A Second Chance

Chapter 11: The First Task (Part 1)

The Day Before the First Task
Great Hall : 8:00 p.m

The Great Hall was abuzz with excitement, chattering and mutterings caused due to the famous Hogwarts' rumour mill going all out. Someone had spread the rumour that the champions were to defeat a dragon for the First Task. "It's awfully close to the reality" Harry thought while playing with his food on his plate. He was definitely nervous and a bit doubtful of the events leading the naming of the champions. No one had forewarned him this time of the dragon threat and nor had he seen any dragons in the forbidden forest where he had gone under his invisibility cloak. He had no idea whether his actions had caused a big change such as the change in the First Task. Beside him, Hermione was also a nervous wreck but she had atleast eaten a bit of the meal after Harry pleading to her not to fret too much about him. He had taken her hand below the table and squeezed it reassuringly, he had still kept it helf firmly together for the whole meal. Students from all the schools were whispering among themselves on the possibility of what the First Task would entail.

There was a loud clattering of glass from the head table and the noise immediately died down knowing exactly who had disturbed their meal. Dumbledore stood up graciously from his throne and cleared his throat. "Before we continue with our meal I have a couple of announcements to make for the Triwizard Tournament as one of the three overseers. The First Task is to be held at the quidditch pitch tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. However, there is a rather small change in the plans we had for the champions, which unfortunately due to a lack of a golden egg, specifically and specialy made by the goblins had to be abandoned. The judges were forced to take a decision in a considerably less amount of time and hence after a lot of thoughts and debates it has been finalized that the champions will duel each other to victory. The First Task of courage and strength would be duelling. " There was a great applause from everyone interested in duels and a lot of murmuring had started again. Harry personally felt a lot relieved as he was sure he would beat them easily and it would give him a chance to practice his skills in front of an unfamiliar opponent. Hermione also visible relaxed and her shoulders dropped in relief. She had no issues knowing that they had handed Harry, victory on a silver platter.

The Next Day : Quidditch Pitch

The quidditch pitch had been completely changed and it now contained a duelling platform in the middle of the pitch and stands high enough to witness the duels. Students, parents, ministry employees and the tournament executives were all present and the ground was buzzing with a nervous excitement. The champions were showed to a tent where there were being briefed by the judges about the rules of the duels and the task. Barty Crouch Sr. had taken that responsibility. "Each one of the champion will participate in three duels and the one to win will be awarded by a hint for the next Task. There are three total hints for one to completely know what the second Task will entail. The participants of the duels have already been decided and the order we will follow will be flashed on the board in a few moments. Good Luck Champions. " He had said. After that the champions were left alone and were improvising their strategies while pacing nervously and glaring at each other momentarily. Harry was as calm as breeze and was confident he would win yet he had requested Hermione to stay with him to encourage him and he had whispered to her, to see to that he doesn't get a big head. She had laughed softly at his attempt at humor and kissed him passionately and had been whispering and encouraging him among the lines of "You will definitely win Harry, you're a great wizard. " to "please be careful Harry, don't be reckless". The first duel was between Cedric and Krum and then he was to duel Fleur. He was fairly certain he would beat her even though she had the veela affinity to conjure elemental fire. He had been practicing to extinguish such elemental fires and was successful in the feat. A few of his classmates had came down to the tent to wish him luck and had said they believed him. The first one of them had been, unsurprisingly for Harry, Neville. On the other hand, his former best mate had sneered his way in a disgustful manner and had shouted at top of his lungs for everyone one in the vicinity to hear that his 'boy crush Krum' would beat him and show him his error of ways.