Harry Potter And The Descent Into Darkness

Chapter 9

It was three days till the second task and Harry actually felt excited, which part of him thought was probably odd. He felt as ready as he could ever be, and was honestly just anxious to get it over with. He also wondered what the hell the third task was going to be, and whether or not it was going to require as much preparation time as the second task had.

Harry was sitting in transfiguration, working on writing out his essay that was technically homework that he wasn't supposed to start working on until after class. But the rest of the class was practicing the current in-class practical spell, while he had performed it easily on his first try. He rarely saw any point in sitting around repeatedly transforming tea-cups into pillows or other such nonsense for a whole class period when he was in no need of the practice, and could be using that time to get some of his homework done instead.

McGonagall had disapproved of his actions at first, but it had been about two months now, and she rarely made a fuss anymore. He could always prove that he could do the practical spell, the moment she asked him to demonstrate it, and he was getting his homework done. She could hardly fault him for that.

Harry was scratching away at his parchment when he felt McGonagall's presence beside him. Expecting that she was going to ask him to demonstrate the spell, he set down his quill and picked up his wand and wordlessly transfigured the guinea fowl on his desk into a guinea pig. The moment he was done, he dropped his wand and picked his quill back up to resume his essay.

"That's all well and good, Mr. Potter, but I was acting wanting to ask you to remain after class. I need to discuss something important with you," McGonagall said.

Harry looked up at her and blinked in confusion. He nodded his head hesitantly and agreed. She walked away to continue making rounds and checking on everyone's progress.

"What do you think she wants?" Hermione whispered as she leaned across the aisle towards Harry.

He glanced up at her a shrugged. "No clue."

Twenty minutes later, class was over and everyone had just finished evacuating the room. Harry and McGonagall were the only ones left, and Harry was in the process of packing up the last of his things.

"My office, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said as she strode down the aisle towards the door. Harry frowned a bit, but quickly followed after her.

"Have I done something wrong, Professor?" He asked, warily as he trailed after.

She looked back at him with a moments confusion before her face softened. "Oh no. Not at all. But I have something important that we need to discuss and work out."

Harry was filled with a moment of relief, but then he wondered what on earth they needed to 'work out'.

They entered her office and McGonagall sat down in the straight-backed chair behind her desk and motioned for Harry to sit in the chair opposite it.

"Tell me exactly what you have determined about the second task," she said as she folded her hands on her desk.

Harry blinked. "Uh, well, it's going to be in the Black Lake. Something is going to be taken from me, and I'll have one hour to go find it."

"Correct. Normally we would not disclose this detail, but we are in a bit of a conundrum at the moment and I feel I have little choice. The something that will be taken is supposed to be a person. Someone who is very close and important to you. We performed the ceremony last night with the goblet to determine who would be taken for each of the four champions."

"Oh?" Harry responded, trying to mask his emotions. They were a mixture of excitement, curiosity, confusion, and a bit of concern as to why she was telling him this when Bagman had said that who they took from him was supposed to remain a secret.