Disclaimer: I don't own Cedric, or the fact that he got burned… Personally, I kinda wish he'd gotten perfect tens… actually… no… but that's not the point. Point is I don't own him, nor Harry Potter, nor the dragons or nothing else… But Promise and Sam and Olivia and all that? So good. Why? Cuz it's mine!
Chapter 10
The Dog And The Dragon
Cedric paced around the empty Charms classroom aimlessly. Dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons. What could he possibly do to get past a dragon? It was impossible. No way could he, a sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect, successfully face a full-grown, fire-breathing dragon. A dragon! The mere thought made him nauseous again.
"For the millionth time, can you please stop that?" Promise complained at him from the low cushion chair she had conjured a half-hour before. "You're starting to drive up my nerves, and I'm not even facing a…" Her voice trailed off.
"Mine too," Olivia chimed in, not taking her eyes off a point on the ceiling.
"Not to mention me," Sam said dryly from the chair Promise had conjured for her. Cedric chanced a glance over at her. She had gone completely white, and those four words had been the only ones she had uttered since hearing that Cedric would be facing a dragon. She stared at a point on the ground, unmoving. Catatonic.
"Sorry," Cedric quipped sarcastically. "But I personally find it amazingly difficult to sit down at a time like this. In case you didn't hear, I'm going to-"
"Have to face a Dragon," Promise nodded, looking at Cedric inquisitively. "We know, and we're trying to help, but some of us like to actually sit down and relax, knowing full well exactly what's coming. See, the thing is," She pulled a sandwich off of a hovering platter she had snagged from the Hufflepuff table. She agreed to help Cedric, but, of course, food came first.
"What did he say to you?" Olivia asked him, attempting to kill time.
"I have to get past it," Cedric shivered at the thought. The feeling of throwing up entered his stomach again. A dragon? Yeah, that certainly tested his daring.
"And that's it?" Olivia inquired.
"Of course that's it," Cedric snapped, cracking slightly under the pressure. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Sorry, I'm just a little bit testy right now. I'm under a tiny bit of pressure here."
"It's perfectly alright," Olivia gave him a grim smile. "I understand. Well, actually, I don't understand. But I'm freaking out here too."
"I think we're all freaking out here," Promise gave Sam a concerned look and took a huge bite out of her sandwich.
"So I have to get past it," Cedric resumed pacing and muttering to himself again. "But how could I get past a dragon?"
"You could distract it," Sam mentioned offhandedly.
Olivia, Promise, and Cedric all looked over to Sam, awestruck.
"What did you say?" Promise asked her.
Sam, however, remained silent, continuing to stare fixedly at the point on the ground. After several seconds, she looked up at everyone. "What?"
"What did you just say?" Cedric asked urgently.
Sam blushed. "Nothing important. It was stupid, really."
"No," Promise smiled in disbelief and stood up, beginning to pace in a burst of thought. "That sounded like a great idea. A distraction. What's the best way to get past anything? Make sure you won't be seen. Invisibility cloaks won't work because dragons have an fantastic sense of smell among other things. Therefore, we have to come up with a new way for the dragon to not pay attention to you. Any way we could do that?"
"We could…" Olivia's voice trailed off as she shook her head. "Sorry, I have nothing."
"Is there a potion that will do that?" Cedric asked. "After all the stuff I've seen in potions I don't believe there's a potion out there that doesn't exist."
"It'd be a complicated potion," Promise shook her head. "We couldn't make anything that powerful in less than twenty four hours, much less be able to produce it in mass quantities. It's no good."
"What about another animal?" Sam suggested, now slightly more in touch with reality.
"All hail the Idea Queen," Promise smirked, impressed.
"But where would we get another animal that's willing to stand up to a fully fledged dragon?" Sam asked, doubting her own idea.
"Well, I can only think of four animals on this planet willing to go head to head with a dragon," Promise confessed. "And three of them aren't going to help you because they're already focused on getting past another dragon themselves, and we can rule out you on the sheer principle of you're the one we're trying to keep the dragon away from."
"What about your wand?" Olivia suggested. "I remember on the first day of Transfiguration Professor McGonagall transfigured her desk into a pig. Can't you do that sort of stuff? I know that a few weeks ago you two turned your desks into a pair of very promiscuous deer."
An incredibly uncomfortable silence filled the room as the four of them each took in the exact mental picture Olivia had just painted. For the first time in hours, the picture drove the thought of the dragon from Cedric's mind entirely. Promise released a fake gag to break the silence.
"You ever say that again, and I'll turn you into a promiscuous deer," Promise threatened Olivia.
"My bad," Olivia looked both ways awkwardly. "But they were!"
"What did I just say?"
"Sorry."
So they set to work. For the remaining five minutes of lunch Cedric began changing everything in the room into every possible animal they could think of. They quickly ruled out anything smaller than a large cat. This narrowed the field as Cedric quickly discovered that he could not create anything larger than an incredibly small cow.
"That's alright though," Promise shrugged. "The goal is to get the animal to dodge and evade the dragon, not to lumber around slowly, get eaten, and then hope Cedric doesn't have the same fate."
"You're not helping," Cedric muttered as he focused his energy into turning the desk into a deer.
"I like it," Sam said. "I just don't think it'd do much. We need the animal to attract the dragon's attention so it'll completely forget about you. A deer would just bound off into the stands, which would be a waste of time."
The bell rang.
"We'll think about it," Sam promised.
"We'll tell you if we think of anything specific," Olivia smiled weakly.
Promise put her hand on Cedric's back. "Don't worry, Ced," She patted his back encouragingly and took a large bite of her last sandwich. "I think you can do it."
"Thanks, Promise" Cedric smiled back at her. "I hope I can get through this too."
"Actually," She picked up her bag with one hand. "I was referring to transfiguring the animal. I never said anything about you actually not getting eaten." She smiled and forced the rest of her sandwich into her mouth with her thumb. "Ready for Professor Moody?"
"I dunno," Cedric shrugged. "I might be in trouble, because he caught Harry Potter telling me about the dragons. We'll see what happens."
To his amazement, nothing did happen. Professor Moody never even acknowledged that Cedric attended his class. He just continued on with his day as thought nothing had transpired.
Promise and Cedric took the opportunity to brainstorm more animal ideas. Cedric began to feel better, but only slightly. This idea was very last minute and iffy at best. At long last, they decided to settle upon the largest dog Cedric could think of. Unfortunately, even though Moody had transfigured Draco Malfoy into a ferret once, he prohibited the use of non defense-against-the-dark-arts magic in his classroom. Prepared to skive off another meal, Cedric began to pore over his Transfiguration notes, careful to follow the different movements when transforming the same object into different, distinct animals. When he felt he had effectively memorized the dog movement, he joined Promise in looking over every single note they had ever taken at Hogwarts, desperate to find an alternative method to get past the dragon.
They went back to the classroom immediately after the bell rang and began to practice. The first few times were quite unsuccessful. The closest he got was when he turned the desk's legs into hairy ones and managed to make it bark awkwardly by opening its top drawer quickly.
"Needs some work," Cedric smiled sheepishly as the bell rang for dinner.
"Just keep at it," Promise smiled encouragingly. "You'll get it. If anyone can, I know it's you." She left him alone in the room.
In the complete silence that echoed around him, he closed his eyes. He visualized the dog. He visualized it tantalizing the dragon. He visualized himself running right past the dragon and hitting the buzzer, sending the stands into raucous applause and cheers. There was Sam, second out of the stands after Promise. She ran up and kissed him.
He recast the transfiguration spell on the desk without looking. He heard a growl and chanced a peek with his eye. There, in front of him, the desk still had hairy legs, opened its top drawer to bark, and had grown a tail.
Well, at least he was making progress.
He transformed the desk back into its original state and began to replay the complicated spell over in his mind. Where was he going wrong? He ran it through his head three times before finally casting it on his fourth run through.
It kept the tail and the hairy legs, and the knob of wood on the desk drawer turned into a dog's wet nose. Where was the bark? Once again, progress, but not enough.
He began to pace again as Sam, Promise, and Olivia entered the room again.
"Problems?" Promise asked him flicked her wand and levitated the large platter of food into the air and pulled a roll and some chicken off of it, beginning to make a sandwich.
"I can't get it to go right. I got the tail, but something isn't changing in the main body of the dog."
"Well, if I remember my transfiguration correctly, that means that you have the details but not the overall picture," Olivia suggested.
Cedric looked at her, unconvinced.
"I think she's right, you know," Sam shrugged. "We were just talking about it in Transfiguration the other day."
Cedric took his mind off the details. They were right; it didn't even need to be a good-looking dog, so long as it did the job right. He prepared to recast the spell, thinking of a dog from a far off distance. He waved his wand.
Instantly something began barking. He opened his eyes and looked at it.
It certainly wasn't a desk, but it still had the metal legs of a desk, but then again, it certainly wasn't a dog either.
Part of the desk had augmented into a barking head, even though it still had a wooden knob for a nose, but with the exception of the legs, the entire desk had turned hairy. The wood seemed to have grown a thin layer of thick, wood colored hair, just like a Labrador.
Sam, Olivia, and Promise all clapped enthusiastically.
"Now that," Promise conjured her signature tea in mid air. "Is a desk-dog." She nodded as she took a deep swig of tea.
"Thanks," Cedric smirked slightly. "There's tons of room for improvement though."
"Yeah," Sam smiled as she circled the dog. "But look at the big picture. If you do what you just did here, and combine it with the work you've already done, you're almost there!"
Cedric smiled lovingly at her. How he longed to kiss her, to hold her.
Promise waved her wand and the desk-dog magically returned to its desk form. "Again," She commanded him, like a queen commanding a pet monkey to redo a magic trick for the millionth time, even though it only amused her ever so slightly.
Cedric rolled his eyes upwards, shut them, and focused. He focused on the dog he had envisioned far away and quickly zoomed in on the details as he waved his wand.
He kept his eyes closed. Something went wrong, it had to, that spell didn't feel right. It just didn't.
Promise began whistling as Olivia shouted "Yeah!" really loud and Sam clapped enthusiastically. Cedric opened his eyes.
The new desk-dog had become an amalgam of the two previous attempts. Wood colored hair, dog legs, tail, barking drawer, and a wet nose.
"Again," Promise demanded.
Cedric quickly ran the dog through his mind. He imagined all of the details quickly. He waved his wand and cast the spell, but at the last second, just as he made the last motion, completely forgot about the dog's legs. Knowing exactly what to expect he opened his eyes.
The barking came almost immediately from the perfect dog's head sprouting from the desk. The desk had elongated into the form of a dog, culminating in a final, long dog's tail. Just as he had predicted, however, the legs had stayed as metal legs. When the dog tried to move them, they slipped along the ground and fell outwards as though the dog was walking on ice. Promise waved her wand quickly and made the dog float gingerly in the air.
"Put it back," Sam said, disgusted.
"At the risk of sounding morbid," Promise examined the levitating dog with desk legs. "I think it looks rather nifty."
"Change it back, Promise," Cedric ordered her. "I'll get it right this time." He focused. The image of the dog flickered in his head, far away. He zoomed in on it quickly and panned around it, focusing on every last detail for a fraction of an instant. He opened his eyes and waved his wand quickly.
The change happened quickly. The dog's body elongated and grew darker colored fur. Its head morphed out of a piece of the front of the desk. The legs grew hairy and bent slightly as the metal transformed into bones. The back of the desk lengthened and gave way to a pointed tail. At once, the dog began to bark playfully and jump around, ready to play with the nearest person.
"And there you have it, Ced." Promise smiled. "A perfect dog."
Cedric beamed with pride as the dog continued barking loudly.
Promise waved her wand and transfigured it back into a desk. "Again."
And so they practiced. The first time was a template, something Cedric tried to match every time after that. With practice, he became better. For the next few attempts, he botched them up as though it was his first time transfiguring. Gradually, improvements burst from the many failures. Eventually, he managed to get the dog to become a near perfect each time. After another hour, he managed to produce seven perfect dogs in a row.
"I think you're ready," Promise smiled, twirling her wand in her fingers after she transformed the desk back into the dog again. "Now go to sleep."
They turned off the lights and exited the room, all of them silent, still dreading the coming day. Cedric felt his stomach rumble, but he couldn't eat anything. Not yet, anyways.
They reached the Hufflepuff Common Room and he instantly transfigured the nearest table into a dog whose barking echoes reverberated around the large Hufflepuff chamber. Cedric quickly transformed it back.
"I guess that's it for practicing?" He smirked, and before anyone else could say anything more, he trekked upstairs, collapsed on his bed, and spent the next hour shaking away the fears of facing the dragon in just over twelve hours.
Cedric awoke to a relatively darkened room the following morning. The only light that dripped through the hangings around his bed was the gray of the early dawn. He swallowed as he recalled the full breath of the task ahead of him. Could he really do this? Would the dog really work?
He stood up from the bed, running the exact transfiguration spell through his brain over and over and over again. There was no point in practicing; it would only raise his nerves higher. All he could do was repeat the spell in his mind over and over and over again.
What if it didn't work?
Cedric pushed the thought backwards. It would work, it had to. He recalled changing the desk into a dog, exactly what to remember not to do, and what to remember not to leave out. Without his wand, he performed the complicating swishing movements for the spell. He compared it visually to what he had previously done. Wrong, but only slightly. He practiced again and again until he got it perfect once.
Still keeping his mouth closed for fear of something unpleasant escaping, he headed down to breakfast.
The Hufflepuffs in the Common Room broke into tumultuous applause. Many clapped him on the back.
"You go get 'em, Ced!"
"You'll show 'em!"
"I believe in you!"
"Sign my badge?"
Cedric ignored the last comment and headed over to the table occupied by Sam, Promise, and Olivia. They all stared at him with a hint of pride.
"Ready to face the day?" Promise smiled.
Cedric closed his eyes, swallowed, and nodded.
"You can do it," Olivia nodded at him. The three stood by him and they left the Common Room together.
Cedric didn't eat anything at the table, but instead just kept reviewing the method over and over in his head. No more practicing. Dragons. He couldn't face a dragon. This would never work. Sick again.
A hand extended and began to rub his back encouragingly. Cedric looked over at the person the hand belonged to. "I believe in you," Sam smiled warmly and reassuringly. "This'll work and you can do it."
"And besides," Promise set her goblet down after a hearty sip and looked across the table at him. "They said it was safer now. They're working really hard to make sure no one will die."
If he had had the courage, Cedric would have given her a very patronizing "thanks Promise," but he couldn't. Not now. Not when he was less than a few hours away from going toe to toe with a dragon.
"Don't mind her," Olivia said brightly as she pushed Promise slightly as though blocking her out of the conversation. "Just do it like you did it last night. You'll be fine"
Cedric smiled weakly. They were right. They were always right. Still didn't change the fact it was easier said than done. He was about to transfigure a rock into a dog. Not only that, but the dog had to sufficiently distract the dragon (he cringed at the thought) long enough for Cedric to get past it, whatever that meant. Yeah, this was real fool proof. Nothing could go wrong here. Nothing at all.
After what felt like another eternity, Sam and Olivia wished Cedric good luck and headed off to their first class and left Promise and Cedric sitting alone at the table. Cedric still didn't feel like talking for fear of more than just words coming out of his mouth, so Promise sat and discussed whatever tickled her fancy, but she kept the subject off of dragons, and the first task, and dogs, and transfigurations, and any other thing that could remind Cedric about what he would be facing in the hours ahead.
After a while, they left the breakfast table, Promise still chatting nonstop. She didn't even stop until they reached the Hufflepuff Common Room. In fact, Cedric wasn't even listening to Promise. He was too busy trying to push the thought of a dragon out of his head. If only he could lose himself in Promise's conversation like she could.
"Am I bothering you?" She said in a moment of insecurity.
The silence snapped Cedric out of his constant scourging of thoughts. He looked at her and blinked hard. He wished he could talk, he just didn't trust his stomach.
"Am I bothering you?" She repeated, nervously. "Because I can shut up, you know. It is possible to get Ms. Promise Ledger to shut her mouth."
Cedric smiled and shook his head. How little she understood. Her conversation was the closest thing he had to getting his mind off the subject of dragons.
A shiver ran up his spine and he tilted his head and shook it in reaction. He could handle this. He pointed his index fingers at each other and twirled them around each other, signifying that he wanted her to continue.
"So it's helping you keep your mind off…" Her voice trailed off.
Cedric nodded and twirled his thumbs faster.
"Alright, alright," Promise smiled at him. "I'm going."
And she took off again.
But something bothered Cedric. He never could remember seeing Promise this friendly towards him. Not that she wasn't always friendly, she just always had a funny way of showing it. He stared at her and, despite himself, felt a goofy smile creep over his face.
"What?" She smiled and looked at him.
Cedric shook his head and waved his hand parallel to the ground.
"Okay," She looked at him again and began to talk again, slow for the first few sentences, but resumed her blinding speed, taking tangents and shifting conversations.
In that moment he realized that no matter how much Promise seemed to not show it on a regular basis, she would always be there and care for him. It was hard to believe that just over twenty-four hours ago she hadn't been speaking to him. It was funny what a dragon could do to friendships.
They made their way over to some chairs, Promise's voice washing over him, soothing him, calming him. The bell rang, signaling that Cedric would have to head off to Arithmancy. Did Arithmancy really go on right now? He was about to face a dragon. Seriously. How did life go on? Did he even really have to go? No. He didn't, he could skive it off, but that would defeat the purpose of being a champion. Anyone could find out they were facing a dragon and skive off their class, but the point of being a champion (not to mention a prefect) was to set a role model for all the other students to look up to. The fact that he would face a dragon did not change the fact that right now, he had to go and sit in Arithmancy like all of the other students.
He picked up his bag.
"Where are you going?" Promise asked him.
Cedric opened his mouth to tell her, but a shiver struck him in his shoulder blades and he gagged slightly. He kept his mouth closed. She was smart (and she knew it). She would figure it out.
"You're not going to Arithmancy, are you?"
Cedric nodded.
"Why? You're facing a dragon right after lunch."
Cedric shrugged, managing to avoid the dragon comment by only giving a slight twinge of concern.
Promise rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine, I'm going too. Why do you have to be so damn noble? And I thought I was going to get out of going to Arithmancy too."
Arithmancy actually passed the time faster than Promise's ramblings. He didn't even notice how fast time seemed to move as he approached his face-off with the dragon. He stared at the blackboard, Professor Vector's desk, the back of Montague's head. How could he turn all of them into a large dog?
Then a thought occurred to him: What if there was nothing in front of him to transfigure? His stomach dropped down into his upper thigh. There had to be something for him to transfigure. There just had to.
He blindly ran through a list of any spell he knew. Could he levitate something and throw it at the dragon? No, that would make the dragon mad, assuming that there was anything on the field with which to throw at the dragon. He began to panic as the bell rang. This whole thing was going to fall apart if they didn't do anything about it. The first task was set to start in less than an hour, and it had taken him all night to properly transfigure a dog on a consistent basis.
"Promise," His mouth was incredibly dry from lack of speaking. "What if there's nothing for me to transfigure."
Promise picked up her bag. "Cedric," She said, not looking at him, yet speaking very plainly. "I have an idea. You ready?"
Cedric nodded. Maybe she did have a better-
SMACK!
His face turned quickly to one side as his cheek began to burn. Ow.
"What was that for?"
"For being so worrisome all the time," She grinned. "There will be something there to transfigure, I promise. And if there's not then you'll think of something on the fly, give way to your instincts, which, if you're going to get past the dragon in the first place, wouldn't really be that bad of an idea."
Cedric just stared at her.
"You'll be fine," She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into one of her tight, signature hugs.
Out of instinct, he hugged back, squeezing ever so slightly. She gave good hugs. From what he heard from her, he gave good hugs. They were intimate. They always managed to keep it incredibly intimate without being what some would call romantic or lovey-dovey. It all worked out in the end.
They released each other from the hug at the same time. Somehow, Cedric felt better prepared to cope with what was facing him. He picked up his bag, turned around and began to walk out of the room.
He turned around quickly. "If anything happens to me, you'll tell Sam, won't you?"
"Why don't you tell her yourself, you big baby?" Promise shook her head. "Honestly, you can face a dragon, but you can't tell Samantha Bennet that you like her." She huffed and shook her head. "Men."
They walked together in silence to the Great Hall, but no sooner had Cedric reached the spot Sam and Olivia had saved for him than Professor Sprout came scurrying over looking incredibly distraught.
"Cedric," She said obviously rather shaken. "The Champions are all meeting down on the grounds. It's time for you to come with me."
Cedric took a deep breath and looked at Sam. What if he never came back from this? He looked between Sam, Promise, and Olivia.
"Of course Professor."
He followed after Professor Sprout to the Entrance Hall, receiving comments and flashes of Red "Support Cedric Diggory" badges.
They walked across the lawn in silence. Cedric looked down to see Professor Sprout's left hand shaking slightly the whole trip. They rounded a corner and reached a tented Pavillion.
"They're in there, Cedric," Professor Sprout swallowed noticeably. The color had drained from her face, and her usually wispy hair had seemingly grown wispier than usual in the walk across the grounds. "Just keep your head and you'll be fine."
Cedric nodded. Seeing Professor Sprout so shaken over the issue made his stomach drop again. The small positive buildup he had been building up since that morning began to drain from him quickly. He pushed aside the tent's flap and walked inside.
As if the sight of a disgruntled Professor Sprout weren't enough, the look of the other champions only helped to destabilize Cedric further. Krum stood on the other side of the tent looking slightly ill while Fleur sat on a stool in the corner. The brilliant white sheen had left her hair, and the pearl looking skin had turned a grayish color. She didn't even look up at him, much less bounce over in her usual, flirtatious manner.
Cedric took a deep breath and began to walk back and forth across the length of the tent. Surely this wouldn't be that bad. A dragon. It was just a dragon. No. Stop. Don't think of that word. Think of happy things. Think of how wonderful it will be to be done with this and celebrate in the Hufflepuff Common Room afterwards with Promise, Olivia, and Sam. He smiled. All he had to do was get past the dragon. He thought it again. Dragon. Why did it have to keep coming around? Focus! No more thinking about the dragon. He felt the nothing in his stomach begin to gurgle. He hadn't eaten in over a day. He was long overdue, but what would come out? Nothing. Nothing would come out because nothing could disturb this faux-calm he convinced himself he had. Not even a dragon. Yeah. That's right. A dragon couldn't disturb this feeling of illness in his stomach.
He heard muttering outside the tent. He looked over as Harry Potter pushed the flap aside and stepped in, looking similar to how Cedric felt. Harry scanned the room and finally let his eyes rest on Cedric. Cedric looked at him and gave him the biggest smile he could possibly muster. Unfortunately, he merely upturned the corners of his mouth, probably making it look incredibly forced. Harry returned the smile, but, just like Cedric's it seemed genuine, yet forced.
"Harry! Good-o!" Ludo Bagman came bouncing out of nowhere. "Come in, come in make yourself at home!"
Why didn't Bagman make Cedric such an offer? And where had Bagman come from? And how could he be so cheery? They were about to face dragons, and he was cheery? Who did he think he was?
"Well, now we're all here- time to fill you in! When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering you this bag-" He shook the purple silk bag in his hand. "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…" He paused in a moment of contemplation. He paused? What did he have to remember? A series of stupid directions? Cedric needed to pull off a one shot dog transfiguration. "Ah yes… Your task is to collect the golden egg."
Cedric nodded and without looking at anyone began to pace around the tent again. At least they gave him a definite ending point. It was better than trying to run a race and having a huge dragon in his path with a sign at the end saying "finish," and what did Bagman mean by varieties? Weren't some versions of dragons more vicious than others?
Without warning, time began to pass by quickly again as one moment Cedric could hear the Hogwarts students pass by the tent one second, and the next Bagman opened the purple bag and held it out to the champions.
"Ladies first," Bagman smiled as he offered Fleur the bag.
Fleur pulled out a tiny model of a dragon. A number two sign hung around its green neck. If he hadn't felt like he was about to pass out, Cedric might have wondered exactly what kind of dragon it was. He looked at Fleur's face. She had not changed expression at all. Harry was right, she did know what was coming.
Next, Krum stepped forward and pulled out a red dragon labeled with a three from the silk bag, glanced at it quickly and sat back down, without so much as batting an eye.
Cedric glanced over at Harry for a brief instant and put his hand into the bag, feeling two dragons left, he pulled one out, blindly hoping it would be better looking than Krum's. The dragon he chose came out with a number one on its blue-gray neck. Its short snout looked at Cedric menacingly. Cedric swallowed again. Even the little version of the dragon was menacing.
Curious as to exactly which dragon he had missed, Cedric looked over at Harry. Harry dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out the largest dragon. Black, with a number four draped around its neck. It whipped its tail menacingly.
He wanted to trade. Harry didn't sign up for this. He knew it. They both knew it. That dragon was larger and more vicious looking than the others. Harry didn't need to face the last dragon. He shouldn't have. If he hadn't been so positive that none of the other champions would have said no, Cedric would have traded with Harry.
"Well there you are," Bagman beamed. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating…" Commentating? Could this get any worse? "Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now…" He turned to look at Harry. "Could I have a quick word? Outside?"
Harry? What did he want with Harry?
But Cedric had no time to worry about that now. He stared at the dragon intently. He was better than this. He could beat it. He just knew it. All he had to do was go out there and get that golden egg. That was it. He was going to beat the dragon.
The dragon sneered at Cedric. In a more humorous situation, Cedric would have sneered back, but he didn't. He placed the dragon in his pocket and ran through the transfiguration spell in his head once more.
The whistle blew.
On a cloud of air, Cedric walked out of the tent. He might have passed Harry when he walked past, but he had lost all feeling in his body. He kept his eyes on the ground, unwilling to take his eyes up to face what he was about to. He raised his head slightly to see where he was going and passed through a gap in the enclosure's fence. When he had stepped into the enclosure, he looked up.
All around him, the entire congregation of students at Hogwarts as well as the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students cheered him. They knew what he was facing, they had seen it before. Technically, so had he, but it was more menacing in real life.
The blue dragon looked down on Cedric menacingly from above a clutch of eggs. Cedric felt a shiver of panic overtake him. He could do this. All he had to do was get his hands on the golden egg. That was it. He looked around at the various small boulders placed around him for cover. Inwardly, he laughed slightly. They decided to give him cover. No, it wasn't like this was a dragon that could breathe bursts of fire and perhaps melt the rocks themselves.
He put up his wand, which was shaking like mad. He focused, putting what little remained of his focus and concentration into keeping his hand steady. He had one shot at this. If he didn't get it, he was a dead man. No! Stop thinking that way! He wasn't going to fail, he just wasn't. It was that simple.
He waved his wand at the nearest boulder.
Confidence shot through him as it transfigured perfectly into the dog he had practiced. Perfect. Maybe he wasn't so dead after all. The dog looked around happily, its tongue drooping out of its mouth. It caught sight of the dragon and snarled.
That's it. Go. Run. Show the dragon that you're the threat.
Cedric looked up just as the dragon snorted a small, intense burst of fire from its short snout. Cedric instinctually dove to his right, feeling the searing heat from the flame. That was too close. Note to self: Keep away from the dragon's flame. He looked over at the dog. It had jumped right and began to bark madly at the dragon. The dragon diverted its attention to the dog. Cedric took the opportunity to dive behind another rock. He could do this. He looked around the rock at the dragon. It still followed the dog's movement, but didn't get up from the eggs. Slowly, apprehensively, it stepped away from its eggs as the dog moved around the dragon, still out of range of the dragon's attack.
Then Cedric did something very, very stupid. He blindly made a dash for the eggs. There it was, only a short ways away. He was so focused on the golden egg that he didn't notice the dragon snap its head towards Cedric. It snorted out a barrage of small, powerful flame. Cedric just managed to dive behind a rock.
The rock grew very hot very fast. He peeled his back off the rock quickly, feeling the intense warmth bleed through his robe and onto the back of his skin as he caught his breath. That was too close. He needed to make sure that the dog caught the dragon's attention and kept it. The dog began to bark faintly from the other side of the dragon. Cedric chanced a quick glance around the rock to see the dragon peering apprehensively right at Cedric.
No. No, you're not doing it right! Go for the dog. The dog!
He heard a light, distant crunch and the dragon released a mildly pained grunt. He looked around to see the dragon twirl around, its tail bleeding slightly. Careful to not crush the eggs, it turned to face the dog and began to blow more fire at it.
Cedric kept crouched down and looked at the eggs. He had made some progress on closing the gap between himself and the golden eggs, but he still had a long way to go. Keeping low, he made a chance run towards the next rock in the chain of rocks littered around the enclosure.
Once he was safely over at the next rock he looked over at the one he had just left. The front of it had morphed and melted, leaving drips of rock all across the front of it and down onto the ground in quickly dried puddles. Hopefully, he wouldn't experience his flesh melting off his bones. He looked for the next rock and caught sight of two. One was closer, but wouldn't get him too much closer to the eggs, whereas the other was farther away, but was a major stepping stone towards his goal.
In a moment of fast thinking, Cedric stayed hunched over and sprinted towards the next rock, switching his eyes quickly between focus on the dragon and the next rock. At the very last second, he noticed the dragon's head snap towards him and begin to barrage him with fireballs. He slid into the rock, hurting his foot slightly as he came into contact with it.
Once again, the dog caught the dragon's attention and began to run up the dragon's leg and onto its back. Good dog.
The dragon reached up and began clawing its back, its long talons barely scratching off its hard, blue scales. Cedric watched as the dog scurried aimlessly, attempting to get out of the way of the massive claws. It scurried up the dragon's back and up the neck until it reached the point between the dragon's eyes. It kept running and jumped off the dragon's short snout. The dragon shot balls of flame at the dog, but the dog landed and began to zigzag, successfully dodging all of the shots.
That was when Cedric noticed that the dog was heading straight towards his rock.
Cedric whipped his wand towards the dog. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He cried. The dog's legs continued to run through the air as it found itself lifted off the ground. In a desperate attempt to keep the dog away, he swung his wand as hard as he could to his left, where the dog had first appeared and released the spell.
The dog flew through the air and skidded on its feet, stumbling slightly. Cedric looked back to see what the dragon was doing. He swallowed hard. The dragon approached him quickly, faster than Cedric would have ever anticipated for such a massive creature.
Cedric dove to the left just as the dragon released a flurry of fireballs, melting the rock into a molten pile of goo. He began to sprint towards the dog, firing curses backwards towards the dragon. He had no idea what good they would do him, but it was better than running and hoping for the best. Every so often he chanced a glance at the dragon, but it seemed to retreat back to its clutch of eggs. It fired more balls of fire at him.
Cedric dove behind the next rock and caught his breath. Heat bursted past the rock and around his figure. He looked down in response to a constant heat around his ankle and discovered, to his horror, that the hem of his cloak had caught fire. He muttered "Augamenti" and a stream of water from the tip of his wand put the fire out. That was too close. That was way too close.
When the barrage had finally subsided, Cedric peaked around the rock to see the dragon still gazing at his rock intently. He turned back around. He needed a plan. He needed a plan. Something to distract the dragon.
He heard a bark and looked over to see the dog barking at one of the dragon's hind legs. Cedric breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was still alive. The dragon looked over at the dog curiously, reaching over as if to pet the dog.
Cedric looked at the clutch of eggs. There, in the middle sat the golden one. If only he could get the dragon to get up again. If only he could get the dog to get the dragon to move…
He pointed his wand at the dog. "Engorgio," He muttered. The dog grew in size, not nearly as much as Cedric wanted, but larger than he had hoped. "Wingardium Leviosa," He muttered again, lifting the dog over the dragon's claw and onto the dragon's back, placing it in a position he hoped the dragon would not be able to claw. The dragon began to tilt its head to try to see its back, but failed. The dog began to bark, seeing itself on the dragon's back with nowhere to go. Now, how could he get the dragon to move? He waited for the dog to begin to claw the dragon. It continued barking like mad and the dragon began to try to claw the dog.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Cedric called out and the dog froze on the dragon's back. It fell to its side, legs standing straight out.
The dragon attempted to peer around to see what was going on on its back.
"Sonorous," Cedric muttered and pointed to the dog, its growls magically magnified.
The effect was instantaneous. The dragon identified the dog as a threat. Cedric took his chance.
He sprinted forward, the dragon unaware that Cedric approached. He still had a long way to sprint, and his chances were slim that he would make it all the way to the egg unnoticed. All he needed was to bypass more rocks faster. He kept his eye on the dragon as it reared back. No. Not good. The dog was about to slide right off the dragon's back and onto the grass. At the last instant before he lost sight of the dog, he waved his wand and transfigured it back into a rock.
Halfway there. No more stones for cover on this side of the field. He put all of his energy into his legs pumping them as hard as he could. They'll fall off! Come on! Keep going!
He looked up as the dragon picked up the dog-boulder with one hand and landed back on the clutch of eggs still not looking at Cedric.
Then it lifted its eyes to see him. It looked from the boulder to Cedric and back to the boulder. It tossed the boulder at Cedric, forcing him to dive out of the way. He managed to roll to the right as it bounced past. He looked up just as the dragon began to send more fire at him. He began to cut in a diagonal path to the dragon's left claw. It was safer there than beneath its nose.
The dragon, however, was far cleverer than Cedric had given it credit for. It began to shoot a straight shot directly in front of Cedric. He slid to a halt and prepared to push off with his right foot when he realized his mistake.
The pain shot across the right side of his face. He began a mad dash towards the egg, dragon continuing to fling fire at him.
Cedric jumped, now aware that the entire right side of his robes was on fire. He reached out his left hand and snatched the egg in his arm. The dragon lifted its right arm and flung Cedric into the air. He flew, he did not know for how long, much less did he care. It felt like his left arm had broken as a result of the dragon's arm flinging Cedric aside. The dragon roared as Cedric looked back to see the dragon spinning around and around, a group of trained wizards arriving to subdue the dragon, hundreds of red lights flying from the many wand tips.
He smiled as he froze in midair. He spun around, the egg and his wand still clutched in his right arm. Madame Pomfrey came scurrying across the field. The entire right side of his face burned with intensity. She cast a spell with her wand and his robes extinguished from the powerful gush of water. She twirled Cedric slowly and set him on the ground on his feet.
"In my tent. Now," She ordered.
He smiled and began to walk towards the tent.
She began pacing around him even before he even reached the tent.
"Broken arm, a bad burn to your face. You'll need to take your robe off in the tent so I can see the extent of the damage. Dragons!"
But Cedric still didn't care. He had the egg and he was still alive.
Madame Pomfrey sat him down on a cot as she pulled a huge vat of orange paste from a makeshift cupboard, muttering to herself incessantly. She looked back at him and rolled her eyes in a hurry as she pulled out her wand again. "This might hurt," She muttered.
His left arm, which jutted out at an odd angle, magically set itself into place as good as new.
"No moving it," She commanded him as she pocket her wand again and opened the vat, putting copious amounts on hands. "Take off your robes."
Cedric set his egg and wand down on the cot next to him and took off his robe. He looked down at his right side. It was red, charred, and raw, but it didn't look bad enough for the amount of paste she had pulled out.
Madame Pomfrey put a light coat on the slightly red area on his torso. When it came to his face, she put the rest in a thick layer on his face.
"We need to rejuvenate the skin," She informed him.
Promise, Olivia, and Sam burst through the tent flap.
"I knew you'd do it!" Promise squealed and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thanks," Cedric kept on smiling.
"I told you!" Olivia punched him in the arm affectionately and gave him a quick hug.
"Good job, Champ," Sam smiled at him.
"Come on," Promise pulled Cedric's left arm.
"Where are we going?" Cedric asked, positively beaming with pride.
"Nowhere," Madame Pomfrey snapped as she pushed Cedric back to the cot.
"Why not?" Promise demanded, standing Cedric back up. "You're holding up the whole process. Cedric has to see his scores so that the rest of the Champions can compete."
Madame Pomfrey pushed Cedric back down. "The other Champions can wait."
"But what about the students?" Promise smiled innocently. "They're out for more action."
Madame Pomfrey huffed, rolled her eyes, and released Cedric. "If he's not back right away…"
"Not to fear," Sam bit her lip and smiled grabbing Cedric's other arm, making him yelp in pain. "Sorry," she smiled innocently.
They ran to the tent and stood in front of the flap.
"Did you, by any chance, happen to hear anything when you were out there?" Promise asked.
"Not really, no," Cedric realized, completely unaware that his ears had shut off anything that wasn't in the immediate enclosure. "I only heard-"
The last thing he saw was Promise nod to Sam and Olivia as they pushed him out of the tent and into the bright light of the field around him.
The crowd's screams deafened his ears. Everyone in the stands, with the exception of the five judges were on their feet, applauding and cheering.
It continued so long, that Madame Maxime thrust her wand into the air and released a shot of silver ribbon that coiled itself into a seven. Mr. Crouch , Professor Dumbledore, and Ludo Bagman gave him an eight, and Professor Karkaroff finished with a seven. Cedric smiled. Considering that just over twenty four hours before he had been blissfully ignorant about the dragon and exactly how to defeat it, Cedric felt proud to score so high. He smiled and turned around, just in time to see Madame Pomfrey marching towards him across the field. He became vaguely aware of the echoing bang of a canon from a distant place, but he didn't care. He had survived.
Cedric sat down on the bed as Madame Pomfrey scooped out another handful of paste. She lathered it back on again. He heard the dragon roar in the background and realized that Fleur had gone to face it.
Promise and Olivia squealed and ran off to watch Fleur's attempt, leaving Cedric alone with Sam. She began to talk about how spectacular he had performed and how well the dog did and praising him for his bravery, but Cedric didn't really pay as much attention to what she was saying as he probably otherwise would have. He just let the sound of her voice wash over him, soothing him, contenting him.
Promise and Olivia returned a few minutes later, fairly put out.
"She didn't get set on fire," Promise pouted and scrunched her nose, walking back into the tent several minutes later.
"It wasn't that exciting," Olivia whispered to Cedric. "Not as exciting as yours at least."
Olivia had just begun to tell the story in great detail just as the cannon went off again.
Promise and Olivia rushed to the tent flap almost immediately.
"It's Krum," Cedric called out as Madame Pomfrey rounded the corner again to apply more paste, which had melted off from the heat of the burns on his skin.
"It's rejuvenating your skin, Diggory," She said as she rubbed it on his skin in another thick layer. "The fact that it's disappearing means it's working."
So Cedric continued to sit, waiting for his burn to finish healing. Sam sat next to him in silence, a comfortable silence. When Promise and Olivia came back from Krum's effort, they seemed to be floating.
"What happened now?" Sam asked them.
"He's a dreamy," Olivia said, dazedly.
"Yeah, if you like the scowling, surly type."
Sam and Cedric both laughed.
"Hey," Promise interjected. "That's actually incredibly attractive if you didn't know."
And then the whistle blew for Harry just as Madame Pomfrey finished applying the last coat of orange to Cedric's skin. Cedric was prepared to sit there contentedly for another few minutes, but after the first few seconds, Promise yelled at him.
"Cedric! Cedric! Come quick! You have to see this!"
Cedric and Sam leapt up and ran for the tent flap, out of sight of Madame Pomfrey. He looked out at the sight around him and dropped his jaw.
Harry had decided to fly on his legendary Firebolt. He zigzagged around the gigantic dragon expertly, weaving and diving, trying to pull the dragon away from its egg. They all watched in complete silence as Harry moved expertly and, within a matter of minutes, had successfully captured his egg. Cedric, Sam, Olivia, and Promise all burst into a fit of applause.
"That is quite enough," Madame Pomfrey said from behind them, rushing out towards the field, where Harry was about to land.
They all turned around.
"I told you to sit down and you didn't listen, so now I'm going to have to ask you three to leave."
"But-" Sam stuttered.
"No but's, Miss Bennett. Out. All of you."
The three of them gave Cedric a hug and left, sulking. Cedric, saddened by this turn of events, returned to his seat and waited. A minute later he heard Harry Potter enter. Madame Pomfrey complained about the dragons again, but Cedric wasn't listening, he felt the cool right hand side of his face. The paste seemed to have done its work, so he stood up to leave.
Madame Pomfrey bustled around a corner. "How does it feel, Diggory?" She inquired absentmindedly.
Cedric jumped back onto the cot. "Great! Thanks! Can I go now?"
"I think one more should do it," She said approvingly, and applied a final handful of orange to his face.
He sat there contentedly, still amazed that he had gotten past the dragon.
"They want to see you in the Champion's tent," Madame Pomfrey told him. "Take your belongings and leave, you shan't need to come back."
Cedric nodded approvingly.
He returned to the tent and waited for the other Champions to arrive. When Harry walked in, he beamed and gave him the largest smile he could. Harry returned it, just as glad as he was to be done with this task.
Ludo Bagman bounded in and gave them instructions. Cedric paid attention only long enough to catch the basic gist of what he was saying. He had several months until the second task and a clue was located in the golden egg he held in his hand.
He emerged from the tent to see Sam, Olivia, and Promise all standing there waiting for him.
"Shall we?" Promise asked him, bending her arm and holding it out to Cedric.
"Are you kidding?" He asked her.
He linked arms with her and Sam who linked with Olivia, and together they walked back to the castle. He smiled the whole way to the top.
It really wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. It actually went rather well, even though he melted half his body in the process.