The Second Task
Christmas and New Year's passed quickly and before long, the telltale signs of February appeared. Over the course of those days, Jacob and Luna's relationship began to show signs of a budding couple. They often spent their free periods with each other, doing homework together, walking around, kissing and the occasionally making-out, but oddly enough, neither was willing to make it official, which was becoming quite irritating for their friends.
Not only were Jacob and Luna a key subject, but Ron and Hermione as well. After the ball, Ron and Hermione were once again at each other's throats when Ron, in all his wisdom, claimed that Hermione was 'fraternizing with the enemy' and openly questioned her loyalty to Harry. Then they had a huge argument in the common room. Even now, a few weeks later, they weren't talking to one another. Well, apart from the constant rows.
"I don't know why they just don't snog each other's brains out!" Ginny let out a frustrated sigh.
She and Harry were sitting near the lake watching Hermione and Ron walk away from each other after another spat. Like Jacob and Luna, Ginny and Harry had been spending a lot of time together in the past month, just not as…seriously. It was Saturday, and they had finished their homework, much to Hermione's pleasure. With nothing to do, they decided to have a small lunch near the lake, both under a mild warming charm.
"They will, eventually," Harry assured her. "If not, it's nothing meddling friends can't help with." He grinned. "Besides, I think that fighting is their way of flirting with each other."
"Have you figured out that clue yet?" Ginny asked softly as she leaned her head onto Harry's shoulder.
He sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly. "I've tried, believe me I have," he answered. "After that detestable woman wrote that article about Hagrid, I've been making every effort to figure it out."
"For him?" she asked, looking at him.
"Not only for him…" He smiled softly, looking back at her. "But yeah…I think it would cheer him up knowing I'm all set for the next task. It'd certainly take his mind off things."
Suddenly, Harry's vision swam to the left and he heard whispers that sounded oddly like Ginny from somewhere inside his head, although it sounded like it was coming from the other side of an unseen wall. He's so cute, even if he's tired. The next instant, memories of a little girl playing in the backyard with a small stuffed teddy bear flashed before his eyes, before it shifted into an older girl crying in her room after having a nightmare about a giant snake, then shifted once more to a younger version smiling triumphantly after blaming a broken window on her twin brothers. The memories kept flashing faster and faster until Harry pulled his eyes away from Ginny's eyes with a gasp. Rolling away from the shocked girl, he tried to catch his breath as well as get rid of a pounding headache.
"Harry what's wrong?" she asked, kneeling next to him.
Breathing at a more controlled rate, he chanced a look into the redhead's eyes. There was a slight twinge from inside his head, but nothing jumped in front of his eyes, just a soft whisper that he couldn't quite make out.
"It's nothing…" He tried to smile reassuringly, but knew he came off fake if her incredulous look said anything. Suddenly, he noticed how close her face was to his. "I can count your freckles from here, Ginny." He grinned stupidly, causing her to blush.
"Yeah," she whispered, her blush coming under control while her head moved closer to his. "I can…"
"OI, that's my sister!" a voice yelled, causing them to jump apart, hearts racing, and faces red, although it was impossible to tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.
"RON, you pr-" They stopped when they saw Jacob laughing hysterically. Luna on the other hand glared at him, and hit him in the back of the head.
"You twit," she growled. Since 'getting together' with Jacob, Luna had all but completely come out of her shell of 'loony-ness'. "You couldn't have waited one more second?"
"And let you win?" the American smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Nope."
"Win what?" Ginny asked.
"Nothing!" they answered quickly—a little too quickly for the redhead's liking. "Anyway, Harry," Jacob said, turning serious. "Have you figured out the egg yet?" Harry shook his head. "I had to DROWN out the sound to figure it out," he said with a smile and an exaggerated wink. "Water worked the best. See ya!" With a backward wave, he headed toward the castle, Luna chased after him with an annoyed look.
Harry looked at Ginny with a lost expression and she rolled her eyes. "He said hold it under water."
"Oh!" Suddenly, there was a splash. They turned to see Jacob in the lake and an irate Luna leaving him behind. "I gave him a hint!" he called to her. "And this water is bloody cold!"
"IT SUCKED!" she called back.
Later that week, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione were in an empty classroom with a large bucket filled with water and the golden egg lying on the table next to them. "So he said he drowned out the sound with water?" Harry asked, placing the clue in the bucket. "Now what?"
"Open it," Hermione said with a sigh.
"You've been really thick lately, you know that?" Ginny said flatly.
"It must be because I've been hanging around with you," he shot back, smiling. "You're rubbing off on me." If he'd been looking, he would have noticed the dangerous glint in her eyes. He winced as he opened the egg, but instead of a shrill screech, he could hear a soft tune. When he placed his ear near the water, the tune was clearer. "I think I hear words, but I can't make anything out."
"Maybe you need to be underwater," Ginny suggested innocently.
"That might…gulp!" Faster than he realized, Ginny forced his head underwater. He was about to force her to let go when he heard a soft voice sing,
"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 to recover what we took,
But past an hour—the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back. "
He was so engrossed in the poem that Harry failed to notice that Ginny had removed her hand from his head until it had finished. His head sprang from the bucket, spraying water everywhere.
"They're going to take something of mine!" he exclaimed, ignoring the glares Hermione and Ginny were giving him for getting them wet. "Something important and I'll only have an hour to look before it's gone forever."
"How are you going to last an hour underwater?" Ginny asked worriedly. "You'd drown."
"No I won't," Harry responded, looking her in the eyes. "I promise we'll just have to look for a way. I never thought I'd hear myself say this," he smiled, giving Hermione a pointed look, "but let's go to the library."
As they entered, the trio saw Jacob and surprisingly Ron, leafing through piles of books. Ron looked up, eyes locking with Hermione's for a brief second, before looking back down to what he was reading. Jacob sensed his friend's tension and looked up to see what the problem was.
"Ginny!" he exclaimed, seeing the redhead. "Have you seen Luna?"
She looked confused, but shook her head. "No, why?"
He looked away, giving them a clear look at the bruise on his cheek. "We-we got into an argument…" he admitted clearly ashamed.
"Over what?" she asked.
What could have caused her to actually punch him? Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all thought.
"It was stupid really…stupid on my part, I mean." He sighed, rolling up what he was writing. "She, well…she asked me out…officially…"
"What did you say?" He didn't answer. "You bloody prat!" she growled.
"I know!" he yelled. "I'm an idiot! I know! It's just…I don't want to hurt her…have her end up like…" He stopped himself.
"Like who?"
"…like Aura," he whispered, eyes downcast.
"Jacob…why would she?" Hermione asked softly. After much nagging on her part, Harry and Ginny had finally told her and Ron Jacob's story, with his permission of course.
He shook his head hard. "I…don't know…all right?" He got up to leave. "Thanks for the help, Ron. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
The four of them watched him go with subdued expressions before they began to help Harry.
Four hours later, they still hadn't found anything of use when Moody came in. "Mister Potter, Professor McGonagall would like to see the Weasleys and Miss Granger, if you don't mind." The three people in question looked confused, but nodded, and said they would see Harry later. With a frustrated sigh, knowing that his work had just gotten harder, he dove deeper into his search.
Jacob sighed as he cut up his last ingredients and tossed them into his cauldron, watching as the liquid inside turned a neon green color with red stripes. "Hard part's done," he muttered, putting the solution into a vial with stopper.
The next day Jacob found himself on a very large three-tiered dock in the middle of the lake, Dumbledore's booming voice cutting through the frigid air. "Something of great importance to each of the champions has been taken and cast into the bottom of the lake. Their task is to reclaim it within an hour's time." Standing next to Harry, Jacob could see what looked to be rat-tails in the palm of his hand. "Who'd they take?"
"Ginny," he said determinedly, nodding over to where Ron was unsuccessfully trying to be inconspicuous.
"And Hermione?"
"Krum," he smirked. "Luna?"
Jacob nodded with an equally determined look. "Race ya?" Jacob laughed, pulling out a vial of potion. He gagged, but swallowed it with a grimace.
"What was that?" Harry asked just as a cannon exploded.
"Why don't you come and find out, Potter?" Jacob smiled, his skin turning to scales as he fell backward into the lake with an audible splash. Falling slowly, he allowed himself to drift toward the bottom.
Feeling the transformation complete, Jacob opened his eyes to a clear view of the surface above. He allowed himself to breathe, squirming at the sensation of water converting to air inside his lungs. With a strong pull of his webbed fingers and toes, he rocketed toward the centre of the lake.
Half an hour later, or what seemed to be, he could faintly hear the sounds of singing. As he neared the source, he saw what appeared to be a man-shark carrying Hermione toward the surface. He picked up the pace, entering a clearing and the entrance of a large castle.
"You do a fine job with buildings," Jacob praised clearly. A merperson swam out from behind him with what appeared to be a perplexed look.
"You have five minutes."
Jacob nodded and swam toward Luna. Someone had already released her from the anchor that was holding her down. Good old Harry Potter he smiled. Locking her arms around his neck, he quickly swam toward the surface. As he swam, he noticed something struggling in the weeds with two figures rising above it. He got there and grabbed them, locking Luna's, Ginny's and a little girl's hands together and pushed them to the surface.
Turing back he saw Harry was becoming weaker and weaker. Whatever he used, must be wearing off, he thought, pulling out his wand. Pulsus! he yelled mentally, thrusting his wand forward, a concussion wave scattered whatever was attacking Harry, giving him enough time to escape. He gave Jacob a thumbs-up while they broke the surface with grateful gasps of air.
Immediately, Ginny and the little girl grasped Harry and the three of them swam toward the centre deck. There he could see Ron and Neville helping Luna out of the water. Jacob shook his head sadly. Another reminder of how much of a prat he was. I broke her heart, he growled mentally, leisurely swimming around the deck and ignoring the offers of help. "…though outside the time limit, we award Harry Potter forty-five points for good moral fibre. To Mister Jacob Riddle with a shockingly good use of the Triton's Blood potion, as well as a strong sense of friendship and loyalty, we award forty-five points as well. The placements are Cedric and Harry tied for first, Jacob in second, followed by Viktor in third, and Fleur in fourth. This concludes the second task. Now…" With a groan, Jacob drowned out the rest by placing his ears in the water and floating, feeling a lack of interest.
He watched as Luna got into a boat and drifted back to shore and for some reason that hurt. And I think I broke mine too.
"Mister Potter," a voice called, breaking Harry out of his thoughts as he watched Jacob transfigure into normal clothes and walk in an aimless direction, book in hand. Turning, he saw Crouch walking toward him, "fantastic job today."
"Uh…thanks…I guess." He hated attention.
"If you ever need my help, just send me an owl," Crouch said shakily. "Everyone wants a Hogwarts victory, you know."
"Does Cedric know about your offer as well?" Harry asked. Truthfully, he knew Crouch only wanted him to do it for publicity's sake, but it was fun to make him squirm where he stood as he tried fruitlessly to jump around the question.
"Is there a problem here?" a gruff voice called. The two turned to see Moody hobbling over. "Is he bothering you, Potter?" he asked, tongue whipping out to touch the comer of his mouth. Crouch seemed to be deeply troubled all of the sudden, muttering a goodbye before quickly hurrying away. Harry nodded to Moody in thanks as the former Auror hobbled off.
Before he could think any further on the subject, a mass of red hair slammed into him and pulled him into a giant hug, one that could rival Mrs. Weasely's.
"Thank you," a melodic voice whispered into his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.
"I couldn't let you get hurt," he murmured. "You mean too much to me, corny as that sounds, but you've really helped me this year." He smiled, reluctantly letting her go. "You're a great friend, Ginny."
She blushed prettily. "Thank you, Harry. That's sweet of you to say."
"It's true," a lofty voice commented. They turned to see a very tired but dreamy looking Luna. Her mismatched clothes and blond hair were soaked through and she looked like she'd been crying, but you couldn't tell due to the water dripping off her face and hair. "If you want a third party opinion, you're a very good friend, Ginny." The girl's voice was still dreamy, but with a scratchy undertone that seemed forced.
"Luna," Ginny smiled, hugging her. "How are you?"
"Miserable," she answered automatically. Ginny nodded understandingly. "You know what's funny?" she sighed as 'Loony' disappeared to show a heartbroken Luna. "I completely understand why he said no. It has something to do with what happened to his litter sister." She laughed harshly, wiping away a tear. "I'm falling for him even more…" She bowed her head and cried on Ginny's shoulder as the redhead pulled her blonde friend into her arms.
A few minutes passed before she collected herself. "Thanks for the cry Ginny… I needed it." Luna gave a watery smile. "If you see him, Harry, tell him I would like to talk to the noble prat tomorrow." She gave Ginny a fierce hug before heading toward the castle.
Ginny watched sadly, as her friend entered the castle. She really wanted to help her, but to her annoyance, she didn't know how. She felt someone grab her hand softly. Turning, she saw Harry looking at her.
"She'll be okay." He smiled, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'll make sure he gets the message." She smiled back, squeezing his hand in return. "Come on; let's get back to the common room. No doubt Fred and George have planned a party in my honor again." He sighed, causing her to giggle.
The party lasted quite a while, only pausing for dinner that night. Much to Harry's annoyance, nobody had seen Jacob at all since the conclusion of the second task.
"Where could he be?" Harry sighed, looking down and up the table for the seventh time that night.
"He's probably not hungry," Hermione said, not looking up from her Ancient Runes text. "Maybe he stayed in the common room."
"He wasn't there that I saw," Ginny said.
"And he wasn't in the dorm," Neville added.
"Where ever he is, I'm sure he's…"
"AHHHHHH!" an ear-piercing scream echoed across the Great Hall silencing everyone.
Dumbledore and the rest of the staff rushed out, wands raised. A second later, the students followed. As the school exited the hall, Harry could see a sixth year girl screaming with a look of horror. As everyone followed her gaze, chaos broke loose.
The Dark Mark hung in the air at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Author's Note
Once again, I'm back! Sorry it's been so long. School is back and as many as you know, it pretty hard. BUT I'm on break for a week and I hope to get a good chunk of writing done before I have to go back to classes. As usual, I will post when I get the chapters back from Tinian I'att (always, my thanks goes to her for making sure I don't do something stupid...like spell vial wrong)
Anyway, as always, Comments, Reviews, Questions and Flames are more than welcome!
~Kingdom219