Marauders - Always - Part One

CCIX: Opening the Golden Egg

Herbert was absently scratching behind his ear nervously as he and Cedric Diggory sat on the floor in their dormitory, cross-legged, staring at the golden egg where it lay between them on the floor. Cedric was leaning forward, elbows propped on his knees, his hands bracing his cheeks as he stared, deep in thought. The egg gleamed at them, intricately engraved with whorls and swirls and circles and funny fleur de lis shapes all around it.

"Are you needing a flea dip, then?" Cedric murmured, eyes not moving from the egg.

Herbert looked up. "I haven't got fleas."

Cedric met his gaze and a crooked grin of amusement slid over his mouth.

Herbert kicked at Cedric, who laughed. "Are we ever going to open this bloody egg or what?" he demanded.

Cedric drew a deep breath. "Honestly, I'm rather terrified to do it. The first task was dragons, after all. What the bloody hell can they possibly have come up with to top that? There's still two more tasks! At this rate, by the third task we'll be challenged to duel the ghost of You Know Who or something."

Herbert snorted. "Because the Dark Lord had nothing better to do in his gods-damned afterlife than duel with teenagers."

They both laughed at the notion.

Herbert sighed and rocked himself staring at the egg. "Well go on and open it, Ced," he prodded. "The sooner we know what's in it, the sooner we can start preparing! We can work at training skills for whatever it is!"

Cedric nodded, and reached for the egg as he mused, "I suppose you're right. Most of the trouble with the first task was the fear of it, not knowing what was coming and not being able to prepare for it."

"Precisely!" Herbert agreed.

"But as I said, what could be worse than dragons? And so much so they've decided to let us prepare ahead of time when they were all like nah they can handle dragons unprepared," he raised an eyebrow at Herbert warily, fingers clasping the hinges of the egg.

Herbert shrugged.

Cedric took a deep breath. "Well - here goes."

He pried open the egg, twisting the cap so the four leaves of the sides fell loose revealing... absolutely nothing inside.

Herbert and Cedric both looked at one another in confusion at the emptiness within for a moment.

"Suppose they forgot to put in the --" Cedric started but before he could complete his question, a cacophony of shrieking rose up from the hollowness of the egg. Herbert's hands flew to cover his ears, his heightened hearing repulsed by the pitch of the voices. A sound like gurgling, scraping iron ran an undertone and Cedric slammed shut the egg as quickly as possible.

Viktor Krum lay on his back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, listening as a clock somewhere on the ship announced the hour. He couldn't remember the last time he had woken up naturally with no trainer banging on his door, no shouting from his father. But the sunlight came in through the porthole of his bedroom and he watched motes of dust dance through the rays of light.

Stretching, Viktor rolled off the bed and got dressed, bundling up for the cold of the grounds of Hogwarts. The golden egg gleamed at him from the shelf he had put it on by the window.

He didn't feel like thinking about it. Not today, anyway. Perhaps tomorrow. Why waste this gift of a free day? It was unlikely to last as long as Wally Grant had commanded - Viktor knew his father too well to expect that. But he could enjoy it while it lasted at least. So he pushed the tournament out of his thoughts, left the egg on the table, and stuffed his fists into his pockets as he set off across the grounds to the castle.