The First Task
After the incident in the dining hall, Carina made it her mission to avoid the entire Lupin-Black-Potter family, deciding that it would be easier if she pretended that they did not in fact exist. Her daily routine became extremely similar and despite being the only member of her year to attend Hogwarts, she made sure that she kept up to date with her studies. Whenever she had any free time, she busied herself with reading the anthology of poems that Regulus had given her, occasionally reading it aloud to Fleur in their room.
However, a couple weeks after the incident in the Great Hall, Carina was unfortunately approached by one of the people that she had done her best to avoid: Harry Potter.
"Black, please wait up." he called out, running after her.
"What do you want Potter?" she asked him her voice laced with malice.
"Look, I know to that you probably hate me but I would feel like an arsehole and more to the point my family would kill me if I didn't tell you this."
She merely stared at him and waited for him to continue.
"Dragons, that's the first task. They have one for each of us, just thought you should know. Oh, and I've told the other champions as well don't worry, though I doubt you will."
"What does that mean?"
"You just don't seem like the type to worry about others that much." Then, Harry turned on his heel and left.
Carina processed his words carefully, she was full aware of the risks and what was required of her in order to complete the first task. After a while of deliberating, Carina made her way to the library, hoping to look up something that would help her face a dragon. She was extremely aware of how to defend herself, and moreover she was extremely practiced at doing so curtesy of her uncle Lucius, who had given her defence lessons since she could walk, claiming that she should always know how to protect herself. However Carina had a hunch that what the tasked required was more focussed getting something from a dragon rather than facing it, for she knew that despite being a diabolical school, there was a very small chance that they would actually have to fight a dragon. For hours she searched through dozens and dozens of books, but alas her search was fruitless and she left the library no better off than she had entered hours prior.
Making her way back to her dorm, Carina was struck with a dash of pure luck; and remembered the book that her aunt Narcissa had bought her for Yule a couples years back, it specifically focussed on defence against all kinds of magical creatures, Carina distinctly remembered seeing something about dragons whilst reading it.
Thankfully, she was right and the book did in fact contain a page about dragons, the book discussed that dragons are extremely protective over their eggs and would do anything to keep them safe. Carina almost laughed at the irony of this statement, here she was trying to go past a dragon who would do anything to protect its young, but her own father could not care less about her and what she was going to have to do.
At the very end of the page was exactly what she had been searching for, it talked about a particularly difficult charm that if performed correctly would allow the caster to communicate with the dragon and therefore it gave Carina the chance to try and negotiate with the dragon.
For hours, she practiced the charm ensuring that not only that her pronunciation was correct but also that she was casting it correctly, well aware that this could save her life. It only took her a singular try to perform the charm correctly, but Carina wanted to ensure that nothing could potentially go wrong whilst performing the charm as she always liked to be extremely sure that everything would go her way.
While she was practicing, Carina was thrown into a vision, it was the same one that she had seen at the end of summer with the same green light and graveyard. It haunted her, seeing tragedies such as this and not being able to stop them, knowing that she could do nothing except watch. This was another thing that her mother had taught her about their family's ability, that it was not good to try and change the future, it was based on the decisions of others and changing these had extreme repercussions. Carina despised this, she hated the fact that she knew of these tragedies and did not do anything. More frequently than she would admit, Carina felt guilty about this, when she lay awake at night and sleep would not come, the little voices inside of her head sometimes grew louder until the only thing that she could hear was how it was her fault that she did not do anything to prevent the atrocities that occurred.
The day of the first task came all too quickly and before she knew it, Carina was making her way down to the tent that she was required to wait at before completing the first task. Adrenaline pulsed viciously through her veins, however she did not let that deter her, deciding instead to put on her classic mask, that of complete indifference and nonchalance.
At last she made her way into the champions tent, it was decorated with the crests of all three schools and overall it had the appearance of being quite homely and comfortable. carina could have laughed at the irony, they were sending children out to fight dragons and still they were trying to give the illusion that this was normal, that it was part of everyday life.
However inside the tent, Carina found herself greeted by a thoroughly pleasant surprise. Her uncle Regulus as well as her aunt Narcissa and uncle Lucius had all gathered there to wish her the best of luck. Quickly, she made her way over to them in order to greet them properly and thank them for coming. But before she could make her way over there, she was rudely interrupted by one of the people that she decidedly did not want to speak to at that current moment in time, and if she was being truly honest, she had no desire to speak to them ever.
"Good luck Carina!" she turned sharply at the sound of her father's irritating voice.
"I don't need your luck." she replied to him, her tone was thick with contempt, anger and annoyance, she detested how he thought that he could just waltz into her life, as if he wasn't absent for the entirety of it.
"Carina!" her aunt Narcissa called out to her, breaking the silence that had followed her last sentence.
Swiftly, she made her way over to the section of the tent that her family members had decided to congregate at.
"Sorry about that, I was interrupted by an obnoxious comment from someone I barely know." Carina raised her voice deliberately on the last few words, in the hope that her father would hear her and get the hint that she wanted to be left alone by him and his stupid gang of ignorant friends. She looked over at them through her peripheral vision, and to her delight they looked slightly put out by her words.
Satisfied that she had received the desired reaction, she continued, "Thank you for coming to watch me today, I appreciate it."
They all smiled at her, glad that they were all able to come and watch her. "It is our pleasure Carina, we are more than happy to be here." Lucius and Narcissa nodded and smiled at Regulus's words.
"Je sais que pour ma part, je vous encouragerai, même s'il s'agit d'une compétition." (I know that I for one will be cheering for you, even if it is a competition.)
Fleur suddenly appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by her parents and sister.
"Celui que je suis déterminé à gagner, chérie." ("One that I am determined to win, darling.") Carina replied a smirk on her face, then she continued, her tone substantially more genuine than it was for her previous statement. "Bien sûr, je vous encouragerai, personne ne mérite de gagner plus que vous." (Of course I will be cheering for you, there is no one who deserves to win more than you do.")
Carina greeted at the members of the Delacour family warmly, she greatly appreciated that they came to see her before the task.
Sirius watched the interaction sadly, he could not fathom the reason why his own daughter ignored his very existence. Then shaking off these thoughts, he turned to his godson, deciding that he should devote his attention to Harry who was shitting himself at the thought of facing a dragon.
"Gather round everyone." the loud voice of Barty Crouch echoed throughout the tent, alerting everyone that the task was about to begin. "Now, for your first task you are expected to face a dragon. The dragon has been given a golden egg to protect and it is your job to retrieve it, without doing so you have no hope of continuing to the next task. We have one for each of you, but it is random which one you shall be given. In my bag there is a model, these models represent the dragons that we have acquired for you."
Everyone looked terrified, but Carina knew that she would be fine, her plan would not and could not fail her. However, to give the illusion that this was knew information she too put on the pretence of being absolutely petrified.
"Mr Krum, you will go first." and so Viktor pulled out the first dragon, a Chinese Fireball.
"Miss Delacour, if you will." and so Fleur pulled out the second dragon, a Common Welsh Green.
"Mr Diggory, it is you next." and so Cedric pulled out the third dragon, a Swedish Short-Snout.
"Mr Potter, if you will." and so Harry pulled out the fourth dragon, a Hungarian Horntail.
"Miss Black, you are last." and so Carina reached into the bag and pulled out the fifth and final dragon, a Ukrainian Ironbelly. Carina was well aware of what this meant, she was to battle one of the largest and deadliest breeds of dragons in the world, how fitting.
"Now," continued Crouch, "I must ask that everyone who is not a champion to leave the tent and take their seats, as we will begin shortly. The order of participation is as follows: Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum, Harry Potter and Carina Black."
Everybody except the champions had by now left and all there was to do was to wait until it was her turn. The time between when the first horn was blown and when the final one to signal that it was Carina's turn passed in a blur, the only thing that she had any recollection of was wishing good luck to Fleur before it was Fleur's turn to face the dragon.
At the sound of the final horn, Carina made her way into the stadium with her head held high and an expression of nonchalance on her face, as if this was all completely ordinary for her. The dragon stared at her, ready to strike and reduce her into nothing but a pile of ash. Quickly, Carina raised her wand and uttered the incantation that she had spent many hours perfecting "Draco orationem." The crowd looked at her in utter bewilderment, unaware of what she was going to do, how she was going to retrieve the golden egg.
Carina started to speak and as she did, she noticed that the dragon itself was seemingly able to understand her. "The eggs you are protecting, one is not truly yours. In other words, it has been tampered with and is a threat to your young. I will, if you allow me, retrieve it from you in order to protect the rest of your young."
The dragon turned to look at the eggs and then looked directly at Carina, as if it was staring into the depths of her soul. Carina held her breath, she felt like she was drowning and the next moment was the critical one, whether or not she would be given a lifeboat.
All of a sudden, the dragon nodded its head and stepped out of the way. Cautiously, Carina walked up to the pile of eggs and grabbed the golden egg placing it securely in her hands.
"Thank you." she told the dragon, extremely proud that her clever but somewhat diabolical plan had worked, just as she knew it would.
As she did this, the crowd burst into rapturous applause. No one was quite sure how she pulled off the incredible feat, but if there was one thing that they did know for sure it was that Carina Walburga Black was a force to be reckoned with.