Harry told me and Hermione what Sirius had said. 

"Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening," Hermione saiddesperately, "and then we can worry about Karkaroff." 

We walked three times around the lake, trying all the way tothink of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to them, so they retired to the library instead.Here, Harry pulled down every book he could find on dragons,and both of them set to work searching through the large pile.

 " 'Talon-clipping by charms . . . treating scale-rot . . .' This is nogood, this is for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep themhealthy. . . ."

 " 'Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magicthat imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spellscan penetrate . . .' But Sirius said a simple one would do it. . . ."

 "Let's try some simple spellbooks, then," said Harry, throwingaside Men Who Love Dragons Too Much.He returned to the table with a pile of spellbooks, set themdown, and began to flick through each in turn, Hermione whispering nonstop at his elbow. 

"Well, there are Switching Spells . . . but what's the point ofSwitching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous. . . . The trouble is, likethat book said, not much is going to get through a dragon'shide. . . . I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you reallyhaven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall . . . unlessyou're supposed to put the spell on yourself ? Maybe to give yourselfextra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't doneany of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers. . . ."

 "Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "will you shutup for a bit, please? I'm trying to concentrate."

 But all that happened, when Hermione fell silent, was that my brain filled with a sort of blank buzzing, which didn't seemto allow room for concentration. He stared hopelessly down the index of Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. Instant scalping . . . butdragons had no hair . . . pepper breath . . . that would probably increase a dragon's firepower . . . horn tongue . . . just what Harry needed, to give it an extra weapon . . . I had never been this uninterested in a book in my life.

"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?"said Hermione irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surlylook over at the three of us, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books.

 "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to thecommon room . . . his fan club'll be here in a moment, twitteringaway. . . .Emma you can--" 

And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoedpast us, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around herwaist. 

"Oh good God." I groaned

The next day me and Harry were late for Care of Magical Creatures when we saw Cedric Diggory with his friends. Harry stopped me. He followed Cedric at a distanceand saw that he was heading toward the Charms corridor. This seemed give Harry an idea. Pausing at a distance from them, he pulled outhis wand, and took careful aim. 

"Diffindo!" 

"Harry--"

Cedric's bag split. Parchment, quills, and books spilled out of itonto the floor. Several bottles of ink smashed. 

"Don't bother," said Cedric in an exasperated voice as his friendsbent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on. . . ." 

This was exactly what Harry seemed to be hoping for. He slipped hiswand back into his robes, waited until Cedric's friends had disappeared into their classroom, and hurried up the corridor, whichwas now empty of everyone but ourselves and Cedric.

 "Hi," said Cedric, picking up a copy of A Guide to AdvancedTransfiguration that was now splattered with ink. "My bag justsplit . . . brand-new and all . . ." 

"Cedric," said Harry, "the first task is dragons."

What on earth---

"What?" said Cedric, looking up. 

"Dragons," said Harry, speaking quickly. "They've got four,one for each of us, and we've got to get past them." 

Cedric stared at him. I saw some of the panic I'd beenfeeling since Saturday night flickering in Cedric's gray eyes. 

"Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice. 

"Dead sure," said Harry. "we've seen them. Emma?" 

"Your an idiot." I said shortly

"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know. . . ."

 "Never mind," said Harry quickly — he knew Hagrid would bein trouble if he told the truth. "But I'm not the only one who knows.Fleur and Krum will know by now — Maxime and Karkaroff bothsaw the dragons too." 

Cedric straightened up, his arms full of inky quills, parchment,and books, his ripped bag dangling off one shoulder.

He stared atHarry and me, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes. 

"Why are you telling me?" he asked. 

"Yeah, Harry why are you telling him?" I asked

Harry looked at us in disbelief.

"It's just . . . fair, isn't it?" he said to Cedric and me. "We all knownow . . . we're on an even footing, aren't we?"

My brothers moral compass came to play at the worst times

 Cedric was still looking at him in a slightly suspicious way when I heard a familiar clunking noise behind us. We turnedaround and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom. 

"Come with me, Potters," he growled. "Diggory, off you go."

 I stared apprehensively at Moody. Had he overheard us?

"Er — Professor, we're supposed to be in Care of —"

 "Never mind that, Ms Potter. In my office, please. . . ." 

Harry and I followed him, wondering what was going to happen to us now. What if Moody wanted to know how we'd found outabout the dragons? Would Moody go to Dumbledore and tell onHagrid, or just turn Harry into a ferret? Well, it might be easier toget past a dragon if he were a ferret, and it would most certainly be amusing. 

We followed Moody into his office. Moody closed the door behind us and turned to look at Harry and me, his magical eye fixed upon us as well as the normal one. 

"That was a very decent thing you just did, Potter," Moody saidquietly. 

Harry didn't know what to say; this wasn't the reaction I hadexpected at all.

 "Sit down," said Moody, and Harry and I sat, looking around. 

We had visited this office under two of its previous occupants. InProfessor Lockhart's day, the walls had been plastered with beaming, winking pictures of Professor Lockhart himself. When Lupinhad lived here, you were more likely to come across a specimen ofsome fascinating new Dark creature he had procured for them tostudy in class. Now, however, the office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that I supposed Moody had used inthe days when he had been an Auror.

 On his desk stood what looked like a large, cracked, glass spinning top; I recognized it at once as a Sneakoscope, because Harry owned one himself, though it was much smaller than Moody's. Inthe corner on a small table stood an object that looked somethinglike an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Harry on thewall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus.

 "Like my Dark Detectors, do you?" said Moody, who waswatching me closely. 

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the squiggly goldenaerial. 

"Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment andlies . . . no use here, of course, too much interference — studentsin every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. I had to disable mySneakoscope because it wouldn't stop whistling. It's extra-sensitive,picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be pickingup more than kid stuff," he added in a growl. 

"And what's the mirror for?"

 "Oh that's my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around?I'm not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That'swhen I open my trunk." 

He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunkunder the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. I wonderedwhat was in there, until Moody's next question brought me sharply back to earth. 

"So . . . found out about the dragons, have you?"

 Harry hesitated. I'd been afraid of this — but we hadn't toldCedric, and we certainly weren't going to tell Moody, that Hagridhad broken the rules. 

"It's all right," said Moody, sitting down and stretching out hiswooden leg with a groan. "Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."

"I didn't cheat," said Harry sharply. "It was — a sort of accidentthat I found out."

 Moody grinned. "I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been tellingDumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes,but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll havetold their champions everything they can. They want to win. Theywant to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."Moody gave another harsh laugh, and his magical eye swiveledaround so fast it made Harry feel queasy to watch it. 

"So . . . got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragonyet?" said Moody. 

"No," said Harry.

 "Well, I'm not going to tell you," said Moody gruffly. "I don'tshow favoritism, me. I'm just going to give you some good, generaladvice. And the first bit is — play to your strengths." 

"I haven't got any," said Harry, before he could stop himself."Excuse me," growled Moody, "you've got strengths if I sayyou've got them. Think now. What are you best at?" 

Harry pondered but I had an immediate answer. 

"Quidditch." I said

"That's right," said Moody, staring at him very hard, his magicaleye barely moving at all. "You're a damn good flier from what I'veheard." 

"Yeah, but . . ." Harry stared at him. "I'm not allowed a broom,I've only got my wand —" 

"My second piece of general advice," said Moody loudly, interrupting him, "is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you toget what you need." 

My eye widened. 

He was best at flying. He needed to pass thedragon in the air. For that, he needed his Firebolt. And for his Firebolt, he needed — 

"Accio" I whispered. Harry's eyes lit up

"Hermione," Harry whispered, when we had sped into greenhousethree minutes later, uttering a hurried apology to Hagrid as we passed him. "Hermione — I need you and Emma to help me." 

"What d'you think we've been trying to do, Harry?" she whispered back, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Skewert she was feeding. 

"Hermione, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charmproperly by tomorrow afternoon."

This conversation was interrupted was interrupted by a tap to my shoulder, "Hello" said Isaac, smiling at Hagrid "do you mind if I borrow Emma for a moment?"

Hagrid allowed me to go. And Isaac dragged me a little away from the class, Dra--Malfoy was the closest. 

"I know this is a bit awkward since I've only known you for a few weeks" said Isaac bashfully grinning at me "but would you like to go on a date?"

Maybe it was wistful thinking, but Malfoy froze as soon as it was said. 

"Yes" I whispered.

I don't know why I said it. Was I agreeing because I genuinely liked Isaac? Or was it because I wanted to make Draco jealous?