CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE FIRST TASK
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I walked down the hills surrounding Hogwarts to get to the Whomping Willow. But before I made it all the way there, I noticed someone else talking to Noah. On closer inspection, I realized that it was Draco.
I moved as closely as I could without being seen to hear what they were saying. Draco was speaking.
"You keep trying to wrap her around your finger like last year!" He yelled, glaring at the Hufflepuff before him.
"Oh, yeah? Well if I remember correctly, you only became friendly with her because your father told you to!" Noah retorted. "And you were too scared to say no!"
Draco scowled. "You don't know the first thing about me, or my relationship with Giovanna. You just think you know everything and it makes you all high and mighty! I can tell you right now she'd choose me over you any day!"
"Well she didn't last time! I asked her out and she said yes!" Noah laughed hysterically.
Draco's scowl turned into a twisted smirk. "And then she broke up with you! And you blamed it all on me." His smirk grew as he drew out the 'all'. "You thought she was breaking up with you because she liked me, and frankly, I'm honored. But she did it just because she didn't like you!"
I had had enough. I stormed out from behind my hiding place and ran down to the two yelling boys. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you two?"
They both looked shocked from my sudden appearance. Draco stepped forward. "I was coming out of the courtyard and saw him here, so I came over for some...." He stopped.
"Friendly conversation?" I raised a brow.
"We'll go with that." Draco smirked. "Anyways I asked why he was here and he said he was going to win you back. And then I found this in his bag." Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny vial.
I stepped forward and grabbed it from his hand. I inspected it. As much as Snape and I despise each other, I was excellent at Potions. "Veritaserum?" I asked, looking up at Noah, betrayed. "You were going to use truth serum on me?"
"I just- I wanted to know what you really thought about me and about Malfoy-" Noah tried to defend himself.
"Unbelievable." I shook my head bitterly, grabbed Draco's arm, and pulled him back up to the castle.
"I win!" Draco called back to Noah over his shoulder.
I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh.
Lessons had ended early the next day due to the fact that it was the first task. I had dropped my robes and school stuff off back at the dorms and changed. I now wore black skinny jeans, Slytherin green combat boots, a white button up, and a green v-neck sweater.
I tied my hair up into a messy ponytail and hurried outside with the bustle of students from three different schools. I was walking with Eli, Pansy, Blaise, and Draco when Harry ran up to me. He wore a large black cloak-looking thing with his last name on the back, very similar to our Quidditch uniforms with red and yellow long sleeves and pants under it. I assumed it was the uniform for the task.
"Harry! Hey!" I exclaimed.
"Hey, um," He glared at Malfoy who glared back, "we need you down at the champion's tent."
Draco instantly stepped in front of me. "Thought you were loosing the first task, Potter." He spat. "She's not doing it."
Harry rolled his eyes and shoved Draco out of the way, addressing me. "We know you aren't participating in it, but they still need you to be down there."
"Alright." I sighed. "For the whole thing?"
"No, just when all the adults are talking to us for the beginning." Harry explained and I nodded. I waved to my friends and followed Harry to the champion's tent.
When Harry and I entered the tent it was just the champions in it, all pacing nervously. Fleur, Cedric, and Krum. They all looked up at me as Harry and I walked in.
"Good luck, guys." I flipped them thumbs up. Fleur smiled a little, Krum nodded, and Cedric gave me a thumbs up back. I turned back to Harry.
He wandered over to the curtain wall of the tent and started whispering. I peeked out and saw Hermione talking to him. I decided to let them talk. A camera flashed in my face.
"The hell?" I turned to see Rita Skeeter.
"Giovanna, what a pleasant surprise! You're not competing?" She asked, smiling awfully.
I pursed my lips, not telling her anything. I learned from our champion interviews and other articles she's written that she twists words. So might as well not say any at all.
She snapped another picture as Hermione burst into the tent and hugged Harry. I groaned, knowing what that looked like.
"Young love!" Rita marveled. "How..." She trailed off, then pointed to her quill writing by itself. "Stirring." Harry and Hermione pulled away from each other, glaring at Rita. "If everything goes unfortunately today, you two may even make the front page!"
"Twisted." I scowl. Krum steps up beside me.
"You have no business here. This tent is for champions and friends." He says, glaring at Rita who turns to us.
"And in that case, you are neither." I smile sweetly. She rolls her eyes.
"No matter." She shrugs. "We got what we wanted." Her cameraman takes one more picture before they exit the tent.
Dumbledore enters, followed by Karkaroff, Madam Maxine, Barty Crouch, and Filch. "Good evening, champions!" He welcomes. "Gather 'round, please."
As we all move closer, Harry between Hermione and I, Dumbledore continues. "Now, you've all waited, you've wondered, and at last the moment has arrived. A moment only four- well five- of you can fully appreciate." He sees Hermione standing next to him. "What are you doing here, Miss. Granger?"
She looks guiltily up at him. "Oh, sorry. I'll just.. go." She spares Harry one last look before exiting the tent.
"Barty, the bag." Dumbledore continues.
Crouch steps forward, holding a black cloth bag. "Champions, in a circle around me." Harry, Fleur, Cedric, and Krum step forward. I didn't know if I should since I wasn't actually participating. "You can too, Miss. Potter." I nodded and stood between Harry and Cedric.
Crouch turns to Fleur first. "Now, Miss. Delacour, if you will." He hold open the bag in front of her. She flinches as she reaches her hand in and pulls out a tiny moving model of a green dragon. "The Welsh Green." Crouch declares. "Mr. Krum." He moves on.
Krum pulls out another of the dragons. I frown when I realize Harry will have last pick. "The Chinese Fireball, ooh." Crouch marvels. He turns to Cedric, who frowns and reaches into the bag. "The Swedish Short-Snout." Harry and I look at each other with wide eyes when we realize what's left.
Krum turns to us. "Which leaves..."
"The horntail." Harry and I whisper.
"What's that, you two?" Crouch asks.
We shake our heads and say "Nothing".
I place a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder as he reaches in the bag and pulls out a miniature dragon. "The Hungarian Horntail." Crouch voices. Harry and I frown at Dumbledore.
"These represent four very real dragons." Crouch tells the whole group. "Each of which have been given a golden egg to protect. Your objective is simple: collect the egg. This you must do, for each egg contains a clue. Without which you cannot hope to proceed to the next task."
I grin and elbow Harry. "You better get that egg. I'm dung without it." He rolls his eyes at me.
"Any questions?" Crouch asks, and no one replies.
"Very well. Good luck, champions. Miss. Potter, you may return to the stands." Dumbledore tells me. I nod.
"Oh, good luck Harry! Don't die on me!" I hug him tightly. I whispered before pulling away, "Don't worry too much about Accio. You've got this."
"Wouldn't dream of it. And okay." He grins back.
I smile a little and exit the tent. Before the task starts, I find my way back up to the bleachers. I wave to Hermione and Ron before sitting between Draco and Eli. Hermione waves back, but not Ron. Right, forgot he hated Harry and I.
"What was it about down there?" Draco asks.
I shrugged. "Just information. They all picked which dragons they're fighting and learned the objective and whatnot. Harry got the most dangerous."
Draco lets out a laugh and high-fives Crabbe and Goyle. I glare at him and he stops. A canon went off and the first champion exited the tent. It was Cedric.
"Diggory! Diggory! Diggory!" The crowd began to chant. Draco stood, joining in. I stood with him, since I was supporting not just Harry- but Hogwarts itself.
Cedric did fairly well. His main tactic was to distract his dragon. If he was hiding and it was coming his way, he would cast a spell that knocked over rocks on the other side of the arena to draw the attention away from himself. Once he did this enough, he was able to get the egg.
Next was Fleur. I could tell she wasn't the best at this. I leaned to Draco. "Guess they don't make you fight at Beauxbatons. They only make you ready for beauty pagents." He snickered and I smirked.
"Not that they'd win." He added, and I laughed.
Fleur's strategy was to repeatedly hit the dragon with spells. They didn't have much effect, since the dragon was so big, but it did the job. She was able to collect the egg relatively unharmed.
After her was Krum. Of course Harry was last. Draco leaned closer. "Don't tell me you have a crush on Krum too!" Eli yelled at him, making me laugh.
"Oh, bugger off." Draco scoffed. I shivered from the late November winds. Draco noticed and instantly took his hoodie off.
"Oh, no, no, no, I'm fine-" I shook my head.
"Shut up, will you?" He the the hoodie at my face. I blushed slightly as I put it on and rolled my eyes and the smirking blonde. It was his Quidditch one that had his last name and number on the back. It had the Slytherin Quidditch logo on the front.
"You know I have my own, right? I'm on the Quidditch team." I giggle. He smirks and shakes his head.
"Yes but does yours smell like and and have my last name on it?" He arched a brow. I stayed silent. "Didn't think so."
We went back to watching Krum. His plan was to transform the rocks laying on the floor into configurations that looked like animals to distract the dragon while he grabbed the egg. They all had similar and simple plans. Harry's was unique, it was different. That'll be good for his score.
Well, if he succeeds.
Krum finished and the canon blew again as Harry walked out. I instantly jumped up. "Harry! Harry! Harry!" I chanted loudly with the crowd. Eli stood with me. Draco frowned and said nothing, but clapped a little for my sake.
Harry walks out into the arena and the Horntail is nowhere to be seen. The golden egg is sitting in the center of the ground of the arena. Harry looks around. I shake my head, knowing this idiot was about to walk forward and try to grab the egg.
And he did. The second he start walking, the dragon flies down and lands in front of the egg. I scream in fright and instinctively turn to Draco, burying my face in his chest.
I hear his heartbeat pick up as his breath hitches. I glance up at his face to see a deep blush covering it. I smile a little as he wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to him.
"Ugh, get a room." Eli scoffs with disgust.
I look at him in shock. "Did I or did I not catch you and Audrey making out in the common room?"
"Oh, gross, dude." Draco glares at him.
"It's Aubrey." Eli mumbles.
I roll my eyes and look back down at Harry and the dragon. It was breathing fire at him as he raced to hide behind the rocks.
He hid behind one and got stuck there as the Horntail continuously breathed fire at it, melting it. A few rows down I see Hermione banging on the wooden rail in front of her and yelling down at Harry. I couldn't hear her over the crowd but I saw her lips. Your wand! She was yelling.
Your wand, Harry. I tell him for her. Use your wand!
I see him nod even though he doesn't know where I am. He turns away from behind the rock and points his wand at the castle. "Accio Firebolt!" He yells.
Nothing happens for a moment, but when I look up and see his broom whizzing towards him I cheer and clap. His broom flies down to him and he jumps on it, not letting it stop as he flies up.
He flies through the professor's stand. The Horntail breaks free from its chain and flies above the stand, smashing the roof of it.
Harry flies closer to the castle, making it harder and unable for us to actually see what's going on. I eventually give up and fall back into my seat, looking at the empty arena.
Eli and Draco do the same. "So..." Eli trails off, "How about that weather?"
I look at him. "You're an absolute dimwit, you know that?'
"But you absolutely love me for it." He sticks his tongue out at me.
"Indeed I do." I grin. Draco scoffs. "Oh hush it Snake Boy, you have majority of my heart anyways." I smirk when Draco goes beet red.
We're interrupted by a large and distant crash. We all turn back to the castle to see the Horntail crash into one of Hogwart's bridges and fall into the abyss below. We're all silent for a minute, holding our breath.
I'm the first to see Harry fly back towards the arena. I jump to my feet. "Yeah, Harry!" I yell. The crowd cheers with my as he swoops down and collects the golden egg into his arms.
He flies up, a huge smile on his face. He scans the crowd and catches sight of me. I smile widely and flip him two thumbs up. He raises a fist in victory and I laugh.
I clapped as Fred and George raised Harry on his shoulders above the crowd. I was in the Gryffindor common room, having decided to join the party that was going on here. Even the portraits were celebrating!
Harry held the egg up so everyone could see it. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, "Don't drop it, Potter! That's my clue!" The crowd laughed.
"Knew you wouldn't die, Harry!" Fred yelled. "Lose a leg,"
"Or an arm," George continued. "Pack it all together,"
"Never!" They both cried.
"Sush!" Seamus yelled to the crowd. "Go on, Harry. What's the clue?" He asked. A playful smirk played on his lips as he arched a brow at me.
"Who wants me to open it?" He asked. The crowd cheered. I grinned at Harry's playful and prideful attitude. "Do you want me to open it?" Louder cheers.
He twisted the top of the decal on the egg and it opened. An awful and ear-piercing screech filled the air. Everyone, including me, covered their ears. Fred and George dropped Harry so they could cover theirs. Harry quickly closed the egg and it shut up.
"What the bloody hell was that?" A voice asked from the stairway that led to the boy's dormitories. The whole crowd turned to see Ron standing there. Harry and I frown.
"Alright, everyone, go back to your knitting. This is going to be uncomfortable enough without all your nosey sods listening in." Fred tells everyone.
Ron walks forward to meet Harry and I, a guilty look on his face. "I reckon you'd have to be barking mad to put your own names in the Goblet of Fire."
"Caught on, have you?" Harry nodded bitterly. "Took you long enough."
"Yeah, we were really looking forward to getting caught in a deadly magical contract." I glare at Ron.
"Wasn't the only one who thought you'd done it." Ron defends himself. "Everyone was saying it behind your backs."
"Brilliant. That makes me feel loads better." Harry sighs.
"Bet they wish they hadn't now that he's won." I smirk, ruffling his messy and dirty hair.
"At least I warned you guys about the dragons." Ron smiled a little. Harry and I blink at him.
"Hagrid warned us about the dragons." Harry looked confused, as was I.
"Yeah, you weren't talking to us, remember?" I scowl.
"No, no, I did." Ron looks surprised. "Don't you two remember? I told Hermione to tell Harry that Seamus told me that Parvati told Dean that Hagrid was looking for you both. Seamus never actually told me anything so it was really me all along." He looked down. "I thought we'd all be alright, you know, after you guys figured that out."
"Who could possibly figure that out?" Harry and I asked at the same time. It was getting harder to suppress my grin.
"That's completely mental." Harry shakes his head.
"Totally bonkers." I add.
"It is, isn't it?" Ron grins. We all laugh a little. "I suppose I was a bit distraught."
My gaze wanders over to Hermione, who's shaking her head with a look of disbelief at us. I couldn't help but laugh and pull the two boys in for a group hug.
"Get over here, Granger." I call, and the four of us hug.
The core four.