The Uncle From America

Chapter 11

Time flew fast when one was trying not to think of a deadline. Hermione stared at her breakfast wordlessly, knowing the eggs would not be eaten on their own. Her fork played around with the white part that she had to force down her throat. Next to her, Harry hadn't even filled his plate. Today was the First Task. Today, Harry would be facing a dragon.

"You'll be fine," she eventually said. "You know the spells and we've practiced some more."

From the moment they had received the letters and advice, the two had restlessly practiced the sleeping and flameproof spells along with illusion casting and living transfiguration in case the dragon needed distraction.

"It might not be enough," he pointed out grimly. Hermione rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"You took the mandragores leaves with you, right?"

Harry shrugged.

"I'm not sure they actually act as dragon-nip," he said sarcastically.

"Paint always has some weird hearsay at hand since he loves random facts. I tend to listen," Hermione interjected, feeling the need to defend her American friend. "He's not always a hundred percent accurate, but I'd say better safe than sorry, right?"

They didn't speak until Professor McGonagall arrived to take Harry away, leaving Hermione alone. She later found herself following the crowd of students to the sort of stadium where the First Task would take place. She opted to seat next to a Beauxbatons student at the edge of the rows, in case she needed to bolt when Harry's turn would end.

The students were chatting excitedly, wondering what would await the Champions when the first loud roar echoed. Everyone became silent as the first dragon was led into the arena. Hermione couldn't help but shudder at the sight: the creature was just as big as it she had imagined it in her nightmares, and watching Cedric arrive, and being so small next to it gave her cold sweat. Harry was even physically smaller, how could he stand himself in front of a dragon?

She barely followed the next events, too anxious to wait for this to be over. Fleur Delacour's turn came, and then Krum, and was it her impression or did the dragons grew larger as the candidates went? Then it was time for Harry to show up.

The Hungarian Horntail was definitively larger than the others, which made Harry's entrance on the ground even more pathetic. The dragon growled at Harry's arrival, reptilian eyes blinking distrustfully. For a few seconds, Harry seemed at loss at what to do but eventually reached for his wand and started approaching slowly when...the dragon stopped growling. It blinked slowly and twisted its head on the side, as if suddenly evaluating the student in a new light. Hermione held her breath as the dragon sat straighter and made a strange, soft sound for a creature its size. The noise reminded her of Crookshanks' purring.

Were the mandragore leaves working after all? The dragon seemed to lose all aggressiveness and Harry took a few cautious steps closer, hand tight around his wand, and looking paler and paler. Hermione realized he had no idea what the heck was going on and had no idea what to do. The dragon growled –more gently this time –and sniffed the air. The passive attitude made people whisper in awe, and from the corner of the eye, Hermione saw the tamers exchanging curious glances.

So it came as a shock when the dragon suddenly spit a pit of flames.

People screamed in the assembly, having been caught off-guard by the dragon's behavior. Thankfully, Harry seemed to have anticipated the act and had time to cast the flameproof shield. The dragon spit another column of flames before getting up from its nest and moving with a surprising grace and speed towards the teen. It spit fire a third time before Harry seemed to realize he needed to move fast –but by then it was too late. While they had practiced the flameproof shield against many other spells, nothing they had come up with had matched real dragon's fire and Harry had been forced to remain still to defend himself. So when the creature was upon him, he wasn't fast enough to dodge.