Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

but he had to persuade her to do it, or he’d never get near them … the trick was to do it carefully, gradually …
    He 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 opened wide …
    ‘Come on,’ Harry hissed, swerving tantalisingly above her, ‘come on, come and get me … up you get, now …’
    And then she reared, spreading her great black leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small aeroplane – and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding towards the ground as fast as he could go, towards the eggs now unprotected by her clawed, front legs – he had taken his hands off his Firebolt – he had 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 under his uninjured arm, and it was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up – for the first time, he became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup –
    ‘Look at that!’ Bagman was yelling. ‘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 saw the dragon-keepers rushing forwards to subdue the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody and Hagrid hurrying to meet him, all of them waving him towards them, their smiles evident even from this distance. He flew back over the stands, the noise of the crowd pounding his eardrums, and came in smoothly to land, his heart lighter than it had been in weeks … he had got through the first task, he had survived …
    ‘That was excellent, Potter!’ cried Professor McGonagall as he got off the Firebolt – which from her was extravagant praise. He noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at his shoulder. ‘You’ll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score … over there, she’s had to mop up Diggory already …’
    ‘Yeh did it, Harry!’ said Hagrid hoarsely. ‘Yeh did it! An’ agains’ the Horntail an’ all, an’ yeh know Charlie said that was the wors’ –’
    ‘Thanks, Hagrid,’ said Harry loudly, so that Hagrid wouldn’t blunder on and reveal that he had shown Harry the dragons beforehand.
    Professor Moody looked very pleased, too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket.
    ‘Nice and easy does the trick, Potter,’ he growled.
    ‘Right then, Potter, the first-aid tent, please …’ said Professor McGonagall.
    Harry walked out of the enclosure, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried.
    ‘Dragons!’ she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling Harry inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; he could make out Cedric’s shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn’t seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry’s shoulder, talking furiously all the while. ‘Last year Dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You’re very lucky … this is quite shallow … it’ll need cleaning before I heal it up, though …’
    She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid which smoked and stung, but then poked his shoulder with her wand, and he felt it heal instantly.
    ‘Now, just sit quietly for a minute – sit! And then you can go and get your score.’
    She bustled out of the tent and he heard her go next door and say, ‘How does it feel now, Diggory?’
    Harry didn’t want to sit still; he was still too full of adrenaline. He got to his feet, wanting to see what was going on outside, but before he’d reached the mouth of the tent, two people had come darting inside – Hermione, followed closely by Ron.
    ‘Harry, you were brilliant!’ Hermione said