Hidden Talent

Chapter: 15

The atmosphere in Hogwarts was incredibly tense on the morning of the First Task and Jack was no exception. He was so nervous, but also very excited at the same time.

The Goth was thrilled at the idea of watching people fight Dragons, but not his boyfriend and cousin!
"Will you calm down, Jack!" Johnny groaned, smacking the red-heads hand away from his mouth "And don't bite you nails, it's obnoxious"

"My boyfriend and cousin might die today, so sue me if I bite my nails!" Jack scolded, but leaving his hands alone anyway "I can't loose my cousin and first ever boyfriend to a Dragon! Even if that would be a cool story... but at the same time kinda' lame, I don't wanna tell people I lost my boyfriend, that I had for less then a month, in a fight against a mythical creature!"

"So your not really worried about him dying because you care about him, but because..." Hikaru frowned in confusion, scratching the back of his head "What? I would give you a bad rep?"

"No" Jack scoffed "But like I said: I've only been dating Cedric for just under a month. I'm not that attached to him yet "

"I love how Jack doesn't minces his words~" Ling cooed, cuddling the Goth and rubbing his cheek against his hair affectionately "All hard truths~"

"He is lovably blunt" Hikaru teased.

"It's 'Brutal Honesty' actually" Jack sulked, wishing he'd known that total honesty was more cruel than lies were when he was still fighting the Xiaolin Losers. People seemed much more scared and disturbed by him now that he was honest about his opinions'.

"Whatever you say, Jackie-boy" Hikaru snorted, shoving another piece of toast into his mouth before grabbing the back of the red-heads robes and began dragging him out of his seat "Come on, I want to get some good seats to the Task. The last thing I want is to be stuck sitting behind some giant 7th year student and not be able to see anything"

"Good point" Jack grinned as the taller teen pulled him from the Hall while Johnny and Ling trailed behind happily "Wouldn't want to miss any of the carnage!"

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"Who should I be cheering for?" Jack asked randomly, minutes before the First Task was scheduled to begin.

"Your asking that now?"

"I didn't think about it until now!" Jack defend himself, raising his hands and shrugging. He'd been too in awe at the fact that he had a boyfriend to even think about that he was one of the challengers facing off against his cousin.

" 'honestly, Jack-Rabbit" Gabrielle sighed good-naturedly with a shack of her head.

"What?!" Jack cried, his voice cracking in a shrill pitch " 'Honestly' what!? I cant help it if my genius brain was to preoccupied with stuff you lot couldn't even comprehend and not on trivial things like who I should be cheering for!"

"Would these 'genius things' have anything to do with Cedric's arse by any chance?" Ling grinned causing Gabrielle to giggle at Jack's red face.

"Not that we blame you, of course" Hikaru snickered.

Jack flipped-off the brunette just as Bagman stood up in the judges booth of the large circular stadium, pointing his wand to his throat and performing 'Sonorus' causing his voice to boom out across the stands.

"The First Task for our four Champions is to face one of the most fearsome beasts known to man" he said ominously, causing Jack to roll his eyes at the dramatics, that just sounded cheesy, even to him "And retrieve what is protects. The first challenger: Cedric Diggory! On the count of 'three' he will begin. One...two...three!"

As the cannon sounded, Jack jumped to his feet along with the rest of the Hogwarts students with a cheer as Cedric entered the arena. "Diggory! Diggory! Diggory!" the crowd chanted, only to gasp as the mist clustered in the centre to dissipate with a wave of the Headmasters wand to reveal the Champions opponent.

"Bloody Hell!" Jack heard one of the red-heads from the World Cup cry out at the sight while Jack observed the Dragon his terrified looking boyfriend was about to face. It was a royal-blue Swedish Short-Snout that was rather bulky compared to the Dragons he had seen in the past, but then again he'd only ever seen Chinese Dragons while this one was a European breed.

Somehow it didn't seem as intimidating compared to the size-shifting, intelligent ones that could speak. After all, what was there to fear from something that was all brawn and no brain?

"Kick its scrawny ass, Cedric!" he cried, cupping his mouth in hope that he would be heard over the crowd and his green-faced boyfriend would snap out of his stupor.

The chanting of his name picked up again as Cedric snapped out of his stunned state and began ducking and weaving behind boulders of the rocky terrain, narrowly avoiding the ice blue flame spewed by the irritated Short-Snout.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" Bagman narrated while Jack squeaked, watching as Cedric used a quick charm to extinguish his smoldering cloak. The Hufflepuff Champion seemed to gather his courage, a determined look made its way onto his face as he gripped his wand tightly, just before jumping out from behind his hiding place and using Transfiguration to change a medium sized stone into a hyperactive Labrador.

The dogs loud barking and scampering around the enclosure drew the Dragons attention long enough for Cedric to try and sneak around the back of the beast, towards the golden egg.

"He's taking risks, this one!"

'Shut the Hell up!' Jack mentally screamed as he leaned forwards in his seat, closer to the action, as he clutched Ling's arm tightly to the point of bruising it. Ludo Bagman's grating voice kept drawing him out of the fight and it was sending Jack crazy! They where in an enclosed space, with only a spell keeping the crowd safe from Dragon fire, they didn't need him to telling them what was going on right in front of their damn faces'!

Suddenly everything started to blur together for Jack as he watch the Dragon loose interest in the dog long enough to notice Cedric reaching its eggs before rearing up and unleashing a torrent of blinding flames at the Hufflepuff.

The only thing the terrified Goth could remember after that was hearing himself screeching, the sight of burning flesh and the annoying sound of Bagman's voice before fainting.

"Clever move, pity it didn't work!"