Capítulo 50: Chapter 48 - The First Task pt 1
***** Bonus Chapter #1 ***** A/N: As promised, 2nd chapter of the day. Been re-writing out the first task a bit to get things right. Hopefully yall enjoy! *****
"Do you have a plan Jordan?" Professor Flitwick asked with a frown.
He was quite worried about his protégé, especially once he had heard what the first task was going to be.
It was the 24th of November, the day of the first task, and it was slowly approaching the time for the champions to gather.
The last few days had passed without incident, after Khan's spontaneous meeting with Harry and Hermione.
Coincidentally, he was meeting the 2 of them pretty often in the mornings. First with Stella, and now with Prince.
Funnily enough, both those meetings had ended with Hermione acting quite 'girly' with his beast friends, and himself and Harry engaging in rather deep and heavy discussions.
And while Khan hoped that his most recent advice had helped his younger co-champion in preparation for the Frist trial, he had coincidentally seen Harry and Hermione practicing the summoning charm, playing numerous games of Summoner's Court.
It seemed that they, along with many of the other students, were preparing for Khan's Summoner's Cup tournament. Round 1 was approaching that weekend after all.
'Hopefully Harry hasn't just given up on the Triwizard Tournament.' Khan had commented to himself, while watching the 2 best friends play a game of Summoner's Court. 'I know he didn't enter himself, and that my tournament is 1/2 the winnings of the Triwizard Tournament..... but he should at the very least be preparing to try to survive. This is a dragon after all..."
Back in the present time, charms class had recently finished, and now Khan was now being accompanied by Flitwick towards the Forbidden Forrest, where the first task was scheduled to take place.
Khan admired and looked up to Flitwick, in a fashion similar to the way he looked up to his previous mentor, Professor Fig. He was very grateful for the visible show of worry on the diminutive professor's face; it showed he truly cared.
"Honestly... Not really." Khan shrugged. "I've faced worse.... the biggest challenge will be in not harming her."
"Yes.... well its always good to keep a cool head under pressure!" Flitwick tried to keep Khan's spirit's up, although internally he was now even more worried about his protégé. "Remember... we've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand... Just do your best!"
"Not to worry sir!" Khan tried to reassure his mentor. "Although I don't have a plan, I've always been pretty quick on my feet, so to speak."
Khan literally was quite confident in his quick and unique dodging ability, his quick thinking, and his ability to craft and create unique strategies on the fly.
He had battled against a dragonoid Ranrok after all, being drastically under-prepared, not even having a strategy for defeating him.
It was only his quick dodging skills, and his quick thinking, that he was able to formulate that unique strategy with the gathering ancient magic balls, to ultimately defeat Ranrok.
They slowly approached the enclosure where the dragons would be, Khan humming as he walked, with Flitwick scurrying along beside him, anxiety etched into his face, in clear contrast with Khan.
Khan recognized the clearing of course; it was the location he had accidentally done battle with the dragon poach- Trainers... Although Khan now saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.
"Well.... You're to enter here to gather and wait with the other champions." Said Professor Flitwick, in a rather shaky squeaky sort of voice. "Bagman is in there. He'll be telling you the details of the first task."
"I wish you luck Jordan!" Flitwick patted him on his arm, not quite tall enough himself, to reach his shoulder.
"Thank you sir!" Khan shook his hand in response. "I'll see you soon."
Khan then turned and lifted the flap of the tent, to enter inside.
Viktor Krum had already arrived, looking surlier than ever, which Khan took as his way of showing his nerves.
Fleur Delacour had also already arrived, and was sitting in a corner of the tent on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as she usually did to Khan, now appearing rather pale and clammy, her hair lacking her natural silvery radiance.
Harry, as usual it seemed, was going to be the last to arrive, as it appeared he was not yet inside the tent.
"Jordan! You 'ave come!" Fleur noticed that Khan had arrived, and quickly rushed off to greet him, putting on a small smile for him, even with her bundle of nerves. " 'ow are you feeling? Are you ready?"
"Fleur! Even nervous, you give off a glow!" Khan kissed her hand in greetings, their now common greeting between close friends, attempting to compliment her, to hopefully ease her nerves. "I'm feeling ok, thanks for asking! And honestly, ready as I'll ever be..."
'Not like I could of learned some new strategy and be effective at using it in time for this first task anyways....' Khan mumbled to himself, under his breath.
"How about you? Are you feeling ok? I can tell you are a bit nervous after all..." Khan followed up politely, as Fleur moved to grab his arm, as she typically does.
"I am ok, now that you are 'ere." She responded, looking into his eyes.
They had grown closer over the past few weeks, especially with Fleur being quite forward in her behavior towards Khan.
In addition to their rather noble greeting, it was now quite common to see Fleur being escorted after dinner by Khan, towards the Beauxbaton carriage where the Beauxbaton students were staying.
As a result they had become quite the celebrity couple in Hogwarts. And they matched each other quite well.
Both of them were champions. They both matched each-other in unique looks and noble temperament. They were both magically powerful.
And similar to the Muggle Hollywood Celebrities, with the two of them spending time together in public, they were naturally the target of many rumors.
The most popular rumor, was that Fleur had ensnared Khan already, with her Allure and Veela charms. Although there had been a few mentions of illicit activities as well.
Rumors however, couldn't have been further from the truth.
Khan of course, was quite taken with Fleur.... He'd have to be attracted to males, or blind, if he wasn't taken with Fleur and her unique beauty.
Khan however, was quite the virgin at relationships, his closest girl friends being Natty and Poppy previously.
And while he did always find them both rather attractive, he could never bring himself to take that last step, and properly court them as a girlfriend.
He always excused himself, saying that 'he was too busy' or 'had too many adventures', but truthfully, he was always a little scared when it came to relationships.
Always the overthinker, Khan worried about many things when it came to relationships; Would his courting be successful? What if it wasn't..... would they still remain friends? It would kill him if Poppy or Natty stopped being friends with him, if they broke up after dating.
And while it was fine previously, with Khan having few close friends, not wanting to screw things up... now with Fleur being quite forward, as well as his growing girl-fans, perhaps it was time to try his hand at relationships.
Couldn't be worse than dragons right?
*****
"Harry! Good-o!" Said Bagman happily, looking around at him as he enter the tent, the last of the champions to arrive. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"
Harry looked quite pale himself, as he entered the tent, giving a small smile at Fleur and Khan, still coupled up, apparently taking comfort from each other.
Harry noticed that while Khan didn't look nervous (which he expected), it seemed that his calm had also somewhat passed onto Fleur, who despite looking a bit pale, still had some radiance and glow in her hair.
Krum as usual, was still looking surly, as he paced around flatfooted.
Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing in his old Wasp robes again amongst all the Champions.
"Well, now that we're all here, time to fill you in on the details!" Said Bagman brightly, in clear contrast to how Harry was feeling.
"When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" He held up a small violet sack, and shook it at them. "From which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face!"
"There are different - errrrr - Varieties you see... " Bagman finished up, attempting to keep the news of the task being dragons from being told, as long as possible. "Um..... Oh yes! Your First task is to collect the golden egg!"
Harry glanced around at the other champions to get their reactions.
Khan simply nodded at Bagman, and went back to chatting to Fleur, seemingly at ease with the entire situation.
While Fleur didn't nod, and still appeared quite pale, it seemed that she was in her 'couple-mode' with Khan, not paying attention to anything or anyone else around her, other than Jordan.
Krum made no reaction at all, not even indicating he had heard the man.
Harry himself, felt sick to his stomach however. A bloody dragon! He didn't sign up for this.... The rest of the champions had at the very least, volunteered for this tournament...
In no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing by the tent outside, their owners all talking excitedly, about the tournament and upcoming first task. All of them laughing. All of them joking....
Harry was feeling quite jealous of them at this very moment.
And then, although it felt like only a second later to Harry, Bagman was opening the violet sack again, as it appeared finally time to start the first task.
"Ladies first!" he said, offering it to Fleur, still wrapped around Khan's arm.
She reached out a slightly shaking hand, and put it inside of the bag, pulling out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon, a few moments later.
It was a Welsh Green, and had a large #2 hanging around its neck, as if some overgrown piece of jewelry.
She showed no signs of reacting to it being a dragon; in fact none of the champions did when their turns came.
Harry of course, knew why. He had followed Madame Maxime and Hagrid on their date to see the dragons, so naturally he assumed, she told Fleur.
Then, on his way out of the forest that night, he had coincidentally run into Karkaroff as well, sneaking around the Forbidden forest. It appeared that he also told Krum as well, who was next to draw.
Krum reached in, pulling out a tiny model of a Scarlet Chinese Fireball, with a large #3 hanging around it's neck.
Next was Harry himself. Reaching in, he pulled out a dragon with a large #1 hanging around it's neck. It was a Hungarian Horntail, and as Harry looked down at the tiny dragon, it bared its minuscule fangs at him in warning.
Last was Khan. He reached in, pulling out a tiny model that Khan immediately recognized. A Hebridean Black!
Dark black, rough scales covered the tiny dragon, ridges running along its back, with a large spiked tail, the dragon showed intelligence from its purple glowing eyes. It had a large #4 hanging around it's neck.
Khan of course, knew the particular dangers of this breed of dragon. This was the very same species of dragon, that both Khan and Poppy had returned her egg to.
'Looks like things really are coming full circle with this tournament' Khan commented to himself. 'To go from returning a dragon egg, to stealing a dragon egg, from the same species of dragon no less...'
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman happily. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, you see!"
"Now, I'm going to have to leave you, since I am commentating. Good luck everyone!" Bagman said in farewell. "Young Harry is first! Come along, outside Harry!"
"Right....." Said Harry blankly, as he got up robotically and followed Bagman outside the tent, who then walked with him a short distance away.
"You feeling all right Harry?" Asked Bagman, as he lowed his voice conspiratorially. "Got a plan? Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them. You know.... because you're the youngest champion and the underdog here Harry.... Anything I can do to help."
"No.... I know what I'm going to do, thanks." Harry responded so quickly, that even he knew that he had sounded rude.
"Nobody would know, Harry..." Bagman followed up, winking sneakily at him.
"No thank you, I'm fine. I got a plan worked out, and I-"
A whistled had sounded out, interrupting Harry.
"Good Lord, we've got to run! The task is starting!" said Bagman in alarm, as he hurried off towards the enclosure, Harry following quickly behind him.
arriving a few moments later, Bagman rushed off to join the judges table, where he was commentating from, while Harry waited, panic slowly rising into a crescendo inside him.
Another whistle blew out, and Harry realized he was now walking through a gap in the enclosure fence.
Looking across the enclosure, Harry spotted the Horntail, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, and her striking yellow eyes following his every move. A monstrous scaly black lizard, she hrashed her spiked tail around, leaving a yard-long gouge in the hard ground.
Then, the roar of the crowd hit him all at once, as hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from the stands that had been magicked, were screaming and cheering.
The Triwizard tournament finally starting!
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