The Big Dipper

The Third Task

The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. The students were rallying ever harder behind their respective champions which, for most of Hogwarts, meant doing everything they could to support Cedric, everything from well wishes to offers to help him cheat.

Ursula, for her part, was helping Cedric practice any and all spells he might need. His other friends were helping too, and between all of their studying for their end of year exams they managed to piece together a network big enough to help him practice nearly every night.

"Damn," said Cedric, when Ursula unlocked the door to dungeon six, where the League of Laurels met, and he beheld the dummies lined up, the crackling fire, and the tables with low armchairs arranged in the back. "Did you do all this for me?"

"Not exactly," said Ursula, smiling. "I started a Slytherin-only club where we meet to practice different spells."

"Slytherin-only, huh?" said Cedric. "I take it that means I can't join?"

"Win the third task and ask me again," said Ursula. Cedric laughed. "Right, where should we start?"

Meanwhile, everyone but the champions had end of year exams to take. Although studying wasn't nearly as rigorous as it had been for NEWTs, Ursula was exhausted by the time her first exam arrived. After the written parts of the exam were over, Ursula's professors set them complex practical tasks.

For Professor Flitwick, Ursula nonverbally turned vinegar into wine, then conjured wine glasses for all of it. When Professor Flitwick declared her wine excellent and more than fit for drinking, she vanished the whole thing, also nonverbally, earning her top marks.

For Potions, Professor Snape declared that they would be brewing Amortentia, which they hadn't even so much as talked about before in his class, as the practical portion of their final exam.

"You may begin," he said, turning over an enormous hourglass.

The potion was extraordinarily finicky, as they soon found out, and prone to disaster should they do so much as stir it in the wrong direction, or one too many times, or too few. Most of the ingredients varied by amount needed from person to person, and had to be precisely prepared.

Ursula began by setting four frozen ashwinder eggs in the bottom of her cauldron. She covered them with water, setting the fire under her cauldron to a low heat, and added one drop of Essence of Insanity and two of the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, both of which she doubted Professor Snape would have provided for them had time allowed them to make it.

Once the water had reached a rolling boil, Ursula began to add rose thorns. They had to be added one by one, until the potion turned a deep red. Lilian, on Ursula's right, only had to add one, but Adrian, on Ursula's left, was nearing two dozen by the time his potion turned red. Ursula counted eight prickly thorns, and her potion became a deep, wine red.

Next, she added two more ashwinder eggs that she had ground into a fine powder, turning the potion black. It was quite runny, as it should be, so she stirred clockwise and then counterclockwise nine times, adding a drop of peppermint each time, until the potion thickened to the consistency of custard and turned a pale, rosy pink.

"Half an hour remaining," announced Professor Snape.

Ursula began to add powdered moonstone, ever so carefully, until steam began to rise from the potion. Then she stirred slowly, repeating the clockwise-counterclockwise pattern from before. Finally, when the potion turned white, she sprinkled in pearl dust, and the distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen began to rise from her cauldron, accompanied by curling wisps of smoke.