Chapter 19

The day of the First Task finally came. All of the afternoon classes that day were canceled so everyone could watch the tournament. At lunch, all of the Gryffindors wished me luck.

"You're going to do great, Gee," Ray said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see you beat that girl from Durmstrang. She looks mean," Frank said.

"Hey, where's Pete?" I asked.

"He's at the Hufflepuff table," Hayley said. "He said he'd stop by later."

I continued to talk to everyone at the table. It turned out that they had tons of last-minute advice.

"Make sure you don't get burned or slashed," Joe said. "I heard that they take off points for that."

"But don't take too long either!" Spencer said. "You get more points if you defeat the dragon quickly."

"Don't let the crowd distract you," Hayley said. "You need to stay focused!"

They all had good ideas, but I already knew what I was going to do. After lunch, I went down to the champions' tent. I ran into Pete on the way, and he wished me luck as well. When I got to the champions' tent, I spotted Laurette and Annalise.

"Hi Gerard," Laurette said in her French accent. She seemed a bit jittery. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm okay. Trust me," I said.

"That's good to hear," Laurette said. "I'm a little nervous too."

I glanced over at Annalise, who looked even surlier than usual. She was talking to the Durmstrang headmaster, Professor Draganov. He was probably giving Annalise more advice. I was glad that Frank had already told me exactly what to do.

The three headmasters got up and started talking to us. "As some of you may have already figured out," Draganov began, "the first task of the Triwizard Tournament is to collect the golden egg hidden within a clutch of real eggs guarded by a dragon."

McGonagall took out a small sack. "After the other students have made their way into the tournament arena, you will be selecting a small model of the dragon variety that you are about to face."

I could hear the other students passing by the champions' tent. In fact, I was fairly certain that I heard Ray screaming, "GET UP AND GO, GERARD!"

As soon as they were gone, McGonagall opened up the sack and offered it to Annalise. She reached in and pulled out a Common Welsh Green with the number two around its neck. "Annalise, you will be facing Puff the Magic Dragon," McGonagall said. She then offered the sack to Laurette, who pulled out what appeared to be a cross between an Antipodean Opaleye and a Romanian Longhorn. It had the number one around its neck. "Laurette, you will be facing Figment the Imaginary Dragon," McGonagall said. Finally, she offered the sack to me. I reached in and pulled out a Hungarian Horntail with the number three around its neck. "Gerard, you will be facing the Hungarian Horntail," McGonagall said.

"Wait, how is this fair?" I asked. "Their dragons are the cutest things I've ever seen; mine is just terrifying."

"I'm sorry Gerard, but you were the one who picked the Hungarian Horntail," McGonagall said.

"The numbers around their necks refer to the order in which you will be going," Madame Maxime explained. That meant I was going last. At least I would have time to prepare.

Laurette was called out first. "Good luck Laurette," I said to her as she left the champions' tent.

"Merci et bonne chance aussi, Gerard," Laurette replied.

Unfortunately, Annalise and I had to stay behind in the champions' tent, so we couldn't watch Laurette. I could hear the crowd and the dragon's roar, but I had no idea what Laurette was doing to get the golden egg. A few minutes later, the crowd cheered, which could only mean one thing. Laurette had managed to get past Figment the Imaginary Dragon and capture the golden egg.

Then, it was Annalise's turn. Annalise got past the dragon fairly easily, since she didn't take as long to capture the egg. Then again, she had Puff the Magic Dragon. I had to battle the Hungarian Horntail, which, according to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was the most dangerous of all dragon breeds. Again, how was this fair?

"Gerard Way, it's your turn," Draganov said. I stood up and started walking into the arena. The first thing I noticed was the roar of the crowd that gave me heartache to sing. Then, I saw the Horntail guarding her nest. She had piercing yellow eyes and gigantic bronze horns and spikes that protruded from her long tail. Her scales were black and she looked somewhat lizard-like. Behind her were about a dozen cement-colored eggs and one golden egg. Already, this looked like a challenge.

I took my wand out and pointed it towards the dragon's eyes. "Conjunctivito!" I shouted. A jet of light shot out of my wand and hit the dragon in the eyes. The dragon stumbled around blindly. It looked like it was about to step on the eggs. I pointed my wand at the eggs and said, "Protego." If the dragon destroyed its own eggs, I would lose points.

The dragon opened her toothy jaws and let out a jet of fire. I crouched behind a nearby rock and hoped that I wouldn't get burned. Then, I sprinted towards the golden egg. The dragon stumbled after me, but I grabbed the golden egg.

The crowd applauded, and I ran back towards the champions' tent with the egg. Laurette and Annalise were already there. "Nice job, Gerard," McGonagall said.

"Thank you Professor," I replied.

"Annalise and Gerard, you can go get your scores," she said.

"Where's Laurette?" I asked.

"In the Hospital Wing," McGonagall said. "She was slashed on the shoulder, but she should be okay by tomorrow."

I left the champions' tent and found Ray, Frank, and Hayley. "You did so well!" Ray exclaimed as he gave me a quick hug.

"Thanks," I said. "What did the other two champions do to get past their dragons?"

"Well, their dragons were both really easy," Frank said. "I don't see how this contest was fair at all." Finally, someone agreed with me. "Laurette Transfigured a rock into another dragon, and then made it battle Figment the Imaginary Dragon. It was really cool, but the dragon she created slashed her. Annalise literally stroked the dragon's spine to make it fall asleep and then got the egg. It was lame, but it worked."

We headed back into the arena, where each of the headmasters gave me a score. Maxime and McGonagall both gave me a nine, but Draganov gave me a six.

"Not bad," Hayley said. "They probably took off points since you took longer than Annalise."

"Yeah, I think Annalise scored higher," Ray said, "but I still think you did better than she did. At least you beat Laurette."

McGonagall then explained that the second task was on February twenty fourth and that the golden egg would tell us what the second task was and how to prepare for it. Frank laughed. "These people are so uncreative."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"All of these tasks are exactly the same as the Triwizard Tournament tasks that they used ten years ago. Harry Potter won that one, you know," Frank said.

"Then what's in the egg?" I asked.

"If you open it now, you'll just hear a bunch of screaming, so don't do that," Frank said. "If you put it underwater, then it will sing. The verses refer to the merpeople living in the Black Lake. Basically, for the second task, you'll have to rescue someone who was captured by the merpeople. My guess is that they'll use Ray or Mikey."

"Okay," I said. "How do you know all of this?"

"History of Magic," Frank said.

"I hated that class," I told him.

"It's useful sometimes," Frank argued.

"Come on, let's go back to the common room," Hayley said. We followed Hayley back to the common room.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Sweet Revenge," Hayley said, and the portrait opened up. We all entered the common room, where there was already a party going.

"Hooray! It's Gerard!" one of the first years shouted.

Most of the Gryffindors went over to congratulate me. I didn't get what the big deal was. I had placed second, not first, and I was usually just party poison and nothing else.

But today, I was the hero of Gryffindor house.