Chapter Fourteen
The Second Task
… --- …
Saturday 11 February
Hermione Granger was unquestionably the smartest witch of her age, but on occasion, even the best can blow a call. When Harry had come up to her two weeks before the Second Task and asked about getting Susan a gift for Valentine's day, she had asked him how much he wanted to spend. When he had replied about twenty-five Galleons, she had suggested that he let Susan pick out something special from Circe's Secret. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, as his girlfriend had really liked the shampoo and knickers that she'd picked out for him to give her for Christmas. It might have been, had the afternoon unfolded as she'd expected.
It hadn't. She had overlooked Harry's propensity for attracting train wrecks.
Hogsmeade wasn't very large, really, but with the ease of Floo and Apparation, its business hours population was several times its resident population. The only all-wizarding village in all of Great Britain had a shopping district rivaling Diagon Alley. Student attractions aside, it tended towards quality merchandise. There were few tatty, ordinary shops, and almost none of the shady enterprises that lurked in Knockturn Alley. So, as Valentine's Day approached, Hogsmeade was swarming with wizards and witches, all searching for the perfect gift.
Per Susan's instructions, he'd given her a half hour head start to shop. During that time, he'd bought a small gift for Hermione for being such a good friend, and two cases of butterbeer to share with his dorm mates. Harry walked out of the Three Broomsticks into a virtual sea of magical humanity, seeking the lingerie shop.
As he walked towards the shop, he reviewed Hermione's well-intentioned advice, but it seemed to be of little value. She'd pressed him to be a gentleman and to be sure to compliment Susan on anything she purchased and chose to show him. He couldn't imagine his Susan not looking great in anything she bought. While he'd never told his best friend, he'd already seen her starkers and in knickers only although admittedly, both episodes had been complete accidents - at least from Harry's perspective. In fact, he'd seen most of her wardrobe since Amelia had taken him in. He was certain that she'd look wonderful in whatever she picked out.
This invitation had been different than his Christmas shopping trip. In December, Harry had stood outside the doors of the shop, not even daring to go in when Susan had purchased his extra Christmas gifts. This time she'd offered to model his purchase!!!
As his seventh year friend, Mike, would say, "Gryffindors go forward," so after giving Susan a half hour head start, Harry gingerly made his way towards the 'underwear shop.' He began to worry that he would never make it to the rendezvous on time, when miraculously, the sea of shoppers parted. Startled, he looked up to see his first friend, Hagrid.
"Harry!" boomed the giant, "How're yeh?"
Ears ringing, Harry managed to get out, "Fine, thank you! Are you getting Madam Maxime something for Valentine's Day, Hagrid?"
"Yer a smart one, 'arry. I've one mo' stop to make - Scri'nshafts. Red ink and some stationary for ''er. I think she's getten me a new tie."
Wisely, Harry chose not to comment about his friend's choice of ties, and simply nodded. The wiry teen and the Ent-sized half giant fell in together, not really trying to converse. Harry could barely make himself heard over the crowd. Besides, he was getting winded at the near run he had to manage to keep up with Hagrid while juggling the two cases of butterbeer and the gift for Hermione. One day, he promised himself, he'd have to learn a better shrinking and lightening charm.
Harry had wandered the streets of Hogsmeade a few times, but nearly always with friends. Poor for so long, he wasn't really much of a shopper. Besides, he hadn't had his permission slip signed as a third year. He could find the Three Broomsticks pub or the stationary store when he could see it, but with Hagrid on the store side of the sidewalk, Harry was forced out into the slushy street for his package-juggling jog next to his towering friend. So when Hagrid abruptly turned into Scrivenshaft's, Harry had already passed his destination and had to reverse course and hurry back.
Inside the shop, Susan had been a busy, busy witch. Twenty-five Galleons was a fair bit of money for a young teen to spend on lingerie. She had looked at almost everything, and then narrowed the selections to the ones she could afford and would dare to show to her boyfriend.
Her attention was currently entirely focused on the breathtaking teddy she was trying on. It was magical. Literally. It cycled between virtually transparent and almost opaque, the effect changing and moving just as the eye was drawn to an area. The color was indescribable. She'd been watching it for a minute in the mirror and still couldn't tell what color it was. It was iridescent red one moment, then filmy blue, then seemingly made of emerald smoke the next. The longer she watched, the more colors she saw. The feel of it on her bare skin was like nothing she had ever experienced. She wondered whether she could borrow a bit of his Gryffindor courage to let him see her in it and whether he'd like it if she did.
Finally inside the shop, Harry had managed to wrangle his rebellious packages into some semblance of order. He looked around in embarrassed wonder at the animated and astonishingly lifelike display manikins, shopping witches, and bemused wizards alike. He finally came to rest at the far end, entirely unaware that behind the curtains before him were the changing rooms where several witches were trying on slips of clothing, the likes of which he'd never even dreamed.
"Finally," sighed Harry as he looked around for Susan. "Peace and quiet."
He had spoken too soon. Circe's Secret, which had just opened prior to the Christmas holidays, hadn't counted on the Valentine's Day crush of shoppers eager to get into the changing rooms.
As Harry let out the breath he'd been holding, Millicent Bulstrode, who was charging full speed towards the curtains carrying some sort of leather garment, jostled him. Even in the magical world, momentum and mass counted. Little Harry had no chance at all against the determined leviathan that crashed into him on her way to the last open changing booth.
Distracted for a moment by the metal spikes that he'd seen, Harry went flying without a broom! He instinctively put his hand out to brace himself against the curtained wall before him…
…which turned out to be curtains only, curtains through which he fell awkwardly, arm still outstretched…
…the hand of which finally came to rest on a prominent part of Susan's delightful anatomy, leading to a squeal, first of fright and then delight…
…as Harry's head followed the attached arm and the rest of Harry followed his head…
…which instantaneously stopped functioning as realized that he'd knocked her over.
Outside the curtain, the two cases of butterbeer went flying into the air and shattered when they hit the slate floor, splattering everything and everyone in the store with the warm, syrupy liquid.
Pandemonium reigned.
Inside the dressing room, Harry was lying on the floor motionless, completely unable to engage his teenage boy brain. Harry, who could face down a sixty-foot basilisk, or stand toe to toe with a dragon, found that his courage had completely turned to mush over the realization that his hand was well underneath Susan's teddy and his girlfriend was lying face down, on top of his arm.
Fortunately Susan, who was able to think a little better in this situation than her boyfriend, knew she should call her Auntie Amelia. She began to gently extract herself from her boyfriend's caress and reach for her phone, but then thought better of it and hugged him for dear life. She whispered, "Don't be embarrassed, Harry. I won't break."
Carpe Diem.
Harry whispered, "Gringotts can handle the damages."
She looked into his emerald green eyes, and kissed her boyfriend for a full minute before they both admitted that it was time to go back to the castle.
Fortunately, the Daily Prophet hadn't been able to hire a replacement photographer yet, and Skeeter was covering a speech at the Ministry, so the incident never made the newspaper.
Harry ended up buying Susan roses for Valentine's Day. Perhaps it was just as well.
… --- …
Friday 17 February
Amelia understood the concept of a limited window of opportunity for a project. She knew that the Auror corp. was undersized for a government that was gearing up in preparation to fight a war on terror. She was painfully aware that Fudge had frozen headcount at the Ministry to the current level. That said, she had sixty-eight people, including herself, who carried a badge and couldn't increase that number. Even if she had the money, she couldn't go out and quietly hire a dozen Auror recruits. There was too much bureaucracy to keep such a move hidden. What she thought she could do was to train them to be able to change their focus from solving domestic disputes and catching shoplifters to that of a group of rapid-response small-unit fighting teams.
She believed that as soon as Riddle regained a body and Lord Voldemort made his presence known to his followers, the first thing that they would do would be to go out and recruit additional followers. Her Aurors needed to be equipped and trained to interdict the enemy while sustain a minimal casualty rate of their own.
For that, she needed gold.
Naturally, she didn't have the budget and knew that not only would going to Fudge to ask for the funds be fruitless, it would be counterproductive. The last thing in the world that she wanted to do was to tip off the Malfoys and their kind, who would use the information against them. Nor did she expect the Aurors to go out and buy their own safety equipment, or work overtime for free.
For that, she needed galleons.
She believed that if the Aurors wore a quality armored-vest, their survival rate in a serious firefight would double. Ethics aside, it made good business sense to provide her team with military-quality dragonhide battle gear. Additionally, she believed that if she provided them with eighty hours of offensive spell and military level battle training, she could improve their survival rate by another twenty-five percent. Finally, she believed that while she officially lacked the authority to borrow money on behalf of the Ministry, a future Minister of Magic, who had better vision and fewer ties to the Death Eaters that had escaped justice in the last war, would reimburse her for the gold that she felt that she needed to spend today.
For that, she needed Harry Potter.
The goblins had paid Harry 200,000 galleons for the basilisk that he'd killed. He'd deposited the gold in his trust vault, and even without it, had more than enough gold to date and splurge with until he was well into his twenties. That completely ignored his family money. She was certain that if she asked him to simply give her the gold, he would, without giving it a second thought. Instead, she would pledge her home in Welshpool as collateral for an interest free, five-year loan of 200,000 galleons. She knew that her home wasn't worth that much, but it was what she had. She didn't want to pressure Harry and wanted someone else to present the offer to Harry – meager as it was.
For that, she needed Connie Hammer.
… --- …
Saturday 18 February
The second challenge of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was, by longstanding tradition, crafted by the headmaster of the host school. Dumbledore's idea had been fairly simple. 75 percent of the second task involved deciphering the clue. The actual execution of the task (at least in Dumbledore's mind) was fairly simple. It had been his expectation that the contestants would either use the Bubble Head charm or gillyweed to complete the task.
Merchieftainess Murcus recalled the conversation that the old land-dweller Dumbledore had had with her some six lunar tides previously.
"The three Champions will each have one designated hostage for you to watch over. I will place each of the hostages under an enchanted sleep, which will allow them to remain under water for several hours. I would ask that you protect them from any hostile creatures and allow any given contestant to only take one hostage back with them."
Murcus agreed and replied, "We will ensure that no harm comes to the sleeping land-dwellers. We will keep them in our village at the bottom of the lake where we live."
… --- …
As the morning of the second task dawned, Headmaster Dumbledore led the four hostages down to the lake where he saw the six mermen bobbing their heads just above the water. The little Delacour girl, Gabrielle, saw the greenish gray heads sticking out of the water and gave a frightened whimper.
Susan watched with increasing trepidation as Fleur's little sister was put into an enchanted sleep and levitated into the arms of the two waiting merman. Cho gave the Hufflepuff a pleading look as she was asked to step forward.
Susan squeezed Hermione's hand as the Headmaster called her new friend to come forward. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and simultaneously whispered, "Good luck" to each other.
When Hermione had disappeared beneath the waves and the additional mermen had arrived, Headmaster Dumbledore called, "It's your turn, Miss Bones." She stepped forward, saw the jet of gray light and closed her eyes.
… --- …
The dark, foreboding lake that bordered Hogwarts wasn't, strictly speaking, a lake. About half a mile wide at the widest part and several miles long, the water was a part of the Loch Ness inlet that connected to the North Sea. Black Lake was unusual, not so much for its size - rather the depth.
Only a few yards from the shore, the water became quite deep, going from five to twenty-five feet, then from twenty-five to nearly two-hundred feet very quickly. In fact, the area just beyond the Mermaid Village at the far end of the lake was well over four-hundred feet deep.
… ---…
As they waited for the second task to start, Amelia hated herself. The slippery-tongued Headmaster had only mentioned in the briefest of passing that other students would be involved in the second event. She recalled nodding, not in granting parental permission; rather in acknowledgement of his statement. It wasn't that she loved her Susie any more, or her Harry any less, but she had at least agreed that Harry could participate in the tournament. She never knowingly agreed to endanger Susie too.
As Connie Hammer was rightfully bellowing into her ear for a massive lapse of judgment in allowing both of her children to have anything to do with this, 'pointless, evil, tournament,' she wondered how many other occasions there had been where the old Headmaster had pulled some double-worded, half-truth of a plan on other people without their knowledge.
Hammer declared, "He should have had his arm amputated just below the neck for thinking that this tournament was a good idea. When do they start?"
Undisturbed by her protective friend's verbal viciousness, Amelia replied, "The contestants will be read the rules in about five minutes and then they'll dive in."
Connie could barely sit still as they waited while Amelia watched in silent agony. Both of her children were at risk and she had a very bad feeling that something tragic was about to happen.
… --- …
There was a feeling of nervousness in the air that Harry hadn't sensed from the first task as the Champions stood in line at the shore's edge waiting to run in. As they were waiting, they all shook hands and lined up again. Suddenly Bagman called, "Go," and they all took a few steps into the icy cold water before diving in.
Harry bit down on the wad of gillyweed that he had previously placed between his cheek and gum. Within seconds, the now familiar pain on either side of his neck hit him. A few seconds later, he felt his hands and feet elongate with webs growing between his fingers and toes. He quickly stopped shivering; instead enjoying the coolness of the water. Within a minute, he passed Fleur and Cedric, who'd both cast the bubblehead charm and were swimming off in different directions. As he swam directly for the village, he lost sight of the other two champions. He looked in either direction in the steadily darkening water, but didn't see Victor.
Harry wondered how the other champions were faring as he went deeper and deeper into the lake. Would the Bubble Head charm work in the deeper water that felt like it was under much more pressure than when he had been paddling around just beneath the surface of the dark and bone chilling water? As the light grew dimmer and dimmer in the deepening water, Harry was relieved that he'd chosen to use the gillyweed. He was able to see perfectly in the dark water.
Harry continued to dive deeper.
… --- …
Despite the murmuring and agitated noise from the crowd, Connie tried her best to remain calm as the task began. Bagman announced the description of the task – the egg that the Champions had retrieved during the first task had provided them with a clue about the nature of the second challenge. Since all of the champions were wearing swimming apparel, it was assumed that they had all successfully deciphered the clue.
Bagman had the Champions jump into the water where they disappeared and the giant clock started.
… --- …
Harry had a tense moment when he passed by a group of a half-dozen Grindylows that appeared to be hiding and waiting in ambush of some unsuspecting prey. He took the knife that Sirius had given him out of the pocket of his board shorts as best as he could with his less than nimble webbed fingers, then he carefully selected one of the stunning keys and pressed the button on the handle of the knife. Like a switchblade, it fired with an audible snick. However, instead of a blade swishing out, a stunning spell flew out and hit one of the water demons. His fellows wanted nothing to do with the odd-looking, spell-throwing creature and quickly swam off, dragging their co-conspirator along with them. Harry put the knife back in the pocket of his swimsuit and continued swimming toward the village.
… --- …
Unable to contain herself any longer Connie blurted, "So Susie is tied up at the bottom of a loch that's hundreds of feet deep and contains God only knows what dangerous creatures. How can you sit there so calm?"
Amelia looked at her friend with a wry smile on her face and replied, "It must be your words of comfort."
They each gave a small laugh at themselves and quietly waited as the minutes on the big clock ticked by.
… --- …
Merchieftainess Murcus and the others waited patiently for the young land-dwellers to appear and claim their brethren. They enjoyed being involved in the old land dweller's contest. The mermen shook their tridents menacingly at several grindylows who had just swam up to examine the odd sight of the tethered hostages, just as they had done earlier in the day with the giant squid who shared the loch with them.
Somewhat sooner than they had expected, one of the land dwellers who had somehow corrected his feet and hands came into sight. The young land-dweller swam closer and appeared agitated as he came up to the hostages, who were tethered to wooden posts buried into the sandy bottom. He looked at one of the hostages with mud colored hair, and then swam towards another with bloodstone colored hair.
She watched as he took a shiny object from his covering and used it to cut the land-dweller from her seaweed tether.
Suddenly Murcus noticed that a fairly large shark was swimming towards the land-dwellers who were tethered to the stakes. Normally the merpeople didn't worry about the occasional open water fish that came into their loch. They ignored them whenever possible and as often as not, the sharks eventually swam back to the open water.
Murcus reminded the merman of their pledge to the old wizard to protect the young land-dwellers for the duration of their game. The shark appeared to come closer and the mermen waved their razor sharp tridents menacingly.
At that point, two things happened at the same time. The first land-dweller kissed his newly reclaimed mate and she woke up from the enchanted sleep that Dumbledore had placed on her. In a panic, she realized that she couldn't breathe in the frigid water and frantically clutched the land-dweller who had claimed her.
Secondly, the shark that had been circling the village made a sudden lunge for one of the tethered land-dwellers. Observing their promise to keep the land-dwellers safe, the two mermen guarding the hostages threw their tridents at the approaching shark.
… --- …
Connie was beside herself. She squeezed Amelia's hand tighter than she had been and ranted, "This is a hundred times worse than stake-out duty."
Amelia tuned out her talkative friend, nodded and waited in silence, praying for her children's safety.
… --- …
Susan's sudden awakening came as a complete surprise to Harry. His kiss must have ended the enchantment! She clung to him, frantically hoping that he could somehow take her to safety before she died – either from the icy cold water or lack of oxygen. Harry reached into the pocket of his board shorts and withdrew the spare clump of gillyweed that he had brought with him. Unfortunately his webbed fingers lacked their usual dexterity and the small clump of the life-saving aquatic plant slipped out of his grasp and began to drift away.
Susan was increasingly terrified as she looked around her. Her lungs were aching and she felt herself grow lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. Instinctively, she tightened her hold on Harry, which didn't aid in his equally frantic attempt to save her. He pushed her away for a moment and reached into his pocket again desperately grasping for another fragment of the slimy substance. Finally, the tips of his fingers closed around several more strands and he yanked them free, torn between the need for haste and the necessity to be certain not to drop it again.
She was chilled to the bone and had begun convulsing uncontrollably as Harry shoved the wormy plant into her mouth and held his hand over it to keep her from gagging. He prayed that he would be in time.
Her oxygen-starved brain was ready to shut down when she began to breathe. A few seconds later, she was no longer freezing. She began snogging her boyfriend for dear life. When they finally broke the kiss, her gaze turned to the other hostages and she saw a dreadful sight.
… --- …
Murcus watched in satisfaction as the two mermen's aim was true and the rapidly approaching shark was pierced with both tridents. The water billowed with blood and the dying shark sank to the bottom of the loch.
Her feeling of satisfaction turned to horror when, somehow, the shark transformed into one of the land-dwellers!!!
… --- …
Scarcely able to believe her eyes, Susan tugged Harry's arm, pointing past the hostages, and he turned to see the wounded shark transform back into Victor Krum. In total shock and dismay, he stared for a brief second, then snapped into action. He pointed to Hermione and then the direction back to the castle, and Susan understood her task. She attempted to untie the unconscious Gryffindor as Harry swam as fast as he could to reach the nearly motionless Quidditch star.
Susan soon succeeded in freeing the still slumbering form of Hermione and quickly caught up with Harry, who was doing his best to swim to shore while towing the much larger teen, who still had two tridents embedded in him. One of the three-pronged spears had struck him in the thigh, while the other had deeply pierced his upper chest.
Krum's blood trail began to diminish as they swam as fast as humanly possible to shore. Unfortunately, even with webbed fingers and feet, it seemed to take forever to cover the half mile back to land while towing a badly wounded wizard.
As they approached the shallower water near the shore the light in the water became much brighter. But when Susan finally broke the surface and bobbed her head above water screaming a frantic cry for help, she noticed with dread that the water by Krum was now clear.
… --- …
Connie and Amelia were watching nervously, eyes alternating between scanning the water near the shore and watching the minutes tick ever-so-slowly off the giant clock.
Suddenly, there was a great thrashing of the water about a hundred feet from shore.
Connie rejoiced, "It's Susan! Look, there's Harry. Oh look! She's got Hermi… Oh no…"
Harry had managed to haul Krum to the surface. She could see the handle of the trident sticking out of the front of his chest.
Susan's initial scream was soon echoed from the viewing stands as the students and other spectators began to comprehend the awful scene unfolding before them. As a pair of Durmstrang instructors relieved him of his burden, Harry collapsed to his knees for an instant, as he immediately turned to help Susan pull the slowly awakening Hermione from the water.
Connie found herself racing after Amelia as the two witches hurried from the stands to assist the three teens. Soon the adrenaline would wear off and the grim reality would sink in. For in spite of their very best effort to get him to shore and all of the effort from the witches and wizards who reached in for them, and all of the healing spells and potions in Madame Pomfrey's arsenal, Victor Krum, age eighteen, was dead.
Some fifteen minutes later, Cedric Diggory and Fleur Delacour returned to the surface with their hostages, only to find out that one of their fellow Champions was gone. Soon after, Dumbledore conferred with Murcus, who explained what had happened, but it didn't change anything.
Victor Krum was dead.
… --- …
Fifteen minutes later, Rita Skeeter was convinced that she had gotten the scoop of her lifetime. Assigned to cover the story, but banned from the Hogwarts grounds, she had remained out of sight, hidden in her beetle form. When the Champions surfaced, she had flown over and landed on the Granger girl, who was now standing by the shore wrapped in a warm blanket.
Some fifteen minutes later, Cedric Diggory and Fleur Delacour returned to the surface with their hostages, only to find out that one of their fellow Champions was gone. Soon after, Dumbledore conferred with Murcus, who explained what had happened, but it didn't change anything.
Victor Krum was dead.
… --- …
Five minutes later, Rita Skeeter was convinced that she had gotten the scoop of her lifetime. Assigned to cover the story, but banned from the Hogwarts grounds, she had remained out of sight, hidden in her beetle form. When the Champions surfaced, she had flown over and landed on the Granger girl, who was now standing by the shore wrapped in a warm blanket.
The distraught teen was near hysteria, clinging to Harry Potter, sobbing into his chest while he held her tight. Interestingly, the Bones girl didn't seem to be bothered by this intimate contact between her boyfriend and her rival for his affections, but was adding her own words of comfort. But that was a story she could pursue later. The gruesome death of the most famous Quidditch player in the world would make headlines on every continent!
She listened to Potter haltingly explain what had happened, wishing she could use her Quick Quotes Quill in her animagus form. Incredibly, not twenty feet away the Bulgarian champion lay covered up in a blanket with the two tridents on the ground beside him while heated accusations, recriminations, and threats were volleyed back and forth between the organizers of the competition and representatives of the young man's school.
She had finally heard the entire story and was preparing to take her leave when Harry noticed a bug in his distraught friend's hair, and casually flicked it into the water with his finger. Before Rita could transform back, a fish swam to the surface and swallowed its meal.
Unannounced, the Tri-Wizard Tournament had claimed yet another victim.
… --- …
Depending on your point of view, there was arguing, shouting or emotional discussion going on, well into the night. Krum's parents had been at the event and were shattered at the sight of their oldest son as he emerged from the water.
Bagman, for some inexplicable reason, ranted almost nonstop that the tournament be called off. His stated reason was that the tournament was simply too dangerous. His unstated reason was less benevolent – he had borrowed even more money and wagered it on the tournament. He somehow believed that in the event that the tournament was cancelled, he would win his bet.
After they had been discussing matters for several hours, Barty Crouch unexpectedly walked into the room. He did not look to be in good health and surprised everyone by reciting an arcane ruling that indicated that while the school that had lost a Champion was able to name a replacement, it was not eligible to withdraw from the tournament.
Amelia, who had talked about fitting Harry for an armored vest prior to the second task vowed that he would be fully armored and carry an emergency portkey if he competed in the third task.
McGonagall was worried that the Grangers would withdraw their daughter from school when they learned that she had been so closely involved with a death in a situation for which they hadn't even given their permission.
In fact, however, she had been in less danger in this particular instance than she had encountered in every single year she'd been a student at Hogwarts thus far. Once she regained her composure, Hermione would quickly determine that the outcome of this episode would be no different than the others. She would find a way to explain it away, as she had no intention of leaving her best friends at a time like this.
Due to circumstances that only Amelia and Snape knew about, Dumbledore had lost much of his interest in the tournament. If possible, he would have been willing to be talked into canceling the tournament, if it had not been for the impassioned announcement from Karkarov that Victor's younger brother, Peter had been appointed to take his place.
Reluctantly, they all agreed that Peter Krum would be considered to be in second place, with Cedric and Fleur tied for third, based on Victor having reached the village second. The Krum family left the next morning to bury their son and brother. Peter would be back by the following Friday.
… --- …
Within the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms there were no celebrations that weekend. One look at the grim faces of Harry and Hermione as he helped her through the portrait hole promptly squelched any festive thoughts any of their housemates might have been entertaining. The identical scenario played out when Susan and Cedric returned to the Badger den. In each location, the anxious murmuring that filled the room ceased as the pair of students who had returned from the bottom of Black Lake silently parted and headed for their rooms without speaking to their classmates. The silence lingered for some time following their passage as the ultimate, inescapable fact of the day stood out.
Viktor Krum was dead.
… --- …
It was a quiet week at the school. Lacking any new ideas to improve morale, Dumbledore attempted to lift everyone's spirits by announcing that there would be an extra Hogsmeade visit the next weekend and all students, regardless of their age were invited to attend.
Naturally, the younger students saw the unanticipated privilege as a major opportunity, and by Friday their obvious excitement had slowly spread throughout the school. While the principals directly involved in the day's events – Harry, Susan, Hermione, Cedric, Cho, Fleur and her sister – soberly contemplated abrupt and capricious nature of the tragedy they had experienced, life at Hogwarts slowly returned to normal.
… --- …
Friday 3 March
Minerva was surprised to receive an owl on Friday morning as she was having breakfast. She tended to receive most of her mail later in the school year from perspective employers inquiring about promising students. Early March would normally be a few weeks premature for those inquiries. She opened the envelope and began reading as her fellow professors did with their respective letters. Her eyes involuntarily closed as she held the letter with one hand and rubbed her forehead with the other.
Professor McGonagall,
Words fail to express the anger, frustration and feelings of betrayal that we have regarding Hermione's forced participation in the barbaric contest that is being held at your school.
When we met several years ago, you assured us that the wizarding world was a remarkable place, and that Hogwarts would be nothing more than a positive experience for our child.
Your actual results have been nothing short of pathetic. Hermione had barely been in school eight weeks, and you wrote advising that she'd received minor injuries at the hands of a twelve foot troll, which had 'somehow found its way' into the castle. You assured us that her injuries were a most unusual event and that nothing like it would ever happen again. A year later, she missed six weeks of class, petrified by what turned out to be a sixty-foot monster. When we sent her withdrawal letter, you assured us that it had been a 'most unusual, unheard of' event and our child would never be placed in harm's way again while she attended your school. As such, we cancelled the notification.
We are attaching a newspaper clipping describing her 'unwilling participation' in an event in which a student suffered a violent death. We expect that it will not come as any sort of surprise to you, since it was apparently a school sponsored event.
Professor, allow me to refresh your memory on three points:
1) Our daughter is a minor
2) We did not give our permission for her to participate in a non-academic activity which would endanger our child
3) Based on the newspaper account, we have little reason to believe that our daughter willing accepted the role of 'hostage' in your contest.
As such, we are requesting your presence at our home tomorrow 4 March at 9 AM to discuss the situation. It is our intent to withdraw our daughter at the end of the semester, but in fairness to her, we have agreed with her request to meet with you and hear you out.
Emma Granger DDS
Daniel Granger DDS
Dumbledore looked at McGonagall as she carefully refolded the letter and replaced it in the envelope before tucking it into one of the pockets of her robe. He asked, "Anything interesting?"
She looked over and couldn't help seeing the emptiness where his left arm had been a few weeks earlier, and decided against thrashing the man for his lack of judgment. Instead, she replied, "No, it's some bad news that I've been expecting for a while. As such, I'll be out of the castle for most of the day tomorrow."
ooo CCC ooo
"Mr. Crow!!! How dare you?"
The old scribe was tempted to mention, 'I had help from my apprentice, .Hunter,' but decided that those details could wait.
"Insufficient respect for the deceased…"
"Flicking that poor woman into the water to be gobbled up by a common minnow…"
"Gratuitous …"
"Blatant misrepresentation…"
Crow, thinking about the old saying, 'don't cry over spilled butterbeer,' was going to say something, but couldn't as she continued her rant.
"The idea, placing Miss Bones in a compromising position like that…"
He admitted that she had looked quite cold.
As he closed the door behind him, the old scribe remembered that he only reported what he'd actually seen and fortunately, hadn't commented about Miss Bulstrode.
Still furious, but lacking an outlet, McGonagall picked up a slip of parchment that read Runemaster 5077573 that Crow must have dropped. It looked important, so she kept it.