A Dozen Fallen Roses // Cedric Diggory

chapter thirteen. the horntail.

I run into the twins at the top of the stairs as they walk through the stands selling concessions.

"Messy business, this is," George remarks.

"Krum got there before the dragon even had a chance, though," Fred recounts to me.

"Karkaroff's definitely behind it," George says suspiciously.

"I think Harry's last," Fred tells me.

"Heard he's got the Horntail," the two of them leave me. I barely even process their conversation and just continue my way back to Ginny and Hermione. I hear the entire crow gasp as the dragon nearly misses Fleur with its tail. Looking over slightly, I see her skipping over rocks and moving quickly towards the egg. I never imagined her to be this athletic, but she makes it to the egg in no time. The crowd erupts into cheers as I reach my friends again.

"Why are you back?" Hermione asks, sitting down with me as they transition between dragons. Ginny crosses and sits on my other side and I plaster on my fake smile.

"Oh, yeah, it was fine. He just had a bunch of people to talk to, you know?" clearly I'm not convincing enough.

"What happened?" Ginny asks, seeing right through me and I wipe the smile off my face.

"Cho Chang happened," I try to hold in the tears. I really do cry too much.

"What? Cho? Really?" Hermione asks, trying to process.

"Yep," I say, standing and wiping the tears from my eyes as the final cannon goes off and Harry steps into the arena. The crowd is dead silent as he spots the egg and starts running. The dragon slams it's tail, nearly missing him. Everyone gasps as Harry falls a few feet, then starts sliding down the side of a rock. He catches his grip, hoisting himself up, and starts climbing away from the dragon as it slams its tail down at him again. I'm bare knuckling on the railing in front of me.

"Come on, Harry," I mutter, "Come on."

The dragon's tail makes contact with Harry, sending him through the air and Ginny lets out a little whelp. The dragon screeches and everyone ducks in the stands. The twins have stopped their selling for a moment and are in the row behind Hermione, Ginny, and I, watching with a pair of binoculars. They seem genuinely nervous which certainly doesn't help anyone else. Ron has now joined us, as well, and seems to have dropped all of his problems with Harry.

"Bloody hell," he mutters, ducking down with the rest of us as the dragon breathes fire at Harry.

"Your wand, Harry!" Hermione screams down to him. "Use your wand!"

Harry looks up at us, dirt and blood covering his face. He waves his wand around and casts some spell, but none of us can hear. Nothing happens. The dragon is now flying directly above him and he ducks behind a rock out of sight.

"Is that his broom?" Ginny points out a broomstick hurtling through the air, straight to Harry.

"Bloody brilliant!" I say as our entire group sees hope. Harry jumps into midair, landing on his broom and flying through the air. The entire crowd cheers.

"Yes!" Hermione and I yell.

Swooping down towards the egg, Harry nearly misses it and can feel the fire on his tail from the dragon, which isn't far behind. Suddenly, the dragon stops midair as it reaches the end of it's chain, but it breaks free.

"Oh my god," Ron mutters and I grab his hand. We exchange a quick worried look, then return our focus to Harry who flies up inside of the faculty tent. The dragon follows, destroying the top of the tent. Everyone cheers again except for Hermione and I who grow worried as Harry disappears from sight along with the dragon.

"Where'd he go?" I turn to ask Fred who's searching with binoculars.

"He's too far, I can't see either of them," he responds, looking down at me.

"He'll be fine, he's always fine," Ginny mutters to herself, sitting down as her breathing grows shallow. I kneel beside her and help her regulate her breaths as Hermione searches the sky.

"He's on his broom, though," Ron says, his voice two octaves higher than normal. "He'll be okay, he has his broom."

Everyone gasps as an enormous roar from the dragon echoes through the grounds. Minute go by, or I'm not even sure how long as everyone searches the sky for Harry and the dragon. Suddenly, a figure streaking through the air with a smoke tail hurtles towards the arena. The crowd erupts into cheers.

"Yes! Yes!" Hermione screams.

"Way to go, Harry!" I yell as I notice there's no dragon behind him.

He flies just over the crowd across from us, his broom burnt at the end, struggling to land safely. He successfully lands beside the egg, grabbing it and holding it up above his head. Everyone applauds and our group pushes through the crowd towards the stairs. Spotting Harry talking to Professor Moody at the base of the stadium, Hermione rushes towards him and pulls him into a hug. He hugs her back, then looks around at our group standing around him. Once Hermione releases her death grip on him, the twins cross and pat him on the back.

"We knew you could do it!" George bellows.

"Doubted you there for a moment," Fred comments.

"But you're fucking Harry Potter!" George continues. Our whole group laughs. Ron stays a bit behind the rest of us, still a bit awkward with Harry and they make momentary eye contact. Having dropped everything that happened in the kitchen that night, I step forward, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay," I whisper in his ear.

"So am I," he laughs as I pull away. We both smile and I put my arm around his neck, ready for all of us to head back towards the castle, but a group of reporters and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, are headed straight for us. Fudge pushes me off of Harry, and hooks his arm on harry's shoulders in my place.

"Harry Potter, what an honor. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic," he introduces himself, shaking Harry's hand as the reporters shove Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and I out of the way to get a shot of the two together.

"Uh, we've met, sir," Harry responds awkwardly.

"Wonderful job with that dragon, truly a sight to see," Fudge continues. "I knew you would pull through, you're quite the fighter,"

"Uh, thank you, sir," Harry awkwardly smiles for a photo. The Minister starts leading Harry away, along with the mob of photographers and reporters, scrounging for just a quote from the chosen one turned Triwizard champion. My friends and I are left behind.

"I didn't even get to say 'Hello'" Ginny remarks as we turn back towards the castle.

"It's okay, I'm sure we'll see him tonight," I assure her, nudging her arm.

"So, are we just going to ignore that there's a dragon out there?" Ron asks.

"There's no way we're just going to let it go, Ronald. I'm sure Dumbledore and your brother are working to find it right now," Hermione scoffs.

"Might have to go find it ourselves, George," Fred laughs.

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Just some repeat from the books/movie but I kind of like the different point of view of events from the movies. Drop a vote if you like it and drop some comments as you read if you want.

Appreciate you taking the time to read this because I'm really enjoying writing it! Hope you're enjoying it too<3