70. Lost and Found
A familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told Minerva that it was almost time for the second task. She was arranging a couple of chairs in Albus' office for a meeting they were about to have and she was handling them none too gently.
"The chairs are not the ones at fault, you know," Albus said mildly behind her.
"He hasn't figured it out yet!" she burst out in response.
Albus didn't need to ask whom she was talking about. "How do you know?"
"I have eyes. I've seen him in the library. I think he knows what he needs, he just has no idea where to find it." Minerva had given Potter permission to access the restricted section of the library, but that was all she had been allowed to do to help. It was an entirely new method of torture. "I thought the first task would be the worst of it. One wrong move and those dragons would have killed him, even with Charlie Weasley there. There's nothing as dangerous as a dragon in the lake and Remus gave him a thorough education on the creatures that are. But none of that is going to help if he can't figure out how to breathe under water."
"He still has some time left," Albus said with his usual optimism.
"Not a whole lot." Minerva bit her lip in thought. "I was wondering… You've already changed the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum this year. How about we revise the Transfiguration curriculum as well and start teaching Human Transfigurations a little earlier? In year four perhaps?"
Albus gave her an indulgent smile. "My faith in you knows no bounds, but if you can teach Harry in only a few days how to transform into a creature that can breathe under water, I'll be mightily impressed." Minerva dropped onto one of the chairs with a sigh. She was fully aware that was never going to happen. "Besides, there are easier ways for Harry to solve this problem."
"I know. Mad-Eye suggested Gillyweed earlier. But I don't think Pomona will do us the favour of mentioning that in class."
"Nor should she," Albus said sternly and just in time before there was a knock on the door and the Head of Hufflepuff House entered the office.
She looked surprised that she had been invited to attend this meeting together with Maxime and Karkaroff, who came in shortly after her. As usual, Bagman arrived more than a little late and he did so in a hurry.
"Sorry, sorry," he wheezed. "I got held up by… ah, never mind. Now that we're all here, let's get right to it…"
"Forgive the interruption, Ludo, but we're not all here," Albus interjected. "Where is Barty?"
"Oh, the poor chap is sick, if you can believe it. Never had to take a sick day in all his life, but what can you do?" Bagman shrugged his shoulders. "Better he's not here, so none of us can catch it, right? No need to worry about missing the rest of the Tournament."
Albus seemed to think that there was ample reason to worry, but Bagman continued with the meeting. "As some of you already know, the second task is fairly simple. Well, it's simple enough to explain, not so easy to do, of course. The champions have to crack the Golden Egg, which contains a song that is actually a riddle. It tells them to come to the lake to find what's been taken from them. Dumbledore was gracious enough to talk to the merpeople for us and they have agreed to help. The champions will have exactly one hour to complete the task."
"So they have to solve this riddle, find a way to breathe under water and then search the entire lake in an hour?" Pomona summed up Bagman's explanations. "No, that doesn't sound easy at all."
Bagman grinned broadly. "Good. Otherwise we wouldn't have done our job right. We have everything set up. We just need your help to decide what our champions would miss the most." He turned to Karkaroff, who sat closest to him. "Igor, you know Mr Krum the best. What would he 'sorely miss'?"
"His wand," answered the Durmstrang headmaster.
Bagman laughed, but he quickly shut up when he saw the angry look on Karkaroff's face. "Well, of course, but we can't take that or he can't actually complete the task. There must be something else."
"His broomstick?" Karkaroff suggested, sounding annoyed now.
"Good idea," Bagman nodded, though he clearly didn't think so at all. "But this is the Triwizard Tournament. We need to up the ante, people. I was thinking more of a person he cares about."
"You want to take someone he loves and drop them in the lake for an hour? Isn't that called kidnapping, not to mention drowning?" Pomona asked.
"Now you're getting it!" Bagman exclaimed happily. "This task would be terribly dull if we stole their favourite book or something like that. Nobody would care. But think about what you would do if someone took the one person in your life you absolutely couldn't live without!"
Minerva's eyes darted towards Albus against her will, only to find his gaze already fixed on her. She quickly looked away again.
Meanwhile Madame Maxime said, "I wouldn't let zem get taken." For once Minerva wholeheartedly agreed with that woman. After the way things between her and Hagrid had soured she hadn't expected that.
Bagman's smile wavered. "Preferably not. But it doesn't always work out that way, now does it?"
"Can we come back to the part where we would tie them up at the bottom of the lake for an hour?" Pomona chimed in.
"A little help here, Dumbledore?" Bagman beseeched Albus.
"We can enchant them so they won't feel a thing. It would be as easy and uneventful as going to sleep," Albus explained slowly. "But they would have to give their consent, of course."
"Naturally! The Ministry doesn't actually kidnap anyone." Bagman's laugh was decidedly uneasy now.
"No, you just occasionally lose someone," said Albus and the expression on his face made Bagman stop laughing altogether.
"I keep telling you that Bertha will turn up any day now. But, uh, that's not actually why we're here. So back to Mr Krum. Who would be that special someone for him?"
Bagman turned to Karkaroff again. The man's face was completely blank as though the concept of loving another person that much was utterly foreign him.
The silence in the room was about to become uncomfortable when Pomona spoke up again, "He looked very happy with Miss Granger at the Yule Ball."
"They went to one dance together. They barely know each other," Minerva protested. She didn't like the idea of getting too many of her own students involved in this thing.
"He barely knows anyone here at Hogwarts. But I've seen the two of them in the library a lot together," Pomona insisted. "And a ball is the perfect place to fall in love. Cedric and Cho are going steady now."
Minerva snorted. "Going steady?"
"I don't know what the kids call it these days. She's his girlfriend."
"Excellent! Then we can ask Miss Cho..."
"Miss Chang."
"... Miss Cho Chang to be our hostage for Diggory. And Miss Granger will be perfect for Krum," Bagman decided. "What about Harry? Does he have a girlfriend, too? The Boy Who Lived – how could he not? I'm sure the ladies must love him."
Minerva shot him an incredulous look. "He's fourteen."
"So?"
She was about to start an argument, but Albus shook his head. Clenching her jaw, Minerva said, "His best mate, Ronald Weasley, would probably be willing to do it."
"All right. That leaves Miss Delacour," said Bagman, quickly moving on from Minerva to look at Madame Maxime.
"'er little sister Gabrielle is 'ere wiz us," the headmistress replied hesitantly. "But she is very young."
"I can assure you, Olympe, that she will be perfectly safe and that no harm will come to her," Albus promised her.
Maxime arched a brow in a very French sort of way. "And what shall I do wiz your promise if somezing goes wrong after all? Should I zrow you into ze lake as well to zat monster zat resides in zere?"
"You can certainly do that if it made you feel better. But I'm afraid the giant squid doesn't actually feast on humans unless they happen to have some treacle tart in their pockets. He has a bit of a sweet tooth, you know." Albus winked at her.
Before the very large woman could decide if she thought that was funny or insulting, Minerva added, "I think what the headmaster is trying to say is that he wouldn't give you his word if there was any doubt in his mind whatsoever. If he says that the children will be fine, then nothing will happen to them."
After a brief pause Maxime nodded her consent.
Bagman clapped his hands in excitement. "Wonderful. Then we're all set!"
They were not 'set' at all. But now that they had finalised the details, Bagman seemed to feel that his work on the second task was done. He left it up to them to make sure everything worked out as planned. Minerva actually preferred it that way. It was like she had told Madame Maxime. The only one she trusted with the safety of the students involved was Albus.
The night before the second task Potter, Weasley and Granger did not show up for dinner in the Great Hall, which did not bode well for Potter's performance tomorrow. Minerva sent the Weasley twins to the library to summon Weasley and Granger to her office.
Cho Chang was already there, looking extremely nervous and confused. She kept glancing at Albus, who was leaning against the windowsill next to Minerva's chair. Being in the headmaster's presence clearly intimidated her, despite Albus' best efforts. He smiled at her encouragingly and tried to engage her in silly small talk about her favourite dessert.
Madame Maxime showed up with Fleur Delacour's little sister Gabrielle. Once Granger and Weasley arrived, there wasn't enough room for everyone. Or rather, there was only enough room for all the regular-sized people present, so the Beauxbatons headmistress left again, albeit grudgingly.
Albus smiled at the four chosen 'hostages,' who were now sitting and standing before them. "Thank you all for coming so promptly. As you know, the second task of the Triwizard Tournament will take place tomorrow morning and we need to talk to you all about helping our Triwizard champions."
"We weren't helping Harry!" Weasley spoke up without thinking first. "We were just... keeping him company in the library for... er... moral support!"
Miss Granger had tried to elbow him in the ribs, but he had failed to notice. Minerva was glad that Madame Maxime had already left.
Albus didn't seem too bothered by it. "That was very kind of you, Mr Weasley. I'm sure Harry appreciates what you've done for him. Unfortunately, he'll have to do without you for the next couple of hours."
"We weren't cheating, Professor. Honestly!" Weasley replied in alarm.
"Ron! Will you stop talking?" Miss Granger hissed through clenched teeth.
"You should really listen to Miss Granger," Minerva added in exasperation. "And to Professor Dumbledore."
Weasley grimaced and fell silent.
"Actually, helping Harry is exactly what we would like you to do – just a little differently than you've been doing so far," Albus went on, his eyes twinkling. "For those of you who are not as well informed as Mr Weasley here... the champions have received the following instructions for the second task. They are to venture into the Great Lake to recover what they will sorely miss. They have one hour to do so."
Miss Granger's mouth fell open in a silent 'Oh' as understanding dawned on her face. "It's us," she whispered, mostly to herself, but everyone heard her. "Harry needs to find us."
"There will be only one hostage, for lack of a better word, per champion, but you are quite correct. If you're all willing to participate, you would be what our champions have to find and rescue from the lake," Albus confirmed.
"And what if they can't?" asked Weasley. His confidence in Potter was heartwarming.
"You won't be in any danger," Albus continued to explain. "If you agree, I will put you into a deep sleep. You will remain asleep until you have been rescued. If your champion fails, we will of course do it for them. You will spend the night here. Tomorrow morning the merpeople will take you down to the bottom of the lake. You will not wake, you will not feel anything and you will not be harmed – regardless of what the Golden Egg's song suggested."
No one said anything and Albus was content to let them think for a moment. Minerva understood their hesitation. Even though she had no doubts about Albus' magic, the idea of being passed back and forth between the school and the lake while sleeping was more than a little strange. It required a fair amount of trust.
"You're entirely free to say no," Albus reminded them after a while. "However, you cannot return to your dormitories tonight. We wouldn't want you to have to lie to the champions about what happened here. Just in case some of them haven't cracked the egg yet."
"Wait a minute!" Weasley protested, as though he wanted to deny that he would tell Potter everything if given the chance. "Who's Hermione here for? If I'm the one Harry needs to save?"
Minerva gave him a withering look. "You can count to four, can't you, Mr Weasley?"
"Yeah, but..." He glanced at Gabrielle Delacour and Cho Chang, seemed to guess correctly who they were here for, and then he glared at Miss Granger as though she had stabbed him in the back. "You can't be serious! You're who Krum will miss the most? Un-bloody-believable!"
"Language, Weasley!" Minerva snapped at him.
He kept his mouth shut, but he stared daggers at Miss Granger, who blushed from head to toe. Minerva suppressed a sigh. She hated it when the hormones began to kick in and the students lost their ability to use their brains for a while. Apparently, that was happening between Weasley and Granger right now.
"Does that mean that you're willing to participate, Mr Weasley?" Albus asked, slightly amused.
"'Course, I will. Because I don't want Krum to win!" he replied pointedly.
Miss Granger felt that this had been aimed at her. "You know I want Harry to win, too!"
"Then why are you here to help the other team?" Weasley shot back.
Albus cleared his throat before Minerva could try to stop all this bickering. "This is by no means a reflection of your friendship with Harry," he said, looking at Miss Granger. "But since Mr Krum is currently far from home, I'm sure he would appreciate the support from a new friend he's made here. After all, one could argue that that's the real purpose of the Triwizard Tournament."
"I'll do it," Miss Granger agreed, nodding in relief.
"Me too. For Cedric. And for Hogwarts," said Miss Chang.
"Oui," added Gabrielle Delacour in a small voice.
Albus beamed at them. "Thank you all! On behalf of the champions, the Ministry and myself. Now, if you could all stand to the side for a moment? You, too, Professor." He winked at Minerva. She got up and watched with the hint of a frown on her face as Albus turned her office into a dormitory.
Waving his wand as though he was conducting an orchestra, he moved her desk up against the wall and stacked all the chairs on top of each other. He then used the space he had just created to conjure four rather comfortable-looking beds. Three of them had sheets and quilts in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw colours respectively, the fourth was covered in butterflies, whose wings shimmered in every colour of the rainbow.
Gabrielle let out a delighted little scream and immediately chose that bed. The three older students settled on the remaining beds more slowly.
"Any questions before we begin?" Albus wanted to know.
They shook their heads, but then Gabrielle asked, "It won't 'urt?"
Albus sat on the foot of her bed and smiled at her so warmly that Minerva's heart ached in a good way. "Not even a little bit. It will be like when you go to bed and you're so tired that you fall asleep right away and you don't even dream. You just sleep in peace until morning."
"I wouldn't mind dreaming. If it's a good dream, that is," Weasley chimed in.
"I'll see what I can do," Albus said with a quiet chuckle.
"Brilliant."
As Albus got back up, the four students lay down properly. They all looked as though they couldn't imagine going to sleep right now.
Albus raised his wand again. "Nighty night," he said and then one after the other they closed their eyes.
"This feels strange," Minerva observed.
Albus smiled at her. "They'll be just fine."
Since she no longer had an office to get any work done, Minerva went to bed herself not long after. It wasn't a long night anyway. Early in the morning while the rest of the castle was still asleep, they brought the sleeping hostages down to the lake. The merpeople rose to the surface to greet them. Albus talked to the chief in Mermish, a language Minerva – like most witches and wizards – had never learned and she had never asked Albus how and when he had managed it. But she didn't need verbal communication as she handed little Gabrielle to one of the merwomen, who gave her what looked like a reassuring smile before she disappeared into the water with her.
Minerva shook her head about the absurdity of it all and walked up to the castle to return her office to its previous state. After a quick breakfast she was back at the lake, waiting for the second task to begin like everyone else.
Except, only three out of four champions turned up.
Albus had been talking with Percy Weasley off to the side, most likely about news from Barty Crouch, for whom Weasley was filling in today. When they were about to take their seats at the judges' table, Minerva let Weasley pass, but she stopped Albus.
"It's almost half past nine! Where is Potter?" she whispered urgently. "Do you think he hasn't found a way to do it and is just not going to show up?" Even as she said it, she couldn't believe a word of it. That would have been the coward's way out. "What if something happened? I should go and look…"
"No." Albus briefly held on to her arm.
"But..."
"No," he repeated under his breath.
"How can you be so..." For a split second she had been about to say heartless, but thankfully she stopped herself just in time. Albus was a lot of things but never that. "...so full of faith in him?" she finished her question instead. That was the real reason for his calm demeanour.
"Because," he said and indicated to her that she should look behind her, "he's earned it."
While Albus took his seat, Minerva turned around and saw Potter sprinting towards them across the lawn. "Somebody needs to buy that boy a new watch for his birthday," she muttered, even as relief flooded through her.
Once all four champions were ready, Bagman officially started the second task. 'Ready' wasn't the right word in Potter's case, though. He was still wearing his school robes from yesterday, not exactly ideal for swimming, and he waded into the lake as though he had no idea what he was supposed to do. More than a few people laughed and Minerva was tempted to write down their names and find a way to punish them later. As if any of them would have done any better.
But then Potter put something in his mouth, swallowed it and threw himself into the water without any signs that he was in danger of drowning. It must have been Gillyweed, just like Mad-Eye had suggested the other day, which was mildly curious. In any case, Potter was still breathing and so was Minerva.
From that moment on, the second task turned out to be rather anticlimactic. After the thrill of watching four real-life dragons, the students got bored quickly while staring at an empty lake with no idea what was going on down below. The teachers had to warn a handful of them to either behave themselves or go back up to the castle. No one chose to leave.
After about half an hour there was some excitement. Fleur Delacour returned to the shore, coughing up water and clutching at her throat. Her little sister was not with her and she was in no state to go back in and try again. Madame Maxime ran over to her immediately and so did Poppy. Their voices carried – Fleur was sobbing – and so Minerva heard that Fleur had been attacked by Grindylows. They had burst her Bubble-Head Charm and forced her to give up. Now she was terribly upset that she couldn't get to her sister. Minerva would have told her that there was no need to worry about Gabrielle, but Madame Maxime was blocking Fleur from view.
When the hour was up, none of the other champions had made it back in time. Cedric Diggory returned only one minute late – with Cho Chang, who regained consciousness as soon as her head was above water. Severus and Filius wisely gave Pomona a little room so she could jump up and down again in excitement.
Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger emerged next. Minerva liked that he had chosen to rely on Transfiguration to complete the task and he had ultimately been successful. But his transformation had been extremely crude and incomplete. Had she been his teacher – or a judge – she would not have given him full marks for it and she hoped Albus wouldn't either.
Finally, Potter made it back to shore as well and he had brought both Ron Weasley and Gabrielle Delacour with him – much to Fleur's delight and everybody else's surprise. Albus spoke with the chief of the merpeople again and then Bagman told them all what had happened and what the judges had decided to do about it.
After nearly missing the second task altogether Potter should have won the whole thing. He had discovered the hostages first, but he had refused to leave anyone behind and had waited for Diggory and Krum to show up. Severus gave a derisive snort when he heard that, probably because he thought that Potter had been stupid to take the warning in the song seriously, but Minerva smiled to herself. He had acted like a true Gryffindor. Gallant and noble of heart.
In the end, Diggory was given the most points, closely followed by Potter and then Krum. Fleur was last, of course, and that wouldn't change once the points from the first task were added.
Technically, Potter should have won the first and the second task, but Karkaroff had made that impossible both times. It didn't really matter. Shared first place with Diggory was perfectly fine with Minerva. She glanced at Pomona.
Her colleague and friend grinned back at her, thinking the same thing.
No matter who had supposed to be their champion or not, Hogwarts was now clearly in the lead.
The flames crackled merrily in the fireplace and Albus watched them dance. The nights were warm enough now that the fire wasn't strictly necessary, but he liked listening to the sound and following the flickering shadows with his eyes. It helped him think.
In his lap lay a piece of parchment with a muddy paw print on it. It could have been artwork from a child, but it was actually a message from someone who went by Snuffles these days. Even though there were no words, Albus gleaned several things from it. Most importantly, it told him that Sirius was still safely hidden in the cave at the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Aberforth had suggested it, having lived in the village the longest, and Albus had passed it along when Sirius had insisted on being closer to Harry.
So much for the good news. Less enjoyable was the second part. Upon Albus' request Sirius had used his Animagus form to sniff around (quite literally) for Barty Crouch after tonight's disturbing and alarming events. But he had been unable to find anything that he would have needed to report in greater detail. Albus hadn't really expected him to. He had already searched for Barty himself and so had Alastor. After coming out of nowhere to give Harry an ominous warning about Voldemort getting stronger and Bertha being dead, he had disappeared without a trace and left behind an unconscious Krum, who couldn't say who had attacked him.
Harry had been the only person who had actually spoken with Barty and a dark feeling of foreboding made Albus think that he would forever remain the last one to do so. What his instincts didn't tell him, however, was how this could have happened on Hogwarts grounds. It was why he was still awake, though it was extremely late, even for his standards. Punishing himself like this wouldn't do Barty any good now and yet Albus couldn't help feeling that he didn't deserve to sleep. Not as long as something was so obviously wrong in his own school and he couldn't even fathom how that was possible.
It wasn't the first time he had felt like this in recent years. Rita Skeeter would surely be thrilled to hear him confess to that. But as far as personal punishment was concerned, he wasn't willing to go quite that far.
The door to his study opened and Albus had to blink away the light from the flames he had been staring into. Only then could he see Minerva's face clearly. See that she was smiling. Not just with her eyes but with her whole being. It surprised him. He hadn't expected her to be up and he hadn't expected her to be happy. Which was an awful thing to say.
The answer to the mystery seemed to lie in the little piece of paper Minerva was clutching to her chest. A photograph.
"Is it the baby?" Albus ventured a guess before Minerva could even open her mouth. Perhaps he acted like a man lost in the desert, only he was thirsting for good news rather than water.
"Yes, Catriona finally had the baby," Minerva confirmed, her smile widening. "An owl just knocked on the bedroom window until I woke up. I'm so relieved! I think Catriona would have tried to rip the baby out herself soon if it hadn't come out on its own already."
Albus chuckled, a strange sound to his own ears today but a good one. "Well, will you let me see?"
"Of course." Minerva walked over to him and showed him the picture.
He angled his head to the side. "Mm, looks like a McGonagall already."
"How so?" Minerva asked, cocking her head as well.
"She has those determined eyes, set on conquering the world."
Minerva burst out laughing. "I'm sure he will be happy to hear that."
Albus turned his head the other way and looked from the picture to Minerva and back. "It's a boy?"
"Robert McGonagall the Third," she nodded, her voice both amused and a little emotional. "We'll call him Robbie for now."
"Ah, I'm sorry for not recognising the family legacy. That is rather embarrassing."
Minerva rested a hand on his shoulder. "No, it's not. It's refreshing that you don't know everything."
"Actually, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception at the moment," Albus couldn't stop himself from saying.
The light in Minerva's eyes dimmed immediately. He hated himself for doing that to her.
"Whatever happened to Barty Crouch is not your fault," she said, demonstrating that determined McGonagall look he had mentioned.
"It's not so much a question of fault as it is one of consequence," he argued.
"You mean what all of these disappearances add up to?" She didn't wait for his response. "Whatever it is, it'll have to wait. So far we've somehow managed to avoid a disaster during this Tournament and that's what we have to keep focusing on." Now she did pause for a moment and looked at him intently. "We're so close, Albus. So close to making it through this bloody thing in one piece. We might even have a chance to..." She shook her head. "I can't even say it."
"A chance to win?" Albus helped her out with an arched brow.
"Not that it matters as long as no one gets hurt, but... the third task is practically tailor-made for Potter. He proved that he can think on his feet and get past magical obstacles in his very first year here at Hogwarts. And he did that because you gave him the chance to do so. You knew he would need the confidence. So now he has it and as far as I'm concerned, we'll figure out whatever's next when it comes to it." That picture in Minerva's hand had clearly given her own confidence a boost, too. And her words were softened by her love for him.
Albus wouldn't complain about either one. His expression eased into a smile. "Being a great-aunt suits you."
"I want both of us to meet him once things have calmed down. So will you please get some rest, Albus?"
He wasn't at all convinced that he could sleep right now, but for Minerva he would give it a try. Perhaps he would even find some answers that way and if not, at least he wouldn't have lost another perfectly imperfect night with her.
A/N: Sorry, I was procrastinating a little. But the next chapter should bring us to the big book four finale!