The first day of winter term started much like the fall term ended. They spent lunch talking with some of the upper classmen, talking about what had happened at the Triwizard Yule Ball.
"It wasn't bad," Ginny told Frisk, though she glanced up and down the table first. "Neville's very nice," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "But he's not a very good dancer. I hope you all had a good holiday, oh, and mother made us all some homemade fudge."
"We did," Frisk told her. "Mom made cookies for all of us again," she told the older Gryffindor, as she swallowed a bit of milk. They talked a bit about everything that had happened. "I just wish I knew what Sans was actually trying to do, and where he's been. But he keeps everything..."
"Don't say it," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Let me guess, close to the chest bones?"
Frisk laughed. "Yeah, I guess." She reached out for another half sandwich. "Has anyone found any of these challenges that the headmaster talked about last night?"
Ginny had just shaken her head no, when Opal came up behind them, sitting down at the Hufflepuff table. "We think so," she said. Frisk turned toward her friend, motioning for her to continue, as she'd been caught with a mouthful of food. "Hannah saw a box outside the kitchens, marked with the Hufflepuff crest. On it was a small sticker, 'Why is there ever only one egg in a French cooking?'."
Ginny and Frisk looked at each other in confusion. "But it doesn't make sense," Opal said, "Dad makes French dishes every so often, and if there's eggs, there's usually several."
"It's some kind of riddle, I'm sure," Ginny said. They sat and thought about it for the rest of the period, throwing out quickly discarded suggestions. When the warning bell rang, telling them they had five minutes to get to class, they were still no closer to solving the puzzle.
"Do you want to go looking for other challenges this afternoon?" Ginny asked as they stood. There was enthusiastic agreement from the others. "That's a great idea," Opal said, "Hey, that's Luna, I'll go tell her. Meet in the great hall about fifteen minutes after class? That should give us time to put our books away."
"Sounds good, Opal. See you then!" Frisk said as she stood. Then she had to dart off to History of Magic, the Hogwarts cure for insomnia. That afternoon, when they got together in the great hall, they could tell they weren't the only group that had been excited about Dumbledore's announcement. There were several other groups forming here. The Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and their fellow Quidditch team member Angelina Johnson had been spotting forming in the common room. Chara and Asriel had talked themselves into joining Frisk and her friends, after promising the Creevy brothers they'd go with them later in the week.
"Where should we start?" Ginny asked. "Away from the others, I'm guessing. Maybe where the Fat Lady was hiding last year? On the third floor? Seems as good a place as any." It really was, but what Dumbledore should have said was they would be hidden well. If there were any on the fourth floor, they weren't finding any. Not that they were completely sure what they were looking for. They were about to head down to dinner, when they were found by an out of breath Steven Marsh.
"Opal!" he said, grinning widely. "You've got to see this!" he turned, and headed towards the grand staircase. "Draco found it, it's down on the second floor. But he wasn't having a lot of luck with it."
"One of the challenges?" Opal asked.
"Yes, and you'll be great at it," Steven said. "You'll really want to see it!" He led them down the second floor corridor, towards the classroom where Frisk had seen the boggart the previous year. On their way, they found a very grumpy (and slightly sweaty) Draco Malfoy walking the other way. He was complaining about the impossibility of something to his two lackeys, and not looking where he was going, and plowed directly into Chara.
The smaller girl stumbled backward, as Malfoy turned toward them. "Watch where you're going, first year," he snarled, stepping toward Chara. She set her feet and folded her arms, staring right up at him. Draco looked surprised, and peered between the other two larger Slytherin, who looked as surprised as he was. Asriel stepped forward, until he was shoulder to shoulder with Chara, and practically nose to nose himself with Draco.
Ignoring them, Draco's eyes flitted between Steven and Frisk. "I see your spy is still working for you." He lifted his arms, about to give Chara a shove, when he was interrupted.
"What's all this then?" growled a voice behind them, causing the entire group to jump. Mad-Eye Moody had stumped up behind them. He looked from Chara to Draco, back to Chara, and his eyes narrowed. "Is this another teaching moment, Malfoy?"
Malfoy let out a squeak of terror, stepping backward.
"It's okay, sir," Frisk said, stepping between the teacher and the now fleeing Draco. "It was an accident."
"Looked to me like he was about to bully your sister there," Moody growled. He squinted his normal eye at Chara, while the magical one stared at the rapidly departing Slytherins. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, sir," Chara said, taking a step backward from Moody, looking away from his stare. "Just bumped me in the corridor. I'm not hurt."
"Fine," Moody said, but Frisk thought he sounded disappointed. His magical eye rolled forward to a door not much further down the corridor. "Oh, is that where you lot are headed? To take on that challenge? Heh. Good luck!" he said, stalking down the corridor in the same direction Draco had gone.
"You should have said something," Opal said. "Malfoy's a bully. He'd have deserved it."
"He wouldn't have deserved whatever Moody would have done." Steven said, watching Moody's back. "He transfigured Draco into a ferret and bounced him on the tile outside the great hall during the first week of classes." Opal, Chara, and Asriel all turned to stare at him. "I thought everyone heard about that."
"I did," Frisk said quietly. "Hurting people isn't the answer, and the professor is just as much a bully as Malfoy is." She never had gotten an apology for the detention he had given her. She hadn't exactly pressed for one, and bygones had apparently been bygones.
"Anyway, come on!" Steven said. He headed to the door, opening it, and disappeared inside. The group walked in, and openly stared at the large, expansive contraption in front of them. The room was about half the length of a quidditch pitch, and about the same length. The floor, and most of the walls, was entirely covered with a blue rubbery mat that was a bit hard to walk on. On one wall, a portrait of a witch grinned down at them.
Frisk, Chara, and Asriel looked at each other, knowing, in an instant, that Undyne had created this particular challenge, stolen it, probably. On one side of the room, a cargo net led up to a platform. Above that platform was a, track, Frisk decided was the right word, that a bar hooked into. The track angled down, but curved back up at the end. Then there was a gap, and then there was a second track and bar. The end of that one was just over a platform, leading to what appeared to be a vertical glass tube. If you could get up through that square tube, would get you to what must have been a hanging ledge that circled half the room. And, there, on the platform, was a small box, which must have been the target.
"Wow," said Ginny, her gaze going up. "What's this about?"
"It's an obstacle course," Opal said in wonder. She immediately headed to the cargo net and climbed it. She put both hands on the bar, pressed herself into motion, and went flying down the track. Just after the dip, she released the bar, went hurdling towards the next one, and missed it completely. She crashed into the padded pillar, and fell backwards onto the floor.
"That's one," said the witch in the portrait. "Five chances on any one day."
Frisk hurried forward to support her Opal, who was picking herself up off the floor. "That didn't go the way I thought it would. Who wants to try next?"
Frisk didn't particularly think any of this was going to go well. But she was game to try, at least once. So she climbed the cargo net, looking out at the course laid before her. It wasn't quite high enough that looking down made her uncomfortable, maybe the mats helped. So she took a deep breath, grabbed the bar, and pushed off.
She let go too early, before the bar had the chance to crest the dip, and was propelled straight into the mat below. The fall didn't hurt, but she did impact the matting pretty hard, and it knocked the wind from her. Steve helped her to feet. "Harder than it looks," she said. "Anyone else want a go?" Chara did, but she didn't do any better than the others did. Then they had to talk Ginny into trying, but finally managed to goad her to embarrass herself the same way the others had. Asriel went last, as no amount of cajoling could get Luna or Steven to try their skills.
So then it was on to attempt number two. And number three. On her fourth attempt, Opal managed to reach out and the second bar. It didn't help, as she met mat for the fourth time. But it was encouraging, it was better than any of them had done so far. She did it again on her fifth attempt, at a time when none of the other members of their group were coming close.
"Can we try again tomorrow?" Asriel asked the portrait, as Opal picked herself from the mat a fifth time.
"Of course dearie," she told them. "And I look forward to it!" There wasn't really enough time for them to go looking for another challenge afterward, it was too close to dinner. So after they'd tall taken their last lumps, they went to wash up, and made their way down to the great hall, where there was enthusiastic discussion of some of the other 'challenges' people had found.
Someone in Gryffindor had found some kind of block puzzle, while a Ravenclaw group had found an agility puzzle, trying to work together to get a pumpkin out from a stump. Some older students had a group of flags they were trying to 'match' within a time limit. That didn't seem right, but that's all she had to go on for the moment. There were apparently a few riddles out there as well, but to Frisk's frustration, everyone appeared to want to be the first to find a piece, so there wasn't team work going on. On the other hand, no one Frisk posed the riddle Opal found that morning could come up with a solution either.
The other mystery was Professor Hagrid's disappearance. It was reported he'd been missing from classes that day, and he wasn't at dinner either. A smaller, elderly woman was substituting, much to the concern of some of the Gryffindors. Frisk joined in, Hagrid had seemed nice enough the few times she'd met him.
They were back for round two the next day. A few other students were there already, older Ravenclaws, but after their first attempt, they left and didn't come back. In between their attempts, there was discussion of any other things they'd seen. Steven had pointed out an odd shield over the dungeon door leading to potions, a silver snake on a red and gold field, but nobody knew what that meant.
On Wednesday they were joined by Colin and Dennis Creevy for their own gos. And, on her fourth attempt, Opal finally managed the second bar, when only Frisk was otherwise getting close. She landed on the platform only to stumble nearly off again. She looked around afterward, suddenly realizing she had no obvious way to the ledge that led to their prize. "Uh, now what?" she asked.
Frisk looked up at the tube, unsure herself. "Maybe you wedge yourself?" Luna suggested. She held her arms all the way out on both sides. That seemed familiar to Frisk, so she shouted it was a good idea. They all shouted encouragement, but it was not to be. Opal leaped into the tube, but her hands slipped almost immediately, and she tumbled back down. She didn't land on the platform, that'd have been too easy. The platform had titled as soon as she jumped, and deposited her back to the ground.
But they all went to congratulate Opal anyway, she had proven that the first obstacle could be beaten. Not that any of them did it again that afternoon, but it was good to know. "You know," Opal said, "We could take a break and look for other challenges tomorrow," she offered.
"But you're close," protested Frisk, smiling. "And I want you to be first. Hufflepuff can shine this time."
"I want our team to be first," Steven said, grinning at them. "Besides, if you get this out of your system during the week, maybe you won't make us run on the weekend."
They were back at again on Thursday. For the first time, Frisk got the leap down, making it to the second bar. But Opal made the jump three times, and on her fifth attempt, she managed to wedge herself in the tube, as the platform tilted away underneath. She couldn't climb, just managing a series of short spider like jumps, wedging herself as hard she could each time. And she did it! Pulling herself out at the top. Victory was in reach!
There was no puzzle, no timing needed for the last challenge, it was just pure endurance, trying to climb along the ledge, using her only her hands. But she was so close to the prize, and everyone beneath was holding their breath. Opal tried to pull herself along as quickly as she could, as the rest of her friends cheered from below. The trickiest bits were the corners of the room, the one spot where she had to reach. But apparently, the summer of rugby had held her well, and she dropped to the final platform. She grabbed the small box, and this time, jumped down to the mat below. Frisk and the others swarmed her, congratulating her like she had just caught a snitch for a Quidditch win.
"So what's in the box?" Asriel asked, excitedly.
Opal opened it, pulling out a piece of bright red material, a bit bigger than an average jigsaw puzzle piece (without the cutouts), with the edges of a golden paw just in view. For a moment, she looked crestfallen. "All that? And I get a piece of the Gryffindor shield?"
"Does it matter?" Frisk asked. "You're still the first person to find one. Isn't she?" Frisk asked in the direction of the portrait. But it was empty, to her surprise.
"She walked out of frame when Opal finished the course," Steven told her. "Come on, let's go down to the great hall and put it in!"
"Actually," Frisk suggested, "Why don't we wait until dinner. Opal can show off a little, she's earned it."
"Don't you dare," Opal told them. "We all worked on it, you're standing there with me!" Frisk smiled at her friend.
And they did so, that night at dinner, the group of them hovered by the shields near the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was giving them the stink eye again.
Before food arrived, Dumbledore stood up at the staff table. "Ah, before we begin. I see we have the first successful solver. May I please direct your attention to the shields. Opal Oxtoby, and her team of supporters, has conquered a challenge and recovered the first piece." There was a smattering of applause, loudest from the Hufflepuff table. "Congratulations to you all. But there's several more pieces, and you will only be rewarded if they are all found. I ask you, again, to work together! But for now, Opal, go ahead and place it in the frame.
Opal held the piece up for everyone to see, and placed the red piece in the frame above the Gryffindor hourglass. It slid a bit, of its own accord, and fixed itself into place. Congratulating her again, the group went to sit with the rest of their houses. "Do we go look for a new one tomorrow?" Ginny asked.
"I hope not," Frisk said fervently. "I need to catch up on my homework!"
