Where we get to see what's going on in the mind of a champion right before a task of the Triwizard Tournament where he could die.

CEDRIC VI

On Monday morning, the day before the first task, like every day, a large number of people rose up when Harry walked into the Great Hall for breakfast and displayed the green version of their badge, POTTER STINKS. Cedric was beginning to be really fed up with this. Even if Harry had put his name into the Goblet of Fire, which Cedric was definitely not sure about, it was undeserved, and unnerving too. Cedric was not alone with this feeling, as several other students, including some at Hufflepuff, were asking their neighbors and friends who stood up to sit back and enjoy breakfast before the lessons of the day started. As for Harry, who walked in with this girl, Hermione, who the Daily Prophet claimed was his girlfriend, ignored the badges, people slowly sat down. The enthusiasm to show hostility to Harry had died down to a certain extent, but it was still very present. Cedric wished they could all forget about it for some time, so he could focus on the upcoming task.

Tomorrow, he would be facing his first challenge as part of the Triwizard Tournament, and he had no idea what he would actually be facing. Cedric displayed a confident attitude, but in truth he was afraid. The exhilaration he felt when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire was now entirely gone. He was left with a growing feeling of fear as the first task approached. Despite this, he still had to fulfill his duties as Prefect and to attend classes. As such, he went to his first lesson in the morning, Charms with Professor Flitwick, without showing any sign of nervousness, as his friends around him joked and discussed all matters.

They just engaged into the corridor leading to the Charms class when something took Cedric out of his thoughts about the Triwizard Tournament and its first task. He heard something being ripped, then the handle of his bag on his shoulder turning less heavy, and finally various things crashing on the floor.

"Oh no!"

He looked at the mess at his feet. Damn it. This was the very new bag his parents sent him after they learned he would be Hogwarts' champion, and it was already wide open by a large tearing. It seemed its appearance was no warranty of quality.

Cedric went on his knees to recover the content of the bag. His friends did the same.

"Don't bother," he told them. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming. Go on."

His friends obeyed and disappeared into the Charms class. Maybe Cedric should not have spoken on such a harsh tone to them. He released some of his frustration at the approach of the first task on this occasion. But he didn't want his friends to be late because of him either. And it also gave him an opportunity to be alone, grabbing his books, quills and parchments alone for once. It was hard for Cedric to be alone lately. This was the price to pay when you were popular. Sometimes, he wished people would just leave him alone. Saying he would win easily tomorrow didn't help him to better prepare for the task, no more than mocking his adversaries helped.

He heard someone walking in front of him as he picked up the homework Flitwick asked of him for today, which he had completed last evening. Luckily, the ink did not stain it.

"Hi, Cedric."

"Hi, Harry," he replied distractedly. He was so focused on gathering all his material that he barely raised his eyes and did not even wondered why Harry was there when lessons were about to begin. Still, he let some of his apprehension go out still. "My bag just split," he spat. "Brand new and all…"

"Cedric, the first task is dragons."

He dropped the Transfiguration book covered in ink he just grabbed and looked up. "What?"

"Dragons," Harry repeated. "They've got four. One for each of us. We've got to get past them."

Cedric was totally taken aback. He stood up, leaving most of his stuff on the floor, the ink continuing to leak all around. "Are you sure?" he asked Harry.

"Dead sure. I've seen them." This didn't seem like a joke. No, Harry looked dead serious.

"But… how did you find out? We're not supposed to know…"

"Never mind. But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now. Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."

Again, Harry looked very serious. At the same time, he looked serious as well when claiming that he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire, and although Cedric did choose to believe Harry, he wasn't entirely certain that he was telling the truth.

"Why are you telling me?" he asked.

"It's just… fair." Cedric was surprised by Harry's answer. "We all know now. We're on an even footing. Aren't we?"

Cedric was still not sure whether or not this was joke. But at this moment, a sound behind Harry's back announced the coming of a professor, and Cedric saw Moody before Harry turned on himself to see him as well.

"Come with me, Potter," Professor Moody grunted. "Diggory, off you go."

"Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology…" Harry began.

Harry was right. Fourth years had a lesson in Herbology at this hour on Mondays. What was Harry doing here, on the other side of the school, when his own class was about to begin?

"Never mind that, Potter," the professor interrupted him. "In my office, please."

Harry followed Moody, under the uncertain eyes of Cedric. He watched them walk away until they disappeared, and then stared at the place where they had been a moment ago. It was then that Professor Flitwick arrived from the other side of the corridor.

"Mr Diggory?" Cedric turned towards him, and realized most of his stuff was still on the floor. He scrambled to recover it. "I was told you had an accident."

"Yes. I apologize, Professor Flitwick," he said.

"Oh, don't worry. This is only bad luck. Let me help you. Reparo! Wingardium Leviosa! Pack!"

In one instant, his bag was repaired, and all his material found back its place within it. It was as if it was brand new again.

"Now," the Charms teacher said, "will you come to my class? I wouldn't want to start any later than I already have."

"No, of course, professor," Cedric assured, rushing to the Charms classroom.

Cedric was inattentive, to say the least, during the Charms lesson. The words Harry told him right before he walked into the classroom kept rolling through his mind.

The first task is dragons.

Was Harry telling the truth? If this was a joke, it wasn't funny at all. He looked sincere and serious, but how could Cedric be sure about it? It was something to give Harry the benefit of the doubt and believe him when he said he played no part in his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. It hurt no one to believe him about that. But if Harry lied and Cedric believed him for the dragons, then he was in for a very big surprise tomorrow. What if he prepared to fight the dragons and the first task was entirely different? Also, there was the possibility that Harry may have told what he believed to be the truth, but that he was wrong without realizing it. Though the latter was probably the less likely of all possibilities. After all, Harry certified that he was sure and that he saw them. So unless Harry hallucinated or confused another beast for a dragon, either he lied to Cedric to disadvantage him during the first task, or he told the truth.

Was it possible that they would fight dragons tomorrow? Definitely. After all, they knew the Tournament was dangerous. And they were told the first task would test their daring and courage. Facing a dragon would absolutely be an appropriate way to test these aptitudes.

If Harry lied to him, Cedric had no way to know what the first task would be anyway. He would be at the same place than when he woke up today. But if he told the truth and Cedric ignored it, he would arrive with a clear disadvantage, unprepared, tomorrow. Especially if Harry was also right when he said that Fleur and Krum were aware of the dragons.

Could he ask Fleur about it? Maybe he could ask her whether or not she knew about what the first task would be. He didn't see himself asking Krum. Although Cedric admired him, the professional Seeker didn't seem willing to talk in normal circumstances, and Cedric doubted he would like to talk with him about the Tournament. But he had managed to get along quite well with Fleur. She even came to sit next to him at lunch once, abandoning her friends who were at the Ravenclaw table. However, each time, Cedric had avoided talking about the Tournament, except to wish her good luck about it. They discussed various topics, but never one that was too closely related to the Triwizard Tournament. Fleur might not be ready to help him. They remained opponents. And if she knew nothing and heard he knew about the first task, Cedric could get himself into trouble, and Harry with him.

But Harry was his opponent in that competition as well. Why would he tell Cedric? His explanation confused him. Harry simply told him it was more fair that Cedric would also know. Which was strange coming from someone who potentially cheated to enter the Tournament. Unless he didn't, like Cedric chose to think.

But all this didn't matter. For now, the only thing that mattered was what Cedric would do with the information Harry gave him. If Harry was telling the truth, then Cedric should better prepare himself to confront a dragon. If he wasn't telling the truth, well, no matter what Cedric would do, he would be as unprepared as everyone else for the first task. This is why Cedric decided to go to the library at the end of the day and search for information on dragons.

The day went on slowly. Cedric tried to focus on classes, but he couldn't, not with the knowledge of what was awaiting him tomorrow. He burned of envy for the lessons to be over and to head for the library where he could begin to search on dragons. Maybe he should have taken Care of Magical Creatures this year. Hagrid may have taught him a thing or two about dragons.

Cedric suffered through the whole day. It wasn't his chance that Monday happened to be the one when he had absolutely no free period. He wouldn't have any next morning either. Only this evening was left to find something that might be even a little useful about dragons. He also used the day to think about ways he might be able to defeat a dragon. Various ideas, all more unbelievable than the next, tumbled through his mind. As a result, after a quick dinner and asking his friends to leave him alone, which they accepted since he told them he wanted to have some quiet time before the first task, he rushed to the library and went directly to the section about magical creatures, where a large number of works on dragons could be found. And many were missing.

Cedric noticed that Krum was sitting in his corner, reading. That wasn't the first time he noticed the famous Seeker here. In fact, now that Cedric thought about it, Krum was always in the library whenever he happened to go there as well. Cedric supposed he could be reading about dragons too. Of course, he couldn't see what Krum was actually reading, not from the distance he kept between them, but it was highly possible that the missing volumes about dragons in the shelves were caused by other champions searching about them. Though this proved nothing. The books might have been taken by other students who had work to do on them. And Cedric didn't notice Harry nor Fleur in the library.

When Cedric walked next to a group of girls who were watching Krum behind some shelf, a few turned their heads to look at him, but he ignored them. He found himself an isolated table and began reading.

It soon turned out that dragons were indeed very hard to fight, largely due to their high magical powers. It was highly discouraged for a wizard to try and control a dragon on his own. About half a dozen, and up to a dozen wizards depending on the race, were required to properly handle a dragon. But Harry also said they had to get past them. So Cedric may not have to fight the dragon directly. He looked at the characteristics of dragons, searching for their weak spots. Apparently, their eyes were quite vulnerable, but they had an excellent vision, very efficient ways to defend themselves, and an excellent sense of smell. Cedric kept reading up to late in the evening. At some point though, while reading a treaty on the best ways to escape a dragon when being chased by one, he felt his eyes becoming heavy. This was probably the result of the stress that stole him a few hours of sleep over recent days, and also the result of new work requirements he wasn't used to manage before in autumn.

The next thing he remembered was that someone was shaking his shoulder. He woke up and realized immediately he must have dozed off.

"Cedric, excuse me. I thought you were sleeping."

He was glad to hear this voice, truth be told, and turned towards her while rubbing his eyes.

"Well, you were right, Cho."

The girl gave him only half of a smile. "You look exhausted."

"It's nothing. I just dozed off for a moment."

"You should make sure to be rested tomorrow. It's the first task."

"Yeah, I know," he said softly. Like before playing a game of Quidditch, being well rested had to be important before participating to a task of the Triwizard Tournament. However, he wished he could gather more information about dragons before going to bed.

"What are you studying?" Cho asked, looking at all the books in front of him. "You've got a work on dragons?"

"No. I'm trying to make sure I survive tomorrow."

He shouldn't have said that. Cho looked immediately alarmed. "Wait. This is the first task? A dragon?"

"Yeah." He said that before he could refrain. His brain was working slowly. He tried to recover his mind. "Don't tell anybody. No one is supposed to know."

"But… Did they tell you? I thought the judges said you would only learn the truth the day of the task. Did they decide to tell you today instead?"

"No. It's Harry who told me."

"Harry?"

"He says that… he saw them. That we would have to get through a dragon, or past one for the first task. I'm not sure if it is true, but if it is…"

"How did Harry learn about this?" Cho asked, unbelieving and surprised.

"No idea. He didn't want to tell me. He only said that he saw them. Well, if that's not true, I really lost a lot of hours tonight."

"Did you…" She seemed about to ask him something, but she stopped and instead said something else. "We should go. It's almost eight o'clock. Madam Pince is going to send us out very soon."

Cho was right. The clock of the library indicated that only five minutes were left before that hour. Cedric took his bag that Flitwick repaired a few hours ago, and he made to collect the books he borrowed and put them back into place.

"Leave them here. Madam Pince can take care of that," Cho told him.

She followed him as he headed towards the Hufflepuff common room.

"Do you have an idea for what you're going to do tomorrow?" Cho asked him. He heard the worry in her voice.

"A few. Look, I'm going to be fine. If Harry is right, we must not defeat a dragon. Only get past it. It should be easier. Not that different from a Chaser trying to score with the Quaffle. He must get it through a terrain full of Bludgers, other players, a Keeper and one of three rings. Getting past only a dragon should be a little easier."

"The only problem is that you're not a Chaser, Cedric." She took his hand. "Be careful tomorrow, okay."

"I promise," he said. "I just have to get past a dragon. Once it is done, I'm sure we will laugh about it."

She only partially smiled again. He should not have told her about the dragon. They finally arrived in front of the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Cho followed him all the way.

"Well… Good luck, Cedric," she told him there.

"Thank you, Cho."

She then did something unexpected and kissed him on the cheek. Cedric was disoriented for a moment by the gesture, but she was already walking away. His heart was beating very fast. He thought about calling her and asking her if she wanted to come with him to the next weekend at Hogsmeade, but she was already too far. Anyway, Cedric rationalized that this was probably not the best time to invite Cho to a date. He had been thinking about this for some time now, but he couldn't bring himself to invite her. Not yet. Maybe once the first task was over, he could focus on this.

Cedric went directly to bed. He needed to rest, and to think. Seeing the distress in Cho's eyes, he now truly understood the few people who worried from the very beginning of the year that someone might die in the tournament. For a time, Cedric wondered why he put his name in the Goblet of Fire at all. Were glory, fame and a thousand Galleons worth risking your life? Cedric risked his health regularly while playing Quidditch, and sometimes in class as well, since they could be handling dangerous plants or substances, or even miscast a spell, but they had Madam Pomfrey and other professors to watch over them in these circumstances. And most of the time, these were accidents, and injuries were very seldom, if not never, life-threatening. Even last year, when around the same period of the year Harry fell from a very high altitude because of the Dementors' interruption at their game of Quidditch, his life was never in danger. Professors were there to intervene, and this was an extreme situation. Fear was the main thing they really had to worry about on this day. But tomorrow, it would be different. Cedric would participate to a tournament that officially caused the death of many people in the past.

Cedric tried to reassure himself, remembering that Dumbledore and the other headmasters and professors would be there tomorrow as well, and that precautions were certainly taken to ensure their safety. Still, the mere prospect of facing a dragon was enough to cause him to panic. He thought about various ways he could imagine, various strategies to adopt in front of such a creature. He thought about what he said about getting past a dragon being not that different from throwing a Quaffle into a ring. Although Cho was right and he was no Chaser, he remained a Quidditch player at the base. And he remembered many ploys and ruses other players used to get a red ball through a Keeker. As he fell asleep, he remembered a time when a Chaser feigned carrying a Quaffle, and the Keeper focused on him while another Chaser who really had the ball scored before the Keeper could realize his mistake.

Cedric woke up not entirely rested next morning. His sleep had been uneasy, to say the least. He went through the morning being mostly numb, and before he could realize it, he was chewing something for lunch, without being able to swallow it. As he was drinking some water, Professor Sprout came.

"Diggory. You must follow me. The first task is about to begin."

So the time had come. Cedric stood up. His legs were so shaky that he wondered how he managed to stand on his feet at all. He followed Professor Sprout, most of the Great Hall looking at him. Many of his friends wished him good luck on his way to the exit, Cho included. For once, the badges bearing encouragements for him really helped as many showed them to him. He felt a particular pang to his heart while looking at Cho though. He promised himself that he would speak to her when this task was over. He tried not to think about the fact he would not be able to speak to her if he died.

"Stay calm," Professor Sprout said as she led him to the grounds. "Breath deeply. Everything will be fine. All you have to do is stay calm and nothing will go wrong."

"Yes, professor," he replied, his voice hoarse.

They walked for some time. Far away, Cedric thought he heard some roars. Harry must have been right. They would indeed face dragons today. They followed the edge of the Forbidden Forest, until they reached a very large tent. Cedric spotted benches on the other side, but nothing more. He wouldn't get to see the dragons before the last second, he guessed.

"The champions must go in," his professor told him. "Good luck."

She was nervous, but it was nothing when compared to Cedric's own nervousness. He walked into the tent.

On the other side of the flap, Fleur and Krum were already there. Cedric tried to smile in Fleur's direction, but she didn't return it this time. She looked very pale, and her hair didn't look as attractive without her beaming smile. Cedric didn't try to engage with Krum, who looked even more sour than usual.

"Ah, Mr Diggory! Here you are." Mr Bagman welcomed him. "Please, take a seat. The first task will begin very soon. Only Mr Potter is missing."

Indeed, Harry was not there yet. Cedric didn't see him since he told him about the dragons. Cedric first sat down, but his legs were jumping too much, and he finally stood up and proceeded to pace around the tent. His hands were shaking as well. The waiting seemed to take forever.

Harry finally came through the flap of the tent. Cedric looked at him and sent him a forced smile. The one Harry returned looked as forced as his. He was just as afraid as Cedric was.

"Harry! Good-oh! Come in, come in," Bagman encouraged him. "Make yourself at home."

Harry just stood in another corner. He didn't seem to want to be there anymore than Cedric was.

"Well," Bagman declared, looking at all of them in turn with a big smile. He looked totally out of place here. Cedric couldn't get the image of a dragon out of his head. "Now, we're all here. Time to fill you in!"

Yes, indeed. They were all here. Ready for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.

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Next chapter: First Task