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The day of the first Triwizard task soon arrived.
Excited smiles hung on the faces of all the young witches and wizards at Hogwarts. The long-awaited task was finally about to begin.
The only question was which school's champion would claim second place.
Hm? Why second?
Because first place was unquestionably Mr. Dursley's. As for second, that depended on whether Mr. Potter decided to play along.
As for why Harry had entered the Triwizard Tournament, the students had all sorts of theories. Some said Harry had finally stopped hiding his true nature. Some said he had acted on impulse and suddenly wanted to try. Others said someone had framed him.
There were theories of every kind.
Harry himself strongly denied putting his name in. He truly had not done it. Someone else had put it in for him. However, aside from a small group of conspiracy-minded students, no one believed him.
Near noon, under the guidance of Ministry staff, the four champions from the three schools entered a huge tent.
They would draw lots here and decide who would face the first task first.
Fleur's face was rather pale, and she looked unwell. Viktor paced back and forth inside the tent with a dark expression.
Anyone who knew they were about to face a dragon would be nervous.
Even with magic, dragon-slayers were extremely rare.
Bagman stood between the two champions, dressed in an old Wasps team robe and looking like a cartoon character.
"Come along, then. We are only waiting for you two."
When he saw Dudley and Harry, Bagman looked extremely happy. With an excited face, he explained the order of the draw.
He did not need to go onto the field, and there would soon be a good show to watch.
Bagman held up a linen-colored cloth bag.
"In a moment, each of you will pick out a model of the thing you are about to face! Hm... I imagine you all already know what it is, so I will not go on at length. Oh, and your task is to retrieve the golden egg."
At Bagman's words, Fleur's face grew even paler. She no longer had the proud, mocking expression she had shown before.
Viktor was a little better. His expression did not change much, though his pacing grew faster.
Before long, waves of noise rose outside the tent. The spectators for the task had begun entering.
Although the Triwizard Tournament was being held at Hogwarts, the spectators were not limited to Hogwarts students. Wizards from across Europe could come to watch, provided they paid the entrance fee.
The Ministry of Magic, as the host, collected the fee. It was apparently not cheap.
Why had the Triwizard Tournament been revived? Why was the prize money as high as one thousand Galleons?
This was part of the reason.
It made money.
"Champions!" Bagman saw that the time was nearly right and raised the bag again. "Who would like to draw first?"
His eyes turned toward the only female champion, Fleur. At that moment, her face had become almost bloodless.
"I think perhaps..."
Before he could finish speaking, a strong hand pressed down on his wrist and gently pulled the cloth bag over.
"Mr. Bagman."
Dudley's voice carried a tone that left no room for doubt.
"May I be the first to draw?"
When facing Dudley before, Bagman had not felt anything in particular. But now, standing so close and looking up at Dudley's face, he felt an instinctive fear from some deep biological place.
His heart trembled for no reason.
"O-of course."
The words left his mouth on their own.
"Thank you."
When Dudley withdrew his gaze, the terrible feeling around Bagman's heart vanished at once, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He no longer dared meet Dudley's eyes directly and only stole glances from the corner of his eye.
Apart from a physique that was absurdly strong, there seemed to be nothing special about him.
Bagman was not as strong as Dudley, but he had once been a star Quidditch player, and he was an adult wizard. Why had he feared an underage wizard so much?
Bagman could not understand it, but he did not want to experience that feeling again.
In his heart, he silently labeled Dudley as someone not to provoke casually.
As for the draw, there was no fixed order.
Whoever drew first was fine.
Dudley reached into the cloth bag. When he pulled his hand back, sharp-eyed Bagman immediately saw a flash of green between his fingers.
Good luck. A Common Welsh Green.
Of the four dragons, it had the mildest temperament. It did not like actively causing trouble and would even avoid humans.
"Good lu... hm?"
Before Bagman could finish speaking, he saw a patch of scarlet showing between Dudley's fingers as well.
'A Chinese Fireball?'
'He pulled out two?'
Bagman's brain briefly failed to keep up.
Then he saw a third color.
Silver-blue.
'A Swedish Short-Snout? Not two, but three?'
When Dudley opened his palm in front of him, Bagman could no longer sit still.
Not three.
Four.
In Dudley's palm lay a small black dragon model as well: the most savage and violent of all, the Hungarian Horntail.
Now Bagman was stunned.
What did this mean?
"You... I..."
Bagman failed to form a complete sentence for a long while and even bit the inside of his mouth by accident. Pain twitched across his cheek.
The strange situation drew Fleur's and Viktor's attention. When their eyes fell on the four dragons in Dudley's palm, they clearly froze as well.
Four dragons?
What did that mean?
Only Harry's expression remained calm.
Yes. This was exactly the sort of thing Dudley would do.
"Mr. Bagman, I think you should go and prepare. I can wait ten minutes before the challenge."
"But these are four."
"Is that not allowed? Am I not allowed to challenge four dragons at once?"
Bagman did not dare look Dudley in the eye. Dudley merely looked at him lightly.
"Mr. Bagman, I do not believe the rules state that one cannot take multiple models, nor do they state that one cannot challenge four dragons."
They did not state that he could not.
But if he challenged all four dragons, what would the others do?
Well... having them draw again was not impossible.
No, that was not the point!
Bagman's head buzzed. This was the first time he had ever encountered this situation.
Other people avoided dragons as if their lives depended on it.
Dudley, on the other hand, wanted to challenge four at once.
And he was still an underage wizard. Was he mad? Did he not want to live?
"Mr. Dursley, this..."
Bagman took several deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.
"I think I should report this to the other judges."
"Of course."
Dudley nodded, as if inviting him to go.
Watching Bagman lift the tent flap and leave, Dudley smiled silently.
It was time to give the other two schools a little Hogwarts-style shock.
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