Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling

Chapter three – The second task

Harry was walking through the cold air with a dense fog clouding his vision. He continues to slowly pace forward, taking each step gently so as to not make any sound, when he spotted it. In front of him stood a large tomb, it resembled the figure of death, with s scythe in hand. Harry drew nearer, however the closer he got, the more clouded his vision become until the world around him seemed to swirl in on itself.

He found himself in a darkened corridor, with cobwebs and dirty old paintings littering the ceiling and walls. He neared a staircase when he heard small voices from above. Slowly he crept up the stairs, mentally thanking the thick layers of dust that coated the steps as he ascended, muffling the sound of his footsteps. As he reached the top, he saw a door, slightly ajar and a figure stooping low towards a chair, talking to it quietly. This; harry thought, seemed strange.

Just as this thought went through his head, his heart dropped as he heard a low cold voice, retorting back to the stooping figure. He was quickly taken out of his musings and nearly jumped a foot in the air when he felt something graze across his ankles. As he look down, he shuddered and took an involuntary step back as he saw a gigantic snake heading for the door.

As the snake enter the room, it coiled its body upwards towards the chair and started hissing, followed by a reply from whoever was in the chair, talking in a language that harry didn't understand.

"Wormtail" the cold voice called with a malicious tone.

"Nagini tells me that Harry Potter in the hall, watching us. Open the door Wormtail, so I can finally give him a proper greeting"

The door swung open and a blinding green light filled Harry's eyes as he woke up with a start, panting a sweating heavily. He looked over to see Ron sitting on his own bed, watching him, with a look of terror on his face.

"What" asked Harry, at the look on his best friends face.

"You looked like you were having a fit or something, what's going on, is it your scar again" Ron asked looking at Harry's forehead.

"No, it was just a bad dream, that's all" harry replied, still panting heavily. This is when he realised that his hand was clutching his forehead which felt as if a hot poker was being held to it.

Harry was in the great hall for breakfast, but he had lost his appetite and was simply pushing his food around his plate, staring into space.

Today was the day of the second task, and Harry's nerves had got the better of him. To make it worse, he had not seen Ron since he woke up, nor had he seen Hermione at all.

"Harry, hey Harry"

This was a voice that Harry was happy to hear, the voice of Neville. He had asked Neville to help him acquire some gillyweed, knowing that he took a keen interest in herbology.

"Neville" harry said impatiently, putting down his fork and turning to look at his friend. "Please tell me you got it" he added, a little more nervously

Neville smiled and handed Harry a strange green lump. It looked between a ball of snot and a knot of chewed grass, coiled into flat circle.

"Thank you for this Neville" harry said politely, trying not to look at the strange plant in his hand that he knew he would soon have to endure eating. The thought made his stomach turn, with his nerves on a high, toast and bacon didn't look appealing, let alone a ball of snot. Harry pocketed the gillyweed and Neville give a small smile before wishing harry good luck and leaving the hall.

After a while, harry was almost alone in the great hall, still staring nervously into space, thinking of the task to come. 'To recover what we took' the egg had sung, what had this meant?

Looking at his watch, Harry stood up abruptly, cursing himself. The task was set to start in 15 minutes and no doubt he should already be there. Harry got up and rushed out of the great hall and exited the castle, heading for the great lake, the knot in his stomach tightening.

Harry approached the side of the lake in which he had been told at an earlier date to report to. He was walking among a crowd of Hogwarts students, all giving him well wishes. To his surprise, he saw a massive stand towering over the lake, which seemed to contain what looked to him as a blur, but he knew it was the faces of spectators. Nearly the whole castle had vacated to come and watch the second task, and the bustle from the crowd was loudening as the clock ticked down to kickoff.

Harry wandered into the champions tent to be abruptly addressed.

"Ahh Harry good, your here, now we can start" Dumbledore said breathlessly.

As Dumbledore addressed the four champions, harry quickly slipped into his gear. A deep red vest with golden stripes and the Gryffindor lion, sitting proudly on his chest. As well as a pair of black shorts, he also wore both shin and arm guards.

After a swift conversation, the four champions were lead out onto a deck upon the lake, where they stood in the cold winter breeze, their skin prickling with Goosebumps. Behind them stood Igor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime and Professor Moody, his scarred face wrinkling in the cold, and his mechanical eye spinning around uncontrollably.

With a minute to go, Dumbledore stood before the crowd and pointed his want at his neck before addressing the noise and bustle of both teachers and students.

"Welcome everybody, to the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Now, last night, something was stolen from each of our champions, a treasure of sorts. These four treasures, one for each of our champions now lay on the bottom of the black lake. In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure and return it to their surface.

Simple as it may sound, each champion will have only one hour to complete the task, after which, they will be alone and no magic can help them. We will begin on the whistle"

As Dumbledore was speaking, Professor Moody shuffled up to Harry's side and grunted out "put that stuff in your mouth already". Harry did as he was told and stuck the lump of gillyweed in his throat, gagging profusely. Just then the whistle was heard and the other three champions dived into the water, leaving harry on the deck, clutching at his neck. Moody give harry a slap on the back to help him swallow, then pushed him into the lake without a second thought.

As harry plunged into the water, he felt the water seep into his lungs as he tried to breath, but as he struggled, he found his rugged breaths calming and his ability to breath return. He felt a sharp sting around his neck, only to reach and find he had gills, as well as webbed hands. His feet were also webbed and almost looked like a flipper. Realizing this was the effects of the gillyweed; harry set off to find his treasure.

After what seemed like an age of exploring, harry come across what looked like ancient ruins, he swam further towards them and to his shock saw four figures, suspended in the water. He got closer to see that Ron and Hermione were two of the figures.

He first swam to Ron, checking for a pulse, once he found one he tried to undo the bonds that were holding him in place, however this was futile with his webbed hands. He crossed to go and check on Hermione but was suddenly stopped and held at spear point by a group of angry looking mer-people who spat "only one".

'There's nothing I can do' he thought to himself. just then, Cedric arrived and pulled his wand out to blast the rope restraining cho chang. Before pulling her away with him, Cedric sent harry a last look as he left, pointing at his watch.

Harry realised that he must be nearly out of time, before once again being cut from his thoughts, as a giant shark head come pummelling towards him. He quickly move out of the way as the shark head, with the body and legs of a human, grabbed at Hermione and pulled her up towards the surface, 'Krum' harry thought.

As he looked down, he noticed the fourth figure was much smaller, as he looked closer, he realised who it was. Little Gabrielle was floating there in the water, 'of course' he thought, she was Fleurs sister after all, but where was fleur? surely the hour had passed by now, shouldn't she be here?

Harry went to turn away and release Ron, when something tugged in his mind 'you promised to look after her'.

Harry sighed and turned to Ron, pulling out his wand and severing the rope that held him down, he glanced around him for any mer-people, and seeing that no eyes were on him, he quickly severed the bonds holding Gabrielle too.

Harry rushed to Gabrielle, clutching Ron with one hand and grabbing Gabrielle with his other, he kicked his legs and begun his journey back to the surface. When he was half way, he noticed his breathing becoming more ragged and his hands and feet starting to regress to their former state, making his ascent harder. Gabrielle was light and easy to pull with him, but Ron was heavy and was weighing him down.

Harry was cold, running out of air and exhausted. With the little energy he had, he give Gabrielle a push and she began to rise to the surface, Ron however was acting like an anchor and only dragging him down, the prospects looking bleak.

He sighed to himself and made a decision, with the remaining air in his lungs, harry cried "Wingardium Leviosa" and Ron began to float to the surface slowly. The spell had exhausted the last of his energy and lung capacity, and as he kicked feebly, his mind started blackening.

Harry felt something slimy and strong grab at his legs but he had nothing to give to defend himself, however he was flung to the surface of the water, back onto the deck in which he had left. He blinked at the bright light, spluttering as water was flung from his drowning lungs onto the deck, he looked to the water to see a large tentacle diving back into the water, waving as it went. 'the giant squid' harry thought to himself as he tried to pick himself up.

"You had to play the hero didn't you; you just had to save the girl"

Harry looked up to see the red hair of Ron, who he thought sounded almost angry at him.

"what else was I supposed to do, she would have been left"

"Of course she wouldn't, Dumbledore wouldn't have left her there to die, you could of won" ran spat.

Harry noticed that one eye was on him, and the other was behind him, he turned to see Hermione, who seemed to of melted into the arms of Viktor Krum. Harry understood why Ron had a look of disgust on his face now, Ron would never admit it, but Harry knew he liked Hermione"

As harry turned back to Ron, he smiled at him and Ron knew why. He quickly replaced the look of disgust on his face to one of joking "you don't get any bonus points you know, bloody hell man" harry let another smile grace his face. He got to his feet and stumbled a few steps before having a large towel wrapped around him.

After several minutes of Madame Pomfrey fussing over him, waving her wand over his whole body and forcing pepper-up potions down his throat, he managed to escape. He made his way over to Hermione who was standing with Victor just outside the champion's tent.

Before he could reach her, he was grabbed by a sobbing Fleur

"zank you harry, zank you, she wasn't yours to save, but you did it anyway" she managed to say through her tears, while kissing each of his cheeks.

He finally managed to get to Hermione, she saw him approaching and rushed to him, jumping onto him and capturing him in a large embrace "you should be so proud of yourself harry, I am" she almost squealed, "you done brilliantly".

At this, harry looked down to his feet "I didn't do well, I came last" before he could finished however, Hermione grabbed his face and kissed his forehead "you didn't come last, Fleur never made it past ze grindylows" she exclaimed.

Harry placed a small smile on his face before deciding to go to the changing room to get out of his wet clothes. As he turned to walk away, something hit him and grabbed him around the waist tightly; all he saw was a mane of silvery blond hair before he was captured in a kiss, the cold lips locking with his own. He tried to break free before a fog started taking over his mind, easing him, resigning him to the soft lips and embrace of the mystery woman.

Harry felt something he never had before, this was his first kiss. He felt an almost painful feeling of fire erupt within his heart, spreading to the rest of his body. He ran a hand through her soft hair and pulled her closer, loving every second of it, seizing the moment and making the most of her soft lips before the heat rose to his brain and he pulled away from the kiss, both of them almost gasping for air.

He looked down; curious as to whom it was that had kissed him. As his gaze met the steely silver eyes of the girl, his face had contorted into one of utter shock and disbelief "g..g..gabrielle?" he spluttered, feeling disgusted with himself. She may have only looked around 10, but for some reason, harry had believed this wasn't the case, perhaps it was his clouded mind trying to justify what had just happened.

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and clawed Gabrielle's hands away from him, looking around to see if anybody had noticed, luckily everyone had vacated the area, or so he thought until he saw a pair of cold grey eyes darting towards him, with a look akin of pure rage and pride. He was shocked to see her coming towards him, but as she got closer, his shock turned to fear. Fleur grabbed her sisters hand giving harry a murderous glare before storming off, dragging her little sister behind her.

Confused about what had happened only minutes ago, harry wandered around aimlessly before he began trudging his way back up to the castle, as he made his way past a stretch of trees and into a clearing, Hermione called out to him.

"Harry, where have you been, we've been waiting for you"

Harry saw Hermione curled up in Viktor's arm, looking as though she had always belonged there, with Ron behind, the look of disgust back on his face.

"I err, I" he didn't know what to say, he couldn't tell them what had just happened, especially with Viktor present.

Fortunately, Viktor saved him "it vas brave, vot you did, saving the girl. Fleur vas attacked by grindylows and vas forced to stop, you should be proud"

Harry was shocked, he had never heard more than a grunt come from Krum's mouth. Hermione looked up at Victor with a sparkle in her eye, before giving him a peck on the cheek, her own cheeks turning scarlet at her actions.

"So you two are together, a couple?" harry asked intrigued at Hermione's actions

"If her-me-own is okay vith it, then jah, ve are a couple" he seemed very pleased with himself as he said it, however Harry saw Ron's face turning red with anger at his words.

"Let's get back up to the castle should we, I'm starving" harry said, hoping that food may calm Ron down a little.

Hermione and Viktor walked hand in hand ahead of harry and Ron, who were walking slowly so not to be heard.

"Its gross isn't it, she must be mental, he's from Durmstrang, he will probably try and kill her, how stupid is she?"

"I don't know Ron, he seems like a nice guy, perhaps the will be good together, she's happy, we should be too"

Ron glared at harry "Happy, happy?" Ron spat "what's to be happy about, it's wrong, I mean, he's four years older than her for god sake"

Harry didn't know what to say, after his encounter with Gabrielle who was four years younger than him, he didn't feel he was in a position to question Hermione's actions, when he himself had done the same thing, even if he hadn't meant to. As these thought come to him, he blushed a little and a smile graced his face as a heat once again rose in his chest. Ron took this smile as Harry agreeing with him and simply huffed before carrying on up the hill towards the castle.

This is the beginning of a chain reaction for harry and the outcome will not be what he expected.. it should be explained in the next chapter. Thankyou for reading and please review. If you have any suggestions then i would be more than happy to hear them!