The Boy Who Loved (Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfic)

16 - The First Task

Serena's POV:

I grab Cedric's arm and drag him into an empty classroom. He looks at me unsurely. "Why have you been avoiding me?" I demand. He smiles sheepishly and says, "Because all you would do is complain about how I entered and that's not going to help me with dragons." I look at him shocked. "I can't believe you would say that! I'm your best friend and I have every right to be worried about you! And- wait what. Dragons?" I say, just realizing what he said. He nods. "But- how'd you find out?" I ask. "Your friend told me," he answers. "Harry? Um, ok. So I'm going to help you fight a dragon." I say. "What?" Cedric asked. "I'm going to help you. If I can't get you out of the tournament, then I'll at least try to make sure you don't die." I say impatiently. "Wow, thanks," Cedric said.

"Are you good at transfiguration?" I ask. We are in the library going through the books. "I mean, kind of," Cedric says. "Well, my aunt taught me how to transform a rock into any animal. You can turn a rock into a horse or something to distract the dragon and get whatever you need to do done." I say. "That could work," Cedric says slowly. "Great. Time to teach it to you." I say. We spend days making sure that Cedric could get the spell right.

It was the day of the first task. Cedric is in the Champions tent and I'm in the stands, waiting nervously. A whistle sounds and Cedric enters the enclosure. I watch as Cedric transfigures a rock into a dog and grabs the egg while the dragon was distracted. He almost made it out unscathed when the dragon decided to chase him instead. It let out a breath of fire, burning the side of Cedric's face. I leave the stands and burst into the first aid tent. Madam Pomfrey was fixing Cedric up while complaining about dragons and dementors.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask. "He'll be fine." Madam Pomfrey says. I look at the side of his face that was hit by the dragon's fire. "Does it hurt a lot?" I ask. "Yeah. But Madam Pomfrey can heal it really fast," he answers. "Right. Here we go." Madam Pomfrey says while spreading some paste on the burn. Then Fleur came in and Madam Pomfrey hurried to attend her. "You were awesome, Ced!" I say. "Thanks. Could've done without the burn though." he jokes. I laugh. "You need to leave. The other champions are coming soon." Madam Pomfrey tells me. I tell Cedric that I'll meet him later and I leave the tent. As I leave, I see Harry flying up and a dragon chasing him. And then he dives down and grabs the egg. The stands erupts in cheers. I make a mental note to congratulate Harry later.

It's nighttime and the Gryffindor common room is celebrating Harry's victory. I congratulated Harry and got out of there hoping for some peace and quiet. I'm walking around the corridor when Madam Pomfrey finds me. "Ah, just the person I was looking for. Can you please give this to Cedric Diggory and tell him to apply it on his burn before bed and wash it off in the morning?" She asks. "Sure," I say, taking the container of paste. I head to the Hufflepuff common room and stand in front of the portrait. Great. How am I supposed to get in. I hope that some Hufflepuff came out quickly for whatever reason and my hopes came true.

A Hufflepuff boy comes and looks at me. "You're the girl who hangs around the Weasley twins right?" he asks. I nod. "Perfect! How do I get into the Kitchens?" he asks. "Um, shouldn't you know? Cedric knows." I say. "He won't tell me." he says. "Fine. Tickle the pear." I say. I watch as he goes into the kitchen and comes out minutes later with a plate of sandwiches. "I, uh, have to give something to someone. You mind if I come in?" I ask. He nods and signals for me to follow him.

I walk into the Hufflepuff common room and there's a party celebrating Cedric's victory. Then everything stops and the Hufflepuffs stare at me. They start saying things like, "How'd a Gryffindor get in here?" and "They're trying to sabotage Cedric!" Cedric finally notices me and comes over to me. "Cedric, what are you doing?!" a Hufflepuff girl yells. "Guys, she's a friend of mine. She helped me with the first task. I probably wouldn't have won if it weren't for her so stop complaining." Cedric yells and I blush. He leads me to the back of the room and says, "What's up?" "Er, Madam Pomfrey told me to give you this for your burn." I say, handing him the container of paste. "She said to apply it to the area of the burn before you go to bed and wash it off in the morning." I say. "Are you saying I have to sleep with this on my face?" Cedric asks, looking at the container. I laugh and said, "Well, that's what she said, so I guess you have to." "Well, your friends are nice." I say sarcastically. "It's just, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff aren't on best terms right now." He says. "Yeah. Um, any clue on the next task?" I ask. "Every time I open the egg, it just starts screeching, so no." he says.

"Hey Ced! Come back to the party!" someone yells from the common room. "I should go now. You should too." He said quickly. "And next time, just tap the barrel two from the bottom in the middle of the second row." he says in a whisper. "Oh, thanks. Bye." I say. "See you tomorrow." he calls out as I leave the Hufflepuff common room.

"Serena McGonagall! Do you know what time it is?" says a voice behind me. I turn around and see my aunt. "Er, I'm not sure. I was running an errand for Madam Pomfrey." I say quickly. She looks at me disbelievingly. "What?! I'm telling the truth." I say. "Very well, go back to the common room now." She says, rushing me to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Bye, aunt McGonagall." I say. "It's professor McGonagall." She says, reminding me. "Whoops. 'Night!" I say, running into the common room.