The chilly wind and cloudy weather signalled the arrival of winter proper, but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the thirty thousand strong crowd of spectators who had turned up to witness the momentous occasion.
The outer grounds of Hogwarts had been converted into a giant Arena, while the ground was covered with a glassy surface, the purpose of which was still unknown.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome… to the first task of the TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed throughout the arena, immediately followed by thunderous cheers.
"This is the First Triwizard Tournament with TWO CHAMPIONS from each school."
"Don't be nervous. He'll be fine," said Adeline to Hermione, who was biting her nails - brows furrowed and eyes misty. "The worst case scenario would be - he'd use the backup and get exposed for cheating."
They were in the VIP room, sitting together with Lily and Aurora.
"But… it's not fair! Why does he have to go through all this? He's so… kind, and caring, and he's always so positive. So why…?"
Adeline heaved a sigh. She sometimes wondered the same as well. First he got the illness, then he got attacked, and now he has to go through these three life-threatening tasks. It's definitely… unfair.
"Poor child… He has been so distant with us ever since the attack as well," said Lily. "I really want to beat up Harry again," she added, her tone shifting.
"Well, at least he has the Delacours," said Adeline, trying to find a positive angle. "He doesn't need us to pity him. We just need to contribute what we can from now on."
"But… he has barely healed!" said Hermione. "How is he supposed to handle this task? And the Delacours? Have you seen how Fleur treats him? When he was injured, instead of being worried, she seemed almost furious at him. I mean, who does that?"
Lily, who had been listening in on the conversation, pursed her lips when she heard that. "I also did not find the Delacour Matriarch's attitude towards him very natural."
Adeline suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere. She looked at her aunt, who had been silent this whole time. But she was still overlooking the crowd.
"Adel? Keep an eye on the Delacours, will you?"
"I will," Adeline replied quickly.
Aurora stood up. "Let's go, Lily. The tournament is about to begin."
"Don't worry, girls. I'll make sure there are no miss-haps," Lily reassured them before left with Adeline.
…..
As the reporters burst in, a few Aurors blocked their passage, wands drawn.
"Interviews are not allowed till the task," said a tall, broad-shouldered man, his golden hoop earring contrasting against his dark skin. Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The permit specifies ze date, not ze time. Which means, legally, we may." said a bespectacled man, stepping up. He looked to be in his late 40s with greying hair, and his hawkish eyes kept glancing past the aurors, straight at Lucas.
"You hav kept us avay for a month. Now, officers, ve do not turn back." A Bulgarian reporter also stepped up.
As the Aurors parted with a few warnings, the bespectacled man beelined for Lucas, along with a few other reporters and camera men. They even had the new recording equipment, which can also capture sound along with the usual moving images.
"Be careful, this man is from the dark faction," Fleur warned.
"Mr. Castillin, the reporters from France have been dying to interview. I'm Julien Lanoir, from Le Prophète Quotidien."
Lucas noted that the other French reporters stayed silent, which showed who had the higher authority.
"Bonjeur."
"And Mr. Castillin, I'm Rita Skeeter. We've already met." Rita Skeeter emerged from between the French reporters. Interestingly enough, she seemed more interested in Lucas than the other champions.
"So, Mr. Castillin, how do you feel about being given this… undeserved opportunity?" Lanior asked and Rita smiled at the question, as her quick quote quill began its work.
"I don't think the opportunity was undeserved," said Lucas.
Lenoir narrowed his eyes. "Oh, but the whole of France seems to disagree. What do you have to say about that?"
"I'd say your media is doing a great job. I don't suppose you reported the 7 vs 1 scandal?" Said Lucas, looking at the camera.
"Oh, this is good. I don't need to do anything," said Rita into the silence.
"No, because we didn't receive any concrete evidence," said Lanoir after a pause, seemingly trying to keep his professionalism.
"On that matter, I'd like to ask - did it really happen or was it simply a marketing stunt to make it look like France still had a chance? You know - to keep the betting odds even," Lanoir questioned, his calm gaze somehow very provocative.
"You don't have evidence?" Lucas asked. "Fine then, I'll see if I can have that memory shown in the Tournament broadcast. It would be quite an international scandal, wouldn't you agree, Miss Skeeter?"
Rita grinned like a shark. "Absolutely. I believe we now have the technological means to convert memories into videos."
Julien Lanoir's grip on his quill seemed to tighten.
"Let's talk about the evidence that we do have. We have evidence of you not receiving any magical schooling before this year. Any comments?"
"I was homeschooled."
"Oh? Because you were sick, right? With a disease that severely limited your use of magic. Don't try to deny it, there's evidence to prove it."
Lucas shrugged. Of course there was evidence. It was deliberately created through Lady Delacour's connections. "Well, I'm healed now. And fitter than ever."
"But that does not change the fact that you couldn't do magic until recently, nor have you had any training in magical combat. So, I would like to ask you again - how is it that you are qualified to represent France?"
"Mr. Lanoir. Let me ask you a question instead. If someone learns to catch a snitch on a 1940 Cleansweep, what would happen… if they are suddenly given the latest Firebolt?"
Lanoir frowned. "He can catch the snitch easily."
"Exactly. Imagine, If I had trained to cast spells when my magic was blocked due to the disease, what happens now that I'm fully healed?"
The other reporters started scribbling notes when they heard that, while Fleur smiled, looking amused. 'You're good at making up bullshit,' her eyes seemed to say.
"Next… question. In case you die, do you have any last words?"
"Excuse me, it's time for the tasks. You need to leave, now," said a female auror with spiky purple hair and goth style make up. The other aurors did the same with reporters who were swarming the other champions.
The female auror winked at Lucas. "G'luck little guy. I'll be watching."
The color of her hair changed to beauxbatons blue. 'Impressive," thought Lucas, looking at Nymphadora Tonks.
"What do you think of the other competitors? Any threats?" Lucas suddenly heard the last question asked from Malachor Lestrange.
"Among these people? Everyone is incompetent except Aiden. Especially Beauxbatons."
As the reporters left, Fleur glared at Lestrage. "Who does he think he is?"
"Don't worry about him. We'll show him."
Fleur nodded, looking determined, but Lucas saw her right leg shaking constantly. Upon closer look, he saw small tremors on her hand clutching her wand as well.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Just excited," Fleur replied.
Lucas put a hand on her shaking thigh. "Keep practising the mental method, okay? Keep it together."
He found that her muscles were all tensed up, which was not good for their upcoming task. Lucas activated his Flow state, and activating magic started to funnel through his body. He went one knee and began massaging her leg using magic, loosening up muscles and activating them.
At this moment, Lily and Aurora happened to enter as well, followed by Barty Crouch. But peculiarly enough, two spherical objects also followed them in, their wings making a buzzing sound.
At first Lucas thought they were Quidditch snitches, but then saw the lenses and recognized the device from the lab.
Lily frowned slightly when she saw Lucas massaging Fleur. She cleared her throat, attracting everyone's attention.
"Champions. You're being broadcast live," she said, motioning at the floating objects.
Your task is about to start. And you're about to face-" Lily paused, putting her hand into the pouch she was carrying and fishing out a transparent box.
Inside was a blur of sharp jointed spindly legs and 16 beady eyes that stared back at them. "You're going to face colonies of Acromantulas, the XXXXX category creatures."
"And you heard it, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's going to be ACROMANTULAS!" Ludo Bagman's voice could be faintly heard.
Lucas glanced around, and wasn't surprised to only see Cedric Diggory looking surprised, his hand fiddling with his wand as he seemed to be rapidly trying to think up ways of dealing with them.
Aiden simply nodded, a slight smile of interest playing at his lips. Lucas knew that Aiden wasn't specifically told - on his own stubborn insistence. But according to Adeline, 'it shouldn't be a big deal for him.'
Sigrid and Malachor seemed to already know as they continued to listen to Lily without batting an eye.
"The Forbidden forest houses many Acromantula colonies, some of which have grown rather violent, vicious, and damaging to the forest echo-system," Lily continued.
"Your task is to go through one of these colonies and retrieve a chitin shell egg we've placed in the leader's nest. Do note that the three colonies we've chosen for you are the ones that need to be culled soon. So, do not hesitate to defend yourself by all means in any situation."
"Now, please choose your colonies. Mr. Crouch, if you please?"
Barty Crouch Sr held out a dragon skin bag.
Aiden stepped forward first and drew a transparent glass box. Inside was a fist size arachnid whose sharp eight legs kept making rattling sounds against the glassy surface.
It had unnaturally long, needle-thin legs. Its chitin was black, but it had shimmering, oily violet spots dotted on its abdomen. The number 2 was promptly tagged on the box, stating the order.
"That's Blight Weaver Vaspera. Her colony produces magic resistant silk, which they usually keep themselves covered in. Best of luck young Dumbledore, you'll need it," said Crouch.
Next was Malachor's turn, who swiftly picked out another box. The acromantula inside had a dull brown color, and its belly seemed to be covered in what seemed to be bright green moss. The tag on it was 3.
Crouch raised his bushy eyebrows. "The Moss belly queen. Her colony has good stealth hunting, so I'd be careful if I was you." Even as he said, the spider inside changed its color.
"And that leaves us with."
'The Bone Gnawers.' Thought Lucas, even before Fleur gingerly pulled out a box containing a comparatively larger arachnid with thick, sharp legs and jagged ivory protrusions covering its body. And the order tag on it was, of course, no.1.
The spider suddenly launched itself at Fleur, almost making her drop the box out, eliciting a mocking snicker from Malachor. Lucas took the box from her shaky hand, looking at the spider inside.
"The Bone Grawer Skraal," said Crouch, gazing at the spider with slight apprehension. "The biggest and most aggressive colony. They simply swarm their prey with sheer numbers with their remarkable speed, strength, and durability. No fancy tricks."
Lucas heard Fleur audibly gulp.
"That decides your colony and your numbering," said Crouch as he retrieved the boxes from everyone. "So, Champions of Beauxbatons, come with us, the other teams, be prepared."
As they left, Aurora waved her wand and suddenly, the ward around the tent seemed to activate, as the outside noise of the crowd and the commentary was cut off from the tent.
'Well, it's better to be the first to go then,' Lucas decided. He could only imagine how much more nervous Fleur would get if they had to wait in absolute silence.
…
In the arena, the glassy floor had turned into a huge screen which was showing a high definition broadcast of the colony selection that had just taken place.
The image was extremely three-dimensional and large, making the viewing experience much better than Quidditch matches.
"And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! The first ones to go will be the Beauxbatons Champions Fleur Delacour and Lucas Castillin!" Bagman announced, as Lucas and Fleur stepped into the arena ground.
"Fleur Delacour, as everyone already knows, is the Head girl of Beauxbatons. Don't be fooled by that delicate appearance. She has consistently shown Champion worthy stats throughout her schooling years."
When the camera zoomed in on Fleur, many male audience members suddenly started cheering.
The screen also showed her stats, and achievements. Like U-15 Dueling Championship Runner up, U-18 Third Place, 7 Outstandings in OWLs, etc.
"--And then we have Lucas Castillin - The dark horse! Word has it that he has never attended Beauxbatons until recently, having been suffering from a disease. But if the floating rumours about him are to be believed, then we just might be in for a surprise today! With the odds practically stacked up against him, he might make some people VERY rich if he performs well, and upset many others!"
The Camera zoomed in on Lucas, but there were no stats displayed for him, as there was nothing to show.
Lucas could hear the booes and laughs from the audience but he shrugged it off, instead more concerned about Fleur's condition.
"Are you going to be alright?" She had never shown it before, but now Lucas was sure she was scared.
"I'm fine," Fleur insisted, but her face had lost its color despite the cold.
Lucas couldn't say more as they were approached by others.
"Here is the portkey. We will all be following from a distance, so… ," said Kingsley, handing them a baton.
"And this, is your emergency portkey. Just say Q-U-I-T, and it will teleport you back instantly," said Lily, holding out two lockets. She personally looped one around Lucas's neck.
"Don't panic, alright?" She whispered, her bright green eyes showing concern. Lucas knew that the necklace also had manual withdrawal so Lily could also call them back in case they couldn't do it themselves in time.
Lucas stared at Mrs. Potter's face up close and had to wonder what she was using to keep her skin as good as Apolline.
"I won't."
The moment lasted only for a split second after which Lily backed away expressionlessly.
Kingsley made a signal and the portkey in their hands started growing hot.
"Your timer will start as soon as you teleport," said Aurora. "There will be signs that will lead you up to the egg."
At the judges area, Ariana Dumbledore stood up.
"Champions, draw your wands."
Lucas and Fleur complied.
"Your task starts in 3... 2... 1!"
And then, the portkey activated.
….
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