The morning of the First Task, Pierce expected to be the first one to wake up between him and Julius but as he sat up in bed, he found Julius awake, sitting on the floor leaning against his bed with a blank expression of his face. Pierce carefully stepped out of his bed and walked over before sitting beside him.

"Are you alright?" He asked Julius. Julius shook his head no, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Pierce, you already know how I feel about this whole thing. I have faith in your plan and you know I do. But..I'm scared for you. If you get hurt...or worse...I don't know what I'm going to do without you. "

"Don't you worry about me, Julius-"

"I have to..you're going up against dragons." he whispered the last part. "How am I not supposed to worry about you? Your plan is brilliant, as usual, but things...things can go wrong."

"Have faith in me, my friend. I'll be alright." Pierce clapped him on the back. "Now let's get dressed, eat some breakfast before I have to meet up with the other "champions."

Julius didn't move as Pierce stood up.

"Come on, Julius, I bet they have bacon out for you and if they don't we can go to the kitchens and see if we can request it."

Pierce held out his hand to Julius who glanced up at him. Doing a little dance in place, Pierce finally was able to bring a smile to Julius face before the boy took his hand and pulled himself up.

The champions were told of the first task as they gathered in the tent. But not only did they have to face dragons, they were to select the dragons from a small bag which would determined the breed and the order they would go in.

Pierce reached his hand in and pulled out a small Hebridean Black dragon that rested in his palm.

"Lovely."

He was second to last, set to go before Harry Potter who drew the Hungarian Horntail.

"Well, we're doing mighty fine for ourselves, aren't we?" Pierce said to the boy. Harry looked at the dragon in his hand before looking back at him.

"Yeah, I just can't wait to face off with the dragon."

"Gets you all fired up, doesn't it?" Pierce grinned in hopes of calming the Gryffindor boy's nerves.

Harry offered a small smile before Pierce was interrupted by a pat on the shoulder. He turned around to see John motioning him over. Sneaking away from the other competitors as they prepared for the task, Pierce wandered over and left outside of the tent. Only to find his father waiting for him outside.

"I don't need this right now-" Pierce said before turning to head back in but John grabbed him by the back of his shirt and held on tight.

"Now just a minute Pierce, your father would like a word with you."

"Words?" Pierce gasped looking directly at Sherlock. "I get to hear words from him? Do my ears deceive me? The Great Sherlock Holmes has decided to speak with  me after all this time?"

Sherlock offered no reaction to Pierce's facetious attitude.

"Did you practice your spells last night?"

"No, Julius and I did hand stands in the corridors of the castle."

"Are you prepared to face the dragon?"

"Well I live with one nearly thirty five percent of the year, so I think I can manage it."

"Don't be ridiculous." Sherlock scoffed. "Do not insult the dragons, your mother is far worse."

"You really know how to pick them, don't you? Pick and run."

"Alright, this conversation is not going as planned." John sighed before nudging Sherlock and giving him a look.

Sherlock rolled his eyes in apparent irritation before walking over with his arms outstretched. Immediately, Pierce backed away with an uncomfortable expression on his face as he found himself for the first time in his father's embrace.

However, Pierce did not hug him in return, instead the boy remained still, looking in John's direction with a pleading look of help.

"There, there." Sherlock said giving him a couple of pats on the back in an awkward sequence.

"Please stop touching me, I don't like being touched." Pierce told him.

Immediately, Sherlock took the cue to end the act and move away from him looking to John.

"Happy, now?"

"No," John shook his head.

"You're a tough man to please." Sherlock huffed.

"I don't need your fake sense of comforting, you wavering poltroon."

"Oh I see you've been brushing up on  your vocabulary." Sherlock gave Pierce a slight pat on the head in a condescending tone.

"Yes, I found more comfort in a book than in a man who carries the title of father on my birth certificate."

"That's enough! Both of you!" John said loudly to stop the two from bickering.

Pierce rubbed his face before looking to his father with a steady glare.

"You know, this might be the day your dreams come true." he said to the man.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, this might be the day I end up dying so you won't have to worry about me intruding in your precious life anymore. Sounds good to you, doesn't it?"

Before Pierce could leave back to the tent, his father grabbed him by his jumper and pulled him into him, whispering something John couldn't hear into the boy's ear.

Pierce's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before pulling away and leaving.

John looked to Sherlock. "What did you tell him?"

"Just gave him some father to son advice. He'll thank me later."

"Oh, I'm sure he will. How can you be considered a genius when you're an utter moron when it comes to your own son?"

Sitting inside the tent as the other competitors went up one by one, Pierce swallowed as he leaned back in a chair, only to have a photo snapped of him, blinding him with the flash.

"There's my champion."

Pierce didn't look over in his mother's direction as she smiled at him.

"Look at the look of concentration on his face. So deep in thought."

"They said no animals were allowed in the tent." he called out to her.

Rita ignored his comment and sat herself in front of him.

"I'm sure you have devised a plan that will help you win?"

"No, I devised a plan that would help me survive. That's my concern right now." Pierce answered her. "I expected the lack of yours, but I also find it disturbing. Your recent article was lovely by the way, the way you shamed and slandered people...brilliant. "

He heard his name being called as he was the next one up.

He stood up from the chair and looked to his mother.

"If I happen to die today...please do not come to the funeral. Don't even bother sending flowers, they would probably wilt in your presence anyways."