𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 - 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 (𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟏)

5 - Dragons

It was the next morning; the day of the first task. "Dragons?" Ginny yelped. "That's what I heard from Hermione," I exclaimed as we walked into the great hall for breakfast. "Do you think Harry put his name in?" She whispered to me, trying to stay quiet as we approached the table. "No, he's not smart enough to accomplish that," I joked with her. "What are you two giggling about?" Harry asked. Ginny and I looked at each other. "Nothing," we said, sitting to eat our breakfast. "You scared of dragons Potter?" Draco sneered as he strutted by. "Like you'd be able to handle a dragon Malfoy, couldn't even handle a hippogriff last year if I remember correctly," I looked him up and down, the shock at my response growing on his face.

"You never speak up Bellegreen, what gave you the courage today, huh?" He smirked at me, Ginny and Hermione looked at each other, and Harry forced back a smile. All I did was raise my eyebrows at him; I knew that would be enough. He stood silent for a moment, finally they couldn't hold back. Hermione and Ginny burst out giggling. I kept my stare with Draco until he finally spoke. "Nice ring you got there," he said, winking at me, then walking back to his table. "You two really had the nerve," I turned back to the table, trying to keep my voice firm, however I couldn't help but laugh with the girls. "You guys have some serious issues," Harry mumbled, looking back down at his food.

To our surprise, Dumbledore stepped up to the podium. The room hushed, as he began speaking. "Today, boys may begin to ask the girls to the Yule Ball. Keep in mind, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students occupy the school this year as well. I suggest you act quickly." He returned to his chair, and immediately the volume in the room skyrocketed. People began asking others out, those who said yes began cheering, and some boys left crying after being rejected. "This escalated quickly," I sighed, looking over at Draco. I bit my lip slightly, and he smiled back from across the room. "I should go get ready," Harry rushed out, glancing at Cho Chang before leaving. "We should go to the stadium, got to get good seats," Hermione picked up her bag. Ginny and I nodded in agreement, and we walked into the courtyard. I wore my favorite jeans, my gryffindor Quidditch sweater, and a gray beanie.

"Where'd you get those UGGs from? I looked all round the muggle mall in my area but I couldn't find any," Hermione exclaimed, looking at my boots. "I actually bought them at- is that Ron asking out Fleur Delacour??" I whispered. Hermione and Ginny whipped their heads around. "Would you- Would you like to go to the ball with me??" Ron shouted in her face. "Um, no thank you," She answered politely, quickly stepping onto one the Champions Bus. I waved to Harry, who was sat down next to Cedric in the back. "Good luck," Hermione mouthed. He gave us a thumbs up. I looked back at Ron, we quickly scurried over. He seemed enchanted; frozen in his rejection. "What were you thinking Ron?" Hermione snapped at him. He didn't speak, we practically had to shove him into the bus to get him to sit down. I waved a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Ron," I called, giving him a light slap in the face. "Hey!" he yelped at me, "let me mourn in peace," "well you did sort of yell at her," Ginny spoke. the bus began moving and I was thrown into a seat.

We arrived half an hour later, and climbed up the wooden stairs to the top of the stadium. "I'll be right back, I'm going to check on Harry," Hermione walked through the crowd and down to the Champions tent. "Anyone asked you out yet, Ginny?" I looked at her. "Yeah, Neville did." "Aww, that's so cute!!" She blushed, as Hermione returned. "That bloody interviewer took a picture of Harry and I," Hermione stormed in. "Calling it, 'young love', can someone be more out of their bloody mind?"

The starting whistle cut her off before her rant could continue. Cedric was first. We watched as he swiftly moved around the rocks, taming his dragon and collecting the egg. The crowd cheered. Next was Viktor, then Fleur. both successfully collected their eggs, with only a few dragon fire burns. Finally, was Harry. the whistle blew, and he slowly walked out of the tent. he shuffled around the rocks nervously, the dragon spitting fire around the stadium, like a bird that had been waiting to be uncaged. The rigid stones steamed with flames as Harry struggled to find a strategy. "YOUR WAND HARRY!! YOUR WAND," Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs, attempting to send the message to the bottom of the stadium where Harry stood. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, and pointing it to the sky, he ordered "accio firebolt!" and his broomstick came rushing towards him out of the clouds. He jumped on, grabbed the egg and flew towards the castle, the dragon chasing swiftly behind him. The crowd cheered loudly as he grew smaller and smaller, eventually flying out of our sight.

We anxiously sat for around twenty minutes. "Come on, where is he," Hermione bounced. "Settle down Hermione, he's right there," Ron pointed. the back of his broom was burnt, and he looked beat up, but he had the egg. We all cheered as he landed and went back into his tent.

Later that night, all of the Gryffindor's gathered in the common room. Harry stood on a table in the center, holding his golden egg high in the air. Students yelled "open it Harry!" over and over. He hushed the crowd, and slowly opened the egg. People looked in awe, excited to see what was inside. Suddenly, a piercing cry emerged from within the egg. Streams of bright light filled the room, and I covered my ears. "Screw this, I'm going to bed," I yelled towards Ginny, who nodded in my direction. As Harry closed the egg, we ran up the stairs and into our dormitory. I opened my Standard Book of Spells textbook, and began reading. "Episkey, I've been trying to master that one. I just can't perfect it," I complained. "How about accio?" "Nah, I've got that one down pretty well," I read a few more lines and shut the book, shoving it into one of my drawers. "Night Ginny," I sighed, Lorelei jumping into my arms. "Night."