Chapter 53

Night had fallen and the grounds were plunged into darkness, the trees surrounding Atlas and Harry as they followed behind Hagrid and his apparent date, Madame Maxime, hunching over them like daunting, grasping claws. They were going deep, deep into the forbidden forest, further than Atlas had been in a while and she was starting to get tired, her feet aching and back hurting just as much from having to bend over so the cloak didn’t reveal her ankles. The castle and the lake were out of sight by now and instead, the evidence of solitude was clear all around them. No soul to be seen, no sound, even the trees seemed to hold no life.

Where ever Hagrid was taking them, Atlas knew it wouldn’t be a typical date venue. She started to wonder. Did the first trial have something to do with the forest? That would be too favourable of the Hogwarts champion(s) though, wouldn’t it? And she knew Karkaroff and Maxime wouldn’t have allowed it or agreed to the first trials setting. So what? What could possibly be kept in the Forbidden Forest that didn’t offer some sort of advantage to her and Harry?

That question was soon answered.

After stumbling over a large tree root, Atlas cursed, loud enough for Madame Maxime to hear but, thankfully, she hadn’t, for the word had been drowned out by a ferocious sound. Harry went as pale as a ghost while Atlas felt her throat go dry, her eyes wide and mouth just as gaping. She took a subconscious step forward, forcing Harry along with her as a blaze of firey light lit up the front of her face.

Dragons. Four fully grown dragons. Atlas would have been excited, ecstatic even if she hadn’t known these were the beasts she were to face for the first trial. A loud boom echoed through the trees when one of the dragons pushed itself to its hind legs in anger and collided with the floor once more, harsh clouds of hells flame expelling from their snout. She glanced them over, eyes nervously flitting across each set of scales to determine their species while Harry clutched her hand in fright.

There was a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might, Atlas knew it to match the description of a Common Welsh Green; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air, a Chinese Fireball; a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others, a Hungarian Horntail; and finally, the one Atlas almost fainted at the sight of seeing.

An Albanian Agoniser.

The Agonisers shed plate Atlas had sat above her bed paled in comparison to the sleek and healthy shine of the scales on this beast’s form. It glistened a deep garnet red in the fire it had surrounded itself with, black specks littering its sides like freckles upon skin, two horns reached high into the sky, those were at its crown and the rest settled at its chin. A thin layer of black skin blanketed its eye momentarily as it blinked, purely pearlescent scleras with a tiny tint in shade to its pupil hid beneath and Atlas was lost to them in an instant.

It was calmer than the others, magnificently so considering its renowned temperament. That’s when Atlas saw her, gently stroking the underside of its chin down to its gullet. Isabella Krase, the supposed prick that had not been responding to her letters and now she knew why. There was no way the school owls would venture into the territory of a dragon let alone four, not even Kalo would be so daring and he was no regular bird.

“Izzie! I need you over here!” That voice, it sounded like Charlie. Atlas tore her gaze from the Agoniser and watched as, indeed, Charlie Weasley called for the woman’s help from where he stood trying to wrangle with the Hungarian Horntail. “Izzie!”

“Wait a moment!” Bella uttered a few words to her placid dragon friend and quickly ran over to the dragon closest to the fence, holding her hands up as she tried to tame the beast’s fury. “It’s no good, I’ve not worked with her long!”

“You’ve got this Miss Krase!” One of the other dragon keepers shouted before jumping out of the way of a stray length of flame.

The Hungarian Horntail continued to thrash about, avoiding Bella but snapping and spewing flames at the others surrounding. It seemed to at least not want to hurt the squib, sensing no ill-intent but because, as Bella had proclaimed, they had not been working together for long, it did not place its trust, fully, within the woman.

Finally, the two giant forms watching behind the fence alongside two invisible kids were noticed and both Charlie Weasley and Bella Krase moved to shout at the same time, glancing at each other with flushes on their faces before Charlie took the lead. “Keep back there, Hagrid!” he yelled, straining on the chain he was holding. “They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I’ve seen this Horntail do forty! You’re lucky the Agoniser is placid, she’s real feisty!”

“Is’n’ it beautiful?” Hagrid said softly and Atlas found herself nodding, momentarily forgetting one of the four would be a possible opponent of hers.

“It’s no good!” A nameless wizard yelled, rushing in front of Bella. “Get back Miss Krase, it’s out of control!”

Bella did as told, though with noticeable hesitance on her face as seven wizards rushed forward with their wands raised, throwing spells at the beasts hind. Charlie held Bella back as all three rampaging dragons were felled, landing in giant heaps of sleep that sent even the trees cowering, some were even uprooted by the shockwave. The other wizards and witches seized the moment to fasten them down with iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.

“Wan’ a closer look?” Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, and both Atlas and Harry followed, awestruck. Charlie jogged over to them, pulling Bella with him as he drew closer to the fence and greeted the two giant figures with a wide grin.

“All right, Hagrid?” Charlie panted. “They should be okay now – we put them out with a Sleeping Draft on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet – but, as you saw, they weren’t happy, not happy at all –“

“What breeds you got here?” said Hagrid, gazing at the Hungarian Horntail, with something close to reverence. Its eyes were still just open. Atlas could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath its wrinkled black eyelid.

“This is a Hungarian Horntail,” Charlie spoke, “There’s a Common Welsh Green over there and a Chinese Fireball, that’s the red.”

“And the other red one? With the black specks?”

“That–” Bella began, rolling her shoulder around as Charlie hooked an arm around the other. “–is an Albanian Agoniser, a sweetheart really but…” she glanced back at the dragon furtively, watching as it grew restless away from her presence. “…temperamental, she’s alright now because I’m in the area but…as soon as I’m gone…”

“Boom,” Charlie finished. Atlas knocked from her daze when she heard the crunch of twigs behind her and turned to see Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the stunned dragons. “I didn’t know you were bringing her, Hagrid. The champions aren’t supposed to know what’s coming – she’s bound to tell her student, isn’t she?”

“Jus’ thought she’d like ter see ’em,” Hagrid shrugged, still gazing at the dragons. Atlas knew Maxime was to tell Fleur so she thought she might tell Viktor, thinking it only fair that all of the champions knew and not just the three.

“Really romantic date, Hagrid,” Charlie said but Bella nudged his side.

“No better than your idea of a romantic date,” She chastised and Charlie laughed heartily while Atlas and Harry exchanged a startled look beneath the cloak. So, that was definitely not what Atlas was expecting but, nonetheless, she was glad Bella seemed to have found someone as utterly enraptured in dragons as she was.

“Four…” Hagrid said, unperturbed by the show of subtle affection before him, “so it’s one fer each o’ the champions, is it? What’ve they gotta do – fight ’em?”

“Just get past them, I think,” Charlie said. “We’ll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don’t know why…but I tell you this, I don’t envy the one who gets the Horntail nor the Agoniser. Horntail’s back end’s as dangerous as its front, look.”

Charlie pointed toward the Horntail’s tail, and Atlas noted the long, bronze-coloured spikes protruding along it every few inches.

“And that Agoniser, the fire’s infectious, you get hit by even a lick of that and you’ll go up alight. It spreads, nasty stuff. And its roar? Almost made me deaf the first time I heard it,” Charlie said, motioning over his shoulder to the dragon as Bella nodded in grave agreement.

Five of Charlie and Bella’s fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-grey eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail’s side. Hagrid let out a groan of longing.

“I’ve got them counted, Hagrid,” Charlie said sternly as Bella chuckled beside him. Then he said, “How’s Harry?”

“Fine,” Hagrid said. He was still gazing at the eggs.

“Just hope he’s still fine after he’s faced this lot,” Charlie said grimly, looking out over the dragons’ enclosure. “I didn’t dare tell Mum what he’s got to do for the first task; she’s already having kittens about him…”– Charlie seemed to imitate his mother’s anxious voice. Not that Atlas would know what that sounded like, she’d never met the woman — “‘How could they let him enter that tournament, he’s much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!’ She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about him. ‘He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!'”

“She didn’ say anythin’ about Atlas then?” Hagrid mumbled and Charlie tensed as Bella went rigid beside him.

“Why would she say anything about Atlas?” Bella asked. Again, the god-siblings exchanged quizzical looks beneath the cloak and watched as Bella slowly broke down into a mess of nerves and anxiousness. The Squib turned to look up at Charlie as the man rubbed at the back of his neck, looking away guiltily. “Charlie, why would she say anything about Atlas?”

“Yeh don’t know?” Hagrid asked, finally tearing his gaze from the dragons and looking upon the keepers in confusion. “Atlas is a champion too.”

“She’s…what?”

“Izzie…” Charlie tried to ease, his hands out in front of him as Bella bawled her hands into fists. 

“Is this why you wouldn’t let me see the Prophet?” She got out shakily and Charlie frowned, worrying his bottom lip as Atlas quietly sighed, her brows drawn together sadly. She didn’t want this. Any of it. Making people worry was what Atlas hated most. Especially as that person was Bella who used to cry and despair over not being able to help and look after her because of how powerless she really was to anyone with even an ounce of magic coursing through them.

“Izzie I–“

“She’s my sister! Don’t I have a right to know!?” Bella fumed and Hagrid wrung his hands together nervously. He’d unknowingly caused this whole mess and obviously felt terrible. However, Atlas was glad Bella now knew, it was better than her finding out when her death was plastered on the front of the Daily Prophet as headline news. She shouldn’t think that way but that was all she could do at that moment. “Fuck you, Weasley.”

“Isabella wait!” Charlie called helplessly as the woman stormed away. He sighed and looked back at Hagrid. “I’ll see you, Hagrid.”

“Er, yeah..sorry about that Charlie.”

“It’s fine, it’s good she knows now. Look after them though, alright? Until and after the task, Atlas and Harry,” He muttered and then ran after the blonde, casting a half-hearted wave over his shoulder.

Atlas had had enough, she wanted to just go home and sleep. Then, however, she remembered their meeting with Sirius and perked up the slightest bit. She had never wanted to talk to a person more, perhaps Hermione but this would be different, this would be the first time she’d speak to her dad in months without a sheet of parchment being their use of communication.

With that in mind, she turned around and pulled at Harry’s wrist, taking them back the way they had come with one destination in mind. The Common Room fireplace. She easily jumped over roots and slipped past trees while Harry had a great deal of trouble keeping up with her but ultimately remained on her heel, huffing and panting. Soon, the castle and lake came in to view and with a quick glance to her watch, Atlas knew they’d be on time.

As soon as they reached Hagrid’s hut, out of the corner of her eye she noticed a figure venturing the way they had come but didn’t look any further into it. She sensed no mal-intent, just something secretive so she didn’t see a reason to investigate. By the time she had processed the form, they were already climbing up the steps to the courtyard, anyway, so she couldn’t very well turn around and go after whoever it was without making them late.

Harry looked like he needed to catch his breath so Atlas stopped when they got to the foot of the marble staircase, looking over him in concern but he quickly dismissed her and took the lead, jogging up the rest of the way and taking the cloak completely off of him. Atlas couldn’t hear anyone walking about so she didn’t stop him, instead, encouraging him to pass the cloak to her as he seemed to have some trouble bunching it up with his quivering hands.

It was because of the dragons, she knew, the way he had paled upon seeing them. He was scared and she was too, she just knew she needed to not show it. After being chosen she’d sort of steeled herself to whatever would come, to save herself from becoming so anxious her heart would clench painfully again. Though, she had to admit, she hadn’t expected dragons and the revelation had startled her so badly she almost felt that steel melt to something useless.

She tried not to think about it and uttered, “Balderdash,” to the Fat Lady’s sleeping form. Hurrying inside with Harry right beside her. As they ventured further into the Common Rooms, they noticed Hermione sat, eyes drifting open and closed by the fire with Crookshanks in her lap. Harry shot Atlas a smirk as he caught his breath and the girl rolled her eyes, moving over to where her best friend sat trying desperately not to doze off.

“Hermione…” Atlas whispered, swiping a stray strand of hair from the girls face. She didn’t stir, her eyes still half-open half-closed. Crookshanks did however and stood up, stretching out before pouncing onto her shoulder.

“Looks like you have to take her up,” Harry said and Atlas glanced over at him, sighing before she nodded and hooked an arm underneath Hermione’s legs, the other at her back. She hoisted her from the chair with a soft grunt and moved over to the stairs leading up to the girls’ dorms, only she stopped and looked over at Harry, opening her mouth to speak. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t let him go until you’ve seen him.”

“Thank you, Harry,” Atlas smiled and the boy simply nodded, watching as Atlas turned around and continued up the stairs. The stairway was darker than usual, the candles all completely spent but, knowing what she knew, Atlas reasoned they’d be replaced by morning and shifted her eyes to see, looking down at her feet as she navigated her way up the dark passage.

She came to their door and kicked it open lightly, smiling at the lively bunch of flowers still kept and healthy on the windowsill. They were the ones Fleur had given her but she had regifted them to Hermione and, with the help of a little bit of magic, Hermione had replanted them and kept them where the sun would shine upon them. That did make her smile. Krum’s magical little robin came down from his perch and landed in Atlas’s hair, tweeting a sweet but quiet tune as Atlas put Hermione to bed, hovering over her a moment before placing a light kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep tight, Mi…” She murmured, taking Crookshanks from her shoulder and placing him in Hermione’s open arms. It really was a sight to see and Atlas really couldn’t grasp the reason as to why Hermione thought of her appearance as something not to be complimented. Now that thought made her frown and she sighed, regarding the girl in front of her silently before crouching down to sit on the balls of her feet.

She was another person Atlas didn’t want to worry but the bags under her eyes and the countless magical tomes sprawled around the room, much more than usual, were proof her wishes hadn’t been met. Atlas pondered silently. Harry would surely tell the girl about the dragons and Hermione would stress to find a solution for him, she didn’t want to add on more stress by being another person she needed to study for. So, should she just avoid them? That would be best, wouldn’t it? That way she could study on her own while Hermione focused on Harry.

Atlas sighed, swiping another hair away from Hermione’s face.

There really was something different about her but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it, until, Hermione let out a light snore, her lips parting the tiniest bit to reveal nothing. And that was strange, Hermione had buck teeth so usually they could be seen but Atlas saw nothing. Then it clicked. Malfoys spell, she had taken the opportunity to get her teeth shortened by Madam Pomfrey.

“Oh…” Atlas breathed and stood, looking upon the girl with a small soft smile as she plucked the robin from her head, gave his chest a few strokes and then placed him in the makeshift nest Hermione had made him on her desk. As long as she was happy, doing it for herself and not for the approval of the crowd, Atlas wouldn’t say anything, wasn’t her place.

The girl turned and left the room, glancing over her shoulder to the sleeping form once more before plunging back into the darkness of the stairwell and moving over to where Harry was, talking to the fireplace avidly. He turned upon hearing her steps and ushered her over, moving slightly to the side so Atlas could collapse to her knees and greet her father.

“Dad,” She smiled as the man beamed.

“How are you pumpkin?” He asked as Atlas moved to cross her legs instead, holding her knees as she thought up her answer.

“Alright, all things considered, has Harry told you what our first task is?”

“Indeed he has, little star,” Sirius seemed to nod.

“Atlas, did you know Karkaroff was a death eater?” Harry asked, a little breathless.

“Amaya was the one to put the man away, Harry,” Sirius answered instead while Atlas simply nodded along. “Her and Moody were tasked with finding him one night when Death Eaters were wreaking havoc across London, he went one way while she went the other and caught Karkaroff trying to escape.”

“You think he was the one to put our names in, dad? As some sort of revenge, maybe?” Atlas questioned, attention utterly enraptured by the firey face before her. Sirius nodded immediately, seeming completely sure of himself. “He was furious though. Looked at me and Harry like we’d spat in his morning pumpkin juice.”

“He’s a good actor, pumpkin. We know that,” Sirius said, “because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn’t he? Now, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet.”

“You and the rest of the world,” Harry muttered bitterly and Atlas hooked an arm around his shoulder sympathetically, ruffling his hair.

“I’ve been reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman’s article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm,” Sirius said hastily, seeing Harry about to speak, “but I don’t think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one’s going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye’s heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still spot the real thing. Moody was the second-best Auror the Ministry ever had.”

“So…what are you saying?” Atlas began slowly. “Karkaroff’s trying to kill us? But – why? I mean, besides revenge but even still, why involve Harry too? Because he’s an Ex-Death Eater? You think he’s trying to get in a good one for his old boss?”

Sirius hesitated.

“I’ve been nearing some very strange things,” he said gently. “The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn’t they? Someone set off the Dark Mark…and then – did you hear about that Ministry of Magic witch who’s gone missing?”

“No,” Atlas said, shaking her head but Harry seemed to differ as he nodded enthusiastically.

“Bertha Jorkins.”

“Exactly…she disappeared in Albania, and that’s definitely where Voldemort was rumoured to be last…and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn’t she?”

“Yeah, but…it’s not very likely she’d have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?” Harry said.

“Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins,” Sirius began grimly. “She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me but a year above Amaya. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. Amaya seemed to like her company but, let me tell you, it’s not a good combination. I’d say she’d be very easy to lure into a trap.”

“So…so Voldemort could have found out about the tournament?” Harry said. “Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius admitted, “I just don’t know…Karkaroff doesn’t strike me as the type who’d go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can’t help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident. You two need to stick together.”

“We will,” Harry said confidently while Atlas remained silent, chewing the inside of her cheek guiltily. She had been planning to go to Hogsmeade. “Their plan already looks like a really good one from where I’m standing,” He then continued, grinning bleakly. “They’ll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff.”

“Right — these dragons,” Sirius said, speaking very quickly now. “There’s a way. Don’t be tempted to try a Stunning Spell — dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon –“

“Yeah, we know, we just saw,” Atlas hurried.

“But you can do it alone,” Sirius urged. “There is away, and a simple spell’s all you need. Just –“

A sudden sound met Atlas’s ear and she held her hand up to quieten her father, turning her gaze to the stairs of the boys’ dormitory. Footsteps, accompanied by a large shadow drifting downwards. Atlas panicked, accidentally slapped Harry in the face and swivelled back to look at her dad, leaning over the fire.

“Go!” she hissed. “Go! There’s someone coming!”

“Ok, love you star, you too Harry.”

“No time for goodbyes Pa, go!” Atlas stood just as Harry waved goodbye to the burning logs and they both scrambled upright, Atlas diving to lay on the sofa where she plucked up a stray revision booklet and Harry remaining by the fire, looking around inconspicuously. A pop came from the flame and Atlas noticed her fathers face nowhere to be seen, setting a relieved smile on her face as she sunk further into the sofas cushions.

“Who were you talking to?” It was Ron.

“Atlas,” Harry replied quickly and the girl in question sat up, poking her head over the back of the sofa. The boy was dressed in his maroon paisley pyjamas, his hair sticking up in too many different directions. Atlas felt the need to laugh but refrained. “What’s it to you anyway? Why are you even down here at this time of night?”

“I just wondered where you –” Ron broke off, shrugging. “Nothing. I’m going back to bed.”

“Just thought you’d come nosing around, did you?” Harry shouted and Atlas startled, looking over to her godbrother to find genuine anger and hurt flashing behind his eyes. She frowned and looked back into her book, leaving the two to it. She’d already tried talking to Ron, now it was Harry’s turn.

“Sorry about that,” Ron spat. “Should’ve realized you didn’t want to be disturbed. I’ll let you two get on with practising for your next interview in peace.”

Before Atlas could stop him, Harry seized one of Malfoy’s badges from the table and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off, landing softly on the floor with a quiet thump.

“There you go,” Harry fumed as Atlas sat up. She’d wanted them to talk, not physically assault each other. “Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you’re lucky…That’s what you want, isn’t it? Maybe you’re parent’s’ll even wind up dead!”

“Harry–” 

But he was gone, leaving Atlas to stare after him as he hurriedly climbed up the stairs to his dorm. She stood up with a sigh, setting the book down on the table carefully as she walked over to Ron, he flinched as she reached down and picked the badge up, ghosting a thumb over its front as she then looked Ron dead in the eye. Silently, she grabbed his wrist and turned it so his palm was upright, slapping the badge into his hand and leaving it to linger there a second before she pulled away, looking at him again.

“I get it…I do, I don’t understand fully because I’m not you. I don’t have siblings or family members I’ve had to compete with growing up, I don’t hold glory and fame on a pedestal as high as you, I’ve never been in a persons shadow…always in the blinding spotlight…” Atlas said, tucking her hands in her pockets as Ron maybe, finally, seemed to listen to her. “But you — you forget we’re not famous for good reasons, Ron. You might think so but…we’re not actually known for things as exciting and innocent as Quidditch or magic. We’re known because of death, Ron and it sucks…it really does.”

She turned away from him, clapping his shoulder a few times as she then walked over to the stairs to the girl’s dorm, stopping at the bottom of the spiral staircase, her hand on the bannister.

“Not like you care anyway, as long as you’re famous, huh?”

“Atlas…”

“Goodnight, Ron.”