Chapter Summaries

Dumbledore arranged special training for Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, and Clara Albert and explained a plan to intervene when Harry and Cedric reached the graveyard. The chapter ended with Cedric and Clara returning to Hufflepuff after curfew and evading Peeves’s teasing.

• Dumbledore told Harry Potter, Cedric, and Clara that Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall would provide special training, while Harry focused on the Tournament tasks.
• After Harry left, Dumbledore explained that Moody was an impostor and revealed his plan to use two Teleportation Charms during the graveyard incident.
• Dumbledore assigned Cedric to activate one charm at the graveyard and Clara to use the other to pull Cedric and Harry back to Hogwarts.
• Cedric reassured Clara that she could handle her role, and they walked back toward Hufflepuff with permission slips from Dumbledore.
• Peeves caught Cedric and Clara out after curfew, but Cedric silenced him and Clara’s calm teasing drove him away.

Clara learned that Cho Chang was dating Michael Corner and wondered how Cedric felt, while Harry also struggled with his feelings about Cho. During training, Cedric realized he had started looking for Clara first, but he could not tell whether his feelings came from love, gratitude, or guilt.

• Rowle told Clara that Cho Chang and Michael Corner were dating, and Clara saw Cho looking happy while Cedric appeared calm.
• Clara objected to students judging Cho's choice by Cedric's status and decided to wait until training to speak with him.
• Harry and Cedric repeatedly lost focus during practice in the Room of Requirement, so Clara ended the training and left.
• Harry told Cedric that Cho's relationship had left him confused and disappointed, though he had barely spoken to her.
• Cedric said he felt happy and relieved for Cho and Michael, then admitted he had been thinking about his feelings for Clara.
• Cedric asked Harry whether he could distinguish love from gratitude and guilt, and concluded that confessing before he understood himself would be unfair to Clara.

Clara helped Harry prepare for the First Task while Cedric faced the challenge with confidence. Both Hogwarts Champions defeated their dragons and retrieved the Golden Eggs, with Cedric earning particularly high scores.

• Clara and Hermione helped Harry practice the Summoning Charm so he could call his broomstick during the task.
• Cedric defended Clara from Rita Skeeter’s questions about their relationship and told her they were only fellow Hufflepuffs.
• Rowle brought Clara to the stands, where they watched Cedric distract the Swedish Short-Snout with a transfigured dog and claim the Golden Egg.
• Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum completed their attempts, while Karkaroff gave Krum nine points despite his broken egg.
• Harry summoned his broomstick, evaded the Hungarian Horntail, and seized the Golden Egg as the stands cheered.

Clara visits Cedric after the first Triwizard task and later agrees to be his partner at the Yule Ball. The chapter leaves them looking forward to spending Christmas together.

• Hermione, Ron, Clara, and Rowle visit Harry and Cedric in the first-aid tent after the dragon task.
• Cedric shows Clara and Rowle the Golden Egg at the Hufflepuff celebration, and its shriek leaves the students reeling.
• Professor Sprout announces the Yule Ball, and Clara hopes to ask Cedric while Cedric realizes he wants her as his partner.
• Cedric catches Clara at the Owlery and nervously asks her to the Yule Ball.
• Clara accepts, and Cedric wishes her a merry Christmas.

Clara accepted Cedric’s invitation to the ball and looked forward to shopping for dress robes with Rowle. She then joined Cedric and Harry for Professor Snape’s practical Defence Against Dark Magic lesson, where Snape paired himself with Clara against the other two.

• Clara told Rowle that Cedric had asked her to be his partner for the ball, and she had accepted.
• Rowle planned a Hogsmeade trip to find Clara dress robes, while Clara noted that her parents’ money would arrive the next day.
• Clara, Cedric, and Harry went to Snape’s Defence Against Dark Magic lesson, where Snape set them to practice spells while moving.
• Snape paired with Clara against Cedric and Harry, and Clara disarmed Harry with a surprise Expelliarmus.
• Clara and Snape pressured Cedric together until Snape stopped the exercise and called for Clara to give them a demonstration.

Clara outmaneuvered Snape in their Defense practice, then discovered Rita Skeeter had published photos suggesting she and Cedric were a couple. Clara began investigating how Skeeter got the pictures, while confiding to Rowle that she liked Cedric but feared his closeness came from guilt and gratitude.

• Clara used Harry's wand to disarm Snape after deliberately dropping her own, earning his praise before the class continued its exhausting practice.
• Clara, Rowle, and Cedric went to Hogsmeade, where Clara bought silver-white dress robes for the Yule Ball.
• Banban delivered a Witch Weekly article with secret photographs of Clara and Cedric, and Clara suspected an animal had taken the picture near the Owlery staircase.
• Rowle offered to challenge Skeeter's article, but Clara asked her to find more photographs while she investigated how the pictures were taken.
• Clara told Rowle she liked Cedric but feared that his affection stemmed from guilt and gratitude after she saved him.

Clara received Christmas gifts, including a handmade Gabriel petal necklace from Cedric, and prepared for the evening ball with Rowle and Cersei. She met Cedric in the Hufflepuff Common Room, where he revealed a matching flower pin he had made, and he asked her to dance.

• Banban woke Clara by stepping on her, and she opened Christmas gifts from her parents, Rowle, Cersei, Hermione, Harry, and Cedric.
• Rowle celebrated Krum’s signed photograph, which Clara had obtained for her, while Clara opened Cedric’s necklace featuring a Gabriel petal and delicate Runes.
• Professor McGonagall let the class prepare for the ball, and Rowle and Cersei styled Clara in her silver-white dress robes and new jewelry.
• Clara met Cedric in the Hufflepuff Common Room and saw that he wore a matching Gabriel flower pin that he had made himself.
• Rowle and Cersei arrived, and Cedric bowed and asked Clara to share the opening dance.

Clara attended the Yule Ball with Cedric, who reassured her about her nerves and confessed that he had wanted her beside him all along. They began the opening dance together, and Clara gradually relaxed as Cedric guided her.

• Clara walked to the Entrance Hall holding Cedric's hand while Rowle teased them about their closeness.
• Clara greeted Harry, Parvati, Hermione, and Krum, while Ernie and the Hufflepuff boys teased Cedric about his preparations.
• Clara watched Cho and Michael together and wondered whether she deserved Cedric's tenderness, but Cedric told her he had always wanted her beside him.
• Professor McGonagall called the Champions and their partners into the Great Hall, and Cedric escorted Clara onto the dance floor.
• Cedric guided Clara through the opening dance until she relaxed and began to enjoy herself.

Clara enjoyed dancing with Cedric at the Yule Ball but left the crowded floor when her feet began to hurt. She thanked Cedric for choosing her as his first-choice partner, before Snape caught them outside and mocked Cedric about the Triwizard Tournament and their next lesson.

• Clara danced with Cedric, then joined Harry and Ron at a table, where she challenged Ron for resenting Hermione's dance with Krum instead of asking her himself.
• Cedric encouraged Ron to ask Hermione to dance and told him Krum had been called away; Ron then approached Hermione.
• Cedric took Clara outside to rest her aching feet, and Clara thanked him for telling her she had been his first choice for the Yule Ball.
• Snape caught Clara and Cedric by the fountain, took points from two students emerging from the rosebushes, and taunted Cedric about his Golden Egg and Clara chasing him in class.

Clara and Hermione recognized Rita Skeeter as an unregistered Animagus and planned to catch her, while Clara rejected Cedric’s offer to publicly challenge the rumors. As the Second Task approached, Clara feared that Cedric’s most cherished person would still be Cho Chang and that their growing closeness would prove temporary.

• Rowle read Skeeter’s article accusing Clara of using Amortentia on Cedric and portraying Hermione as romantically entangled with several boys, while Clara suspected the photographs had been taken by Skeeter in animal form.
• Clara took Hermione aside and proposed watching for Skeeter at upcoming Tournament events; Hermione planned to research Animagi and warn the Champions without revealing their suspicions.
• Cedric offered to defend Clara and Hermione publicly, but Clara advised him not to give Skeeter fresh material and said she had a better way to respond.
• During the Christmas holidays, Clara and Cedric grew closer while studying and walking together, though they avoided discussing the Second Task.
• In early February, Snape ended Harry’s training sessions and told the Champions to prepare for the Second Task, leaving Clara anxious that Cedric’s underwater treasure would be Cho Chang.