The first challenge was outsmarting a dragon to steal an egg that wasn't an egg from her nest. The creators of the challenge had made it as difficult as they could by choosing only first time nesting dragons because they had a reputation for being the most protective of their nests for the contest. And being in a foreign location not of their own choosing, they were doubly fierce and overly protective of their eggs. Added to that they had deliberately withheld their food from the mother dragons so they would be hungry as well as angry over the perceived threat to their young. Dragons were meat eaters and much larger than mere humans. So the contestants would be considered food for a hungry dragon. The coordinators wanted the dragons to be very hungry, upset and angry when the competitors entered the arena because they thought it would produce a better show for the spectators sitting safe and sound in the stands. They wanted a true gladiator style challenge for the audience to enjoy but an angry, starving lion wasn't quite gory enough for them. Mainly because they'd never seen a lion on the attack before and they'd certainly never seen a lion devouring it's kill. If they had, they'd have known lions would provide a lot more gore than any breed of dragon ever could. Harry was the last to go which didn't surprise him at all. Nor had it surprised him when he got the meanest breed of dragon there was.
He was, however, the best equipped to deal with an angry dragon seeing as how they were related to snakes and could understand the basics of the snake language. He simply told the dragon he was sorry to be entering her nesting area but he had no choice. He told her of the gladiator styled event to amuse the masses of bored out of pocket Romans of which she, her younglings and he were all victims. The purpose of the event was for him to retrieve the false egg that was invading her nest. She'd turned immediately to examine the stands full of booing and hissing spectators and the small table for the judges where they could see and hear everything the competitors did to win the challenge. Then she examined her nest, spotting the egg no dragon would ever have lain with no trouble at all.
Roaring in fury, and spitting small flames of outrage, she had immediately picked the egg out of her nest and dropped it on the ground well away from her precious offspring so they wouldn't be hurt when she destroyed the invader egg she hadn't laid. She then moved to stomp the egg to smithereens but Harry implored her to give it to him and let him deal with the matter. She used her tail to flip the golden egg over towards Harry who plucked it from the air just as he would a snitch and bowed to her before leaving the arena to catcalls, loud boos and jeering calls of what a coward he was not to fight the dragon for the egg as the other contestants had. The dragon, while standing hunched over her true offspring, showed an understanding of the event most people wouldn't credit her species with when she roared in anger and sent a burst of flames towards the stands that succeeded in quieting the spectators very effectively. The flames were stopped by the magical barrier put in place to protect the innocent. But still. They got the attention of the crowd well enough.
Harry didn't care what the stupid children, safe in the stands, thought of his tactics. He knew that a battle you didn't have to fight wasn't one you should fight. As any battle could end up costing you more than you were prepared to lose and quite frankly he'd already lost enough to stupid, pointless battles for the entertainment of the weak, quivering mass of cowards claiming superiority they did nothing to earn. He simply disappeared into the medical tent for his check-up as he was required by Tournament rules to do. The other three contestants were being treated for their injuries in the medical tent and though Harry had no injuries, he still had to go there before the event was considered over.
Madam Pomfrey gave him a once over and discovering him uninjured, let him go just as the tent flap was tossed aside to let his most frequent tormentors into the tent. All three of whom immediately started clamoring that they now believed he hadn't meant to enter the Tournament and someone must truly be trying to kill him as that event was so very dangerous. Harry ignored them all and walked out of the tent without a word to any of them.
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