J. K. Rowling All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or

Nothing. 
Closest 
was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought 
Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain 
the lake.’ 
‘There must be something,’ Hermione muttered, moving 
a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she 
was poring over the tiny print of 
Olde and Forgotten 
Bewitchments and Charmes 
with her nose about an inch 
from the page. ‘They’d never have set a task that was 
undoable.’ 
‘They have,’ said Ron. ‘Harry, just go down to the lake 
tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to 
give back whatever they’ve nicked and see if they chuck it out. 
Best you can do, mate.’ 
‘There’s a way of doing it!’ Hermione said crossly. ‘There just 
has to be!’ 
She seemed to be taking the library’s lack of useful informa-
tion on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her 
before. 
‘I know what I should have done,’ said Harry, resting, face 
down, on 
Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. 
‘I should’ve learnt to be 
an Animagus like Sirius.’ 
‘Yeah, you could’ve turned into a goldfish any time you 
wanted!’ said Ron. 
‘Or a frog,’ yawned Harry. He was exhausted. 
‘It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to 
register yourself and everything,’ said Hermione vaguely, now 
squinting down the index of 
Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and 
Their Solutions. 
‘Professor McGonagall told us, remember ... 
you’ve got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic 

---

T
HE
S
ECOND
T
ASK
423 
Office ... what animal you become, and your markings, so you 
can’t abuse it ...’ 
‘Hermione, I was joking,’ said Harry, wearily. ‘I know I 
haven’t got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morn-
ing ...’ 
‘Oh, this is no use,’ Hermione said, snapping 
Weird 
Wizarding Dilemmas 
shut. ‘Who on earth wants to make their 
nose hair grow into ringlets?’ 
‘I wouldn’t mind,’ said Fred Weasley’s voice. ‘Be a talking 
point, wouldn’t it?’ 
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had 
just emerged from behind some bookshelves. 
‘What’re you two doing here?’ Ron asked. 
‘Looking for you,’ said George. ‘McGonagall wants you, Ron. 
And you, Hermione.’ 
‘Why?’ said Hermione, looking surprised. 
‘Dunno ... she was looking a bit grim, though,’ said Fred. 
‘We’re supposed to take you down to her office,’ said 
George. 
Ron and Hermione stared at Harry, who felt his stomach 
drop. Was Professor McGonagall about to tell Ron and 
Hermione off? Perhaps she’d noticed how much they were 
helping him, when he ought to be working out how to do the 
task alone? 
‘We’ll meet you back in the common room,’ Hermione told 
Harry, as she got up to go with Ron – both of them looked very 
anxious. ‘Bring as many of these books as you can, OK?’ 
‘Right,’ said Harry uneasily. 
By eight o’clock, Madam Pince had extinguished all the 
lamps and came to chivvy Harry out of the library. Staggering 
under the weight of as many books as he could carry, Harry 
returned to the Gryffindor common room, pulled a table into a 
corner and continued to search. There was nothing in 
Madcap 
Magic for Wacky Warlocks ..
. nothing in 
A Guide to Medieval 
Sorcery 
... not one mention of underwater exploits in 
An

---

424 H
ARRY
P
OTTER
Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms, 
or in