Chapter 4- The First Task


Hermione always loved the smell of various Potions bubbling around the classroom. On the rare occasions when Professor Snape declined to teach, he instructed them to pick a potion from their textbook and practise brewing it (or a pick new one if you were stupid enough to want to challenge yourself. Snape's words.). Hermione opted for the Wit-Sharpening Potion, something that she had only tried out by herself in Myrtle's bathroom. She smiled at the memory of second-year, but then it faded when she saw Harry brewing his Forgetfulness Potion. Maybe she would slip some of her Wit-Sharpening Potion into his pumpkin juice before the First Task so that he didn't die. Even that, she still doubted that he would win. Maybe he would pull it out of the bag in order to prove to her that he was serious about it, who knew?

She knew that Harry wouldn't try to approach her himself if he wanted to make things up to her. Not that he had to, he was allowed to make his own decisions. It was that Hermione didn't agree with them that was the issue. She couldn't sit back and watch him waste away the time before the First Task. Well, now it was slowly encroaching upon them and she didn't know whether he had been studying or not. Hermione had been tempted to ask Parvati or even Ginny about it, but realised that neither girl was really speaking to her of late. Hermione had expected that from Parvati, who had a small crush on Harry, but she thought Ginny would be more open to retaining her friendship. They had bonded somewhat during the World Cup, but Hermione never expected her to stop talking to her because of Harry. Or maybe it was because of Ron, Hermione didn't know.

It was about halfway through the lesson when Hermione noticed.

Harry and Ron were sat together.

And they were laughing.

Hermione frowned to herself. When had that happened?

Neville, who had apparently learned how to sneak up on people, slid into the seat next to her. "They miss you."

Hermione whirled around, surprised by the intrusion. "What?"

"They miss you," Neville repeated, shrugging. "They patched up their differences a few days ago. They've been inseparable ever since."

"Good for them," Hermione muttered.

"It's not the same. In classes, in the common room, it's not the same without you three being together."

One part of Hermione was touched and the other scoffed at the remark.

"I see what you're trying to do, Neville. And it's not going to work."

"I thought that since Harry and Ron made up, that you would as well."

"Their differences are separate to mine. Ron was a jealous prat and didn't believe Harry when he said that he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. I was simply trying to keep Harry alive when he wouldn't try himself. I'm tired of being the only one trying."

Neville pouted. "They want you to—."

"Aren't you tired of being the messenger? I saw you do it for the boys and now you're doing it to me. The fact remains that neither of them have even tried to speaking to me. I haven't spoken to Ron since he stopped speaking to Harry. Neither of them actually care enough to try and talk to me themselves."

Neville considered this carefully before nodding. "I agree. I think that Harry is giving you space that you needed and, well I'm not sure what Ron is doing."

"Neville, they're brewing a first-year potion and they're stuck. Even you're successfully brewing a Girding Potion, which we've only been taught this year. They're failing, that's what they're doing."

Neville sighed. "Look, I'm not going to tell you what you should do, but they need you. You know that they need you."

"In what capacity do they need me, Neville? Homework help? Or do they need my friendship? If they did, they would have made the effort to regain it."

"Probably," Neville murmured before returning to his potion. Something had changed within the boy that had caused him to be able to actually brew potions without burning a gaping hole in the cauldron. Hermione was pleased that he had a modicum of competence in him.

Her mind drifted back to the Tournament, as it always did these days.

Cedric and Viktor would be fine. Their discussion sessions had proved as much. Their stratagems were both flawlessly conceptualised and would be successful pending that they didn't lose their cool when encountering the actual dragon.

Hermione was sure that they wouldn't. The Goblet of Fire would not have chosen them if they couldn't. Maybe that was the deal with Harry. Either the Goblet knew that he would pull it all off after his name had been sneaked into it by a meddler, or somebody had charmed it knowing that he couldn't survive it.

Either way, it was cruel.

Although Hermione strongly doubted that Dumbledore would have left holes in his spellcasting for somebody to break through the restrictions. She hated the binding magical contract that the Tournament was under. If they weren't applicable, Harry could have just refused to compete and that would have been that.

But then she would have probably not connected with Cedric or Viktor.

Hermione wouldn't have stopped speaking to Harry and wouldn't have realised that she needed so much more than what she had.

It was a tricky situation to be in, that much Hermione knew.


The day of the First Task came upon them all rather quickly.

Harry refused to eat, as he always did when he was nervous. Ron, Seamus and Dean were hounding him to take their toast and sausages. Ron was reluctant about it, but he offered.

Fleur sat oh so elegantly, poised as always. Her friends jabbered in rapid French around her, probably encouraging her and bestowing various compliments unto her.

Hermione sat with both Cedric and Viktor today, the latter crawling away from the vice grips of the Slytherin table with immediate relief.

Both boys were fairly confident, but not overly as Fleur seemed to be. Hermione wondered if she was, really.

"So you both remember exactly what you need to do?" Hermione sighed as they scoffed down their breakfast. Their morning habits were the polar opposites of Harry's, who repeatedly refused bacon.

"Our strategies are solid, Hermione," Viktor smiled fondly at the high-maintenance girl in front of him.

Hermione shook her head. "You also need to be confident about what you're doing. The judges score on skill and presentation as well as deducting points for injuries or wrongdoings."

Cedric smiled. "Hermione…you need to relax. You'll be safe in the stands while we take on the actual dragons. We know what we're doing. The Goblet chose us because of that."

Viktor nodded. "You've been more helpful than we can explain, but this is the point where you need to leave everything to us. We'll be fine."

Hermione resigned herself to the fact and Cedric smirked at her.

"I know that you love making sure everything goes right, Hermione. So do I. Mostly because of our deal."

Viktor frowned. "Deal?"

Hermione giggled and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "Cedric and I made a deal before the last Hogsmeade trip. He wanted to kiss me and I said that he could if he beat you."

Cedric grinned. "I fully plan on fulfilling the terms of this deal. Sorry Vik."

Viktor's eyes clouded over with a plan brewing behind them. "How about we extend it? If I beat Ced, I get to kiss you instead."

Hermione blushed before smiling. "Alright. Boys, you've got yourselves a deal."

Cedric narrowed his eyes. "I knew you were going to do that, Krum."

Viktor patted his shoulder. "You'll just have to win then, won't you?"

"I guess I will."


Hermione sat in the stands, somehow acquiring the only free space next to Ron. Neville silently offered to switch places, but she refused. She wanted to see what Ron would do when confronted with the possibility of actually speaking to her.

"Good weather for the task," Ron murmured shortly before the announcement.

Hermione felt the rare November sun beat down on her as she considered how banal Ron's conversational attempt was. She gave him credit for talking though.

"It certainly is," Hermione replied, curious as to whether Ron would actually come up with something else. It was a direct analogy of her making all the effort in the friendship.

The air was strangely warm, possibly charmed, as the first competitor emerged from the tent.

It was Fleur, waving to the crowd as she twirled her wand. Naturally, the male contingency and the LGBT females were encapsulated in only her aura when she smiled at them all. She was quite far away from the spectators, but the radiance was too powerful.

Hermione just about stopped herself from rolling her eyes and Fleur stepped up to the mark.

The dragon roared at her, rather tamely compared to the ferocity of the other breeds in the competition. Fleur twisted her wand and slashed it upwards with an impressive flourish. The crowd cheered as the dragon blinked heavily before falling into some kind of manufactured slumber. Hermione was impressed with her work and made a note of learning that particular branch of sleeping spell.

Fleur kept her eyes on the crowd as she flitted around the rocks, performing somewhat showily as she leapt onto a diagonal rock and off it again, swiping the Golden Egg from its location. She held it high in the air and cheered, checking that the dragon was still asleep. Not wasting anymore time, Fleur vaulted over the rocks, catching one slightly before racing back to the line. Hermione noticed that she had a gash on her leg, blood trickling down to her ankle.

Hermione couldn't help but smirk at the realisation that Fleur would have had points deducted from what would have been a flawless performance that only took a minute or two.

Cedric was next and Hermione's breath got caught in her throat. She willed him to do well, but she knew that he would anyway.

Cedric got a predictably loud roar from the crowd as the majority favourite to win. The crowd was mainly made up of Hogwarts students and all three houses sans Gryffindor were rooting for Cedric. Plus, the Beauxbatons girls (and some of the boys) made it very clear that they liked him. He smiled back at everyone, catching Hermione's eye for perhaps longer than he should have.

From the moment he was allowed to, Cedric was animated as the dragon shot flames at him. He deflected them easily and began working on his Transfiguration spell. Turning a rock into a dog was more advanced than he could have hoped for, but it would win him more points if it paid off.

After a few seconds, the dog yapped loudly and the Swedish Short-Snout growled angrily at it. Cedric readied his Disillusionment Charm and it took effect. The dragon could no longer see him. People who didn't know the strategy (or didn't glean it from his major disappearance) frowned and chattered quietly to the person next to them.

Cedric cursed as the dragon lunged in front of him and was glad that nobody knew where he was. He snatched the Egg from the nest, a momentary image of Hermione's puckered lips flashing into his head.

Cedric slipped out of the dragon's reach and reversed the charm, showing himself holding the Egg proudly. Hermione cheered raucously and clapped her hand. Cedric thought about pointing to her like in a Muggle movie he saw, but decided against it. They weren't public with their…whatever it was yet and he didn't want to ruin things.

As the judges deliberated, Hermione noticed Ron giving her a strange look.

"What is it, Ronald?"

"Nothing," the other boy muttered back and went silent, his ears reddened.

Hermione tutted quietly and waited until the next competitor emerged from the tent.

It was Harry, who looked shaky and nervous. It would have been a massive change from Cedric's confident demeanour if Harry wasn't the underdog. It was to be expected that he would be nervous, being a mere fourth year unlike the others. Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Neville, Dean and Seamus started cheering loudly for him and Hermione didn't join in. She settled for clapping encouragingly, though. She wasn't completely heartless.

Harry came to life after summoning his Firebolt and found himself diverted out of the grounds as the dragon broke off its chain. Hermione's stomach lurched.

"It shouldn't have done that," she whispered to herself. "The chain should not have snapped."

"Oh, so you care now?" Ron retorted petulantly.

Hermione sighed. "I've never stopped caring about the two of you, actually. This isn't the time for this discussion, anyway."

Hermione made a note to not vocalise her thoughts anymore, her whole body filling with worry for her…former friend.

Soon, Harry swept back into the stadium, the dragon nowhere in sight. He used his Quidditch talents and dove down onto the ground, collecting the Egg in both of his hands.

Everyone cheered for him, including Hermione.

As Madam Pomfrey treated a shoulder wound and the judges deliberated on the scores, Viktor emerged from the Champion's Tent.

This time, everybody from every school cheered. An international celebrity was in front of them, performing in a Tournament held at their school. House prejudices and school prejudices were put aside as the one universally revered Champion took his place.

As they had discussed, Viktor shot a Conjunctivitis Curse into the Chinese Fireball's eyes, making it roar loudly.

Viktor smiled at the successful casting. On a whim, he levitated one of the rocks, throwing it on the dragon's other side. He knew the eggs were not to be summoned, so he used his athleticism to sneak forward and whisk the Egg away from the nest and into his arms. He levitated another rock and repeated his distraction method. The dragon was facing the other way and did not even recognise that he took the Egg as it chased after the rock.

Viktor crossed the line and burst into the tent as everybody cheered, most shocked that he did not use his broomstick for a comfortable strategy.

Hermione cheered again, earning another dark look from Ron, which she promptly ignored.


Afterwards, Hermione made her way to the common grounds where everybody was celebrating as Rita Skeeter made the rounds of the four wizards competing. Fleur was explaining her methods while the bilingual Olympe Maxime was translating for her. Rita looked bored, as though she wanted to move onto the others already.

Cedric and Viktor spotted her, as did Harry. The former two got to her first already. She smirked.

"So they announced the scores to us privately," Viktor explained, a hint of a smile on his face.

"And?" Hermione wasn't asking because of the deal, but because she was curious.

"Well, Harry came in fourth. Apparently one of the judges didn't like how he exited the stadium, but gave him benefit points because the dragon got loose," Cedric explained.

"Fleur came third," continued Viktor, "because the gash on her leg was caused by over exaggerated performance, apparently."

"Okay, well I predicted that," Hermione nodded. "Now who won?"

"Both of us," the boys chorused.

"We tied," Viktor added. "we got twenty-nine of thirty points. My deduction was for my improvisation. They said it was a good plan, but I hadn't thought of it earlier."

Hermione's eyes darkened. "You didn't know what the terrain would be like earlier. That's unfair. It was probably Dumbledore."

Cedric nodded. "My point was for the Disillusionment Charm. It was too sneaky, apparently."

Hermione gaped. "There wasn't a rule against sneakiness. Dumbledore," she sighed.

Viktor shuffled. "So, about the deal."

"I guess it's nullified," Hermione smirked, knowing it would irk them.

Cedric pouted. "Or…we should add a tiebreaker clause. We both get to kiss you."

Hermione smiled as Viktor agreed.

She looked to Cedric. "Claim your prize, Mr. Diggory."

Cedric looked around before leaning in and kissing her mouth, lips twisting in all sorts of ways. His hand met the back of her head and pulled her in as Viktor watched, the sight before him very pleasing.

Cedric and Hermione separated not long after, everybody staring at them interestedly. Hermione noticed this and looked to Viktor.

"You ready?"

"Let's give them something to gossip about," Viktor grinned and roped her in for a kiss. It was much like Cedric's, short but passionate.

Hermione chuckled lightly as they parted, pleased by their kissing skills.

Cedric had an idea. He turned to Viktor and smirked, the other boy catching on.

At the last second, Hermione understood.

Cedric turned his body towards Viktor and pressed his lips against the Durmstrang boy's own. Viktor responded actively to it and cradled Cedric's face in his hands. Hermione smirked at the people staring at her with her arms folded.

The boys broke away and reached out for her hands. She took theirs and noticed that they were holding each other's.

Cedric laughed to himself. "Well, that was fun."