On Sunday, February 6th, 1995, at 1 P.M. Hogwarts time, Harry, Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur were going for a leisurely walk on the sloping lawns when they heard a familiar and friendly adult female voice.
"Suprise," called the warm and welcoming voice of Amanda Diggory.
"Hi, mom," cooed Cedric happily, running up to hug her.
"It's wonderful to see you again, Amanda, " piped up Harry, "I knew we'd see you sometime this semester. You promised us that we would see you again and I knew you would be a woman of your word."
"Thank you for the faith in me," smiled Amanda, now hugging Harry as well.
"I haven't forgotten how warmly welcomed we were by you at Diggory Manor," said Viktor gratefully, now taking his turn to hug Amanda.
"We are delighted to see you again, Amanda, " said Fleur happily, now hugging Amanda as well.
"I know that the Second Task is being held a fortnight from today," said Amanda briskly, "Do any of you know if the exact rules of the Second Task have been finalized?"
"Yes, mom," replied Cedric, "The Four Champions will have one hour to conduct an underwater search to find as many objects as possible."
"Each object will be worth ten points by itself," explained Harry.
"There will be categories of objects we are searching for as well," revealed Viktor, "These categories are as follows: wet, dry, hot, cold, light, dark, light, heavy, soft, hard, thick, thin, loud, and quiet."
"Seven pairs," said Fleur softly, "Seven is the most powerfully magical number you know."
"Pairs is an important word here," explained Harry, "You see, there will be bonus points awarded for each category PAIR a Champion finds. To receive the bonus points, a Champion must find at least one object from BOTH categories in the pair."
"Seven points will be awarded to each Champion for each category pair he or she successfully recovers," Viktor told Amanda, "Some objects may apply to more than one category. The competition will be evaluated in a manner that allows the maximum number of category pairs from all the objects a Champion has found."
"And," cooed Fleur dreamily, "If any Champion can put together all seven category pairs, he or she will receive seventy seven bonus points!"
"Sounds like a fun challenge," smiled Amanda, "I'll be coming to watch and cheer all four of you on. Obviously, I'm rooting for Cedric to win. But I have to say that I LOVE how the four of you have taken this opportunity to make the Triwizard Tournament a fun and friendly competition and avoided turning it into a huge rivalry between the four of you."
"Each of the four of us have a different plan for how to breathe underwater for an hour," Harry informed Amanda, "That should add another element of interest for you when you come to watch the Second Task, to see what each of the four of us comes up with."
Next nanosecond, Amanda pointed up and said, "There's a beetle flying above us."
As it heard Amanda's voice, the beetle flew away.
...
The next morning, Harry was sitting with Neville, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna in the Great Hall awaiting the arrival of breakfast when Hedwig swooped in and dropped a copy of that morning's Daily Prophet smack dab in the middle of Harry's lap and dropped a letter on top of it before soaring off again.
Harry unfurled the newspaper to see the headline:
SECOND TASK CHEATING?
Below this headline was the subheadline:
CHAMPION'S MOM GIVING ILLEGAL HINTS?
The text of the article read:
The four Champions in this year's Triwizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry may be getting help they are not supposed to. On Sunday afternoon, Daily Prophet special correspondent Rita Skeeter observed a meeting of the four Champions: Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, and Fleur Delacour. The Champions were joined by Cedric's mother, Amanda Diggory. Your Daily Reporter heard Mrs. Diggory giving Harry, Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur all sorts of illegal hints and tips to the Champions at the Champions' request. Mrs. Diggory, whose husband Amos works at the Ministry of Magic as the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, was almost certainly tipped off on the task and its possible cheats and shortcuts by Amos. This turn of events is another blow for those who had hoped the revived Triwizard Tournament would be an honest competition."
That's NOT what happened," replied Harry angrily, "Amanda asked us what the Second Task would entail, and we told her what the task would be, what the rules were, and how it would be scored."
"I believe you, Harry," said Hermione gently, displaying the same trust in Harry she had after his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, "Skeeter just wants a juicy story as usual."
"Amos would never have aided or abetted such a scenario," said Ginny confidently, "Amos may be proud and vain, but dad has always said that he would trust Amos not to do anything dishonest."
"This article makes all of you look bad," said Neville sadly, "The sooner Skeeter is captured and removed from Hogwarts, the better."
"Open the letter," advised Luna, "It's probably important."
"It is," piped up Susan, who had drifted over to join them.
Harry unfurled the letter and Susan said, "That's Aunt Ameila's writing."
The letter read:
Dear Mr. Potter:
I have been made aware by my niece Susan that Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus in the form of a beetle. Susan informed me that Hermione made this discovery, and that Skeeter escaped before Hermione could capture her. I have accepted the assurances of Susan that the content of the article about the Second Task in the Daily Prophet this morning is false. As the Second Task draws nearer, the continued presence of Rita Skeeter at Hogwarts is a bigger and bigger concern. Therefore, I will be visiting Hogwarts after lunch today to seek out and capture Rita Skeeter and put an end to her writing career. I am sorry for any distress this article may have caused and I wish all the Champions good luck in the Second Task-
Ameila Bones.
Rita won't know what's hit her when Auntie Ameila captures her today," said Susan in a satisfied voice.
"Right now," said Luna matter of factly, "Someone needs to put Rita in her place by being ruthless."
"That's exactly what's going to happen," said Susan fiercely, "Getting on Ameila Bones's bad side is more dangerous than provoking a Hungarian Horntail!"
Harry grinned at Susan at that reference.
"I hope Rita gets a harsh punishment," snarled Ginny, not holding back, "It is time for that bitch to reap what she has sewn!"
"Ameila Bones is both tough and smart," said Neville confidently, "She'll have Skeeter out of here and served a big dose of Karma Pie in no time."
"The atmosphere around here will be a lot more relaxed when Skeeter's gone," said Harry happily.
Harry, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Susan all gave each other wide grins.
Rita Skeeter was about to fall and fall hard at that.
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