Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Sixty

The atmosphere in the school on the day of the first task 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.

Harry was becoming increasingly jittery and nervous, even more so than for the House Cup match for Quidditch last year. I tried to take his mind off things by talking to him about random things.

He'd told me that yesterday he'd told Cedric about the dragons.

At lunch, Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to Harry in the Great Hall and told Harry, "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," Hermione whispered.

"You'll be fine!" I said, squeezing his hand as he stood.

"Yeah," said Harry in a small voice. He left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall.

"Miss McKeon, Madame Pomfrey has requested that you assist her in the first aid tent. You'll still be able to watch the Task; you'll just be with Madame Pomfrey in case she needs extra help."

"Okay, Professor," I said. I turned to Hermione. "I guess we'll be watching the task from the first aid tent."

"Do you think I'd be allowed —"

"Of course, as long as you're not actively preventing Madame Pomfrey from helping the champions, I'm pretty sure you'll be allowed."

The first task was terrifying and thrilling to watch. I'd never had to fight a dragon before, but it looked extremely difficult, and all the champions were doing was trying to grab the golden egg and run for it. I would probably have to try to kill any dragon I came across during a quest, otherwise it would pursue me and try to eat me.

I was pretty impressed with the strategies the champions had come up with, even if they were imperfect. Cedric tried to distract his dragon by turning a rock into a dog, but the dragon went after Cedric anyway, and Cedric got burned. Fleur managed to lure her dragon to sleep, but she caught fire when the dragon snored. Krum used some sort of curse and aimed for the dragon's eye, but the dragon crushed some of the real eggs while it was stumbling around in pain.

Luckily — unlike the eggs — Cedric, Krum, and Fleur all managed to get through the task relatively unscathed. I was mainly just handing Madame Pomfrey ointments and bandages for Cedric's burns.

Then it was Harry's turn.

I watched with a death grip on Hermione's hand. Hermione didn't seem to mind; she was gripping my hand just as tightly. Would Harry be able to pull off the spell, or was he going to have to think of a different strategy while trying to defend himself from the dragon?

Harry walked into the arena. I couldn't see his expression from where I was, but I could tell by the stiffness of his shoulders that he was (understandably) terrified.

Fortunately, Harry seemed to have a grip on himself, because he immediately raised his wand and shouted "Accio Firebolt!"

At first it didn't seem like anything was happening.

Then I heard it. I turned and saw Harry's Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount.

"Ha!" I shrieked. "He did it!"

Harry swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground, soaring high into the air, where he paused, probably to strategize for a moment. Then he dived. The Horntail's head followed him, but he pulled out of the dive just before a jet of fire was released exactly where he had been a second ago.