The morning of the first task danced in the air as Melody rose in the final hours of darkness. The night before has been less than peaceful as she tossed in her sleep with concerns of her father and the looming challenge.
She had spent the last two nights looking through the library text at the variations of beasts that might come up in the task. She had been disheartened to know that a simple stunning charm wouldn’t suffice for many beasts, beasts Melody was certain would come up.
In the hours before breakfast would begin, she took to the library and refreshed different spells. About an hour passed before sunlight began to peak into the tall windows of the room. As the beams hit the desk, she closed the books lying open around her and gathered her things.
As she forced a small amount of breakfast down, she was joined by Marcel.
“Scared?” he asked from over his glass.
However concerned he was about Melody’s state, he seemed more frightened than her as his eyes were solid circles. Examining him, Melody noticed the bags under his eyes and the strange twitch vibrating his leg.
“Marcel?” she began, “Did you sleep?”
With a silly smirk on his face, he replied, “Couldn’t. I was too worried about today, and when I had given up on sleeping I took to eating the stash of candy under my bed.”
Melody grazed his cheek endearingly with her hand before gathering her bag and standing.
“You shouldn’t worry. I’ll be fine. Don’t you think I can handle it?”
Marcel’s shoulders relaxed slightly as he jokingly said, “It wasn’t you I was worried about…it was those poor animals.”
Noon arrived and Melody made her way out to the field outside the gamekeeper’s house. Temporary stands had been put up for the numerous spectators already filling them.
Quickly reviewing all her knowledge of defensive spells in her mind, she nearly ran into Ron and Hermione as they past her with a large group of Hogwarts students.
A disgusting hush went over the group as they eyed Melody indiscreetly. They continued on their way whispering to one another, but Ron and Hermione looked back from the hateful group and offered her a smile and two thumbs up.
Entering the champion’s tent, Melody immediately jumped into the usual tone with Harry.
“So I see you have turned the entire Hogwarts delegation against me. How kind of you.”
She said this as she changed from her school uniform to her Quidditch practice gear behind a solid navy screen.
“Truth hurts, doesn’t it?” was all that Harry said before the three champions exited the tent and met in the center of the field to cheers that shook the inner part of Melody’s ears.
After being individually introduced, Ms. Williams rose from her seat beside Dumbledore and gave the champions their predetermined order before going into the description of the task.
It was just as Marcel had overheard. There were ten identical white boxes (that appeared upon being mentioned) that each contained either the clue or one of nine deadly magical beasts. It was the champion’s task to find the box holding the clue by guessing until the right box had been selected. If one were to open a case with a beast, it would be their job to subdue the beast back into its case before moving on to another guess.
Having been selected to go first, Melody stepped forward into the exact center of the ring of white boxes. As the other champions left, Melody felt Harry’s eyes hot on her neck and attempted to shake it off by looking for Marcel in the crowd.
Seeking him didn’t take long, for he sat obnoxiously waving a sign that magically sang her name over and over with increasing volume.
When the crowd had been hushed by a single notice shot into the air from Dumbledore’s wand, Melody began.
Her first approach was to make the white cases transparent in hopes of seeing the clue. She attempted the complex spell on the box straight in front of her, but nothing happened.
Realizing this wasn’t going to work, she moved into her next approach “ picking at random until she could find the clue and hoping for the best.
Strangely enough, she was relieved to see the eight legs of an enormous spider creep out from the first box she opened. A spider she could handle. She arrogantly lifted her wand to perform a simple stunning charm when she heard screams from the crowd behind her and turned to see another spider twice the first’s size approaching from behind another on of the boxes.
“Biarachnia!” shouted the loud speaker, “Horrifically lethal spiders that travel in pairs as to capture prey better.”
Thinking quickly, Melody used a very shaky levitation spell on herself and rose from the ground about fifteen feet just as the arachnids’ venomous teeth stabbed the ground that previously supported her feet. From there she chanted the common rope spell that bound the spiders to each other. She repeatedly performed the spell until nothing showed of the spiders aside from the occasional leg sticking out between the ropes. Landing gently on the ground, she shrunk the beasts and levitated them back into the white case she had chosen.
The crowd cheered once more as she moved on to her next case. She immediately recognized the next beast from its picture in Beast That Make Camping Not So Fun. It was Tigran, a mix between a tiger and man that had incredibly heightened senses as well as a horrifying disposition.
The beast paced on its hind legs about a 100 yards from Melody before it suddenly charged the center where Melody stood.
Remembering the advice of the book, Melody pointed her wand in the beast’s direction and prayed that her spell worked. In seconds, spouting from her wand was the shrillest noise imaginable that caused the crowd to cringe and shrug down in their seats.
For basic human hearing, the noise was annoying, but for the heightened hearing of the Tigran, it was too much. The beast froze midair and landed ferociously trying to place its paws over its ears, but it was futile. In the Tigran’s weakness, Melody took her chance to attack it too with the same rope spell that bound it up before she placed it in its case.
Again the crowd cheered despite their ringing ears. Hearing the time clock ticking in her ear, Melody jumped toward her next choice. Her heart pounding as she raised her wand to open the box, she nearly fainted from relief as a golden glow shone from the top and the crowd cheered. Rising from the box was a stream of gold strands surrounding a large, gold star. Gracefully, it wafted gently to the ground before her where she gathered it in her arms before being dismissed by the judges.
She nearly ran out of the stadium as she clutched the clue close to her heart. It wasn’t until she heard the loud speaker call Harry that she found her way back into the ring.
Harry had experienced far more trouble guessing and it had taken him twice as long to come across the clue. Dobri had landed somewhere between the two. Melody was therefore in first place.
Melody now sat surrounded by her classmates in the lobby of her dormitory. For an hour she entertained admirers that complimented her talent, but as she stood to go up to her suite, she was seized by Harry.
“How did you finish so quickly?!” he asked as his grip tightened on her arm.
“Talent,” she replied as she fiercely ripped herself from his grasp and disappeared up the spiral staircase.