They started as soon as morning lessons finished. Hermione was glad that she'd had a big breakfast, as neither of them had the time to eat lunch. Harry had had barely anything to eat that morning, so he must've been famished. He didn't show it though. His face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to summon various items in the unused classroom to his hand. Just as they had every time, the book stopped half-heartedly half way to his hand and flopped onto the floor
"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate..." Hermione implored
"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" Harry snapped "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason... Okay, try again..."
They spent the rest of their spare time that day practicing the Summoning Charm. At dinner, they wolfed down just enough to keep them going. After curfew, they used the Invisibility Cloak to sneak into the unused classroom. They practiced there until around midnight, when Peeves found them and they were forced to flee
A two o'clock in the morning, Harry was surrounded by various books, pencil cases and cushions. Only in the last hour had Harry finally, finally, got the hang of the Summoning Charm
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better" said Hermione. Her body was screaming at her to go to bed, but she wasn't going anywhere until she was sure Harry had got it
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell" said Harry, passing Hermione's rune dictionary back to her "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." he raised his wand again "Accio Dictionary!"
The book flew towards Harry and he caught it
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione brightly
"Just as long as it works tomorrow" Harry said "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..."
He'd told Hermione the plan that lunchtime (or was it yesterday lunchtime?) and she had to admit that she was impressed
"That doesn't matter" she said "Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep... you're going to need it"
Harry had looked a lot better the day before, as the determination to master the charm had driven out any panic he might've had. As he trudged into the Great Hall the next day though, it was clear that all the panic had come rushing back. He looked like he was about to be sick, and he seemed to be deaf to all the things people were yelling at him from across the room. Hermione noticed that Ron was watching the two of them very closely, but wasn't saying a word
Time passed a lot faster than usual for Hermione, but Harry seemed to be experiencing even worse zenosyne. He paid even less attention that usual in History of Magic and, as they headed for lunch, he seemed surprised to find himself in the Great Hall. Hermione froze as she saw Professor McGonagall walking over to them, a grim expression on her face
"Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now..." she said in a falsely calm voice "You have to get ready for your first task"
"Okay" said Harry, standing up in an oddly robotic manner
"Good luck, Harry" Hermione said "You'll be fine!"
"Yeah" said Harry quietly, clearly not taking in a word she was saying. He followed Professor McGonagall without looking back once
Ron got up and sat down next to Hermione
"Hello" she said shortly. Ron stared at the ground and didn't reply
"He's not enjoying this, is he?" Ron said quietly after a while. Hermione rolled her eyes
"Of course he's not" she said "he has to get past a dragon. Would you enjoy that?"
"I've been awful to him, haven't I?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded, but didn't say anything "I'm going to apologise after the first task"
"Good" said Hermione, helping herself to chicken
There was another pause
"Listen" said Ron "I'm sorry to you as well"
"It's not me you have to apologise to" said Hermione
"No but still" Ron looked up and finally looked her in the eye "I've been acting horribly to you, and you've done nothing wrong. I'm sorry. Please can you forgive me?"
Hermione stared at him for a moment
"Yeah, alright" she said, and Ron's expression cleared "but I'm still not the one you need to apologise to"
"Yeah, I know" said Ron quietly "can I sit with you during the first task?"
"Okay" said Hermione "If you don't mind sitting with your sister"
Dumbledore stood up and told the school to go outside. Hermione, Ron and Ginny got up and followed the school outside. They found that a path had been created while they had been inside, winding towards the Forbidden Forest. The three of them followed the path and Hermione was very glad to find that it only went around the perimeter of the forest, not into the interior
"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 three of them froze
"Not very long, it seems" said Ginny
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 in the side. Hermione tapped her fingers nervously on her skirt as she wondered if Harry was in the small tent she could see in the distance
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, presumably for the dragons to go through
Hermione, Ginny and Ron filed into seats near the front. They were very close to an undercover area where all the teachers sat. Professors Dumbledore, Maxime and Karkaroff sat with Barty Crouch at the front and just behind them was - Hermione's heart sank slightly - Rita Skeeter, wearing acid green robes and with a matching quill perched on a notepad beside her. Just in front of the undercover section were several dragon keepers, wearing armour like clothing and with their wands out. There were groups of three scattered around the perimeter of the paddock. In front of them were a middle aged man, a blond woman with a military like stance, and-
"Isn't that Charlie?" said Hermione
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, but Hermione didn't join in
There was another roar and Hermione's eyes snapped up. The crowd gasped. About ten dragon keepers were leading a dragon, an actual dragon, into the paddock. It towered over the paddock, eclipsing even the tallest trees in the forest. Hermione recognised it as a Swedish Short Snout. Its lizard like body and face was sky blue and flecked with grey. It had two huge silver horns protruding out of its head, which looked sharp enough to pierce diamond. It was snarling at the crowd and dragon keepers, a sound which stood Hermione's hair up straight
The dragon was led to the centre of the paddock and was chained to the centre of the paddock. Judging by the Short Snout's reputation for having fire so hot it could burn bones, Hermione was sure that it could escape in an instant if it wanted to. Its reason for not resisting much was explained as another dragon keeper came in, carrying a nest full of blue grey eggs. The keeper set the nest at the dragon's feet before running away from her as fast as possible. Hermione noticed that one of the eggs was different. It was slightly smaller and its solid gold shell glittered in the midday sun
"The champions task 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. Even from a distance, Hermione could tell that he looked sick. The dragon watched through beady eyes as Cedric slowly started walking towards the dragon. He 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 her 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
"woah" gasped Ginny, clearly overstimulated
"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" said Bagman, seeming to enjoy himself
"He's taking risks, this one!" yelled Bagman gleefully as Cedric ran 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 dragons attention, before running far away from where Cedric crouched behind his boulder
The dragons eyes followed the dog as it lept out of the way of the dragons 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 rock to ashes and roared triumphantly
"Clever move-" shouted Bagman over the dragons shrieks "pity it didn't work!"
"Well done dragon!" yelled Fred and George, who were sitting behind them. Ginny grinned at them
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 fire shot towards Cedric, and his screams made Hermione wince
The dragon huffed in a satisfied sort of way, and the dragon keepers ran towards where a presumably gravely injured Cedric. However, The dragon didn't notice Cedric rise from where he was lying and, before the dragon could do anything, he had grabbed the egg and was racing towards the spot he had entered the paddock. The crowd went wild, the cheers even lowder 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 judged. The first judge, Madame 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
The dragon keepers were leading another dragon into the paddock. With its green, smooth scales which would blend in perfectly with the grassy plains it presumably resided in, Hermione quickly identified it as the Common Welsh Green. It's eggs, which were being carried in 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. Hermione would've been inclined to laugh, had Ron not done the exact same thing
The dragon snarled territorially as Delacour neared it, curling herself around her egg. Delacour clearly wasn't expecting that, and she paused. The dragon gave her a challenging look, and Delacour'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 dragons head and her eyelids sagged
"Very clever!" said Bagman as the dragon lay down, semi conscious, with its eyes half open
Delacour grinned and raced towards the dragon
"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" said Bagman. Delacour wasn't looking at the dragon as she ran. There was a loud rumbling noice that seemed to come from the depths of the earth. It took a moment for Hermione to realise that it was the dragon snoring. Delacour froze. The dragon snored again and a thin jet of flame shot out of her nose, setting Delacour's skirt on fire. Most of the boys gasped, and Hermione rolled her eyes. Delacour put out the fire with a wave off her wand, looking rather impatient towards those who had gasped
Delacour reached the dragon and found, to her dismay, that the dragon was too tightly wrapped around the nest for her to get in. Delacour raised her wand again. They was a bang and the dragons tail jerked, before going back to its original position. Delacour tried this several more times, probably not helped at all by Bagmans commentary
"Oh... nearly! Careful now... good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"
Finally, on her seventh go, the dragons jerked just enough to let Delacour into the nest. Hermione waited for another bang, but it didn't come. The dragon stirred, in a fasion that suggested that it had been shocked awake, and made to get up. Just before it did, Delacour appeared on the dragons back and jumped down onto the floor, carrying the egg under her arm. The crowd roared and applaused
Once again, the judges raised their wands and showed their scores. Delacour got a 7, 8 and 9 from Bagman, Crouch and Dumbledore respectively. Madame Maxime and Karkaroff were both still being biased: Madame 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 and large eyes. A Chinese Fireball
"And here comes Mr. Krum!" shouted Bagman, as another whistle sounded
"This event sure does drag-on, doesn't it?" said Ginny, grinning at Hermione as Krum walked into the paddock. Hermione forced a laugh. Why did Harry have to be last?
Hermione was dragged out of her thoughts by an ear piercing shriek, and the crowd gasped
“Very daring!” roared Bagman. The Chinese Fireball was stumbling blindly towards the place Krum had been, shooting mushroom cloud shaped flames in that general direction and clawing at her eyes
"What happened?" Hermione asked Ginny
"He used a Conjunctivitis Curse, I think" said Ginny, watching eagerly. A Conjunctivitis Curse, of course! Hermione had read that a dragon's eyes were its weakest point, why hadn't she thought of blinding 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 its eggs. Hermione felt an odd pang of loss - there were actual, living things in those ruby coloured, gold flecked eggs, after all
“That’s some nerve he’s showing-" said Bagman "and - yes, he’s got the egg!”
Krum had easily been the fastest but, Hermione presumed, as the judges gave there 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. Madame Maxime and Bagman gave a 7, while Crouch and Dumbledore gave a 8
The Chinese Fireball was led out and Hermione gasped as she saw what Harry's dragon was. The Hungarian Horntail. Snippets of sentences from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them entered her head at random. Supposedly the most dangerous of all dragon breeds... longest fire-breathing ranges (up to fifty feet)... feeds on goats, sheep and, whenever possible, humans...
Hermione 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 being brought in, and was only brought back into reality by the shrill whistle being blown
Sound seemed to be sucked away from Hermione's head, to be replaced by an odd ringing noice. Bagman was shouting something, Hermione couldn't hear what he was saying. She saw, rather than heard, the crowd cheer as Harry walked into the paddock and stared into the Horntail's bright yellow eyes
Harry raised his wand and his mouth formed the words "Accio Firebolt!". Hermione hoped, prayed with every fibre of her being that it had worked. What if Harry had been to distracted by the dragon? What if she'd read wrong, and distance did make a difference? What if-
Hermione spotted the the dark shape in the sky and almost sank into the floor with relief. The Firebolt reached Harry and he put away his wand. He didn't need it anymore. He mounted his broom and shot into the sky. Ginny elbowed her, presumably to make some comment or another, but Hermione ignored her. She kept her eyes glued to the dot in the sky that was Harry Potter
Harry paused for a moment, before shooting toward the ground. The Horntail opened her mouth, but Harry was too fast, swerving out of the dive just as fire shot towards where he had just been. Hermione clutched her face in fear
Harry flew higher than he had before, before diving again. He barely missed the flames again, but this time the dragon thought of using its tail. Hermione's hearing turned on for a moment to hear the crowd groan as the spikes made contact with Harry's arm, Hermione's screams among with them, but her hearing was cut out again by time Harry had flown high enough to avoid the tail
Harry seemed to have realised his plan wasn't working. The dragon's front claws were too close to the nest for Harry to take an egg, and she didn't seem willing to move them. Harry swerved this way and that midair, somewhat like a snake charmer. The dragon's head moved with Harry. She breathed fire again, but Harry dodged easily
The Horntail gave an irritated roar and spread its wings wide. She jmped onto her hind legs and, a second later, Harry was off. He dived, faster than he had before. Before the dragon could do anything, Harry had grabbed the egg and shot off into the air, flying over the edge of the paddock and disappearing
Hermione regained her hearing so suddenly that she almost fell off her seat. The crowd was going wild, cheering and clapping just as loud as they had for Cedric
“Look at that!” Bagman was saying “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!”
"We need to see if he's alright" said Hermione. Ron nodded, his face as white as a sheet, and the two of them budged past the people on their row, who were eagerly waiting for Harry's score. Ginny came with them but, when they reached the right tent, decided against going in
"Ron and Harry need time to make up" she said "without lots of people"
"What about me, then?"
Ginny shrugged
"Someone needs to be there to stop them killing each other" she said. Hermione grinned, and she and Ron entered the tent
Harry was standing up inside, looking agitated. He looked up and stared at Ron
“Harry, you were brilliant!” said Hermione, her voice oddly high pitched “You were amazing! You really were!”
Harry wasn't taking his eyes off Ron
“Harry,” he 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 coolly “Took you long enough”
Hermione looked from one boy to the other, her right hand on her wand, ready to cast shield charms if necessary
Ron opened his mouth to apologise, but Harry spoke before he could say a word
“It’s okay” he said “Forget it”
Hermione blinked
“No” Ron insisted “I shouldn’t’ve-”
“Forget it” Harry said firmly. They both grinned at each other, nervously at first, but then warmly
Hermione burst into tears
“There’s nothing to cry about!” said Harry blankly
“You two are so stupid!” she yelled. She gave them both a hug before leaving the tent, tears now streaming down her face
Ginny looked startled as she saw the look on her face
"What's up?" she said "What's happened? What's wrong?"
"No" said Hermione, wiping her eyes and smiling "nothing's wrong. It's just-" she sighed and looked back at the tent "why are those two such morons sometimes?"
Ginny shrugged
"Boys are weird" she said simply, offering her arm. Hermione watched Harry and Ron leave the tent, still grinning and chatting away
"Indeed" she said "very strange"
She linked arms with Ginny and together they walked away from the paddock, back towards the castle