Notes: Here you go, we're finally up to the first task! I hope you all like where I've gone so far.
Enjoy!
~~~~~
The twenty-fourth of November came all too soon for Viktor and Cedric's liking, as Harry and his friends witnessed when they entered the Great Hall to find the two alternating between frantically quizzing each other on lightning-related mythology and magical creatures, and glaring up at the ceiling, which showed a weak November sun and wispy clouds.
Margaux Bernard was sitting alone at the visiting school table, and she seemed to only be concentrating on eating a healthy breakfast and occasionally sneering in Viktor and Cedric's direction, obviously believing them to be fools who were beneath her for leaving their preparation to the last minute.
"So," said George, sitting next to Vikor, "how are you two holding up?"
Viktor thunked his head on George's shoulder and groaned. Harry mentally cooed at how adorable they looked together. "Not very vell, George. I haven't been this nervous since my first professional Quidditch match! The vorst thing, though, is that Bagman and Avery did not tell us very much about vot vos to come, only that it vill test our knowledge and logic. Vrom vot Dumbledore said the night bevore ve vere picked, the 'knowledge' part refers to knowing about mythology vrom different parts of the world."
Cedric nodded in agreement, his cheek currently resting on his propped up hand. "So we scoured the library for lightning mythology, for lightning casting and deflecting spells, and magical creatures that have some sort of connection to the element, but there are so many myths and creatures, though! True, some of them sound and look way too dangerous to have in a tournament for seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, but you never know with the Wizarding world."
"Okay, well, what sorts of creatures have you got on your list?" asked Hermione.
"From Asia we have the thunderclap dragon from Mongolia and the raiju and kitsune from Japan," started Cedric, leafing through a sheaf of parchment. "Then five giant and six cyclops subspecies-all of which have some sort of connection to lightning, thunder, or storms-and the thunderbird."
"Don't vorget the storm crow vrom some native North American tribe. Ve have at least one creature vrom each major continent, except ve couldn't vind anything on African or South American myths or creatures," grumbled Viktor. "It seems counterproductive to have champions go through so much useless research vhen vot ve need is not in the library, so ve do not think they vill have anything vrom there."
"Good thinking," said Draco, trying to bolster their downed confidences. "Besides, don't forget that you entered the Tournament of your own free wills; you should have expected some hard work this year since you got the chance of having your end-of-year exams automatically passed."
"I didn't quite understand that," admitted Neville. "I mean, Cedric's okay, since he's in sixth-year, but what about NEWTs for the seventh-years? Wouldn't just getting a pass not be good enough for some jobs?"
"Da," agreed Viktor. "That vould be the case if seventh-years only had one set of end-of-year exams, but they don't. There are the mock NEWTs vhich take place a month bevore NEWTs, and the vormer only count vor the school marks. The NEWTs are valid throughout Europe, and hold a lot more influence than school marks, vhich are only valid vor your country. So, you automatically pass the mocks, but you still need to take the NEWTs so that you can get a job anyvhere in Europe you vant. If you vant to vork outside of Europe, you need to apply to the ICW, vhere you can take the International NEWTs."
Neville blinked at the large amount of information that Viktor had uttered, almost sounding like he'd just memorised an informational pamphlet. "Oh, okay then."
Harry decided to change the subject. "So, what have you two not finished revising, then?"
*
As he stood in the tent, dressed in his Triwizard Champion outfit, Viktor still hadn't managed to completely shake his nerves. He and his fellow champions had had a Portkey thrust under their noses, instructed to take hold of it, and yanked off to somewhere in the English countryside. That, he had managed to see before he and his fellow group one champions had been ushered into a dark blue tent that had animated lightning flashing over it occasionally. Inside, Bagman, Avery, and the three heads of the participating schools had gathered them together. "Now," exclaimed Bagman, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "When the first plan for the tournament was scrapped as being too dangerous, we felt we had to come up with another idea that was just as impressive so that the viewers wouldn't be disappointed. The task that you three have before you now is nowhere near as dangerous, but still dangerous enough to get you motivated to succeed and get your blood pumping."
Avery had so far looked utterly bored by Bagman's attempt at waxing poetic, and butted in with a roll of his eyes. "Only one champion will participate in the task at a time, in a predetermined order. The first champion to enter the task will be the Durmstrang champion, then the Beauxbatons champion, and finally the Hogwarts champion. Your objective is to collect the Japanese runic puzzle box, which you will need to solve and open by your second task on the fifth of January. Any questions?"
"Oui, Monsieur Avery," said Margaux, who sounded almost like she was... simpering. "'Ow long would you say zis task will take, approximately?"
Avery's bored expression seemed to soften slightly. "It should take you somewhere between half and hour and forty-five minutes. Any longer than that will get you a half-point deduction per minute. Anyone else?"
Neither Viktor nor Cedric said anything; Viktor too caught up in internally panicking that he was going to be first, and Cedric that he was going to be last. Both regretted wanting to be a part of the tournament. Avery continued. "Good. Now. Krum, you have ten minutes to get ready, and at the sound of the cannon, exit out that door," he indicated the tent flap opposite the one they'd first entered through, then left through the first door with the other judges following behind them.
Viktor grabbed Cedric and sat down on one of the three beds, ignoring the eye roll Margaux sent at them. For the remaining ten minutes, the two quizzed each other in low whispers, and when the sound of a cannon pounded through the quiet tent, Viktor stood on shaky legs, faintly green about the face, and exited the tent through the correct flap.
Before him stood two beautiful Japanese women who were wearing Kimonos, but he could see that they were, in fact, a kitsune and a nogitsune in their semi-human forms, because they each had fox ears in place of human ones and three fox tails were flicking around behind them. He knew that one was a kitsune and the other a nogitsune because the former's tails were pure white and the latter's were a blood red colour; all forms of kitsune had pure white tails, and nogitsune were the odd ones out, having their coat and tail colours darken the more they allowed their inner fox spirit to take over. Both of the creatures blocked a path.
The kitsune smiled kindly and tilted her head. "Welcome, Champion. One of the paths behind us leads to hardship, and the other to prosperity. In order to pass us, you need only ask one question, but you may not ask more than that. To aid you on your way to figuring out which question to ask, I can tell you that I will only speak the truth, and my friend will only speak lies."
Viktor's stomach gave a small flip. This, he supposed, was where the "logic and powers of deduction" that Dumbledore had talked about came in, but even though he enjoyed riddles, he always took ages to figure them out, and he had a limited amount of time. He had actually heard of some form of this one before, but it involved being in a windowless room with only two doors, and in front of each door stood a man, but he didn't quite remember what the correct question had been.
He spent some time pacing back and forth in front of the two women, growing more and more anxious as no answer was coming to him and he was wasting time. He looked around at the landscape in an attempt to see whether there might be some sort of clue, and only then realised that it was almost entirely silent. No huge stands full of yelling and screaming students, no biased and unhelpful commentary by Bagman, which must mean that either there was some sort of recording device hidden or Disillusioned near him that projected what happened on a screen back at Hogwarts, or he was currently under a dome of wards that prevented him from seeing or hearing the watchers. If it was the former, then he had no knowing how big the arena for the task was, and if it was the latter, then he could possibly feel around to see if there were any barriers that he could feel along to figure out which way was the right one.
He sighed. Miro was a real riddle and mystery buff; he loved hearing and telling all sorts of riddles, so he could probably tell him exactly which question to ask. Oh. That... actually gave him an idea. He bit his lip and sidled over to the two women, whose attentions immediately snapped to him. If he ended up walking the wrong way, then he supposed he'd realise eventually, since it would lead to hardship. He addressed them both, "Which way would your friend tell me to go to get to the prosperity?"
The two women simultaneously grinned with their sharp little teeth and pointed to their right.
If Viktor's logic was working correctly, then the nogitsune would lie and point to the opposite path to the prosperous path, because she'd know that her friend would point her to the correct one, and the kitsune would know that her friend would lie and point to the wrong one, so she'd truthfully point to the wrong one. So, with this thinking, since they were both pointing to their right, his left, as the wrong path, he needed to go right. He thanked them and took the right path.
Some time later, when the kitsune and the nogitsune were out of his sight, he came across an odd, lightning bolt-shaped rock, which had what looked like a small ball of electricity resting atop it. He walked closer cautiously, and the ball of lightning formed into the shape of a sleeping black wolf with small arcs of electricity coming off it. He shuddered at the sight of the sleeping raiju. It was a vicious creature in its first stage of life; when there was a lightning storm in Japan, the first bolt of lightning to touch the ground would solidify into a first-stage raiju, which would quickly retreat into the sewers or the nearest body of water to mature for a month. After that, it would fall into a coma-like state that would continue until the next lightning storm occurred. At that point, it would go into a frenzy and seek out the nearest magical person, and when it found them, it would attempt to enter the person's body through their navel three times before going in search of another. More often than not, they could be warded off on each attempt with a high powered shield charm, but if the raiju succeeded at getting to the person's navel, it would transform into a bolt of pure electricity and enter the body, becoming a parasite that fed on the victim's body's natural electrical pulses. When it became strong enough, it killed the host and would try to find another matured raiju to mate with. This was considered harmless enough? What had their first idea been to make the inclusion of a raiju seem harmless?
He crept past it, despite knowing that it currently posed no danger to him as there was no lightning storm, and continued on his way. Soon enough, with the lightning rock the length of a Quidditch pitch away from him, the path skirted around a massive boulder and he was suddenly before a thunderbird. Next to it was a sign that said, If fed the incorrect thing, the thunderbird will start a lightning storm. Well, now he knew why the raiju was still so near to him. Between him and the enormous golden bird were three buckets of meat, one had dark, red meat that looked like either beef or lamb, one had a far more pale meat which was possibly chicken, and the third clearly had fish in it.
From what he knew of the large avian magical creatures, they absolutely refused to eat red meat, as the bacteria within was detrimental to their digestive systems, and he didn't think they would eat chicken, since they were known as the protectors of all flying creatures, so that left the fish. He just hoped the fish in the bucket wasn't the magical variant of flying fish, which could actually fly and not just jump out of the water for a time. He walked slowly towards the buckets and picked up the fish bucket, taking out one of the fish within it and offering it to the thunderbird. It sniffed at the offering, then made a pleased sound and snatched it from him before stepping aside, off the path.
He put the bucket down, wiped the sweat from his brow, and continued onwards, where he quickly came across a huge humanoid shape. By its one eye, he identified it as a cyclops, and by its dark blue skin colour, he further recognised it as an artisan cyclops. "Hello," the cyclops greeted in a voice that reminded him of a rockfall.
"Hello," he returned politely, remembering that the artisan subspecies prided themselves on etiquette, and would become aggressive at rude behaviour.
The cyclops smiled, which was not a very pretty sight due to the mouth being more of a red slash and the presence of only one tooth. "Would you like to see what I have on offer today?"
"Yes please," Viktor said, bemused. This was indeed a very bizarre situation.
The cyclops laid out five items on the table between the two, and Viktor immediately identified one of them as the puzzle box he needed to get. "In order to have one of these items, you need only block two bolts of lightning that I conjure. Do you accept this challenge?"
Viktor gulped. The six cyclops subspecies that he and Cedric had identified as belonging to the lightning element had an excess amount of electrical impulses throughout their body, and when threatened, they could use the excess to conjure extremely powerful bolts of lightning, which could sometimes be so powerful that one bolt was known to incinerate a hundred-year-old tree into ash. However, this appeared to be the only way to get the puzzle box, so he bravely nodded and said, "I accept."
Immediately, he pulled up the most powerful shielding charm he could cast, and he chanted the short incantation needed for the lightsaber spell. He hoped this worked. The cyclops looked mildly impressed, and put out one hand in front of him, which started to glow menacingly. The electricity flowed from the cyclops' hand towards him, and he held his lightsaber-spelled wand so that the electricity hit it and was conducted away from him, flying off the tip and landing on a bush, which instantly caught fire. Winded, Viktor steadied himself once more, just in time for the second bolt to hit his lightsaber and dart off onto a nearby tree. After that, the cyclops bowed and gestured for him to pick which item he desired, so he disabled the lightsaber and the shield charms and walked over to take the puzzle box. As soon as he touched it, he felt a jerking behind his navel and he appeared in the Great Hall, where the whole school seemed to be on their feet, cheering and clapping for him.
He sat himself down next to his boyfriend-and wasn't that just incredible that George had agreed to be his boyfriend after only one date! George slung an arm around his shoulder and pointed to the projected image on the far wall, showing that Margaux Bernard had just entered the arena.
He furrowed his brows in suspicion as he watched her traverse every obstacle incredibly easy, with only a roll of her eyes or a raised eyebrow to show she acknowledged the obstacle's presence. However, when she got to the cyclops, the disgust at having to interact with a creature showed clearly on her face, and the cyclops saw the expression, his formerly open face hardening. Margaux then had to deflect ten lightning bolts for her impolite expression, all of which looked more powerful than the ones he'd had to block, and she only just managed the feat. Once she had, the cyclops simply threw the puzzle box at her and stormed off. Margaux appeared where he had, and she sniffed in a derogatory manner before taking the same seat she'd occupied at breakfast.
Cedric's run was less successful than his own, as he asked the incorrect question of the kitsune and nogitsune, going on the wrong path until he entered a silver magical field. As soon as he touched the magic, a lightning storm started, and a sign emerged from the ground that told him he'd gone the wrong way. Cedric ended up backtracking and when he got to the raiju, it was awake and in a fury. However, he successfully managed to prevent it from getting in his navel, and the storm stopped instantly, allowing him to continue on. The thunderbird was correctly fed, and the artisan cyclops seemed happier again, especially at Cedric's good manners. Cedric also only had to block two bolts of lightning, and then he showed up in the Great Hall moments later after touching the puzzle box Portkey.
Cedric sat with him and their friends, and they waited anxiously for the judges to score them. After ten minutes of deliberation, the judges faced the audience and Bagman spoke, "Krum chose the correct path for the first obstacle, but he took long enough that I'm afraid we had to deduct two points; he did not enrage the raiju at all, so he receives full points for that; the thunderbird received the correct food, so full points again; the cyclops was impressed with his manners and his method of defence against the challenge, meaning full points; finally, along with the style with which he conducted himself gives him the total of twenty-five of thirty points."
Bagman went through a similar spiel with Margaux's points and with Cedric's, giving them 23 and 20 points, respectively. Viktor grinned. He was in first place.