𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞┃𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

Chapter 50: The First Task

The following day, Rubi was preoccupied with helping Harry find a simple spell like her dad had said, that could help him beat the dragon he would have to face in the first task. The trio spent all of Sunday researching, and checking any book they thought to be of good use, hoping to find some way around the dragon. Alas, they came up empty-handed.

Rubi was worried, not just about the task but also about how much of a toll this was taking on Harry. He was beginning to look dreadful.

Monday arrived and with that, classes had commenced once again. As Hermione and Rubi were in Herbology, Harry had run off to somewhere. However, he came running into the greenhouse some while after, throwing a quick apology to the Hufflepuff head, and halted in front of the two girls.

"Rubi! Hermione! I need you to help me."

"What d'you think we've been trying to do, Harry?" Rubi and Hermione whispered back together.

"I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon." Harry said

And so they practiced.

They didn't have lunch, but headed for a free classroom, where Harry tried with all his might to make various objects fly across the room toward him. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones to the floor.

"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate..." Hermione encouraged.

"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason-"

"Harry, listen, I know it's hard but you need to clear your mind of all other thoughts. Think of the patronus lessons we did with Remus last year." Rubi suggested.

Harry nodded. "Okay, try again..."

Harry and Rubi wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, but Hermione refused point-blank to skive off Arithmancy, and there was no point in staying without her.

Enduring over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths.

"Well, that's good," said Harry loudly, his temper getting the better of him, "just as long as it's not drawn-out. I don't want to suffer."

Ron looked for a moment as though he was going to laugh; he certainly caught Harry's eye for the first time in days, but Harry was still feeling too resentful toward Ron to care.

Rubi sighed.

Well there's some progress between the two, I guess.

They forced down some dinner after Divination, then returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers. They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. Harry, Hermione and Rubi left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.

At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had Harry really got the hang of the Summoning Charm.

"That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.

"You're getting the hang of it, Harold!" Rubi cheered.