Once Christmas was over, February twenty-fourth, when the Second Task would begin, seemed just around the corner, lending it a sense of urgency.
For Hogwarts Champion Harry Potter, this was something well worth worrying about.
He wore a worried frown all day long. Even in his favorite class, Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures, his brow remained furrowed and his thoughts wandered elsewhere.
Unlike in the original story, Cedric had lost his chance to become a Champion, so naturally, he would not come over to give Harry a hint about the Second Task.
That made the question of what the Golden Egg actually meant considerably harder for Harry.
With his experience at this point, the question was clearly a little beyond him.
Of course, for Su Er, who was "cheating," it was already obvious. He did not need to worry about it at all. All he had to do was execute a perfect, splashless dive with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spin into the Black Lake on February twenty-fourth, then complete the trial as quickly as possible to earn a high score.
Today was the first day of the new term after the Christmas Holidays, and the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students taking Care of Magical Creatures all gathered outside the Castle.
A blanket of white snow still covered the lawns outside the Castle. Although the sun shone warmly overhead, the snow showed no sign of melting.
The young wizards stood quietly on the grass near Hagrid's Hut, both hands tucked into their pockets, where they kept the thermos flasks of Bluebell Flames that had become a winter staple. Although the cold air blowing in from the Forbidden Forest occasionally made them shiver, fortunately, with their thermos flasks, it was not too hard to bear.
But five minutes had passed since the bell rang, and