Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 336: The First Obstacle

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 336: The First Obstacle

"What about you?" Barty Crouch pointed at Krum.

"Me?..." Krum glanced at the moving sack with apprehension.

"Yes, come on, you're a big boy. Don't tell me you're afraid. They won't bite… too much." Barty gave Krum a sign to hurry.

The large black-haired boy did not want to look weak, so he stepped forward until he was in front of Percy.

Weasley opened the sack just enough so Krum could fit his hand inside.

"Go ahead, grab one and pull it out," Barty Crouch urged him.

Krum did as told.

A moment later, he let out a painful grunt, followed by some curses.

"It bit me!" he said as he pulled the miniature dragon by the tail.

"Is that a… dragon?" Cedric was obviously the most surprised in the room.

The tiny dragon that Krum pulled out was completely red and continued to struggle in his grasp.

"Oh… the Chinese Fireball… nasty fellow. They love to burn things down," Barty Crouch said before urging the next one.

"We have to fight dragons?!" Cedric almost shouted.

"Exactly!" Barty said with a wide smile.

"Each of you will have to face a different dragon. The dragons inside the sack are exact replicas of the ones you will encounter outside. Although you don't have to actually fight them...I'll get to that in a moment."

"You didn't know?..." Fleur gave him a glance of pure disappointment.

"You did?!" Cedric exclaimed. He then heard Krum laughing.

"You did too…" He glanced at Neville, who just shrugged at him.

"You all knew…" Cedric realized he was the only one behind.

"What?! You did?! I can't believe this…" Barty Crouch was outraged by the breaking of rules.

"Hey, you brought several fire-breathing dragons onto the school grounds. Someone was bound to see them and talk about it," Krum said.

"Yes, only a fool would fail to find out." Fleur gave Cedric a side glance.

Cedric frowned but did not say anything else.

"Oh well… what's done is done. Let's continue." Mr. Crouch pointed at Fleur.

"What about we let the lady go next?"

Fleur smiled and walked closer to the sack.

She pulled a small dragon with green scales. The creature almost seemed docile in her hands.

"Lucky! That is the Common Welsh Green. The least aggressive of the bunch," Barty Crouch said with a smile.

"Can we hurry? I think these two are starting to fight." Percy complained.

"Yes, yes… Mister Diggory, if you will?"

Cedric went ahead and pulled another miniature dragon.

"The Swedish Short-Snout!" Mr. Crouch proclaimed. "Be careful with its fangs… they have a potent venom."

Cedric hurried to secure the head of the creature.

"Haha! That one is harmless." Crouch laughed. "But now, this means that… I see…"

"Do I still have to pull it out? You already know what it is." Neville said.

"All participants must pull their creature. It is written in the rules, Mister Longbottom. And we will need them for the picture."

Neville went and took hold of the last dragon remaining in the bag.

Percy made a startled face when he saw it.

"You brought that one?!"

"Hoho! Yes… that is a special one," Mr. Crouch said. "You see, we only had planned the first three dragons, so when a fourth contestant appeared out of nowhere, we had to improvise. And this was the only dragon available."

The violent little creature tried to wrestle itself out of Neville's hand.

It had brown scales with spikes around its head and at the tip of its tail.

Even at this scale, the dragon looked dangerous.

"A Hungarian Horntail…" Mr. Crouch said.

"The most violent species of commercial dragon… although it is rarely sold. It was very difficult to bring this one here." He glanced at Neville.

"I suppose it is appropriate that the fourth champion gets to face the last acquired dragon… albeit very unfortunate for Mister Longbottom."

"You got the worst one, huh?" Krum chuckled.

Fleur had a mocking smile on her face. She held her calm green dragon while looking at Neville's, which was trying to bite and stab him.

"How big are the real ones…?" Cedric could only think of that.

Barty Crouch turned to him. "Well… you will see soon en-"

Crunch….

They all turned to the source of the strange crunching noise.

The little pieces of stone that had been forming the dragon miniature in Neville's hand had been reduced to pebbles and were now falling onto the ground.

"Did you break it?!" Mr. Crouch exclaimed.

"It tried to bite me." Neville said.

"You broke it with your hands?...." Krum said.

Neville realized that everyone was staring at him.

"It's just a golem… I didn't kill anything." He made sure to clarify.

"We needed that for the photoshoot…." Crouch made a complicated expression. "Speaking of… where is that blasted reporter?" He asked his assistant.

"I don't know, Sir! I haven't seen her today." Percy answered.

"Fine… everyone stay here. We still have thirty minutes before the start of the tests. I'll go look for her." Barty Crouch hurried outside the tent.

Neville decided to go take a seat on one of the several couches placed around the large tent.

"Ptshh!"

He heard someone making noises outside.

"Neville?..."

He now heard a very familiar voice.

Neville looked down and saw a pair of shoes sneaking beneath the tent's fabric.

He lifted it a bit.

"Lyra?"

Soon, his sister's head poked inside.

"There you are!" She smiled brightly.

Neville glanced back.

The other champions didn't seem to be paying attention to him and were instead focused on their own preparations.

"What are y-" Before he could ask what she was doing there, Lyra went inside the tent and got close to him.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck before your test," Lyra said, and then… without giving him time to react, she leaned forward and smashed her lips against his.

This was quickly followed by the flash of a camera.

"Ohh, young love!"

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