Omake
Scene: When the dragon assignments are drawn.
Delacour: Hebridean Black.Krum: Hungarian Horntail.Rose: Ukrainian Ironbelly.
“Ah. Of course. Of course my favorite students’ daughter — who is also the only fourteen-year-old in this tournament — receives the largest, most flame-happy, metallic-skinned beast in the known wizarding world.”
“Cornelius Fudge, if you live through this tournament, it will be by the grace of my patience, not your judgment.”
Scene: When Rose begins her task.
Look at her.
Wand at the ready.Gas swirling at the Ironbelly’s eyes.Careful use of a containment charm to trap the smog in place.Not even flinching.
“She’s fourteen and she’s using methane explosions and battlefield smokescreens like she’s leading a siege on Gringotts.”
“Oh wait.”
“She is a Potter.”
“That checks out.”
Scene: The explosion.
BOOM.
The dragon rears back in shock.The crowd gasps.Lily faints sideways into Rick’s arms.Minerva grips the hem of her dress like it’s going to fly away.
And I, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump, Order of Merlin (First Class), am biting the inside of my cheek to keep from shouting:
“THAT’S MY GRANDSTUDENT, YOU SCALY LIZARDED BEHEMOTH!”
Also:
“She just weaponized chemistry. I really need to push for Muggle Studies reform.”
Scene: The transfigured chains.
Stone into steel.
Technique near-flawless.Magical composition reinforced by intention and elemental awareness.She’s not just restraining a dragon — she’s calculating weight distribution, anchoring resistance, magical tension…
“She’s fourteen. She’s fourteen and just cast a multi-point transmutation net that would make aurors weep.”
Scene: When the tail hits.
Oh no.
The Ironbelly’s tail is free.Rose is right in the path.Everyone holds their breath.
She jumps backward.
Egg protected.Momentum spell cast.Tail connects.
She goes flying.
Rick stands up so fast his popcorn bag went flying over the poor sods below..Lily screams.And I—
“Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. Don’t be—ah. She’s rolling. She’s alive. Thank Merlin. Also: That roll.”
Did Rick teach her that too?
Scene: The scores are given.
40 for Delacour.40 for Krum.
Rose: 41.
She’s still slightly swaying. Bruised. Cracked sternum. Smudged with dirt and dragon smoke.
And still standing taller than most grown wizards.
“I’ve seen war veterans who were less composed after being hit by magical artillery.”
She looks surprised.
Like she didn’t expect to win.
Like she didn’t just out-think, out-fight, and out-roll an Ironbelly.
“She’s going to change the world. Possibly by accident. Possibly with explosives.”
Scene: Back in the judges' booth.
Bagman is rambling.Karkaroff is pouting.Maxime is muttering about “explosions.”
I’m just sipping tea I charmed hot again and wondering:
“Should we give her the Order of Merlin now or wait until she defeats Death itself using clever transfiguration and household cleaning charms?”
Also:
“Rick Potter’s is a mad man for training his daughter like this. That roll though…”
I couldn’t be prouder.
Scene: When Rose pulls the Ironbelly.
Of course she got the Ironbelly.
Not the Horntail, no.Not the Hebridean Black.No — the Ironbelly. The one that weighs more than my bloody house.
“Aye, just chuck the wee fourteen-year-old at the angry flying brick, why don’t ye? Great idea, Ministry. Nae wonder ye can’t hold down a Minister for more than five years.”
And of course she doesn’t flinch.
Just stands there, wand out, like she’s ordering tea and not facing a creature that eats hippogriffs for breakfast.
Scene: When she uses gas and traps it in a bubble.
What is that—? Is that—?
Is she using alchemy?
“Lassie, I taught ye transfiguration, not industrial sabotage.” “You’re not supposed to be clever enough to weaponize the atmosphere. That’s third-year alchemy at best!”
And what is she saying—?Did she thank her father?
Of course she did.
He’s corrupted her brain with all this muggle nonsense and now she’s exploding dragons like it’s normal behavior.
Scene: The explosion.
“OH FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN’S LEFT KNEECAP—”
BOOM.
Dragon reels.Arena shakes.My heart leaves my body.
Minerva, breathe.
Breathe.
That was planned.
Wait. That was… intentional?
“She just made a fire-breathing apex predator blow itself up like a bloody gas leak. And she’s not even sweating.”
What in the plaid-patterned name of Morgana is happening today?
Scene: The transfigured chains.
She’s restraining it.
She’s actually restraining the Ironbelly.
With chains.Made from the dirt under her feet.Transfigured into steel.
“I should be horrified. Why am I impressed?”
Scene: When she gets hit.
Tail breaks free.
Tail swings.
Tail hits.
CRACK.
“SHE’S DEAD. SHE’S DEAD. THAT’S IT. I’M RETIRING.” “OH NO, SHE’S ROLLING—SHE’S MOVING—OH THANK THE HOLY HIGHLANDS, SHE’S ALIVE—” “SHE’S STANDING. SHE IS STANDING AFTER TAKING A SIX-TON IRONBELLY’S TAIL TO THE RIBS. I’VE SEEN AURORS HOSPITALIZED FOR LESS.”
Also:
“I’m going to kill her father. That’s it. That’s the only logical step. I will kill him. Slowly. With chalkboard erasers.”
Scene: In the medical tent.
Pomfrey is working on Delacour.Krum looks like a barbecue accident.Rose is… talking. Calmly. Casually.
“You’ve cracked your sternum, you absolute gremlin. How are you making jokes?”
And she just—thanks me for teaching her basic transfiguration?
“You think I planned for my first-year wood to metal exercise to be used in DRAGON COMBAT?!”
Scene: The scoring.
She’s in the lead.
Lily is shrieking.Rick looks smug.Fudge looks like he’s going to make this about himself somehow.
And I’m still sitting here, sipping a lukewarm calming draught like it’s going to save my sanity, and thinking:
“Fourteen. She is fourteen and I’ve just watched her outwit, outexplode, and out-roll a creature that we keep in specialist vaults when not incinerating them for conservation.”
This child is going to succeed where her father failed and give me a stroke.And I’ll still be proud of her while it happens.
“Aye. Gryffindor indeed.” “And Rick Potter is grounded until the end of the century.”
Lady Bellatrix Black watches her stepdaughter face a dragon, and contemplates murder, wine, and how unfairly attractive magical competence is.
Scene: When the tail hits.
Oh, no.
No no no no no.
She’s flying.
She’s rolling.
She’s—
“ON HER FEET AGAIN?!”
I swear on Salazar’s beard, if this child dies I will resurrect her and kill her myself.
Wait. She rolled with it. She actually rolled with the impact—
OH FOR CIRCE’S SAKE.
RICK HAS BEEN DRILLING “ROLL WITH IT” SINCE SHE WAS FIVE. I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE.
I’M GOING TO SHOVE A TEXTBOOK DOWN HIS THROAT.