Chapter Eight: The First Task

The first thing that Beth noticed on the morning of the first task was that Cedric Diggory hadn't come to breakfast. (Well, the very first thing was that Antigone had left hair all over the sink, but that ranked about a two on Beth's Surprising Events scale.) The next thing she noticed was that Viktor Krum hadn't either. She asked his classmates about his absence.

"Our Headmaster," said Gypsy, in a tone between amusement and scorn, "is cooking him breakfast."

"Oh," said Melissa, faintly surprised. "For luck, I suppose?"

Gypsy laughed derisively. "Of course not. He was afraid one of you was going to slip something in Viktor's oatmeal."

"Wow, I guess he really does know all about Slytherins," Bruce said brightly.

"More than he knows about us," one of the Durmstrangers said, a little bitterly. There were mumbles of agreement from her classmates.

It was Josef Poliakoff who interrupted cheerfully. "T'ank goodness," he said, ruffling Andrei's hair and stealing some ham from Maria-Regina's plate. "If he knew any more, ve vould all be expelled!"

His classmates laughed. "You first," Gypsy said, smiling.

Josef shrugged. "I vould make my vay as a traveling tinker," he declared, and stood up and broke into a foreign song, accompanied only by the clapping hands of his classmates, and interrupted only by the chiming of the bell for classes. Then he took his bows until his classmates had to wrestle him from the Entrance Hall.

***

The atmosphere in the school was one of extreme excitement. There were a lot of Support Cedric Diggory badges in the halls that day. Beth was torn between the thrill of the competition and the anticipation of watching Diggory get killed by a fire-breathing dragon. The chance of his death put something of a damper on all the fun.

By lunch, the excited tension had risen to a buzz that practically vibrated in the air. Viktor Krum and Cedric Diggory didn't show up for lunch either, but Potter did; and it wasn't long before Professor McGonagall had hurried over to him and ushered him out of the Great Hall, to the excitement of all.

Barely fifteen minutes after that, the heads of House were ushering their students out the door. Professor Snape summoned his students forward with no more than a jerk of his head, but that didn't keep the Slytherins from laughing and joking along with their peers.

"I wonder what the first task is!" Aaron chattered excitedly.

"I wonder," said Beth weakly.

They followed the crowd across the grounds and past the lake. An enormous paddock had been set up, and bleachers as high as a building stood along one side of it; another side held a high stand where several of the judges already sat. Beth and Melissa sat among a cluster of their sixth-year friends. From their spot in the stands Beth could make out the three headmasters and Mr. Crouch, of the Ministry of Magic. A large megaphone was set up in front of the central seat. It did not contain Mr. Bagman, but it was not empty.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" a voice crowed behind the megaphone. "Friends, students, visitors and guests! Welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!"

It was an excruciatingly familiar voice. Mouths agape, Beth and her friends craned their necks to see past the megaphone, Melissa raising her new Omnioculars to her eyes.

"No matter what you are about to see, stay in your seats! The situation is under control! I've been asked to deliver this message by the incomparable Professor McGonagall, teacher of Transfiguration and beautiful head of Gryff--"

"Jordan!"

"Ha ha, sorry Professor, couldn't resist!"

Scrabbling behind the megaphone. "... just tell them about the ..."

"... all right, Professor ... Ahem ... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, what you are about to see will shock and astound you! One by one, your champions --" He paused to let the crowd roar. "-- your champions will attempt to get past a full-grown female dragon to steal a golden egg from her nest!"

The reaction was incredible. The Society and, presumably, the contestants had been nothing but worried when they found out about the dragons ... but the audience around the paddock was thrilled. They clapped and stomped and generally made a ruckus of excitement until a gate was opened at the other end of the paddock and a pair of men entered, walking backward, wands pointed toward something out of the audience's view. They were followed by another two men who bore between them a nest the size of a bathtub, full of pale blue eggs. Each one was at least eight inches long, shimmering with silver flecks. They placed the eggs on the ground not far from the paddock fence and hurried over to the announcer's booth, where they had a hurried conversation with Lee Jordan. The Gryffindor straightened and once more raised the megaphone to his lips.

"The Swedish Short-Snout!"

And with that, the head of a dragon floated through the paddock fence.

Its huge eyes were shut, but flickering. It did indeed have a short snout, and blue-gray skin that might have been prettier on a less lethal beast. Foot by foot, the unconscious dragon bobbed into the paddock, supported by the concentration of a dozen dragon-handlers. The audience around Beth shuffled excitedly, whispering as if uncertain whether their commotion could rouse the creature. Finally the entire dragon was inside; the dragon-keepers lowered it to the ground, convened behind it, all cried "Ennervate!" at the top of their lungs, and ran like the devil.

The dragon snorted groggily and struggled to her feet, dizzily overlooking the stands of observers. Several first-years screamed. The dragon spotted her nest and staggered over to it, rolling some of the eggs with her snout, checking for cracks, perhaps sniffing for the scent of man. She seemed unaware that one of her eggs was pure gold. Hissing a little as she came fully alert, she began to pace in front of the nest, catlike, examining the surroundings and tasting for danger to her unborn young.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Jordan! Just had a little business to tend to with the contestants --" Ludo Bagman's jovial voice boomed out over the paddock.

"Thank goodness," said Mervin. "I was worried they'd let Jordan do the whole thing."

"Now, I think we're ready to get started -- on my whistle, the first contestant will come out and face his dragon -- and that contestant is -- Cedric Diggory!" Mr. Bagman raised a whistle to his lips and let out a piercing screech.

"He's first?" cried Melissa, craning her neck to see where Diggory would come from. "Oh no no no, that's not good, the dragon'll be fresh and he won't have any chance to see what the others have done --"

"Potter thought there was one for each," Beth said, on the edge of her seat, "and I don't think they get to watch each other -- oh here he is!"

Cedric Diggory had stepped from the tent and through the paddock gate -- striding, Beth thought, as if he had done this before, wand held like a sword. The sun glinted on his dark hair and gave him a sudden, gut-wrenching glow. No matter how much she would hate him in the past or the future, at this moment Beth found him as beautiful as the sea.

The crowd roared and Diggory looked up at them for the first time, hand over his eyes as if scanning for someone. He must have found him (or her, Beth thought, with a glance at Cho Chang), because he turned his attention fully on the dragon and the surrounding area.

The Short-Snout, distracted by the sudden uproar of the crowd, had not yet noticed Diggory's presence. Diggory seemed to know it. He moved slowly, edging around the dragon's range of vision. When he was no more than thirty yards away, he raised his wand ...

... and pointed it at the ground.

"What is he doing!?!" shrieked Melissa, fists in her hair. "Is he going to grow a plant or something?"

Far below them, Diggory's mouth began to move silently.

The dragon whipped its head in his direction.

Some of the audience screamed. Diggory met its eyes and kept right on muttering at the ground. Beth leaned forward to see what was going on ... sure enough, something was happening down on the ground. Diggory was growing not a plant, but a rock ... it blossomed like a weird sandy fungus until it stood two feet around, silently attentive near Diggory's feet.

The eyes of the dragon narrowed. She growled warningly ... Diggory did not move. He seemed to hope that if he didn't move, he couldn't be seen. That strategy didn't seem to be working. The dragon shuffled. Then she reared back her head and spat a column of fire at Cedric Diggory.

It was a twenty-foot, crystal-blue flame, with bright orange flickers at the end, entrancing and deadly. Diggory seemed frozen with fear -- finally, he staggered and darted away, just out of reach of the flame.

"Ooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" cried Ludo Bagman. Beth could hear the grin in his voice. "Can't be too many more of those --" Sure enough, the dragon-keepers surrounding the paddock were tense and ready, eyes fixed on the Short-Snout.

Melissa had put down her Omnioculars and instead had her eyes scrunched shut. "Did he die?"

"No, he's all right," said Beth, picking up the Omnioculars and training them on Diggory. He and the dragon were now entailed in a weird circling dance: Diggory with both arms outstretched, wand clutched tight, the Short-Snout huffing steam and never taking her eyes from the small creature that had dared intrude on her territory. The dragon snapped sometimes, or flicked her tail or swiped a claw. Diggory did not make a single aggressive move.

Ludo Bagman sounded both astonished and delighted. "Diggory seems to be making no attempt to attack the dragon! He's taking risks, this one!"

All of Diggory's Hufflepuff instincts were showing through: he refused to give up on his project. He shot another bolt of magic at the boulder, and it turned dark brown and began to wiggle. "Is he dead yet?" cried Melissa, burying her head in the folds of her cloak.

The Short-Snout spat out another long bolt of sky-blue flame and Diggory threw himself to one side to avoid being crisped.

"Not ... quite ..." said Beth through clenched teeth, as Diggory staggered to his feet, looking a bit shaken.

The Hufflepuff moved carefully now. He edged toward the eggs slowly as the mountainous dragon paced protectively in front of them. Her scales glinted in the sunlight; Diggory's forehead was a sheen of sweat. The dragon reared back again -- and just as she let out a blast of fire, Diggory pointed his wand at her and shouted an incantation.

The flame came within a foot of Diggory's face and stopped, billowing out to either side. The dragon stopped, dismayed, and tried again. Her flame did no better this time.

Ludo Bagman was overjoyed.

"It's a -- I don't believe it -- he's using a flame-shield, incredible bit of magic! The old girl won't be happy about that!"

Mr. Bagman was not exaggerating. The dragon closed her mouth, bewildered that her prey was still intact, shaking her head back and forth. This was all the pause Diggory needed. He turned and focused his full attention on the thing that he had created, roaring out the incantation ... the boulder twisted and morphed ... and evolved into a black Labrador, which took one look at the dragon, yelped in terror, and took off across the paddock.

The Short-Snout roared with fury and trundled after the dog. As soon as its attention had turned, Diggory bolted toward the nest of eggs that the dragon had left behind. The crowd was roaring -- Ludo Bagman was exulting -- the Labrador panted like a greyhound with the dragon on its heels and Diggory narrowed the distance to the nest of eggs ...

"What's happening?" Melissa wailed. "Is he going to die?"

"No!" shouted Beth, rising from her seat. "I think he's going to make it!"

Twenty yards ... fifteen yards ... The noise of the crowd welled louder as Diggory reached out a hand for the golden egg that was no more than a few feet from his grasp ...

The dragon suddenly let out a smoky roar of anguish and turned on its heel. The Labrador frantically squeezed under the paddock fence and took off into the Forbidden Forest. "The dog escapes and the dragon is furious!" crowed Ludo Bagman. "That Transfiguration was a clever move -- pity it didn't work!"

The Swedish Short-Snout trundled after Diggory even as the boy closed in on the eggs. It shot out one long lick of blue flame, grazing the side of Diggory's head -- the Hufflepuff roared in pain -- he threw himself at the nest, snatched the golden egg and took off down the paddock with his prize tucked under one arm and smoke streaming from his hair.

"He has the golden egg!" Ludo Bagman cried. "Somebody, throw some water on that boy!"

He blew his whistle again. At the sound, a dozen dragon-keepers leapt forward and began to pacify the raving creature, while another two caught Diggory and put out the fire. Drenched and charred, Diggory turned back to watch the Short-Snout collapse under the force of the Stupefication spells.

"An excellent show of sportsmanship!" Ludo Bagman was shouting, as the dragon-keepers took away the stunned beast and her eggs. "Very good indeed! And now the marks from the judges!"

Beth didn't watch the scores as they sprung from the wands of the judges -- Diggory's marks weren't important, just his life. At the far end of the paddock, Diggory was being hustled away by one of the dragon keepers. He was met at the gate by Madame Pomfrey, the infirmary witch, and ushered into a tent.

"I'm going to go down and see Diggory," Beth said suddenly. "Want to come?"

Very slowly, Melissa unscrunched her eyes. "How bad is it?" she asked warily.

"He'll live," said Beth shortly. She stood up and started to pick her way down the bleachers. Melissa gathered her abandoned Omnioculars and hastily followed.

They were not welcomed at the entrance to the tent.

"Absolutely not!" said Madame Pomfrey, jerking the flap of the tent closed. "No visitors until the paste begins to work! Go back to the stands -- I'm sure there will be plenty more injuries for everyone to cheer at!"

She sounded extremely bitter. Beth and Melissa backed away and circled around the tent.

"He's going to have to trust us now," Melissa said. "Now we've been proven right."

Beth bit her lip thoughtfully. "I hope he trusts our motives." Through the thin fabric of the tent they could see the shape of Diggory, sitting hunched on the end of what seemed to be one of the hospital cots.

"I say! If it isn't the famous Beth Parson!"

They both turned at the sound of the familiar voice. A man with a long scar across one eye was striding towards them, beaming.

"Dave!" said Beth happily. "Mel, this is Dave Gudgeon, he got us the map of the Forbidden Forest, remember? This is Melissa Ollivander. She's in the Society too." Melissa curtseyed. "What are you doing here?"

"On the job," Dave grinned. "I was hoping to surprise you afterward, but you've beat me to it. Well -- d'you want to see them up close?"

"See what?" said Beth, although she had a hunch.

"The dragons, of course!" said Dave cheerfully.

He led them around the back of the stands (which roared with cheers and gasps; apparently Fleur Delacour was taking her time about getting the egg) and behind the judges' table. A second broad paddock had been constructed; twenty or so dragon workers kept watch over three of the enormous creatures, all of which appeared to be Stunned. Dave brought them to the edge of the fence. The Swedish Short-Snout was a scant ten feet away, shallow trails of steam coming from her nostrils. Even in sleep she curled protectively around her nest of eggs.

"Come on!" said Dave Gudgeon, and he leapt over the paddock fence.

Beth and Melissa exchanged horrified, excited looks, and scrambled after him.

The sheer size of the dragon was overwhelming from up close. Lying down, she was taller than even Dave. Astonishingly, the man got down on his haunches right beside the gently snoring creature. "She's safe," he said in a hushed voice. He reached out and put a hand on her blue-scaled skin.

Fascinated, Beth crept closer. She knelt beside Dave and cautiously raised a hand to the dragon's flank. The skin was dry, not slick as it appeared, and the gorgeous sky-blue scales were stubbly against her fingers. Beth could feel the rise and fall of the dragon's lungs, slow under the magical sleep. Its flesh was pleasantly cool.

"She's beautiful," whispered Melissa.

"I know," said Dave, just as softly. He ran a calloused hand across the Short-Snout's flank. "You should see her in flight. She's poetry."

The words were corny, but his voice was absolutely sincere.

"Oy! You!"

Beth looked over her shoulder. A wizard was hurrying toward them from across the paddock. "Are we going to get you in trouble?" she asked quickly.

"No worse than usual. Listen, I wanted to tell you -- there's a message from the Society." Dave spoke quickly as the wizard approached. "Rothbard's very interested to know how Potter's name got in the Goblet of Fire. He could've done it himself, but Rothbard's suspecting that someone else was involved. He wants to know who."

"We're sort of focusing on Diggory," Beth whispered back, "but I'll mention it to Rich."

The wizard had reached them. "Davey! What in the world are you doing?"

"Just showing off the Swede to a couple of friends," Dave said easily, standing up and brushing dust from his trousers.

The wizard ran both hands through his bright red hair. "She's dangerous, for heavens' sake! There shouldn't be students anywhere near here --"

"I watched ten wizards Stupefy her, Charlie," said Dave, patting the wizard on one shoulder. "She's out for the count. Don't worry, chap."

"Just get them out of here," said Charlie, frustrated. "I wouldn't be bringing my little sister back here, that's for sure."

"As if you hadn't got siblings to spare," Dave winked.

The dragon-keeper threw up his hands. Dave grinned devilishly at the girls and the three of them hurried out of the paddock just as a long scarlet dragon was levitated in and a bright green one was hoisted out.

They strolled back to the stands. The crowd was now raising a ruckus: Beth could tell from the commentary that Viktor Krum had just begun his turn at the dragons. They stopped behind the bleachers.

"I didn't know you were a dragon keeper," said Beth.

Dave shrugged. "Sometimes. On to bigger and better thrills, eh?" He laughed. "Now get on up there -- don't want you to miss the rest of the task."

"It was good to see you," said Beth warmly. "If you see Luke, tell him hi."

Dave saluted. Beth beamed as she followed Melissa into the stands and back to their old spots with their class. It was almost as if she had lucked into not one big brother, but two.

"Oh, good!" cried Melissa, when they were settled. "It's Viktor! How exciting."

Beth snickered. "Maybe this time you can actually watch it."

Melissa sneered. They settled in to watch the last two champions, satisfied that Diggory was alive and that Potter couldn't possibly match Viktor's score.

***

That night in the common room there was great debate over which of the Champions had actually deserved to win.

"For me, it was Diggory," said Aaron cheerfully. "He got injured and all, but that's part of the fun, isn't it?"

Warrington boomed with laughter.

"Honestly," said Melissa, tossing her hair, "I can't believe that Fleur Delacour didn't get more points. She didn't injure herself, and none of the eggs were hurt."

"You're only supporting her because she's the only female Champion, aren't you?" said Aaron, winking.

Melissa sniffed and refused to answer.

Beth scratched her poison ivy absently. "I hate to say it," she said, "and I'm going to regret this, and you're going to kill me, but -- if it had been anyone else but Potter -- I think the broomstick trick was the coolest."

As expected, she got a great deal of grief from her classmates over this.

Bruce threw back his head and laughed. "Okay, it was cool and all," he said, eyes shining, "but if Potter's so smart, why didn't he just Accio the egg?"

There was a moment as the irony sank in. Then the sixth-years filled the common room with laughter.

***

By ten thirty the common room had emptied out, leaving the S.S.A. members to sneak out to the Vase Room undetected.

"Thank goodness we're not Gryffindors," said Richard. "I expect they'll be up celebrating all night." He was in a very good mood, and considered Diggory's survival almost a personal triumph.

"Thank goodness," echoed Bruce. "Look who we'd have to live with!"

"Just please be quick, Richard," said Gypsy. "I'm expected back on the ship to celebrate with my own Champion tonight."

"It'll be short," said Richard happily. "Our first mission was a complete success. We don't have anything to worry about."

They reached the Vase Room without running into Filch and all thirteen of them crowded inside. Beth had seated herself behind the Ledger's stand before she noticed that the old, dusty book was no longer there.

She leaned over towards Richard. "Hey Rich -- what did you do with the Ledger?"

He looked up at her quizzically. "Nothing, why?"

"Well, it's --" She gestured to the empty stand. "It's not here."

Richard's brow creased. "Melissa -- did you move the Ledger."

"No," said Melissa. "Why?"

Richard didn't answer. "Gypsy? Have you borrowed the Ledger?"

A crowd was starting to gather at the front of the room. "What would I do that for?" said Gypsy. "I can read it right here."

"Apparently," said Richard, who was by now very pale in the face, "you can't."

They asked every member; they looked on every shelf and inside every cauldron. Not a scrap of paper nor a drop of ink turned up in the entire length of the Vase Room.

The Ledger was gone.

***

Richard paced back and forth at the front of the empty podium, all joviality completely gone. He looked oddly regal -- like a general, Beth thought, who's just realized he has lost his war. The members watched him, half expectant, half afraid. Richard had faced failure in a lot of different ways, Beth realized, but he'd never been attacked in something as close to home as the Vase Room.

Finally he stopped pacing and faced them. "Well," he said slowly. "There it is. One of us is lying or there's somebody out there who knows our password. Worse, they must know how valuable the Ledger is, or they would've gone for the more expensive-looking stuff."

"Why don't we just change the password?" Oren suggested.

"Because I don't know how they set it in the first place." Richard ran his hands through his hair. "The only one who'd know is Riddle, he's in no shape to tell us, or it might have been recorded in the Ledger -- which we no longer have."

Melissa spoke up, her voice calm and reasonable. "What do we still have?"

Richard took a deep breath. "Our rings. There are the maps of the castle and grounds on the wall. They didn't take our Special Awards -- much good may they do us -- or any of the vases."

"How nice of them," said Mervin.

Melissa gave him a dirty look. "I don't understand," she said, stretching out on the low divan. "There's only one way in -- no windows or anything. You can't even see the door unless you know the password. And nobody's ever been in here but the Society --"

"Not true."

Evan Wilkes had spoken up from the corner. Richard looked at him in surprise. "No?"

"I should know. I brought her here."

"You --" Richard's jaw dropped. "Why would you -- how could you -- who was it --" He broke off, at a loss for words. "Her?"

"You remember," said Evan coolly. "Red hair, first-year, under a spell ..."

The light went on behind Richard's eyes. When he spoke, it was in a whisper, surprised but laden with sudden understanding.

"Ginny Weasley."