"I believe it's my parents who gave me strength. I know that if they could see me now, they'd be very proud… Yes, sometimes at night, I still cry for them. I don't think there's any shame in admitting that… I know that nothing in the Tournament can hurt me, because they're watching over me from beyond…"
Malfoy was loudly reading from the front page of the Daily Prophet in the courtyard on the first floor of the castle.
With every line he read, the students around him burst into laughter. The words on their "Potter Stinks" badges gleamed mockingly in the sunlight. Some Slytherins even started jeering.
"Ooooh! Maybe we should bring Potter a handkerchief for the next class, just in case he starts bawling!"
"And here's more," Malfoy continued with theatrical glee. "Harry Potter's close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry has finally found his first love at Hogwarts. He's said to be inseparable from a girl named Hermione Granger. Miss Granger is reportedly stunningly beautiful, a top student like Harry, and comes from a Muggle family."
Anne overheard Malfoy's dramatic reading as she was heading out of the castle that morning. She only glanced briefly from afar, then ignored them and continued walking toward the greenhouse.
At lunchtime, just as Anne stepped into the Great Hall, Hermione rushed up to her. She didn't pay any attention to Pansy Parkinson's loud taunt from the Slytherin table:
"'Stunningly beautiful'? Says who? A chipmunk?"
"Anne, you don't believe what Rita Skeeter wrote in the Daily Prophet, do you?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"You mean the stuff Malfoy read this morning? Of course not," Anne said. She had seen plenty of these kinds of flashy, baseless headlines meant only to grab attention.
A smile of relief spread across Hermione's face. "Good. Now go eat," she said briskly, lifting her chin and walking off to the Gryffindor table, ignoring the people whispering as she passed.
Anne, puzzled, made her way to the Slytherin table and sat down. Before she could say a word, Fanny leaned in eagerly.
"Anne, what did Hermione say to you just now?"
"I was wondering about that myself. She asked if I believed Rita Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet. Of course I don't. It's just a bunch of attention-seeking nonsense."
"Oh?" Fanny glanced meaningfully over at the Gryffindor table, nodding to herself in thought. She was now more convinced of her own suspicions.
As winter settled over the castle, it signaled that the first task of the Triwizard Tournament was drawing near.
Three days before the task, which fell on a Saturday, Aaron made a rare full-day appearance at the castle. Normally, he worked at the Ministry of Magic.
After dinner, Anne and Fanny were leaving the Great Hall when they spotted Aaron standing in the entrance hall. Upon seeing Anne, Aaron waved.
"Anne! Over here, come for a sec!"
When Anne and Fanny approached, Aaron greeted Fanny politely, "Good evening, Fanny!"
Fanny returned the greeting with equal politeness, then bid Anne goodbye and headed back to the Slytherin common room.
"Uncle Aaron? What is it? Has it arrived?"
Aaron nodded, clearly excited. "Yes, they just arrived not long ago. Let's go now, just like I promised. There are four of them!"
"Fantastic!" Anne's eyes lit up. She had always been fascinated by large magical creatures, especially dragons. What excited her even more was that one of them was a Chinese dragon.
They left the castle and climbed up a grassy slope. Then, walking around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Anne began to hear noises, shouts from several men, and distinct, rumbling growls.
"We're almost there!" Aaron said eagerly, quickening his pace.
Anne hurried after him. As they circled past a large tree and some thick bushes, they stepped into a clearing, and there they were.
Four fierce-looking adult dragons were confined in tall iron cages, standing upright on their hind legs, roaring and snorting. Gouts of flame burst from their open, fanged jaws into the dark sky. Their necks were held high, and their jaws were nearly fifty feet off the ground.
One was a silver-blue dragon with long, sharp horns, growling angrily at the wizards on the ground. A smooth-scaled green dragon twisted and stomped wildly in its cage. A red dragon, whose face was ringed with peculiar sharp spikes, was belching mushroom-like fire clouds into the sky. And finally, a massive black dragon that resembled a dinosaur more than a traditional dragon.
There were at least thirty wizards present, with seven or eight handling each dragon. They gripped thick chains attached to massive leather harnesses secured around the dragons' legs and necks, doing their best to keep the beasts restrained.
"Don't move, Aaron!" one of the wizards near the fence shouted while tightening his grip on the chain. "They can blast fire twenty feet, you know that! I saw that Horntail shoot forty feet once!"
Aaron waved at the man, assuring him he'd stay put, then turned to Anne with admiration in his voice. "Aren't they incredible? These are all dragon handlers. The dragons were imported from around the world. When they submitted the import report, loads of other departments in the Ministry panicked. You should've seen the chaos, it was hilarious, Anne."
"Oh, right! I haven't introduced them to you properly yet. The largest, fiercest black one is a Hungarian Horntail. It takes at least ten wizards to handle it."
Anne nodded, eyes wide. The Horntail was currently trying to force its way out of its towering cage, spewing flame at any wizard who dared approach.
"The smaller one is a Common Welsh Green. The silver-blue one is a Swedish Short-Snout. And that red one, that's the Chinese Fireball."
Anne stared at the red Fireball. It was fiery red all over, its face surrounded by a circle of tough-looking sharp spikes. Its long tail lashed behind it, tipped with bony protrusions. When it breathed fire, it started as a ball before expanding into cloud-like flames.
"Aaron, is that Chinese Fireball really imported from China?"
"Of course," Aaron said proudly. "Actually, Diana helped a bit with that. The Roland family does a lot of business trading Eastern magical goods. You'll learn all about it once you're older. Come on, we can go in for a closer look now."
As Aaron spoke, the handlers began casting Stunning Spells at the dragons to calm them.
With a thunderous roar, each dragon slowly began to collapse, one after the other. The last to fall was the mighty Hungarian Horntail.
As Anne and Aaron approached, the collapsing weight of the Horntail kicked up a gust of wind so strong it nearly knocked Anne off her feet. Luckily, Aaron caught her just in time.
"Hahaha, Anne, don't worry, that happens all the time!"
With the last dragon down, the handlers visibly relaxed. The wizard who'd warned Aaron earlier now approached, and Anne recognized him, Charlie Weasley, Ron's brother, who worked with dragons in Bulgaria.
Several other handlers came over to greet Aaron, who introduced Anne warmly.
"This is Charlie Weasley, you met him at Arthur's house. He works with dragons in Bulgaria. And this is Webb Charlie, he's based in Ireland. He helped me a lot when I was there…"
Anne greeted each of them politely, impressed by how well-connected Aaron was among the handlers.
After the introductions, the handlers dispersed to their stations. Some took out parchment and approached the dragons to observe and record details.
Charlie headed over to examine the Horntail's wings.
Meanwhile, a white-haired wizard walked with Aaron around the dragons. It was Seacole Leelitt, the lead handler for this group, a respected dragonologist who had studied dragons for nearly fifty years.
After a thorough inspection, Leelitt handed Aaron a document.
"They were sedated during transport and remained asleep the whole way here. But the local climate seems to have stirred them. The Swedish Short-Snout woke up first, and the rest followed. What you saw just now was their awakening. It's under control."
Aaron nodded, flipped through the paperwork, and signed it with a flick of his wand.
Smiling, he handed the file back. "All right, Leelitt, now that business is done, mind if I show my little niece the dragons up close?"
The stern-looking wizard gave a simple nod and turned away.
"Don't be fooled by his serious face," Aaron whispered. "He's not like that with dragons, he's actually a very respected expert. Come on, Anne, let's get closer. This is a rare chance."
Anne was thrilled by the opportunity to get so close, maybe even touch a dragon. She eagerly followed Aaron toward the Chinese Fireball.
They stayed for nearly two hours before Aaron finally escorted a reluctant Anne back to the castle gates.
"It's getting late, Anne," he said with a smile. "You know Hogwarts rules, no wandering the grounds after nine. Go back to your dormitory. Maybe tell Fanny what you saw tonight, I'm sure she'd love to hear about the first task."
"Is that okay?" Anne asked, uncertain.
"As long as she doesn't tell anyone else, it's fine. I'm sure your friend can keep a secret. And good news is meant to be shared with good friends, right?"
Anne nodded, then asked, "What about you? What are you doing tonight?"
"I'll head back to the Ministry, finish up the paperwork, then go home and sleep. But I'll be back for the task on Tuesday. It's going to be spectacular. Goodnight, Anne."
"Goodnight, Uncle Aaron!" Anne waved before hurrying into the castle. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself and ran toward the Slytherin dorms, eager to share the night's adventure with Fanny, especially since Aaron had given her the green light.
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