Before Harry knew how many days had passed since that night where he didn't sleep at all, one morning he was being shaken awake. His eyes didn't want to open but he was being shaken more vigorously and before he knew what happened, he'd had the covers ripped from his grip. As a pleasant surprise, as soon as his eyes focused on the figure standing over him, he almost felt like smiling.
"Hello, Sirius."
"Good morning," said Sirius, breaking a small smile of his own -- and then frowning. "You've got about an hour so you'd better get ready."
Harry blinked.
"An hour for what?"
"The second task, of course."
Despite the skin and all that other stuff holding it in place, Harry's stomach dropped out of him. And the blood draining from his face was a dead give-away to Sirius of the right-panic he suddenly found himself in; he'd still not discovered anything about the Explicatrix.
"Harry, is there a reason you just went almost completely white?"
Harry sat there for a moment, gripping the sides of the mattress like he was on a really fast rollercoaster ride and was going to fall off any moment.
"Sirius, I don't know a damn thing about my clue," he heard himself saying, his eyes transfixed on a blemish on Sirius' nose.
Sirius went white now, too, though not quite as white as Harry.
"You're kidding," he said blankly.
"No, I'm not. It's just like all those books about Raides."
"Someone say my name?" Raides said groggily, waking up, crawling out from under Harry's bed.
"I don't think this is the time to give you the copy of the letter you never got from me, then," Sirius decided.
"No, not really," Harry agreed. "I don't think so. What am I gonna do?" he panicked, quickly getting up, snapping his fingers once again to change -- to which Sirius stared ("What?" asked Harry).
"Probably better get something to eat first." Somehow, Harry didn't think he'd be able to drink, forget eat. On second thought, Sirius realized this and added, "Do you know anything about it? Anything at all?"
Harry desperately casted his mind around. He had a strange feeling, despite all the books saying the Explicatrix doesn't exist, it does have some magic though how he knew, he couldn't have explained. This he told Sirius.
"I'm sure it does something," said Sirius, trying to sound comforting and not doing too great a job. He picked up Harry's cloak and the box in which Harry kept the Explicatrix with the Explicatrix itself in it.
"Yeah, let's just hope I can figure it out in the next -- fifty four minutes," Harry continued panicking, checking his golden wristwatch. "And that doesn't seem likely because I've spent SO MUCH TIME WITH IT!" Harry shouted, now thoroughly vexed. "I'm doing bad in all my classes and I'd probably be failing Potions if Professor Figg didn't realize that, in her words, 'my stress level is exceedingly high.' Good thing it's not Snape teaching Potions this year or I probably would --"
"-- not fail with him, either. Strange, yeah, but him and I are... starting to get along."
Harry stared.
"Really?" he had to make sure. Normally, news such as this would probably shock Harry but he was already numb with plenty of it. Something of the knowledge that, in about an hour's time he'd be doing something -- he didn't know what it was -- and more unsettling was he didn't even know where.
"Watch who you talk to, Harry. Fudge is out there along with Rita Skeeter. It might be worth mentioning that Karkaroff is looking extra irritable today." Harry had almost completely forgotten about Karkaroff and Madam Maxime and their batch of students.
Harry and Sirius walked to the Great Hall not speaking, Sirius hoping that his hand on Harry's shoulder would make him feel a little better (it didn't). They passed Sebastian on the way who gave Harry a cold look and started walking faster. Upon entering the Great Hall, Harry could see Dumbledore up at the staff table talking animatedly to Professor McGonagall and he felt almost like going up there and giving Dumbledore a piece of his mind or at the very least throwing the Explicatrix at him, breaking his long, crooked nose (once again, perhaps). Ron and Hermione were talking to Adrianne while the other Gryffindors, while at least saying hello to Harry, didn't really do much more.
For the entire time up until Professor McGonagall's voice began calling the champions, Harry listened to Sirius give some kind of speech where his voice sounded oddly echoed and distant on what the task probably was. Harry payed no attention mostly due to the fact that every sound his ears were picking up seemed to be too muddled to make out. He felt the less he knew, the better off he probably was; that way, he wouldn't have to panic -- for now. All he had to do, really, was not die and not want to disappear, despite all his best efforts, when all of the judges give him his big fat inevitable zero. The food in front of him lay untouched and at one point during the speech, Michelle tried to come over.
"Oh, Harry!" she cried, her arms wide open. "You haven't found a thing!"
Sirius shooed her away before she got close enough to do anything with her arms.
"This way, champions," said Professor McGonagall, sounding the exact opposite of Harry: cheerful.
With one last look at Sirius, wishing to throw the Explicatrix in his hand at various people -- most of whom were Slytherins -- Harry's jelly-like legs stood him up and for some reason he followed Adrianne and Sebastian out of the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall was leading them to the entrance hall and out through the front doors. Hagrid, who at the sight of Harry was completely forlorn, was otherwise sitting on a stool in front of his hut. Cornelius Fudge and Ludo Bagman were on either side of Hagrid.
"So!" said Bagman, far more cheerful than Professor McGonagall (who dropped all pretense and stalked away towards Dumbledore), "I trust you've all figured out your clues?"
Harry saw that, as Ginny had said, Sebastian's clue somewhat resembled a wizard's compass. Feeling some anger despite all his numb shock, for all it was worth, Sebastian's clue might very well lead him right to whatever he had to do. Adrianne, on the other hand, had a metallic blue bracer that was glowing on her left arm, her wand in her other hand. For all it was still worth, Harry was pleased to see Sebastian looked clueless. This made him almost happy.
"Yes," chorused Adrianne and Sebastian who were both smiling while Harry said grumpily, "No."
Bagman's smile faltered a little. Then he let out a little chuckle as if Harry was just kidding.
"But I --"
"Very well, then! You know what you have to do!"
But, funny, Harry didn't know what to do. His insides were rolling and knotting and he turned to see what Adrianne and Sebastian were doing. Both of them seemed to be set, Adrianne checking out the bracer on her arm while Sebastian studied the reddish dot on the top of his... cheating device, more like, Harry thought to himself.
If he did some quick guesswork, he needed to find something... or something. But where? In the entirety of the Hogwarts grounds?
And then, to his horror, both Adrianne and Sebastian turned to face the forbidden forest. Harry followed suit, feeling like he'd just been gutted and shown his own entrails.
"You better do something," Harry muttered to the Explicatrix like it was some sort of misbehaving pet, holding it eye level, staring at his gold-tinted finger behind it.
As he looked at all the people flooding onto the grounds, he spotted Cho talking to some girl Harry vaguely recalled seeing her talk to once or twice last year. She walked over to Ron and Hermione who immediately engaged her in conversation. Harry didn't think it was any talk about himself. Ron pointed in his direction, giving him a slightly cold look. At this, Harry turned back around, facing the forbidden forest.
Whose stupid idea was it to hold a task in the forest? What did he possibly have to do? Would he ever find out? How could he possibly do it? Should he just come out in a half hour's time and say he couldn't do the task? The situation was surreal; he didn't even know what he had to do and here he was, facing the second task and it was mocking him. Horribly.
"Harry," Bagman said, tapping him on the shoulder, "where's Raides?"
"What?"
"You are to take her with you wherever you go, aren't you?"
Harry rolled his eyes and called her from inside his head. She came running at him from the castle doors amid many staring eyes.
"Right, then," said Bagman, standing back to address all of the champions. "On the count of three!"
Harry closed his eyes in utter disbelief of what was going on right now. He took off his glasses and, his hand shaking, wiped his face with his free hand, beads of sweat from his forehead being swept away. Unfortunately, new ones were prime and ready to take their place.
"One -- two -- three!"
Adrianne and Sebastian ran right into the forest, both looking set. Harry, who really wanted to just tell Bagman that he had no idea what to do, ran off into the forest anyway. The only good part about this venture into the forest was that it was daytime. Rather tragically -- but he thought it might come in handy -- Harry knew the forest fairly well.
After about ten minutes of wandering, Harry heard Adrianne's voice.
"Avoid the hinkypunks, avoid the hinkypunks..."
Now he at least knew one thing he didn't before. But it didn't help much; he still had no idea what he had to do. Still walking to nowhere in particular, he stared coldly at the Explicatrix in his hand as Adrianne's footsteps died away. Feeling hopeless, Harry pulled his wand out of his robes and prodded Cybele's Orb with it. It didn't do anything. After that, he continued to walk some more, his anger at Dumbledore for giving him such an impossible clue mounting.
Some time later, he heard Sebastian saying, "The hinkypunks said this and that -- that huge spider said... So that means... And the thing vill be..."
It sounded like he needed to solve some sort of puzzle to be able to locate something.
Harry was now thoroughly angry. Months of trying to figure out what the Explicatrix does had failed him completely. Knowing it couldn't break, he resigned to try his very best. Harry pointed his wand at himself and tried to shout, "Fortitudinus!" though he wasn't exactly sure that was the word that escaped his mouth. He then threw the Explicatrix, as hard as he could, at the ground in front of him and to his horror, it shattered into a hundred pieces.
The golden mist leaked all over but began to take shape before his very eyes. While that was going on, Harry turned to look between that and the mess in front of him. The pieces of broken crystal ran across the ground to where the biggest fragment lay. Within seconds, the Explicatrix had reassembled itself except the scarlet crystal was missing the golden mist inside of it. When Harry looked up, he let out a shriek of fright -- a golden version of himself was staring back at him, its face expressionless. He probably would have fainted if this sort of thing hadn't happened before with Animus Speculum.
The first thing it did was speak words to him.
"A feeling of life large made small, in the far reaches of the forest hidden from us all. This relic is always close around but one must ask all where it's to be found, collecting only clues that seem sound. To know where it lies about, everything should be treated with doubt and weary should be exercised of words from a lout. The keepers know where this item does lie and its seeker they greatly wish to defy, with clues having meaning up in the sky."
Just what he needed, Harry thought irritably, he had to lurk around the forest, possibly for hours, sorting out wrong clues from right ones. Fortunately -- or not, depending on your point of view -- the golden Harry wasn't finished yet.
"First, by its smaller minions, try track down a large, talking spider. Next, consult a horse with its own rider. Do not yet think you are free. You'll then have to consult with something on the apple-bearing tree. After, it may look safe but do not then hesitate to flee. You will not get very far. You must find a blue car. This will help you escape without a scar.
"After all of this, you must ask yourself what makes you feel bliss.
"Let not take over your gall. Those who follow this wrongly will fall. To succeed it will take nothing short of your all."
From the first word, Harry was extremely scared that this was going to be an extremely cryptic riddle. To his surprise, it didn't seem all that complicated.
He had a funny feeling the "blue car" was Mr. Weasley's car that had been lurking the forest for a few years now -- long story. There weren't many doubts in his mind that the apple-bearing tree was the one he'd found just two short, painful-to-remember years ago and with word about hinkypunks, he knew where all the lies were coming from. Lastly, he didn't want to go see a giant spider named Aragog. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what the bit about the horses with their own rider was all about nor the bit about the sound.
The golden version of himself spoke again.
"This can be simplified," it said, its face expressionless and sort of creepy. "This relic is to be found around sound. The keepers lie and defy with meanings so high in the sky. Free something on the apple-bearing tree then flee. Get very far once you've found the blue car and escape without a scar. And it's referring to the centaurs, you know, when it refers to the horses with their own riders."
Harry couldn't believe it, the Explicatrix, or whatever it was that was in front of him, had told him exactly what he needed to know.
"So I've just got to find that apple tree and -- er -- ask it something?" he asked.
The golden Harry nodded and the real Harry suddenly felt a lot better. Having had been breathing heavily for the last half hour, he now almost smiled weakly but did let out many broken, relief-bringing exhales of breath.
"Yes," said the golden Harry, "but there's one more thing after."
This didn't worry Harry much; just a few moments ago, he didn't know anything at all about what he had to do. However, something sounded strange. It all sounded too simple. The Explicatrix answered his question before he asked it, though.
"The other champions were only given up to finding Aragog."
"Raides, don't say anything," the real Harry warned her, practically reading her mind.
"If you want a bit of help..."
"I don't want Karkaroff to think you're helping me, that's all."
"Why do you care about him?"
"Do you two want to sit there or should we get on with it?" snapped the golden Harry.
Raides broke into laughter. She may have found it funny that the golden Harry was just as irritable as the real one was right now, but...
"Fine," said Harry, "come on. What else do I have to do?" he asked his golden copy.
"I don't know," it replied. "Something about what makes you feel bliss. We have to find Aragog first."
"Ah, just what I needed," Harry muttered, "to see him again... Raides," he said pointedly as she leapt into the air, falling on his hand as the great golden and scarlet staff.
"I thought you aren't supposed to be using me?" asked Raides suspiciously. "Won't your wand make do? I'm sure he was explicitly ordered not to eat anyone or he'd probably be killed."
She had a point, Harry admitted to himself, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Well, that and holding her made him feel a whole lot safer. Something told him Voldemort wasn't exactly going to come and stab him right here right now but, nevertheless...
The three of them walked through the forest. In just five minutes time, the golden Harry spotted a group of fifteen or so spiders scuttling along the ground and they immediately went into pursuit. Just as he recognized it, the spiders led them into a darker part of the forest and evey now and then they could see a much larger spider, perhaps three or four feet in length. Harry avoided looking at these; it made him grip Raides more firmly and at one point she yelled at him.
"Get lost, human, you are upsetting me," clicked the unmistakable voice of Aragog.
As Harry got closer, he could see Sebastian looking ready to make a run for it and Aragog himself, stuck to a humongous and very gross web attached to several trees high up in the air. Sebastian's fear wasn't unfounded. Aragog was a very large black spider, perhaps ten feet tall with eight legs and many eyes. His legs were extremely hairy in a sickening fashion.
"G-good-bye," said Sebastian shakily and he looked almost as scared at the sight of Harry as he did at the sight of Aragog. He ran off, looking like he'd never come back to Hogwarts if you payed him.
"He's not going to finish the task, you mark my words," Raides commented, grinning a very big grin.
"He'll find a way," Harry insisted, "he's just that annoying."
"I'm right," said the golden Harry.
Raides laughed again as the real Harry said, "Shut up and come on."
"Who's there?" clicked Aragog impatiently; he'd obviously heard them bickering.
Harry, not quite sure if he should say, said just, "I'm here for the first clue."
"Ah," clicked Aragog, as if recalling a bad memory, "you are Harry Potter."
Aragog moved his many legs very fast and jumped down from his nest. Making Harry feel unecessarily scared, Aragog then scuttled right up to him and Harry found his legs frozen. But Aragog was blind, how could he know where Harry was standing?
"You're not blind anymore, are you?" asked Raides.
"No," clicked Aragog, turning to face the talking small lion's mouth. "And you must be the Staff of Cybele."
"Indeed," said Raides.
"I've been given sight by several kind wizards in exchange for not killing anyone who enters this hollow," said Aragog rather nastily.
Harry didn't think this was a fair exchange and thought that Aragog shouldn't want to kill any humans, blind or not. It was his opinion that there were many more bigger things to eat.
Suddenly, Aragog looked at the golden Harry as if just realizing it was there. He stared between the two of them and it was almost funny to see a monster such as Aragog look confused, Harry thought.
"Harry's clue," explained Raides. "It made a golden version of himself that told him what to do."
"Ah," clicked Aragog, still staring between the two of them.
Since neither the golden Harry nor the real one felt like moving much with Aragog so close to them, Raides carried on conversation.
"So what's the first clue?"
Aragog fixed his gaze at the real Harry and picked up one of his long, hairy legs to lift the bangs of the shaking boy in front of to get a good look at the scar he had. This made Harry so stiff he wasn't quite sure if even the sight of Voldemort would make him run. Small spiders were fine but spiders the size of Muggle monster trucks were not.
Harry instinctively took a step backwards. Aragog, seeming to care about the fact that Harry was staring at him with wide eyes, backed away and said, "Next, consult a horse with its own rider."
"I already have that one," Harry told him.
There was a pause in which Harry could hear several spiders scuttling around him and he didn't want to look down after he felt something heavy step on his foot. He silently felt like there was no way he would ever enter this forest again for any reason whatsoever.
"I did not give it to you," clicked Aragog slowly, apparently confused. Did he not know that Harry's clue was going to give him this? "How do you have it?"
"I told him," said the golden Harry.
"What else did you say?" asked Aragog curiously.
The golden Harry recited the entire riddle.
"So," said Aragog haughtily, "you've given him the entire riddle."
"W-wait, the entire riddle?" asked Harry defensively, defending the golden Harry; Aragog made it sound as though this was going to disqualify him.
This smelled highly of unfairness. What say did he have in being given the entire riddle or not? None of the other champions spent months and months on their clue to find absolutely nothing on it. Not to mention, of course, having the stress of... other things... piled on top without any forgiveness. He could see it clearly now: Karkaroff was going to work the Explicatrix into some sort of trickery by Dumbledore. The mere thought of this made him angry. None of them could have known what the Explicatrix was going to do.
"He had no choice," stated Raides firmly to Harry's relief, jerking her head to the Explicatrix in Harry's other hand. "As soon as the Explicatrix broke, the golden Harry formed. The first thing it did was give him the entire riddle."
"I see," said Aragog, still sounding delighted. "Very well. You already know what you have to do. Go."
Perhaps being given the entire riddle in one go wasn't the best thing afterall. "You already know what you have to do," echoed Aragog's voice in his head still, ten minutes after having had seen him.
"You already know what you have to do," Harry muttered soundlessly to himself. "What are you, anyway?" Harry bursted out angrily at his golden copy, shaking his fists in anger.
"I am the Explicatrix," it stated. This sounded like a line of dialog out of some grade F science fiction movie to Harry.
"Good answer," Harry mumbled.
"Well," Raides asked, "what DOES make you feel bliss?"
"Let's go find the centaurs," said Harry hastily; he didn't know and it hurt to think about it. A lot of things did but he didn't have a chance in Azkaban of, well...
Harry instinctively followed the golden Harry, forgetting that he had no idea where the centaurs were going to be. They weren't hard to spot, however, being human-like from the waist up and horse-like from the waist down. He checked his golden watch; he'd been wandering around in the forest for about fourty-five minutes. Even if he did have the entire riddle, it didn't seem to be helping much. Something didn't click right with him. Why had he been given the entire riddle?
"Could you repeat the thing again to me?" he asked.
The golden Harry did so and Harry had to ask himself something. Only two parts of it really referred to one thing: the first two sentences and the question at the end. He had a wild thought of the thing that made him feel bliss being the plaque dangling from his neck which sparkled subtly in the dim sunlight coming in from the treetops. How could that be it? He hadn't had any relief from holding it for so long it wasn't even funny; he'd just been holding it out of habit. Actually, instead of feeling better, now whenever he held it like he was now, it just made him feel guilty. He quickly let go of it. Far removed from liking it, he felt like taking it off, dropping it in the forest and leaving it there.
Seeing Raides' tiny mouth start to open, he said, "I know I know. It's a bad habit."
She sneered at him.
"Harry Potter," said a centaur gravely once the three of them finally found their target.
He was just as Harry remembered him with his white-blonde hair and palomino body. He looked slightly older than Harry remembered him but he had to just accept it, it had been a while since they last met. Okay, just since last year, Harry thought irritably...
"Hello, Firenze," said Harry gloomily.
"We have been expecting you," said Firenze. "Come, follow me."
"You've been -- been expecting me?"
Harry followed Firenze into a clearing and inside were two more centaurs, which he recognized as Ronan and Bane and a fourth centaur, who looked strangely female, whom he didn't recognize. Her fur was colored dark blue and she had lavender-colored hair. She was noticeably smaller than any of the other centaurs.
"I am Gemma," she said, her voice just as sorrowful as Ronan's though not quite as deep. "So I finally get to meet the famous Mr. Potter --"
"Please," Harry interrupted her, "leave the 'famous' part out. I'm not so famous anymore," he told Gemma, casting a weary eye over the four centaurs in front of him.
The golden Harry took off its cloak and sat upon it, getting ready for what the real Harry had a feeling was going to be a long talk.
"Wait a minute," said Raides suddenly, "this was your idea, wasn't it?" She was looking straight at Bane. "Harry, let me go," she ordered.
Harry threw her up in the air and as she soared, the usual misty gray covered her, revealing the great golden and scarlet lion, landing gingerly on her four paws. Her transformation scared three of the four centaurs; Gemma was looking rather excited. Raides entered her "protect Harry" mode and stood in front of him, her teeth bared, looking ready to pounce if any of the centaurs showed any sign of wanting to hurt him. This filled Harry with a fresh wave of uneasiness.
"Raides, m-maybe you should sit this one out," said Harry in a small voice.
"Very well, young ancient," she growled, her teeth still bared.
"And don't call me that."
"Fine."
She shot the centaurs an angry look and sat down next to the golden Harry.
"This was our idea, yes, because we have been hiding important information from you we feel we should tell you," said Ronan, looking uncertainly at Raides. He didn't seem to think it was a good idea to move, so he didn't.
At Ronan's words, however, Harry felt a distinct shock to his brain. Part of it was the obvious wonder of why they had to meet in the forest. The other part of it was, if it was so important, why didn't they tell me earlier! Harry thought furiously.
"And you had to set a task in the forbidden forest so I could talk to you in peace, is that it?" said Harry, now feeling furious for having the centaurs set him on a wild goose chase. "Or in pieces, should something have gotten to me!"
"I do believe that most monsters, if not all of them, Harry Potter, would be more afraid of Raides than any beast lurking in these trees," said Firenze.
Raides let out a soft, rumbling growl that now frightened Gemma.
"So? What is it?" Harry asked. He was now feeling far safer than he ever had at any point in the forbidden forest, not the least of which being because the centaurs told him that Raides was more fearsome than anything he'd come across.
"We had been protecting the Explicatrix for some time now --" said Bane.
"Some three hundred years," said Gemma quietly.
"-- and we would trust no one with it but you."
Now Harry understood. It had been them who had given Dumbledore the Explicatrix in the first place. It had been them who suggested the second task take place in the forest. It had been them who suggested Dumbledore give Harry the Explicatrix for his second Triwizard clue. Had it been them who suggested to Dumbledore to have a second Triwizard Tournament in the first place? Above all his questions though, he wanted to know most why he couldn't just have gone to see them some other way. Why couldn't they just tell Dumbledore to have him meet them during a Care of Magical Creatures class or something? And talk in private at some place on the edge of the forest where he didn't have to be scared like he'd been just a minute ago? Best of all was why didn't they seem to think that Dumbledore could be trusted with this information directly? Was the Explicatrix that dangerous?
"You're the reason for having the tournament this year, aren't you?" Harry began as if it was a big conspiracy to have him lose his mind. Bane nodded. "You gave me the Explicatrix! I SPENT MONTHS ON THIS BLOODY THING! I COULD KILL YOU!" Harry bursted out angrily.
Raides seemed to have taken this as a go-ahead to catch an early lunch. Letting out one large growl, she positively sprang from her position, her powerful legs carrying her rapidly through the air. Harry, as much as he disliked Ronan, Bane, Firenze and Gemma at the moment, didn't wish them to be eaten.
"RAIDES, NO!" he bellowed, stupidly throwing his free arm out, his fingers pointing up at Raides flying through the air.
No one, especially Harry, expected an unseen force to send Raides soaring right over the centaurs she was aiming for. Instead, she flew right past them and was headed right for a humongous oak tree. She flung her tail out in front of herself like a hook and as she approached the tree, wrapped her powerful tail around it. Raides spun around the tree once, then planted her four paws on the trunk and pushed hard against it. The top of the tree where her tail had been holding on broke off and she flew against the middle of another tree, knocking it clean down, landing cat-like on the forest floor.
In all of Harry's staring at Raides, when he looked at the spot where Ronan, Bane, Firenze and Gemma were just a moment ago, they had gone. The only thing Raides seemed to care about was that her lunch had gotten away.
"Raides!" Harry barked indignantly at her. Both of his hands were clenched into fists and he shook them once hard in an attempt to relieve his current frustrations. "They were about to tell me something important!"
"But you said --"
"I said I could, I didn't say I wanted to!" he shrieked.
"As you wish, young ancient --"
"And I also said don't call me that," said Harry rather rapidly, his fists unclenching and his face turning slightly pinkish.
"I -- forgot," said Raides stiffly.
Harry stood there, Raides brushing up against his leg, looking sidelong at the golden Harry, trying to gather himself. He'd just been denied some real important information and wondered whether he'd had the chance to get it again. Were they going to tell him what the Explicatrix was exactly? And maybe something about Raides? Anything about Raides would come in handy at this point, he thought...
"You," said Harry to his golden replica, trying to make up his mind on what to do next, "bring us to that stupid tree. I want to get out of here already..."
Before they set off, Harry gave the Explicatrix to Raides to hold in her tail and took off the Order of Merlin plaque, holding it in his hand. For all the good it did, he might as well have been holding a tree branch -- or a very thorny flower.
The tree was exactly as he remembered it, though he wished he didn't. Out of a strong feeling of almost wanting to reminisce, he grabbed onto an apple that looked like it had teeth marks in it. As his fingers closed in on it, a vision of one of the things he'd done flashed before his eyes.
At one point during his time, he sat upon the mud-covered ground because it had just rained and thought about what Mrs. Weasley could possibly have gone through thinking he was dead. This had put a nice big mud stain on his cloak that took several washes to come out.
That felt strangely like what the Book of Memories did to him several times though not exactly; his eyes hadn't mysteriously forced shut like the Book could do to him. As his fingers let go of the apple, he recognized it: he'd once bitten into it and dropped it because it tasted rotten. Hedwig, his snowy owl, would now have been happy; there was a worm crawling out of it.
"Young -- Harry, take a look at this," said Raides which made Harry jump.
Harry looked at what she was pointing her tail at and recognized a wood nymph, green like the grass, slightly transparent and no taller than a foot. Harry could probably tear one of its wings off though he didn't doubt it would hurt a lot. It didn't do much more than smile serenely at him and point one of its small fingers behind him. When he turned around, for a second he thought he was having a nightmare but it was just Mr. Weasley's car which had been running wild in the forest for five years now.
"Remember, child," said the wood nymph in the kindest voice Harry had ever heard, "'tis not the object."
When Harry turned around to see where the wood nymph had gone, for he heard a swooshing noise and something big behind him, this time truly did think he had stepped into a nightmare. The tree was gone and in its wake was something so horrible all he caught sight of before turning around was a three inch thick black cloak.
"Leithfold," said Raides simply, running in between both Harrys.
"I thought they only live in tropical climates," said Harry in an unnaturally high voice, his heartbeat almost as loud as his feet pounding against the forest ground as he stampeded towards the car. Its doors flung open and he wasted no time in getting in. "Nevermind this task," Harry went on, not looking in the rear-view mirror as the car's gas pedal went to the floor, "I can't do it and I don't care."
"Bet you a hundred galleons Bane had something to do with that," said Raides.
Through the forest the car went, Harry clutching the plaque so very tight, banging into trees as they went and going extremely fast. For a few moments, Harry was thinking about what was going to happen to Adrianne and Sebastian. Before he thought about doing anything, he remembered what had happened the last time he went back to save people: he felt like a complete idiot because it wasn't at all necessary.
Just to check on his worries, he asked, "Think Adrianne and Sebastian are gonna be all right?"
"Harry, would Dumbledore ever put someone's life in danger for a stupid tournament?" Raides asked back which made Harry feel like an idiot but not like a complete one.
In no time at all, the car had them back at the edge of the forest, near Hagrid's hut. He opened the car door, stepped out and for some reason, Dumbledore was beaming at him. The crowd of students were all sitting in stands that rose fairly high into the air. The judges, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman, Percy Weasley and Dumbledore, were all sitting at one raised table draped in gold, their wands at the ready. Harry quickly put the necklace in his hand back on.
When the golden Harry stepped out of the Weasley car, most everyone drew a gasp of breath. Dumbledore quickly stopped his beaming as he stood up to stare.
"The Explicatrix," Harry explained as he made his way over to Sirius, "it -- did something funny."
"I see," Harry barely heard Karkaroff mutter and he knew it was only a matter of time before Karkaroff started plotting against Dumbledore.
Sirius came jogging the rest of the way with Cho at his side. She was looking strained, as though the sight of Harry scared her, though mostly happy. Harry, who still didn't know why Dumbledore had been beaming at him, stupidly pointed the Expliciatrix at the golden Harry. Instantly, the golden copy became mere golden mist as the Explicatrix broke into a hundred pieces in his hand. Harry sort of expected this but no one else sure did.
The golden mist collected in his hand and, very quickly, the Explicatrix repaired itself, sealing the golden mist inside.
"Marks!" someone grunted happily and Harry wheeled around to see Ludo Bagman jumping up.
"Marks?" asked Harry blankly. He quickly shot the judges' table a glance; Karkaroff was looking conspirative. "What marks? I didn't even finish the task!"
"Sure you did," said Sirius, clapping him genially on the shoulder. "All the champions are told to come out with their most prized possession in their hands."
Harry stared. And he blinked. Cho took this moment to hug him but he didn't feel like doing the same because he was really confused. She pulled away as Harry asked, "What?"
"The necklace, Harry," Sirius told him. "You were holding it when you came out!"
"You've got to be kidding me --"
"Look, I'm sure Dumbledore will have some better explanation for you later in the school year, eh?" said Sirius, smiling (sort of) and turning Harry towards the golden stands. "Come on, we're waiting for the rest of the champions to get out. Have something to eat."
Harry scowled at him for this.
He wasn't particularly up to eating but Cho had been carrying toast for him; Sirius said he hadn't eaten any breakfast. Admittedly, the time up until the task was much worse than he was feeling now though he still had to give Dumbledore a piece of his mind for putting him through that.
So now Harry felt slightly relieved, though only slightly, for all the worry he'd been through all that time leading up to the second task. The wait, the time up until, had been at the point where if it was any longer, he felt he just might come to pieces. Now, as he sat down with Cho and Sirius next to Hermione, he let out a breath of relief. It was over and it felt like he'd just been put back together with crazy glue, some extra used in the spots where he felt looser. For now, Harry was content with the knowledge that he didn't have to worry about any more tasks until the third one.
"Harry, they're putting up your score!" cried Cho.
"I'm just so glad this task is over..." Harry admitted aloud. This caused Sirius to clap him on the back. Raides settled at his feet, munching on the grass.
Dumbledore raised his wand and drew a number nine in the air with it.
"Nine?" asked Harry blankly.
"You look surprised?" Cho said to him.
"It's just -- I dunno, I really didn't do anything in there..."
Madam Maxime rose her wand next and a ribbony sort of eight shot out of it. Bagman wasted no time in making a nine shoot out of his wand too, grinning broadly.
"How are they marking us, anyway?"
"Speed," said Hermione to Harry's right shortly, then she went back talking to Ron.
"And depending on how scratched up you are," said Sirius, grinning. "No one else can complete the task while one of you has the car, they did that on purpose so there wouldn't be any odd ties."
"Oh and did anyone tell you how they made us get out of there right quick once we finally get the thing?" asked Harry, feeling slightly angry for it. Sirius shook his head. "A wood nymph turns into a Leithfold!"
Cho's mouth fell open as Harry turned his head towards the judge's table again to see his next score. Out of Percy's wand came a seven. Harry didn't expect anything very high from Percy, especially not when Percy happened to think that Harry had killed his dad...
"Looking good so far!" said Sirius happily. "What happened in there anyway?"
"I really don't know," Harry started to explain. His frustration over the Explicatrix was boiling inside of his stomach as he tried to make sense of all that had happened since he entered the forest. "I was walking for a while then just smashed the Explicatrix on the ground."
"I thought that, you know, you can't break it?"
"It got weird there," Harry went on. "I just tried a Strength Charm and when I threw it, it just broke. And then that golden missed formed into that -- that golden me... The first thing it did was give me the entire riddle. Aragog said we were only supposed to have the first few sentences?" Harry found himself asking before he knew what he was saying, his curiosity winning over.
"The entire riddle?" screeched Hermione and Cho at the same time. Harry didn't know who to look at so he didn't look at either of them and instead turned to Sirius. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Karkaroff consulting with Dumbledore which explained away the delay in him giving Harry a score.
"You really weren't supposed to get the entire riddle... Frankly, Dumbledore didn't even know how the Explicatrix was going to help you though he seemed set on it helping you out somehow. We -- nor him -- just didn't know how or what," admitted Sirius.
"I see," said Harry conspiratively, "so he was just banking on it helping, not really knowing if it was going to or not?"
Dumbledore and Karkaroff were exchanging some loud words and Harry could make out a few of them. Among them were, "lies," "deceit," "trickery," and "one-sided."
"Er," said Sirius, looking uncomfortable, "that was the plan, yes."
Harry turned his head back towards the judge's table to see how Karkaroff felt about all of this. Now he was on his feet.
Hermione seemed to have more to say because she turned to Harry and said, "It must have been confusing or awkward, wasn't it? I mean, given the entire riddle, you didn't really know what to do? You were supposed to run around from Aragog, to the centaurs and think a little bit to get one last part of the riddle that would help you along with what the final answer was. Only then were you supposed to go to the tree." As per her usual prerogative, Hermione hit it spot on. "You were first supposed to ask the hinkypunks about what to do first." Harry ignored them completely. "From them, you were to get that you had to visit Aragog. He tells you to visit the centaurs. Your very first clue was only supposed to tell you what you had to do and where the task was and help you find your way around."
So that was why Sebastian had been given something that resembled a wizard's compass. And did Adrianne's clue do something on the likes of that Muggle game, hot or cold, with its glowing? Adrianne's clue probably came with another riddle, though Harry had a feeling Sebastian's came with a simple note telling him what, when and where.
Striding over like a hungry lion, though not quite as fierce as Raides, Harry suddenly found Karkaroff upon him, his cold eyes livid. Harry wondered now whether he'd been practicing smiling in Dumbledore's presence because during the last tournament, every time he did the smile didn't exactly extend up to his eyes. This year supposedly, so far it had.
"You," he said coldly to Sirius, his fists at his sides and standing quite rigid. Karkaroff made a motion with one of his hands near his chin as though he still that had twirlable mustache. Realizing his mistake, he put it down. "Has Potter told you about his clue?" Sirius exchanged a glance with Harry and then nodded. Karkaroff then beckoned Sirius to follow him back to the judge's table where there were some more loud words exchanged.
Harry's anger was continuing to mount. No one, not even Dumbledore, could have predicted what the Explicatrix was going to do. How did it even know what the riddle was? How did it even know what was going on? How did it know its way around the forest so well? What if Harry got stuck in there and had to spend hours finding his way back? He couldn't Disapparate with Raides any longer. Harry then suddenly remembered the scene with the centaurs and made a mental note to mention them to someone later, whether it be Sirius, Cho or Hermione. It didn't know everything perfectly, it seemed, because it didn't know it had helped Harry to cheat.
Or at least that's what he thought; he wasn't quite sure. The situation was all too strange and there were many questions Harry had that he didn't think anyone would be able to answer. The most important question was probably, well, that one he'd have a go at answering himself. Bane, Ronan, Firenze and Gemma had probably told Dumbledore to trust them that it would help Harry. Or had they given it to him without telling him a thing and suggesting they give it to Harry to figure out? They knew, they had to know. After a few second's thought, Harry had no doubts that the centaurs knew exactly how the Explicatrix works. As an aside, he was furious at Raides for trying to eat them, scaring them away, when they were about to tell him something important. He shot her an angry look that she didn't see, her eyes now closed. She probably thought the sound of Karkaroff being angry was music and there was indeed a dreamy look on her golden face.
Harry always knew that Karkaroff never really liked Dumbledore and was always hot and bothered by something. During the last Triwizard Tournament, Karkaroff accused Dumbledore of trying to hurt Viktor Krum purposely. It had been Krum who pulled Harry aside near the forest to ask him something. Seemingly out of the shadows, Barty Crouch Senior had come. The end result was Harry running to get Dumbledore and Krum had been stunned by Crouch in his absence. What Karkaroff was doing now came as no surprise to Harry. Clearly, he thought Dumbledore purposely cheated by giving Harry the Explicatrix.
"You!" Harry heard Karkaroff bellow. There was the sound of footsteps before Karkaroff was upon him once again, his face still livid. "You admit to outright cheating!"
Harry didn't look up at Karkaroff, using the fact that he still hadn't finished his toast as an excuse to tend to it. Cho's gaze nervously moved over towards Ron and Hermione. Hadn't Karkaroff agreed to Harry being given the Explicatrix as part of the tournament's final paper work? Or at least something of the sort.
"Igor!" Dumbledore bellowed back. "I have told you --"
"Dumbledore! You said yourself --"
"Professor Karkaroff!" the voice of Madam Maxime cut in, "you --"
"I will not hear any of this! Potter was given the entire riddle! By a clue that Dumbledore suggest he be assigned to!"
"Karkaroff! Did you not sign ze agreement! Did you not agree to zees terms!"
Harry found it hard to continue chewing without standing up and joining Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Madam Maxime in their shouting.
"Who gave him this clue?" Karkaroff demanded though he obviously knew the answer. "You did, Dumbledore --"
Raides spoke up from her resting spot.
"No, he didn't, Igor," Raides stated dismissively, not caring that her tone was as if Karkaroff was really, really stupid. "It was the centaurs."
Cho, Hermione, Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Madam Maxime all swiveled their heads towards the golden and scarlet lion lying at Harry's feet. There was a moment's silence, and then --
Karkaroff simply made a loud, very obvious nose of dissent and said, "AND NOW YOU ADMIT TO CONSORTING WITH MAGICAL CREATURES!"
Harry couldn't take anymore. He wanted Karkaroff to just disappear or at the very least, hush up, shoot a zero out of his wand and be done with it. Harry's body went rigid and he couldn't tell if he was about to blow up from his anger or pass out from either a distinct lack of blood to his brain or from the heat clouding up his head. One way or another, a numbness ran up and down his spine and the last thing he knew was falling backwards, a sharp pain in his lower back and his head painfully hitting blades of grass.
When he awoke, he wasn't sure what was going on. Everyone was staring at someone else to the left of him but he didn't turn to see who; he just shot a zero out of the odd-looking wand he was holding. A second later, his body went numb and once more he passed out. Upon awaking again, Harry knew exactly what had happened.
In his anger, he had possessed Karkaroff. In the middle of the day. With the entire school watching.
Sitting up, Harry looked frantically around. Everyone was looking at him like someone had died and Harry almost wished someone had because he just simply couldn't see how possessing someone could be such a horrible thing. The mouths of Sirius, Cho, Hermione, even Ron and Dumbledore were all hanging open. Just about every single student that had been sitting was now standing and there was nothing to be heard but a ringing silence. Or perhaps the impending sounds of everyone shouting, "Dark wizard!"
No one seemed to know what to do. In one swift movement, Sirius pushed his way through Dumbledore and Karkaroff, snatched Harry by the upper arm and pulled -- hard. Harry stumbled on his feet as Sirius practically dragged him back to the castle. He rubbed the back of his head; it was stinging where he had hit it.