five the advantage

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FOUR FULLY GROWN, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing on their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting - torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouthes open wide at wizards keeping them tamed.

"Ah, c'est manifique!" said Maxime.

"Est-ce?" Lucy said, eyes widened.

Holy shit.

Dragons was the first task? What was Lucy going to do? She was good at duelling, and knew many spells -  but she highly doubted she'd be doing a duel with the huge beast. She'd have to figure something out with Fleur and Misty... and Verity, too, she guesses...

Hold on - this wasn't fair. Lucy was the only champion to know about this, she was at an advantage. Her expression turned from astonished to annoyed when she soon realised she was at an advantage to the other three. She wanted to win with it being fair. She wanted to win properly, not cheating. Ugh, this wasn't fair! Why did Maxime feel like she had to give her a head start? Did she not think she was fully capable herself?

Madame Maxime, for some reason, wanted to get closer. She told Lucy to stay put, though, because apparently she didn't want her Champion getting damaged before the first task - or something like that, anyway.

"Dragons?!"

Lucy looked to her left and let out a sudden yell, as before her floated Harry Potter's headwearing a terrified look.

"What the f-?!" she began, stopping herself considering she was currently with a Hogwarts teacher. The boy glanced her way carelessly, before looking back to Hagrid. "What is- Wha- Why is your head just floating-?! What?!" the blonde stuttered.

Harry removed what seemed to be a thin material, and Lucy's face relaxed with realisation. So, he had some kind of 'Invisibility Cloak'. Sick.

But he was too busy panicking at the fact that the first task was dragons.

"That's the first task?! You must be joking!"

"Come on, Harry, they're just seriously misunderstood creatures," said Hagrid.

Are they? Lucy thought.

Hey, at least she wasn't the only one at an advantage - Harry knew, now, too. And the girl had a plan - simply just tell the other champions, and then they'd be all on the same level. Boom, it's all fair again.

Lucy and Harry exchanged glances, as Hagrid told them to stay back, edging closer to the fence. They didn't - Harry put his cloak back on, and Lucy casually strolled in the open, as the scene neared.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Lucy's mesmerised face was lit up from the reflection of the fire, as she gazed up at a dragon which was either frightened or angry (she couldn't tell which), screaming horribly.

"Keep back, there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this one doing forty!"

Lucy took a few steps back. She didn't fancy returning to her friends burnt to a crisp.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hagrid said softly. Lucy had come to the conclusion Hagrid was mad.

"It's no good!" Another wizard yelled. "Stunning spells, on the count of three!"

Each of the dragon keepers pulled out their wands.

"Stupefy!" They shouted in unison, and sparks shot into the darkness, bursting when they hit the dragon into showers of stars.

And the dragon teetered dangerously on its back legs, it's jaw stretched wide, its nostrils suddenly devoid of flame - though still smoking - before it fell, slowly, hitting the ground with a thud that caused the blonde to flinch.

So, Stupefy did work on dragons. Though, it must've taken a lot of shots of it to finally put the Dragon out. Perhaps it would work if Lucy used it with another strong spell, following. Fleur would be able to help figure it out - Lucy eyed the dragons in wonder, trying to take note as many things as she could.

What? She's seen the dragons, now, there's no point not taking notes and tips if she's going to be facing them soon, is there? And she was definitely going to tell Cedric and Krum, to keep it fair. She wasn't being sneaky... OK?

The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned around, firey red hair still somehow visible through the darkness of the night.

"Alright, Hagrid?" he panted, heading over. "They should be OK, now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draught on the way here, thought it might be better to wake them up in the dark, and the quiet-"

Sleeping Draught? Lucy thought. Hmm... OK...

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" asked Hagrid, gazing at the closet dragon.

So, apparently the red head was called Charlie.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," he said. "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one - a Swedish Short-Snout that blue grey - and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red,"

Charlie looked around, catching sight of Lucy hovering a few metres back, and Madame Maxime strolling away at the edge, gazing at the Stunned dragons.

"I didn't know you were bringing these two, Hagrid," he said, frowning. "The Champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's at an advantage now, isn't she?"

Lucy crossed her arms as a scowl slowly exuded her face. No, I'm not, she thought. I'll take care of that business.

"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," said Hagrid, nodding towards Maxime, before returning his gaze at the dragons.

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," said Charlie, shaking his head. Lucy looked towards where she assumed Invisible-Harry was, as though to exchange a weird look with him.

It was odd now, knowing he was here, but not being able to see him. Was he even where she thought he was? Or had he walked off somewhere? Who knows.

"Four..." Hagrid counted. "So it's one fer each of the o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do - figh' em?"

"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie.

Just get past them. OK. That shouldn't be too hard.

"We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, extinguishing spells at the ready,"

Extinguishing Spell - Lucy learned that in her fourth year.

"They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why... but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. It's back end's as dangerous as it's front,"

Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail, carrying a clutch of huge granite-grey eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a groan of longing.

"I've got them counted Hagrid," said Charlie sternly, before he said, "How's Harry?"

"Fine," said Hagrid. He was still gazing at the eggs.

"Bit stressed, I think," Lucy spoke up - much to both Hagrid's and Charlie's surprise. She glanced sideways at wherever Invisible Harry might be.

"Right," said Charlie slowly, still unsure as to why the Beauxbatons Champion was here rather than Harry. "You're Lucy, aren't you?"

Lucy nodded.

"Well... I'm Charlie... Weasley..."

"Nice to meet you, Charlie...Weasley..." she added mockingly with a teasing glance at the end. He gave her an awkward smile, before turning back to Hagrid.

"Anyway, I just hope Harry's still fine after he's faced this lot," said Charlie. "And you," he added, nodding to the blonde so that it didn't seem like he was ignoring her. "I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task, she's already having kittens about him..." Charlie imitated what Lucy could only assume was his mother's anxious voice. "'How could they let him in the tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about him. 'He still cries about his parents - oh, bless him, I never knew!'"

Lucy glanced sideways to where she assumed Invisible Harry was. Perhaps if she hadn't been there to meet Rita Skeeter herself, she would've believed the interview, but considering how bland and boring Skeeter had made her look, she wouldn't be surprised if all that stuff about Harry was rubbish, too. Plus, it made perfect sense to make stuff up - if Harry hadn't entered like he'd said, then he probably didn't give the most interesting interview. And if Rita wanted to 'add a bit of colour' then of course she'd have to make something up.

And then Lucy noticed the slow sound of footsteps beginning to distance away from them, and as she caught sight of a twig on the floor snap, she knew exactly where Invisible Harry was. But, if he was going back, then she better be allowed, too.

"Uh... Miss?!" she called over to Maxime. "Is it okay for me to go back to bed? Don't want me oversleeping and missing a lesson tomorrow!"

Lucy would gladly oversleep and miss a lesson tomorrow.

"Yes, yes!" Maxime responded. "Go and get a good night's sleep, my girl,"

Lucy made a small 'yes' sound, and said a polite goodbye to both Charlie Weasley and Hagrid, before following the sound of footsteps crunching against the leaves - until she accidentally bumped into Invisible Harry.

"Oh shit - sorry," she said with a laugh. "I thought you were a bit further on. You can take your cloak off, for now, though, we're in the forest, nobody's gonna see us,"

The raven-haired boy stripped off his cloak, already wearing an agitated expression, before rolling it up and stuffing it in his pocket. Lucy knew exactly why he was so irritated.

"If it makes you feel any better..." she said slowly. "I know Rita's a bullshitter, all the champions do. We had to be interviewed by her as well, you know... unless you actually did say all that stuff?"

"No," he said, bluntly. "I didn't,"

"Didn't think so," said Lucy, giving him a warm smile. He frowned, with a taken-aback look flashing across his face.

"...Thanks?" he said awkwardly. What was he supposed to say?

"So," she said, as they walked. "Dragons,"

"Hm,"

"Any idea of what you're going to do?"

Harry eyed her suspiciously, before she let out a laugh, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just making conversation, loser, I'm not trying to sneak around and take advantage of people,"

"But you're at an advantage now, you know about the Dragons. The others don't,"

"Aren't you as well, though?" she frowned. Harry stayed quiet.

"Er..." he began, after a moment. "Bit off topic, but how come you sound English? Like - you've got a bit of the French accent, but you speak like..."

"Like I'm English," Lucy finished, with a nod. "Congrats, Potter, I think you've broken a record there,"

"...What?"

"That's usually the first thing people from your school ask me. Long story short, I am English, I just moved to France and that's why I'm at Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts,"

"Oh," Harry replied, before they reached the edge of the forest and he whipped out his cloak again - soon disappearing at Lucy's side.

"Uhm," she said, feeling a bit more awkward now that she could no longer see him. "Well... nice chatting with you. I'll see you... at some point,"

"Yeah," Harry's voice muttered. He was clearly eager to get back to the castle, as she was to get back to her carriage. "See you,"

And the blonde headed back to where the rest of the Beauxbatons students were sleeping, the event that had just happened rolling over in her head.

Dragons. What was she going to do?

Well, first things first, she was going to make sure Krum and Cedric knew as well. Because she wasn't going to win this tournament by cheating - she was perfectly capable of winning with the game being fair. And she was going to prove that to not only Maxime and anyone else who now knew she'd seen the dragons - but herself, too.

She was at an advantage she didn't want.

A/N: I feel like this chapter was really slow and boring oml but I promise the next one will be better! Lucy and Harry make me laugh ngl they have no idea what to make of each other and I love it.

Still, I hope you enjoyed! As a side note, the playlist for this book now has its own chapter and is in my bio if any of you fancied a listen! :)