The Year I Did Not Sign Up For! (Edited)

Let the Tournament Begin!

Harriet was bent over a large pile of books in the Slytherin common room, doing homework, studying Dragonese and researching the Iris Pendant. She was shifting from subject to subject.

Suddenly, the fire crackled. Sirius' and Remus' faces appeared in the flames.

"Harriet! How are you doing?" Remus asked before either Sirius or Harriet could open their mouths.

"Pretty good actually," Harriet answered calmly, "I mean, the tournament is a pain in the ass but otherwise everything's fine."

She knew it was a lie, but she didn't want them to worry. That and the situation was a giant mess and would take forever to explain.

"Oh, thank God, Sirius and I were so worried," Remus said looking relieved. Harriet felt a pang of guilt.

"There's not much reason to be." she lied, adding to the list of things she should definitely feel guilty about. "Everything's good. Groovy. Whatever you want to call it."

"Groovy?" Sirius asked.

"I blame you for that." Harriet said.

Remus gave a snort of laughter.

Other pleasantries were exchanged along with Remus and Sirius giving Harriet lots of advice on how to deal with dragons, although everyone knew that she probably already knew everything about dragons.

Alright, maybe not everything, but getting there.

It was sweet that they tried.

As the next couple of weeks went by, the champions became increasingly nervous because of the first task and the rest of the school hurried to find yule ball dates. Harriet was glad she had already arranged everything (more or less).

On November the 24th, the day had come. It was foggy and it had rained. The wind was howling and the grounds were extremely quiet.

The trudge to the tent was like a funeral march. Speaking of funerals, now Harriet knew what she had forgotten to make arrangements for. You know, just in case.

The four champions had to face their dragons. Harriet didn't know wether to be terrified or excited.

She was going to see a fully grown, real life, totally amazing dragon! She paced up and down the tent the champions were waiting in, while the rest of the schools, teachers and  other less important people took their places in the arena stands. Fleur looked rather pale. Diggory seemed to be meditating. Krum was standing in the corner looking grim.

The schools headmasters and Mr. Crouch entered the Tent. Crouch was holding a purple bag that seemed to have something living in it. Harriet thought she heard fleur mutter something about cheap fabric.

"Welcome champions, to the first task!" Crouch said cerimonially, "In this bag there are four miniature versions of the creatures you must face. The one you select, without looking, will be your adversary. Your goal for this task is to collect the golden egg. Now, Ms. Delacour, if you please..."

He held the bag towards Fleur who looked like she was trying not to freak out as she reached in. She pulled out a  shrunken version of a common Welsh green with the number two painted on it. It was adorable.

Next came Diggory, who pulled out a Swedish shortsnout with a number one on it. It started chewing on his sleeve almost immediately.

Krum yanked his hand out of the bag with a Chinese fireball hanging onto his thumb with its teeth. It had a number three on it. Harriet took a calming breath. There was only one option left. She reached into the bag and pulled out the Hungarian horntail with a number four on it. In small, it actually looked kind of cute. Like a pokémon.

"Horntail I choose you!" she whispered to it.

As if on cue, the little dragon spewed flames.

"Cute!" she grinned.

Harriet then realised that Crouch was speaking again and payed attention. Couldn't hurt right?

"The golden egg is your clue as to what the next challenge might be. I wish you all the best of luck."

He nodded to them all and left followed by the Headteachers.

The champions exchanged glances amongst themselves. They weren't convinced they'd survive but they were determined to give it a shot.

"Well," Harriet said brightly, putting on her best Effie Trinket impression, "May the odds be ever in our favour!"

She was met with confused glances.

"Really?"