Jinx Not-So-Malfoy and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 18

The next three chapters are three of the best chapters I've ever written.

Chapter 20 is so close. I'm SO excited. 

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I 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 we entered the Owlery Ron was saying that we 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 overexcited at the idea of a delivery he was flying around and around 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." 

"But that was only the first task," I said. "The others could be just as dangerous or even worse than the dragons."

"Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this tournament," Hermione agreed seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next." 

"Right little rays of sunshine, aren't you?" said Ron to Hermione and I. "You two and Professor Trelawney should get together sometime."

"Sure," I said. "I've always found that I'm a good guesser. I'd love to prove her wrong." 

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 usual - Harry hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-by-blow account of exactly how he had swerved, circled, and dodged the Horntail. We watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry - Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now." 

Sure enough, when we entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire.

I lost Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the crowd after a bit when I was distracted by food, so I sat myself down beside Fred.

"I see Ron and Harry are getting on well again," he commented. 

"Took em long enough," I said. "They were beginning to annoy me."

"Have the teachers caught that llama you set on the school yet?"

"Not that I've heard of. Lucky they don't know it's me. The schools been on red alert ever since the foreigners arrived. Some shit needed to go down."

Fred grinned at me and looked me in the eyes. His expression turned a bit dazed and we sort of leaned toward each other and --

"Great party, huh?" George said, sitting right in between us.