Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

Unexpected

"What?" Isabelle and Charlie exclaim together, their mouths hanging open, their eyes wide in shock and horror. Daniel and Elena just stand there, too dumbfounded to move.

Florin just nods grimly. "I'm afraid so," he says, biting his lip. "You're going to need to find another dragon now."

Isabelle shakes her head in disbelief. Florin's just informed the four of them that somehow, for some reason unbeknownst to even Dumbledore himself, a fourth champion has been announced by the Goblet of Fire. And not only that, but the fourth champion is none other than Harry Potter himself.

There's been immense speculation about the whole situation, of course, and in Dumbledore's letter to Florin he stated that Harry is adamant about not putting his own name in, as he's under seventeen and nowhere near capable enough to Confund the Goblet of Fire; instead, Dumbledore thinks that someone in the castle has bewitched the Goblet to spit out a fourth name, and Harry's in particular, in order to have him killed throughout this Tournament in one way or another.

"But we've looked at all the different dragon breeds we have here!" Daniel exclaims, still shocked to the core, "And the only other female in season is a Hungarian Horntail! That's far too dangerous for any seventeen-year-old to face off, let alone a fourteen-year-old, which could even be Harry if he happens to choose that dragon — how are they choosing which dragon they get, anyway?"

Together, Isabelle, Charlie, Elena and Daniel have indeed checked every single breed of dragon that they have in the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, in order to make their minds clear about their final decision on which three dragons they should take. And seeing as no other dragons aside from a Swedish Short Snout and a Hungarian Horntail are in season, they decided on the Short Snout, the Welsh Green and the Fireball for the dragons that the champions would face off in the first task.

But now, seeing as Harry's been chosen as a fourth champion and Dumbledore's decided that he has to go through with it, as the Goblet is some sort of binding contract, they need to get another dragon ready for the first task, and the only dragon it can possibly be is the Horntail, seeing as no others fit the requirements.

"I believe they pick their dragon out of a hat," Florin says. "The old-fashioned way, you know. And yes," he adds, his voice turning heavy, "the Horntail will have to be the fourth and final dragon that gets taken to Hogwarts for the first task. Even if that means that Harry gets it."

There's a pause, where no one knows what to say.

"Now, I suggest you get the Horntail ready. Be careful." And with that, Florin turns and walks off, leaving the four of them still standing there dumbfounded.

"Well... that was unexpected," Daniel states after a moment, shaking his head.

"No shit," Charlie huffs, his arms folded as he frowns after Florin's retreating figure. "I spose we better get to work, then."

"What— now?" Elena exclaims, her eyes widening even further.

"Better sooner than later," Charlie says, somewhat roughly. "Gets it over and done with. We can just leave her in a similar enclosure as the Fireball until it's time."

"Alright, then," Elena sighs, giving in. "Let's go get bashed up."

"That's the spirit," Daniel says sarcastically, rolling his eyes and giving her a playful nudge.

Isabelle smirks at the two of them, throwing Elena a wink, before the four of them all head off towards the Horntail enclosure.

Elena's right, Isabelle decides after an hour of gruelling work, trying to get the aggressive Horntail under control: they all got incredibly bashed up. Charlie's chest is dripping blood, Isabelle's wound in her shoulder has reopened once more, Daniel can barely walk because of a deep gash in his thigh, and silent tears are pouring down Elena's face because of a painful broken arm.

"Well," Charlie says grimly, clenching his jaw tightly to not give away his pain as they enter the Healers' tent, "that went swimmingly."

"Hey," Isabelle says, wincing slightly as she sits down, a green-clad Healer taking her arm in his hands, "at least we did it."

"Yeah, but look at what's become of us," Daniel says, starting to breathe easier as his Healer seals the gash in his leg. "We're all bloody, broken and bruised — how is an untrained, unqualified school student going to be able to take on the Horntail? They'll kill themselves trying."

"Don't talk like that," Elena frowns. "They might be perfectly fine. Maybe this Horntail was just having a bad day. Or maybe we're seriously underestimating the abilities of these champions. Who are they, again?"

"Well, obviously we've got Harry Potter," Daniel replies, now standing up and doing some leg exercises while he leans on the Healer, "and there's also Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts."

"I recognise that name," Charlie says. "His dad and my dad are friends from the Ministry. Cedric's in Fred and George's year."

"And there's Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, who everyone knows, especially after that spectacular dive at the Quidditch World Cup," Daniel continues. "And last but not least, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons. You know her, Isabelle?"

"I have heard the name before, I think," the golden haired girl frowns, now rotating her healed shoulder. "She must have been in her first-year or maybe even second-year when I was in my sixth at Beauxbatons. She is very pretty — that is all I remember about her. Part Veela, most definitely."

"Well, let's hope she's as tough as she is pretty," Elena says darkly, "especially if she's the one up against that Horntail."

Isabelle just nods along, her eyes downcast as the four of them exit the Healers' tent, now fully back to normal, aside from a couple of blood-stained shirts and a thin scar on Daniel's thigh.

The four of them spend the next few weeks checking up on each of the four dragons, and making sure that they are all faring perfectly fine, with their eggs in healthy conditions and their tempers still running high. Isabelle gets increasingly more nervous every single time she checks up on the vicious Hungarian Horntail, praying that whichever champion has the misfortune of landing her comes out unscathed. Or, at least, not too badly scathed. Alive, at the very minimum.

And eventually, it comes time that the Common Welsh Green, the Swedish Short Snout, the Chinese Fireball and the Hungarian Horntail are all packed away into barred cages, and attached to several different brooms, ready to be carried off to Hogwarts. Their eggs are of course packed away carefully in wooden crates separate to the dragons, ready for them to be reunited when the first task starts.

Charlie sends an owl to Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gamekeeper and now Care of Magical Creatures teacher, to let him know that the dragons are on their way, and for him to direct them all to the appropriate place in the Forbidden Forest for them to land there safely.

Unfortunately, in Isabelle's opinion, Charlie, Elena, Daniel and herself aren't allowed to go with the Dragon Tamers that fly off with the four dragons, as Florin claims he needs them here at the Sanctuary for more work, especially as so many of the team are leaving for Hogwarts with the dragons. She supposes that's fair, though, and bids the Dragon Tamers and the dragons goodbye as they fly off in the evening, expecting to come to land at Hogwarts later that night.

"Well," Charlie says, coming over to Isabelle and wrapping an arm around her waist as they watch the dragons fly away, "I can tell you one thing for sure: I do not envy the champion that gets the Hungarian Horntail as their challenger."