A/N: Aren't cliffhangers fun? There's another one this chapter! :)

This is Chapter 10 of Eternal Glory… Wow, I'm in the double digits already. And the First Task didn't even occur yet. This story is going to be very long…

The room was large. The walls were painted with bright colors, and there were paintings of wild animals. There was a lot of furniture in the room—chairs, tables. They looked like they were made of bamboo.

The judges were at the far side of the room, talking in normal voices to each other. They were faced away from the door, so they didn't see it open. James and Oliver walked back and lightly closed the door. From the inside, it looked completely different. It was made of bamboo weaved together to form a door.

Under the cloak, James and Oliver walked in unison toward the opposite side of the room, where the judges were sitting. They had been using the cloak for so long that they were experts at walking under it. As they got a bit closer, they could hear what the judges were saying.

"…not sure who we'll be able to find," Monsieur Moreau was saying. "Nobody in France speaks that language."

"Then we'll have to find someone from another country," Fournier replied. "From Britain, perhaps, or Norway, where the two schools are located."

"Are you sure we should continue with this task?" Moreau asked. "It's not going very well. There are plenty of other creatures we could use."

"No, we can't change tasks," Fournier said. "There are only four more days till the First Task; it's too late to change. We just need to get someone who can control the trolls – it shouldn't be that hard."

"Who's going to want to volunteer after what happened to the last person?" Moreau said. "He got both his legs broken! Nobody wants that to happen to them!"

"But if we explain to the new person why Clement got his legs broken, they'll be willing to help us," Fournier insisted. "Clement lied about knowing how to train a troll; if he really knew how to control it, he wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Well, we have three days to get someone to calm down the trolls," Moreau said. He sighed.

James held his breath. If his ears were correct, the first task was to fight a troll. Next to him, Oliver was trying to hold in his cough. "James…" he choked out. "I need to cough."

"That's not good." James and Oliver quickly ran backwards, away from the judges, toward the door. They didn't get there in time, though; Oliver let out a small cough. It was quiet, but it was noticeable in the quiet.

"Who's there?" Monsieur Moreau stood up, looking where the sound had come from. He walked toward the boys.

"What are you doing, Gustav?" Fournier asked.

"It sounded like someone coughed," Moreau responded. "It came from other there. If someone is spying, they'll be in big trouble."

"Really? I didn't hear anyone," Fournier said. "How would they get in, anyway? We didn't see the door open. And they would have to somehow be invisible."

"I don't know; it's probably a student trying to find out information about the first task ahead of time," Moreau said. "If you're out there, I'll find you," he said to the air.

James shivered. He was in the corner, and Moreau kept on walking towards him. If he got caught… he didn't want to think what would happen.

"Even if there is someone there, we can't find him," Fournier said to the other judge. "We should just leave this room. They didn't hear much information."

"They learned about the trolls!" Moreau said, but he stepped backwards, away from James and Oliver. "Fine, then, let's go. I'm pretty sure there's someone there, though!" He pointed toward the corner. "You're in luck that I didn't find out who you are. But, if you ever spy on us again, I promise that you're not going to leave with knowledge of what we said."

"Come on, Gustav," Fournier said. "Stop threatening the air."

"No, there's someone there," Moreau said. "I think I know who you are. You're James Potter, aren't you? Don't think I didn't recognize all the spies you've sent onto the sixth floor. But you'll get away with it this time. But next time, you'll be disqualified."

With that, Moreau and Fournier left the room.

"So Moreau threatened us, Fournier calmed him down, and then they left," Oliver explained. It was the following morning; James, Oliver, and Fred were in Charms, learning the Aguamenti spell.

"I still don't get why you didn't tell me," Fred whined. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"We told you, we didn't have time to get you," Oliver said. "Besides, it wasn't exactly fun. We got threatened by Monsieur Moreau, one of the most important people in the French Ministry of Magic. You wanted to be there?"

"Of course," Fred said. "That sounds fun."

"Stop chattering, and practice," said Proffessour Dubois, walking over to the three.

"Oh, I already know how to do the spell," James said. "We were taught, in Hogwarts, at the beginning of the year."

"Demonstrate, then," Dubois said. "Go on."

"Alright." James pointed his wand at the empty glass and said, "Aguamenti!"

The glass filled with clear water. "Good," Dubois commented. "Can you two do it too?"

They nodded. "Since you three appear to be experts, why don't you help some other students who are struggling, instead of having a conversation?" Dubois suggested. "This is Charms class, not lunch. Now, go."

Fred shot Proffessour Dubois a mean glare but went to help some strugglers. James and Oliver went to other students. The class ended in a few minutes. Immediately, James ran to the library.

"Why don't you just ask the librarian how to kill a troll?" Fred suggested. "You're never going to find the answer in all these books."

"She'll be suspicious," James answered. "Why would a sixteen year old want to know how to kill a troll?"

Fred shrugged. "Well, you're not going to find the answer if you don't ask her."

"Yes I will," James insisted. "Do you want to bet?"

"Yes, I do," Fred replied. "Five sickles that you won't find out how to kill a troll by researching in the library on your own. And that means you can't ask anyone to help you research."

"No deal," James said. "I need others to help me research in case I can't. In case, Fred. I didn't say I definitely wouldn't be able to find it. I would bet, but this is a desperate situation. I need to know how to stop a troll in four days, or I'm dead."

"Well, I would have won the bet anyway," Fred said. "Do you want me to help you research?"

"That would be nice," James said. The two friends set their books down on a table, and then went to get books on troll-killing.

In the end, James didn't find out how to stop a troll on his own. It was Rose who had found out. James had sent a letter to his cousin asking if she could help research. The next day, Rose sent a letter back.

James,

I spent the whole night last night researching about how to stop trolls. Trust me, it was boring and difficult research. But I found out how to stop trolls!

There are three types of trolls: mountain, river, and forest. They're quite similar, and you can stop them in the same way. There are a few options to stopping trolls. 1. Know how to speak troll (the language), and tell them to go away. I know you're smart, James, but even you can't master a language in a day, so that option's out of the question. 2. Knock them out with spells. This is what I advise you to do. Trolls are rather big and strong, so you need to be familiar with all kinds of spells. The best way, though, is to get rid of its weapon. Trolls usually use clubs as their weapon of choice. Get rid of their weapon, and then they can't block any of your spells. Stunning spells don't usually work – trolls are too big. But freezing spells or others will work. It all depends on what your task is. I doubt it'll require you to kill the troll. That's nearly impossible. It'll probably be to get past it, or get something it's guarding. By freezing it, you should complete your task.

If Rose was right, the first task seemed quite easy. All James had to do was cast the Impediment Spell and the troll would be controlled. It definitely wouldn't be that easy. Perhaps they would add a twist, or another creature.

The night before the task, James didn't sleep well. He kept having nightmares about trolls attacking him, and waking up afterwards.

"James?"

"I don't want to go…" James replied sleepily.

"Wake up!" Fred and Oliver were shouting in James' ear. "The First Task is today."

"I think I'm going to quit," James said.

Fred slapped him. "What did you do that for?" James asked.

"Get up!" Fred shouted. "Unless you want me to do that again."

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," James said. "Just give me five minutes."

"You only have fifteen minutes before the task starts," Oliver said. "So hurry up. We'll meet you in the dining hall."

Five minutes later, James groggily walked into the hall for breakfast. It looked much more crowded than usual to him. "Why are there so many people today?" he wondered.

"James!" Lily ran up to her brother and gave him a hug. "We got to come today to watch you do the First Task!"

"Great. You get to watch me fail," James said sarcastically.

"No. You'll do great!" Lily insisted. "I'll be cheering for you the whole time."

"Thanks, Lily," James said. "But I'm really nervous right now and need to calm down. So please go away to your own friends now."

Lily pouted but left. James sat down next to Oliver and sighed. "I'm going to get killed today."

"No, you'll be fine," Oliver said. "At least you'll have an advantage over the other champions. You already know what the task is, and you already know how to defeat the trolls. You'll be fine."

James nodded. "I hope so. When is the task starting? I want to get it over with."

"Five minutes," Oliver replied. "You should probably head outside soon. Eat some breakfast first, though."

"No, I can't eat anything right now," James said. "See you guys later. I'm going outside now."

As James walked toward his doom, he saw Rose, Albus, and Scorpius talking. Rose gave James a smile and said, "Good luck."

"Thanks," James said. He continued walking, hoping that he wouldn't get injured. Then he got outside, and gasped. There was still sand next to Beauxbatons castle, but on the far left, there was a river, with lots of grass and dirt around it, and a bridge. On the far right, there were a lot of trees. That river and the trees had never been there before.

He walked over and saw his fellow champions standing in awe and shock. Monsieurs Fournier and Moreau were standing there. James walked over to them.

"What took you so long?" Moreau asked. "We were waiting for you."

"Sorry," James replied. "I overslept."

Moreau looked angrily at him. James guessed that Moreau still suspected that he had been in the secret room, spying on him. "Well, as you can see, the first task is almost set up. Do you wish to know what you'll have to do?"

"Not really," Caron said.

"Well, you'll have to," Fournier replied. He took out a small bag and opened it. "Chose one," he said to Caron. She put her hand in and pulled out a small blue circle with the number 1 on it.

"Good choice!" Fournier commented. He gave the bag to Rosencrantz next. He pulled out a green circle with the number 2.

James was last. He pulled out the last one, a brown circle with the number 3. He stared at it, in confusion.

"Do you see the numbers on the circles?" Fournier asked. They nodded. "That's the order you'll be going in for the First Task. Aimee, you'll be first, and James will be last. You all have a different color circle, too. Can anyone guess what that means?"

James had a feeling he knew what it meant, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want the others to know he had cheated. "Nobody?" Fournier asked again. "Well, your task today is to get the club from the thing you'll be attacking. Each of you will have the same general thing to fight, but it'll be a little different. See, you'll all be fighting trolls."

Caron and Rosencrantz looked shocked. James tried to pull on a surprised face too, but he didn't think it worked, since Moreau glared at him again. Luckily, the two other champions were too busy worrying to look at James.

"You'll all have different variations of trolls, though," Fournier continued. "Aimee, you have the river troll, as you can probably tell from the blue circle, and the river that's right there." He pointed toward the river that they were next to. "Anton, you're going to fight the forest troll, which will be over there." He pointed a bit further away from the castle, where there was a lot of trees. "And you, James, will get the mountain troll. Beauxbatons doesn't have any mountains, so you'll just have to fight in plain sight, on the sand. That's the closest we can get."

Great, James thought. Mountain trolls were the hardest to fight. And he had to fight on the sand, with no scenery to hide in. The only good thing was he was third, so he had time to prepare.

"We'll give you ten minutes to think," Fournier said. "Then, the first champion will have to come out and fight. Good luck."

I hope this chapter didn't move too quickly. Anyway, please review! Please? (Thanks so much to SaraHunterofArtemis and L-U-N-A-654 for reviewing every single chapter! Thank you so much! Continue reviewing?)