Chapter 34: The Second Task Disaster
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. IT BELONGS TO JK ROWLING.
A/N: Read, enjoy, and remember not to take either life or my writing too seriously.
The morning of the second task finally arrived.
Ron woke with a strange feeling.
Something was missing.
Then he realized.
"My egg!"
He leapt from bed.
"WHO STOLE MY EGG?!"
Harry blinked groggily from his bed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ron."
"You're jealous of me being champion!" Ron accused.
Harry sighed.
"Ron… I have everything I want in life already."
He smiled dreamily.
"I have a beautiful girlfriend who loves me—"
"PPPPWWWTTTT!"
A terrible smell exploded through the dormitory.
Harry and the others scrambled for their wands.
The banishing charm Hermione had placed clearly wasn't working anymore.
Harry hurried downstairs to find Hermione.
She was already waiting in the common room.
After a quick kiss, he explained everything.
Hermione immediately understood.
"That means the egg isn't in the castle anymore."
They realized someone must have taken it.
Meanwhile Ron searched the Great Hall desperately.
He could barely manage four plates of breakfast.
At the edge of Black Lake, the champions gathered.
Harry and Hermione sat in the stands.
Hermione warmed their bench with a spell.
Harry wrapped his arms around her.
"Perhaps I should remove the warming charm," she whispered teasingly.
"My lips are cold too, Mister Potter."
Harry immediately set about fixing that.
Nearby, Ron glared at them furiously.
"PPPPPWWWWWTTTT!"
Underwater, the golden egg had been tied among water plants with the hostages.
The damage from falling out of Gryffindor Tower had weakened its seal.
A bubble escaped.
It drifted upward and touched a Grindylow.
The creature instantly died.
Soon fish began dying as well.
The merpeople quickly realized something was terribly wrong.
On shore, Dumbledore began the announcement.
"For the second task, each champion must recover something they value most from the lake."
Fleur immediately demanded to know where her sister was.
Krum threatened revenge if Luna was harmed.
Cedric worried about Cho.
"And from Ronald Weasley," Dumbledore continued,
"we have taken… his golden egg."
"MY EGG!" Ron screamed.
He jumped straight into the lake.
Bagman dragged him back.
Underwater, the merpeople panicked as more poisonous bubbles escaped.
They immediately released the hostages.
A merperson touching the egg nearly died.
They needed the egg removed immediately.
Just as the task was about to begin, the merpeople surfaced pushing the hostages toward shore.
Bagman barely managed to start the event.
Ron swallowed all three doses of Gillyweed.
Then he ate several Canary Creams and Horntail Honeys for a snack.
The magical combination had an unexpected result.
Instead of diving heroically into the lake—
Ron transformed into a five-and-a-half-foot fire-breathing duck.
"QUACK!"
The judges stared in disbelief.
Moments later Dumbledore returned from speaking with the merpeople.
"The lake has become contaminated," he announced.
"The second task is canceled."
The enormous duck continued swimming in circles, breathing fire and quacking loudly while searching desperately for its golden egg.
Meanwhile, the giant squid carefully carried the egg toward shore and throwed towards the stands.
Unfortunately it flew directly into Dolores Umbridge's head during her wedding ceremony to Draco.
The egg burst open.
Two weeks' worth of trapped gas exploded outward.
When the air cleared, Madam Pomfrey checked Umbridge.
She was dead.
Lucius Malfoy sat down and wept.
Nearby, the fire-breathing duck climbed onto the egg protectively.
Hours later Ron finally transformed back.
As everyone walked back to the castle, Ron heard the announcement:
"The feast will begin shortly."
Ron collapsed in despair.
"QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!"
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Thank you for reading!
See you in the next chapter ✨
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