Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter nine

It's the day of the first task and everyone is in the arena built on a nearby mountain near the castle, sounds of cheering and shouting being all you can hear. I'm stood next to Ron and he seems a lot happier than I've seen him previously. I'm not sure where Hermione is, she just said she needed to talk to someone before the event started.

All of a sudden, I hear the voices of the twins going around, collecting bets from students. 

"Bets! Place your bets!" Fred exclaims, followed by George, "Bets taken, bets taken here!" I chuckle slightly watching them going around, their cheesy yet genuine smiles plastered on their faces. 

"Your attention, please!" Dumbledore projects, using his wand to amplify his voice to be heard over the crowd. "This is a great day for all of us." Oh yes, Dumbledore, a great day to watch students fight off a dragon individually. 

What a great day.

"Each of the three tasks involves very considerable danger. Please keep your seats at all times, this will minimise any risks you may be exposed to." I start to drown out Dumbledore's voice as I turn to Ron and ask him if he knows what any of the dragons are. "I believe there's a Welsh Green, a Hungarian Horntail, a Chinese Fireball and a Swedish Short-Snout," he says, adding that his brother said they'd be the most likely dragons used.

"But apparently, the Horntail can be a right nasty dragon." That doesn't fill me with much hope. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see Hermione walking back over to us. "Where were you?" I ask. "I went to wish Harry good luck, but that Skeeter woman interrupted everyone. Krum was quite harsh to her, saying she 'had no business there', which isn't wrong," she explains.

Suddenly, a loud cannonball is fired from the Champion's Tent, which I'm guessing is the signal for the first Champion to start their task. Everyone looks down at the tent and my nerves start to twitch when I see Cedric walk out, his eyes darting everywhere until he spots me.

He blows me a kiss and I smile, pretending to take it in my hand. Then his attention is brought to the dragon, which Ron whispers in my ear is the Swedish Short-Snout. I let out a heavy exhale as the task begins.

-

Cedric, Fleur and Krum have all managed to complete the task and retrieve their Golden Egg, now it's just Harry left who has to get his. As he exits the tent, the crowd practically explodes with applause, but then immediately quietens as we all watch Harry. 

He barely takes four steps into the arena before the dragon swings it's horned tail at him, throwing him into the wall. He repeatedly tries to get closer to the egg, but consistently fails as the dragon keeps attacking him.

"Use your wand, Harry!" I shout, followed by Hermione shouting the same thing. We see him whip out his wand and yell a spell at the sky, but we can't make out what it is. Then, a broomstick flies over our heads down into the arena and Harry jumps onto it, resulting in loud cheers from everyone watching.

He goes to fly to the egg, but diverts his course as the dragon's tail comes around and nearly catches the end of his broom. With nowhere else to go, he flies out of the arena, the dragon's tail slicing through the staff cover, knocking many of them down.

"Well done, dragon!" The twins shout, making my smile slightly. For the next ten minutes, we can't see anything but we hear a lot of crashing and falling tiles. Then, there's nothing.

"Come on, Harry," I whisper, holding my hands together and squeezing them tightly. After what feels like an eternity of seeing and hearing nothing, Harry flies back into view, smoke trailing from the end of his broom. Everyone starts to scream as Harry scoops up the egg and soon enough, we're celebrating in the Common Room, Gryffindor students and wizards in portraits on the walls applauding.

Fred and George scoop Harry up onto their shoulders, bouncing him slightly. "Knew you wouldn't die, Harry. Lose a leg. Or an arm. Pack it in all together? NEVER!" They exclaim, making him laugh aloud. 

The golden egg gets passed around until it reaches Seamus, who throws it to Harry. "Who wants me to open it?" Harry teases everyone, who cheer and shout excitedly. He opens the clatch and releases the most painful shrieking sound I've ever heard. Fred and George immediately drop him and everyone covers their ears until the egg gets closed again.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron exclaims, everyone including Harry stare at him awkwardly. "Alright, everyone, go back to your knitting. This is going to be uncomfortable enough without all you nosey sods listening in," one of the twins say. Everyone starts to disperse and move away, but I stay behind to listen.

"I reckon you have to be barking mad to put your own name in the Goblet of Fire," Ron starts. "Caught on, have you? Took you long enough," Harry says sarcastically.  Ron shrugs slightly and says, "Wasn't the only one who thought you'd done it. Everyone was saying it behind your back."

That I did not know.

"Brilliant," Harry replies, "that makes me feel loads better." Ron smiles slightly and says at least he warned him about the dragons. "Hagrid warned me about the dragons," Harry says, slightly confused.

"No, no, I did. Don't you remember? I told Hermione to tell you, that Seamus told me that Parvati told Dean that Hagrid was looking for you. Seamus never actually told me anything, so it was really me all along," Ron explains, a grin on his face. 

"I thought we'd be all right, you know, after you figured that out."

"Who could possibly figure that out?" Harry asks, "That's completely mental." They look at each other for a moment, smile and Ron walks away, so I walk in and approach Harry.

"Well, took him enough pestering from me," I say, smiling at Harry. "You told him to apologise?" He asks, to which I shake my head. "I just gave him a little push, deep down he wanted to." Harry smiles at me and I take his hand, taking him upstairs.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Upstairs, you've got bruises and cuts everywhere and it would be quicker to me to treat them then send you up to Madam Pomfrey."