A Nice Place to Take a Bath
The Houses Competition Info:
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 3rd
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Event] Late for class
Additional: Feature a member from your house
Word Count: 950
Entering a Triwizard tournament had been a chance to prove himself, yet Cedric Diggory hadn't been able to do that quite yet. Sure, most everyone else at Hogwarts respects him, but at the moment, most of it comes from their lack of respect for Harry Potter, another competitor in the tournament. He had been a fluke in the system, but Cedric respected the younger boy anyway. He was surely a good competitor, despite the fact that he was only a fourth year.
Cedric had been amazed when he watched the younger wizard go through the first task of the tournament. His dragon had been the most terrifying of all, one that actually appeared to be a threat. Yet, his skill made that irrelevant. As almost everyone at Hogwarts already knew, Harry was an excellent flyer. He navigated his way through the air effortlessly, dodging most of the dragon's attacks, which had led to his completion of the task. Harry ended up being a place ahead of Cedric himself, and the fact was not something he forgot easily.
His peers reminded him of that fact, and some were crueler than others, specifically the Slytherin's that were seen cheering any time Harry almost got hit. Yes, Cedric wanted to redeem himself, but only for his own merit, and not in any way just to have something to hold over Harry. Harry had been helpful to him anyway, sharing the info that they would face dragons. His reasoning was not vindictive.
Now equipped with the Golden Egg, Cedric had no idea what to do with it. Anytime he tried to open it, it made a dreadful screech. There was a few weeks last before the next task, yet Cedric was once again at a loss. At this rate, he would need another 'Knight in Shining Armor' to help him out.
He was in the library, reading through one of the books on Magical Artifacts, thinking that perhaps something about the Egg would be in there. It was to no use, though. He had skimmed through the table of contents, and found no mention of it. He sighed.
"Cedric," a gruff voice called from behind. Cedric turned to face the wizard, alert. It was Professor Moody, whose glass eye was examining him thoroughly.
"Professor Moody," Cedric greeted, with a slight nod.
"I see you're still trying to work out the clue," Professor Moody observed, having already taken notice of the book. Though, surely all the other competitors were confused too. It could also just be a very accurate, realistic guess.
"Yes," Cedric agreed. "It's alluding me."
"Though I try to be unbiased towards all matters, especially with students, I may just make a slight exception here," the Professor spoke. It gathered Cedric's attention. "See, watching you guys scramble around isn't as entertaining as one might think… Perhaps a different medium would make it easier to understand the message."
A different medium? How was that a hint at all? It was another riddle. Then, Cedric began to think it through. Whenever he has opened the Egg in the past, the medium has been air. So, a different medium could be…
"Underwater," Cedric realized. "I see. Thank you, Professor. I will not tell a soul about the hint." Then, he politely said goodbye before scrambling out of the library, rushing back to his room in the Boy's Dorm of the Hufflepuff common room. He grabbed the Golden Egg from it's place in the room, and rushed over to the Prefect's bathroom.
Moaning Myrtle was in there, giggling as she watched him undress from his robes. "My my, what a show you're putting on," she gushed.
Cedric didn't respond to that, dunking the Egg underwater as he allowed his head to go under as well. Then, he heard it. Instead of the familiar shrieking, he heard a voice singing. "Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching, ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And recover what we took, But past an hour — the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
He had no idea what it meant. He lifted his head up and sat up, processing what he had heard. "Oh, so you've got it figured out?" Myrtle asked.
"Not quite yet," Cedric responded. He thought more about the clue, occasionally listening to it again. Then, it finally hit him.
It was referring to the Lake and the Merpeople. He had to be able rescue somebody, somebody that he would miss, and return to the surface. Now he only had to figure out how to be able to do that… But he had time until then.
Cedric got out of the bath and dried himself off, getting back into his robes. It was only then that he realized he hadn't been keeping track of the time. He hurried out of there and rushed over to his first class, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.
As soon as he entered the class, he heard classmates giggling at him. That was his first clue that he was definitely late, and the second one was when he faced the Professor. "Mr. Diggory, you are late for class," she proclaimed. Because she didn't really care as to why, she then added, "Ten points from Hufflepuff."
Cedric groaned quietly, a little bit dismayed, but he knew he could get them back. Now that's he figured out what the clue meant and what the next task would be, he could get started on really preparing for that. But before that, he had to return the favor to Harry and let him know the hint.