The Gryffindor stands had gone wild. Young witches and wizards jumped, shouted, and waved flags, while students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang hurled insults back at them.
The Durmstrang students, in particular, looked ready to fight the Hogwarts students.
Plenty of people could understand why. Two twins who preferred to remain anonymous, however, seemed to be preparing to greet the other schools' students with Dungbombs...
Time ticked by.
The tension in the Forbidden Forest kept rising.
"The two Beauxbatons girls are doing brilliantly! Their strategy is working. This is their third attempt, and if nothing goes wrong, Beauxbatons will claim its third Golden Egg.
"Oh dear, Durmstrang's champions have had some bad luck. Harry stole their Golden Egg! The score is now four to three to zero, with Hogwarts in the lead!" Ludo reported dutifully.
The Beauxbatons girls were growing more practiced at their strategy.
Pheobe and Sophie worked in perfect sync: Pheobe used her unusual gift to draw the Fire Dragon's attention, while Sophie slipped around behind it to take the egg.
This was their third dragon and would be their third Golden Egg. Once they had it, they planned to withdraw together and wait out the competition somewhere safe. That would at least secure them second place.
"What clever girls Beauxbatons has!" Bagman said admiringly. "They aren't getting greedy; they're building their lead carefully! Oh, who's that?"
The enormous image above the stands showed Ivan Petrov of Durmstrang hiding in a thicket.
While Pheobe led the Fire Dragon away, Sophie went forward to steal the egg.
But the moment she touched the Golden Egg—
"Stupefy!"
A streak of red light shot at her from the side.
Sophie reacted quickly, twisting aside in an instant. She turned back with her Wand already in hand, but before she could strike,