Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

0576 Met

"Our youngest champion has retrieved the dragon egg at the least cost!"

The applause at the scene was thunderous, like a thousand storms crashing together, and many people leapt to their feet to give Hermione a standing ovation, their faces shining with awe and admiration.

Ludo Bagman was still shouting excitedly and his magically amplified voice boomed across the arena, and Professor McGonagall had the same joyful reaction as his. She gazed up at the giant magical screen hovering above, where the image of the young girl holding the golden dragon egg was displayed, panting slightly from exertion, but her eyes were shining brightly with the thrill of victory.

Professor McGonagall was so overwhelmed with happiness and pride for her that tears were streaming down her face!

Fleur Delacour and Hermione Granger.

The two young witches in this Triwizard Tournament seemed to have completely opposite styles and appearances. One perfectly interpreted the essence of feminine elegance and beauty. The other directly showed the true strength, courage and brilliance a young witch could possess.

It wasn't until Ron's eyes caught sight of Charlie walking onto rocky arena leading the massive scarlet dragon away from Hermione that he finally, truly allowed the tension to leave his body and let go of the suffocating worries that had plagued him.

He turned his head to look around at the sea of black robes surrounding him, and saw that the people were still enthusiastically congratulating and cheering for Hermione's stunning performance. Watching all this, his face broke into a huge, relieved grin.

But as his gaze turned back to the image of Hermione displayed on the big screen, taking in her smoke-stained cheeks and slightly scorched robes, a fleeting hint of pain and melancholy flickered across his eyes.

Then, as if shaking off these heavy realizations, a smile appeared on his sweaty face once more, and he brought his large hands together to applaud wildly for Hermione with all his might and screamed loudly.

"Come along now, child, you must lie down on the stretcher with your golden egg so that we can examine you thoroughly,"

Madam Pomfrey said in a firm but kind voice as she and several other healers rushed to Hermione's side. She looked down at Hermione with immense pride shining in her eyes—although Hermione and her two partners-in-mischief caused no fewer headaches and heart palpitations for her than any other young wizards and witches, she had indeed grown to become the pride and joy of the whole school!

"I assure you, I'm perfectly fine, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said in a slightly dazed voice, turning her head and speaking slowly as if not fully processing her surroundings.

Everything in front of her wide eyes had transformed and blurred into the same surreal, dreamlike fantasy as when she first stepped into the rocky arena to face the dragon. She watched, lightheaded and revolving, as the massive screen hovering in the air played her final calm and outstanding performance. She could hardly dare to believe that it was really her.

"Oh, Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey tutted in exasperation, "I'm afraid you don't get to make that decision, my dear. We absolutely must check you over thoroughly before we can confirm your well-being."

And with that statement, Madam Pomfrey resolutely but gently pushed an unresisting Hermione down onto the waiting stretcher.

"Absolutely remarkable," Dumbledore said emotionally, as he reached up to wipe away the wetness gathering at the corner of his eyes with his sleeve. "These outstanding young people never cease to amaze and inspire, showing immense growth right when we least anticipate it."

"Ah, the growth of the young is an awesome and humbling thing to witness, is it not?" Bryan said with a little smile. "So intense and dazzling in its quickness that our minds, dulled by the passage of time, often inadvertently overlook it."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, but suddenly realizing something, he looked at Bryan with an amused look on his face.

"Well, judges, I do believe it's time we get those scores tallied!" Ludo Bagman cried out joyfully to the panel, practically bouncing on his feet in his excitement. "I myself will be awarding Miss Hermione Granger the full ten points - I have full confidence that this score is justified and well-deserved after the truly stunning performance we just witnessed from Miss Granger!"

With Ludo's bold statement, the highest score awarded in the tournament thus far appeared in shimmering golden numbers.

Following Ludo Bagman's lead, Barty Crouch, Madame Maxime, and Dumbledore all raised their wands to conjure a glowing '9' in the air before them, the numbers hung suspended and revolved slowly. Finally, it was Karkaroff's turn, and the sullen mean-spirited man gave the lowest score of the evening at a measly '5'.

Faced with Ludo's, red-faced shock and indignant questioning of this injustice, the expressionless Karkaroff said coldly, "I stand firm in my assessment. I believe that Granger's use of the Summoning Charm to call an invisibility cloak to her at the beginning of the task was a violation of the rules. The five points I have awarded are in acknowledgement of her final moments of success only."

With all the scores submitted, the final standings of the four champions flashed across the massive screen for all to see:

Cedric Diggory: 9 points; 9 points; 9 points; 8 points; 6 points, total: 41 points

Fleur Delacour: 8 points; 8 points; 9 points; 8 points; 7 points, total: 40 points

Viktor Krum: 9 points; 8 points; 10 points; 8 points; 6 points, total: 41 points

Hermione Granger: 10 points; 9 points; 9 points; 9 points; 5 points, total: 42 points!

As soon as this result was announced, the scene exploded into a frenzied sea of cheers and applause, the students from Hogwarts were frantically yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. Even Pansy Parkinson who usually reserved her deepest scorn and dislike for Hermione, mournfully brought her hands together a few times in some indifferent, half-hearted claps.

"Come, gentlemen, let's go," Bryan said happily as he stood tall and adjusted his golden robes. He turned to Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch. "The champions are probably in no state to move now. Let's go to the holding tent and tell them some information about the second task."

Nodding their apologies to the various officials and dignitaries still in attendance, Bryan led Ludo and Barty swiftly away from the wild, jubilant celebration still raging in the packed stadium stands.

After hearing the scores from the judges, Harry rushed into the champions' tent at top speed. It was noticeably quieter in here compared to the deafening roar of the crowd outside. Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor were all laid out on beds, and bandages were covering various parts of their bodies as they tried to rest with their eyes shut tight against the residual aches and pains.

"Hermione, you're in first place!"

Harry's wild shout startled the exhausted champions, making them blearily open their eyes one by one. They all turned their heads to look over at Hermione, the only one who was mostly unscathed, and their tired faces all showed faint surprise at this unexpected upset in the standings.

"Well, I'll Oh - congratulations, Granger!" Cedric said weakly after a beat, his face scrunching up in discomfort as he forced his mouth into a sincere grin for Hermione's sake.

Hermione returned the kind gesture with a beaming, appreciative smile of her own.

"Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey shouted in her sternest 'do not cross me' tone, with her dragon-hide gloved hands not even trembling as she continued to rub a pungent herbal ointment into the red burn on Fleur's calf.

She was not happy with his reckless disruption of her patients' much-needed rest. "These champions are in dire need of peace and quiet to recover! Kindly refrain from disturbing them further!"

Harry's thin face flushed red in embarrassment hearing her stern rebuke, and he reflexively hunched his shoulders up to his ears.

"Sorry Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said apologetically, reaching out to grab Harry's arm. "We'll just go chat in private outside."

There were a few pieces of gauze stuck to her cheeks, which were scars caused by flying debris. Other than that, she was not seriously injured. Madam Pomfrey snorted dissatisfiedly at their retreating figures a couple of times, but in the end, she did not disturb this moment that was worth celebrating.

Harry and Hermione grasped the heavy flap portion of the tent's entrance and ducked down to crawl through the narrow opening. As soon as they emerged outside, the freezing wind cut straight through their thin robes and made them both shiver and wrap their arms tightly around themselves for warmth.

But in the next instant, the minor discomfort of the chill was driven clear out of their heads as they caught sight of a person hovering anxiously right outside the tent, staring at the tent with struggling and hesitant eyes.

Harry and Hermione were suddenly stunned.

Of course, the sudden appearance of Harry and Hermione caught Ron completely off guard, and he froze like a startled deer with his mouth falling open quietly as his mind went utterly blank.

"Er...I just wanted to, uh, see how you were doing?" Ron finally managed to stammer out after a long awkward pause as he forced the words past the lump in his throat.

Harry and Hermione just stared at him, with looks of astonishment on both of their faces. Ron flinched under the combined intensity of their gazes, shrinking into himself and eagerly wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

The suffocating silence between the three stretched on for a while and the howling of the wind and the muffled cheers of the distant crowd were the only sounds.

Hermione stood as still as a statue, seemingly paralyzed by shock - but then she let out a strangled sob and clapped a shaking hand over her mouth as tears began falling down her cheeks.

"I..." Ron struggled as his face grew redder by each second as panic tore at his insides. He knew he had to say something, anything, but no words would come. He licked his lips nervously, shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and then finally blurted out in a rush, "I…I reckon I should apologize. Because of... um, everything before, I mean. I was just being stupid..., fighting a bloody dragon at our age? You lot must be mental to even try such a thing..."

There. He said it. Ron braced himself for angry words and accusations...but they never came. Neither of his friends said a word, just kept staring at him with an unreadable look on their faces.

Slowly, Harry shook his head. Ron finally realized his own problem, but Harry was not as happy as he had imagined. He remembered what Hagrid had said to him...

"You know what, mate? I reckon you're not the only one who acted a bit stupid," Harry muttered slowly in a low voice. "Everyone wants to become famous—Seamus, Neville, Dean... You just picked a bad time to be muddled for a bit."

The two boys looked at each other for a long, tense moment. As their eyes met a sort of understanding passed between them, and suddenly, inexplicably, the corners of their mouths began to twitch. Laughter bubbled up in their chests, and before they knew it, they were grinning at each other like a pair of mischievous schoolboys who had just pulled off a brilliant prank.

"Oh, you absolute idiots!" Hermione burst out, her voice wobbling with mingled exasperation and affection. And then she was running towards them, throwing her arms around both boys' necks and pulling them into a bone-crushing hug, tears still streaming down her face.

Harry and Ron yelped in surprise, automatically reaching out to steady her, but before they could so much as pat her on the back, she released them and whirled around, dashing back into the tent without another word.

Harry and Ron gazed after her retreating figure. They caught each other's eye again and, as if choreographed, lifted their shoulders in identical shrugs of shared confusion at the mystery that was Hermione Granger.

After a moment, Ron cleared his throat and asked.

"How did you know in advance that the tournament task was dragons?"

"Oh, that's a long story. A lot has happened recently, Ron..."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Harry and Ron, who hadn't spoken for most of the month, chatted outside the tent, while a teary-eyed Hermione rushed into the tent. Coincidentally, at this moment, Professor Watson, Ludo Bagman, and Barty Crouch walked into the tent from the other side.

Seeing the little girl hurriedly wiping away her tears, Ludo asked in surprise, "What's wrong, Miss Granger? You clearly got first place, didn't you?"

"Oh, n-no, everything's f-fine," Hermione stammered, embarrassed at having been caught in such a state. She tried to give a smile. "Just, erm...just tears of joy..."

"It's still too early to be happy, Miss Granger," Bryan said calmly, glancing at the two boys whispering outside the tent, "The challenges ahead will be even more arduous. Well, let's talk about business."

Bryan turned his head to look around. The champions were all looking at him.

"The second task will begin at 9:30 a.m. on February 24th next year. Unlike the first task today, we've decided to give you some clues for the second task of the tournament. That is the golden egg you obtained today. It contains a riddle. Solve it, and you'll figure out what you'll be facing."

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