On Tuesday, under the watchful eyes of all, the first task of the Triwizard Tournament was about to begin.
Weilan and his Gryffindor classmates lined up early in the morning at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
It was here that they had seen the Dragon last night.
Now, many tall stands had been magically conjured here.
Many students who still didn't know the content of the task discussed what fierce creatures the champions would face as they walked up the steps to the high stands and chose their seats.
Weilan, Hermione, and Ron chose seats in the first row of the stands. They brought a large pile of snacks to enjoy while watching the competition.
Looking down from the first-row railing, the ground was approximately 20 feet below, a design primarily intended to prevent the Dragon's flames from accidentally injuring the audience in the first row.
When many unsuspecting students clearly saw what was coiled on the ground, they all exclaimed in unison:
"Dragon!"
Once Weilan was seated, he further determined, based on the Dragon's black scales and the long spikes on its tail, that Dragon No. 1 was precisely the most difficult Hungarian Horntail.
It's a Hungarian Horntail. Is the first champion going to face a Hungarian Horntail?
The black female Dragon was circling its nest of eggs, going round and round.
Its powerful wings were half-folded, and its yellow eyes were not on the eggs, but rather vigilantly scanning the cheering crowds on the high stands.
Something was clearly irritating it. The female Dragon kept stretching its legs, wagging its tail, spreading its wings, and thick black smoke billowed from its opening and closing mouth.
"Cough, cough, its state is a bit abnormal."
Weilan, choking, covered his nose and said to Ron and Hermione.
Ron, however, thought nothing of it: "Of course, that Dragon has already realized that someone is going to take its eggs—cough, cough, cough, it's just constantly spewing smoke, which is really annoying."
The content of the first task was for the three champions to draw lots to determine which type of Dragon they would face.
Then the champions would use their wisdom to retrieve the golden egg from the Dragon.
The target golden egg was mixed in with the female Dragon's own Dragon eggs.
But even if it was a female Dragon in its breeding period, Weilan still believed that the Hungarian Horntail's state was very wrong.
According to the introduction in the book "caring for Dragons," although a female Dragon's aggressiveness and hostility would greatly increase after laying eggs, all of this was predicated on ensuring the safety of its Dragon eggs.
So, under normal circumstances, the female Dragon should protect its Dragon eggs with its massive body, while its eyes would scan as much as possible for anything around that could threaten the Dragon eggs.
Now this female Hungarian Horntail was pacing in circles around its Dragon eggs.
Its swinging tail and swaying legs narrowly brushed past the Dragon eggs several times, almost smashing its treasured Dragon eggs into fragments.
Weilan could see that it desperately wanted to breathe fire; thick black smoke was pouring from its nostrils and mouth, and the strong acrid smoke was scorching the Dragon eggs, making the front-row spectators cough repeatedly.
"Ron, where's your brother Charlie? Isn't he in charge of these Dragons?" Hermione had had enough; her upturned nose was already covered in black ash.
Ron looked around and found the group of frantic Dragon handlers at the edge of the enclosure.
"Oh no, this Dragon must be in trouble now." Ron saw his brother Charlie and had to admit, "Charlie looks like he's about to smoke as much as the Dragon."
Following the direction of Ron's finger, they saw Charlie and his colleagues being blocked outside the enclosure by several official-looking figures.
Charlie was stomping his feet in frustration, wanting to rush in.
But the officials refused to budge, and eventually, they simply called several more people to drag away the lead handler, who was Charlie.
The remaining handlers, seeing Charlie being dragged away, stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
At that moment, a sharp whistle echoed across the arena, suppressing all the commotion and noise.
"Now, let's welcome the champion of Beauxbatons—Miss Fleur Delacour!"
Weilan looked down at the arena entrance.
Fleur, wearing a beautiful white dress and tossing her silver hair, slowly walked out of the tent at the entrance.
When she saw the Hungarian Horntail, there was no surprise in her eyes.
Fleur calmly raised her wand, attempting to cast a hypnotic spell with an effect different from Stupefy.
This spell actually had some effect; the Hungarian Horntail's movements became increasingly sluggish, as if it was about to collapse into a deep sleep at any moment.
Seeing this, Fleur couldn't help but approach the shining golden egg, which was piled among the Dragon eggs in the center of the arena.
"She's getting closer, she's getting closer—just a little more, and this girl will be able to get it… Oh no!"
The black Dragon's yellow eyes suddenly sprang open, sweeping its spiky tail towards Fleur with intense fury and hostility.
"Ah!" Fleur dropped to the ground, narrowly dodging the attack that would have taken her life.
Its tail swept over Fleur's head, smashing into its own eggs, breaking three of them.
Immediately, viscous yellow egg liquid splattered everywhere.
The Dragon still hadn't stopped its rage. Its two hind legs, covered in black scales, repeatedly struck the ground, causing wave after wave of tremors.
Even from the stands, Weilan could feel a distinct shaking. Not to mention Fleur; the girl was so shaken she couldn't stand up at all.
In the chaos, Hermione gripped the armrest of her seat, shouting with a pale face:
"Where are those handlers? Didn't they say they would intervene immediately if something went wrong?"
"My brother Charlie was dragged away, and we don't know why," Ron answered him. "The remaining handlers are completely panicked, and those damned officials are still blocking them."
The Dragon, which had been shaking its head since the start, now opened its mouth, spewing a 5-foot-long column of fire from the thick smoke deep in its throat.
Fleur's long hair caught fire.
Fleur, on the ground, rolled rapidly, using the dust to extinguish the flames that were creeping up her hair.
However, the black smoke and dust soiled her dress, face, and silver hair.
"If this continues, Fleur will be in mortal danger."
Weilan frantically flipped through the book he had read in his mind—"caring for Dragons."
"Which spell can save Fleur?"
Eye Disease Curse!
Weilan decided on the spell, pulled out his wand, but found himself high up in the stands; the distance was too great to guarantee hitting the Dragon's eye.
In the arena, Fleur cast several Shield Charms on herself.
She was frantically rolling, dodging the Dragon's relentless attacks.
The handlers still couldn't get in; there was no more time to wait.
Weilan leaped down from the 20-foot-high stand, casting three slowing charms on himself in quick succession.
"Arresto Momentum!"
"Arresto Momentum!"
"Arresto Momentum!"
Weilan landed safely, feeling little impact, as if jumping into a soft sand pit.
He had no time to hesitate. The moment he landed, he aimed at the Hungarian Horntail's small yellow eye and chanted the Eye Disease Curse:
"Conjunctivitus!"
Its right eye was temporarily blinded.
"Don't get the egg, run!" Weilan shouted at Fleur.
He cast several Shield Charms on himself and, together with Fleur, ran towards the tent at the entrance.
After losing one eye, the Dragon couldn't aim with just one eye.
Its subsequent series of attacks all landed to the right of the two of them.
