Wizard Tarot Foxglove

“Girl, I gotta tell you, I’m sick of this whole tournament thing already, everyone’s a little bitch…” Jessie pulled Addi into the tent “MeAnT fOr ChAmPiOnS”, as the big Bulgarian, who she actually thought was Russian this whole time given her poor detection of accents, not-so-kindly explained to her. She gave him the two-fingered salute in return, but still followed them around like the world’s worst hall monitor.

“Are you sure I should be in here?” Addi asked her friend nervously, but it seems only the "Russian" really cared. Jessie flopped onto her little “Champion cot”, with her “Champion pillow” as they waited for Dumbledore and Crouch to reveal the first challenge.

“Hey, Stalin!” Jessie gave the Durmstrang boy a look. “Move it along. No one gives a shit about your weird fascination with rules.”

The boy got even more incensed and pointed to Addi. “But she is not—”

“Read my lips: I do not give a rat’s bleeding ass. Go! Do something useful, like pound on some sand.” Jessie retaliated. “Or better yet, just go sit in the fucking corner and, for the love of God, shut up.”

“You will be hearing from my Headmaster—”

“No one gives a shit about your Death Eater Headmaster either, genius,” Jessie interrupted him. “Now, unless you want to get cursed before your first task, I suggest you leave us alone.”

The Durmstrang boy gave her one last scathing look before moving to his own cot. He pulled the curtain divider around him like a toddler, which made Addi and Jessie start giggling to each other.

“Not that it isn’t funny, but…Are you sure you should be pissing him off like that?” Addi sat down on the cot and bounced a little, frowning at its firmness. She wrapped her cardigan around her tighter. The clothing was small, but it looked oversized on her near child-like frame. Jessie always thought she looked very much like that Princess And The Pea girl, because only tiny people like Addi would be bugged about things that are also tiny.

Jessie made a non-committal groan and unattractively spread her legs wide to relax. “Who cares, everyone hates him, and no one’s following the rules. Fleur is making out with her new boyfriend in her little isolated square right now—” she nodded her head to another closed curtain across from them, where dangerously moist sounds emanated, “—and Cedric’s been having a pep talk with his dad for the past half hour.”

The Diggorys were, in fact, huddled in the corner like a two-man Quidditch team before a game.

“Merlin’s tits…” Addi breathes out, staring around at the odd scenes in the tent. “I expected everyone to look super fierce. I mean, from far away, they all seem like fabled warriors. Up close…?”

“Beyond basic,” Jessie nodded in confirmation of Addi’s suspicion.

“Well,” Addi pulls out a small box from her bag, “I hope this puts you in a better mood.” She handed the little box to Jessie. It was all black, with a hand-tied pink bow strung across the top.

“You got me a present?” Jessie's heart warmed instantly, and it likely gained three sizes in agreeability, too, because of the kind gift. She gently opened the box, and inside was a shark tooth necklace hooked to a thin black cord. Silver wire wrapped around the tooth and held it steady. “This is literally so badass, thank you!” Jessie enveloped Addi in a big hug.

“There’s a little certificate in the bottom, too. It’s from this company that rehabilitates injured sharks and releases them back into the wild, if they’re healthy enough. The ones that are too sick or hurt and die in the reservation, they sell the teeth for fundraising,” she recounted. “I got the idea from your Patronus charm in DADA.”

Jessie’s heart was ready to explode, filling and filling to capacity with feeling. She unfurled the little piece of paper. 'Little Tooth Shark Sanctuary'. “This is so thoughtful…literally the best gift ever. Thank you so much.” She hugged her friend once again fiercely.

The mysterious sound of a camera discharging followed, and the best friends flung away from each other to find the source. Rita Skeeter and Bozo, her camera guy, who definitely appeared to collect some questionable pictures at home, looked at them with curious expressions. Rita lifted her excessively large-feathered quill to her lip, as if pondering her next article headline. “Scandalous…”

Bozo merely got a little too...appreciative of his profession, looking at the two girls. It wasn't quite a leer...More of a desperate excitement, wide eyes, on the border of drooling.

Jessie blinked a few times, almost too amazed at Rita’s lack of manners to speak. “Can you go be a bitch somewhere else, please?”

Rita merely grinned and gave Jessie and Addi a wink of her overly-mascaraed eye. “Don’t worry. Everyone likes a little girl-on-girl. This isn’t the 50s. Though I wonder how your girlfriend isn’t jealous, considering you’re so hung up on the hunk that is Cedric Diggory…” Rita ended her baiting statement with a wag of her eyebrows and a suggestive smile.

“We aren’t together,” Addi said flatly, before Jessie could launch into a tirade, and possible shoot some curses. “Maybe if you actually did research, instead of simply making up the most salacious material your microscopic brain can think of, you would know we have been best friends for over five years.”

Ah, now this was why Jessie was friends with Addi!

Rita’s eyebrows went higher than her sense of self, but before the gossip writer could respond, Dumbledore had parted the tent flaps and stepped inside. Following him was Crouch, with his bowler hat askew. He was trying desperately to hold onto a dingy sack of...Aomething moving inside...And...Smoking...

Jessie’s stomach felt like it had flipped itself upside down inside of her. It was time.

Jessie's heart was on track to pounding its way out of her ribs--This, after it having been forcibly stretched by Addi's kindness. Jessie stood in the small tunnel which led to the arena. A Hungarian Horntail was waiting for her on the other side, and her mission was to retrieve the egg. The crowd was so loud, she couldn't even be sure the dragon was in the stadium.

The things we do to impress our crushes...

Jessie slowly made her way to the arched entrance and peeked to the sides. She located the egg rather quickly, even though it was a small thing in a heap of rocky dunes. The golden egg just sat on top of a boulder in the center of the arena, waiting for her to take it.

She stuck her head out a little bit more…and that’s when she heard it--the crumpling of stone above her head.

"Fuck!"

Working on pure instinct, she sprinted to a rocky outcropping promising safety, as the Horntail released a deafening roar and jumped over her head, crushing the rock she previously passed by into nothing but rubble.

The dragon landed, perched above its golden egg, and the entire platform shook with the weight of the beast. The audience went silent, except for the persistent and deep echo of a shocked, 'Oooh!'. The dragon locked eyes with Jessie, snorting out a quick burst of fire, and she dove to the side as a slew of real flames shot its way towards her from the beast's open mouth.

She screamed and landed roughly, tumbling a short distance down a small slope, and cried out as her pant leg was torn open by a jagged rock which popped up out of the sandy surface. The rumbling of the fiery chemicals being jetted against the stone nearly deafened her, and it was becoming unbearably hot, even with the boulder as protection. Her thigh was bleeding. She needed to fight back, and fast!

But, with what?? How???

An hour of waiting, and as soon as she steps into the arena, her thoughts became scattered with terror! How pathetic!

When the dragon thankfully paused its flaming assault, Jessie popped her head out to the side to locate it and aim, but before she could even get half of a spell out of her mouth, the dragon resumed its fire-breathing, doubly so. She might as well have been suspended above a lava pit, just as its ready to blow. Jessie—whose frontal lobe had seemingly abandoned her in favor of overwhelming instinct and panic—wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice that the rock was slowly becoming hotter and hotter as flames processively licked over more of the surface, turning it from gray to red. The hand and arm that gripped the boulder eventually were seared by the spreading fire, and she let out a shocked cry when she felt the burn.

“FUCKFUCKFUCK!”

Jessie needed a distraction, or she was going to die. Horribly. Agonizingly. What could she use? What spell? Maybe lifting something would be enough, trick the beast into thinking she had moved? Then, Jessie could go offensive. She had to go for its eyes, the magic hide was too powerful.

The dragon’s flammable vomit once again stopped, and she aimed her wand at a rock to the side of her. With a flourish of her wand, the locomotor spell took hold and levitated the heavy object. She launched it towards the creature, so that it came from its side. When the boulder rolled to a pathetic stop at the beast’s feet, it stole the dragon’s attention for a mere moment. But the spell did its intended job, luring the dragon from its perch over the delicate eggs. Jessie again popped out from behind her makeshift shield, pointed at its head and shouted the first, most damaging spell she could think of, “Sectumsempra!”

Blood and aqueous humor poured from deep cuts that slashed up and down the dragon's face, including its eyes. The creature unleashed a horrible roar of agony and thrashed around, trying to get away from the invisible blades, but it was no use. The Horntail, in its distress, opened its mouth and sprayed fire towards her, forcing Jessie back behind the boulder. She was stuck, again, and needed to stop it from shooting its stupid flame!

Using another Locomotor spell, Jessie shot random, small rocks at the dragon, aiming for its right side. It turned, stomping and breathing fire, going on an absolute rampage in a direction far from the eggs. The chain strained against the force of the giant magical being, and it ultimately snapped, freeing the Horntail so it could locate the fake threat.

The crowd's screams became hysterical. A shower of footfalls in the stands followed the beast's escape.

Jessie ducked up from the safety of the boulder, and an Engorgio spell shot its way into the creature’s open, snarling mouth. It squealed, the power of its voice becoming less and less as the dragon’s tongue swelled to fill its mouth to the brim. It could no longer breath fire without choking itself on lava, nor see.

But it could still stomp her to death if it heard her. Or thack it's tail, which had dozens of spikes as long as her arm.

Then, an idea graced her adrenaline-soaked brain: Jurassic Park. Specifically, when the two velociraptors took on the T-Rex.

She pointed her wand at a pair of rocks and whispered a series of spells. “Draconifors! Engorgio! Draconifors! Engorgio!” Now, she had two smaller dragons to serve as bait. She pointed her wand at the real threat, chanted, “Oppugno,” and her transfigurations attacked.

Jessie sprinted towards the eggs, closing her ears to the roaring of the Horntail, which sounded unbelievably painful, high-pitched and strained due to its swollen tongue. She didn’t have the capacity to pity it or feel guilty yet. Not when her life was at stake. She didn’t even register the pain in her leg, all she could think of was run, run, RUN! The ground shook with each thundering step the Horntail took, but Jessie willed herself not to look back and to keep pressing forward.

She reached the outcropping and climbed the boulder with her wand in her mouth. Once she reached the top, she fumbled through the patch, tucked the golden egg protectively under her arm like an American football, and got ready to run to the touchdown zone—the tunnel, which happened to be blocked by the panicked, enraged momma dragon. Jessie's smaller, transfigured dragons were flying around the Horntail, their weak fire serving as a proper, but relatively non-damaging distraction, given the Horntail’s tough skin. It was clear a “T-Rex”—even a blind one—would always win against a couple of “velociraptors”. The Horntail was able to swipe at the right moment, grounding one of the small transfigurations with its spiked tail, and the other was caught with its giant, razor-sharp claws. The dragons, once “killed”, returned to their stony origins, leaving a confused, ultra-pissed-off, sensory-deprived Horntail.

“Fuck…” Jessie heaved air greedily into her lungs, stealing herself for the next sprint. She waved her wand, and a red light shot its way across the stadium, exploding away from the tunnel. The dragon turned and charged, and so did she.

Jessie hopped from the rock, a spike of pain in her leg barely slowing her as she landed, and she sprinted toward the awaiting tunnel. Despite the noise from the crowd desperately cheering on her home stretch to victory, the Dragon heard her—or maybe it smelled her. But, through whatever unlucky break, it started pursuing Jessie blindly, stepping on anything and everything in its way with the intent to crush her, over rocks, knocking itself past boulders. Nothing mattered to that dragon but smashing Jessie, not even more pain. She looked over her shoulder, the dragon was gaining, Jessie was so close! She dove at the last moment, avoiding the giant, sharp talons of the beast as it scratched at her general direction and carved through the stone lining the archway instead. Jessie rolled to a stop in the darkness of the tunnel and winced in pain, tears blurring everything. The dragon’s scratching and beating could be heard on the outside walls of the tunnel, but it eventually gave up when the dragon tamers came to battle it.

“This…sucks!” She yelled at nothing in particular, the echo emphasizing that. Exhausted, sore and bleeding, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. At least the crowd enjoyed themselves.

Maxine gave Jessie a 7. A bit biased, considering she gave Fleur, who got a little burn on her leg, a 10. Dumbledore and Crouch both gave Jessie 9s. Bagman, a 10, which was very surprising consider she didn’t come away unscathed. Karkaroff was clearly a dick to everyone except for Krum; he gave Jessie a 5. Everyone booed that decision. His bias was almost comical. With the amount of high-level spells she used, and in under ten minutes, Karkaroff probably couldn’t score her any lower, even if he wanted to.

That’s 40 points in total, meaning Jessie tied with the "Ukrainian", as she is now calling him, because she knew her accent detection was off...She just didn't know it was WAY GEOGRAPHICALLY OFF.

From what Jessie heard, her performance was a combination of Krum’s and Cedric’s methods. Krum attacked his dragon’s eyes, but it stomped on the eggs, making his score drop. Jessie considered herself very lucky the same didn’t happen to her. Cedric distracted his dragon with a transfiguration spell, but he got more injured than she did. Fleur’s score was the most surprising. She put the dragon to sleep, a huge feat. Her spell must have been very powerful, and only her skirt caught fire, giving her a very minor burn. Maybe it wasn’t flashy enough. Something told Jessie that everyone was looking for a show, not a literal snooze-fest.

Jessie limped with her crappy reward, an over-sized golden egg. She wondered what goose had to lay that metal sucker. Whatever. Despite tying for first place, she wasn’t in a good mood, and the crowd made her sour even further. People cheered for her all the way back to the castle, but Jessie ruined the fun by instead visiting the hospital wing, rather than the common room. The pain in her leg subsided to a dull ache, with the occasional sharp twinge of the fabric of her pants as it rubbed against the jagged cut. But her arm and hand burned like she had been placed partially into a crematorium--which, she figured, she barely escaped, considering there was no way any amount of trainers were going to stop that Horntail if she faltered.

Jessie pushed the freshly covered, hospital-scented pillow over her face as if to smother herself as she screamed in pain. Poppy’s potions and spells were effective, but healing was not an elegant art. Addi winced and put a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder, though gave her plenty of space on the bed. Addi was nearly falling off of the edge, but she didn't mention it.

“Oh, come on now, Miss Potter. You’ve dealt with worse,” Madam Pomfrey chided her as she knitted her leg wound closed with magic and applied blood replenishing potion.

Worse?? What was worse than fighting a dragon?? Jessie could not, for the life of her, recall when she faced worse physical pain than this.

“Oh, wow, your leg’s already starting to look better,” Addi commented helpfully. Jessie couldn’t bear to look at it without getting a bit queasy. Though, she did reluctantly remove the pillow and tuck it behind her head with her good arm. Addi helped adjust it, so she could sit up a bit.

The doors of the infirmary burst open and Professor Snape, robes predictably and dramatically billowing like curtains forced to withstand a storm outside of an open window, strode into the room with a potion in his hand. It was likely for the dragon burns. Their magical fire took a little more 'oomph' to heal. Pomfrey’s usual burn trauma potions were not good enough.

“Severus, thank you.” Pomfrey said, taking the glass vial of green, oozy liquid from him. “If only they told me about the dragons before today! I could have had some of this ready!” The healer complained.

“It would have been a waste. Miss Potter and Mr. Diggory are the only ones in need of it,” came his subtly derisive remark, along with a glare to both Jessie and Cedric, who sat as invalids on opposite sides of the room in their cots.

Jessie forced herself up more on the bed, feeling rather self-conscious. She was caked in dirt from sweat. And her pants were bloodied and the material on her right thigh was torn open, featuring the inflamed, but healed, skin where the wound used to be.

Not a good picture if one wants to be seen as a brave and capable Gryffindor. With Cedric just across from her, she definitely didn’t want to be seen as a weakling. Jessie gave a sheepish wave to the boy, and he waved back. Half of his face was burnt pretty badly, but it was nothing magic couldn’t fix. Poppy had him covered in bandages in preparation for the burn treatment. It reminded Jessie of the Batman comics with Two-Face.

“Jessie!” A high-pitched voice cried, and it echoed around the room like the call of a banshee.

Two girls speed-walked into the infirmary, having just received the news about Jessie’s whereabouts after the tournament. Marian and Samantha were here, the duo which matched Jessie and Addi, but together, they all formed a friend group capable of some seriously confusing chaos. Not that any of them went out of their way to find trouble, but it always managed to find them. Particularly Jessie.

Marian was a tall, skinny girl with black hair and a boisterous personality, especially when it came to her friends. If danger or fun was afoot, she instantly became the loudest person in fifty kilometers. Sam was equally tall, but blonde and much curvier than any of the three other girls. Despite being in Gryffindor, she was a straight nerd, quite subdued, and Jessie always thought she would have been just as happy in Ravenclaw.

“Merlin’s tits!” Marian cried, and every adult in the room turned to her with mixed expressions of annoyance and ‘clutching-their-pearls’ amazement at the girl’s outburst. Cedric’s father looked up from his son and put a hand over his heart, as if he were about to have a heart attack. “I didn’t think it was that bad!” Marian continued to cry, referencing Jessie’s leg wound and burn.

“Thank you, Mar. That makes me feel a lot better,” Jessie replied sarcastically.

“Do they hurt?” Sam asked innocently, her healer interests shining through. The girl stepped forward and leaned close to Poppy’s face, examining the healing wound. The nurse pushed her back roughly with a mild look of irritation.

“Well, of course they do! Look at her!” Marian cried in disgust. It really wasn’t as bad as Marian was making it out to be, but she couldn’t really handle the sight of blood.

“Mar, can you bring your voice down a few decibels, please?” Addi requested with a mischievous, teasing smile. “You’re going to break every piece of glass in the room.”

“Girls, I’m happy you are here to visit your friend, but you must move out of the way and be quiet.” Poppy told them all sternly. Sam and Marian sheepishly walked to the other side of the bed, next to Addi. It was then, all four realized a much bigger issue than a little blood and a burn: Snape. The professor’s face was twisted in barely restrained anger at the parade of teenage girls. Whispers among the friends halted completely as they stared at the man, fear in their eyes.

Jesus Christ, why did Cedric have to be here, too?

Well, Jessie admitted to herself that she didn’t feel much fear. Just a bit of mortification. After facing a dragon, if Snape wanted to murder her by smothering her with a pillow…That might as well happen. Honestly, she would thank him from the beyond for putting her out of her misery.

“Tell me where you discovered that laceration curse," Snape demanded, as Pomfrey dabbed the snot-colored, healing potion onto Jessie’s arm and hand. Unlike before with the deep cut, this process was soothing and didn’t hurt at all. Almost immediately, the blisters subsided, but the redness held on a bit longer.

“The Sectumsempra? It was just written in a textbook I use for your class, sir,” Jessie answered honestly, hoping she wouldn’t get punished for it. Why should she? It’s not like it was in the forbidden section of the library or anything. Just in his cupboards. However, she is supposed to have her own textbook, but she kept forgetting to bring it to class, like an imbecile.

“And how did you come about discovering its properties?” His teeth were almost gritted with a wrath Jessie did not understand.

“Um…Latin...? Sectum means to cut.” She responded, unsure of what the correct response is. Jessie looked to the three girls. Her friends gave her confused frowns in return. None were sure what the interrogation was about. “Is the dragon okay?” Jessie asked.

Pomfrey and Snape both looked at her like she was mad. The healer slowed her blotting of the potion on Jessie's arm. “Dear, why do you care about the dragon?!” She asked incredulously. “It almost killed you.”

“It was raised in captivity and forced to fight me out of survival,” Jessie corrected her. “I didn’t want to hurt it, but…there really was other option.”

“The dragon is dead,” Snape announced emotionlessly.

Addi and Marian gasped. Guilt overtook Jessie, and she despondently looked down at her rapidly healing arm tissue. “Why? Couldn’t someone fix its cuts?”

“The spell you…found…has no counter curse that the trainers knew of. The dragon was euthanized,” Snape explained with little inflection. “Congratulations on the First Task," he added softly, with a bored eyebrow raise, and Jessie knew it was sarcastic.

Then, McGonagall entered.

“Mum!” Jessie pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

“No, no, don’t get up yet,” Minerva instructed her 'kinda, sorta' adopted daughter for the last ten years. “I see your wounds are healed. Thank you, Poppy,” she nodded once to the kind healer. “And thank you for coming to visit, girls.” Minerva added, grimacing at Addi, Marian, and Sam, who all smiled in return and mumbled variations of, "Sure, Professor," "Of course, Professor".

Severus turned to looked at Minerva, like he expected the same thanks for his potion, though none was given.

Ouch. Burn. (Pun intended).

As pleased as Minerva was with Jessie’s friends and Pomfrey, when the strict professor looked to her adopted daughter, her mood took a complete 180. “Where did you learn that curse, young lady?” Minerva scolded Jessie, giving a side glare to Severus for some reason.

Jessie opened her mouth to speak, but Severus beat her to it. “The matter has already been resolved. An old book in my classroom had the spell written in it, and Miss Potter thought it wise to try it out on the dragon for the first time.”

Minerva gasped and a frighteningly serious look came over her. “You didn’t!”

Uh, oh…Jessie was definitely in trouble.

“Well, it obviously was a cutting curse. It’s in the name!" Jessie tried to defend herself. "I needed something that would damage the dragon’s eyes!”

Minerva folded her arms. “And the conjunctivitis curse was beneath you? Mr. Krum used it for his dragon!”

Jessie scoffed, “Well, I’m sorry, Mum. Should I have cheated and poked my head out of the tent to get ideas? I was one rock’s length away from being burnt to a chicken tandoori crisp! I didn’t exact have the time to weigh all of my options!” Jessie pushed herself to a standing position, but a bit of vertigo overtook her. Blackness ringed her vision and closed in rapidly as little white sparks also joined.

“Oh, dear!” Madam Pomfrey steadied the girl by holding the undamaged parts of her arms and helped her sit back on the bed. “Dehydration and too little blood replenishing potion. I’m sorry, but the matter of Miss Potter’s irresponsibility must be discussed later," she urged the two professors.

Jessie tried to protest and leaned away from the healer. “No, no, I’m fine—”

“—Lay back.” Pomfrey demanded of the girl, ignoring her efforts to get back up. Addi was forced off of the bed, it was just too small, these hospital cots.

“I’ll take your egg back to your room, okay?” Addi offered. “Come on, guys…” She said quietly to the other two girls.

“I think that would be wise,” Pomfrey answered for Jessie before she could say something different.

Great, now she was stuck in the infirmary for the day.

Wait…

Great! She was stuck in the infirmary with Cedric for the day!

Oh...

Oh, no...

She's stuck alone with him for the day...

What is she supposed to talk about?!

Jessie had several minutes to worry about that, as Pomfrey healed his facial burns, and everyone vacated to let the injured 'sleep it off'. Oh, Jessie couldn't possibly. What if she snored? Cedric can't like her if he knew she's a snorer! She fought the calming draught and pain killers with every fiber of motivation in her body, which isn't many, but they all can eventually come together in times of extreme need to do for her what she needed.

Nervously, Jessie waved her bandaged arm. "Hey..."

Cedric smiled, then winced, the action pulling on his freshly regrown, sensitive skin. "Hey...You copied me."

Jessie scoffed. "I did not, I made other dragons, you just went with dogs!"

"Oh, is that your excuse?"

"Yes!"

Cedric laughed, and Jessie's face turned scarlet when she thought he was laughing at her, but he was just...laughing. He brought up his knee, using it to lean his elbow on as he casually sat back against the pillows and fixed Jessie with an entertained smile. She noticed with nervous discomfort that he was only in shorts and an undershirt now--an undershirt that still showed the smoke-marks of being with him during the challenge.

"I thought of the Cerberus species. Gringotts uses them and dragons to guard the vaults, so, a poetic enemy," he explained, and then playfully challenged her, "What did you think of? Prove to me that you didn't cheat."

"Jurassic Park," Jessie was forced to reveal. She was nervous only because she knew he wouldn't get it. He was a pure-blood. To her expectations, Cedric gave her a confused look, cocking his head in a way that she thought was extremely adorable. "It's a muggle movie. About dinosaurs."

"What are dinosaurs?" Cedric asked next, and Jessie nearly fell out of her cot in shock. How could he not know? But, then, she remembered not many witches and wizards like her actively sought out muggle media. Most just stayed with what they knew: magical programs on the magical TV.

"They're like..." Jessie frowned in thought. "I guess, they're like muggle dragons. But they lived millions of years ago and went extinct. Now, muggles use their bones and imprints left behind by the bodies to figure out more about them.

Cedric nodded thoughtfully. "Like the Strumpeen?" He referenced, a creature only seen and well documented because they are the one, tiny, humanoid like creature to leave behind ghosts, but they lived far before witches and wizards, and even before humans as they are today. The spirits are extremely rare. Most have found peace. Jessie thought that was a good analogy, though, for fossils.

"Yeah, like them."

"What do they look like?" Cedric asked, his curiosity taking hold. Though a heartthrob and a generally carefree boy, he did have serious academic interests, and this was becoming one of them. He had no exposure to muggle life, and it was as fascinating and unique to him as...Well, as magical life was to Harry Potter, Cedric figured.

"Like giant lizards, but also a little like birds?" Jessie roughly described.

He smiled, teasing Jessie again. "So, like dragons?"

She laughed at the circular argument. "Sure, but it's hard to explain, they just look...different. And I think most have super small arms and no wings."

"How'd you find out about these creatures?"

She shrugged, self-conscious again about her interests. "I like muggle TV."

"Yeah, but, you didn't grow up like your brother, right?" He asked, noticeably gently, but Jessie didn't care at all about the awkward question, she was just elated he knew anything about her. "I thought you lived with McGonagall in the Summer," Cedric continued, now the one to get a bit flustered at the direct mention of something that could be private. "Since you call her Mum and everything..."

"I do, yeah, I stay with her. I have for years," Jessie immediately reassured him, a nervous mess. She had just faced a dragon, but, of course, a human boy is what does her in! "She has a muggle TV. I watched stuff on there as much as I could."

As soon as Jessie said that, Cedric's eyes widened with interest. Defying their healer's and parents' orders of 'sleeping off their injuries', they, instead, spent far too long talking about the cultural impact of Scooby-Doo. Cedric thought that muggles were genuinely used to talking dogs.