Chapter 12- Good Boy: The First Task
Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling
"How are you feeling?" Lena asked sitting next to Dennis the morning of the twenty-fourth.
Dennis glanced at Lena through the corner of his eye. She had to be kidding… right? He felt as if he was going to explode. Lena cocked her head innocently and smiled.
"I feel like eating would lead to embarrassment," Dennis finally replied.
"That good?" Lena joked. Was that a genuine smile? "I'll be cheering for you. Make Hogwarts proud."
It was time for Dennis to go and he still hadn't had a bite to eat. He figured it was for the better; puking during the first task was not the way to impress the judges.
He, the annoying girl Gage, and Brutus Maximus (a poor excuse for scientists to believe that Neanderthals existed in select groups of society still) arrived at a large tent on the side of the school. Inside, they met with one of the French judges, a professional Quidditch coach (no one from the French Ministry would judge because of what happened to English Ministry officials that judged the last tournament) greeted them. He was a German exile by the name of Hintz who spoke perfect English with no accent what-so-ever, in Dennis's opinion at least.
"Good afternoon Champions," Hintz smiled. "Before we begin, I must know, can any or all of you see Threstrals?"
"I can zee zem," Gage smiled as if it was something to be proud of.
"Me too," Dennis said raising his hand in the air.
"Brutus?" Hintz asked. It was clearly apparent from the first meeting with Hintz that he wanted Maximus to win. Maximus shook his head to indicate 'no.'
"That is too bad," Hintz smiled as if he was relieved. "You will be selecting first then." Hintz held out a sack with moving objects inside. Maximus reached in and selected what seemed to be a miniature Hippogriff. Hintz held the bag out to Gage next, who selected what was clearly the Threstral. This left an unknown creature for Dennis. Dennis reached in and pulled out a unicorn.
"In this challenge, you will be tested for your daring," Hintz explained. "Each of you will be released into a herd of the animal you selected and will have to approach one of the young. One young animal in each group will have a map tied to it. You get the map as fast as you can… without summoning it, and without hurting any of the animals. You will be judged on how fast you get the map and how well you work with the animals, and of course how much bravery you show."
Dennis was going to be second. He and Maximus sat in complete silence as Gage followed Hintz out the tent. They listened to the crowd shouting. After a minute, the event began and every few seconds, the crowd would gasp all together, and then sigh a moment later.
"What is she like?" Maximus was looking at Dennis.
"Gage?" Dennis asked. Maximus shook his head.
"The blonde," Maximus said. "The one who yells at your friend a lot."
"Theresa?" Dennis asked. "She's, well, I don't know her too well. She and Kevin are brother and sister. I do know she has a short temper and is always claiming she needs to lose weight."
"Theresa is just perfect," Maximus had a dreamy look on his face.
The crowd outside erupted into a huge applause. The lady from the infirmary escorted a beaten up Gage back in; Gage was holding a map. Dennis was called out to perform next. He gripped his wand and walked out, his mind still wondering what Maximus saw in Theresa. He didn't even know the girl, so it wasn't her personality. And it probably wasn't her looks because there were at least a hundred girls at any one moment while Theresa was visible to him that were better looking. Maybe Maximus was attracted to girls with short tempers, or perhaps the Neanderthal gene in him made her look like… Dennis was shaken from his thoughts as he realized a horn attached to a unicorn was charging at him. He only had a second to dodge.
With his Theresa thoughts on hold, Dennis held his wand ready in case another unicorn decided to attack him. He scanned the herd for the foal. They were on the opposite side of the arena. Dennis did the first rational idea that came to mind. The shortest path was straight through, so if he ran fast enough, maybe he could get the map before any of the adult unicorns could attack him.
He was about ten meters away from the foal when a horn and an angry looking unicorn mare cut him off. He heard trampling on both sides of him. A unicorn was charging at him from both sides, and he was fairly sure one was coming from behind to.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Dennis froze the unicorn in front of him. "Petrificus Totalus!" The one on his right, then the one on his left. He turned around to see the fourth about to hit him, and if not him, the first unicorn he froze. "Stupefy!" The unicorn fell stunned just before reaching Dennis. The foal moved to a different side of the arena, leaving more adult unicorn between him and the map.
The unicorn Dennis had stunned was most likely the largest unicorn in the herd. Dennis restored it to consciousness, but began to stroke it gently. The unicorn distrusted him at first, but after a moment, after the unicorn had managed to stand again, it allowed Dennis to continue to pet it.
"Will you let me ride you is the question," Dennis said to unicorn, or rather himself. He took a deep breath and pulled himself on. The unicorn didn't struggle. Dennis found it amazing that the unicorn let him on its back. He steered it toward the foal, and it began to canter.
After a moment, the other adult unicorn cleared a path for the unicorn Dennis was on and it led Dennis right to the foal with the map tied to its back. Dennis stepped down and untied the map from the foal without disturbance. A loud bell rang, and professional unicorn handlers made their way onto the field to herd the unicorn back into their field outside the arena.
Dennis was ushered back into the tent by the nurse while the hippogriffs were being released into the arena for Maximus. Dennis had managed to escape without a scrape on him, which had to call for high points. He listened to his scores. Eight, eight, eight, nine, seven. That was forty out of fifty. What had Gage gotten? He couldn't remember.
"You did great," Gage said as Dennis sat down. "I waz peeking out of ze tent. Better zan me, I theenk. I do not know 'ow I beat you. Would you like to watch Brutuz?"
"Sure," Dennis said. He stood next to Gage and they opened the tent flaps enough to see the whole arena. Gage had a few cuts on her, one that seemed to be turning blue, or was there blue medicine on her arm? "What happened against the Threstrals? I didn't watch."
"One bit me," Gage looked at her blue cut. "I guez it got a infected, zo ze nurze put blue pazte on it."
The crowd cheered and both Dennis and Gage looked back out to see that Maximus had already gotten the map. The two backed away as the nurse led him back into the tent. Maximus scored forty-eight out of fifty, which put Dennis in last place.