ALWAYS (Harry Potter fanfiction) (Snape fanfiction)

Chapter 35

Ever since Cedric stepped out of the tent and into the arena, a knot formed in Arabella's throat. She felt like she was going to get sick at any moment. The plan was to Transfigure something like a rock into something large enough to catch the dragon's attention long enough for Cedric to be able to go through it. Arabella saw Charlie and the others bring out the blue-grey Swedish Short-Snout. She heard everyone around cheer, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Pretty boy is going to be just fine, Arabella" George told her once he saw how worried she was. She was biting the nails and cuticles of her free hand. The other hand was still grasping tightly the one she had been holding from the beginning. She noticed it had been George's.

She saw Cedric make his way carefully to the dragon. She was looking at him, deciding whether he was a threat or not. The dragon raised her head in curiosity when Cedric hid behind a large rock. Arabella saw how Cedric pointed his wand at another rock, almost at the other end of the arena, and transfigured it into a Labrador.

"What is he doing?" Arabella said worriedly, they had practiced the transfiguration from rock to lion, which would seem more of a threat to the dragon than Cedric. Arabella doubted the dragon would find a dog more intimidating than Cedric, but she still hoped he managed to retrieve the egg.

The Labrador started barking, which caught the attention of the dragon, who turned to look at it. While this happened, Cedric started walking over to the eggs. The dog started to bark and run around, which seemed to sustain the dragon's attention.

Arabella's heart was pounding in her ears, she kept biting her nails, and was starting to feel blood in her mouth. George took notice of it and grabbed her other hand. Her legs started bouncing up and down almost immediately, George didn't give it much thought, since at least she was not hurting herself anymore.

Cedric was almost there, only a couple meters more and he'll have the egg. The dragon was not attacking the dog, it was merely curious about it. When the dragon saw that the dog brought no threat for her or her eggs, she lost interest in it. That's when she saw Cedric.

"CEDRIC, RUN!" Arabella heard herself yell. Her scream was heard, loud and clear, as everyone had held their breaths the moment the dragon turned to look at Cedric.

Cedric didn't need to check why Arabella had yelled at him, he just ran towards the egg. As he was taking the egg, the mother decided to send a big wave of fire towards him. Cedric fell to the ground, clutching the egg with one hand and holding his face with the other, he was hollering in pain, and rolling in the ground. Before the dragon decided to finish him off, Charlie and his colleagues stunned the dragon. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey carried Cedric to another tent near the judges' podium.

"I- I-" Arabella started, but she couldn't find the words.

"What are you still doing here?" George said to her ear, so she could hear above all the noise, "go with him" Arabella looked at George with tears in her eyes and nodded, then hugged George tightly. He knew she needed the comfort, so he hugged her back just as tight, and didn't let go until she let go first.

Arabella stood up and ran to the infirmary tent as fast as she could. When she got there, Madam Pomfrey was smudging a bright orange paste over half of Cedric's face. The parts without the ointment were bright red, live flesh. Instinctively, Arabella reached at him with her hands extended towards the wound. Cedric looked at her and grabbed her hand before it reached his face.

"I am not letting you do that" Cedric told her seriously as Madam Pomfrey kept putting ointment on.

"I can help you, I can heal you" Arabella pleaded.

"I know you can, which is exactly why I won't let you. Madam Pomfrey is perfectly capable of healing it, right?" Cedric smiled at the elderly witch.

"Well, of course I am! I've healed worse than a burn!" Madam Pomfrey said proudly, "I will go check on your score, Diggory, I'll be back in a minute" Madam Pomfrey went out of the tent, "Ms. Chang, I cannot let you in, Mr. Diggory has to rest. No! MS. CHANG, I'VE SAID NO!, now go off, back to your seat!"

For some reason, Cedric didn't seem to notice about the interaction outside, or perhaps, he did notice but didn't care. He was just laying back in the bed, with Arabella laying next to him, with her head in his chest.

"Were you scared?" Cedric joked.

"Of course I was, you idiot"Arabella hit him in the chest, "I cannot even imagine how scared I will be when it's Harry's turn"

"He will be fine. You said Hermione Granger helped him, right? I'm sure he'll come up with something clever" Cedric tried to reassure her. She nodded slowly.

"Miss Snape, come over, let's watch the other champions while Diggory rests" Madam Pomfrey said, sticking her head into the tent.

Arabella nodded and stood up, then followed Madam Pomfrey into a small podium where the teachers were, next to the tent. They had a good view. Fleur's turn was fairly boring. She put a sleeping charm over the dragon, after ten minutes of waiting, the dragon was snoring. In Arabella's opinion, the most exciting part was when the dragon snored and caught Fleur's skirt on fire. After Fleur turned the fire off, she carefully stepped over the dragon's talons to get to the egg. Everyone clapped and cheered. Perhaps Ludo Bagman thought the same as Arabella, that it had been fairly boring, because he gave her a five. Madame Maxime, on the other hand, gave her a nine. Then it was Krum. He walked straight at the dragon, and shouted something Arabella couldn't quite understand. The dragon howled in pain, and started walking around. Arabella watched painfully as the Chinese Fireball stepped on her own eggs, crushing them.

"What an idiot!" Arabella exclaimed.

"Miss Snape!" said Madame Pomfrey.

"I'm sorry but- I'm not sorry, at all, Madam Pomfrey. That Chinese Fireball was a first time nesting mother. What he did there- with no regard of the eggs whatsoever! Whoever thought of this challenge- no regard at all!" Arabella exclaimed indignantly, "BUT I'D SUPPOSE THEY'D TAKE POINT AWAY FROM HARMING THE EGGS!" Arabella practically yelled, she knew the judges had heard her, since Mr. Crouch looked at her, and nodded.

Indeed, Crouch had taken off point for damaging the eggs, and gave Viktor a four. So far, even with the four, Viktor Krum was in first place. It was Harry's turn, and Madam Pomfrey had to magically bind Arabella's hands to keep her from fidgeting with her fingers, making herself bleed. The Hungarian Horntail was by far the most aggressive of the dragons, as well as the most dangerous, in the front you had the teeth and the fire, in the back you had three foot long spikes that could seriously maim you at any given moment. The first thing Harry did, was point his wand to the sky. He yelled something Arabella couldn't make out, and nothing happened. She grew worried that the dragon might get tired of Harry and decided to have Harry Potter flambé for dinner. However, soon, Harry's Firebolt zoomed past the bleachers and right into Harry's hand. Harry quickly mounted it, and started flying around the dragon, visibly comfortable now that he was on a broom. After many attempts, Harry got the dragon to be more irritated by him than she was protective of the eggs, and extended her wings to catch him, just like trying to hit an annoying fly that kept bugging you. Harry took that moment to dive with his broom, before recovering at the last moment and swooping between the dragon's legs, securing the Golden Egg.

It was perhaps the first time Arabella cheered since the tournament began. She cheered along with McGonagall, who went to meet Harry, that had gotten a gash by the dragon's tail.

"Potter! That was outstanding!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed happily. Arabella jumped into his arms, he swung her around.

"I am so proud of you, Harry, you were amazing. That Krum guy could learn a thing or two from your flying skills" Arabella said happily before Madam Pomfrey came swarming over them, she had to patch Harry up.