[A/N: So, here we are. A brand new chapter… Now, there will be more changes to canon (as if there weren't already tons) in the form of changing the dates of when the Tasks take place. In canon, you had November 24, February 24 and June 24 for what I'm assuming was the whole alliteration of things. That made no sense for a community steeped in tradition to be held on such random dates and always on those specific days (which meant that Rowling and her editors loved it.) There are no ceremonial reasons for it either: for example, October 31 is Samhain, December 25 is Yule; so in this story, the Second Task will be held on March 20 which is the Vernal Equinox and then later in another chapter, the Third Task will fall on June 21 which is the Summer Solstice.]

Chapter 32: Love, Puzzles and Tasks

Sunday 22 January 1995 Malfoy Manor

Lucius Malfoy sipped his Scotch whiskey and stared into the flickering flames of the fire in his study's hearth. A slightly crumpled letter lay on the table next to him. "A bit early to be drinking isn't it, Lucius?"

He looked up to see Narcissa enter the room and set his glass down on the coaster, "If you read what our son has written, you'd be hard pressed to stay sober too, my dear."

A carefully sculpted eyebrow rose in silent question as she reached for the letter. After a moment of finishing it, she dropped it back down on the table and took the crystal tumbler that Lucius had silently poured and held up for her. She quaffed the whiskey in one large gulp, "That idiot…"

"If I wasn't so sure that he is indeed my son magically and by blood, I'd swear he'd been adopted or switched at birth with someone else's brat."

Narcissa settled onto the couch and closed her eyes, "Lucius? Do you think Moira or Olga would object if we were to suggest trading their sons to us in exchange for Draco?"

Lucius laughed out loud and it wasn't the usual evil laugh he was so prone to doing either. This was a full-out belly laugh, "Vincent and Gregory for Draco? A…what was it that I heard it called once? A Blue-Light two for one special?"

Narcissa burst out giggling, "Now there's a thought. Trade in your worthless brats for the latest model!"

The pair laughed again then fell silent for a moment before she asked, "What about trading Draco in for one of the mundaneborn?"

"The what?"

"Mundaneborn. It's what the muggleborn used to be called. It's the new 'It' thing to do these days."

Lucius looked perplexed, "What's wrong with just calling them 'Mudbloods?'"

"Besides being crass and uncultured sounding?"

Lucius accepted that, "Fair enough. Mundaneborn…I can see where it works. Mundane being boring or ordinary. But the question is why? Why would I want one of those children in my home?"

"I've been keeping track of the trends happening since Draco's first year and it's been without a doubt proven that the mundaneborn are far and above more intelligent and crafty than those raised here. I don't know why that is but the test scores don't lie."

Lucius pondered that for a moment before he waved it off for another time, "It's something to think about. Meanwhile, I need to draft a return letter to 'dear Draco' and let him know my displeasure for being caught out like that.

Monday 13 February 1995 Hogwarts Library

Hermione was confused by Harry's behaviors the past couple of days. He was behaving oddly like Malfoy of all people. He would enter a room, acting all snooty yet give no explanation as to why. Oh to be sure, he wasn't acting completely like Malfoy; there was no nastiness but there was a certain aloofness that puzzled her.

Speaking of Malfoy, the blonde 'Ponce of Slytherin' was also behaving oddly. There was a definitive 'twitchiness' about him that set everyone on edge. She spotted said Ponce as he ghosted amongst the bookshelves. She lightly nudged Vincent who was sitting next to her, reading up on techniques for carving wood using hand tools.

"Hmm…"

"What's going on with Malfoy?" She whispered lest she garner the attention of the librarian, "He's been off more than usual lately."

Vince smirked, "He got in trouble with his father over that failed attempt to pull rank on those two muggleborn kids and with Harry. His father threatened to pull him from the school and send him somewhere unpleasant if it continues."

Hermione's eyes widened, "Wha… I mean, where could he go that it would be unpleasant?"

Vince sighed in thought, "Well, there's always Durmstrang. They have a no-frills approach to learning. They don't believe in lighting the fires in the hearths like we do to keep the common rooms warm, regular exercise in the bitter winters, they practice the Dark Arts and any non-life threatening injuries are not treated. I was told it was done that way to toughen you up because the world is not a nice place."

Hermione was aghast, "My goodness, Mr. Malfoy would actually do that? Send his son to that miserable place?"

Vince nodded and shrugged, "If it were serious enough, yeah. Frankly, I couldn't envision Draco lasting even a week there before he either mouthed off to the wrong person or the harsh environment got him."

"Speaking of weird behavior, what's going on with Harry?" Vince wanted to know.

Hermione got an exasperated look on her face, "I don't know! He's been prancing around the school as if he owns it; though from the events of second year, he might actually does. Whenever he speaks to me, it's always with a condescending sneer in his voice. It's confusing and I'm not sure I like the new him. I just want my Hunky Monkey back. The sweet, lovable boy with the eyes that can make my knees weak and the kisses that leaves me breathless." She sniffed sadly and wiped her eyes.

Vince nodded understandingly, patted her on the arm and got up to leave.

Harry appeared later and sat down next to her, enveloping her in his arms, "I'm sorry if I've been confusing you, Hermione. I know how much you enjoy solving puzzles and mysteries so I thought that if I were to act all out of character, it would compel you to figure out why. I had this grand plan to lead you on a merry chase through the castle; leaving little clues here and there but I think somewhere along the line things got confused."

Hermione sniffed and buried her face into the crook of his neck, "I just don't understand why though. I mean, sure the mystery might've been fun but it kind of hurt too. I thought you'd given up on me for someone else."

Harry tipped her head back a bit then kissed her deeply on her lips, "Never. I would never leave you for anyone, Hermione Jean. You are the one and only woman for me." Harry's eyes got a faraway look to them and a slight smile slid over his features, "In fact, the only way I think a younger girl would ever have a chance of coming between us is if her last name was Potter too and she was swaddled in a baby blanket."

Hermione giggled, "A baby blanket, huh? Just what are you hoping for, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nonchalantly shrugged, "Oh, I don't know. How about a set of three? A boy and a couple of girls or maybe all three could be girls or boys. I'm not picky; I do know that I'd want you to be by my side from now until forever."

"Awww…"

They were quiet for a few moments, just enjoying the warmth and closeness. "Harry?"

"Hmmm?"

"How did you know where I'd be and what I had…oh, wait. Vince left here not too long ago and only after I told him about my concerns."

"Yeah…he strongly recommended that I put a stop to whatever idiocy I was planning and just let you know. He thumped me pretty good too." Harry rubbed his shoulder ruefully.

"Awww, my poor Hunky Monkey."

He kissed her again, this time sweetly, "And you are my Honey Bunny."

Luna and Ginny were having their own heartfelt conversations under one of the trees that dotted the Pavilion. Ginny was bewailing the fact that there weren't any boys worthy of her time.

"What about the girls?"

Ginny dropped her head condescendingly and rolled her eyes, "Luna…I'm not…that. I think my mum would kill me if I was. I mean seriously, the only boy in our year even worth mentioning is Colin and Harper is just…creepy." She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of the third year Slytherin boy.

Luna plucked a blade of grass from the lawn, "Well, what about one of the boys from the other two schools? Why limit yourself to just Hogwarts?"

Ginny blinked, "Tha…Lu…You…groan. Why didn't I think of that? They've been all over the school and I've not even… Okay, that's one problem temporarily solved. What about you, Luna? Who do you have your eye on?"

Surprisingly, Luna blushed a bright pink. Luna never blushed!

"Um…"

Ginny grinned wickedly as she leant forward, "Luna? Come on…who's the lucky guy?"

Luna tried to avoid looking at her best friend but Ginny tackled her and tickled her until she squealed, 'Uncle! Okay, I'll tell!" She hauled herself up onto her elbows and glared half-heartedly at her redheaded friend who looked on expectantly. "I've been getting kind of interested in Dean Thomas."

Ginny's face immediately morphed into disappointment, "Oh, Luna. You can do so much better than him. He's a womanizer from what I heard the other fourth year girls were saying about him."

Luna's face took on a downcast turn, "He is? Well, it's a good thing I have a backup choice."

"Oh?"

"He's from the Castelobruxo School."

"Yes?"

"He's in our year."

"Go on."

"He's really cute."

"Luna!"

Luna giggled, "I've already checked and he's not dating anyone else, is interested in girls, gets good grades, thinks mangos are fruits from the gods and likes hanging out with me."

Ginny was silent for a whole minute this time, "You've…already spent time with him?" The grass crunched behind her.

Luna cracked a smile and nodded, "Yes. He's such a sweetie. He's originally from Chile and his name is Joaquin."

Ginny's mouth dropped open, "Damn, Luna! You had me going there for a moment thinking you were settling for Dean 'Love them and leave them' Thomas. I'm glad to see that you aren't that dumb. Good for you. When do I get to meet him?"

Luna tapped her chin with her finger and put on an innocent look, "Well, how fast can you turn around?"

Ginny whirled around and spotted a tanned and quite fit teenage boy smiling at the pair of them, "Buenos dias, señioritas."

Hufflepuff Warrens (aka the seemingly endless storage rooms just off the main corridor to the Common room)

Neville swept his left hand up and over, creating a rocky overhang while his right hand was busy directing the placement of different species of algae onto the already created back wall and little pockets. By morning if he'd figured things right, the algae would have spread out and covered the ceiling. He glanced down at the large sunken tub that one of the elves had gotten him from who-knew-where and nodded to himself.

His present to Daphne for tomorrow's Valentine's Day was shaping up nicely.

Tuesday 14 February 1995 Great Hall

Love was in the air. The Hall was decorated in gaily pictures and streamers of all colors, little charmed 'cherubs' flittered across the ceiling as boys and girls of all three schools mingled and shared in the well-wishes.

Sandrine had been spotted playing 'Hide and Seek' with Jucao in the Forbidden Forest much to the collective amusement of the Castelobruxo School. Harry had commented that she kept gleefully calling out, "Come on out, loverboy. I wanna sex you up!" and that Jucao kept responding by rapping out with, "My anaconda don't want none, unless you got scales, hon!" This led to a round of questions that Luna was only too happy to show off her talent of musical selections.

When Hagrid found out about this, he started wondering if he had what Sandrine would need to build a nest nearby so that he could observe the babies. Both Harry and Hermione promised him that when that time came, they'd let him know.

Harry sat with Hermione and played the dutiful boyfriend by hand-feeding her grapes (after teasingly booping her on the nose with each one.) Every now and then he'd lean in and steal a kiss from her grape juice-stained lips.

Luna was sitting with Joaquin as Ginny peppered the poor boy with all sorts of questions to find out his intentions for her best friend. The redhead was displaying many of the mannerisms of her mother but without displaying any of the heat (or volume) normally associated with her. Joaquin blushed and shook his head at some of the more outrageous questions and comments and pleadingly begged Luna to save him from the redheaded she-dragon. Luna gasped in shock but that shock turned to befuddlement when Ginny wrapped her arms around the boy and thanked him for such a wonderful comparison!

"I like him. Luna, you have my permission to keep seeing him," Ginny stated as she stood up. She gave a sly wink to her blonde best friend and headed over to a couple of others in their year.

Luna and Joaquin watched her leave, "Joaquin? I'm so sorry for her behavior."

"That? It's nothing, Luna. Ginny sees you as her sister and that's how sisters should behave. I could tell that she was only teasing. I would've done something similar if someone wanted to date my sister. Heck, you should've seen the antics my cousin gave his sister's boyfriend when they started dating!"

Neville was busily trying to woo his wife-to-be but for once, Daphne wasn't reciprocating. She was sitting in her spot at the Slytherin table in a huff and refusing all of his advances. He finally stopped and stared at her, puzzling out what he supposedly did wrong.

"Did I say something?"

Daphne glared at him, "You know what you did."

Neville just sat there blinking, "No, I can't say that I do. Daph, please? What did this poor, ignorant muddle-headed boy do wrong in his lady's eyes?"

She huffed again, "I'll give you a hint: This morning's kiss."

"Um…what about it?"

"I expected better than that, Longbottom. That kiss was something a toddler gives to their mum."

Neville glanced around, leaned in and replied huskily, "The kiss I wanted to give you; couldn't have been given in public. For that kind of kiss, you would need to follow me to your Valentine's present." Daphne turned wide eyes on him. Neville waggled his eyebrows then sat up primly, "But only after breakfast, my dear."

With her mouth dangling open, Daphne was torn on whether or not to shovel everything in a la Ron Weasley or to just grab Neville by his lapels and drag him out of the Hall. Once she'd determined that he'd eaten enough, Daphne jumped up out of her seat and growled at him to get moving.

Neville led her downstairs to an otherwise unassuming door amongst the multitude in the Warren and told her to close her eyes. She spared him a patronizing glance before doing so and allowed him to guide her in. After about ten steps, the atmosphere changed. It went from a dry, musty sort of scent to something exotic and sensuous. The air was moist to the point of raining; she heard a couple of birds chirping and could even hear a waterfall somewhere. She frowned trying and failing to figure out where her soon to be hubby had led her.

"Neville?" her voice wavered a bit.

"Okay, open your eyes."

Daphne opened them and gasped in wonder. The room, nay the grotto they were standing before was something out of a dream. Bioluminescent algae clung to and hung from the ceiling like little stars. There were pockets of sparkling, glowing crystals embedded within the warm rock walls, subtle lighting in little scooped out crevices and there was the waterfall that she thought she heard. The floor appeared to be made out of some sort of rock pavers that glittered in the reflected light. In the center of the grotto was a tub large enough for six. She turned around and gazed in wonder at the walls. They'd been painted to look like an English countryside at sunset and even came complete with a couple of grazing sheep.

"Oh, Neville…" she sighed as she leaned into his embrace, "This is perfect but we didn't bring any swimwear."

Neville tilted her face up and kissed her on the lips, "It's just us in here. Who needs a swimsuit?" With sure and deft hands, he removed their clothes and tossed them to the side then took her hand and led her to the tub.

Friday 17 February 1995 Professor Potter's Class (Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw)

"Alrighty everyone! Today I have a special project lined up for you all. Today we're going to be learning about thermal and chemical reactions. The list of required materials is already on the board so go ahead and collect them." There was a screech of chairs being pushed out of the way as Harry's students scrambled to get their stuff. Once they were all seated, he began.

"So, what we're going to be making is called a carbon sugar snake or 'Pharoah's Serpent.' It's not a real snake; it's just the result of fire causing the sugar to react to the baking soda. Your carbon sugar snake is the product of three chemical reactions that are all dependent on heat."

In a bowl, he combined 4 teaspoons of powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and stirred it around to make sure it was completely combined. In another he poured ordinary playground sand and created a small hill then indented the top with his thumb. To this hill, he poured in a measure of lighter fluid until the crater was saturated.

"The first of these reactions occurs when sugar combusts or burns in the presence of oxygen. This produces carbon dioxide gas and water vapor which is also a gas. This pushes more of the sugar/baking soda mixture upwards. Some of this additional sugar heats up but doesn't have access to any oxygen, so instead of burning, it undergoes thermal decomposition, producing solid carbon and more water vapor. This solid carbon now gives the snake some shape, and also gives the snake its black color. Lastly, the baking soda also decomposes in the heat, producing solid sodium carbonate, and carbon dioxide gas and water vapor. Altogether, these three reactions produce both the solid components of the snake, (he pointed to the carbon and sodium carbonate) and hot gases." He wrote down the carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor on the board, "that expand and inflate the snake up and out of the sand bowl."

"The sand in this experiment doesn't chemically react with anything in the growing snake. Instead, it evenly distributes the heat from the burning lighter fluid to the sugar and the baking soda, ensuring a slow, steady burn and the growth of a long carbon sugar snake. It's also important to be patient. This process will take upwards of twenty minutes depending on how much of the ingredients you've used."

Harry walked them through using his own setup and when he lit the lighter fluid on fire, they all burst out with oohs and ahhs along with whispers of delight as the sinuous monstrosity rose from the sand.

"Any questions?"

Third Floor Corridor, Room overlooking the Black Lake

After the events of Harry's first year, the third floor corridor had been cleaned out of the so-called traps. One of the rooms previously sealed off had been refurbished by the elves into a clean and usable meeting place for any and all who wished to have a relaxing place to unwind without worry of House colors interfering. It was here that the group composed nearly all of the first years that had collectively become known as 'Potter's Potioneers' assembled.

Anthony Willes leaned his head back against the back of the sofa and desultorily raised his hand, "Who else besides me think that the professor is a genius?" Chuckles and half-hearted hand raises answered him.

"Did ye git tae wirk wi' pigments 'n' dyes tae?" Orla asked.

It took Anthony (and everyone else) a moment to translate that back into regular English, "No, we got to experiment with something called a 'Pharoah's Serpent.'" He went on to explain what that was. Groans were heard from the Gryffindor/Slytherin contingent.

"Aww, that sounded like fun," someone complained.

Eleanor Branstone grinned happily, "It was. Who knew that with just a couple of ordinary ingredients found in the home, you could do something like that? I can't wait to show my parents when they come visiting for the Second Task."

Natalie leaned forward, "Could you teach those of us who didn't get to have that lesson yet?"

Anthony glanced at his cohorts, "Um, I don't think that would be a good idea. It involves the use of fire."

Natalie waved her hand dismissively, "Not here, you goof. I meant in the laboratory. Gryffindor's got a complete setup."

"Maybe later?" Natalie agreed to that.

"So what did you all learn about the pigments and dyes?"

"We made natural dyes with plant ingredients. It was so cool!"

Flashback…

Potions Classroom (Gryffindor/Slytherin)

"Nature presents an incredible visual rainbow. For centuries, people have captured these natural hues for decorating animal skins, fabrics, crafts, hair, and bodies. Dyeing with plants can provide an intriguing lens for exploring the local environment, learning science concepts, conducting experiments, learning about history and other cultures, and creating compelling crafts."

Harry passed around samples of fabrics and paper that had been dyed with natural ingredients like cabbages, onion skins and more. The colors were vibrant, subtle and every point in between.

"Since prehistoric times, humans from across the globe have used plant pigments to enrich their lives. Historians and scientists believe that prehistoric animal skins and cave paintings dating back to 15,000 B.C. were dyed with plant pigments. They've discovered examples of early dyed fibers in Egypt dating to around 2000 B.C., and Chinese records revealing even earlier use of plants as fabric dyes. Ancient Britons, called Picts, used a plant called 'woad' to dye their bodies blue and frighten enemies in battle, while the British "red coats" who marched against the Americans in Revolutionary War times wore uniforms colored with dye made from the roots of the madder plant.

Most plant parts have a mixture of pigments, which is why dyes made from plants tend to appear more subtle and muted—less "pure"—than the synthetic dyes that are now used to color our world. However, the "earth tones" of plant dyes continue to intrigue many hobby and craft dyers because the rich hues of Mother Nature all seem to "go together."

"I invite you to consider the following: Why do plants have so many different colors? What purpose might they serve for the plant? The green in most leaves is surely the most ubiquitous plant color. The green pigment chlorophyll in the leaves helps capture the sun's energy and convert it to chemical energy, which is then stored and used as food for the plant. Colors in flowers are adaptations that attract insects and other animals that, in turn, pollinate and help plants reproduce. Some plants have colorful fruits that attract animals to eat them, inadvertently spreading the plant's seeds as they do so. Scientists believe that other pigments may help protect plants from disease. Despite what we know about the role of a few of the thousands of plant pigments, the role of most colors in plants remains a mystery to scientists!"

Severus watched on from the back of the class as utterly entranced as Harry's students. He wasn't the only one. He'd been joined by Filius and Pomona as well as the Head of the Wizarding Examination Authority, Griselda Marchbanks who was up visiting with Minerva. "That boy can really teach! Look at them all, they're completely riveted and hanging onto every word. If only he was old enough, I'd award him his teaching credentials right now."

Present…

"And so we learned by boiling certain parts of flowers, the skins of things like avocados, berries or letting them 'sunbathe' on the windowsill, we could dye yarn or paper into whatever color we wanted. Sometimes it was a surprise; some of us chose a plant that we thought would be one color only for it to be something completely different! Who'd have thought that red cabbages leaves would leave things blue?"

"Then Ethan hud tae gang 'n' joke that he wis dyeing 'n' someone wantit tae save him." Everyone stared at her until they clued into what she'd said and shook their heads at Ethan's lame joke.

Stewart Ackerley changed the subject by dragging out his homework, "Okay, I've got a question. Did anyone understand question five of the Basics of Potions assignment?"

The rest joined in to help explain it.

It was mid-week when Harry came upon the odd sight (even by Hogwarts standards) of Roger Davies wandering the halls wearing a blindfold. He watched the seventh year Ravenclaw as the older boy tried to navigate the hallways using nothing but touch and the occasional head tilt as if he was listening for something.

"Roger?"

Roger stopped and tugged off the blindfold, blinking rapidly to regain his eyesight, "Whew! That was weird." He spotted the owner of the voice who called his name, "Ah, Mr. Potter. What can I do for you?"

"What were you doing?"

"Practicing for the Second Task. The partial clue I got mentioned something about 'Finding the Light to Guide your Path.' Seeing as how I didn't get the whole clue, I have to assume that whatever the Task entails, it'll be either at night or in pitch blackness."

Slowly nodding his head, Harry allowed for that, "Okay, do you know what the next task is?"

Roger shook his head, "No, not specifically."

"Okay…well, would you like another person's opinion?"

"Sure, what've you got?"

"Don't overlook the subtle clues. Sometimes the answer is the one that's right in front of you. Also, do not discount the possibility that the organizers used mundane technology to provide light."

Roger frowned, "But this is a magical competition; why would they use muggle magic?"

Harry pursed his lips, "If this Task is what I think it is and what you suspect, I wouldn't put it past the Headmistress to come up with something that can easily bypassed with a flick of a switch."

Roger raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "A switch?"

"It's what mundane use to turn on or off electricity. You know? The lights in their homes?"

Roger was rocked back at that, "How, how would I go about even knowing what all that is or even how to access it?"

Harry rubbed his chin, "Well, the concept of electricity to produce light is not really needed; you just need to keep your eyes open for a switchbox or junction panel. Here, let's go into a classroom and I'll share what I know."

Later at dinner…

"So Roger thinks that the Second Task has something to do with navigating a maze of some kind in complete darkness. His partial clue was 'Finding the Light to Guide your Path.' That led me to explaining the concept of electricity and a light switch," Harry explained to Hermione as they ate their dinner to the background music of Led Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll.'

"Isn't that cheating though? I thought he wasn't supposed to get the help from the others."

Harry shrugged helplessly, "I think that rule applied only to the Champions seeking the help, not the help seeking them."

"Semantics."

Harry snorted, "Don't blame me if the organizers didn't see that coming. We both know that adults are weird."

Padma plopped down opposite of Harry and Hermione, "Hey, Harry. A couple of us from the Cursebreaking class are going to head over to the Gringott's Grip maze this weekend. You wanna join us?"

"Definitely."

Hoshi and Breno joined them a few minutes later and talked about their own failures or successes in figuring out the clues for the next task.

"I only got the partial clue," Hoshi wistfully commented, "I have no idea what it means."

"So what are you going to do?"

Hoshi shrugged, "I got a backup plan for this. It's a set of goggles I use when I go caving."

Breno appeared curious, "Well, I got the full clue and like Hoshi, I'm rather…what's the word? Perplejo?" He kept flipping through the words he knew in English before they figured out that he was 'stumped.'

"Right. I knew it was tree-related. Anyways, I've just been training by unraveling various puzzles and traps in total darkness."

"Have either of you considered training in the Gringott's Grip maze?" Harry offered. Both shook their heads but thanked him for suggesting the idea.

Saturday 18 February 1995 Gringott's Grip Maze Entrance

Lockjaw watched the approaching gaggle of human children with disdain. This assignment wasn't all that it had been described as being. It was supposed to be a recruiting tool to find the best and brightest to potentially become Gringott's legendary cursebreaking teams but so far, these people were just treating the mazes as a lazy lark.

"nuqjatlh SuvwI'pu' qorDu'lIj yapmoHchu' qechmey je."

Lockjaw blinked stupidly at the human who just greeted him in the Goblin language, "Th, thank you, young warrior. Um, the same to you?"

"We're here to see if we can successfully complete level one," Harry replied in English for the benefit of his friends who were eyeing him curiously.

Still in shock at having a human being able to not only speak his language but to have such a good command of it, Lockjaw passed them through without taking their money. As they passed by him, Harry left the money on the desk and shook his head in amusement.

Padma leaned over, "What did you say to him?"

Harry's smile was all teeth, "It was just a simple greeting from one warrior to another. He was just surprised that I could even speak the language. I'm guessing that my account manager failed to mention that to them."

Gringott's Grip was in Harry's opinion, ab-so-lute-ly freaking awesome! Rather than try to bully their way through, the group decided to take each room to see what they offered in the way of a challenge. First up was a room full of rotating mirrors that, as they changed position, changed the pathway to get around and back out again. Next was a switchback corridor lined with holes in the walls that blew puffs of potion-laced air at them. The potions weren't dangerous; they merely acted as a sort of aerosol version of the impedimentia jinx.

After that was a split off; one way led to a ramp down into waist-high muck and a false clue. Harry nearly slipped and fell into said muck when one of the others nearly blew his lunch at the smell. After they extricated themselves, they proceeded down the correct path through a winding switchback corridor in complete darkness that emptied out to a short section that had a grid-like plate on the floor. When they stepped onto the plate, hot air blasted up at them. Padma and the only other girl in their group were heard growling at themselves for being stupid to wear a skirt on this venture.

The next trap was an inversion mist. Here they paused to think of a solution. Anthony Goldstein suggested using a Ventus charm to blow the mist out of the way. Terry came up with a different idea, "What if we were to create a tunnel that wasn't affected by the mist?"

"How?"

"Does anyone have anything in their pockets? Random junk of some kind? Something that can be transfigured?"

They all dug around and pooled their resources. Between them all, they had a couple of biros, a notepad and a small, slightly crumpled cardboard box. "Perfect, we can enlarge and lengthen the box to reach the other end of the mist and just walk right through."

Harry held up his hand, "Wait, before we do, I want to take a crack at being able to walk on the ceiling." Terry rolled his eyes but smirked nonetheless, "Go ahead."

It didn't take Harry all that long, just a few seconds to realize what a bad idea it was. All the blood in his body suddenly rushed to his head and made him woozy then he had to suffer that again once he had righted himself back on normal ground. The others chuckled at his misadventure and stood back as Terry enlarged the box and fit it down the length of the hallway, "Okay, here goes nothing." He stepped into the tunnel and was surprised that he didn't flip over, "Well, it works. Let's go!"

Once on the other side, Terry returned the box to its original form and size then handed it back to its owner. Their next challenge was a rope bridge over a seemingly bottomless pit. There was a pile of broken planks in the corner.

"I'm guessing that we need to transfigure this stuff into the footpath," Anthony surmised.

"I've got this," the other girl in their group, Yvette said as she pulled out her wand and made a couple of planks then copied them until they had enough. Then she took a look at the ropes that spanned across the chasm and noted how the bottoms had loops to hold the planks. One by one, they handed her the planks and built their way across the pit.

When they reached the other side, Harry wanted to know why they couldn't have done that with magic. Yvette shrugged, "I just felt like doing it this way."

They took a short breather in the next challenge which was a room full of mirrors that seemed to project images of whatever they were thinking of. They all had a great time coming up with some wild and crazy animals, people and distortions before they headed off to the next room. This one was Egyptian in design and featured four seated forbidding looking statues. There was an obvious door between the pair on the opposite of the room but they held back because of the odd pattern of tiles on the floor.

"Something feels off about this room. I get that we'd need to figure out how to open the door but this space is too uncluttered to be free of traps. Does anyone have something they wouldn't mind losing to test out my theory?"

The cardboard box was brought forth again and tossed into the center of the room. Their hesitation bore fruit as there was the sound of a twang and the tile the box had landed on vanished leaving behind a deep hole!

With widened eyes, Harry snarked, "Well, that complicates things."

By the time that they exited that section of the maze, they had dealt with the booby-trapped floor, figured out the answer to a logic puzzle, tackled a sliding block obstacle then backtracked through a darkened hallway with roots dangling from the ceiling in increasing density before landing in a pit of quicksand and another logic puzzle. From there it was a curving hallway that had an uneven and squishy floor which caused them to stumble (and laugh at each other) before exiting into a beautiful (and slightly eerie) crystal cavern.

"Ooh, this is beautiful!" Yvette commented quietly as they passed around the room and peered through the narrow windows that pierced through the walls into other sections of the cavern.

"Kinda creepy though," Padma shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands, "It's cold and too quiet in here."

Harry announced his discovery of the riddles that they needed to solve to move on.

It was the creature arena that caused a bit of consternation. There were short walls and rocks of various sizes to hide behind but the monsters were relentless and all seemed to be at least Class 3 or worse.

"Watch out! Those are Malaclaws! One bite and you'll be unlucky for a week!" Terry yelped.

"Ahh! Duck! That's a swarm of Billywigs!"

"What the heck was that?"

"Who cares, Run!"

The arena was ringed with hollows that mimicked a doorway but only led to a short hallway before dead-ending. They managed to find the correct exit but it was blocked by a brick wall. Anthony shoved his body against the wall frantically and managed to dislodge a couple of the bricks, "Help me! Shove the wall!"

They did so and managed to escape.

The final room was huge, or at least seemed to be. It resembled the Great Hall in scope and held piles of all sorts of treasures. Out of curiosity, Harry reached out to pick up one of the gold plates only to drop it and yell out in surprise. "It just shocked me!"

"And it just copied itself," Padma pointed out.

They nervously glanced around at the towering piles that now seemed to be unstable and shifting slightly, "How much you want to bet that if they're disturbed, we'll be buried under them getting shocked over and over?"

"No bet."

"No way, not taking that."

"Let's get out of here."

They inched their way ever so carefully, only getting shocked three more times after accidentally brushing up against a carved marble bust and a cart full of golden statues.

Harry and his friends burst out of the exit into the refreshing air and sunlight and collapsed onto the grass. He propped himself up on his elbows and peered around at the others, "Well, that was fun. Who wants to go again?"

They all raised their hands and burst out giggling before dragging themselves to their feet and racing each other back to the entrance.

Thursday 23 February 1995 Great Hall

Harry was looking over Hermione's shoulder as she read through the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. There was a rather lengthy article covering some of the advancements that was being showcased at the Tournament since the First Task and that the reason why it took the reporter so long to get the article published was because it took her that long to find someone who could explain what a television was and how it worked, how muggle recording and broadcasting technology worked along with the smaller items like walkie-talkies, communication mirrors and more.

"Uncle Vernon's probably laughing himself silly at some of her observations."

Hermione paused and looked back at him, "Why?"

He pointed out that televisions did not shrink people before sending their images to a television monitor. She giggled at the mistake and said it was an honest mistake especially from a reporter who at least had the sense to try and learn about mundane technology instead of just assuming.

Justin passed by humming the notes to a blues song and snagged a seat next to the Weasley Twins. Both boys glanced up and cleared their throat when Justin didn't respond to their questioning glances.

"I had a question about a couple of your prank products."

"Oh? And what pray tell…"

"…did you want to know?"

"Have you ever come up with something that a person could hold in their mouth that would allow them to sound like someone else when they spoke?"

The Twins blinked before one of them slowly shook his head, "No… I don't believe we have."

The other twin pulled out a notebook and began checking it before shaking his head, "Nope, never. Surprising too, I must say." He quickly jotted down the suggestion.

"So, now the question begs, 'Who would you want to imitate, young Puff?'"

Justin shrugged and smirked, "Oh, I don't know. How about the Headmistress or maybe Draco's dad? You know, someone distinctive that would scare the daylights out of your victim?"

George cracked up laughing, "Ah, I like this one, Freddie."

"Me too, Georgie. Thank you, young sir. You have our blessing to go forth and create chaos."

Within a week, the school developed a case of quiet terror with whispers of a new Weasley Prank Product. Soon after, Draco broke out in a case of hives when he thought he heard his father talking to the Headmistress about sending his son to another school because he didn't like the way the brat behaved. Ron was another victim of the voice changer. He kept hearing voices that sounded suspiciously like the elves saying they were going to restart their Redhead Rodeo again. Ron was visibly shaken and refused to leave his dorm unless it was in the company of at least two others. The two boys weren't the only ones who got pranked; the teachers got a taste of the action too.

"Minerva! This is th' lee yi'll waant tae be living? Alone 'n' wi'oot a guidman?" The voice sounded suspiciously like her mother which shouldn't be possible since the woman died nearly thirty years ago. She pulled out her copy of the new Hogwarts Map and with narrowed eyes, spotted the Weasley Twins skulking around the corner. She transformed into her feline form and quietly padded up from behind before resuming her human shape.

"What are you waiting for?" she whispered.

"Ol' McGonagall," came the whispered reply from the twin in the rear.

"Why?"

"We're pulling a prank on her. We've got this mouthpiece that makes you sound like…" the twin turned to explain further and paled when he saw who was standing over them. He frantically tapped on his brother's shoulder and when he turned, they both gulped and looked sheepish.

"Ye forgoat that ah wis wance th' Marauder's teacher. Ah ken a' th' auld stunts."

Monday 20 March 1995 Hogwarts Stadium

Because the Second Task fell on a Monday, it had been collectively decided by the organizers not to do anything major the previous Saturday. The Stadium was packed again with students and their parents along with the school's guests and members of the press. The Three Broomsticks was jammed packed again as well. It had gotten so busy that Madam Rosemerta had to hire additional help to serve food and drinks to the patrons.

All three Champions were lined up at the entrance of a large blocky structure that had been built on the stadium floor. There were no clues as to what it held inside; only the view through the Champions special omnoculars would provide any clue. Minerva welcomed everyone back and reminded them that regardless of what the Champion saw, they would be able to see clearly. "For the safety of our Champions, each of them is wearing a portkey necklace. Should they encounter something in which they cannot escape, all they have to do is yank the chain from their necks and they will be immediately teleported to the Healer's tent."

"Are you ready, Champions?" Minerva called out through the use of a Sonorous charm. Each of the Champions returned with thumbs up, "First in will be Breno Valverde, followed by Hoshi Sato and finally Roger Davies! On three! One! Two! Three!" Breno vanished into the darkened entrance. A moment later the call was given again and Hoshi slid on a pair of red-lensed goggles and dashed inside. A moment after that, Roger was given his clearance. He carefully walked up to the entrance and examined the doorframe and felt along the paneling inside. Judging from the look on his face, he'd discovered something good and flashed another thumbs up; he disappeared as well.

Up on the Big Screen, Roger's monocular view showed him discovering the electrical junction box and opening it up then flicking a couple of switches. The hallway's hidden worklights clicked on, illuminating the path with a harsh white light.

Up in the stands, Harry inexplicably burst out laughing with Hermione shaking her head. Greg nudged him and asked him what was so funny? Harry had to explain that it was he who suggested that Roger look for a simpler solution to finding a way to provide light. "I figured that it was only logical that the organizers might use mundane technology to provide said lights as a way to trip up the magically raised and suggested to Roger that he look around for a junction box and switch on the lights."

Greg looked worried, "But isn't that cheating?"

Harry shrugged, "Hermione asked me the same thing but the way I figured it, Roger didn't ask me for help; I offered it."

Roger's lighting solution didn't last the entire time though. He got as far as the first junction before the light faded away. He took the left handed direction only to turn back just as suddenly when faced with what appeared to be a herd of Inferi shambling at him. Hermione squealed in disgust and repeated over and over to herself that they must have been boggarts and not real Inferi.

Breno had reached the first logic puzzle and stood there trying to solve the math equation:

X v (Y v Z) = (X v Y) v Z

"Hermione?"

"An argument is valid if the following conditional holds: If all the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. So, when you attempt to write a valid argument, you should try to write out what the logical structure of the argument is by symbolizing it. For example, X ∧ (Y ∨ Z) is true if X is true and at least one of Y and Z is true. Notice that we need parenthesis, because X ∧ (Y ∨ Z) can have different values than (X ∧ Y) ∨ Z."

"So how do they find the right answer?" Greg scratched his head as he tried to understand her explanation.

Hermione pointed to the wall Breno was still staring at, "There are two squares. One of them is the correct answer. He needs to press the correct one to pass." There was a klaxon sound and the floor dropped out under the Champion's feet. Bruno slid into a pit of sticky and smelly slime up to his armpits to his obvious disgust. He pressed on until he saw the next room and sighed heavily. It was filled with sand and feathers.

"He chose poorly."

Roger was the first to reach the second logic puzzle and read it aloud (supposedly for the benefit of the crowd): "There are 5 pirates in a ship. Pirates have hierarchy C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5. C1 designation is the highest and C5 is the lowest. These pirates have three characteristics: A. Every pirate is so greedy that he can even take lives to make more money. B. Every pirate desperately wants to stay alive. C. They are all very intelligent. There are total 100 gold coins on the ship. The person with the highest designation on the deck is expected to make the distribution. If the majority on the deck does not agree to the distribution proposed, the highest designation pirate will be thrown out of the ship (or simply killed). The first priority of the pirates is to stay alive and second to maximize the gold they get. Pirate 5 devises a plan which he knows will be accepted for sure and will maximize his gold. What is his plan?"

Up in the stands, the Ravenclaws all oohed and ahhed before chattering amongst themselves as they strove for the answer. Down in the Puff zone, all eyes turned to Hermione who rolled hers and shook her head, "Really? You all think that highly of me?"

Harry kissed her on the cheek, "Yes. Yes, we do my love."

Hermione sighed at the affection, "Fine. To understand the answer, we need to reduce this problem to only 2 pirates. So what happens if there are only 2 pirates? Pirate 2 can easily propose that he gets all the 100 gold coins. Since he constitutes 50% of the pirates, the proposal has to be accepted leaving Pirate 1 with nothing."

"Now let's look at 3rd pirate's situation. Pirate 3 knows that if his proposal does not get accepted, then pirate 2 will get all the gold and pirate 1 will get nothing. So he decides to bribe pirate 1 with one gold coin. Pirate 1 knows that one gold coin is better than nothing so he has to back pirate 3. Pirate 3 proposes {pirate 1, pirate 2, and pirate 3} or {1, 0, 99}. Since pirate 1 and 3 will vote for it, it will be accepted."

"If there are 4 pirates, pirate 4 needs to get one more pirate to vote for his proposal. Pirate 4 realizes that if he dies, pirate 2 will get nothing (according to the proposal with 3 pirates) so he can easily bribe pirate 2 with one gold coin to get his vote. So the distribution will be {0, 1, 0, 99}."

"Smart, right? Now, the distribution with 5 pirates? Let's see. Pirate 5 needs 2 votes and he knows that if he dies, pirate 1 and 3 will get nothing. He can easily bribe pirates 1 and 3 with one gold coin each to get their vote. In the end, he proposes {1, 0, 1, 0, 98}. This proposal will get accepted and provide the maximum amount of gold to pirate 5. Now, like before, Roger has to press the correct square to see if he's right or not." Apparently, Roger was correct when the door slid open and allowed him to pass through.

Next up in the Task of Horrors was a murky lake filled with a swarm of Grindlylows and a couple of Kelpies that they had to avoid. Once they were past that, they then had to try to figure out how to unravel a cursed box that held a key to open the door to the creature arena.

Everyone screamed and cheered as Hoshi managed to stun a huge Runespoor that darted in front of her before coming face to beak with Logan who stood there with an imperious glare as if daring her to try stunning him. She quickly backed up and bowed low in respect to the majestic winged creature. Logan waited just long enough to make Hoshi start sweating nervously before dropping his head back.

"That goof, I'm so going to tease him when this is all over!" Hermione laughed at the hippogriff's behavior.

Breno appeared in one of the side entrances looking worse for wear covered in smelly slime, sand and feathers. Logan took one look at him and burst out laughing.

Roger dived past a lumbering Troll and managed to cast a iron chain spell at the creature's legs, immobilizing it and sending it crashing to the ground where it lay moaning in confusion.

The three Champions met up near the exit of the arena when all of a sudden the animals within suddenly became a lot more agitated. Something burst through the gates to their enclosures and into the arena. The Champions stared at the thing and Roger was heard screaming, "What the bloody effing hell is that?!"

It looked like an overgrown chicken on steroids. It towered over all of them as it stood on two massively powerful and clawed legs. It had a humongous head with a dangerously sharp beak and viciously red-orange eyes. A feathered frill lined the back of its head and when it flared them, all three Champions began screaming in fear at things that only they could see. Those looking on in horror felt a distant whispering of the same psychotropic effects as they believed they could hear faint voices telling them to jump off the ledges.

There was a loud bang from the exit of the maze as the Breno, Hoshi and Roger came barreling out as fast as they could with the Terror Bird close behind. Logan bravely dashed in and tried to take a bite out of the demonic bird but he was swatted out of the way with a powerful kick from one of those clawed legs and lay still.

People began screaming in earnest as the psychotropic effects kicked in full blast, many falling to the ground and panicking in fear. Harry thought he could hear the sounds of something heavy rumbling in like a runaway freight train but it was only until he saw Sandrine thundering in, roaring her anger at the oversized turkey and ending its reign of psychotic terror with a single snap of her jaws that he understood what he'd heard. Sandrine stood tall, defying any other attacking creature to dare attempt another run at those she held under her protection. Jucao slithered up to offer solidarity and to provide another set of eyes to provide security.

Harry scrambled through the scrum and called for Bippy to come quickly. When the elf appeared he said quickly, "Bippy! I need you to go to my room and grab the large red canister from my emergency closet and a fire hose then bring them back!" Bippy popped away without hesitation and brought the requested tank and hose. Harry dragged it over to where Sandrine was standing guard over the dead bird, glaring at it as if daring the thing to get up and take another run. /"Sandrine! I need you to lift me up high. I need to spray this over the crowds."/

Sandrine did as he ordered. Harry connected the hose to the tank then cracked open the valve and began spraying the crowd down with a pinkish-tinged sort of aerosol. Slowly the panicking crowd calmed down and began looking around themselves in confusion. When the tank was empty, Harry was lowered to the ground where he collapsed from the exertion. Poppy and Severus came running over to him, "Harry! Mr. Potter! What happened? What did you spray on the crowd?"

Severus was kind enough to hand Harry a conjured glass of water, "That…was a super-sized canister of a calming draught I'd developed to calm large rioting crowds. It's basically a concentrated variant of the standard brew. I'm glad it worked." He sipped on the water carefully, his stomach was still roiling from the horrific visions he'd experienced.

The footage from the Champions' omnoculars was consulted to determine who had been the first out of the maze then by the security team as well as the onsite Unspeakables and Beast Control to determine if there was anything else that could be divined from the carnage. The teams scoured the arena and the hidden creature holding pens but came up empty. Hermione checked on Logan and was relieved to know that the hippogriff had only been stunned after being kicked and wasn't seriously injured. It didn't really matter to the Champions themselves, they were just happy to make it out alive and in one piece but the scores needed to be tallied. It was fortunate in their minds that the creature arena was the second to last chamber before the final exit run anyways. Roger jokingly wondered just what was in the last room anyways since he didn't remember a thing after running as fast as he could from the avian nightmare. After due consideration, the judges awarded Hoshi Sato with the most amount of points for getting through the maze unscathed, Roger was given the next highest thanks to his unorthodox lighting solution at the beginning of the Task and finally Breno received last place for failing the logic puzzle and having to take the alternate route through the disgusting slime and sand traps.

From where he stood in the shadows of the Pavilion that overlooked the Stadium, Barnabus Werkley, aka Barty Crouch Junior cackled softly to himself as he watched the carnage and terror that swept through the crowds. He was dismayed that the South American Hypno-Psychotomimetic Bird hadn't done too much damage before getting itself killed. He hoped that his Master would agree that regardless of how long the bird lived to cause the amount of damage, it was certainly longer than what the Dark Lord had planned for the Potter brat.

[A/N2: How'd you like the puzzles I found? A lot more interesting than staring at the surface of a nearly frozen lake for an hour, eh?]