Triwizard Tournament

The Ogre

Another riddle, Adelena thought in despair. And an ogre.

There seemed to be an affinity between the tournament, riddles, and dangerous magical creatures. The papyrus had appeared in a flare of blue light after the Yule Ball, revealing information about her second task. It had taken her a week to even bother opening the letter, busy with discovering more of Hogwarts. She regretted it now, cursing her own laziness.

The first part of the riddle was easy enough to decipher. There was an ogre inside the Shrieking Shack and it would attack Hogwarts on the day of the solar eclipse. A small acrimonious part of her wondered what would happen if she simply didn't appear, if she simply let the ogre run loose. Already her over-active imagination began to form the scene. Snickering at the thought of students knocking each other out of the way, she re-focused on the second part of the riddle.

She might as well have procrastinated longer. The four lines were as clear as muddy water. It was slightly unfair, in her opinion, that it took a person with a well-known history of Hogwarts to solve the second verse. They had to be connected, which meant if she learned about the Shrieking Shack, she would learn about the mysterious tree.

She was alone now, she realized. Still, she called the name in a whisper. "Coorery?"

A sound as sharp as a whip cracked throughout the air, but there was no dramatic visual to match it. Instead, standing in front of her was a bowing house elf, wearing rags for clothing.

"Hello Mistress," Coorery squeaked. "Coorery has been wondering when Mistress would need him. Master talks much of Mistress in the Triwizard Tournament. He is very proud, Mistress."

Her father was proud. She didn't dwell on the notion long, though her heart swelled. "Can you go to Father's library and see if he has anything about the Shrieking Shack?"

Coorery bowed again, his long nose just slightly brushing the floor, before he disapparated with another crack. It wasn't cheating, she told herself. Adelena would still be the one to pass the task, the one to find out what to do. Besides, the rules had never said that she couldn't have help. Not that it mattered. She'd already had Scorpius's help in the first task.

Hopefully Coorery would return soon. Adelena mused at the prospect of simply winging it as she made her way to the Great Hall for lunch. No doubt the Headmistress would be rather displeased. A plan would be needed if she were to win.

The Great Hall had been returned to its usual state, the four tables back in their typical states, candles floating above the students. Among the sea of black, red and blue robes were scattered around. Spotting a familiar lock of blond hair, she took her seat underneath the green banner.

"You've got the clue, have you analyzed the riddle?"

Adelena didn't bother asking how he knew. It seemed his first automatic response to anyone was to scrutinize them. "I'm feeling good, Scorpius. And how are you?"

Scorpius stared at her.

"It was a joke," she said.

"I'm well aware." But he didn't stop staring.

"Fine," she muttered. Simply talking about it wouldn't do any harm, she decided. Besides, the chatter was more than enough to hide their conversation.

"Ogre on the eclipse. I'm not sure about the second verse, though."

"I assume I'm past the stage where I must accidentally bump into you to steal the clue."

"Yes," said Adelena, taking a portion of the shepard's pie. "But I'm not going to give you the riddle."

"Because you want to interpret it yourself," said Scorpius. "And your conscious is against me for giving you the answer in the first task."