After not talking about it at all during dinner, the entire group went back down to see Firenzie again after dinner. They hadn't had to even have to discuss it, they just met outside the main doors. Several them had saved part of tonight's meal. The only reason some didn't was because it had become apparent they were going to be bringing far too much food.

They had arrived near Hagrid's hut to find a second hut had been rapidly built nearby, just on the edge of the Dark Forest. It may not have been quite as tall as Hagrid's, but it was wider. Frisk watched as Asriel took the lead and knocked on the door. Firenzie opened the door, and Frisk's jaw dropped.

Technically speaking, it was a room. It had a roof, and it had walls with widows and a door, that made it a room. But the ceiling had been enchanted the same way the Great Hall's ceiling had been, with blue sky visible as if there hadn't been a roof at all. The floor was covered in thick grass, and it was all so perfectly lit by unseen sources that it felt like the sun was shining from inside. Frisk could see some furniture, a table for eating, a dresser for clothing, and a bookshelf, but it was otherwise mostly empty. "Good evening friends," Firenzie said.

"Are you alright, Firenzie, sir?" Luna asked.

"I think I am, Ms. Luna," he said. "Thank you. It is not quite a home, but it is homey enough for now. Headmaster Dumbledore has provided well for me. And I appreciate that you've come down to see to my well being as well." Firenzie smiled at them.

"Did you get something to eat, too?" Asriel asked, holding up the small container of pudding he'd brought from dinner.

"I did, young Asriel," Firenzie said. "But I appreciate the gesture." Asriel opened his mouth to say something, but Firenzie cut him off. "I am sure young Dubran is on your mind, but there is nothing that I can tell you. I will keep my ears open for anything I can, as I do still have friends in the forest." he told him. "In the meantime, the headmaster says he has a task I can assist with, to return the favor he's shown me this evening."

That pretty much covered anything everything that Frisk had wanted to ask. "If there's anything we can help with," Steven added. "Ask us, please?" He thought for a second. "That reminds me, you wouldn't happen to know why there's only ever one egg in French cooking, would you?"

"I'm not much of a chef, I'm afraid," Firenzie said. "But yes, if there's anything I think you might be able to assist with, I will be sure to ask."

They talked for a while longer, but it was starting to get late, and curfew was going to be upon them soon, so they had to head back up to the castle, and dispersed to their separate common rooms.

The addition of a centaur to the campus of Hogwarts did not go unnoticed for very long. Specifically, it was noticed by Rita Skeeter. "Second Half-Human Resident at Hogwarts!" were the very large letters of the Daily Prophet headline.

"No he's not," claimed an irritated Hermione. She showed the headline to Frisk, who had to try to swallow her oatmeal before she could reply. "Centaurs are considered a pure race. This is just mean. I hate Rita Skeeter. I'm going to figure out how she's eavesdropping like this if it's the last thing that I do."

"What else does it say?" Frisk asked, wondering if Rita had caught on to the reason he was there in the first place.

Hermione skimmed the paper and rolled her eyes. "Rita claims he was kicked out for kidnapping the chief's son, and openly speculates why Dumbledore might be harboring a criminal. She goes on to wonder why the chief's son was here in the first place, asking if Dumbledore is angling to try to get around the international wand ban, especially after a monster was allowed to carry a wand." Hermione looked up speculatively. "Maybe that's a good idea. I mean, consider how wizards treat house elves. Maybe it would be better for the magical world if the other races were allowed to use wands."

"Hermione," complained Ron Weasley, sitting on her other side. "Please don't invite Dumbledore to add another chapter of Goblin riots we have to memorize."

"Besides," Chara added from across the table, "At least for the Centaurs, most of them are so arrogant that I'm not sure it's a good idea to start with. I mean, there's a reason they asked for magical beast classification, isn't there?"

"So they wouldn't get lumped in with the Hags and Vampires, wasn't it?" Asriel asked. "Though, maybe that proves what you're saying."

"All the more reason to try to include them," Hermione insisted. "How are they going to believe humans otherwise?"

"Someone has to make the first move,," Frisk said, reaching for the orange juice. "That's why Firenzie was trying to get them out of isolation." The five minute bell rang. So they rapidly finished breakfast, and headed off to their separate classes.


The Easter holidays were coming up, a fact that seemed to be exciting the younger students more than the older ones. The fifth years were focusing on their OWLs, the seventh years on the NEWTs, and nearly everyone older than Frisk was complaining about overwhelming piles of homework.

"You're keeping up with yours, though, right Frisk?" Madam Pomfrey asked Frisk on the Sunday before break, when she was in the hospital wing. It was one of those rare days when there wasn't anyone to take care of when she came in to the wing, so they were going over some of the common items in the healer's supply cabinet and how to use them efficiently.

"I am, Madam Pomfrey," Frisk said, laughing. "I know what you'd do if I didn't, so don't worry. I'm keeping up."

Frisk was interrupted by the door to the hospital wing opening, and Fred and George Weasley stumbling in. Frisk hurried over to one of the twins, bracing herself as the much taller boy was unsteady on her feet. She looked up to him, and saw a major bruise on his cheek. A quick look of his arms as he steadied himself revealed another pair of circular bruises.

"What happened to you?" Madam Pomfrey asked, assisting the other twin. She sounded startled, and Frisk figured he must look the same way.

"Bludgers," said the first, as Frisk helped him sit down on one of the beds.

"Lots of bludgers," agreed the other, as Madam Pomfrey saw him on another bed.

"Bludgers?" repeated Madam Pomfrey. "But there's no Quidditch games this year. How on earth did you get hit by bludgers? Especially that many of them? And are you Fred or George?"

"I'm Fred," said the one near Madam Pomfrey. "And it was our own fault. There was a set of quidditch goals over in that big open field between the castle and Hagrid's hut. Sign said it would take more than a full team..."

"But we had to see exactly what would happen," explained George. "So we got our brooms and touched the sign, like it said. The sky filled with quidditch balls, quaffles and bludgers anyway. The quaffles were heading away from the goal, while the bludgers started looking for targets.

"And they only found two," Frisk supplied. "I'll get the pain numbing potion," she told the resident healer.

"Right," Fred said. "We got battered pretty good."

"They stopped when we fell off our brooms," George said as Frisk came back with the numbing potion. "So now we just have to try again."

"What?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, spilling a bit of the potion she was measuring out. "Why on Earth would you want to try again?"

"Because it has to be one of the challenges, and it's quidditch related!" George told her.

"Not by ourselves," Fred said. "We're going to get the rest of Gryfindor's quidditch team out there with us. And any other Gryfindor we can find who might join us."

"Not yet. You will let me take a look at that bruises first," Madam Pomfrey said.

"The hint was that you would need more than one full team," Frisk warned. "But if you're looking for other people, I'm sure Asriel and Chara would be eager to fly with you."

"We'll see if we can find them," Fred promised, as Madam Pomfrey wiped down his bruise. "Are you interested? We'll take all comers," George asked.

"I'm not that good at flying, and I don't like quidditch," Frisk said. "Thanks, but no thanks. If you're still trying later, maybe I'll come out and watch. If you can find Asriel and Chara, though, I'm sure they'd take you up on it."

"Alright, Alright," promised George.

"Why don't you like quidditch?" Madam Pomfrey asked after she'd finished seeing the twins, and they'd departed. "You're one of the few."

"It's a little too rough for me," Frisk told her. "And the examples here at school and and at the world cup didn't seem like good sportsmanship. One of my foster fathers, Mr. Macintosh, showed me an American hockey game once. I think it was for a trophy of its own. It was actually rougher than quidditch, if you can believe that. But at the end of it, after they celebrated, all the players lined up on the ice to shake each others hands. That's what I think of when I think of sports."

"You should see some league matches, they're not all like the players here. They're much more professional," Madam Pomfrey said. "It's not so bad."

"I guess, it's still not for me," Frisk said. "But what was that you were saying about bezoars?"


"So," Frisk said, as they sat down for dinner that evening. "Did Fred & George find you?" she asked her siblings.

"No," Chara said, "Why would they looking for us?"

Ginny sat down next to Frisk, looking exhausted. "They found a quidditch based challenge on the grounds. They got a lot of our house out there. We still got mauled. It looks like the object is to score some number of goals within a set amount of time. But the quaffles don't want to be caught and there's got to be at least fifteen to twenty bludgers out there. And the whole area they cover is just enormous. It's like a quidditch pitch itself in each direction from the goals." She took a deep breath. "Where's Opal?" she asked. "Or Ernie?"

"Who?"

"Ernie Macmilian, year ahead of me, two in front of you. He's one of Harry's friends. I need to find someone who might be able to introduce Angelina to Cedric Diggory. Angelina was going to be the Gryffindor captain this year, after Oliver graduated. It was her idea to get all four house teams in on this. That way wouldn't be accused of leaving anyone out, so if Cedric agrees, they can get Ravenclaw and Slytherin as well."

"That's a great idea," Frisk said, turning around, and scanning the Hufflepuff table. "There's Opal."

Opal was enthusiastic with the idea, and almost dragged Ginny over to meet Cedric before waiting for Angelina. Frisk watched the group progress on to the Ravenclaw table, before meeting up a big burly Slytherin. When Ginny returned, she was beside herself. "It's going to happen. They've all said yes."

"Angelina," Asriel said tentatively, as the older girl was about to depart. Angelina looked down at him. "Is there room for additional players? Would you be willing to let Chara and I help out our house?"

"We've agreed not to restrict it to the quidditch players. We'll want as many good fliers as we can get, after what I saw today," Angelina said. "And Opal's going to work with Cedric, so why not?" Her brown eyes glittered at Asriel. "We haven't flown together all year, though. So we've decided to put some practice in before taking on the challenge itself on Friday, after term ends. So, you'll come down to join us on Tuesday, right, and we'll see how you fly?"

Asriel looked at Chara, who nodded. "Right, see you then!"

After dinner, they were about to head up to the common room, when Frisk was struck with inspiration and flagged down the twins brother Ron. "Where's Hermione?" she asked. "I need to ask her a favor."

Ron looked around, but didn't spot her. "Library, probably. Why?"

"I just had a thought," Frisk said. "And actually, Asriel, did you know someone in Beauxbaton?"

"There was that one," Asriel said, "Gerald. I've seen him in the library a few times, but I wouldn't say I know him. In fact, that's him over there, why do you ask?"

Frisk just grinned.


Just about the entire school came out on the Friday at the end of the Spring Term. Frisk, Steven, and Luna headed out into the lawn, not that far from where the stands had been set up for the second task. They were also actually somewhat close to the goals that represented the center of the task. While they'd never have been allowed (or wanted) to sit under the action of a quidditch game, this had some variance. The first was that there wasn't (as far as they knew) any golden snitches that would require quick dives toward the 'pitch. The second was, they were technically involved in the game. Normally, if a quaffle hit the ground, it was given to the other team for a throw back. Since they were playing against an unstoppable clock, getting that ball back up to the players in the air needed to happen quickly.

The players came out of the quidditch locker rooms. Frisk didn't know for certain who had the idea to turn everything into a celebration, but she was pretty sure it was Fred and George. Angelina, the captain, was in the lead, with bright red Quidditch robes, with the rest of the Quidditch team behind them. Following them were the other members of Gryffindor who had joined in, including Ginny, Asriel, and Chara.

Slytherin was next, in their emerald green robes, led by Marcus Flint. Frisk spotted Chara's cousin Draco among the members. Then came Ravenclaw, led by their sixth year captain Roger Davies, whom Opal said was as the best tactician in the school. He was also in the chess club. The final group was the Hufflepuff team, in bright golden robes, led by the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory, with his team behind him, including one Opal Oxtoby, who looked thrilled to be up there.

"What are you looking for, Frisk?" Steven asked as the teams landed, with the captains taking cardinal points around the center goals.

"I'm pretty sure they'll be here shortly... there!" Frisk pointed up into sky, in the direction of the Beauxbaton carriage. There was not one, but two lines of fliers. Six in the sky blue quidditch robes of Beauxbaton, and, flying in formation with them, were six in the deep red robes of Durmstrang. At their lead were the tournament champions of their respective schools, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.

Fleur landed between Cedric and Angelina, while Viktor landed between Marcus and Roger. Frisk was just close enough to hear him ask, in his thick Germanic accent, "I hear that there is a quidditch challenge. Do you have room for one more group?"

Cedric stepped forward immediately, holding out his hand. "Of course we do. And it is completely my fault for not inviting you. I should have thought of it," he looked at the other captains. "We all should have. Thank you for joining us, Victor." Victor reached out and grasped his hand. Cedric turned to Fleur, "And thank you for joining us, Fleur." Frisk wasn't sure, but it appeared that the Ravenclaw captain was averting his eyes, and swallowing hard. Fleur reached out to shake his hand.

Around the goalposts, each of the captains shook hands with each other and their foreign guests. "Gryffindor?" Angelina called. "You ready?" There was a roar from the Gryffindor team members, and each coach in order called out to her or his team and got an answering call.

"Guess we're ready," Cedric said. "Viktor, you caught the snitch at the World Cup this year, would you like to do the honors, and start us off?"

Viktor nodded, put a hand on the center on the goal post. Immediately, the air was full at least two of the three quidditch balls. The red quaffles started a decent ways from the goal posts, and were trying to get further away. The bludgers, on the other hand, were all over the place. "Beaters!" one of the captains shouted. "Let's keep those things off our chasers!"

The smaller, more agile students had zipped out of the pack, racing towards the quaffles. Frisk was focused on the Gryffindors, she could see Harry Potter zipping out in front, and Asriel following closely behind. Chara was trailing after Asriel, swerving to swat a bludger that was coming in their direction.

Then it was back the other way, as Harry caught to a floating quaffle, corralled it, and turned quickly in the air. He spotted Angelina, and threw to her. She had to dodge another bludger, and then one of the twins, before she hurled the ball through one of the three goalposts in the center. As it went through, it quickly accelerated, spinning somewhere into the section being handled by the Ravenclaws.

"Look at the goal," Luna said, pointing. "It's changing colors."

So it was. The goalpost had started as a wooden brown color. But the bottom of it was now a bright purple, with a small portion of blue just above that. As Frisk watched, the purple section slowly grew longer, absorbing the blue portion. "That's the timer," she realized. A Hufflepuff had come in with another quaffle, pitching it through the hoop. As he scored, the blue section increased a bit further.

While the first few goals had been exciting enough, Frisk began to worry. They were overwhelming the challenge with sheer numbers, they were building a rather big lead on the clock. And the idea was to work together, wasn't it? This felt like five different groups all playing a similar game, but not with each other.

Frisk's first worry was seen to right away. There were several shouts coming from the edges of the challenge area. "Goalposts?" Frisk repeated. She had to pull out the omnioculars that Opal had lent her before she understood. Goalposts, five sets of them, had appeared in a ring around the center posts they were attacking. She wasn't able to watch exactly what happened when one of the free quaffles shot through one of the goalposts, but she had a pretty good idea it was going eat into their time.

"We need a keeper!" Angelina shouted from above her. "Ron, you're closest! Get to those posts and don't let anything through!" Ron split off from chasing down the quaffles, rushing directly to the goals, ready to defend them.

Frisk wasn't sure, but there seemed to be even more balls in the air now. Looking down at where Ron had set up on defense, she could see five goalposts, not the normal three. Even then, Ron seemed to have no issues when there was only one ball to intercept from scoring. The problem was when they came two or three at a time.

"Asriel!" she shouted, waving her arms. Asriel threw a quaffle towards Alicia Spinnet, and looked around for a moment before seeing Frisk trying to get his attention. "Ron needs keeper help, can you give him a hand?" Asriel have her a thumbs up, then went back the other direction.

It probably wasn't quite ten minutes into the challenge. The score had tightened very slightly, since the extra defensive players meant scoring had slowed down, but at least they'd stopped losing time.

Frisk was estimating they were about halfway to their goal, still ahead of pace, when the challenge decided to throw something new at them. It was obvious when it happened, as all the quaffles in the air suddenly changed directions, now all speeding to maybe a third of the circle. Their sky suddenly empty, the Gryffindors Frisk was watching didn't appear to know what to make of it at first, before they all zoomed to help out the suddenly overwhelmed Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. As Frisk stared through the omnioculars, it looked like a forest of goalposts had sprung up on the other side. There were calls from people around her, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, even someone not far from her yelling in French.

Frisk ran past the goals (which, themselves, had started rotating at a decent clip. That was going to make it harder to score) into the new zone, and it was clear that whatever plan the participants had going was devolving into chaos. The space they had to cover wasn't quite open enough for people to simply fly at full tilt like they'd been doing before.

But it was such a beautiful chaos. She spotted Asriel catch a ball that had slipped past a Durmstrang keeper, who was busy with a separate incoming quaffle. Opal beat away a bludger that was aiming itself for a stationary Beauxbaton boy, who was aiming a shot at their own target. Even traditional Hogwarts rivals were being forgotten. She spotted Draco Malfoy catching up to a quaffle, and delivering it to a streaking Ravenclaw chaser on her way back toward the goal. A minute later, one of the Weasley twins covered Slytherin captain Marcus Flint from getting his bell rang by a different streaking bludger.

The sky above was filled with such a colorful mess of balls and players, near misses and amazing saves, long shots and saves, that Frisk had forgotten to watch the time. A shout reminded her. The blue line had vanished, replaced with a thin red line above the ever growing purple line. "You're starting to fall behind!" called out someone sitting closer to the target.

If Frisk thought everything was moving fast already, that warning sent everyone into overdrive. Frisk saw a couple of near misses as there was a push to get those few extra goals to push them over the line. Victor Krum seemed to be everywhere, collecting multiple quaffles on the fly, dodging around a Ravenclaw and flying close enough to a Slytheren beater to have a chasing bludger deterred, before channeling his inner chaser and scoring two perfect goals himself.

Harry Potter was also driving himself, determined not to let any sort of quidditch challenge get the better of him. He was darting back and forth near the goals, keeping any quaffles that came near him from attempting a scoring shot.

A loud blaring noise from the center goal distracted everyone, and all the balls dropped from the sky, disappearing just before they hit the ground. Everyone was momentarily disoriented, before they stopped and stared at the goal that had served as their timer.

For a moment, everyone was still, looking at each other, staring down, wondering if they'd just barely won, or just barely lost.

Then the goalposts turned a bright gold. A blast of red smoke filled the air, before coalescing into words: "Time remaining: 0:12".

Normally, after a quidditch game, half the participants moped in defeat. This time, pandemonium erupted as the players (and there must have been sixty to seventy of them) all landed together, then enveloped each other in a massive celebration. Over to one side, Frisk saw Madam Hooch standing with a broom of her own in her hand, a wide smile on her face.