Harry just watched her leave in confusion, before he realized just what he had done.
He had spent the entire weekend with two very affectionate women and had clearly gotten used to it quickly.
He couldn’t recall if he had ever initiated a hug with Hermione, and he had certainly never kissed her in any way.
Hoping that she didn’t think that was creepy and wishing that he could rush off and apologize, he sighed as he turned around in time to see Rita heading inside.
The tent was larger than it appeared on the outside, as he expected, and he noticed all three of the other champions standing there.
Krum was leaning against a table, staring at nothing with a look of intense concentration on his face.
Fleur was standing across from him, spinning a ring around her right ring finger with both confidence and nervousness warring on her face.
Cedric looked irritated, though he suspected that that had much to do with Rita’s attempt to interview him.
“Miss Skeeter, this tent is for the champions and officials only,” Dumbledore said softly, yet firmly as he entered.
“I had hoped to get a word with each of the champions first,” Rita said, “you know, just in case.”
“Leave,” Crouch said flatly, glaring at her cameraman, who looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“Alright,” Rita sighed dramatically.
“I guess there’s always after.”
“So,” Bagman said awkwardly as she left, “I know we’ve left you in the dark about what this trial of courage is going to entail, and you must be desperate to know, so the first task will involve getting past dragons.”
He emphasized the final word and paused dramatically, as though waiting for that bombshell to sink in.
When four equally flat stares were the only response he got, he looked confused.
“Specifically, your task is going to be to steal a golden egg from a dragon,” Crouch said, visibly fighting the urge to roll his eyes at Bagman.
“Each of you will draw from this bag an animated representation of the dragon you’re going to face.
It will also determine the order you go in.”
Cedric was the closest to him and reached in to pull out a small silver dragon with a stubby-looking snout and glaring bronze eyes.
It was a well-animated creation, whatever it was, and Harry wondered who had created it.
“That is the Swedish Short Snout,” Bagman said.
“You’ll be going first, Mr.
Cedric muttered something under his breath and stepped back.
Krum stepped up and pulled a small orange dragon with larger wings than Cedric’s and bright blue eyes.
“Chinese Fireball,” Krum murmured.
“Correct, Mr.
Krum,” Bagman said, sounding excited.
“You’ll be going third.”
“Ladies first,” Harry said, gesturing for Fleur to go.
The beautiful blonde gave him an odd look, as though she found him suddenly interesting and couldn’t figure out why, and walked over to Crouch.
Even having spent an entire weekend in the company of goddesses like Rias and Akeno, he still couldn’t help but let his eyes be drawn to Fleur’s magnificent arse.
She reached in and pulled a green dragon that honestly looked cute compared to the other two.
“That’s the Common Welsh Green,” Bagman said.
“You’ll be going second, Miss Delacour.”
Harry breathed a sigh of relief at that, as it meant he would be going last.
He was confident that Ajuka’s enchanted ring would work; the man was too desperate to keep him alive and figure out why the evil pieces didn’t work on him to give him anything faulty.
He was concerned about being caught essentially cheating, however, and by going last, he’d be able to summon his egg and not have any of the others try it out and grow suspicious.
“That leaves the Hungarian Horntail for you, Mr.
Potter,” Bagman said as Crouch extended the bag towards him.
Harry reached in and pulled out the most terrifying of the four dragons by far.
Jet black and angry-looking, the beast in question glared at him balefully with its yellow eyes and actually tried to hit him with its spiked tail.
If not for his little trip to the Underworld, he imagined that he’d be quite scared just now.
“Alright, with all four of you having chosen your dragons, we can begin,” Bagman said.
Diggory, just wait by the entrance until you’re called.”
“Best of luck,” Harry said a couple minutes later when Bagman’s amplified voice called him into the arena.
“Back at you,” Cedric replied before heading in.
Harry took a deep breath and let it go slowly.
With an easy solution at hand and having spent most of the weekend having sex, he wasn’t just usually relaxed for where he was; he was more relaxed than he could ever remember being.
“You seem very calm,” Fleur said.
Harry looked over at the gorgeous blonde and furrowed his brow.
She hadn’t said a single word to him since she called him a little boy, and even that hadn’t been said directly to him.
“I’ve come up with my solution,” Harry said.
“It’ll either work or it won’t, so there’s little point in worrying about it now.”
“I’d ‘ave expected you to be more nervous, given your age, and ‘ow you objected to even being in ze tournament,” Fleur said.
“This isn’t my first life-threatening situation,” Harry said.
“It’s not even the worst.”
“What danger could you ‘ave experienced?” Fleur asked, sounding like she didn’t believe him.
“Well, there was this quidditch game I was in last year that was interrupted by dementors,” Harry said.
“I nearly plummeted to my death during that.”
“Why in ze world would zere be dementors ‘ere?” Fleur asked.
“A prisoner escaped from Azkaban, and the government wanted to be seen doing something,” Harry said.
✨ Want to read the next chapters early?
🚫 Enjoy a 100% ad-free reading experience