The Triwizard Tournament officially began.
As soon as the four champions appeared, they were stopped by a woman in a bright green dress with elaborately curled golden hair.
Her lips were painted an alarming shade of red, and a jeweled pair of glasses perched on her nose.
Her smile was wide—almost predatory.
The air filled instantly with an overwhelming cloud of perfume.
"Champions, dear children!" she chirped sweetly, ignoring Ludo Bagman who was trying to stop her.
"I'm Rita Skeeter, special correspondent for the Daily Prophet! Our readers are dying to meet their future heroes!"
Before anyone could react, she shoved all four champions into a tiny broom closet.
Cedric, Fleur, and Krum looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Come now, squeeze in! It makes things more intimate!"
Rita pulled out a Quick-Quotes Quill from her crocodile-skin bag.
The quill, an unpleasant shade of acid green, rose into the air by itself and hovered over a sheet of parchment.
"Let's take a photo first!"
The camera flashed blindingly.
But once the picture was taken, Rita immediately lost interest in the other three champions.
Her sharp eyes locked onto Lucian Thornwick.
"You three can go," she waved dismissively.
"I'd like a private interview with Lucian."
Fleur stared in disbelief.
But the door slammed shut.
Rita's "Interview"
Only three remained inside the closet:
LucianRita SkeeterThe hovering quill
Rita leaned in close.
"So tell me, dear," she purred.
"When your name came out of the Goblet… what did you feel?"
"A fourteen-year-old boy burdened by such a terrible destiny… Do you cry at night?"
Meanwhile, the quill scribbled wildly:
"A tragic hero? A boy crushed beneath glory? Tears shimmered in Lucian Thornwick's eyes…"
Lucian didn't even blink.
His Eye of Truth had already analyzed everything.
Her glasses carried a weak memory-enhancement charmThe quill's ink contained a distortion enchantment that exaggerated emotions
"I don't cry," Lucian said calmly.
Rita clasped her hands dramatically.
"Oh, such bravery!"
The quill wrote faster:
"He tried to sound strong, but his voice trembled with hidden sorrow…"
"Tell me," Rita continued slyly.
"Did you enter for the money? Or attention? Perhaps… a desperate cry for love?"
"I didn't enter," Lucian replied.
Rita smiled knowingly.
"Of course you'd say that."
The quill wrote again:
"When questioned about his motives, the boy evaded the truth. Beneath his calm exterior lies burning ambition…"
Lucian finally looked at the quill.
His expression wasn't angry.
Just cold.
Like someone watching a ridiculous insect.
Pathetic clown, he thought.
The Next Morning
The next day, the Daily Prophet arrived.
Students unfolded their newspapers—and gasped.
The entire front page was about Lucian.
A giant photo showed his calm face, magically altered to look sorrowful and lost.
The headline screamed:
"The Tragic Heroes of Hogwarts — Tears and Ambition Behind the Glory!"
Hermione slammed the newspaper onto the table.
"This is nonsense!"
Her hands shook with anger.
"Lucian never said any of that!"
Gryffindor erupted in furious protests.
Slytherin tables echoed with mocking laughter.
Meanwhile, Lucian calmly buttered his toast.
He glanced briefly at the article…
Then pushed the paper aside.
To him, it was less important than breakfast.
The First Task Revealed
Days later, the champions were summoned to a tent near the Forbidden Forest.
Ludo Bagman delivered the news with forced cheerfulness.
"Simple task, really!"
"You must retrieve a golden egg from a dragon's nest!"
The words hit like a hammer.
Cedric's face turned pale.
Krum's expression hardened.
Fleur's eyes widened with genuine fear.
A dragon guarding eggs was one of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world.
Getting close meant death.
Only Lucian remained calm.
When he heard the word dragon, he merely raised an eyebrow.
I see.
Preparation
The castle descended into panic.
Cedric buried himself in the library.
Books about dragons piled around him.
Hufflepuff students formed a full research team.
Fleur and Krum received secret guidance from their headmasters.
Serious discussions happened in quiet corners of the castle.
Yet three people seemed untouched by the storm:
HarryRonLucian
Lucian's life continued normally.
Breakfast.
Classes.
Even on Potions day he casually pointed out a flaw in Snape's potion.
When he visited the library, he ignored the dragon research section entirely.
Instead, he read ancient rune texts.
Hermione's Panic
One afternoon Hermione rushed over with a pile of dragon research.
"Lucian!" she said anxiously.
"The first task is a dragon! A real dragon! Aren't you worried?"
Lucian looked up slowly.
"Ah. A dragon."
He nodded.
"I know."
Hermione stared.
"That's it?!"
"This is life or death!"
Lucian glanced at her papers and smiled slightly.
Then he pointed to her essay.
"You have a logical error here," he said calmly.
"In your section on goblin spell variations during the rebellion…"
And he began critiquing her homework.
Hermione stood there, stunned.
Nearby, Draco Malfoy sneered.
"I think he's terrified."
"He knows he's dead, so he's pretending not to care."
Crabbe and Goyle laughed.
But Lucian ignored them.
To him, dragons were merely:
"Low-tier magical creatures with high energy cores and basic elemental breath."
Why panic?
The First Task Begins
The Quidditch pitch had been transformed into a rocky arena.
Tall wooden barriers surrounded the field.
The stands were packed.
But the atmosphere felt different from Quidditch.
It felt like a Roman colosseum.
Bagman's amplified voice boomed across the stadium.
"First up! Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory!"
His dragon:
The Swedish Short-Snout
A beautiful silver-blue dragon with deadly blue flames.
Cedric stepped into the arena.
The crowd roared.
His face was pale—but determined.
Instead of attacking directly, Cedric used Transfiguration.
He pointed his wand at a rock.
The stone twisted and reshaped—
Turning into a Labrador dog.
The dog barked and charged the dragon.
The dragon roared in irritation and blasted it with blue fire.
In that instant—
Cedric sprinted toward the nest.
He grabbed the golden egg.
The crowd erupted.
But the dragon realized the trick.
With a furious roar, it lashed its tail and blasted fire.
Cedric rolled desperately.
The tail missed.
But the flames grazed his leg.
He cried out as his robe burned away, leaving a smoking burn wound.
Still—
He escaped the arena with the golden egg.
Medics rushed in.
The stadium exploded with applause.
Cedric had succeeded.
Meanwhile…
Lucian watched quietly.
The dragon in the arena was powerful to ordinary wizards.
But to him—
It looked like nothing more than a large lizard guarding a shiny toy.
And retrieving that golden egg?
In Lucian's mind, the answer was simple:
"Isn't that something you can do with one hand?"
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