The Werewolf's Daughter

26: Dragons and bets

The 24th November, the date of the first task, seemed to arrive within the blink of an eye. Maya was worried about Harry; Harry was nervous about what was to come; Ron still wasn't speaking to Harry and Hermione had an outburst a few days earlier insisting she was not an Owl, so Ron and Harry needed to stop using her to pass on their stupid messages.

It was the morning of the first task and Hermione, Maya & Draco were in the Great Hall with Harry, trying to convince him to have something to eat, but he was having none of it.

'Harry, we know you're worried, but you need to eat something! You can't do this on an empty stomach, you know you can't.' Hermione said, giving Harry a knowing look.

'I'm not hungry.' Harry said, shaking his head. He was very pale.

Hermione gave up trying to help him and just watched him, scared, instead.

Eventually they heard Dumbledore call for attention; he asked the Champions to make their way down to the grounds, with their headteacher.

Harry got up and walked out of the Great Hall with Cedric Diggory and Professor Dumbledore. Ten minutes later, Professor McGonagall called for attention again and advised the rest of the students that they could make their way down to the grounds to watch the task.

Maya walked down to the task with one arm around Hermione's shoulder, comforting her, and the other hand in Draco's; he was comforting her. They passed the Weasley twins on the way down; selling bets on who would win. 'I'll give you all great odds on Harry guys!'

'Seriously you two? This is ridiculous – you're betting on someone's life!' Maya shouted back as they walked away from them. The twins didn't even look ashamed!

As they got nearer the arena, Maya got more and more nervous - evident in the babbling she was doing. 'Maya, calm down. I'm sure he will be fine!' Draco said, trying to soothe her. They were in the arena now, seated near the front, waiting for the task to start.

'Fine? There was a reason for the age limit Draco! The reason being that the tasks are all dangerous.'

Draco just smiled, he knew she didn't mean to snap at him – she was worried about her friend.

'I 'ould never snap at a 'ansome man like zat.' Came a soft, French voice behind them. Maya whipped her head around.

'Excuse me?' she said, through gritted teeth.

'I believe you 'eard me.' The other girl said, coldly. She then turned to Draco 'I am Adela.' She told him, holding out a hand for him to kiss or shake or something. Before Maya could snap the girls hand off, Draco turned away from her. 'Ignore her!' he said to Maya, loud enough for the girl to hear. He heard the girl curse behind him and hoped this had made her realise that he wasn't interested.

Maya sat close to Draco, practically in his lap. If this has been a normal day, Draco would have known this was for the benefit of his 'admirer' but he knew it was more because she was worried. Maya showed her emotions through how affectionate she was. When she was worried, she clung to him for safety; even if she did snap at him!

'Where did Hermione go?' Maya asked suddenly.

Draco looked up 'I don't know. She didn't say she was going anywhere.'

'Oh god, you don't think she has one of those bloody time turners again, do you?'

Draco chuckled 'Nah, caused her too much trouble last year. Though it did help her out a bit!'

'Tru-'

Maya was cut off by the sound of Ludo Bagman's voice announcing that the tournament was due to start. Cedric was to go first.

Maya barely watched any of the task; she had her head buried in to Draco's chest most of the time. She just counted on him telling her when the task was done. The last one was Harry – she tried to watch but she struggled so much! That dragon was vicious and eventually broke free of the chain tethering it to the ground! Harry flew well on his broom and eventually managed to slip away from the dragon long enough to grab the golden egg. The crowd, including Ron who was sitting just in front of them, erupted in cheers.

George and Fred started passing round a message: 'Party in the common room tonight, we'll provide the food and drink!'

Maya practically skipped back to the castle with Draco, Harry had survived the first task – he was going to be fine!

The party that night was the best they had ever had; Ron and Harry finally made up. The only bad part was when Harry opened the egg and it screamed at them all. 'CLOSE IT!' they all begged. Harry closed it, then put it upstairs in his trunk. He told Maya he would deal with it later.

'Make sure you do Harry – that's your clue for the next task!'