Change the Future

GOF 20

It was the day before the second task and Rory was sat with with Harry in the library.

"You said you'd already worked out the clue!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry said crossly. "I just need to sort of fine-tune it, all right?" Rory rolls her eyes at him. They sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them.

"I don't reckon it can be done," Rons voice said flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

"They have," Ron said. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

"Ron that's plans just genius why don't they all do that" Rory gives him an are you serious look. "Harry if you'd dealt with it weeks ago you could of learned the bubble head charm but there's no chance now. I wonder whether there's any plants that will allow you to breath underwater?"

"Just like his father, leave it till the last minute" Remus says making Rory smile at him.

"Yes plants let's look at those" Hermione says excitedly.

"I know what I should have done," Harry said, resting, face-down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" Ron said.

"Or a frog," yawned Harry. He was exhausted. Rory looked at him slightly worried.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," Hermione said vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it"

"Hermione, I was joking," Harry said wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning"

"Plus you don't get to choose the animal" Rory says yawning.

"I reckon you'd be a wolf Rory" Remus whispers to her.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," They hear Fred's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?" They all look up to see Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"Funnily enough Ronald you happen to be with our best friend but that's not why we're here"

"McGonagall wants Rory and Hermione." George says.

"Why?" Hermione said, looking surprised.