Chosen & Hated (HP) {Book 2 of the Wild & Free Series}

21. The Golden Egg

Harry, Ron, Lucy, Hermione and I went up to the Owlery that evening to find Pigwidgeon, so that Harry and I could send Sirius a letter telling him that we had managed to get past our dragons unscathed. On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everything Sirius had told us 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 and Liana, if it was Karkaroff who put your names in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You both 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 and Liana, I'm serious."

I knew that Ron was only saying this to make up for his behaviour of the last few weeks, but I appreciated it all the same. Hermione, however, leaned against the Owlery wall, folded her arms, and frowned at Ron.

"Harry and Liana have got a long way to go before they finish this tournament," she said seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next."

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" said Ron. "You and Professor Trelawney should get together sometime."

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 and I hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-by- blow account of exactly how we had swerved, circled, and dodged our dragons. We watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry and Liana — 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 and me with my silver wolf, who was running around the Vipertooth's legs comically, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire.

I helped myself to food; I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel properly hungry, and sat down with Ron, Hermione and Harry. I couldn't believe how happy I felt; Harry and I had Ron back on our side, we'd gotten through the first task, and we wouldn't have to face the second one for three months.

"Blimey, this is heavy," said Lee Jordan, picking up the golden egg, which I had left on a table, and weighing it in his hands. "Open it, Harry, Liana, go on! Let's just see what's inside it!"

"They're supposed to work out the clue on their own," Hermione said swiftly. "It's in the tournament rules..."

"I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too," Harry muttered, so only Hermione and I could hear him, and Hermione grinned rather guiltily.

"Yeah, go on, Harry and Liana, open them!" several people echoed.

Lee passed me the egg, and I dug my fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open. Harry did the same with his egg.