Green Eyed Monster | Draco Malfoy

8. Venomous

Chapter Eight - Venomous

This was not the Quidditch pitch. The Quidditch pitch had been oblong with neat, gemstone grass and tall, golden hoops that towered over the stands and made you squint your eyes to see the players whizzing between them.

This was hell.

Outside, away from the safe haven of the tent, was the exact opposite of the old pitch. The students that were seated high in the stands overlooked my prison; made of tall and jagged black terrain. The pitch seemed to have been magically expanded, as well as the stands lifted higher for the safety of everyone who wasn't me. I could immediately see that they had simulated Norway's mountain tops for the comfort of my dragon, even if it meant putting me under the knife.

"Prior to the competition, Miss Potter took a dose of a modified invisibility potion for purposes of the task." Dumbledore's voice, which was slightly tinny, rumbled from above me. I jumped from the volume of it - but was happy when I remembered that no one could see it from how far away they were. "She will be facing the Norwegian Ridgeback: the second largest dragon, with many more self defenses than some of the other species we have yet seen."

"Such as poisonous fangs?" I offered sarcastically. This would be just splendid. I should have left some sort of will, giving Harry all my money but making a bet with the twins so that they could get it when I died. I should have probably told Seamus that I still didn't forgive him for kissing that fifth year Ravenclaw, Marietta, while he had been 'dating' me two years back and I should have told Fred that yes, I also found him attractive. But then George would think I liked him too.

Focus, Audrey, if you pull this off none of these cliché self-realizations are going to matter.

I started walking forward, looking in every direction I could swivel my head to see everything around me. The pitch had been mutated to be so large that I could not see my dragon, nor could I see where the golden egg was hidden. Considering everything I had been able to hear from the tent, however, I could assume that if I found all of the eggs then golden one would be with them.

Which meant the dragon would not be far off.

The rocks around me would have been difficult to climb, but I could see a large peak of stone hanging high above me just past the center of the arena. On it, I could not see any eggs, but I knew that it's where they would be - it was one of those feelings that often got me into trouble because my curiosity always won over any sense of logic I owned, along with the fact these feelings were always right.

Up ahead of me, on the way toward the wonderful new scenery, were two large rocks jutting out at awkward angles. As I got closer to them I was forced to press my back against the one to my left so that I could shuffle through them - but that would be around the time disaster struck.

In the crease between the rocks, the only available space for my foot, was right where some loose stones and rubble seemed to have wanted to balance themselves like some bloody circus act. As I attempted to pass over them, my ever graceful feet slammed into them and sent them scattering.

It was only around that moment that I realized how silent the arena was; how silent my friends and enemies had become in the stands above me, how quiet a dragon could be as it waited for sign of an intruder. I was surprised by how much boom the pebbles had to their skidding and how loud my heart could pound. It was so loud that I could have sworn every soul in the stands could hear it.

I closed my eyes, hearing a painful crunching of rock as the dragon decided to rear his ugly head - it was huge. Much bigger than I'd seen in books and much larger than the model I'd pulled from the leather bag had lead me to imagine. It had brassy brown scales mixed with black tints and spikes. I could tell it was a woman because of her eyes, which were large and yellow, instead of the amber of a male. Those reptilian eyes were more menacing than any nightmare while she glared around for sign of me angrily. And oh my Merlin her teeth! They were sharp and pointed, and glistened with an extra glint of green that I knew to be dangerous.