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Aurora Areli
"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE they're making you compete," I said to Harry, as he, Hermione and I walked around the lake. Harry and I had just explained the whole dragon situation to Hermione, and everything Sirius had said.
"I agree, but there's no helping it now," Hermione said. Though she was alarmed by Sirius' warnings about Karkaroff, she thought that dragons were the most pressing problem. "What we need to focus on now is keeping Harry alive until Tuesday evening. Then we can worry about Karkaroff."
"Right," I nodded. "How are we going to do that, again?"
We walked three times around the lake, trying to think of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon all the way. Nothing whatsoever occurred to us, so we retired to the library instead. There, we pulled down every book we could find about dragons, and the three of us set to work searching through the large pile.
"Talon-clipping by charms . . . treating scale rot . . . this is no good, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them healthy . . ."
"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 . . . but Sirius said a simple one would do it . . ."
"Then let's try some simple spellbooks," I said, and Harry nodded before throwing aside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much, and standing to retrieve more books.
He returned to the table with a teetering pile of spellbooks a few minutes later, set them down, and began to flick through each of them in turn. I worried my lip as I skimmed the pages over Harry's shoulder, feeling more hopeless as Hermione whispered nonstop.
"Well, there are Switching Spells . . . but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine gums or something, that would make it less dangerous . . . the trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide . . . I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall . . . unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing OWL practice papers . . ."
"Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "will you shut up for a bit, please? I'm trying to concentrate."
Hermione instantly fell silent. I grew tired of waiting for Harry to turn the pages of his book, so I reached over and took the next book out of the pile, Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. There were spells inside like instant scalping . . . but dragons had no hair . . . pepper breath . . . that would only increase a dragon's firepower . . . horn tongue . . . because the dragon definitely needed another weapon . . .
"Oh, no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" Hermione said irritably, breaking me out of my anxious trance as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over the three of us, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, Rory, we'll go back to the common room . . . his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away . . ."
Sure enough, as we left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past us, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.
. . . . .
On Monday morning, at breakfast, I finally managed to convince Harry to eat something. It had been difficult for him to do so for the past few days, but he needed his strength for the next day if he was going to be battling a dragon.
Harry, Hermione and I had just finished breakfast, and were about to get up to go to Herbology when I spotted Cedric leaving the Hufflepuff table. I realised that he was probably the only champion who was completely unaware of the fact that he would be facing a dragon the following afternoon, so I tapped Harry's shoulder to get his attention.
"What is it?" he said, looking at me in confusion, so I nodded in Cedric's direction. When that only earned me another clueless look, I sighed.
"We should tell Ced about the dragons," I said. "He probably doesn't know, and it wouldn't be fair if you, Krum and Fleur were the only ones that did."
"Yeah, I guess so," Harry nodded, so he turned to Hermione and said, "Hermione, we'll see you in the greenhouses. Go on, me and Rory'll catch you up."
"But you two'll be late, the bell's about to ring —"
"We'll catch you up, okay?"
Harry and I hurried after Cedric, but by the time we reached the bottom of the marble staircase, he was at the top. He was with a load of his sixth-year friends, who hadn't been very friendly towards Harry; they were among those who had been quoting Rita Skeeter's article at him. I guessed that Harry didn't want to talk to Cedric in front of them, so we followed him at a distance towards the Charms corridor.
I was about to tell Harry that I would just go up to Cedric before he got to Professor Flitwick's classroom, but Harry had already pulled out his wand.
"Diffindo!" I heard him whisper.
Cedric's bag split. Parchment, quills and books spilled out of it onto the floor. Several bottles of ink smashed.
"Don't bother," Cedric said exasperatedly to his friends, as they bent down to help him, "tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on . . ."
Harry slipped his wand back into his robes, avoiding my disapproving look as we waited for Cedric's friends to disappear into their classroom. Once they had done so, we hurried up the corridor, which was empty of everyone but myself, Harry and Cedric.
"Hi, Rory, Harry," Cedric greeted, picking up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink. "My bag just split . . . brand new and all . . ."
"Cedric," Harry said, getting straight to the point, "the first task is dragons."
"What?" Cedric said, looking up.
"Dragons," Harry said quickly. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."
Cedric stared up at Harry; I could see the panic flickering in his grey eyes.
"Are you sure?" he asked, in a hushed voice.
"Dead sure," Harry nodded. "I've seen them."
"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know . . ."
"Never mind that, Ced," I said, shaking my head. "But I'm betting Fleur and Krum know about them — Harry said Madame Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons, too."
Cedric straightened up, his arms full of inky quills, parchment and books, his ripped bag dangling off one shoulder. He stared at Harry and I with a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes.
"Why are you telling me?" he asked.
Harry stared at Cedric with disbelief written all over his features, while I frowned. Surely he wouldn't think we would lie to him?
"It's just . . . fair, isn't it?" Harry finally spoke up. "We all know now . . . we're on an even footing, aren't we?"
Cedric was still looking at Harry in a slightly suspicious way when I heard a familiar clunking noise behind us. I spun around, and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom.
"Come with me, Potter," he growled. "Diggory, Areli, off you go."
"Er — Professor," Harry said apprehensively, "I'm supposed to be in Herbology —"
"Never mind that, Potter, Miss Areli can tell Professor Sprout you're with me," Moody said. "In my office, please . . ."
Harry looked at me, seeming slightly panicked, but all I could do was send him a tight-lipped smile and what I hoped was a reassuring nod. Moody wouldn't get Harry in trouble, would he? With one last lingering look, Harry turned and followed Moody's clunking footsteps down the corridor.
I turned back around, and saw Cedric struggling to keep hold on all of his inky belongings.
"Here, let me help," I said, before pulling out my wand, pointing it at Cedric's split bag and saying, "Reparo!"
In an instant, Cedric's bag was stitched together again, though still covered in ink. He sent me a grateful smile as I helped him put his books back inside it.
"Thanks, Rory," he said, clipping his bag shut. "I would've done that myself, but . . ."
I smiled, and waved a hand dismissively. "It's no big deal, but I should probably get to Herbology now."
"And I should get to Charms," Cedric said. "See you later, Rory."
"Bye, Ced," I said, "good luck tomorrow."
Cedric smiled nervously. "Thanks, I'll need it."
With a wave, I turned and headed the opposite way down the corridor to begin my trek to greenhouse three. Five minutes later, I entered the greenhouse, earning a very sour look from Professor Sprout. After a quick explanation of where I was (leaving out certain details, of course) and telling her that Harry was with Moody, Professor Sprout gave me a nod and ushered me over to help Hermione prune her Flutterby Bush.
"What did you two do?" Hermione asked in a whisper, momentarily pausing her clipping of the quivering Flutterby Bush.
So I explained to her where Harry and I went, what we told Cedric, and that Moody had taken Harry to his office for unknown reasons. While Hermione did express her disapproval on skipping classes, she also said that it was good of us to tell Cedric about the dragons.
A short while later, Harry frantically entered the greenhouse, uttered a hurried apology to Professor Sprout as he passed her, and came over to Hermione and I as quickly as he could.
"Hermione, Rory," he whispered, slightly out of breath. "I need you to help me."
"What d'you think we've been trying to do, Harry?" I muttered back, feeling slightly anxious as I looked up into his overwrought emerald gaze.
"Rory, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon."
. . . . .
And so we practised. We didn't have lunch, but headed for a free classroom, where Harry tried with all his might to make various objects fly across the room towards him. He was still having problems, as the books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones to the floor.
"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate . . ." Hermione pressed, tapping her foot nervously.
"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" Harry said angrily. "A filthy great dragon keeps popping into my head, for some reason . . . Okay, try again . . ."
He wanted to skip Divination to keep practising, and I would have easily agreed, but Hermione point-blank refused to skive off Arithmancy, and wouldn't let me stay either (no matter how pointless she thought Divination was). Harry and I therefore had to endure over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars in relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths.
"Well, that's good," Harry said loudly, his temper seeming to get the better of him, "just as long as it's not drawn-out, I don't want to suffer."
I almost found his words funny, until I thought about how much danger he would be in in less than twenty-four hours, and how much I didn't want him to die. Ron looked for a moment like he was going to laugh, too, but Harry didn't even spare him a glance.
For the rest of the lesson, Harry and I practised the Summoning Charm under the table; I would hold out quills, bits of parchment, and other small objects, while Harry would whisper the charm under his breath.
After Divination, we met up with Hermione, forced down some dinner, then returned to the empty classroom, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers. We kept practising until past midnight. We would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. Harry, Hermione and I left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was — very luckily — empty.
At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects — books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones and Neville's toad, Trevor. Harry had only really got the hang of the Summoning Charm in the last hour.
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione praised, looking exhausted, but very pleased.
"She's right," I agreed, smiling as I tucked my legs under myself in my chair. "You're really getting the hang of this."
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a Rune Dictionary back to me, so he could try again, "threaten me with a dragon. Right . . ." He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!"
The heavy book soared out of my hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" Hermione said, delightedly.
"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much further away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there in the grounds . . ."
"That doesn't matter," I said firmly. "Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. But we'd better get some sleep, Harry . . . you're going need it."
. . . . .
The next 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 know what they would find there yet.
The whole morning went by for me in a sort of anxious blur. I could barely focus during History of Magic, but it wasn't out of boredom this time — no, I was too busy worrying about the outcome of that afternoon.
I found Cedric in the corridor on the way to lunch, and after wishing him good luck, I caught back up with Harry and Hermione. The three of us just sat at the Gryffindor table in silence, barely eating. I couldn't find it in me to finish my bowl of soup; my stomach already felt like it was full of crazed butterflies. Before I knew it, Professor McGonagall was hurrying over in our direction amid heavy stares.
"Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now," she told Harry, sounding as nervous as I felt, "you have to get ready for your first task."
"Okay," Harry said, standing up, his spoon falling onto the table with a clatter.
"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"
"Yeah," Harry said blankly.
"Hey," I said, reaching out to grab onto his wrist. "You can do this."
Harry stared down at me, eyes full of an emotion I couldn't read, and opened his mouth to say something before promptly shutting it. Instead, he simply nodded, and I let go of his wrist to allow him to follow Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall.
"I'm going to be sick," I said to Hermione, pushing away my bowl and putting my head in my arms.
Hermione patted my back in a comforting way. "Harry'll be all right, he always is."
I lifted my head to look at her. "He's never had to get past a dragon before, Mione."
Hermione couldn't seem to think of a response. Lunch finally came to an end, and the two of us stood to join the queue of students heading back up to their respective dormitories to deposit their books and bags, and get changed out of their school robes. After we did so, Hermione and I met up with Fred, George, Ginny, Lee and Ron (who still wouldn't look me in the eye) and joined the sea of students clambering down through the Entrance Hall and across the grounds to where the first task would be taking place.
The teachers guided us towards a sort of stadium at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where we sat with the rest of our house near the front, right behind the railing. Dumbledore, Bagman, Crouch, Madame Maxime, and Karkaroff entered the stands as well, and sat down in the judges' seats. For a few minutes, no sound could be heard besides the excited chattering of hundreds of students from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Then, suddenly, there was a loud scuffling and a series of growls and roars as a large group of wizards — including Ron's brother, Charlie — ushered a blueish-grey dragon into the arena.
Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of his face when he saw, before he sat back with a groan, looking significantly greener than before.
"That's a dragon," he said. "Harry has to battle a dragon."
"You really think he would sign up for this, Ronald?" I hissed, but before he could respond, Dumbledore spoke up.
"The first task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin. As you can see here, the champions will each have to get past a different dragon, and retrieve the golden egg from its nest. As these dragons are nesting mothers, it will prove exceptionally difficult for the champions to get through. Rest assured, there are staff on hand if anything were to happen, but for the most part, the champions are on their own.
"Our first champion to go is Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts!" Dumbledore paused to allow the cheers to die down. "He must get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Let the first task commence!"
A few seconds later, a whistle blew, and Cedric entered the dragon's enclosure. The crowd roared with excitement; I joined in as best I could with my ever-increasing nerves.
Cedric moved very quickly, darting across the rocks and avoiding the dragon's flames. The crowd screamed when he nearly got hit, amid comments like, "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow," from Bagman. Cedric then pointed his wand at one of the larger rocks and shouted something I couldn't quite make out. Soon enough, the rock transformed into a golden Labrador Retriever, which didn't appear to have any clue as to what was going on and made the crowd cheer loudly. The dragon's attention was quickly diverted towards the shiny dog, and she stalked towards it instead. Cedric seized the opportunity to hurry across the rocky terrain towards the nest of dragon's eggs.
"He's taking risks, this one!" Bagman shouted, as Cedric edged right past the distracted dragon. I was holding onto Hermione's hand tightly as I watched him. Then, to my horror, the dragon noticed Cedric, and refocused its attention on him. The crowd yelled and gasped when the dragon opened its mouth and sprayed Cedric with flames, luckily only grazing the side of his face when he jumped away. "Clever move — pity it didn't work!" said Bagman.
Eventually, after several more gruelling minutes, Cedric managed to avoid the dragon's flames just long enough to leap forward and scoop the golden egg out of the nest. I clapped and cheered as loud as I could with the rest of the crowd when Cedric held the egg up for everyone to see, and the dragon keepers wrestled the struggling Swedish Short-Snout out of the enclosure.
"Very good indeed!" Bagman yelled over the crowd. "And now with the marks from the judges!"
When the judges showed their scores, Cedric managed to rack up thirty-eight points. He grinned at the score, looking very exhausted and relieved, and was quickly ushered away to treat the burns on his face.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman bellowed, as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur entered the enclosure with her head held high, and her hand clutching her wand. I felt a sort of admiration for her then; I would have been completely terrified if I was in her position. Everyone clapped and cheered as she advanced towards the Welsh Green dragon, which had been brought out a short while before.
Fleur got as close as she could without attracting the dragon's attention, kneeled behind a rock, pointed her wand at the dragon and uttered a spell I couldn't hear. At once, the dragon began to sway and its eyes fluttered shut. I wasn't sure if it was in some kind of trance, or was simply asleep, but the crowd cheered enthusiastically nonetheless. Fleur quickly darted towards the unconscious dragon, maneuvering around its many limbs and wings to get to the golden egg.
She had almost reached her target when the dragon let out a snore, and a great jet of flames burst towards her, successfully setting the edge of her skirt alight. Fleur shrieked, and put out her skirt with a small stream of water from her wand.
"Oh . . . nearly!" Bagman shouted gleefully. "Careful now . . . good Lord, I thought she'd had it then!"
A few minutes later, Fleur had managed to sneak past the dragon without getting burned and scoop up her prize. The crowd erupted into applause once more and the dragon keepers came back out to take the drowsy Welsh Green out of the arena. The judges showed their scores, which weren't as high as Cedric's, but were good nonetheless. Everyone clapped as she was led out of the arena.
The whistle blew for a third time, and Bagman cried, "And here comes Mr Krum!"
Krum slouched into the dragon's enclosure as the crowd whooped and cheered, his scowl heavier than usual. He wasted no time, and was soon clambering around rocks towards the Chinese Fireball he had been assigned. Krum already had his wand out, and was pointing it at the dragon.
"Very daring!" Bagman yelled, as Krum cast his spell. I winced as the dragon emitted a horrible, roaring shriek when Krum's spell hit it right in the eyes — I recognised it as the Conjunctivitis Curse when the dragon's eyes swelled shut. Because it couldn't see, the dragon flailed its wings and stumbled around, trampling half the real eggs. The unpleasant sounds of the eggs bursting made me cringe. I really hoped they were unfertilized, because there was no way they would have survived otherwise. However, Krum didn't seem to feel very sympathetic, and instead tore across the rocks, right towards the dragon.
"That's some nerve he's showing — and — yes, he's got the egg!"
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass. I clapped along (admittedly not very enthusiastically) while Krum got his score from the five judges, which put him in first place. Karkaroff gave him a ten, which I thought was very biased, but I couldn't do anything about it besides glare at him with Ron.
But my hands were soon held very tightly together in my lap. Harry's turn would be any minute now.
Bagman shouted something else. The whistle blew for the fourth time that afternoon. Harry slowly emerged through the entrance of the champions' tent, and it became very hard to breathe.
Everyone was staring as Harry faced the Hungarian Horntail — easily the worst of the four dragons he could've been assigned — with wide eyes, his wand held tightly in his right hand. The Horntail was crouched low over her clutch of eggs opposite Harry, her wings half furled, her evil, yellow eyes on Harry as she thrashed her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, both friendly and hostile as Harry took a step forward, wand raised.
I could barely make out the sound of him shouting, "Accio Firebolt!" over the ruckus.
Some people laughed when Harry simply stood still, waiting, but I knew he was just waiting for his broom to make its way to him.
"Come on, come on," I muttered, trying to ignore the way my heart was pounding in my head, "please work, please work."
And then there were gasps, and the crowd roared with applause as Harry's Firebolt came hurtling towards him, stopping dead in mid-air beside him, waiting for him to mount it. Bagman was shouting something, but I wasn't listening, as I was too busy standing up and cheering with Hermione, Ron, Lee and the twins. All of our hard work had paid off.
Harry swung his leg over the broom, and kicked off from the ground. He shot into the air at a remarkable speed, the Horntail's head following him as he dived back down. Harry pulled out of the dive just in time for the jet of fire that had been released to miss him.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" Bagman yelled, as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Krum?"
Harry soared higher in a circle, the Horntail still following his progress, its head revolving on its long neck. It looked like Harry was trying to make the dragon dizzy, which it didn't seem to appreciate very much.
Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but he wasn't as lucky as the first time. He missed the flames, but, to my horror, the tail came whipping up to meet him instead. Harry swerved to the left, but one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.
I gasped, looking on in alarm as the crowd screamed and groaned, my hands gripping the railing of the enclosure so tightly my knuckles turned white. Hermione was clutching her face in horror, and Ron had turned very pale and green. Harry zoomed around the back of the Horntail, her great yellow eyes following like a cat stalking a fly.
It was clear Harry was trying to get the Horntail to move away from the nest, but she didn't seem to want to take off, too protective of her eggs. She writhed and twisted, furling and unfurling her wings as Harry flew around her.
Harry flew higher and higher, and the Horntail's head rose with him until her neck was stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying. Harry rose a few more feet, and the dragon let out a roar of exasperation. She shot fire into the air, which Harry was able to dodge.
Then suddenly, the Horntail reared, spreading her great black leathery wings. Harry dived down towards the now unprotected nest like a meteorite. He dodged the confused dragon, took his hands off his Firebolt and seized the golden egg.
The crowd exploded with applause and delighted shouts; I found myself cheering at the top of my lungs, jumping excitedly with Hermione and Ron. With a huge spurt of speed, Harry was off, soaring out over the stands, the golden egg safely tucked under his uninjured arm. He had done it — he had beat the first task.
"Look at that!" Bagman yelled over the screaming crowd. "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 for the final time, and Harry flew back over the stands towards Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid, who were hurrying to meet him.
"Come on, you two!" Hermione said, tugging Ron and I out of the stands. "Let's go and talk to him!"
We quickly agreed, and she let go to lead the way to the champions' tent.
"Rory?" Ron said hesitantly, as we made our way through the dense crowd of chattering, excited students.
"Yes?"
"I'm — er — I'm really sorry about what I said on Halloween," Ron said. I remained silent, staring ahead, waiting for him to continue. "It was stupid of me to agree with Malfoy, and — and I didn't mean any of it. You aren't stupid or naive at all — I was just being a git."
"You're right," I nodded. "You were being a git." I paused to knock his arm with my shoulder. "But I forgive you."
Ron looked very surprised. "You do?"
I nodded. "As long as you promise to never side with Malfoy ever again."
"Deal," Ron said, grinning.
I couldn't help but return the smile, and when I looked back, I saw that we had reached the champions' tent. Professor McGonagall, Moody and Hagrid were waiting outside, smiling bigger than I was.
"Mr Potter is inside being attended to by Madam Pomfrey," Professor McGonagall informed us.
I quickly thanked her before Hermione, Ron and I hurried inside, eager to see our green-eyed friend safe and sound.
Harry seemed to already be on his way out when we entered. Immediately upon seeing him, I rushed forward and threw my arms around his neck, barely noticing his surprised reaction.
"You were amazing!" I exclaimed, as he quickly returned the hug. "I knew you could do it!"
"All thanks to you and Hermione," Harry said, wearing a wide smile and rosy cheeks. I pulled back and turned to see Hermione and Ron approaching, both of them grinning as well.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were indents on her face from where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"
Harry acknowledged her with a thankful smile before moving his attention to Ron, who had gone very white at the sight of Harry, looking as though he had seen a ghost.
"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?" Harry said coldly. He still hadn't fully let go of me, but I wasn't complaining. "Took you long enough."
I exchanged apprehensive looks with Hermione, who was standing nervously between the boys. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly, most likely to apologise, but Harry didn't let him get any words out.
"It's okay," Harry said. "Forget it."
"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've —"
"Forget it," Harry repeated.
Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back. Then, to my surprise, Hermione burst into tears. The boys looked at me, and I almost laughed at the look of utter bewilderment on their faces.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, completely baffled.
"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before any of us could stop her, she had given us each a hug, and dashed away, sobbing.
"Barking," Ron said, shaking his head.
"No, not really," I disagreed. "C'mon, they'll be putting up Harry's scores soon."
Harry put his Firebolt over his uninjured shoulder and picked up the golden egg, taking hold of my left hand with his free one. The three of us ducked out of the tent and made our way back to the arena together, Ron telling Harry about what the other champions did to get their eggs at a rapid pace.
Ron drew a breath when he finished his explanation as he, Harry and I reached the edge of the enclosure. We found a spot with a good view of the five judges sitting across the enclosure in raised seats draped in gold.
"It's marks out of ten from each one," I informed Harry, as we squinted up the field to where the first judge — Madame Maxime — was raising her wand in the air. What looked like a long, silver ribbon shot out of it, twisting itself into a large figure eight.
"Not bad!" Ron said, as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took off points for your shoulder . . ."
Mr Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.
"Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping Harry on the back.
Dumbledore went next, putting up a nine as well. The crowd cheered harder than ever.
Ludo Bagman, to my surprise, put up a ten.
"Ten?" Harry said in disbelief. "But . . . I got hurt . . . what's he playing at?"
"Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.
And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, before a number shot out of his wand, too — four.
"What?" Ron bellowed furiously, and I frowned. "Four? You lousy biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"
"You know he just wants his own champion to win," I said, sighing.
Charlie Weasley hurried up to meet us as we set off back towards the school. "You're tied in first place, Harry!" he said excitedly. "Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened — but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah — and they told me to tell you you've got to hang around for a few more minutes . . . Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."
Ron and I assured Harry that we would wait, so he reentered the tent. While we waited, Ron and I talked all about the things that had happened over the past month, and came up with silly ideas for what that egg would be used for.
A few minutes later, Harry came out of the tent, followed by the other three champions. I quickly went up and congratulated Cedric and gave him a hug before rejoining Harry and Ron to walk back around the edge of the Forest, conversing about the first task all the way. Then, as we rounded a clump of trees, a witch leapt out from behind us.
It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing especially horrible acid-green robes that day, and was holding an equally ugly quill that blended perfectly against them.
"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now about the fairness of the scoring?"
"Yeah, you can have a word," Harry said savagely. "Goodbye."
With that, we set off back to the castle.