Cedric strode into the arena, looking determined. He clearly had a plan in mind, which was good. I wondered how he'd come up with it and what help he'd had. Somehow I doubted he'd spent the whole time practicing one spell. He seemed to be using a distract and move strategy. First he sent some fireworks up into the sky, and that temporarily made the dragon look upwards, and in that moment he moved closer to it. Then, he did the same thing with jets of water.

"Interesting strategy here folks. Cedric is taking advantage of the dragon's lack of space and ability to move here, inching forwards with every distraction, very clever indeed!" said Ludo

Unfortunately the commentators curse would strike. Ludo said this at the same moment that Cedric shot some arrows into the air, and one of them pierced the dragon straight through the nose, which meant it regained its attention and launched it's first fire attack on Cedric, which he only narrowly managed to dodge.

"Why did Ludo have to say anything, Cedric was doing so well!" Demelza said

"Sod's law" I replied

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" said Ludo

Cedric then decided to blow apart some of the rocks near the dragon with a blasting hex, which did temporarily blind and distract it once more, and he was able to get closer to the eggs, but it then regained it's senses and attacked once more, this time singing the edge of Cedric's robes.

"He's taking risks, this one!" said Ludo

"You don't say" I said with heavy sarcasm. Demelza nudged me disapprovingly.

However, Cedric's next move would prove successful. He transfigured a rock into a labrador, which started running around the arena. This got the dragon's attention for long enough that Cedric was able to climb onto the small mound where the eggs were, and grab the golden one, which made the crowd roar with approval. Just as he'd done this though, the dragon moved for him again, and as he was running away with the egg, the dragon attacked, and this time the fire caught Cedric on the side of the face, and he was badly burned.

The crowd gasped in worry, and the dragon tamers moved in to subdue the beast and remove it from the arena, so that the Welsh Green could be readied for Fleur. Once Cedric reached the exit though, the crowd stood up, cheering and clapping their approval.

"Very good indeed!" Ludo shouted. "And now the marks from the judges!"

Madam Maxime was first, and she shot a number 6 into the air from her wand. Mr Crouch gave a 6 too, Dumbledore a 7, Ludo a 5, and Karkaroff a 4, for a total of 28.

Cedric took a moment to wave to everyone, then exited.

"What do you think of those scores then?" I asked the others

"I think a 6 is fair, he did well with distracting the dragon and got the egg, but he did get hit once and very nearly on two other occasions" said Hermione

"Yep, I'd agree" said Demelza

"Me too" I said

"Four is way too low, what's Karkaroff smoking?" Stefan said

"Probably mustard essence, smoking that tends to affect your judgement" said Luna

"It's a real shame Magda's scared of dragons, this has been very entertaining so far!" Stefan added

The Welsh Green was now secured in the arena.

"One down, three to go!" Ludo yelled. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

Now Fleur emerged, and she looked much less confident than Cedric did, she was trembling from head to foot.

She made her way towards the dragon very tentatively, and it took her nearly 10 minutes to get there. It was so bad in fact that people started booing, and one sixth year in the row behind called "Champion my arse, I've not seen anything more cowardly in my life!"

"Well at least she entered the tournament, did you?!" Stefan snapped

That shut him up.

"Settle down please everyone!" Ludo called

When Fleur finally made it to the dragon, she raised her wand and shouted a spell, though I was too far away to hear what it was. For a moment nothing happened, and the dragon opened it's mouth. Just when it was about to attack though, it fell into a deep sleep and collapsed to the floor.

"Oh a sleeping charm, that's very good!" Hermione said with an approving nod.

"I reckon that's what the godfather was going to suggest to Harry" I said

"The godfather?" Demelza turned to me and raised an eyebrow "Who exactly is this person?"

I was saved from answering by the sound of the crowd screaming! As Fleur was walking up the mound to get her egg, the dragon snored, letting out a burst of flame which set her skirt on fire! She quickly put it out with her wand before grabbing her egg and running away, just as it was beginning to stir.

Once again everyone erupted into cheers and applause, and the arena was cleared to make way for Krum and the Chinese Fireball.

"Well that's gonna be a lower score than Cedric" said Demelza, "cause she was fully set on fire"

"Yeah it has to be" agreed Hermione, "which is a real shame, she was unlucky the dragon snored at the moment it did, cause otherwise she'd have taken no damage at all!"

"Would have been a perfect score" I added, nodding

"Now for the marks!" called Ludo

Maxime and Crouch both showed a 6 again, while Dumbledore, Ludo and Karkaroff showed 5, for a total score of 27, only one behind Cedric.

"I think that is a bit generous" said Stefan, "she did take a direct hit after all"

"It was unlucky though, clearly they're taking that into account" Demelza countered

The arena was now reset again with the Chinese Fireball in place.

"We are ready for you now Mr Krum!" shouted Ludo.