Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

It was February 21st, meaning that there were only three more days until the second task. There was a snowstorm going on outside, so even though it was Sunday, we weren't allowed to visit Hogsmeade. I hoped that the weather would clear up soon, or maybe someone could do a Weather-Modifying Charm before the second task. Professor Flitwick could probably do that.

For now, however, I was stuck in the common room. Frank was chatting with one of the prefects, Hayley was in the middle of a book, Joe and Ray were practicing their guitars, and Pete was nowhere to be found, although several students suspected that he had found a way to get into the Hufflepuff common room.

Ray put down his guitar for a second and came over to talk to me. "Hey Gee," he said. "What are you doing?"

"Just finishing up on this drawing," I said.

Ray looked over my shoulder. "Is that Frank?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said as I put the drawing away. "So what did you want to ask me?"

"I was just wondering if you've prepared for the second task yet," Ray said.

"Of course I have," I said. "I got Gillyweed from Frank."

"Did you ever get around to opening the golden egg?" Ray asked.

"No," I said. "The egg would just scream at me if I opened it. That's what Professor Howell said."

"We should try opening it just to double check," Ray suggested.

"You can try that if you want to," I said. I found the golden egg and handed it to Ray. "Here," I said. "If you want the golden egg to scream at you, then go ahead."

I watched as Ray tried to pry open the egg, but it didn't work. The egg wouldn't open. "It's stuck," Ray said. He took out his wand, pointed it at the egg, and said, "Alohamora!" The egg still would not open.

"It must have an Anti-Alohamora charm on it," I observed.

"Let's try the Gouging Spell," Ray said. "As long as we have a hole in there, it should still work." Ray pointed his wand at the egg and said, "Defodio." Nothing happened.

"Let me try," I said. I pointed my wand at the egg and did the spell, but yet again, nothing happened. I tried again, making sure that I was careful to speak clearly and do the correct hand movement. It still didn't work.

"There must be some way to open the egg," Ray said. "They couldn't have protected this thing against every spell out there."

"All of the other spells that I can think of would tear the egg to pieces," I said.

"That seems unnecessary," Ray said. "It should obviously open here, but there's some kind of magical seal."

"They really did make it hard for us, didn't they?" I said.

"They sure did," Ray agreed.

At that moment, Frank walked over. "What are you two up to?" he asked.

"This golden egg won't open," I said.

"Let me try," Frank said. He tried a few additional spells, but none of them would open up the golden egg. By that time, it was almost time for lunch, so we decided that we would bring it to the Great Hall with us.

"Why haven't you opened that thing yet?" Joe asked us when he saw that we had brought the golden egg to lunch.

"It won't open!" I exclaimed.

"We should try blowing it up," Frank said. "It may destroy what's inside, but we're desperate." Frank pointed his wand at the egg. "Reduc-"

"Can I have a look at it?" Hayley interrupted.

"Sure," Frank said as he passed the egg to Hayley.

Hayley studied the egg for a few minutes. "Did you guys notice the runes on the side of the egg?" she asked.

"What runes?" Frank, Ray, and I all said in unison.

Hayley pointed to the runes, and I was surprised that I hadn't noticed them earlier. I immediately began translating. "There are two possible translations," I eventually concluded. "That either says, 'Let's blow an artery and eat plastic surgery,' or it says, 'Place me in Veritaserum and I will reveal my secrets.'"

"I'm pretty sure it's the second one," Hayley said.

"Where are we going to get Veritaserum?" Ray asked.

"We could always make some," I suggested.

"Veritaserum takes twenty eight days to make!" Frank exclaimed. "We only have three days before the task, whatever it is. We need to find some Veritaserum, and fast."

"We could check the Potions classroom," I said. Hayley, Ray, and Frank agreed that this was a good idea, so we headed there to see if Professor Slughorn just so happened to have a cauldron of Veritaserum sitting around in the classroom. It seemed unlikely, but it was possible.

When we got there, Professor Slughorn wasn't there, but two girls in Beauxbatons uniforms were. I recognized one of them as Laurette. I didn't know the other girl, but I had seen her in the hallways a few times. They were talking to each other in French as Laurette waved her wand over a cauldron filled with clear liquid. She then took her golden egg and submerged it in the cauldron.

"At least the Beauxbatons kids seem to know what they're doing," Hayley whispered.

"Maybe we could use some of their potion," I said.

We waited until Laurette and her friend left, and then we entered the classroom. The cauldron was still there, so I took the golden egg and placed it in the cauldron. As expected, the golden egg began to open. Inside the egg was a piece of paper and a bezoar. I reached into the cauldron, pulled out the paper, and read it.

Congratulations! After twenty eight days of hard work, you have successfully brewed Veritaserum and uncovered the secret of the Golden Egg. You must be very proud of yourself. For the second task, you must use the same skills to rescue a friend from the brink of death, and you cannot use the other item in the egg. Good luck!

"It sounds like they're going to poison someone, and I have to give them the correct antidotes," I told the others. "I can't use a bezoar."

"You can't use a bezoar?" Frank said. "That's the easiest way to do it!"

"I'm screwed," I admitted. "At least I have three days to prepare."

Three days wasn't much. Now that I knew the true nature of the second task, I wasn't so certain that I could win. I still had a lot of work to do, but I would do my best, and hopefully that would be enough.