Harlow left Snape's room without either of them saying a word and she went to her room, gillyweed in her bag, to sleep for a few hours before her task the next morning.

"Harlow, wake up," Sapphire urged standing over her best friend, "You need to be at the lake in ten minutes!"

Harlow's eyes shot open and she jumped out of bed, grabbing her gillyweed before she and Sapphire raced down to the lake's edge where everyone was ready for task two.

"Good luck," Sapphire whispered once they had to separate and Harlow stood next to the other Champions, noticing Professor Snape was nowhere to be seen. He must regret their actions more then she'd expected.

"Champions, the merpeople took something very valuable to you this morning and it is waiting for you at the bottom of the lake," the Minister began, "You have exactly one hour to retrieve it and come back to the surface. Is everyone ready?"

The Champions nodded as Harlow ate the gillyweed Snape had given her, gagging it down before she felt gills growing on her neck and her feet morphing into flippers.

A shot rang out and the four dove into the lake. Harlow began swimming straight down, amazed at how clear it was beneath the surface. She didn't pay attention to anyone else as she swam so she wouldn't waste any of her time.

As she dove deeper and deeper, looking only straight ahead, she felt something on her leg. She turned back to see a Grindylow grabbing at her with his friends not too far behind. She kicked her leg to push it off and moved faster to get away from their attack.

Harlow propelled down as fast as her body could take her and she finally saw four people tied up at the lake's floor. She saw Fleur's sister, Hermione, Ron and Snape. Harlow knew Snape was down there because of her but she didn't know how the merpeople could know that he was most important to her.

She swam towards him, hoping the others would reach their targets soon, and untied Snape's ropes before pulling him into one of her arms and beginning the swim to the surface, starting to wonder how people would react when her valuable was revealed.

As she reached the surface, Snape began to wake from whatever allowed him to sleep and breath underwater. Harlow watched as he opened his eyes and saw her. She shook her head so he wouldn't struggle as she broke through the surface of the water, students there to help Snape out of the water.

Dumbledore moved forward and saw Harlow climbing back onto the dock once Snape was safe, though he was coughing up water from waking too soon, "Harlow Harris has completed Task Two first and she has luckily saved our Potion's Professor," he announced before lowering himself to Snape and Harlow.

"Are you alright Severus?" he asked.

Snape nodded, gagging up more water before he spoke, "I was clearly given the same dose as the others down there but I require a stronger amount but I'll recover."

"Ms. Harris, may I ask why the merpeople took Professor Snape as your most valued possession?" Dumbledore asked, turning his attention to her.

Harlow shrugged, "I don't love Potions so I have no idea unless it's because I was the lucky student who got to dance with Professor Snape during our house lessons. They must have gotten confused," she tried to explain away what was obvious.

Dumbledore shook his head but he couldn't speak again as the other Champions began to surface.

Harlow looked at Snape, "Are you sure you're ok? I'm so sorry they took you but just know, it wasn't because of last night. They would have taken you even if that hadn't happened," she revealed, feeling terribly as he continued to catch his breath while processing what she said.

"They only take what matters to both parties," Snape replied, looking into her eyes as they were both lost in each other, unaware of the world around them. "They would have taken me before last night because of my own feeling as well," he said, his voice soft.

"I wish we weren't surrounded by all these people even though they all probably know what's going on after this," Harlow replied as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Snape reached up and placed his hand on top of hers, nodding, "There are no rules against what we're doing because it has never arisen until now," he shared, squeezing her hand, "I can love you and no one here can say anything about it," he finished with a whisper, afraid to be vulnerable because he hadn't let himself in a very long time.

"That's good because I want to tell the world I'm in love with you," she replied as he breathed a sigh of relief before she moved forward and placed her lips to his causing a collective gasp among the crowd. Harlow pulled back and smiled at him, "Will you go to the Yule Ball as my date, Severus?" she asked, moving her hand into his hair now that they were so close to each other.

Neither noticed as Dumbledore had cleared the dock and they were alone. Snape nodded before he pulled her lips to his once more.

The End - for now -