A/N - JKR owns everything familiar.

A/N -Read, enjoy, and review.

A/N - David H, thanks for the feedback. Bill Gates hasn't figured out a way to detect homonyms yet. I was able to fix it the same day - thanks again.

Chapter 57

Serious Second

Harry knew how smart his friend was but there was absolutely no way that she could have the solution already to something he had been thinking about for two weeks. He chanced a glance at Ron to get his reaction but Ron was much more interested in the little Golden Snitch shaped cookies that the House Elves had just set out on the table in front of them than in being impressed by Hermione. He looked back at Hermione.

"Well, go on then. Tell me," he challenged crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Oh Harry, it's so obvious. We just need to make him WANT to reveal himself."

Had she really just said that? After waiting a few seconds to see if she was going to elaborate, Harry slapped his hand to his forehead.

Ron stopped scarfing down the cookies and looked over at Harry. "You understood that?" he asked in between mouthfuls of Snitch shaped cookies.

"Of course I didn't understand that! Hermione, I know that. How do I make him WANT to reveal himself?"

She suddenly became very interested in the hem of her robes. "Oh well --- er --- I haven't exactly worked that part out yet."

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "Then I'm right back where I started aren't I?"

"Not exactly mate. Now you have us working on the problem as well. We'll have it solved in no time."

"You guys are still going to help me with this?"

Ron continued eating. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course we are Harry. How many times do we have to tell you? Despite what you think, you are not in this alone."

Harry smiled and looked to Ron. "You too Ron? You know I'll understand if you say no."

Now it was Ron's turn to roll his eyes. "Stop being so melodramatic will you? Of course we're going to help and there's nothing you can do to stop us. Now, we have more important things to discuss don't we?"

Hermione, who seemed to sense the turn this conversation was about to take, swatted Ron lightly on his left arm causing a Snitch shaped cookie to escape from his grasp and start flying around the Common Room. "Ron, this is important."

She could tell that he wasn't paying any attention to her. In fact neither of the boys were. They both were deeply focused on the Snitch Cookie flying around the room at top speed.

Unable to take it any longer, Hermione reached out her hand and snatched the Snitch Cookie.

"WHOA!"

"Wow Hermione," Harry said extremely impressed. "I didn't know you could do that. You could be our Seeker."

Ron was nodding his agreement, staring at her with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Boys, sheesh. It's basic physics. We learned it in Arithmancy Class. Now, as I was saying --- "

"No," Ron interrupted her, "AS I was saying --- "

"I was going to say that I know what you're thinking Ron but it's only a game."

Harry's head snapped up so quickly he thought he might have given himself whiplash. "Game?"

Ron laughed. "Don't tell me you don't remember oh captain my captain. I was wondering why our practices had been so easy lately. After all, it's not like we're playing for the championship next weekend or anything. Oh wait --- we ARE playing for the championship next weekend!"

"NEXT WEEKEND???!?" Harry shouted. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Tell you? You're our captain. You should be telling us. Have you been catching Bludgers with your head? Are you sure there isn't more to these dreams of yours that you're not telling us?"

He sighed deeply. "I'm sure. It's just that having detention with Snape frazzled my brain." Seeing the skeptical looks on both of their faces he tried again. "I'm fine, really, I am. I'm just tired that's all. Let's go on up to bed."

Harry noticed the look that Hermione shot Ron as they all stood up to go to bed. It was one of her "keep an eye on him and tell me what I miss" looks. He knew it all too well. They divided up the last of the cookies and went up to bed.

Unfortunately Harry didn't get the rest he said he needed. Instead what he got was a rude awakening by a horrible screeching sound. He wanted desperately to put on his glasses but that would have meant removing one of the hands that he was currently using to cover his ears. His glasses would have to wait.

He used his feet to partially draw back the curtains surrounding his bed. The fuzzy shapes moving about told him that the rest of the room's occupants were also awake and searching for the origin of the noise. When one of the fuzzy shapes seemed to find its way to the middle of the room, the wretched noise stopped as abruptly as it began, although the ringing in his ears did not.

"Blimey, what was that?" Dean Thomas asked of no one in particular.

"It sounded like one of those B --- Ban --- Banshees we saw back when Lupin was teaching us about Boggarts," Neville answered.

"Nah," Seamus Finnigan said shaking his head. "Whatever it was it stopped when I grabbed this parchment that was floating in the middle of the room."

"Well go on then," Ron goaded. "We're obviously meant to read it in a hurry. I'd hate to see what it does next if we don't read it quick enough."

The boys all nodded each lost in his own brief thoughts about the next terrible torture that awaited them if the parchment didn't get its way. Seamus began reading aloud.

"All fifth year students are to report immediately to the Great Hall. You have five minutes to cross the threshold. If you are not there in the required time limit, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will not assume responsibility for your safety."

Seamus swallowed hard and looked to each boy in turn. Harry and Ron looked at each other briefly before diving into their robes. Dean seemed frozen until he noticed Harry and Ron dressing and then he started dressing as well. Neville let out a sort of a weird yelp and then grabbed his wand and ran out of the room. Seamus then dove for his clothes and joined the other four fifth-year boys who were dashing for the door.

When Harry got to the Common Room he nearly collided with Hermione. "What's this about?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" she replied as they made their way through the portrait hole.

"Not that again."

"Harry, this is the second task."

"Second task?" She couldn't know about the Orders. She didn't know about his five tasks. Nor, for that matter, could this have anything to do with the second task, after all that had been completed weeks ago. "What are you on about?"

"Harry, don't you remember? Our second task was to be in April. This must be it. Ohhhh, I can hardly wait. I hope we win. We have to though. I've spent so much time thinking about what spell I want to learn. I'm excited, aren't you?"

Harry just looked at her without responding. He hadn't thought about the second game in months, much less the prize associated with it.

Fortunately, she was right. When they reached the Great Hall, only fifth year students and the staff was present. Looking around, Harry could tell that all the students had made it within the allotted time. Because there were no House tables, it was odd that all the students had automatically congregated at or near their usual places. They just stood around in long lines, facing each other, just as if the tables had been there.

Dumbledore's voice quickly attracted the attention of everyone in the room.

"Ahhhh. Thank you all so much for coming," he began, his eyes twinkling from behind the half moon spectacles.

Murmurs and mumblings of things like "as if we had a choice" and "I'd rather be in bed" could be heard throughout the Hall. But Dumbledore didn't seem to notice and continued without missing a beat.

"As most of you have probably surmised, this is your second task."

Harry glanced to Hermione just in time to see her face light up with her usual glow when she was proven right. Ron, he noticed, was trying to both yawn and wipe the sleep from his eyes at the same time. It wasn't a pretty sight. He focused again on the Headmaster.

"Again, this task will pit the talents of Gryffindor and Slytherin against the talents of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. You'll find, I believe, that this task is much less complicated than your last one."

Ron wasn't the only one who could be heard mumbling, "Thank Merlin" under his breath.

"All you'll be required to do is best one of my staff."

"WHAT?"

"NO!"

"BE SERIOUS!"

"YEAH RIGHT!"

"I HOPE YOU MEAN A WOODEN STAFF!"

"COME ON!"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"NO WAY!"

The din the students were causing grew steadily louder and louder under Dumbledore sent a few sparks out of his wand.

"Students, please. Now I am delighted that you all think so highly of your staff but believe me when I say more than one of you will emerge the victor tonight. As I was about to say, each of you will randomly be assigned a staff member to duel --- "

"DUEL????"

"They'll kill us, they've been wanting to for years."

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep in Transfiguration Class this week."

"You can't be serious."

"Are you mad?"

"What did we ever do to you?"

"Wait until my parents find out about this."

"I hope I don't draw Snape!"

"THAT WILL DO students; thank you very much. I assure you I am quite in control of my faculties." At this last statement, Dumbledore flashed a quick look to some of the Slytherins before continuing.

"Now this will be fair. We would not have it any other way. My staff members have very strict rules about what they can and cannot do during each of their duels. Additionally, before every duel, they will draw an additional restriction from the Sorting Hat. Now, as I'm sure that everyone is as eager to begin as I am, I will call out some student names in no particular order. When I call your name, come up here and draw out a name of a staff member from the hat. The staff member will then draw out a restriction from the hat. The two of you will go to the back of the Hall and wait until all the matches for that time period have been made. Ten matches at a time will occur. Everyone will begin on my command. The duel will end when either player has lost his or her wand. After all the matches have been completed, the student team with the most victories will be declared the winner. Special provisions will be made in case of a tie. Now as I see no need for questions, let's begin."

Dumbledore peered down to a scroll that the Deputy Headmistress had just handed him.

"Neville Longbottom"

Every eye in the Hall turned to the fifth year Gryffindor boy. Neville was so nervous upon finding out he was first that he actually grabbed Harry by both shoulders and attempted to move Harry in front of him and hide behind him.

Harry craned his neck and whispered, "Neville, let go. I'm not Crabbe or Goyle. Everyone can still see you."

Neville didn't move.

Dumbledore only smiled a patient smile. "Neville, if you please. Come up here and draw your opponent."

Neville stayed rooted to the spot.

"Neville," Harry whispered again. "Let go of me. You need to go up there."

Nothing.

Finally, Hermione grabbed Neville and physically dragged him up to the front of the room. Since the Slytherins were on the same team as the Gryffindors, very little snickering was heard. Hermione and Neville reached the front and Neville slowly reached into the Sorting Hat that Dumbledore was holding out and selected a small slip of parchment. When he pulled out his hand and held out the parchment, it was shaking too violently for anyone to be able to read the name on it.

Dumbledore reached for it but when he grabbed it Neville still didn't let it go. Because Neville had such a death grip on it, the parchment actually ripped in half.

Seemingly unperturbed, Dumbledore read the half that was in his hand. "Ahhh, Sibyll, you have the honor of being the first staff member chosen."

"I knew I would be."

Several loud groans were heard --- and not just from the students.

Dumbledore however only smiled. "Excellent, now come on and draw your restriction."

Professor Trelawney sighed deeply. "If you insist Dumbledore but I can already tell you what it will be." Nonetheless she reached into the Hat and drew a slip of parchment handing it to Dumbledore without looking at it.

Hermione leaned over to whisper to Harry. "The old fraud. She only showed it to Dumbledore because she knew he wouldn't challenge her to predict it. I'm glad you and Ron finally dropped that horrid class."

"Ahhhh yes. Neville's advantage will be that his opponent cannot use a wand."

Several voices could be heard echoing through the Great Hall once more.

"WHAT???"

"This will be easier than we thought."

"I still think she can take him."

"Will all the restrictions be that good?"

"This will be fun!"

"I hope they get better!"

"Me too!"

"NO WAY!"

"Can a student punch a teacher?"

"I hope I get Snape!"

"Can a teacher punch a student?"

Even Neville smiled upon hearing the limitation that his opponent would be under. He practically skipped to the back of the Great Hall while Dumbledore proceeded to call the next name.

"Draco Malfoy"

Draco swaggered up to the front. Without even so much as a pause, he reached into the old Hat. He looked at the parchment in his hand and announced, "Hooch" before handing the parchment to Dumbledore.

"Excellent. Madame Hooch, if you please."

She came over to the Hat, quickly pulled out a parchment and handed it to the Headmaster who read it aloud. "Use your non-wand hand."

"Vincent Crabbe"

Nobody stirred.

Ron, who was finally almost awake and functioning, whispered so that only Harry and Hermione could hear. "The git doesn't even recognize his own name. Don't Death Eaters have to pass some sort of IQ test?"

Harry shook his head. "Voldemort doesn't need smart followers --- he needs sheep to blindly follow him."

When Crabbe reached into the Hat he pulled out a piece of parchment and stared at it as if struggling to read it. Dumbledore took it from him and announced ---

"Minerva McGonagall"

The Gryffindors didn't know whether to cheer or cry. On the one hand they were depressed that they would absolutely lose this point (although who would really expect Crabbe to win a point anyway?) On the other hand, this duel should really end up being funny with Crabbe getting what he deserved.

He skulked to the back of the Hall under Professor McGonagall's watchful eye.

Things proceeded along this same way until ten student duelers were matched with ten staff members who each had some type of restriction on them --- although none others were as restrictive as the Divination Professor.

When all ten pairs stood facing each other, Dumbledore wished all the contestants good luck and then signaled them to begin.

Hexes, jinxes, curses, and counter-curses were all that could be heard throughout the Great Hall.

"Furnuculus"

"Impedimenta"

"Stupefy"

"Reducio"

"Rictusempra"

"Expelliarmus"

"Reducto"

These spells and many more could be heard reverberating through the Great Hall. Half of the duels were over after only one spell. Most of the remaining battles lasted a couple of minutes or less. Only Neville's duel was still going on after five minutes.

Neville was either being an extreme gentleman or an extreme wimp. It was decidedly hard to tell.

Harry was too busy watching McGonagall spell the stuffing out of Crabbe to have noticed what Neville had been doing earlier. Currently all he was doing was shaking slightly. All Trelawney was doing was standing there with the back of her hand on her forehead predicting Neville's death seconds after he bested her in their duel.

Harry continued to watch but nothing changed. If there was any change at all it was only that Neville was starting to shake a little more.

When Neville started shaking even more obviously Harry jabbed Hermione and Ron in the ribs to get their attention and then shouted, "COME ON NEVILLE, WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!"

Neville turned around to see who was talking to him. Harry knew immediately that that was exactly the wrong thing to do. He started point furiously at Trelawney with both hands. He shouted, "TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND!" But all that happened was that Neville concentrated even more on Harry mouthing the words "What For?"

That was more of a break than Trelawney needed. He never even saw it coming.

OOF

Trelawney had charged Neville and launched herself at him while he had his back to her. She wrapped her arms around both of his legs sending him crashing to the ground. Since he used both of his hands to cushion his fall, he was keeping a very loose grip on his wand.

One knee in the back was all it took.

It was all over.

Trelawney grabbed Neville's wand and raised it high into the air.

Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws cheered.

Slytherins snickered.

Most of the Gryffindors tried to hide their smiles.

Most of the staff looked in another direction shielding their faces from the duelers and the students.

Afterwards, the process started all over again. Ten more names were called. Ten more professors (some repeats) were called out. Ten more restrictions were levied.

Then, the process was repeated for a third time.

At the end of the third round, the HR team had four points. The GS team had three points.

The fourth and final round was about to begin. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all going to be in this final round. Harry only had one thing on his mind. Who was he going to draw? Even though he didn't know who it was, he desperately hoped he would draw the Death Eater. At least he could do some damage --- "

Ron and Hermione were indifferent about their selections. In turn, they had drawn Hooch (who couldn't use blocking charms) and Vector (who had to count to ten in between launching spells). They had each made their way to the back of the Great Hall being cheered on by their fellow Gryffindors.

Finally, next to last, Harry heard his name being called. Quickly, he made his way up to the Sorting Hat and stuck his hand in.

"Please, please, please," he said to himself hoping desperately that the Hat would read and heed his mind's wishes.

Without looking at the parchment he handed it to Dumbledore.