"FIRST UP... HOGWARTS FIRST CHAMPION... CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

Cedric felt his feet moving, felt the ground beneath them slowly bringing him down a slope, took a couple stone steps and into a short tunnel. The light at the end glowed bright white and he squinted against the sunlight as he stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel. His eyes adjusted to the light and he stood still, arm raised up against his forehead, trying to see clearly... and then he focused upon it... and there it was.

The Swedish Short-Snout loomed over him - massive and blue-grey, steaming about the nostrils as it looked around at the thundering crowd. Her head swung about as she looked at all of the threats, and Cedric saw her hind legs shift and her tail curved around her haunches and there, tucked beneath her heavy grey belly was a slight glint of gold.

The egg.

The world seemed to spin blurry around him, and he thought he might just pass out.

"THAT'S MY BOY!" Cedric heard his father's voice, echoing down from the stands. "THAT'S MY SON!" Amos Diggory was front and center, standing up, cheering, arms over his head... pride glowing on his face...

And Cedric remembered what he was doing this for.

For that. For that very look of pride and joy. For his dad.

His palms were pools of sweat. He swept them over his Champion jersey and grabbed hold of his wand, drawing it from his pocket, shoving back the rising lump in his throat, trying to temper his breathing.

"One important thing to remember in the heat of the moment is that nothing that's happening in the stands can matter to you... There's a great deal of noise and colour and motion, but you musn't let that distract you."  Oliver Kent's voice echoed in Cedric's mind then, a lesson from one of their training session. "Remember, you have one sole purpose in the moment and it isn't to be paying attention to them... It's to get that golden snitch."

Golden snitch... golden egg... That was his one sole purpose.

The motion of drawing his wand was enough to catch the attention of the Swedish Short-Snout. The round head turned back on it's curving neck to look down at the tunnel, at the boy in the mouth of the tunnel, standing petrified and staring up at the beast with wide eyes, heart near to stopped. The head lowered and a snort of disapproval blew hot air like a humid summer wind across the enclosure, ruffling Cedric's shirt and sweeping his hair back. Her head lowered and she brought it straight down to his level, turning her head so that her eye was near to level with him, the dark grey ring of her iris expanding and widening as she focused on him, her pupil as large as a door. Cedric could hardly breathe.

It was as though everything else in the enclosure had gone silent and all he could hear or see what that dragon as she shifted her weight, planting her feet directly beneath her chest heavily, the pebbles on the ground jumping as her weight shook the earth, and she stared at him.

For a long moment, neither Cedric nor the dragon moved.

Maybe, thought Cedric, the dragons weren't so hostile after all.

He took a step forward.

The dragon opened her mouth and Cedric dove only just in time as flames shot forth from her mouth so hot that he could feel the blast of the heat against his back as he landed face-down on the stone ground, the fire blasting just inches above him.

The crowd screamed as Cedric rolled out of the mouth of the tunnel - a bush near the tunnel was smoking, nothing but black sticks, more charcoal than tree now. He felt his body roll down a couple drops in the stones and the sleeve of his shirt tore on the edge of one. He managed to stop himself rolling, his trainers scraping as he caught on to steady himself, and he looked up at the dragon as she closed her mouth. The rock at the mouth of the cave was red-hot in places, darkening, returning to the dark grey of its natural color as it cooled.

"That was a close one - that was a close one!" laughed Ludo Bagman, "Right out the gate and we've already had a narrow miss! That Short-Snout isn't fooling about!"

Cedric felt his chest rising and falling as he panted. Luckily, he'd managed to hold onto his wand - it would've burned up if he'd dropped it, probably, and he tightened his grip on it double. If he lost that thing... he was a goner.

"The Swedish Short-Snout is known to have an aggressive nature. This particular specimen is tamed compared to her wild counterparts - her trainer says she eats up to three cows a day!"

As Bagman spoke, the Short-Snout's head twisted as though it were annoyed.

Shut up, thought Cedric, please shut up, you're bloody making her angry.

He winced as he struggled to his feet.

The sound of the dragon roaring shook the enclosure again and Cedric braced himself against a stone. Suddenly she snapped at him, her great jaw biting into the air before him. 

"OOOOHH! NARROW MISS THERE, VERY NARROW!"

He'd been saved because he'd happened to land in a slight incropping where the stones were wider than her rounded jaw and her teeth missed him by mere inches. Her breath smelled of something that made Cedric think of rancid meat and he thought of the three cows a day.

Had she eaten one already? he wondered.

Were there even cows 'round Hogsmeade?

Poor cows.

Please don't let me be the replacement of one of those cows.

She snapped again and as she did, her rear lifted off the nest slightly so that the glint of the golden egg showed. Terrified, Cedric ran forward as her head came down, snout first, her teeth glancing off the stones as he ducked below the cover and slid on the rocks, effectively skiing under her breast and belly.

"HE'S TAKING RISKS, THIS ONE!" shouted Bagman.

He was nearly to the egg, nearly there... and with a tremenndous thump the dragon reseated herself, landing on the nest with a colossal impact that shook the ground and Cedric dove to avoid being crushed by her feed as she stamped and snapped with her front legs and jaws, trying to catch him, doubling down on herself. He ran, back to the outcropping and dove into the circle of stone, landing on his chest and knocking the wind out of himself. 

The dragon grunted and heat swept over the stone again. Cedric covered his head with his arms as she started scratching at the outcropping, tearing away stones with her claws - like a dog digging for a bone.

A dog.

A bloody dog.

Cedric remembered the talk that morning in the Divination room and he aimed his wand at one of the stones as she tore it away. "Transfigurar canis!" he shouted, and before he could see the result, he had to duck down and take cover as she snapped down at him with her jaws, able to get a bit closer than she'd been before now that she had torn away some of the stones.

He only knew his spell work had done it's duty when a barking echoed over the stones and the dragon turned to look.

Cedric peered out from between the rocks and saw a black Labrador running across the enclosure and the dragon turned, snapping after it, distracted for a moment from Cedric.

He didn't waste a moment more. He bolted for the egg, scrambling, sliding on loose rock, and slid down one last ridge... The dragon had sat up, stretching to reach the dog, her hind quarters away from the nest. Cedric could see the egg - the entire egg - about the size of a shiny gold watermelon. He reached the nest and was climbing up the branches to collect his prize when --

The dragon had turned back around when she realized he was no longer cornered in the stone outcropping and her suspicions about Cedric's intentions had been confirmed. She let out a howling shriek so loud that it could be felt more than heard. People in the stands were screaming, and he could hear Bagman yelling over the din, "CLEVER MOVE! PITY IT DIDN'T WORK!" 

She turned 'round and her great round head came for Cedric, her tail whipping 'round to cut off his access to the nest as she lunged, biting onto the back of him, catching his left shoulder and tearing him back down from the nest. He hadn't realized how high he'd climbed until he felt. His back hit the ground, and pain shot up his spine. He could feel the tear in his skin and muscle, could smell the blood, and he clutched at the shoulder - certain the arm was out of socket.

Cedric looked up - dizzy - the sky swimming over head. 

I'm a bloody fool, he thought, for thinking I could win this.

What he wanted to do was lay there and cry until someone came and got him out.

But nobody's going to come, Diggory.

And when the shadow of the dragon loomed over him, he knew he couldn't just lay there anymore.

He plucked up every ounce of his courage and strength and he rolled, pushing himself up with his right elbow, still clutching his left shoulder, the left arm painfully sore. The dog he'd transfigured was barking, running about like crazy, but it hardly distracted the dragon anymore - in fact, without even tearing her eyes from Cedric, she swept her tail in a wide arch and slammed the dog away, across the enclosure. It shattered into pebbles that rained down onto the ground below the wall where it struck and he heard the people in the audience gasp. 

She blasted him with a spurt of fire that blasted against his fireproof champions robes - but even without catching on, the heat alone made Cedric feel as though his very bones would disintegrate from it.

He ran, wincing through pain as every step he took wrenched that shoulder, the burn on his back tightening his skin, the smell of singed fabric and hair turning his stomach... and the dragon snapped at him but he levitated a stone and blasted it toward her mouth, bouncing it off her snout, eliciting a shriek of anger... and she snapped again and again he blasted another stone at her... and another... and another... Cedric reached the nest once again. Sending several stones at once into the eyes of the dragon, bit onto his wand to hold onto it, he scrambled, climbing up the nest as fast as he could while she reacted to the pain of the stones caught in her eyelids.

Cedric threw himself up over the top edge of the nest, rolling down into it, twigs and sticks catching up in his hair, stones scraping against his skin. He bit down on his wand so hard he worried it might break the wood as pain shot through his nervous system from the dislocated shoulder. He landed on the bottom of the nest just as the dragon cleared her eyes and she lunged forward, mouth open, blasting a great deal of fire across the enclosure. It hit the stones beyond her nest - but she wouldn't set the nest itself on fire so Cedric dove low and crawled on his knees and one good hand to the spot where the stone lay nestled in the twigs, collapsing over the top of it, hugging it into his chest, tucking it into his shirt. It was warm against his skin, and he cradled it with his bad arm as best he could, and pushed up with his legs, throwing his full body over the edge of the nest, and rolled down onto the grounds below, screaming, tears of pain streaming over his face.

He landed on his back once more and winced, the burn zinging painfully, covering his face with his good arm, expecting there to be a blast of life-ending fire -- but it didn't come. Instead, he heard boots thumping the ground and he peeked to see fifteen men running across the enclosure, wands up -- and sparks flew toward the dragon, striking her and sending her down to the ground.

Suddenly, like tuning a radio, he could hear the crowd screaming out a deafening roar.

"HE'S GOT IT, HE'S GOT THE EGG! VERY GOOD INDEED!" Ludo Bagman was shouting. "CEDRIC DIGGORY HAS COMPLETED THE FIRST TASK! VERY GOOD INDEED!"

Cedric lay there, panting, unable to believe the words he was hearing.

Something touched him and he jumped in fear, but then he heard the kind tone of Professor Sprout, his head of house. "It's alright, boy! It's over! It's alright. You've made it through!"

Cedric could barely breathe as she helped him up, "We'll get you to Madam Pomfrey immediately," Sprout said, "To take care of this wound. Ohhh what a nasty business this all is!" she shook her head, "A nasty, nasty business... Come along, Diggory!" 

He was still clutching the egg to his chest, even as she led him back toward the enclosure.

"AND NOW THE MARKS FROM THE JUDGES!" Ludo Bagman called. 

Sprout paused and she pointed to the spectator box where the judges sat. 

Ludo himself had already cast his number - a seven glowed over his head, bright red against the blue sky. The audience roared.

Madame Maxime shot a seven into the air.

Then Crouch - also a seven.

Next was Dumbledore, who put up a nine. The crowd was cheering.

Finally, Karkaroff raised his wand and shout out a five.

"35 is nothing to be mad at," Sprout said.

"Here you go, let me help you," and he felt support on his right, pulling him up and looked to see Wally Grant, wearing a medic's uniform, and Madam Pomfrey rushing along side him and together the three members of staff got Cedric Diggory along to the hospital tent.