stardust ⋮ george weasley

thirty-three :

T H I R T Y - T H R E E

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The champions tent was silent the morning of the first task. Despite the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions wanting to talk about strategy with their headmasters, they couldn't out of fear of being discovered that they had cheated.

Even if Adeline wanted to, she wouldn't have talked to Professor Dumbledore or even Professor McGonagall. She felt as if she did so much as even open her mouth, she'd vomit all down the front of her blue and bronze uniform. Adeline had barely eaten any breakfast that morning, despite Estelle insisting that she needed to get her energy up to compete. It was hard to eat anyways, with so many people coming up to wish Adeline luck that she barely even had any time to focus on her meal.

Adeline attempted to distract herself by looking around at the other champions. The first one she noticed was Fleur, who was pacing the length of the tent and whispering to herself in French. Harry sat in a quiet corner, fiddling with the hem of his red and black champions uniform and keeping his gaze trained in front of him, though he didn't entirely seem to be focused. Viktor, quiet and sullen per usual, was sitting on one of the nearby benches and was staring at the ground, doing a small movement with his right hand as if he was practicing wand movements. Adeline tried her best to avoid the stare of Rita Skeeter, who was standing in the corner of the tent and was whispering frantically, scribbling notes, and making her assistant take tons of pictures of the anxious champions.

Getting sleep the night before had been nearly impossible. Every time Adeline closed her eyes, all she could see were the moving pictures of dragons in books she had been studying in and flaming walls of fire that seemed to burned her, even in her dream state.

For most of the Friday and Saturday, the four best friends hid in a corner of the Hogwarts library, trying to study up everything they could on dragons. Adeline had managed to somewhat think of a plan on how to fight against the dragon. Sure, it was a risky, ridiculous, and almost insane plan.

Well, anything involving a dragon was risky. At least Adeline had a plan.

Mr. Crouch strode into the champions tent, with Mr. Crouch holding a small velvet pouch in their hands that, Adeline noticed as she looked a little closer, appeared to almost be moving.

"Good day, champions!" Mr. Crouch greeted in a cheerful voice, seemingly unable to comprehend the anxious, terrified mood of the tent. "Gather round please. Now, you've waited, you've wondered, and, at last, the moment has arrived. The moment only four of you can appreciate."

Adeline awkwardly shifted her gaze away from the older man for a moment as she remembered that she had technically cheated on the first task.

The four Champions gather in a small circle around Mr. Crouch, and Adeline was surprised to see Hermione had somehow snuck into the tent as well, likely for Harry. Professor Dumbledore seemed equally confused about this. "What are you doing here, Ms. Granger?"

"Oh– uhm...sorry," Hermione apologized sheepishly. "I'll just go."

Before she went though, Hermione silently squeezed both Adeline and Harry's hands, silently wishing them luck and reassuring them before bolting out of the tent.

The small action made Adeline forget her fears for a brief moment, but when Professor Dumbledore gestured to Mr. Crouch and the moving bag in his hand, every single one of her anxieties came rushing back in. "Barty. The bag."

Mr. Crouch nodded and opened up the bag before holding it out towards Fleur, who was standing on Adeline's other side. After shooting a quick, nervous glance towards Madam Maxime, Fleur reached into the bag and pulled out a small green dragon that hissed in her hand and had a small tag that said "3".