Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Charlie Weasley, hurrying to meet them as they set off back towards the school. ‘Listen, I’ve got to run, I’ve got to go and send Mum an owl, I swore I’d tell her what happened – but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah – and they told me to tell you you’ve got to hang around for a few more minutes … Bagman wants a word, back in the champions’ tent.’
    Ron said he would wait, so Harry re-entered the tent, which somehow looked quite different now; friendly and welcoming. He thought back to how he’d felt while dodging the Horntail, and compared it to the long wait before he’d walked out to face it … there was no comparison, the wait had been immeasurably worse.
    Fleur, Cedric and Krum all came in together.
    One side of Cedric’s face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at Harry when he saw him. ‘Good one, Harry.’
    ‘And you,’ said Harry, grinning back.
    ‘Well done, all of you!’ said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent, and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. ‘Now, just a quick few words. You’ve got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth – but we’re giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you’re all holding, you will see that they open … see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg – because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!’
    Harry left the tent, rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the Forest, talking hard; Harry wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail. Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them.
    It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.
    ‘Congratulations, Harry!’ she said, beaming at him. ‘I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now about the fairness of the scoring?’
    ‘Yeah, you can have a word,’ said Harry savagely. ‘Goodbye.’
    And he set off back to the castle with Ron.

 
     
— CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE —
     
The House-Elf Liberation Front
    Harry, Ron and Hermione went up to the Owlery that evening to find Pigwidgeon, so that Harry could send Sirius a letter, telling him that he had managed to get past his dragon unscathed. On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everything Sirius had told him about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time they entered the Owlery Ron was saying that they ought to have suspected it all along.
    ‘Fits, doesn’t it?’ he said. ‘Remember what Malfoy said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup … I’ll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the Goblet, he’s going to be feeling really stupid now, isn’t he? Didn’t work, did it? You only got a scratch! Come here – I’ll do it –’
    Pigwidgeon was so over-excited at the idea of a delivery, he was flying round and round Harry’s head, hooting incessantly. Ron snatched Pigwidgeon out of the air and held him still while Harry attached the letter to his leg.
    ‘There’s no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?’ Ron went on, as he carried Pigwidgeon to the window. ‘You know what? I reckon you could win this Tournament, Harry, I’m serious.’
    Harry knew that Ron was only saying this to make up for his behaviour of the last few weeks, but he appreciated it all the same. Hermione, however, leant against the Owlery wall, folded her arms and frowned at Ron.
    ‘Harry’s got a long way to go before he finishes this Tournament,’ she said seriously. ‘If that was the first task, I hate to think what’s coming next.’
    ‘Right little ray of sunshine, aren’t you?’ said Ron. ‘You and Professor Trelawney should get together some time.’
    He threw Pigwidgeon out of the window. Pigwidgeon plummeted twelve feet before managing to pull himself back up again; the letter attached to his leg was much longer and heavier than