Chapter 581: Cheating is a tradition

At the sight of Charlie, Ron seemed to want to get out, but in the end resisted this impulse.

Ivan and Harry held him tightly so he wouldn't rush out or collapse in fear.

Ron looked very bad now, and any unexpected situation could happen.

There were other dragon keepers around, they could not be found, and the champions were not supposed to know about the task.

"Everything all right, Hagrid?" Charlie gasped. "They should be fine by now. We put them with a Sleep charm on the way here. We thought it would be best if they woke up in the dark and quiet. But, as you saw, they were not happy, not happy at all..."

"What races do you have here, Charlie?" asked Hagrid, looking at the nearest dragon, the black one, with something akin to reverence.

The black dragon's eyes were still barely open, and a streak of bright yellow could be seen under its wrinkled black eyelid.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," Charlie said, "There's a Green Wales over there, the smaller one... a Swedish Snout, that blue-gray one... and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red one."

Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was pacing the edge of the enclosure, looking at the stunned dragons.

"I didn't know you were bringing it, Hagrid," Charlie said, frowning. "Champions aren't supposed to know what's coming. You're obligated to tell your pupil, aren't you?" "

"I just thought she'd like to see them," Hagrid shrugged, still staring, rapt, at the dragons.

"A really romantic date, Hagrid," sighed Charlie, shaking his head helplessly.

"A total of four...," Hagrid said, "So that's one for each of the champions, is it? What do they have to do... fight them?"

"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie, "We'll be on hand if it gets ugly, with Extinguishing Spells and Stunning 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. What a vicious thing. Her rear end is just as dangerous as her front end, look!"

Charlie pointed to the Horntail's tail, and they saw the long bronze-colored spikes sticking out along it every few inches.

Some of Charlie's companions approached the Horntail at that moment, carrying in a blanket a cluster of huge, granite-gray eggs. They carefully placed them beside the Horntail.

Hagrid let out a groan of longing.

"I've got them counted, Hagrid," Charlie said sternly. Then he said, "How's Ron?"

"Fine," Hagrid said, still looking at the eggs.

"I mailed him two books on how to deal with a dragon, hoping he can speculate!" Charlie looked moodily at the dragon enclosure, and said worriedly, "Well, I just hope he comes out all right after facing this danger."

He shook his head and looked worried.

"You know Ron's ability. He can't take on these dragons at all. Not a chance," Charlie said. "I'm ready to run to protect him when he competes. I didn't dare tell Mom what Ron has to do for the first task; she's already having headaches about him..."

Charlie mimicked his mother's anxious voice. "'How can they let him enter that tournament? he's too young! I thought everyone was safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit! My goodness, how can Ron ever become a champion!"

Mrs. Weasley and Charlie's fears were well founded. Ron was now very pale and was looking at the Hungarian Horntail with a goofy look on his face. His body was still trembling slightly and he was completely frightened.

He now had all his weight on Ivan and Harry. Ron would have fallen if they hadn't supported him.

"Dad is happy for Ron to become a champion and thinks it's a good experience for him." Continued Charlie. "I say it's good for Ron to be champion, but the difficulty of the task is too great. Now, he's a dragon, I hope the poor guy doesn't faint after seeing the dragon."

The four of them looked at the dragon again for a while. Ivan gently patted Harry, Ron and Hermione on the shoulder.

They didn't need to stay any longer, and there was no point in staying here.

Charlie was still worried about Ron, and Hagrid's heart had been filled with the fascinating four dragons and Madame Maxime, and he wouldn't miss them.

The four of them turned in silence and began to walk away, back to the castle.

On the way, no one spoke, after the initial fear passed, what took its place was a deep despair.

Ron's head was blank and he didn't know how he could defeat the dragon.

He could be sure that if he had seen the dragons for the first time on Tuesday, he might faint on the spot in front of the entire class.

Although he was prepared now, things weren't much better.

Against these monsters, his weapon was only his wand.

His wand looked like nothing more than a narrow strip of wood against a fifty-foot-tall, scaly, spiky, fire-breathing dragon.

And he had to get past it, with everyone watching.

This was really terrible. Ron had been thinking more than once; if only he hadn't become a champion!

Even though Sirius told him he could take on the dragon with the Conjunctivitis Curse, Ron was sure he couldn't do it at all.

"Those dragons are completely beyond anything I had imagined in the world..." said Harry.

Ivan suddenly stopped Harry. He seemed to have heard something, as they were at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

As they had just seen the dragons, they were all agitated and very nervous.

At Ivan's signal, they stopped.

The next second, under the moonlight, they saw a furtive figure appear in the bushes, not far away.

It was Karkaroff, who advanced carefully in the darkness and went sideways towards the place where the dragons were.

When he had completely disappeared, the four of them set off again to go to the castle.

They were well aware of what Karkaroff was going to do. He had slipped away from his ship to try to find out what the first task was going to be.

He might have seen Hagrid and Madame Maxime heading through the forest together; both were not hard to see from a distance. And now all Karkaroff had to do was follow the source of the voices, and he, like Madame Maxime, would know what would be in store for the champions.

From the looks of it, the only champion who would face the unknown on Tuesday was Cedric.

Obviously, cheating had always been a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament.