Yey! The first task is here!!! I hope you absolutely love this one! Reviews reviews reviews!!! IOU all!
The day of the First Task had come and Peeves was dead nervous. No, he was dead petrified. Not touching anything at breakfast he forced smiles and tried to laugh at his friends' jokes. Nothing helped. As he shoved his plate away from him, a cold hand rested on his shoulder. Peeves slowly looked up at the face of Sourdine. She grinned rigidly.
"Come on, Radley, The champions are heading out now."
Peeves nodded and gulped. He stood up, waved feebly to his friends, and followed the professor out of the Great Hall. Clouds started to form and a cool wind whipped across their faces as headmistress and student walked slowly across the grounds in front of the school and out to a temporary setup of bleachers settled in the middle of the yawning lawn. Peeves glanced nervously up at Sourdine.
"Er...d-do you have any idea what I—um, the Champions have to do?"
"YES," she said simply, an evil smile playing across her lips.
"Can you, erm, tell mâ,"
"Now why would I do that, Radley?" she asked nastily. Peeves gulped. "After all, my life would be a whole lot simpler if you died!" Peeves couldn't help but notice how enthusiastically she said the word died. He nodded timidly and looked across the meadow, staring at the place where his fate would be revealed. The headmistress led Peeves up to the makeshift stadium and toward a large tent that was fluttering wildly in the breeze. She briskly swung open the flap at the entrance and beckoned for him to go in.
"Good luck," she whispered harshly. Peeves stepped nervously into the tent, hearing the light laughter of Sourdine behind him as the flap swung back down. Feeling alone and terrified, Peeves gazed around the interior. It was fairly simple with a couple of chairs in the corners, in which were seated the two other Champions, Marshall Piendreand Amy Giotisa. They were chatting softly and looked up when Peeves entered. Marshall stood up slowly and half smiled.
"'Ello," he said in a deep voice as he walked across the room, hand extended. Peeves shook it. "I'm Marshall," he said. Peeves nodded. "You're Peeves Radley."
Peeves opened his mouth to say something, but Marshall cut him off. "You get into a lot of trouble, I 'ear." Peeves grinned. Amy suddenly appeared at his shoulder.
"I'm Amy Giotisa," she said airily, tossing her long black hair. Peeves shook her hand also. They all turned around as a cold wind swept into the room. Headmaster Influencia stepped into the tent, lowering the flap behind him. His eyes shifted around the room as if making sure no one else was in there.
"The First Task is about to begin," he said sternly. The three Champions nodded. Feeling through the pockets in his robes, the headmaster pulled out a slip of paper. "You will be, um, competing in a certain order today," he said, glancing down at the paper. "I think it's in alphabetical order, so, uh, Amy Giotisa, you will go first." Amy nodded and swallowed hard. "Then after Amy is Marshall Piendre." At this the headmaster looked up, smiled fondly at his student, and then looked back at the paper. "And then, of course, Peeves Radley." He paused for a moment, and then looked up Peeves. "No funny business, you hear?" he said softly, looking Peeves directly in the eyes.
Peeves smiled slowly, dull with fear. "Yes sir," he replied boldly. The headmaster nodded curtly and whisked out of the room. Peeves sighed in relief as the flap fell down, walked to a chair, and slumped down in it.
"Like I would risk doing any 'funny business' now," he mumbled. Marshall eyed him warily.
"Vhy do you do it all in ze first place?" he asked. Peeves smiled inwardly.
"Oh, I don't know. I just...I just love to see people's reactions and make 'em mad," he said proudly. Marshall raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't make any sense at t'all!" Amy said darkly in a thick drawl. Peeves grunted.
"You should try it sometime."
"Would I ever!" she sniffed. Just then Influencia peeked his head into the tent.
"Come along, Amy. It's time to start." Amy's face paled as she walked slowly over to the entrance. Marshall closed his eyes wearily and leaned back in his chair. Peeves craned his ears, trying to pick up the slightest sound of what was going to happen. It wasn't that hard to do. A sudden and loud voice echoed outside and inside of the tent. The two boys inside covered their ears.
"GOOD MORNING," crowed a happy male voice, magically magnified. "WELCOME TO THIS YEAR'S TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT AT BEAUXBATONS ACADEMY! TODAY YOU WILL BE WITNESSING THE FIRST TASK. BE FOREWARNED, THIS TASK IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, NOT MANY ADULT WIZARDS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LIVE THROUGH IT, IN FACT! MAY I PRESENT TO YOU...THE FIRST TASK!"
Gasps and cries erupted from the crowd that had just settled down in the stadium after breakfast. A loud and inhuman roar erupted above the noise of the crowd. Inside the tent, Marshall and Peeves cringed, glancing nervously at each other.
"YES INDEED, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THIS IS THE VERY THING THAT YOU ARE GUESSING...A STRONG, UNHAPPY, JUST CAUGHT, FEROCIOUS MOUNTAIN TROLL! STRAIT FROM THESE VERY MOUNT-AINS!"
Peeves groaned, his heart pumping excitedly as he searched through his mind, trying frantically to decide what to do.
"THE CHAMPIONS WILL HAVE TO EITHER KILL OR KNOCK OUT THEIR MOUNTAIN TROLL! LET ME REPEAT, THIS IS RARELY A FEAT OBTAINED BY ADULT WIZARDS. EVERYONE, PLEASE KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!"
Peeves crossed his fingers.
"NOW! LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO CHAMPION NUMBER ONE...AMY GIOTISA!"
The stadium erupted in cheers. "She's gone in," Peeves whispered to himself. The next few seconds were dead silence except for the roar or confused grunt of the mountain troll.
"OHH...RISKY, VERY RISKY!" the commentator's voice rang out. Peeves raised his shaking hands to his ears.
"IT MAY WORK, BY GEORGE, IT MAY WORK!"
"OH! TOO BAD!"
"ALMOST THERE, ALMOST THERE...AND SHE'S DONE IT!" Applause burst out as Peeves felt a clammy sweat begin to pour down his face. Marshall sat strait up in his chair.
"AN EXCELLENT JOB DONE BY AMY GIOTISA!"
The dreaded face of Headmaster Influencia looked into the tent.
"Come on, Marshall," he said calmly. Marshall stood up; face emotionless, clutching his wand in his hand. Peeves felt even more desperate as Marshall marched out. He was next...but what was he going to do?
The cheers broke out again as Marshall entered the fieldâPeeves thought it sounded a lot louder than Amy's.
"OH MY WORD, I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" hollered the commentator. "DARING MOVE, VERY DARING MOVE!" Peeves cringed. What am I going do? What am I going to do? he thought desperately.
"WOW! THAT WAS A GOOD ONE!"
"THAT'LL LEAVE A MARK!"
Peeves groaned and slumped his head back.
"AND HE DID IT! MARSHALL PIENDRE HAS DEFEATED HIS MOUNTAIN TROLL!"
Peeves felt numb, waiting for the face that he knew would be looking into the tent to tell him to go out there. Suddenly he sat up, his eyes glinting. An idea had just formed. It would be chancy, but it just may work! A rustle of cloth forced Peeves to look up.
"Come on, Radley. You're up," Headmaster Influencia said menacingly. Peeves grinned cheerfully and leaped to his feet. The headmaster's eyes narrowed as he turned around and walked out of the tent, Peeves right behind him.
The sudden light caused Peeves to blink as he was pushed forward a few feet and was suddenly at the entrance of the stadium. There was dead silence; no cheers or whistles at all. Peeves smoothly slipped his wand out of his robes. The gate on the opposite side of the large stadium swung open and revealed the towering figure of a giant mountain troll. It looked around at the silent crowd and snarled dully. Raising a spiked club above its head and taking a slow, thundering step towards Peeves, the troll barred its teeth. Peeves coolly walked halfway across the field, and pointed his wand at the troll.
"Accio Club!" he roared. Instantly the troll's club leaped from its hand, flew through the air, and landed with a big earth-shaking jolt in front of Peeves.
"EXCELLENT MOVE MADE BY PEEVES RADLEY!"
Peeves jumped over the club and walked towards the troll, wand still extended. The troll was looking puzzled as he looked at both hands, trying to figure out where the club had gone.
"Densaugeo!" Peeves shouted. The trolled looked down at Peeves and was about to take a step forward when it stopped and put its hands to its mouth. Within seconds something yellow began to appear under its hands.
"Teeth!" cried a voice from the crowd. Indeed, the troll's teeth were growing longer and were now down to the end of the troll's chin.
"Gurunph!" the troll said as Peeves took a deep breath.
"Engorgio!" There was a big pop and a burst of smoke. As the smoke cleared, the troll's nose could visibly be seen growing bigger. Laughter began to emit from the crowd. Peeves grinned; he wasn't done yet.
"Furnunculus!" Painful red boils began to erupt all over the troll's already warty face.
"Arrugh!" the troll screamed, raising its hands to its face.
"Rictusempra!"
The troll started jerking around, its face contorted into a pained expression. It began to guffaw; rocking back and forth as the tickling spell took its effect.
"Tarantallegra!"
As it held it's sides, trying to stop the tickling, the troll's legs began to wiggle and before long it was noticeably dancing a tango. Now the audience was rolling with laughter. Peeves beamed, relishing every moment.
"BWHAHAHA!" hooted the commentator. Shrieks and squeals burst right and left as the troll danced around the field, first the tango, then a tap dance. Even Peeves started snickering as it began a ballet. Finally, Peeves decided he should end for the sake of the poor troll. With a finishing flourish he bellowed, "Reducio!" Golden light erupted from the end of Peeves' wand and strait at the wriggling troll. The light began to form around it. The troll was trapped inside of the light, and began to shrink very quickly. In moments the ten-foot troll was now ten inches. Peeves defiantly trotted up to the shrunken troll, grinned at it and hit it with his last spell...
"Stupefy!" The poor little troll became as still as stone as it fell backwards, as flat as a board. The crowd exploded with cheers. Peeves whirled around, accepting the applause and glory, and then leaped victoriously out of the stadium.
"WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN?" the commentator shouted. "THAT WAS BY FAR THE BEST PERFORMANCE THIS MORNING!"
Peeves heard this as he was lead through a mob of excited students and towards another tent. He triumphantly entered it, waving his arms and smiling broadly. The inside of the tent was calmer. Peeves stopped, a grin still on his face, looking into the expressionless faces of Professor Sourdine, Headmaster Influencia, Headmaster Juven, and Amy. Marshall was noticeably chuckling in the corner. Peeves spread out his arms.
"Well! How'd I do?" he asked cheerfully.
"Great!" squeaked Marshall. Amy glared at him. Sourdine cleared her throat.
"Impressive, Radley. Very impressive," she commented very softly. Peeves smirked innocently.
"Why thank you," he said sarcastically and bowed with a mock flourish. Amy snorted.
"I suppose your sense of, er, humor 'elped you 'ere. Eh, Radley?" Headmaster Influencia added.
"Yup, I suppose so," Peeves said airily, looking arrogantly down at his nails. Everyone was silent. Everyone, that is, except for the still laughing Marshall.
"Marshall," Influencia said sharply. "Cut it out." Marshall stopped. Peeves looked around, nodding slightly.
"So, um, what now?" he asked optimistically. Amy bristled.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you won this task," she said haughtily. Peeves sneered at her.
"I guess not."
Sourdine glared at him with hatred.
"You can go and celebrate with your little friends now," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Peeves nodded happily and whirled around.
"Adieu!" he called as left the tent.
Sourdine clenched her fists with fury.