Explanations and Excuses
There was silence in the chamber as they all tried to process everything they had learned in the last two chapters. It was clear to everyone that lessons would be suspended for the morning and that they needed to have a very serious conversation about the contents of the book. But no one seemed willing to be the one to begin such a conversation.
The door to the other part of Mother Magic's domain opened and a flurry of angry veela marched into the chamber. They immediately went to stand behind the head of their council. Other beings followed them through the door, settling all around the chamber. Many were angry, that much was clear but still no one spoke.
Isabeau Lemaire sighed heavily, realising that someone would need to break the silence and she would do anything to prevent that responsibility - like so many others - falling to the young Prince.
"I think explanations are required," she said coldly, her eyes moving between the headmaster and his teachers. "I want to know everything you can tell us about the second task. Speak truthfully and hold nothing back or so help me, I'll declare war here and now."
Harry didn't like that. He didn't want another war. This was all getting so messy. Things were supposed to be getting better. Not worse.
Minerva looked over her colleagues. She knew the most about this situation. She should probably be the one to explain everything. But she just knew the veela would not like her answers. "To explain the second task, I probably need to give you more information about the tournament itself. Discussions between the British, French and Norwegian ministries began a year before the tournament took place. Our ministry had just had a break out from Azkaban and according to Albus, our minister felt that the tournament would help fix the damage the Azkaban break out had caused to his political reputation."
Several people nodded. The parents in particular were trying their best to keep their tempers. They needed the information.
"Albus was against it," she continued. "When the ICW voted on it, he argued that it was too dangerous, that lives had been lost and that the tournament was unsafe for not only the champions but all those involved. The vote went in favor of the tournament with the concession made that provision must be made to ensure the safety of those involved. An age limit was imposed and discussions began about what sort of tasks would be appropriate for the tournament. This proved surprisingly contriversal as the tournament traditionally follows a particular pattern. First the champion would have to face a creature to get a clue, then using said clue to complete some sort of quest, and finally a labyrinth. It was insisted upon that the format at the very least remain the same."
"But that doesn't explain why they had to use XXXXX creatures or why the second task was in the dark lake!" Mrs Weasley huffed in irritation.
Minerva frowned. "With that much decided, the ministers allocated the rest of the planning to their staff and Albus didn't hear much more about it until Yule when he was called to a meeting to discuss the various tasks that were in the planning process. He came back highly aggrieved, saying that the fools had seemingly forgotten all of the safety concerns he had raised. They were insistent that an XXXXX beast be used. Albus tried to suggest that they have an obstacle course instead, starting with an innocuous creature, something barely dangerous at all and work their way up through the classifications gaining clues as they went. The higher they made it through the classifications, the more clues they would have for the second task. I think he suggested they have to start by harvesting Horklumps, then collect a jobberknoll feather, battle a dugbog... I mean even though a dugbog is only a XXX creature, they're still plenty dangerous. And then for the XXXX creature, he thought that being riddle tested by a Spinx should be more than sufficient. He told me he had refused to even entertain the idea of including an XXXXX beast."
"Well, that's a much more reasonable task," Fleur said. She would have been much more confident against those creatures. It would still have been a challenge but definitely less deadly.
"Ludo said it sounded boring," Minerva sighed. "He said that if anything they should have to face an obsticle course of XXXX and XXXXX creatures."
"The fool!" Amelia grumbled. "I'd like to see him face off with a dragon."
"He said that at the very least they should face a Graphorn," Minerva continued. "And it all went downhill from there. Albus said that every new idea they shared between themselves became more and more outlandish and the three heads were left utterly flummoxed on how to protect their students. Madam Maxime was increasingly agitated at the idea of any of her students facing multiple XXXXX beasts and so insisted that only one beast be confronted. Albus was unhappy because the ministry officials refused to determine what beast should be used in their presence as the first task is always supposed to be something of a surprise."
"Very well, but what of the second task!" Fleur's grandmother demanded.
"The meeting moved onto the second task and what sort of quest they could send the children on," Minerva said. "There was some suggestion about using the forest but Albus quickly shut that down, recommending the lake. He thought that it would be the lesser of two evils. He knew that the merpeople and giant squid would help protect the children and compared to the forest... well, the creatures in the lake are all X or XX creatures for the most part. Of course, at that time, he had no idea that a veela would be chosen as the Beauxbatton champion. It was decided that the children would have to find something in the lake and Albus offered to speak to the Merpeople to ask for their assistance. During this meeting it was not agreed to use human hostages. They then went on to discuss the third task. Apparently quite a few people liked the idea of multiple creature challenges and so that was incorporated into the final task."
Minerva hated having to explain this. It wasn't that she disagreed with their anger. She was completely on their side. But she didn't really like being the focus of it. She had tried to protect the students and she had failed, but she had tried. "The next we heard anything about it was at the end of year staff meeting when it was announced to the staff that the tournament would be happening. Obviously no one was happy about it. Albus explained to us all that he was in a difficult position. He had already tried to refuse Hogwart's involvement on the grounds that the school did not fall under the jurisdiction of the ministry and that had resulted in the ICW becoming involved. And we couldn't risk going against the ICW if we wanted to keep our status as an ICW accredited school. I mean we'd have to close the school if we were no longer accredited to provide O.W.L and N.E.W.T testing."
"Was that actually threatened or is that conjecture?" Amelia demanded.
"It was certainly implied if not outright threatened," Minerva replied. "When it was discovered at the weighing of the wands, that Fleur's grandmother was a veela, Albus called for an emergency meeting about the second task. He allowed the four heads of house to join the meeting with the other judges. He argued that given Fleur's nature the Black Lake was no longer a suitable location for the second task. Ludo seemed to think nothing of it."
"The fool didn't understand," Filius said. "He didn't appreciate the danger of the situation at all."
"Crouch, well... I don't know what to say about Crouch. I thought he'd see reason. Going ahead with the task would potentially put us in a difficult spot with the Veela Nation but he wasn't really paying attention. Just kept saying it was too late to change the task. Karkaroff seemed pleased. He liked the idea that his student would have an advantage. Madam Maxime asked where else the task could be held and we began brainstorming ideas. The village of Hogsmeade was a good suggestion, definitely the safest."
Pomona nodded. "One of the mountains was also suggested, although that was quickly squashed because of the risk of trolls."
"I think Severus suggested a flying circuit," Filius said with a sharp grin. He was pretty sure that the potions master had made the suggestion to help Harry.
"But Crouch, Bagman and Karkaroff refused to budge," Minerva said in a huff, "even when the headmaster threatened to report them to the ICW."
"He did too," Filius said. "Saw him send off the paperwork myself."
"But the ICW were slow to act," Minerva said. "We didn't hear anything back until a week after the second task."
"Albus even tried to suggest postponing the task until they heard back from the ICW but the minister was enraged," Filius said. "He came to the school one afternoon with that odeous woman, Umbridge, and insisted that he would not allow Hogwarts to embarrass him. Albus tried to reason with him, argued that the school did not fall under his jurisdiction but that seemed to just make him more furious. When Umbridge learned the reason they wanted to postpone the task, she said some quite despicable things about half breads... Things I won't repeat. Madam Maxime backed down and by this time Crouch was already on sick leave apparently and so young Percy Weasley was filling in for him. The judges all voted and only Albus voted against proceeding with the task as planned."
Percy grimaced. He didn't like the looks they were all giving him. He hadn't agreed with the minister because he had a problem with veela. He just didn't want to waste any more time at the school than was absolutely necessary. He'd been working relentlessly filling in for Mr Crouch while still maintaining his own workload. Delaying the task would have put him back weeks. "I wasn't thinking about veela... I just... I didn't want to delay my work any more than it already was. I'm sorry."
Amelia sighed. It wasn't the young man's fault. It hadn't been appropriate for him to fill in for his head of department in the first place. He was fresh out of Hogwarts for Merlin's sake. She made a point to say as much too, just in case anyone tried to blame the young man for this mess.
"You said the school heads determined who the hostages would be?" Mr Granger asked, his tone rigid.
"That is correct," Minerva said. "I argued against the inclusion of either Mr Weasley or Miss Granger due to their age. But, well, Dumbledore said that Mr Potter wasn't really close to any of the older students. I suggested a family member instead but Albus argued against that as we could hardly bring a muggle into the school. The only other option would be a teacher and well, that would have been embarrassing for young Mr Potter so I didn't think that was the right solution either. I asked why it needed to be a person at all. I suggested perhaps their familiar. Albus seemed to like this suggestion but the other judges were adamant that human hostages were needed."
"It caused a lot of problems with the merpeople in the run up to the task," Filius said. "They weren't happy. They felt the task portrayed them in a very villainous light. They very nearly backed out, especially when Fudge threatened to evict them from the Black Lake. Albus had to remind the minister that he did not have the authority to do such a thing."
"As for Miss Granger," Minerva continued, "Karkaroff was convinced that she should be his champion's hostage. He was pretty gleeful about it too. He believed it would put Mr Potter at a disadvantage, which it certainly did. Both of his closest friends were in that lake."
"And Gabrielle?" Isabeau asked.
"Madam Maxime refused to choose a hostage," Pomona said. "This was before the vote was cast about continuing with the task and she refused on the basis that the task should not go ahead as it was planned with a veela participating. I believe Ludo Bagman made the decision to involve your youngest granddaughter without discussing it with the other judges. There was certainly a lot of contention about it."
The parents of those that had been involved in the task continued to ask their questions, barely managing to contain their rage. By the time they were supposed to break for lunch, the children in the chamber were growing restless and the adults were still raving mad, but at least they had some answers. One thing was for certain, Arcturus was going to destroy Ludo Bagman and it looked like he'd probably get some assistance from the head of the veela nation. No one seemed sure if they should take the teachers' word for it that they had in fact tried to protect the children on this instance. They'd failed in their duty far too many times at this point for that to just be presumed as truth. A very distraught Mrs Weasley left the chamber accompanied by multiple other mothers to go and prepare a light lunch. Molly was surprised when Narcissa Malfoy came and walked beside her.
"I cannot cook," she said, "but I'm very good at listening if you want to rant. And I can definitely butter bread to make sandwiches."
That brought a smile to the red head's face. To think that she was having a polite and friendly conversation with Narcissa Malfoy of all people. "I'd appreciate that," she said with a brisk nod.
"I'm good for a long rant too," Mrs Granger said. "I can cook but only the muggle way... so I'm probably not going to be much help either here."
They all laughed heartily, trying their best to think about anything other than the terrible book they were being forced to read.