Book: Courage
Chapter 51
Word Count: 5660
The first task was drawing steadily nearer. Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly colored life story of Harry.
Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry.
The article had appeared ten days ago. Rita Skeeter had reported Harry saying an awful lot of things that never happened.
I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me.
Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Layla Lupin, a stunningly pretty Half-Blood girl, also known as the daughter of a werewolf by the name of Remus Lupin. However, sources report that Layla is in fact in a relationship with one Cedric Diggory, the second Hogwarts champion involved in the Triwizard Tournament. Do I sense a potential love triangle forming? Will Layla choose attractive school heartthrob Cedric Diggory, or the boy-who-lived?
Layla was furious at the article and had immediately gone to speak to Cedric about it. Luckily for her, she was dating the most understanding guy to ever grace the earth and Cedric, although mad at the article, had reassured Layla that he didn't believe a word Rita Skeeter said, and knew that there was nothing romantic happening between Layla and Harry.
However, although Layla and Cedric were still all good, that didn't stop her from being furious with Rita Skeeter and the article. But she thought she was handling the situation pretty well.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with Layla after Rita's article had appeared. "What was she judging against — a chipmunk?"
"Says the girl who has the face of a pug," Layla snapped. She couldn't help herself. Pansy Parkinson let out a dramatic gasp and stalked off with her friends.
Another thing that Layla was furious about was the fact that both Ron and Harry still weren't talking to each other. Hermione was just as angry at this. The two girls kept trying to force the boys to talk to each other, but it was no use.
"I didn't start this," Harry said stubbornly. "It's his problem."
"You miss him!" Hermione said impatiently. "And we know he misses you—"
"Miss him?" said Harry. "I don't miss him."
Layla knew that Harry was lying.
On the Saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Layla told Harry that it would do him good to get away from the castle for a bit, and Harry didn't need much persuasion.
"What about Ron, though?" he said. "Don't you guys want to go with him?"
"Oh... well..." Hermione went slightly pink. "Layla and I thought we might meet up with him in the Three Broomsticks."
"No," said Harry flatly.
"Harry, this is so stupid," Layla rolled her eyes.
"I'll come, but I'm not meeting Ron, and I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak."
"Fine," Layla snapped, "but I hate talking to you in that cloak, I never know if I'm looking at you or not."
Once Harry had fetched his invisibility cloak, Layla left with him and Hermione to Hogsmeade.
"Come on, please just take off your cloak for a bit," Hermione said to Harry, "no one's going to bother you here."
"Oh yeah?" said Harry. "Look behind you."
Rita Skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged from the Three Broomsticks pub.
Talking in low voices, they passed right by Layla and Hermione without looking at them. When they were gone, Harry said, "She's staying in the village. I bet she's coming to watch the first task."
"She's gone," said Layla, looking right through Harry toward the end of the street.
"Why don't we go and have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it? You don't have to talk to Ron!" Hermione added irritably, correctly interpreting his silence.
The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people Layla rarely saw anywhere else.
Layla supposed that as Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.
Layla sat with Harry at a table while Hermione went to buy drinks. Layla and Harry sat at a table far from where Ron sat with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, as Harry insisted that he didn't want to be near them.
"I look like such an idiot, sitting here on my own," muttered Layla with another roll of her eyes. Hermione joined them a moment later and passed Layla a butterbeer, slipping Harry one under his cloak. Hermione seemed to have heard what Layla had said.
"You can always help me," she offered, pulling out a notebook in which she had been keeping a record of S.P.E.W. members.
Layla saw hers, Harry's, and Ron's names at the top of the very short list. It seemed a long time ago that they had sat making up those predictions together, and Hermione had turned up and appointed them co-captain, secretary, and treasurer.
"You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W.," Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.
"Yeah, right," said Harry. He took a swig of butterbeer under his cloak. "Hermione, when are you going to give up on this spew stuff?"
"When house-elves have decent wages and working conditions!" she hissed back. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for more direct action. I wonder how you get into the school kitchens?"
"No idea, ask Fred and George," said Layla.
Hermione lapsed into thoughtful silence, while Layla drank his butterbeer, watching the people in the pub, not wanting to speak to Harry while he was under the cloak since it was just weird not being able to see who she was speaking to.
All of the people in the pub looked cheerful and relaxed. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot were swapping Chocolate Frog cards at a nearby table; both of them sporting Support Cedric Diggory! badges on their cloaks. Right over by the door he saw Cho Chang and a large group of her Ravenclaw friends.
"Look, it's Hagrid!" said Hermione.
The back of Hagrid's enormous shaggy head — he had mercifully abandoned his bunches — emerged over the crowd. Layla wondered why she hadn't spotted him at once, as Hagrid was so large, but standing up carefully, she saw that Hagrid had been leaning low, talking to Professor Moody. Hagrid had his usual enormous tankard in front of him, but Moody was drinking from his hip flask. Madam Rosmerta, the pretty landlady, didn't seem to think much of this; she was looking askance at Moody as she collected glasses from tables around them. Perhaps she thought it was an insult to her mulled mead, but Layla knew better. Moody had told them all during their last Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that he preferred to prepare his own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for Dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.
As Layla watched, she saw Hagrid and Moody get up to leave. Moody, however, paused, his magical eye on the corner where Harry was standing. He tapped Hagrid in the small of the back (being unable to reach his shoulder), muttered something to him, and then the pair of them made their way back across the pub toward Harry, Layla, and Hermione's table.
"All right, Layla, Hermione?" said Hagrid loudly.
"Hello," said Hermione, smiling back.
"Hey, Hagrid," Layla also smiled.
Moody limped around the table and bent down, muttering, "Nice cloak, Potter."
"Can your eye — I mean, can you—?" Harry stammered beneath his cloak.
"Yeah, it can see through Invisibility Cloaks," Moody said quietly. "And it's come in useful at times, I can tell you."
Hagrid bent down on the pretext of reading Hermione's S.P.E.W. notebook, and said in a whisper, "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Wear that cloak." Straightening up, Hagrid said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Layla, Hermione," winked, and departed.
Moody followed him.
"Why does Hagrid want me to meet him at midnight?" Harry said, very surprised.
"Does he?" said Layla, looking startled, clearly not hearing what Hagrid had said to Harry. "I wonder what he's up to? I don't know whether you should go, Harry." She looked nervously around and hissed, "It might make you late for Sirius."
On Sunday morning, Layla woke up to find, to her surprise, that she had awoken before Hermione had. By the looks of it, Hermione had stayed up late to work on S.P.E.W. Since it was a Sunday, Layla decided to let Hermione sleep in. The Lupin girl got dressed and headed down to breakfast, meeting up with Ginny half way to the Great Hall.
When Layla and Ginny sat down together at the Gryffindor table, Layla noticed that Harry wasn't there. When he did come down, his face was pale and he looked like he hadn't slept a wink. He didn't say anything while Ginny was there so, when Layla had finished her cereal, she and Harry went for another walk along the lake.
"What did Sirius have to say?" asked Layla.
"He doesn't think everything that's been happening are just coincidences either," said Harry. "The Dark Mark, my name coming out of the Goblet of Fire... and he doesn't think the alleged attack on Moody the day before we came back to Hogwarts was a false alarm."
"Right," said Layla tersely.
"No, there's more," said Harry grimly. "Karkaroff, you know, the Durmstrang headmaster? He was a Death Eater."
"What?!" Layla blurted out in surprise.
"Yeah," said Harry, "apparently when he was caught and sent to Azkaban, he snitched on a bunch of other Death Eaters and they let him out. He's been teaching the Dark Arts to the students at Durmstrang ever since."
"So, Siri thinks Karkaroff put your name in?" said Layla.
"He wasn't sure," said Harry miserably.
"What did Hagrid want?" Layla asked, trying to distract them from the news of the Death Eater at Hogwarts. To her dismay, the colour Harry had gained from the walk drained out of him in an instant.
"Dragons," he said quietly, "he wanted to show me dragons. That's the first task. We have to get past one each. Sirius said a simple spell should be able to beat it, but I don't know how I'm supposed to survive this with Karkaroff rigging the tournament."
"Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening, and then we can worry about Karkaroff," Layla said desperately. "Ced and I have been practising spells three nights a week, although since he's learnt more, it mainly feels like he's tutoring me. I don't mind, and I'd have to tell him about the dragons. Anyway, I can teach you some of the spells that I learnt from helping Ced practice. Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate — what?" Layla noticed the weird look that Harry gave her. "I read about them. I love animals."
"Okay then. Let's try some simple spellbooks," said Harry. "Anything you learnt from Cedric?"
"He did perform a few things," said Layla thoughtfully. "Well, there are Switching Spells... but I don't see how that would be much help with a dragon."
The two discussed spells all the way back up to the castle.
When Layla awoke on Monday morning, Layla went downstairs to breakfast with Hermione and the two sat down with Harry. As soon as they'd finished their breakfast, the three of them stood up to leave, but Layla caught sight of Cedric leaving from the Hufflepuff table and reminded herself that he still didn't know about the dragons.
"I'll see you in the greenhouses, guys," Layla said. "I'm gonna speak to Ced quickly. Go on, I'll catch you up."
"Layla, you'll be late," said Hermione, "the bell's about to ring—"
"I'll catch you up, okay?"
By the time Layla reached the bottom of the marble staircase, Cedric was at the top. He was with a load of sixth-year friends.
"Ced!" Layla called out, causing Cedric to turn and smile. He told his friends to go on to Charms and then walked closer to Layla.
"Hey, gorgeous," Cedric planted a kiss on Layla's cheek.
"Cedric," said Layla, "the first task is dragons."
"What?" said Cedric, surprised.
"Dragons," said Layla, speaking quickly, in case Professor Flitwick came out to see where Cedric had got to. "They've got four, one for each of you guys, and you've got to get past them."
Cedric stared at his girlfriend. Layla saw a small flicker of panic within Cedric's gray eyes.
"Are you sure?" he said in a hushed voice.
"Yes, I am," said Harry. "Harry has seen them."
"But how did Harry find out? We're not supposed to know."
"Never mind, that's not too important," said Layla quickly. "But Harry, Fleur, and Krum all know. Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too. I just thought you'd also want to know."
"Thank you," said Cedric gratefully. "I appreciate it."
"Of course," Layla nodded. "We still meeting tonight after curfew to practice one more time before the first task? Empty classroom on the second floor?
"Of course, I'll see you then," said Cedric, pressing a kiss to Layla's lips before Layla turned and headed off to Herbology.
After Herbology came Divination. Layla had to endure over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths.
"Well, that's good," said Harry loudly, his temper getting the better of him, "just as long as it's not drawn-out. I don't want to suffer."
That night, when everyone had resided to bed, Harry and Hermione were off also practicing together while Layla went to meet Cedric in their usual place in the empty classroom.
They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and started chucking chairs across the room.
Layla and Cedric left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and Cedric walked Layla back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.
"Don't get caught by Filch on your way back," said Layla.
"Perks of being a prefect," Cedric smirked. Layla chuckled and kissed his cheek.
"Bye, Ced. You'll do great tomorrow."
The following morning, the atmosphere 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.
Layla sat in the Great Hall for lunch with Harry and Hermione when Professor McGonagall came hurrying over to Harry.
Lots of people were watching.
"Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task."
"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.
"Good luck, Harry," Layla whispered. "You'll be fine!"
"Yeah," said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own.
Layla saw Cedric rising to his feet and making his way out with Professor Sprout. Layla stood up to try and get his attention, and when Cedric finally looked over at her, she mouthed 'good luck' to him. Cedric smiled and nodded, walking off.
Ron suddenly got up and sat beside Layla.
"Hello," Hermione said shortly from her seat across from Ron, who stared at the ground and didn't reply.
"He's not enjoying this, is he?" said Ron quietly after a while. Layla rolled her eyes.
"Wonder what gave you that impression," she said sarcastically, glaring slightly at Ron. "You had no right to shun him like that, Ron. Especially when he needed his friends most to support him and be there for him."
"I know, I've been awful to him," said Ron guiltily. "I'm going to apologise after the first task."
"Good," said Layla with an approving nod. Ron glanced at her.
"Are you mad at me?"
"A little," Layla shrugged. "But if you apologise to Harry, I'll consider being nice to you again."
"Okay," said Ron quietly. "Can I sit with you guys during the task?"
"Sure," said Hermione.
"Yeah, if you don't mind sitting with your sister. I promised I'd save Ginny a seat," said Layla. Ron nodded.
Dumbledore stood up and told the school to go outside. Ron, Layla, and Hermione met up with Ginny outside of the Great Hall and followed the school outside. They found that a path had been created while they had been inside, winding towards the Forbidden Forest. The four of them followed the path. It only went round the perimeter of the forest.
"How much longer do you think we're going to have to walk?" groaned Ginny, as they lost sight of Hogwarts castle. Just then, a thunderous roar echoed over the trees. The four of them froze. "Not very long, it seems."
They turned a corner to find what looked like a large square box made of stone, lying on the outskirts of the forest. They joined the throng of students entering through a door to the side. Harry must have been in the tent that stood to the side.
They reached the door and found themselves in a square shaped, paddock-like enclosure. The ground was covered in rocks, some of which looked cracked. The atmosphere resembled that of the morning before a Quidditch game. There was a large gap in the wall opposite them.
Ron, Layla, Hermione, and Ginny filed into the seats near the front. They were very close to an undercover area where all of the teachers sat. Professor Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, and Professor Karkaroff sat with Barty Crouch at the front and just behind them was Rita Skeeter. Just in front of the undercover section were several dragon keepers. There were groups of three scattered around the perimeter of the paddock. In front of them were a middle-aged man, a blonde woman, and a—
"Isn't that Charlie?" said Layla.
Indeed, a moment later, Charlie Weasley looked up and caught their eyes. He grinned, waved, and went back to watching the paddock.
A whistle was blown from somewhere and the crowd fell silent. Ludo Bagman came running in, looking flustered, and took his place in between Dumbledore and Karkaroff.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," he said, his voice magically magnified, "to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!"
The crowd cheered and clapped.
There was another roar and Hermione suddenly grabbed Layla's hand in fright. The crowd gasped. About ten dragon keepers were leading a dragon into the paddock. It towered over the paddock, eclipsing even the tallest trees in the forest. It was a Swedish Short Snout. Its lizard-like body was sky blue and flecked with grey. It had two huge silver horns protruding out of its head. It was snarling at the crowd and the dragon keepers.
The dragon was led to the centre of the paddock and was chained to it. A dragon came in carrying a nest full of blue-grey eggs, probably to keep the dragon from escaping. Layla noticed that one of the eggs was different. It was slightly smaller and its solid gold shell glittered in the midday sun.
"The champions talk is to collect the golden egg from their dragon," said Bagman. "First up, please put your hands together for Mr Cedric Diggory!" The crowd roared as Cedric walked into the paddock, his wand drawn. Layla's cheer echoed over everyone else's as she clapped loudly.
The dragon watched through beady eyes as Cedric slowly started walking towards the dragon, causing Layla's breath to hitch in her throat. Cedric stopped several feet from the dragon and raised his wand.
The crowd screamed. The dragon had lowered its jaw and brilliant blue fire shot out of its mouth, heading straight for Cedric. Cedric dove out of the way and the pillar of flame hit a rock instead, melting it in an instant.
"Oh my god," Layla frowned worriedly.
"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow," said Bagman, seeming to enjoy himself. "He's taking risks, this one!"
Cedric was running closer to the dragon, narrowly avoiding another pillar of fire. He ducked behind a large boulder and waited. When he was sure the dragon had lost interest, he raised his wand again. An orange jet of light shot out of his wand and hit a nearby rock, which shrunk and morphed into a Labrador. The Labrador yapped, drawing away the dragon's attention, before running far away from where Cedric crouched behind his boulder.
The dragon's eyes followed the dog as it leapt out of the way of the dragon's fire faster than any normal dog. Unbeknownst to the dragon, Cedric was creeping out from behind his rock and towards the eggs. Then, just as he was about to reach his goal, the dragon finally burned the anthropomorphic dog to ashes and roared triumphantly.
"Clever move," shouted Bagman over the dragon's shrieks, "pity of didn't work!"
"Well done, dragon!" yelled Fred and George, who were sitting behind them. Layla turned around, glared at them, and moved to punch them both in the stomach. She only resisted when Hermione gripped her hand again. Layla turned back around.
Cedric had frozen to the spot, unable to conjure up another sacrificial canine without drawing attention to himself. Inevitably, the dragon turned and spotted Cedric right underneath. This time, he wasn't fast enough to avoid the flames. The sapphire flames shot towards Cedric, and his screams echoed around the paddock. Layla felt like crying and it was her turn to grip Hermione's hand.
The dragon huffed in a satisfied sort of way, and the dragon keepers ran towards the presumably gravely-injured Cedric. However, the dragon didn't notice Cedric rise from where he was lying and, before the dragon could do anything, Cedric had grabbed the egg and was racing towards the spot he had entered the paddock. Layla sighed in relief and the crowd went wild, the cheers even louder than the dragon's snarls, as it was lead away from the paddock.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman roared. "And now the marks from the judges!"
All heads turned to the judges. Madam Maxime raised her wand and silver ribbons shot out of it, arranging itself into a number 7. There was a round of applause, and each of the judges raised their wands in turn. Crouch and Dumbledore both gave Cedric a 9, Bagman gave him an 8, and Karkaroff, who was clearly being biased, gave him a 5.
"I need to go find Cedric," Layla panicked, about to head down the stands, but Ginny stopped her.
"I promise Diggory's fine, Lay. It's nothing Madame Pomfrey can't fix in a heartbeat. The next dragon's about to come out, look!"
And sure enough, the dragon keepers were leading another dragon into the paddock. With its green, smooth scales, Layla recognised it as the Common Welsh Green. Its eggs, which were being carried out by the same dragon keeper, were dark brown and flecked with green.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman shouted, and another whistle sounded. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Several moments later, Fleur Delacour walked into the paddock, her head held high. Most of the boys watching sat up straighter in their seats, including Ron.
The dragon snarled as Fleur neared it, curling itself around the eggs. Fleur clearly wasn't expecting that, and she paused. The dragon gave her a challenging look, and Fleur's face set. She waved her wand in a complicated twirling motion, and a sort of pink glitter flew out of it. The pink stuff landed around the dragon's head and her eyelids sagged.
"Very clever!" said Bagman as the dragon lay down, semi-conscious, with its eyes half-open.
Fleur grinned and raced towards the dragon.
"Oh, I'm not sure that was wise!" said Bagman.
Fleur wasn't looking at the dragon as she ran. There was a loud rumbling noise that seemed to come from the depths of the earth. It was the dragon snoring. Fleur froze. The dragon snored again and a thin jet of flame shot out of its nose, setting Fleur's skirt on fire. Most of the boys gasped. Fleur put out the fire with a wave of her wand, looking rather impatient towards those who had gasped.
Fleur reached the dragon and found, to her dismay, that the dragon was too tightly wrapped around the nest of eggs for her to get in. Fleur raised her wand again. There was a bang and the dragon's tail jerked, before going back to its original position.
Fleur tried this several more times, probably not helped at all by Bagman's commentary, "Oh, nearly! Careful now... good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"
Finally, on her seventh go, the dragon jerked just enough to let Fleur into the nest. The dragon stirred, in a fashion that suggested that it had been shocked awake, and made to get up. Just before it did, Fleur appeared on the dragon's back and jumped down onto the floor, carrying the egg under her arm. The crowd roared and applauded.
Once again, the judges raised their wands and showed their scores. Fleur got a 7, 8, and 9 from Bagman, Crouch, and Dumbledore respectively. Maxime and Karkaroff were both still being biased: Maxime gave her a 10, Karkaroff gave her a 6.
The dragon was led out of the paddock, to be instantly replaced with another. A scarlet, smooth scaled dragon with a ring of spikes around its face. A Chinese Fireball.
"And here comes Mr Krum!" cried Bagman, as the whistle sounded again.
"This even sure does drag-on, doesn't it?" said Ginny, grinning at Layla, who tried to crack a small smile at the pun but her mind was filled with worries over Cedric.
Krum then walked into the paddock. Layla suppressed a groan. Of course Harry had to be last.
Layla was dragged out of her thoughts by an ear-piercing shriek, and the crowd gasped.
"Very daring!" Bagman yelled. The Chinese Fireball was stumbling blindly towards the place Krum had been, shooting flames in that general direction and clawing at its eyes.
"What happened?" Layla asked Ginny.
"He used a Conjunctivitis Curse, I think," said Ginny, watching eagerly. Krum had blinded it.
The dragon stumbled backwards as Krum raced towards it. There was a sickening crack, and the dragon let out another shriek as it accidentally trampled over half of its eggs.
"That's some nerve he's showing—" said Bagman, "and — yes, he's got the egg!"
Krum had easily been the fastest, but as the judges gave their scores, he was having points deducted for the broken eggs, some of which Charlie and some friends were trying to salvage. Karkaroff, predictably, gave a 10. Maxime and Bagman gave a 7, while Crouch and Dumbledore gave an 8.
The Chinese Fireball was led out as another one entered. The Hungarian Horntail. They were supposedly the most dangerous of the dragon breeds with the longest fire-breathing range of up to fifty feet. They feed off of goats, sheep, and whenever possible, humans.
Layla stared in horror at the black, lizard-like scales, the huge, bat-like wings, the tail spikes sharper even than the Short Snout's horns, that she barely noticed the nest of cement-coloured eggs that were brought in.
The shrill whistle was blown.
The crowd cheered as Harry walked into the paddock and stared into the Horntail's bright yellow eyes.
Harry raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.
Layla spotted the dark shape in the sky. The Firebolt reached Harry and he put away his wand.
Harry swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground. As he soared upward, and then pulled down in a dive above the eggs. The Horntail's head followed him and a jet of fire had been released exactly where Harry would have been had he not swerved away.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "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. Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth — Harry 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. The crowd screamed and groaned. Harry zoomed around the back of the Horntail.
The Horntail didn't seem to want to take off,t was too protective of its eggs. Though it writhed and twisted, furling and unfurling its wings and keeping those fearsome yellow eyes on Harry, it was afraid to move too far from them.
Harry flew higher. The Horntail's head rose, its neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying. Harry rose a few more feet, and it let out a roar of exasperation. Its tail thrashed again, but Harry was too high to reach now. It shot fire into the air, which he dodged. Its jaws opened wide.
And then it reared, spreading its great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane — and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what Harry 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.
With that, Harry seized the golden egg. He was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm. The crowd screamed and applauded as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup.
"Look at that!" Bagman yelled. "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!"
The dragon keepers rushed forward to subdue the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid was hurrying to meet Harry.
"We need to see if he's alright," said Hermione. Both Layla and Ron nodded. They bid farewell to Ginny and budged past the people on their row, who were eagerly waiting for Harry's score.
Ron, Layla, and Hermione entered the tent. Harry was standing up inside, looking agitated. He looked up and stared at Ron.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" said Layla, hugging Harry, and then glanced at Ron. "Okay, you two need to make up, now. Hermione, please stop them from killing each other if it comes to it. I'm going to check on Ced."
With that, Layla walked away from her bed and over to Cedric, who was lay on a bed in the corner of the tent. As Madame Pomfrey walked away after placing burn cream over one side of Cedric's face, Layla took her spot beside the boy.
Layla pressed a kiss to Cedric's forehead, glancing at the golden egg that was sat on the small table beside the bed. Cedric had tears in his eyes from no doubt the pain of the burn.
"Dragons! Dragons! They want this to be safe and they choose dragons!" Layla complained worriedly. She peered over at the burn on Cedric's face. Cedric's teeth were gritted and his eyes were tightly shut. His breaths were ragged and his muscles were tense.
Layla placed her hand softly on Cedric's unharmed cheek to try and soothe him, and it seemed to work as Cedric looked to have calmed down at his girlfriend's touch. His breathing became more even and he loosened his jaw, opening his eyes.
"I'm glad you're here," he spoke with a soft smile, placing his hand over Layla's which still rested on his cheek. "I love you, gorgeous."
"What?" Layla's eyes widened in shock at his words. She wasn't sure if it was the potion that Madame Pomfrey gave him to numb the pain, or if the pain was getting to his head, but the confession came out of nowhere. However, Cedric looked dead serious.
"I love you. I just thought you'd want to know, because I've known for a while."
"Ced..." Layla smiled. "I love you, too."
"I'm glad," said Cedric softly, slowly sitting up. Layla smiled and leant forward to press a kiss to Cedric's lips. When she pulled away, she inspected the burnt side of Cedric's face and her smile widened.
"It already looks much better. You'll have your pretty boy face back in no time."
"Are you saying I don't look pretty? Are you calling me ugly right now, Miss Lupin?" smirked Cedric playfully.
"Shut up," laughed Layla, softly nudging Cedric. That caused Cedric to also laugh as he pulled Layla into another kiss.
Layla vaguely heard Charlie Weasley rushing in and telling Harry that he tied for first place with Krum, but Layla was barely paying attention. She just enjoyed the moment that she was sharing with her wonderful boyfriend that she was head over heels for.