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Chapter 6

The Golden Egg

The day of the first task, November 24, came and everyone was extremely excited, but also nervous. Rumor had gotten around that the first task was going to involve dragons of some kind and I was absolutely terrified. I had only seen dragons in books, and if the rumors were correct, I was going to be less than 100 feet away from one. Needless to say I was petrified.

I walked down to the arena with Neville, Luna, Ron and Hermione.

"Oh man, this is going…this is going to be crazy." I said.

"If what Harry said is true, about the dragons, it's going to be immensely difficult. I can't believe they are letting students have anything to do with dragons." Hermione said as we reached the top of the arena and began to walk down the stairs.

"You guys are gonna go sit down there? I think I'll just watch from up here." I said nervously.

"Suit yourself." Ron said as the group continued down to a lower level.

I sat down in the very last row to the top, and as I did felt someone sit down next to me. "Didn't want you to have to sit alone." I looked over to see Neville say.

"Thanks." I said smiling.

"Plus, I really don't fancy the idea of being so close to dragons." He revealed.

"I'm terrified." I said with a nervous laugh. "My mother used to tell me a story when I was younger about an evil dragon that was a large province. The dragon would destroy everything in it's path, leaving cities and towns destroyed. Then the dragon would simply disappear, only reappearing some years later to do it once again."

He stared at me, a blank look on his face. I became embarrassed by my childhood fear and said, "My mother tells the story better, I didn't tell it very well."

"No, I was waiting for you to finish! I wanna know what happened to the dragon, did it keep destroying the towns." He enthusiastically asked.

"Eventually a brave and courageous warrior came and slayed the dragon. Oh what was his name…I used to know this story by heart." I explained.

"You'll remember late at night, after laying awake for hours trying to figure it out." Neville said with a laugh.

"You know what you're absolutely right. But anyway, ever since I've been just absolutely terrified of dragons. It's my one childhood irrational fear that I just can't seem to shake. Especially once I found out dragons were real! I couldn't sleep for weeks." I told him.

"I think it's definitely ok to be scared of large flying dragons that can shoot fire out of their mouths." He said.

"Yeah; so no judging me when I squeal like a little girl when the first one comes out. And NO laughing!" I said with a gentle nudge.

"Don't worry, I'd never laugh at you." Neville explained. "Unless you were absolutely hilarious, in which case I might let out a little chuckle."

"Deal." I replied.

We were interrupted when the Minister of Magic appeared out of a large tent within the arena and began saying, "Welcome to the first round of the Triwizard Tournament. We will begin the competition by showing our young wizard's bravery and cunning. All four will face a dragon, its breed determined by a random selection, and each dragon will be guarding a golden egg. Each egg will hold a vital clue for our champions to discover, which will give them a major hint for the next round. With no further hesitation, let the tournament begin!"

Right as the minister finished speaking the back arena doors swung open and in walked a group of wizards, all casting what appeared to be a calming spell at a large blue-ish dragon. The dragon followed the wizards into the middle of the arena, where a long chain was attached to its collar, and the chain was attached to a large metal stake in the floor. On one side of the arena was a small group of dragon eggs, and while the dragon was still subdued a large golden egg was placed within the group of real eggs. The dragon's controllers backed slowly out of the arena, abandoning their spells once they reached the door to exit the arena. The dragon looked around, most likely confused as to how it arrived in its current situation. The dragon had little time to acclimate as Dumbledore soon began to speak from his box seat in the stands, "Our first champion is Cedric Diggory! He will face the Sweedish Short-Snout!

Cedric soon emerged from his tent and without hesitation began casting spells. He began by using a transfiguration spell that changed a large rock into a dog. The dog worked and distracted the Short-Snout, allowing Cedric to get close to the egg. As he reached the egg the dragon's attention again turned to Cedric and he opened his mouth and a blast of hot fire flew from it's mouth.

I quickly grabbed a hold of Neville's arm, ignoring the fact that it had obviously startled him. His uncomfortableness didn't last long however and he soon was gripping my arm back. As the dragon again let out a hot breath of fire, I nuzzled my face against Neville's shoulder, shielding my eyes from the dragon's immense size.

"I'm sorry Neville, I know this is making you uncomfortable." I mumbled, my voice muffled as my face was still engulfed with Neville's shoulder.

He didn't say anything in response and I stole a peek at his face to see him staring open mouthed at the arena, completely unaware of what I'd just said.

"OH!" Neville yelled.

"What, what's happened!" I asked, whipping my face around to look.

"Cedric's face, I think the dragon burned his face!" Neville exclaimed.

My grip tightened on Neville's arm, "What? Why haven't they sent in someone to help him!"

Neville didn't answer and we both sat and watched as Cedric managed to cast a spell on himself, I assume to dull or stop the pain. He managed to maneuvered around the dragon and find his golden egg. Moments after he had retrieved the egg, the back doors to the arena swung open, and the wizards that had been subduing the dragon earlier emerged, and began casting their spells again. Following the wizards was Madame Pomfrey and another of the school's nurses. They rushed out to Cedric and quickly applied potions and spells to his face, and within a few minutes he looked up into the stands and waved, and we all cheered with the realization that he was alright.

The arena was reset, and the next dragon brought out. Dumbledore again announced, "Our second champion will be the lovely Ms. Fleur Delacour who will be facing a common Welsh Green."

Fleur took a different approach on how to deal with her dragon, and faced it head on. She quickly subdued the dragon with a spell that put the dragon to sleep. She quickly ran to the group of dragon eggs. Fleur's spell didn't last as long as she had hoped, and the dragon awoke. Just as Fleur had reached to pick up her egg, the dragon let out a blast of fire, which caught on at the bottom of her skirt.

I yelped in shock, never letting go of Neville's arm and closed my eyes tightly, waiting to hear from the crowd how Fleur ended up.

Fleur somehow managed to extinguish the flames on her skirt, and once I heard the cries of relief from the crowd I opened my eyes to see the dragon being led out of the arena. Fleur waved to the crowd and with a polite curtsey re-entered the champion's tent.

"How can she be so calm? Her skirt was just lit on fire!" I exclaimed.

"I guess adrenaline kicks in, and you have to be calm or you'd just lose it." Neville very clearly explained.

"That was way to logical an explanation. You need to be more scared, like me." I sarcastically said.

"You want me to cut off the circulation to your arm and hide in your shoulder?" he said laughing.

"Shut it you!" I exclaimed unwrapping my death grip from his arm, "I told you I'd be an interesting sight."

He wrapped his arm around mine, mocking how I was holding his arm and said, "It's ok…I'm just putting on a brave show, inside I'm shaking."

"Mhmm!" I grunted as I rearranged our arms so I was again holding his.

The third dragon was brought out, and Dumbledore again rose and said, "Third we have Viktor Krum, who will face a Chinese Fireball!"

Dumbeldore had barely finished announcing him, when Viktor came storming out of the tent and without hesitation cast a spell at the dragon. It shrieked in terror and flapped its wings and fumbled around on the ground. It appeared that he had somehow blinded the dragon. Unfortunately as the dragon was thrashing around it managed to smash some of the other eggs.

"I wonder if those were real." Neville said.

"I wouldn't mind." I quietly replied. He looked at me with wide eyes in shock; I retracted my previous statement and said, "Alright, alright I don't really mean that."

Amongst all the thrashing Viktor retrieved his eggs, raising it over his head triumphantly before retreating back into the champion's tent. The last dragon they brought out terrified me. Its physical appearance was 10x more terrifying than that of the three previous dragons. Its body was lined with horns, that looked as sharp as knives, and the wizards that were controlling it were clearly having a hard time keeping it subdued.

"Harry has to face that?" I yelled in shock. I saw nods of agreement all around me, clearly no one thought Harry stood a chance against this evil looking dragon. "This is going to be bad…very bad."

"We can go back to the school if you want." Neville said, in an attempt to comfort me.

"No, we have to be here, have to support Harry. Even though it's going to be absolutely terrifying and I might break your arm off." I blurted out.

He didn't have a chance to respond, Dumbledore began to speak, "And our last champion, Harry Potter will face the Hungarian Horntail. Students seated in the front may wish to move to the back."

A few students took Dumbledore's recommendation and moved back a few seats. Still sitting at the front were Hermione, Ron and Luna. Harry emerged and slowly entered the arena. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and I suddenly heard what sounded like Hermione's voice. I'm not sure what she yelled, but Harry looked up in her direction and nodded, casting a spell.

We all waited for something to happen, as the dragon's fascination and aggressiveness towards Harry began to grow. Soon Harry's Firebolt came soaring through the sky, and we realized Harry had summoned his broom to the arena. Harry's hesitation vanished and he quickly mounted the broom, and began flying around the dragon. Harry is a very fast and agile flier and he maneuvered around the dragon easily. Each time the dragon spotted a glimpse of Harry it shot out a hot fiery blast. Feeling the heat against my face, I began my game of hiding again and rather than hiding in Neville's arm, I hid my face on the other side of him, my cheek resting against his back.

I could hear his heart beating, and I felt each steady breath he took. His heart was racing, but his breathing was steady and calm. I tried to focus in on his breathing, in an attempt to calm myself. I also noticed that he smelt surprising good, I wondered what cologne he wore, if any. I was knocked out of my calmness and heard Neville yell, "He's done it!"

I emerged from my hiding spot and saw Harry flying high, the golden egg in his hands. Unable to control my emotions I jumped up and shouted at the top of my lungs, "GO HARRY! WOOOO!"

Neville jumped up with me, and along with the rest of the Gryffindor house we cheered Harry's name until he landed and went inside.

Dumbledore announced the scoring; Viktor and Harry were tied for first, Cedric was in second, and Fleur was in third. The first challenge was over, and all the spectators began the trek back to Hogwarts. Neville and I waited for Ron, Hermione and Luna to get to us before leaving.

"Ron…are your eyebrows gone?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said laughing.

"Ron you should go see the nurses." Hermione said.

"Why! I like it!" he exclaimed.

"I agree Ron, you remind me of a ghost." Luna softly said.

We all stared at her, confused, after which Ron said, "On second thought, you might be right…I wouldn't want to scare anyone."

"Please Ron, you do that with or without eyebrows!" I playfully teased.

We continued our walk to the castle, and Ron began to loudly tell the story of how the dragon's fire managed to burn off his eyebrows.