Chapter Thirty-Five: Teamwork Makes the Team Irk

Cordelia had no interest in surrounding herself with authoritative figures after the first task's events. It had been around two weeks since the champions faced the towering Yetis and cheating French, but the aftermath of their actions prevailed.

Every headmaster seemed to have a reason to glare at their champions as they settled in their seats for the meeting.

The Dumstrang headmaster stroked his beard and frowned at Daniil, recalling how the short blond had suffered severe injuries and resided in the hospital wing for the greater part of the first week. It didn't help matters that the only other champion who was severely injured, Estelle, was healed and ready to go within two days of the task.

Dippet seemed pleased that his champions hadn't suffered any major injuries, but his face lacked its usual cocky smile due to their distress and disobedience. Not to mention the riotous party the Hogwarts students threw mere hours after the task.

Cordelia presumed the only thing stopping the headmasters from cursing their champions was their pride and the fact that Magnus, Camilla and Tom hadn't quite done anything to upset their professors.

It felt odd being grouped with the seemingly weaker bunch, especially after Cordelia had placed second in the task, but the brunette chose to remain silent for once and instead allow Madame Maxime to conduct the meeting.

"As you all know we have gathered here today to discuss the second task."

The six champions subconsciously straightened up at her words. Estelle and Daniil seemed exceptionally keen on redeeming themselves after their previous mistakes, their dark eyes focusing solely on Madame Maxime's frame.

Dippet, Dumbledore and the other male headmasters present didn't bother intervening as they allowed the French headmistress to speak, filling the room with uneasy silence as the champions shuffled in their seats and occasionally glanced at one another.

"Unlike the first task, the champions of each school are expected to work together in this task. This means Camilla and Estelle, Daniil and Magnus, and Cordelia and Tom will work as duos to surpass the obstacles."

Cordelia sneaked a glance towards her right at those words, briefly meeting Tom's muddy gaze as Madame Maxime continued.

"Each team will receive a unique clue that will lead you to a riddle. This riddle will aid you in preparing for the second task."

The giant-like woman raised her left hand as she spoke, summoning three peculiar boxes onto the table.

A brown, worn-down box lay between Cordelia and Tom, its exterior bland and lacking any designs. The box looked quite underwhelming in comparison to the deep green circular box for Dumstrang and the black, rectangular music box for Beauxbaton.

It was as if Hogwarts was regarded as the least important, or plainest, and Cordelia hated it.

Tom seemed to reflect her emotions as he didn't bother staying longer, only taking the time to bid Dippet and Dumbledore a good day before he left with the box in his hands, compelling Cordelia to follow right after.

The two of them didn't bother with conversations as they walked away from the headmistress's office. A heavy silence fell over them as Riddle led the way, taking twists and turns away from the main area of the palace in search of a discreet room.

His desired destination came to them as a shabby, abandoned corridor covered in cobwebs and bizarre stenches. The peculiar swirls on the walls and the lack of classrooms near the hallway led Cordelia to believe Tom had led them to an old duelling club destination.

"Open it."

While the Dark Lord had held onto the box ever since they received it, he wasn't keen to open it and handed Cordelia the task.

Perhaps he was wary of any spells or sudden actions, or perhaps he was too busy contemplating the situation the bother doing such a small thing. Regardless of his reasons, Cordelia didn't want to start an argument and decided to do as asked.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but Cordelia was certain she hadn't thought the clue would be an old, withered leaf.

"A leaf?"

Cordelia nodded along to Tom's question but didn't bother gazing at him as she tried to decipher what the clue could mean.

Tom, however, seemed to already have an answer as he turned on his heel and walked back where they came from, yet again forcing Cordelia to trudge after him. She had half a mind to curse Riddle for his narcissism, but the blue-eyed witch decided against it as she waited for him to speak up.

"There's only one place that could lead to such a clue."

Cordelia rolled her eyes at his declaration.

"The forest would be too easy and obvious."

Tom shook his head, dismissing her words as they reentered the main area of the palace.

"On the contrary, it would be the hardest place to leave a riddle with leaves everywhere."

Cordelia highly disagreed with his theory but chose to remain quiet and let Tom embarrass himself. After all, a little bit of humiliation would do him good.

"You were saying?"

It had been two hours since Tom and Cordelia had entered the forest, yet none of them had come across a tree, bush or hedge with a leaf that had veins like their clue.

Tom had tried every spell in the book and had gone as far as to duplicate the leaf and burn its replacements several times with various dark curses, but the narcissistic tyrant came up empty-handed each time.

"If you have a better idea-"

"It's obviously somewhere in the palace, we just need to search the rooms or do a bit of research on the designs in specific rooms."

Tom glared at Cordelia as she spoke, his light brown eyes turning a shade darker as he tightened his clutch on his wand in anger. She relished in his reaction as Cordelia leaned against a tree and crossed her arms casually.

"Yet you let me make a fool of myself for the past hours?"

Cordelia shrugged at his question, unbothered by his wounded ego and intimidating gaze.

"You were the one who marched around the place while throwing commands left and right."

Unlike before, she didn't bother letting him reply and turned on her heel, trudging out of the forest and forcing him to follow after her, much like he had done earlier that day.

Tom was furious and called out to her several times with a curse or threat chasing her name, but Cordelia didn't let up her childish games as she dodged hanging boughs and stepped over small bushes to reach the golden palace. It was amusing to have him follow after her, but Cordelia knew she couldn't keep the chase up for too long.

She decided to speed up her pace and race across the courtyard before Tom could exit the forest, this allowed her to reach the fountains and slow down her pace just as she heard footsteps thump behind her.

Unfortunately, Tom was done playing her games and yanked onto Cordelia's stray strands of hair, causing her to stumble back and fall into the Dark Lord.

"I hadn't realised you randomly thrived to become a child or I would have been prepared."

Cordelia scoffed at his words and chose to lower her gaze as he continued to mock her.

She hadn't thought Tom would bother racing across the courtyard to catch up to her. After all, a girl running around wasn't of too much concern if she played it right, but a boy running around was usually perceived as weird or provocative and led people to ask questions.

Questions that would have caused people to ridicule Riddle and allow her to slip away. Yet Tom Riddle was on the side of fortune yet again, and Cordelia wasn't sure how she was supposed to evade him, especially when she didn't quite understand why she was so childish to begin with.

Neither of them was used to being playful around one another, and Cordelia wasn't keen on trying to explain herself.

Thankfully, her thoughts had led the brunette to let her gaze falter and trail onto the fountains, more specifically the patterns on them.

"Look."

Tom furrowed his eyebrows at her remark but listened nonetheless as he let his gaze travel away from Cordelia and towards a cluster of four-veined leaves in the middle of the fountain's design.

He let go of her as the Slytherin prince bent down to examine the leaves. While most of the leaves were similar to the brown one they had received, only one of them had the exact same veins as their clue.

Tom tentatively pressed the silver leaf, eliciting a purr of sorts from the fountain as the design moved aside and made room for a small hole with an envelope inside.

As he broke the seal and discarded the envelope Cordelia sunk on her knees, craned her neck and began reading the riddle left for them.

Usually, the duo had wits to solve any problem, but the Triwizard Tournament was challenging them more than anything else they had faced and had both snakes at a loss of answers.

"Aren't you supposed to be good at riddles?"

Tom didn't bother replying to her and rolled his eyes as he reread the parchment.

For a moment they both remained silent as they examined the riddle yet again, trying to decipher exactly what the French had planned for them.

After a few minutes, Cordelia decided it was too risky to stay where they got the hint and chose to pull Riddle along with her as she made her way towards the palace.

"There's only one place that can help us."

Tom nodded along to her words, tucking the little riddle in his cloak's pocket as they made their way towards Beauxbaton's gold gates.

As they walked through the place and made their way towards the library, Cordelia couldn't help but subconsciously yearn for Hogwarts' familiar black bookshelves and the green, hidden away Restricted Section. At Hogwarts it would have been easier to sort through the columns of books and decipher the hint, alas they were placed into Beauxbaton's icy clutches, and had to play the cards they were dealt.

Rather than familiar tomes and friendly faces to question, the snakes could only help themselves by trusting one another. A feat that they hadn't mustered with six years of trivial rivalries.

"Merlin help us."

Tom ignored her desperate mutter as they made their way through the golden chamber, settling into the back with charms and bookshelves hiding them away.

"We've dealt with a lot over the years, this shouldn't be too hard."

Cordelia nodded along to his words, but couldn't help but feel confused.

As a teenage witch, she had faced certain calamities and obstacles in her life, but none of them was grand enough to be anything like the Triwizard Tournament. School banters, pureblood duties and occasional duels were nothing in comparison to towering Yetis and conflicting riddles.

Nevertheless, the brunette knew she was glad to have Tom as her partner. Cordelia might have not trusted him as much as she did her friends, but she knew Tom was undeniably smarter and stronger than most of the Slytherins in Beuxbaton.

In the icy French alcove, Cordelia was contented to have a fellow snake stoking the fire.