Agents at Hogwarts

Chapter 6

Grant sat in a corner of the tent, away from the other two competitors while he tried to calm his nerves. He never thought that he was actually going to be picked out of the goblet. There were hundreds of other names in there, so why him? He continued twiddling his thumbs until the curtain next to him shook and he heard someone whisper his name.

"Grant?"

"Yeah?"

"It's me Skye."

He smiled in relief, hoping that she would be able to ease his mind, "what kind of dragon is it out there?"

"3 Hungarian Horntails, one for each of you."

"Oh boy."

"Hey," she said as she slipped through the curtain and put an arm on his shoulder, "don't worry, you'll be fine."

"What if I'm not, though? I've never fought a dragon before!"

"I believe in you," she said as she put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She let go of him when she heard a camera flash and she turned to see Raina Skeeter, Rita Skeeter's sister and apprentice.

"Thought you were a beetle?" she sneered at the woman.

"That's my sister. Thought you weren't allowed in this tent." she sneered back.

Skye huffed and left the tent in time to see Kara running in to see Grant.

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Grant was the last of the three competitors to be called out. He slowly made his way out of the tent and through the arena towards the dragon. He spotted Skye, Trip, FitzSimmons, and Kara looking at him and he waved.

Dumbledore walked up to him, "Grant Ward, you're the last competitor to go. By now you should know the rules, you have your wand to get whatever you need in order to steal the golden egg. Inside the golden egg is the clue for the next challenge."

Grant nodded and Dumbledore backed away.

"Begin."

Grant ran into the arena that held the dragon and hid behind a rock, shielding himself from the spurts of flames coming from the dragon's mouth. He inched his way along the rock until he saw where the dragon was keeping the egg, right under himself, of course.

"Accio broomstick!" he yelled.

His wooden broomstick came whizzing through the arena and landed in his hands. He sat on it and pushed himself off the ground, sending him into the air. He flew around the dragon's head, careful to not be hit by the flames, to cause a distraction. The dragon moved as much as it could to try and knock Grant out of the air, but Grant was quicker. Her dove out of the sky and quickly grabbed the egg from the dragon's grasp while it was distracted. He landed firmly on the ground and hid behind a rock as the dragon protested being put back in its cage, sending fireballs everywhere.

A bell was rung and Grant came out of hiding, holding the egg triumphantly in the air as the crowd cheered.

His friends and Quidditch teammates came running up to him, congratulating him.

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"Hot off the press," Skye said as she sat down in the Great Hall later that day.

Grant looked up from the book he was reading and picked up the paper, sighing at the headline, 'TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT LOVE TRIANGLE?' There were two pictures below, one of him hugging Skye and one of him hugging Kara. He opened up the paper and read the article out loud.

"Grant Ward, Hogwarts competitor in the Triwizard Tournament, was spotted early before the first challenge playing with the hearts of two young ladies.' Seriously?"

Skye sighed, "I knew Raina was gonna be just like Rita."

"It gets worse," he said, throwing an apologetic look at her.

"What?"

"It's about you."

"What's it say?" she sighed, sinking back into her chair.

"Skye Coulson, a sixth year student, has been spotted hanging out with Grant Ward during most times. Doesn't this mudblood know that Grant's way out of her league? The other lady that Grant's been mercilessly playing with is Kara Palamas, a seventh year student, one of his best friends who hangs out with him 24/7, being in the same house as him and all. Does this pureblood princess have a chance with Grant or not?"

Skye stood up angrily, "a mudblood? Seriously?!"

"I'm sorry Skye."

She looked down in surprise, "why? It's not your fault."

"It kind of is. We wouldn't be the source of gossip all around the school if I wasn't in the competition."

"It's not your fault," she said again, putting a hand on his arm, "it's Raina's, and you know what? I'm gonna rise above it. Sure I still may be mad at the articles sometimes, but I'm gonna try to ignore it. Like you and Kara should too," she moved her hand to cup his jaw so that he would look at her, "ok?"

He nodded and kissed her on the top of her head before running off to go talk to Kara, "this is why I like you Skye!" he said as he left.

Skye just sat down with a goofy grin on her face, "yeah."