The Wall of Stone

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

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Chapter 9 The Second Task

The morning of the second task in the Triwizard tournament dawned clear but cold in Scotland. During breakfast in the Great Hall, the students and faculty noted the absence of Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, Headmistress Maxime, and Headmaster Karkaroff from the staff table. When Deputy Headmistress McGonagall motioned toward Ludo Bagman, the only judge present, struggled to stand on his single leg and announced that everyone should make their way to the stands set up beside Black Lake as soon as breakfast ended. Bagman declared, "Mr Harry Potter, the lone champion, will swim to the village of the merfolk to retrieve a dear friend. If Potter failed to release the hostage and get them to the surface of the lake before the end of one hour, the hostage would drown in the cold water."

"Who is Potter's hostage?" demanded several voices from the student tables. Bagman waved off the question and motioned for the elf to pop him down to the platform for the judges. Only half of the students made the trip from the castle to the stands that had been constructed by the house elves in just the last few days. Harry frowned the entire time, checking with friends and acquaintances to determine who might be missing and underneath the water.

By the time Potter stood alone on the dock, he was confused – his friends were all accounted for and so were the Weasleys, Luna Lovegood, the Hufflepuff acquaintances, and even the somewhat friendly Slytherins.

Percy Weasley, who'd been sent by the ministry to represent the absent Cornelius Fudge, approached Potter to start the task. Weasley asked, "Are you going to jump in the water in your robes, Potter? They'll get wet and pull you down to drown in the mud at the bottom of the lake."

Scowling at Percy, Harry said nothing and waited for the task to begin. When Percy set off a band with his wand, Harry summoned of the small boats that were used once a year to bring the first-year students from the train station to the castle. He climbed in a set off across the lake, using multiple spells to locate the village of the merfolk. A locomotion spell moved the boat through the water effortlessly and in less than five minutes, Potter brought the boat to a stop over the village at the far end of the lake.

The photographer from the Daily Prophet had talked with Colin Creevey several times after the first task, and the two shutter-bugs cooperated on using telephoto lenses to capture close ups of Harry Potter across the length of Black Lake. Today, they would work together to photograph the events on the surface of the lake.

Back on the platform for the judges, Percy Weasley made certain a reporter was close enough to hear him ask, "Bagman, who thought that watching the surface of Black Lake in the middle of February would be exciting or entertaining?"

The disabled wizard ignored the question while the reporter spoke to Madam Bones (an observer who was very interested in the missing persons) though it would be 48 hours before she could file formal reports and begin investigating the disappearances. Amelia echoed Percy's question with her comment, "This is as exciting as watching Cornelius Fudge present his budget for the coming year. Everyone falls asleep in the first five minutes."

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Harry removed his outer robes and revealed that he was wearing a muggle wet suit to protect him from the coldness of the water (somewhat). Colin caught the image of Harry lifting a large rock from the bottom of the boat and stepping over the side. The rock ensured that the boy dropped to the bottom of the lake quickly. The moment Harry's head disappeared under the water, the bubble head charm enchanted in the neck of the wetsuit by some runes, appeared around his head, allowing him to breath under the surface.

When he reached the bottom of the lake, Harry dropped the rock and drew his wand to cast the luminous spell so he could see the features of the lake bottom. He'd landed near the centre of the village and the merfolk pointed him toward the only large structure in their village – a tall pillar carved into the likeness of a fierce undersea creature. Harry swam forward and stopped in surprise when the found the four missing adults – Dumbledore, Sprout, Maxime, and Karkaroff tied with a single rope that reached around the pillar.

'Huh?' Potter wondered what to do for a long moment before he moved forward and used his wand to cut the rope. He went to each of the enchanted hostages and cast a spell to inflate their robes with air (a jinx charm from Gred and Forge Weasley). Above the water, the jinx revealed undergarments of the victims. Today, the bubbles began carrying the hostages to the surface.

Unfortunately, Madam Maxime's weight was greater than the buoyancy of the bubble of air could lift, and then Harry realized that her giant ancestry made her resistant to his levitation and feather-light spells. Determined to return to the surface, Harry grabbed Madam Maxime's arm and cast a spell to propel him, the giantess, and the other hostages to the surface.

On the surface another problem became apparent when the four hostages woke without problem but didn't remember anything – not their names, how to swim, or how to use any of their magic. Harry yelled louder than the hostages and convinced them to grab hold of the edges of the boat and he used the same propulsion spell to push the heavy weighted vessel back to the dock. In the shallow water around the dock, the four adults were able to walk out of the cold dark water and into the care of Madam Pomphrey who had been expecting one hostage.

Harry was interviewed by the reporters and Percy Weasley for a long time, and he recounted finding four hostages, using the Weasley Air Bubble Jinx to float them to the surface, and then discovering once their heads broke the surface that each hostage had forgotten their names, and everything about their lives. Supercilious Percy Weasley demanded that Madam Bones arrest Harry Potter for cursing the judges with the Obviation spell. The Director of the DMLE frowned and respectfully asked, "Mr Potter, might I examine your wand to see what spells you've cast today?"

Frowning at Percy with a promise of payback, Harry replied, "Certainly Madam Bones and please make certain there is not another magical focus hidden on my body like Mr Weasley has in his left boot."

Percy paled and sputtered while Director Bones ignored him and checked Harry's wand. She declared, "Mr Potter has used spells to propel the boat through the water, cut a rope, cast the jinx to place large bubbles of air underneath the robes of the hostages, levitation and feather light charms, and then more propulsion spells to pull Madam Maxime to the surface, and then push the boat with the hostages hanging on for dear life to the shore."

She glanced at Percy before she cast a spell on Harry Potter and then declared, "Mr Potter does not have any additional wands on his person. He did not cast any obliviating spells on the hostages."

Mr Bagman cast the spell to let everyone hear his announcement, "Mr Harry Potter completed the Second Task in just under an hour and saved four hostages, rather than the single hostage he expected to find. He leads…"

The man fell silent rather than continue the statement about Potter leading in the tournament's points contests.

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Return of Memories

During a long night in the Hogwarts Infirmary, the four hostages recovered their memories. Dumbledore was last to remember his name, and his position as headmaster of the school. Before dinner that next day, Karkaroff and Maxime apparated away once they could picture their destination firmly in their minds.

In the aftermath of the mess that was the second task (the newspapers and weekly magazines in Britain and on the continent ran successive stories with multiple photographs and background pieces on the judges used as 'hostages' and opined that the use of underage children without the permission of the parents would have been criminal.

Pomona Sprout complained that she was unable to warm up even after two weeks. Matron Pomphrey could find nothing wrong and counselled the Herbology witch to consult with the healers at Saint Mungo's Hospital. Having regained his usual controlling nature, Albus caught a hint of this recommendation and purposefully assigned Sprout duties on the weekend to prevent her travel to London. Deputy Headmistress McGonagall refused to countermand Dumbledore's orders and Pomona cried in despair.

In an innocent letter (yeah right) to her aunt, Susan Bones explained the dilemma that the head of Hufflepuff faced. At breakfast on a Sunday morning, Director Amelia Bones arrived at the castle and took Professor Sprout into custody as a material witness in the case the DMLE was building against Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore for planning to use an underage witch or wizard as Mr Potter's hostage in the second task.

"You can't arrest Professor Sprout!" the headmaster shouted from the staff table as two Aurors escorted the witch from the Great Hall.

"Are you still suffering from memory loss, headmaster?" Bones asked while photographers took pictures of the principals. "I haven't arrested Professor Pomona Sprout. The DMLE has taken her into custody to question her about the events the night before the second task in your Triwizard Tournament."

"The events…what do you mean?"

"I need her memories of you plotting to kidnap underage someone to put under an enchantment and then leave at the bottom of Black Lake. The ICW is most interested in this latest complaint against you," Bones explained. Then she innocently asked, "Did you not remember that the Delacour and Krum families are suing you in the ICW courts?"

Blushing with embarrassment, Dumbledore muttered about Madam Bones revealing that private information to the public. The headmaster made no additional protests and the DMLE apparated away from Hogwarts taking Professor Sprout to Casualty at Saint Mungo's. In the admissions area, Amelia withdrew the desired memories from Pomona's mind with the Chief of Surgery as the witness, no one would doubt the authenticity of the memory. An Auror guard remained with the professor the entire time she was at hospital and kept Director Bones updated on her progress.

Potions to heal Sprout's magical core and simple core strengthening exercises were prescribed and the Aurors returned Professor Sprout during the evening meal. And the Aurors publicly thanked the witch for sharing the memory of the night in question with them so freely.

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Consequences of Dead Horcrux

Possessed Lucius Malfoy/Lord Voldemort found himself unable to sleep after only two weeks of mutual existence. The Dark Lord refused to allow Malfoy to have control of his body at any time or to think without Tom Riddle being present. The cumulative effect of this abuse was that the health and well-being of the shared brain and body suffered – terribly.

As soon as he took possession of Malfoy's body, Tom Riddle was shocked to find that his magic had been reduced by half and he could not think of a reason why that had happened. When he possessed Professor Quirrell, Lord Voldemort had access to the same amount of power he'd had in October 1981. Then, there were the strange episodes of terrible pain on three successive days in November. The first experience of pain ended with Lucius/Tom dancing around the room and kicking Wormtail repeatedly in the ribs. After he'd come to his senses, Lord Voldemort cast healing spells on Peter Pettigrew and was shocked to find his magic was again reduced.

The next day, there'd been another episode of pain – somehow someone subjected the Dark Lord (and his host) to the pain of the Cruciatus Curse. Tom was unable to identify the cause of the pain that left 'his' body trembling and weak. But Lucius revealed that the pain had been the Unforgiveable torture curse. Pettigrew had been sent for pain relief potions and the expensive potions to repair the damage to the nerve endings across Malfoy's body. (And it took the bloody fool almost two hours to apparate to Bristol and back).

And Tom's reserves of magic were once again reduced. He hid this fact from Lucius, but Malfoy noticed his 'visitor' was unable to keep them warm and clean. When the next episode of pain and loss of magic occurred the third day, Peter became concerned that he would be caring for a huge infant in a short amount of time. Lucius/Tom was unable to feed himself and hunks of Malfoy's white, blonde hair fell from his head.

Too frequent consumption of pain and Cruciatus recovery potions had upset the magical cores of Lucius and Tom, and this compounded the problems of possession. The Daily Prophet was ignored for several days while Pettigrew dealt with a morose Dark Lord and his silent host. When Lord Voldemort finally looked at the newspaper, his declarations of "Lies! Potter can't do this magic!" were loud enough to be heard in the nearby village. But the people were mindful of the stories of ghosts, a giant serpent, and witches so they stayed away.

By the middle of January, possessed Lucius/Tom was completely unable to care for his body's needs, and worse, anytime the 'man' took the Dark Lord's white wand in his hand, it caused him pain. Lord Voldemort cried that his magic had deserted him, sat silent on a rotting chair, and refused to eat, sleep, or think.

Lucius was locked inside the wild mind of the Dark Lord and terrified to protest or offer an opinion. In the middle of February, Pettigrew resorted to used adult-sized nappies on the possessed wizard because the figure had become infant-like, lacking control of his bladder and bowels. And Lucius/Tom now consumed a formula of sheep's blood mixed with venom from Nagini.

In April, Lucius/Tom lay on his side on the sofa, his legs pulled up to his chest with his spindly arms wrapped around his lower legs. The 'man' hummed muggle songs from the radio in the 1940s. Peter never shared the Daily Prophet's reports from the second task with Lucius/Tom.

And in May, Peter considered abandoning the figure (and escaping the giant snake), because the thousands of galleons he'd stolen from the bottomless bag that Lucius had provided for potions, were burning a hole in Pettigrew's space expanded bag.

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