The professors seemed to have other things to keep them busy; most of them didn't attend the evening feast.
In the evening, Harry was called over by Pabi.
"Harry." Pabi hugged Harry's arm, pulling him aside.
Harry let Pabi drag him away, and when they reached a corner, Pabi said sneakily, "I've found out about the first task, and it's related to fire dragons. Newt told me; he's gone to look after those fire dragons now—Merlin, he's so thrilled, with so many fire dragons, even Tina went along..."
"I already know, but thank you." Harry willingly let Pabi hide him.
He took a deep breath and kissed the girl's rosy cheek.
"Ah!" Pabi exclaimed, covering her face, "You little rascal!"
"Oh, then I won't kiss anymore." Harry said deliberately.
"No way!" Pabi began to babble, "I just like little rascals..."
"Hahahahaha..."
After laughing and joking for a while, Harry suddenly asked, "Isn't this a bit unfair? Telling me about the task beforehand..."
Pabi glanced at him with pity and said, "You're such a fool, Harry... Kakaroff has already gone to the temporary base of those fire dragons. Do you think the warriors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang wouldn't know this?"
"True." Harry realized.
"Come on." Pabi said to Harry, "Let me show you."
They used the Disillusionment Charm, hiding their traces, and walked together out of the castle.
As they reached Hagrid's hut, they noticed Hagrid seemed to be talking to someone.
"Something's up!"
Harry's gossipy side kicked in, and he even forgot about watching the fire dragons with Pabi.
"Oh, isn't that Mrs. Maxim?" Pabi said next to him with interest, "Looks like they're going on a date?"
"Let's follow them and see!" Harry said.
They followed the pair, Mrs. Maxim and Hagrid were so tall that their long legs were striding ahead "thump thump thump" swiftly.
In contrast, Pabi and Harry could only follow "plodding plodding plodding".
They walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, passed by the Black Lake, and finally reached a temporary campsite.
Harry perked up his ears; he seemed to hear something.
A few men were shouting loudly ahead... followed by a deafening, sharp roar.
Hagrid led Mrs. Maxim around a grove, stopping.
Harry pulled Pabi's hand quickly to follow, standing hand in hand with them—within a short moment, he thought he saw several bonfires, men jumped around the fire—and then he saw familiar creatures.
Fire dragons.
Fire dragons, the most thrilling adventure he and Pabi ever had was rescuing a fire dragon from poachers.
Pabi seemed to also recall that shared adventure, she tightened her grip on Harry's hand.
"Pabi." Harry said softly, "Remember?"
"Of course." Pabi smiled brightly, searchingly embracing Harry.
The girl's body was soft yet grand, and Harry didn't miss the chance, he wrapped her waist in return.
Not really slender, but only compared to Vivi, whose kind of figure was almost unhuman-like.
"Look at the creatures you'll be facing." Pabi spoke softly.
Harry looked again; four fierce-looking adult fire dragons were confined within an enclosure made of thick planks, standing on their hind legs, roaring angrily, snorting—flames spewed from their open, fang-filled mouths, shooting into the dark sky, their necks raised high, mouths fifty feet above the ground.
A silver-blue fire dragon with long sharp horns was angrily roaring at the wizards in the arena; a smooth-scaled green fire dragon was twisting and stomping desperately; another red fire dragon with a strange circle of thin sharp horns around its face was spraying mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the sky; finally, there was a black dragon, more dinosaur-like than the others, closest to them.
At least thirty wizards were on the field, seven or eight each dealing with one fire dragon. They pulled chains, desperately trying to subdue the four giant dragons; the chains were connected to thick straps fastening dragon legs and necks. Harry was utterly dazzled. He looked up, high above, he saw the black dragon's eyes, the pupils were cat-like vertical slits; whether out of fear or anger, those eyes bulged out... the black dragon emitted a terrible noise, a piercing and shrill wail...
"Stay put, Hagrid!" A wizard near the fence shouted, tightly holding the chain, "You know, they can breathe fire twenty feet away! I've seen this Ironbelly breathe forty feet!"
"They're beautiful!" Hagrid spoke softly.
"It's not working!" Another wizard shouted loudly, "Use the Stunning Spell, count to three, together!"
Harry saw each dragon tamer pull out their wand.
"So rough." Pabi whispered, "There's obviously a better way."
Due to the Disillusionment Charm, Harry couldn't see Pabi's form.
His hand moved up and seemed to grab onto something crucial.
Yet he didn't retract his hand, feeling bold, he even squeezed a bit.
"Not everyone has your affinity, Pabi." Harry whispered, "They can only use such a foolish method."
"Mm." Pabi's voice was as soft as a mosquito, but Harry knew she must be blushing fiercely.
"Stupefy!"
The wizards exclaimed in unison, and the Stunning Spell shot into the black sky like rockets; the sparks rained down on the four dragons' scaly thick skins—
Harry watched the nearest dragon stand wobbly on its hind legs, its mouth wide open, emitting a silent roar, the flames in its nostrils suddenly extinguished but still smoking—and then, it slowly, slowly toppled over. The several-ton strong, black-scaled giant dragon crashed to the ground.
Along with it, the earth trembled.
The dragon tamers put down their wands, walking towards the fallen giant dragon, every dragon resembled a small mountain.
The tamers hurriedly secured the chains, binding them firmly to iron posts, and used their wands to deeply embed the posts into the ground.
"Want to get a closer look?" Hagrid asked excitedly to Mrs. Maxim.
They walked together towards the fence, and Harry pulled Pabi's hand to follow. The wizard who just warned Hagrid not to approach turned around, Harry recognized him, it was Charlie Weasley.
"How's it going, Hagrid?" He panted, coming over to talk to them, "They should be fine now—we gave them sleeping potions, they arrived asleep, hoping to wake them up in the calm night, they'd feel better—but, as you saw, they're not happy, not happy at all—"
"I'm not happy either." Harry muttered, "Look at this, such important information, the first person Hagrid thought of is Mrs. Maxim, isn't that arming the enemy? No, this is beyond ordinary enemy-arming behavior!"
Pabi chuckled quietly, caressing Harry's chest, not speaking, just gently stroking.
"Mr. Crouch! Mr. Crouch!"
An anxious voice called out; Harry looked towards the sound, it was a Ministry of Magic official.
She was summoning Mr. Crouch, who was conversing with the leaders within the campsite.
Mr. Crouch emerged from the tent, asking sternly, "What's the matter? Found Bertha?"
"No!" The official panted, "Just now, news came from the Ministry that the Austrian Ministry of Magic announced its merger with the German Ministry of Magic!"