꧁Dragons꧂
On Sunday evening Madame Maxine found out what the first task was, dragons. Aurélie had to face a dragon. She spent all of Monday practicing spells and making a plan with Juan, Camilla, Céleste and Fleur on how to face the dragon.
"I think putting the dragon to sleep would be the easiest." Said Aurélie.
"It's your call, you're the one doing it." Said Céleste
"That's my best and only option." Said Aurélie.
By Tuesday she felt pretty confident with herself as she went down to the tent where she met with the other champions.
Aurélie was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Aurélie supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry entered, Cedric gave him a small smile, which Harry returned, feeling the muscles in his face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.
"Harry! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"
Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again.
"Well, now we're all here — time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" — he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them — "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different — er — varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too . . . ah, yes . . . your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Aurélie glanced around.
Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Aurélie and Krum hadn't reacted at all.
And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking. . . . Harry felt as separate from the crowd as though they were a different species. And then — it seemed like about a second later to Harry — Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Aurélie.
She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon — a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck. She was relieved that Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.
The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck.
He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.
Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck.
Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now . . . Harry . . . could I have a quick word? Outside?"
It was worse than Aurélie could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed . . . yelled . . . gasped like a sin- gle many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground. Aurélie had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent. And Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse. . . . Horrible pictures formed in Aurélie's mind as she heard:
"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" . . . "He's tak- ing risks, this one!" . . . "Clever move — pity it didn't work!"
And then, after about fifteen minutes, Aurélie heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"
But he didn't shout out the marks; Aurélie supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Louvère, if you please!"
Aurélie as trembling from head to foot; she left the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand.
When Aurélie entered the enclosure she immediately spotted the dragon protecting her eggs, at first she tried a couple of stunning spells but that made the dragon angrier and burnt the bottom of her skirt
"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully.
She tried sneaking round the back but quickly had to go hide behind some rocks to avoid getting burnt.
"Oh . . . nearly! Careful now . . . good lord, I thought she'd had it then!" Bagman yelled.
She was finally close enough to put the bewitching spell on the dragon and she went into a slumber where she was then able to grab the golden egg, raising it high for everyone to see, the enclosure burst into applause as dragons tamers came to collect the dragon.
"Amazing! She's gotten the egg!" Said Bagman.
"Now time for the judges score!"
Madame Maxine held up a ten
Bagman held up a seven
Crouch held up a six
Dumbledore held up a eight
Karkaroff held up a three
The stadium all clapped whilst Aurélie was sent to the medical tent to get checked out.
"You were amazing! Just unfortunate that Kararoff is so biased!" Céleste exclaimed.
"Madame Maxine looked so proud!" Fleur exclaimed.
"Thanks, now we need to work out what the second task is." Said Aurélie, Madame Pomfrey, Hogwarts matron gave her some water and a jacket to keep warm.
"First, let's celebrate!" Said Camilla.
Once the other champions finished receiving their eggs Aurélie went back to the champions tent as she was told.
She, Cedric, and Krum all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was pre- sumably mending his burn. He grinned at Harry when he saw him.
"Good one, Harry."
"And you," said Harry, grinning back.
"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth — but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open . . . see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg — because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
the Beauxbatons students went back to the carriage to celebrate. Then had dinner.
Aurélie and her friends tried working out the egg, Aurélie opened it but screamed so badly she quickly shut it.
"When you opened it, it looked like there were bubbles, so maybe it's water related?" Said Fleur.
"Yeah, you might but I'm too tired, I have ages." Said Aurélie. The group soon went to bed, Aurélie fell asleep as soon as he head hit the pillow.
{31/1/2024}