Shawn did not linger. Before leaving, he patted both Harry and Draco on the shoulder.
"Go ahead and give it your all. I'll be watching. I won't let anything happen to you."
Encouraged by Shawn's infectious confidence, the two boys instantly felt much less afraid.
Shawn gave them a warm smile, then headed outside.
A restless roar of voices immediately washed over him, mingled with Bagman's exuberant commentary.
"Oh, look at those six adorable little darlings! Aren't they all full of life?
"And our champions' first task is to retrieve the golden eggs from beneath them.
"Our Judges' Panel will then give fair scores based on each champion's performance..."
Shawn looked toward the center of the arena, where a pillar hundreds of meters in diameter towered into the sky.
Dumbledore had conjured it on the spot earlier, stunning a great many people, both local wizards and visitors from abroad.
For the first time, they had truly understood what it meant to be the greatest White Wizard of the century!
Six magnificent, fearsome fire dragons of different colors stood around the pillar, arranged at the points of a six-pointed star.
All six dragons looked rather drowsy, presumably because the dragon handlers had cast their special Stunning Spells on them.
Even so, the dragons fiercely guarded the piles of dragon eggs beneath them. Six golden eggs enchanted with Confundus Charms lay mixed among the others.
England's dragon farms had gone to considerable trouble to gather several adult female dragons that had just laid eggs for this Triwizard Tournament.
With a flicker, Shawn used Apparition to appear above the pillar, a purple Thunderlight Floating Ring rising behind his back.
His reappearance brought a tidal wave of cheers from the local English wizards and Hogwarts students.
"Black!"
"Black!"
"Chief!"
"Chief!"
The wizards from other