The Champions Champion

Fire breathing duck?

Ron Weasley, after beating himself several times at chess, decided to take a break from his strategy session. While lying on his and bed looking lovingly at his egg, he remembered it held a clue to a puzzle. 'Two weeks until the second task. I guess I've given the other competitors enough of a head start. I'll work out this clue now,' he thought. He pulled out the parchment Moody had given him and started mouthing the words.

"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground,"

'Well as I told Professor Moody,' He thought. 'That of course means the Prefect's bathroom. Now the next lines.'

"And while you are searching, ponder this: we've taken what you'll sorely miss,"

'What did he say ponder meant? To drink? No… eat? No… wait… to think. Okay, so I need to think about something sorely missed that someone has taken. Sorely? To sore means to fly of course, so it's something I would miss while flying. As keeper I would miss a Quaffle. Well, I wouldn't, but other keepers would. Yeah, that's it. A quaffle. Someone has taken a quaffle. So in the Prefect's bathroom, I need to find it. This is easy! Okay, next clue.'

"An hour long you'll have to look, and recover what we took,"

'An hour? It isn't like the Prefect's bathroom is that large.' Ron thought. 'Maybe it's going to be invisible or something. Still shouldn't be hard. Maybe we have to fight for it. Well, after I've beaten the worst dragon of the lot, the other champions don't stand a chance. Maybe the Veela and I can do hand to hand. I'd have to take it easy on her though, since she's girl. Now the final lines.'

"But past an hour- the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"Prospect… what's a prospect? Talking about it turning black, so maybe it's a type of meat in the feast to follow. Of course, that's it! Someone will be cooking our food, and if we take more than an hour, the food will be burnt and they will throw it out. So, in the prefect's bathroom I have an hour to find a quaffle that is hidden and, if I don't find it in that time, I don't get the celebratory dinner. No problem, this is a simple task.'

xXxXxXx

Barty Crouch Jr. was sitting at his desk, contemplating his dilemma. He needed the ginger haired champion..., er… boy… er... idiot to be at the lake and ready to compete in the second task in two weeks. But so far, all attempts to get the over-gassed ignoramus to comprehend what he needed to do had failed. 'And now I can't even get close to him without a splitting headache appearing,' he thought. 'I wonder if I can do a classroom demonstration of the cruciatus curse with him as my volunteer. I really only have to tell the idiot Headmaster it's for the Greater Good and he'd have no problem with it.'

Crouch reached into his supply of Firewhisky and pulled out a bottle. He reached for the glass and started to pour. Then, remembering who he was contemplating, he pulled out his wand and, an "Engorgio" later, the cup had swelled to three times its normal size. 'Better,' he thought and started pouring the drink.

'I can't even put him under the Imperius curse to do the task,' the bogus Defense instructor thought. 'His mind is so weak; he can't even shake off the effects once the curse is lifted*. He'd still be jumping in the lake three days later and that would be suspicious even to Dumbledore.' Another glassful of Ogden's finest disappeared. 'I have two weeks; hopefully, I can come up with some plan.'

xXxXxXx

Lord Voldemort was sitting in his crib... er... Evil Villain Restoration Module, contemplating the information Wormtail had just given him. Though it had taken a while, his loyal servant in the castle had finally reported to him. It wasn't a Tom Weasley after all, but Wormtail's old master Ronald who was competing. Of course, the Daily Prophet had reported the same thing weeks ago. 'It is just so difficult to get a good Death Eater to help me when I need it most,' he thought.