seven blonde ambition

♡

THE SECOND WHISTLE sounded, and Lucy's heart seemed to set off in a frenzy, beating faster than it had ever done before.

"One down, three to go!" she heard Bagman hell. "Miss Lunette, if you please!"

The blonde could feel herself trembling from head to toe, before holding her head high, and clutching her wand. She glanced back towards the other two Champions, one last time. Krum had his head to the floor. Harry gave her a nod, as though attempting a warm way of encouragement. She smiled at him, and nodded in return.

But, her face resumed its stone cold expression as she turned to the door of the tent.

She couldn't believe she'd be going up against a dragon. A dragon. It was like she was stuck in some kind of fairytale - like Alice in Wonderland. Alice had to fight the Jabberwocky. How had she done it? She'd killed it with the Vorpal Sword... yeah, that wasn't going to help Lucy out so much, in her case...

"Come on, Luce," she muttered to herself.

She counted to three - and stepped out.

The Welsh Green had it's back to her, at first, eyeing up the audience as though wondering what they were going to do, instead. The blonde took three steps forward, and her eyes flicked about the enclosure. There was a rock to her right she might be able to hide behind.

The sudden noise of the girls footsteps caught the Welsh Greens attention, and the girl practically threw herself at the rock, the dragon just missing the moment where the Beauxbatons girl dived. Lucy was already breathing heavily - she needed to keep herself in line.

The Goblet of Fire didn't choose you for nothing, she told herself. You, of all people in your school, are the most capable. That's why you were picked. Don't let yourself down, now.

But, the dragon had caught sight of her, and she was greeted with the swing of a huge green tail that she'd (luckily) managed to spot just in time, and jumped, letting it crash into the rock behind her. Lucy didn't take any chances, now.

She sprinted forward - there was a pile of rocks just feet away from her, if she could just get behind them...

The dragon roared and she could feel the heat of the nearby flames on her skin as she dived - she'd only just made it, yet again. Lucy panted heavily, and looked up into the audience with panicked, wide eyes. She could see Fleur cheering for her, the bright face of her best friend standing out amongst others, as it always did. Her voice rang through Lucy's brain, which seemed to have cleared in the moments of chaos after actually meeting the dragon for real.

'Remember, the Sleeping Charm will put it into an enchanted slumber, and then you waste no time in getting past it.'

The Welsh Green wasn't nearly as strong as the Horntail Lucy had witnessed - and that vicious dragon had been knocked out by several Sleeping Charms, cast by its Keepers on the night of revelation. So, surely this dragon would be affected the same? Surely it should be easier to knock it out, theoretically, if it was less dangerous than the Horntail...

So, all she had to do was cast the charm quickly and correctly. She was always top in the class at Charms, she'd gotten this spell on practically the second try. She was clever - she was capable, she just had to remember it perfectly.

But, the Welsh Green was making its way closer, nostrils blared and anger in its eyes that made Lucy want to run away. She can't run away. She's practically got this.

"Come on, Luce!" Fleur cried.

And she cast the Sleeping Charm, aiming her wand towards the dragon, before diving back behind the rock as it projected fire towards her again. The spell hit it straight between the eyes, and Lucy let out a little 'Yes!' as well as a fist pump. The Welsh Green stumbled back sleepily - Lucy didn't waste any opportunity, and cast it again, just in case the first wasn't strong enough. It hit it on the forehead.

And the dragon blinked slowly, before collapsing to the ground and causing a rumble that almost knocked the blonde off her feet. Fuck yes.

Lucy jumped up, and stepped onto the rock that had protected her, not even making the time to go around it - she leaped over the top and sprinted towards the egg. It was right there, she's practically got it, it was just a couple feet away...

The Welsh Green snored, and let out a jet of flames - and Lucy's entire body filled with panic. She attempted to jump out of the way, but the fire was too quick, and travelled all the way up her right leg. She let out a scream of pain, as a ripple of gasps sounded through the audience. They weren't really helping, in the nicest way possible.

"Aguamenti!" she cried with a shaky voice, and extinguished the flames - however, the burning pain was far from gone, and Lucy could feel the tears beginning to sting her eyes as she grabbed the golden egg. Come on, Luce, you're nearly there - don't cry now...

How had she been so close, but fucked up so badly? Surely that was going to deduct points.

"Fuck!" she yelled, still holding the egg, but more or so focusing on the terrible pain her leg was in.

She had been expecting a victorious feeling of success at the feeling of the egg in her hands - but she'd screwed up. Her leg had been completely burned, she was bound to have lost points. All this, and she wouldn't even have won.

On top of that, her leg was seething and sore, her blue joggers she'd been wearing had melted through and stuck to it, making matters even worse. What a shit show. All that hard work she and Fleur had done - all that time Fleur had made for her - and she'd gone and screwed it up.

Lucy could only hope the other two champions would do worse - but she wasn't too confident.

The blonde was taken to the first-aid tent, which was divided into cubicles. She could make out Cedric's figure sitting in the one beside hers. She didn't look his way, at first - the pain from the burn was much too distracting.

"...Miss Lunette, am I correct?" the Hogwarts matron asked, swiftly entering her cubicle. Lucy nodded, gulping after getting a good look at the burns on her leg.

"Yeah," she managed to choke out, wiping her wet eyes.

"Tsk, those look really nasty," the woman said. "Dragons, I say, what on Earth were they thinking? I'll get some Burn-Healing Paste, you hold on a moment, dear, I won't be long,"

And she whisked off quickly - Lucy took a deep breath, biting her lip to stop herself from crying at the amount of pain her leg was in. She'd never had an injury like this before, ever - in fact, she'd never before had any proper injury, full stop. Sure, she'd fallen over and scraped her knee when she was a little kid, but didn't everyone do that at some point? The girl had never had anything as extreme as this. Lucy had always been quite coordinated, really.

"Shit," she hissed through her teeth. She wasn't sure how much longer she could bare the pain - she was sure if her leg got chopped off it would be less agonising.

"...How'd it go?" Cedric awkwardly asked from the other cubicle, making her flinch. She'd forgotten he was there.

"Um... kind of good... kind of shit..." she replied. Her voice was still shaking from all the panic and the pain.

"Did you get the egg?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. She was struggling to talk. "I used the Sleeping Charm on the dragon... kind of backfired, though, because the stupid thing snored and all fire came out, and..." she gestured to her messed up leg, before remembering he couldn't see. "It got my leg. All of it."

Cedric nodded. "I got cooked, too," he said with a joking tone, and she could just make out his shadow pointing to his face. He seemed to have forgotten she couldn't see him, too. "On my face," he added. Lucy stifled a soft laugh, as the Hogwarts matron returned with some orange paste.

She cleaned Lucy's burns out, which made more tears stream out of the Beauxbatons girl's eyes due to the stinging pain, before the woman picked up the paste. Lucy stiffened, expecting another shooting of pain when the woman touched her leg - but, was instead filled with relief at the cold sensation, and she relaxed slightly as it slowly covered the entire surface of her leg.

The blonde took this opportunity to go over the task she'd just faced in her head, and felt a wave of disappointment overcome her. The First Task was supposed to be a chance to prove herself, to show everyone how much of a threat she was, even if she was the only girl against three boys. And she'd screwed it up by getting hurt.

"Now, just sit quietly for a moment, and then you can get your score afterwards..."

The Hogwarts matron vanished again, when Lucy put her head into her hands, sighing loudly.

"I messed up," she said. "I really messed it up..."

Cedric wasn't too sure what to say, for a moment, but eventually spoke up.

"You did good," he said softly, in an attempt to comfort the girl. "I wouldn't have thought of the Sleeping Charm. I turned a rock into a dog and hoped the dragon would go for it, instead. It half-worked, but it wasn't the best idea I've ever had,"

Lucy brought her head out of her hands and smiled weakly, even though Cedric couldn't see it.

"I guess when you're in there, your mind just... goes blank," said Lucy. "Wiped, completely,"

"Yeah, definitely," said Cedric softly. "These tasks weren't going to be easy,"

This definitely wasn't how Lucy imagined the tournament when it came to her competitors. She thought she'd have barely anything to do with the other champions - after all, they were the enemy. And yet, here Cedric (the enemy) was, trying to comfort her. He was sweet.

"Yeah... thanks, Diggory," she said, her face still crestfallen, but still with a slight glint of hope. "I'll just have to do better in the next ones... the first is like the trial, right? Just to break you in... I'll be better prepared, for the next. And the third."

She couldn't see him, apart from his outline through the tent wall - but she could tell that Cedric was smiling, somehow - even despite the fact that half his face was burnt.

"Yeah," he nodded. "We'll have our comebacks,"

Lucy grinned.

And then, moments later, three girls darted into the tent. All were grinning at her, but the first was beaming, as if all the love she had in her body had travelled through and presented itself through her smile.

"You were magnificent!" Fleur cried, throwing her arms around the girl and wrapping her in a tight hug.

"I fucked it up,"

"You were amazing!"

"You were," Misty added, nodding in agreement, before walking forward to hug Lucy once Fleur was finished. "I mean, those sprints! You were so fast - and that charm hit the dragon right between the eyes, you were literally amazing!"

"I got burned," said Lucy. "The whole leg got covered - that's got to take off some points,"

"You got past a dragon and got one of its eggs in ten minutes, Lucy!" said Misty. "Ten minutes! I wouldn't have been able to do it full stop, but ten minutes?!"

"You do need to give yourself some credit, girl," said Verity. "You were so good,"

But, Lucy still wasn't so convinced.

♡

Lucy placed third (and last) in the results, with Harry and Krum trying first and Cedric in second. Fleur was appalled and suggested the scores had been biased, and Lucy couldn't help but slightly agree - Krum broke many eggs and still ended up in first place, like what?

But, it's whatever. Misty suggested they scored wrong based on how much of a show each Champion put on rather than what the original idea of the task was - which made sense, but still pissed Lucy off. She wasn't told she had to put on a show, just get past the dragon and claim the golden egg. So much for fair play.

The four Champions gathered back in the tent once Harry Potter had received his scores, and Lucy walked over to Cedric. He was her favourite of the three, she had to admit. Although, Harry didn't seem too bad either - just a boy who seemed to be a human magnet for bad luck. Then again, luck must've been on his side today, because he'd gotten first.

Lucy was in a better mood than when she left the dragon enclosure - since then, she'd seen her favourite person in the world, and Fleur was so proud of her. She'd expressed to Lucy how she in no way should be feeling down about herself - she'd just battled a dragon and seen it through. That alone was an achievement.

"Snap!" Lucy grinned at Cedric gesturing to her leg which was smothered in bright orange paste, and pouting to half of Cedric's face which was plastered in the same stuff. He laughed.

Harry walked in last, and Cedric was the first to speak to him. "Good one, Harry,"

"And you," Harry grinned back.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. Her friends had filled them in on what each Champion used to get past the dragon - and Harry's was definitely something out of the normal... as normal as it gets, battling a huge winged beast. "Using a broom and outflying a dragon? That's either extremely clever or fantastically stupid, but you somehow made it work," she said lightheartedly, smiling at the fourteen year-old.

"Thanks," Harry said, sheepishly, giving the blonde a bright grin.

"Well done, all of you!" Ludo Bagman said, bouncing into the tent and looking pleased, almost as though he'd just gotten past a dragon. Then again, from what Lucy had seen of him, he was always hyped up. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth,"

"We've got time to plan for our comebacks," Cedric jokingly muttered to the blonde next to him. She grinned.

"But, we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open... see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and will enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

Lucy left the tent and gave Cedric a parting smile, before rejoining Fleur. They walked back around the edge of the forest, chatting quickly in French about the recent task, and Lucy explained to her best friend about the egg apparently having a clue inside it.

"We'll open it in the carriage," said Fleur, and Lucy nodded in agreement.

She couldn't wait to get back and have a shower, being able to finally wash off all the dirt and ash the Welsh Green had caused. Not to mention, the paste on her leg was beginning to dry up, now.

Yes, Lucy had placed last in the first task. But, the key was in the name, first. She still had the second and third to get herself back up into first place - if anything, placing last first was kind of a good thing, because she could only go up from here, right?

Not to mention, it draws the attention away from her for a while. The other Champions might not think they need to worry about her, that she was easily beat. If anything, it was misleading. Because Lucy was about as much of a fairy princess as that Horntail Harry had to face today - and the other three boys had no idea what was coming their way...

♡

Truth be told, Lucy was missing her Beauxbatons dorm, especially in the December weather that was slowly approaching. Her old shared room with Fleur'd had its own fireplace, cozy blue sofa and even a mini kitchen in the corner, when they'd often make hot chocolates or treats that would warm them up in the freezing cold. But, here at Hogwarts, they were surrounded by wind and sleet, and the castle was awfully draughty - conditions of such did not agree with the residence the Beauxbatons students were staying in, especially since it was a little carriage with thin walls. Lucy was sure she'd had to get up in the middle of the night and close windows that had been swept open by the wind at least five times, now.

The Beauxbatons Champion had attempted to open her golden egg, but was greeted with a god-awful scream that had made one of their Professors come and check on the four girls in their room to make sure they were okay - and so, Lucy hadn't even touched it since.

"Perhaps it doesn't like being opened in front of more than one person?" Misty had suggested, although it was clear that she, as well as the other three girls, were completely lost when it came to figuring out the clue.

"Who knows," Lucy had replied, helplessly. "I'll have to crack open the books and try to see if there's anything on 'Screaming Eggs' inside,"

Fleur grinned. "I'll help!"

"You're an angel, Fleur Delacour," Lucy said, glancing sideways at her best friend with a smile. "I'd be totally lost without you,"

"Oh, I know you would,"

A/N: There's the first task! I hope it wasn't too bad, I didn't realise how hard it is to write action scenes until now 😳

I know that it might look like I'm tryna just copy what Fleur did in the tournament, but I promise that's not the case! Lucy will have her own impacts on the second and third tasks 😼😼

But anyway, her and Ced make me 💓💓 and they're not even together lmao but still they're cuties

And Lucy and Harry! He's so awks lmao and she's just nice to him and I'm like 🥰🥰 Not to mention Lucy and Fleur being the best duo ugh I love girlfriends

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought! <33