The news that Harry had been allowed to compete spread through the school like wildfire after the selection ceremony. The majority of the students were outraged by it. Harry was underage. He had somehow cheated the system.
Luna thought it might not have been Harry himself. 2 seconds after Harry was chosen, the fire in the cup went out. This made it look as if the Goblet had been tricked into thinking that he had been added as a fourth school. This only had him as a student.
Fourth years certainly couldn't do that. She doubted that most teachers could even work a spell like that. Still, she seemed to be the only one who was convinced, so the school remained in a state of anger.
Slyhtherin played on this anger by conjuring buttons that could be worn on their robes, alternating between a yellow background with the face of Cedric Diggory on it saying 'Support Diggory the only true Hogwarts champion' and a green background with a green portrait of Harry on it saying 'Potter Stinks', this side even making a farting sound. It could be accessed by pressing the top of the button.
80% of the school wore them and thought they were very funny and clever. Avalon hated these things, she agreed with Luna and thought Harry would neverhave entered himself in there. He looked as surprised as everyone else when he was chosen.
After a few weeks, the anger faded a little and was replaced by the anticipation of what the first secret Triwizard Challenge would be, the excitement building with each passing day, no one knew what to expect. That was what made it almost unbearable.
Nobody seemed to know what was coming. Harry seemed to get more frightened with each passing day. After the ceremony it became clear that Ron and Harry were no longer friends. It seemed to weigh on Harry.
down a lot. He was now only in the company of Hermione Granger, who spent most of her time with him in the library, studying and talking in hushed tones. When Avalon visited once to do some research for her Potions essay, she found them sitting at a table in whispered conversation. 2 rows away, Victor Krum was also reading. Behind some of the bookshelves were giggling girls pointing at Victor. So Avalon decided to leave the library altogether.
On a warm afternoon, she and her friends were sitting by their favourite beach tree in the grounds when Hermione, Ginny and Ron made their way over to Harry, who was pretending to relax a short way down the path. Ron seemed to whisper something to Hermione, who then walked over to Harry. "Ron heard from Parvati, who heard from Dean, who was told by Shamus, that Hagrid is looking for you." She said.
"Is that true, well you can tell Ron that." Harry started but stopped. "What?" he asked. "Don't make me repeat myself. Hagrid is looking for you." Hermoine said. "Well, you can still tell Ron that." Harry started to say again but Hermoine turned and looked at Harry angrily. "I'M NOT AN OWL." She shouted as she grabbed Ginny's arm and walked away.
After that, days went by and it was what Luna called business as usual, except for a witch in green shining robes wearing a pair of jewelled glasses. She had blonde hair and Shirley Temple curls, and was sometimes accompanied by a young, dopey-looking wizard with brown hair, wearing brown robes and carrying an old-fashioned looking camera.
"That's Rita Skeeter. Star reporter for the Daily Prophet," Ginny explained. "I hate her. She's the one who wrote that thing about the World Cup where she misquoted my dad." Ginny explained. She is here to write about the tournament. So she will be there for the first task tomorrow," Ginny finished as she sat down by the beach tree with her friends.
The next morning was Saturday's first task. The whole school was buzzing with excitement. And finally, after lunch, it was time to go. There were arrows marking a spot on the grounds where a huge arena had suddenly been erected, complete with 2 metre high bleachers so that the whole school could watch.
Avalon made her way inside and found a nice spot in the Griffindor-coloured stands. She was quickly joined by her friends Luna, Ginny, Sharon, Oona, Lucy and Emma. As well as Ron, Fred and George Weasley. "Have you sorted things out with Harry yet?" George asked his little brother. "Yes, this morning. I mean, whoever entered him wants to do him in im sure." The conversation was interrupted by Dumblkedore making his way to a lectern.
"Welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore said, his voice magically amplified. "As you can all see, there is a dragon resting in the arena. It has been given a golden egg to protect. Our champions are to retrieve this egg," he continued. "This egg holds a clue to the second task. "The school listened intently. "Points will be awarded for style. Execution and time. Points will be lost for injury or damage to the egg." He finished.
For several minutes, the entire assembly stood stunned. In awe of the dragon beneath them. They noticed Charlie Weasley patrolling the edge of the arena. "At the sound of the cannon, the first champion will enter the arena." And indeed, a few seconds later, a great boom rang out across the arena. The tent at the entrance opened and Cedric Diggory, dressed in his Quidditch uniform, stepped out. As he approached the dragon, he didn't seem at all surprised.
He walked over to the rocks that shielded him from the dragon's view and waved his wand, Avalon was too far away to hear the spell he cast. And just like that, one of the rocks looked like a Labrador. He cautiously made his way to the dragon and quickly grabbed the egg. But before he could get to safety, the dragon decided that the motionless Labrador wasn't interesting enough and shot a bolt of fire from its mouth, burning Cedric's face.
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The dragon stunners subdued the beast and it was removed from the arena. Avalon didn't quite see the points being awarded, but luckily the commentator said the total. "And for this almost perfect attempt, Mr Diggory receives 38 points, well done Mr Diggory. Cedric quickly made his way to the hospital tent and was quickly hidden from view.
The next challenger was Fleur Delacour, who came out in what looked like a blue gymnastic uniform with a cape over it. She took much longer than Cedric. She had to outmanoeuvre the fire jets her dragon was sending out.
By the time she reached a spot by the rocks, half an hour had passed. She began to dance in front of the dragon, which soon looked very sleepy. "Cool a Veela dance move. I wish I could do that." Ginny said. It seemed to work as she managed to get the egg. But just like Cedric, the dragon got angry and breathed fire. The flames set Fleur's cloak on fire and she screamed as she made her way out of the dragon's reach.
"Why doesn't she just use Incendio to put out the flames?" Hermoine asked. "Because, Granger, she wants to be smoking hot for once." George Weasley said grinning. She got the lowest score so far, it was 36 points, points were deducted for slow time.
Again the dragon was stunned and moved away. A third dragon was brought in, looking amazing. "The next champion is Victor Krum." The commentator said. The entire arena erupted in cheers. With another cannon blast he entered the arena.
He walked around for what seemed like hours trying to use a spell, but it seemed to go a bit awry as the dragon started to trash around violently smashing some of its real eggs. But somehow Victor managed to get the egg. He got 40 points, what was the most points of all of them for now, which brought boos from both the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts students.
The last dragon to be led looked downright monstrous. It had big black spikes all over its body, the biggest on its tail. It looked so big that it could easily split a man in two. Avalon hated to think what could go wrong.
Harry entered the arena in his scarlet Quidditch robes. He dodged the dragon's tail and managed to duck behind the rocks, grabbed his wand, pointed it at the castle and shouted something. After that he dodged its tail and fire for a few minutes. "Has Potter joined the ballet?" Briget Rookwood asked mockingly.
No one seemed to be paying attention as Harry's broomstick suddenly zoomed into the arena. He quickly mounted it. And began to fly around the dragon's head like a big fly. "Blimy, that boy can fly." The commentator blurted out. "Do you see that, Mr Krum? " he added. The dragon was now on his toes. He was trying to get rid of the annoying fly. He flicked his spiked tail hit the teachers' stands. They quickly jumped aside. "YEAHHH." George said "WELL DONE DRAGON!!" Fred added happily.
Looking back down, Harry had managed to get the dragon away from the eggs, he flew quickly to the eggs and grabbed the golden one, then landed as fast as he could out of the dragon's reach. The crowd went wild and the anger at Harry being allowed to compete seemed to melt away like ice on a summer's day.
He was again awarded 40 points, the school booing not because they thought the judges were too generous, but because they were too stingy. Harry had done the very best, if you asked Hogwarts. Students
The crowd cheered loudly. "That was the first challenge, the next one will be announced in a moment," the commentator said. In high spirits, the entire assembled school made their way to the Great Hall, it was now dinner time and a great First Challenge feast had been prepared for them.
After the feast, they all made their way to their dormitories. "You should visit our common room," Ginny said. "We're having a little party for Harry," she added.
The party was more than a little. The twins had gone to the kitchens and taken a lot of Butterbeer and snacks. Loud music was playing and everyone was cheering for Harry, who passed his egg around just before the twins hoisted it into the air. "Well done Harry, they may take an arm or a leg, but packing it all together NEVER." The twins took turns shouting and seemed to be having the time of their lives.
he was soon placed on a table. Shamus Finnigan, a classmate of Harry and Ron, gave Harry his egg. "Let's go Harry, let's hear the clue." He said handing over the egg. "Shall I open it?" shouted Harry, clearly enjoying the attention. The room responded with a resounding YES. He dug his fingernails into a groove at the top of the egg. And it fell open. Before anyone noticed, a screeching sound came from the egg. It made everyone cover their ears. Harry quickly closed the egg and just as quickly as it had started, the screeching stopped. "What does that mean?" Ron asked, seemingly mending fences with Harry. "You have to fight a Banshee." Parvati Patil said.
"It sounded like painful screams." Nevil Longbottom said suddenly. He was a shy, awkward fourth year who never really said much. He looked frightened now. "You must endure the Cruciatus Curse." He said, sounding as frightened as he looked. "Ginny put an arm around his shoulders. "Dumbledore won't let that happen, Nevile. It's an illegal curse. Don't worry," she said in a reassuring voice.
No one seemed to want to know why Nevile looked so frightened, probably because the Weasley twins had already put the music back on to draw attention away from him. Avalon kept an eye on him, though, and saw that Neville was sitting quietly at the back of the partying room. She sat down next to him.
"Hey, are you all right?" she asked him. Neville nodded. "No you're not. Come on, let's find somewhere we can talk." Avalon said. Neville nodded and led her to the 4th year boys' dormitory, which was now completely empty. "You looked scared, what is it?" she asked as they sat down on two empty beds.
"It's nothing," Neville said, a little heartily. "I don't think you look scared, I won't pry Neville, I just want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything. I'm your friend ok." She said. Neville smiled at her, "When I am ready to tell people why, I will and you will be one of the first." He said, smiling weakly.
The rest of the 4th year boys came in "Avalon my darling. Harry said jokingly. Are you leaving me for Neville?" he added, also jokingly. Neville blushed and started to stutter. "I..i..is she y..y..your girl..f.f.friend?" he managed to ask. Avalon was distracted by a bug flying out of the open window. "No Nev, don't worry I was joking, she's just my neighbour." Harry said smiling. Neville sighed in relief. "OK, serious now. Avalon McGonagall was here 3 minutes ago, all 'visiting'. Students have 10 minutes to get to their dormitories." Harry added.
Avalon quickly made her way to Ravenclaw Tower, where she got into the common room just in time. It was after midnight, so it was deserted. When she reached her dormitory, the girls were sitting on the floor on what looked like very comfortable cushions. "Wait, we are missing one," Avalon said as she sat down with them.
"Who?" Luna asked as she gave her some of her own smuggled Coca Cola and some popcorn. "Deek." She said and a second later they heard a cracking sound and Deek was standing at the door. "Do the misses need anything?" he asked. "Yes," Avalon replied. "For our elf friend to join us." She said smiling. "Have a Coke and some popcorn, we were just discussing the first task. "She said. "Deek thanks you miss." The elf said. "We were friends Deek call me Avalon." She replied. The so-called slumber party lasted until sunrise.
"Do you know what the second task is?" asked Oona. "No Miss Deek does not. But Deek thinks it will be exciting and dangerous like the first one." He replied. "Too bad you don’t know Deek, it would be nice to know what’s comming." Avalon added.