Chapter 183: Facing the Horntail

The first task began with twelve champions and three dragons sharing one arena.

Stone ridges divided the field into broad nesting zones without sealing them from one another. The Common Welsh Green guarded the western slope, the Swedish Short-Snout occupied a hollow to the north, and the Hungarian Horntail crouched over the black rocks at the eastern end. Four marked golden eggs lay around each false nest, far enough from the real eggs that no champion needed to enter the centre.

The scoring was simple enough to remember under pressure. Crossing the exit with one marked egg earned ten points. Judges could award another twenty for control, restraint, and handling the hazards without endangering another champion or a dragon. A school score was the sum of its four champions. Deliberately attacking another student inside a marked dragon range brought an immediate penalty and review.

Edward touched the red withdrawal cord at his belt before the gates opened. His walnut wand rested in his hand. No Heart-Flame Crest, no Soul Ash notes, and no hidden device travelled with him.

Beside him, Cedric watched the Welsh Green. Adeline counted the black boundary stones. Harry looked once toward the broom stand and then at the Horntail's tail, whose spikes had already carved a groove through the dirt.

"Stay within whistle range," Cedric said.

"And if one of us calls out, the argument happens afterward," Adeline added.

Harry nodded. Edward did too.

The horn sounded.

Every careful plan immediately met eleven other people making choices at the same time.

Fleur sent a veil of mist across the Welsh Green's outer sight line while two Beauxbatons champions moved along the ridge behind her. Durmstrang drove north in a compact group, Krum at the centre until the Short-Snout turned its head toward them. Hogwarts split only as far as the terrain required.

Cedric reached the Welsh Green first. He transfigured three loose stones into hopping birds and sent them along the far edge of the nest. The dragon tracked the movement, and Cedric walked rather than ran to the nearest marked egg. He lifted it, retreated behind the same ridge, and crossed the exit before the dragon decided the birds were beneath its dignity.

The judges raised three white flags. Clean control.

Adeline chose the Short-Snout. She never challenged its head. Instead, she used the stone markers as cover, waited through one burst of blue flame, and shifted only when the dragon turned toward Durmstrang. A precise Shield Charm caught falling gravel rather than fire. She took an egg from the outside plinth and withdrew without forcing the animal to change position.

Another clean run.

Harry's attempt was messier. The Horntail noticed him before he reached the broom stand and sent flame across the route. Harry shielded, realized the spell would not hold, and abandoned the direct path before the heat charm on his sleeve reached red.

"Broom clear?" he shouted.

Adeline checked the flight lane. "Clear above the west stones. Tail moving east."

"Accio Firebolt!"

The broom struck Harry's hand. He rose fast, drew the Horntail's head upward, and swept around the outside of the tail radius. The dragon followed him with terrifying speed. Harry used the turn to dive toward a marked egg, caught it against his chest, and climbed before the tail completed its return.

His exit was ugly. A burst of flame forced him sideways, and he crossed the line with one sleeve smoking and no room left for style. He had the egg. The healers had him a moment later.

Edward heard Harry insist that he was fine and kept his attention on the field.

Krum had already secured an egg from the Short-Snout. His flight had been fast and direct, more aggressive than Harry's but controlled. He could have crossed the exit and kept the full mark his first performance had earned.

Instead, he remained inside.

Edward saw him circle south while Volodya and the other Durmstrang champions withdrew from the dragon zone. Krum's eyes followed the Hogwarts side of the field rather than any remaining egg.

"Krum has his objective," Adeline called. "Watch him."

Edward did not answer. The Horntail had settled again after Harry's pass, and the nearest marked egg now lay beneath the shadow of one folded wing. The animal was not hunting. It was guarding.

That difference decided his approach.

He moved from rock to rock with his shield low. When the Horntail inhaled, he did not try to meet dragon fire with his own. He dropped behind stone and let the breath pass above him. Heat rolled over the ridge hard enough to make his charm turn amber.

Edward waited until it faded.

The dragon's head lowered. One bronze eye fixed on him.

He cast a brief Incendio at a bare stone well outside the nest. The ordinary flare died almost at once, but the Horntail's gaze snapped toward it and then returned to him. A second flare on the opposite side drew the same response. Neither touched the dragon, and both told him how quickly she tracked heat and motion.

Too quickly for the route he had planned.

He changed it.

Edward backed toward the centre ridge and used a Summoning Charm on the fireproof cloth beneath the marked egg. The cloth shifted half a foot before the Horntail stamped one foreclaw onto its edge.

The egg stayed where it was.

"Leave it," Cedric called from beyond the boundary. "We already have three."

Edward heard him. Hogwarts did not need a perfect task. He began to withdraw.

A spell came from behind.

The Horntail's eye moved first, snapping past Edward toward the flash at his back. That tiny change warned him before the sound did. Edward twisted and raised his shield.

Krum's Stunning Spell struck the edge rather than the centre. The shield broke. The force spun Edward sideways and sent his walnut wand skidding across the stones.

The arena erupted in whistles.

"Krum! Out!" a judge shouted.

Krum stood twenty paces behind Edward with his own golden egg under one arm and his wand still raised. Whatever calculation had put the spell in his hand vanished when the Horntail roared.

His attack had driven Edward deeper into its range.

The dragon's tail swept around.

Edward had no wand and no time to reach it.

Fire answered before panic could become a plan. It ran over his shoulders and arms, turning cloth and skin into a bright gold-red outline as he used Elementalization for one short defensive change. The first row of spikes passed through sparks where his upper body had been solid a heartbeat earlier.

He reformed badly, stumbled, and felt the cost at once.

Krum lowered his wand.

"Do not cast again!" the judge shouted. "Cross the exit now!"

Krum obeyed, but too late to erase the penalty waiting for him.

Edward looked toward his own exit. The Horntail stood between him and the safest route. His wand lay beyond her tail. The marked egg remained under the edge of her wing.

A keeper raised the yellow flag, ready to stop his attempt.

Edward lifted one empty hand to show he had heard.

Then the Horntail opened her jaws, and the air in front of her began to glow.

Edward had one choice left before the judges made it for him: withdraw through the emergency gate and take no egg, or use the fire he could shape without a wand long enough to create a safe path.

He chose the path, knowing it would cost him.