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Harry Potter and the House-Elf's Questions
By Dorothy

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Category: Tri-Wizard Tournament Challenge (2009-6), Tri-Wizard Tournament Challenge (2009-6)
Characters:None
Genres: Drama, General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: G
Reviews: 8
Summary: ** Winner of Best Stealth (3-way tie) in the Tri-Wizard Tournament Challenge **
Harry and other Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions face a Mystery Task.
Hitcount: Story Total: 5429



Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.



Author's Notes:
A huge thanks to MinistryMalcontent for his Beta skills.
Please review. This is a partial adaption of the story Vikram and Betal. Though King Vikram never succeeds in his task, Harry, here however, does that.




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Harry was eating his breakfast when a small boy, probably a first year, handed him a small scroll. Harry thanked the boy and opened the parchment.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I hereby request your presence in my office as soon as you are finished in the Great Hall.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

P.S. I like lemon drops.


"What's it, Harry?" asked Hermione. Everybody around him was curious to know what the scroll said.

"Dumbledore wants to see me in his office after breakfast," said Harry.

As soon as he was done, Harry headed towards the Headmaster's office rather than to his class. He gave the password to the stone gargoyle and stepped onto the circular moving steps. When he entered the Headmaster's office he noticed that the other Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions were already present.

A minute later Dumbledore spoke. "Well, you all know that your first task was not supposed to start for another fortnight. But in this Tournament Champions not only need to be proficient in spells, jinxes, curses or other kinds of advanced magic; they should always be ready for whatever comes their way. So your Mystery Task starts today.”

The Champions grimaced at each other in surprise.

Dumbledore handed them a dirty tin can and said, "You will be Portkeyed to the Forest of Dean, where Director Barty Crouch is waiting for you. We will follow you by another Portkey."

All the Champions touched the tin can. There was a familiar tug behind the navel and all of them were whirling. Harry landed so awkwardly that he almost knocked the others off their feet. Harry thought Fleur threw him a dirty look.

***************************

Ginny was flying on one of the school’s old brooms. When she swooped down to land, the Braking Charms failed and she fell heavily. She didn’t break any bones but her hand was bleeding severely.

She thought that if her brothers or Hermione saw her hand bleeding, they would scold her severely. So she stealthily went in search of Madam Pomfrey. As she was climbing stairs she caught sight of Madam Pomfrey going towards the Headmaster’s office. Ginny tried calling to her but Peeves started making so much noise that she was not able to hear. Ginny found herself staring at a stone gargoyle at the point where Pomfrey had disappeared. She tried various passwords in vain until Professor Flitwick, who was walking by, stopped to help her. Ginny ran up the moving steps. She spotted the Headmaster’s door ajar and pushed it open further. She saw a group of Professors gathered around. She went to Madam Pomfrey and quickly described the whole incident. The nurse was examining Ginny's hand when Dumbledore said, “Poppy!” The nurse grabbed for the Portkey, trapping Ginny’s hand too and holding it to the Portkey as well. Moments later Ginny found herself in the Forest of Dean. She was not sure whether she was supposed to be there, or why she landed there, or what to do about her hand.

Dumbledore noticed her and asked, “Miss Weasley, What are you doing here?”

Ginny didn’t know what to answer. Madam Pomfrey realized what she had done. The nurse explained the situation to everybody as all of them — even the Champions — had gathered around Ginny. Ginny saw that Harry was astonished to see her.

Barty Crouch then spoke, “Well, since it is a Mystery Task and has been kept a secret, you are also to stay here until the task is complete.”

“Stay!” asked Ginny with surprise. What would her brothers think?

“Yes, and you will not help the Champions with the task or talk to them. If we find you helping any of the Champions, they will be instantly disqualified from the Task,” said Crouch.

Ginny peered at the Champions. Each one of them had different expression. But it was Harry’s expression that melted her heart. He had a pained expression on his face which said he understood how uncomfortable she would feel to be cut off from everyone at school for days and not even able to talk to the contestants.

She agreed and Barty Crouch asked the Champions to gather around.

He started explaining. "This task is called the Mystery Task because it has been kept secret from everybody. This was done so that none of you could get aid from anybody else. Anti-apparition, Disillusionment, and Muggle Repelling Charms have been put all around this place. You will have to get to the bottom of this all by yourself. You will be given seven days to complete the task. You will all stay in this tent until one of you completes the Task."

"So will ve go back only after seven days?" piped Viktor Krum.

"Yes, we believe this Task will require that many days. If someone finishes early, we get to go back early! All the others will then be graded on what phase of their task they are in," finished Crouch.

All the contestants had anxious looks on their faces.

"Now about the rules:

First, each Champion will be assigned a house-elf, who will be sitting on a tree branch.

Second, you will have to hoist the house-elf on your back or shoulders using magic, and walk towards your destination where you will find a Portkey to Hogwarts.

Third, as long as you are carrying your elf, you must maintain complete silence. You may not speak for any reason! As you walk the elf will narrate a story, and at the end of that story the elf will pose questions which need to be answered.

Last, if you break your silence to answer, then the elf will Disapparate to its original spot on the tree and you will have to start all over. On the other hand, if you know the answer and don’t reply, then a bewitched bludger will hit you and Merlin knows you might end up in the hospital wing.

“So do you all understand the rules clearly?" Crouch asked the Champions

When all of them had nodded, he pulled out a small pouch and asked each Champion to draw a miniature representation of a house-elf.

Harry was asked to draw first. He pulled a miniature form of Winky. Cedric pulled a form of Dobby, Fleur an elf named Sunny and Krum an elf named Bobby.

After few minutes, everyone was shown the trees where their respective house-elves sat. Harry found himself next to Cedric Diggory. Harry studied the tree and the elf first. He then took his wand out and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Instantly the elf was in mid-air and Harry carefully landed the elf on his shoulders. He realized that the elf was lighter than he had expected. He thought perhaps Winky was charmed to weigh less. He started walking and Winky started telling a story. He found out that the house-elves were charmed to speak normal English. He guessed that was done to help Fleur and Viktor Krum.

Harry got caught up in the story. In the middle of it Winky stopped and asked, "How are you feeling, Harry Potter?"

"Ok, I think!" shot back Harry and Winky Disapparated .

Realization dawned on him that Winky had tricked him into talking. Now he needed a different plan.

He walked back to the tree, levitated the elf on his back, and quickly muttered a Silencing Charm around the elf. No sooner had he muttered the Charm then Winky once more Disapparated. Harry had broken his silence.

Harry tried a few more times but each time Winky somehow managed to trick him or he was attacked by the bewitched bludger. It took all of Harry's Quidditch skills to avoid injury.

He found the others were not faring any better. Cedric Diggory was also trying hard. He had cast a silencing bubble around himself and was walking with Dobby on his back, but it seemed to Harry that the bubble was vanishing.

Harry tried a few more times but all in vain. The sun began to set and it started to get cold. The contenders were called inside the tent. The interior was magically expanded. All the Champions returned looking dejected and frustrated. None of them were in a mood to say anything. Noticing this, Dumbledore spoke with a hint of sarcasm, “Proper etiquette calls for you to greet each other.”

Reluctantly, the challengers greeted each other with a nod or a simple hello.

The next day started out the same way. Harry started walking with Winky clinging on his back, but not before he had used a Lip Sealing Charm on her. To his dismay that didn’t work either. His charm faded away like snow in bright sunlight and elf began narrating once again, this time a different story. Each night all of them would return to the tent only to do the same thing the next day. Everybody was frustrated and tired and didn’t know how to solve the paradox.

That night Cedric mentioned, “I just answered with a hmm, without even opening my mouth, and Dobby Disapparated.”

At night Harry kept thinking about his friends, would they know where he and other contestants were? He thought of Ron’s strategy at chess and Hermione’s brilliance. He could certainly use his friends' help here! The more he thought about them the more he wanted to be with them. Though he was not great friends with Ginny, having her nearby was almost as good as having his friends. For some reason he did not understand, it made him relax.

Once Madam Pomfrey had healed Ginny's hand, Ginny had taken up the role of assisting the nurse as she monitored the Champions’ health. At one time or another, all of the Champions required healing for injuries inflicted by the bewitched bludgers. A few times Ginny caught Cedric or Harry staring into the space with goofy smiles on their faces. She assumed that they were thinking of Cho and this thought made her feel annoyed.
She groaned to herself, “Ah yes... a boy and his goofy smile.”

She too wanted someone to win this task quickly. She watched each contestant but no one was progressing any further than the other. But deep in her heart she wanted Harry to win this Task. She considered helping Harry some way or another, but she was terrified at the thought of him being disqualified.

She thought of her parents, brothers, and Hermione. How worried they would be when they learnt that not only the Champions were missing but Ginny was missing too!

A couple days later, Harry had given up using any spells and concentrated on blocking out Winky’s story totally. He soon found out that he was rubbish at doing that too, and would end up listening to her stories.

When Barty Crouch had explained the rules, the participants had felt it was a simple challenge. Harry had thought that he would easily succeed in not answering the elf’s questions. But to his horror the stories recounted by the small creature were simple and he would almost always have the right feedback. If he did not answer, the bludger would attack him. Sometimes, Harry was so worried about the hovering bludger that he would blurt out an answer even if he was not certain the answer was correct.

After two more days, none of the Champions had any idea how to complete the task. They wondered if it was even possible to successfully complete the task at all. That night Harry kept thinking about his strategy, but the irony was he had none. Out of boredom he was playing with his cloak and he felt something soft and something else hard. He emptied his pockets and found a piece of parchment and a self-inking quill. He smiled to himself and pocketed them again. He tried to take in his surroundings. He found all the Champions engrossed in their own thoughts; saw Madam Pomfrey dictating something to Ginny, and Ginny scribbling something on a piece of parchment.

He thought about Winky and the house-elves and with slight twinge of indignation muttered to himself, “Who forgot to tell me those house-elves can be so deceitful at times?”



Then it was the seventh day. Harry woke up in great spirits, because even though he wouldn’t finish the Task, he would get to go back to Hogwarts. At the end of the day, he could walk away from this frustrating Task.

He didn’t care about winning or losing. So he picked Winky up and started walking, this time actually listening to her.

*************************

Cedric Diggory seemed to think on the same lines as he lifted Dobby into position and started walking towards his destination. Dobby started relating his story.

“Once upon a time there lived a wise man in a Kingdom. He was renowned for his wisdom. People went to him seeking solutions to their problems. He had the power of looking into their future, but he couldn’t change it. Lots of people were benefiting from his advice.

It so happened that when the King went out hunting he came across the wise man's hut. The King wanted to test him. So he asked the wise man whether he would be able to hunt anything that day. The wise man answered in the negative and it came to pass that the King was not able to hunt a single animal that particular day. The King’s belief in him was born.

The King recounted his experience to his prime minister. The prime minister had an ailing son who was not cured by any medicines the healers gave him. So he decided to take his son to the wise man. The wise man took one look at the prime minister's son and identified the proper treatment. After that, the son healed.

This continued for couple more months, but prime minister became uneasy. He thought that it was not good for the people or the Kingdom, and so he sought the King’s permission to remove the wise man. He took the wise man to a distant land and left him there where he could spend his life peacefully. The minister also disguised a soldier as the wise man. When the soldier’s predictions no longer came true, people’s belief in him started to fade away. One fine day the soldier was able to throw away his disguise and return to Palace.”


Then Dobby fell silent for a minute before continuing, “Now for the questions:

Why did the Prime Minister think it was a bad influence on people, even though the people were benefiting from it? The prime minister himself had benefited from it? Did he not want others to enjoy the advantage they had from wise man? Was the prime minister selfish?”

Cedric who was a hardworking person actually knew the answer to this. But he was so consumed with the thought of reaching the nearby Portkey that he decided not to answer and the bludger struck him hard. He ended up in the Hospital Wing.

***********************

Meanwhile, Winky had been telling her story.

“Once upon a time there lived a young, arrogant King who was intelligent and very proud of his achievements. One day he came across his gardener who was a poor, old man. While watering he had missed a plant and on seeing this, the King was displeased. He threw the old man in prison blaming him for not doing his job properly. On hearing this, the old man’s daughter came to the King begging him to release her father. But the King was stubborn and he set three conditions for the girl to satisfy.

She had to come to his court riding a horse as well as walking.

She had to be wearing clothes as well as not wearing any.

She had to be inside his courtroom and outside at the same time.”


At this point Winky stopped narrating the story and asked, “Are we there yet?” Harry simply shook his head. Winky seemed to be satisfied by his gesture and continued with the story. On seeing this, and no bludger having hit him, Harry thought of answering Winky in sign language. He paid careful attention to her further narration.

“Now the old man’s daughter was very clever. She thought for a while and agreed to the King's conditions. She said she would require a day to prepare, so she would come the next day to fetch her father. She not only came the next day and freed her father and took him home but taunted the King with a tinge of sarcasm. She said, “Oops! Sorry about that Your Majesty! Your wish of keeping my father a prisoner has been disappointed.”

The King was astonished at her cleverness. He married her and made her his Queen,”
finished Winky.

“Now tell me how she satisfied the King’s conditions,” directed Winky.

Harry couldn’t answer this in sign language, but he knew the answers. He thought of an alternative way of answering. His mind wandered for a moment. The image of Ginny scribbling something on parchment floated in his mind’s eye. He remembered the proverb ‘The pen is mightier than the sword (in case of muggles) or wand’ (in case or wizards). He also remembered his previous day’s discovery of parchment and a self-inking quill. He took them out and started writing while balancing Winky on his back. How he managed, only he knew.

1) She came half the way riding the horse, and the other half walking.

2) She wore a transparent robe which made her look as if she wore clothes as well as if she didn’t wear them.

3) She stopped at the threshold of the courtroom. This made her seem like she was inside as well as outside.

As soon as he wrote this, the elf jumped from Harry’s shoulders and the bludger which was hovering above his head burst into a shower of confetti. Harry ran towards the Portkey and touched it. In few minutes he was in Hogwarts and the celebrations had started. Hermione, Ron, and many others surrounded him and started questioning him about where he and others had vanished for seven days.

Then Dumbledore was there along with Ginny. Harry enquired about the other Champions. Unfortunately Cedric, who was in Hospital Wing, ended up in fourth place with 150 points. Viktor and Fleur were tied in second place with 250 points each. Harry had won the task and was in first place with 350 points.

Harry was engulfed by his friends. He took a few minutes to free himself.

Ron and Hermione and the twins had already surrounded Ginny and she was trying to explain things to them.

Harry walked to them and asked, “How is your hand Ginny?”

“Fine,” said Ginny in a soft voice.

Harry then asked Ron, Hermione and Ginny whether they would accompany him to visit Cedric. Everybody nodded and off they went to the Hospital Wing.

_______________________________ ____________

A/Notes: Cedric Diggory’s answer:

People always need to work hard to achieve their goal. Even though one fails the first time, he/she needs to remember that ‘failure is the first step to success’. Citizens of that Kingdom sought the wise man’s answers and never worked because they already knew whether their efforts would pay off or not.

If the wise man had the power to change the future, it would have been different scenario, but all he did was look into the future.

The prime minister was not selfish, in fact he worried about their Kingdom and its prosperity.
Reviews 8
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