(A/N: this chapter is very long, so deal with it)
"As you all know, we have four champions competing this morning- and our first is Hogwarts heartthrob- Cedric Diggory!"
At this, the crowd of Hufflepuffs went wild- some screaming in panic, some cheering for Cedric. Cho felt her stomach twist into knots. Cedric had to face this beast, armed only with his wand?
Cedric stumbled into the arena, looking pale and terrified. He looked up at the beast- and up, and up at the gigantic dragon, towering over him. The Swedish Short-Snout puffed smoke from its nostrils and moved closer to its eggs. Suddenly Cedric looked very small, very vulnerable, and very human. Cho wanted so much to be able to and tell him everything would be all right. She doubted her words would have made any difference, him being face to face with such a monster.
Cedric seemed to be frozen for a few moments, but he steeled himself and made his first move.
"That's it, lad, no need to be scared," Bagman said jovially.
Cedric tried to run around the dragon- but its eyes were following his every move. He moved to the left, then to the right- getting closer to the nest all the time. The dragon obviously didn't like this, so she sent a stream of fire into the air. The crowd screamed as Cedric quickly ducked and rolled away to avoid it.
"Ooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" Bagman said. "You'll have to do a little better than that to beat this beast, Mr. Diggory."
Cedric brandished his wand, looking determined. The spell he yelled was inaudible over the noise of the crowd but it seemed to do the trick- two clods of dirt from the ground shot straight up into the air- into the dragon's nostrils. The thing yowled terribly as a great amount of smoke started billowing from its ears. Cedric took this opportunity to run at the nest but the dragon yowled again and batted Cedric away with its tail. Cedric took the blow to his stomach and rolled away several metres, winded. The crowd's yells grew to a reached a crescendo. Lorla was clutching Cho's arms so hard her fingernails were digging in, painfully.
"Nice try!" Bagman yelled gleefully, "He's taking risks, this one!"
Now things were heating up- literally. The dragon had recognised Cedric as a definite threat- glowing embers were dropping from its nose. Cedric got to his feet, staring the dragon right in the eyes. He raised his wand- and pointed it past the dragon at a rock. He yelled something again- and the rock suddenly grew and sprouted legs and turned into a large brown dog.
"Hello, different tactics!" Bagman cried, "He's got more brains than we give him credit for…"
The dog barked loudly, and the dragon, distracted, turned away from Cedric to look at the dog. It barked again, its hackles raised, and started growling. The dragon answered with a low throbbing purr in the back of her throat, and started towards the dog. This was just what Cedric wanted- he began to move quickly and stealthily towards the nest.
"Mad!" said Ron hoarsely, "absolutely mad!"
Cho tore her eyes away from Cedric for two seconds to look around at Ron. "Why? What's wrong?"
Ron shook his head, his eyes directed intently at the scene below. "If that dragon sees him she's going to go mad- and I mean mad. There's no way she's going to eat that dog over Cedric after what he did to her."
"But isn't the dog a threat too?" Lorla asked.
"Well the dog didn't shoot dirt up the dragon's nose, did it?" Ron said. "Oh no-" At the look of horror on Ron's face, Cho and Lorla spun back around to face the arena. Cedric was less than a metre away from the egg- but the dragon had obviously decided to focus on the bigger threat of Cedric, just as Ron had predicted.
"Clever move!" Bagman cried, "Pity it didn't work!"
The dragon was roaring and making a terrible noise, spreading her wings to their fullest extent. The crowd gasped at the terrible beauty of this sight. Cedric leaned over and grabbed the egg, just as the dragon shot two streams of flame from its mouth. "He's got the egg!" Ludo Bagman screamed, but the sound of his voice was all but lost in the roars of the crowd. The people in the crowd surged- and Cho couldn't see what was going on. But she could hear Cedric- he was screaming in pain.
"Oh my God!" Lorla, who was tall enough to see over everyone's heads, clapped two hands to her mouth. "Oh my god, oh my god!"
"What? What is it?" Cho cried urgently, ducking just in time to avoid Georgia's arm, which she was waving about wildly.
"Cedric! He's on fire!"
"What?!" Cho gasped.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Cedric Diggory has got the egg in just under twenty minutes! Unfortunately he's copped some…minor injures- but our dragon personnel are seeing to that!"
Urgent yells were sounding from the arena- Cedric's screams were dying down- people were sitting back down.
"Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts, everyone!" Ludo Bagman cried. Cho stood on her toes and could just see Cedric with a towel over his head being led off by the red-headed wizard with the whistle.
"Very good indeed! And now the marks from the judges!"
Cho looked over at the judges' table. Madame Maxime lifted her wand and shot a long silver ribbon into the air- which twisted into an unmistakable number seven. Wild applause ensued.
"Remember that the most points any champion can receive is fifty- ten out of ten from each judge," Ludo Bagman reminded them as Barty Crouch shot a silver ribbon into the air- eight out of ten. Dumbledore was next- he awarded Cedric eight out of ten as well.
"My go," said Bagman, grinning. He gave Cedric a nine out of ten. The crowd gave their most enthusiastic round of applause yet. Last, the Durmstrang Headmaster gave his marks- six out of ten.
"That makes…" Cho said, doing a quick calculation in her head, "…thirty eight."
"Thirty eight out of fifty's quite good," Lorla said, smiling. "The French blonde'll have to be prepared for a fight to beat our Cedric."
Cho realised with a start that her hands were shaking. She clenched and unclenched them to make it stop. She'd been frightened- really frightened. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a dragon, either. True, she'd never seen that particular type of dragon, but still…
Calm down, she told herself sternly, how can he possibly get hurt? Dumbledore wouldn't have let Cedric go in the competition if he thought he'd get hurt.
Then she stopped. Why are you worrying about it anyway? He's none of your business, he's not your concern!
But he was her concern- very much so. Cho took a deep breath and decided not to think about it.
Another whistle blew, and a second dragon was led out- this one smaller, a brilliant green in colour.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman said cheerfully, "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur came out of the tent with her head high and her wand at the ready.
"You have to hand it to her," Ariana said to Lorla over the applause, "she's got guts!"
"Guts? She hasn't even got a bottom." Lorla snorted.
Cho didn't really concentrate on Fleur's performance- her mind kept wandering to the small tent at the side, where Cedric had been rushed.
"I hope he's all right," she said without thinking.
"What?" Lorla said, slightly distracted by the sight of the green dragon chasing Fleur all over the stadium.
"I'm not sure that was wise!" Bagman said gleefully over Fleur's screams. "Oh- nearly!" Fleur made a dive to the nest. "Careful now-" The dragon made a dive at Fleur. She screamed again and backed away as the dragon sent a stream of flame from its nostrils aimed at Fleur's magnificent head.
"Damn!" Cho heard Lorla say as Fleur dived away.
"Good Lord, I thought she'd had it then!" Bagman said cheerfully.
Ten minutes later, Fleur had successfully retrieved the egg. The judges awarded her thirty-five points out of fifty.
"Not bad, eh?" Ariana said, applauding Fleur as she was led into the first aid tent. Lorla snorted again.
"Not bad at all," said a voice behind them. Cho turned to see that Ron Weasley was grinning to himself as he clapped. Hermione frowned at him.
"Got the picture yet?" she snapped at him, "Whoever put Harry's name in the Goblet didn't do it so he could win a thousand Galleons and miss exams! They wanted him to face this. They wanted him to get hurt!"
Ron's smile disappeared. "Hrm," he grunted.
The whistle blew once more, and a third dragon was led out- but Cho knew what this one was. "Chinese Fireball," she said, frowning. "I wonder who's got to go up against that beast."
Their question was answered almost immediately- Viktor Krum came striding out the tent with a determined air. "And here comes Mr. Krum!" said Bagman, unnecessarily. Not wasting any time, Viktor ran at the beast and hit it with a hex in the eyes. The terrible Chinese Fireball yowled mightily- the noise itself was the music of nightmares- but Cho knew it was just a ruse.
"Phwaor, I can smell that dragon from here," said Lorla, wrinkling her nose.
"They all smell like that," said Cho, "It's a way of warding off predators."
"And marking their territory," Ron added, over their shoulders.
Cho nodded. "Females spread it all over their eggs."
"Stops things from trying to eat them," Ron put in. "Who'd want to eat anything that smells like that?" He gave Cho a smile. "How'd you know that stuff about dragons?"
"Just Chinese Fireballs. My Great Grandfather Zhou discovered the species."
"No kidding!" Ron looked impressed. "I'd say this is as vicious as the dragons are going to get. They wouldn't put a high school student up against much more."
"Well, that shows how much you know," Hermione said. "Wait until you see what Harry's up against."
"Since when did you become the expert on dragons?" Ron snapped.
"Since when did you?" Hermione countered.
"Hey- that's my brother down there with the whistle, I'll have you know."
"But he's not the one who has to make his way past it, is he?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
As their bickering began to turn into a more heated argument, Cho and Lorla exchanged a smile and turned their attention back to Viktor Krum, just as he was grabbing the golden egg off the pile.
"Very daring- very, very daring!" Bagman roared above the crowd's approval. Viktor was out of the arena with a sort of satisfied smile on his face, the golden egg clutched tightly in his hands.
"Just Harry now," said Lorla, and Cho thought again of the injured Cedric in the first-aid tent. If she was a braver person she could run down to the tent now and see him, see if he was all right. And would he sit up in his bed and be pleased to see her? Or would he say "Who are you again?"
You're just one of the masses, to him, Cho reminded herself, and settled back in her seat, frowning.
The whistle blew for the fourth time. But the dragon that came out elicited a bigger reaction than any previous one. It was forty feet tall, black as night, armour-plated, with gigantic bony wings. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp fangs- its eyes were yellow and slitted like a cat's. But worst of all, in Cho's opinion, was the tail- which was spiked, and deadly looking.
Behind them, Hermione let out a small, frightened squeal, and Ron swore.
"A Hungarian Horntail?" he said, suddenly hoarse. "What…but…what do they think they're playing at? They can't to this to him. He'll be killed!"
"Oh Ron!" Hermione sounded tearful now. "It's bigger than I thought it would be- what if it doesn't work?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, Harry Potter!" There was no applause- just a great amount of noise. Cheers and jeers arose from the crowd. Some people were yelling out words of encouragement, and other yelled out disdainful comments. Harry walked slowly into the arena, facing the massive Horntail, which was crouched in a corner. He stopped, looking very small, and raised his wand. His voice sounded clearly above all the noise.
"Accio Firebolt!"
Next to Cho, Lorla had involuntarily clasped her hands together as if she were praying. There was a momentary hush as Harry stood, all alone, staring up at the dragon with his right hand raised…
"Hey, Potter! What are you doing, waiting for the egg to jump into your hand?"
The insult sounded very clearly from the Slytherin section- it was followed immediately by other jeers and laughter. Others started yelling things out to Harry as well- but he just stood there, one hand raised. Lorla was incensed. "No!" she cried angrily. "No! Why don't they ever leave him alone?" For a moment, Cho struggled with the desire to leap to her feet and yell out something- anything- that would make them stop. But before she could, someone behind her did.
"SHUT UP!" bellowed Ron. Cho and Lorla swivelled around. Ron was on his feet, bright red in the face- Hermione sitting beside him was looking tearful. Ron took a deep breath, and then yelled again. "YOU CAN DO IT, HARRY!"
"Yeah, come on Harry!" Lorla yelled, clapping her hands together.
"Go, Harry!" someone else yelled in the Hufflepuff section. And that's when Cho heard it- as the noise level started rising, as everyone began to applaud and yell- insults or encouragement- there was a whistling, whiffling noise- something was heading very fast towards the stadium.
Shoooooooom!
Something whizzed over Cho's head- it took her a few seconds to realise what it was- Ron realised just before her.
"He did it! He did it!" the boy roared.
"Yes! Yes!" Hermione squealed excitedly.
Harry's broomstick had flown all the way from Gryffindor Tower to his hand- and as Cho watched, he caught the broomstick neatly, mounted it, and then launched himself into the air.
It was wonderful to see- Harry flew high, high into the air, and then back down to earth. The noise of the crowd was truly deafening. Cho and Lorla both got to their feet and stood up on their chairs, clapping and whooping.
For a while, Cedric was momentarily pushed out of Cho's mind as she watched Harry Potter. he pulled into a dive so intense she herself felt squeamish watching him. The dragon's plume of fire missed him by a millimeter. Ron and Hermione whooped.
"Great Scott, he can fly! Are you watching this Mr. Krum?" jeered Mr. Bagman. Harry flew around and around the great beasts head, and before long it was quite dizzy-m and the cheering of the crowd went on. Cho felt a bit dizzy herself watching him. No wonder they had never been able to beat Gryffindor at Quidditch. Since when had he been so good?
Harry pulled into another dive- but this time he was not so good- the dragon's nightmarish tail swung around and hit Harry in the shoulder. Several people screamed, Georgia among them ("Oh, Christ…" groaned Ron). And then Harry began to fly back, and forth, back and forth, each time going a little bit further away from the incensed Horntail. Lorla had twigged on what he was trying to do.
"He's going to make the brute get out of its nest and fly at him, so he can go down and grab the egg." she muttered, "I can't tell if that's stupidly brave, or just plain smart."
Hearing the dragon roar so angrily, Cho suspected it was the former rather than the latter. The noise of the crowd had died down a bit- everyone was sitting on tenterhooks waiting for the dragon to fly…
The Horntail let out an incensed roar, and then, just as Lorla predicted, as Harry flew high, so did she, with huge sweeping flaps of her Saurian wings. Quick as lightning Harry dived, dived, dived- and got it!
"He's got the egg!" Ludo Bagman bellowed over the deafening roars of the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, our youngest champion is quickest to get the egg!"
"'Scuse me," said Ron in Cho's ear. He leapt over her chair, closely followed by Hermione, and the two made their way as quickly as they could to the stairs at the end of the row.
"Where do you think they're going?" Lorla asked, as they watched Ron and Hermione pelt downstairs to the first aid tent.
Cho shrugged. She was waiting for the scores to come up. How would Harry compare to Cedric? Harry's method was certainly better- and quicker- but surely Cedric's was just as good? Maybe the judges were going to be lenient on Harry because he was younger- and supposedly, a reluctant participant in the tournament.
The noise level of the crowd had dropped to an excited level of chatter as they too waited excitedly for the judges' decisions.
"That was wicked!" said someone behind Cho. "Absolutely wicked!"
"Yeah, Potter's not so bad, really, is he?" said his companion. "Wish I hadn't tried to curse him in the hallway that time."
"I'm sure he doesn't mind."
Cho smiled to herself. It looked as though things were going to go back to normal- before Harry had gotten so unpopular. She suddenly wondered if Cedric had seen Harry's performance as well- and if so, was he as impressed as she was?
A sudden hush fell over the students as the judges stood to give their points- a hush which didn't last long. As Madame Maxime shot a silver '8' into the air, the school once again broke into enthusiastic applause. Mr Crouch was next- he gave Harry a 9. The applause grew even louder. Then Dumbledore gave Harry another 9- down by the champions' tent, Cho could see Harry standing with Ron Weasley- both had huge grins on their faces. Ludo Bagman's score elicited the wildest applause of all- a 10. Looking down at Harry again, Cho could see the grin had disappeared from his face. She didn't pause to wonder why as the final mark was coming up form Professor Karkaroff.
"Four?!" Lorla cried, sounding as surprised as Cho felt. "That's ridiculous! He gave Krum TEN for God's sake!"
"Well, you've got to expect him to be a bit biased." Cho reasoned.
"That's not bias!" Lorla said angrily. "That's cheating!"
There was a surge of movement as the Hogwarts students got to their feet and started making their way out of the enclosure. Curiously, Cho had the same feeling she always had after she'd done an exam- she'd devoted so much thought to the tournament and then it was all over in little more than an hour. It was quite the anti-climax really- she was expecting something more to happen, somehow.
As Cho reached the edge of the enclosure, she paused. The champions had once again gathered in the tent by the side of the enclosure- the flap had been left open and Cho could see quite clearly inside. The champions were gathered around Ludo Bagman- Viktor Krum was looking moody, Fleur Delacour was looking distinctly shaken, and Harry was looking quite cheerful- which was curious, as Cho could hardly remember seeing him recently without a scowl on his face. And Cedric was there too, of course- he stood at least a foot and a half taller than Harry, taller even than Viktor Krum. His back was to her, so Cho couldn't see his face but his back was straight and his shoulders were squared and he didn't look as though he'd just faced a dragon at all- he looked more as though he was ready for- well, anything. Ludo Bagman was talking rapidly and gesturing to the golden eggs each of them were now holding. He nodded in a conclusive sort of way and ambled off. Harry was joined almost immediately by Ron, who punched him on the arm amiably. Fleur and Viktor joined their respective classmates. Cedric, however, stooped, to tie his shoelace. Cho longed to see his face, just for a moment, so she could see what he was thinking…
"Go and talk to him." Lolra said above Cho's left shoulder.
"Huh?" Cho was jerked out her reverie by the sudden appearance of her friend. She'd kind of forgotten about the rest of the school, surging out of the enclosure entrance.
"Go and talk to him." Lorla repeated. "Come on. You know you want to."
"I…" Cho said, blinking rapidly. Of course she wanted to. She would have liked nothing more than to run up to him and give him a big congratulatory hug- and she wouldn't have to say anything because they'd know each other, and they could stand there hugging each other as the rest of the school walked past them…
"Do it!" Lorla said, poking Cho rather more violently than was necessary in the ribs. "Go on."
"I can't…" Cho protested weakly, even as she found Lorla giving her a strong push in the back so that Cho stumbled over towards Cedric.
Oh well, Cho thought, feeling her heart turn over, I've gone this far. I've just got to….take a few more steps and then I'll be right in front of him- what will I say?
Cedric was getting rather heavily to his feet, picking up the golden egg as he did so, brushing back his hair. All Cho had to do was call his name, and he'd turn around…
"Cedric!"
Cho had opened her mouth, but the voice had come from behind her. She spun around to see a barrage of Hufflepuff students sprinting in her direction. "Cedric, Cedric!" they yelled. Cho spun back around, and saw Cedric's face. The dragon's fire must have hit him literally head on- one side of his face was covered in a sickly orange ointment and his hair had been burnt- it was sticking out in all directions. Cho was horrified. He'd really been hit badly.
Cedric was holding the egg in one hand and waving cheerfully with the other. Suddenly he turned his head- and spotted Cho. She froze, mortified. Cedric had caught her gawking at him like an idiot again. She felt too sick to return his smile- she turned on her heel and ran out of the enclosure, joining the rest of the Hogwarts students making their way up to the castle in groups. Cho spotted Lorla, Ariana, Islean and Georgia and made her way towards them.
"What happened to you?" Lorla said, as Cho ran up to her.
"I don't want to talk about it," Cho said, slowing down. "But that's the last bloody time I take a cue from you."
Lorla snorted. "Like I haven't heard that before."
"What's wrong?" Islean asked Cho, taking in her flushed cheeks and nauseated expression.
"Nothing, I just…feel sick." Cho said. "The smell of Chinese Fireballs makes me…feel sick."
"No it doesn't," Lorla pointed out helpfully.
Georgia was practically bubbling over with excitement. "Did you see Harry?" she squealed. "Wasn't he simply wonderful?! I mean, I knew he could fly but not as good as that, I mean, it was just fantastic!"
"Says the girl with the POTTER STINKS badge," Ariana remarked with a smile.
"No, Cedric threw mine away, remember?" Georgia corrected her. "And Cedric!" she cried suddenly, "He was wonderful! I mean, I know his head got set on fire, but the way he dived in and got the egg was just so cool." She took in a deep breath. "You know what?" she said suddenly, in a slower tone. "I don't want to jinx it or anything, but I think Cedric might like me."
"You do?" Cho said, too quickly to be casual. "I mean- what, er, what makes you say that?"
"Well," said Georgia, with a mysterious little smile. "You know that day in the Three Broomsticks when Cedric-"
"-stole my badge and then paid for it," Lorla, Ariana and Islean chorused. "Yes, we know all about it," Lorla said, rolling her eyes at Cho. Cho managed a weak smile.
"Well," Georgia a said, drawing out the syllable on her tongue, "The next day in Divination, Professor Trelawney predicted great romantic prospects in my future!"
"Did she now?" Lorla said sarcastically. (Everyone knew Lorla thought Professor Trelawney was about as psychically inclined as a bowl of soup.) "Has she been consulting her crystal ball again? Or maybe she saw it in her magical lampshade? Or could it be that her left shoe has started mapping out the future?"
"No," Georgia said, glaring at Lorla, and Ariana and Islean sniggered. "She saw it in the stars. You know what that means, don't you?" she added, in a dreamy tone. She waited patiently for their curiosity.
"Er…what?" Cho said, after a moment's silence.
"It's destiny!" Georgia cried happily. Everyone except Cho groaned loudly.
"Honestly, Georgia!" Ariana cried, "if you were any more gullible you'd believe the earth was flat!"
Georgia's forehead creased as she struggled with a metaphysics of a flat earth.
Lorla laughed loudly. "Fair enough, George, but what makes you think it's Cedric mapped out in your stars?"
Georgia perked up. "Oooh, you know!" she cried "He's always smiling at me in the hallways- he even said "hi" to me once- and of course there was the incident in the Three Broomsticks…"
"Of course," Ariana said sarcastically.
"Well that settles it- within a week they'll be married and living in Droitwich," Lorla said, shooting a grin at Cho. The others laughed.
Cho didn't feel like grinning back, however. It wasn't that she thought Georgia's suspicions were true or anything- although one couldn't rule out the chance that Cedric was enamoured with her. It was the fact that she now had to admit to her feelings for Cedric. And she had to call them feelings, as well. When Georgia had said those words- 'I think Cedric might like me!"- Cho had felt an irrational surge of panic, anxiety, and even, yes, a bit of jealousy. The fact was that, no matter how much she felt for Cedric, the chances of him ever feeling the same way about her were about as high as the chances of Lorla proposing to Fleur Delacour. Hundreds of girls all over the school were after Cedric- it wasn't as though she was any more special or attractive than any of them.
It was best, she decided, to get over this very quickly and quietly. Then no one will ever know I had a momentary, unlikely, utterly insane and yet at the same time, completely understandable, infatuation with Cedric Diggory.