Chapter 9 - The Second Task
1 hour after Ron, Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall Fred and George walked in and sat opposite them.
"hi" they said happily.
"hey, when do we have to leave George?" asked Ron.
"in about half a hour" he said buttering a piece of toast.
Fred choked on a piece of toast and Harry spat out his pumpkin juice which sprayed all over Hermione while George was tapping Fred on the back to stop him from choking to death.
"that soon" said Harry shocked at how the time went.
Fred eventually stopped choking and passed Hermione a tissue to dry herself.
"I'm not ready, I cant stay under water for 5 minutes not alone an hour" said Fred who was going green. George passed a envelope under the table to Fred, he opened it and whispered "thanks" to him. They ate breakfast and sat there talking waiting for McGonagall to come over. She did.
"ah, there you are, Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley follow me please." she said and walked off.
George stood up but sat back down when he saw Fred's face. It was white as a ghost, he was staring into thin air, and looked as if he was going to be sick. George whispered something in his ear, Fred looked over at the Slytherin table and laughed. Harry thought it had to be another plan to steal another prefect toilet seat. Ron had already gone and McGonagall was calling George. He stood up said goodbye and ran up to McGonagall. Fred didn't look up from the table. Harry thought it was going to be quiet while walking to the stadium. When it was time to go Hermione hugged Harry goodbye and said good luck to Fred which he ignored. They walked outside and down the path to the arena.
Fred sighed.
"don't worry Fred, you'll do great" said Harry trying to comfort him.
"thanks but I never thought it was going to be this dangerous" Fred wasn't looking at Harry he stared at the floor.
"Fred?" asked Harry slowly.
"yeah" he answered quietly.
"what was in that envelope George gave you?"
"oh it was an envelope with 2 pieces of gillyweed for me and you" he said smiling.
"really?" said Harry thankfully.
"yeah, I told you he wouldn't let me go anywhere near the tournament without a plan" Fred said in a knowing voice.
"you weren't kidding" Harry muttered.
When they got to the stadium Dumbledore gave each of the champions a swimming costume and told them to get changed. Draco had a green sleeveless top and shorts, Cho had a blue swimsuit, Harry and Fred had the same as Draco but red. After they got changed Dumbledore called them over.
"right now this task is to see if you know what your doing, please tell me you know what your doing?" said Dumbledore hopefully.
"yeah" everyone nodded and Dumbledore smiled.
"good now everyone line up" he said cheerfully.
Everyone did, Harry and Fred smiled to each other which meant good luck. Harry could hear cheers from the Gryffindors.
There was a bang from the cannon and everyone dived in.
Harry could feel the slimy gillyweed go down his throat. He couldn't hold his breath in any longer, he let go but nothing happened, he could breath. He opened his eyes and started swimming towards a high pitched voice which he automatically thought of the merpeople. It didn't take him long to find Ron because all he had to do was go in a straight line but his legs started to get tired from the swimming. Harry could see Ron coming into view, he swam up to him and tapped his face. It was stone cold. Ron was held by a rope attached to the floor. There were 3 others, George for Fred, Cedric for Cho and Pansy for Draco. He started to cut the rope with a rock on the floor when a Shark came swimming him his direction. He swam out the way, the shark cut Pansy's rope with its teeth and started to swim towards the surface. Only then did Harry realise it was Draco. Harry continued cutting the rope when another person came into view. It was Fred. He grabbed a knife out of his pocket and started to cut George's rope. Harry cut through Ron's rope and tapped Fred on the shoulder. He turned around. Harry pointed at his wrist pretending there was a watch on it. Fred understood thankfully. He nodded his head and continued cutting the rope. Harry grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him to the surface. He swam to the edge of the water and lifted himself up. Dumbledore got him a towel and Ron woke up. A couple of minutes later Fred rose to the surface with George. Harry and Ron helped them up.
"where's Cho?" asked Ron.
"I dunno, I didn't see her" answered Harry.
Dumbledore gave Fred and George a towel and then went to speak to the judge.
Harry noticed that Fred kept on looking into the water, shivered and then closed his eyes. Just then George started coughing and spitting out the lake water. He couldn't breath and started to panic.
"George, George" said Fred hoping he would get an answer.
"Ill get help" said Hermione running off to find Dumbledore.
A few seconds later Hermione came back with Dumbledore behind her. He stared at George for a while and then called for Madam Pomfrey. By then George got worse, he couldn't sit up anymore, he lay down with Fred and Harry sitting next to him. When Madam Pomfrey eventually came she said "oh dear, we need to escort Mr Weasley to the hospital wing immediately" she looked worried which Fred didn't like. She picked him up and walked away
"Fred, go with her she might need to know what happened" Dumbledore whispered in his ear. He didn't need to be told twice, he stood up and ran after her as fast as he could.
