AUTHORS NOTE :P
Hello :) How is everyone?
Thanks for all the reviews! Now I shall answer some!
jdr ride: I know more reading material is welcome, but I kinda worry sometimes that they could get annoyingly long, you know? Thanks for the review :)
AnikaandAj: thank you so much, that means a lot :)
Quail Sandwich: does it really bother you? because there's going to be a lot of HarryxMax in this story and in the following stories.
Arkell26: Max isn't becoming like Nudge, but anyone can see that a crocodile-skin handbag with magenta robes just don't go! :) and you shall find out soon :) sorry it was rushed, I just really wanted to finish that chapter because it had been a while since I updated, and it was like, 11 o'clock and I just wanted to go to bed. But I'll try my best not to rush anymore chapters :D
florafan199914: it won't be in this chapter, but it will be soon, before the Yule Ball.
Annie Bell: haha yeah, maybe you should make an account :D the whole "Max's brother" thing will be revealed shortly, when they go to see Sirius. The song thing is a good idea, but I don't think I'll do that, sorry. I just can't see Max doing that, sorry, but I do like the idea. Maybe not actually have her sing, but have her thinking of a song? I do like the song idea, though. I understand what you mean about the characters, but I suppose the books wouldn't be half as good if there wasn't that much real emotion.
Nico-the-neko: as much as I like the idea, I don't think I'll use it in this story. Why don't you write your own story about that? Sorry about not using it, but I really think you should write your own story about Pullip, I mean you have all the information and details... I'd feel like I was stealing it too. So you should write your own story about her! and you can call me rachie :)
Now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the...
FIRST TASK OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!
-Rach ;)
Max's POV
I woke up on Sunday morning and went straight into the shower- I was too exhausted last night to have one. I watched as the water turned dirty and bloody as it ran down my body. I felt much better after the shower, and when I was done, I dried myself and got dressed quickly. The clothes I had been wearing the night before were destroyed, covered in blood, mud and there were leaves stuck in my shirt, and my jumper was shredded to pieces. I tried to clean my clothes with magic, but only most of the dirt and blood got out. I gave up in the end and threw the mangled clothes into my trunk. I looked down at my red guitar that Sirius had given me for Christmas last year. I picked it up and was just about the play a song when I changed my mind and put it back down. Lately I had been playing the guitar more usual. I played it when I was anxious or worried- so basically, I was playing my guitar every minute I could get my hands on it.
I woke up Hermione, aware that I was still stiff and sore. If the flock didn't heal so fast, I probably wouldn't have been able to get out of bed.
After Hermione got dressed, we went down to the Great Hall. "What happened last night with Ethan?" Hermione asked. She had been asleep last night when I went into our dormitory.
I ran a hand through my still wet hair, and let out a breath. "In here," I said, a dragged Hermione into an empty classroom. Then I told her everything that happened last night. Hermione was a great person to tell stories to- she gasped in all the right places, and when I finished, her hands covering her mouth. "Are you alright?" she gasped.
"I'm fine. One of the perks of being a super hybrid is that you heal fast," I said. Hermione still looked worried and she said, "You have to talk to Dumbledore! He could get rid of the Erasers, or else do something to stop them from getting into the castle."
"Yeah, I figured I'd have to talk to him. I'll talk to him on, we'll go to breakfast and find Harry, and he can tell you what Sirius said."
We walked into the Great Hall, and we found Nudge eating with Ginny. We sat down with them and I pulled a huge stack of toast and a bowl of cereal towards me.
"Nudge, I want you to stay away from the Forbidden Forest," I said.
"Why?" she asked, out of curiosity, not like she would disobey me.
I looked around and when I saw that no one was watching or listening, I whispered, "There's Erasers in the Forest, and some whitecoats." Nudge's eyes went wide and the color left her cheeks. "What?" she gasped. "How did they get into the grounds? That's impossible. How did they even know we were here?"
"I don't know, Nudge, but please stay away from the Forest. And if you see Fang and Iggy, tell them too. I don't want to talk to them," I said. Nudge looked even more worried, and she asked, "You haven't talked to them in ages. When are you going to forgive them?" she asked.
"Whenever they start talking to us again, and whenever Ron grows up," I said, biting into my toast. "But don't worry about it, Nudge, it's nothing serious. They're just being jerks." Nudge nodded, looking relaxed again.
When I finished my breakfast, I saw Harry coming in the doors to the Great Hall, looking anxious. He sat down with us, but didn't eat anything. As soon as Hermione had finished her porridge, Harry grabbed me and Hermione and dragged us out into the grounds. There, he told us all about the dragons, and about the giant Hungarian Horntial, then together we told Hermione about what Sirius had said, then I told Harry about the Erasers. I left out the kiss with Ethan.
Alarmed as Hermione was about Karkoraff, she seemed more nervous about the dragons. "Let's just keep you alive until Tuesday. Then we'll worry about Karkaroff."
"Hermione's right, Harry. The dragons are what we need to concentrate on now," I said.
We walked around the lake three times, trying to think of a simple spell that would knock down a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to any of us, so we walked back to the library. Once we got there, I pulled down every book I could find on dragons, and the three of us sat down and searched through the large pile of books.
"Talon-chipping by charms... treating scale rot... This isn't any good! This is all for nutters like Hagrid that want to actually keep a dragon healthy!" I exclaimed after hours of flicking through books.
"Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate..." Harry read, "But Sirius said a simple spell would do."
"Let's try some simply spellbooks then," Hermione said, throwing aside the book she had been reading and disappearing into the shelves. She returned a few minutes later with a huge pile of books and set them down on the table. I started banging my head against the table as Hermione started whispering nonstop.
"Well, there are Switching Spells... but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous... The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide...I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall... unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers-"
"Hermione," Harry said through gritted teeth, "will you please shut up for a bit? I'm trying to concentrate."
When Hermione fell silent, I started flicking through the other books, but there was absolutely nothing of any use in any of these books.
"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he just read in his stupid ship?" Hermione said irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, casting a surly look in our direction (well, looking more at Hermione then me or Harry) then settled himself into a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, we'll go back to the common room...his fan club will be here any minute."
And sure enough, as we walked out of the library door, a gang of girls tiptoed past us, one of them wearing a Bulgarian scarf around her waist.
I slept badly that night. I kept waking up, sweating and panting, doing my best to remember the nightmares. But no matter how much I tried, all I could remember was high, cold, laughing and screaming.
On Monday morning down in the Great Hall, I couldn't get myself to finish my breakfast, which was very unusual. Harry, who wasn't eating much either, noticed that I wasn't eating and said, "Are you alright, Max? Normally, you'd be on your fourth plate by now."
"I guess I'm just not feeling that well," I muttered, pushing the plate away from me.
A few minutes later, Hermione and Harry had finished their bacon and the three of us stood up. Harry was staring at the Hufflepuff table, and I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was actually staring at Cedric. Remembering what Harry told me about the night with the dragons, I knew that Cedric was the only champion that didn't know about the dragons.
"I'll see you in the greenhouses," Harry said as Cedric walked out of the Great Hall with his friends. "Go on, I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."
"Harry, you're going to be late, the bells going to ring any minute-"
"I'll catch up, okay?"
"What's he up to?" Hermione asked as we walked through the entrance hall and out into the grounds. The cold bit at me like knives and I shivered.
"I think he's telling Cedric about the dragons," I said.
"Why would he do that?"
"Because Krum and Fleur would know by now about the dragons, but Cedric had no one to tell him. So Harry's telling him to make everything equal."
"But now Cedric has only one day to prepare to fight a dragon! That's hardly equal!"
"Cedric's smart, Hermione. And he's a seventeen, so he knows more magic then we do. He probably knows what to do by now."
We had reached the greenhouses, and Professor Sprout was showing us how to prune a Flutterby Bush. It was fifteen minutes into the class, and Harry still hadn't come back. "How long does it take to tell someone that they're fighting a dragon tomorrow?" I whispered to Hermione so no one could hear me. She shrugged and whispered, "Maybe they're helping each other figure out what to do? They're both Hogwarts champions."
"Maybe," I said.
Ten minutes later, Harry came into the greenhouse, murmuring an apology to Professor Sprout as we passed her, then he stood in between me and Hermione. "Hermione, Max- I need you to help me."
"What do you think we've been doing, Harry?" I said, rolling my eyes, hoping to hide my anxiety. What had happened now?
"I need to learn how to do a perfect Summoning Charm by tomorrow," Harry said. Me and Hermione stared at him, our eyes wide.
And so we practiced, and practiced, and practiced while Harry explained what happened. He told Cedric about the dragons, but when Harry was walking away, Moody came out from his office and told Harry to get in. Moody knew that Hagrid showed Harry the dragons, and Moody told Harry that the only way he'd get passed the dragon would be to play to his strengths, and Harry's biggest strength is flying on a broomstick, so that's what he needs the Summoning Charm for. At the task, he's going to Summon his Firebolt down to the arena, and he'd fly around the dragon and get the egg. We skipped lunch and headed into an empty classroom, where Harry tried with everything he had to make various objects fly across the room. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones towards the floor.
"Concentrate Harry, concentrate..."
"What'd you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up into my mind for some strange reason...Okay, try again..."
Harry wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, and I wanted to skip to keep helping him, but Hermione wouldn't hear of it. So therefore, me and Harry had to endure an hour of Divination, with Ron, Fang and Iggy in the same room, and with Trelawney telling the whole class repeatedly that because of the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment that people born in July were in great danger of violent, sudden deaths. (AN: Quick question- does anyone remember what day I said Max was born? was it the 15th of July? I can't remember and I don't want to go looking through all the chapters of this and the other story, so if you remember, please review with her birthday because I can't remember :/ thanks!)
"Oh brilliant," Harry said loudly, his temper getting the best of him,"just as long as it isn't drawn out. I don't want to suffer."
"Yeah, sudden and violet is the best way to go in my opinion. There isn't as much screaming and it's a tad less messy," I said sarcastically.
Fang and Iggy looked back at us and laughed, but I ignored them, let them know how it felt. Ron looked like he wanted to laugh too. I saw him catch Harry's eye for the first time in days, but Harry looked away.
We spent the rest of the lesson continuing with the Summoning Charms lesson. I was whispering instructions to Harry and he was waving his wand under the table, trying to get things to fly to him from under the table. He got a bit excited when a fly zoomed straight into his hand, but I don't think that was actually with the Summoning Charm- the fly was just stupid and flew into Harry's outstretched hand.
I forced myself to eat some dinner, but I still wasn't eating as much as I usually was. I was still able to hear that laughter from my nightmare, and every time I heard it, it made me sick to my stomach. Then we returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid teachers. We kept practicing until past midnight. We would of stayed longer, but Peeves turned up, and pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started throwing chairs across the classroom.
The three of us left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.
At two o'clock in the morning, Harry was standing near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, and old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour did Harry finally get the hang of Summoning Charms.
"That's great Harry, well done," I said, lying on the couch with my head hanging off the edge and my legs up in the air.
"It's loads better, Harry, great work," Hermione said, looking exhausted but still very pleased.
"Well now we know what to do next time I can't do a spell," Harry said, throwing the rune dictionary back to me so he could try again. "Threaten me with a dragon. Right..." he raised his wand again. "Accio Dictionary!"
The heavy dictionary flew off my stomach, flew across the room and Harry caught it easily.
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" Hermione said delightedly.
"Yeah, you'll be great tomorrow. You've got the Summoning Charms down!" I said.
"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away then the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be in the grounds..."
"It won't matter," Hermione said, "Just as long as you concentrate really, really hard on it, it'll come. We'd better get some sleep...you're going to need it."
The atmosphere in the school the next morning was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons enclosure- though, of course, none of them knew what they'd find down there. All morning long, people were either wishing Harry good luck, or hissing, "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter." Even Ethan, who I hadn't talked to since we kissed, wished Harry good luck, but he completely ignored me. I tried to say something to him, but before I could speak he had already walked away.
"What was that about? I thought you guys were best friends- or did he not take the wings thing very well?" Harry whispered. I blushed slightly and said, "Er- no, everything is fine. Let's go."
Soon, it was lunch time. Harry seemed to be in a deep daze, walking slowly, and when he sat down at the Gryffindor table, he looked really confused. And then Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to us in the Great Hall, with loads of people watching.
"Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now... You have to get ready for the first-task."
"Okay," Harry said, standing up, dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter.
"Good luck Harry," Hermione said, "You'll be fine."
"Yeah," Harry said, grinning faintly, then he looked over at me. I had planned to say something like what Hermione had said, but instead I stood up next to Harry and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him. He put his arms around my waist and hugged me back. I heard the people in the Great Hall say, "Ohhhh!"
I blushed and let go of Harry, who's face was red too. "Good luck. You're going to kick that dragons butt." He smiled, the first genuine smile I've seen on his face since we were talking to Sirius. He walked out of the Hall with McGonagall and I sat down beside Hermione again. Almost without thinking, I turned my head and looked over at the Ravenclaw table. Ethan was looking at me, but I couldn't read his face. When he noticed me looking at him, he turned his back on me without a smile or a wave.
I sighed and turned back to look at Hermione. When I looked back at my food, I immediately felt sick. "Let's go. I can't just sit here and wait."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Hermione said. We grabbed our bags and went up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room, dropped our bags in our room, then raced down to the entrance hall. Down in the entrance hall we bumped into Ginny and Nudge.
"Hey Max!" Nudge said brightly. "Hey Nudge. Hey Ginny," I said.
"Do you want to head down to the arena for the first-task?" Ginny asked.
"We're meant to wait for the teachers. Students don't know where the arena is," Hermione said.
It was only a few minutes later when everyone started walking out of the Great Hall. We mixed in with the crowd and out into the grounds. I looked around at the amount of people that were coming down to watch the first-task; I was used to the large crowds that came for the Quidditch matches, but that was nothing compared to now. There was easily a hundred more people.
I noticed that all of the teachers were pale and anxious looking as we approached the Forbidden Forest.
"Why are we going to the Forest?" Nudge asked. "It's forbidden for students."
But before any of us could answer her, we saw that the teachers were walking along aside the trees, in the opposite direction of where the Erasers had me and Ethan, on the perimeter of the forest. We walked around the perimeter for so long that the castle and the lake were out of sight. We walked around a clump of trees, and we saw a huge clearing with a tent to one side, and a high-fenced arena was facing us, with hundreds of seats in raised stands.
"In an orderly fashion, everyone is to take seats in the stands and wait for the first champion to come out and complete the task," Professor Flitwick said. We walked through the trees and into the stands. The four of us sat in the front row.
We remained silent (which was very unusual because Nudge was with us), all of us too anxious and nervous to speak.
"Can we sit with you guys?" we heard someone ask.
I turned around and did my best to hide my surprise. Fang, Ron and Iggy were standing behind our seats, looking awkward.
"And why would you suddenly care about sitting with us?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"We've been idiots the last few weeks, and we're sorry," Iggy said. Fang nodded even grinning nervously, but Ron looked torn. I know that he believed Harry never put his name in the goblet, but he was too jealous to realize it.
"Took you this long to realize you've been idiots?" Ginny said. Iggy shrugged sheepishly, Fang just looked down at his trainers and Ron blushed.
"Well, when you're acting like an idiot, it takes you a while to realize that you've been acting like an idiot," Iggy said, throwing himself into the seat beside mine.
"You always act like an idiot, Ig," I said.
"But you love me for it," he said, grinning.
"So you guys forgive us for being jerks?" Fang asked, sitting beside Iggy, and then Ron sat down beside him.
"Can you apologize to Harry for being jerks?" Nudge said before I could.
Fang and Iggy nodded. "Yeah, of course. Anything," Fang said. Ron didn't move, or say anything.
"What about you, Ron? Are you going to apologize to Harry? And if you say that he should apologize to you, I swear to-"
"I'll apologize. I was going to on Saturday night, but he got really mad when he saw me. So I'm doing it after the task," Ron explained, not looking at anyone.
I looked into the arena. It was very big, and there were men standing around the fences, there wands out. They must be the dragon keepers. Knowing who I was looking for, I looked around at every face until I spotted him.
"Guys, look! It's Charlie!" I said.
"What?"
"It's Charlie, over there," I said, pointing.
"Why didn't he tell me he was coming?" Ron said, looking disappointed.
"Because then the task would of been obvious for you," Hermione pointed out.
"Yeah, I suppose," Ron said, sitting back in his chair. He suddenly sat forward again, his eyes wide. "That means the first-task is-"
He broke off when the men that were around the fences moved off into the trees. A few minutes later, they came back leading a fully grown, enormous, vicious looking dragon, silvery-blue with long, pointed horns. The crowd gasped, looking horrified at the sight of the dragon. The dragon was led over to a giant nest-like thing opposite the tent, where there were real dragon eggs, but also a large, bright gold one.
Ludo Bagman emerged from the tent to applause and cheering (they seemed to have gotten over the shock of the dragons). He waved and beamed around at everyone, looking very excited. He walked over to a long table that was near to where the dragon was sitting with her eggs. She didn't move, or even look around as Bagman walked to the table.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" he shouted into his wand. The crowd cheered loudly and the dragon growled lightly, but no one seemed to notice.
"Let me introduce our judges," Bagman continued. "Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore!" Dumbledore walked out of the wand, his blue eyes twinkling happily, but there was something about the way he was walking over to Bagman- a sort of stiffness that made me think that Dumbledore was actually worried and anxious, but he was hiding it well.
"Headmaster of Durmstrang, Professor Igor Karkaroff!" Karkaroff walked out after Dumbledore, but he wasn't smiling or waving. He was walked straight to the table.
"Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Professor Madame Olympe Maxime!" Madame Maxime walked to the table behind Dumbledore and Karkaroff, smiling.
"Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch!" Like Karkaroff, Crouch walked out of the tent without smiling or waving.
"And then there is myself, and for those who do not know, I am Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There was another round or applause, then the judges sat down.
"Let me introduce the fist champion that shall be tackling their dragon to receive the golden egg, our first of the Hogwarts champions, Cedric Diggory!"
The crowd roared as Cedric walked out of the tent, looking very pale and visibly shaking. When he saw the dragon (which Ron had informed us was a Swedish Short-Snout) he froze. After a few seconds, he stepped closer into the enclosure, his wand in his hand. The entire crowd seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see what he would do.
When the dragon spotted him, she covered the nest more protectively and roared. Luckily for Cedric she didn't breath fire.
Cedric waved his wand at a nearby rock, Transfiguring it into a large black Labrador. It ran around the enclosure, barking and jumping around. The dragon turned its attention to the dog instead of Cedric, following the dog around the enclosure, growling and roaring, giving Cedric the opportunity to sneak up to the nest quietly without the dragon noticing. The crowd were gasping and yelling, aggravating the dragon more. I held my breath. Surely Cedric couldn't get the egg this fast?
But just before Cedric grabbed the egg, the dragon turned around again, focusing on Cedric again. The crowd yelled as Cedric jumped out of the way of the fire the dragon shot at him.
"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" Bagman said into his wand. Cedric waved his wand again and the dog started barking louder then before, running around the dragon. She focused on the dog again, and without hesitation Cedric jumped closer to the nest, reaching for the golden egg. But the dragon saw him and flicked her tail towards Cedric's face. He ducked down out of the way just in time.
"He's taking risks, this one!" Bagman was saying. "Clever move- pity it didn't work!"
It was another few minutes of the same thing- Cedric would get close to the egg, then he would have to dodge out of the dragons way. After nearly fifteen minutes of Cedric dodging around the dragon, Cedric waved his wand once more to make the dog bigger and made it different colors. The dragon started chasing it around the enclosure, roaring and breathing fire.
Cedric stood in the large nest, not looking at the dragon anymore. He reached down and grabbed the egg, but as soon as he grabbed it, the dragon lost interest in the multicolored dog and turned back to Cedric. When she saw that Cedric was holding what she believed was one of her own eggs, she roared and breathed fire. Cedric wasn't fast enough to avoid all of the fire, and some burned his right cheek. He cried out in surprise more then pain, and fell back out of the nest onto his back.
The dragon keepers rushed forward to subdue to Swedish Short-Snout and Cedric climbed to his feet, one hand covering the burn on his face and the other hand holding the golden egg. He was beaming, and holding the egg up to show the crowd. There was a roar of noise as Cedric waved the egg while the dragon keepers took the dragon away. Professor McGonagall and Sprout came hurrying out to Cedric, who started walking over to them.
They started talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. When the dragon was gone out of the enclosure, Professor McGonagall turned Cedric around to face the judges table.
"Very good indeed," Bagman shouted into his wand. "And now the marks from the judges."
Instead of reading them out, the judges waved their wands in the air and made the number appear. Madame Maxime gave Cedric an eight, Mr Crouch gave him a nine, then Dumbledore gave him a nine. Ludo Bagman then awarded Cedric an eight. And last was Karkaroff. He waved his wand in the air and a long silver ribbon in the shape of a six appeared in the air.
The crowd roared again as Cedric was led back to the tent. As he was walking, I could see him touching his face gingerly, wincing.
"Oh I hope he's alright!" Hermione said, finally taking her hands away from her face.
"He'll he fine. Madam Pomfrey came fix his face up in no time. No scar," Nudge said, sounding hopeful.
"Afraid that a scar would make him less good looking?" Iggy asked in a teasing voice, raising his eyebrows.
"No. I was just stating a fact," Nudge huffed, but the blush creeping on her face gave her away.
"Look, they're bringing in the next dragon," Fang said.
We looked over at where they had led off the Swedish Short-Snout, to see the dragon keepers (with Charlie in the front) leading a huge, smooth-scaled green dragon into the enclosure. Ron told us that it was a Welsh Green.
"One down, three to go! Miss Delacour, if you please!" Bagman shouted. The crowd cheered as Fleur walked out of the tent, trembling from head to foot, but she was holding her head high with her wand held tightly in her hand. Like Cedric, she paled slightly when she saw the dragon, but she was quicker to recover then he was.
She walked confidently towards the dragon, her wand ready. Beside me, Hermione was covering her face with her hands so she wouldn't have to see.
The dragon roared angrily when he saw Fleur approaching her, and she moved so that she was completely covering the nest and all of her eggs. Fleur moved closer to the dragon and waved her wand. The dragon roared angrily, but then she seemed to go into a kind of trance. The Welsh Green was blinking sleepily, and Fleur took her chance to move in closer. But just before she grabbed the golden egg, the dragon snored sleepily, and a jet of fire shot out and landed on Fleur's skirt.
She screamed and water came out of her wand and put out the fire on her skirt. When the fire was out, she reached down and grabbed the golden egg.
The crowd roared with applause as Fleur faced the judges table to receive her marks. "And now Miss Delacour will get her marks," Bagman announced.
And it was the same as with Cedric. First was Madam Maxime, who gave Fleur a nine, the Mr Crouch, who awarded her with a seven, then it was Dumbledore, who gave her an eight, then Bagman, who gave Fleur a seven, and finally Karkaroff, who gave her a five.
"Five? That's a bit low, isn't it?" Ginny asked, frowning at Karkaroff.
"Yeah, and he's going to give Krum a ten. Just watch. He's going to be the most biased judge during this whole tournament," Ron said.
Fleur left the arena to applause and cheering as the dragon keepers took the Welsh Green back to it's enclosure. Then a few minutes later, they came back with a dragon that was the same size as the other dragons, but this one was bright red and more vicious looking. "That's a Chinese Fireball! They're meant to be really vicious- Charlie has loads of burns and cuts from Chinese Fireballs," Ron explained in a whisper as the dragon crouched down in front of it's nest with the new golden egg in it.
"Excellent, excellent," Bagman said, "And now we have Mr Krum!"
"Oh crap," I said, realizing something.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"The only dragon left now is the Hungarian Horntail," I said.
Hermione's eyes widened, but before she could speak, there was an explosion of noise as Krum walked into the arena. He didn't smile or wave, and didn't hesitate when he saw the dragon. He walked straight towards the dragon with his wand in his hand.
Ron had been right- the Chinese Fireball was vicious. A soon as it spotted Krum approaching it, the dragon started thrashing around, trying to protect its eggs. Krum was quick and was able to dodge each swipe the dragon sent at him. Then the dragon shot a jet of fire at Krum, and he dodged that too, but only barely.
Krum raised his wand and shot a blue light at the dragon, and it hit him right in the eye. The dragon roared in agony and started trampling around, roaring in pain. The crowd gasped as tt trampled onto the nest, and squashed half of the real eggs. Krum took the opportunity to run toward the nest.
"Very daring! He's taking risks, this one!" Bagman cried as everyone in the crowd held their breath. "That's some nerve he's showing- and- yes, he's got the egg!"
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass. It was Harry's turn now.
I held my breath as Krum turned around to face the judges table. Madame Maxime gave him a seven, Mr Crouch gave Krum a seven too, then Dumbledore gave him an eight, Bagman gave him a six, and just as Ron said, Karkaroff gave Krum a ten.
Krum nodded at the judges, then slouched back to the tent without smiling or waving. "Jeez, that guy is worse then Fang," Iggy said. We laughed and Fang glared at Iggy. "What? It's the truth," Iggy said defensively.
The dragon keepers came back with the Hungarian Horntail. The Horntail was bigger than the other dragon, with her massive, black, scaly wings folded around her, thrashing it's spiked tail.
I held my breath, waiting for Harry to come out of the tent.
"Brilliant! Now, for our second Hogwarts champion, and the last champion to compete today, Mr Harry Potter!" Bagman announced.
Harry walked slowly out of the tent, looking pale, panicked and nervous. I clenched my hands into hands into fists, digging my nails into my palms, while Hermione was digging her nails into her face. Ron, Fang and Iggy were sitting forward, looking anxious. Ginny and Nudge were jumping up and down in their seats from nerves.
Harry didn't react to the dragon, probably because he's already seem before. The crowd were cheering at Harry, but it looked like he wasn't even paying attention. Harry looked like he was concentrating hard, and then he raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.
I waited, every part of me hoping to see the Firebolt shooting over the trees, but it was taking longer and longer...
"Oh my God it didn't work," Nudge gasped. "What's he meant to do now? The Firebolt isn't coming, and he never had a back-up plan! That dragon is going to eat him and-"
"Nudge! Shut up and look over there!" Fang said, pointing over to the treetops. Harry's Firebolt was hurtling towards him. Harry looked relieved when it soared into the enclosure and stopped in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd were shouting something, and Bagman was yelling into his wand, but I couldn't hear any of it. I was watching Harry as he climbed onto his broomstick, and kicked off hard from the ground.
As soon as Harry was flying in the air, I saw that he no longer looked scared. He looked just like he did during a Quidditch match. Focused, determined, but relaxed.
Suddenly, Harry dived. The Horntail's head followed him. Harry pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire shot out from the Horntail's mouth, right where Harry was before he pulled from the dive.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" I heard Bagman yell as the crowd shrieked and yelled. "Are you watching this Mr Krum?"
Harry flew higher up into the air while the Horntail followed his progress. Just as the Horntail opened his mouth, Harry plummeted, but the Horntail's tail came whipping up to meet him instead. Harry swerved to the left to avoid it, but it was too late- one of the long, spikes hit him in the shoulder, ripping his robes and ripping through his skin. I could see the blood, but the cut didn't seem deep. The crowd screamed and groaned.
He zoomed back around to the back of the Horntail, and then he stared flying everywhere. He was going this way and then that way, but he wasn't close enough for her fire to hit him, but still close enough that the dragon still thought he was a threat.
He flew up higher, the Horntail's head rose up with him. He rose up a few feet more and she let out a roar of exasperation. He must of been like a fly to her, an annoying fly that she wanted to swat, but it just wouldn't stay still. She thrashed her tail again, but he was too high up...she shot fire into the air, which Harry dodged...her jaws opened wide...
Then suddenly, she reared, spreading her giant black wings- and then Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what was happening, or where Harry had gone, he was speeding to the ground too fast for her to follow. He sped towards the egg, now unprotected by her clawed front legs. I saw Harry take a hand off his Firebolt and grab the golden egg.
With a huge spurt of speed, he was off, soaring out over the stands, the egg safely under his arm. The crowd were screaming and applauding loudly and Bagman was yelling, "Look at that! Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr Potter!"
The dragon keepers rushed forward to subdue the Horntail. Professor McGonagally, Moody, and Hagrid came hurrying to meet Harry, all of them waving at him, their smiles evident even from this distance. Harry flew back over the stands and landed smoothly.
I opened out my palms and noticed that were cuts in them in the shapes of crescent moons, and they were bleeding. I wiped them off my skirt, staining it with my blood.
"Let's go," I said, standing up. "They brought Harry back to the tents before they gave him his score." The others stood up beside me and we made our way down to the tent. McGonagall was standing outside, looking relieved.
"Can we go in and see Harry, Professor?" Iggy asked, suddenly all polite.
"Not at the moment. You'll have to wait until Madam Pomfrey has him fixed up," McGonagall said.
"How long will it take?" I asked, already edging towards the opening in the tent.
"Not that long, Miss Ride," McGonagall said, pulling me away from the opening.
After a few minutes, we could see the shadow of Madam Pomfrey moving from one end of the tent to another and saying, "How does it feel now, Diggory?"
"We can go in now," I said, and without waiting for McGonagall to say something, I walked into the tent, the others following me. When I walked in, I almost ran straight into someone- Harry.
"Harry! You were freaking insane! That was amazing!" I said.
"You were brilliant! You really were!" Hermione said squeakily.
"I thought your Firebolt wasn't going to come and then I got really worried, but then it flew right to you and you started flying around and it was awesome! That dragon was so confused and it was amazing! And then when you-"
"Basically, you did great, mate," Iggy said, grinning awkwardly.
But Harry wasn't listening to anyone. He was only staring at Ron, Fang and Iggy, but mainly Ron, who was very white at staring at Harry as if he was a ghost.
"Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet- I- I- reckon they're trying to do you in!"
It seemed as if the last few weeks had never happened- as if we were meeting Ron for the first time since Harry had been made champion.
"Caught on, have you?" Harry said coldly, "Took you long enough."
Iggy said, "I'm sorry. Me and Fang were just mad because we thought you put your name in and never told us. But then we realized you wouldn't do that, but we couldn't bring ourselves to apologize. Sorry."
"We were idiots," Fang said.
Harry nodded, accepting their apology. Then Fang and Iggy turned to me and Nudge, and as if it was an unspoken rule, the four of us put our hands out and stacked them, then we tapped each others fists. It didn't feel the same without the Gasman and Angel, but we did our best. We all smiled at each other, then turned back to the others.
Ron was opening his mouth uncertainly. I knew Ron was about to apologize like Fang and Iggy, but before Ron could say anything, Harry said, "It's okay," he said. "Forget it."
"No," Ron said, "I shouldn'tve-"
"Forget it," Harry said.
Ron grinned nervously, and Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears.
"There's nothing to cry about!" I said to Hermione, bewildered.
"The two of you are so stupid!" Hermione shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her shirt. Then before any of us could stop her, she gave each of us a massive hug, then dashed away.
"Barking mad," Ron said, shaking his head. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores."
Picking up his egg and Firebolt, Harry followed us out of the tent. I couldn't stop staring at him. I just couldn't believe that he had completed the first task with nothing more then a scratch on his shoulder. As we walked back to the enclosure, Ron told Harry what the other champions did very fast, and then we reached the edge of the enclosure. We could see the judges table more clearly now that the Horntail had been taken away.
"It's marks out of ten for each one," Ron informed Harry. The rest of us weren't talking, just letting the two of them talk away. I looked over at Ginny and Nudge and rolled my eyes. They both giggled, then stared at Madame Maxime raised her wand.
The silver ribbon that shot from her wand turned itself into an eight. "Not bad!" Ron said as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder."
Mr Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.
"Looking good!" I said, thumping him on the back.
Next, Dumbledore. He put a nine up too. The crowd cheered even more.
And then- Ludo Bagman gave Harry a ten.
"Ten?" Harry said in disbelief. "But...I got hurt...what's he playing at?"
"Don't complain!" Ron said excitedly.
And then Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number four shot from his wand.
"What? Four? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you have Krum a ten!" Ron shouted furiously.
"You tied in first place, Harry! You an Krum!" (AN- I probably did that math wrong, with Harry's points and Krum's points, but I don't really care...anyway :P)Charlie said, running up to us as we set off back towards the school. "Listen, I've got to run and send Mum and owl. I swore I'd tell what happened, but I'll be able to talk to you guys later," he said, talking more to Ron and Ginny then the rest of us. "And Harry, you were unbelievable! Oh yeah, and they told me to say that you have to wait around for a minute...Bagman wants a word, in the champions tent."
We told Harry that we'd wait for him while we went into the champions tent. We could hear people talking, but couldn't make out the words.
"I'm glad you and Harry are friends again," Ginny said.
"Yeah, I'm glad too," I said, grinning at Ron. I actually missed the idiot.
"Me too," Ron said.
A few minutes later, the flap on the tent opened and Cedric, Fleur, Krum, Harry and Bagman walked out. Harry walked over to us and together, we walked around the edge of the forest, all of us talking. Harry wanted to hear what the other champions did in more detail, which was no problem for Nudge. She babbled on about the other champions for about ten minutes straight, and Harry actually listened to her.
Then, as we rounded a clump of trees as Nudge was talking about how Fleur's skirt caught fire, a witch leapt out at us.
It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today, and Nudge actually gagged when she saw her.
"Congratulations, Harry," she said, beaming so wide that we could see all of her golden teeth. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing the dragon? How you feel now, after scoring such a high mark?"
"Yeah, you can have a word," Harry said, and I stared at him in surprise. "Goodbye."
And we set off back to the castle, laughing just like old times.
I'm really sorry for the long wait on this chapter, and I'm sorry for how crappy it might have been. I was really busy and have a lot on my mind right now so I'm sorry if it wasn't that good.
Next chapter will be faster and better! I swear!
When you review, you get butterbeer and cookies, so...
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
lOvE yOu! 3
-Rach ;)