And here's the eighty second chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
DarkRavie, Brockster550, Guest, BMS, mumphie, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Maverick123214685, magitech, the original idea was that Fleur accidentally dropped the chest on the floor and accidentally touched one of the keys when trying to pick it up. And the enchantments on the thing decided that it counted as her choosing one of the keys.
magitech, also, the difficulty of this Second Task is more in how one needs to prepare for three - four without the freebie - very different challenges. It's a lot more varied than the canon Second Task, even if the individual challenges are easier, and it also gives the spectators a lot more to watch than the surface of the Black lake.
* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXXXII: Before the Second Task
Since it was almost certain that the Challenge to obtain the Key of Winds would involve flying in some way, Harry decided that he ought to make sure his broomstick-handling skills weren't too rusty. And so, on a Sunday afternoon early in February, he headed down to the castle's grounds to get some flying practice. The weather wasn't particularly nice, but who could guarantee it would be any better during the Second Task itself?
And since he didn't own a broomstick himself, Harry had to borrow one of the school's training ones. Madam Hooch was kind enough to let him, only asking that he doesn't damage it.
Of course, just flying around wouldn't do much for him so he had enlisted Flora and Hestia to help him. Unfortunately, even after quite a bit of brainstorming, they couldn't come up with anything better than dodging spellfire while in the midair to help Harry get ready for the task.
Mercifully, the twins were using paintball spells, which only left a splotch of colors when hitting him, rather than anything more inconveniencing. Because Harry was getting hit quite a lot, especially in the beginning. Those Magical combat lessons with Professor Flitwick have certainly made Flora and Hestia quite adept with their wands. That, and the school brooms were old and slow and didn't react to his inputs quite as quickly as he would've liked.
Still, by the end of the second hour of this 'training', the young Potter did manage to go a few rounds without getting hit more than a couple of times. That probably wasn't good enough for the Second Task, though, but he decided to call it a day here for now as the weather was getting even worse and everyone was starting to get tired.
So, after cleaning up the colorful mess their practice had created (mostly on Harry's robes) and returning the school broom to its shed, the trio headed into the Slytherin common room for some well-earned rest. Before they could slip into the dungeons, they got intercepted by Cedric Diggory, though.
"Harry, misses Carrow." The older teen greeted them.
"Good afternoon." The Slytherin trio greeted him back.
"Saw you flying around and dodging spells." Cedric continued. "Did you figure something out about the Key of Winds Challenge?" He asked then. Harry shook his head.
"Not really. But there really isn't much they could do for that Challenge that does not involve flying. And since just flying isn't really that difficult - assuming we aren't expected to somehow fly unsupported - they will have to make reaching the key a challenge instead. Trying to shoot us down looks like the easiest way to achieve that."'
"That sounds reasonable." Cedric said. There was a moment of silence, before he continued: "I've been focusing more on the Key of Earth Challenge myself. From what I've managed to gather, it seems to be rather straightforward: we go into the Forbidden Forest, get past the beasts roaming around, collect the key and get out… They'll probably put some four-X or maybe even five-X creatures there to make us work for the key, though." That, unfortunately, sounded like something the bigheads behind the Tournament would do.
"Any ideas about what the Key of Flame challenge might be?" Harry asked then. "I haven't really heard anything about it, though, admittedly, I wasn't actively looking for information on it either. I do presume it will take place somewhere inside the castle though as there isn't really any place outside that can easily be associated with fire."
"No, nothing here on that either." Cedric replied. "They are managing to keep the details on the Second Task secret surprisingly well." He paused for a moment before adding: "Then again, I guess it's not that easy to keep giant fire-breathing lizards a secret."
"True." Harry agreed.
"Anyway, I'll keep my ears open and tell you if I learn something about the Key of Flame challenge." The Hufflepuff said. "You've really helped me with the First Task, so it's only fair if I help you as much now."
"A-ah… okay." The young Potter replied. "Thank you."
"Alright then." Cedric said next. "It's been nice to talk to you, but I need to get going. Have a nice afternoon, Harry, ladies." He said with a small bow before walking away.
"That was… very nice of him." Flora said finally as the trio resumed their track towards the Slytherin common room. Harry nodded: Cedric was indeed a nice guy. Very Hufflepuff too.
"So… we now know a bit more about the Key of Earth challenge." Her sister picked up. "Though I'm not certain that the beasts will be the only things guarding the Key. There might also be various traps laid around. Both mundane in nature, and Magical ones."
"True." Harry agreed. "But I doubt it will be anything too fancy. They wouldn't want the Second Task as a whole to take hours to complete because each individual challenge requires too much time for the Champions to clear." Hestia had nothing to argue with it. The First Task indeed felt like it had dragged on and on as Champions took on their dragons one by one. Some of it definitely was due to how worried she and Flora were about Harry, but…
"Point." Hestia agreed.
"Still, you are right." Her boyfriend continued. "It would be stupid to think the beasts would be the only thing guarding the Key. I definitely should look into how to detect and disarm various traps one can make in the forest. Both Magical ones, and those that are not."
"That you should." Flora said. "We would be very unhappy if you got yourself hurt, especially if it is because of something stupid you could've easily avoided." And that was a great motivator - even more so that the desire to not get hurt in the first place - for Harry to do his best in learning these skills for the Second Task.
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The next week held a Hogsmeade weekend, the first one this semester. Which also took place just a couple of days before St. Valentine's. This was a great chance for Harry to spend a day having fun with Flora and Hestia and he most certainly was going to make the most out of it.
Unfortunately, even though he wasn't a Prefect anymore and didn't need to do any patrolling, they couldn't start right away as Harry still had some business to attend to before their date could start for real. And as much as he'd rather do it some other day, today was more or less the only time he could have a face-to-face meeting with the Finewoods in the foreseeable future. He needed to pass a new set of instructions regarding the Potter manor to them, and they promised to bring the new furniture catalogs for him and the twins to peruse in return. The latter certainly could have been handled via owl post, but the former was best done in person, and as a Hogwarts student, Harry didn't get much of an opportunity to be away from the castle. Hence he had to schedule this meeting that day.
The twins were understanding enough to accept and allow it, but they would certainly make their boyfriend give them the best damn date in return.
The three of them met the Finewoods in the The Three Broomsticks at half past ten in the morning. After the greetings were exchanged and everyone was seated comfortably at the table, the builders passed over the catalogs, which were quickly stashed away by Harry. The Potter heir then produced a set of designs he and the girls had come up with for another couple of the manor's rooms and proceeded to give the builders a quick rundown on what he wanted them to do. Flora and Hestia also helped, providing additional details as needed.
All in all, the meeting took a little over an hour and as such, by the time they bid farewells, it was still way too early for lunch. Thus, the twins decided to spend the rest of the morning shopping for stuff they needed for school and other 'necessary' things. And some not-so-necessary ones too. With Harry, obviously, paying for everything and carrying everything for them.
This shopping took a couple of hours - in part, because many stores had been swarmed by Hogwarts students doing their own shopping - and by the time they were done, the trio had worked up an appetite. So they made their way back to The Three Broomsticks to grab some lunch. There were a lot more people in the pub now, but they were still able to find themselves a table without too much trouble. They did have to wait for Madam Rosmerta for a bit though, as the witch was definitely getting a little overwhelmed with all the customers she had to serve.
Harry, Flora and Hestia ate their lunch mostly in silence, which they broke mostly to comment on the dishes they shared with each other. Especially the desserts: Madam Rosmerta, probably inspired by the Hogwarts' overseas guests, has introduced several new ones into her menu, and the lover trio decided to try a few of those.
After lunch, they headed back into the village.
They did stop by a few stores that sold various unusual and interesting things as they wandered about Hogsmeade. It was mostly window-shopping, but Flora and Hestia decided they wanted a few pieces of enchanted jewelry. And Harry was quite happy to buy those for them.
Eventually, they wandered onto the outskirts of the village, more or less the same place they had their moment back in December. Unfortunately, a thaw some days ago left the ground mostly bare, so there would be no making out as they rolled in the snow this time around.
Didn't stop them from making out normally, though.
Before too long it was evening already and the Hogwarts students would need to head back to the castle soon. And so, Harry, Flora and Hestia made their way back to the village proper. But before catching a 'horseless' carriage that would take them back to the school, they made another stop at The Three Broomsticks for some hot drinks and some desserts.
A nice ending to a good day out.
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The actual St. Valentine's day saw Hogwarts extensively decorated with lush flower garlands in most public spaces and flower-decorated alcoves were set up in several places inside the castle and on its grounds. Fairies, attracted by this floral grandeur, could be seen flying around as they tended to their new temporary 'homes'.
And, to the elation of everyone who remembered the disaster created by Professor Lockhart, singing dwarves didn't return this year either. The post boxes that delivered notes by transforming them into animated parchment creatures were so much nicer. Especially since some of the more adventurous fairies took to flying alongside those, sparking brightly all the way and making the delivery even more magical.
Even Durmstrang students, who weren't big on St. Valentine's due to cultural differences, enjoyed this. And as much as they would deny it by claiming that their school did it so much better in every way, so did the Beauxbaton students.
The next few days were rather quiet. Then, just a week before the Second Task, Professor Snape called for a House meeting, during which he announced that a part of the dungeons was temporarily marked as off-limits for the students. No reason was given, but it wasn't hard to guess that it was somehow related to the upcoming Task. Especially since that part of the dungeons was directly accessible from the castle's grounds.
The next morning Cedric had approached Harry and more or less confirmed what the younger teen had surmised from his Head of the House's announcement: the challenge for the Key of Flame would take place in the castle's dungeons. And going by the theme, it would involve fire. Probably in the form of various Magical traps and, maybe, some creatures associated with the element.
Unfortunately, that was all that they knew at the moment. And, for once, Hogwarts rumor mill didn't have any information on the matter at hand. Did the staff actually figure out how to keep things they didn't want the students to know about a secret? That sounded quite fantastic, yet none of the students seemed to know anything about what was going on inside the 'forbidden' part of the dungeons.
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Finally, it was the day of the Second Task. And Harry once again found himself worrying whether he was ready for the challenges ahead. This time around, though, he had some decent idea of what he would be facing and did his best to prepare accordingly:
For the Key of Earth challenge, he had researched Magical beasts, primarily those that remained active during winter. And especially those that were territorial and thus would make good guards for the Key. He had also taken a look at various traps, both Magical and not, one could set up in a forest.
For the Key of Flame challenge, he had studied Charms to protect oneself against fire and heat, as well as spells that could produce fire in various forms. And those that produced water too, in case he'd need to douse flames at some point. He had also looked up creatures with connection to fire that could reasonably be put into the castle's dungeon.
As for the Key of Winds challenge, Harry had practiced flying and aerial dodging. He had also researched spells that could be used to break one's fall - that one could come in handy if he somehow got thrown off a broomstick.
The young Potter even brushed up on Warming Charms and the Bubble-head Charm just in case the Tournament organizers decided to force all Champion to take a dive into the Black Lake even if they took the Key of Water from the chest. He had also experimented a little with underwater casting for that same reason - Cedric helped him there a lot by giving him the current password to the Prefects' bathroom. Turns out, quite a few spells behaved rather differently when fired in the water.
Would this be enough to see him through the Second Task? Harry certainly hoped so.
After worrying through the entire morning and barely making himself eat anything for lunch, the young Potter was almost relieved when Professor Snape informed him that the Task would be starting shortly and the Champions were summoned to the waiting area by the stadium.
Grabbing the Key of Water he had obtained from the 'treasure' he had 'stolen' from a dragon in the First Task, Harry proceeded to the specified location. And although he made it down there with haste, he was still the last Champion to arrive. Though, thankfully, he wasn't late or anything like that.
"Everyone's here? Good." Mr. Bagman began. "The Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament will begin in a few more minutes. Before it does, you will be asked to enter the stadium and, once there, you will be given the full details of the Task ahead." The Champions nodded. "Now then, if you excuse me, I'm providing the commentary so I should really be at the booth." And with that he walked out of the tent.
There was a moment of uneasy silence, eventually broken by Cedric:
"Good luck, everyone." The teen said.
"You too." Harry and Victor replied almost immediately, while Fleur merely nodded in response.
That's all, folks!
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