I, London Man, did NOT write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did NOT steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

Chapter 10: Nine: The First Task

Family Matters

Disclaimer: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

Chapter Nine – The First Task

Alexander had never felt quite as busy as he had throughout the month of October. It seemed to him that every time he accomplished one thing, three or four new issues arose to takes its place.

Outside of the massive amounts of schoolwork that had landed on his desk and attempting to organize field trips and the Yule Ball, Alex devoted the largest chunk of his time to the study and practice of Occlumency. After spending four weeks on the art, he thought that he was beginning to get a handle on the basics. Whether this was true or not, however, was hard to gauge. The only mindreader he knew was Edward. The vampire gave no indication that his adoptive brother's thoughts were occasionally hidden from him and Alex was far too afraid of offending the immortal to ask.

Edward did, however, seem unusually withdrawn. He rarely spoke to anyone for more than a few minutes at a time and had taken to going on long hunts after school.

The Wizard knew that the biggest hindrance to his study of Occlumency was his emotional state. The fundamental of the art was to empty one's mind of emotion. It was strange to try and empty one's mind of emotion so that those emotions can be analyzed, but Alexander did his best.

He still didn't quite understand the myriad of emotions that every little thing Edward did evoked and he was so terrified of losing his relationship with the vampire to risk letting his mind wander to the topic for more than a few minutes each day at school. It would destroy the mortal if Edward were to distance himself because Alex's thoughts made him uncomfortable.

Guilt was also weighing heavily on the Wizard. His friendship with Jacob Black was progressing to the point that they spoke on the phone approximately every other day. The lies he was forced to tell Jacob haunted. He feared what the younger teen would say if and when he learned that he'd not had a single conversation with Alexander that wasn't based on a lie.

Then, of course, there was the near-constant tension at school caused over the continued separation of Eric and Marcia. The Witch was too angry to talk with Eric without yelling and he was too proud to admit that he had screwed up by not discussing his decision to enter his name into the Goblet of Fire without providing Marcia with at least a little advance notice.

"You lied to her," Alex had pointed out.

"It wasn't a lie."

"It was a lie by omission," the Cullen boy replied. "You knew that you should have told her beforehand and you purposefully decided to keep her in the dark. Every time that you two talked about the Tournament that you didn't mentioned you planning to enter was a conversation founded on a lie."

Those conversations made Alex feel like such a damned hypocrite.

Alexander was just sick of being caught of the middle of their spat. Because Eric was his best mortal friend and Marcia, in his opinion, was in the right, he had refused to take sides in the matter. As Marcia and Eric refused to spend any time with one another, the sixteen-year-old Wizard had to be careful to divide his time evenly between his two friends so as to not share favoritism.

Marcia didn't really have all that many friends at the New England Academy, so tended to be by herself in the library when not hanging out with Alexander. Eric, by comparison, was quite popular. And he seemed to making friends with a number of students from the other schools, despite in inherent rivalry that the Tournament had created. In particular, Alexander had seen him joking around and speaking in hushed tones with three Hogwarts students. One was a tall, lanky boy with red hair. The second was a dark-skinned boy who was almost as tall as the redhead. The third Wizard was shorter and stockier than the first two, had sandy brown hair, and, in the one instance that Alexander had heard him speak, had a thick Irish brogue. They were all sixth year Gryffindors, if Alexander remembered correctly.

There were a couple of bright spots, however. The biggest being that Alexander was finally being taught how to drive by his sibling and parents. It was a big step for Esme to let him drive. Although he was still required to have a 'responsible adult'—how that phrase applied to Emmett, he didn't understand—in the car with him whenever he drove, the promise of independence that the car represented was exhilarating.

It was also interesting how each of the Cullens had a distinctly different style of driving that they tried to impart on the boy. Emmett was fun but a bit reckless; Alice was a speed demon; Esme was cautious to the point of absurdity; and Carlisle was very relaxed. Edward was the only teacher who seemed to want the mortal to find his own style for himself. Alexander had yet to have a driving lesson from either Rosalie or Jasper—not that he ever expected to receive one from the latter.

Another bright spot was that Cedric Diggory seemed to be taking a hint. He still made it clear to Alexander that he was interested, but he'd stopped being the stalker he had been in the first week that they knew one another.

November the first was a wet and gray morning. All of the students at the New England Academy of Magic were bundled up against the cold. The temperature hovered right around the point of freezing, but the cold breeze that came off of the Atlantic and the drizzling rain chilled everyone to the bone.

Alexander was sitting in the large stands that had been erected to view the First Task, his wand resting lazily in his hand as it projected a Rain Repellant Charm. The spell created an invisible shield above the Wizard, keeping him dry. To an outside observer, it looked like he was holding an umbrella that, save for the handle, was completely invisible.

The New England campus had three lighthouses: the Northern, Easter, and Southern Watchtowers. They had served as the dormitories for the original school before the new campus had been constructed. Where the new school was warm and bright, the old school dark and cold because it was composed of a series of tunnels and chambers that ran between the three towers.

The decision had been announced one week earlier that the First Task would be held inside the Southern Watchtower. Alexander assumed, based on this decision, that the Northern and Eastern Towers would hold the Second and Third Tasks.

Because the challenge was to be held inside the Southern Watchtower, all of the members of the audience had been given omnioculars to watch the event with. While normal omnioculars couldn't see through walls, a series of spells had been added to the walls of the tower so that the devices would in this particular instance.

"Can we go now?" Marcia asked from Alexander's right.

"It hasn't even started," he replied patiently.

"So? I don't even want to be here."

The Wizard knew that that was a lie; Marcia wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. Although she and Eric were having a contest to see who could be stubborn the longest, Marcia Johnston loved the New England Champion with all her heart. A tribe of angry centaurs wielding bows and arrows couldn't keep her away from the First Task.

Alexander took a moment to look about the crowd and see what guests had decided to attend.

From where he was sitting, he could easily see Cirilla Bellcroft—a short, blond Witch who held herself to the most extreme of Pureblood standards and considered herself something akin to Alexander's nemesis—holding court with a group of Slytherin students. A dark-skinned Hogwarts Wizard, in particular, seemed to be hanging on to her every word. Her cold sense of superiority was only diminished during one brief moment in which her sister, Adriana, took a moment to stop by for a quick 'hello' on her way to sit with some of her own cronies.

For the briefest of moments, Alexander felt pity for his classmate as the arrival of her sister broke her careful composure. Cirilla had lived her entire life in Adriana's shadow. The older Witch had been Professor Reynolds' favorite student and had served as the Student Body President of the New England Academy for her last two years at the school. Cirilla had hoped that she would be able to succeed her sister in the post, but lost to Alexander.

Despite their different ideals, Cirilla and Alexander had had a friendly relationship before the day he decided to run against her in the election. She never forgave him.

Also from where Alexander was sitting, he could see the Potter siblings. Jonathan Potter, whom Alex had regular contact with when they exchanged the Occlumency book every afternoon, seemed to be trying to keep a low profile. His shoulders were hunched over and he was pointedly ignoring the reporter with the stiff, curly blonde hair that was attempting to interview him.

Charles Potter, who found Alexander somewhere on the campus at least once a day to pepper him with questions about this or that, was sitting between his brother and his sister. He seemed very excited about the Task.

The third Potter, Cara, was sitting on the other side of her younger brother. Though Alexander hadn't spoken to the Potter Witch except for at the Welcome Dinner, he had heard rumors that she had quite the temper and had brutally hexed several Hufflepuff third-years a few weeks earlier. Alexander couldn't help but wonder if those were the students who had gotten into a scuffle with Charles on the day that the champions were selected.

Interestingly enough, Cara was sitting next to a still-nervous looking Draco Malfoy rather than Cormac McLaggen.

Alex also caught sight of Cedric Diggory shadowing one of the British Aurors that was working security at the event.

After waiting for what felt like hours, Headmasters Justinius and Dumbledore and Headmistress Maxime walked into the space in front of the stands. The three spoke to one another for a few minutes. As they spoke, a group of Wizards began to set up a long table with three chairs behind them. A second group of Wizards could be seen over by the Watchtower, setting up three short pillars. A small pyramid was placed on top of each pillar before the Wizards began casting spells that surrounded the golden objects with black fire.

After the two groups were finished with their work, Justinius raised his wand above his head and fired silver and gold sparks into the air. A hush fell over the crowd as Justinius began to speak, his voice magically amplified.

"Welcome to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" he began. After allowing a moment for the crowd to cheer and applaud, he continued. "I present to you, the three champions."

Eric Weathercrest, Matthieu Moreau, and Katie Bell made their way to stand in front of the crowd. All three looked nervous, but had the presence of mind to have their wands at the ready.

Looking far more nervous that the champions themselves were their loved ones. Mrs. Weathercrest was standing by the front of the stands chewing on her lower lip, Marcia suddenly appeared ill, and Jonathan Potter looked like he was going to leap from his seat and steal Katie Bell away from the Tournament all together.

"The goal of this task is to acquire one of the small pyramids that are sitting on the pillars that have been set up behind me. When the signal is given, each of the champions will enter the tower from one of its three entrances. Each entrance leads to one of three identical paths up to the top of the tower. At the top are three goblets filled with potion. The potion is the only thing that can extinguish the flame that protects the prize.

"This is no mere race, however. In addition to protective measure left over from the time when this tower housed the first class of students at the New England Academy, the tower is now home to an infestation of creatures that will do everything in their power to ensure the goblet does not leave the tower."

As the headmaster spoke, almost everyone in the crowd retrieved their omnioculars and began to look at the interior of the Southern Watchtower. Alexander had only been inside the tower once in his first year on a dare from Eric, but he recognized that the interior had been gutted. There were three entrances evenly spaced around the exterior of the building, each of which led to one of three staircases that spiraled up the side of the tower towards the top room. Everything else in the interior had been removed, turning the bulk of the insides into one gigantic room. Although the paths and the goblets were easily visible, whatever creatures were alleged to be protecting the goblets remained invisible for time being.

The three champions, at the instruction of Headmaster Justinius, left their place at the front of the crowd and spread out around the tower. Eric was standing in front of the entrance on the side of the tower that faced the crowd, so Alexander and Marcia didn't need to use their omnioculars to see him.

Once everyone was in place, Justinius raised his wand into the air once more. This time, rather than firing colored sparks, he created a loud booming sound that reverberated off of the buildings on the island.

None of the three champions wasted any time in racing up the tower. Katie Bell, who was very athletic and had a runner's build, took an early lead. Eric wasn't much slower than her, but he'd always focused more on strength than speed. Moreau was last, though not for any lack of physical prowess; he seemed to be moving more cautiously through the tower than the other two competitors.

"I don't get it," Marcia asked Alex quietly. "Why isn't anything attacking them?"

Alexander thought it over for a few moments, but couldn't come up with an exact reason. Although he had been involved in some of the planning of the Tournament, only a select few individuals had been allowed to know what the specifics regarding the Tasks were.

After several minutes, Katie Bell reached the top of the tower. The top room of the tower was single small room split into thirds by three walls that met in the center of the room but didn't quite reach the ceiling. Where the actual light of the lighthouse had once been now sat a round table, also split into third by the aforementioned walls. Leaned up against the exterior wall on either side of each of the spots where the stairs breached the top room were two suits of armor.

The Witch wasted no time at all in retrieving the potion, not noticing the two large suits of armor standing in the room. The moment she lifted the goblet off of the table, a pressure switch beneath the goblet was released and the two suits of armor came to life and moved for her.

Katie bell spun around, aiming her wand at the approaching suits or armor. She threw a Slashing Hex at one of the suits, but it had little effect. Though she tried several other spells, including a Tickling Charm, none did her any good.

Deciding to stop relying on magic, the Gryffindor changed to Quidditch tactics. As one of the suits reached for her, the Witch leapt to the side as though she was dodging a bludger. With extraordinary dexterity, she weaved and dodged her past her attackers and made for the stairs without spilling a single drop of potion from the goblet.

"So the suits of armor were the old defense . . . What do you suppose the creatures will be?" Alex asked aloud.

While Bell was exiting the top room, Eric entered it. He too immediately went for the goblet without paying any mind to the suits. When he heard the iron warriors come to life, he reacting by blasting them to pieces with a Blasting Charm. His enemies vanquished, he returned to the lower level through the staircase mere seconds after Katie Bell did.

The Beauxbatons champion, Matthieu, was the last to enter the top room. He stopped to examine the room thoroughly before acting. Taking note of the two suits of armor in his section of the top room, he reached out for the goblet experimentally. When he lifted the container, the suits came to life; when he returned the goblet, they returned to being lifeless decorations.

For a moment, Alexander thought that the French boy was going to conjure something to hold the pressure switch down while he made off with the goblet, but he didn't. Instead, the tan boy's face became a mask of concentration as he examined the potion. He waved his wand over the fluid several times as he debated what to do.

Elsewhere, Katie and Eric were attempting to race down the tower stairs. Neither made it very far before dozens of eight-legged creatures the size of large dogs began to approach them from all sides.

"Acromantulas?" Marcia cried out as one of the large spiders floated down on a silver piece of webbing towards Eric.

"'Infestation' is right," Alex muttered, repeating his headmaster's earlier description of the creatures in the tower.

Eric and Katie both stopped their attempts to continue down the tower and instead began to face off against the spiders. The pair began to throw every offensive spell they could think of, but, more often than not, the spiders were just too quick for them. Fortunately, even when they didn't hit the acromantulas, the act of dodging forced the arachnids to fall back slightly.

Up in the top chamber, Matthieu had finally reached a decision about what to do. He picked the goblet up, took in a mouthful of the potion, and then sat the goblet down. With his mouth full of the liquid, he began to make his way safely out of the room and down the stairs; he was totally unharassed by the monstrous spiders.

Evidently, the spells he had been using were designed to determine if holding the potion in his mouth would be harmful to his health.

"Why aren't they going for the French guy?" Alexander wondered aloud.

Marcia took in a sudden breath. "The goblet, remember. Headmaster Justinius said that the enchantments and creatures would protect the goblet, not the potion. And he only needs the potion to douse the flames."

Alex wanted to smack himself on the forehead for having not noticed Justinius's careful wording.

At a slow and deliberate pace, Matthieu made his way down the stairs and out of the tower. Once outside, he walked over the little pillar and spit the potion on the flames.

The Beauxbatons students broke into loud applause when their champion retrieved that small golden pyramid first.

Katie Bell and Eric Weathercrest, however, were still battling it out with the acromantulas. The problem that they seemed to be having was that weren't killing many of their opponents. The two champions were severing a leg here and there or simply knocking the great spiders away. The acromantulas, therefore, were able to crawl right back into the fray after a few moments.

"C'mon Eric," Alex started to mutter over and over again under his breath. "You can do this."

Katie Bell finally seemed to have had enough of battling the spiders and went back to sprinting down the stairs. She ran and leapt over the spider blocking her path and then kept running, throwing spells only as necessary to clear her path.

Seeing his rival break into a sprint, Eric attempted to mimic her. Sadly, he wasn't nearly as quick as Katie and had a rougher go of it. After the third time he had to stop, he seemed to reach some sort of decision. A moment's hesitation later, Eric threw himself from the stairs to plummet down the empty space at the center of the tower.

There were shouts and cries as Eric hurtled towards the ground. Marcia screamed before burying her face in Alexander's shoulder and Mrs. Weathercrest covered her mouth in horror.

At the last possible moment before Eric became a greasy spot on the floor of the Southern Watchtower, the blond cast a spell. "Arresto Momentum!"

The New England champion's decent slowed rapidly, allowing him to land safely. Although much of the potion had sloshed out of the goblet during the fall, it appeared that at least a little remained.

"He's alright," Alex told Marcia. "He stopped himself."

The Witch looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. "Oh, thank Merlin."

The spiders continued to pursue Eric, but he had no problem outrunning them as he fled the tower. Once outside, Eric extinguished the flames with the remaining potion and retrieved his pyramid.

The New England students broke into wild applause as the Weathercrest heir raised the trinket up for everyone to see.

Marcia tore from the stands and raced down to her love. When the Quodpot player saw the Witch head in his direction, he discarded the pyramid on the ground as though it were a piece of unwanted trash and sprinted to meet her. They ended up slamming into one another near the bottom of the stands, landing in a pile of tangled limbs. They began holding and kissing one another fiercely, to Alexander's great delight.

The Cullen boy let out a loud wolf whistle at the display as he lazily made his way down to congratulate his friend.

The New England students were still cheering for Eric when Katie Bell emerged from the tower not thirty seconds later.

Alexander stood watching as his two friends pawed at one another. Although he'd been thrilled to see them reunite, now he just felt uncomfortable watching them.

"Getting any ideas?" a husky British voice asked him from behind.

The vampire-raised Wizard sighed before turning to look at Cedric. "No," he said firmly.

Cedric flashed the object of his affections a confident smile. Clearly, he wasn't used to meeting such resistance from his conquests.

Alexander just shook his head and started to turn away. As he did, he noticed that the Beauxbatons champion, Matthieu, was watching the interaction between Cedric and himself very carefully, as though he was trying to analyze them in the same way he'd analyzed the Task.

"The judges will now announce the scores for the First Task," Justinius's voice announced.

"For Matthieu Moreau."

Madam Maxime fired a shot from her wand that turned into a '10' above her head, as did Dumbledore. Headmaster Justinius, however, only awarded a '9.' The first champion's total, therefore, was a '29.'

"For Eric Weathercrest."

Eric received a combined score of '21.' This was the result of a '5' from Maxime, and an '8' from both Dumbledore and Justinius.

"For Katie Bell."

Dumbledore gave his pupil a '6.' Maxime gave the girl a '4' while Justinius gave her a '6.' Her total was '16.'

"You're in second place," Marcia said excitedly.

"Yeah." Eric sounded disappointed. "But I'm eight points behind Monroe."

"Moreau," Alexander corrected.

"Whatever."

The bespectacled teen smiled at his reunited friends before pocketing his omnioculars so that Emmett could watch the first task later using the device's replay function.

A/N: Just a quick note for the people that missed it last chapter and were confused. The Cullens know that Alex has a summer birthday because Carlisle, great doctor that he is, was able to deduce the boy's approximate age when he was adopted. They choose to celebrate the birthday on the anniversary of when he became part of the family. This is why he has been consistently referred to as a sixteen-year-old since the start of the story but didn't have the party for it until October.