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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure – though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there. Well despite Marina, who hadn't told Lav and Pavarti about the dragons.
As Marina (who was wearing red and yellow, red for gryffindor, and not for Harry, and yellow for Cedric) and her friends walked down toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, they took their seats in the stadium area.
Then suddenly Marina couldn't help but feel jitters for not Cedric...but Harry.
What if he didn't make it out? He was only fourteen! They hadn't learnt enough to fight off a dragon! And if he didn't make it out, Marina would feel horrid. Ron and her family would be devastated.
"Marina you look pale." Lav said.
"Nervous about Harry?" Pavarti added.
"I'm fine. It's just hot in here." Marina whispered.
"It's sixty degrees."
"Okay.No..I just...I'm going to just say good luck to him." Marina lied.
She ran down to the champions tent. She entered to see a pacing Harry, who smiled when seeing her. Unlike Karkaoff.
"Vhat is she doing ere?" He scoffed.
"None of your business любопитен (nosy)." Marina spat back. Making Karkaoff impressed that she knew some Bulgarian.
After she said a quick good luck to Cedric, she zoomed over to Harry, who she was mainly concerned about for some reason.
"RiRi what are you doing here?" Harry said looking he was going to vomit.
Marina didn't honestly wasn't planning to talk to him. She just wanted to see him to calm herself down. Without a thought, Marina gave Harry a tight hug.
"Don't die on me - I mean... on Ron. I don't want to be his therapist if you did." Marina whispered as they hugged each other.
Suddenly a flash happened that looked like a photo. But Marina didn't care. She just wanted Harry not to die.
A whistle had blown somewhere.
"Bye!" Marina said, then ran back up to the stands.
"Is he ok?" Lavender asked with her red face paint.
"Fine." Marina breathed.
Seconds later, the crowd roared , Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to-face with the living counterpart of his model...
The crowd screamed... yelled... gasped like a single manyheaded entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. And Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse... Horrible pictures formed in Harry's mind as he heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow"... "He's taking risks, this one!"... "Clever move – pity it didn't work!"
And then, after about fifteen minutes, Harry heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"
But he didn't shout out the marks; the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur was trembling from head to foot; The same process started again... "Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh... nearly! Careful now... good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"
Ten minutes later, Harry heard the crowd erupt into applause once more... Fleur must have been successful too. A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown... more clapping... then, for the third time, the whistle.
"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman.
"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Marina saw the Chinese Fire- ball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing – and – yes, he's got the egg!"
Lavender was now clutching onto Marina's yellow and red scarf.
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished – it would be Harry's turn any moment.
As Harry entered slowly, the Gryffindor crowd roared.
And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard- long gouge marks in the hard ground.
Harry raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.
And then everyone heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd was making even more noise.
He swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground. And a second later, something miraculous happened...
As he soared upward, as the wind rushed through his hair, as the crowd's faces became mere flesh-colored pinpricks below, and the Horntail shrank to the size of a dog, he realized that he had left not only the ground behind, but also his fear... He was back where he belonged...
This was just another Quidditch match, that was all... just another Quidditch match, and that Horntail was just another ugly opposing team...
He looked down at the clutch of eggs and spotted the gold one, gleaming against its cement-colored fellows, residing safely between the dragon's front legs.
"Okay," Harry told himself, "diversionary tactics... let's go..."
He dived. The Horntail's head followed him; he knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire had been released exactly where he would have been had he not swerved away... but Harry didn't care... that was no more than dodging a Bludger...
"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gas- ped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck – if he kept this up, it would be nicely dizzy – but better not push it too long, or it would be breathing fire again –
Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky – he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes –
He could feel it stinging, he could hear screaming and groans from the crowd, but the cut didn't seem to be deep... Now he zoomed around the back of the Horntail, and a possibility occurred to him...
Marina felt like she was going to faint.
The Horntail didn't seem to want to take off, she was too protective of her eggs. Though she writhed and twisted, furling and unfurling her wings and keeping those fearsome yellow eyes on Harry, she was afraid to move too far from them... but he had to persuade her to do it, or he'd never get near them... The trick was to do it carefully, gradually...
He began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared...
He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stre- tched to its fullest extent, still swaying, like a snake before its charmer...
Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now... She shot fire into the air, which he dodged... Her jaws opened wide... Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs – he had taken his hands off his Firebolt – he had seized the golden egg —
And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm, and it was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up – for the first time, he became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and app- lauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup –
"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"
After the task, Lavender and Pavarti went back to the castle to celebrate with everyone, while Marina walked into the champions tent with Hermione, followed closely by Ron.
"Marina!" Cedric shrieked, and went over to her.
"You were wonderful!" Marina smiled.
Cedric blushed. "Thanks. I gotta run, Hufflepuff wants me back in the common room."
After Cedric left, Marina walked over to her brother.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"
Harry was looking at Ron, who was very white and staring at Harry as though he were a ghost.
"So you two going to break up again or something?" Marina spat.
"Oh shut up Marina, Harry," Ron said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet – I – I reckon they're trying to do you in!"
"Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."
Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Marina scoffed, she couldn't take another two weeks of these two fighting.
"It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it."
"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've –"
"Forget it," Harry said.
Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears.
"Why are you crying?" Marina spat.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered.
"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front.
"Barking mad," said Ron, shaking his head. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores "