Book 2.
Harry Potter is starting his third year at Hogwarts. Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban. Remus Lupin is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
But most important was the news of Josette Hart's return to Hogwarts after mysteriously disappearin...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Can I have a word?" Harry stood in front of Cedric. Walking through the halls just to find him had been hell for Harry. Everyone was wearing these garish badges that would support the Hufflepuff Champion one moment and transform to insult Harry the next. He lost count of how many had been shoved in his face just that day alone.
However, he had to tell Cedric something important. And in order to do so, he had to bear the snickers and dirty looks.
Yesterday Hagrid showed him the dragons that were transported from Romania. They have to face a dragon in their first task. Fleur and Victor already knew about it and they may have already started preparing for it. He had to tell Cedric too or it would do injustice to him.
More hurtful words were thrown his way by Cedric's own friends. Cedric sat up, from his friend's lap, having used it as a pillow. With a strange look, he gave a nod and followed Harry to a small tree several yards away. Harry ignored the taunts and jeering of the seventh years behind them.
Turning to face the Hufflepuff, Harry said "Dragons."
Cedric looked confused, so he explained. "That's the first task. They have one for each of us. A Swedish Short-Snout, a Norwegian Ridgeback, a Chinese Fireball and a Hungarian Horntail. Whatever we're doing, has to do with Dragons."
Cedric looked like someone had just killed his cat. The horror that entered those eyes, was nearly palpable. "A-are you serious?" he asked. Harry nodded. "And Fleur and Krum, they....."
"Yes."
Cedric floundered for a moment, before shaking himself off. Harry nodded and turned to leave but Cedric caught his arm. "Look, Harry, about the badges, I asked them not to wear them."
Harry shrugged it off, like it was nothing. "Don't worry about it."
~☆~
Cedric sat in the library on Saturday with Cho by his side, helping him to learn how to fight a dragon. While reading he seemed to have zoned off, he was sitting very still, staring off into nowhere while Cho read for him. She saw he was not paying attention, his silence started to scare her.
"Ced...are you feeling okay?" She asked. He shook his head. "You're going to be fine. We still have enough time for you to prepare for the task. And you're great with spells, you'll be amazing." He didn't look convinced
"Cho, I'm fighting a dragon. There's no knowing what it could be like. What if I get a really vicious dragon? What if anger him more and he just starts shooting fire. I may have rehearsed the wrong spells. What if those spells don't work on a dragon? What if I am doing it wrong? What if-" Cho stopped him before he could tell more ways how the dragon would kill him.
"If you're so unsure about your spells, why don't you ask one who knows the most about it? You know, ask one of the professors to see if you're doing the spells correctly or not?" She asked.
