The day before the task, Hermione, Harry, and I were still trying to figuring out ways to get past the dragons. Of course, at first, Hermione was terrified of the idea, but once she calmed down, she helped. Not that we figured out much.
Leaving the library, I stopped Cedric Diggory coming out of class.
"Harry, Cedric," I pointed over to him.
Cedric was talking with a group of his friends at the bottom of the steps.
"What about it?" Harry said.
"He doesn't know about the dragons! It's not fair!" I hissed and dragged him down the stairs with me towards Cedric.
"Diffindo!" I heard Harry say from beside me and saw Cedric's bag split, everything falling to the floor.
"Don't bother," said Cedric in an exasperated voice as his friends bent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on..."
"Hi," I said, bending down to help him pick up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink.
"Maisey Potter, yeah?" he said, standing up.
"Yeah, uh, Harry and I have got something to tell you," I said looking around the corridor. It was empty. Hermione had left for Herbology without us.
"Cedric," said Harry, "the first task is dragons."
"What?" said Cedric, looking at us in disbelief.
"Dragons," I said, speaking quickly, in case Professor Flitwick came out to see where Cedric had got to. "They've got five, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."
"Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice.
"Dead sure," said Harry. "We've seen them."
"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know..."
"Nevermind that," I dismissed him. "But we're not the only ones who know. Fleur and Krum will know by now— 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 me, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes.
"Why are you telling me?" he asked.
Harry looked over to me, asking for help with his eyes.
"Because it's not fair," I said firmly. "We all know. Even footing... plus we're all from the same school anyways."
Cedric gave me a nod and left for his class.
Later in the day, Harry almost peed himself with excitement. While Hermione and I had gone to Arithmancy, Harry was stopped by Professor Moody who helped him figure out how he would get past the dragon: His broom.
"I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon," Harry said.
And so we practiced. 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 toward him. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones to the floor. It wasn't until later that night that Harry finally was able to summon heavy objects from around the common room.
We had been so focused on helping Harry learn how to summon objects, that we never figured out how I would get past.
"Maisey!" Hermione cried. "We never figured out—"
"I-It's fine, I'll wing it," I reassured her.
Harry looked confused and upset that we had only focused on him, but as long as I didn't die, I was happy. Eating lunch wasn't on our minds and when Professor McGonagall came hurrying over to us, my heart dropped in my stomach.
"Potter, Miss Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now... You have to get ready for your first task."
"Okay," I breathed and took one last sip of my pumpkin juice. Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter and left with me.
"Good luck, you two," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"
We left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked us down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hands on our shoulders.
"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head. We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. Are you all right?"
"Yes," Harry and I said.
She was leading us toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when we approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, I saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing us, screening the dragons from view.
"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn. Mr. Bagman is in there, he'll be telling you the— the procedure. Good luck."
I nodded and Harry said, "thanks, and slowly we walked inside.
Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which I supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry and I entered, Cedric gave us a small smile, which I returned, feeling the muscles in my face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.
"Harry! Maisey! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at us. "Come in, come in, make yourselves at home!"
"Well, now we're all here— time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" — he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at us — "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different— er— varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too— ah, yes— your task is to collect the golden egg!"
I looked over at Harry and gave him a weak smile. Fleur and Krum didn't react, while Cedric looked calm. Of course, they chose to do this, Harry and I were thrown in against our will. I began to pace back and forth. My mind racing along with my heart.
And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour and me. I let Fleur go first.
She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon— a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck. And I knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.
I was next and put my hand in the bag to pick out a tiny model dragon— Australian Bluebell. It had a number four on it. I almost threw up. This was the second-worst one I could have gotten, next to the Horntail. Looking back at Harry, he gave me a small thumbs up while I walked away with the tiny model and sat in an empty chair, sipping water to calm my nerves.
Krum had the same reaction as Fleur, they expected it. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.
Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Knowing what was left, I winced as Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number five. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now, Harry.. could I have a quick word? Outside?"
"Er— yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman.
"Feeling alright Maisey?" Cedric sat down next to me and asked.
"Y-yeah," I said, rubbing my shaking hands on my tournament suit. "Just... actually, I'm t-terrified."
"You'll be fine," Cedric gave me a weak smile. "If you're anything like your bro—" He was cut off by a whistle. "Got to go, you'll do great!"
Cedric got up and left as Harry walked back in.
"How're you?" he asked.
"Terrified," I whispered.
"You'll do okay, Maise. I believe in you," he rubbed my arm.
"Remember," I said, "to Summon, you have to do it with the mindset of what you want."
"We've got this," Harry breathed.
Harry and I sat in nauseating silence. After fifteen minutes, Cedric grabbed his Golden egg. He didn't come back to this tent.
"One down, four to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur was trembling from head to foot as she left. Harry, Krum, and I were left here. The silence defeating besides the comments from Bagman.
Ten minutes later, the crowd roared again; Fleur had gotten her Golden egg as well.
"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving Harry and me alone.
I was shaking harder than I ever had before. I didn't know what to expect but knew that the tiny pink dragon was not actually tiny.
"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and I heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing— and— yes, he's got the egg!"
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished— it would be my turn any moment.
I stood up, noticing dimly that my legs seemed to be made of marshmallow. I waited. And then I heard the whistle blow. I walked out through the entrance of the tent, leaving Harry alone, the panic rising into a crescendo inside me. And now I was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence.
I saw everything in front of me as though it was a very highly colored dream. There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at me from stands that had been magicked there since I'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Bluebell, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, red eyes upon me, a monstrous, scaly, pink snakelike dragon, scratching her long talons, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, I didn't know or care.
I have to distract the dragon to get the egg. It was time to do what I had to do.
I'm not going to die.
The dragon let out a large roar at my presence.
I'm going to die.
I need a distraction. I raised my wand.
"Serpensortia!" I shouted four times.
Four large long black snake shot out of my wand, fell heavily onto the ground.
"Attack the dragon," I said to them.
All four serpents slithered their way to the dragon. She let out another high pitched shriek and blew out a puff of blue fire. I jumped out of the way and ran to the right. I saw two of the four snakes still making their way over the feet of the dragon.
"I believe she's made snakes attack the dragon," Bagman's voice echoed in the stadium. "How is that possible! How— and now the Australian Bluebell has made her way forward..."
Paying too much attention to Bagman's comments, I didn't notice the Bluebell making her way towards me through her chain.
"This isn't working," I said to myself.
I need to get it to not see me.
"Fumos!" I cried.
Thick fog steamed out of my wand, covering the entire ground of the field. I could barely see in front of me and could only hear the cries of the dragon.
"Attack the dragon," I said to the remaining snakes, hoping they heard me.
"Thick fog is obscuring our view! I wonder how Miss Potter will find the egg now," Bagman echoed.
I didn't think of that...
Running blindly, I listened for the sound of the dragon. The ground trembled under my feet as I ran the wall of the stadium. One ear-piercing cry later, I saw a blue of fire come out of the dragon's mouth— barely a few feet away from me. The heat was suffocating and I was close enough to get my leg burned.
I cried in pain at the burning feeling. This was going nowhere and I was injured. The fog started to lift after the Bluebell let out her fire. My visibility increased and I cussed under my breath, that would mean so did the dragon's.
I want to give up, I don't want to die.
With slight reluctance, I raised my wand, getting ready to send the red sparks, meaning I give up, but then an idea flew into my mind. Summoning Charm.
"Accio Golden Egg," I cried, in hopes it would work.
Anticipation and fear soared through my body as I waited. I had no clue if it would even work.
"What's she going standing— oh! What's that flying through the air—"
I squinted my eyes, past the dragon, to see something large and gold coming towards me. Before I could realize what it was, the egg flew into my chest and I fell backward at the force.
"She's got the egg! Within seven minutes, our youngest contestant, so far, has gotten the Golden egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Miss Potter!"
"Come to me," I said as I got up off the ground. Only one snake came to me; the only one left. With a flick on my wand, I said, "Vipera Evanesca" and it disappeared into black smoke.
As the smoke settled, I saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Bluebell, and, over the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid hurrying to meet me, all of them waving me toward them, their smiles evident even from this distance. I limped over to them, just in time to hear the whistle blow for Harry's turn.
The noise of the crowd pounding my eardrums, my heart lighter than it had been in weeks... I had got through the first task, I had survived— I didn't die.
"That was excellent!" cried Professor McGonagall. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey and stay in the tent before Potter gets finished."
"Yeh did it, Maisey!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Bluebell an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was almos' as bad—"
"Thanks, Hagrid," I smiled.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" I heard Bagman yell as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
I spun in my spot to see Harry flying up into the clouds. He Summoned his Firebolt, thank Merlin!
"C'mon, Miss Potter," Moody growled to me, pushing me along towards the tent.
I walked out of the way and towards the tent to Madam Pomfrey standing there, looking worried.
"Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling me inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; I could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined my leg, talking furiously all the while. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky... not too badly burned... it'll need cleaning before I put a paste on it, though..."
She cleaned the blisters with a dab of some purple liquid that smoked and stung, but put some weird smelling orange paste on my leg.
"Now, just sit quietly for a minute— sit! And then your brother—"
"Look at that!" Bagman yelled. "Will you look at that! One of our youngest champions almost beat his sister's time in quickest to get his egg! Well done, Mr. Potter!"
When Madam Pomfrey was out of sight, I jumped up and ran outside of the tent. Harry swooped down on his Firebolt and landed. I shrieked and ran to Harry, throwing my arms around him.
He hissed at the pressure and I jumped back to see he had a large cut on his shoulder.
"What happened?" I shouted.
"Come on, Maise," Harry said, grabbing my wrist.
"Tell me what—"
"Horntail got me when I was flying," he explained.
Madam Pomfrey gave me a stern look when she saw I was walking with Harry.
"I told you to stay in bed, missy," she pointed at me. "And you! Better get you cleaned up. Then you'll go out for your scores."
She put the same purple liquid on Harry's shoulder that she had put on my leg and then poked his shoulder with her wand, instantly healing it. Madam Pomfrey also told Harry to stay put, but once she was out of sight, we bolted out of the tent. But before we could leave, two people had come darting inside— Hermione, followed closely by Ron.
"Harry, Maisey, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"
"Thanks, Hermione," I gave her a quick hug.
"Quick thinking! The snakes, the fog, and the summoning," she gaped.
I looked over at Harry and Ron who were just staring at each other. Ron looked very white, staring from Harry and me as if we were ghosts.
"Harry, Maisey," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your names in that goblet — I — I reckon they're trying to do you in!"
I squealed in delight as Harry narrowed his eyes at him,
"Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."
Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly.
"It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it."
"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've —"
"Forget it," Harry said.
Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered.
"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug and tried to dash away, positively howling.
"Hermione!" I laughed, giving her a hug. "You, too, Ron!" I gestured for him to join our hug and so did Harry.
"Barking mad the two of youse," said Ron, shaking his head. "C'mon, they'll be putting up your scores!"
Harry picked up his Firebolt as we held our eggs and ducked out of the tent.
"You two were the best, you know, no question. Maisey, you spoke Parseltongue again and it was awesome! Of course, no one could hear you, but I knew you did because of the snakes. Then the smoke! Brillant. Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground— turned it into a dog— he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well— the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away.
"And that Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance — well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire — she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand.
"And Krum— you won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He was probably the best after you two, though. Hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs — they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them."
Ron drew breath as we reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the dragons have been taken away, I could see where the five judges were sitting— right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.
"It's marks out of ten from each one. Maisey, you go first," Ron said, and I stepped in front of the judges.
Squinting up the field, I saw the first judge— Madame Maxime— raise her wand in the air. What looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure nine.
"Not bad!" said Hermione as the crowd applauded. "Probably because you got burned.
Mr. Crouch came next. He shot a number eight into the air.
"Looking good!" Ron yelled, shaking my shoulders.
Next, Dumbledore. He too put up a nine. The crowd was cheering harder than ever.
Ludo Bagman — nine.
I sighed and gave Harry a smile.
And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too — four.
"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"
Next, Harry got his scores: Madam Maxime, eight— Crouch, nine— Dumbledore, nine— Bagman, ten—
"Ten?" said Harry in disbelief. "But ... I got hurt... What's he playing at?"
"Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.
—Karkaroff, four.
"Again?" Ron seethed. "I reckon he doesn't like the two of you."
I was Harry with my scores and followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the enclosure. Gryffindors weren't the only ones cheering in the crowd. When it had come to it, when they had seen what we were facing, most of the school we equally on all three of our sides... I didn't care about the Slytherins, I could stand whatever they threw at us now.
"You're tied in first place, Harry! You and Krum! Maisey, you've won second," said Charlie Weasley, hurrying to meet us as we set off back toward the school. "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 Hermione said they would wait, so Harry and I reentered the tent, which somehow looked quite different now: friendly and welcoming. I thought back to how I'd felt while avoiding the Bluebell, and compared it to the long wait before I'd walked out to face it... There was no comparison; the wait had been immeasurably worse. Fleur, Cedric, and Krum all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at Harry and me when he saw us.
"You two did good."
"And you," Harry and I grinned.
"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth— but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open— see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg — because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
Harry and I left the tent, rejoined Ron and Hermione, and we started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking hard; Harry and I wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail. Then, as we rounded the clump of trees behind which I had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them.
It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.
"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him and then saw me. "Uh, and Maisey. I wonder if one of you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"
Before Hary could say anything, I stepped forward, giving her my brightest and nicest smile.
"Yeah, you can have a word," I said savagely. "Good-bye."
And we set off back to the castle with Ron and Hermione in tow.