Selena Black

Chapter 17: The Hungarian Horntail and the Peruvian Vipertooth.

Chapter 17: The hungarian horntail.

Chelbell2016:

Sorry for the wait.

Selena's POV:

The prospect of talking face-to-face with my dad was all that sustained me over the next fortnight, the only bright spot on a horizon that had never looked darker. The shock of finding himself school champion had worn off slightly now, and the fear of what was facing me had started to sink in. The first task was drawing steadily nearer; I felt as though it were crouching ahead of me hike some horrific monster, barring my path.

I had never suffered nerves like these; they were way beyond anything I had experienced before a Quidditch match, not even his last one against Slytherin, which had decided who would win the Quidditch Cup. I was finding it hard to think about the future at all; I felt as though my whole life had been heading up to, and would finish with, the first task.

Admittedly, I didn't see how dad was going to make me feel any better about having to perform an unknown piece of difficult and dangerous magic in front of hundreds of people, but the mere sight of a friendly face would be something at the moment. I wrote to dad to let him know Harry and I will meet mum.

In the meantime, life became even worse for Harry and I within the confines of the castle, for Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly colored life story of Harry and I.

Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry and I stood next to each other; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry, and I the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all.

The article had appeared ten days ago, and Harry and I still got a sick, burning feeling of shame in our stomachs every time we thought about it. Rita Skeeter had reported him saying an awful lot of things that he couldn't remember ever saying in his life, let alone in that broom cupboard.

I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. . . . Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. . . . I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me. . .

But Rita Skeeter had gone even further than transforming his "er's" into long, sickly sentences: She had interviewed other people about him too.

Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school. Miss Dumbledore seems to have no love interest but maybe she will find love in Ronald Weasley another one of there friends.

From the moment the article had appeared, Harry had had to endure people --Slytherins, mainly -- quoting it at him as he passed and making sneering comments.

"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"

"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"

Hermione had come in for her fair share of unpleasantness too, but she hadn't yet started yelling at innocent bystanders; in fact, Harry was full of admiration for the way she was handling the situation.

"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with Hermione after Rita's article had appeared. "What was she judging against - a chipmunk?"