Amelia Merlin

Part 102: The First Task

The girls cleverly orchestrated a plan to get Harry to see the dragons. It involved Lavender flirting with Ron, a peculiar amount of eavesdropping and just a touch of magic. Within days Harry found the dragons and told Cedric all about it.

Mission accomplished.

Amelia wasn't worried about either of the boys. She was convinced not only in their abilities as competitors, but in her own ability as well. Each day she had been sneaking out to the woods and practicing on the dragons. Last year she had been able to manipulate salamanders quite easily, dragons were much larger and more intelligent but she was up for a challenge. It took some time but when she murmured aperire animo it came easily and the dragons listened to her every whisper.

Everyone walked hurriedly down towards the Quidditch pitch that had been remade for the First Task. The emerge in the crowd was teeming with excitement and Fred insisted on taking bets even after Amelia hit him over the head.

"You're being insensitive."

"To what?"

"Harry has a lot to go through right now. He doesn't need his friends debating his death."

"If you noticed, I'm betting on him."

"Not a lot of other people are."

"Who are you betting on, love?"

"No one!"

"Oh come on! Pick someone!" He teased.

"Fine. Three galleons on Harry Potter."

"Not Cedric?"

She gave him a look.

"Of course. Right. Three galleons for Harry." He grinned.

"If that boy can survive a visit from the Dark Lord, then I'm pretty sure he can handle a dragon."

"Solid logic."

"Yeah I thought so."

They took their seats and Amelia felt her heart beating rather severely in her chest. She thought it might punch a hole through her body but thankfully it stayed where it was supposed to. Oliver waved to her and sat down on the row below her with his friends. She shivered slightly from the cold, Fred saw and he wrapped his scarf around her neck.

"Better?"

"Yes, thanks."

"Anytime."

"When is this thing going to start?" She huffed impatiently.

Oliver turned around, "Soon. I just saw Dumbledore go into that tent over there."

"Oh god. We're going to be here all day."

"What makes you say that?" He laughed.

"I dunno. Maybe I've just heard one too many of his inspirational speeches."

"Fair enough. Should we find some way to pass the time?" His dark hair curled around his face.

"What do you suggest?" Amelia said eagerly.

He spoke low so she had to lean in to hear him. "We enchant everyone's hair to slowly stand on end and see who notices first."

"Alright." She smiled and started with the Beaux Batons boy sitting two rows down and to the left. Oliver went with Goyle from Slytherin. Their hair crept upwards, the French boy noticed almost immediately, patting his hair down flat. Goyle didn't notice at all so they had to think of something else to get the boys attention.

Oliver tried raising his scarf. But there was no reaction. So Amelia made his entire bench rise. Everyone else noticed and someone even shrieked a little bit. But Goyle just stared vacantly into the distance.

"Do you think he's dead?" Oliver whispered.

"Nah. We'd smell him if he were."

"Can't be any worse than usual."

"Probably not." She laughed and Oliver's mouth twitched into a smile. Whenever he made her laugh he always got a great look of achievement, like he'd won some victory.

"They're starting." Fred said loudly so Amelia jumped and Oliver turned around.

"Isn't this exciting?" She beamed.

"Yeah, sure is." But he didn't sound very excited. At least, not until the dragon came out. Cedric went first with a Welsh Green dragon. It was more nerve wracking than she had expected it to be. The crowds all yelled and cheered but all Amelia could think was how big the dragon was an how small Cedric was. Fire raced from the beasts jaws and he missed it by inches. He shot curses at it while the dragon slashed and roared at him. After too much time, Cedric finally got a good shot right in the creatures eye and it fell to the ground. He walked over and picked up the golden egg. The Hogwarts students went wild. Thumping and yelling and Cedric beamed up at them.

And for a moment Amelia understood why he wanted to do this.

It was much easier to watch Fleur and Krum going next. She wasn't particularly invested in them but it was still difficult to watch. Her heart raced as Fred yelled beside her.

Finally it was Harry's turn. Amelia felt sick as the Horntail was brought into the stadium. Everyone knew it was the worst by far. The creature was angry and Harry was going to get massacred if he wasn't careful. She breathed deeply and whispered so low not even Fred heard, "Aperire animo, aperire animo," 

And immediately she felt something. It all faded away. The connection to everything around her strengthened, the wood of the benches yearned for her attention, the wind in the air kissed her face with affection and lake, so far away, called to her, begging for Amelia to come be with it. But most of all she felt the Horntail, the great beast in front of her had a power like Amelia had rarely felt before. Her roar sent a pulse through her and she smiled. She reached out to the Hornatil with her mind and touched it. 

For a moment she could see through the eyes of the Horntail, she saw Harry running behind a rock and she saw the eggs beneath her and felt the burning desire to protect them. Then she saw a boy with dark hair and green eyes poke his ugly face out from behind the rock. She roared and knew she had to protect her eggs. So she slashed at the chains constricting her and screeched, the chains broke and she was free. 

Amelia was jolted back to reality. Harry had summoned a broom from the castle and he was now swerving around the loose dragon. Amelia's breaths came short and deep. Fred cheered and whooped beside her. Amelia clutched at the bench beside her for stability. 

She had caused this. Her power had allowed the dragon to break free of it's chains. It wasn't supposed to do that. Those chains were able to keep dragons at bay. But she had caused this. It was her fault. 

Harry got the golden egg and the crowd went wild. 

"Aperire animo, aperire animo, aperire animo," she whispered desperately. Fred leapt out of his seat and ran down to find Harry. Oliver turned around beaming, congratulating her on a Gryffindor win. He frowned when he saw her expression. Climbing over the benches between them, he reached her side. 

"Are you okay?"

"It's my fault." fear flooded her voice. "I thought I could control an angry dragon. What was I thinking?"

"It's okay. Nothing bad happened. Harry's fine. Everyone's fine. You're surrounded by some of the greatest wizards of our time. You're fine." he put his hand on her cheek, forcing her to look into those strikingly blue eyes. 

"I'm not as strong as I thought."

"Yes you are, you're fine."