Two weeks after term started, Harry was more than happy to squire the girls around the village on Hogsmeade weekend. With Ginny’s, Hermione’s, and Luna’s help, of course. The fillies hadn’t had a chance to go before now. They almost lost Sweetie Belle in Gladrags Wizardwear. “Rarity would never forgive me if I didn’t bring her back a detailed report on the fashions here,” she said, hands on hips. So they spent the better part of two hours searching every corner of the store for anything interesting. They all got a good workout using their wands to record what they saw. And if they couldn’t take their wands back? His mum had to know at least a dozen spells that would let them project what they remembered seeing.
They managed to see, and avoid, Rita Skeeter. After her last couple of articles, they wanted nothing to do with her, even if she had been relatively nice to Harry. The letters to the editor of the Daily Prophet hadn’t been nearly as nice. Most of the writers refused to believe the girls were ponies and implied that all sorts of things had to be wrong with three witches and pony being engaged. The marital bed seemed to cause them the most distress. In any case, the writers seemed to consider almost everything about the situation to be lies by someone or another.
The Equestrians, and Harry, did not want to find out what questions Rita would ask, as a result.
One they couldn’t avoid, it seemed, was the big black dog that stealthily followed them almost as soon as they left the Hogwarts gates. Like last time, she, or he, watched them from a distance while partially hidden. If not for Harry’s ears and sense of smell, he never would have detected it. The girls never even noticed it. It appeared content only to watch them.
But Harry kept an eye out for it whenever they left a shop, anyway, just in case. With how things went in the wizarding world, he wouldn’t take even the most harmless appearing event as harmless. Besides, why would a dog spy on them?
His first thought was that the dog was the animagus form of a wizard. The problem with that was why would he bother being a dog when he could just as easily shadow them as a wizard? They had no idea who he was, so even if people saw him as a person, it wouldn’t matter, right?
Ludo Bagman was wandering around with a pack of goblins following him. To Harry, it looked like the goblins were distrustful of Bagman, and that he was tired of their presence. Why Ludo was even in town when there wasn’t a tournament event planned left them puzzled. Did the goblins expect Ludo to run away? They were certainly watching him carefully enough.
Unfortunately, Bagman did see them when they entered the Three Broomsticks for a late lunch. As soon as he noticed them, he hurried right over. The goblins watched him suspiciously.
“Good to see you, Harry!” he said. “How are you? I was hoping to see you! How is everything?”
“Fine, thank you for asking,” said Harry, smiling graciously as Prince Blueblood had taught him.
“Could I have a private word, Harry?” said Bagman eagerly. “Just a moment or two?”
Harry pursed his lips. “I suppose I could spare a minute,” he said, and motioned the girls to find a table for them.
After a rather odd look at the six girls accompanying Harry, and a headshake, Bagman led Harry to the end of the bar. He looked back at the goblins who were watching him intently with their dark eyes and not letting him out of sight. He cleared his throat. “First, congratulations, again, on your splendid performance against that Horntail, Harry. Really superb.”
Harry nodded courteously. “Thank you, Mr. Bagman. I was rather surprised myself at how it all came out.”
Bagman again looked at the goblins, one of whom grinned gruesomely back at him. He turned back to Harry and lowered his voice, “I really wanted to ask you, your golden egg, how are you doing?”
Harry smiled back, “I have that all sorted, thank you,” he said easily. Then he frowned. “Except I don’t know what they would take. I haven’t anything I would really miss.”
“Ah,” Ludo said, gravely. “Maybe it’s not limited to things?” he hinted, and glanced significantly over to the table where Harry’s friends had seated themselves.
Harry blinked. Then stiffened as the implications sunk in. He closed his eyes and took hold of his temper. They wouldn’t really take one of his herdmates, would they?
“Hello, Mr. Bagman,” he heard a familiar voice say. He opened his eyes. It was the Weasley twins.
“Can we buy you a drink?” one of them said. He looked closer. It was Fred.
“Er, no thank you, boys, I was just leaving,” he said with the hint of a smirk. He glanced at Harry and winked. “Well, I must dash,” he said. “Good to see you all. Good luck, Harry,” then he headed back to the table with the goblins.
As far as Harry was concerned, that spoiled the mood for the rest of the day. He decided to save the information until after they returned to the castle, not wanting to ruin the afternoon for the girls.
“Is something wrong, Harry?” Apple Bloom asked as they quickly walked out of the lane that led to Madam Puddifoot’s, pretending not to notice the confusion behind them. She had noticed he was keeping the three close together — herding them, almost. He stayed close to the three fillies, wandering in circles around them, and payed more attention to their surroundings than normal — almost as if they were in the Everfree instead of Ponyville.
“No,” he said. “Not really. It was just what Mr. Bagman said about the next task. I’ll explain later in the training room,” he explained reassuringly.
She nodded, but frowned and narrowed her eyes. Something was up. It had to be serious, she knew, for it to affect his attitude. She began looking around a bit more intently, trying to look beyond the surface appearance of what she saw. The other two fillies, after questioning glances at her, followed suit. That didn’t stop their explorations, though. They just became more . . . cautious.
All-in-all, they decided, it was a good day. They even managed to return to the castle without setting fire to, exploding part of, or otherwise permanently changing the appearance of the rustic village. There were a few walls that sported new windows. No one was quite sure how that had happened — they had only taken a quick look at the Quidditch bludgers in the sporting goods store. Another surprise had been when the magical pink and red vines that decorated Madam Puddifoots had taken over most of that street when Apple Bloom had tried to “freshen” their appearance. She had thought that they had looked a bit “dull” because of the cold weather. She hadn’t expected quite that much of an aggressive reaction to her tender care.
Although the barkeep at The Hog’s Head was very unhappy, for no reason they could discern, that Scootaloo’s well-intentioned scourgify had left the pub’s exterior as pristine and clean as the day it had been built. That someone more powerful than he at cleaning charms made the pub inside clearly visible through the formerly grime-coated windows and door-glass should have made him quite happy. As Harry had learned at the Dursleys, though, some people you just couldn’t make happy no matter how hard you tried.
The group was too proud of Scootaloo’s scourgify to really care what the grumpy shopkeeper thought. Perhaps he was jealous of her ability. For someone so new to casting magic to cast so well after so little time was remarkable, as Hermione was happy to tell them. “It must be your familiarity with your own style of magic in Equestria,” she explained enthusiastically.
There seemed to be an almost collective sigh of relief from the villagers as they headed back.
Harry could almost swear, though, that the black dog was chuckling as they went through the Hogwarts’ gates.
۸-_-۸
The next day, Sunday, Harry sought out Professor McGonagall.
“Professor,” he said politely, “I have deciphered the clue in the golden egg, and the riddle it contains.” He frowned at her. “The riddle says . . . .” and then he quoted it to her.
She nodded. “I was not aware of the exact wording, but that does sound correct, Mr. Sparkle.”
“What concerns me,” he continued, “are the lines, ‘But past an hour — the prospect’s black, Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back.’” He gazed at her steadily. “I have nothing here that I would really miss — except, perhaps, my trunk. That would be an annoyance to lose, and I’m sure that the tournament would reimburse me for its loss. Correct?”
She looked uncertain at that statement. “I’m sure the tournament officials will be responsible,” she hesitantly said. Her voice firmed up. “Anything that might be damaged, I’m sure the Headmaster will see that it is fixed or repaired.”
“On the other hoof, it was pointed out to me that the phrase, ‘We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,’ does not preclude the possibility that a pony might be the object taken.” He said carefully as he stared into her eyes. “Given that the riddle states they will be killed if I don’t rescue them in time, my herdmates refuse to participate, and will defend themselves if approached. Lethally, if necessary.” He knew they most likely couldn’t force themselves actually to kill someone on purpose — he wasn’t sure he could — but she didn’t know that.
“I’m sure the Ministry has no intention to harm whatever they use in the task, Mr. Sparkle,” said Professor McGonagall firmly.
“Really? The only reason I can think of for any of my herdmates not to come back to me is their death. . . . Unless, the riddle is a lie? An exaggeration, perhaps?” Harry arched an eyebrow at her and kept a tight leash on his anger. Wizards messing with his things was a situation simply not to endured.
She sighed. “I cannot respond to that as it might be considered aiding you in your task,” she said. “But I am sure that the Headmaster and tournament officials will ensure the safety of all to the best of their ability.”
He felt himself grow angrier, “You mean as safe as the first task when any or all of the champions could have died?”
She sniffed dismissively. “The ministry has thoroughly examined all the tasks. While some parts are extremely dangerous, they are, for the most part, completely safe. You have nothing to worry about on that point.”
“I am not willing to take that chance,” he said, barely holding down his temper. “The Ministry and Headmaster said they had made the tasks as safe as possible, yet Victor’s dragon could easily have killed him nearly instantly by flaming directly at him instead of merely close, and the dragon’s handlers wouldn’t have had time to prevent it! Or attacked the crowds if she felt inclined to do so. If that is safe, what do wizards consider unsafe?
“There are many dangerous creatures in the lake that the Ministry has no control over, whatsoever,” he said heatedly, slashing his foreleg to one side. “Are there aurors underwater to prevent harm to whomever is taken? Can you guarantee me with a magical oath that the ponies taken will come to no harm?”
“I am sure the Ministry has everything under control,” she said testily. “I cannot imagine they would let anything untoward happen in the task.” She paused and huffed. “The Headmaster oversaw the negotiations, himself. I’m sure everything will be just fine,” she said frowning at him.
“And that doesn’t even take into account that Veela are the traditional enemies of merpeople,” Harry continued, ignoring her assertion that everything was under control. “Will they attack her when she goes to retrieve what they have taken? What if the person taken is one of her relatives? Will they still protect one of their sworn enemies from harm?”
He took a deep breath to calm down.
“So, unless you can verify for me that my herdmates are not considered for the “sorely missed” line, I will consider any attempt to force them to participate as an act of violence and respond in kind.” He bowed to the stunned professor. “Thank you for your time.” He turned and stalked off.
“I will bring your concerns to the Headmaster’s attention, Mr. Sparkle,” he heard her say frostily behind him.
Stupid, stupid wizards. They thought they could get him to dance to their tune. Harry decided that the wizarding adults in this castle were not his friends, nor would they ever be. Well, at least none of them, bar Professor Snape, were actively hostile. He would have to keep a sharp eye out, and a keen ear, to make sure they didn’t interfere any more than they had already,
۸-ꞈ-۸
Twilight looked at her friends grimly, and settled on Rarity. «I checked at Princess Celestia’s School. They did not send Sweetie Belle to Trotland to help at a school. In fact, they have on file a letter from you saying that she should be excused from school until further notice while she deals with a family issue in Trotland.»
The others all gasped and Rarity stared back at her, eyes wide in shock, hoof held to her chest. «But we don’t even have family in Trotland!» she exclaimed in dismay.
Twilight turned to Applejack. «The ambassador tells me that, to the best of her knowledge, there are no members of the Pear family with a farm in Trotland. Although,» she glanced at a paper on the table, «she does say the climate is perfect for such an endeavour and that a local source of both pears and apples would be well received.»
It was Applejack’s turn to scowl. «Tha’ fits with what the Pears say. And Ah visited the mare in tha Canterlot store, Fast Add, to see if she could maybe remember anythin’. When Ah showed her a picture of Apple Bloom, she said, ‘nope,’ that that wasn’t the one she dealt with. She did say that the mare she met was wearing an obviously fake moustache, though.» She looked at the others, still scowling.
The purple alicorn next turned to the blue mare. «Dash, the weather service in Trotland says they never asked for help, and their training is the same as it is in Equestria, although they are open to an exchange program in the interests of friendship.»
Dash scowled at the table and flew in a tight circle.
«The ambassador assures me that Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom are not in Trotland, or, at least, they never passed through any of the border stations. She will keep an eye out for them, but, as far as the Trotland government is concerned, they have never heard of the fillies, much less seen them in their country.»
Twilight took a deep breath. «I think we need to go take a look ourselves!»
They were on the train leaving Ponyville the next morning. They wouldn’t arrive at the coast until tomorrow morning, at the earliest.
۸-ꞈ-۸
The Monday before the second task, Hagrid, who had now returned as Professor of the class, had somehow managed to acquire two unicorn foals. As soon as they heard this from Hermione, Harry and the fillies spent the entire day with the foals, and planned to do so for the entire rest of the week’s classes. They made sure the foals weren’t frightened and were well cared-for. Frequent warming charms helped make the two unicorns comfortable. They would be released with a positive feeling about their treatment, Harry hoped.
The foals were entranced as they watched Harry hang up his robe on a nearby tree with a sticking charm, and then drop down to his hooves and walk over to them. He was actually smaller than they were when he was on four hooves! That he was clearly an adult fascinated them. It made sense considering how much bigger their parents were than ponies in Equestria, but they didn’t know that.
From what Hagrid told them, the two foals were easily one year old, and maybe approaching their second year. At that age, in Equestria, they should have been talking freely and casting magic everywhere. That they didn’t left the four depressed at the end of each day on Monday and Tuesday, and determined to teach them what they could.
The foals seemed to be listening closely whenever he said anything, especially after he cast the translation charm on them and they could understand what everyone around them was saying. By the end of the day on Tuesday, Harry and the fillies were happy to hear that the foals’ vocabulary seemed to have increased to more than simple one-word responses. Plus, their horns were at least sparking as they attempted to imitate him making things float around him.
Harry regretted losing the time to practice for task, but he felt the unicorn foals were more important. On the other hoof, he had finally managed to extend his time with the fins and gills spell to over an hour, without leaving himself too exhausted to move for the first half-hour! He now knew the bottom of the lake as well as anypony could hope. He knew where the merpeople village was, where the dangerous parts of the lake were, and that Oswy, the lake squid and a gentle giant, ruled the lake — when he wasn’t sleeping.
Immediately after dinner that evening, Harry and the girls hurried back to Gryffindor tower. The girls darted up to their room and came back with their arms full of blankets and pillows. Minutes later, the three were safely hidden in his apartment trunk and arranging their makeshift beds.
Once they were in place, he shrunk the trunk and placed it in his pocket. No one was getting to his herdmates without a fight!
Then he sighed. It looked to be a long night of waiting. His last-minute nervousness made it difficult to relax and pretend he didn’t know where his herdmates were hiding. He went downstairs to the common room, settled into a comfortable chair, and began a reading a library book on curse-breaking. Not being able to use Hayscartes’ Method because of the shrunken trunk — he didn’t want to take a chance it might get left out — meant normal reading might just be boring enough after a few hours to let him to sleep.
“Where are the girls?” Hermione said sitting in the armchair beside him for a moment.
He gave her a long look. Were the wizards using her?
“Somewhere safe,” he said cautiously.
“Good!” she said firmly, then sighed and crossed her arms. “It’s kinda quiet without them, isn’t it?”
He smiled softly. “Yeah.”
They talked for a few more minutes, then she left to work on her Runes assignment at one of the tables.
As he had expected, the evening passed slowly. He kept a sharp eye on the prefects all evening, but none seemed even interested in coming close to him, except to wish him well in the task.
As curfew time approached, he had a steady stream of students wishing him luck in tomorrow’s task. He nodded and sincerely thanked each one for their confidence in him.
When there was no one else in the Common Room, he made his way to his dorm. He cast a silencing charm on himself before entering the room. No reason to disturb his roommates. At his bed, he positioned his pillows to make it look like he was sleeping, then prominently placed his closet-trunk at the foot of the bed for easy access, and made sure the feather-weight charm had been cancelled and the trunk had clothes and books stuffed into it. He didn’t want the wizards becoming suspicious by leaving it empty of his things.
Once he was pleased with the arrangement, he pulled out his trunk, set it on the floor, and cancelled the shrinking charm. He opened the apartment trunk and slid it under the bed. After he cast disillusionment and sticking charms on the trunk, he climbed down into the apartment. He had to use the levitation charm to lift the bed enough for him to fit under it and into the trunk.
Once inside, he looked around and blinked in surprise. The gold had been collected and evenly spread out in one corner. The girl’s blankets and pillows had been arranged on top to form an impromptu platform bed. His herdmates were lounging there, playing a card game.
“Harry!” they said together.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Sweetie Belle said.
“What took so long?” said Scootaloo, frowning.
“I didn’t want to attract attention by disappearing from sight too early. I waited until everyone else was asleep.”
They nodded in understanding.
Sweetie Belle smirked at his puzzled gaze at the bed arrangement. “A few softening charms and it’s easily as good as any mattress we’ve ever had,” she said impishly.
“Except clouds,” said Scootaloo.
“Hmm, yes,” said Apple Bloom, “but not all of us can get up to them.” Then she got a puzzled look and looked at her wand holster. “Well, up ’til now, at least.”
Scootaloo just grinned back at her.
Sweetie Belle continued, a moment later, “When else will we ever get the chance to sleep on a bed of gold?” She raised her eyebrows and grinned. The others giggled with her. “Not even Diamond Tiara can claim she’s done that!”
Harry rolled his eyes, but climbed into the bed with them. It was surprisingly comfortable. Then again, even the ground would be comfortable for him with his herdmates with him. Sleeping with them was a rare luxury — they had been caught trying to sneak away from their dorm room one too many times. Only occasionally, now, could they successfully sneak away.
۸- ̫ -۸
The next morning, Harry ate a quick, sparse, and early breakfast. When he finished, he stacked three plates, loaded the top one with shrunken food, then snuck into a broom-closet. Once the door was secured, he retrieved his trunk from his pocket and delivered the plates to his herdmates — he didn’t trust the wizards not to make a last-minute grab at one of the girls.
He had been a bit surprised to note that his other trunk had been unmolested all night.
“Shall we go?” he said in a formal, snooty tone, trying to hide his nervousness.
“Do you think it’s safe?” said Apple Bloom cautiously, exchanging worried looks with her herdmates.
“I doubt they will try anything this late in the game.” He smirked. “And with the armour you’re wearing, and the spells I’ve learned since arriving, I don’t think they’d succeed.
As they walked down the lawn with a horde of other students, and a light shield spell around the four of them, they saw that the wizards had used the seating stands from the first task in November. The stands were along the bank, packed to the bursting point with wizards and witches hoping for another thrilling blood-sport, and their images reflected off the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd was a constant drone as Harry headed toward the judges’ gold-draped table, which was at the water’s edge to one side of the stands. The girls headed over to sit with Luna and the other Gryffindors. Hermione and Ginny were not in sight. Harry figured they might be more than a bit nervous and were simply late, but it still worried him. The other champions, Cedric, Fleur, and Krum, were waiting beside the judges’ table.
Percy Weasley, sitting at the judges’ table, smiled at Harry. “Excellent!” he said in a pompous voice, “Good to see that you’re right on time. Punctuality is always important.”
Harry gave him a generous smile. It was nice to know that at least one official pretended to be on his side! Although he suspected Percy wasn’t just pretending, which made it even better. There was one adult wizard a pony could trust!
Harry noticed that Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up, and a different wizard was sitting in his place at the table.
Ludo Bagman looked relieved to see Harry. Had he thought Harry wouldn’t show up? Bagman began to separate and spread out the champions. He spaced them along the lake bank at intervals of three yards. Harry was the farthest from the judges table. The other three wore swimming trunks and held their wands in hand. They must have cast warming charms on themselves as they weren’t shivering in the icy cold February weather. Harry’s wand was in its holster, held firmly against his hoof with a sticking charm.
Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said, “Sonorus!”
“Welcome to the Second Task!” his voice boomed out over the lake. “Our champions are ready.” He gave them a quick glance, as if confirming they were, indeed, ready. “We’ll start on my whistle, and they have precisely an hour to complete the task. They have to recover what has been taken from them. So, on the count of three, one . . . two . . . three!” He practically yelled the “three.”
Two of the three champions jumped into the water immediately. Krum, though, took a moment longer. He transformed his head into a shark’s head and then jumped in.
Harry pulled his robe off over his head. For the second time since arriving at Hogwarts, he was in public without his armour — the fins and gills spell changed only his body, not anything he was wearing, so he had had to leave it in his trunk as it wouldn’t fit right, and the neck portion would cover his gills. The lack of armour made him truly feel naked. He dropped to all four hooves, then took a deep breath and held his wand against his head as he concentrated. The magic rippled over him, changing his body and giving him fins along his legs and gills on his neck. As soon as it was complete, he leaped into the water.
He immediately headed out into the lake, taking advantage of the lower resistance with his head and back out of the water. His fins propelled him at a pace that would be normal for land, but no that human or pony could ever have managed in water. As he got close to the centre of the lake, he submerged. He listened carefully as he swam, trusting his improved hearing underwater. Faintly, he heard singing.
As he had hoped, it seemed to be coming from the village in the deepest part of the lake. A few minutes later, he swam into the village square. He looked up and saw that the surface of the water, easily a hundred yards above him, was not visible, only the general brightening of the water indicated where it was. He was very grateful that the gills and fins spell also gave him improved underwater eyesight, as otherwise the dim light at this depth would have made seeing anything more than a few yards away extremely difficult, at best.
The square was rather crowded with merpeople hoping for a glimpse of the champions. They were not as amazed to see him as the wizards might have expected, but then again, he had been poking around in the lake for over a month now. They gave him their versions of smiles and waved at him. He waved back as he moved towards the statue of a gigantic merperson. Around it, in a circle, was a singing choir of merpeople, to provide the champions with a clue as to where they should head.
Harry frowned as what he saw bound by lakeweed ropes to the statue’s tail proved his interpretation of the riddle had been correct. He was startled, however, to see Ginny and Hermione as two of the four people who were there. Cho Chang was easily recognizable, and Cedric’s hostage, as Harry and the group had surmised. The fourth was a young girl who couldn’t have been more than eight, with silvery hair, that had to be a relative of Fleur. They seemed to be sleeping deeply, with their heads drifting limply side-to-side in the current. Bubbles drifted lazily from their mouths, so they were clearly alive.
He swam around the statue, looking for any guards besides the trident and spear equipped merpeople. There weren’t any. Stupid, stupid wizards. On the other hoof, it did look quite peaceful, although a few of the merpeople appeared very interested in the silver-haired girl.
He paused in front of the captives and stared. Who was he supposed to rescue? Ginny? Hermione? Fleur would grab the little girl, he was sure, and Cedric would take Cho. But who was Victor supposed to rescue? Hermione had been his date at the Ball, and they had said a few words to each other after that, but was she someone Victor would truly miss? Harry knew both girls far better than the Durmstrang student did.
He would just have to wait.
Several merchildren came closer to inspect Harry. They had never seen a pony with fins on his legs before, and they ended up playing tag around the statue.
He eventually heard the mermaid choir sing their warning that only half an hour remained, and that the champions had better get a leg on before it was too late to save their hostage. He continued to swim circles around the statue playing with the merchildren while he kept an eye on the four hostages.
After a few more minutes, the crowd began to point and excitedly chatter. The merchildren scattered back out of the square.
Harry turned and looked in the indicated direction.
Someone was coming.
It was Cedric. As Harry had expected, his hostage was Cho. After a few moments spent hacking with a knife, he cut her free and started back to shore. He looked at Harry, floating nearby, shook his head, and mouthed, “Fleur and Krum are coming.”
Harry pointed at Ginny and Hermione and held up his front hooves beside his shoulders in a sign that he didn’t know which to rescue. Cedric looked at the two, and then back at Harry, shaking his head. He shrugged, and started back to the shore with his prize.
No sooner had he gone out of sight than Victor appeared, to much animated excitement among the merpeople.
Harry had to shake his head in disappointment when the wizard began trying to bite the seaweed rope in an effort to rescue Hermione. Harry sighed, swam over, and hit the wizard on the shoulder. Startled, Krum looked at him. Harry pointed at the wand the wizard had in his hand and then at the rope. Victor looked at the wand, then rolled his eyes. He ran the tip of his wand down the rope bindings, severing them with a cutting spell. He seized Hermione around the waist, nodded to Harry, and took off after Cedric.
Well, that took care of the problem of whom Harry was supposed to rescue!
Harry saw a merman swim up to an important looking individual with many necklaces of stones and shells. After a hurried conversation, they both turned toward the hostages and smiled.
Harry noticed that their attention was focused on the young girl.
The two began to drift closer, and more of the mermen were beginning to smile. Some even appeared to be getting happy at the news.
One of them spoke loudly and sharply, “Children! Leave! Now!”
The merchildren peering in at the edges of the square were gone in a flash of fins.
In fact, there were now no merchildren in sight, at all. Not even peeking from windows.
The choir had stopped singing and started to swim away.
There was now a solid ring of mermen around the statue.
They ignored him and Ginny, and focused on the girl
Harry had a very bad feeling about this.
۸- ̰ -۸