Seeing Ollivander leave, Dumbledore came forward to take charge.
"Good morning, champions. Now gather around, the exciting moment is about to arrive. This is a time only you can enjoy."
Dumbledore shook his head with obvious enthusiasm, as if he were a contestant himself, then he noticed Hermione standing nearby.
"Why are you here, Miss Granger?"
"Uh, nothing, I think I should leave..." Hermione said, turning and walking away quickly.
Dumbledore pursed his lips and said, "Bring the bag over, Barty."
Barty walked up with a hunched posture, pulling several people into a tight circle. "Come now, Miss Delacour, ladies first?"
"We don't need to be first at this moment," Fleur said with a frown, reaching into the bag to grab a model.
Opening her hand, a smooth green-scaled dragon sat in her palm. She had drawn the Welsh Green dragon.
"Now, Mr. Krum."
Krum also reached in to grab a model, pulling out a red dragon that was spitting mushroom cloud-shaped fireballs.
"Chinese Fireball, not bad!" Karkaroff consoled him with obvious relief.
"Mr. Prewett." Barty held the bag directly in front of Aiden.
Aiden reached into the bag and pulled out a silver-blue dragon with long, sharp horns.
"Swedish Short-Snout." Aiden looked meaningfully at Harry.
"Hungarian Horntail..." Harry murmured with growing dread.
"What did you say?" Barty asked in confusion.
"Nothing." Harry reached into the bag and pulled out a black dragon with a menacing spiked tail.
Professor McGonagall watched Harry with deep worry from the sidelines.
"The drawing is complete. You need to retrieve the golden egg hidden in their nests under the dragons' guard. Please be sure to get the egg, because it contains clues to your next task."
After Barty finished reading the official rules, he stepped back, and Dumbledore came forward.
"Aiden, wait, when the cannon sounds, you should..." Dumbledore wanted to give some last-minute instructions.
But Filch on the platform was using Sonorus to monitor below, and hearing Dumbledore mention the cannon, immediately lit the cannon's fuse.
Bang! A violent cheer erupted from outside the tent.
Dumbledore patted Aiden's shoulder and let him go.
Walking out of the rest area, the Quidditch pitch had been dramatically transformed with strange rocks everywhere. Many dips and protrusions could provide essential cover for the champions.
Aiden stood calmly before the Swedish Short-Snout, looking up at the massive dragon.
A Virtual Personality passed through the collective unconscious sea, grasping the dragon's consciousness in its ethereal hand.
The Manipulator had already displayed his supernatural might, yet no one could detect any abnormality.
He walked past the dragon with casual confidence and put the golden egg in his pocket.
"Wow, amazing." The commentator on the platform expressed complete confusion about what had just happened.
"Cheating!" Karkaroff shouted with indignation.
"Now, it's time for our judges to score."
Dumbledore gave nine points, Maxime eight points, Ludo Bagman ten points, Barty Crouch nine points, and Karkaroff four points.
Karkaroff's deliberately low score angered the Hogwarts students, who all booed him loudly.
"Get lost, old zombie." "Rubbish Durmstrang."
Similar insults echoed throughout the stands.
"What's wrong with that? He didn't demonstrate anything spectacular, so what's wrong with giving four points?" Karkaroff stubbornly argued with the students below.
The students continued booing relentlessly, and Karkaroff turned back to ignore them.
The second to appear was Fleur. She cast a powerful Sleeping Charm on the Welsh Green dragon with graceful precision.
The spell penetrated the green dragon's thick skin, making it fall into peaceful slumber.
Fleur happily gave Madame Maxime a victory sign, then quickly climbed up to retrieve the golden egg.
But just then, the green dragon yawned and breathed out a small flame.
The flame ignited Fleur's skirt. She endured the scorching heat and rushed back to the rest area, where others helped extinguish the flames.
As before, Karkaroff generously gave four points while skillfully trading insults with the Beauxbatons students.
Madame Maxime glanced at him with disapproval but said nothing.
The third to appear was Krum. As soon as he entered the arena, he cast the Conjunctivitis Curse on the Fireball dragon. The angry Fireball dragon, unable to see clearly due to the curse, thrashed its tail wildly while trampling several precious dragon eggs, making Charlie wince with professional pain.
"Remember to demand compensation from Durmstrang afterward," Aiden encouraged Charlie from behind.
"Good idea. I'll contact the Romanian dragon sanctuary right now and have them send a lawyer's letter to Durmstrang," Charlie nodded with determination.
Finally, with his hair thoroughly singed, Krum rushed forward and grabbed the golden egg.
"Quick, control your dragon, he's already won," Karkaroff shouted anxiously.
But no one around paid attention to him, with staff uniformly watching coldly.
"Damn it!" Karkaroff spat with frustration.
In the scoring round, Dumbledore, Barty, and Ludo scored consistently, while Karkaroff gave Krum ten points.
"Pfft." "Hypocrite!" "Cheater!"
Now Hogwarts and Beauxbatons joined forces in cursing Karkaroff.
Madame Maxime smiled knowingly, raised her wand, and shot a large "3" into the sky.
"You!" Karkaroff glared at her with wide, outraged eyes.
"What's wrong? Look at the dragon eggs he trampled. Shouldn't that be penalized?"
Madame Maxime brought up the official rules, leaving Karkaroff completely speechless.
Finally, amid people's enthusiastic calls, Harry entered the arena.
"I must be crazy to participate in this," Harry complained under his breath.
But the Horntail's tail was already swinging toward him menacingly. Its sharp, spiked tail smashed the artificial mountain like a massive mace.
Harry could only run quickly, dodging around a turn to hide behind a large boulder.
"Oh, it seems our Mr. Potter has his own ideas!" The commentator closely followed the action in the arena.
"Get him, Mr. Potter! Use your invincible wand to defeat it!"
The excited commentator got carried away until Professor McGonagall gave him a sharp smack to shut him up.
The Horntail breathed intense fire at the boulder where Harry was hiding. The high temperature scorched Harry, and the stone gradually turned red-hot.
"Harry, use a spell! The spell from last night!" Hermione shouted desperately from the stands.
"Accio Firebolt!" Harry raised his wand and used the Summoning Charm with perfect timing.
From outside the arena, a flying broomstick came soaring over. At the last moment before the Horntail's flames melted the stone, Harry jumped onto the broomstick.
"Well done!" George and Fred high-fived each other with excitement.
They had started a betting pool on the four champions' results, and clearly Harry's potential failure had good odds.
Harry rode his broomstick in graceful circles around the arena, with the dragon flying up to chase him aggressively.
Harry first climbed high and then dove down dramatically. Just as the dragon was about to bite him, he pulled up in a sharp V-maneuver, causing the dragon to crash heavily into the ground.
"Woohoo!!!" The audience cheered wildly for him.
Harry also made a skillful turn and retrieved the golden egg from the dragon's nest.
Ron immediately roared and rushed up to celebrate with Harry, and their conflict dissolved just like that.
On the platform, Dumbledore gave Harry nine points, Barty nine points, Ludo ten points, Maxime eight points, and Karkaroff four points.
"Why did he give four points again? He's definitely targeting us, that damn old zombie," Ron cursed with righteous anger.
But Harry was immersed in the joy of reconciling with his best friend, feeling that even if Karkaroff gave him zero points, it wouldn't matter.
The first task ended with final scores: Harry and Krum tied for first place, Aiden second, and Fleur in last place.