deal or no deal

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The loud sound of a cannon boomed throughout the stadium, echoing off the mountains surrounding it. It was followed by an eruption of cheers and applause. All around students were waving flags and banners in support of their champion, the Weasley twins carried around a box asking people to place a bet whilst gullible 3rd years threw away galleons in hopes that their champion would win. Annie shivered in the cold and held her arms around her torso tighter as the Slytherins around her, most bearing the same badges from earlier, all waved gold flags and held a banner that said 'Diggory!' The crowd chanted Diggory's name and waited patiently for the boy to emerge from the champions' tent.

The Hufflepuff was successful in retrieving the golden egg needed for the next task, but not without some singe to his dirty blonde locks. The same went for the other two champions, Belladonna almost outperforming the infamous Seeker from Bulgaria. By then, Dumbledore put his wand to his neck and ignited his voice, announcing, "Three of our champions have now faced their dragons, and so each one of them will proceed to the next task, and now our fourth and final contestant."

Annie leaned forward a little bit in her seat as everyone watched the youngest of the champions exit slowly from the entrance to the bowl of the stadium. She could tell he looked extremely nervous.

"Hey, Crabbe," Draco whispered to the plump boy on the other side of him. "Twenty galleons he sears his arse off, literally."

Crabbe snickered mischievously. The crowd around them chanted the boy's name. "Thirty he gets his hair set on fire and has to go bald."

"Fifty he pulls it off without as much as a first-degree burn," Annie interjected, silencing both of them and leaving Draco appalled at her oddly nice behavior toward the Gryffindor.

With the dragon not in sight, the brunette down below spotted the golden egg and began to pursue the object as quickly as he could, until the tail of the Hungarian Horntail slammed down right beside the boy, knocking him plain off his feet and roaring. The crowd gasped briefly as everyone watched the contestant scramble away from the dragon. The boy ran away and attempted to shield himself behind a rock right as the creature blew a blast of fire right at his previous spot. Unsuccessful, the boy was catapulted into the air by the tail of the dragon and landed roughly on another rock. The dragon circled to face him and blew more fire in the direction of the champion, the Gryffindor again hiding behind a rock as the creature emitted a long stream of fire onto the rock.

"C'mon, Potter," Annie whispered through gritted teeth, so low that not even Draco heard the encouragement.

Out of nowhere, the boy's familiar Firebolt flew right in front of him as he ran out from his hiding place, hopping onto the broomstick right on time. The crowd was in an uproar of applause. He zoomed right towards the golden egg, but was blasted at once again and unable to obtain the egg. Draco let out a disappointed 'ooh!' as the Gryffindor continued to fly higher than the chain around the dragon let him, leading the Horntail to chase and ultimately set itself free in pursuit of the flying boy. Annie gasped and covered her mouth in shock and fear. The champion sped around the stadium as the dragon snapped at him from behind, leading the creature through the Staff tent covering and out of sight of the cheering audience.

"There goes your fifty galleon," Draco said victoriously, though Annie had faith in the boy she had previously despised her first 3 years at Hogwarts. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"We'll see," She smirked and did her best to use her binoculars and catch a glimpse of the boy and the dragon, but they were long out of sight.

There were distant roars and shrill screeches that were recognizable as the dragon's as the audience waited hopefully for the champion's return. No matter how much any of the students hated the boy, no one wanted to see The Boy Who Lived dead if it wasn't by Voldemort's wand. Eventually, a deafening howl and shriek followed by a loud rumble filled the air, silencing the crowd. Mere minutes later, The Chosen One emerged on his broomstick with a trail of smoke following his charred broom. He was probably more upset about that than anything.

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