The Goblet of Fire | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Four)

17. Dragons

Y/N's POV

Not long after our interviews, Rita's article was published and surprise surprise, the majority was about Harry. However, me and the other champions had been mentioned, she had decided to focus on our rivalry and even mentioned my love life. The section mentioned about me went like this:

Y/N L/N, was once best friends with the Boy who Lived but has now decided to prove himself as a better wizard. Young L/N claims that he would beat Harry Potter in a duel, this tense rivalry between the once best friends will sure bring some tension in this tournament. L/N, in his fourth year of Hogwarts, has H/C hair and E/C eyes and although he may not have the same amount of talent as the Boy who Lived himself, he makes up for it in his good looks. Surely someone as handsome as Y/N himself has found love at Hogwarts, but the question is who? Rumour has it that Y/N has his eye on Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born who excels at witchcraft. However, it seems like Miss Granger has also caught the eye of Harry Potter, this rivalry between the two boys doesn't get much better than this.

I scoffed, the last time I checked, Harry didn't have any feelings for Hermione and she didn't have any for him. Times have changed though so I had a sense of jealousy in my stomach. Harry knew I had liked her since first year, he wouldn't stoop so low would he?

On the Saturday before the first task, I had arranged with Ron to go to Hogsmeade. Him and I were still friends, we shared that same passion of wanting to be known more than just 'Harry Potter's best friends'. We made our way to the Three Broomsticks and sat down, enjoying a Butterbear. Not long after we had sat down, I saw Hermione enter on her own. I then saw her mouth form some words and that was when I realised that Harry was there. A wave of jealousy rushed through me but I ignored it and just decided to finish my butterbeer.

Before I left, Hagrid had come up to me and Ron and said to me in such a whisper to meet him by his hut at midnight tonight. Not questioning him further I just nodded and me and Ron set off to go to another store.

At half past eleven that evening, I crept back downstairs through the Common Room. Quite a few people were still in there. I didn't have an invisibility cloak so I tried to be as stealthy as possible whilst sneaking around this castle. The grounds were very dark. I walked down the lawn toward the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; I could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as I knocked on Hagrid's front door.

"You there, Harry?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.

"I'm not Harry," I said with a frown.

"Harry's next to you." said Hagrid as I turned and saw Harry's head appear from his cloak. "You'll need to share the cloak"

Not saying anything, I slipped under the invisibility cloak and we started to follow Hagrid into the forest. Weirdly, Madam Maxine was also here and Hagrid was looking like he was trying to impress her.

When we had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight - I heard something. Men were shouting up ahead...then came a deafening, earsplitting roar...

Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry and I hurried up alongside them - for a split second, I thought I was seeing bonfires, and men darting around them - and then my mouth fell open.

Dragons.

Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting - torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and a gigantic black one, more lizard-hike than the others, which was nearest to them.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each Dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Mesmerised, I looked up, high above, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, I couldn't tell which. It was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream.

"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

"Is'n' it beautiful?" said Hagrid softly.

"It's no good!" yelled another wizard. "Stunning spells, on the count of three!"

I saw each of the Dragon keepers pull out his wand.

"Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the Dragons' scaly hides-

I watched the Dragon nearest to them teeter dangerously on its back legs; its jaws stretched wide in a silent howl; its nostrils were suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking - then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly-black dragon hit the ground with a thud.

The Dragon keepers lowered their wands and walked forward to their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.

"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, and we followed. The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned, and I realised who it was: Charlie Weasley.

"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, coming over to talk. "They should be okay now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draft on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet - but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all-"

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" said Hagrid, gazing at the closest dragon, the black one, with something chose to reverence. Its eyes were still just open. Harry could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath its wrinkled black eyelid.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," said Charlie, "there's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one - a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray - and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."

Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the dragons.

"I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid," Charlie said, frowning, "the champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?"

"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Hagrid.

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," said Charlie, shaking his head.

"Four..." said Hagrid, "so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do, fight 'em?"

"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie, "we'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why, but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."

I grimaced to myself, if this was the task I had to do, it wasn't going to be easy.