Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Eighty Six

Henry watched in a state of shock as it seemed everyone around him had one hand on him, trying to hold him back. To see Hope surrounded by dragons had made his heart stop beating and the pains in his chest only grew worse as he had already been holding his breath long enough. He continued to yell at her to move or do something as the dragons closed in on her, but Hope remained still. He couldn't believe what she was doing, it was far too reckless even for her standards. She had seemed so confident before the final task that he was sure that she was fully aware of what they were going up against.

But once the dragons were released and he was able to witness the expression of all the champions, he realized that perhaps she really wasn't aware. Yet while the others had run off and reached safety among the staff at hand, Hope didn't run and he couldn't understand why. He could hear everyone around him, urging the girl to leave the circle but once she was surrounded by the dragons there was no chance of her escaping on her own.

She couldn't apparate.

Her wand would be deemed useless against the highly dangerous beasts.

Her only chance at survival was to have the faculty or the adults intervene to help her, but even at this state, she would be badly injured. He fought against everyone to try and get to her. Not that he would be able to make much of a difference in the situation but at least he had to try. However, he was unable to break free before the dragons unleashed their fire.

Horrid yells escaped from the stands, including him and Fergus as they were unprepared to witness the girl be burned to ashes right before their very eyes.

Stella and Eliza were among the other competitors as they witnessed the fire unleashed. They had been burned plenty of times by younger dragons and knowing how painful that was, they couldn't even begin to think what had just happened to Hope. There would be no way for her to survive such an attack. 

"It c-c-can't be," Eliza stammered. "No! This wasn't supposed to happen! All the other tasks were simple! They..they can't..."

Stella held onto her sister, not saying a word as she just stared blankly in the direction of the circle they had abandoned. As soon as they exited the circle and created distance, they were removed from the arena entirely, completely unable to go back for Hope, no matter how much they protested.

Guilt weighed heavy on Eliza, if she had just witnessed the death of her younger cousin, all the blame fell on her. She had been the one to place their names in the goblet, to begin with. Her cousin's death would be on her hands, leaving her in a state of turmoil for being so stupid in the first place. Elliot had warned her the dangers of the competition, the adults had informed her, she had grown up with the stories of what had taken place during the tournament.

But she had been so focused on proving that she was no just the quiet pushover of the group. She wanted to prove that Stella was not the only strong one and that she actually did take after their mother in some respects. She only realized that she had gone about it in the most horrible of ways and Hope had paid the price. 

Protest erupted as adults and students were pulling out their wands to try and go into the arena to retrieve the child but before anything could be done, the dragons moved from around the circle, only revealing a pile of ash. People were suddenly sick to their stomachs and the rest were left still in disbelief.

"No, no, no!" Eleanor shook her head. She wouldn't bring herself to believe it. "That's not possible, they wouldn't let something like this happen. That task was way too hard. There was no way out of it. No!"

Fred attempted to calm her down by bringing his wife into his chest. He was in denial of the whole matter as well, something wasn't right. As a renowned prankster, he knew there had to be something else to it. 

From what Hope had told them, the first two tasks had been extremely easy than being faced with loose dragons and attempting to deflect them. He knew Hope wouldn't have been so calm about the entire matter, she was brave but she certainly wasn't stupid when it came to putting herself into harm's way. 

Something wasn't right.

Lyall was not about to just stand there in shock, especially if there was a possibility of his great-grandbaby being hurt. He was just about to leave the stands when a loud voice echoed from the judges' platform.

"If everyone would turn their attention to the judges' platform, we would like to begin by announcing our champion of the Triwizard Tournament!"

"Wh-what?!" Eleanor's head shot up from Fred's shoulder and looked over in the direction of the platform to see Professor McGonagall standing next to Hope, who was all smiles next to her headmistress.

"I'm so confused right now," Fred admitted. "Entertained, but so confused."

Fred didn't seem to be the only one who shared those feelings. Either people were reacting like Eleanor or reacting like Fred, but they all shared something in common. 

They all wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Hope stood on the platform glancing up at Professor McGonagall, who peered down at her with a small smile of her own. 

"Well done," Professor McGonagall said. "Although I do have to question how you were able to figure it out?"

"Oh come on, Professor," Hope chuckled. "Henry and I put way more thought into our pranks than you guys did coming up with the tournament. I have to say, though, it was a pretty great idea. If you all want, I can help you collaborate on the next tournament."

"We'll see," McGonagall said. "I think there should be plenty of time that passes until the next one. I believe people will need to recover after this."