Chapter 20
The Horngarian Horntail
KIARA
The prospect of talking face to face with my parents was all that sustained me over the next fortnight, the only bright spot in a horizon that never looked darker up until that point in my life. The shock of finding myself school Champion had worn off slightly by then, along with the fear of what I was facing. The first task was drawing steadily nearer; I felt as though it were crouching over me like some horrific monster, barring my path. I had never suffered nerves like those I faced before the first task; they were beyond anything I had felt before a Quidditch match, not even the final I faced against Snake-Eyes in my third year, which had decided who would win the Quidditch Cup. I found it extremely hard to think about my future in those days, for at that moment I felt like my whole life had been leading up to, and would finish with, the first task ...
Admittedly, I didn't see how my parents were going to make me feel any better about having to perform an unknown piece of difficult and dangerous magic in front of hundreds of people, but the mere sight of two friendly faces - my parents, no less - was something rather than nothing. I wrote back to my parents, saying that I would be beside the common room fire at the time they suggested, and Chris, Sian and I spent a long time going over plans for forcing any stragglers out of the common room on the night in question. If the worst came to the worst, we were going to drop a bag of Dungbombs, but we hoped that we wouldn't have to resort to that - and a good thing we didn't, either (we'll get to that), for Match would've skinned us alive if he'd found out about it.
If I had thought things were bad for me back then, I was horribly wrong, for they only got worse; for Peter Meter had published his piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the Tournament, as a highly coloured "story of my life", so to speak. Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of myself; the names of the Beauxbatons and Uagadou Champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Georgia hadn't been mentioned at all.
The article had appeared ten days after the Wand Weighing ceremony had occurred, and, ten days after it was released, I still got a sick, burning feeling of shame in my stomach every time I thought about it (not anymore, for I'm all right now, although I still resent Meter for writing that pack of lies about me). Peter Meter had reported me saying an awful lot of things that I had never said before in my life, let alone in that broom cupboard.
"I suppose I get my strength from my parents. They're scared and worried about me, of course, which they have every right to be, but I also think that they'd be proud of me - if they were in their right minds, of course, seeing as they've probably gone mad after being stuck in Azkaban after all this time (for they were mad enough to break out) ... yes, sometimes at night I cry about our situation and the things that they have done, I'm not ashamed to admit it ... even though their souls are maimed, I'd like to think that their spirits are whole whenever I think of them, which gives me some comfort, for I've got my grandmothers, so I'm not alone ..."
But Peter Meter had gone even further than transforming my "er"s into long, sickly sentences: he had interviewed other people about me, too.
Kiara has at last found love at Dragon Mort. Her close friend, Colleen McCreevy, says that Kiara is rarely seen out of the company of one Christopher Rickers, an extremely handsome, half-blood boy who, like Kiara, is one of the top students in the school.
From the moment the article had appeared, I had to endure people - Snake-Eyes people, mostly - quoting me as I passed them, and making sneering comments. Once or twice, I thought I saw Rae-Bradley look kindly at me, and I thought that she was going to say something, but then Malty would grab her arm and pull her along, and I was left wondering what was going on with her.
"Want a hanky, Pride-Lander, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"
"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Pride-Lander? Or is this a school you and Bore have set up together?"
"Hey - Kiara!"
"Yeah, that's right," I found myself shouting, as I wheeled around in the corridor one day, having had just about enough. "I've just been crying my eyes out over my mad parents, and I'm just off to do a bit more ... "
"No - it was just - you dropped your quill."
It was Khan. I remember how the blood rushed to my cheeks with embarrassment.
"Oh - right - sorry," I muttered, as I took the quill back.
"Er - good luck for Tuesday," he said. "I really hope you do well."
Which, as you might expect, left me feeling extremely stupid.
Chris had come in for his fair share of unpleasantness, too, but he hadn't started yelling at innocent bystanders; in fact, I was full of admiration for the way he had handled the situation (although, I was under the impression that Sian had a lot to do with it), well, apart from one incident, anyway.
"Extremely handsome? Him?" Parry Parker had shrieked, the first time he had come face to face with Chris after Peter's article had appeared. "What was he judging against - a boy with hedgehog hair?"
"Yeah, well I may have hedgehog hair, but at least I don't have a case of pug face," Chris said shrewdly back. Parry glared at him, and then moved on.
"What happened to ignoring people, Chris?" I asked him, surprised, as Parry and his group of Snake-Eyes boys walked past us.
"I am," he said. "It's just that I thought that Parry needed a taste of his own medicine, that's all. Just ignore it, Kiara. that's all you can do. Sian would tell you the same thing, I'm sure of it."
But I couldn't ignore it. Chrissie wasn't speaking to me at all. I had half hoped that we would have made up during the two hours she, myself and Chris were forced to pickle rat's brains in Triphorm's dungeon, but that had been the day Peter's article had appeared, which seemed to have confirmed Chrissie's idiotic belief that I was really enjoying all the attention.
Sian was furious with the pair of us; she went from one to the other, trying to force us to talk to each other, but I was adamant: I would only talk to Chrissie again once she admitted that I hadn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire (which won't be long, I assure you), and apologised for calling me a liar.
"I didn't start this," I said stubbornly. "It's her problem."
"You miss her!" said Sian impatiently. "And Chris and I both know she misses you - "
"Miss her?" I said. "I don't miss her ..."
But that was a downright lie. I liked Sian very much, but she just wasn't the same as Chrissie. Without Chrissie in our group, there was much less laughter (though Chris tried - quite successfully - to lighten the mood). Besides, I spent a lot more of my time in the library when I was with them. I was still struggling with Summoning Charms, for I had developed something of a block about them, and Sian insisted that learning the theory would help. We consequently spent a lot more of our time poring over books during our lunchtimes.
Kovu Outsider and his adopted brother, Kopa, were in the library an awful lot during those days, too. Chris and I wondered what they were up to at first, for we thought that they might have been researching for the Triwizard Tournament; but we soon figured out that Outsider was only there to support Kopa, for he went in there to watch Sian. This was proven on this particular day of which I am writing, for no sooner had they entered the library, than Sian, whose head was currently bent over a book, shot her head right up and looked over at him. Her face coloured slightly as she saw his covered face, and before he could look at her, she had turned back to her book.
Outsider and Kopa had chosen a table not that far from ours and sat down. Whenever Sian saw Kopa, Chris and I knew that Sian couldn't concentrate properly, and that day was no different; every five minutes or so, she would raise her head to see if she could catch his eye, and when he didn't, she lowered her head back to her book once more, with a disappointed look on her face.
Ever since we started noticing Sian's fancy for Kopa, Chris and I had been discussing about whether or not Sian was falling for him - whenever Sian wasn't around, that is. Chris and I couldn't make out what Sian found so fascinating about him. OK, it was true at the time that the only weird thing about him was that he kept his face covered apart from his eyes, but apart from that, there was nothing special about him. Clearly, Sian saw something in him that no one else did, but that question was, what was it? Whenever we tried to ask her, she would do one of two things: quickly change the subject, or she would tell us some things, but nothing too clear as to how she felt about Kopa, and we would drop it. This day, however, Chris was feeling brave, and decided to say something.
Taking a deep breath, he said nervously, "Sian?"
"Yeah?" Sian said, looking disappointedly at her book again.
"Er, well ... you know Kopa?"
Sian's face flushed slightly, before she raised her head to Chris and I and said, "What about him?"
I then took a deep breath for courage and said, "Well, Chris and I have been noticing that you can't seem to take your eyes off him every five minutes whenever he's in the same room as you; your eyes sparkle when you look at him, and your face lights up whenever he comes in the room. So, surely you must see something in him, S.D., for not only is this so not like you, but we're wondering what you see in a guy who keeps his face covered up."
I thought I saw a flash of a smile cross Sian's face, but as she raised her head, it was gone, for she flicked her hair back and said, "It's none of your concern," directly to me, before she turned her head back to her book, and was determinedly avoiding Chris' eyes.
Chris quickly picked up on the point, for he said gently, "Look, Sian, if you're worried that I'll take the mick, then don't be. Kiara and I just want to know what you see in him that we don't, for we know you must have talked to him during these past few weeks. So please, Sian? Won't you tell us?"
Chris and I saw Sian raise her face to us again, and watched how her eyes switched from Chris to me and back again. We could almost see the wheels in her head turning, and Chris and I thought that we had got through to her. (How wrong we were.)
Sian suddenly snapped her book shut, which made me and Chris jump. She then thrust her head forwards, so she was an inch or two away from our faces and hissed, "What I think about Kopa is none of your business, so back off!" She then thrust her book into her bag, shoved her bag over her shoulder and left the library in a huff. I saw Kopa watch her leave, as did Chris, and a few seconds later, he left the library to find Sian and comfort her, we assumed ...
SIAN
Sian knew it was ridiculous for her to be angry at Chris and Kiara, but she didn't care. She was a girl who valued her privacy, and she expected others to remember that. She was so lost in angry thoughts that she didn't hear Kopa come up behind her until he shouted her name.
"Sian!"
She turned around and smiled at him, glad to see a friendly face - well, one that wasn't poking into her private business, anyway. "Kopa, hi," she said, blushing. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."
"It's OK. I saw how flustered you looked," said Kopa, his eyes smiling sympathetically. "So, what were they saying that made you so upset?"
Sian was about to answer, but then she held back. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but she didn't want to appear a sobbing, weak wreck all over him. So she quickly recovered herself and said, "Nothing. It's no big deal."
Kopa's eyes looked confused. "Really? 'Cause I saw you looking - "
"Kopa, it's fine, really," said Sian, imploring him to buy her lie. "It's nothing for you to worry about. It's my business, not yours."
She saw a flash of hurt cross Kopa's eyes. "I thought you trusted me?"
Sian didn't expect the pain that cut through her. "I do, Kopa - "
"Clearly not enough," Kopa snarled at her, his eyes cold, hard amber, and he stormed away.
"Kopa! Kopa!" Sian tried to call him back, but he just kept on walking, following Kovu's giggling gang of girls. She saw him turn the corner, and it hit her how hurt she made him. The hurt built inside her, and instead of punching a wall, she let it out in another way, as soon as her head hit her hands.
KIARA
Chris and I were silent for a few moments, before he sighed and said, "She's growing up so fast ..."
"Hmmm," I murmured, nodding my head. "It seems only yesterday that she was a cold-hearted girl, who didn't have a hope in the world of finding someone special who will see her for who she is and treat her the way she deserves. Now look at her ..."
We were silent again, looked at each other slowly and then burst into silent giggles. Ah, how ridiculous we sounded. Honestly, from the way we were talking, you'd have thought we were Sian's parents or something.
Our laughter was cut short, however, by the arrival of Outsider's fan club of giggling girls, who spied on Outsider from behind the bookshelves. So Chris nudged his head towards the door a couple of times. I nodded, and we packed up our things and left. As we came near the doors, Kopa came back, with sad and angry eyes. Chris looked concerned at this, and a bit angry, too. My thoughts, though, were on Chrissie, for as we walked to the common room, I couldn't help but wonder what Chrissie would have said to Sian if she were with us.
0000
It is a strange thing, but when you are dreading something and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up. The days until the first task seemed to slip by as though someone had fixed the clocks to work at double speed. My feeling of barely controlled panic was with me wherever I went, as ever present as the snide comments about the Daily Squabbler article.
On the Saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were permitted to visit the village of Dragsmede. Sian told me that it would do me some good to get away from the castle for a bit. Chris agreed with her, and I didn't need much persuasion (Oh, and Chris and I asked Sian why she wasn't going with Kopa. She looked hurt, but all she would tell us was that she and Kopa had had an argument and didn't say anything else. Chris and I knew better than to push her and we let it drop).
"What about Chrissie, though?" I remember asking them. Of course, it hurt me thinking of the possibility that Chris and Sian would go with Chrissie, but I secretly hoped they wouldn't desert me. "Don't you two want to go with her?"
"Oh ... well ..." Chris paused for a moment, before he continued nervously, "Sian and I thought that we could meet up with her in the Flying Owls ..."
"No," I said flatly. I was still resolute in my thinking that I would not talk to Chrissie, until she was convinced that I hadn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire.
"Oh, come on, Kiara," Sian sighed, rather annoyed. "This is so pathetic - "
"Look, I'll come, but I'm not meeting Chrissie, and I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak."
Chris and Sian looked at each other for a few moments, before Sian looked at me snapped, "Oh, all right then ... but I hate talking to you in that Cloak, for I never know if I'm talking to you or not."
Chris looked at me, but he didn't have to say anything, for the look he gave me was so full of understanding, that I gave him a gratified look in return.
So I put on my Invisibility Cloak in my dormitory, went back downstairs, and together Chris, Sian and I set off for Dragsmede.
Oh, it was sheer bliss under the Cloak, let me tell you, reader. Instead of being watched and hissed and muttered and insulted at, I was clearly left alone. Tat was the beauty of the Cloak. True, Chris and Sian couldn't see me, but for one day since having my name pulled out of the Goblet of Fire (well, up until after the first task was done, anyway), I was free and happy, for I was away from all the sneers and glares that were thrown my way. Sheer bliss was the end result (I should point out here that even after the first task, the Snake-Eyes still sent me many jeers, sneers and insults, but I think you've already guessed that, haven't you?).
Anyhoo, most of the students walking past us as we entered the village were sporting Support Georgia Diggs badges, but for once no horrible remarks came my way, and not a soul quoted that stupid article, which was yet another good reason for me wearing the Cloak.
After we had emerged from the Sugarshack ten minutes later, the three of us eating large cream-filled chocolates, Chris and Sian were talking in earnest amongst themselves, and every so often, one of them would check to make sure I was still there. I didn't mind them talking to themselves, for not only was I glad of the peace, but it also made everyone around us think that Chris and Sian were not crazy, by thinking that they were talking to themselves and that there was no other person there with them.
Sian had had enough, though, for she hissed at me through near-closed lips, "Come on, Kiara, please take your Cloak off for a bit. No one's going to bother you here."
"Oh, yeah?" I said. "The two of you should turn around and see who's behind us."
Peter Meter and his photographer friend had just emerged from the Flying Owls pub. Talking in low voices, they pushed right by Chris, Sian and I without looking at them (which I found odd, considering how Chris had been mentioned in Peter's article about the Tournament). I backed into the wall of the Sugarshack to stop Peter Meter hitting me with his crocodile-skin satchel.
When they were gone, I said, "He's staying in the village. I bet he's coming to watch the first task."
I remember how I felt my stomach flood with a wave of molten panic as I said it. I have never mentioned that to anyone until now; Chris, Sian and I hadn't discussed what was coming in the first task much; I had a feeling they didn't want to think about it (or, to put it more plainly, they didn't want to think about how they would be seeing me next, and whether they would ever see me alive again, for that matter).
"He's gone," said Chris, looking straight through me towards the end of the high street. "Why don't the three of us go and have a Butterbeer in the Flying Owls. It's a bit cold, after all. And don't worry, Kiara," he said, correctly understanding my silence, "you don't have to talk to Chrissie."
The Flying Owls was packed, mainly with Dragon Mort students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people I rarely saw anywhere else, before or since. I suppose that as Dragsmede was the only other all-wizarding village in Britain, with Hogsmede being the first, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.
I found it very hard to move through crowds in the Invisibility Cloak, in case I accidentally trod on someone, which always led to awkward questions. I edged slowly towards a spare table in the corner with Chris as Sian bought us drinks. On my way through the pub, I spotted Chrissie, who was sitting with Tanya, Geri and Leah Jones. Resisting the urge to give Chrissie a good, hard poke in the back of the head, Chris and I finally reached the table and sat down at it.
Sian joined us a moment later, gave Chris his Butterbeer and slipped mine under my Cloak.
"Sian?" Chris asked, after a while. "Did you bring my pad and pens?"
"Ah, yes, I did," Sian said, and she reached into her bag and pulled out a sketchpad, some pencils and pens and handed them to Chris.
"I didn't know you could draw," I said to him.
"Well, I'm more into carving models from wood, but this'll do for now," Chris shrugged, as he continued with his latest work, from what I could see.
"Can I have a look?" I asked, genuinely interested, but Chris moved the pad a little further away from my eyes. I looked slightly hurt at him, forgetting that he could not see me.
"Sorry, Kiara," he said, remembering that he could not see me, "but I don't like people to see my work until it's done."
Sian chuckled at this, then said, "Oh, I just remembered what I'd brought with me ..."
And she reached into her bag once more and pulled out a notebook in which she had been keeping a record of H.A.M.E. members. I saw Chris and Chrissie's names as well as my own at the top of the very short list. At the time, it seemed so long ago (rather than weeks) that Chrissie and I had sat making up those predictions with Chris watching us, and Sian had turned up and appointed me secretary, Chrissie treasurer and Chris her advertising helpmate.
"You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in H.A.M.E.," Sian said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.
"Yeah, right," I said. I took a swig of Butterbeer under my Cloak. "Sian, when are you going to give up on this H.A.M.E. stuff?"
"When house-elves who are being mistreated are given somewhere better to work, with decent wages and working conditions!" she hissed. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for a more direct approach. I wonder how you get into the school kitchens?"
"No idea, ask Tanya and Geri," I said.
Sian lapsed into thoughtful silence and Chris carried on drawing, while I drank my Butterbeer, watching the people in the pub. All of them looked cheerful and relaxed. Emily Mack and Henry Abbott were swapping Multi-Flavoured Fruit-Frog cards at a nearby table, both of them sporting Support GEORGIA DIGGS badges on their cloaks. Right over by the door I saw Khan and a large group of his Raven-Wings friends. He wasn't wearing a GEORGIA badge, though ... that cheered me up very slightly ...
I would have given anything to be one of those people at that moment, sitting around, laughing and talking, with nothing to worry about but homework. I imagined how it would have felt to be there if my name hadn't come out of the Goblet of Fire. I wouldn't have been wearing my Invisibility Cloak, for one thing, and Chrissie would have sat with us. The four of us would probably have imagined what deadly, dangerous task the school Champions would have faced Tuesday the twenty-seventh of November, 2007. I'd have been really looking forward to it, watching them do whatever it was ... cheering on Georgia with everyone else, safe in a seat at the back of the stands ...
I wondered how the other Champions were feeling. Every time I saw Georgia in those days, she had been surrounded by admirers, and looked nervous but excited. I glimpse Ferdinand Desjardins from time to time in the corridors; he looked exactly like he always did, haughty and unruffled. And Outsider just sat there in the library, often accompanied by his brother, Kopa, poring over books.
I then thought about my parents, and the tight, tense knot in my chest eased slightly, for I would speak to them that night, for I remember thinking that I would be speaking to them in less than twelve hours at that moment by the common room fire - assuming that nothing went wrong, as everything else had up to that point. Little did I know, though, that something was going to happen which almost did ruin the meeting between my parents and I ...
"Look, it's Mina!" said Sian.
The back of Mina's enormous, smooth, silky hair emerged over the crowd. I wondered why she hadn't spotted me at once, as Mina was so large, but standing up carefully, I saw that Mina had been leaning low, talking to Professor Grumpy. Mina had her usual enormous tankard in front of her, but Grumpy was drinking from her hip-flask. Mr Smoothster, the dashing landlord, didn't seem to think much of this; he was looking askance at Grumpy as he collected glasses from the tables around us. Perhaps he thought it was an insult to his mulled mead, but I knew better. Grumpy had told us all during our last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson that she preferred her own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for Dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.
As I watched, I saw Mina and Grumpy get up to leave. I waved, then remembered that Mina couldn't see me. Grumpy, however, paused, one of her magical eyes fixed on the corner where I was standing. She tapped Mina in the small of the back (being unable to reach her shoulder), muttered something to her, and then the pair of them made their way back across the pub to mine, Chris and Sian's table.
"All righ', Sian? Chris?" said Mina loudly.
"Hello," said Chris and Sian simultaneously (Chris looking up from his sketchpad for the first time since he started sketching), smiling back.
Grumpy limped around the table and bent down; I thought she was looking down at Chris' drawing, or else was reading the H.A.M.E. notebook, until she muttered, "Nice Cloak, Pride-Lander."
I stared at her in amazement. The large chunk missing from Grumpy's nose was particularly obvious at a few inches distance. Grumpy grinned.
"Can your eyes - I mean, can you - ?"
"Yeah, they can see through Invisibility Cloaks," Grumpy said quietly. "And they've come in useful at times, I can tell you."
Mina was beaming down at me, too. I knew Mina couldn't see me, but Grumpy had obviously told Mina that I was there.
Mina had bent down on the prospect of reading the H.A.M.E. notebook as well, and said in a whisper so low that only I could hear it, "Kiara, meet me at midnight at me cabin. Wear that Cloak."
Straightening up, Mina said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Sian. An' you, Chris," winked, and departed. Grumpy followed her.
"Why does she want me to meet her at midnight?" I said, very surprised.
"Does she?" Chris said, lifting his head from the paper again, looking startled. "I wonder what she's up to?"
"I don't know," said Sian, looking anxious, "but I don't know whether you should go, Kiara ..." she looked nervously around and hissed, "It might make you late for your parents."
It was true that going down to Mina's at midnight would mean cutting my meeting with my parents very fine indeed; Sian suggested that I should have sent Harold down to Mina's to tell her that I couldn't go, but I thought it best to be quick at whatever Mina wanted me for. I was very curious to know what it could be; Mina had never asked me to visit her so late at night before then. I, of course, did find out why Mina asked for me so late at night, and I got a surprise when I saw what the reason was.
0000
At half past eleven that evening, I had pretended to go to bed early, so that I could get the Invisibility Cloak, which I pulled back over myself and crept back downstairs through the common room. Quite a few people were still in there. The McCreevy sisters had managed to get a hold of a stack of Support GEORGIA DIGGS badges, and were trying to bewitch them to make them say Support KIARA PRIDE-LANDER instead. So far, however, all they had managed to do was get the badges stuck on KIARA PRIDE-LANDER STINKS. I crept past them to the portrait hole and waited for a minute or so, keeping an eye on my watch. Then Sian opened the Fat Lord from the outside, with Chris following her in as we had planned. I slipped past them with a whispered "Thanks!" and set off through the castle.
The grounds were very dark that night, as I recall. I walked down the lawn towards the lights shining in Mina's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; I could hear Monsieur Legrand talking inside as I knocked on Mina's front door.
"You there, Kiara?" Mina whispered, opening the door and looking around.
"Yeah," I said, slipping inside the cabin and pulling the Cloak down off my head. "What's up?"
"Got summat ter show yeh," said Mina.
There was an air of enormous excitement about Mina. She had arranged her hair neatly with braids, which were laced neatly with an assortment of flowers, and was sporting a lovely rose perfume.
"What're you showing me?" I said wearily, wondering if the Crabs had laid eggs, or if Mina had managed to buy another giant three-headed cat off a stranger in a pub.
"We've gotta wait fer a few minutes jus' yet," Mina said, glancing anxiously at the door, "but when we go, keep quiet an' keep yerself covered with that Cloak. We won' take Gnasher, she won' like it ..."
"Listen, Mina, I can't stay long ... I've got to be up at the castle for one o'clock - "
Just then, there was a knock on the cabin door. Mina smiled widely and gestured for me to get under the Cloak (which I did, albeit reluctantly), as Mina answered the door.
"Mina, what - ?"
"Shhh!" said Mina, and she opened the door.
When she opened the door, I saw Monsieur Legrand standing on the other side. He wore a large coat over his black satin robes, and he handed Mina a large bouquet of red roses, which she accepted, blushing as she did so.
"Ah, Meenah ... it is time?" said Monsieur Legrand in his deep, strong voice.
"Bong-sewer," said Mina, beaming at him, as Monsieur Legrand handed her an arm to help her down the steps of her cabin.
I followed quickly before Monsieur Legrand shut the door behind him, and they set off past the Beauxbatons carriage and around the edge of the paddock containing Monsieur Legrand's giant winged horses, and I followed, totally bewildered, running to keep up. I wondered if Mina had wanted to show me Monsieur Legrand. I could see him any old time I wanted to ... after all, he wasn't exactly easy to miss ...
But it seemed that Monsieur Legrand was in for the same "treat" as I was, because after a while he said playfully, "Wair is it you are taking me, Meenah?"
"Yeh'll enjoy this," said Mina gruffly. "Worth seein', trust me. On'y - don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."
"Of course not," said Monsieur Legrand, beaming fondly at Mina. To be honest, I thought I was going to be sick from watching this mucky stuff.
Anyhoo, on we walked, and I was getting more and more irritable as I jogged along in their wake, checking my watch every now and then. Mina had some harebrained scheme in hand, which might have made me miss my parents. I thought to myself that if we didn't get their soon, that I was going to turn around, go straight back to the castle, and leave Mina to enjoy her moonlit stroll with Monsieur Legrand ...
But then - when we had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the river were out of sight - I heard something. Men and women were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ...
Even though Monsieur Legrand had Mina's hand tucked in the nook of his arm, it was she who led him around a clump of trees, and came to a halt. I hurried up alongside them - for a split second, I thought I was seeing bonfires, and men and women darting around them - and then my mouth fell open.
Dragons.
Four fully-grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were roaring on their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting - torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air, and a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others, which was nearest to us.
At least thirty witches and wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Mesmerised, I looked high above me, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, I couldn't tell which ... it was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream ...
"Keep back there, Mina!" yelled a witch near the fence, straining on the chain she was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"
"Isn't it beautiful?" said Mina softly.
"It's no good!" yelled another witch. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"
I saw each of the dragon keepers pull out his or her wand.
"Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the dragons' scaly sides -
I watched the dragon nearest to us teeter dangerously on its back legs; its jaws stretched wide into a suddenly silent howl; its nostrils were suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking - then, very slowly, it fell - several tons of sinewy, scaly black dragon hit the ground with a thud that I could have sworn made the trees behind me quake.
The dragon-keepers lowered their wands and walked towards their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs which they forced into the ground with their wands.
"Wan' a closer look?" Mina asked Monsieur Legrand excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence and I followed. The witch who had warned Mina not to come any closer turned, and I realised who it was - Kat Fang.
"All right, Mina?" she panted, coming over to talk. "They should be OK now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draught on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and quiet - but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all - "
"What breeds you got here, Kat?" said Mina, gazing at the closest dragon - the black one - with something close to reverence. Its eyes were still just open. I could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath its wrinkled black eyelid.
"This is a Hungarian Horntail," said Kat. "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one - a Sweedish Short-Snout, the blue-grey one - and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."
Kat looked around; Monsieur Legrand was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the Stunned dragons.
"I didn't know you were bringing him, Mina," Kat said, frowning. "The Champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - he's bound to tell his student, isn't he?"
"Jus' thought he'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Mina, still gazing, enraptured at the dragons.
"Really romantic date, Mina," said Kat, shaking her head.
"Four ..." said Mina, "So it's one fer each o' the Champions, is it? What've they gotta do - fight 'em?"
"Just get past them, I think," said Kat. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, extinguishing spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why ... but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets this Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."
Kat pointed towards the Horntail's tail, and I saw long, bronze-coloured spikes protruding along it every few inches.
Five of Kat's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-grey eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Mina let out a moan of longing.
"I've got them counted, Mina," said Kat, sternly. Then she said, "How's Kiara?"
"Fine," said Mina. She was still gazing at the eggs.
"Just hope she's still fine after she's faced this lot," said Kat grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure. "I didn't dare tell Uncle Matt what she's got to do for the first task, he's already enraged about the article that's come out about her ..." Kat then did a terrible imitation of her uncle's voice. " "How could they let her enter the Tournament, she's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an Age Line!" He was even more upset by what they wrote about her in that interview she had with Peter Meter. "I tell you this right now, that I don't believe a word of it! I mean what I say! I've heard what Susan, Sian, Chris and Chrissie have said about Kiara over these past few years, and from what they've said about her, I think that Peter made it all up in order for people to feel for her!" I think Aunt Sue may have had a word with him, but what do I know ..."
I had had enough by this point, though I was grateful that Mr Dawson didn't believe the article. Anyhoo, trusting to the fact that Mina wouldn't miss me, with the attractions of four dragons and Monsieur Legrand to occupy her, I turned silently and began to walk away back to the castle.
I didn't know whether or not to be pleased at what I'd seen to be coming for the first task. Perhaps that way was better. the first shock was over now. I knew that if I'd seen the dragon for the first time on that dreaded Tuesday, that I would have passed out cold in front of the whole school ... but then I thought that I would do, anyway ... after all, I was armed with only my wand - which at that moment felt like nothing more than a narrow strip of wood against a fifty-foot-high, scaly, spike-ridden, fire-breathing dragon. And then another thought hit me: how on earth was I going to get past it with the whole school - and the guest schools - watching me?
I sped up, skirting the edge of the Forest; I looked at my watch again, and saw that I had only fifteen minutes to get back to the fireside and talk to my parents, and I remember that at that precise moment that I couldn't remember, ever, wanting to talk to someone more than I did then - then, without warning, I ran into something very solid.
I fell backwards, clutching the Cloak around me. A nearby voice said, "Ouch! Who's there?"
I hastily checked that the Cloak was covering me and then I lay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the witch I had hit. I recognised the short, slightly-curled hair ... it was Kula.
"Who's there?" said Kula again, very suspiciously, looking around in the darkness. I remained still and silent. After a minute or so, Kula seemed to decide that she had hit some sort of animal; she was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then she crept back under the cover of the trees, and started to edge forwards towards the place where the dragons were.
Very slowly and very carefully, I got to my feet and set off again, as fast as I could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back towards Dragon Mort.
I had no doubt whatsoever of what Kula was up to. She had sneaked off her submarine to try and find out what the first task was going to be. She might even have spotted Mina and Monsieur Legrand heading off around the Forest together - they were hardly difficult to spot at a distance ... and now all Kula had to do was follow the sound of voices, and she, like Monsieur Legrand, would know what was in store for us Champions. By the looks of it, the only Champion who would be facing the unknown on Tuesday was Georgia.
I reached the castle, sneaked in through the front doors and began to climb the marble stairs; I was very out of breath, but I didn't dare slow down ... I had less than five minutes to get up to the fire ...
"Balderdash!" I gasped at the Fat Lord, who was snoozing in his frame in front of the portrait hole.
"If you say so," he muttered sleepily without opening his eyes, and the picture swung forwards to admit me. I climbed inside and, judging from the fact that it smelled quite normal, Chris and Sian had not resorted to setting off Dungbombs to ensure that my parents and I got some privacy.
I pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and threw myself into an armchair in front of the fire. The room was in semi-darkness; the flames were the only source of light. Nearby on a table, the Support GEORGIA DIGGS badges the McCreevys had been trying to improve were glistening in the firelight. They now read PRIDE-LANDER REALLY STINKS. I looked back into the flames and jumped.
Both of my parents' heads were sitting in the fire. If I hadn't seen Mrs Diggs do exactly that back in the Dawson's kitchen, it would have scared me out of my wits. Instead, my face broke into the first smile I had worn since the article about the Tournament came out. I scrambled out of my chair, crouched down by the hearth and said, "Daddy, Mum - how are you doing?"
My parents looked different from when I had seen them ride off on Noelani together. When we said goodbye, my parents' faces had been gaunt and sunken, surrounded by quantities of brown (or golden, in my mother's case) hair, but the hair on my father's face was shorter and clean now. My mother's hair was still long (even though I saw her face in the fire, her hair certainly looked long) but was as clean as my father's. Their faces were fuller and they looked younger, much more like the parents I had seen in the photograph album of my parents that Mina had given me, and also like the picture that had been taken at their wedding.
"Never mind us, how are you?" my father said seriously.
"I'm - " for a second, I was about to say "fine" - but I couldn't do it. They were my parents, and they deserved the truth; and before I could stop myself, I was talking more than I'd talked in the days before that meeting - about how no one believed I hadn't entered the Tournament of my own free will, how Peter Meter had lied about me in the Daily Squabbler, how I couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at - and about Chrissie, Chrissie not believing me, Chrissie's jealousy ...
" ... and now Mina's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Daddy, and I'm a goner," I finished desperately. I'm pretty sure I was close to tears by this point.
My parents looked at me, concern filling their eyes, eyes which had not yet lost their Azkaban look - that deadened, haunted look. They had let me talk myself into silence without interruption, but then my mother said, "Kiara, honey, listen to me; we can deal with the dragons in a minute - but we haven't got long here ... your father and I have broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things we need to warn you about."
"Such as?" I said, as I felt my spirits slip a further few inches ... surely there could be nothing worse than dragons coming ... could there?
"Kula," my father said. "Kiara, she was a Love Destroyer. You know what Love Destroyers are, don't you?"
"Yes - she - what?"
"She was caught and put in Azkaban with your mother and I, but she got released. I'd bet everything that's why Crighton wanted an Auror at Dragon Mort this year - to keep an eye on her. Grumpy caught Kula. Put her in Azkaban in the first place."
"Kula got released?" I said slowly - my brain struggled to absorb yet another piece of shocking information. "Why did they release her?"
"She did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," said Mum bitterly, as my father shook his head as a dark look passed over both their faces. My mother continued, "She said she'd seen the error of her ways, and then she named names ... put a load of other people into Azkaban in their place ... she's not very popular in there, we can tell you. And since she got out, from what your father and I can tell you, she's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of hers, so watch out for the Uagadou Champion as well."
"OK," I said slowly. "But ... are you saying that Kula put my name in the Goblet? Because if she did, she's a really good actress. She seemed furious about it. She wanted to stop me competing."
"We know she's a good actress," said Mum, "because she convinced the British Ministry of Magic to set her free, didn't she? Now, we've been keeping an eye on the Daily Squabbler, Kiara - "
"You and the rest of the world," I said bitterly.
" - and I have to say, your father and I do not believe a word of what he wrote about you. We haven't known you that long, Kiara, but from what Crighton told us about you the end of last year, we know that you are stronger than Meter has painted you to be, and he clearly does not know us well enough to know what we would think - " my heart swelled at my parents' words " - but back to the point, reading between the lines of that Meter man's article about Grumpy, it seems she was attacked the night before she started at Dragon Mort. Yes, we know he says it was another false alarm," Mum said hastily, seeing as I was about to speak, "but we don't think so, somehow. Sweety, your father and I think that someone tried to stop her getting to Dragon Mort. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with her around. And no one's going to look into it too closely, for Crazy-Head's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean she can't still spot the real thing. Grumpy was one of the best Aurors the Ministry ever had."
"So ... what are you guys saying?" I said slowly. "Kula's trying to kill me? But - why?"
My parents hesitated and looked each other, both wondering what to say.
My father was the one to answer first. "Kiara, darling, your mother and I have been hearing some very strange things," he said slowly. "The Love Destroyers seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch Friendly, didn't they? Someone set off the Death Trail ... and then - did you hear about that Ministry of Magic wizard who went missing?"
"Bernard Jenkins? But what ..." Then something started stirring in my memory ... I had heard that name somewhere ... but I couldn't think where ...
I saw my parents looking at me worriedly. "Kiara?" my mother asked nervously.
"Is everything all right, my child?" my father asked. "Is there anything you have to tell us?"
I ignored my parents' questions and said quite quickly, "Tell me what you know about Bernard Jenkins!"
My parents were quite taken aback by my sudden demand, but my mother quickly responded and said, "Well, the last your father and I heard, he disappeared in Albania , and that's definitely where Zira was rumoured to be last ... and he would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't he?"
I nodded my head slowly, taking in this information. So, Bernard Jenkins was last spotted where Zira was hiding, was he? "Keep going," I said slowly.
"Listen, we knew Bernard Jenkins," my father said grimly. "He was at Dragon Mort when we were there, but a few years above us. And he was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a very good combination, Kiara. We say he'd be very easy to lure into a trap - Kiara, what is it?"
My parents looked at me worriedly, for I had gasped aloud in shock, was breathing quickly, was not noticing anything and had my hands clasped over my head. I remembered ... an old woman ... a couple - married couple - in a room ... and something horrible was in a chair ... they were talking about him ... talking about how Wormy had lured Bernard Jenkins to her ... I took deep breaths before I looked at my parents and said, "I'm sorry, it's just ... my mind finally caught up with me ... for I figured out the person that Zira and the Absters were talking about in the dream - it was Bernard Jenkins!"
My parents looked at each other, shocked, before they looked back at me. After a few moments, Mum said, "Are you sure?"
"Positive," I said. Then I said, "I can't remember it in full detail, but I think I remember that Zira and Wormy's wife were complimenting him on luring Bernard Jenkins to Zira, and that he had told Zira about the Tournament."
"Hmm ..." my father said slowly. "So ... we know a little information about how Zira knew about the Tournament ... but as to whether Kula put you in the Goblet ... it just doesn't seem right to me that she would be the type who'd go back to Zira unless she knew Zira was powerful enough to protect her. But whoever put your name in that Goblet did it for a reason, and your mother and I can't help thinking the Tournament would be a very good way to attack you, and make it look like an accident."
"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," I said bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."
"Right, these dragons," said my father, speaking very quickly now. "There's a way, Kiara. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell - dragons are too strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner. You need about half-a-dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon - "
"Yeah, I know, I just saw," I said.
"But you can do it alone," my father said. "There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Just - "
But I held up a hand to silence him, my heart suddenly pounding as though it would burst. I could hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase behind me.
"Go!" I hissed at my parents. "Go! There's someone coming!"
I scrambled to my feet, hiding the fire - if someone saw my parents' faces within the walls of Dragon Mort, I knew they would raised an almighty uproar - the Ministry of Magic - and I, Kiara, their beloved daughter, would have been questioned about my parents' whereabouts -
I heard two pops in the fire behind me, and I knew that my parents had gone - my eyes were focused on the bottom of the spiral staircase - I wondered who had decided to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning, and who had interrupted my parents telling me how I was supposed to get past a dragon?
It was Chrissie. Dressed in a forest green nightgown, Chrissie stopped dead facing me across the room, and looked around.
"Who were you talking to?" she said.
"What's that got to do with you?" I snarled. "What are you doing down here at this time of night?"
"I just wondered what you - " Chrissie broke off, shrugging. "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."
"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" I shouted. I know that Chrissie had no idea what she'd walked in on, and that she hadn't done it on purpose, but I didn't care at that moment - for all I knew at that moment was that I hated everything about Chrissie, right down to the dark green slippers with ribbons formed into bows, which were just peeking out of her gown.
"Sorry about that," said Chrissie, her face reddening with anger. "Should've realised you didn't want to be disturbed. I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace."
That was it for me. I seized one of the PRIDE-LANDER REALLY STINKS badges off of the table and chucked it, as hard as I could, across the room. It hit Chrissie on her forehead and bounced off.
"There you go," I said. "Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you're lucky ... that's what you want, isn't it?"
I strode across the room towards the stairs; I half expected Chrissie to stop me. I admit that I would have liked for Chrissie to have thrown a punch at me, but she did nothing. Chrissie just stood there in her forest green nightgown , and after I had stormed upstairs, I lay in my bed for a long time afterwards, and I didn't hear Chrissie come up to bed.
