Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

It was finally February 24th, the day of the second task. The day started relatively normally. Blurryface woke all of us up as usual, even though Frank wasn't there. At breakfast, the other Gryffindors gave me advice for the task, most of which I wasn't planning on using. McGonagall announced that the second task would be held in the Great Hall. The champions had to be there at 2:30 so we could go over the rules, while everyone else would arrive at three.

I did some more last-minute studying before the task began, but before long, it was 2:30, and I had to leave. "Good luck, Gee," Ray said right before I left the common room. "You're going to do great. I can just tell."

"Thanks Ray," I said. I then went downstairs and entered the Great Hall. The tables had been moved out of the way, but instead, there were three large cauldrons and a multitude of chairs for the spectators. Next to each cauldron was a cot, and there was a student lying in each cot. One of those students was Frank. His eyes were closed, and he was deathly pale. What had they done with Frank?

I spotted the other two champions conversing with McGonagall, Maxime, and Draganov. I walked over to them, and the headmasters began explaining the rules. Basically, I had until 4:00 to revive Frank. I was allowed to leave the Great Hall to collect potion ingredients, but the cauldron had to remain there. I still couldn't use a bezoar. The rules seemed simple enough to me, and I already had a few ideas on how I was going to do this.

The other students began entering the Great Hall. Most of my friends ended up sitting in the front row. Joe even brought a sign that said, "Take the world back from a heart attack, Gee!" I thought that he was going a little bit overboard, but at least he was trying to help.

At 3:00, McGonagall told us that we were allowed to begin. I sprinted to the Potions room, and Laurette and Annalise did the same thing. I collected a pint of Horklump juice, a vial of flobberworm mucus, seven Chizpurfle fangs, a vial of Billywig sting slime, a vial of salamander blood, ten lionfish spines, and a few other various ingredients that I might need. Laurette was collecting many of the same ingredients, while Annalise was desperately trying to open one of the locked cabinets. I knew that was the cabinet that contained the bezoars, and Professor Slughorn had probably used a locking spell on it. Once I had retrieved all of the necessary ingredients, I returned to the Great Hall.

It was only 3:04. I still had plenty of time. I suspected that they had given Frank the Draught of Living Death, so I simply had to brew the antidote, which was Wiggenweld Potion. Wiggenweld Potion was a tricky potion to brew, but we had learned it in October, so I would probably be okay. The only problem was that it took thirty minutes to brew.

Laurette returned to the Great Hall a few minutes after I did. It looked like she was brewing Wiggenweld Potion as well, but she was using a few different ingredients and a slightly different method. Maybe she was using a variant that I didn't know about. Nevertheless, I brewed the potion exactly as Professor Slughorn had taught me, and thirty minutes later, I was finished.

I gave Frank some of the emerald green potion, but it didn't work. I knew that I brewed the potion correctly, so they must have given Frank a blended poison. What else had they given him? Baneberry Poison seemed likely, since it had similar effects to the Draught of Living Death. I also decided to throw in an Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, just in case.

The only problem was that I had no idea how to brew the antidote to Baneberry Poison. Frank and I had done that potion together in class, and despite the fact that Professor Slughorn was impressed by our potion, we had really just thrown a bunch of random ingredients together. I would try it anyways.

I ran back to the Potions classroom, and found the ingredients for the Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, venom, cherry blossoms, blue rabbit fur, asbestos, and formaldehyde. I also managed to get the coffee from the Hogwarts coffee maker. When I got back to the Great Hall, I put the venom, cherry blossoms, and blue rabbit fur into the cauldron, but I felt like there was something missing.