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Aurora Areli
HARRY, RON, HERMIONE AND I went up to the Owlery that evening to find Pigwidgeon, so that Harry could send Sirius a letter, telling him that he had managed to get past his dragon unscathed. Harry and I filled Ron in on everything Sirius had said about Karkaroff along the way; though he was shocked at first that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, Ron was soon telling us that we ought to have suspected it all along.
"Fits, doesn't it?" he said, once we had entered the Owlery. "Remember what Malfoy said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup . . . I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the Goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch! Come here — I'll do it —"
Pigwidgeon was so overwhelmed with excitement at the idea of a delivery, he was flying round and round Harry's head, hooting incessantly. Ron snatched the tiny owl out of the air and held him still while Harry attached the letter to his leg.
"There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron went on, as he carried Pigwidgeon to the window. "You know what? I reckon you could win this Tournament, Harry, I'm serious."
I smiled, amused at Ron's enthusiasm on the subject. Hermione, however, didn't seem to feel the same way. She instead leant on the Owlery wall, folded her arms and frowned at Ron.
"Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this Tournament," she said seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next."
"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Ron said. "You and Professor Trelawney should get together some time."
I rolled my eyes at Ron's sarcasm, trying for everyone else's sake to seem unbothered by Hermione's words as Pigwidgeon was tossed out of the window. On the inside, however, I worried that Hermione was right. After dragons, what could possibly be next?
We all watched Pigwidgeon (who was slightly encumbered by Harry's lengthy letter to Sirius) disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry — Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now."
I sighed. "The whole point of a surprise party is that it's supposed to be a surprise, Ronald."
But sure enough, when we entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and Butterbeer on every surface; Lee had let off some Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire.
