A scraping sound was heard as a quill elegantly wrote out a letter to a boy, its cursive neat and aristocratic. A curly haired boy looked down at the few words written; grey, stormy eyes reading it over again and again. Nodding to himself slightly in satisfaction, the boy rolled up the parchment, tying it with a red and white string, before attaching it to his barn owl, Otulissa. He stroked the brown, furry head a few times before clicking his tongue at her, Otulissa understanding the message as she then took off, brown and white wings flapping in the cloudy sky. The letter that was currently on its way to a raven haired boy with striking green eyes and a lightning bolt scar read: Good luck today. Try Aqua Eructo to extinguish the dragon's fires, and Carpe Retractum to pull the dragon's egg toward you. Oh, and try not to die will you? The fate of the Wizarding World heavily rests on your shoulders.

Eridanus sighed, taking in a deep breath of the rancid smelling owlery, before leaving. He was already dressed for the first task; crisp black button up shirt, dark blue fitted trousers, as well as a black blazer overtop. To keep away the fall chill from biting at him, he wore black gloves, his green and silver striped Slytherin scarf, as well as a ridiculous Russian hat Draco had made him wear in support of Viktor Krum. The ushanka was a perfectly round hat that was black and furry with ear flaps that Eridanus chose to tie up rather than leave down. The male huffed out a breath as he stepped off the last step of the owlery, a small cloud of air leaking out of his mouth as he did so. His thighs were imperceptibly burning as although he was used to the stairs at the Manor, the owlery stairs were much steeper and the sum of the steps much greater.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you." Eridanus hadn't even walked two steps before an exasperated voice was sounding just ahead of him, the male pale with blonde hair and grey eyes.

"Well, you found me." Eridanus supplied boredly, growing slightly agitated that Draco found it necessary to be by his side all hours of the day. However, his cousin did remind him of home and the familiarity of it was comforting so he supposed that was something to be thankful for. The fellow Slytherin was dressed in similar attire to his cousin (black undershirt, black trousers, black blazer, as well as black gloves and the ushanka hat), grinning gleefully as they began making their way towards the stadium where the first task was to be held.

"Let's hurry up, I want to make sure we get a front row seat to Potter getting crushed," Draco chatted excitedly, quickening up his pace, expecting Eridanus to do the same. The Lestrange boy sighed softly to himself, not all that happy about his cousin's enthusiasm for the only hope the Wizarding World had of surviving to die, yet he eventually did speed up to once more be in step with the blonde.

"Do you really think Potter won't make it?" Eridanus asked his cousin curiously, said boy glancing over at him, wondering why the question had been asked.

Draco shrugged carelessly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he thought over his response before verbalizing it. "Well if he doesn't die then he'll probably tap out before the task has even begun like the wimp he is." The Malfoy boy laughed at his own response, most likely imagining the exact scenario he just said playing in his head. Eridanus, meanwhile, stayed quiet as he hoped what Draco said didn't become a fact. Even though Draco technically knew more about The-Boy-Who-Lived than Eri, he still felt as though his representation of him was more accurate as his cousin had been fed lies his entire life.

The pair was still quiet as they approached the arena where the first task was to be held; a small coliseum resting on the edge of a cliff. Crabbe and Goyle joined up with them then, the two and Draco eagerly talking about what was to come. Eridanus didn't join in on the conversation, as he instead half listened to what they were saying as he looked around for any sign of Harry or his friends. As they entered the coliseum, the Slytherin spotted a bright patch of red hair as he found Ron Weasley with a grumpy look on his face - although there were also hints of worry and nervousness there. Sat beside the infamous redhead were two other boys that Eridanus vaguely remembered to be Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.

"Eridanus," Draco spoke, removing his cousin's attention away from the Gryffindors and back over to him. "Where do you want to sit?"

The curly haired boy looked around at the stadium before spotting a few empty seats near them. "Over there looks good," he responded, not caring all too much where they sat as the seats went all the way around the stadium and there was no way to know which spot would offer the best view.

"Good choice, cousin," Draco praised, nodding before he began to make his way over to where Eridanus had pointed, motioning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow along behind them. "Ah yes," Draco commented once the foursome had seated, the order being Eridanus on the left of Draco whom had Crabbe on the right of him and Goyle beside him. "These are perfect." The platinum haired boy then reached into his pockets, grabbing out a pair of binoculars which he used to survey the stadium. "Now I'll be able to see Potter getting crushed up close," he supplied once his friends turned to look over at him questioningly. Crabbe and Goyle nodded before praising their leader of sorts while Eridanus refrained from rolling his eyes; his cousin had always enjoyed being over the top.

"Wow, you lads have got some nice seats here." Eridanus quickly turned at the voice, finding the smiling face of Dorian as the male descended the few steps to be right next to him.

"I know, Eridanus picked them. Purebloods do have to have taste, after all," Draco commented offhandedly before he was doing a double take to look once more at Dorian, sneering once he caught sight of the male's Hufflepuff scarf. "Who are you?"

Eridanus winced at his cousin's harsh tone as he silently berated him for having no manners. Narcissa would be truly disappointed if he witnessed his son's actions.

Dorian, on the other hand, was undeterred by Draco's obvious and immediate prejudice of his House, opting to give the platinum haired boy a smile instead. "I'm Dorian Karstark, pleased to make your acquaintance." Dorian held out his hand which Draco looked down upon in disgust.

"Karstark? I've never heard that name before."

"It's my father's - he's a muggle." Dorian supplied, only resulting in Draco to curl his top lip and squint his eyes in a sneer.

"So you're a half-breed then? Well go on and leave us alone before you infect us with your mudbloodness."

One could tell that those words had deeply affected Dorian, for his smile had briefly dropped from his face. Eridanus, meanwhile, regarded the situation nervously. He was very much not in the mood to watch his cousin make a fool of himself.

"Well, I best be going then. I'll see you around, Eridanus." Dorian bid farewell, nodding his head at the curly haired boy whom only briefly twitched his lips up in response.

"You very well won't!" Draco shouted as Dorian began to leave the scene, smiling awkwardly at the few heads that had turned in their direction from the outburst.

"Come on now, Draco. Just drop it." Draco was reluctant to listen to his cousin yet he knew the other male was correct and nodded his head in agreement.

"No need to stress myself over the likes of half-breeds - yes, you are quite right, Eri. But I don't want you hanging around with him."

Eridanus sighed softly and fortunately for him, was saved of having to respond as the booming voice of Dumbledore sounded, announcing for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament to officially commence. Draco cheered in excitement while his cousin perched himself on the edge of his seat nervously.

The first to enter the arena was Hogwarts' own Golden Boy; Cedric Diggory. The crowd cheered loudly for him when he entered, looking calm and confident even though he were about to face a real life dragon. Eridanus watched his interaction with the Swedish Short-Snout curiously, commending the boy on his use of transfiguration to turn a rock into a dog, momentarily distracting the dragon. However, that tactic hadn't lasted for long before the dragon's attention was redirected towards the boy and even though Cedric had managed to gain the Golden Egg, he hadn't been left unscathed. Eridanus winced at the large burn which resided itself on the boy's face, unable to imagine how painful that must be. He supposed 'pretty boy Diggory' wasn't so pretty anymore.

Next up was Fleur Delacour, the blue side of the arena (that consisted of the Beauxbatons students, not the Ravenclaws - although some did) emitted loud French cheers. The French girl's round was quite a lot less exciting than Cedric's, opting to enchant her Common Welsh Green Dragon to sleep, rather than battle it. Therefore, the crowd was quite unamused while regarding her, desperately hoping for some more action. Thankfully for them, they received it - although it wasn't much. While attempting to retrieve the egg, the sleeping dragon had snored which let out a jet of flame, setting her skirt alight. Fleur had shrieked in surprise, as anyone would do upon realizing that you were on fire, yet she quickly extinguished the flames with no difficulties. She then quickly retrieved the egg and rushed out of the arena.

The penultimate champion to complete the first task was Viktor Krum. It was no surprise that upon entering, the crowd went simply wild for the man. Yells and cheers and screams were all that could be heard for the next few moments, Eridanus being quite embarrassed by the fact that his cousin had been apart of them. Dumbledore had to kindly ask the crowd to settle down before Viktor could commence, the boy holding a small smile at all of the positive attention. Viktor's dragon was a Chinese Fireball and the animal quite lived up to its name. Eridanus grew quite impressed when Krum used a Conjunctivitis Charm to blind the dragon. It had surprised him, as well as other students watching, as Viktor (and other boys from Durmstrang) came across as the type of students who didn't know North from West, yet that obviously hadn't been the case. Eridanus mentally berated himself for judging Viktor by his appearance as he himself hated when others made opinions of him simply based off of his name and background. Meanwhile, Viktor had successfully retrieved the egg, however, he had been docked several points as the dragon had smashed half of the real eggs while stumbling around blindly. Perhaps Viktor wasn't the smartest after all.

Last, but certainly not least, was Mr. Harry Potter himself.

"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons and so each one of them will proceed to the next task. And now our fourth and final contestant." Dumbledore's booming voice announced the boy as he nervously entered the arena. Not as many cheered for the young boy as he entered, some even sneering at him as Draco did. Eridanus couldn't even find it within himself to scold his cousin, much too concerned on the fate of Harry Potter.

Eridanus watched on worriedly as Potter made a rash decision without using any logic and decided to head for the Golden Egg which was left unattended. His heart was beating erratically within his chest as the Hungarian Horntail returned to protect its egg, forcing Harry to retreat behind a rock while the dragon let out a large breath of flames. Eridanus let out a quiet gasp as the boy stumbled around aimlessly, just narrowly avoiding getting burned to death by the fearful dragon.

"Oh come on, Potter. Just give up!" Draco yelled, some students agreeing with him while others glared at him harshly for his words of discouragement. Eridanus briefly eyed his cousin and upon noticing the look on his face, he nearly rolled his eyes. Although Eridanus somewhat agreed with Draco on the fact that Harry should perhaps not go on further to save his life, Draco was simply wishing for that as, having taunted Potter earlier on, he didn't want to appear wrong. He also most likely didn't want to lose the bet he had going with his father.

"Your wand, Harry!" Hermione Granger called out loudly from the stands, voice so strong that not only could Draco and Eridanus hear it, but so could Harry whom was in a rocky arena with a fire breathing dragon. "Your wand!"

It seemed that Hermione's words had reminded Harry that he indeed had a wand which was grasped tightly in his dominant wand. Eridanus did shake his head at the stupidity of the boy, even though he wasn't all that surprised as he had noticed how well Potter seemed to do in lessons - and it wasn't well at all.

Harry could then be seen muttering a spell as he waved his wand, although nothing seemed to happen for a few moments. Just when Eridanus began to assume that the spell, whatever it was, hadn't worked, a sharp whistling was heard right before a broomstick was seen whizzing by, Harry quickly hopping on it when it was within reaching distance. The crowd cheered at that, Eridanus allowing a small smile to take place upon his face. It seemed that Potter wasn't as brainless as Eri had given him credit for; using a Summoning Charm to give him his Firebolt and turning the 'only a wand' rule allowed to work in his favour was quite brilliant.

However, Eridanus' smile didn't stay put for long as the dragon then broke free of its restraints and began chasing Potter around the arena. Harry, realizing that he would get nowhere with this and perhaps even injure the crowd, left the arena, the dragon bursting through the crowd to follow after him. The people sitting in that section with the now torn tent sat up in a daze (has they had to duck in order to not get hit by the dragon) yet luckily they all seemed to be uninjured.

Eridanus watched Potter and the Hungarian Horntail fly off towards Hogwarts and the boy sat with bated breath, nervous and scared beyond anything else for the Triwizard Champion.

The crowd was in complete silence as they strained both their eyes and ears, desperately searching for anything that would reveal to them what was occuring.

"Do you think the dragon ate him?" Crabbe whispered, those around him telling the boy to hush. Eridanus' heart stopped at the thought, feeling as though he may be sick if that ended up being the outcome. He couldn't even stand to look over at his cousin as Draco held a hopeful grin, desperately hoping for that to be true while Eridanus desperately hoped for the opposite.

Eridanus breathed a sigh of relief once Harry came flying back on his broomstick, dragon long gone, picking up the golden egg before yelling out triumphantly, the spectators mimicking his cheer. The boy's heart was still beating erratically in his chest but Harry was safe for now and so he allowed his lips to twitch upwards for a brief moment.

Harry Potter had survived the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. There were only two tasks left and Eridanus desperately hoped the Boy-Who-Lived would repeat the same miracles he did during this task, especially for the maze.

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Okay don't hate me but I found this chapter deep within my drafts written March 29, 2019...it is currently March (), 2020. Yikes! So sorry. I was going to have a backlog of chapters but I forgot. Otherwise, I really hope you all are enjoying this story as much as I am and feel free to give me any critiques, suggestions and even predictions on what may happen!

What did you think of this chapter? I didn't have the most dialogue so I know it could've been a bit boring but I tried to have as much interaction as I could. What do you think of Eridanus helping Harry, and Dorian? Let me know!