2 | CONFESSIONS° HARRY POTTER

9 | THE FIRST TASK

ACT TWO, the returned
CHAPTER NINE, the first task

   Harry had been the one to inform Iris that the very first task was dragons. Dragons. He had told her right before also asking her to help him learn how to do a Summoning Charm with Hermione before Tuesday afternoon. Truth be told, Iris had been a little surprised when Harry asked her to help him. She wasn't accustomed to people asking her to help him them learn spells and she didn't really know how to give very many pointers, but she supposed that that was why Hermione was coming along. That, and because it was Hermione Granger.

They practiced together, the three of them, in a free classroom where Harry desperately tried to get various objects to fly across the room towards him. Iris didn't really know what was going on between Harry and Ron (she had her guesses but she didn't want to ask in case she was crossing some sort of boundary or something), but she could tell that both Hermione and him could feel Ron's absence from the group. Iris felt it too and she barely even knew Ron that well.

Despite Harry's attempts, however, he was still struggling to get the spell and the books and quills would drop like stones on the floor.

"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate..." Hermione encouraged him.

"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" Harry asked angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason... Okay, try again..."

Harry had been the one to suggest that they skipped Divination to keep practicing, something that Iris normally would have been for had it not been for Hermione's refusal to skip Artihmacy. Harry asked Iris if she wanted to stay alone with him, but she denied that request because she figured he needed a break anyway--even if that break meant that she would be forced to listen to Professor Trelawney rambled on and on about how Mar's position in relation to Saturn meant that people born in July were in danger of sudden, violent deaths.

Iris doubted that that was helping to provide Harry with the break that he needed.

They returned to the empty classroom after dinner in the Invisibility Cloak with Hermione and stayed until past midnight. They probably would've stayed longer too, had Peeves not shown up and started throwing chairs at Harry. 

The next day, lessons stopped midday to give the students time to get to the dragon enclosure. Iris' friends were bustling with excitement (and making snide comments about Harry in the process) as they tried to guess what the first task was, but all Iris could worry about is whether Harry was going to be okay or not. And a part of her was irritated for caring so much because it was an unfamiliar feeling to her. 

Eventually, Cedric Diggory was the first to come out and face off with the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout that awaited him. The crowd roared to life, cheers coming from all around Iris,  as Cedric sprung into action. The crowd reacted accordingly, gasping, screaming, and yelling whenever the situation called for it as Cedric worked. There was one point where he accidentally turned a rock into a dog, but besides that he did fairly well. Bagman's commentary made the entire thing nearly unbearable and Iris did her best to block out him saying things such as: "Ooooh,  narrow miss there, very narrow!" and "He's taking risks, this one!". A short fifteen minutes later, Cedric had gotten past the dragon to the golden egg and the crowd yelled once more. 

Fleur Delacour was up next and Iris cast a glance over to where the girls from Beauxbatons, specfically Julietta, was seated. Julietta had a smirk on her face when Fleur stepped out, visibly trembling, but the amused expression fell off her face as Fleur got past the dragon and to the egg within ten minutes. Though, Iris did notice Julietta looking a little too happy when Fleur's skirt caught on fire after she tried to put the dragon to sleep.

Krum was up next against the Chinese Fireball. Iris thought that his Quidditch expertise would lend him a hand in the fight, but he didn't even fly. Instead, he just cast a spell that sent the dragon into agony and trampled half the real eggs. Sure, he took more risks than his previous two competitors, but he did get points taken off since eggs got crushed. However, the entire time Iris could feel the buzz from the crowd in the air as they all gaped up at him like the adoring fans they were. They had clapped so loud when he finished that Iris nearly thought her eardrum was going to burst.

Last up was Harry, the one that Iris had been dreading to see. Harry had more than proved that he was a good wizard, but that didn't take away any of the nervousness that Iris felt when he faced up against the Hungarian Horntail. It was on the opposite end of the enclosure from him, crouching low over her eggs with her wings furled, yellow eyes on Harry, and a large tail that left spike marks on the ground. 

"Accio Firebolt!" Harry shouted and his Firebolt came up from behind him before he mounted on it.  Iris knew that he was telling himself to think of this as a Quidditch match because it was the advice that she had given him during their practice sessions before.  He dived, dodging and evading in a way that could give Victor Krum a run for his money. 

Then, the Horntail opened its big mouth again. Harry narrowly missed the flames,  but caught the end of the tail instead, getting grazed by one of its spikes. Iris let out an audible intake of breath at that point, which had been the most visible reaction she had given the entire time. Harry started flying higher and higher and the moment that the Horntail spread her wings to fly up towards him, he dived down. And with a quickness that Iris only ever saw him display on the  Quidditch Pitch, he grabbed the golden egg.

"Look at that!" Bagman yelled. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up into the stands as people began to rush towards him, searching for one person in particular. He spotted Iris, standing in between Oliver and Astoria, and meeting his gaze. He smiled triumphantly up at her to which she nodded approvingly at him. In that moment, he wished that she could come down and celebrate his big win with him, but he knew that that wasn't possible, despite how much he wished it was. 

Iris stayed behind to watch the judges give their scores to Harry. Madame Maxime had given him an eight, Mr. Crouch gave him a nine, Dumbledore, a nine, and Ludo Bagman, a ten.

"What?" Pansy asked incredulousy.

Karkaroff was last and gave him a four.

"A four?" Oliver asked shocked. "He's obviously biased!"

Some Slytherins glared at Oliver for saying that but Iris couldn't agree more. Despite the four, Harry was still tied in first with Krum. 

"I cannot believe that Potter tied for first." Draco grumbled upset but Iris just chuckled to herself at her friend's annoyance. She wanted to go find Harry, but she figured that her friends and brother would notice if she was to try and sneak off to find the Gryffindor boy. With one last look in the direction that Harry and the rest of the champions had disappeared off to, Iris continued back to the castle with her friends.