The Wilderness Years

Chapter 1: Novel Ideas

The new year had well and truly begun, and London was growing bleaker and more bitterly cold with each passing January day.

Thankfully, neither the chilly winds nor the grey skies could reach the underground offices of the Ministry of Magic. Artemis Hexley had been working for the Ministry's Department of Magical Games and Sports for two months on a confidential project, one that was the subject of so much secrecy that only those directly involved in the organising of it were allowed to know about it: the Triwizard Tournament.

Sometimes, it felt as if even those in charge of organising the tournament knew very little about it. So far all they seemed to have done was play team-building games and have several fruitless meetings under the direction of their charismatic but somewhat inefficient department head, Ludo Bagman. Today, however, when Artemis arrived at the office, there was a more formal feel to their meeting, thanks to the addition of a stern looking and smartly dressed wizard with grey hair and a moustache at Bagman's side.

"Who's that?" Artemis whispered to her colleague Badeea Ali as the rest of their team took their seats. Badeea's neatly shaped eyebrows furrowed.

"That's Mr Crouch," she replied. "He's the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-Operation."

"He looks a bit serious, doesn't he?"

Badeea's lips twitched, but she said nothing. Neither did Mr Crouch, who stayed silent for the majority of the meeting as Bagman chortled his way through the same points that had been made a week previously, and a week prior to that, once again without reaching any sort of tangible conclusion. With each minute, the expression on Mr Crouch's face grew increasingly tense, until Artemis thought that the small vein protruding in his forehead might burst.

Thankfully, before any harm could come to either Mr Crouch or his forehead vein, the meeting drew to a close.

"Great work, chaps and... chapettes," said Bagman, clapping his hands together loudly. "We've made some real progress today. So, how about we leave it there and reconvene-"

"Pardon my interruption," Mr Crouch interrupted, "but what progress did you make in this exercise, exactly?"

"Oh, well, you know..."

"No, I don't know." Mr Crouch sighed and tutted. "Bagman, I am not certain that I have seen you make any progress in the last month whatsoever."

Ludo Bagman shook his head, his smile not slipping from his face at all. "This is a brand new team we've got here, Barty, and you have to get a new team working together before you can get them working together."

Artemis' nose wrinkled and she cast a sceptical glance at Badeea, who began to doodle on the parchment in front of her. Across the room, Mr Crouch's forehead vein was more prominent than ever.

"Be that as it may," he said, an edge to his voice, "the Triwizard Tournament will officially begin in nine months, and within that timeframe we will have at least one month of our resources being stretched by the Quidditch World Cup."

"We'll have the Quaffle well and truly rolling by August, Barty, don't you worry."

"But I am worried, Bagman. I am very worried. I need to pass all the challenges through regulatory checks before they can be sanctioned, and you and your team have yet to even decide on what these will entail."

"Ah... No, not yet. But we have set dates for all three."

"The date is not what needs regulating, Bagman. I need to know the details for each challenge, and I need them by the end of the week."

"End of the week?" Ludo swallowed, before the smile returned to his face and he laughed out loud. "Ah, Barty. You underestimate my team. You know, we have some of the brightest and best brains in the country working on this project."