Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 64: The First Task
"I see," Harry responded quietly to the professor's revelation.
This one appeared to be slightly flabbergasted. "I thought you would be more shaken after hearing you will be facing a dragon," Moody asked with suspicion. "Are you sure that you didn't already know about the task?"
"I am just hard to surprise, that is all." Harry shrugged. "So, we need to kill a dragon? Seems very straightforward."
"N-No!" Moody had trouble not raising the volume of his voice. "No one expects you to be capable of something like that. Your job will be to retrieve a golden egg that is being protected by the dragon. For that, you will need a way to distract it for long enough."
"That's it?" Morgan sounded very disappointed.
Moody's magical eye looked at Morgan for a few seconds before returning to Harry. "Do you have a method in mind? I can give you some suggestions. One of the dragon's main weaknesses is their eyes. A well-aimed Conjunctivitis Curse should be enough for this."
"I appreciate your concern, but I don't think you should be helping one of the champions. It hardly seems fair for the others." Harry wondered what this man was trying to accomplish with this.
Moody brushed off his comment. "You are the only champion who is not attending school. That already puts you at a disadvantage. I'm just trying to even the odds and make it a fair competition."
"How kind of you, Professor," Morgan said with a smile in her eyes, while her gaze carefully studied the strange wizard.
"Yes, well. I should take my leave now. I wish you good luck, Mister Potter. And remember that all of Hogwarts' facilities are open to you, including the library, should you need to research something. There are still five hours until the task."
After throwing that not-so-subtle hint, Professor Moody finally left.
Harry and Morgan looked at each other.
"What do you think that was about?" Harry asked. "Gambling, perhaps?"
"I doubt it." Morgan responded before taking a moment to ponder it. "Something tells me that his motives were more sinister than that."
"Looks like he was intent on helping me win this. Almost desperate for it," Harry noted.
"Just keep your eyes open," Morgan advised him. "And I will do the same from the audience seats."
"Are you really going to be sitting in the stands? It's very sunny today," Harry said.
"You let me worry about that." Morgan gave him a knowing look.
<><><><><><><><><>
The time for the task arrived, and all the spectators were already in their seats, surrounding what used to be the Quidditch stadium, but had now been transformed into an enclosure to hold the dragons.
The four Champions were still in their tent while everyone waited anxiously for the event to commence.
At one of the seats closer to the arena was Ginny Weasley. Her brothers were sitting to her left and loudly yelling with excitement for the task to start.
However, Ginny was focused on something else. She was looking at the sky with confusion.
"Wasn't it sunny a moment ago? Where did all of those clouds come from?"
She wasn't sure when it happened, but right now the day had darkened, barely letting any light pass through the thick, cloudy formations.
"Is this seat taken?"
Ginny was startled by the sudden voice and turned her head to her right. There was a beautiful, dark-haired girl holding a black umbrella and staring down at her.
"Ehm… no." Ginny didn't know why, but this girl made her feel nervous.
Perhaps it was because she looked like a senior student, or maybe because she wore a Slytherin uniform. Or perhaps… it was her deep amber eyes that appeared to emit a pulsing light.
"Wonderful!" The senior student was satisfied with the effect she was having on Ginny and took a seat next to her. "I'm Morgan, by the way."
"Ginny…" she responded without thinking.
"Nice to meet you, Ginny," Morgan said. "Lovely day, huh?"
"Lovely?… I mean, it was until a moment ago." Ginny glanced at the umbrella. "Did you bring that in case it rains?"
"Oh, it's not going to rain. I can assure you of that. I merely use this to protect myself from the sunlight," Morgan told her.
"What sunlight?…" Ginny sounded confused, but also noticed how white Morgan's skin was.
It made for a shocking contrast with her dark hair, and it made her eyes stand out like yellow beacons.
For some reason, Ginny thought that these things also served to make her more beautiful.
"Is something wrong?" Morgan asked innocently after taking note of Ginny's attention.
"Ah!" Ginny just realized she had been staring at this girl she had just met for almost an entire minute without saying anything. "Sorry!" She looked away, feeling embarrassed.
Morgan smiled, feeling content that her alluring effect on others was still going as strong as always.
"Looks like something is happening down there." She pointed at the stand next to the judges' table.
"That's Ludo Bagman," Ginny said. "He is the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. My brother Percy used to talk about him a lot… before he left home."
"Looks like he is about to make an announcement." Morgan could see another person leaving the champions' tent. It was a tall girl with long blond hair.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Mister Bagman used the device in front of him to amplify his voice so everyone could hear his words.
"We are finally ready to begin!. Our first champion is prepared for her challenge. And now we can reveal the contents of the first task!"
The short man made a gesture to the people standing in front of a large tent.
"Bring the dragons!" Bagman shouted.
The audience erupted into chaos at the announcement.
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find character images to view for free in Collections/Merlin Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix