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Curses and Dragons

Pacing outside of the infirmary was going to drive Harry to madness if no one updated them on Sirius soon. Harry had been woken up at 2 AM because Sirius had been floo-ed directly into the infirmary after somehow contracting a severe curse. They had tried to get into the actual room, but were told that they would only get in the way. So here they were, walking back and forth in an attempt to keep themselves from doing something rash.

Panic bubbled in their chest as the worst possible outcomes played ring-around-the-rosie in their head. Still, the need to be close kept them from moving to ask any of the other teachers or even one of the ghosts. So here they were, pacing.

"Harry, you need to go to sleep," Severus rounded the corner leading to the hospital wing, he looked as tired as they felt. "The first event in the tournament is tomorrow and I won't have you getting hurt due to lack of sleep. I'll be the first person to tell you about Sirius's condition tomorrow. Now, off to bed."

"I, I'll, can I -" they stumbled over their words, trying to find some excuse to stay, but were sent away while still thinking. Normally they would go back to the Gryffindor dorm for the comfort of it, but it was too far. So this was how a few of the older Ravenclaws came to find them asleep on one of the sofas in the common room.

The half day of classes seemed to blur together for Harry while their mind tried to focus on the upcoming task and worrying about Siri. Overall, bad experience -10/10, would not be recommended. By lunch they were trying desperately to not fall asleep in their bowl of soup. The overwhelming numbness in their chest wasn't healthy, they knew this, but it was better than the anxiety that would have knocked them on their ass.

Once Mcgonagall practically dragged them to the champion's tent, they spent their time before the event lying face down on one of the cots. The others were trying to drive the anxiety out by moving or mumbling the plan or leaning against the support in an effort to appear calm. Harry knew their plan backwards and forwards, there was no need to practice it at this point.

"Champions! Gather round, gather round!" It was the ministry employee that kept trying to get them alone, a portly man who they didn't trust in the slightest. "Now the order is determined by your selection! You will be attempting to get a golden egg away from a nesting mother dragon! La -"

"Let me get this straight," Harry growled out, greatly annoyed by the challenge. "You want us to take an egg from a mother dragon, most likely causing acute distress, and almost guaranteeing injuries? That's what you want us to do?"

"We have a medical pavilion set up! Besides, you all signed up for this!"

"I didn't. Someone entered me against my will. What are you gonna do if I refuse to face the dragon?"

"You won't have the clue for the next task!"

"Do I look like I give a damn?"

Fleur, not wanting to hear the idiotic excuses the official could provide, snatched the velvet bag from him and plunged her hand inside. She pulled out the miniature version of the Welsh Green with shaky hands. Next was Cedric with the Swedish Short-snout, Krum with the Chinese Fireball, and Harry drew the Hungarian Horntail. Cedric was up first. The official snatched up the bag and booked it out of the tent before he could be berated any more.

For the next while Harry was forced to listen to shoddy narrations of all the other's matches. They lay on the floor as the others were slowly called out of the tent to compete. The roars of dragons and screams of the crowd did nothing for their annoyance at the ministry for choosing such a task.

At last, Harry was called out of the tent and into the arena. The sunlight was annoyingly blinding and the crowd was far too loud. Despite this, they were on high alert, looking out for a very pissed off mother dragon.

They spent a few minutes casting as many fireproofing and stealth spells as possible without any canceling out. They walked calmly out into the open, eyes locking onto the very angry dragon who perched curled around her nest. Anger welled up in them as they noticed the large chains wrapped around the creature's ankle. They took a deep breath and started to walk towards the dragon slowly.

A low growl and small spout of flames came from the angry lizard that tightened herself around her eggs. They slowly crouched down and placed their wand onto the ground. Moving as slowly as possible, Harry moved to stand near her. Humming lightly, they started to lightly stroke the scales on her tail, just like they did for Aspen. The growling turned into a light rumbling sound, almost as if she was purring at the attention.

"Geegee, please get the fake egg and only the fake egg. Set it near the medical tent, I'll retrieve it from there."

"You got it boss!" Geegee took her wolf form and hopped into the nest. The dragon seemed to be more at ease with Geegee around. She relaxed completely when the wolf lightly set the golden egg down for her to check before taking the imposter out of the nest and away.

After a few more minutes of petting the dragon, Harry gave her one last pat before moving to grab their wand and the egg before entering medical. They had to stop themselves from rushing back to the poor creature when she started to growl at the handlers. Still, they forced themself onwards into the tent.

"What kind of brain dead ignoramus decides to pit teenagers against dragons! Sit down, I'll check you over in a minute," Madam Pomphrey rushed past them to check on Cedric's burns while continuing to insult both the ministry and the headmaster.

"Harry! Dude, you were amazing! I couldn't have done it better myself! And Charlie looked two seconds from proposing to you!" Ron was excitedly talking, well more like yelling, but they would commit murder if anyone made him feel bad. "Oh, the judges are about to give your score! Let's go!"

Hermione and Neville had also come to see them, but anyone could tell that Ron was the most excited. When he started dragging them out to see their score, they grabbed Neville and Hermione. The four stood outside of the tent as the judges shot little ribbons out of their wands that turned into numbers above their heads. A nine from Crouch, a five from Dumbledore, a surprising ten from Madam Maxime, and a seven from Karkaroff: putting them in second place right after Viktor.

The second the points were announced, Madam Pomphrey dragged them back to the medical tent for a check-up. After ten minutes of being looked over, Harry managed to escape her clutches to run to the infirmary. They wanted to check up on Siri and Remi before they were dragged to the massive inter-house party to celebrate the completion of the first task. Maybe, if the two were up for it, they could convince their godfathers to join in, only if they were able to of course.