Chapter 10

Harry yawned lazing around in his dragon form late one day about two days before the beginning of the second task. He was watching as Hermione paced up and down the length of the cave in her human form muttering none stop. She had been doing this for well over an hour now over an hour now and for a good while it was quite entertaining though he knew he should stop it. His sharp ears could easily catch what she muttering to herself. It was about how to take on the water challenge in two days time.

To be honest Harry was not sure why Hermione was so worried about the upcoming challenge. They had already figured out how she would survive underwater for over an hour. Amelia had come up with the idea and after some testing in both Hermione's dragon and human form they were sure it was the way to go. Hermione did not overly like the idea because it was a gross because of what she had to eat, but she agreed without a wand it was the best they had.

This did not matter though as Hermione kept pacing muttering about everything that could go wrong. It made Harry wonder just how she was able to face down the first task. Considering that it was in many ways worse than this task. She had faced down the unknown which most would view as worse than facing something you could prepare for.

Sighing as it started growing boring after a few more minutes he got up and bumped her with his head. She nearly tripped just barely able to keep her balance as she looked at him in surprise, "Yes Harry, what is it?"

"Why do you keep worrying? We have this all planned out," Harry said tilting his head sitting up.

"Why do I keep worrying?" Hermione asked exasperated, "this plan has so many things that could wrong. Other than the first task I have never been this worried before!"

"Then why did you enter the tournament?" Harry asked causing Hermione to sigh.

"I told you before. I wanted to prove that I could get around the age line, and do something most witches and wizards my age couldn't. If I still had my wand I would not be this worried, a simple bubble head Charm would work just fine for what I need but without it we have to use this plan which may fail." Hermione said going back to pacing again but Harry bumped her again causing her to actually fall this time.

"Stop okay. Your worrying will only end up increasing the fear of what is to come. Besides we have plan as you know well. We also have some other important things to discuss. Like figuring out who the blond haired boy is, and things about the clans." Harry said causing Hermione to sigh as she became thoughtful.

"Well starting with the blond haired kid. Normally though when I think of a blond haired boy I would think of Draco Malfoy but I know it is not him since he goes to Hogwarts still..." Hermione said then stopped and blinked, "No wait he does not anymore, after the second year he left. I don't remember seeing him at all during the third year or for that matter this year either. At first I thought it was just a quiet year but I guess he had actually left."

"So it is Draco kid," Harry said nodding, "Was he the blond boy watching us before now?"

"Possibly he did not look like second year, but then again he is older now so that would make sense," Hermione said semi debating with herself.

"Okay, so next question. What have you found out about the dragon hunting clans?" Harry said using this tactic to keep Hermione's thoughts off of the coming task in two days. And while they had this talk before with Saphira, Hermione had been able to do some research since then.

"Not as much as we need but a good amount none the less. The dragon clans have for the most part died out, thanks to the fact the magical governments have done what they could to get the dragons onto the reservation. This reduced the need for these clans, though three currently remain active and teach their children about hunting dragons, and fighting skills. One clan currently lives in the Americas, while the other two are located in Asia. All three clans work using swords and wands and a great many rituals to increase their strength, speed, and magical power in their fights." Hermione said explaining what she had found out.

"That is not a lot you know," Harry said causing Hermione to roll her eyes.

"Okay maybe but most of the other information was their history and what not. And the information was not extensive. But this does give us some slight understand of them," Hermione said only to have Harry roll his eyes.

"Saphira's explanation had more information that you did this time," Harry said with a light chuckle.

Hermione huffed, "Well there was not a lot of good information we can use from the library as it is. The book said much of what they do is so secretive that even the spells they use to take down dragons are only guesses. And the history itself is rather jumpy, like most of it was removed or hidden."

Harry nodded slightly at this, "I see so do you think we should take up Luna's and Ginny's offer then?"

"To be honest I am not sure. But for right now I guess we could have them play spy for us, and see how much they can actually find out," Hermione said.

Harry nodded again, "Okay. Let's go and meet them then, and see what Cynder is up to right now."

Hermione nodded and assumed her dragon form. And soon they were in the air flying looking down over the castle grounds. As they flew they noticed another dragon that was soaring along the edge of the grounds. They flew at once over to it, being sure it was Cynder. Soon as they met with her again they started searching along the lake side for Luna and Ginny, though they were sure both of them would probably not be out currently. They were not and soon they found themselves back in the Cave resting and keeping Hermione's mind off the task.

Then as the day of the task came around Hermione was as nerves if not more so as they made their way down to the lake. Harry and Cynder on either side of Hermione offering her support and comforting words, though Harry like Cynder still did not see the full point of her worry. But they were going to try and help anyway till it was time for Hermione to complete her task. Hermione sighed as they sat down on the dock on three platforms a few hundred feet out on the lake.

Looking around she could see teachers, Champions, and Judges moving about and talking with each other. Well expect for the two other Champions, Victor Krum, and Fleur Delacour. Krum looked pretty confident, while Fleur Delacour looked a little worried and uneasy about something. Than as the final boat for now reached the stands Ludo Bagman came out and announced to the crowd the next task.

"This is your announcer and commenter Ludo Bagman; I must thank you all for coming to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Today our Champions will be confronted with a simple task, yet at the same time very difficult. During the night something precious was taken from them and hidden at the bottom of the lake, they shall have only one hour in which to retrieve this stolen item. Should they fall it is possible they this item will be lost to them forever," Ludo said jovially getting the crowd in a good mood for what might a long wait.

Hermione rolled her eyes at this. Lost forever, she very much doubted Dumbledore would allow that since she was sure by this point in time the object they would have to get would someone they cared for. At this point Amelia showed up with Susan came over to where Hermione stood waiting for the cannon to tell them to start.

"Hermione good I found you," she said holding out her hand filled with what looked to be a worm like weeds.

"Great you brought the gillyweed," Hermione said with a slight smiling taking the slimy weeds and grimacing. "I was hoping a little bit that you would forget then I would have to forfeit this challenge."

Amelia smiled, "well I debated that but I figured it would be better if I did bring it in the end."

Hermione nodded and looked around them, "by the way have you found anything out about the supposed Dragon Hunter clan?"

"Nothing that would be of much use currently," Amelia said shaking her head.

"Okay thanks," Hermione said with a smile before turning to Susan, "By the way I am Hermione Granger, and you must be Susan Bones."

"Yep," Susan said before she noticed someone moving over to the cannon, "Looking like our talk will have to start later they are about to light the cannon."

Hermione nodded and took her place with the other to Champions along the platforms edge. Looking up she noticed that Filch was placing fuse to the cannon quickly she placed the gillyweed in her mouth and started to chew. It was rather like chewing gummy worms she thought, but with a truly weird flavor. Already she could feel the gillyweed taking affect as the cannon sounded. Jumping into the water she swam down as her gills formed along the side of her neck. Her hands changed quickly as well as her feet till they were long and webbed.

She smiled slightly as her worries vanished and she started heading deep down into the lake. Soon she reached the bottom and from there kept moving towards what should be the lake's center. As she moved she saw a large amount of underwater plants showing up around her. Moving she swam above them not wanting to risk the creatures that swam and hide among them.

Slowly she moved about not checking her watch as she knew it would give out at this depth as she went deeper still. Hoping to see something as she swam along she blinked as she noticed something weird. It looked to be like a flash of blond hair. Quickly she swam towards the color she had seen and came upon a surprising seen.

It was the Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour in a rather bad predicament as she was fighting some Grindylows. Hermione to be honest was not sure what to do. She could change to a dragon and help, but she would cut the amount of time in half of what she had left. And without knowing how much time she still had she would risk drowning if she remained in that form to long. And without her wand her she was still lacked the skills needed to fight with only wandless magic.

Sighing to herself Hermione changed shape not wanting to let Fleur be caught like that, even if she was her competition. Using her wings and new body she charged through the throng of creatures and grabbed Fleur away from them. Quickly she moved along till they were a safe distance. Then releasing the blond haired girl she changed back a few feet away. Fleur's eyes in shock but then smiled out her thanks. She was using a bobble head charm Hermione noticed as Fleur made the follow motion and started swimming. Hermione since she had no luck before now followed.

As they swam Hermione hoped they would reach where they were going soon. She was sure that her time as a dragon had cut the amount of time she could spend under the water. Though they had tested both as a dragon and human forms to see how long the gillyweed would last. They had not tested what would happen if she had changed shape more than once. Hopefully there were none.

As they kept swimming Hermione soon heard what had brought Fleur this way. It was the slight eerie music that she had heard coming out of her golden egg. Swimming up besides Fleur she nodded happily and swam than swam ahead till she could just make out the village of the mermaids that lived in the lake. She could easily hear them singing now and knew this was the correct way. Turning about she made her way back to Fleur and after a few minutes saw her swimming along. Hermione nodded and gave her thumbs up confirming that the village was ahead of them.

Together they move forward till they reached the village. Swimming down it Hermione was semi surprised by the size. She noticed drawings on stone houses that they passed showing the mermaid and mermen fighting the giant squid that inhabited the lake. Soon they came to the center of the town and they saw a large statue of a large Merman. And around the base they saw three people tied.

Hermione blinked, in surprise at who was there. The one she was sure was Fleur's own sister, there was Krum's date, and then there was… her mom? Hermione blinked for a few moments in shock and surprise. Sighing mentally she swam grabbed a sharp looking stone from the ground and cut her mom lose. Handing Fleur the stone she started at once for the surface.

As she reached it she smiled and pushed her mom towards the place where the stand stood. Once she had her mom to shore. Seeing as the Gillyweed was still in affect she decided to make sure Fleur was still safe. Indeed she was and was only a minute or so behind Hermione, but surprisingly there was no sign of Krum yet. Once she had helped Fleur onto the dock she swam about in the water much to her mom surprise.

As the affects of the gillyweed finally stopped she got out of the water and was soon joined by her mom. She realized her day just got a lot longer as she looked at her mom. First reason being why her mom was here. But she was not able to ask as Madam Pomfrey came over and started checking her out for anything that might have been caused by the time she spent in the lake. She was going to try after this but the judges came over and asked her about what had happen with both her and Fleur.

After this she went back outside and watched the lake for signs of the final champion Krum but there was none, nor the person hew as to find. Harry soon showed up with Cynder and started talking with her. And soon it was past time for Krum to show up and still be considered on time. The Mermen showed up with Krum's date and spoke with Dumbledore. Slightly to Hermione surprise since she did not know someone could even speak in that screeching language. Hermione was not sure fully what they talk about but all she knew for sure was that Krum had never shown up.