A Wizards Fairytale

Chapter 9

The crowd watched with bated breath as Aries walked into the arena. His eyes darted around before finding Lena. The little girl looked nervous, but he caught her eye and winked. He then set out to do what he needed to do. Getting his wand out, Aries put a shield up against the dragon's fire. He then started to draw out a series of complex runes, the audience watching curiously. They were amazed by the shield that seemed to be keeping the fire at bay.

"Well, this is something we've never seen before," commented Bagman. "It seems that Mr. Kalgarias is setting up a series of runes. I'm not sure what their purpose will be, but it is certainly interesting."

Aries smirked. Of course Bagman didn't know what he was doing. He knew the former Quidditch player wasn't too bright, probably due to one too many Bludgers to the head. It was an unusual approach, he had to admit, but Aries had chosen this way for a certain reason. He wanted to establish himself as a smart champion, one who relied on brains. It would help for people to underestimate his strength.

It didn't take long for him to finish. He whispered a spell, dropped his shields, and waited. The dragon seemed to sense the magic and bowed its head to Aries, backing away so he could grab the golden egg.

The crowd was stunned. "Woah!" Bagman exclaimed, disbelief on his face. "Mr. Kalgarias has the quickest time and not a scratch on him! Amazing!" The crowd roared in excitement, the Beauxbaton students even more so. Aries spotted Lena on her feet, cheering for him excitedly. He took a quick bow and went back to the tent.

The nurse checked him over, clucking about the Tournament. Ana was still being patched up. She had used some illusion magic to create a misty duplicate of herself. It worked to distract the dragon at first, but when Ana went for the egg, she'd had to dodge a field of fire and scrapped up her arm. She looked at Aries with raised eyebrows. "There's not a scratch on you," she stated.

"I'm just that good," he stated cockily. Ana rolled her eyes. Once she was cleared to leave, the two waited to hear his score.

Dumbledore shot up a 10 as did Madame Maxine. Crouch and Bagman both gave him nines while Karkaroff gave him an eight.

Crouch cleared his throat. "In first place: Aries Kalgarias with forty seven points! In second place Draco Malfoy with forty five points! In third place Anastasia Holender with forty three points! In last place Andrew Potter with forty one points!"

Aries grinned. Step one was complete.

Lena ran to Aries the minute she spotted him. Gabrielle, Jacques, and Iris weren't far behind. They had a couple of Gryffindors that Aries vaguely recognized with them. One of them was a Weasley, he knew. Aries was more focused on his sister. The little girl had tears running down her cheeks. He picked her up. She clung to him. "What's wrong, princess?" he asked.

"That was really scary!" the little girl cried. "You faced a monster!"

"But it didn't hurt me," Aries pointed out. "I'm fine. What did I tell you about monsters?"

Lena sniffled. "That you'd always win?" she replied.

Aries nodded. "That's right," he agreed. "So can I have a smile? You look more like a princess when you smile." And Mama, he added mentally. He loved his sister dearly, but sometimes it hurt to look at her.

Gabrielle watched Aries soothe Lena. Soon the little girl was giggling again. Aries put her down and walked towards them. Then, however, something else caught his attention. Or, more accurately, someone else. The girl, dressed in all black, was definitely catching everyone's attention. She was tiny, almost sickly, but she was stunning. Her ebony colored her was tied back and her ice blue eyes seemed to catch every detail. There were scars on her face, ones that looked like a knife had been run across it. It didn't detract from her beauty at all, only making her more interesting.