Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Hey Everyone! I'm secretly JK Rowling... NOT!

AN: Well... I think you may all have lost interest in me, which is very disheartening... but I'll keep writing anyway—I hate to leave a thing unfinished. But if you are still there, by all means, TELL ME!

This chapter starts the first task! Yay!

Chapter 21

I stood there in a sea of people, the hot sun beating down on my back, anxiety growing in me like a weed, making me sick with anticipation. I can feel the nervousness radiating off him and I can only hope that our plan works. The horn sounds and the first task begins.

One week before

"Harry, what are we going to do! The task is in a week and we have no bloody idea what it is or a plan to defeat it!"

"Do you think I don't already know that? You think you're worried, try being the one who has to complete it!" He shouted, his face growing red. To most people Harry seemed very cool in the face of danger, always keeping his true emotions inside, but with me, he always let it all out. I have yet to discover if this is good or bad.

We ran our fingers through our hair at the same time. I looked at him and laughed. He looked at me about to yell when he noticed both of our hands in our hair. He joined in. That's the nice thing about my brother, that even when he is stressed to the point of breaking, we can laugh.

"I'm—sorry—Em," he said panting. "I shouldn't have—yelled at you. It's not your—fault."

"It's alright Harry. I—Hermione?"

"Hi..." she said apprehensively. "Harry," she took a big breath, "Lavender told me that Parvati told her that Seamus told her that Dean told him that Terry told him that Neville said that Emily said that Hagrid is looking for you."

"What?" "I said that?" we said together.

"Lavender said that Dean said that Neville—oh Harry, don't make me say it again. Hagrid is looking for you!"

"Oh, why didn't you say that before?" Harry said looking confused.

"I did! I told you that—Oh never mind!" she said, throwing up her hands in frustration and huffing away.

"What's her problem?"

"Hermione? Oh, she hasn't taken to well to the whole 'Ron refuses to speak to you because you're a cheating, lying, horrible friend' thing. And she feels useless because she can't come up with anything to help you with the task, and of course she's worried about the task and your safety, and she feels bad for lying to you because I know for a fact I didn't say anything to Neville. Oh! And she thinks that—"

"Hold on, you got all that from that little conversation? Merlin! How did you do that?" Harry asked surprised.

"Honestly Harry, it's not that hard. Besides the fact that I can read her like a book, you should really get to know your friends better. It's kind of pathetic that I know her better than you do!" I replied, a casual smirk on my face.

"Oh," Harry said looking down. "Well, now what?"

"Go see Hagrid, you dolt!" I shouted, hitting him on the arm.

"Alright! Sorry!" He said, walking out of the Common Room.

"Honestly!" I muttered before turning to my Transfiguration essay.

I spent the next several days living in the library. Hermione was there too, thankfully, otherwise I may have been squashed by the weight of the pressure. Hagrid had told Harry that the First Task used dragons. Dragons. Which, of course, caused me to go into a frenzy trying to figure out how Harry could defeat a dragon. I'd read a million books, sketched out numerous battle plans, talked to Hagrid about the behavior of dragons, but nothing seemed to work. Everything was either too complicated, too hard, or resulted in Harry's death. Great.

I was sitting in my back corner reading a book on advanced defensive spells when I was approached by Professor Moody. It was quite a shock to see him there, especially sense I had been certain that most Professors didn't even know where the library was, since they never came here. He sat down gruffly at my table, his brown eye fixed on me, his magical blue eye swiveling all around.

"Found anything useful, Potter?" he said in his rough voice. He took a swig from his him flask before looking back at me. I always wondered what was in that thing. Probably Firewhisky, I thought.

"No, Sir, I haven't. But I will keep researching until I find something that will work.," I said before looking back at my text.

"You're very determined, but very wrong."

I looked at him, utterly confused. "Wrong, sir? How am I wrong?"

"Instead of looking for things for Harry to learn before the Task, use what he already knows. Play to his strengths, his talents. What is he good at?"

This had never occurred to me. Applying his established knowledge to the situation at hand. It as brilliant.

"Well, he's good at DADA..."

"He bloody well is. What else?"

"He...er... He is good at adapting and decision making under pressure."

"Alright, good, C'mon, think Potter!"

"He's good at flying?"

"Now there's something you can work with. He's a bloody good flyer. Now, how could you give him the ability to fly in the arena?" He looked deeply at me, both eyes concentrated on my face as I tried to think.

"He's not allowed a broomstick..."

"No, but he is allowed a wand."

So now I'm here, at the arena, praying that our plan succeeds. So far, Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric have all succeeded in getting the Golden Egg. I just hope that Harry can pull it off. I tense up as Ludo Bagman announces to the crowd, "And now... HARRY POTTER!" I wince at the deafening roar of cheers as Harry walks into the arena. He looks up, searching the crowd for me. Our eyes meet, and I give him a weak smile. I can't let my anxiety show; it would only distract him. I look across the arena at Draco. He mouths, "It will be OK" as the horn is sounded and the task begins.

I hear a brave "Accio Firebolt!" from Harry and feel the rush of wind at the broomstick zooms past my head and into his hands. He quickly jumps on and races off. He flies higher and higher, the Hungarian Horntail chasing after him. He makes a sharp turn trying to cut the beast off, but instead its chain snaps off and it charges at him. I cry out in fear. Now the dragon has no restrictions. It will get Harry for sure.

I feel a warm hand on my shoulder and look to meet the concerned, honey brown eyes of Fred. Tears spill from my emerald eyes as I bury my head in his shoulder. I can't bear to watch my big brother be eaten my a dragon. I keep expecting to hear a sickening crunch from the dragon and a cry from the audience, but it never comes. Fred pokes me and says "Look!" as the crowd goes wild with applause.

There I see Harry, sitting triumphantly on his broomstick, holding a large golden sphere in his hand. He gives me a huge toothy smile before flying to the judges table. He had tied with Viktor Krum for First place.

As soon as the crowd dissipated, I ran to Harry, launching myself into his arms. He rubbed my back then pulled away, smiling. "We did it, Em! We did it!"

I slouched in the red over-stuffed armchair, tuckered out. The after party had been wonderful (Everyone knows that Gryffindors throw the best parties), but everyone was tired. Most had gone up to bed, leaving just Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and I.

"Harry? I know you're really tired, but will you open the egg? I want to get started on the Second Task as soon as possible."

"Sure," he said, giving the clasp at the top a little twist. It sprung open and emitted a loud and horrid shriek. Harry quickly closed it, wincing at the pain in his ears.

"What was that?" Ron exclaimed after several minutes of shock.

"I have no idea..." Harry said, his gaze fixed on the shining egg.

"Well, instead of trying to figure it out now, resulting in our lot becoming deaf, let's get some rest. We'll try to tackle it in the morning," Hermione said practically. And with that, we all headed to bed for some much needed rest.

"Get up, Get up, GET UP!" I heard several girls shout in my ear. I squinted groggily, making out the excited faces of Demelza and Romilda.

"What? What's going on?" I said, slowly sitting up.

"You tell her," Demelza said, poking Romilda in the side.

"No, you tell her," Romilda giggled, poking her back.

"No, you tell—"

"What are you telling me!" I cried above their petty little fight.

"Oh! It was announced today—" Demelza started.

"At breakfast—" said Romilda.

"That you missed, by the way—"Ginny said as she walked past to get her robe.

"By Dumbledore that—" Demelza said.

"We are hosting—"Romilda replied.

They both looked at each other before shouting, "A YULE BALL!"

As much as they annoyed me to Azkaban and back, I couldn't help but be a little excited. A ball was a big deal, especially since Hogwarts had never hosted one, at least, not for hundreds of years. It was all anyone talked about for the rest of the day. I joined in the excitement, just hoping that I would have someone to go to, not left all by myself.

AN: What do you think? Yule Ball excitement coming up! Will Emily be asked? Give me your suggestions in a review!