The Other Potter

Fire & Ice

He practically skidded to a halt at the Slytherin table, "Dragons." He panted, making sure to keep his voice quiet enough so those around his friends wouldn't hear.

His friends all looked at one another in confusion. Elijah had skipped class all day and had now came running into the Hall panting about dragons. It didn't make sense, but things with Elijah hardly ever did at first.

"Ok... Breathe.. And then explain." Alix instructed, shuffling closer to Cedric to make room for Elijah.

Taking a seat he swallowed thickly, "Dragons... That's the first task." He breathed heavily.

"Dragons?" Cedric repeated, a quick glimpse of worry crossing over his features.

"How'd you know?" Jay asked curiously, quickly glancing around them to make sure no one else was eavesdropping.

"I saw Charlie Weasley in Hagrids hut." He explained, running a hand through his hair. "And during the summer I remember Charlie and Bill Weasley talking to their brothers about this year, and Charlie said he'd be visiting but never gave a reason. So, dragons. That will be the first task."

"Ok, Pink Panther, calm down." Felix sighed, sliding across a cup of water.

"I need to go do some research." Cedric murmured, getting up from his seat and heading to the library.

"I'll go with him." Alix said, quickly turning to the other boys, "You three take care of him." She said firmly, pointing her finger at them.

"Scouts honour." Felix said, giving Alix a curt nod.

"You can count on us." Ezra beamed.

"Yes, ma'am." Jay smirked.

Alix rolled her eyes before rushing after Cedric.

"Where is Harry? I should tell him.. or his friends." Elijah said, eyes scanning the Gryffindor table for them.

"Not here, I've not seen them since breakfast." Felix shrugged, grabbing his friends arm as Elijah went to get up. "First, you need to focus on your strategy."

"Yeah, what do you know about dragons?" Ezra questioned.

"Depends on the breed, age, gender-"

"Elijah, focus."

"Right.. But... it really does matter about the species. Because that will determine how aggressive the dragon is." he sighed, shaking his head. His mind was running at a hundred miles an hour.

"Ok, well, you're gonna have to go in blind there. Unless you can find out what species they are. So, we need a game plan." Ezra hummed, "Perhaps we should go to the library, find decent books on dragons."

"They have eleven books on dragons in the library. I read them in first and second year." Elijah murmured.

The other three boys all shared a look, whether it was of concern or not was beyond Elijah, he was too focused on trying to rationalise his thoughts and put together some sort of plan.

There was only one way he was going to find out what dragons were involved in the first task and it was going to be risky with some many people around as he doubted the dragons would be left unsupervised for a second. For now though he needed to ease his friends concerns.

"Earth to Elijah.." Jay said loudly, waiting for his friends focus to fall back on him. "You hear a word I just said?"

Shaking his head, Elijah drew together his brows. "No, sorry." he apologised, pushing everything else to the back of his mind.

"Was there anything useful in those books?"

"Yeah, each dragon has a different aggression level, so once I know what dragon I am against I will know the best tactic on approach. Then there is eye sight, there are four breeds of dragons that have poor eyesight and rely purely on their other senses. Other dragons fixate on their horde and no amount of distractions will pull focus from whatever they are guarding. Then there is flight strength, sound sensitivity, claw density... Look, I know it sounds like I'm overthinking, and I probably am, but I don't even know what the task is, just that dragons will be involved. I can't plan anything until I know more." He rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I'll think of something, I promise. I just need to think of anything else but that right now."