Despite the efforts of the teachers that night, Barty Crouch and the mysterious other figure in the forest were not found. According to Professor Lawrence; 'the whole thing was a complete mystery but nothing for the boys to be concerned about.' He was clearly not following his own advice, however and after he sent the boys away to their first lessons they could hear him muttering distressed comments under his breath as he walked away.
"So are the Hogwarts grounds always filled with murderous men?" whispered Chris to Hermione. They were sat in the back of the History of Magic classroom half listening to the ghostly professor droning on and half focusing on each other.
"According to Harry, Crouch wasn't murderous he was just... you know, insane." corrected Hermione. Harry didn't join in on the conversation himself as he was half asleep, his head resting on his books.
"Oh well that's fine then." replied Chris with a grin. "It's just one murderer and one crazy ministry official. It still kind of suggests a slight security problem though, doesn't it? I mean; how do you recon they got in and out?"
"I have no idea. Harry and Ron thinks he apperated but, obviously-"
"You can't apperate or disapperate within the Hogwarts grounds." completed Chris. Hermione looked please that she didn't have to repeat that phrase for the thousandth time- finally someone was paying attention. "I picked up a copy of Hogwarts a History from the library over Easter." he explained. "You were right- it was a really interesting read!" His words put a small smile of Hermione's face which lasted until the bell finally rang.
Chris was late down to breakfast the following morning and was disappointed to see he had missed the arrival of the owl mail- which was by far his favourite part of the morning. Ever since his second encounter with the man in the forest; Wyatt had become unstoppable in his determination to discover his true identity. The trouble, though, was in knowing where to start. All the usual methods they knew for tracking down problems that didn't want to be found involved maps or at least the ability to magically transport themselves. Chris considered asking to borrow Harry's magical map but he knew this was a non-starter. Although Harry would probably agree he would insist that he was involved with the search too and Chris thought he had enough to be worried about, what with the upcoming third task, without Chris adding this to his plate. Besides, the man had first come after Wyatt and Excalibur and then, during the second encounter; he had only appeared after Harry had disappeared. As far as Chris could tell the man was solely after Wyatt so it was their responsibility to stop him. They therefore stayed up late into that night trying to figure out any way to track down their foe which Hogwarts did not actively prevent.
Yawning, he spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in a tight huddle in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Chris couldn't see what they were looking at but as he drew closer and sat on the opposite side of the table to them, he caught the end of their conversation.
"...straight away. And you make sure you write back to snuffles and promise him you're not going to go sneaking off alone again." instructed Hermione in hushed tones.
"Who's Snuffles?" Asked Chris innocently, grabbing a piece of toast. All three of his new friends jumped at his words- apparently they had been too preoccupied to notice his arrival. Harry quickly crumpled up the letter he was hiding and shoved it into his bag whilst Ron turned expectantly to Hermione, clearly not knowing how to respond.
"He's umm..." began Hermione.
"He's my dog." Finished Ron quickly and both Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Your dog?" repeated Chris sceptically. Ron had never once mentioned he had a dog- six siblings and a garden full of animated gnomes, but never a dog. "Why is your dog sending Harry letters telling him to keep safe?" Again the three of them exchanged looks.
"Oh, umm... technically they're from my mum- she's really overprotective of Harry, you know, but...umm... instead of admitting it; she writes as my dog instead." Harry nodded slightly slower than he had before, and he was clearly trying not to laugh. Ron, however, seemed almost proud of his story, even bothering to add. "Yeah- Harry loves Snuffles, you see, so she thinks it has more power coming from him."
"Ok then." conceded Chris, deciding to test the lie rather than call them out. "What type of dog is Snuffles?" He asked. This time; Harry answered.
"Well, I can't remember the exact name of the breed, but he's pretty big- more like a wolf than a dog- and has a black, shaggy coat." Harry described it with such fondness that Chris would probably have believed the dog was real if the rest of the story weren't so ludicrous. He wanted to discuss it more, but lessons were about to start and so instead he decided to drop the subject for now and casually bring it up when they had more time.
"Well, I'm jealous." He declared, taking a final bite of his breakfast before getting ready to depart. "I've always wanted a dog."
"Yeah me too." said Ginny, pausing by her brother on the way to her first class. "We were always begging mum to let us have one, but after all the experiments Fred and George performed on Scabbers and Erol, mum wouldn't let us have any more pets. What?" She broke off, noticing the angry look her brother was giving her. "Why are you glaring at me? It wasn't my fault!"
Even after that, however, Chris couldn't get a straight answer about Snuffle's out of his friends. Eventually, Hermione played the girlfriend card and requested he just trust them and drop the subject and then, ideally, forget the name Snuffles as well. Chris wanted to respect her wishes, but there was something still nagging at him. This wasn't the first time his friends had asked him to forget a name he had heard from their mouths. Back when he had just arrived at Hogwarts; Harry and Hermione had been having a similar secretive conversation at the breakfast table and when Chris had asked Harry about it, Harry had told him to forget the name. Sadly, that time Chris had acquiesced to his request, but now he was resolved to remember. It wasn't so much that he didn't trust his friends, but the dog that Harry had described exactly matched the description of the dog he had seen meeting his friends in Hogsmeade and maybe if he found the answer to one mystery; he would understand the other.
As it turned out however, Chris didn't have a lot of time to start his own investigation. Between helping both Wyatt and Harry prepare for the third task, helping Wyatt and Callum investigate the forest's resident mad man, revising for end of year examinations and actually going to his classes; Chris scarcely had time to eat and sleep, let alone anything else. He therefore decided to drop the matter entirely, for now.
Wyatt was becoming obsessive with his hunt for the forest man and was now insisting that they would have to return to the forbidden forest if they had any hope of getting the answers they sought. He had wanted to go at night but as they couldn't orb or shimmer they very much doubted they would be able to get all the way down through the castle and out into the grounds without being caught so they had no choice but to go in the day time and hope that no one noticed.
Before they could, however, they needed a proper plan- wondering around the woods in the hopes of running into a clue was about as good a plan as wondering around the underworld in the hope of not running into a demon- so Wyatt returned to the manor for one night to consult the book of shadows and then he returned with a plan.
"It's simple!" He announced proudly. They were sat in the magic school common room, keeping their voices down so as not to be over heard. Wyatt was holding in one hand; a vile of some greenish-yellow liquid, and in the other; Excalibur. "This is a tracking potion. We just put it on the sword and it should be able to locate whoever held the sword last."
"Surely you held the sword last." pointed out Chris sceptically. "Then Dumbledore held it before that to keep it safe." Wyatt shook his head, clearly disappointed by his brother's doubt.
"Dumbledore never touched it- the sword corrupts whoever holds it if they are not the true heir, remember? The only people who have truly held it in the last thousand or so years is mom, me, that Malfoy kid and the creep in the forest."
"So what's to stop it tracking down the rest of you?" asked Callum eagerly.
"The potion just needs a small sample of each to eliminate from the sword. Mom and I already added a drop of blood, so now all we need is the kids..." Both Wyatt and Callum turned expectantly to Chris.
"And how the hell do you expect me to get a 'sample' from Draco? I can't slice his hand open in the middle of potions!"
"Why not?" questioned Callum with a shrug. "Just apologise and say your hand slipped."
"He sits on the opposite side of the room to me and, besides, Snape favours him. I'd be in detention for a month and loose more points than I've made all year!" He sighed, despite all the problems with the plan; it was their best shot at discovering the mysterious man's identity and he knew he needed to play his part if Wyatt and Callum were going to keep him in the loop. "Does it have to be blood?" He clarified after a moment's consideration, "I could maybe get some hair."
They agreed they would do it the next day. Wyatt and Callum both had the afternoon off and although Chris in theory had divination straight after potions; he had followed Hermione's lead in quitting it after only a few weeks. It wasn't that Chris didn't believe in predicting the future- his Aunt Phoebe was proof enough that it was possible- it was simply that he didn't think that tea leaves and crystal balls were the best way to go about it.
The fact that Chris was behaving very suspiciously during the morning's double potions lesson did not go unnoticed by his friends, nor did the fact that he seemed more focused on the back of Draco's head rather than on his steadily thickening potion.
"Chris!" hissed Hermione, nudging him out of his focus. "Chris, focus!" Chris switched his attention back to his own work bench where for the past few minutes he had been steadily mutilating the reeds he had been meaning to add.
"Oh right yeah." He said, scraping up what remained of the unfortunate plant and dropping it unceremoniously into the cauldron before turning his attention back to Malfoy.
"What's up with you today?" persisted Hermione, lowering the temperature of Chris' cauldron for him as he clearly hadn't noticed his concoction had begun to boil. Chris didn't want to lie to Hermione but he also didn't want to tell her the truth in case she tried to accompany him into the forest.
"Nothing, sorry, I'm just tired." He said lamely. The lesson was almost over and he was still no closer to getting what he needed. He had spent the lesson plotting the best ways to go about subtly stealing Malfoy's hair and still his only potential idea had been telekinesis. Unfortunately; he had had to scrap this plan as he wasn't sure he could explain his actions if anyone were to spot the hair floating across the classroom. His final chance came when they were cleaning up at the end of the hour. He had to walk past Draco to return his left over ingredients to the cupboard so hoped to subtly pluck a few strands of his hair as be brushed by. Sadly, though in his head; this was a seamless operation; in practice Malfoy's hairs were firmly attached to his head, and Chris was able to do little more than tousle the Slytherins hair on his way past, earning him some very strange looks from his peers and no useful samples.
Chris left the dungeons despondently, scarcely saying good bye to his friends as he wondered towards the entrance hall to meet Wyatt and Callum. It wasn't often these days that Wyatt would involve him in one of his stupid schemes- especially if there was a chance it would put Chris in danger- and now he was involved, he was failing at the first hurdle.
"Chris! Wait up!" called Hermione from the bottom of the stairs. Chris paused, he had left quite rudely and he didn't want Hermione thinking his attitude was in any way down to her. Hermione ran up the stairs to meet him, and then pressed something into his hand. "I don't know why you need this but-" Chris looked down into his palm and was startled to find he now possessed a thin lock of blonde hair.
"How did you get it?" He asked in a mixture of gratitude and awe.
"Same plan as yours but I used scissors rather than my bare hands." She stated, smiling at Chris' stunned face. "I've got to go, but tell me about it later ok." She pecked him on the lips then walked off but Chris stayed there for a few more moments. 'Scissors!' he thought to himself, 'how did I not think of scissors?'
Callum and Wyatt were already waiting for him at the entrance to the Forbidden Forrest by the time he arrived. They quickly added a small piece of Malfoy's hair to the potion- Chris neglected to say that his girlfriend had in fact retrieved it and not him- and then they doused both the blade and the hilt of Excalibur with it, causing it to glow faintly green.
"What now?" asked Callum, speaking in a whisper though there was no one else around. "How does this work?" Wyatt didn't bother to answer him, but rather telekinetically lifted up the sword so it lay horizontal in the air and allowed it to slowly spin around.
"It should glow brighter when it points in the right direction." He explained. The boys were silent for a while as they watched the sword slowly spin as the magic attempted to get its bearings. After a few rotations the sword was clearly brightening and darkening in a pattern, but the pattern made no sense. It appeared to be glowing brighter when it faced the castle and dimming when it faced the forest.
"This can't be right!" declared Callum after the fourth rotation. "You must have mixed the potion incorrectly!" Wyatt shook his head indignantly.
"The potion was perfect- mom said so herself!" The boys then turned accusingly towards Chris. "Was the hair you collected definitely Malfoy's?" demanded Wyatt.
"Yes!" Exclaimed Chris defensively- though, of course, he hadn't actually seen Hermione steel it. "Look, clearly the guy is in that direction. It doesn't mean it's someone we know; it just means they are currently there- maybe they've just snuck in to go to the bathroom or to steel some food. The forest can't exactly be the most practical place to live! The only way we're going to find out more is by following the trail!"
With that, He telekinetically seized control of the sword from Wyatt and began to walk back towards the castle, followed quickly by his brother and Callum. Every now and then he would rotate the sword, just to make sure they were still heading in the right direction, but the bearing never changed.
When they were back in sight of other people, they had to find a way to be more subtle with their investigation- if they were seen roaming the corridors following the floating, glowing Excalibur, then people might, justifiably, be curious. Wyatt therefore hid the sword beneath a cloak Callum had borrowed from one of his new Hogwarts friends, and they took it out at every junction for direction. They had been following the sword for over ten minutes through the complex network of corridors without luck when they ran into Harry.
They had just reached a T-junction and were using the sword to determine the way when he walked up behind them. He was rubbing his head and frowning and had almost walked into the group before he even seemed to spot them. Wyatt quickly re-concealed the sword and flashed Chris a look saying 'get rid of him quickly'.
"Hey Harry." said Chris in a tone that was half friendly and half concerned about his friend's obvious pain. "Why aren't you in divination? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine- just a headache." He murmured, he took his hand away from his forehead and Chris was startled to see that the usually pale scar on his friend's head was suddenly a scolding red. "So what are you up to?"
"What? Oh nothing, just exploring." lied Chris. "Are you heading back to Gryffindor tower?" He asked, turning the attention back on Harry. Harry shifted on the spot and Chris suspected he wasn't the only one holding back from the truth.
"Uhh... sort of." replied Harry. Ordinarily Chris would have investigated further as clearly something was going on with Harry and his scar. Today though, Chris had his own task and he just had to trust that Harry was alright. "Any way, I'd better keep going." Said Harry, Chris nodded and let him walk past, adding this encounter on to the list of mysteries that seemed to grow every time he spoke to his friends.
"Sword says we're going that way too." said Wyatt, pointing after Harry once he was out of earshot. He too seemed concerned about the other Champion but they both silently agreed that now was not the time to focus on it.
It was another few minutes before they ran into anyone else. This time professor Lawrence, clearly in a hurry, almost barrelled into them on his way to a meeting.
"Sorry boys!" he called over his shoulder, "The minister for magic is in the castle and I'm supposed to talk to him about-" But he had rounded the corridor before he could even finish his sentence. The boys payed him no attention as they continued with their quest.
"I don't believe this!" muttered Wyatt with a frown, once more examining the glowing sword for direction. "It's saying we've got to go back that way!"
Both Chris and Callum clarified this for themselves, and indeed the sword was now glowing brightest when pointed back down the corridor they had just walked up.
"You don't think it's professor Lawrence, do you?" questioned Callum nervously. "I mean it led us to him and now it's leading us back after him! He has always been kind of... off." Neither Wyatt nor Chris could believe this though. Professor Lawrence and their father had been friends since before any of them were born and Leo had trusted him to look after both of his sons as well as the rest of the magic school students this year. There was no way he would betray him now.
"The guy must just be moving around in the castle." dismissed Chris. "The potion probably just recalculated the quickest route." Again they set off following the direction of Excalibur and this time they had only walked for three minutes when they ran into more familiar faces.
Professor Dumbledore was leading Professor Moody and a man Chris guessed was the minister for magic through the castle. They were having a very serious discussion and Chris guessed it was also private as they broke off the moment they caught sight of the three teenagers.
"Excuse us, boys." said the clearly flustered Minister for Magic. "Important business and- wait a minute. Wyatt Halliwell?" he clarified, no doubt having read about him in the Daily profit. "Most impressive work in the first two tasks, my boy, I look forward to seeing what you bring to the finale." The man beamed as he shook Wyatt's hand. Chris suspected the man was less interested in Wyatt's achievements, however, and more interested in Wyatt's heritage as heir to Excalibur. "And this must be your brother and... friend." He guessed, turning to Chris and Callum. Both boys smiled and shook his hand too, but they could tell that the minister had more pressing matters. "Having a god time at Hogwarts I trust? Good, good." Behind him, Professor Moody cleared his throat. "Well, if you'll excuse us, we must get on but, all the best for the final task." Wyatt smiled as the minister shook his hand one final time and then gestured for Dumbledore continue to lead the way.
"Wow Wyatt, you're famous!" jibed Callum, hitting his friend on the arm. "The British minister for magic knows your face!" Wyatt grinned as well, but wasted little time in returning his attention to the matter at hand. "It's telling is to go down the same corridor as them." He said. "Maybe we should give it a few minutes. I didn't exactly tell Dumbledore I was taking back Excalibur and I'm not sure how he'd feel about us launching our own investigation." The others agreed.
They continued to follow the swords trail for another ten minutes before it became clear where it was taking them. "I can't believe this!" exclaimed Wyatt, hitting the sword several times as if it were some ailing piece of technology. "It's taking us back out to the forest!" They were stood in the entrance hall and indeed the sword did seem to be glowing brighter each time they pointed it towards the main door.
"I guess the guy must have gone back outside." Shrugged Chris, slightly relieved as this at least indicated that the man had only stopped by Hogwarts for a visit. They began to follow the sword's trail back outside, but it had now been almost an hour since they'd applied the potion and already it's effects were beginning to fade. In the end they gave up. Wyatt had no more potion, Callum had no more patients and Chris had no more faith in the plan- if whoever this guy was could avoid them in the narrow corridors of Hogwarts, then there was no way they were going to track him through the open expanse of the forest.
Despite Chris' reductants in previous tasks to too greatly interfere with Harry's preparation for fear of being seen as either sabotaging a rival school's Champion or betraying his own, Chris had little choice but to be involved this time around if he had any hope of seeing Hermione outside of lessons. For the next few weeks; every spare moment the trio had they seemed to spend in unused classrooms practising any spell Harry might need for the upcoming task. They practised every spell they could find in their spell books- everything from basic charms to full body jinxing. Chris was impressed with the level of friendship both Ron and Hermione demonstrated in letting Harry practise on them- he would never let Wyatt within ten feet of him if he were holding the wand.
"All right Chris, you're up." called Ron. He had been stunned twice already and Hermione was confident that if they did it too many times it could have some serious consequences. Chris looked up from the book he was studying- he had taken to revising wherever he could manage what with all the time the third task preparation was taking up.
"What?" He questioned. For all their previous practices they had allowed him to just sit in the back of whatever room they were in and to occasionally suggest a new spell they should try. He had so far avoided being the practice dummy but apparently his friends now had other ideas. "No way." he stated firmly.
"Come on!" Said Harry turning from Chris to the long list of spells Hermione had compiled. "I'm never going to learn all of these if I can't practise!" Chris shrugged, determined not to give in.
"Who says I want you to know all of those spells?" he pointed out, returning to his book on transfiguration theory. "You're not my school champion and if Wyatt ends up losing because I let you jinx me then I'll be an outcast for ever."
"Well then, you can just transfer here." offered Hermione with a flirtatious smile. Ron rolled his eyes but, seeing the grin her words put on Chris' face, he continued with this line of persuasion.
"Come on! If you don't volunteer then Hermione'll have to go again and what sort of boyfriend are you if you won't even take a jinx or two for her?" Chris shrugged again, not even bothering to look up from his book to reply.
"She volunteered and as a devout feminist I would never dream of saying she needs my protection." He said. "Besides, if I learnt anything from my mom and aunts it's that women can handle most things better than men any ways." Hermione smiled at his words, and neither Ron nor Harry could come up with an argument against him on this point.
"Fine then." conceded Harry. "You can fight back." Chris actually bothered to look up from his book at Harry's words.
"What?" clarified Chris. "Are you saying you want to fight me?" Harry shrugged.
"Why not? In the maze whatever I have to face won't just stand still and let me jinx it and it probably won't be a straight wizard duel so practising with these two isn't so helpful."
"I'm sorry, are you asking for my help by comparing me with whatever creatures you're going to face? A lesser witch would be offended." He shut his book and stood up, moving to the centre of the room where they had moved the desks to the side to create more space. "You do realise I've beaten demons, right? And you want to fight me with a stick." He pointed out with a grin. Harry seemed suddenly less confident, but he didn't back down.
"Bring it on." He challenged. Chris nodded, but didn't pause to make sure Harry was ready. With a flick of his fingers he mentally pulled Harry's wand from his hand and into his own.
"Come on, you've got to be more prepared than that! Constant vigilance, remember?" He taunted- quoting their crazy defence against the dark arts teacher. He threw the wand back to Harry and re-adjusted his weight into a fighting stance.
This time he let Harry strike first, diving to the ground as a jet of red light sped towards him. Again he tried to pull the wand from Harry's fingers, but this time Harry was prepared and had tightened his grip, already shooting a second jinx at him before he had time to think. Chris scarcely managed to dodge it and decided it would be quicker, and safer, to give up on magic this round. From his crouching position on the floor, he kicked out his legs, taking out Harry's and sending him crashing to the floor. His wand rolled out of his hands and once more Chris picked up it up triumphantly, twirling it around his fingers mockingly.
"Giving up yet?" He asked smugly, once more throwing the wand back to Harry. Clearly he was regretting the challenge, but was not quite ready to concede.
"One more try." he said, throwing out his wand arm and sending a jinx at Chris before the witch could even reply. This time, Chris was only able to avoid it by dispersing into a cloud of orbs. Obviously, due to the Hogwarts magical shields, he couldn't go anywhere- so he just reappeared, but his move stunned all three of his friends who had never seen such magic, and he took advantage of the distraction by pushing out both of his arms and sending Harry flying backwards- three-nil to him.
For the weeks leading up to the task, Chris alternated his time between helping Wyatt and helping Harry. It was fascinating for him to see the difference in styles between the two champions. Harry was learning clever charms which should not only help him against any foe he faced, but which would also help him navigate the maze. Conversely, Wyatt's plan for the maze was one that he had learned from their Uncle Henry aged five. If you pick one of the two walls at the entrance to the maze and then follow that edge; eventually it will take you to the middle. It wasn't the most glamourous of plans, but Wyatt wasn't great with fiddly charms- or any charms if it meant using a wand.
The two Champions had such different techniques that it was impossible for Chris to call a winner- especially as he was only witnessing half the competition. The only thing he knew for certain was that it was going to be an interesting finale.