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ღ chapter thirty seven ( the first task )
HER HEART HAD skipped rope in her chest when Cedric faced the Swedish Short Snout. It had been bouncing like a ball when Fleur had taken center stage against the Welsh Green, and had been in her throat by the time Krum finished with the Chinese Fireball. By the time Harry emerged, she was a bundle of nerves, her heart plummeting to her shoes as Harry did exactly what they planned.
Harry dived, the Horntail's head following him, and he pulled out of it just in time, narrowly avoiding a jet of fire.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped, Hermione holding Juliet's arm so tightly that Jules was sure her circulation had been cut off. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck. He plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky. He missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.
Now he zoomed around the back of the Horntail, and began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared. He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, like a snake before its charmer.
Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now. She shot fire into the air, which he dodged, her jaws open wide.
And then she reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane- and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he had sped toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs, taken his hands off his Firebolt, and seized the golden egg- And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely tucked under his uninjured arm.
Jules screamed loudly, clapping as she breathed a sigh of relief. He had done it.
"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!"
"C'mon," Ron mumbled, suddenly appearing with pink cheeks. "Let's go see him."
Jules gave him a weird look as they made their way through the elated crowd to the medical tent, where Harry presumably was. "You are an idiot," she grumbled, shoving him. He gave his best friend the look, the one he always used when he was apologizing. She was brash and loud, a hooligan of sorts even if she got good marks, and he was the boy who was always trying to prove himself and could never shake off various shadows. She felt bad for Ron, no one deserved to live in the shadows, but she was holding a slight grudge against him right now for avoiding Harry,
