Anna Grayson and The Order of Merlin
The Second Task

Thefirst week after the holiday at Castlewood was just like any other Anna hadexperienced at her Muggle school. The mood in the corridors was somber andrather muted following the excitement of the Christmas break. Anna often caughtherself thinking longingly about her father and was doing so again when shereceived one more unexpected surprise on the last day of the first week.Returning to her room to retrieve a book, she was startled by a loud clangfrom the Guardian counter above her door. As the hand on the face began tosweep around, the magical device sounded off with a rasp-filled dong atevery click of the count until finally shuddering to a stop with a clattering ka-chunk-ching.

“Oh…my…God…”Anna gaped, looking up at the purple numbers blazing into view.

[Guardiansneeded to sustain the Union:]

[14]

Backingaway in disbelief, Anna dashed down the staircase looking for Eric. When shereached the gatheringspace, she turned to see her brother marching down the center aisle with a longline of students in tow behind him. She could see his face beaming withdelight. They were Guardians, all of them, Guardians. They halted in front ofAnna while the other Servers in the hall crowded around them.

“Anna, we have ten more. Ten!” Eric couldn’t contain hisexcitement any longer.

“How…?” Anna stammered. “Why… where did they all come from? Whyso many now?” The line of new Guardians parted to surround her.

“Apparently, several students have been thinking about joiningus for quite a while, but waited to discuss it with their families over theholiday.”

A seventh-year girl wearing new Guardian robes stepped up toAnna. “Hello, Anna. My name is Ines Valeria, formally of the SearcherUnion.”

“Janet Wardrop,” said anothergirl, reaching out to shake Anna’s hand.

“Isabel Lang.” “TeresaSinclair.” “John Baird.” “Joe Philias.”“Arty Nelson.” “John Gryskiewicz.” “Marian Nelson.” “Gabriel Laroche.”

“I’mvery glad to meet you, and… thank you… for doing this,” Anna said, sincerely.She looked at Ines and smiled. “Especially you.”

“Me?” the girl replied, smiling back.“Whatever do you mean?”

“Well…you’ve been a Searcher almost seven years, and now you change Unions in yourlast semester at Castlewood?”

Thegirl grinned and then shrugged. “How do you know I’m not here for my ownselfish reasons… as a way, perhaps, to advance my future career opportunities,”Her joking smile turned serious as she looked at the group, “Someday… I believethe entire Wizarding world will be thankful for what we’re starting here. Iknow I already am.”

Ericstepped in. “Truer words were never spoken, but somehow I doubt the Mirror ofEnlightenment would have joined you to us if your intentions were selfish.Welcome, Ines.” He stuck out this hand and shook hers. “Welcome — all of you.I’ve already secured rooms for everybody upstairs. If you’d like to pair up,I’ll have your things moved tonight.”

TWO

Afterthe fourth heavy snowfall in January, Anna’s romance with the winter season hadquickly worn off. The hallways inside the school were miserably cold anddrafty, the great Union Halls always freezing. Still, through it all, Anna andSarah considered themselves lucky. At least their room was facing the cityinside the ramparts. It was common for the students with rooms facing theplateau to replace ice forming on the inside of their windows on the coldestmornings.

Butas the piercing cold of January passed into February, the weather turnedappallingly bitter. Artic winds raced over the Pennsylvania Mountainsand funneled their way through the tiny streets and alleys of Spellsburg,glazing the snow between the buildings like rivers of milky glass. Trying tostay warm, the students tripped and stumbled over each other in huddled groupsas they made their way to their classes.

Annanever realized until then how far her father’s efforts to merge electricity andmagic at the mansion had improved their lives. While the fires withinCastlewood were doing their best to keep up with the demand, she longed for agood Muggle heating system. At least their schools were always warm.

AsGwen had correctly predicted, Muggle Subjects was the most hated classat the school, and to Anna’s surprise, even some of the students born to Mugglefamilies were quick to agree how utterly useless these subjects now seemed tobe to them. Why should they study mathematics, and physics, and chemistry? Whywas it necessary to study Muggle philosophy and literature? Wasn’t it difficultenough to understand the ways of wizards in the seven years given to themwithout having to waste their time with this trivial nonsense? Was it reallynecessary to understand Muggle economics and law? What was so important aboutgeology?

Asfor Anna, she worked harder in Muggle Studies than in all of her other classesput together. For her, these subject validated a life she had already lived forso many years and wasn’t quite ready to give up as part of her future. She wasalways mentally on guard; ready to hear the news it was time for her to gohome, to go back to being a squib again. After all, her wizarding powers hadonly just awakened. Was it crazy to think they might disappear just as quickly?Suppose the magic that had given her this new life decided, like it did oncebefore, that it didn’t need her anymore? Muggle Studies might be the only thingleft to prepare her for a life outside the Wizarding world. Anna ignored thecomplaints from the other students around her and concentrated her effortsalong two paths: She would take in everything the school had to offer to becomethe best witch she could possibly be, but she would work just as hard in MuggleStudies… just in case.

AsFebruary slowly passed, two subjects were a part of nearly every conversationwithin the castle: the second task of the Triwizard Tournament to be held onFebruary twenty-fourth, and the start of the upcoming swift-slalom season. Itseemed the entire Wizarding world was as excited about the tournament as it hadbeen with the recent Quidditch World Cup, and the success of the first task hadaroused an unmatched level of anticipation going farther back than anybodycould remember.

“What do you think thechampions will have to do this time?” asked a boy of another in Anna’s DefenseAgainst the Dark Arts class.

“Who knows,” shrugged hisfriend. “Maybe they’ll make them fight some hideous giant,” he added, raisinghis arms over his head in an animated and very amusing giant-like way.

Eachof the students seemed to have a favorite champion. The boys of Castlewoodliked Viktor Krum of Bulgaria,given his fame as a seeker in the recent Quidditch World Cup. The girls, on theother hand, seemed to be pulling for the French champion, Fleur Delacour. Gwen,not unexpectedly, was fond of Cedric Diggory. But this wasn’t due to anyimpressive talent the champion from Hogwarts had shown thus far in thetournament. It was because, in Gwen’s opinion, Cedric was absolutely the mostgorgeous specimen of manhood she had ever seen in her life, with the possibleexception, of course, of Eric Grayson.

ForAnna, she found herself inspired by Harry Potter. While everybody agreed youngHarry had done remarkably well in the first task against the HungarianHorntail, it was the way the boy was able to get to his egg without attackingthe dragon that had impressed Anna the most. Since the day she first saw himcompeting in the tournament, Anna often wondered if Potter might have become aGuardian had he been studying at Castlewood. Then there was the fact that Harrywas younger than all the other champions, which, according to the localodds-makers, continued to put the-boy-who-lived at a disadvantage in thetournament. Yes, things were stacked against Potter, and that fact alone gaveAnna all the incentive she needed to support him as her favorite champion.

Butif the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament wasn’t enough to warm thestudents in the first freezing weeks February, the beginning of the swift-slalomseason certainly did. Anna paid the sport’s enthusiasts little attention untilthe day of her first flying lesson, which was scheduled to take place insideSlalom Stadium on the plateau’s west pitch. The thought of learning to fly wasvery exciting to Anna. She had often heard Eric speaking of like a magicalright of passage. Deep down, however, it was probably her sister’s revulsion offlying that made Anna’s desire to do it well all the more important.

SarahBell, on the other hand, was terrified at the very thought of flying, and Annaunderstood why. After all, it was only a few months earlier that Sarah wasliving a normal, all be it confused, life with her Muggle family in Minnesota. She had no ideathe Wizarding world even existed, or that her future would include flyingwithout any physical means of supporting herself. Sarah counted down the daysto their first lesson as if they were her last scheduled days to breathe, andAnna often pondered amusingly if Sarah’s abilities as a Seer includedpredicting her own demise.

Finally, the day of their first lesson hadarrived, and on a crisp Monday morning the first-year Guardians and Servershuddled their way across the icy plateau toward Slalom Stadium. The sky was abright cloudless blue, and the snow-covered evergreens shown like porcelain inthe forest surrounding Spellsburg. They entered the stadium to replace Mr. Kingstonunloading a stack of doors from a trolley and arranging them in neat rows inthe center of the field.

“Hello Jeremiah,” Anna said, brightly. “Need any help withthose?” Mr. Kingston looked up and smiled. His weathered, old face told thestory of a man who had worked his entire life outside and never regretted it.

“Well now… if it isn’t Anna Grayson, looking for another way toget her feet off the ground,” he chuckled as the rest of the class gatheredaround them. “I saw you practicing on Swooper yesterday. You’re really startingto get the hang of those left rolls,” he mused, handing her one of the doors.

“Yeah… yesterday was a good day. Swooper was in perfect form,”she agreed, taking another door from him and handing it to student behind her.

“Ahhh… but today is going to be better –– clear skies, little tono wind, an excellent day for your first flying lesson. Any of you planning ontrying a broom today? I have several in the front of the trolley.” Two of thestudents raised their hands and Jeremiah, looking somewhat dejected, shook hishead.

“The quidditch teams won’t be happy to see so few of you willingto go on brooms. They’re having a heck of a time getting good fliers to jointheir teams this year.”

“Maybe they should switch to doors, then,” suggested adark-haired girl in the front. Kingstonbristled.

“What? And break with all tradition? Not a chance. Some thingsare more important than following all of these new fads.”

“New fads?” the girl argued. “But the west has been using doorsto fly for hundreds of years. My father says they’re a lot safer than…”

“I’m afraid that until more of you are willing to take up abroomstick, the U.S. willnever even make it past the regional finals for the Quidditch World Cup,” Kingston replied, cuttingthe girl off.

“I don’t want to play quidditch — I want to slalom,” yelped athick-necked boy excitedly from the back.

There was a sudden WHOOSH over their heads, and a formation ofthree fliers on flattened doors zipped across the open field. The studentspointed and oooooed in sharp whispers.

Mr. Kingston tutted loudly, rolling his eyes, “I can’t imaginewhy,” he said, sardonically.

One of the fliers broke away from the group and headed back.“Good morning class!” said a man, swooping around them in a tight circle beforefinally landing lightly in their center. A tall, graying wizard in black robesstepped off the door to survey them.

“My name is Norris Barclay, and I’ll be your flying instructortoday. How’s everybody feeling this morning? Ready to give it a go?” The groupseemed split between those eager to try and the rest, including Sarah Bell,whose opinion ranged from I’m not sure to absolutely not.

“First, let me set your mind at ease by tellingyou we’ll be dividing you up into three groups this morning. The first groupwill be for the more traditionalists among us who wish to train on brooms. Mr.Kingston will be your coach today, and you’ll be setting up on the south sideof the field over there. The second group will be for those afraid of heightsor, for any reason, are hesitant about doing this. You will be training withone of our seventh-year seniors, Mr. Combs.” Another boy floated in fromoverhead on a door to land next to Barclay.

“Marty Combs is a member of the Defenders’swift-slalom team and a really superb flyer. But don’t let his obvious skillsfool you today. I was here when he took his first lesson, and I don’t thinkI’ve ever seen a more terrified beginner.” The boy named Marty Combs chuckled,and then nodded at the group agreeably. “But as you will soon see, he’s turnedout to be brilliant.

“So… we’ll have the brooms follow our Mr.Kingston over there, and the rest of you will queue in behind Mr. Combs ormyself.” The groups broke up quickly, and soon Anna was standing with a smallhandful of eager fliers around Mr. Barclay.

“Right, then…” he said, looking around at thegroup, “so you’re the maniac, speed-demons of the class, ay?” They all laughed.“Well… let’s not waste this beautiful day. Go and pick yourself out a door.You’ll want the arched end to the front, of course. If you’re right footed, Iwant you standing on the left side of your door, if you’re left footed ––you’ll begin on the right. Come on –– let’s go,” he said, clapping his handseagerly. The students each picked out a door and took their positions.

“Now then. We’re going to start with the proper stance.” Hepositioned himself to the left of his door, and then set his right foot in thecenter of the flattened panels. His left foot followed. Toes pointed toward thefront and his left foot slightly behind the right, he bent his knees into afunny little squat.

“This is the proper look you’ll favor starting out.” Annacouldn’t help snickering to herself. She thought Barclay looked rather silly,almost poised to leap off the door at the first sign of trouble.

“So — what are you waiting for, a written invitation? Let’s seewhat you can do. Take your positions.”

Each of them stepped onto their door to assume the squatty pose.Anna felt absurd. It felt to her like her body was trying to replace someinvisible chair seated somewhere behind her. Barclay went around tugging atseveral ankles and adjusting their foot position to suit his eye.

“Right, very good. Now then… I’m going to askeach of you to reach down with your weak foot and push off. Do it with aslittle pressure as you can. I don’t want anybody taking off on us. Your doorshould rise slightly off the ground just a few inches.” He resumed his poseagain on his own door and then softy pushed off. He slowly rose off the ground tohover just a few inches in the air. “You’ll need to get the feel of thingsbefore you get too high. When you’re up, press gently down on the front to moveforward. The harder you press the faster you’ll go. You lean left and right toturn, and then back to slow and brake. Got it?” They all nodded. “Okay, let’ssee what you can do,” hesaid challengingly, and they all resumed their positions. “Remember what Isaid, and… gently… kick off.” Each of the students reached down and pushed theground away.

Immediately, the scene was bedlam. A yelp ofsurprise was followed by a number of screams as bodies began to tumble to theground. One boy started windmilling his arms frantically before doing a backsummersault to his chest, his door caroming into the feet of another boy whocrashed with a thud onto his panels. The door he was riding shot across theopen field with the boy screaming in tow. Swerving at the last minute to avoidcrashing into the bleachers, he disappeared through one of the stadium’s opengates. Mr. Barclay, looking very irritated, snapped his fingers at an assistantoverhead who sped off after the boy. The remaining doors, now absent of theirriders, began to jerk and shudder aimlessly across the field.

As soon as Anna felt her door lift off the ground, she couldfeel her balance shift and sway out of control. Her feet instinctively poppedsideways to center themselves in a more familiar position. The door rocked leftand right, and tilted forward and back in a slow gyrating circle. Anna squattedlow, raising her arms to steady herself. She pressed down with her toes andheels to remain aloft until the door settled itself into a quiet hover.

“Miss Grayson, that’s not the proper stance,” yelled Barclay,watching her from the side. “Fix it — now!” He looked over at another studentwho, despite his best efforts to stop, was slowly creeping away from the group.“Mister Donavan, get your left foot back or we’ll be picking you up out of thebleachers.” Two more riders suddenly fell to the ground with a loud oooofff,while the rest of the class, still brushing the snow off their robes, startedto giggle.

Anna was struggling again to remain centered. She tried pointingher toes forward as instructed, but immediately started to lose control again.Falling backward, her feet moved to recover and popped to the side once more tokeep herself from tumbling off.

“Miss Grayson, what in the world are you doing? That’s the mostabsurd stance on a door I have ever seen in my life.”

Combs walked over to watch Anna, balancing precariously on herdoor in her strange sideways stance. “Odd as it is… it does seem to be workingfor her, doesn’t it?” he said, appraisingly.

Barclay shook his head. “Ridiculous! All right, Grayson, have ityour way. Try pressing on the front of your door to move ahead.”

“It’s just like surfing!” Anna yelped gleefully, and her armsbegan to waver a bit as she slid her right foot forward.

“It’s just like… what?” bellowed Barclay, frowning impatientlyback at her.

Anna pressed down on the front of the door and slowly began tomove forward. She leaned left, right, slowed, and then moved forward again.

Combs shook his head. “Have you ever seen anything as crazy asthat?”

Barclay was grumbling. “Preposterous! She’ll be completely blindto those on her right, and I’ll be the butt of every joke in Spellsburg.”

Anna was completely lost in the rapture of whatshe was doing. She was actually flying. No engines, no gigantic wings flappingunder her, just the subtle sound of the wind through her hair and robes. Beforeshe knew it, Anna found herself on the other side of the stadium and banking toturn, testing her ability to bring forth what was familiar and improve hercontrol. It worked to perfection, and when the arched nose of her door hadrighted itself once more, Anna smiled and crouched low. Shrugging off anyremaining fear, she slammed her right foot down and rocketed forward. Thefeeling was euphoric. It was surfing without the thunder of the waves beneathher. She could do this; it was as simple as mastering the two-foot swells onthe calmest day back home. She covered the distance back to the group in aflash, circling around and rising out of her crouch to finally stop.

Barclay looked unimpressed. “That’ll do, Grayson. Unorthodox asthat stance of yours is –– I suppose it’s effective,” he said, with a hint ofrevulsion still lingering in his voice. He signaled to another rider floatinghigh above the stadium and a fourth-year boy circled down to join them.

“Bobby, be a good lad, and take Grayson here into the field fora couple of turns.”

The boy looked at Anna standing sideways on her door andchuckled. “If you say so, sir. Follow me…” he said, looking at Annaskeptically. He slowly turned and then shot forward. Anna smiled and set offafter him.

They flew high into the air until they came upon a series of redand blue poles, standing upright in the breeze. Anna followed the boy through aseries of corners, right around the red poles and left around the blue. Morepoles came into view, yellow and green this time, lying flat in the air. Annawatched the boy moving through his turns and realized he was flying over thegreen poles and then under the yellow. She mirrored his every move.

When they finished the first lap around the course, Anna saw theboy looking down at Barclay again who was motioning for them to continue. Theboy nodded and then looked back.

“All right, eggie, you’ll try not to fall off, won’tyou?” he said, with a smirk. He shot forward with a sudden burst of speed thatleft Anna looking shocked. She stomped down on the front of the door andexploded after him, crouching low as she gathered speed. Soon she was rightbehind him again, zipping through the course, around the red and blue poles,over and under the green and yellow. Anna was beaming. It was like surfingthrough the pylons under one of the abandon peers near her home. She zigged anddipped effortlessly through two more laps before seeing the signal to return tothe ground. Feeling somewhat disappointed, Anna reluctantly followed the boydown and circled the group to a stop.

“That’ll do, Grayson,” snapped Barclay, staring at her feet witha look of dismay still lingering on his face, “but it escapes me how you canstay aloft in that strange stance of yours.” He looked at the boy Anna had beenfollowing. “Whatdaya say, Bobby? Think we should bring her out on theweekends?” The boy looked at Anna and shrugged uncaringly.

“Right. Grayson –– slalom practice for invited students is heldevery Saturday and Sunday morning at nine o’clock. If you’re interested, I’llinform your Union Knight of the invitation.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” she replied, enthusiastically.

“Don’t thank me yet. It’ll be a lot of extra work and time outof your studies, and first-years are never allowed to participate in any slalomevents. It’ll probably be at least a year or two before you get a chance torace… if ever.” He sighed grudgingly. “It’ll probably take that me long tobreak you out of that ridiculous stance of yours, but… if you’re willing to putin the work, you might get your shot.” He turned to the rest of the class. “Thesame invitation will go out to you, Donavan.” The boy beamed with delight,punching the boy next to him in the shoulder.

“As for the rest of you, keep practicing. We will have ridersout here every weekday morning thirty minutes after sunup to help you with thebasics, all right? You’ll need to remain upright on your door for a minimum offive minutes by the end of the year to pass this course. For those of you onbrooms, the standards are quite a bit higher.

As they headed back to the castle, Anna was thrilled about theirfirst flying lesson. She couldn’t properly describe to Sarah the feeling ofsailing through the air on a silent wave, and the excitement of darting aroundthe floating poles.

For her part, it had also been a glowing morning for Sarah Bellas well. Surprising herself more than anybody, she had already nearly reachedthe five-minute standard by the end of the class. Sarah attributed her successto her love of skiing and snowboarding, and was thrilled to know that somethingshe had enjoyed so much as a Muggle was helping her to become a better witch.The two girls agreed they would return to Slalom Stadium every morning thatweek to practice.

THREE

On the predawn twilight morning of Februarytwenty-fourth, the entire school headed down to Vollucross Stadium for thesecond task of the Triwizard Tournament. The odds-makers of Spellsburg weredisplayed in their finest yellow robes once more under the torch-lit streetlampsalong the way, and boisterous crowds were snappishly bartering for better odds.Anna, Sarah, Gwen, and TJ quickly made their way through the yelling crowds andheaded for the plateau, reading the scribbled signs in several of the shopsalong the way that said, Closed for the Second Task.

The Allegheny Pride had docked several times in the middle ofthe night, dropping off thousands of sleepy but excited visitors who werecycling up a continuous stream of tramcars and filling the station house.Wizards and witches of every sort were animatedly discussing the tournament asthey approached the city gates through the massive Union walls. As the girlsfollowed the crowd, they stared at the sea of glowing tents under the morningstars, covering the plateau outside. There were hundreds and hundreds ofmakeshift canvas shelters set in neat rows that weren’t there the day before.The crowds made their way through the grassy pathways between the tents,following the corner lampposts and mounted signs with names like Apple Cannon Way,Niffler’s Pass, and several French and Bulgarian streets that Anna couldn’tpronounce.

“What happened to all the snow?” Sarah asked in amazement,looking around at the damp green grass surrounding them.

“Oh… Thordarson always cleans up a bit before these big events,”said Gwen, who was eyeing a brawny, shirtless young man, yawning and stretchingat the door of his tent.

Anna noticed several people staring andpointing at them before hearing an old witch in a leather wrap commenting on thecolor of Gwen’s robes. It was only then that Anna realized, for many of thevisitors at the school, this was probably the first time they had ever seen aGuardian.

They waited in line to enter the stadium’s irongates, and then found their seats among the excited throng in the middlesection of the bleachers overlooking the field’s center. Soon the stadium wasfilled once more to near capacity as the entire town and their visitors slowlysqueezed in. A short time later, Chancellor Thordarsonand Mayor Ulric were seen entering the stadium just a fewseats away under a large canopy, which was glowing a bright, turquoise-bluebeneath the morning moon. As the two men found their seats, Professor Botsstood and raised his wand to this throat.

“Sonorous!” he said, excitedly, and his voice began to boomdeafeningly over the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen,citizens, students and guests, the Honorable Mayor Ulric of Spellsburg andChancellor Thordarson of Castlewood Academy would like towelcome all of you back to Vollucross Stadium and today’s second task of thelegendary Triwizard Tournament.” The crowd roared with excitement.

“As many of you already know,very few details have come out of England on what we can expect tosee from Hogwarts today, and I understand the local odds-makers are takingthree-to-one wagers on trolls… but we shall see.” The crowd laughed and cheeredagain, and Mayor Ulric could be seen enthusiastically holding up his own smallpiece of parchment.

“I believe everything is readyfor us now. So without further delay… we take you once again… to Hogwarts!”Bots raised his wand into the air and bellowed, “Projectius Visum Hogwarts!”

The dawning purple sky darkenedto black before bursting forward once more over a crisp, blue English morningfar away. As it had done before, the projector’s eye swooped over the manyspiral turrets of Hogwarts before diving low across a magnificent, glassy lakesitting below the castle. Pelting across the surface of the water, the crowdgasped as the tentacle of something enormous suddenly lifted out of the waterto snatch at them. The view finally settled over a number of bleacherssurrounding the opposite bank of the lake, and a crowdof smiling faces dressed in black robes could be seen waving at them. Many of thestudents were lifting banners in the air that said, GO HOGWARTS, and HOGWARTSCHAMPIONS ARE THE BEST!! And then a familiar British voice thundered intoVollucross stadium.

“Helloagain to everybody in the Wizarding world watching this projection of the secondtask of the Triwizard Tournament. This is Patrick O’Shea coming to youlive-by-magic from Hogwarts, the legendary school of witchcraft and wizardry,here in merry ol’ England.”The scene overhead changed to show a buoyant, portly man, speaking once againinto his wand like a microphone.

“Good morning everyone, andwelcome back to Hogwarts. It’s a beautiful cold day here for our champions, aswe look to begin the second of what will be three wizarding tasks. But beforewe start, let me bring in my co-host once again for today’s competition, mygood friend, Mr. Beetle Mantooth.”

The same thin man they had seenduring the first task stepped into the picture overhead and nodded. He waswearing red robes this time, but the same beaming smile. “Good morning, Beetle.It’s great to have you back for the second task, but I have to say… thechampions will have to work pretty hard today to top what we saw last November,ay?”

The other man nodded as hespoke into his wand. “Absolutely, Pat. By all accounts, the champions had abrilliant first task, and the Ministries putting this tournament togethercouldn’t be happier with the excitement this contest is generating.”

“So what do we know about thetask today?” asked O’Shea, smiling back at the projector.

“Well — as you know, Pat, thedetails about today’s second task have been a closely guarded secret ever sincethe end of the first task before Christmas. This was because the champions wereexpected to figure out the clues given to them within the golden eggs that theycaptured from the dragons. But we’re happy to report the veil of secrecy hasfinally been lifted, and we’ve been told by Mr. Ludo Bagman what we can expectto see this morning.” He paused teasingly.

“Go on, then… don’t keep ouraudience in suspense, Beetle,” said O’Shea, bouncing on his toes excitedly.“Tell us what’s happening!”

The tall man laughed. “Rightyou are, Pat. The second task is going to test the competitor’s resourcefulnessand magical abilities underwater. We have learned that the clue given withinthe golden egg has informed our champions that something important has beentaken from each of them. They will have exactly one hour to retrieve what wastaken, which is now sitting somewhere at the bottom of the lake.”

O’Shea frowned. “Oh… well, thatdoesn’t sound too bad, Beetle. I suppose the toughest part would be figuringout how to stay under water long enough to complete the task.”

“Oh –– if only it were thatsimple, Pat. Because what our champions don’t realize yet is that the thing takenfrom them is actually a person –– somebody they personally know and care about.It could be a friend, a classmate, or even a member of their own family beingheld hostage by the lake’s resident merpeople.”

“Oh dear,” Patrick groaned,looking nervously out at the lake below them. “I do hope our champions aren’tlate in getting to those hostages down there.”

Beetle laughed. “Not to worry,my friend,” he replied, patting the other commentator on the shoulder. “Theaudience should know that the hostages are in no danger whatsoever. Inagreement with our Ministry judges, the lake’s merpeople have guaranteed thecaptives won’t be harmed, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts has placed the properincantations on our brave volunteers at the bottom of the lake to insure theirsafety at all times.”

“Oh… well… that’s a relief,”O’Shea sighed, turning back to the projector. “So — while the rest of us catchour breath, let’s show the folks back home who the judges will be for today’sevent.”

Moving portraits of the judges suddenlyexpanded to fill the sky above the Spellsburg stadium, and Beetle introducedeach of them in turn. The last judge was a new face the audience had not seenduring the first task.

“And finally, we have Mr. PercyWeasley, Assistant to the Director of England’sInternational Magical Cooperation. Mr. Weasley will be sitting in for his boss,Bartemius Crouch, who is out with an unexpected illness. We all know howimportant this tournament was to Mr. Crouch, so our prayers for a speedyrecovery go out to him.

“Andthere you have it, Pat, our five judges for today’s event. For those who mighthave missed the first Triwizard task, let me take the time once again toreintroduce our brave and talented champions.”

Fourfamiliar faces filled the sky above the stadium to a jubilant roar of applause.When the champion from Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory, was introduced, Gwenexaggerated a swoon into Anna’s lap.

“Calm down,” Anna giggled,pushing her friend straight again.

“Ohhh… he’s soooo gorgeous. Nowthat’s a champion if ever I’ve seen one.”

WhenBeetle had finished telling the audience about the champions, Patrick O’Sheasuddenly stepped into the picture again. He seemed out of breath.

“Thankyou… Beetle… for those updates. Well… I’ve just come from the field, ladies andgentlemen, and it would seem one of our champions has gone missing. HarryPotter, who did so remarkably well for us in the first task, it seems is ano-show this morning.”

“Ahhh,well, that is a shame,” said Beetle, looking discouraged. “Although Potter waslongest on odds to win this tournament, his daring and skill against the dragonin the first task gathered him quite a following on top of being thesentimental favorite.”

Annaslumped into her seat disappointedly as Gwen leaned in. “Well… it would seemCedric has one less champion to worry about, doesn’t he?” she said, with agrin. Anna glared back disapprovingly.

“Itis a disappointment, Beetle,” O’Shea continued. “But, as you said before, thiscompetition would be extraordinarily difficult for the best of wizards, nevermind a fourth-year student. I suppose Potter couldn’t come up with a way toremain underwater for the period of time necessary to succeed in his task andthus… had to bow out. Oh well… maybe that will quiet the continuing controversyabout Hogwarts competing with two champions then, eh?”

Therewas a building roar of cheers emanating from the crowd at Hogwarts and the twocommentators turned to see what was happening. Smiling and nodding excitedly toeach other, they turned back to the projector again.

“Itwould seem we might have been too quick to judge Harry Potter. We see him now,running across the lawn toward the lake below us. It looks like the boy whoconquered You-Know-Who is intent on competing this morning after all.”The crowd in Spellsburg started to cheer, including Anna.

“There…you see?” Anna said, nudging Gwen in the ribs. “We’re not giving up anything toDiggory yet.” Gwen, looking rather bored, shrugged indifferently.

Theycould see Harry coming out of a dead run before sliding to a stop in front ofthe judges’ table. He was clutching his side. Some of the judges watching himdidn’t seem all that pleased with his late appearance.

“Andnow we see Mr. Bagman separating the champions properly around the edge of thelake, and it looks like… yes… we’re definitively getting ready to begin. Solet’s switch you now to Mr. Bagman of England’s Department of MagicalGames and Sports for the start of the second task. Take it away, Ludo!”

The projector switched to aportly man standing next to the judges’ table. He was raising his wand to histhroat to increase his voice and his words echoed throughout the stadium inSpellsburg.

“Well, all our champions areready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have preciselyan hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then:One...two... three!” There was a long and piercing shrill.

The projector above the stadiumswiftly split itself into four panels, each centered on one of the champions. Threeof the competitors immediately raised their wands as the commentators begandescribing what each was doing.

“And so, it begins,” saidO’Shea. “It looks like… yes… Mr. Diggory has created a magnificent Bubble-HeadCharm. That’ll do the trick, all right. Brilliant move by the Hogwartschampion!”

“Miss Delacour is also usingthe Bubble-Head Charm, Pat,” added Beetle, pointing down at the lake. Sureenough, the French champion was twirling herwand over her head, which produced a perfectly round ball of glass incasing herentire head. She drove into the lake just behind Cedric.

“Merlin’sbeard… what in the Wizarding world is that?” yelped O’Shea, and the projectorimmediately zoomed in on Viktor Krum. Ina blur of bending light, he was transforming grotesquely into some kind ofhideous creature, and everybody in the audience leaned forward trying to seewhat the champion from Bulgariawas doing.

“Whatdo you suppose…?” Anna whispered aloud.

Gwen’shead tottered side to side, trying to figure out what they were seeing.“Eeeeeooowww…. something with gills, I think,” she said, curling her lip.

“Goodlord,” gasped Beetle in amazement. “He’s turning into a shark. Now that’ll besome nifty transfiguration right there if he can… oh dear.”

Thecrowd watched in horror as Krum’s fish transformation suddenly stopped at hisshoulders. He was half man, half shark; his face hideously replaced by anenormous mouth filled with sharp teeth and the top of his head a pointed snout.His blackened eyes rolled to the sides of his head and bulged grotesquely.Without warning, the boy dove into the iron-colored water and disappeared undera brewing layer of bubbles.

“Andthere he goes!” yelled O’Shea, who looked over at the other commentator.“Here’s hoping that half-hearted bit of transfiguration holds up for thechampion from Durmstrang,” he breathed, skeptically.

“He’slookin’ like that large-mouth, channel cat by brother Johnnie Ray yanked outtathe Soapasee River,” TJ said next to Gwen. She lookedat them, grinning. “The water there’s so polluted, the Muggles are replacein’eight-legged frogs by the sud banks.”

Buteverybody’s attention had now shifted to Harry Potter who had already taken offthis shoes and socks and was looking to pull something out of his pocket. Hestarted to wade into the lake while stuffing his mouth with what looked likesoggy handfuls of dirty shoelaces. As if sensing the audience’s curiosity, theprojector zoomed in on what Harry was doing.

“Itseems Potter is… ah,” mumbled O’Shea, watching the boy intently, “to tell youthe truth… I’ve no idea what our youngest champion is doing down there. What doyou make of it, Beetle?”

Theother man, looking totally bewildered, shook his head. “I… can’t… be sure… butPotter seems to be… eating something.”

Findinghis voice again, O’Shea straightened. “Let’s go down to our Hogwartsstudent-reporter near the lake’s edge, Lee Jordan. What are you seeing downthere, Lee?” The projector suddenly switched to a boy with long dreadlocks,dressed in black robes and earmuffs, standing next to the judges’ table. Theboy turned to face the projector and began speaking into his wand.

“We’re all just as confuseddown here as everybody else about what Harry is doing, Pat,” the boy said,excitedly. “Let me see if I can get a comment out of one of the judges.

“Mr. Bagman? Mr. Bagman, sir,can you tell us what Harry is doing? He seems to be eating something… but… wecan’t tell what it is.” Ludo Bagman jerked up with a look of shared confusionbefore realizing the projector was focused upon him. His face suddenlybrightened as he presented his best toothy smile.

“Oh… well… ah… it would seem…Harry… is ah…” he looked nervously toward the other judges. Weasley andKarkaroff looked just as confused as Bagman. Madame Maxime, who took up halfthe judges’ table, was grimacing revoltedly at Harry’s worm-like snack.

“Gillyweed,” came a soft voice,and everybody turned to see Professor Dumbledore smiling triumphantly.

“Gillyweed?” Bagman repeated,uncertainly.

“What’s Gillyweed, Mr. Bagman?”snapped Lee Jordan, still standing next to him. Bagman turned to the reporterand then, recovering quickly, smiled once more at the projector.

“Oh… well… ah … gillyweed… is…ahh… a magical substance, of course, … that… ahhh.”

“A Mediterranean water plant thatallows the wizard consuming it to breathe underwater for up to one hour,” saidProfessor Dumbledore serenely.

The rest of the judges beganwriting on their scrolls as Lee Jordan turned excitedly back to the projector.“Did you hear that, Pat?” he barked happily. “Harry Potter is eating somethingcalled gillyweed that will allow him to breathe underwater.”

“Brilliant!” said thecommentator to the switching projector. “It looks like young Harry has come tothis second task well-prepared after all, Beetle.”

“Right you are, Pat. And now wecan see Potter struggling to breathe. It looks as if the transformation he washoping for is finally taking effect.” The audience in the stadium watched asHarry began grasping his throat in obvious pain. He suddenly drove forward intothe lake and disappeared from view.

“Andthere he goes!” yelled O’Shea, bending over his desk to see. “Harry Potter islast to enter the lake following the other champions.” The two men heaved backwith a look of relief on their faces before turning to the audience once more.“So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, I think it’s fair tosay these champions have impressed everyone with their understanding of themagic required in this task and the boldness with which they’ve carriedthemselves onward. How ‘bout it, Beetle?”

“I completely agree, Pat. TheBubble-Head charm is a favorite standard among witches and wizards workingunderwater. When I heard about the details of this task, it was the first thingthat came into my mind as an obvious solution. But I am somewhat concernedabout Mr. Krum’s use of his shark transfiguration. It seemed rather incompleteto me as he entered the lake. And Harry Potter’s use of gillyweed… now that’s acompletely unexpected element in today’s competition. We’ll just have to waitand see what happens next.”

“Andspeaking of watching what happens,” continued O’Shea, “we’ll be monitoring allof our champions underwater as they search for the hostages. We have stationedseveral projectors in the lake to track our competitors throughout theirjourney.”

Thepicture above Spellsburg stadium abruptly changed to display four panels, eachshowing a champion swimming underwater, and a fifth panel in the centercontaining the hostages. The audience pointed at the hostages who were tied tothe tail of a giant, stone statue in what looked like the center of anunderwater village. The shadow of something quick darted passed their view, andthe crowd gave out a long ooooohhh in surprise when the dark silhouetteturned to face them.

Itwas a merman. He looked foreboding with olive-gray skin and fine green hairthat streamed and drifted like a cloud of weeds behind him. His bright yelloweyes flashed menacingly over his shoulder at the projector as he propelledhimself along with a muscular, silver-scaled tail. Several merpeople could beseen circling the hostages with long spears tipped with sharp stone. They weresinging an eerie, almost hypnotic song.

“An hourlong you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took.

Your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot.”

Streamsof tiny bubbles could be seen leaking from the hostages’ mouths, their limpbodies looking lifeless as their heads lulled back and forth in the murkycurrent. Three girls and one boy, tied tight to the statue’s tail, appeared tobe unconscious.

Inthe four panels surrounding the scene, the audience watched the championsracing through the dark water in a desperate search for the hostages. Thindotted lines below the swimmers showed their actual progress in the directionto the center of the lake. Some of the lines, like that of Cedric Diggory,showed him heading dead on course. Fleur Delacour’s line was moving awayfrom the center, away from the hostages, while Krum and Potter were swimmingtoo far to the north.

“As we can clearly see, itlooks like Mr. Diggory has taken an early lead,” said O’Shea, pointing at thedotted lines under each of the champions.

“Ooooooh, a man with a strongsense of direction,” Gwen cooed, loud enough for Anna to hear. “Good looks andbrains too. I like that.”

Soon the girls were settledinto their seats and, wrapping their robes tight against the bitter cold, theyhuddled close to watch the champions’ progress. In time, several steaming cupsof coffee and hot cocoa were being passed around as the commentators, sensing alull in the action, tried to keep the audience entertained.

“SoBeetle, why don’t you tell the viewers back home about your last trip to Romania? Iunderstand you were asked to track down a dragon that had escaped from itsrestricted area.”

The other man smiled bashfully,but didn’t hesitate to tell them the story in the grandest possible detail. Butdespite the dragon hunter’s best efforts, the audience’s patience was as unforgivingas the bitter morning air.

“So I raised my wand at thebeast as he bared his teeth at me, and then, just when he was about to snatchme off the cliff…” recounted Beetle, twirling his wand animatedly between hisfingers with an air of someone who had practiced the story many times.

“Hold that thought, Beetle. Itlooks like we’re finally seeing some action around one of the Hogwarts’champions, Mr. Diggory.” The entire audience in Spellsburg jerked up and leanedforward to look into the panel containing the image of Cedric, who had abruptlystopped swimming and was frantically working to pull his wand out of his belt.His face was matted with determination as he began to wave something away infront of him.

“Whatdo you suppose he’s looking at?” asked O’Shea, glancing over at the othercommentator.

“Obviously, there must besomething blocking his path,” replied Beetle, who was craning his neck as if tolook inside the edge of the picture in front of them.

The audience screamedunexpectedly at the sight of a huge tentacle the size of a tree trunk sweepinto view. The twisting, undulating arm was covered with saucer-size suctioncups spilling down its length, resembling a table set for fifty. They openedand closed greedily, like so many hungry little mouths as the appendageuncoiled itself like a whip toward the champion.

O’Shea immediately stood. “GoodLord –– what in the magical world is that?”

Cedric tried to avoid thetentacle coming at him. He seemed to be angrily waving the beast off, hisexpected look of fear displaced by a furious rage.

Anna squinted hard at theimage, concentrating on what she could see of the beast in the panel abovethem. Several others around her began screaming and pointing, but Anna couldfeel something odd and completely unexpected emanating from the creature.

Then,without warning, two more enormous arms shot forward and snatched Cedric intoits clutches. The audience jumped and some covered their eyes, not wanting tosee what was to become of the champion from Hogwarts. Cedric was clearly inpain. One of the creature’s giant arms had clamped onto his back and neck,while another arm began wrapping itself tight around the boy’s legs. It wasdrawing him toward its head, and when the huge monster finally fell into view,the audience shrieked in astounded horror. An enormous, giant-squid filled thepanel, which grew to blanket the entire sky above the stadium in Spellsburg.Several more tentacles shot forward and wrapped themselves around Cedric’sbody, encasing him tight in its crushing grip.

An old woman sitting besideSarah suddenly stood and shrieked, “It’s going to eat him!” Her words sent aripple of shock through the audience around her.

The beast was massive. Its eyeswere larger than dinner plates, and its skin rippled with a blazing flame ofluminous light that changed color excitedly. They could see its remaining armsunfolding fifty feet across as its mouth finally came into view. It openedwide, showing a hideous, black beak the size of a man’s fist opening and clickingmadly. The woman standing next to Sarah swayed and then fainted on top of therow of spectators in front of her.

“My God, Beetle,” O’Sheawhispered to the other commentator, “the boy’s going to be eaten alive, and thejudges seem oblivious to what’s going on down there.”

Many who were anxiouslywatching the scene were convinced he was right. For both the audience atHogwarts and the judges themselves seemed completely unaware of the impendingdoom about to befall one of their champions. Only Albus Dumbledore seemedabsorbedly focused on the lake. He was staring down at the water’s surfacefixedly, as if watching one of his students fighting for his life in the murkyblackness below where he sat.

Beads of sweat were forming onAnna’s brow as her concentration pressed forward, reaching out to touch thecreature about to strip Cedric of his skin. Something wasn’t right about whatshe was sensing from the beast as compared to what they were all seeing on theprojector.

Cedric had somehow freed an armfrom the creature’s clutches and was pounding on one of the tentacles wrappedaround his chest; his other hand holding his wand was clamped tight against hisbody. The creature was slowly drawing Cedric in and then in flash of suddenawareness Anna’s mind locked on to what the beast was feeling. She smiled.

Gwen was beside herself. Lostin the moment, she was on her feet and screaming. “No… somebody do something.He’s too handsome to die!”

Anna reached up and grabbedGwen by the back of her robes and yanked her back down into her seat. “Will youshut up,” she said, grinning. “Your Cedric isn’t in any danger!” Gwen looked atAnna in shock and then up at the projection again. She pointed at the scene asshe stared back at her friend in utter disbelief.

Anna smiled and shook her head.“No… danger…” she repeated, knowingly.

“Lookat that!” yelled Patrick O’Shea, and those cowering behind their hands in theaudience chanced to look up again to see Diggory was suddenly free. “The beastlet the boy go! It’s a miracle!”

Sureenough, Cedric had been unexplainably released from the creature’s tentacles,and was frantically trying to swim away. Then, from out of nowhere, anotherrevolving arm shot forward and clamped its suction cups on top of Cedric’sBubble-Head Charm. It began to shake the boy violently up and down, as if toremove the ball covering his head. Cedric was holding the sphere tight againsthis shoulders as the creature jerked and thrashed his body about. He pointedhis wand at the beast and yelled something that sounded hollow and dull. A jetof yellow bubbles shot from his wand at the squid. Ducking quickly to avoid theblast, the creature released Cedric again and then disappeared into the gloom.

The audience began to yelldesperately at Cedric, “Get out of there!” “Swim!” “Get away!”

But Cedric didn’t move. Hiswand remained rigid in his outstretched hand, as his eyes peered apprehensivelyinto the darkness around him. Then, without warning, a limb shot up from belowand rapped the champion on the back. The audience jumped and screamed again.The beast was back, racing around the boy in spurts of jetting speed. Cedricwas pointing his wand threateningly at the creature, trying again to wave thebeast away. Another tentacle unexpectedly zipped out and thumped him on theback of the head before withdrawing once more.

“You know…?” Beetle toned inappraisingly, frowning up at the projection, “I think… the squid… might just beplaying with him.”

O’Shea looked at his colleaguein dumbfounded shock. “Playing with him? Are you mad?” He looked again at thecreature circling Diggory, which was rippling excitedly with an iridescent sheenthat moved back and forth across its body like a wave. “You mean to tell methat thing… is just having a spot of fun?”

Beetlechuckled. “It would seem so. Look!”

Onceagain, the creature shot forward, this time spreading itself wide to engulfCedric with its entire body. They could see the champion kicking and poundingthrough the outer skin of the monster before being turned over and squirt backout again. Cedric whirled about through the water and then spun around to righthimself; he looked furious. He pointed his wand at the creature and this timehe didn’t hesitate. A boiling stream of bubbles shot forward from his wand, strikingthe squid right between the eyes. The beast lurched back in shock, lookingsurprisingly offended. Cedric pointed his wand again at the squid and shoutedsomething through the crystal bubble surrounding his head. The beast spunaround and, with one enormous blast of black ink, shot into the murky darknessand out of sight. It was gone. Cedric angrily snapped his wand down, lookingleeringly into the gloom. Hesitating only once to look back over his shoulder,he swam away in the opposite direction.

Gwen fell back into her seatwith a sigh of relief as she looked over to Anna. “How in the world could youhave possibly known?” Anna smiled, looking up at Diggory now swimming towardthe center of the lake and then back to Gwen.

“Itwas the way the creature was acting. It didn’t seem dangerous… it just wantedto play with him, that’s all.” Gwen looked skeptical, but before she and therest of the audience could catch their collective breath, the commentators wereheralding trouble for yet another champion.

Inthe upper right panel, they watched Fleur Delacour struggling to free herselffrom two small, horned-creatures, trying angrily to drag the champion down intothe weeds.

“Ofall the rotten luck,” O’Shea said. “It looks like the champion from Beauxbatonshas been accosted by a couple of nasty grindylows.”

“She’dbetter stay out of those weeds,” Beetle added warningly. “There could be a lotmore of them down there waiting for her.”

Annaslowly stood with a look of worry and concern set on her face. Once again, herreaction to what she was seeing seemed out of step with the audience aroundher, most of which were pointing and laughing at Fleur’s unexpectedpredicament.

“Get out of there…” Annawhispered, anxiously. Gwen was now standing next to her. She glanced over atAnna, and could tell by her friend’s worried expression that something wasterribly wrong.

“What is it?” Gwen asked hercautiously. “What are you seeing?”

Anna looked over at Gwen andfrowned. “There are more of them… hiding in the weeds,” she said with a hint ofwarning in her voice. She looked back up at Fleur who was struggling to stayout of the swaying grass below her. “They’re in the weeds waiting for her.”Gwen gasped and then looked up, but something else had suddenly grabbed Anna’sattention in the panel containing Harry Potter. He had also stopped swimmingand seemed to be talking to somebody unseen in front of him.

The rest of the audienceappeared oblivious to what Potter was doing, and continued to laugh amusinglyat Fleur struggling to free herself from the creatures dragging her down. Assoon as Fleur’s body touched the weeds, Anna’s eyes darted back to her panel.

“They’re coming…” shewhispered.

“How many?”

Anna looked at Gwen andgrimaced. “Uhhhhmm,” she looked back up again, “all of them… I think.”

Sure enough, Fleur was suddenlyengulfed by an angry mob of grindylowsshooting out of the weeds around her. Their pointed fangs bared, they seizedthe girl by the robes and began to drag her down and out of sight. The suddenappearance of so many of the beasts, andthe sight of countless others leaping into the spot where the girl haddisappeared, rudely shocked the laughing audience into stunned silence.

“Oh my goodness, Pat,” saidBeetle, grabbing his companion’s shoulder. “She’s in very serious trouble now.Get out of there, you fool!” he yelled, fearfully.

“Yes… get out…” Anna repeated.“Come on… move!”

For a second, Fleur appearedagain and the audience shrieked in surprise at what they saw. At least twenty grindylows were clinging to her limbs and body,desperately trying to pull the girl back down. They were biting, scratching andattempting to choke her with her own robes, and Fleur was fighting back with apanicked viciousness few had ever seen in her.

“Yes…that’s it… keep fighting. Get out of the weeds!” Anna yelled, watching theprojector rising with the girl as she slowly fought her way back up.

“Oh,my God,” said O’Shea, pointing at the surrounding weeds. From the top viewlooking down, they could see dozens of the creatures moving through the grassin the girl’s direction. “She had better move before the rest of those devilscan get to her…”

“Comeon, girl. Swim – SWIM!” yelled Beetle, urgently.

Fleurwas slashing her wand like a knife, shooting spells at every creature in sight.There was a pause and then a jet of boiling water blasted forward from herwand, scorching the weeds below down to the mud. Some of the creatures on herback were whacking and clawing at the sphere on her head, trying to remove it.

“Oh no! It looks like HarryPotter is in trouble too,” yelled Beetle, and everybody turned to see Harry inhis panel being grabbed by three more grindylows as he struggled desperately tofree his wand from his robes. He pointed the wand down and screamed something undistinguishablein the water. A jet of red bubbles shot forward, hitting a grindylow holdinghis foot. It instantly released him. Harry turned and started to swim away,shooting more spells over his shoulder as he went. A second grindylow grabbedHarry by the foot, and the boy twisted around to kick down at the beast withthe heel of his other foot. The blow landed with a thud on the grindylow’shead, sending him floating backward in a sprawl. The crowd cheered triumphantlyas the mersong echoed eerily again from out ofthe darkness.

“…your time's half-gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot…”

Fleur Delacour’s situation, onthe other hand, had become truly desperate. Although she had managed to freeherself from most of the grindylows holding her, four more of the creatureswere cruelly biting her legs, and trying to drag her back down. The girl kickedand thrashed at her attackers, her fine silver hair flailing and twisting inthe darkness as her body worked to break the creature’s vise-like grip. Two ofthe creatures were now using stones to pound at the champion’s crystal-spheresurrounding her head, and tiny cracks in the glass could be seen growinglarger. Suddenly, the water imploded into Fleur’s face in a rush as the powerof her Bubble-Head charm finally gave out.

“Manticore molars!” shoutedO’Shea, sounding panicked. “Delacour is in very serious trouble now. I’m afraidone of our hostages isn’t going to see their rescuer today. But at least… yes…it looks like the champion from Beauxbatons has freedherself from the creatures and is heading back to the surface.”

Surprisingly, the unexpectedfailure and implosion of Fleur’s charm had startled the grindylows just as muchas it did the champion herself, and the water demons could be seen scatteringto the protection of the weeds below her. The projector followed Fleur’sstruggling form up until her head broke the surface of the lake where thepicture immediately switched to another view floating somewhere above her. Shewas spitting water and gasping for air as she struggled to swim back to theshore. Madame Maxime was on her enormous feetand galloping urgently toward the lake’s edge. Another witch, dressed in thegowns of a healer, was already stooping to help Fleur out of the water andwrapping her in blankets when the Beauxbaton Headmistress arrived to lift herchampion onto the bank.

“Thankgoodness she’s safe. What a shame,” Beetle said, sorrowfully. “A spot of badluck, really, to have run into a den of grindylows like that. If onlythe power of her charm had been a bit stronger, she might have been able to…”

“Justa minute, Beetle,” said Patrick O’Shea, breaking in. “It now looks like thechampion from Bulgariais in trouble.”

Alleyes in the audience immediately flew across the sky to the other side of thestadium where Viktor Krum looked as if he was being attacked by some of thestrangest creatures many had ever seen. They were round, balloon-like fish thesize of grapefruits, swimming oddly on stalked legs with webbed feet. A singledorsal fin was perched on the top of their head like a mohawk, while theirtailless bodies propelled themselves along like frogs through the water. Theirround, animated faces were colored a blotchy, grayish-green, and made excited,raspberry-like snorts as they attached themselves to Krum’s legs with theirfatty little mouths.

“Blastthe luck,” said Beetle, who recognized the creatures immediately. “Plimpies.”

O’Shealooked over at him and frowned. “Plimpies? What the devil is… are… plimpies?”

“Singularly,the creature is called a plimpy. More than one, and you’ve got a nuisance youwouldn’t believe.”

“Arethey… dangerous?”

“Well…no… I wouldn’t say they’re exactly dangerous, but they can be a seriousproblem. You see how they lock their mouths onto the swimmer? They’re lookingfor snails, which are their primary source of food, and if enough of them canattach themselves…” he suddenly stopped and pointed at Krum. “Ahhh… there… yousee? I was afraid of this. Those creatures are going to make it very difficultfor Krum to carry on.”

Theaudience watched as Krum began beating at the creatures that had fastenedthemselves like leaches to his limbs, causing his body to float unwillinglytoward the surface. His shark’s teeth reached back and began snapping viciouslyat the plimpies, but their rubber-like bodies remained indifferent and unmovedby his attack. The champion started tearing the creatures away by their legs,but to no avail. The snorting little plimpies immediately swam back to reattachthemselves, using their long webbed feet to bat away Krum’s efforts to pullthem off again. After several minutes of struggling, Krum began tying the feetof the creatures in knots before sending them off with a kick.

“Thata’ boy, Viktor,” Beetle sang out happily. “Now you’ve got it. Good lad!” Soon,Krum was plimpy-free and swimming away, leaving the struggling creaturesfloating haplessly like balloons in his wake. The crowd in Spellsburg finallysettled back in their seats to gather themselves and watch, with great relief,the champion’s approach toward the hostages.

“Ourthree remaining champions are on track now and heading bang-on course towardthe center of the lake,” said one of the commentators dully over the exhaustedrumble of the crowd. They could see Krum, Diggory, and Potter swimmingdeterminedly through the dark water, the dotted lines below them growinggradually toward the center panel where the sleeping hostages still waited tobe rescued.

“Ithink…” said O’Shea, craning his neck to see, “… yes. It looks like HarryPotter is going to be the first to arrive at the hostages. I don’t think any ofthe odd-makers expected this, Beetle.”

Beetlewas shaking his head in disbelief. “Incredible, Pat. Harry is having anabsolutely remarkable tournament. He did a great job replaceing his directionearly in the race, and was able to fight off the grindylow attackquickly enough to minimize his delay. Let’s see if he can get his hostagereleased and back to the surface under the allotted time.”

Theaudience watched as Harry entered what looked like a small mervilliage. Weedcovered huts appeared through the gloom, which were huddled randomly togetherleading to a center square. They could see small merchildren peering out ofholed windows, their vivid-yellow eyes bright with wonder as they watched Harryswimming by them. Some of the merparents could be seen shooting out of the opendoorways carrying pointed spears as they spied Harry moving down the street.

Atlong last, Harry reached the village square where the hostages were tied to thestatue. The Hogwarts champion took a second to survey the sight before him, andthen urgently sped forward toward the boy tied between two of the girls. Hestarted pulling and yanking on the weeds trying to free the boy, while the circlingmerpeople laughed spitefully at his efforts. Harry swam over to one of the moremenacing looking mermen. He motioned at the spear one of them was carrying andthen back again toward the hostages.

“Itlooks like Harry wants to barrow the merman’s weapon,” explained Beetle,watching the merman shaking his head. Surprised and then angry, Harry lungedfor the spear anyway, but the powerful creature twisted it out of Harry’s graspand pushed him away.

“Oh –– now –– see here,”complained O’Shea. “The lad only wanted to borrow it!”

Harry was looking desperate.Diving to the bottom, he started digging through the rock-strewn floor,urgently looking for something he could use to free his hostage. He found astone with a jagged edge and headed back to the statue where he began hackingaway at the weedy bonds holding the boy to the others.

“He’d better hurry… his time isalmost up,” said Beetle, looking at the running hourglass sitting on thejudge’s table.

“Yes…and now we see the other two champions entering the mervillage as well,” saidO’Shea, pointing at the other two panels. The crowd looked over and saw CedricDiggory swimming anxiously through the muddy pathways between the stone huts.The strange looking Viktor Krum had also entered the village on the south side,sending several terrified merchildren darting out of his path.

There was a rising rumblegrowing in the crowd. “What in the world is Potter doing?” bellowed Beetle, andeverybody’s attention returned to his panel. Harry had freed the boy who wasnow floating upright behind him, and he had started to hammer at the ropesholding the girl next to him.

“I don’t believe it. HarryPotter is trying to free another hostage. Well… as admirable as that might be,I’m not sure the mermen are going to allow that.”

As if hearing the commentator’swords, two mermen suddenly rushed forward to pull Harry away from the girl.They spun him around and began to warn him away menacingly with their spears.Harry was pointing back at the girl he was trying to free with the edged stone,but the merman where angrily shaking their heads and jabbing their spears athim. Frustrated, Harry tried to return to the girl, but was grabbed and pulledaway again.

Cedric Diggory finally arrivedin the square. Swimming up to Harry, Diggory began shaking his head andpointing at his watch. He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut away the weedsholding the second girl. With a sharp jerk, Cedric pulled the girl away fromthe statue and started toward the surface.

“And there goes Cedric Diggorywith his hostage,” yelled O’Shea brightly, and Gwen let out a whoop ofexcitement next to Anna.

“Potter should take Diggory’slead,” Beetle said exasperatedly. “Why doesn’t he just grab his hostage andgo?”

The crowd shouting around Annaagreed. “Come on, Harry,” yelled a ruddy-faced man standing behind them. “Takethe boy and get back to the surface! I’ve got two galleons on you to place.Come on, boy! What are you waiting for?” Anna and Gwen were transfixed as theywatched Harry, who was trying again to free a third hostage only to be draggedaway by the mermen once more. A few seconds later, Krum entered the square andstarted tearing and ripping at the girl’s ropes.

“Oh –– careful there. He’sgonna to tear his hostage in two before he gets her out of the water,” saidO’Shea, sounding very worried. Harry must have had the same thought. He toreaway from the mermen and raced forward to Krum. Slapping the Durmstrangchampion on the back, he handed him the stone he had used to free his hostage.

“What in the world are youdoing, idiot boy,” bellowed the man standing behind Anna. “Don’t help the otherchampions. I’ve got two galleons on you… no!”

Soon the second girl was free,and Krum was swimming away with his hostage in tow. Anna thought the man behindthem was close to heart failure from the strain of losing his wager. Harrygathered up the dropped stone he had given to Krum and began cutting the ropesholding the last girl to the statue.

“I think Potter is intent onfreeing all the hostages,” Beetle said amusingly. “An admirable quality in afuture wizard, but I don’t think that’s going to help his marks in thiscompetition.” Anna looked over at Gwen.

“Admirable qualities…” shesaid, trying to sound optimistic.

Gwen laughed and shook herhead. “Kind of daffy if you ask me. He’s going to start a war down there ––look.”

Once again, several mermenrushed in to pull Harry away from the last hostage, but the champion fromHogwarts was ready for them. He wrenched out his wand with a sharp jerk, and beganto count down with his fingers. Three — he pointed the wand warningly at them.Two — he stretched out his arm. With a look of horror on their faces, themermen darted away in a flash of slivery fins. Harry turned angrily back to thelast hostage and began to cut the remaining bonds holding her to the statue.Then, grabbing the other boy by the back of his robes, he started swimmingurgently toward the surface.

“Andfinally… there goes Potter with the last of the hostages. Well, what do youknow about that? It’s going to be interesting to see how the judges mark thistask, Beetle. Should Harry receive consideration for caring about the otherhostages?”

“That’ll be up to the judges,of course. With time running out, Harry must have believed the hostages were inmortal danger and, if you think about it, why wouldn’t he? The champions werenever told the hostages had volunteered for this task, only that somethingimportant had been taken from them into the lake. Even a sensible Mugglewouldn’t take any chances when it came to a life tied at the bottom of thatlake. It’ll be interesting to see how the judges react when they hear whathappened.”

Harry broke the surface of thewater in a rush of bubbles and foam to the cheers and happy clapping of thecrowd around the lake. The two hostages he had rescued immediately woke fromtheir deep sleep, and Harry, together with the help of the other boy, helpedthe girl swim back to the shore. A moment later, the hostages were beingdragged up the muddy bank, and the judges were helping the champions out of thewater. Fleur Delacour broke free of Madame Maxime and began hugging the littlegirl Harry had brought to the surface who, it turned out, was her youngersister.

“Itwas ze grindylows… zey attacked me… oh Gabrielle, I thought… I thought…” Shestood and rushed over to Harry. “You saved 'er. Even though she was not yourostage.” Fleur bent down and kissed Harry on both cheeks. Harry, shivering withcold, looked both tired and very embarrassed.

“Well…points or not…” chuckled Beetle, “that’s the kind of reward any true championlongs to receive.”

PatrickO’Shea, grinning broadly, nodded and then turned serious as he spoke to theaudience. “Now we see the Headmaster of Hogwarts being called intoconference by one of the merpeople from the lake. It looks like he’s about toreplace out what happened down there.” The crowd watched as Albus Dumbledoremotioned to the other judges to join him. A few minutes later, Ludo Bagman’s magically magnified voice boomed over the crowd oncemore.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we havereached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happenedat the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out offifty for each of the champions, as follows…”

“Andhere come the marks,” O’Shea said, breathlessly.

“Fleur Delacour, though shedemonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylowsas she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award hertwenty-five points.”

“Oh –– that was a bit tight,”said Beetle, resignedly. “I think they could have done better than that for thechampion from France.”

“Cedric Diggory,” Bagmancontinued, “who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with hishostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour.” Loudapplause from the Hogwarts students could be heard reverberating intoVollucross stadium. “We therefore award him forty-seven points.

“Viktor Krum used an incompleteform of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second toreturn with his hostage. We award him forty points.

“Harry Potter used gillyweed togreat effect,” said Bagman. “He returned last, and well outside the time limitof an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informsus that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in hisreturn was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, notmerely his own.”

“Here it comes…” said thecommentator.

“Most of the judges… feel thatthis shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However…Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points.”

“Ohhhh,it looks like there might be some disagreement between the judges on Potter’smarks,” said Beetle excitedly, but the man standing behind Anna and Gwen waselated. He stood and whooped with excitement.

“That’smy boy, HARRY POTTER! Two galleons at five-to-one odds is ten galleons to me!”he bellowed triumphantly, dancing a little jig on his bench, and toppling rightover into the crowd behind him. Everybody laughed as Bagman continued.

“The third and final task willtake place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand.Thank you all for your support of the champions.” Cheers and applause from bothHogwarts and Spellsburg filled the air as the picture above them finallysettled back on the two commentators.

“Well…there you have it, Beetle. The second task of the Triwizard Tournament is nowhistory. What did you think?”

“Ithought the competitors proved once again why they were chosen to be thechampions of their wizarding schools. They simply did an outstanding job.Cedric Diggory was most impressive. He was able to fight off that monstrousgiant-squid and still get to the hostages quickly.

“Andwho among us wasn’t inspired by Harry Potter’s performance? I think we were allextremely happy to see most of the judges taking his decision to try and savethe other hostages as something positive rather than taking points off. Thestudents and teachers at Hogwarts are going to be very happy with theirchampions’ combined scores.”

“Rightyou are, Beetle. And here are the final results after the second task.”

Thepicture above the Spellsburg stadium changed to show a set of marks high in thedarkened sky:

Champion School 1st Task Score 2nd Task Score Total Score Standings

Diggory Hogwarts 38 47 85 First

Potter Hogwarts 40 45 85 First

Krum Durmstrang 40 40 80 Second

Delacour Beauxbatons 39 25 64 Third

“Tiedfor first place are Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter of Hogwarts, each witheighty-five points. In second place is Viktor Krum of Durmstrang Academy,with eighty points; and, in third place, Miss Fleur Delacour of the BeauxbatonsSchool of Witchcraft, with sixty-four points. What do you think of the marks,Beetle?”

“Otherthan the lower than expected score for Miss Delacour in today’s task, I thinkthe marks were fair, and I liked the way the judges were willing to take intoaccount Potter’s determination to do the right thing.”

“Icouldn’t agree with you more. So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, avery exciting second task to be sure, and one we’ll all be talking about formany years to come. As Ludo Bagman just announced, the third and finaltask will take place at eight o’clock in the evening on the twenty-fourth ofJune.

“So –– on behalf of mycolleague Beetle Mantooth, and our student reporter in the field, Lee Jordan,this is Patrick O’Shea magically signing off from England. We’ll see you again onJune twenty-fourth for the third task. Good-day everybody.” The sky above thestadium went dark, and then suddenly brightened to reveal a clear, pale-bluemorning over Spellsburg.

“Wasn’t that a fantastic secondtask?” announced Professor Bots over the continuous roar of the stadium crowd.“Now –– don’t forget, this year’s graduation ceremony is scheduled to takeplace the same week as the final Triwizard task, so plan on staying a few extradays if you can. And please — be sure to pick up a schedule for this year’sremaining Vollucross races, and Swift Slalom and Quidditch season calendars areavailable at the gates. We hope to see you again in Spellsburg for one of theseincredible events. Thank you all for coming, ladies and gentlemen, and have asafe journey home.”

“So… it looks like Diggory andPotter are going to run away with this thing,” Gwen said, gleefully, rising toher feet to stretch.

Anna smiled. “Yeah… we shouldhave put some gold on our men,” she whispered back, looking around to be sureDoctor Pearl wasn’t around to hear them.

Gwen grinned evilly. “How ‘bouta little wager just between friends, then?”