Holly made her way into the portrait hole and discovered that Hermione and Ginny were waiting for her in the Common Room. Hermione looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at her best friend, "So how did your date go?"
Holly takes off her coat and flops down on the couch next to Hermione, "Brilliant, Viktor is a great guy."
"What did you two do?"
"I showed him around Hogsmeade, and we talked. He told me about his family in Bulgaria and about the town he lives in."
"What else did you do?" Ginny asked.
"He held my hand and walked me back, and then Viktor kissed me on the cheek."
"That's so cute," Hermione said.
"Cute? That's boring," Ginny remarks.
"Ginny! Viktor's trying to be respectful," Hermione tells the younger girl.
Holly ignores Ginny's comment, "Well, I'm off to bed."
"Goodnight, Holly, and I'm happy for you.," Hermione tells her.
"Thank you, Hermione."
The days go by, and Holly continues to train in the Room of Requirement. She told Harry about it, but he said that Professor Moody was helping him, even though he wasn't supposed to. Holly didn't like that idea, but she couldn't persuade her brother to stop going to Moody. In between training, Holly would spend her time with Viktor. They would talk about everything. Eventually, Holly felt comfortable enough with Viktor to tell him about her and Harry's life with the Dursleys. To say that Viktor was angry was an understatement.
"How could that idiot Headmaster leave two babies on the front step on a cold November night, then never bother to check on you to see how you ver being treated?"
"I guess he thought that as long as the blood wards worked, we were safe."
"That is no excuse."
"I know it isn't, but in the end, the Dursleys got what they deserved. Once Sirius was cleared of all the charges, Harry and I filed charges against the Dursleys. There was enough evidence in the house to find them guilty and our Uncle's ravings when the police dragged him away, sealed their fate. Dudley was placed in foster care as his aunt was convicted as well for allowing her dogs to attack us."
Viktor calmed down, "Good, that is no less than they deserve. I am glad that you are safe now, Holly," Viktor said as he ran his thumb across her cheek. Holly blushed. Viktor put his arm around Holly, and they continued their walk.
Finally, November 24th rolled around, and it was time for the first task. The crowds are cheering; people are taking bets. The champions are gathered in the tent nervously, waiting for the task to begin. Harry is pacing back and forth, while his sister has her eyes closed and is doing breathing exercises.
'This is just like any other competition. I need to center myself, focus on the task at hand, and give my all.' Holly thought, 'But you've never faced a fire breathing dragon before,' Holly shook that thought away. Instead, she started stretching.
The other champions looked at her oddly, wondering what Holly was doing except for Harry, and he realized that she was going to depend mostly on her gymnastics and agility to get her through this. Harry suddenly felt terrible because he had been so worried about himself that he hadn't bothered to check on how Holly was going to get through this challenge.
Harry and Holly watched as Professor Sprout sat with Cedric, trying to calm his nerves while Karkaroff spoke harshly to Viktor. Madame Maxime rubbed Fleur's shoulders, which left the Potter twins alone. But they were used to it and took comfort and strength from each other. It helped though that Hermione was able to sneak into the tent and give them each a hug and some words of encouragement.
When Dumbledore came in with Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, the champions knew their time had come, "Good day champions. Gather round, please. Now you've waited, you've wondered and at last, the moment has arrived. The moment only five of you can fully appreciate."
The champions gather around Dumbledore in a circle.
Dumbledore sees Hermione and does a double-take, "What are you doing here, Miss Granger?"
"Oh, um. Sorry I'll go," And Hermione quickly exits the tent.
"Ludo, if you would."
"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; he looked slightly green. Holly's eyes flashed to Viktor, who looked stoned face but quickly met her eyes.
"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 with a number two on it.
"Miss Potter," Ludo says.
Holly takes a deep breath and using all her Gryffindor courage to reach inside the bag to pull out- The Peruvian Vipertooth with the number five on it.
"Mr. Krum, if you will," Viktor reaches in and pulls out- The Chinese fireball with the number three on it.
Cedric goes next and pulls out- The Swedish short-snout with the number one on it.
"Which leaves."
"The Horntail," Harry mumbles.
"What boy," Barty asks.
"Nothing," Harry says.
Harry puts his hand in the bag and pulls out the dragon.
"The Hungarian horntail. These represent very real dragons, each of which, as we said earlier, have been given a golden egg to protect.
Your objective is simple, collect the egg. This you must do, for each egg contains a clue without which you cannot hope to proceed to the next task. Any questions?"
All the Champions shake their head no.
"Very well. Good luck, champions. Mr. Diggory, the sound of the cannon," Dumbledore tells him.
Moments later, the cannon goes off.
Cedric takes a deep breath and heads out.
Eventually, Holly is left allow in the tent. After thinking over her plan, Holly begins to feel that it's not going to work, and she may end up dying. But if she's going to die, Holly is not going down without a fight.
When Harry's task is over, Holly gets ready to go out. The canon goes off, and Holly takes a deep breath. Holly takes a deep breath and walks out; she sees the Peruvian Vipertooth. It is the smallest and fastest known breed of dragon, about fifteen feet in length. The minute Holly walks out into the arena, Holly cast a freezing spell under the dragon's feet, causing it to slip and fall. That gives Holly time to cast the gemino curse on herself. She makes copies of herself that run off in different directions. Holly then transfigures the rocks into springboards to give her extra height as she vaults over objects.
The Vipertooth gets up anger and lunges for the first 'Holly' that is closest to it. The minute the dragon bites down on the imposter, Holly begins to multiply at an alarming rate. While the dragon is distracted going after the false Hollys, and they lead the dragon further from the nest, the real Holly uses the springboards to vault and flip over all of the objects and rocks until she makes it to the nest and picks up the golden egg. Once she's picked up the egg, the handlers come in and get the dragon out of the arena.
The crowd explodes, cheering madly for Holly as Madam Pomfrey rushes in and takes Holly to the medical tent to exam her, "Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling Holly inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; she could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be severely injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Holly's arm, where she scraped it, talking all the while furiously. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're fortunate this is quite shallow. It'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though."
Harry walked into the cubicle where his sister was; his arm was in a sling, "Are you alright, Holly?"
"I'm fine, Harry, just a scratch."
At that moment, Hermione and Ron come into the cubicle where the twins were. "Holly, Harry, that was brilliant. You were amazing on your broom, Harry. And Holly how you used the gemino curse to confuse the dragon and the springboards was ingenious. I would never have thought of it," Hermione gushed.
Ron stood behind, Hermione looking down at the ground. He finally looked up at the twins, who had been staring at him the whole time. Ron cleared his throat, "Harry, Holly," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your names in that goblet, I, I reckon they're trying to do you in!"
"Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."
"Wasn't just me who thought you'd done t. Everyone was saying it behind your back," Ron said as if that justified his actions.
"Yes, but you're our friend. We thought that at least you would believe us," Holly spat.
"I'm sorry," Ron said.
"Forget it."
"No, Holly's right," said Ron, "I shouldn't' have —"
"Forget it," Harry said.
Holly stared at Harry, then she looked at Ron, "Harry may have forgiven you, but I haven't. Those are just pretty words, Ron. You need to prove to me that you're actually sorry," With that, Holly jumped off the table and left the cubicle.
"She isn't going to forgive me easily, is she," Ron asked.
"No, she isn't, you deeply hurt her, and you know how Holly can hold a grudge," Hermione said.
As she was about to walk out of the tent, Viktor reached out and grabbed Holly, "Are you alright, Holly," Viktor asked, "You are not hurt?"
Holly sniffled, "I'm fine, Viktor, I have a little scratch, that's all."
"Then vhy are you crying?"
"My friend, Ron, thinks that he can call Harry and me cheat and simply waltz back here and say that he's sorry and all is forgiven. Harry may have forgiven him, but I can't. He hurt me deeply, calling me a cheat and a liar."
Viktor's eyes turned cold, "How dare he, did he not know that you svore on your magic that you did not put your name in the goblet?"
"I guess that wasn't good enough for him? I told him that if he wants my forgiveness, he's going to have to prove to me that he means it."
"I think that you are correct, malŭk gŭlŭb, otherwise he could turn on you again."
"Thank you, Viktor, for understanding."
"You are velcome, Holly," Viktor tells her then hugs her.
Suddenly they see a flash, and they both look up.
"Ah, young love, this will make a great article." Rita Skeeter says
Holly reaches for the camera, but the cameraman runs away.
Holly sighs and lets go of Viktor, "I better go find out what my score is."
It turns out that Holly was tied with Viktor for 1st place, and Harry came in 2nd. Cedric and Fleur followed it. Back at the Gryffindor Tower, a celebration was being held in honor of the Potter twins. The house-elves brought all kinds of food and butterbeer. They hoisted Holly and Harry onto their shoulders and paraded them around the Common Room.
"We knew you wouldn't die, Harry," George said.
"Lose a leg."
"Or an arm."
"Pack it all together."
"NEVER," The twins say.
"But you, dear Holly, were incredible. What was all the flippy thing you were doing," George asked.
"Gymnastics. It's a Muggle sport. I've been doing that since I was four."
"Well, whatever it is, you were fantastic," Angelina tells Holly.
"And the gemino curse was genius." Katie Bell tells her.
The Gryffindors cheer, and Harry asks them if they want them to open the egg. Holly and Harry open their eggs, and a horrible screeching sound comes out of it. The twins quickly close their eggs
"What the bloody hell was that," Harry asks.
"I don't know," Holly tells her brother, "But somehow, it's out next clue."