There was little known about Pierce Holmes.
Even his closest friends at Hogwarts knew little about him and that's the way he wanted to keep it. The known facts about the Ravenclaw's home life was his mother was a writer and his father wasn't in the...
Julius held his breath without realizing as he sat in the stands to watch Pierce take on the massive dragon that awaited him. Pierce walked out, wand ready as he eyed the dragon.
"Oh I can't look..." Julius groaned covering his face with his hands. Suddenly, he peeked between his fingers. It didn't take the dragon to lock eyes on the boy quickly that invaded the territory when the female had her eggs. The task was to retrieve the golden egg that the dragon guarded. Julius quickly learned that dragons were extremely protective over their eggs as the creatures did everything they could to protect them.
Viktor Krum had been the only of the first three to not suffer burns, but he did receive some booing especially from the dragon handlers as he blinded the dragon and caused it to step on her eggs, crushing them. Julius was certain that wasn't going to go well.
Cedric Diggory managed to get half of his face burned as his distraction using a dog failed to work. Fleur Delacour had placed the dragon to sleep which worked for the most part until the spell wore off and the dragon lit her skirt on fire.
Julius bit at his nails nervously, fearing the worse for Pierce. His best friend was smart and he was fast on his feet, but he was still going up against a dragon making Julius worry to the point where he felt faint.
Pierce appeared rather confident as he maneuvered his way through the area, avoiding the dragon that repeatedly tried to attack him with flames.
"Ugh, I can't breathe." Julius frowned as Pierce stumbled at one point and tripped as the dragon seemed to pick up on the boy's quick movements.
"I don't like this!" John said with his leg bouncing in the stands from where he sat beside Sherlock. Of course, the man beside him seemed rather calm even though his own son had tripped and fallen with a dragon fully prepared to take him out. "How can you sit there and be so calm right now?!"
Sherlock's eyes continued to scan the arena area carefully, his eyes nowhere near where his son was on the ground. Pierce was scooting back away from the dragon as the crowd of students and spectators watched in horror as the dragon easily closed in on him with every step.
"That's your son! That's your son out there! Would you show an ounce of emotion as his life is this much in danger!" John yelled at him.
"Calm yourself, you're making a scene." Sherlock said. "Just watch the show...quietly."
"I ought to push you down there right now!" John exclaimed before turning his attention back when they heard the crowds scream. "Have you fend for yourself against the dragon instead of Pierce!"
Standing up, the two men watched as the flames erupted from the dragon in the spot where Pierce had been.
"Steady your breathing, you're beginning to show your age." Sherlock said in amusement as John's eyes with wide with horror staring down in the spot that had turned completely black from the dragon's fire.
"Are we not looking at the same thing?! You son...Pierce he-"
"Pierce is fine. Everything is okay."
"It's not okay! " John growled. "It's not-"
Julius couldn't help but cry out as he watched his friend take on the fiery blast. Nothing was left of Pierce's body by the time the flames died down. He felt shaky and nauseous in a matter of seconds as he realized his friend had just met his death within the first task.
"No! This can't be happening!"
He felt tears burned at his eyes when the crowd suddenly turned in a different direction, yelling and shouting as many of them pointed to the far right.
Julius stood on the stands to see Pierce, alive, and moving very fast.
"He's alive? HE'S ALIVE!"
Pierce grabbed the golden egg and quickly clutched it to his side as he watched the dragon in the distance screech loudly in discovery that she did not in fact kill him as she planned. In fact as soon as he had fallen he called out the Disillusionment Charm that concealed his body as a chameleon would blending in with his surroundings.
The dragon while focused on the spot where he had been, believed she had incinerated him, however, he was moving carefully away from the scene in the direction of the nest. Using his father's last minute advice, he conjured up a replacement for the egg in order to keep the dragon calm if she were to suspect an egg missing.
He had just switched out the eggs when the dragon turned and spotted him.
"Bollocks." he muttered under his breath. He racked his brain in hopes of a concealment chair but the dragon was closing in way too fast. With a swipe of the Hebridean's tail, Pierce was thrown back hitting a boulder roughly before collapsing to the ground, dropping the egg.
He gasped for air as all the wind had been knocked out of him. He was sure that something was broken, possibly several things were broken but he also knew the longer he remained down the easier he was going to make it on the dragon to kill him.
Pushing himself up and doing his best to ignore the pain that burned through his upper torso, Pierce aimed his wand at the dragon.
"Incarcerous!"
Dragons weren't not easily stopped by a binding spell, but it had given Pierce enough of a distraction to move as the dragon lashed around from the ropes.
He staggered his way away from the dragon as far and fast as possible before collapsing and hiding behind another large rock.
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"How does he know that spell?" John looked to Sherlock. "How could he possibly know those, they are beyond his year."
"What a stupid question, with such a simple answer. An answer you have said multiple times today." Sherlock said.
"And what's that? How could he know all that?"
"He's my son." Sherlock answered.
"Such a typical answer coming from the likes of you."
The two men fell silent before turning their heads to the left.
