First Task

James stared blankly at the canopy above him. The sheets were tangled around him, and he had been lying in the same position for three hours, since he woke up at four thirty am. Max leaned over him, waving his hand in front of his eyes.

'Come on James, got to get up!' he said. James groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He untangled himself and stood up, grabbing his robes. He had to wear special red and black ones with gold trimmings and POTTER in gold across his back. He pulled them on over some jeans and trainers.

'Suppose I have to go down,' he sighed. They headed downstairs to the Great Hall. When they stepped inside every Hogwarts student cheered his name and clapped, with the occasional whoop. He turned even more pale and collapsed on a seat at the Gryffindor table. The people around him wished him luck as he stared at his toast.

'I think I'm going to be sick!' he cried.

'Come on, you need to eat,' encouraged Alexia, dangling a slice in front of him. James nibbled a bit before dropping it and pushing the plate away. Neville walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

'Potter, you need to be in the Champions Tent,' he said seriously. James nodded and stood up, following him out of the Hall amid more cheers. Once they were into the open Neville turned to him, looking very worried. 'Look, James, this is dangerous. There are wizards on hand if it goes out of control. Don't be scared.'

James realised that Neville didn't know that he knew what was coming. He just nodded dumbly and mumbled something about understanding. They carried on down to a massive arena rather like a cross between an amphitheatre and Quidditch stadium. A gold tent had been erected nearby, and Stefan and Danielle were already inside.

Stefan looked rather green, and even Danielle was looking paler than usual. They sat in silence for half an hour listening to the school filing into the stands, chattering and yelling. James's stomach seemed to be doing a series of acrobatic tricks.

Mr Limpson came into the tent holding a wriggling leather bag. 'Each of you, pull out a number from the bag. Master Krum?' Stefan stepped forward and put his hand gingerly into the bag. He winced, before pulling out a squirming model Chimaera with a number three around its neck. He took up a resigned air and stepped away from the bag.

Danielle was number one and James number two. James's Chimaera tried to bite his finger, so he dropped it onto a seat.

'Right, all of you can see that you are up against Chimaeras. When you go into the arena you will see that there are five stations. Each station holds a clue for the Second Task. You must get to each station, or you will be unable to work out what the Second Task is. You will be given points for how well you do the Task. Miss Ambroise, I think they're ready for you.'

Danielle nodded and flashed a smile at the two boys, before leaving the tent. There was a roar from the crowd as she stepped into the arena. The boys sat, looking resolutely away from each other. The oohs and aahs of crowd made it worse, as did the Commentator, with his frequent: 'Close one!' and 'Impressive!'

The loudest cheer yet told them that Danielle had finished, and James stood up to leave. He tried to smile at Stefan, but it came out as a grimace, and he rather garbled his 'good luck, mate.' Stefan nodded, and he stepped out of the tent and into a wooden tunnel. Keepers lined up along it, and the walk seemed to take forever.

The crowd was deafening as he stepped outside. The middle arena was all rocky with jagged boulders, and the five brass stations. And the Chimaera itself, curled up in the middle. Lion, goat and snake, seven foot high and snarling. The whole air around him was like a furnace, and the occasional jets of flame.

The cheers disturbed it, unfortunately, and stood up, swishing from side to side. It immediately saw James, and roared, sending a jet of flame towards him. Quidditch reflexes came in handy as he launched himself through the air, landing heavily and rolling. The crowd was shouting around him, but he couldn't make out any words, not even the commentator.

He realised that he was right next to one station, and quickly grabbed the two gold pieces lying on it, stuffing them in his pocket. The Chimaera had realised where he was and was eyeballing him, three pairs of eyes glaring down at him. This time it charged, and he barely got out the way. Indeed, a jet of flame singed his sleeve and he winced, running towards another station. Two down, three to go.

Now the Chimaera was turned back towards him, but it wasn't charging. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at a rock around a metre away. It rose into the air with a slight wobble, before hovering there. The Chimaera was coming closer though; it's hot breath like a furnace. A bead of sweat trickled down James's forehead as he flicked his wand at the Chimaera. The rock flew straight at it, and went down the goat's open mouth. Though only one throat was stuck, they all connected and James had blocked the Chimaera from breathing at all. It tumbled backwards, scrabbling at its throat and allowing James to get to the third station.

To his horror, he found that the fourth station was well within reach of the snake, and the Chimaera was curled around the fifth. He fired another rock, but it just hit the lion's head, temporarily dazing it. The first rock seemed to have disintegrated. He sprinted towards the fourth station, but the snake shot out and tried to bite him. He ducked out the way, and its jaws closed an inch from his ear. One side of his head felt like it was burning, and he grabbed the pieces and raced away to the wall of the arena, out of reach of the Chimaera.

He needed the final two pieces, but the Chimaera wasn't leaving its spot. There was no way he could get there without luring it out. Frowning, he looked around the arena. Boulders were piled up the walls, right almost up to the spectators. They weren't steady enough for a Chimaera to climb, but he was a lot lighter than a Chimaera.

He scrambled up the rocks until he was a good few metres in the air. There were a few rocks about the size of his head lying around, so he started firing them at the Chimaera. At first the Chimaera just snarled and blew some flames, but the rocks stung and it started to try and bat them away. James had trouble firing them into its mouth because he was so far away, but the rocks still hurt it.

Finally it decided to get rid of the "pesky little bullets" and started coming towards James, who was still firing rocks. He had to wait until the Chimaera was right below him before he jumped. He was worried that he would hurt himself when he jumped, or not go fast enough, but he couldn't think about that.

'Okay,' he whispered to himself as the beast inched nearer. 'Three, two, one!' he had timed it perfectly, saying one just as the Chimaera jumped onto the pile. He launched himself off, seeming to fly for a second before falling hard onto the rocky ground. The Chimaera had tried to climb up to him, but the pile had crumbled beneath it and it was now stuck under the fallen boulders.

James tried to stand up to run up to the final station, but the jump had done his knee in and it buckled before he could take a step. In the end he pointed his wand at himself and did the same spell that he used on the rocks, flying neatly over to the station and grabbing the final two pieces. As soon as he had the stands gave a tremendous roar of approval, waving flags with slogans such as "Paramount Potter!" and "Go Potter!". #

A side door opened and Harry ran out, followed by Neville and the Marauders. Harry helped James to his feet, and James punched the air, grinning happily. A group of keepers surrounded the Chimaera, trying to subdue it with magically reinforced chains.

'That was amazing James!' cried Max. 'Way better than Danielle's – she tried to stun it, but the spells didn't penetrate its thick skin very well, and she ended up getting slashed on her leg. She's in the Med Tent now.'

'Well done Potter,' said McGonagall. 'Very impressive performance. Bartholomew, help him get to Madame Pomfrey.' Max nodded and helped him get out of the arena. The spectators were still cheering. The Med Tent was yellow with a red cross on it, and separated into three cubicles for the three Champions. James noticed Danielle's silhouette as he sat down in the middle one.

'Goodness gracious, Chimaeras!' cried Pomfrey as she bustled in. She was carrying a large box that she set down on a table and opened to reveal an alarming amount of potions and nasty looking instruments.

'Do I need all that?' asked James, looking horrified.

'No, of course not! You just need the red and blue vials, and the instrument that looks like a cross between tweezers and scissors,' said Pomfrey. He winced as she poured a few drops of the potions onto his knee, which had a large cut in it. The potion hissed and a thin trail of smoke came out.

'Owww!' he cried.

'Wuss,' said Max, rolling his eyes. James looked away when Pomfrey pulled out the tweezers/scissors.

'Right, your knee should be alright in about half an hour, but don't put too much weight on it until then,' she said finally, before bustling out.

'We should go and see your scores and watch Stefan,' said Max, but as he did Albus poked his head in. Max, for once, acted tactfully and left the tent. The brothers were staring uncomfortably at the floor, until they both blurted out what they wanted to say at the same time.

'I'm sorry!' cried Albus.

'I'm a git!' said James. They grinned sheepishly at each other. James opened his mouth again. 'Al, I've been an idiot, I shouldn't have acted the way I did.'

'I shouldn't have reacted like that,' said Albus. 'I guess it all got a bit...'

'Much,' James finished his sentence for him. 'Look, Albus, I'm ashamed of what happened. I promise I won't act like a prick anymore.'

'And I'll try and talk to you if I think something's wrong, instead of bottling it up until it all bursts out,' said Albus. 'Now come on, they're going to be reading your scores in a second. Here, I'll help.' He put an arm around James shoulders and helped him up. They limped out to the stands like they were in a three-legged race.

'You're getting strong,' commented James. 'Maybe you'll be able to beat me in an arm wrestle sometime.'

'I could beat you already, but you always cheat,' retorted Albus. They had reached the other Marauders, who were sitting with Robby and Caitlin. The judges were just reading out the scores. Limpson went first. He held up his wand, and a thin black ribbon came out, spelling the number eight.

'Not bad, he gave Danielle seven,' said Robby. 'He must have knocked points off because of your knee.' Gabrielle gave him seven, McGonagall another eight, Harry nine, but Krum three.

'What the hell?' cried Albus. 'You deserve more than three!'

'E gave me zee same,' said Danielle, who they found was sitting in the row behind. She had been burnt and her right arm was covered in bandages. 'E eez a cheater!'

But James got thirty five overall, which was one point more than Danielle and so put him in the lead. He sat back to watch as Stefan stepped into the ring. Stefan went for the more head-on attack, firing spells trying to cut the Chimaera. But, like Danielle found, the Chimaera's hide was thick, and many of the spells did nothing except make it angrier. He was lucky with the first two stations, narrowly missed being very badly hurt between the second and third. As he was running to the fourth he was caught by the Chimaera's front paw, which was a lion's. He yelled out as it slashed him. He managed to make it to the fourth station, and fired a lucky spell. It hit the Chimaera's softer underbelly, and managed to make a gash. The Chimaera howled and backed away, allowing him to reach the final station. But as he grabbed the last to pieces, the Chimaera went for a last revengeful attack. The goat caught him on its horns and threw him across the arena, where he collapsed.

'Not as good as you or Danielle,' said Alexia, as Stefan was helped up and half-carried to the Med Tent. He was covered in blood on his left side, and his eyes looked slightly glazed. Most of the judges either gave him five or six, apart from Krum, who gave him ten.

'Ten?' cried Olivia. 'Biased old bastard!'

'I guess Stefan is his son,' said James.

'Yes, but you're Harry's son, and he only gave you the score you deserved! Stefan definitely didn't do well enough for a ten.'

'Anyway, I've scheduled a party in the Common Room,' said Albus. 'Can you walk yet?' James stood up and tested his knee. It felt weak, but he thought he could get up to the castle at a gentle pace. The party was great, they stayed up until three o'clock, and James and Max nearly got in massive trouble for getting drunk on Firewhisky. Albus and Robby had to shove them into a broom cupboard when Neville walked in to tell them to go to bed.

'I'm coming back in ten minutes, and if anyone is still down here they're getting double homework and a week of detentions!' he yelled before marching out. James fell onto his bed, fully dressed and feeling like there were lead weights on his eyelids. But through his fuzzy brain, he felt extremely elated. He had got through the First Task and made up with his brother. Maybe things would be okay...

What do people think? Please review and tell me, I always love to read what people think of the story. I hope I did the battle with the Chimaera and Albus and James sorting things out well. Next chapter will be Yule Ball! Keep reading!