Chapter 586: Ron's lucky day

Ron knew that Krum had known about the dragon. He had seen that Karkaroff came here that night.

"I have some ideas!" Krum said simply, frowning and looking at Ron with some insight.

Looking at him, it was clear that he doubted why Ron had told him.

The champions were not supposed to know the contents of the task before the tournament began. Krum wasn't sure what Ron meant. It was unwise to take the initiative to expose the fact that he knew the contents of the tournament beforehand.

"The conjunctivitis curse is the simplest magic for dealing with the dragon, do you know this spell?" whispered Ron.

He was prepared, but he was worried that if Krum wasn't prepared, the dragon would tear him right apart....

"I know this spell!" Krum looked at Ron grimly. He paused and said, "The headmaster told me it's a common magic against dragons. Besides, there is a simpler and more effective spell..."

Just then, Bagman entered from the other side of the tent.

"Ah, Ron, you've come, how nice!" said Bagman cheerfully, and quickly walked over to Ron and interrupted his conversation with Krum. "I spoke to your father yesterday. Relax and make yourself at home."

Bagman looked somehow like a slightly exaggerated cartoon figure, standing in their midst, wearing his old Wasp tunic again.

"Well, now that we're all here, it's time to bring you all up to speed!" said Bagman cheerfully.

"When the audience has gathered, I'm going to offer each of you this bag!" He held up a small purple silk sack and waved it toward them, "From it, each of you will select a small model of the thing you're going to face. There are different... er... varieties, you see. And I also have to tell you something else: your task is to collect a golden egg!"

The champions nodded to show that they had understood Bagman's words.

No one spoke and everyone's face was pale. It was really exciting to take the golden egg from a nesting female dragon.

And in the blink of an eye, hundreds and hundreds of pairs of feet were heard passing by the tent, their owners talking animatedly, laughing, joking....

Ron felt as separate from the crowd as if he were a different species.

He kept looking around, wondering why Ivan hadn't arrived yet.

In the back of his mind was a terrible thought. If Ivan didn't come, he wouldn't get the fire protection potion, and then he was likely to be burned to death by the dragon fire, and despair and fear were winning the game again.

What little courage had just arisen vanished instantly.

And the simple spell Krum had just spoken of also distracted Ron. He wasn't sure that magic would work. If it was as simple and effective as Krum claimed, should he try it?

Even though they had developed a battle plan, it was always good to have a simpler way to win the task.

Time was fleeting, and more than ten minutes later, Bagman was already opening the collar of the purple silk sack.

"Let's begin, champions, ladies first," he said, offering the sack to Fleur Delacour.

Fleur reached a trembling hand inside the sack and pulled out a perfect little dragon model. It was a green Wales, with the number 2 around the neck.

At the sight of the model, Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but a determined resignation.

Krum pulled out the Swedish Snout, with the number 1 tied around its neck. She didn't even blink, but sat back down and looked at the floor.

Cedric was about to reach into the bag when Ron hurriedly stopped him.

"Wait, let me go first!" he said in a shaky voice.

Ivan had given him an analysis of the habits and attack forms of the four dragons. And Ron knew that the Hungarian Horntail was the fiercest.

There were only two dragons left in the bag. He didn't want Cedric to go first.

"Let Ron go first, this poor boy must be scared!" said Bagman.

Cedric shrugged indifferently, indicating for Ron to go first.

Ron walked over and reached into the silk sack. He could feel the two models in his hands.

He remembered that on the Hungarian Horntail there were a lot of spikes, but he couldn't feel them.

Could he trust to luck?

At that moment, Ron saw Bagman wink at him and indicate that he should choose the one on the right.

He pulled out the model on the right without thinking.

Sure enough, it was the scarlet Chinese Fireball with a number 3 around the neck.

Ron let out a sigh of relief and gasped loudly. He remembered that Ivan had said that the most powerful thing about the Chinese Fireball was its flame attack. Its physical attack was relatively weak.

As long as Ivan gave it the potion, it would hardly be in danger.

Sure enough, the Hungarian Horntail was left in Cedric's hands, with the number 4.

"Well, that's it!" said Bagman. "You've each drawn the dragon you're going to face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you must face the dragons, see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commenting. Mr. Krum, you go first, come out to the enclosure when you hear a whistle, okay? Now... Ron... could we have a little chat? outside?"

"Er ... yes." Ron nodded and walked out of the tent with Bagman.

He found it strange not knowing what Bagman was going to say to him, but Bagman had just helped him.

Bagman seemed to have something very important to say. He pulled Ron by the arm and led him a short distance away, into the trees. And then he turned to him with a fatherly expression on his face.

"Are you feeling all right, Ron? can I get you something?"

"What?!" said Ron in surprise. "No, nothing!"

"Do you have a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Come on, your father and I are old friends. You're like my son. I can't watch you take on dragons like this, remember? I helped you pick out the Chinese Fireball. It's much less difficult than the Hungarian Horntail. If you want, I can give you more ideas. I mean..." Bagman lowered his voice even further, whispering in Ron's ear.

"Rest assured, no one will know. You're the underdog here, Ron. Anything I can do to help..."

Ron nodded uncomfortably, hesitating, but unable to resist the temptation.

He knew it was definitely not right to let a judge help him cheat, but listening to Bagman's advice wasn't a bad thing.

Ron felt that today was his lucky day. First he learned from Krum a powerful, simpler spell to deal with the dragon, then he pulled out a less difficult Chinese Fireball, and now Bagman had offered to help him....