Chapter - 50 : The Fiery Trial

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Harry pulled the golden egg he'd won from the dragon out of his pack and pried it open. The moment the hinges unfastened, a loud, screeching wailing, reminiscent of Aunt Petunia in the morning, tore through the air.

"Close it!" Ron cried, slapping his hands over his ears.

Harry slammed the lid shut and looked to his friends in bewilderment. "Well, there it is."

"What was that?" Neville asked rubbing at his ears.

"The clue."

"Well we could have told you that." Draco snapped. "Why did it sound like Mrs. Norris when someone steps on her tail?"

Harry shrugged. "This is my first time opening it, so your guess is as good as mine," he said.

"It sounded like some type of animal," Neville said, "maybe a magical creature."

"A banshee, perhaps?" Hermione suggested. "That might have to be the next thing you have to get past."

Harry shook his head. "That seems a bit redundant. I don't think anyone would want to watch us fighting magical creatures two tasks in a row."

"It sounded like Mermish to me," Blaise said. "That or my mother in the shower."

"I thought mermaids were supposed to be ethereal creatures that could lure sailors to their watery deaths with nothing but the sound of their voices," Harry looked at the egg with strong disdain "Not that."

"Not all of them are all that beautiful," Ron explained. "Especially the ones here in Scotland."

"Well, we all know what this means," Harry said.

The others nodded solemnly. "To the library," they chorused.

Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour, the prospect's black

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

"Well," Ron deadpanned, "that was morbid."

"Incredibly so," Blaise agreed. "But helpful."

"Very," Harry nodded. "So it's as we thought, we're dealing with merpeople, as the first two lines tell us, and from what I can tell from the rest of the poem, if I don't find whatever it is that was stolen within an hour, it will remain gone forever."

"Where do you think whatever you sorely miss will be hidden?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "The lake no doubt."

"The lake?" Ron repeated. "Why do you figure that?"

"There are merpeople in the lake, says so in Hogwarts: A History, I'd bet anything they'll be the ones who are guarding the stolen item."

"So does that mean you have to go into the lake?" Hermione asked.

"Probably, so we should start looking up ways how to breathe and navigate underwater. Oh and I want to learn to speak at least a few phrases in Mermish."

"Why would you want to do that?" Draco voiced incredulously.

"Just in case I run into trouble in the lake, I'd like to communicate and understand the basic stuff, you know 'I come in peace' and all that rot."

Ideas on how to conquer the second task didn't come near as easy as they did for the first, the whole group was researching but they were all drawing blanks on how to breathe under water for prolonged periods of time. And as if to make things worse, the Yule Ball was going to be held at Hogwarts and the champions were not only required to be there, but they had to open with the first dance, which meant dates. Harry didn't do dates.

"I reckon I should just ask the first girl I come across," Harry said glumly.

"Oh, it's not so bad," Hermione tried to console him. "In case you haven't noticed, you're handsome and charming, you won't have any problems finding a date."

"Why Hermione, you wouldn't be trying to hint at something would you?" Harry teased, waggling his eyebrows in an exaggeratedly flirtatious manner.

"In your dreams," she scoffed.

"You wound me beautiful lady," the Slytherin threw a hand over his heart, "I fear I may never recover."

"I'm sure you will."

"So you don't have any idea who you want to ask?" Blaise queried.

"I was thinking Fleur, maybe."

Ron suddenly began violently choking on his own breath, Draco helpfully slapped his back a few times. "Fleur," he managed to gasp out when he'd caught his breath. "Why her?"

Harry shrugged "She's got to have at least half the school asking her out, I'll just be another face in the crowd."

"I'm fairly certain that did nothing to help us understand," Neville said flatly.

"It'll be a challenge to get her to say yes, I like a challenge."

"You want to ask her out because you think she'll be a challenge?"

"Is that weird?"

"Yes!"

It wasn't a challenge.

Fleur had been so impressed with his ability to hold an articulate conversation with her without turning into an incoherent, drooling mess (not to mention his witty charm and all around good looks) she had accepted Harry's invitation to attend the Yule Ball with him, after of course taking several days to deliberate her options. Ron had been shell-shocked and in awe of the blonde's acceptance, Draco and Blaise weren't much better, even Loki had been impressed by Harry's date, informing him that Fleur was almost as beautiful as the woman of Asgard. Hermione, on the other hand, had told him that he was probably the only person the part-veela would have a good time with and asked him if he needed help learning to dance, which he had replied to the negative, assuring her that he was confident in his dancing abilities.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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