Of Monsters, Of Men

Chapter 36

November 14, 1942

The next two weeks passed quickly. Harry and Tom met with Avdotya and Yulian briefly, although both teams of champions were wary about revealing too much to the other about the first task. Harry and Tom had brainstormed a plan for the First Task, and they were determined to stick to it. Mainly, it consisted of brushing up on their general knowledge in all subjects and continuing full speed ahead with their dueling-heavy routine, what with FiGS and Moody's private tutoring. Following the plan was difficult, though, with the amount of assignments that began piling up. Harry would have liked to complain to his professors, but alas, giving the Hogwarts Champions less work would have been seen as special treatment, so Harry pushed down his complaints and attacked his stacks of schoolwork.

Tom also snuck away to the Chamber to experiment with the basilisk whenever he could, so Harry ended up staying up much later than he wanted to on most nights. Tom told Harry that he'd been making good progress with the basilisk and was able to command it to awaken and sleep. He had even begun to converse with it! From this, he learned that Salazar Slytherin had ordered it to target muggleborns and purge Hogwarts of them. However, because Salazar Slytherin had only explicitly commanded it to listen to the Heir of Slytherin, Tom could command the basilisk to do whatever he wanted and disregard Salazar Slytherin's previous orders. So for now, the basilisk awoke and slept at Tom's command. Tom was hopeful that he and Harry could find out better uses for the basilisk. He even invited Harry to meet the basilisk when it was awake, but Harry politely declined.

Meanwhile, the FiGS executive board began preparing their presentation to show the Hogwarts Student Union Senate. FiGS's meeting with the Hogwarts Senate to recognize them as a legitimate club was in early January, but it was better to start sooner rather than later. They also decided that they would wait to schedule their meeting with the Club Support Committee until after the first task.

And finally, it was Saturday, November 14th. The day of the Weighing of the Wands ceremony and photoshoot and interviews. Harry and Tom had worn their best robes and spent quite a lot of time prettying themselves up that morning.

In the Great Hall, Garrick Ollivander inspected each champion's wand. Ilvermorny had gone first, then Koldovstoretz, then Hogwarts. After Ollivander handed Tom's wand back to him, he motioned for Harry's wand.

Harry handed over his wand, slightly unnerved by Ollivander's silvery gaze focusing so heavily on him. "Yes, I remember," he murmured, twirling Harry's wand between his fingers. Green and red sparks left the tip of his wand. "Eleven inches long, nice and supple. Holly and phoenix feather. Brother wands with Mr. Riddle's wand."

Hearing this, the other champions turned their inquisitive gazes on Harry and Tom, weighing this new information in their minds. Avdotya's gaze was particularly sharp.

"Both phoenix feathers came from the same bird," Ollivander said. "It is in perfect condition." He handed the wand back to Harry, who took it back a little too gratefully.

Then the six champions were whisked away for the photoshoot. The six of them stood side by side, with Hogwarts in the middle, Koldovstoretz on their left, and Ilvermorny on their right. After the group photos were taken, the champions were photographed individually. During this time, the other champions that were waiting were taken to meet the journalist for their interview.

Finally, it was Harry and Tom's turn for the interview. They entered the small room that had been set up for them and were greeted with a woman with platinum blonde curls and bejeweled spectacles. Her nails were a bright, shocking scarlet color.

Harry resisted the urge to grimace. He'd never liked women with red nails, anyways. Too much like Marya.

Tom introduced himself with a charming smile, all pearly whites on display as he shook her hand firmly. Harry did the same, trying to inject as much enthusiasm into his tone as possible.