Shifted: Book One

Chapter Thirteen - Vipertooth

"Krum!" "Krum!" "Krum!"

The sound of the crowd cheering and chanting Viktor's name echoed through the grounds of the dragon's battleground. The Chinese Fireball let out a feisty roar but was soon overpowered by the noise of everyone cheering and applauding Viktor when he successfully took the golden egg from the dragon. Out of the first three champions who competed in the first task, all successfully retrieved theirs eggs - now it was Hazel's turn.

It was just herself and Harry in the tent, waiting for their names to be called out. Hazel paced the tent, nervously biting her thumb. She was brave, but of course she was nervous; she was about to go up against a dragon! Harry was sat on the edge of the bed with his head hung low and banging his wand against his leg. The tent was silent and tense.

"Three of our champions have successfully retrieved their golden eggs and made it out alive", Dumbledore spoke from the grounds outside the tent.

Hazel's eyes shot open and she suddenly stood still, causing Harry to look up and notice her immediate pause in movement. He slowly approached Hazel, who seemed to be in the need of comfort. He stood beside her as they both looked at the exit of their tent, both waiting for Hazel's name to be called out.

"How are you feeling?", Harry asked.

Hazel took a deep breath.

"Amazing, nothing to be nervous about", Hazel replied, tightening the grip on her wand.

"After all, I'm just about to battle a dragon", she finished, with a sarcastic and slightly worried chuckle.

Harry smirked and faced Hazel, now looking into her eyes; they were full of life, they shined with hope. They both went in for a tight embrace, Hazel loosely clinging onto Harry's top. She buried her face into his shoulder, capturing his familiar and comforting scent.

"Now may we applaud our fourth champion, fighting the Peruvian Vipertooth, Miss Hazel Jones", Dumbledore spoke out loud again, before the canon shot abrubtply.

Hazel and Harry quickly broke their embrace, as Hazel brushed her fingers through her hair and twiddled her wand in her hand.

"Good luck", Harry said, giving Hazel a reassuring smile before she opened the tent's curtains, revealing the battleground.

The entire scenery was made up of large, rough rocks, some covered in moss, others covered in all sorts of cracks and holes. The rocks were high; high enough that they were unclimbable, and above them were the stands where the students were fenced off, allowing them to see the action and ensuring they're safe enough to not fall into the chaos. Hazel, putting on a brave face, hid her nervousness away deep down inside her, and courageously stepped forward, whilst the students stayed absolutely silent. What were they expecting from Hazel? No one knew anything about her, was she really brave? Was she a fraud? A fake?

Hazel, as quietly as she could, stepped across the rocks, looking for higher ground in order to find the precious egg. She made her way almost half way across the ground without a sound before spotting the egg hidden away slightly behind a huge, unstable rock. But beside that rock was something even bigger. The crimson hands and feet with yellow claws, the long and curled tail with bumpy scales, the scarlet body rimmed with red edges, the cherry-red wings that hung either side and the spiky ruby head with its glaring yellow eyes... the Peruvian Vipertooth, in all its glory, stood beside the egg.

Hazel stopped in her tracks and slowly lifted her wand. She didn't have a single clue what she was going to do, she had only rehearsed a few spells before the task with Hermione, but she barely knew any. Hazel was quickly running out of time, the Vipertooth's eyes were glaring and glowing an aluminous neon yellow. Hazel's breathing intensified as she stared into the dragon's eyes. Before it got the chance to move, Hazel pointed her wand to the rocks right by its feet.

"Bombarda!", Hazel called out, as the rocks sizzled and exploded, throwing other rocks that were underneath onto the dragon. Hazel immediately made her way towards the golden egg whilst the dragon was just above the ground, dodging the rocks and explosions. She got almost half way to the egg before the Vipertooth spat at her and rapidly exhaled a hot, amber flame. Hazel hid behind a rock just as the fire hit it. A loud wave of "Oohs" and "Aahs" filled the atmosphere, some even taunted the dragon and yelled "Come on dragon!". She waited to catch her breath whilst she felt the excessive heat from behind. Carefully, she peeked her head round the corner and noticed the Vipertooth had now ascended from the ground and was above Hazel. She repeated the spell again, this time grabbing a rock in one hand, and throwing it at the dragon whilst yelling out "Bombarda!"

The rock exploded, exposing aggravating pain into the dragon's eyes, but not enough for it to lose sight of Hazel. Hazel made a run for it, and ran in the opposite direction away from the egg. The Vipertooth hissed once again, this time spitting sharp flames of crimson fire. Hazel jumped off of one rock and onto another one lower into the ground after being hit by a single flame on her left arm. Hazel stumbled down and held her arm, trying to contain the blood spilling out from the cut.

Some students in the audience were now stood up, trying to see where Hazel was. Hermione took a hold of Ron's arm in concern, as they both looked down below, desperate to find Hazel. Ginny's face turned from excitement to shock and Fred and George too were concerned for Hazel. Dumbledore and McGonagall also immediately stood up from their seats and scanned the grounds for her. The professors whispered amongst each other, wondering what had happened and what would happen if Hazel didn't show herself.

The entire task could've been called off, Hazel could've called for immediate help and she could've been disqualified from the whole tournament, reducing the chances of her getting injured even more. Hazel could've easily saved herself from putting herself in more danger. But that's not who Hazel is, she didn't take the easy way out, she didn't give up. She tightened the grip on her wand, inhaled and exhaled deeply and calmly, and rose from behind the rock. Everyone cheered for Hazel, the entire audience felt a sense of relief. She noticed Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George clapping and throwing their fists in the air in reassurance and hope. She spotted Neville with Hagrid who both seemed overwhelmed with relief. She revealed herself to the dragon, now braver than ever. She climbed her way up to the higher ground and faced the Vipertooth with confidence. Grabbing another rock, this time bigger and heavier, she threw it at the dragon and aimed her wand at the object.

"Bombarda!", she yelled, causing the rock to explode once again.

Without hesitation, she picked up another rock, and repeated the spell, circling around the dragon and slowly making her way towards the egg. The Vipertooth was up for a fight, and continued to hiss and spit and exhale fire. The dragon let out an enormous ball of fire that was targeted at Hazel, but before it could catch her alight, she moved her wand in a straight line, and yelled out another spell she had practiced with Hermione.

"Protego!", she called out, sending the ball of flames up into the sky and exploding, leaving tiny flecks of amber to fall down to the ground as though they were autumnal leaves. Now, within reach of the golden egg, she casted her wand at the Vipertooth, who was high up in the air and on the opposite side of the golden egg, and gave it the conjunctivitis curse. She had read about this spell in a book she found on an empty table towards the back of the library one night, she wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it was the last spell she could remember. The dragon immediately turned its face to the side, only being hit in the one eye. The dragon's eye became weak and irritated, it flapped it's wings all over the place trying to stay above the ground. Whilst it struggled to see clearly, Hazel made her move. She ran towards the egg and grabbed it with both hands.

The entire audience stood on both feet and cheered for Hazel. They roared and applauded her as she held the golden egg in both hands, showing off the prize. Though her face was painted with a proud smile, she couldn't feel entirely happy. She felt awful for hurting the dragon, even if she only slightly injured the poor creature. She looked concerned for the Vipertooth, who was quickly stunned and taken away so it could do no harm. After that moment, everything whizzed and rushed around Hazel, she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Hazel just battled against a dragon!