A/N: Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. So, finally here is the first task. I'm sorry for it not being up sooner, but for anyone who follows hockey, which I do, the NHL is coming back and that makes me a very happy person! So I blame that. Plus I've been reading other Lily/Scor stories. Check out my favorite ones on the profile if you haven't read some yet.

As always, please let me know what you think.

Ch. 12 The First Task

Scorpius took a deep breath. He just had to survive the task and after all Mr. Potter said I wouldn't die and he had to trust the Boy Who Lived, right? Yes, Scorpius decided he could. As he made his way to the stage with the other three Champions, Scorpius could hear Professor McGonagall's voice welcoming students.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our first task as you can see has multiple stations. The Champions were all given a clue. It read, 'Be All That You Can Be.' Our friends from the States should recognize that as the slogan for the United States Army. So, Champions, you will go through an obstacle course of sorts. Each Army recruit goes through an obstacle course during their basic training and you will do the same. Most of the course will take your strength and some places you will need your wand. We want to test you not only magically, but physically. "

Scorpius looked over at the course. He could see some wooden beams and nets. Scorpius was strong. Quidditch had made him well built and he hopes his strength would benefit him. However as he looked over at his competition, his stomach dropped. Marko was definitely a massive amount of a human. Scorpius was sure that Marko's arm muscles were as big around as Scorpius' head. Loren, the Champion from Beauxbaton, was a skinny, tall blonde, and Scorpius had a feeling he shouldn't under estimate her. And lastly, Scorpius looked at that awful bloke Kevin. Kevin was average height, but not as tall as Scorpius' 6' 2" frame and Scorpius didn't need any more incentive to beat the bloody snot out of him. As this thought ran through Scorpius' mind, he flashed the trademark Malfoy smirk towards the Yank. "What has you so happy, Malfoy?" Kevin sneered.

"Many a happy moment has happened in my life just today—the biggest being finding out about your idiotic decision to dump the greatest girl in the world. But I didn't dwell on that for long because that's the best news I've ever heard in my life." Scorpius turned away. "And beating you will be the second greatest event today. As you Yanks say, 'Eat my dust!'" Kevin had no response. The boy turned towards the course.

McGonagall was still talking, "Champions, when you see the light flash you will make your way through the obstacle course. The course is wide enough that you should not touch each other; doing so may cause you to forfeit points in the eyes of the judges. Do your best to complete the task as fast as you can. After all Champions have completed, you will receive your next clue based on the order in which you finish. Good luck to you all." The four Champions stepped up to the red starting line. They were going to start off going over a log wall. All four waited for the light to flash from the Professor's wand. Scorpius looked up and saw the flash.

None of the three boys had any trouble getting over the wall. Marko had the most brute strength and toppled over almost immediately. Kevin was the next to make it over and Scorpius wasn't far behind. It took Loren a little longer because she didn't have the same upper body strength as the boys.

Marko made it to the next obstacle, hopping through tires followed by crawling under barbed wire. As the course went along other obstacles included climbing up a twelve foot cargo net, rope swinging from log to log and hopping over smaller, inverted walls. This obstacle coursed different from a muggle course because it also included flying. The Champions ran to a station holding generic brooms and flying through various steel hoops and different height levels. The course finished up with three laps around the Quidditch pitch on the broom. Twenty minutes into the race, Marko was still winning.

Lee Jordan's son, Samuel, announced the action since he had no Quidditch to commentate. "Durmstrang Champion, Marko is still in the lead, but he is followed closely by our own Scorpius Malfoy and Salem's Kevin. Loren seems to be coming along. Oh no, she just got her foot stuck in the cargo net. I hope she gets out of that one alive. Got to watch out for those nasty cargo nets. Luckily, Hogwarts' Malfoy made it through that net,"

Professor McGonagall, "Samuel, stick to being impartial."

"Sorry, Headmaster, I'll get back to the others. But can anyone blame me for pulling for Scorpius? I don't think so," McGonagall glared, "So, really, looks like Marko has found his broom. Seems to have trouble mounting it. You would think with famous Quidditch star Viktor Krum as your Headmaster that maybe Marko was familiar with a broom. His challenges have allowed both Kevin and Scorpius to catch up. Scorpius Malfoy, Gryffindor Quidditch player makes this obstacle look easy. He is through the first three hoops easily. Kevin Williams isn't far behind. He and Scorpius are neck and neck. Oi, bugger off, Williams just kicked Malfoy. Hopefully the judges deduct some points from him. That was uncalled for."

The conversation in the air wasn't very nice either.

"What in the name of Merlin was that for, Williams? Afraid I'm going to beat you so you have to cheat?" Scorpius and Kevin were still flying side by side.

Luckily Scorpius couldn't hear Kevin's long winded curse words because the wind drowned him out.

Sam Jordan could be heard again, "Alright, again, sorry Headmaster. Loren is no longer far behind Marko. I do hear some encouraging chants for the Beauxbaton Champion. Back to the leaders. Both Scorpius and Kevin are on their second laps around the pitch. It's going to be close."

Lily held her breath as she saw the two inching towards the finish line. And just at the last minute, Jordan announced, "And Kevin Williams comes in first followed by Scorpius Malfoy. It was certainly close. We will go down to Professor McGonagall for the final judging. Oh and finally, here comes Marko Gruev and now here comes Loren Fluerissant. Good race for three out of those four Champions, however I know us Hogwarts students are still miffed about what Williams did to Malfoy."

"JORDAN!" bellowed McGonagall. "Sorry, back down to the Headmaster."

"Congratulations to our four Champions for finishing their first task. Everyone made it through and no one was hurt. We should all be proud of that." McGonagall turned back to the judges to wait for their response. From what Lily and the rest of the Potter/Weasley family could see it looked as though McGonagall, Harry, Hermione and the Salem Headmaster Diana were arguing over something. They family was sure it concerned the kick Kevin delivered. McGonagall spoke again, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I will turn the attention over to one of our judges, Mrs. Hermione Weasley.

Hermione stepped up, "We have an important announcement about the finals. At the beginning of the race, Professor McGonagall told the Champions they were not supposed to touch each other or impede the other Champions in any way. There was an incident during the race the judges could not overlook. Therefore despite the physical results, the judges docked points from Kevin Williams, the Salem Champion." A round of boos could be heard from the Salem students. "The final results of the race are as follows. Finishing in fourth place is Loren Fluerissant, in third place is Marko Gruev, in second place is Kevin Williams and finishing in first place is Scorpius Malfoy. The Champions will be given their clues as they file out of the arena. The judges hope this serves as a lesson to the fellow Champions. The judges will not tolerate anyone breaking the rules." Hermione walked back to the table with the rest of the judges feeling she was able to get the point across while also letting the students learn a lesson. Hermione loved being able to provide teaching moments! Her feelings wouldn't last long.

As the Champions were walking out of the arena, Kevin wanted to say his piece, "Way to go, Malfoy. Had to get your way by sucking up to the judges. Why don't you try winning with your natural abilities." The boys moved closer to each other while the judges were preoccupied with the Salem Headmaster still.

"Don't be a spoil sport, Williams. It definitely doesn't suit you." Kevin lunged at Scorpius. What snapped the judges out of their own world was the sound of Kevin's fist crunching against Scorpius' nose. Despite the blood in his eyes, Scorpius was able to land a few punches back at Kevin. Next thing both of the boys knew was being thrown into different directions. Harry Potter had cast a shield charm between the two. Harry rushed towards Scorpius while Viktor Krum went to hold Kevin back.

"What do you boys think you are doing? Why are you fighting and throwing punches like muggles?" Neither boy wanted to talk.

"Harry, it vas not Mr. Malfoy's vault. Mr. Villiams threw da virst punch."

"Krum would you mind escorting Mr. Williams outside while I take care of Mr. Malfoy?" Viktor nodded yes and proceeded to drag Kevin outside and to his locker room.

Harry waited until Krum and Williams left and then he headed out with Scorpius. "Scorpius, are you alright? Clearly not with all this blood. Let's get you up to Madam Pomfrey." Harry and Scorpius were shortly joined by a great mass of people including Draco, Astoria, Ginny Potter, Albus and Lily. Astoria stopped the group to look at her son.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Astoria lifted up Scorpius' chin to get a better look at his nose.

"I got to give the git a couple of punches after he did this so I feel a bit better. Mum, last time I check you weren't a healer so can we keep going to the hospital wing?" Scorpius was exhausted and wanted to at least sit down. Astoria laughed. "Yes, son, let's go. Thank you for getting him out of that situation, Harry."

Al wanted to say something to his best friend. "Did you want us to go after the bloke? While we watched it happen every single Potter/Weasley wanted to rip the guy's head off, even Uncle Ron was furious." Draco laughed.

"Something, funny, Malfoy?" It was Harry who asked. It was tough to get over their childhood anger.

"Potter, I never thought I would see the day when any Weasley, let alone Ron, would want to defend a Malfoy. What have they done to us?" Harry chuckled and had to admit Draco was right, but he knew how much his family loved Scorpius. The only person who was silent the entire walk was Lily. She didn't know what to say. She just watched her ex-boyfriend punch her; well Lily didn't know exactly what to call Scorpius.

Madam Pomfrey stayed back in the hospital wing to be ready for anybody who came in during the first task. Professor McGonagall would send the injured person up if she knew they needed to be attended. She was not surprised to see the Potter family walk in, but she was surprised that none of them were hurt. She knew none of them were competing, yet she wouldn't be shocked if one of them were injured somehow.

Madam Pomfrey told Scorpius to sit in the bed so she could examine her patient. When she turned around she noticed her path was blocked by not only Astoria Malfoy, but Ginny Potter as well. The two mothers couldn't help their instinct to fawn over Scorpius. "Excuse me ladies, but let me see the boy so I can set his nose correctly. Let's hope he doesn't always have a crooked nose." Scorpius yelped out in pain as Madam Pomfrey touched his nose. "Ah, it's worse than I feared. Your nose is broken in multiple places. I'm going to need to set it non-magically first and then I'll give you a potion to help it heal in one piece. The first part will not be pleasant, but I plan to give you a sleeping draught for your nose to heal better since you will be in pain. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter, will you please hold the patient down. He can't move while I do this." Scorpius again cried out in pain as his nose was set. Madam Pomfrey gave him both potions and Scorpius fell asleep quickly.

"You all can go. He will sleep for the night and should be healed in the morning. It really wasn't as bad as it could have been." The Malfoys and Potters thanks Madam Pomfrey and left the room.

"I hate to leave him, Draco." Astoria was rightfully worried about her son. Lily spoke up first.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I will sit with Scorpius. It is still the weekend and I certainly don't mind keeping him company. I'm sure you have appointments to keep." Astoria gathered Lily's hands within her own.

"Thank you, darling. I'm sure he would rather have you sitting by him than the rest of us." Lily blushed. She tried to hide her face. "Ginny, Harry, would the two of you like to walk out with us?" The Potters nodded and hugged Lily and Al.

"Well, Sis, I'll leave you and Scorpius alone. I'll come by in the morning with breakfast. Make sure you get some sleep, Lils."

Lily walked into the hospital wing. She let Madam Pomfrey know she would stay the night. "Just don't disturb my patient." Madam Pomfrey walked into her office. Lily pushed a chair over to Scorpius' bed. She took his hand into her own and quietly cried. She knew Scorpius was nervous about getting hurt during the challenge. Little did he know he would have to worry about his health after the challenge was over.

"Scor, I'm so sorry he hit you. I know you will be okay, but I can't stand seeing you sleeping in this bed. Don't you ever get hurt again." Lily knew he couldn't respond to her, but she wanted to say it anyway. She took Scorpius' hand and kissed it. The gesture wasn't huge, but it was sweet. And Lily wanted Scorpius to know she cared.

A/N: Please let me know what you think. I've been reading a lot of Jane Austen lately which I think influenced this last part of the chapter.