The Difference One Choice Makes
19th January 1995
By the time Harry and his classmates made their way down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest that morning, they found Lucan Malfoy, along with Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott and Felix Lestrange stood laughing amongst themselves as they waited for their Care Of Magical Creatures lesson to start.
Strangely enough, there was no sign of Hagrid and the curtains were drawn on his cottage, indicating that he might not be awake even though it was nearly nine o'clock in the morning.
He was also suspiciously absent from the Great Hall for breakfast that morning as well, with his absence being noticed by many of the students in the hall that morning.
After a few minutes, an elderly witch with short grey hair and a rather prominent chin dressed in dark grey dress robes with thick dragon hide gloves made her way out of the Forbidden Forest towards them.
"This way please" said the Witch in a kind but stern voice.
Harry and the others felt rather confused at the sight of this new teacher, exchanging wary glances with each other but they chose to remain quiet while Lucan and some of the other Slytherin's appeared to be laughing at them.
"I am your temporary Care Of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Grubbly-Plank… follow me please" said Professor Grubbly-Plank.
She led them back into the Forbidden Forest, past the paddock containing the Beauxbaton's abraxan horses which were all huddled together keeping themselves warm from the chilly January air.
"Where's Hagrid?" said Ron walking up alongside Professor Grubbly-Plank.
"Never you mind" said Professor Grubbly-Plank flatly as though she thought he was being nosy.
"Well I do mind" said Ron hotly, with his ears turning a slight shade of red.
Professor Grubbly-Plank ignored him before bringing them to a halt next to a large paddock containing a single unicorn and many of the girls "oohed" with excitement when they saw it.
The unicorn was pure white in colour which made the snow on the forest floor look grey, it was throwing its horned head back feeling a bit nervous at the presence of many students while its golden hooves pawed nervously at the ground.
"Stay back boys… unicorns prefer a woman's touch!" Professor Grubbly-Plank called out.
Harry and the rest of the boys in the class took a few steps back.
"Girls step forward now… but slowly, you don't want to frighten it" said Professor Grubbly-Plank.
"It's so beautiful" gushed Lavender Brown as she joined the other girls in approaching the unicorn under the supervision of Professor Grubbly-Plank.
As the girls huddled around the unicorn, petting it as Professor Grubbly-Plank went on about their diets and the magical properties of various parts of its body, Ron turned to Harry.
"You don't think he's hurt do you?" said Ron, concern laced into his words.
"Maybe he had an accident with a blast-ended skrewt" said Neville.
At this point, Lucan, Felix Lestrange, Crabbe, Goyle and Theodore Nott started to laugh, being quiet enough not to draw the attention of Professor Grubbly-Plank.
"Wondering where that useless lump is Weaselbee?" said Lucan sniggering.
"Bugger off Malfoy" spat Ron.
The Slytherin's laughed once again.
"I don't think we'll be seeing your friend Hagrid ever again" said Felix snidely.
"Too embarrassed to show his face probably" said Nott with dark amusement in his voice.
"And why would he be embarrassed?" said Harry spitefully as he took a few steps towards the Slytherin's who smirked amongst themselves.
Lucan cackled and pulled a slightly creased newspaper article out of the pocket of his robes and handed it to Harry.
"Take a look Potty… and try not to be too disappointed" said Lucan.
Harry moved away from the Slytherin's as Neville, Ron, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Josh Sloper moved to stand behind him and next to him so they could all read the article.
DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE
Written by: Rita Skeeter
My rabid readers, your favourite Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter here delivering you yet more hard but honest truths about what really goes on at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and defeater of notorious Dark Wizard's Gellert Grindelwald and You-Know-Who has never been one to shy away from staff appointments we as the public know to be controversial. In the September of 1993, he hired the now-disgraced ex-Auror, Narcissa Potter as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Narcissa was the youngest sister of the late Bellatrix Black (who had escaped from Azkaban Prison two months prior). Bellatrix Black went on to sneak into Hogwarts and destroy the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, attacking two students before escaping the Ministry's clutches once again, eventually murdering her former husband Lucius Malfoy and his wife Ursula Malfoy nee Lestrange in Knockturn Alley and taking her own life shortly afterwards.
Narcissa Potter, who was removed from her post by the order of the Minister For Magic Cornelius Fudge before the end of the 1993-1994 School Year was succeeded in September last year by another ex-Auror, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody which caused even more controversy in the Ministry Of Magic owing to the paranoid ex-Auror's habit of attacking anyone he suspects of plotting to murder him, which these days tends to be everyone.
The appointments of these two ex-Auror's however, pale in comparison to the appointment of a part-human that Dumbledore appointed to teach Care Of Magical Creatures.
Rubeus Hagrid, who himself admitted to me that he was expelled during his third year at Hogwarts and has enjoyed the position of Gamekeeper ever since (which was secured for him by Dumbledore himself before he succeeded Armando Dippett as Headmaster), has used his influence over Dumbledore to secure the additional post of Care Of Magical Creatures Professor beating several better-qualified candidates to the job.
An alarmingly large and ferocious man standing at nearly twelve feet tall, has been using the authority given to him as a teacher to terrify the students under his care, using a vast array of dangerous creatures not suitable for the eyes of your children, all the while Dumbledore continues to turn a blind eye as multiple students have been maimed by these creatures while most students describe the class as "very frightening". Below are quotes from students who have helped bring the truth of Hagrid's classes to the surface.
"I was attacked by a Hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite from a Flobberworm" says Lucan Malfoy, a fourth-year student.
"I had my watch which was a priceless Lestrange Family heirloom, stolen by a Niffler, and Hagrid refused to help me get it back" says Felix Lestrange, another fourth-year student.
"Hagrid is very hard to understand, he usually talks in grunts and waves his arms around in lessons" says Gregory Goyle, a fourth-year student.
"We're all terrified of Hagrid, our entire class hates him but we're too scared to say anything against him" says Pansy Parkinson, yet another fourth-year student.
If intimidation and regular bullying of his students was not bad enough, the Daily Prophet has also unearthed strong evidence that Hagrid is not in fact a pure-blood wizard (as he claims to be), that he is in fact a half-giant (his Mother being the giantess Fridwulfa – whose whereabouts are currently unknown).
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the once large population of giants brought themselves to near extinction in the last century owing to their bloodthirsty wars between different clans as well as their servitude to You-Know-Who. Those who did join You-Know-Who were responsible for some of the worst muggle killings during the wizarding war and many were not punished for their crimes.
Though many of these giants were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Hagrid's mother Fridwulfa was not among them and it is believed that if she is still alive, then she is possibly residing in one of the few giant communities that still exist in the foreign mountain ranges. However, if her son Hagrid's antics during his Care Of Magical Creatures lessons are anything to go by, then we can conclude that he has inherited his mother's brutal nature.
"That's utter rubbish Malfoy… especially double chin over there getting a bite off of a flobberworm, they haven't even got teeth" said Harry icily.
Crabbe stood there sniggering, clearly pleased with himself while the rest of the Slytherin's smirked and laughed at their antics.
"And Goyle's so thick that he doesn't understand basic English beyond what a four-year-old would understand" said Josh spitefully.
Goyle stopped sniggering and just glared at Josh with a slightly gormless look on his face, making it look like he was desperately trying to come up with a response.
"We all hate Hagrid, it's utter rubbish" spat Harry.
Lucan smirked.
"That ought to put an end to the oaf's career" said Lucan with a glint in his eyes.
"Half-giant… and I thought he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was a child" said Felix with a cackle.
"Face it boys, your mate Hagrid is finished… I mean… what parents are going to want Hagrid teaching at Hogwarts, they'll be scared he might eat their kids, haha…" said Lucan laughing as he gloated about his handiwork.
"You-" started Ron, clenching his fists before the voice of Professor Grubbly-Plank cut him off.
"Are you paying attention over there?"
The Gryffindor boys turned to see Professor Grubbly-Plank looking right at them with a stern look on her face.
The boys forced themselves to look straight at the unicorn as Professor Grubbly-Plank started to tell them about potential diets for sick unicorns, with the diet varying depending on what ailment the unicorn was suffering from.
After several minutes, Professor Grubbly-Plank guided the boys in the class over to two unicorn foals which were gleaming gold in colour with small horns, with each one being no more than a year old.
"The foals tend to be more trusting and don't mind being around boys… but approach them with care and only one student at a time, they are easily spooked" said Professor Grubbly-Plank.
By the end of the lesson, quite a lot of the class were loudly saying that they preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank to Hagrid.
"I hope she stays… that's what Care Of Magical Creatures should be like, proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters like those awful skrewts" said Parvati loudly as she along with the rest of the class were walking away from the unicorn paddocks at the end of their lesson.
"And what about Hagrid?" said Ron angrily as they emerged from the forest.
Parvati turned to him with a hard look on her face.
"What about him… he can still be the gamekeeper can't he?" said Parvati in a hard voice aimed directly at Ron.
While Ron had indeed gone back to dance with her at the Yule Ball, he had only given her one more dance before ignoring her once again, leaving her to spend the remainder of the ball with a boy from Beauxbaton's.
Since the ball, she had been going on and on to everyone who would listen about arranging to meet the boy in Hogsmeade on the trip this coming weekend, with additional Hogsmeade trips being made available for this year so the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton's more opportunities to explore the magical village.
While Ron had not been particularly happy to hear about Parvati's plans, Hermione and Janet had both told him that he ought to have paid her more attention at the ball and her slightly frosty demeanour towards him since then was mostly his fault.
"Perhaps if you had shown her more attention at the ball she might have been spending that day in Hogsmeade with you rather than that boy" said Janet coolly.
This only made Ron scowl even more and he just walked away from her without another word.
Ron's annoyance and bad mood had only increased when he found out that Ginny had arranged to go to Hogsmeade with the fourth-year Ravenclaw Michael Corner who she had met at the ball. This resulted in him confronting Corner after their Charms lesson, two days into the start of the new term, ending in a blazing row between himself and Ginny later that night.
Unfortunately, quite a few people in Gryffindor found themselves on the receiving end of his bad mood more than once, including Harry, with one particularly short argument taking place two nights before New Year's Eve.
"Easy for you to say that Harry… you actually got to go to the ball with someone you wanted to go with" said Ron icily as he, Harry, Neville and Josh Sloper were doing their homework late at night at one of the tables in the mostly empty common room.
Harry sighed.
"So who did you want to go with… from what I can remember you never talked about asking anyone" said Harry wearily, trying not to aggravate his friend further.
Ron scowled, refusing to answer.
"Come off it Ron… you can't have a go at people for having the balls to ask someone they fancy to the ball just because you couldn't do it" said Josh with a slightly mocking voice aimed at Harry who glared at him.
Ron glared at him.
"You had weeks to ask someone mate… instead you just sat there getting all moody and complaining that you couldn't find a date when you never asked anyone to begin with" said Josh.
This caused Ron to cease doing his homework before skulking back off to their dormitory.
Harry thought back to the conversation he had with Katie the next day, where she got the truth of Ron's bad mood out of him when he decided to take her up on her offer to go flying around the Quidditch Stadium.
"Your friend Ron being a miserable git again?" said Katie as she and Harry walked out onto the pitch with their broomsticks in hand.
Harry sighed.
"He's just a bit down about the ball, perhaps it's because he never asked anyone he wanted to ask and just resigned himself to going with Parvati Patil" said Harry.
Katie scoffed.
"Surely you could have helped him ask someone… Lis helped you ask me, remember?" said Katie.
Harry turned slightly pink.
"He never once talked about asking someone… even when people kept asking him about who he might want to go with, he never said anything, he just avoided the question each time" said Harry.
Katie rolled her eyes.
"And then avoided her for most of that night… if anything I'm glad she ended up having a good time without him, it might teach him not to take things for granted… I swear Harry, if you had treated me like that at the ball, you wouldn't have been able to sit down for a month" said Katie as the two came to a halt in the centre of the pitch.
"I wouldn't have ever dreamed of treating you like that" said Harry quickly which made Katie laugh.
"I was only teasing you Harry… I know you wouldn't have treated me badly" said Katie teasingly.
Harry breathed a small sigh of relief as he mounted his Firebolt.
"I mean it Harry, I couldn't imagine you ever treating someone like that, you're far too nice" said Katie softly as she mounted her Nimbus 2001.
Before Harry had a chance to reply, Katie shot off into the sky.
"COME ON HARRY… DON'T KEEP ME WAITING!" shouted Katie who brought her broom to a halt over eighty feet above his head.
Harry looked up at her kicked his broom off of the ground, coming up to her height after barely three seconds.
Four days passed before Ron eventually calmed down and while he did apologise to Parvati for not paying her enough attention at the ball, the two had been on thin ice ever since.
Ron also apologised to Harry and the others for taking his bad mood out on them.
4th February 1995
Hagrid remained in his solitude for at least a week before Dumbledore finally managed to convince him to return to his teaching post. No one knows exactly what was said between the Headmaster and the gamekeeper but whatever it was, Hagrid returned to teaching Care Of Magical Creatures with a newfound enthusiasm and flair for teaching.
Dumbledore, of course, had received many letters from parents calling for Hagrid to be sacked and removed from Hogwarts immediately but he paid little mind to any of those letters, maintaining his belief that Hagrid was a good teacher and deserved to remain at Hogwarts while also receiving letters from former students calling for Hagrid to remain at Hogwarts regardless of his half-giant status.
Edward meanwhile, was sat at one of the small tables in the corner with a pile of books and parchment in front of him, working his brain to plan what he was going to do in the second task which was just under three weeks away.
Looking down at the piece of parchment in his hand which contained the clue he had discovered from his golden egg by holding it underwater a week previously, Edward rubbed his chin in deep thought.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this,
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
To recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.
After deducing that the second task would be taking place in the Black Lake, recognising the song as one sung by Merpeople, Edward was currently pouring over books looking for effective ways to breathe underwater.
Scribbling on another piece of parchment, he was listing the best methods to allow him to breathe underwater for at least an hour.
Bubble Head Charm – practice charm
Gillyweed – ask Professor Snape for some
After deducing that these two methods would be his best option, he put all his thoughts about what would be taken from him and left in the Black Lake for him to find aside, instead pouring over the books even more so he could get as much information about his chosen methods as possible.
24th February 1995
Edward, dressed in dark-green and black swimming shorts, a matching sleeveless shirt that bore the Slytherin crest proudly on his back along and a wand holster strapped to his left arm, stepped out of the boat onto one of the three tower-like platforms stood in the middle of the vast Black Lake on this freezing February morning.
As the students started to climb out of the rowboats slowly filling all three platforms, Edward was given a quick, albeit rather emotionally lacking kiss for good luck from Myranda before he was shepherded over to where Krum and Fleur were stood at the other edge of the platform with Dumbledore, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Sr.
Krum, like Edward, had also opted for some shorts and a sleeveless shirt though his shorts were red in colour and his shirt was grey while Fleur was dressed in a white, one-piece bikini which resulted in a lot of eyes on her body.
As Edward waited with the other champions and the judges, he scanned the crowd, spotting Harry stood with some of his fellow fourth years giving him applause and confident reassuring looks.
He found it a little strange that he could not spot Euphemia in the crowd but figured that she might be on one of the other towers where he could not see her.
Unlike the first task, however, he knew that his parents would not be here to watch him today, having decided to head off to New York for a deserved two-week holiday instead.
As the last of the students climbed out of the boats onto the platforms, Dumbledore stepped forwards with his wand pressed against his throat.
"ATTENTION… welcome to the Second Task… last night, something was stolen from each of our Champions, a treasure they hold dear to them… these three treasures, one for each Champion, now lies at the bottom of the Black Lake… for this task, each Champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface, except for this, they will have one hour to do so, and one hour only, after that they will be on their own… Champions, prepare yourselves!" said Dumbledore in a magically enhanced voice that could be heard on all three tower-like platforms.
A dark possibility dawned on Edward and it made him feel slightly sick to his stomach with the same possibility being evident on the faces of his fellow Champions. Perhaps his Sister was nowhere in sight because she was out there in the Black Lake waiting to be rescued by her big brother.
With a newfound desire to save and protect Euphemia, Edward reached into his pocket and retrieved some of the gillyweed given to him by Professor Snape. He quickly put it in his mouth, grimacing at its rubbery texture and gritty taste, knowing that he would have enough gillyweed to give him the time needed to complete the task.
"You may begin at the sound of the cannon!" said Dumbledore in the same magically enhanced voice.
Thankfully, Edward had managed to consume the gillyweed by the time Mr Filch set off the cannon, signalling the start of the task.
He quickly dove into the water along with Krum and Fleur, allowing himself to sink down to the bottom as the gillyweed started to take effect.
Glancing at his fellow Champions as they swam away into the dark murky water, Edward could see that they had opted for different methods to him when it came to breathing underwater.
Fleur had opted for a simple Bubble Head charm while Krum had transfigured his head into a large shark head with a dorsal fin on his back.
Gills cut into his neck with his hands and feet turning into something reminiscent of fins while he took a few big gulps of water to breathe through his gills.
Taking his wand out and silently activating a Lumos charm to give him some light in the dark water, Edward set off to find Euphemia.
Half an hour later…
Edward felt like he had been searching high and low across the bottom of the Black Lake for hours as he approached a large cluster of light-green weeds stretching as far as the eye could see.
As he entered the weeds, Edward kept his concentration up and his wits about him as he swam through the thick green pillars, keeping an eye out for any of the potential dangers lurking in the depths of the Black Lake.
His senses were so heightened, that the sounds of light splashing from his right caused him to sharply turn and point his wand to his right in an instant.
Looking a little disgruntled at the sight of his wand pointed at her chest was Fleur who gave him a small glare before he lowered his wand.
Just as Edward had heightened his own senses and guard, Fleur had also heightened hers but the fact that he had been pointing his wand at her moments ago had caused her to lower her guard slightly which proved costly.
She was not prepared for something to grab hold of both of her ankles, catching her off guard and attempting to pull her down to the black abyss below.
As she was being pulled down, she felt something grasp hold of her arm and looked up to see Edward holding onto her for dear life as he aimed his wand towards her ankles where two small horned water demons known as grindylows were tugging at her ankles.
She gripped Edward's arm hard as two jets of boiling hot water shot out of his wand, singing her ankles slightly and hitting the grindylows in their chests sending them scurrying away.
Edward pulled her up, level with him and gave her a hand gesture silently asking her if she was okay.
She nodded and gave him a quick thankful hug before the two started to swim out of the green weeds together which took around ten minutes.
Thankfully, as they cleared the weeds, they found themselves outside of a large stone archway and could make out three figures tied to the lake floor by thick seaweed ropes, surrounded by a dozen merpeople wielding spears and tridents just beyond the archway.
When they swam through the archway, Edward was able to make out the sleeping figure of Hermione in her Hogwarts robes just before Krum came barrelling out of the depths, biting through the seaweed attached to Hermione with his razor-sharp shark teeth before taking her hand and quickly swimming away.
Edward then laid eyes on the sleeping figure of Euphemia, still dressed in her Hogwarts robes with her long blonde hair billowing outwards around her head, making a beeline for her.
Fleur pulled out her wand as she approached the sleeping form of her eight-year-old sister Gabrielle Delacour who looked like a miniature version of her, using her wand to cut through the thick seaweed with Edward doing the same with his wand.
As he took hold of Euphemia's arm he turned to Fleur tapping his watch, silently telling her that they needed to get back to the surface since there were only fifteen minutes left out of their original hour time mark.
"You saved me from those grindylows… you go first" mouthed Fleur as she took hold of Gabrielle's arms.
Edward gestured his arm for her to come with him and get back at the same time but she just shook her head.
"Go, finish before me, go" mouthed Fleur.
Edward sighed and started to swim away from her, past the merpeople who just watched him leave without doing anything while Fleur followed behind him a few seconds later.
Seeking to avoid the green weeds where they encountered the grindylows, Edward decided to swim several feet above it, hoping that they would not come out of the weeds to attack him.
It took him nearly ten minutes to clear the top of the green weed pillars and he saw the bottom of the tower platforms floating in the water just over a quarter of a mile away from him.
Knowing that his time was running out, Edward kicked his webbed feet as hard as he could, trying to get to the surface as quickly as possible.
As the effects of the gillyweed wore off and he started to inhale water through his mouth and nose, Edward finally broke through the surface of the water coughing up water as he did so, ten feet from the platform where Harry and Neville jumped down onto the lower platform to help them out of the water.
As Harry pulled the coughing and shivering Euphemia up onto the platform, Fleur and Gabrielle finally emerged from the water.
"Go and get her another towel" said Neville loudly as he turned to Janet Spinnet who handed a large towel, which he immediately wrapped around the shivering Euphemia as Edward climbed out of the water and was thrown a towel by Darren Petrie.
Once all of the champions and their hostages had been dried and warmed up, the judges returned with their scores, which resulted in Edward and Krum (who had returned first, barely three minutes before Edward) being tied in first place going into the final task with eighty-five out of possible one-hundred points while Fleur was behind them with seventy-eight points.
After their scores had been given out, Fleur had thanked Edward for helping her against the grindylows before leaving him with a kiss on each cheek.
Before they returned to the rowboats to head back to the lakeshore and back to the castle, Ludo Bagman told them that their final task to crown the winner of the Tri-Wizard tournament would take place in June, refusing to give them any more details about the task, saying that the surprise would be key for the task itself.
Edward and Harry could only imagine how their parents would react when they found out that Euphemia had been placed under the Black Lake to be used against her knowledge as her eldest brother's hostage.