Without the helmet activated, a thin filament extended from the armor's collar to project the heads up display directly into his eyes. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, Harry did not know or care.Ī mental command caused his armor, no longer a techsuit, but actual armor to power up its primary systems. The Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. Harry made his way to the spot marked off as his starting point, trying to ignore the hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands. What was the boy doing? He had not even drawn his wand? Only long exposure to the vile brew allowed Crouch to keep any indication of distaste from appearing on his face. If only the boy had not rebuffed his every attempt to offer advice… He raised his flask to his lips for a quick sip. Any of the Champions would do, but the Dark Lord wanted Potter.
The Potter boy was his Master's most favored subject for fueling his rebirth. His Master would be most displeased if the child ended up so badly hurt he could not complete the tasks, or worse, dead. How did the Potter boy end up facing the Horntail? narrowed his eyes from his vantage point in the stands. "Well, if Harry ends up in danger," Luna said, pointing down the stands to where Neville stood in the stands near the area where the champions would emerge once they had their prizes, "the poor mother dragon will end up having to face a very angry alchemist, and that just wouldn't be fair. "What makes you say that?" Padma asked, unable to take her eyes off her boyfriend as he now approached the dragon. "For the poor dragon's sake, I hope Harry wins quickly." "Boys are not as mysterious as most girls make them out to be," Luna shrugged. "You seem awfully certain of that, Luna," Hermione said, grateful for the distraction the younger girl offered. He's planning on showing that he's the Alpha male by defeating the most dangerous of the Dragons without getting hurt." "And also for Hermione, and Susan, and Hannah, and Tracey, and the French girl, and even me a little bit. "Well, you, of course," the odd third year said matter of factly. "Harry is usually so nice, but at the end of the day, he's still a boy, and boys tend to be a bit stupid when they're showing off." "I do hope he doesn't hurt the poor Horntail," Luna Lovegood said from Hermione's left. "The smart-alecky idiot just said that I couldn't get into trouble for something I didn't know about when I asked. "Did he tell you what it was?" Padma asked. "He's got a plan," Hermione insisted, wishing she sounded more confident. "He looks so small compared to the others." She clutched Hermione's hand even tighter. "Oh my," Padma whispered when Harry entered the pitch. Nor any of the Marvel Comics Characters mentioned herein.