Title: Code of the Griffin
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: From a war ravaged future, someone is sent back in time to change the course of the war.
Hermione sat at her desk in her Quarters in the Chest, reading Michelle's report from the Clan Sandarth meeting the previous evening. She had already read through Luna's report but Luna had been mostly having a conversation with Mirath or listening to one of the Clan Elders who was explaining the Centaur method of reading the stars.
Michelle's report was much more informative. Clan meetings were not like Order Briefings, they were more like social gatherings, but there was a reason why Luna had been invited. Michelle had spoken to a number of Clan Elders, who had welcomed her as Luna's guest and potential mate. Michelle had heard several stories from various Centaurs about rumours from other Clans and the discovery of tracks and other signs of people moving around the boarders of the Forest. Some insisted it was Wizards up to no good while others insisted all the activity happened at night and it was Vampires.
A knock came from the door to the rest of the Chest, drawing Hermione's attention away from the report.
"Come!" she called.
The door opened to reveal Larks and Li. Hermione gestured them to enter and they sat in the chairs in front of her desk.
"I saw the paper." Hermione said. "Good work. I'm sorry I had to ask you to do that."
The news of Diggle's death had only hit the paper the day before, but according to the story the authorities had no idea what had really happened. Dumbledore had been sad about the death of his old friend, but he had no idea what the man was really like.
"He deserved it." Kathrine Li replied. "While we were watching he kidnapped, molested and killed a seven-year-old girl. I only wish we could have gotten him earlier."
"Like I said, good work." Hermione continued. "You will brief Luna, Michelle, the Platoon Commanders and myself on the comparative Sniper techniques between the Order and the SAS in four days."
While Li and Larks started to look concerned Hermione reached into her desk draw and slid a folder to each of them.
"Those contain a full briefing package on the SAS Sniper training by their primary Sniper Trainer, as well as Pensive memories of their training evolution." Hermione said.
Both Li and Larks relaxed as they looked over the bundles.
"It's good to have you two back." Hermione concluded. "Dismissed."
Sergeant Jennifer Carter and Private Samantha Skinner were standing at Station Four of the Second Task, as the Referees for the Station. All of the stations were being manned for Refereeing by members of Second Platoon, with the Sergeants, Corporals or more experienced Troopers being the senior Judge at the station. The remainder of Second Platoon were patrolling the length of the course and ensuring the crowd were not getting to close or interfering with the Stations.
Victor Krum had already gone through the station, with Susan Bones and the security detail accompanying him. Jennifer and Samantha had each filled out the required forms for Krum's performance, which was specific for each station, and sealed the form along with a vial of pensive memory of Krum's performance in the storage case for the station.
The sound of cheering indicated that the next Champion was approaching. Fleur jogged around the corner in a light blue tracksuit and stepped up to the line of the Station, looking over at Jennifer and Samantha respectfully. Ron and the two bodyguards took up station in a loose perimeter around the Station. While both Ron and Susan had permanent roles as the commanders of their respective Champion's Protection Detail, the actual troopers assigned to the detail rotated on a regular basis.
"Your task simple." Skinner instructed. "To move the target from the start position to the end position without directly touching the target physically or magically."
The target was a small, but thick, clay disk that was in one end of a long but narrow container with a transparent front side and a slit at the top. The slit was too narrow for the clay disk to be removed from the container, and the stretch between the start area and the end position was a series of obstacles, some simple trenches and others rolling ramps with overheads that were designed to trap the target under them. There were also a few items beside the container. The starting position was in a trench with the target sitting on a clear plastic platform that had sand beneath it.
Fleur took a moment to survey the items beside the container and selected two of the long thin rods. She picked up the thin rods with her hands and, carefully positioning them, lowered them into the container, making sure that the lower end was in the correct position before releasing the end she was holding. The two thin rods made a semi-gentle slope down from the shelf next to the starting trench to the shelf next to the target area. She then used an expansion charm, one of the seven approved spell, on the sand under the starting position. The sand pushed up the platform the target was on, till the inside edge hit a small ledge and the outside edge kept rising, causing the target to roll off the platform and along the thin rods, the rods settling into the grove in the edge of the disk. The line up of the rods was not perfect so the disk got stuck on the edge of the rod just before the end position, so Fleur cast a low powered expansion charm on the final rod, which expanded it by a few millimetres and allowed the target roll into the end position.
"Your task is now completed." Carter said. "You may now proceed to the next station."
Fleur, Ron and the bodyguards moved off to the next station. Carter and Skinner began filling out the forms for Fleur's performance and then extracted their pensive memories, and Carter reset the task by levitating the target back to the start position, undoing Fleur's expansion charms and removing the rods Fleur had used, storing them back where they had been before.
A few minutes later Cedric his two bodyguards approached. Skinner again gave the speech about the rules of the task. Cedric looked at the task for a few moments and then simply walked up to it, lifted the entire box and slowly rotated it counter clockwise. The target rolled up the side, along the top of the box and down the other side into the end position.
"Your task is now complete." Carter intoned. "You may now proceed to the next station."
Cedric nodded and led his guards off to the next station. Carter and Skinner filled in the final set of forms for Cedric's completion of his task, retrieved their pensive memories and put them in the storage case along with the others. Skinner picked up the storage case and the pair of them went to the Judges table.
"Grand Marshall, Judges." Carter said. "The reports and pensive memories for Station Four."
"Thank you, Sergeant Carter." Hermione said.
"Grand Marshall, Judges." PFC Marshall said. "The reports and pensive memories of Station Twenty-Five."
"Thank you, PFC Marshall." Hermione replied, taking the storage case.
Hermione opened the case and reviewed the report and then the pensive memory before passing it on to Dumbledore. All of the Judges had strict instructions on what each of the tasks were and how they should be graded. Once all the Judges have reviewed the reports and memories, they gave their scores for the final station, which were passed to Hermione for final tallying.
All three of the Champions lined up in front of the Judges Table.
"All of the scores from the twenty-five stations have been tallied." Hermione announced. "In third place for this task is Victor Krum with ninety-two points. In second place, with ninety-six points is Cedric Diggory. In first place, barely, with ninety-seven points is Fleur Delacour. When combined with the results of the First Task, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory are tied in first place and Victor Krum is only one point behind."
There was loud cheering amongst all three schools. It was a close competition, easily able to be won by any of the Schools, and the students had found the stations of the Second Task to be intriguing.
TBC…