The walk from the Great Hall to the Champions' tent was a quiet one.
The castle grounds, normally bustling with students enjoying the brisk November air between classes, were almost deserted.
Every path seemed to flow toward the enormous stadium that had seemingly appeared overnight around the Quidditch Pitch.
Towering wooden grandstands enclosed the arena from every direction, magical wards shimmering faintly overhead to contain whatever devastation the coming task would unleash.
Bets had even started up thanks to the elder Weasley siblings, about what the task would be, then about who would succeed, who would fail, even about who would score the greatest and least number of points.
Cassius briefly looked them over, but as an active participant he very well couldn't bet on himself, that could be akin to cheating, though he could get the Arcana muggle-borns to do so in his stead, but George and Fred had never done anything against him, nor were to hardcore light aligned so he chose to leave them be, let them earn from the betting to get the funds needed for their future joke shop.
Hell if possible Cassius would even take Harry's role as an investor, except for the fact that he had no real in with the twin brother, while Harry did thanks to his connection with Ron, however strained that might be right now.
Walking ahead of them, Fleur squeezed Cassius' arm ever so slightly.
Neither spoke.
There was little left to say.
Months of preparation.
Hundreds of hours of practice.
Thousands of spells cast.
All leading up to this one moment.
And now that she knew she was facing a full grown dragon, Fleur couldn't help but worry, not that Cassius might get hurt or even fail, more that she might embarrass him by failing to complete the task herself.
She might be his property now, but compared to even Ginny, or Luna.
Fleurs own spellcasting was the weakest of all his girls, since she's only been under his, and Senior Master Grindelwalds teaching for a few scant months, which revealed just how lacking her magical foundations really were.
Outside a modest canvas tent near the competitors' entrance stood Professor McGonagall.
"There you are."
She looked each champion over before giving a small nod.
"They're waiting for you inside."
Cassius offered a polite nod.
"Thank you, Professor."
Fleur smiled just as gracefully before following him inside.
The interior of the tent was surprisingly comfortable.
Soft chairs.
Refreshments.
A roaring fireplace that fought back the November chill.
Already seated was Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion.
The Bulgarian looked exactly as he always did—arms folded, expression unreadable, seemingly conserving every ounce of energy for the task ahead.
Harry Potter arrived only moments later.
He looked exhausted.
Dark circles sat beneath his eyes.
His robes were neat enough, but there was an unmistakable heaviness to his posture that hadn't existed only weeks earlier.
Isolation had already started to take its toll on his young mind.
For a brief moment, the four champions simply regarded one another.
None spoke.
Fleur and Cassius using their wands to perform quick change magic, swapped out there school robes for their prepared competition robes.
Cassius had gone for a custom set of robes modeled after some battlemage armor from a game in his previous life, using dragonhide for the majority of its composition, while metal, and scales created a sort of hybrid battle robe on that looked like he was wearing a cloak of mithril or even shimmering goblin silver, on his back was the proud black icon of the dragon of House Draconis.
Fleurs outfit meanwhile was more the opposite, composed of pastel blue colors but looking far less utilitarian, as it looked closer to something one might see at a ball, than on a battlefield.
This had also been designed by Cassius and crafted by the Arcanum, the piece was superlightweight almost like she wasn't wearing clothes at all which cause the young girl to blush constantly and look down to confirm she was still clothes numerous times in the first minute.
But objectively the outfit looked like she was an idol or starlet set to take the stage, and a performance she would certainly give.
The silence stretched until the tent flap was thrown open once more.
"Lady and gentlemen!"
Ludo Bagman's cheerful voice practically bounced around the room.
"What a marvelous day for history!"
Walking in beside him was Bartemius Crouch Sr., every bit as immaculate and composed as always.
Unlike Bagman's animated enthusiasm, Crouch carried himself with rigid professionalism, his tailored robes immaculate despite the muddy conditions outside.
"Champions."
His voice immediately drew everyone's attention.
Following behind was the three headmasters, and Grindelwald who was allowed entrance as Cassius's coach.
"Gather round here Champions!"
Dumbledore began to speak.
"Now you've waited, you've wondered, and at last the moment has arrived, a moment only four of you can fully appreciate."
Bagman rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"Right then! I know everyone's eager to get started, but we do have procedures to follow."
He gestured toward Crouch.
"Our esteemed Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation will explain."
Crouch gave the slightest inclination of his head.
"Each of you will draw something from this bag, only select one, for each Champion will be assigned one of the bags contents, each of which has been given a golden egg to protect, you task is this, retrieve the egg, for without it you cannot advance to the second task."
Cassius resisted the urge to smile.
None of the champions reacted.
Even Harry merely nodded.
Each of the four had already subtley or not so subtley been informed of the first tasks difficulty days before giving them ample time to prepare and avoid serious injury.
"Now to keep the competition fair, we'll be going in the order in which you were selected for the tournament."
Crouch gave the champions a once over.
"So Mrs. Delacour we'll be beginning with you, follow me."
Without a further ado, Fleur was led away by Crouch and Madame Maxime, once parted from the others she was provided the velvet bag and asked to select her opponent.
Reaching into the bag without fear or flinching, her fingers searched for a moment before grasping a slithering tail.
Slowly she withdrew it.
And what she saw being extracted from the bag was a dragon.
Green scales, a broad muscular body, Two long glittering golden horns curved proudly from its skull.
Bagman clapped enthusiastically.
"Excellent! The Romanian Longhorn!"
Fleur examined the miniature creature crawling across her gloved hand.
No one had known save for Cassius that her fate had changed, facing the Romanian Longhorn, over the Welsh Green.
After the selection was made, she was moved to the entrance tunnel, and upon the sound of the cannon the event began.
~
Fluer slowly stepped through the opening into the rocky outcrop that served as the arena for the first task.
Her light blue dress, flowing like water radiating light and summoning illusions of rainbows around her.
The moment she set foot into the arena itself, all eyes in the stands turned to her like he was a beacon in the night.
Ethereal would be the word for it.
But rather than spring into action as one might expect, Fleur extracted her wand, and after doing a couple of quick shield charms to begin layering her defenses she locked eyes with the Dragon opposite her.
The brooding mother was close to the clutch of eggs, with one larger golden one arranged in the middle of them all.
Taking her wand in hand, the performance began.
Rather than flinging spells at the dragon, Fluer instead cast Transfiguration on the rock quickly turning them into musical instruments before following up with charms to make those instruments play, sending out a cacophony of noise which eventually coalesced into a brillant tune.
Next turning her wand so the tip approached her lips like it were a microphone, her lips themselves parted and the sound from within began to pour out.
If everyones eyes were locked onto her, now their ears were as well.
Each note she unleashed plucked at the heartstrings of the boys, while the girls openly wept at the beauty of the the song.
The mother dragon itself though still imposing had settled down considerably, simply sitting there watching the young witch stepping closer and closer while continuing the tune.
Of course it wasn't perfect, when Fleur was only about 10 feet away the dragons instinct finally overrode the charm it was under, and it began to resist.
But Fleur did not stop, even as she continued to sing, she started to dance around the dragons attacks.
Graceful and composed as if she were not at all facing a dragon but simply performing a dance recital upon a stage.
Her wand itself started to move as well, flicking this way and that, using bludgeoning hexs to push the dragon around.
Its perception shifted from the charm it was under until its resistance to protect the eggs was wrong, instead it was protecting a pile of rocks, while Fleur was standing grandly before the real clutch of eggs and claiming her own golden egg with a flick more of her wand, levitating the egg out of the batch and into her waiting arms.
~
"Mr. Krum."
Viktor stepped forward next, Fleur had not returned but Mr. Crouch had, and after only a single summon he left once again this time taking Krum away, leaving only Cassius and Harry along with their 'coaches' in the champions tent.
Harry looked like a bundle of frayed nerves about to unwind at a moments notice, meanwhile Grindelwald was busy distracting Dumbledore preventing the aged wizard from trying to help the younger generation, while dealing with the greatest opponent he'd ever dealt with.
Cassius on the otherhand, calmly sat upon his assigned cot.
Using a simple disillusionment charm first to hide his wand, before placing it up against his ear to listen to the conversation happening further away.