Chapter 18: The first task.
Chelbell2016:
Selena's POV:
Harry got up on Sunday morning and dressed so inattentively that it was a while before he realized he was trying to pull his hat onto his foot instead of his sock.
When he'd finally got all his clothes on the right parts of his body, he hurried off to find Hermione, locating her at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, where she was eating breakfast with Ginny. Feeling too queasy to eat, Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out onto the grounds. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Sirius had said, while they took another long walk around the lake.
Alarmed as she was by Sirius's warnings about Karkaroff, Hermione still thought that the dragons were the more pressing problem.
"Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening," she said desperately, "and then we can worry about Karkaroff."
They walked three times around the lake, trying all the way to think of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to them, so they retired to the library instead. Here, Harry pulled down every book he could find on dragons, and both of them set to work searching through the large pile.
"Talon-clipping by charms. .. treating scale-rot. . .' This is no good, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy. .. Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate. . .' But Sirius said a simple one would do it.. .
"Let's try some simple spellbooks, then," said Harry, throwing aside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much.
He returned to the table with a pile of spellbooks, set them down, and began to flick through each in turn, Hermione whispering nonstop at his elbow. I keep quite as I try and come up with a way of my own.
"Well, there are Switching Spells. . . but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous.. . . The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide. . . .
I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall. . . unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself?Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers. . . ."
I think about my true Animagus side. But before I consider it I remember the fact that no one knows what I am. True Anamagi don't have to register because usually they're parents would be on the list which mine are not.
"Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "will you shut up for a bit, please? I m trying to concentrate."
But all that happened, when Hermione fell silent, was that my brain filled with a sort of blank buzzing, which didn't seem to allow room for concentration. I stared hopelessly down the index of Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. Instant scalping. . . but dragons had no hair. . . pepper breath.. . that would probably increase a dragon's firepower. . . horn tongue. . . just what he needed, to give it an extra weapon...
"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" said Hermione irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over at the pair of them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room. . . his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away... ."
And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.
I barely slept that night. When I awoke on Monday morning, I seriously considered for the first time ever just running away from Hogwarts. But as I looked around the Great Hall at breakfast time, and thought about what leaving the castle would mean, I knew I couldn't do it. Hogwarts is my home. Even before I started my mum and I spent some time here.
I finished my bacon with difficulty (my throat wasn't working too well), and as Harry and Hermione and I got up, I saw Cedric Diggory leaving the Hufflepuff table.
"Hermione, Selena I'll see you in the greenhouses," Harry said, coming to his decision as he watched Cedric leaving the Hall. "Go on, I'll catch you up."
"Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring -"
"I'll catch you up, okay?"
Hermione and I headed to the greenhouses. But just as I am about to enter one of the hufflepuffs steps out.
"So have you and Potter had enough fame yet?" She sneers at me. "That way you can stop trying to nick our champions!"
I glare at her. "You know I am sick of trying to convince you hufflepuff idiots that Harry and I did not put our names in the goblet! Get that through your dense heads!"
She pulls out her wand. "How dare you?"
She fires a curse but before it hits me it ricochets off of that invisible barrier again. But it was not invisible it was a bright blue. Everyone's mouths drop and professor Sprout who had come out at the right time.
"10 points from Hufflepuff Miss Trout," she says glaring at the girl. "We do not shoot curses at another student... Miss Dumbledore although I commend you for your quick thinking I do not want to see a shield charm either."
I nod and Hermione turns to me as we sit in front of our Flutterby bushes. "I think we just found out how you're gonna get through this task."
"No Hermione," I whisper as I try to ignore the whisper. "I cannot control it. It only appears when I'm in danger. What if I can't control it out there."
"I'll help you learn," she says to me. "You need to be able to defend yourself."
Before I can reply Harry comes running in and after apologizing to professor Sprout He runs towards us looking a little happier then the last time I seen
"Hermione, Selena, I need you to help me."
"What d'you think I've been trying to do, Harry?" Hermione whispered back, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Flutterby Bush she was pruning.
"Hermione, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon."
And so they practiced. They didn't have lunch, but headed for a free classroom, where Harry tried with all his might to make various objects fly across the room toward him.
He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping hike stones to the floor.
"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate. . . ."
"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason...Okay, try again. . . ."
He wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, but Hermione and I refused point-blank to skive off Arithmancy.
We forced down some dinner then returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers. They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room.
Harry and Hermione and I left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.
At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had Harry really got the hang of the Summoning Charm.
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!"
The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly.
"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds. . . ."
"That doesn't matter," said Hermione firmly." Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Now Selena... you ready to try again?"
I nod. As well as helping Harry Hermione has been throwing small curses and objects at me to try and get me to raise a shield. So far it appeared but then faded.
I concentrated on the blue bubble that I knew to be my shield I expanded it and it appeared out of my body bright blue. I nod at Hermione.
"Rictumsempra!" She says firing the tickling curse at me.
The curse comes flying at me and dissolves just before it hits. The other two laugh and clap.
"Try an object this time," I reccomend. "See if I can block that."
She throws a spare quill at me with the same result.
"You know what I think you're both ready," Hermione says. "Selena, Harry, we'd better get some sleep.. . you're both going to need it."
I had been concentrating so much on my shield last night that I forgot my anxiety. It returned in full measure, however, on the following morning. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure - though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.
Harry and I felt oddly separate from everyone around us, whether they were wishing us good luck or hissing "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter. And Dumbledore there'll be a stretcher for you you're that small you'll need it" as he passed. It was a state of nervousness so advanced that I wondered whether I mightn't just lose my head when they tried to lead me out to my dragon, and start trying to curse everyone in sight.
Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment I seemed to be sitting down in my first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch.. . and then (where had the morning gone? the last of the dragon-free hours?), Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to both Harry and I in the Great Hall.
Lots of people were watching.
"Potter, Dumbledore the champions have to come down onto the grounds now... . You have to get ready for your first task."
"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.
I just nod too worried to speak. As I get to my feet I glance up at my mother. She gives me a reassuring smile but I can see the worry laced in her eyes.
"Good luck, Harry, Selena, " Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"
"Yeah," said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own.
We left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked him down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hands on both of our shoulders.
"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head. . . . We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. . . . The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. . . . Are you all right?"
"Yes," Harry heard himself say. "Yes, I'm fine."
I nod along again too worried to answer.
She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry and I saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.
"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, you two Mr. Bagman is in there. . . he'll be telling you the - the procedure. . . . Good luck."
"Thanks," said Harry, in a flat, distant voice. She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry went inside.
Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a how wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which I supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry and I entered, Cedric gave us a small smile, which Harry and I returned, feeling the muscles in my face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.
"Harry! Selena Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"
Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again.
"Well, now we're all here - time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" - he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them - "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different - er - varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too.. . ah, yes... your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Harry glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Fleur Delacour and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouths; that was certainly how I felt. But they, at least, had volunteered for this. .
And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking. . . . I felt as separate from the crowd as though they were a different species. And then - it seemed like about a second later to Harry - Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour.
She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck And Harry knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.
The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.
Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.
Knowing what was left I pulled out the Peruvian Vipertooth. Knowing that this Dragon is poisonous does not make me feel any better.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now. . . Harry and Selena. . . could I have a quick word? Outside?"
"Er. . . yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman, I followed behind Bagman who walked him a short distance away, into the trees, and then turned to us with a fatherly expression on his face.
"Feeling all right, you two? Anything I can get you?"
"What?" said Harry. "I - no, nothing."
"Got a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, with you both if you'd like them, you know. I mean," Bagman continued, lowering his voice still further, "you're the underdog here, Harry, you too Selena . . . Anything I can do to help. . ."
"No," said Harry so quickly he knew he had sounded rude, "no - I - I know what I'm going to do, thanks."
"Nobody would know, Harry," said Bagman, winking at him.
"No, I'm fine," said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine. "I've got a plan worked out, I -"
"I'm fine too," I say in a not so convincing voice.
A whistle had blown somewhere.
"Good lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off.
Harry and I walked back to the tent and saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever. Harry tried to wish him luck as he walked past, but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt.
Harry and I went back inside to Fleur and Krum. Seconds hater, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to-face with the living counterpart of his model.
It was worse than I could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed. . . yelled.. . gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground.
Fleur had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent. And Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse.. . . Horrible pictures formed in Harry's mind as he heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow". . . "He's taking risks, this one!". . . "Clever move - pity it didn't work!"
And then, after about fifteen minutes, Harry heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"
But he didn't shout out the marks; Harry supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.
"One down, four to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur was trembling from head to foot; Harry felt more warmly toward her than he had done so far as she heft the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand. Harry Krum and I were left alone, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze.
The same process started again. . . ."Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh. . . nearly! Careful now. . . good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"
Ten minutes later, Harry heard the crowd erupt into applause once more. . . . Fleur must have been successful too. A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown. . . more clapping.. . then, for the third time, the whistle.
"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out.
"You okay?" Harry asks.
"I'm beginning to wonder if using the barrier is a good idea," I point out. "Everyone will know I have strange magic and if they will be trying to figure out where it comes from. What if my mum gets in trouble for not telling them she's an Anamagi?"
He gets to his feet and takes my hand. "Then we'll deal with it when it happens. Right now that force field is the best bet you've got!"
"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Harry heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing - and - yes, he's got the egg!"
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished - it would be Harry's turn any moment.
He stood up. He waited.
And then we heard the whistle blow. I wished him good luck as he walked out through the entrance of the tent. I waited in suspense for any news that Harry is okay.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
I smile as this means Harry's summoning charm worked.
Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! One of our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg so far! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter! And now Miss Dumbledore!"
Feeling like my legs are made of lead I walk out of the enclosure and into the arena. I spot the egg and make a move towards it. But a loud roar and next second teeth are snapping right in front of me. I duck and raise my arm to form a shield but before I get a chance teeth graze my arm.
I cry out in pain as I roll out of the way.
"Oh dear Miss Dumbledore isn't doing too good," Bagman says.
I clutch my arm to my shoulder as the Vipertooth glares at me. I tried to concentrate through the pain and as the dragon sends a flurry of rocks my way I manage to send a shield that cuts straight through them.
The crowd gasps.
"What kind of shield is that?" I hear Bagman say. "Miss Dumbledore has a lot of tricks up her sleeve!"
I raise another shield and it blocks the dragons tail as I run towards the gold egg. But just as I get close I loose the dragon flies into the air and aims to breath fire at me. I turn away from my egg and raise my good arm. I feel a ripple and a blast comes out. My shield is soaring towards the fire and they clash. I push with all my might as the dragon roars and then there is a sonic boom so loud that makes everyone cover there ears. Using the momentary distraction I manage to get the egg.
The roars of the crowd reach me as I hold my bleeding and infected shoulder.
I see the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, Hagrid and my mum hurrying to meet me, all of them waving me toward them, their smiles evident even from this distance.
I smile as I release my arm and head over to them.
"That was excellent, Dumbledore!" cried Professor McGonagall I noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at his shoulder. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score. . . Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already. . . . and Mr. Potter."
"Yeh did it, Selena!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Vipertooth an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was the wors' - "
"Thanks, Hagrid," I said loudly, so that Hagrid wouldn't blunder on and reveal that he had shown Harry and I the dragons beforehand.
Professor Moody looked very pleased too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket.
"Nice and easy does the trick, Dumbledore," he says nodding.
Mum takes my hand and I can see her relief as she whispers to me. "I have never been more proud. And your father would be too."
I smile.
"Right then, Dumbledore, the first aid tent, please. . ." said Professor McGonagall.
I walked out of the enclosure, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried.
"Miss Dumbledore I will have to give you the antidote," she says before handing me a potion which I swallow with a grimace. "Now I am going to wrap this up as I don't want you to move it too much for a while. Even with the antidote you may feel some discomfort for a while."
I nod and she wraps my arm before leaving me. She bustled out of the tent and he heard her go next door and say, "How does it feel now, Diggory?"
I didn't want to sit still: I was too full of adrenaline. I got to my feet, wanting to see what was going on outside, but before I'd reached the mouth of the tent, three people had come darting inside - Hermione, followed closely by Ron and Harry.
"Harry, Selena you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You both were amazing! You really were!"
But Harry and I was looking at Ron, who was very white and staring at Harry and I as though he were a ghost.
"Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet - I - I reckon they're trying to do you in!"
It was as though the last few weeks had never happened - as though Harry were meeting Ron for the first time, right after he'd been made champion.
"Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."
Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly. Harry knew Ron was about to apologize and suddenly he found he didn't need to hear it.
"It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it."
"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've -"
"Forget it, "Harry and I said together.
Ron grinned nervously at us, and Harry and I grinned back Hermione burst into tears.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered as I patted her shoulder in comfort.
"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug and dashed away, now positively howling.
"Barking mad," said Ron, shaking his head. "Selena, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores. . . . Harry did great!"
Picking up the golden egg and feeling more elated than I would have believed possible an hour ago, Harry and I ducked out of the tent, Ron by our side talking really fast.
"You two were the best, you know, no competition. Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground. . . turned it into a dog. . . he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away. And that Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand. And Krum - you won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He was probably the best after you, though. Hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them."
Ron drew breath as he and Harry and I reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Vipertooth had been taken away, I could see where the five judges were sitting - right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.
"It's marks out of ten from each one," Ron said, and squinting up the field, I saw the first judge - Madame Maxime - raise her wand in the air. What hooked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.
"Not bad!" said Ron as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your arm . ."
Mr. Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.
"Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping me on the back.
Next, Dumbledore. He too put up a nine. The crowd was cheering harder than ever.
Ludo Bagman - ten.
"Ten?" I said in disbelief. "But. . . I got hurt. . . . What's he playing at?"
"Selena like I told Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.
And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too - four.
"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you gave Krum ten!"
But I didn't care, I wouldn't have cared if Karkaroff had given me zero; Ron's indignation on my behalf was worth about a hundred points to me. I didn't tell Ron this, of course, but my heart felt lighter than air as we turned to leave the enclosure.
And it wasn't just Ron. . . those weren't only Gryffindors cheering in the crowd. When it had come to it, when they had seen what he was facing, most of the school had been on his side as well as Cedric's. . . . He didn't care about the Slytherins, he could stand whatever they threw at him now.
"You're tied in first place, Selena! You and Krum! Harry your in second place!" said Charlie Weasley, hurrying to meet them as they set off back toward the school. "Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened - but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah - and they told me to tell you both you've got to hang around for a few more minutes.. . . Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."
Ron said he would wait, so Harry and I reentered the tent, which somehow looked quite different now: friendly and welcoming.
Fleur, Cedric, and Krum all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at Harry when he saw him.
"Good one, Harry. You too Selena!."
"And you," said Harry, grinning back.
"Yeah great job Cedric!" I agreed also smiling.
"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open. . . see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg -because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
Harry and I left the tent, rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking hard; Harry wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail. Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry and I had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them.
It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.
"Congratulations, Harry! And you Selena!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"
"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Good-bye."
"Ciao!" I agree.
And we set off back to the castle with Ron.
Chelbell2016:
And another chapter done.