Of Monsters, Of Men

Chapter 37

As soon as the champions were allowed to leave the First Task, they were whisked away to a private classroom where Mr. Crouch and the other judges were waiting.

Mr. Crouch inspected the champions as he said, "Well done on completing the first task. Now I shall impart some advice about the second task to you all." He paused before saying, "Be prepared to test each other's mettle. The second task is a tribute to the elegance of magic. Of the ingenuity of wizardkind."

With that said, he dismissed the champions from the room. Headmaster Dippet had previously explained that the champions would have interviews after the main events: after the first task, the Yule Ball, and second and third tasks. Hogwarts was the winner, so Harry and Tom were ushered to meet Rita Skeeter first.

Harry's mind spun with potential possibilities for what the second task could be.

The elegance of magic, the ingenuity of wizardkind...

He was sure Tom had a better idea about what the second task entailed than he did.

Following Tom's lead, Harry sat down and shook Rita Skeeter's hand profusely. Her other hand came to clasp Harry's hand, and Harry injected as much enthusiasm into his smile as he could.

"What a wonderful performance today! Magical Britain is certainly proud of her champions." Rita Skeeter pulled her glasses down a fraction of an inch and winked at both of them. "Oh, and please call me Rita."

Tom smiled. "Thank you, Rita. Harry and I are so glad to see you again. We're positively thrilled that we came in first. We've certainly worked quite hard to accomplish all that we did."

Rita Skeeter nodded. "What a bold move of you two to take the lodestone!" she exclaimed.

Harry grinned, leaning in closer to Rita Skeeter. "As they say, go big or go home. Tom and I wanted to shoot for first place, and the only way we'd be able to accomplish that was by taking the lodestone even if it severely hampered our escape efforts."

"You two are quite skilled at dueling," she commented. "You've both managed to fend off countless Aurors, many of which were personally trained by Alastor Moody."

It certainly doesn't hurt that we're being personally tutored by Moody himself.

Tom nodded. "Dueling is our specialty. It's something we found that we had a knack for ever since stepping foot in the Wizarding World. A large part of FiGS is our dueling lessons, which are attended by many muggleborn students. It's a privilege to be able to teach students like us one of the great joys of being a wizard."

Ah. So that's what the second task is then. Dueling.

Rita's eyes gleamed. "My congratulations again on the first task. And now, the Yule Ball is fast approaching. Do you have any ideas for who you'll take as your dance partners?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not quite sure at the moment." He scratched his head, smiling bashfully. "Well, I suppose tradition dictates that I must have a dance partner. I'll most likely take one of my FiGS executive board members."

"Nancy 'Nina' Warren, Polly Burrows, and Myrtle Warren, is that correct?"

A little stunned at how Rita had found out about them, especially Nina's hatred of her first name, all Harry could do in response was to give a little nod.

Sensing a weak point, Rita Skeeter pounced. "Do you know who in particular?" she asked, delight dripping from her tone.

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I'm really not quite sure. All of us are really good friends and I'm certain that it'd be alright whoever I ended up taking. I was going to ask the FiGS executive board at some point to figure out the exact logistics."