Dudley told his friends about Lockhart's plan. Ron was, predictably, scathing.
"You had lessons with that prat in our second year, Dud—he doens't know how to teach anything."
"He taught me, Hermione and Neville memory charms well," Dudley argued.
He went to offer Neville the chance to be mentored by Lockhart too. Neville had given a firm and short no.
"He'll come around," Dean said, soothingly
Hermione had an idea of her own. "Listen, Dud—I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to help Neville during the tournament."
"Hermione, I didn't mean to upset Neville ..."
"I know, Dud, it doesn't mean we're not still friends. It's just you've got Ron and Dean and Professor Lockhart. Luna and Ginny too. Neville doesn't have anyone else. He needs me more."
Dudley saw the sense in this and agreed with Hermione's suggestion.
The rest of the school seemed very impressed and supportive of Dudley being the champion. Cedric Diggory came up to wish him good luck, so did Roger Davies from Ravenclaw. During Muggle Studies, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot questioned him on if he had any ideas what the task was going to be. "I suppose I'll wait for Professor Lockhart's advice," Dudley answered.
Neither Ernie Macmillan or Justin Finch-Fletchley were pleased. They were both seen muttering darkly and glaring at Dudley along with a pair of Ravenclaw boys who Dudley thought were called Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein.
Draco Malfoy was furious. Before their next Care of Magical Creatures class, he was heard loudly complaining to his gang of Slytherins.
"I'm supporting Durmstrang," he announced in a drawling voice. "No way am I going to be supporting those two. They're the thickest people in the school! It's embarassing having them as our champion. Longbottom can barely hold a ..."
He never finished his sentence. There was a flash of light and Malfoy was lying on his back, panting heavily.
"Shut it Malfoy!" Neville snarled, his hand shaking with rage. "Just shut it! I'm sick of you and Snape and everyone else thinking I'm no good."
With that, Neville stalked off back to the castle. Hermione hesitated a moment, caught in two minds whether to follow him or not.
"Leave it Hermione," Dean said. "I can tell when someone wants to be alone."
"What's gotten into Neville?" Ron asked in a low voice. "He seems to have completely lost the plot."
They saw Neville at lunch, eating alone. Dudley voiced whether they should go and sit with him, but Dean advised against it. "Leave him be," he advised. "I think he needs to deal with this himself."
At the end of the first day, Lockhart was waiting for Dudley in the entrance hall, smiling broadly and signing a copy of his book for a couple of 2nd year students.
"Ah, Dudley, there you are! Excuse me ladies!" He came over, looking very self-satisfied. "Shall we find somewhere to talk?"
Lockhart led the way to an empty classroom. "I have excellent news!" he announced, rubbing his hands together.
"You've won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award again?" Dudley guessed.
"No ... well, yes, but I told you that in the letter. A record seventh time, Dudley. Breaking my own previous record of six. But I digress, I've been busy all day at the Minstry—headed there immediately and did some fishing around, see if I could find out anything about the first task," Lockhart said.
"Oh yeah?" Dudley asked, suddenly more interested in what Lockhart had to say.
Lockhart lowered his voice conspiratorily. "Sphinxes, my dear boy! The first task is Spinxes!"
"Wow—Dudley didn't know much about Spinxes, he had only seen pictures of them. "How do you know?"
"I have a contact with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He heard old Gethsemane Pickle—the head of the department—talking to Fudge about importing a Sphinx. It's obvious the only reason to bring a Sphinx into the country is for the tournament. Keep it under your hat, Dudley—knowledge is power. If you are the only one to know what you're facing, you have a clear advantage."
"Ok, so how do I beat a Sphinx?" Dudley asked.
"Ah! It just so happens I've met a lot of these fabulous creatures on my travels. There's one sure way to get by a Sphinx—riddles, Dudley, riddles. They ask you riddles, if you answer corretly, you win. I'd stake my Order of Merlin—the 3rd class one—that your test will be to answer riddles."
"I don't know any riddles," Dudley said. "Can't I just hex it instead?"
"Well," Lockhart said, "I suppose, but to get full marks, you had better have a go at riddles. Now, I just so happen to be quite good at riddles—to get into Ravenclaw tower you need to answer them. So, let's have a practice."
Lockhart cleared his throat. "What is always in front of you but can't be seen?"
"A ghost," Dudley replied.
"No, the future," said Lockhart. "No worries—we will keep at it. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?"
Dudley repeated it a couple of times. "Run but never walks—that's gotta be some sort of magical creature. So it's a fast creature that can't speak and doesn't sleep. A Dementor?" he guesed.
"A river," Lockhart answered. "A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, "Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son." Who is in the painting?"
"Erm ..." Dudley thought hard. "So he doesn't have a brother and a sister. But the man in the picture is ... oh, I don't know! You didn't even tell me any names!"
"The man's son," Lockhart explained.
"How am I meant to know that?"
They worked at riddles for 15 more minutes before Lockhart had announced it was time to finish for the night. Dudley had managed to answer a grand total of one riddle (what gets wetter the more it dries—a towerl) and he only knew that because Vernon had used it before. Dudley supposed he better hope the Sphinx asked that one.
"Not to worry," Lockhart said, but he did look a bit worried. "I'm sure we'll get there."
When Dudley returned to Gryffindor Tower, he told Ron and Dean what Lockhart had discovered.
"I'll ask Bill," Ron said. "He works in Egypt. Maybe he knows something about Sphinxes."
Dudley went over to where Hermione was studying to tell her what Lockhart had discovered. To his surprise however, she had tutted and refused to listen.
"I expected better of Professor Lockhart—I can understand helping you with spells, but using his contacts to find what the task is. It's bravery in the unknown Dudley, he shouldn't have told me. Me and Neville will practice by ourselves!"