The night before the First Task, Emma held a Quidditch practice. At dinner before the practice, Victoire was still shaking her head, as she had been the entire week ever since Emma had revealed what she'd done.
"I can't believe it," Victoire said as she finished her last carrot, stabbing it a fraction harder than usual in her frustration. "You've got less than twenty-four hours before the First Task and you're spending it on a broom rather than doing last minute revision?" Victoire had apparently forgotten that Emma did well under pressure and that last-minute revision never helped her friend all that much; in fact, it was almost always counterproductive.
"Vicki, chill," Ruby sighed. "If Em doesn't know it by now, she never will. We know she knows what she's doing. Yesterday she wrote all six potions from memory and only missed two steps from the Elixir to Induce Nightmares and we've both said we don't think that'll come up. She's got this."
Emma flashed Ruby a thankful smile, glad that at least one of her friends was being reasonable about this.
"Besides, I'd want to do something fun to relax the night before too," Ruby continued. "And playing Quidditch with my best friends is the best way to do it. It's not our fault you don't know one the end of the broom from the other to be able to play."
Victoire rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure."
It had been a running joke between the three of them since their first flying lesson. Despite having flown plenty of times before the lesson, somehow when Victoire had put her hand over the broom and called, "up," it flipped in the air so that it was facing the wrong way and completely useless to ride. Emma had joked that Vicki didn't know the right end and it had stuck.
"In that case, I'll come and watch," Victoire said. "If you two aren't doing homework, then I won't either."
Therefore, after their dinner, the Gryffindor trio made their way towards the Quidditch pitch. They parted at the entrance with Victoire heading up to stands to watch, a jar of her portable flames with her so that she didn't get cold in the icy November wind, and the others heading to the changing room to greet the others.
"Hey, Champ!" August greeted as she walked in. "How are you feeling about tomorrow?"
"I'd rather not think about it to be honest," she answered. "What will be will be."
August flashed her a proud smile. "Good thinking, Captain."
Emma smiled before calling order to the team. "We're just going to have a bit of fun today to get some adrenaline pumping. So, Beaters, you're on the attack today. We're going to duplicate the Bludgers so that we have four and you're just going to go to town aiming them at us and we're going to avoid them."
Lily turned to Emma, her eyes wide with fear. "Emma, are you insane?"
"It's a good way to learn how to avoid them," Emma said with a shrug, "and it'll help Robin and LJ's aim too."
The newest Chaser still didn't look convinced which made Emma chuckle as she pulled out a small vial from her bag.
"It's a good job I brought a numbing potion for us," she said, still chuckling. She had whipped up the potion the night before during the last practice session she had done. It was dead easy compared to the ones she was studying and felt quite fun in comparison. "We won't hurt too much if they do hit us and if they do, you'll learn not to let it." She looked around the other Chasers and August. "Are you guys game?"
They all nodded eagerly. Ruby looked positively delighted as it would be a good way to get rid of some of her pent-up anger as she had to concentrate on dodging. Professor Tinker had not been happy when she hadn't handed in her essay that morning and called Ruby a liar when she explained her reason why. Ruby took it all the way to Professor McGonagall who reminded the DADA professor of what they had discussed at the beginning of the year relating to two students, Teddy being the other. With that, Ruby had the Headmistress' permission to not write the essay which infuriated Professor Tinker who believed everyone should be treated in the same way.
"If your father did what Miss Lucas' did, I think you'd find that you'd quickly change your tune," Professor McGonagall had said with scarcely hidden disdain, before excusing Ruby and giving Professor Tinker a firm warning about forgetting her instructions again.
"Brilliant," Emma said as she passed the potion around after taking a sip herself. Once everyone had had a sip, including the Beaters in case they caught each other with the additional Bludgers, she returned the potion to her bag and shouldered her broom. "Then let's get going."
They then walked on the pitch with both Robin and LJ carrying the chest where the Bludgers were currently being restrained. With a flick of her wand, Emma opened the case and let the two Bludgers go.
As one shot towards her, she lifted her wand and called, "geminio," and the Bludger doubled. She repeated the action with the other before turning to everyone else. "In the air!"
Within seconds of rising, Robin and LJ were blasting the Bludgers in every direction making the other members of the team try out various manoeuvres to avoid being hit. Emma was able to pull off the Sloth Grip Roll where she was able to hang upside down on her broom to narrowly avoid two Bludgers heading her way.
Ruby even managed a very impressive move where she completely jumped off her broom as a Bludger flew underneath her and land back as if she'd not moved.
"If you did that in a match, that would be amazing!" Emma called to her friend who grinned wolfishly before zooming off again.
By the end of the practice, everyone was sore as they had been hit at least once but the numbing potion helped a lot, but everyone was also grinning as the adrenaline pumped through them. Even Lily had relaxed.
"Yeah, that was quite fun actually," she agreed as she went to leave.
Emma smiled. "Good."
"Good luck tomorrow by the way," Lily added. "I hope Gryffindor wins."
She then walked over to Minnie and left with her so just Emma and Ruby remained in the changing rooms last as the boys had already gone.
As they walked to the exit, Victoire met them as usual.
"Mills was here again," she commented, trying to make it sound casual.
Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm getting fed up with her doing that. She can hardly be supporting her boyfriend at practice. He left with LJ ages ago."
"I know, it is odd," Victoire added. "She looked anxious when she realised that I'd seen her. Maybe she thought she'd get away with it being quite dark, but my flames are quite bright."
"It's whatever," Emma said with a shrug. "If she's there at the next practice, I'll call her out on it. I don't have the energy to concentrate on it at the moment. Tomorrow is more important."
Victoire then reached out and linked her arms with both Ruby and Emma. "And I have a great way to spend the last evening before the Task."
As they walked to the castle, Victoire directed them to the left instead of heading up the staircase to their dormitory. Instead, she led them all the way to the kitchens. Finally, she let go of Ruby and tickled the pear on the portrait and the door the kitchens opened up.
The three entered and saw the house elves finished off cleaning up from dinner.
"Good evening, misses!" The first elf squeaked. He was wearing cotton t-shirt that was clean along with a pair of neat trousers.
Hermione Granger-Weasley had developed many laws regarding house elves in honour of Dobby. They were now paid fairly and clothes were essential, and were not the universal signal of shame (clothing could still be used to free them, but elves made their own clothes, so uniforms did not count). It had improved the house elves' welfare significantly. Hogwarts was no exception and Professor McGonagall had happily led the way with the development.
"How can we help you?" The elf asked.
"Hey," Victoire greeted with a bright smile. "Could we possibly have three double hot chocolates with marshmallows and cream with some cookies?"
"One with cinnamon please," Emma quickly requested; cinnamon was her favourite.
"It would a pleasure," the house elf said with a bow.
He then snapped his fingers and three house elves walked over, one with a tray, another with the mugs already full of steaming hot chocolate and whipped cream and the last one was adding the marshmallows. A fourth elf scuttled over with a plate of biscuits.
"This looks wonderful," Ruby said. "Thank you so much."
"You is welcome," the last house elf replied with a bow. Much to Hermione's dismay, she hadn't been able to stop them showing respect by bowing.
"Goodnight," Victoire said and the three took their drinks with Victoire taking the cookies before heading up to the Common Room.
"You're the best," Emma said to her friend.
Their hot chocolates were the perfect temperature by the time they reached their dormitory which was still empty as Clarissa and Poppy tended to say in the Common Room later than the other three, so they sat down on Emma's bed which was in the centre of the three.
"You're going to smash tomorrow," Victoire said after sipping her hot chocolate, licking cream off her lip. "I have no doubt about that, we have full faith in you."
"I agree," Ruby added. "We'll be cheering you on loudly even if you can't hear us. I mean, I wish you could, but I get it would be far too distracting if you could hear us while brewing."
Emma smiled warmly at her friends as she cupped the mug in her hands. "Thanks guys."
"And afterwards, win or lose, we'll sit up hear and gorge to our heart's content on fudge and sweets," Victoire said.
"And I may have asked Granny to send over some of her special brew," Ruby added. "It should arrive tomorrow morning with Little Red and Cookie as Red wouldn't be able to carry it on her own."
Granny had a secret drink that no one could work out the ingredients. The only thing they were sure of was that it wasn't alcoholic, but it was delicious.
"You two are the best friends a girl could have," Emma said as she hugged her friends tightly.
"We're with you all the way," Victoire promised.
oOoOo
True to Ruby's word, the next morning, Little Red and Cookie flew in holding a large box. Ruby grinned as they landed in front of her and she and Victoire got to untying the birds.
Once released, they both nuzzled their owners affectionately before taking their leave.
"Granny's a good one," Ruby murmured as she opened the box. "She's added some more Butterbeer as well as her special brews. Ooh and some cake!"
She went to reach in but Victoire stopped her. "You are not having cake for breakfast, Ruby Lucas!"
"Killjoy," Ruby muttered as she sat down, sulking, before brightening up as she caught a glimpse of perfectly buttered toast, pulling a slice of that towards her instead.
The three then finished their breakfasts before Ruby nipped back up to Gryffindor Tower so that she didn't have to cart the box of drinks around with her.
"What are you going to do in the gap after lunch?" Victoire asked Emma while they waited in the Entrance Hall before Potions. Emma was allowed to sit out of her third and final lessons due to the task, whereas everyone else only got their final lesson cancelled.
"I mean, lunch ends at half twelve," Emma said. "I may as well just go to the library because that's where the others are probably going to be, some company wouldn't be bad."
Victoire shook her head. "No, I think you should go straight down to the dungeons, Ruby was right, you know it now. Half an hour isn't enough time to go through anything and you know what you're like, you'll get distracted and end up being late."
When Emma went to argue, Victoire raised her eyebrow which made Emma retract what she was going to say. The door to the Entrance Hall then opened widely and Professor McGonagall was leading five people through the doors.
Emma recognised two of them immediately, the messy black mop of Harry Potter and the brown curls of Hermione Granger-Weasley. The pale blond man must have been Draco Malfoy, she'd seen him before at Ministry events but had never spoken to him. However, as she saw the woman named Penelope, Emma realised she knew her face from somewhere, but she couldn't tell where. She vaguely thought that it was something to do with her godmother, but she couldn't put her finger on it. However, the final judge, Justin, she definitely didn't know.
Victoire grinned at her aunt and uncle but McGonagall shooed them towards the staffroom before too many students saw them but both Harry and Hermione flashed their niece and Emma a huge smile. They were still smiling when Ruby came back, now box free.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"The judges have arrived," Victoire said. "Come on or we're going to be late."
Much to Emma's dismay, her first period Charms class seemed to be over in a flash as they revised summoning charms. Although, Emma was quite pleased as it may come in useful later if she needed an extra ingredient. However, as Charms finished so quickly, it meant that she found herself face to face with Potions during her second period, the lesson she wished she could skip that day with what was coming that afternoon.
Despite her reluctancy to be there, with everything she had picked up from practising, she surprised herself and brewed the Wit-Sharpening Potion, their new challenge started in that lesson, at record speed. Barely an hour into the hour and a half lesson, she'd finished and corked up a sample.
Confidently, she walked over to Professor Gold and held it out. "I've finished, Professor."
Professor Gold raised his eyebrow. "I see. That was faster than expected with your record, Miss Swan."
Tamara Yaxley who was sitting at the next table snickered. Neal shot her a glare that forced her to stop immediately.
"I'll test it now," Professor Gold said as he took the vial from Emma.
Nervously, Emma watched as Gold poured the liquid out before waving his wand over it, assessing it carefully. After a moment, he leant back and smiled.
"Perfectly brewed," he said, a small hint of shock in his voice. "I'm very impressed."
Emma gasped in surprise. "Seriously?"
Gold chuckled quietly, letting out his kinder side, as he was occasionally known to do. "Seriously, Miss Swan. Now, I'll allow you to go off topic and do whatever you need for the task later."
"Thanks, Professor," Emma said before she walked back to her cauldron. "He said it was perfect," Emma gasped in surprise. "My potion, perfect!"
Victoire smiled as she added the final touch to her own potion before allowing it to simmer for three minutes before she, too, bottled up her finished sample. "That's fantastic, Em!"
By the end of the lesson, everyone handed in their potions and cleared away their cauldrons. As everyone filed out of the classroom, Professor Gold made his way over to where Emma was about to leave.
"If you complete the task with the confidence and skill you just showed, you're going to surprise everyone," Gold murmured quietly. "I'm truly impressed, Miss Swan."
He then walked away, leaving Emma just as gobsmacked as she had been when he had first complimented her.
However, the sudden confidence she'd grown in class started to diminish when they reached the Great Hall where she was being wished good luck by all the Gryffindors but slated by the other Houses. She was used to it before a Quidditch games, but Ruby was treated the same but this time, it was just her, it felt awfully personal.
It was hard to swallow having all the attention on her, but she had to ignore it. She needed to keep calm and concentrate. Suddenly, all the noise around her seemed to disappear and was replaced by a muffled sound.
Looking up, she saw Regina walking past her, slipping her wand into her pocket, but she walked away before Emma could say anything. If she could, it would have been, 'thank you'. The comments had disappeared and she could only hear what Victoire and Ruby were saying to her as she managed to finish some of the chicken soup that Victoire had suggested she eat.
By the time lunch finished, Victoire and Ruby hugged her tightly and wished her the very best of luck.
"We'll be waiting for you afterwards in the Entrance Hall," Ruby assured her. "You're going to smash it."
They then left separately with Victoire heading to Ancient Runes and Ruby to Divination before Emma started heading towards the dungeons on her own. However, after a few steps, she heard another set of footsteps join her. Turning, she saw Regina walking up behind her.
"Afternoon," Emma said, she swallowed before continuing. "Thanks for muting everyone earlier. I didn't know the spell to do it myself."
Regina shrugged, pretending that it was no big deal. "I could see it was affecting you. People left me alone after I cursed a brat from Hufflepuff."
Emma chuckled. "Well, thanks."
They walked in silence for a flight of stairs before Regina broke it. "How are you feeling?"
"Not bad," Emma said, surprising herself at the answer. "I think I've done as much preparation as I can. Plus, I had help." She raised her eyebrow at Regina who shrugged again.
"Everyone should be on a level playing field," she murmured.
"Did you tell Mary Margaret?" Emma asked, raising her eyebrow.
Regina scoffed. "Of course not. She doesn't count. I'm still genuinely surprised she got selected."
"Do you think your stepfather had anything to do with it?" Emma realised it was the wrong question to ask when Regina faltered in her steps. "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume anything."
"I'd prefer it if you didn't mention him around me," Regina requested, her voice quiet but even, in an attempt to not show her true feelings about the man. However, Emma could read the sudden fury boiling in the Slytherin's body.
"Sorry," Emma repeated.
They walked along the corridor in silence until Regina broke it again but this time with a comment Emma never saw coming.
"So, I hear you're dating Teddy Lupin now? I bet Maggie is furious."
It was Emma's turn for her footsteps to falter. "I am not dating Teddy. Not even in the slightest. I do care for him, but like a cousin not a boyfriend."
Regina didn't reply but suddenly she seemed to suddenly perk up after Emma's accidental faux pas of mentioning Leopold Blanchard. There was a bounce in her step as they continued their journey.
However, Emma was unable to comment on what had just happened as the dungeon door soon approached.
Instead, she decided against commenting on it at all. "Well, this is it. I guess I'll see you after I win."
Regina raised her eyebrow and smirked, the previous conversation forgotten. "Confident. I like it. I'll see you after I win."
Emma flashed her a wink before she opened the door and the two separated with Regina going straight over to her Head of House which Emma thought was odd. She didn't feel the need to go straight over to her Head of House, had she missed a memo?
However, looking around, she could see that wasn't the case. Elsa was standing beside her mother who was wearing her Healer uniform. Emma wished her mother could be there, even if it was on official Ministry business, but they had no need for an Auror to be there. Mary Margaret was sitting, looking nervous in the far corner, as if she didn't know what she was doing there. She looked rather miserable, but Emma wasn't sure if that was to do with the task or being dumped by Teddy as he'd finally managed to shake the Hufflepuff Champion. Victoire was delighted.
Then Emma turned and saw someone she wanted to speak to. Harry Potter was standing next to Professor Longbottom, laughing at something the Herbology Professor had been saying.
"Harry!" Emma cried before she rushed over to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to be here for every task," he revealed. "Cheering you all on." He opened his arms and pulled Emma in for a tight hug which made her smile.
"That makes me feel better," she said honestly. "You know exactly what I'm going through. Not knowing you were going to be picked and all that."
Harry smiled. "You're going to smash it." He coughed quickly. "I mean, everyone is. I'm not allowed to show favouritism to you or Gryffindor, of course."
"Nice save, mate," Professor Longbottom said with a laugh. "We both know you are a little bit biased though."
Emma couldn't help but laugh too. Although it was quite strange hearing her professor talk so casually, as usually he was in teacher mode. She had seen him at the odd occasion outside of school that were being held by the Weasleys or the Potters, but her parents weren't that friendly with him to invite him to their family events.
Before Harry could say anything else, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat as she stepped away from where she had been speaking to the judges.
"Good afternoon, Champions," the Headmistress greeted. "Thank you for all being on time."
Emma knew she had only been on time because of Victoire's suggestion, but that didn't matter. She was on time and that was what was important.
"Allow me to introduce you to the judges," Professor McGonagall continued before pointing to each of the judges in turn as they smiled and waved in turn. Hermione flashed Emma a quick grin too which was helping her to relax. "The Task will start in just under an hour, but we will have a debrief now before the full briefing with everyone watching." She then motioned to the ceiling.
It was then that Emma noticed that where there should have been a ceiling of stone, it was actually of glass. Above were rows and rows of seats where the spectators could watch.
"We will be placing a sound barrier before the task begins," McGonagall revealed. "They will be able to hear anything that goes on down here, but you will not hear them so that you are not distracted and cause injury or damage. However, we realise that accidents do sometimes happen, so to be safe, we have Madam Ella, who you all know and also Healer Nolan from St Mungo's," Emma flashed her auntie a bright smile which was returned, "they will be on hand if there are any accidents. We hope there won't be, of course.
"By now, we assume you are all aware of the First Task. The full instructions will be revealed later, but you have each been assigned a station with the same cauldron and utensils you require. You have full access to the potion ingredients which will be brought out soon. You can also use your wand when necessary. I think that is all for now. Heads of House, you can discuss tactics with your Champion."
At the end of the speech, Harry smiled at Emma before he walked over to where Hermione and Draco were talking in the corner. Since the War, Draco's views had changed and he was much more pleasant. He and the Golden Trio still weren't the best of friends, but they were at least amicable, Hermione and Harry more so than Ron due to proximity in the Ministry.
That left Emma and her Head of House in the centre of the room. Professor Longbottom pulled Emma to the station closest to her. She saw the large Gryffindor emblem at the centre of the table and realised that must be her station. The emblem would help the spectators recognise which table was which from a distance.
"So, how are you feeling?" Professor Longbottom asked. "Or is that a silly question?"
"I'm alright, I think," Emma replied. "I've been practising over and over with Ruby and Victoire's help. I got some information from Moaning Myrtle of all people. She'd overheard Professor McGonagall."
"Pesky ghost," Professor Longbottom murmured which made Emma laugh. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance myself. I know the Golds were more revealing than me, but like I told you, I'm hopeless at potions and whatever advice I gave you would have been wrong so I thought it was better to stay out of it. I'll be there next time."
"It's fine," Emma assured him. Although she wished he could have given her a little bit of a heads up, then again, she had found out the task from the letter from the Headmistress just like the others. "I think I'm ready for this."
She inhaled and counted to four again before exhaling.
"That's what I like to hear," Longbottom said. "Just think of it like a Quidditch match. You go in thinking you're going to win because you are a phenomenal flyer. This can be the same, you're going to be amazing. Is there anything I can say to help?"
Emma shook her head. "No. I just want to start so that I can finish."
Professor Longbottom checked his watch. It was a bit battered and she could see that it was old, but it was clearly something sentimental otherwise he wouldn't wear it.
"Not long now," he said before looking up at the sounds of footsteps from above. "People are starting to arrive already. They must have been let out of lessons early. Is that? Yes, Professor Tinker. No wonder they're here early, she's so keen." He shook his head.
Emma looked up to see that Elsa and Professor French-Gold were talking by the Ravenclaw table and her auntie was talking to Madam Ella.
"Can I speak to Elsa or Daphne before we start?" Emma asked.
"No can do, I'm afraid," Professor Longbottom replied. "No talking to the other Champions before the Task and I don't think it would look good if you were talking to the Healer. It could look like she was giving you tips. I know she's your auntie, before you say anything."
"But I spoke to Harry?" Emma said, confused.
"That was before the preparing section which is now," Professor Longbottom said. "I don't come up with the rules."
Emma nodded and took a seat on the stool beside her. She doubted she'd be sitting for the next few hours or however long the task took because she'd be too agitated. Looking up, she caught her auntie's eye who winked and smiled in her direction which filled Emma with confidence. Despite being Elsa's mother, Daphne had been in Slytherin, and had two Gryffindor nieces, she was pretty neutral as a result, which was probably how she was allowed to be a non-biased Healer on call.
Looking up, Emma saw that there were more people sitting down and if she squinted, she could see the Weasleys all sitting together with Ruby just beside them. They all looked excited but apprehensive at the same time. Seeing her friends filled her with a burst of comfort and she smiled.
Another ten minutes passed, and it looked like everyone had arrived. Professor McGonagall seemed to agree as she stepped to the centre of the dungeon. She brought her wand to her neck and muttered, "sonorus," so that everyone would be able to hear her clearly.
"Good afternoon, students," she called loudly. "Welcome to the First Task. Please welcome our judges," again she introduced the judges who smiled and waved, "and our guest of honour, Harry Potter!" As soon as his name was called, the spectators yelled loudly and the room echoed with a thunder of applause.
"Now, the First Task is testing our Champions' potion knowledge," Professor McGonagall announced. "They have the next two and half hours to concoct two potions which will be given to each of their mandrakes, one per Champion. At the end, if they are successful, they will receive a piece of parchment with a clue to the next task. They will be judged on two aspects. They will be scored out of ten by each judge for efficiency on their potion making and the skill that goes into it. The average of this score to the closest number will be taken. They will then receive additional points for who completes the potions first. The first will receive four points and the next will receive three and so forth. Therefore, the highest score one can receive is fourteen points. These points will be accumulated during the Tournament to determine the winner. Now, let's remind ourselves of our Champions."
The Headmistress then pointed to each of the Champions, introducing them one by one. Again, Emma received the lowest cheer, which she tried not to focus on. She was chosen just like the rest of the Champions, she had earnt her place here and after today, everyone would know it.
Once everyone had been announced, McGonagall turned and nodded to the Heads of House who each left their Champion and disappeared for a moment, before returning with a table full of all the ingredients they could need for the potions, which still hadn't been revealed. They then brought out a large plant pot per Champion which Emma recognised held the mandrakes they would be testing their potions on. Professor Longbottom then winked and mouthed, 'good luck' to his Champion before he and the rest of the Heads of House left the room completely.
"The Champions will receive a sheet of parchment that hold some of the instructions for the potions they are required to make," McGonagall continued. "Their practice and revision should hopefully be enough for them to complete the tasks. So, without further ado," she waved her wand and activated the sound barrier. The cheers dropped immediately which was slightly eerie, but Emma couldn't focus on that as McGonagall waved her wand a second time and a large, blank sheet of parchment landed on each table, "let the First Task begin!"