Unfortunately, Heri's Burden of Atlas didn't stop the Horntail from breathing fire. She let loose a gout that burned blue with her ire, catching Ptolemy on its legs. One leg burned to char and the other melted right off. As Ptolemy wasn't a living thing, the scorching didn't hinder its flying at all, but the nature of its animating charm had it yowling as if it was in actual pain.
§OVER HERE!§ Heri yelled, leading Ignis in charging the dragon once more.
The distraction she provided granted enough time for Ptolemy to retreat, taking refuge higher up in the sky. The pressure-inducing spell was wearing off due to the magically-resistant nature of dragon hide, but the Horntail was still slow enough that Heri managed to nail it in the eye with her slingshot.
The dragon hissed belligerently and lashed out with a claw, but Heri and Ignis were already speeding away.
It was then that the Horntail noticed Heri's and Ignis' proximity to her nest. With a vicious snarl that actually made the stadium echo, the dragon broke free of the spell and hurled after them.
"Eat this!" Heri shouted, landing another hit in the dragon's face.
The pain from the eye-irritating solution Heri had soaked her ammunition in wasn't enough to stop the Horntail, but it bought Heri a precious few seconds while the dragon thrashed blindly. That was all Heri needed.
Ignis dived. Before the dragon could reorient herself, they were speeding toward the ground as fast as they could go, toward the unprotected eggs. Heri leaned over the side of Ignis — her arm stretched out —
And in a huge spurt of speed and light, they were off, rocketing up to where Ptolemy was waiting, far out of the Horntail's reach. Clinging to Heri's back was the doppelgänger she had created while the Horntail had been distracted, the golden egg pressed safely into its stomach.
When it was safe, Heri tucked the egg under one arm and dismissed the doppelgänger.
Allowing herself a calming breath, Heri watched as the dragon-tamers swarmed into the stadium. When the Horntail was properly subdued, she led her simulacrums back down.
It was as if somebody had just turned the volume back up — for the first time, she became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, screaming and applauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup.
"Look at that!" Mr Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion not only put on a spectacular showing, she isn't injured at all! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Miss Potter!"
So caught up by the spectacle of Heri's showing, Mr Bagman made no mention of the burst of bright light that had lit over Heri's head when she hauled up her double. Many in the crowd thought the light had been caused by some spell Heri had cast and thought nothing more of it. Only a select few understood the meaning of the incandescent image haloing the head of one who had just proved herself in battle.
It was after the post-Task party in Hufflepuff that Zacharias and Ernie covertly led Heri aside. The others were already in the midst of their pre-slumber rituals even though it was still a good two hours before curfew, so it was very simple for the three of them to slip off.
Ernie wasn't sure how to feel about things. On one hand, it was always wonderful to discover a new demigod; there was an innate camaraderie between those of divine descent, an inborn sense of connection that came from being the offspring of the forces of nature and the manifestations of the aspects of humanity. On the other hand, it was incredibly jarring when a proper one — one with an actual divine parent — popped up, since Magical Britain's demigod population was small and derived mainly from ancestry. Amongst them, Ernie himself was considered a rarity, what with him being a first generation legacy. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious to those that knew the signs that Heri was a demigoddess, but new ones were rare enough that it took them all by surprise.
Not that they had told her yet, of course. It wouldn't do to go blurting it out where her potential freak-out could draw unwanted attention. It was an open secret amongst wizards that the gods fraternised amongst them, but the resulting offspring and families liked to keep themselves lowkey and within their own little social circle. As such, Ernie and Zacharias felt duty-bound to bring Heri to the gathering that had been agreed upon before they informed her of what she was.
Well, Ernie felt duty-bound — Zacharias was caught up somewhere between irritated that another person shared the trait that made him special, and smug that it was his friend that was a newly discovered demigod.
"Where are we going?" asked Heri, looking back to the hall of tapestries they had just talked through. "What's so important that we need to go to the other side of the school to discuss it?"
"Others will be meeting us there. It'll be easier to explain then," Ernie replied vaguely.
The usual rendezvous spot was up in the north bell tower, not too out of the way from the usual routes to lessons, but far enough that it wasn't anywhere a regular student would wander up to. Meetings weren't a regular thing; usually, they just gathered at the beginning of the school-year to take note of what demigods if any had started that year, but times came that a previously unknown was discovered, and of course they had to be introduced and informed. The last new demigod was currently a second-year Gryffindor, but she had moved to Britain only two years ago, so she was more an Indian demigoddess than a British one.
When the three of them finally made it to the bell tower, everyone else had already arrived, all waiting expectantly. Zacharias ushered Heri in first while Ernie checked to make sure no one had followed them — then he closed the heavy wooden door.
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