Ch 28 pt 1

The First Task started an hour late, at three instead of two. Minister Bones refused to let them start until she had what she felt was an adequate force of Aurors in place. And it took time to gather them from off-work and other assignments. Where there had been just a few Aurors for crowd control there were now easily a hundred Aurors and trainees scattered around the viewing stands and Hogwarts grounds.

As Garry remembered, Cedric went first, Fleur second, and Krum third. And they drew the same dragons. It only now occurred to Garry that he should have asked if Yaxley had charmed the bag holding the models. As the paranoid Moody, it would have been in character for Yaxley to demand to check the bag, and thus ensure that Harry drew the worst of the bunch. Oh, well, it was too late now.

The differences, though, thanks to the potions secretly supplied by Sirius, were that Cedric and Fleur escaped with only their robes slightly singed. Krum, however, still used the conjunctivitus curse and lost points for the destruction of the other eggs in the nest.

Harry performed almost exactly as he remembered doing, exhibiting flying skills that drew admiring remarks from Bagman and gasps from the crowd. This time, though, when the dragon's tail slid along his shoulder all it did was tear the boy Wizard's robes and left him unmarked. That didn't prevent Garry from flinching slightly at the remembered pain.

In the end, the rankings were Harry, Fleur, Cedric, and Krum. The first three were differentiated merely by their times, not to mention the biased scoring by the Master Karkaroff.

Afterwards, as the family was congratulating the stunned Harry on his success, Headmistress McGonagall came up to Garry. She studied him, smiling for a moment. She had a gleam in her eye that he didn't like. Before he could burst into his normal, that is, self-aggrandizing spiel to the audience that was quickly forming around them, she said, "Well, Professor Lockhart, because you have managed to deprive Hogwarts of its D.A.D.A. Professor so early in the year, it seems only fitting that you should take his place. Especially given your previous experience in that position. I'll expect to see you tomorrow morning, bright and early." She grinned even wider at his startled expression.

But he needed to figure out what happened — and why the last six months were so fuzzy! And why was Gilderoy so quiet? And he had so many things to do to prepare, to find Voldewhore, and circumvent his plans. And he still needed to finish examining the final proofs on Restraining a Rat! That, naturally, would be taking most of his attention for the next few days.

"Why, thank you, Minerva, that's a generous offer! But I should think that the real Alastor Moody should take that position. While I dislike depriving your students of the wonderful education I could provide . . . ," he paused a beat but decided to skip his I'm the Great Gilderoy spiel. He continued instead with, ". . . it simply would not be fair to the Wizard to do otherwise." For some reason a look of dread crossed the Headmistress' face during his brief pause, followed by relief at his just continuing his sentence. "You did search his rooms and find the real Moody hidden inside his trunk with all the polyjuice supplies, correct?"

She nodded sadly. "Madam Pomfrey says it will take several weeks for him to recover. And even then, he won't be up to the demands of a full-time position as the D.A.D.A. professor. So," she looked at him intently, "I expect to see you here tomorrow for your classes, bright and early." She gave him a broad smile, turned, and headed over to talk with French Minister, presumably regarding coordinating with his Aurors for the next task.

He stared after her, ignoring the congratulations his admirers were giving him. She could have said something anytime that afternoon, but she had waited until now. He frowned. Had the Headmistress just pranked him? He snorted. Well, that had been unexpected. He smiled broadly, and turned his attention to his fangirls. . . er, his admiring public. . . and began to troll – heh, he meant extoll – how exceptional his teaching skills were to the crowd around him. Signing a few autographs was not unexpected and helped improve his disposition.

(⊙_⊙)

Lockhart reread his parchment, studying it as he headed downstairs from the Study.

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Second task: Open egg underwater to hear message. They put someone important to the Champion in the Mervillage under the lake. Champion has one hour to rescue them. Hostages are safe. I, Gilderoy Lockhart, will be in village to monitor the hostages. Warn Fleur's father that they will take her sister. A fire-creature underwater without precautions? What are they thinking!

Solution has two parts:

First, breathing underwater — gillyweed, bubble charm, transfiguration to underwater creature, or muggle scuba gear?

Second, finding and getting to hostage and back to land in under an hour — conjure (or transfigure from dock?) a boat and use Point-me Spell to above village, and then dive straight down with a heavy rock and back with conjured muggle facemask and flippers. Instead of boat, accio broom? Can brooms "fly" underwater? . . .

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And it went on for a bit more. Yes, that would do. He walked into the dining room and dropped the parchment at his normal place setting on the table. He would reread it after supper. It was fun trying to think how he would solve the problem, knowing what he now knew — what would be easiest, what would be fastest, what would cause the most consternation among the watching crowd.