The Language of Flowers | Fred Weasley

13: E D E L W E I S S - courage

With thoughts of the First Task occupying my mind, I thought I would have a hard time sleeping. That was not the case though. The second my head hit the pillow I was out flat. It took Katie ripping all my blankets off in the morning to actually get me to wake up.

My head was clear this morning and all seemed well.

Everything except for Joanna. She sulks after us on our way to the Great Hall, her arms crossed.

I take my usual seat, turning around to see if Joanna will sit with me. She doesn't even glance in my direction. Instead, she takes a sit down between Fred and Angelina up near the other sixth years. My eyes widen and I turn back to my seat with a horrible feeling in my gut.

She's being ridiculous and knowing that does nothing to make me feel better.

"Hey guys! Are you excited for today?" Ginny asks, taking her seat next to me.

"We were excited until Miss grump over there decided to ruin our day," Maria gestures in Joanna's direction and I find my eyes wandering that way again. Joanna is munching on a piece of toast, joining in conversation with Angelina. Jo still refuses to look this way. I frown, fighting the tears that I feel coming on. She never gets like this for long, especially over something she told me I could do. I guess she wanted me to refuse and just go to my classes. 

It's too late now, she'll have to get over it.

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Classes passed by slower than ever and lunch had the same atmosphere as breakfast so it was a relief when everyone was finally called to the Quidditch field.

All of the students ran down to the field as quickly as possible, excited to get front row seats. There would only ever be one First Task, I guess, so why not get front row seats?

I pulled my cloak tightly around myself, walking with Adhera down to the field. Katie had run ahead with Angelina Johnson to hold seats for us. Thank Merlin they did because I did not feel like running in this weather. 

"How do you think they'll assign the dragons out?" Maria asked, coming up to walk with me. I had no idea where Jo was but Hermione had taken her usual place beside us. Hermione had a look of fear stuck on her face and I knew the apprehension was getting to her. I was worried for Harry too, but he has defied the odds in so many other situations that my worry was mostly geared towards Cedric. 

Cedric and I were childhood acquaintances. He was the only other kid I knew until my first year at Hogwarts. His father would bring him over to my Aunt's house every few months while his father and my aunt did work together. I knew Cedric has always been a powerful wizard and I had complete confidence in his abilities. The thing is, I have no idea if Cedric every heard that the firs task is dragons.  I know Harry knows, Hermione let it slip yesterday that Harry had seen them.

As we turned the corner of the building, we discovered it was not the quidditch field we were going to.

No, it was a giant enclosure surrounded by hundreds of seats. Seeing the enclosure, I grabbed a hold of Adhera and raced up the stairs. This was going to be such an experience! Forgetting about Jo's grumpiness and my fear for Cedric's life for the moment, I grabbed a piece of the crowd's excitement and grabbed my seat.

Angelina and Katie had managed to get front row seats. My group, Hermione, the Weasleys, and Lee Jordan all sat in the front, waiting impatiently for the task to start.

I was shaking, whether from the cold or the anticipation I'll never know but it seemed like we waited for ages when the first dragon finally entered the arena. The crowd became impossibly silent as we stared at the dragons. My mouth flew open at the sight of the lovely, giant creature. Despite seeing how big the blue dragon was up close, she was still scarily huge from a hundred meters away. The once docile creature was now roaring with anger.