The following day, Rita Skeeter's article came out. It could have been worse, for based on the fact that she had wanted to question Alex privately, the article could have turned out to just focus on him. Instead, the article did feature all four champions, though it wasn't exactly the best. The article mentioned the fact that Alex hadn't been present to enter his name in the goblet, as he was attending a Jewish ceremony for one of his cousins, but did imply that he still could have had something to do with it. Fleur's and Viktor's names were misspelled and they were both said to be nervous about the tournament, while Cedric was said to be somewhat excited about it. Finally, the fact that all four champions had decided to work together in order to get through the tasks intact was also mentioned, but it was followed by Rita Skeeter asking her readers if there wasn't some ulterior motive. She hinted that the three older champions could have learned certain things that would give them an edge in the tournament, and brought up the fact that Alex was a Gypsy (instead of the correct term of Romani) and implied that he could have learned strange Gypsy magics from his parents.

After Alex finished reading the article, he tossed down the Daily Prophet that his parents had mailed him, in disgust. "I can't believe the nerve of that reporter! She completely twisted around everything we said to her! I knew she had a habit of writing sensational or scandalous articles, but this is too much!"

Fleur asked, "Does zis mean zat zis Rita Skeeter always writes articles like zis?"

Alex nodded. "The ones I've read before were all like that, Fleur."

Fleur wrinkled her nose. "'Ow does ze Daily Prophet allow a reporter like 'er to continue writing for zem? She takes ze zings people say to 'er and twists zem around. For example, she asks if zere is not an ulterior motive for us to decide to work togezer. Well, I for one do not 'ave one. I really wish to work togezer so zat we can survive ze tournament."

Cedric said, "Let's pay her no mind. Anyone with sense knows that Rita Skeeter likes writing these kind of articles to gain readers and shock people, and that everything she writes has to be taken with a large grain of salt. That is, they know there is some truth to things, but it'd been twisted around."

Viktor scowled. "But there are going to be people who vill believe her, or do not care if she is telling the truth or not. If Karkaroff reads the article, he is going to be annoyed. However, he could think that I have an ulterior motive for vorking vith the other champions, and so not question my doing so."

"Well, we can't do anything about that," Alex pointed out. "Unless you want to use your fame to get the Daily Prophet to print a retraction, Viktor, but I know that's not something you want to do. I wouldn't either, if I were famous."

Viktor nodded and said, "Vell, ve might as vell start doing some research like ve planned. It is nice of your cousins and friends to vant to help us, Alex."

"None of them want to see me die in the tournament," Alex pointed out. "And since I'm working with you guys, that would extend to helping all of us out."

Cara, Hermione, and Ivan came over to the table, several books in their arms. "Here's two books about the various types of dragons," said Ivan. "Hermione and Cara have some other books about dragons and spellwork."

Beth, Neville, and Ron, who were sitting at the next table, looked up from their note-taking. "From what I read, dragons are resistant to magic," Neville said. "It takes several trained wizards to just Stun one."

"But I did find out that its eyes are a weak point," Beth added. "So maybe you could do something with that."

Alex thought over to the letter that Percy had sent him that morning. While it hadn't flat out mentioned dragons, it did say that the first task would involve getting something that would provide an idea to what the second task would be, and that guarding said objects would be large magical creatures that Hagrid had a strong fondness for. Each champion would have the face one, and the letter ended with Percy hoping that the clues would be of help and that Alex could find out information to get past the creatures at the Hogwarts library.

"The Conjunctivitus Curse!" Viktor exclaimed, interrupting Alex's thoughts. "That vould keep the dragon from seeing us, and it is not a very difficult curse to do."

"That's a good idea, but we can't all do the Conjunctivitus Curse," Cedric pointed out. "Well, we could, but that wouldn't be any fun for the audience to see us all do the same spell and then get whatever object our dragon is guarding. And the judges would take points from us for that."

"Hey, Alex, you're good at Quidditch," said Ron suddenly. "And so are Cedric and Viktor Krum. So what if you guys incorporated flying as a way to get past the dragon? On a broom, you'd be able to maneuver past the dragon, in addition to whatever spells you hit it with."

"Ron, we're not allowed to bring our brooms to the first task," Alex said patiently. "We can only use our wands, and none of us know any spells that enable us to fly without the aid of an object enchanted to..." His voice trailed off as something occurred to him. "Wait a second, there is a way for us to get our brooms! We just need to do the Summoning Charm and Summon our brooms to us. I'd better start practicing the Summoning Charm, since I only got the spell to work half the time when practicing it in class."

"We all cannot fly, eizer," Fleur pointed out. "Well, I am not zat good a broom to begin wiz, but ze rest of you are good at flying and it would look odd for you all to do so."

"Since Alex is the youngest, why doesn't he take the flying route?" Cedric suggested. "That's probably safest for him. Viktor, you and I can hold the idea in reserve in case our spells don't go the way we planned."

Alex was about to object, but realized that Cedric had a point. "If that's what you guys think, then I'll Summon my Firebolt and fly against the dragon."

"Good," said Fleur. "Viktor, since you were ze one to zink of the Conjunctivitus Curse, you can do zat against your dragon. I shall look up spells zat will allow me to put ze dragon I face in a trance or make it sleepy. Cedric, what will you do?"

"Well, since the first-task would have to take place outside, I could probably Transfigure a rock or something into an animal to distract the dragon with. And I'll have the Conjunctivitus Curse and Summoning my broom as back-up plans. Oh, we should probably practice conjuring water and other fire-extinguishing spells, in case the dragons manage to light our robes on fire or something."

"Zat is a good idea," said Fleur with a smile. "We can do some more reading about dragons and zen go practice ze spells zat we plan to do."

"I can conjure up some stuffed animals for you guys," Cara offered. "Since you can't practice the Conjunctivitus Curse on an actual person or animal and all. If the eyes of the stuffed animals break, you'll know that the spell worked, and you can just do a Reparo to fix the damage."

Viktor looked at her, and a small smile appeared on his face. "That vould be nice, Cara. Thank you. Vould you like to help me practice?"

Cara blushed a bit, but returned the smile and said, "I would love to, Viktor."

Alex stared at Viktor, then at his cousin and back. Well, if the two did end becoming more than friends, it wasn't any business of his. Anyway, Cara was a very sensible person and didn't pursue a person simply based on their fame. As for Viktor, Alex had already seen that the older boy didn't make much of his face, and didn't care for the fangirls that were more focused on the fact he was famous and less on the fact that it was due to being great at Quidditch. Someone like Cara would be just the kind of girl that Viktor would be interested in, and she was quite capable of holding her own if any boy tried to do anything she didn't like to her.

Giggles interrupted Alex's thoughts and the group turned to see a group of sixth and seventh year girls standing over by the bookcase nearest the work tables. They were all whispering to each other and darting glances at Viktor, whose face turned rather surly upon seeing them. "Vhy can't more girls be like your female relatives and friends, Alex?" he whispered harshly. "They don't start giggling and whispering when they see me, and wish to get my autograph."

"We believe in getting to know the real person underneath all the fame, if it's possible," Alex said. "That's how our parents raised us."

"If only more parents did that," said Viktor bluntly. "All that giggling and, vat's the term, fawning over me does not impress me. It just annoys me and I have no desire to date girls like that. Also, their giggling is disturbing us."

"We could speak to Madam Pince and have her ask the girls to stop disturbing us or to leave," Cedric suggested.

Viktor shook his head. "I vould rather ve borrow vat books ve need and leave to practice our spells. Ve do not need to stay in the library."

The others agreed that he had a point, so they all gathered the books they were going to check out and went up to Madam Pince's desk. The librarian made a note of the checked-out books and the group then separated their various ways.

The day of the first task arrived. Alex was nervous all throughout breakfast and had to force himself to eat some toast and oatmeal and drink some milk. At least he no longer had any problems with the Summoning Charm and could reliably Summon objects whenever he did the spell. (Ron had made the joke that all it took to finally master a spell was being threatened with some dangerous creature, pointing out that he had finally gotten the Levitation Charm when they faced a troll in first year.) Also, as a back-up, Alex had learned the Conjunctivitus Curse and had practiced it on a stuffed animal Vera had conjured for him. In addition, he knew the Aguamenti spell and so would be able to put out any fires the dragon created.

At the Hogsmeade weekend a week ago, Hagrid had asked Alex to come by that night, with his Invisibility Cloak. Realizing that Hagrid no doubt wanted to tell or show him the dragons, Alex had to explain that he already had figured out what the first task was and had a plan in place. The next day, Fleur and Viktor had reported that their respective Heads had also found out about the dragons and told them. The two champions had decided to pretend that they didn't already know this and refused any offer of help from their Heads. Not only that, but Professor Moody had pulled Alex aside after Defense class to offer some 'general, all-purpose advice' for the first task. Alex interrupted, saying that he already had plan in mind, and quickly made his excuse to leave.

In retrospect, Alex probably should have at least listened to the advice Moody had to offer, since Professor Dumbledore hadn't decided to hire him and convince him to leave retirement for a year on a whim. However, at the time, Alex hadn't been thinking about that, and had been more focused on getting in some more practice with the aid of his friends, so that his main plan and the back-up plan to get past the dragon wouldn't fail.

Lessons were stopping at midday, to give all the students time to go down to the dragon enclosure (though only the Champions knew what they would find there.) Therefore, Alex had to still attend the morning classes, but he couldn't focus on any of them. Since his first lesson was History of Magic, this didn't really matter, and he ended up spending it in the back of the room, Summoning his quills and parchment from his desk for more practice. When he wasn't doing that, he had to deal with the other Gryffindors wishing him luck, either by passed notes or leaning over to whisper it to him.

On the way to Charms, he had to deal with more wishes of good luck, along with some of the Slytherins hissing that they'd have a box of tissues ready or, in the case of Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson, that they'd have a pine box for his burial. That had jolted Alex out of his nervousness enough for him to give the two a withering look, and snap back, "Why don't you two take the pine box and stuff yourselves in it?"

After lunch (where Alex again had to force himself to eat and drink something), Professor McGonagall hurried over to him and told him that all the champions had to go down to the grounds and prepare for the first task. His friends and the other Gryffindors around them wished him luck as he got up and followed McGonagall outside. His Head of House looked very anxious, and her voice shook as she explained that there were wizards standing by in case the situation got out of hand and directed him to a tent that was standing in front of what was presumably the dragon enclosure.

Inside the tent, Fleur didn't look as composed as she normally did. Viktor looked surlier than ever, and Cedric was pacing back and forth. When they saw Alex enter, however, Fleur and Cedric managed to give him a small smile, while Viktor stopped looking so surly and gruffly wished him luck. Alex returned the smile, though his face felt stiff, and wished the others good luck as well.

Ludo Bagman, who was wearing his Wasps robes again, welcomed Alex and proceeded to explain that they would each select a model of what they were face out of a bag and that their task was to collect the golden egg. The champions exchanged looks at that, since collecting a golden egg would definitely explain why they had to face nesting dragons. Dragons wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an ordinary dragon egg and a golden one by sight, after all.

Once the audience had arrived and settled into the stands, Bagman held out the purple silk bag to Fleur. "Ladies first," he said. She reached a shaking hand into the bag and drew out a perfect model of a Welsh Green, with a number two around its neck. At least, that's what Alex thought it was, based on the research the champions had done on dragons.

Viktor was next and he pulled out a model of a scarlet Chinese Fireball, with a number three around its neck. Cedric was third and his model was of a bluish-gray Swedish Shortsnout, the number one tied around its neck. Alex was last. He knew that he would be number four, by process of elimination, but he blanched when he saw that the model he had pulled out was of a Hungarian Horntail. From the research he had done, he knew that the Horntail was one of the most dangerous dragons, and was definitely the most dangerous out of the four they had to face. It was very possible that Alex would have to do the Conjunctivitus Curse first before Summoning his Firebolt.

Bagman explained that they would be facing their dragons in the order of the numbers on the models, and that he was going to be doing the commentating. Cedric was to go out to the enclosure first, when he heard the whistle. Before Bagman left, he asked to have a quick word with Alex, in private.

Outside, he offered to give Alex some pointers, but Alex knew that there was a difference between accepting help from friends and family and from one of the judges. "No thank you, Mr. Bagman," he said politely. "I have a plan already. The other champions and I worked out what we're going to do, since we had made a pact to work together in order for all of us to survive the tasks."

"If you're sure, Alexander," said Bagman. "Nobody would have to know. I can-" Just at that moment, a whistle blew somewhere, and he had to run.

Thankful at the interruption, Alex turned to see Cedric emerging from the tent. "Good luck, Cedric," Alex managed to croak out.

"You too, Alex," Cedric replied, a very odd smile on his face. He clearly had difficulty producing a real smile.

Alex went back inside to Viktor and Fleur, the former looking surly again and latter pacing nervously around. "Just remember what we planned," Fleur said. "I am sorry zat you have to face a Horntail, but I am sure you can get the golden egg wizout much difficulty, Alex."

Krum added, "Fleur is correct. Also, you are as good a flyer as me, Alex." While Alex wasn't too sure about that, he knew that he had been able to keep up with Viktor two weeks ago, when the Quidditch star had seen him practice his flying. Cedric had shown up as well, and the three Seekers had a friendly competition with each other, which ended an hour later when Viktor's fan club had shown up at the pitch and disturbed them with their noise. The three had made plans for another friendly competition, but after the second one, they had stopped. Unfortunately, Rita Skeeter had somehow gotten wind of it, and printed an article in the Daily Prophet about the whole thing, implying that the so-called 'friendly match' tied in to their competing in the Tournament and they had ulterior motives.

Fifteen minutes later, the roar of approval from the crowd signified that Cedric had gotten past his dragon and grabbed the golden egg. The judges gave their marks for him, and Fleur was called out. Though she was trembling and looked nervous, she still held her head high as she walked out the tent.

Ten minutes later, the crowd erupted into applause again, and after the scores had been given out, Viktor left the tent. When the applause sounded, Alex gave a start and silently began praying that he would survive this to every deity in existence that he had heard of. The whistle blew as he was praying to what he was simply calling 'all the Aztec gods', since he couldn't remember or properly pronounce the names of most of them. He quickly cut that short and sent up one last prayer to the goddess of victory, whom the ancient Greeks had called Nike and the ancient Romans had called Victoria, as he exited the tent.

When he entered the enclosure, he spent several seconds staring at the Horntail before raising his wand and shouting, "Accio Firebolt!" A couple of minutes later, he heard his broom speeding towards him. He turned around and watched the Firebolt come to a halt beside him in midair, waiting for him to mount. Alex paid little attention to the noise of the crowd or what Bagman was shouting as he mounted and kicked off into the air.

Though one of the spikes on the Horntail's tail grazed Alex on the shoulder minutes later, he ignored this and focused on getting her to move away from her nest of eggs. Once she had done so, he took the opportunity to dive down and seize the golden egg. With a huge spurt of speed, he took off to soar over the stands before the Horntail could realize what he had done. Meanwhile, the crowd was cheering and applauding as loud as the Irish supporters at the World Cup.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Romanov!"

Alex saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid hurrying to meet him, all of them waving him toward them, their smiles evident even from this distance. He flew back over the stands, the noise of the crowd pounding his eardrums, and came in smoothly to land, his heart lighter than it had been in weeks... He had got through the first task, he had survived.

"That was excellent, Alexander!" cried Professor McGonagall as he got off the Firebolt - which from her was extravagant praise. He noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at his shoulder. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score... Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already..."

"Yeh did it, Alex!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' against the Horntail an' all, an' yeh know how it's the wors'-"

"Thanks, Hagrid," Alex interrupted, before Hagrid could blunder on and accidentally reveal that Alex had known about the dragons beforehand.

Professor Moody looked very pleased too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket. "Nice and easy does the trick, Potter," he growled.

"Right then, Mr. Romanov, the first aid tent, please..." said Professor McGonagall.

Alex walked out of the enclosure, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried.

"Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling him inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; he could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry's shoulder, talking furiously all the while. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky... this is quite shallow...it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though..."

She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid that smoked and stung, but then poked his shoulder with her wand, and he felt it heal instantly. "Now, just sit quietly for a minute - sit! And then you can go and get your score." She bustled out of the tent and he heard her go next door and say, "How does it feel now, Diggory?"

Alex didn't want to sit still: He was too full of adrenaline. He got to his feet, wanting to see what was going on outside, but before he'd reached the mouth of the tent, four people had come darting inside - the rest of the Gryffindor quintet.

"Alex, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"

"I think you were better than the other champions," Neville said. "I hope Cedric and Krum aren't regretting having you be the one to fly against your dragon."

"I doubt it," Beth pointed out. "They specifically felt that flying would be safest for Alex, since he's the youngest champion. Anyway, you were brilliant, like Hermione said. Now come on, Alex. The judges are going to be giving you your scores."

Picking up the golden egg and his Firebolt, feeling more elated than he would have believed possible an hour ago, Alex ducked out of the tent, his friends and sister by his side. Ron began telling him how the other champions had done.

"You were the best, you know, no competition. Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground...turned it into a dog... he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away. And Fleur tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand. Krum was probably the best after you, though. Hit it with the Conjunctivitus Curse, as planned. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them."

Ron drew breath as the quintet reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Horntail had been taken away, Alex could see where the five judges were sitting - right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.

"It's marks out of ten from each one," Beth said, and Alex, squinting up the field, saw the first judge - Madame Maxime - raise her wand in the air. What looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.

"Not bad!" said Ron 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!" Ron yelled, thumping Alex on the back along with Neville, while Hermione and Beth exchanged jubilant hugs.

Next, Dumbledore. He too put up a nine. The crowd was cheering harder than ever. Ludo Bagman - ten.

"Ten?" said Alex in disbelief. "But...I got hurt...What's he playing at?"

"Alex, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.

And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too - four.

"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you gave Krum ten!"

"That's not fair!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly

"Yeah!" Neville seconded. "Alex deserves more than a four! You just don't want Alex to have the most points!"

But Alex didn't care, he wouldn't have cared if Karkaroff had given him zero; his friends' indignation on his behalf was worth about a hundred points to him. He turned to look at his sister, who had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Actually, guys, you should be grateful that Karkaroff gave Alex a four instead of a lower number. If I tabulated the scores correctly, Alex and Viktor Krum are tied for first place."

At that point, Charlie Weasley appeared, confirming what Beth had said. Clearly he had come as he was one of the dragon handlers. He congratulated Alex on how well he had done, said that he had to send his mother an owl, for he had promised to tell her what happened, and that Bagman needed a word with all the champions in the tent.

His friends said that they would wait for him, so Alex reentered, which seemed to look welcoming and friendly now. Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at Alex when he saw him. "Good one, Alex."

"And you," said Alex, grinning back.

"You did very well, Alex," said Fleur, smiling graciously.

Viktor added, "I am sorry that Karkaroff did not score you fairly. You did better than me and deserved more points."

"It's all right," said Alex. "I don't mind being tied in first place with you."

"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open...see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

Outside, the four champions decided that they would take a break to recover from the first task, and they could work on figuring out the golden eggs and how to deal with the second task in two or three weeks. Alex then set off with his friends to celebrate.