Merura Ashmore

Task One

The morning crawled up over the Forbidden Forest. A layer of clouds hugged to the ground. Today was the day of the first Task of the Triwizard Tournament, and Merura being a Hufflepuff woke with a jolt. She had only heard stories of the last time a Hufflepuff was picked for the tournament, and although the Dark Lord was gone she was still scared for being picked. She was a seventh year and entered her name to challenge Jelic, but she didn't think she would beat him and get picked.

But here the dawn rose on the day of the first task. The school really cracked down and only let the headmasters of each school know the trials for the tasks. And to make sure others didn't find out they publicly made an Unbreakable Vow to not disclose this information to any of the three champions or any other professors. Crawling out of the common room, Merura made her way to the Great Hall. As she approached, she caught the eye of Jelic who was adorned in his red robes and surrounded by his gaggle of Gryfindors.

Seeing her enter he snickers and flashes his "100 galleon smile." Responding with her causal cold stare she found her way to the Hufflepuff table. Breakfast this morning was a weird mix of pancakes and toast, and of course the ever present pumpkin juice. Merura never cared for the juice, but today she didn't care and downed the drink, and followed it with a few slices of toast.

"Hey there Rura, are you ready for today?" She looked up and saw a familiar face. Dressed in his blue robes and his glasses slightly askew, stood her cousin, Tarik. He had managed to get his buttons aligned but the rest of his outfit was slightly off.

"I'm doing fine," Merura responded paying little attention to him. Taking a bite of another piece of toast, she tried to ignore him.

"Um, cousin, my mom and her brother, your dad, wanted me to give you this package." He had a large box on the table behind him and he pushed it in front of her. She looks at the box. It was wrapped in gold and black paper. Ripping open the package there was a set of robes. And a letter was attached:

Dear Merura,
Today is the day of the first task, and I
know you must feel nervous. I know I would be.
Anyway, your father and I wanted you to have
these, most wizards don't use them, but for this
occasion, we felt you should have them.
They are battle robes, they are more for
physical attacks but they have been imbued with
a magical quality. I hope you find them useful for
the first task. Good luck we will be cheering for you.
May the road rise up to meet you,
Aunt Kolia

Merura pushed back the packaging and the robes were revealed, they were deep yellow and black to match the Hufflepuff house and they had segments of metal mixed with the robes.

"Dang, cousin, battle robes are very rare." Tarik looks at the robes and Merura pulls out the rest of the outfit. There was a body suit of armor, along with a vest of both cloth and metal. A long draping robe was folded neatly under all the battle robes. A professor walked up to the table and looked at Merura.

"Merura, it is time for you to get ready." Looking up at the professor she was faced by Professor Longbottom. He was holding a plant that was attempting to grow around his arm.

"Professor," Merura started, "You saw one of these tournaments right?"

"Yes, I did, but I hope that this one doesn't have the same outcome. At least only seventh years are participating. Although, I did help Harry Potter on the second task. I would help you too if I could but I don't know anything about the first task. Please head to the grounds when you are ready." He walked away while pushing the plant back into the pot.