Today was the day of the second task. Harry, Fleur, and Tonks were once again wearing the protective gear that they had been gifted for the tasks. The four Hogwarts champions, who were wearing tracksuits in their house colours, with the Hogwarts crest over their hearts. They were all stood in another tent, but this one was attached to the quidditch pitch.
"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the second task of the Triwizard tournament!" Ludo Bagman loudly announced to the audience from inside the stadium. "Today the champions will be forced to be creative, be well balanced, rely on their whits, face their fears, and tread lightly! For they will be without the greatest ally any wizard could have. Their wand!" The crowd cheered and Bagman basked under the attention.
Inside the tent, Harry, Fleur, and Tonks handed Maxime their wands for safekeeping until the task was over, and the Hogwarts students did the same with Dumbledore. Next, they were each given a bracelet that would portkey them to safety if they say the activation phrase. "Medic."
Afterward, they were lead out of the tent into a moderately sized room by two Aurors. The room was made of stones carved into bricks with seven iron shackles chained to an anchor point on the floor. Around the edges were small tables with various items on them, none of which were a key or lockpicks. Harry did however spot some butter, and mentally relaid his find to Tonks and Fleur as they were handcuffed. Once the shackles were secured and checked the Aurors left the room.
"Aaand begin!" Bagman's voice called out through the walls.
"I don't think they properly thought this through." Tonks mention before she tried to use her metamorphing ability to slip her wrists out of her shackles, only to find they wouldn't respond. "Huh, nevermind."
"Alohomora." Fleur spoke as she placed her fingers over the keyhole on the shackle. There was a golden fizzle of light but nothing else. "Alohomora." She repeated to the same result. "Merde." She muttered.
"My turn." Harry spoke. He laid down on his back and used his feet around the leg of the table that held the butter. Once the table was close enough He sat up and swiped the butter off of the table, and began rubbing it on his wrists as well as he could with the shackles restricting his movement. Once Harry was satisfied with his progress, Harry began trying to pull his right hand free. The butter worked and Harry managed to get his wrist free, and the begins to slip his left hand free. Tonks was then given the butter and repeated the process before giving it to Fleur. Once Fleur was free Harry opened a door opposite the one they entered.
"Hey!" Angelina called out just before they left, causing them to stop. "Can we have the butter?" She asked with Neville, and Cedric also watching them, while Warrington was busy trying to cut through his chain with a coping saw.
"Mmm, non." Fleur answered before she melted the butter in her hand using veela fire, before leaving. Closing the door behind them as they laugh.
"Dicks." Angelina comments.
"I would've done the same thing." Warrington comments without looking up, but he looked frustrated as he continued to saw faster and faster until the blade snapped. "Fuck!" He cursed before throwing the broken saw. "We need to find something else to use."
Meanwhile.
"That was such a dick move." Tonks laughed as they ran down a hallway.
"I know." Fleur responded with a grin. "But this is a competition, and I intend to win."
They reached the end of the hallway and Harry threw open the door and looked inside. Inside was a long, thin, wooden beam that went from one side of the room to the door at the other end, bellow there was a drop into a body of water, and the only ladder was attached to the platform in front of the entrance.
"Welp. I guess is my stop." Tonks jokes.
"You'll be fine." Harry responded lazily as he begins to walk across the beam. Only for a large wooden cylinder to swing out from the obscuring charm on the ceiling and knock him off. "Fuck!" Harry yelled before there was a splash in the water below. Both Fleur and Tonks could not help but laugh when their boyfriend came up for air.
"Are you okay?" Tonks called down to him.
"Yeah!" Harry called back. "Thankfully there's cushioning charms on that thing!"
"Watch and learn, mon amour." Fleur boasts as she begins to gracefully walk across the beam. She dodged the wooden cylinder that dropped from the ceiling with ease. Only to be knocked off by another one in front of it coming from the right rather than the left. Fleur let out a high pitched squeal before she hit the water.
"So dodge the first one, then get hit by the second? You sure that's the way you're supposed to do it?" Harry asked Fleur with a teasing grin. to which she flips him off. Harry laughs before looking at Tonks. "Your turn."
"Me!? I'm bad enough as it is, let alone on a wooden beam with fucking more wood coming down to slap me." Tonks argued.
"Well, you've got to get over sooner or later." Harry shrugged. Tonks grumbled but complied. Her progress was slow and short-lived as she fell off before reaching the first cylinder. "Were going to have to pick it up, they've just entered the hall!" Harry calls out as he hears the Hogwarts champions behind them. Harry gets back on the beam and begins to make his way across. He keeps up a quick pace to make it across without getting hit. Harry manages to avoid the first two cylinders as well as two more after if, but he begins to lose his balance and jumps the rest of the way. With a grunt, Harry's upper torose hit the corner of the platform but he manages to pull himself up to safety. Fleur also makes it across on her second attempt and doesn't lose her balance as Harry did.
Tonks began her second attempt just as the Hogwarts champions enter the room. "Shit."
"Focus Nym!" Fleur called, but it was too late as Tonks lost her balance and fell off again. "Damn." she cursed.
"Let's go!" Angelina yelled to the other Hogwarts champions, before getting on the beam. As soon as Angelina had moved a few steps, Warrington moved onto the beam, soon followed by Cedric and Nevile. Nevile fell off after a few steps, Angelina was hit by both the first and second cylinder before falling off, Cedric was also by the second cylinder and fell off, and Warrington made it to the fourth before being knocked off.
Tonks got on the beam once more and started making her steadily making her way across.
Come on you've got this." Harry encouraged.
"You can do this Nym." Fleur called.
Tonks made it past the first cylinder and then the second, but the third one grazed her, causing her to lose her balance again. "Fuck!" She cried out in frustration before she hit the water. Once she resurfaced Tonks called out to Fleur and Harry. "Just go on without me! It'll take forever for me to get across!"
"Non!"
"Not happening!"
Fleur and Harry each replied.
The Hogwarts champions took another run at the beam but all fell off again. Warrington made it across on his fourth try while the other Hogwarts champions failed, and decided to push Fleur off once he was across as payback, only for Harry to throw him off the platform in retaliation. Cedric was the next to make it across. He stopped and looked at Harry.
Harry looked right back at Cedric with a neutral expression. "Yeah?"
Cedric shook his head. "Nothing." He replied before leaving the room. Harry couldn' hear any footsteps, so he assumed he was just waiting in the hall. Next across was Angelina who simply glanced at Harry before entering the hall as well. Warrington didn't make it across again much to Harry's pleasure. Nevile got close but panicked when he got close and saw Harry watching him.
Tonks 'graciously' let Fleur try again first and she once again made it look easy. "How!?" Tonks screeched, much to Harry's chagrin.
"I used to do ballet as a girl, remember?" Fleur replied. When she was young, Fleur wanted to be a ballerina and took lessons. Obviously, some of the skills she learned had stayed with her.
Tonks began her next attempt. The past the first cylinder. Then the second. Followed by the third and the fourth.
"Come on Nym, come on!" Harry cheered her on.
"Almost there Nym, keep going!" Fleur encouraged.
Tonks looked at the with a broad, toothy smile. But she soon began to wobble. Tonks tried to rush the final few steps, while Harry got as close to the edge as he could. Tonks ultimately fell off the beam, Harry managed to grab her wrist as she fell, but he wasn't fully prepared for her weight and began to tip over the edge himself. Harry managed to grab onto the ledge in one hand, while he held onto Tonks with the other. Harry began to try and pull himself and Tonks up while Flue was kneeled near the edge waiting for a chance to help. While this was happening Warrington and Nevile managed to get across the beam and left the room.
"Fuck!" Harry growled. Tonks feel a little guilty for slowing them down so much but had little time to think about it as Harry began to partially change into Anubis. Harry's hands and feet turned into claws, The hair on his body became thicker without covering all his skin, his teeth became sharper and his eyes gave a faint glow. Both Fleur and Tonks were surprised as partial transformation was an advanced skill that Harry had been struggling with. Harry began to growl and snarl as he began to pull himself a Tonks back up. Once Tonks was high enough, Fleur took her other arm and helped hoist her up.
"Well, that took forever." Tonks grumbled.
"Let's go." Harry replied. His voice was gruffer due to still being partially transformed.
"Aaaw!" Fleur cooed as she stared at Harry. "You've got fluffy ears!" She exclaimed as her hand shot forward and began to rub his ear which had a thin layer of fur. Harry gives the veela look that says 'Really? Now?' But Fleur paid him no mind.
Harry decided to simply throw Fleur over his shoulder before barreling down the corridor to the next stage of the task, with Tonks doing her best to keep up. Harry hardly felt Fleur's weight thanks to a mixture of some of his werewolf strength being available and the fact Veela have hollow bones. When they reached the end, Harry burst through the door the only thing waiting for them was a male sphinx.
"What?" Harry exclaimed in shock. He didn't believe that the Hogwarts champions could have beaten this task so quickly, but he didn't pass them in the corridor between the rooms, and they certainly weren't here. He couldn't even smell them. He placed fleur back on her feet and continued to search the room for a clue.
"To pass you must answer seven riddles." the human-headed lion spoke. "Three fails, and you will become my meals. Riddle number one. You live in a one-story house made of redwood, what coluor are the stares?" The sphinx began before they could prepare themselves.
The trio delved into the bond as they thought about what the answer could be before Tonk's eyes widened in realization. "What stairs? It's a one-story house."
"Correct." The sphinx replied. "Riddle number two. Mr. and Mrs. Mustard have six daughters. Each daughter has a brother. How many people are there in the Mustard family?"
"Nine." Fleur answered quickly.
"Correct. Riddle number three. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?"
The trio was quiet for a moment before Tonks spoke up. "Space?"
"Incorrect." The sphinx answered smugly. "Try again."
"Footsteps?" Harry tried.
"Correct. Riddle number four. My life is measured in hours, I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick. Fat, I am slow. Wind is my foe. What am I?"
This one stumped the trio.
"Well? I'm waiting!" The sphinx spoke up impatiently.
"Just a moment." Fleur replied.
Harry looked up at the ceiling and to the ball of light that illuminated the room before it all clicked. "Candle!" He shouted.
"Correct. Riddle number five. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and grey when you throw it away?"
"Coal?" Tonks answered.
"Correct. Riddle number six. They have not flesh, nor feathers, nor scales, nor bone. Yet they have fingers and thumb of their own. What are they?"
"Trees?" Harry answered.
The sphinx laughed in response. "Are you joking?" It mocked Harry.
"Well, it's definitely not bushes either if that response." Harry mentally commented to the girls. "Ass."
The trio stayed quiet as they thought of another answer. During this time the sphinx decided to let out a long deep sigh, but they ignored it.
"Gloves." Tonks answeres.
"Correct. Riddle number seven. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on Earth?"
The trio looked at one another in confusion and thought of all the history they knew, but then it clicked. "Mount Everest." Harry answered.
"Correct. You may pass." The sphinx concluded.
The trio was quick to leave the room to go to the next challenge. Fear.
I'm now in the Haphne and Harry / Fleur discords as UK_hellfire_1999. I don't know the passcodes but they both have subreddits you can access them through.