Chapter 4
“Alright everyone, listen up.” Phil Coulson’s no nonsense voice cut through the chatter, and everyone settled down to listen, already grouped in their teams. Newt looked around the room, curious but also amazed that everyone was so focused on winning the game there wasn’t even any grumbling about teams yet.
When he had everyone’s attention, he deferred to Pepper, who stepped forward, immaculate as ever, and offered a bright smile.
“There are 8 clues around the house. Each leads to the next. If you have not found the previous clue, Jarvis will not allow you access to the next. Some of the clues are in hard to reach places. Please be careful. No destructive weapons or magic allowed in this house.”
Newt found even himself cowed by the command in her voice, but it was more charming than anything else.
“Now then. Sabotage is allowed but not encouraged. Be kind. Signs of unkindness will dock points from the final score of each team. Jarvis, Phil, and myself, will score each teams problem solving methods and you will be given your score at the end of each task.”
Her gaze met each of theirs, kind but firm, and there were nods all around. She smiled.
“Right. The first clue is this; I get cut but never bleed. I have teeth but I don’t bite. I get turned but I’m not a page. What am I?”
Newt turned to look at his team, and saw James’ eyes brighten with knowledge. He leaned in, and the rest of them leaned in in turn. Turning his body, he made a quick motion with his hand, and Harry immediately nodded. Then he looked at Severus, Ginny, and himself in the eyes.
“Key.” swam into their thoughts, and they all nodded.
“But where would we find it?” Ginny asked, and Severus looked around.
“Doesn’t your uncle own a number of cars?” the professor asked, and Harry nodded brightly.
“Come on, this way.” They followed him through the house and found themselves at a wide glass door leading into a large garage.
“Key.” Harry said with confidence, and the door immediately swung open.
“Well done.” Jarvis’ voice offered, and they filed in, looking around.
“Does he keep the keys in the cars?” Ginny asked, starting forward, and Harry nodded.
“I think so.” he frowned though, looking around. “It seems too easy though.”
As Newt agreed, he looked around in turn, taking in the room. It was the glint that caught his eye, used to hunting after Nifflers and their tendency for shiny things.
“What’s that up there?”
Everyone’s attention shifted to the ceiling, and now they could see it was a small clear box, with the glint of metal inside.
“It could be the keys.” Harry murmured, “But how do we get up there?”
“You could fly up.”
“But what about people who don’t have magic?” Ginny asked, and Severus shot her a look that had her shoulders hunching. Impressively, however, she didn’t avert her gaze.
“It doesn’t matter, we do. Who would like to go up?”
“I’ll go.” Harry volunteered. “Will you help me up, professor?”
The man nodded, and with a swish of his wand, Harry started to lift in the air.
“Hey! There’s another puzzle up here!” He reached for it and his hand hit an invisible barrier. “I’m going to have to read it to you: It’s as light as a feather, yet no man can hold it for long.”
With another swish, Harry was lowered gently to the ground, and they all frowned at each other.
“What has no weight?”
“Thoughts.” Ginny offered, and Newt beamed at her.
“Quite right that, though I like to think we can hold those.”
Ginny flushed but grinned up at him.
“Air.” Severus offered, and that had Harry’s head shooting up.
“We can’t hold air, but where would that lead us?”
“Breath.” James interrupted, and they all looked at him in surprise. That was two he’d solved. Harry and Ginny both beamed up at him. Newt was fairly certain he would’ve flushed if he didn’t have such excellent control.
“Where does breath leave us?” Severus asked, frowning back up at where the keys were kept. Newt had a sudden thought.
“Breathe on it. Maybe there will be a message, or the barrier will dissipate.”
Harry nodded vigorously.
“Great idea! Will you help me back up professor?”
Severus’ response was another wave of his wand, sending Harry flying up. He blew gently on the box, and it popped open in response. He was able to grab the puzzle this time, and put it in the box, removing all the keys. When he came back down, he offered them each one of the 5 identical keys.
“They said we were allowed to sabotage.” he offered with a grin. Let’s keep one, and hide the rest.”
Newt found himself exchanging a glance with Severus, who offered the slightest of smiles in response.
“Hurry up then.” Ginny muttered, shoving at Harry, and Harry laughed, running off.
They were just leaving the garage when Team 3 entered and while everyone else kept a very straight face, Newt just averted his gaze. He knew his own weaknesses.
Together, they hurried to another room where they could study the key in earnest.
“Do you recognize it?” Severus asked, and Harry shook his head.
“We don’t really use regular keys.” Harry admitted, “Plus, this looks old.”
He was right, it was a large, iron wrought key, and it certainly didn’t match the modern home.
“What needs a key?” Ginny asked then, prompting them forward.
“Doors.”
“Locks.”
“Chests.”
“A piano.” Newt suggested, but Harry shook his head.
“We don’t have one anymore.”
“Computers.”
They all looked at James when he said it, and he scowled.
“Nobody said we had to use the key. You type on a keyboard.”
Newt could admit that was an excellent point.
“I don’t think we have any computers with an actual proper keyboard.” Harry admitted. Then his expression brightened. “But in the office, there’s a table where a keyboard will appear if you need it.”
Tucking the key away, they snuck through the house, avoiding the other teams as they made their way to the office. When they made it, Severus flicked his wand over the lock, earning a look from James.
“It’s secured.” He informed them with a smirk, and it earned a matching expression from James.
Harry and Ginny were already in front of the large screen, looking at the desk. Newt made his way over as well, noticing the image projected on the desk.
“The poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you’ll die.” He read aloud, brow scrunching.
There was a moment of silence where nobody spoke, and it was Severus who broke it.
“Nothing.” It was said in a soft voice, and the moment it was said, the keyboard appeared on the table. They two children immediately beamed at each other, but Newt had looked up instead. Though he was careful to keep his gaze aimed away, he saw how James stepped forward, putting a hand on Severus’ shoulder. Saw how the professor twitched at the contact, having gone stiff when he’d spoken the answer, before relaxing. The two men nodded at each other before coming forward, and Newt found himself further charmed by this odd family as he looked down at Harry.
He could see why they’d built the teams like this now. Could see they were trying to mend fences as well.
Then he realized what had popped up as Harry logged onto the computer. It was a video image of the kitchen, where Team 5 was huddled.
“We should go there next.” Ginny announced, but Harry shook his head, frowning. He looked at James then.
“Are you any good with a computer?”
James nodded, coming forward.
“What are you looking for?”
“I think it’s been changed. Or moved.”
“Perhaps another team has already been here, and they’re sabotaging us.”
“But we were the first to find the keys!” Ginny exclaimed.
Harry shook his head.
“If I know uncle Phil and aunt Pepper, they probably had more than one solution to the puzzles.” He turned his attention back to James. “Can you figure out where it was pointed before?”
With a nod, James started typing, and Newt felt completely lost as numbers and symbols filled the screen.
Then with a hum of satisfaction, they watched the image shift from the kitchen to the garden. Newt couldn’t deny the little thrill he got from solving a puzzle. He enjoyed the fact that it was taking a bit of everyone to solve the puzzles.
“Onwards then.”
They made it to the garden in short order, looking around for any sign of the next clue. Ginny found it tucked in a gardening boot.
“The more you take, the more you leave behind.” She read, frowning. They all looked at each other and then looked around, wondering just what was outside that would help with that clue. Newt began to pace, moving always helped him think, and that’s when Ginny gasped. He spun back to look at her, but she was looking at his feet. Then he looked at the dirt as well.
He was leaving perfect footprints in the dirt.
“Footsteps.” He murmured, then he beamed at Ginny. “Brilliant job.”
She grinned right back, but it was Harry who interrupted them.
“But what does footsteps lead us to?”
Newt frowned but then waived Severus forward.
“Does this dirt look like normal dirt to you?” he asked, and Severus frowned before crouching down to scoop some into his palm. He rubbed it between his fingers before looking at the rest of them.
“It’s fake.” the word was said with a well deserved frown. Who’d ever heard of fake dirt before?”
“Why use fake dirt?” James asked, stepping off the grass and onto the dirt as well. Then he froze. “Shock absorption.”
Newt dropped the moment he said it, falling back willingly into the dirt. As James had predicted, it absorbed the brunt of the impact, leaving him fine.
“Why would you need fake dirt that absorbs impact?” He asked, and that’s when the professor and current students of Hogwarts all spoke at the same time.
“Quiditch.”
Harry practically dashed to the Quiditch pitch that his family had created behind the house, breathless and beaming. Newt was impressed, it looked identical to the one at Hogwarts, and he wondered if that was the point.
There were 5 large chests in the middle of the chests, and they made their way to the one labeled ONE.
James opened it and then nearly flew back as a small, golden ball shot out, and Harry gasped.
“A snitch!”
“How are we to catch it? We don’t have any brooms!” Ginny exclaimed, and Newt glanced in the box.
“It won’t go above 6 feet.” He announced, pointing at the message. “It’s not a real snitch.”
“So now we just have to catch it!” Harry cried, and he shot off after it. Ginny laughed brightly before giving chase as well. Newt only had a moment to debate before he grinned and shot off as well.
James shot by him with a rather charming grin as he leapt into the air above the two children’s heads, tumbling gracefully on the other side and darting ahead of them.
The pitch was filled with laughter.
It took them 10 sweaty minutes to catch the snitch, and it was Severus who’d caught it when the snitch had lowered to taunt him. Quick as a snake, he’d snatched it from the air to the cheers of the rest of them.
There’d been a slight flush to his cheeks despite the scowl, and his eyes sparkled, pleased, as he offered the golden ball to Harry.
The boy took it immediately, noticing the seam and screwing it open.
“What belongs to me, but others use it more than I do?”
“Harry.” Newt said, earning the boy’s attention. He stared a moment, confusion evident, and Newt watched the realization dawn.
“My name.” Then he spun in a circle, beaming at them all. “It’s my name. Come on, I know where we need to go.”
They followed him back to the house, winding through rooms until they reached a dining room. In the middle was a gigantic cake, the words Happy 14th Birthday Harry! Inscribed along the side.
In front of it, sat another clue. James stepped forward to pick it up.
“I make two people out of one. My life can be measured in hours, I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick. Fat, I am slow. Wind is my foe.”
They all looked around the room, but it was Severus who rolled his eyes and pointed to the cake.
“What is it missing?” They all frowned and Severus actually sighed. “Candles.”
“I saw birthday candles in the last room.” James informed them, and Newt immediately went after them, thrilling a bit when he found them. When he lifted them, however, he realized there was another riddle on the back.
He hurried back into the dining room, reading from the package.
“I am not alive but I grow. I don’t have lungs but I need air. I don’t have a mouth but water kills me.” He read quickly, excited. He could tell the end of the game was approaching.
“Fire.” They all turned at the voice, and saw it was Narcissa who had spoken. She offered them each a nod before leading her team into the room. “I believe we’re supposed to light the candles.”
At her words, Draco rushed forward, offering their own package of candles with a matching riddle.
Since the cake was in the middle of the table, the adults took over, placing their candles on the cake, but they only had 6.
“We’re 8 short.” Harry announced, and it was then Newt realized this part was clearly meant to be done together.
“Very good, Harry.” Phil praised, joining them with Pepper at his side. The others aren’t far behind. The fifth team was next, Neville presenting the candles, followed by team four, and Hermione happily passed along their package. Finally team two made it in, all laughing and grinning madly, and the twins happily presented their candles as well.
When 14 candles were atop the cake, they were lit, and a shimmer passed over the ceiling, earning gasps of delight.
“You have me today, tomorrow you’ll have more. As your time passes, I’m not easy to store. I don’t take up space, but I’m only in one place. I am what you saw, but not what you see.” Harry read carefully. Then he looked around the room. His eyes glowed in the candlelight, and Newt felt the pull of magic as it filled the room. When Harry smiled, he smiled back, along with everyone else in the room. Then Harry turned back to the cake, taking a deep breath.
“Memory.”
He blew out the candles.