Dudley returned to the common room with Ron and Dean after saying goodbye to Lockhart in a much better mood than he had been in before. Ok, he hadn't performed well during the first task, but he was now well ahead in the second thanks to Dean recognising the sound of the egg as being merpeople. And, he also knew which spell to use thanks to Lockhart.

They returned to the common room to find a party in full swing. Lee Jordan's wizarding wireless was playing Stubby Boardman and The Hobgoblins at full blast. The Weasley twins had put together a bunch of food and everyone was in the common room drinking butterbeers and eating snacks and celebrating Neville's victory.

"Dudley, good of you to join us!" Fred said, leaving the table where he was sat with Angelina, George and Katie.

"Listen, hard luck mate—it was just unlucky that it's tail caught you," Fred said.

"Yeah, you were so close. Another few seconds and you'd have made it," George said.

"Cheers," Dudley said, grabbing the Butterbeer that Lee had handed to him.

"How about Neville though," George said. "Who'd have thought he'd be so good."

"Seamus is pleased," Fred said, nodding his head towards Seamus who had a smug look on his face as he chatted to Colin and Dennis Creevey. "He bet 5 Galleons with Harold Dingle that Neville would win the first task—gave him five to one odds."

"Where is Neville?" Dudley asked.

George gestured towards a corner where Neville was sat. He wasn't alone. With him was Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown.

"He's holding Lavender's hand!" Dean said in shock.

Ron, who had been taking a gulp of Butterbeer, spat it all over Fred's robes and then spilt the rest down his own in his haste to see.

"Blimey!" he said, ignoring Fred's look of disgust. "Do you think they're going out?"

"No, I think he's just keeping her hands warm," George said sarcastically. "Seriously, you're clueless."

"I dunno, if Ginny is right, our little brother is quite a studmuffin too," Fred said, smirking.

"What do you mean?" Ron demanded.

"Well ...according to her, you and Cho Chang are getting pretty close," said George.

"Come off it!" Ron said, his ears turning pink. "We've barely spoke! We're barely even mates!"

"That's because you're a moron," Fred said. "It's clear to anyone she likes you."

"And clear to anyone that you like her," George said.

"No way, you don't know what you're talking about," Ron said, his ears even pinker.

"Well, if you're not interested, perhaps I can ask her out," Dean said slyly.

Ron glared furiously at him and Dudley laughed.

"Just ask her out," said Dean. "What's the worse that can happen?"

"She says no," Ron replied.

Dudley left the four of them and headed over to Neville. "Neville, I just want to say sorry, for earlier I mean," Dudley said, a little awkwardly since he didn't apologise much. "I didn't mean anything by it."

He was offput somewhat by the fact both Parvati and Lavender weren't looking too pleased with him. "Not so arrogant now, are you, Dudley?" Lavender said.

"Leave it, Lav," Neville said, sharply. "No worries, I know you didn't."

"Cheers," Dudley said. "Have you seen Hermione?"

"Over there," Neville said, grinning. "Already back in the books."

Dudley grinned, hoping that now things were going to be normal between them. "Cheers, and well done—seriously."

Neville nodded, already turning back to chatting up Lavender.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked suspiciously when Dudley approached.

Sure enough, she was sat alone and with a pile of books beside her.

"Aren't you going to take a night off?" Dudley asked, sitting down.

"No—the rest of you may have forgot, but we still have our normal class. Professor Sinistra will be furious if I don't get this star chart complete," Hermione said.

"Just do a rush job—I did. At least I'll have something to hand in," said Dudley.

Hermione looked scandalised at the mere suggestion. "You didn't answer, why were you and the others late?"

"We were working on the egg clue," Dudley said.

Hermione put her book down, looking impressed. "Really? Already? Did you get anywhere?"

"Already solved it," Dudley said, grinning triumphantly.

"No ... seriously? You have it figured out?"

Dudley nodded, and unable to resist bragging a bit, continued, "And I have a plan ready for the next task already."

"No ... you're pulling my leg! It's that easy?" Hermione asked. "Wait ... come on, Lockhart didn't tell you?"

Dudley shook his head. "No, his guess was completely wrong. He said ... wait, you have heard it right?"

Hermione nodded. "The screaming inside the egg, yes. Gave us quite a fright."

"Well, Lockhart thought it was a banshee," Dudley said.

"Yeah, so did Seamus, but I don't think that fits," Hermione said.

"Well, Dean figured it out in less than a minute—do you want me to tell you?"

Hermione hesitated and then shook her head. "No, Neville's insisting on doing this by ourselves. I don't think he'd like it if I got tips. I'm sure if Dean got it that quick that we can solve it too."

"Fair enough," said Dudley and took a sip of his butterbeer.

They were disturbed at that moment by Seamus turning into a large canary. The whole common room burst out laughing.

Within a minute, however, Seamus had molted, and once his feathers had fallen off, he reappeared looking entirely normal. He even joined in laughing.

"Canary Creams!" Fred shouted to the excitable crowd. "George and I invented them - seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

It was nearly one in the morning when Dudley finally went up to the dormitory with Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Before he pulled the curtains of his four-poster shut. Dudley set his tiny model of the Swedeish Short-SNout on the table next to his bed, where it yawned, curled up, and closed its eyes. Really, Dudley thought, as he pulled the hangings on his four-poster closed, Hagrid had a point...they were all right, really, dragons.

Neville's popularity at school had increased tenfold after his exploits with the dragon. He could barely walk down the corridors without other students greeting him and congratulating him on his victory. Dudley, on the other hand, had seen his popularity drop. He had always had a good reputation at school because of his exploits. Now, he seemed to be second-fiddle to Neville.

It was annoying, Dudley thought, as Roger Davies stopped Neville in the corridor to say hello. Neville's popularity was also boosted once the rest of the school heard he was going out with Lavender Brown.

Dudley had never thought Neville as been popular with the ladies, but there were a few jealous looks from girls like Hannah Abbott and a Ravenclaw girl called Lisa Turpin when they walked down the corridor holding hands.

Susan Bones confirmed that Hannah liked Neville during their next Muggle Studies class. "She's liked him before he was popular," she explained, twisting her long brown plait in her hands, the way she often did. "She was hoping he would ask her out this year."

"But Lavender got there first," Dudley said.

"Yeah, I feel sorry Hannah. She was pretty upset. I'm thinking I should try and find her someone else. Is Ron going out with anyone?"

"She likes Ron too?" Dudley asked in surprise.

"Yeah, well, she's mentioned that she thinks he's handsome—plus he's Gryffindor's seeker. But you avoided the question, is he seeing anyone?" Susan pressed.

"No, well, he likes Cho Chang ..."

"Lots of people do, she is very pretty," Susan admitted, looking annoyed by that fact. "It should be illegal to be that good looking."

"Yeah, well, by the time Ron makes a move we'll have graduated," Dudley said.

"Same could be said for other people," Susan said.

Dudley didn't realise what she meant.