"That was insane," Ron muttered, shaking his head. "Check out the scores for Cohn—Harry, you lost a bunch of points just for breaking an egg. But Cohn? He lost both the dragon and the egg. Wonder how the judges are going to score that..."
"They'll probably dock some points too," Cohn said casually, not particularly bothered. After all, he had achieved his goal.
Whether it was about the dragon egg or generating buzz, the outcome of this task had played out just as Cohn expected.
After leaving the tent, they walked toward the edge of the enclosure.
The five judges were seated on elevated golden chairs, preparing to score Cohn's performance.
"Each judge can give up to ten points," Ron explained to Cohn. "That woman in pink—she's the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. She's taking Fudge's place as a judge today. But my dad says he's never gotten along with her..."
The scoring began.
First up was Madame Maxime. She raised her wand into the air, and a long silver ribbon unfurled from its tip, twisting into the number "9."
"Only one point off!" Ron said excitedly, clapping Cohn hard on the back. "She only gave Harry an eight, and your spell was incredible—I've never even heard of it before."
"You're not supposed to. It's a Greek incantation," Cohn said in a low voice. "I learned it from a goat."
"Must be hard to learn," Harry said in awe. "I studied with the goat for ages and barely picked up anything..."
"You have to teach me that spell sometime," Ron said, slinging an arm over Cohn's shoulder. "That was awesome—who knew it could swallow a dragon's fire like that?"
There were too many people around, so Cohn decided to explain later that the spell's range was actually quite limited—and the destination it teleported the fire to was his own trunk.
The second judge was Mr. Crouch, who also gave Cohn an 8.
"We're in the running! He gave Harry a 9—but you two are tied now!" Ron said, clearly thrilled. "As long as Karkaroff doesn't pull anything weird—we know how biased that guy is. He gave Krum a 10 but only gave Harry a 4..."
"Karkaroff, huh?" Cohn narrowed his eyes at the man. "How did Krum get his golden egg?"
The fact that Harry's Eye Conjuring Spell was seen as novel by the crowd suggested that Krum had used a different tactic.
Most likely, one Karkaroff had taught him—so any changes from the original script probably started with Karkaroff.
"He used a pretty strange spell," Ron said. "It made the dragon hallucinate or something—but he overdid it. The dragon nearly charged into the stands. That's why the judges took off some points."
The third judge, Karkaroff, raised his wand—and to Ron's disbelief, shot out a glowing 10.
"A ten?!" Ron stared at Cohn, then at Karkaroff in the distance. "You're not... secretly related to him or something, are you?"
"Highly unlikely. I've got nothing to do with Bulgarians," Cohn said, frowning.
Karkaroff had been trying to talk him out of being a champion before. Why the sudden change in attitude?
Coupled with Karkaroff avoiding eye contact earlier, Cohn could only think of one possibility—the Silver Key organization.
But someone like Karkaroff probably didn't join it voluntarily. More likely, he was using it to escape the wrath of the Death Eaters—since he had sold out a bunch of them to avoid Azkaban.
"You're in first place now!" Ron shook Cohn enthusiastically. "You're number one!"
"Don't get too excited," Cohn said, pressing Ron back down. "I'm sensing a twist."
"What twist? Dumbledore's not going to give you a low score or anything, right? And that Ministry woman's supposed to be neutral. I mean, she gave Harry a seven—not great, but still better than that ridiculous four from Karkaroff."
But the results were a letdown for Ron.
The fourth judge, Umbridge, held her chin high and flicked her wand—releasing a giant glowing 1.
"One?!" Ron shouted, along with half the audience. "You nasty old toad! You bloody—"
"This isn't right!" Harry fumed too. Even though he and Cohn were technically competitors, he'd never seen it that way. "Why'd she only give you one point? She's clearly targeting you!"
"I expected that," Cohn said calmly.
If Umbridge had given him a reasonable score, that would've been the real shock—like hearing she'd adopted a baby centaur out of compassion.
Racism, after all.
And Cohn wasn't too fond of humans either—especially pink-wearing, toad-faced ones named Dolores Umbridge.
Things Cohn hated usually didn't live long.
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The angry roars from the crowd didn't seem to faze Umbridge one bit. She acted like she couldn't even hear them and showed zero regret for her score.
Finally, Dumbledore raised his wand and gave Cohn a 9.
"You're tied with Krum for first place!" Ron nearly jumped with excitement. "Gryffindor's champion got the highest score! Merlin's—!"
"Merlin had one of those?" Cohn's mouth twitched. "Wasn't he some legendary wizard? Why does it sound like everyone thinks he committed some terrible crime..."
After the scores were finalized, Cohn and Harry returned to the champions' tent. It wasn't long before Mr. Crouch arrived.
"You both did exceptionally well," Mr. Crouch said. "No need to worry about damages to the dragons or their eggs."
Harry looked visibly relieved—he had clearly been worried about compensating for the broken egg.
"Those are costs already accounted for in the tournament," Mr. Crouch continued, glancing at both of them. "The second task will take place on the twenty-fourth of February next year, at nine-thirty in the morning. You'll have a good long break. However, there are still things you need to consider. The golden egg you received can be opened—see the seam on it? Inside is a clue for the next challenge."
The five champions all nodded. Krum, however, kept glancing at Harry and Cohn—clearly eager to discuss something with them privately.
"Any questions?" Mr. Crouch asked. "If not, you're free to go."
Zzzzz—
Once Mr. Crouch left, Krum made a soft noise and gestured toward the right side of the tent, pointing toward the forest. He clearly wanted to talk—probably about the whole "Harry and Hermione are just friends" situation.