Hi everybody. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It's finally done and special thanks again go to my quick beta reader, who checked the chapter to be ready this Sunday. I also want to thank those that left suggestions for the second task in their reviews or sent me a PM. I think some might recognise their suggestions in the part where the group puzzles out the task. Now I wish you happy reading and I really hope that I can get the next chapter done sooner.

Puzzling

The day after the great party at Hogwarts was a Sunday and Sirius had got permission to get Harry home for the day. They hadn't had that much time for being a family, thanks to Harry's training for the task, and Sirius wanted to remedy that. Harry was all for it. As yesterday his father had been busy with his duties as Minister, he hadn't had much time to simply talk with him about the task and his strategies.

Now they had taken a portkey to Morocco, where it was still warm despite being the end of November, and had visited a beach.

While lying on their beach towels on warm, white sand, Sirius asked Harry how he was doing.

"It's going great, Pa. All my classes are going well, it's a lot of fun to work with the other six champions and all our friends that support us. While I know that Dumbledore has been trying to find a way to regain control, so far I haven't noticed anything specific. But I'm sure he had some tricks left in his sleeve," Harry said.

"True, we'll keep an eye on him. He's been blindsided by the move to make me Minister and the following cleaning of the Ministry has tied his hands up for a while, but he'll bounce back. He's been in this game for too long to not find a way to make a nuisance out of himself," Sirius agreed, "But let's push that aside for today. Any news about pretty girls?"

Harry blushed a little, but he knew that his father was just teasing him and that it was one of his favourite games. So why not try to return the ball?

"Well, of course there are some pretty girls," Harry replied, closing his eyes as if he was imagining them in front of his eyes, "Hermione is growing up really nicely. Thanks to the new school uniforms I'm not the only one thinking that she's a really pretty girl anymore. Ginny is kinda cute, but I don't know if dating my best friend's little sister would be such a good idea. Ron's massively overprotective and can be a git when he gets into a mood. Daphne is beautiful, but dangerous. She really has all the positive traits of Slytherin house. Cho of course is always a sight to see, but I think I heard she's seeing Cedric, so she's off the market, so to say," Harry listed the ones that he could think of first around his age.

"Ah, yes, you should avoid a conflict of interest with girls close to your closest friends. That only spells trouble," Sirius nodded wisely.

"How would you know? I don't think I ever heard stories about any of the other Marauders having siblings," Harry asked.

"A cousin is also close enough and Moony has one that was a year younger than us. Pettigrew tried courting her in our fifth year, not knowing that she was Moony's first cousin on his mother's side, and that Moony was terribly protective of her, as she was one of the few relatives he had that didn't care about the furry little problem and treated him like a normal boy. They were as close as siblings. Moony put the fear of Merlin into Pettigrew and he decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to continue seeing her. Moony just made it very clear that he wouldn't tolerate any messing with his cousin. He didn't actually forbid that Pettigrew dated her, he just gave him very clear rules and consequences what he would do if Pettigrew harmed Sarah," Sirius told Harry.

"Ouch, yes, having Uncle Remus on PMS after you during the full moon wouldn't be fun," Harry nodded empathetically.

Sirius laughed about the comment.

"That's a good one, Harry. I'll have to share it with Moony sometime. PMS," Sirius couldn't stop laughing.

Harry grinned at his father's behaviour.

"Well, back to the girls. You do know that there's going to be a Yule Ball at Christmas Eve?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, of course I did. Dumbledore announced it after all. Even if we weren't informed about any specifics yet," Harry answered.

"I's going to be a formal ball. The champions are going to have to open the dance, so you should give asking a girl you like early on some thought. You don't want to have to spend the evening with brooding or being tongue tied. A ball can be a lot of fun, but also mortifying. It depends on your date," Sirius said wisely.

"Oh shit, the girls will go crazy," Harry realised, "Can't I simply skip the ball?"

"No, it's mandatory for all champions," Sirius answered.

"But the majority will only want to go with me, because I'm the heir to the Potters and Blacks and the Boy-Who-Lived. Or perhaps because I'm a champion," Harry panicked.

"Breathe, Harry. It isn't as bad as you make it out to be. You have learned how to dance and you're quite good at it. That will lessen your nerves when it's time to dance. I suggest you ask a girl soon, you can tell them that you wanted to ask early on, so that you can perhaps get some practice lessons in. It will also make it easier for you to get a girl before somebody else asks her. You can for example ask Hermione to go as friends, if you're uncomfortable with the idea of taking a girl on a real date yet. You also could try going with a girl you know a little and would like to get to know better. And one good piece of advice, don't be afraid to ask. The girls expect to be asked by the boys," Sirius said calmly.

"Okay, I guess I can do that. But they always travel in groups. How would you ask one in private?" Harry wanted to know.

He had watched that behaviour many times while looking at the girls.

"You politely walk up to the group, ask if you could talk to the girl in private for a moment, tune out the inevitable giggling, and then take her a bit away if she agrees. A privacy charm is also advisable. If she doesn't agree to a private conversation, she wasn't worth your time anyway and you do a graceful leave. And it isn't the end of the world if a girl says she already has a date or doesn't want to go with you. There can be many reasons for that. Be polite and take it. One girl will agree. Just make it clear what you expect from the date. Going as friends, getting to know each other better, some people also go together to strengthen family alliances. Even if I wouldn't want you to do that. Family politics are my job, you are meant to have fun, build a network of friends and acquaintances and do your best at school," Sirius pointed out.

Harry nodded. He was glad that his father wasn't expecting him to really do politicking at Hogwarts. He learned the rules of wizarding society and was expected to act according to them, but he didn't have to deal with people he couldn't stand, just for politics. And he knew that his father would never enter him into a marriage contract. Even if many families had asked if Sirius was interested in setting one up. In fact Sirius had stated that the only contract he would willingly sign for Harry was one that he himself wanted to get to protect himself and his chosen bride, should he find her while still being underage. That was the one exception to the no marriage contract rule.

"You make it sound so easy, Pa, but it'll be much more difficult when I have to walk up to a girl and ask her," Harry sighed.

"I'm sure you'll manage. You're my son after all," Sirius said winking and Harry couldn't help but smile a little. He loved hearing Sirius call him his son.

"Come on, let's hit the waves. The weather is too nice for dark thoughts and I could use a bit cooling down," Sirius commented while sitting up.

Harry nodded in agreement and chased Sirius into the warm water of the sea.

Harry and Sirius had fun during the afternoon and went to eat at a restaurant that the English ambassador to Morocco had recommended to Sirius for dinner. Sirius told a few stories about the pranks of the Marauders and how James had once been caught in just his boxers by Lily in their sixth year. It had been hilarious when Lily had decided to stick James to the wall and pretended to inspect his suitability for dating. After her falling out with Snape, who Harry learned had been friends with her since their childhood already, she had had a close eye on the Marauders to see for herself if they could be more than idiotic pranksters.

The situation in the story had been that James had been caught by a group of girls that had been dosed with a weak love potion by Sirius and Remus, as they wanted to get back at James for having dosed them with cat pheromones accidentally while planning to dose the Slytherin Quidditch team. They hadn't found it funny running away from all cats in the castle, including Mrs Norris, so they had come up with a similar situation. James suddenly had had all the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first year girls after him. They weren't cruel enough to include the Slytherins. James had been cornered and all the girls had wanted to collect a souvenir to remember their love by.

In the end James had only kept on his boxers, everything else the girls had taken (and returned later on mortified for behaving that way), though he didn't get back his tie and shirt for some reason, and had escaped through one of the secret passages. He had tried sneaking back to Gryffindor Tower, but Lily had caught him and played her game with him. It was a toss-up for James. On the one hand he liked the looks Lily gave him, on the other hand, he was embarrassed that she had found him caught by a prank against him. It ended with Lily blackmailing James into buying her her favourite sweets from Honeydukes the next Hogsmeade weekend. Of course she didn't tell him her favourites, but he still got them right. It was the start of her actually considering that there could be more than an arrogant prankster to James Potter.

Harry liked the story a lot and the food was also great.

Their return portkey took them back at nine in the evening and Sirius sent Harry off to Professor McGonagall's office after promising to see him the next weekend again.

Albus Dumbledore looked at the plans he had drawn up for his comeback. Yes, the months he had invested in planning this down to the last detail would pay off. Right now he was getting very positive feedback for his spectacular performance as host of the first task of the Tournament and the party that had followed. Many praised how much they had enjoyed visiting Hogwarts again and seeing old classmates and friends that they only saw occasionally anymore. The Ministry got part of the praise as well, but the lion's share went to Hogwarts and therefore him as the headmaster.

He didn't like how many changes to their world and his school he had had to let happen, but, from a long life working the political area, he knew that occasionally you had to take hits and weather a storm or two to come out stronger than before. This was nothing different. And he hadn't been the one to be hit worst. He had sat on the side-lines and had observed how the Ministry was changing. He simply needed more information on the political direction before he could act from the shadows. It wouldn't do him any favours to openly attack the Minister of Magic, who was doing what the public had wanted to be done for ages.

The fact that Fudge's corruption had come out had been the topic of all front page articles of the Daily Prophet for months. He had taken a few hits for not controlling the man better, but he had got some leeway, thanks to having championed several projects that had been refused, thanks to the gold that was put into the man's pockets by people like Lucius Malfoy. His personal reputation as the defeater of Grindelwald then did the rest. He got reprimanded for not doing better, but nobody accused him of silently supporting the way things went. That would have been much worse.

Thanks to the first task going over perfectly, he now could act a bit more decisively again. He had been waiting for this kind of positive PR while making his plan. He knew that he couldn't get back total control over Harry without Sirius dying. And that was a difficult task at best and political suicide at worst. If anybody even accused him of having a hand in something like that, he would be done for. No, the better way would be character assassination. And it had to be done by somebody that wouldn't be associated with having any contacts to Albus Dumbledore. It would take time and small steps, but it was possible. But at this moment he wouldn't start that yet.

Better ways to make political opponents fall were available. Sirius was too strong to not withstand a storm of outrage. He had already shown that when he had mercilessly broken up old structures of nepotism and blood bigotry at the Ministry and fired those that weren't qualified for their jobs. He had shuffled those employees that were useable, but in too high positions for their abilities, around, without taking personal injuries into account. He gained a lot of public support for that, but also a lot of enmity from those that he had taken from the positions of power that their families had enjoyed for ages.

But any attack tried from those had been stopped easily, either by the DMLE or Sirius himself. And as the only open flank that Sirius had was Harry, who was absolutely safe at Hogwarts and currently representing their country in the Tournament, which even the most stupid opponents of Sirius wouldn't dare messing with, not to mention that the public shit-storm over attacking the Boy-Who-Lived, just because his surrogate father had wronged you, would get you completely destroyed within a few days.

No, first you had to chip away their reputation. Snippets here and there, in the right ears, would over time have the desired effect. But his plan would give him back more control over the situation.

Harry looked at his fellow champions. They had come together to get the clue to the next task started.

"Alright," Cedric started, "We should get this started, as we don't know how long it might take us to prepare for whatever kind of task the organisers have planned. We got the largest number of puzzle pieces, so we should have a slight advantage over Beauxbatons and Durmstrang."

"True that," Jennifer agreed, "I'm also curious what will be on the pieces. So far we couldn't see anything, as they put a charm on them that requires that we're all here for them to show us the clues."

"Can we make photos of the clues once we have put the pieces together the right way?" Daphne asked, "I mean, it would be highly impractical if we had to always be here to simply look at the clues. And a photo shouldn't be charmed like that anymore."

"We can certainly try," Fred nodded, "I'll ask Colin to let us borrow his camera to make the photos. I think he would be happy to help."

Harry nodded. Colin was always eager to help with something that helped Harry.

"Let's get started then," George said eagerly.

"You're awfully chipper," Christopher mentioned.

"Tomorrow is the Hogsmeade weekend," Fred commented grinning, "And my dear brother just happens to have a date with a beautiful French girl."

Some of the other boys snickered.

"How did your mother take the events by the way?" Harry wanted to know.

"She was not happy about how Rosalie kissed me not only once, but twice, in front of the whole audience. While one wasn't her fault, but the flowers', the second one was all her. I can't really say I minded," George answered grinning, "But thankfully Dad convinced her that it was my business if I went to Hogsmeade with her on a date."

"Yes, Mum wasn't too thrilled that Georgie here was going out with a French girl. She's a bit old-fashioned," Fred added cackling, "Not that it helped that many boys on the party were ogling the pretty girls that are part of the Beauxbatons delegation."

The other boys laughed while Daphne and Jennifer exchanged a look that clearly said 'Boys'.

"Back to our task. Let's get the puzzle worked out," Daphne said and the boys nodded, still laughing a bit.

They started spreading out the puzzle pieces between them and looked at what was shown on their picture sides. There wasn't anything that was a clear picture, only flashing colours.

"I guess we should first sort them by colour. Normally then we should have the ones that belong together in one place. And perhaps the pictures are only revealed if the puzzle is completed," Harry stated and the others nodded. It took ten minutes to have them all sorted in groups that were somewhat making sense.

"There are too many corner pieces for it to be just one puzzle," Jennifer noticed, "So there are many smaller pictures that we have to put together."

"You're right. I guess each picture is a clue in itself," Christopher agreed.

"So each of us takes a part of the puzzle and puts it together as best as possible. Well, it'll take some time. Let's get to it. We should be able to finish a few before dinner at least," Cedric stated and everybody did just that.

It was four hours later that they stopped in time to go to dinner. None had expected that putting thirty nine pieces into a puzzle could be that difficult.

"We need to lock up the room," Christopher mentioned.

"True, we don't want anybody to stumble across this. It's difficult enough to put the right pieces to the correct puzzles, but having to do it again and again would suck," George commented, "And some overeager students might do that."

The others nodded and Cedric and Jennifer set the locking and privacy charms on the doors.

"Do we meet again after dinner?" Cedric asked.

"That would make sense," Daphne agreed, "We got the puzzles together, after finding out that each had nine pieces, but we still need to figure out what the clues put together say."

The others agreed with her and they split up in the Great Hall. Harry went over to the Gryffindor table, where his classmates were already waiting for him.

"Hey, Harry, how did the solving of the clue go?" Hermione asked eagerly, the others also listening in.

"We managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but we're going to meet again after dinner to see what we can deduct from them. They're still a bit strange. I think there is a second step we need to do to really understand what they want to tell us. But then again, it would be boring if it was too easy to solve them," Harry answered.

"Perhaps. Can we help you with preparation again, like for the first task?" Ron wanted to know.

"Of course. I guess once we know what's going to be the second task, we're going to build teams again to prepare the best way possible," Harry nodded.

Then talking switched to the Yule Ball that had been explained to them this morning by their head of house. Harry hadn't decided on who to ask yet, but now it would be more difficult than before. The girls were positively predatory when they looked at him. Thankfully the twins got their share of the looks as well, as his fellow Hogwarts champions. Harry was incredibly grateful that the schools had seven champions each and that each house of Hogwarts had at least one champion that they could support.

He looked over to the other tables and saw similar looks being given to his fellow champions. Though he didn't like how some boys in Slytherin looked at Daphne. As if she was an especially tasty piece of meat. She deserved much better. Thanks to working together for the tournament, he had got to know her much better and had come to appreciate her witty personality and her real Slytherin traits. She was completely different to people like Malfoy, who didn't know how to behave like a proper Slytherin. And without his father's power behind him, he was actually delegated to the lower spots in the house ranking.

His thoughts returned to who he wanted to ask to the ball. He didn't want to wait until the last second. That would be incredibly stupid. But he didn't want to take an airhead, with whom he wouldn't be able to talk a single word at the ball. Some of the girls around him talked about what kind of dresses they would wear and even Hermione was included in the excited giggling that followed. He hadn't expected that from her, but it seemed she was really excited about the ball. Right now Lavender was suggesting different hair styles to her, with Parvati adding her comments as well. The boys tuned them out, as this kind of girl talk was too strange for them.

The group of Hogwarts champions was back in their planning room and looked at the puzzles that they had put together. The main problem was that the flashing colours didn't make any sense to them.

"There has to be a trick to solving this," Daphne said.

"Yes, the question is how to find out which one," Jennifer agreed.

"A spell to see what charms are on the pieces might be a good start," Cedric commented and cast it after the others had nodded, only to hear a shrill screech, which had them all hold their hands over their ears until it stopped.

"Damn it, that sounded worse than Percy under the shower," Fred moaned once it stopped and he could take his hands away from his ears again.

"Yes, and I actually thought that that was impossible," George agreed.

"That only means that detection spells are out to solve this problem," Christopher concluded, "What else can we try?"

They all thought about it for a while.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we could only see anything on the pieces at all then we were all together," Harry finally mentioned, "It wouldn't hurt to try touching the puzzles we put together all at once."

"Makes sense," Cedric nodded and they stood and positioned themselves around the first puzzle, "On three. One, two, three."

They touched the puzzle and it flashed briefly, showing a picture of a carpet, then it went away again.

"Something is still missing, but we're on the right trail," Jennifer stated.

"Perhaps we have to take a specific order of the puzzles or stand sorted by houses, our size, or our age?" Daphne suggested.

They tried both and in the end it was the age sorting that got the results they needed. The four completed puzzles gave them a detailed picture of certain things. The first one had the pictures of a map of the magical world with certain countries being highlighted in yellow on it. The second one held an assortment of things including a carpet, a flute, an oil lamp, a box with runes on it, a sword and a glowing jewel. The third one had a rebus on it, which they hadn't puzzled out yet and the fourth showed seven people of which six were put in groups of two and one stood alone. The unfinished puzzle had a few numbers on it with the fourteen being circled.

"Well, the rebus aside, we can say that the task will include things from Greece, Arabia and Australia," Christopher pointed at the countries that were highlighted.

"Yes, and we'll have to do the things they plan in three groups of two and one will get a single task again, like the battle royal in the first task," Cedric added.

"The items are probably something that will be important in the task, or they are clues to what the task entails. So far they don't have too much in common. I guess the rebus is the major clue that puts them together," Daphne suspected.

"Then we better solve it," Harry spoke what they all thought.

The twins got out parchment and a quill and the seven all gave their input into what the symbols meant and what words were made from them. In the end, after half an hour, they had got the solution.

"Race of Legends," Fred mumbled, "Of course, the old legend that Mum told us as children. The one about the 'Hunt for the Spirit Jewel'." He pointed at the glowing jewel on the second puzzle.

"Of course, 'The Warlock and his Flying Carpet' has to be behind the carpet then," Cedric exclaimed.

"Then that makes 'The Magical Lamp' the source of the oil lamp," Jennifer concluded.

"The flute could be from 'Aesior, the Creature Master'" George pointed out.

"'Pandora's Box'", Harry added, knowing only that legend, and being a bit lost with the ones the others had mentioned, but he realised that they had to be far spread with how the others immediately recognised them.

"The sword could be many things. If England was highlighted, I would bet on Excalibur, but it isn't among the countries. And swords are common in old legends," Christopher stated.

"Then our best bet would be reading up on all legends from these countries, with making sure that we all know exactly what the ones we already think are meant are about," Cedric decided and the others agreed.

"The thing I wonder about is how they decide on the groups and the one that has to work alone. I think the incomplete puzzle can tell us, but we only have three pieces for it and the numbers seventeen, fourteen with a circle around it and probably another number in the tens from the hint of black behind the one that is there, don't tell us too much," Daphne mentioned.

"True. Last time they let us decide who would do the battle royal. Perhaps this time they have already chosen somebody," Fred pondered.

"Might be possible. Perhaps we can deduct more," George suggested, "It could have to do with the way we had to solve the puzzle clues themselves. If that was the case, they could mean somebody who's fourteen, and among us that only fits Harry and Daphne."

"If that's true, it's going to be Harry," Daphne said, "My birthday is the second of January, which means that at the day of the task, I'll be fifteen."

"You could be right. Well, we don't know too much about the task yet, so we better get our support groups ready to read all the legends from the countries we know will be involved. Next to that we should look up flora and fauna of the countries and special spells the countries are known for. This time we have three months to prepare and we should use it. The word race suggests that we are going against the clock and the other teams from the other schools. My best guess right now is that each team of two gets one country and the single one gets a special part in the task," Jennifer summed it up.

The others nodded and left to inform their friends what kind of task was before them.

And that was the eleventh chapter. Suggestions on what the legends that I have named could entail for challenges are welcome and will be considered for the second task. Till next time.