0555 Meetings

Four massive, fierce-looking adult dragons were abruptly thrown into the sturdy wooden enclosure by Bryan. These magnificent beasts were notoriously difficult to tame, especially during their unique and sensitive egg-laying period when their powerful maternal instincts caused them to almost completely lose their natural aversion to danger.

Despite having just witnessed a humbling demonstration of their own relative powerlessness against Bryan, the dragons still boldly threw wild tantrums inside the confines of the enclosure, thrashing about with reckless abandon.

Bryan’s unwelcome presence seemed to prevent the dragons from calming down, and the potent wards and enchantments woven into the boards of the enclosure rendered the dragons unable to unleash their trademark fire breath or take flight to escape.

However, the ill-tempered Hungarian Horntail, largest and most aggressive of the four, refused to stop seeking even the tiniest chance at breaking free from captivity. It repeatedly rammed its hide against the magically reinforced boards with thunderous force, only to be repelled each time by the faint but solid magical glow emanating from the wood. But the Horntail did not give up, and continued its futile assault, sending tremors through the ground with each ferocious impact.

The smaller but more agile Welsh Green dragon took a different approach, flexibly climbing the vertical boards of the enclosure, but to no avail – its razor-sharp claws, capable of tearing flesh from bone, could not hook in the unnaturally smooth and magically hardened wood.

The crafty Swedish Short-Snout, demonstrating the keen intellect representative of its species, instinctively sought to burrow deep into the earth and tunnel its way to freedom far beneath the walls that imprisoned it.

This clever tactic did not go unnoticed by Bryan, who quickly cast an additional strengthening enchantment upon the ground itself, rendering it as impenetrable as the boards above.

Only the Chinese Fireball, smallest of the four dragons, was calm. It protectively hid its egg beneath the crimson scales of its belly and simply observed the desperate escape attempts of its enraged companions with fiery eyes.

When the Fireball saw that no method was effective against their magical prison, it reluctantly lay down on the crammed earth, keeping its fierce, eyes pointed directly at Bryan with equal parts caution and resentment.

Though the immediate danger posed by the dragons’ wrath had been temporarily quelled, the dragon handlers dared not let their guard down for even a moment. They focused their efforts on trying to pacify and soothe the three noisier dragons into a more subdued state.

“I strongly suggest you keep your distance from these dragons for the duration of the tournament, Bryan,” Charlie warned between deep breaths as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He stared at Bryan with a look of deep displeasure – and for good reason.

Charlie’s sincere love and respect for dragons was the driving force behind his decision to decline an offer to join a somewhat famous professional Quidditch team upon graduating Hogwarts. To Charlie, the thought of harming, let alone killing, an innocent wild dragon was utterly unthinkable and hateful.

“If you don’t heed my advice, those poor Triwizard Champions are going to be in for a world of pain and misery when they face these mother dragons,” Charlie said gravely.

“Doesn’t that just make the First Task that much more exciting and challenging?” Bryan replied with a smile.

Charlie slowly shook his head in exasperation and disbelief. ” I really don’t understand what you’re thinking. If your goal was simply to have the Champions tangle with some dragons, there was absolutely no need to deliberately seek out nesting mothers, of all things!”

Charlie’s expression darkened as a new worry entered his mind. “I daren’t even tell my mother what you have in store for the Champions, Bryan. Mum hasn’t exactly been your biggest fan as of late, and if I were to let slip that you’ve brought up savage mother dragons for the First Task, she would definitely have even stronger opinions about you.”

“By ‘your mother,’ I take it you mean Mrs. Weasley?” Bryan inquired, his piercing gaze shifting away from the dragon enclosure to focus on Charlie’s freckled face as he processed this unexpected revelation. He felt a little strange about what Charlie said. “That’s rather odd… what could I have possibly done to offend her to such a degree?”

Charlie gave Bryan a rueful smile tinged with a touch of sympathy. “Mum is outraged that you and Professor Dumbledore thought it was even remotely acceptable to allow Hermione to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. After she read Rita Skeeter’s report in the Daily Prophet—!”

Charlie shifted his posture and voice, imitating his mother’s indignant tone: “Oh for Merlin’s sake, what in the world were Albus and Bryan thinking, letting poor Hermione represent the underage students? This isn’t something that can be done just by having good grades!”

At this, Bryan couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh in spite of the direness of the situation.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Charlie told that in order to keep the dragons sufficiently calm during the long journey to Hogwarts, he and his fellow handlers were forced to feed them with large amounts of sleeping potion on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, they had underestimated how much potion would be required, and as a result, they had no choice but to make the dragons travel day and night without rest to avoid the risk of the dragons awakening in a crowded area. This necessary rush was the reason they arrived at the school earlier than Bryan had anticipated.

Despite the dragon handlers’ heroic efforts and years of experience, they simply could not calm the agitated dragons. Abandoning their ultimately futile attempts, the handlers settled for glaring resentfully at Bryan, silently blaming him for their distress – not that any of them had the nerve to tell the renowned Bryan Watson to leave.

Thankfully, Bryan was sensible enough to realize that his presence was less than welcome, by human and dragon both.

“I think it’s safe to say these magnificent beasts won’t be going anywhere, Charlie,” Bryan said with an easy smile. “What do you say to joining me for a drink back at the castle? Think of it as an official ‘welcome to Hogwarts’ from yours truly!”

“I appreciate the offer, Bryan, I really do,” Charlie began, clearly tempted by the thought of a drink, “but I’m afraid I have to decline. My team and I need to do everything we can to help the dragons adapt to their new environment as quickly as possible. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long camping trip for us out here in the forest until the First Task officially begins.”

Charlie thought for a moment, then added, “I actually sent an owl to Hagrid a while back about our arrival. We’re counting on him to keep us well supplied while we’re out here. Although, come to think of it…”

Charlie warily scanned the shadowy tree line that marked the boundary of the Forbidden Forest before continuing in a hushed tone, “I was so certain that Hagrid would have been the first friendly face to greet us when we got here. You know as well as I do how much Hagrid adores dragons – the man even entrusted me with caring for an infant dragon he’d been secretly raising before sending it off to the preserve!”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about Hagrid,” Bryan said with a knowing grin, turning to face a particularly dense patch of bushes. “He’s been here for quite some time, actually.”

Rustle—

As if on cue, the lush bush behind Bryan rustled and shifted as something truly enormous forced its way into the clearing.

“Yeh always were a sharp one, Professor Watson,” chuckled the unmistakable voice of Hagrid as he emerged from the bushes with Fang trotting along beside him.

“Hagrid, it’s great to see you!” Charlie exclaimed, his eyes wide with pleased surprise. His brows then furrowed as he took in the sight of the frightened house elf accompanying Hagrid, trembling like a leaf before the dragons.

“Hang on a second… Hagrid, you brought a Hogwarts house elf out here with you? You know full well we’re under strict orders to keep the Tournament tasks completely under wraps,” Charlie said, his voice colored with disapproval as he shot a meaningful glance at Bryan.

“Aw c’mon Charlie, wha’s the harm? The little fella’s been a huge help ter me, and it ain’t like I could jus’ refuse when he asked ter tag along! B’sides, who wouldn’t want ter get a look at these beauties?” Hagrid said dismissively, walking over to the sturdy fence of the enclosure and gazing lovingly at the four captive dragons.

“Magnificent creatures,” Hagrid murmured, “simply magnificent…”

Charlie shook his head, equal parts amused and exasperated by Hagrid’s attitude and characteristic dragon obsession. Changing tactics, Charlie fixed Hagrid with a serious stare and asked, “At the very least, please tell me no one else followed you here?”

Hagrid abruptly tore his captivated gaze away from the dragons and began to fidget, his massive frame shifting guiltily. With eyes fixed upon the dragons, Hagrid mumbled, “O’ course not Charlie, I was real careful the whole way ‘ere, yeh got my word on that.”

“Yes, I’m sure you were as stealthy as a half-giant could possibly be,” Bryan murmured wryly, the corner of his mouth twitching as he resisted the urge to laugh.

Bryan knew full well that there were two other trespassers lurking behind the very bushes Hagrid had just bumbled through. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for Madame Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy and Hagrid’s not-so-secret companion.

She was currently twisted into what appeared to be a very uncomfortable position as she attempted to conceal her towering body behind the inadequate cover of the waist-high bushes.

Of course, Hermione wasn’t faring much better in her own hiding spot. Though she had the foresight to don the invisibility cloak before sneaking out to the forbidden forest, her nerves were threatening to give her away. Even at a distance of thirty feet, Bryan swore he could hear the poor girl’s heart beating like a frightened rabbit’s. She was probably on the verge of a breakdown from anxiety.

Needless to say, Karkaroff, who was farther away and had even climbed a tree to get a clear view of what was happening inside, was no better.

As he took in the laughable sight of supposedly respected academic authority figures lurking like naughty schoolchildren, Bryan had to admit that the Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang certainly couldn’t be accused of not doing everything in their power to give their respective Champions an edge in the Triwizard Tournament. And of course, Hagrid’s contribution was indispensable.

Coming back to the moment at hand, Bryan heard Charlie repeat to Hagrid the vital importance of having enough meat on hand to keep the irritable dragons well fed before sunrise, since they had spent the majority of their journey in a charmed sleep and would surely be hungry upon waking.

Bryan, keenly aware that his continued presence would only make an already absurd situation even more awkward for certain parties, made his own polite excuses and turned to leave. As he did, Bryan just managed to glimpse Hermione, still concealed beneath her invisibility cloak, carefully removing herself from her hiding place as quiet as a mouse.

From what little Bryan knew of Hermione’s character, and given her close friendship with Hagrid, Bryan guessed that Hermione had also assumed – quite correctly – that Hagrid would likely be spending the night with his beloved dragons.

But Hermione still remembered that Harry was waiting for her in the common room. And so, after desperately taking one last look at the behemoths in the enclosure, Hermione didn’t disturb the focused Madame Maxime and quietly retreated—

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