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CLOVER STOOD AMONGST THE CROWD AS PEOPLE began to pile into the large stadium which overlooked Hogwarts and the valley below. The hoots and hollers from the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang ripped through the air and echoed throughout the newly built arena. Clover found herself being dragged through the crowds by Hugo as he offered himself up as a human battering ram.

"Move it, people, MOVE IT!" Hugo called out, knocking a few first years out of his way as Clover and Juliette grimaced. "BEST FRIENDS OF THE CHAMPION COMING THROUGH!"

"Let's rein it in a bit, Hugo." Juliette advised, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as she pulled him back. Clover snickered lightly as Hugo scoffed and whacked the girl's hand away from him.

The three made their way through a few more students before stopping in a relatively clear space that overlooked the rocky terrain of the arena below. For the first time since they'd pushed themselves into the stadium, Clover was able to look around and take in all of her surroundings. In the down in the middle of the stadium lay a rocky display, and in the centre a flat surface with a golden egg which was laying amidst a few other normal dragon eggs. The girl gulped anxiously her teeth sinking into her lip while her eyes flitted over to what she presumed was the champions' tent.

Cedric had been called away by Professor Sprout halfway through breakfast and after a loud cheer of encouragement from his friends, he'd left to prepare for the first task. It was less than half an hour later that the rest of the school had been instructed to follow the professors to the stadium.

"Hey, Clover, you listening?"

Clover refocused herself before turning to face Hugo who was now snapping his fingers in her face to grab her attention.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening..."

"Great," Hugo nodded, "Anyways as I was saying, I bet a galleon that Ced would win the first task and I really can't lose."

"Who did you go against?" Clover asked curiously.

"The twins."

"The Weasley twins?!"

"Yeah, they're running bets," Juliette answered whilst Hugo nodded.

"Right you are, Juliette!"

The three turned on their heels to come face to face with Fred and George Weasley as they stood behind the three, both of them clutching open boxes with odds and bets scrawled in chalk.

"Any of you three want to place a bet?" Fred asked, shaking the box towards them. "Hugo? One more for good luck?"

"Absolutely not." The boy snorted in amusement.

"What about you, Clover?" Fred asked again, his eyes subtly flickering towards his brother. "Place a bet on pretty boy, why don't ya?"

"Nah, I'm alright." She smiled, "Maybe next time."  She could see Hugo going to speak up before a loud bang rang through the stadium causing all of the students to jolt back in shock. The twins looked at each other before joining Clover, Juliette, and Hugo at the railing.

The students watched in awe as a blueish-grey dragon with silvery skin was led into the arena. People cheered heartily as the first champion made their way out from the tent but Clover felt her heart promptly drop to her stomach. The dragon seemed to notice Cedric emerging and let out a huge roar, causing the boy to scramble behind a rock.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" the commentator echoed out into the stands as students stomped and screamed their encouragements.

The crowd cheered in support of the boy as the dragon lunged towards Cedric's hiding spot but a feeling of dread settled over Clover as her hands clamped down the railing with a deadly tight grip.

"COME ON, CED, DO SOMETHING!" Hugo bellowed.

"Uh...Clover?"

The girl looked to her right where George Weasley was wincing in mild pain. She looked down in shock at the wooden railing, where she had unknowingly clutched onto the boy's hand.

"I'm so sorry!" Clover squeaked out in embarrassment, yanking her hand away as a warm flush flooded straight to her face. George shot her a small smile before turning his head back to the task playing out ahead of them. Clover internally groaned as she nestled into her scarf.

The girl tried to block out the commentary as a few more tense seconds passed. Her eyes never strayed from the boy who was hiding behind the rock as the dragon crawled closer. Clover wasn't even inside the arena yet her heart was pounding rapidly— she couldn't even begin to think of what Cedric was feeling.

"COME ON, CED!" She finally cried out as the dragon spewed a tinted blue fire towards the rock Cedric was crouching behind. The boy rolled out from behind the rock and quickly ducked behind another. Cedric froze for a few seconds before the girl noticed that he had raised his wand and shouted out an inaudible spell.

A flash of yellow streaked across the rocks and hit a boulder on the opposite side of the arena. Clover watched in awe as the boulder transfigured itself into a large dog, (a Labrador to be precise), who had started to bark at the sight of the dragon. Clover let out a loud shriek of excitement as she jumped up and down in her spot along with Juliette who was chanting the boy's name.

The spell had worked.

The spell she'd stumbled across and had helped Cedric learn last night in the library had worked!

The dragon seemed to have shifted its focus from Cedric to the dog as the barks continued. It turned around and began to head for the Labrador. Using the dragon's distraction to his advantage, Cedric jumped to his feet and tactfully made his way towards the centre of the arena where a large, golden egg, lay amongst a pile of dragon eggs.

"GET THE EGG YOU NUMBSKULL!" Juliette screeched, trying to be heard over the influx of praise coming from the Hogwarts student body. Clover would've laughed at the girl's statement but she found herself unable to move from the position she was in. She felt herself freeze in fear as Cedric finally clambered into the middle of the arena.

The boy reached for the egg but as soon as his fingers brushed against the gold, the dragon let out a deafening screech and rushed towards the boy. Panicked, he grabbed the golden egg and stumbled backwards, fumbling with his wand as he tried to think of an effective spell.

Clover could only watch in horror as the dragon spewed its blue fire towards the boy, earning gasps of alarm from the crowd. The boy fell back behind a rock whilst the dragon spewed more fire around the rocks.

Cedric emerged from the rock, clutching the golden egg close to his chest. Another canon went off, signalling that the boy had succeeded and finished the first task. Handlers rushed forward to restrain the creature as an ear-piercing roar of applause rocketed through the arena while the boy was ushered off towards another tent. Even from her seat, Clover could see the redness of a burn on the side of the boy's face along with a triumphant smile.

"-AND THE SCORES ARE IN!" The commentator announced as the students diverted their attention towards the stand where the judges sat. Clover however couldn't lift her eyes off the boy as he stood watching his marks be announced. All she heard was white noise before she felt shaking at her shoulders.

"He bloody did alright for himself, didn't he?!" Juliette whistled, slinging an arm over the girl's shoulders.

"I can't believe he pulled it off," Clover replied in disbelief.

"Had you no faith in pretty boy?" George asked teasingly, his signature smile gracing his face earning a feverish chuckle from the girl.

"You're on my last nerve, Weasley!" Clover tutted but she found herself grinning nonetheless.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Clover found her eyes lingering on the boy as the second dragon was brought out. She hadn't realised that she was staring until George met her eyes once more, his lips quirking back up into a smile. The girl cleared her throat and shifted her gaze awkwardly, leaning on Juliette as they watched Viktor Krum appeared from the champions' tent. The girl's cheeks seemed to burn warmer than usual and Clover swore that out of the corner of her eye she could see George glancing at her every so often, his eyes tracing her face before he'd look back at the arena.

It wasn't long until Viktor and Fleur had retrieved their eggs and the crowd watched in suspense as Harry entered the arena. Clover could only stand back and wince as the young boy narrowly missed ripples of fire before he summoned his broom and flew off, leaving the dragon to follow in pursuit. The boy returned to the arena within minutes, the dragon nowhere in sight as he swept up the golden egg into his arms.

The Hogwarts students cheered loudly for the young boy, all previous hatred dissipating. Before she could even register what was happening, Clover was being dragged through the stands and over to the medical tent by Hugo and Juliette. The three stumbled into the tent, earning a disapproving glance from Madam Pomfrey who was currently tending to Harry's wounds.

"Well if it isn't Mr Diggory!" Hugo snickered, ruffling Cedric's hair as he laughed and folded his arms. A thick orange substance was coated across the boy's cheek and the sight alone made Clover cringe.

"You alright?" The girl asked, taking a seat at the end of the bed Cedric was sitting upon. "Your cheek looks a bit gross."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Clover." He retorted, "Just what every guy loves to hear."

"Sh'up" the girl mumbled, gently pushing the boy's legs while she rolled her eyes and tuned in to Hugo rambling on about how cool the dragons were. Clover's eyes drifted towards the golden egg which was laying on the floor beside the boy, reaching out, she grabbed the egg and lifted it to examine it. Before she could open her mouth to question the boy on what the purpose of the egg was, Hugo had snatched it from her arms.

"What's this then?" He asked, flipping the egg on its side as he traced the design. Cedric sighed and outstretched his arms taking ahold of the egg.

"Dunno."

Turning the egg so it was right side up, the boy fiddled with the top and all of a sudden, the egg opened, unleashed a loud screeching noise. Clover yelped and clutched her ears whilst Cedric fumbled to close the thing.

"I'M DEAF, I'M DEAF!" Hugo screamed, dropping to the floor as he held his ears with his eyes shut tightly. "I DON'T WANT TO BE DEAF!"

"Stop yelling, for Merlins sake." Juliette scoffed, lightly kicking the boy's side as Cedric finally latched the top of the egg. "Get up you twat!"

"How about we never do that again, yeah?" Clover shuddered, folding her arms as Cedric nodded eagerly.

"Agreed."

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This update took me so long to write and idk why 😭🤚

Anyways, how are you?

I'm tired at the moment because of school and stress which isn't fun at all but it's only four days til the weekend ✨

Anyways, like always, don't forget to vote and comment because it really is motivating <3

Love you all!