbled backwards a few steps, smiling as she remembered how she hugged harry just like this only a few months before. however, they sprung apart quickly as the loud clicking of a camera and a bright flash interrupted them.

            "oh, young love!" a woman that elara assumed to be rita skeeter had entered the tent, and was now staring at the two.

            elara had waited for this moment ever since rita published the first article about her.

           "you two will make the front page!" rita said excitedly, gesturing to her quick-notes quill and cameraman.

           "it's a pleasure to finally meet you, rita," said elara, her voice was pleasant, yet full of ice as she extended her hand out.

            rita stared at it in disgust for a few moments before disdainfully shaking it flimsily. 

            "you 'ave no business here," said krum, looking a tad angry.

            "thees tent eez for champions and friends," spoke up fleur, regaining some of her posture as she glared at rita. 

            rita whirled around, and elara mouth 'thank you!' to her saviors. krum nodded slightly. fleur winked. 

            "no matter," said rita after a moment's silence.

            she stalked out of the tent. fleur sighed heavily and ran a hand over her ponytail.

            "horrible woman," said fleur. "she said i vas 'vapid'."

            elara laughed, "i owe you guys one."

            with one final hug to harry, elara snuck out the tent to find hermione. much to elara's disdain, she had found seats next to ron. elara groaned loudly as she went to stand next to hermione, but not before throwing the dirtiest look she could muster at ron.

            cedric transfigured a rock into a labrador retriever, which made elara hide her face for the first half of his go, as she didn't want to see the dog get hurt. but the dragon thought cedric looked much tastier, so it went after him. he was able to retrieve the egg, however, he was burned pretty badly.

            fleur used a spell to put the dragon into a trance, which was a really cool bit of magic. she was doing exceptionally well until a great jet of flame shot out and caught her skirt on fire. she used aguamenti to put it out, but other than that, she was fine.

            krum used a spell that attacked the dragon's eyes, as that was the weakest part. elara was surprised he wasn't flying, like harry would be doing when it was his go. the dragon stumbled around and took out half the real eggs out, which was't supposed to happen.