Chapter 202
Albert did not want to stay in the tent for long after he finished his task. He was still excited, so he stood up, wanting to know what was happening outside, but before he reached the tent door, he found two people heading towards him...
It was Hermione, and behind her were Ron and Harry. Hermione said, "Albert, you were wonderful, amazing!!"
Albert did not answer her. He was looking at Ron and Harry, who looked very pale, before Harry said seriously, "Albert, although I apologize to you about this in advance, when I saw how dangerous this was, I thanked God that I was not participating in this Tournament!!"
Albert smiled, placing his left hand on Harry's shoulder and his other hand on Ron's shoulder, saying, "Forget about it, guys, don't think about it too much!!"
Ron smiled at him, and Harry returned the smile, while tears burst from Hermione's eyes.
Hermione spoke, saying, "Come on, Albert, they are going to announce your scores."
Albert picked up the golden egg he had placed on the ground, then walked out of the tent, with Ron next to him saying, "You were the best. All Viktor Krum did was transform one of the stones into a small dog so that the dragon would be distracted by it instead of him, and he succeeded and was able to get the egg, but the dragon changed its mind in the middle of the matter and hit him with a tongue of flame, but he managed to survive, and the girl, Fleur, tried to perform a charm that made it nod off a little, but it woke up and released a tongue of flame that caught her clothes, and she put it out with a little water from her wand..."
They reached the edge of the arena to find that the black dragon had disappeared, and Albert saw the five judges in their places. Harry said, "Each judge gives scores out of ten." Albert looked and saw Madame Maxime raising her wand in the air, and a silver light came out of it, which quickly turned into a large number (9).
Harry said, "Oh, excellent... You got a near-perfect score from Madame Maxime, Albert, this is truly surprising. I thought that since you are a competitor to her student in the Tournament, she would deduct a point or two to help her student win the task!"
Then it was Mr. Crouch's turn, who announced nine points, and Ron shouted as he patted Albert's back, and Dumbledore followed him, who also announced ten points, so the shouting and applause of the audience rose, and Ludo Bagman pointed his wand to reveal the number (10). Harry said, disbelievingly, "Ten, too?!"
But Ron shouted enthusiastically, "Harry... don't complain!"
Finally, it was Karkaroff's turn, who waited a little before raising his wand, showing the number (5). Ron shouted in anger, "What? Five points?... This damned deceiver, he gave Krum ten points."
But Albert did not care. He would not have cared even if Karkaroff had given him zero, as the enthusiasm of Ron, Hermione, and also Harry and their encouragement were worth a hundred points, and he did not tell his friends that, of course, and as soon as the scoring ceremony ended, he saw this enthusiasm on everyone's faces, not just the Gryffindor students. Everyone had completely switched to his side, and Albert did not care about the Slytherin students. He was now able to face them anywhere.
He saw Charlie Weasley rushing towards him, saying, "You and Krum were the best, Albert. I am truly shocked by your level of mastery of Apparition. I, who am older than you, have not reached that level of mastery. I must send a letter to my mother to tell her what happened, but this is unbelievable... Ah.. they told me to tell you to wait a little because Bagman wants to talk to the champions in the tent."
Ron and Harry told Albert that they would wait for him, and Albert headed towards the tent, which seemed more different to him this time, and he saw the other champions... Half of Fleur's face was covered with bandages to treat the burns she had suffered, and as soon as she saw Albert, she smiled at him, saying, "Wonderful performance, Albert." Albert smiled back at her, saying, "You too!"
Ludo Bagman rushed towards the tent, saying, "It was a wonderful performance from all of you, and now I want to say something. You will get a rest before the second task, which will begin on the morning of the twenty-fourth of February, but there is something I want you to think about during that time. If you look at these golden eggs you are carrying, you will know that you can open them, see? And there is a riddle inside each egg, and by solving it, you will know what the second task is, and that will help you prepare for it... Is that clear? Well, you can be dismissed."
Albert left the tent to catch up with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and they began walking towards the edge of the forest, talking, as Albert wanted to know more details about the performance of the other champions, and as soon as they reached the trees where Harry and Ron had first seen the dragon, a witch rushed in front of them as if the earth had split open for her.
It was Rita Skeeter, wearing a green dress this time, with her magical quill, before she said, "Congratulations, Albert... Do you think I can have a short interview with you? How did you feel while facing this dragon? And what do you feel now about the integrity of the judging?"
Albert answered her quickly, "Yes... you can have one word... Goodbye."
Then he headed towards the castle with the other three.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and also Albert went to the Owl Post that evening to look for Ron's owl, Pig, as Albert wanted to send a letter to his father, Sirius, to tell him about his success in his first task against the dragon. Ron finally went to his small owl and grabbed it so that Albert could tie his letter to its leg, then he continued as he carried it towards the window, "It's impossible for any subsequent task to be more difficult... How so? Do you know? I think you can win the Tournament, Albert... Believe me."
Albert knew that Ron was only saying that to make him forget what he had done when he doubted him in the past, but he appreciated it nonetheless. As for Hermione, she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and glaring at Ron before saying, "There is a long way to go for Albert to reach the end of this Tournament. If this was the first task, I'm afraid to even think about what's to come!"
Ron replied sarcastically, "But don't worry, despite the difficulty of the upcoming tasks, I bet Albert will do them easily."
Then he let Pig fly out of the window, and they watched her until she disappeared into the darkness of the night before Ron said, "Well, we should go down to celebrate you. No doubt Fred and George managed to get enough food from the kitchen."
Of course, as soon as they entered the Gryffindor Tower, the shouting and cheering began again, and on the tables, piles of sandwiches, cakes, and juices were stacked, and Lee Jordan launched some fireworks into the sky of the place. As for Dean Thomas, who was talented in drawing, he hung beautiful banners depicting Albert raising his hands in a very wonderful shot inside the arena in front of the crowds.
Albert ate as much food as he could. He had almost forgotten the meaning of hunger. He sat with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, barely believing the happiness he felt... He had succeeded in the first task. He would not face the second one for three months.
Lee Jordan went to carry the golden egg that Albert had placed beside him, saying, "Is it heavy?... Open it, Albert... Come on... let's see what's in it."
Hermione said, "He must try to solve the riddle inside it alone. Those are the rules of the Tournament and..."
Albert interrupted her, saying, "The thing is that the egg will make a very loud and annoying sound when I open it, so leave it until I return to my common room!"
Lee Jordan replied, saying, "How do you know the egg will make an annoying sound when you haven't opened it yet?"
Lee Jordan presented the egg to Albert, and he extended his fingers towards it and opened it, and it was completely empty, but as soon as he opened it, a terrifying noise and annoying shouting came out of it. Fred said, covering his ears, "Close it, Albert!!... Close it!!"
Albert closed the egg, saying, "Didn't I tell you, Jordan?! What do you think now?!"
Seamus Finnigan asked, "Is that the sound of what you will face this time, Albert?!"
Neville said, his face very pale, "It's the sound of someone being tortured... Are you going to face a Cruciatus Curse, Albert?!"
George said, "Don't be silly, Neville... What you are saying is not poetic. It is impossible for them to use such a curse against the school champions, but I think it is the sound of Percy singing... maybe your task will be to attack him while he is showering, Albert."
Fred, George, Albert, and Ron burst into laughter at what George had said!!
Fred said, "Would you like a jam sandwich, Hermione?!"
Hermione looked at the plate he was offering her suspiciously. Fred met her gaze with a smile before saying, "Come on... I didn't do anything to them."
She took the plate from his hand, then asked, "Did you get that from the kitchen, Fred?"
Fred said, imitating the high-pitched voice of a house-elf, "Yes... we can give you anything you want, sir, anything... they are very cooperative."
Hermione asked again, "And how do you get there?"
Fred replied, "It's simple. All you have to do is press the peach on that painting there and," then he stopped and looked at her suspiciously before asking, "Why?"
Hermione answered him quickly, "Nothing."
George said, "Are you going to go there and incite every house-elf to strike? Are you going to abandon peaceful means and incite them to revolution?"
Some laughed, while Hermione did not answer.
Albert forced everyone who was laughing to be silent, so in a blink of an eye, everyone who was laughing stifled their laughter in front of Albert. Albert did not want anyone to mock Hermione.
Fred returned to say, "Don't annoy them and tell them that they should demand clothes and salaries, or else you will keep them away from preparing food."
Around one in the morning, when Albert finally went up to the dormitory with Ron, Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Dean, he placed the small model of that dragon on the nightstand next to his bed, and he yawned before heading to his bed without a word and falling asleep quickly...
To be continued....