A/N: He's back!
Chapter 54: The First Task
As a wizard that leans heavily on transfiguration heavily in day to day life, it's always fascinating to really watch how other people work on new things. Hermione, for instance, is very methodical and precise with transfiguration, which is why she struggles with it. She's admitted as much over the years, but can't quite give in to the concept of just letting go and 'feeling' it out. Transfiguration is a very abstract branch of magic which governs a lot of different areas once you advance into imitations of animals, or self-propelling constructs without the use of additional charms.
Hermione and Ginny have cleaned up an old classroom on the third floor for my long promised dance lesson. Ginny has showcased a quite bizarre knack for cleaning charms in the past. Hermione brought a few books up to finish some homework, at least twice as long as it needs to be, before we start.
Having long since cracked the apparition from the Chamber of Secrets down to London, retrieving my gramophone was a short walk through Diagon Alley, greatly aided by the ability to be invisible. Cloak now safely stowed on my person, I joined them with my ice cream in one hand and set my prized music player on the old desk, one of Albus' old transfiguration classrooms. Hermione gives me that look of disapproval, knowing full well where the ice-cream came from.
"In November?" Ginny looks quite put out by the idea of it.
"Warm blood." I shrug. A great boon considering how much I dislike wearing robes.
"Weirdo." She rolls her eyes and returns her interest in Hermione's transfiguration homework. Hermione is drawing near the end, as she tends to start pulling faces and mouthing out the final closing statements of her essays. I'm sure she would be terribly embarrassed if I ever told her that she does it. Draco nearly made the slip once, but I kicked him under the table at the time.
"Harry, what spells do you actually struggle with?" Hermione finally snaps the textbook shut and sets her handwritten parchments aside.
"What do you mean?" I finish up the last of the cone.
"There must be something that you don't just take to. Like Ginny and potions."
"Oi!" Hermione just barely breaks into a smile.
"I'd blame a lack of competent teaching for that." I scratch my chin thoughtfully. "Never been much for fixing things. I can do theory, but in practice it's far more complex. Fixing people, also. There's a lot going on there that just doesn't really come to me naturally. There's some pretty horrible things a person can do with medically inspired charms, on purpose or not. Most of my study into that is from curses and their effects on people, or on very effectively breaking things."
"Psh. Even I could've told you that." Ginny crosses her arms with a smirk.
"Oh, it's like that, is it? Who sets their curtains on fire at least once a month trying to dry her hair?" I tap my chin. "Hmm. I think that might be you."
"It's more disturbing that you've put the time in to perfect a hair drying charm, Harry." She pats my arm condescendingly.
"You'd benefit a lot from trying that yourself." I grin as she narrows her eyes. I win.
"I'd jinx you for that one, but I know you'd probably turn it into a mouse and have it follow me or something." Always the violent answers with this girl. I can't technically turn a jinx into a mouse, but I can definitely make it look like I can do that.
"You wound me with such accusations." I hold my hand over my chest. She rolls her eyes.
"Sure. Come on, you said you'd teach us. Mum never really took us anywhere formal, so I've never tried this before." I glance over at the gramophone and click my fingers, causing the record to start turning. I take great care in not looking smug. Tonks already lords over me about how long it took to learn to do that without a wand.
"He would make it far more annoying that a mouse." Hermione pipes up. "Draco tried to hex him once and he had a feather duster sweeping the floor in front of him for half the day." He eventually managed to corner it and stamp it to pieces, sadly. Some people have no sense of humour!
"Alright, pay attention because I usually charge for this." They exchange a look approaching regret.
Time to see how well I actually picked this up from watching the great hall's floor for the past 3 years.
"… and I said 'That's not my potions homework, that's my lunch!'"
Myrtle Warren, for her part, hasn't changed that much since she was killed. She knows more, and remembers a lot, since her death, but ghosts don't really learn. She caught me on my way out of the Chamber of Secrets, which I now refer to as my office. Albus claims that according to the rules, only professors can officially hold an office in Hogwarts, but I remind him each time that it's actually underneath Hogwarts and thus lies outside of the rules.
"Oh, Harry! I would've loved to see his face!" She giggles.
She also responds very well to jokes aimed at things that were evident in her lifetime, such as her potions professor, Horace Slughorn. I'm not entirely sure why I'm trying to get on the good side of one of the most reclusive ghosts in the castle, but she is actually the only ghost that doesn't look afraid of my mere existence.
"Perhaps I can arrange for him to come here and visit you one day." I look around the, now much cleaner, abandoned lavatory. "But for now, I must bid you farewell. Classes to attend."
She grumpily says goodbye and shoots back into a toilet as I leave.
My latest partial-success in the subtle art of not obliterating myself is the first, somewhat working, iteration of the floo pellet idea. The powder doesn't explode when I compress it any more thanks to the thin gel-like coating around each grain, this allows the powder to not explode when it's forced against itself. I have thirty-eight pellets currently in a bag, which interrupted the dancing lesson as my alarm went off signalling the final cauldron completing it's cycle down in the Chamber. I don't see why these wouldn't work right now, which is what worries me. I've made some changes to the original formula of floo powder, but it has worked in my miniature test network I set up, so I am optimistic. Worst case scenario is the pellet not hooking into the floo network and transporting part of a person.
Hopefully I haven't made a mistake.
"Harry! My boy!" I almost drop my bag of high-powered impact explosives onto the floor as the voice of Ludo Bagman cheerfully booms my way. "All set, I see?" Bagman struts down the corridor to me, everpresent grin plastered across his face, eyeing the bag in my hands.
"Uh, of course?" What have I forgotten now? I really should sleep like a regular human being.
"Good, good! Remember, no expansion charms allowed!" He pats me on the back and we fall into step. My stomach churns at the thought of such a volatile substance in a magically expanded space. "I was just on my way to the staging area, a chance encounter with Sir Nicolas pointed me this way."
The first task. Fuck.
"Ah, I was just collecting some… dungbombs?" I show him the contents of the bag.
"Hoho! That takes me back." He laughs merrily as we descend another set of stairs. This is such a horrendous idea. I stick the small bag into my pocket, really not wanting to give him an excuse to help himself to a highly experimental piece of potions work thinking it's a gag toy. I should have just left them in the chamber instead of seeking Albus for testing help. Damn it.
"So, any hints, Mister Bagman?" I ask cheerfully, deciding to quickly change the subject.
"Now, Harry, you know I can't tell you anything just yet." He looks over at me and winks. "But I do hope you quick with putting out fires." He adds, much quieter.
"Ominous, but I think I can handle it." Please don't be riding a broom through burning rings or something.
The rest of the trip outside mostly consists of Ludo telling me of foreign dignitaries that have come to visit from countries all over the world. He appears to be in a good mood, walking with a little bit of a skip to his step. I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into putting together something like this, but it's probably a step down from the world cup earlier this year.
I manage to lose Ludo in the crowd after spotting Sirius lurking around some foreign witches. The language barrier means nothing to this man. He quickly spots me as I break away from a group and we continue towards the brand new arena constructed a short walk from the castle.
"Sirius, act natural and like I'm not about to hand you a bomb." I dig my hand into my pocket in the most casual way I can muster.
"What? Don't give me a-"
"Harry! Quickly now! The others are waiting." Ludo has somehow managed to make it to the big top and is beckoning me over, holding the canvas door open. Damn it.
"Whatever happens now, I blame you." I pat Sirius' back and try to smooth out the pouch in my pocket.
The assembled champions, heads of schools, and ministry gaming officials give me time to change into the champions outfit. Now clad in half black and half blue, I rejoin the party. My perceived lack of respect for the tournament, like not even knowing it was today and not coming dressed right, seems to have frustrated some of them. In my defence, I might've died by not turning up, so if anyone should be upset it's me. I didn't want to leave the floo pellets with my clothes in case somebody gets their hands on them, or a house elf apparates with them. I just think that wouldn't go well.
"I apologise for my tardiness, I had some last minute projects to take care of." I say, taking the chance to inspect the other champions. Viktor Krum is sporting a rather vacant expression. Fleur looks partway between throwing up and constipated. Cedric looks like he would have absolutely no issues in emptying from either end at a moment's notice. Ah, they all know. "Cheer up, you lot. It's not like they would pit us against near-certain death for the first task, right?" I give them a grin. Krum scowls at me. I deserve a very slow and very painful death in another life.
"Don't get ahead of yourself yet, young Harry." Ludo waves us into a circle. Albus catches my eye, no hint of a smile. "Now, the task at hand is quite simple. As we wait for the audience to take their seats in a moment, I will be offering you this-" He raises a small silken bag, purple in colour "-to take randomly select a small model replica of what you will be facing!" Ludo shakes the bag a little more. "Attached to each one is the order in which you will be facing off against your challenge! The goal is, quite simply, to retrieve the 'Golden Egg'." He says, with a somewhat mysterious smile.
"So the egg is being guarded by those?" Cedric asks, looking down at the bag warily.
"Precisely! Now, ladies first?" Loosening the drawstring, Ludo proffers the opening towards Fleur. Each champion's respective headmaster is standing beside them in the circle, I don't even have a consolation adult. Even Filch would do. Fleur pulls a small dragon from the bag. A tiny Welsh Green, by the looks of it. That's adorable.
I'd kind of hoped that when I was overhearing them talk about dragons that it was kind of a metaphorical dragon, and less of a bitey firey dragon.
"Ah, the Chinese Fireball!" Ludo's voice snaps me back to attention as Viktor and Cedric have both picked their dragons. "And last, but by no means least, Mister Potter." He holds the bag towards me. My fingers brush the fabric, confirming that this is not random at all, as it has been hexed to give me this specific dragon. I roll my eyes and look at Albus, shaking my head, as I pull out a small Hungarian Horntail with a number four hanging from around it's neck.
"I am thoroughly whelmed." I sigh.
A/N: Almost a year without an update? Best to land it on April 1st!
Ironically, I manage to finish this chapter with my country on lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic (which i'm sure will date this chapter in the future) despite the fact that i'm still working on the front line myself. Thank you all for the continued support over the years, and I hope you all stay happy and healthy in uncertain times.
Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.Enjoy!