Disclaimer: All characters in Harry Potter belong to JKRowling, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros, etc... No infringement intended and no monetary benefits made.

Without You

Chapter 9 - The Second Task

xXXXXXx

Harry woke up two hours before the second task on the 24th of February, glad that he was having a reprieve from their usual morning run. He had gone to bed sullenly the night before when Hermione grinned playfully at him and adamantly refused to tell him what the thing he would sorely miss would be, saying that he would know soon enough.

To be truthful, Harry had expected things to get a bit uncomfortable between them but Hermione treated him no differently than she used to before they had kissed and he was grateful for it. More than a week had passed since Valentine's Day and Harry had mulled over his feelings for Hermione, for Cho and for everything else in general. Cho was a passing fancy – what every teenager went through at one time or the other – he was certain of it now. But what about Hermione? He was sure that he liked Hermione romantically but was she just a passing fancy too? Harry was not sure. But he was sure he did not want their friendship to be damaged if they pursued a relationship and it ended on bad terms.

After wearing the swimming suit Hermione had chosen for him under his Hogwarts robes, Harry grabbed the jar of gillyweed they had obtained from the Room of Requirement and made his way to the Great Hall to join Ron and Hermione. Thus, he was surprised when neither of them was there when he finally got to the Great Hall.

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table and made some small talk with his housemates, wondering where Hermione and Ron were. Hermione probably was in the library but Ron… Harry didn't see his friend in the dormitory when he woke up. Where could they be?

With a quick goodbye to his housemates who were excited about the second task and wishing him good luck, Harry made his way back to his dormitory to get the Maurauder's Map to locate Hermione and Ron. Taking the map out of his trunk, he muttered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." A feeling of worry rose up his chest when the search on the Marauder's Map turned up with nothing. He wondered anxiously what had happened to them.

It was apparent from the map that they were not on the school grounds and that would… warrant the Head of House's attention. He needed to talk to McGonagall! Harry rushed to Professor McGonagall's office and banged on her door noisily.

"PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL?!!" he called. "I need to talk to you urgently!"

The door opened a moment later and McGonagall looked at Harry with a stern frown on her face.

"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Potter?"

"Professor, I can't find Hermione anywhere on the school grounds!! And Ron as well! Do you think they were kidnapped?!" he asked anxiously.

"Kidnapped?" she repeated.

"Yes. They wouldn't leave the school grounds for anything… especially today."

"What day is today, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked calmly.

"How can you be so calm? They could be in danger. Any why are you asking what day today is? What has it got to do with anything?"

"What are you supposed to do today?" she asked again.

"Erm… the second task? But what's- oh. OH! Hermione is the thing I would sorely miss! No wonder she didn't want to tell me!" Harry said more to himself than to McGonagall and ran out of her office before she could utter a word.

He made a mad dash towards the Lake and saw people already gathering there. The Slytherins flashed him the "POTTER STINKS!" badges but he could care less about them. He paced frantically on the shore, earning curious stares from his schoolmates. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to jump in the Lake straightaway and get Hermione out without wasting any more time.

Looking around, he saw Cedric coming with his friends.

"Cedric! Do you know they've got our friends under the Lake as hostages!! How could they do that? How could they risk their lives like this?" he asked the Hufflepuff champion as he approached the Lake.

"Harry! Hey, don't worry. I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen to them," the older boy reassured him but Harry continued to pace worriedly, wanting the second task to start more than anything else in his life.

Soon – but not soon enough in Harry's opinion – the other champions and the judges arrived. Dumbledore made an announcement to the audience about the task, which Harry tuned out. He opened the jar of gillyweed, holding it in his right hand.

Bagman approached him and tried to give him advice about what to do but Harry brushed him off and soon, he heard the whistle sound, which was the signal for the start of the second task. Quickly chewing and swallowing the gillyweed in his hand, Harry waded into the water, waiting for the plant to take its effect.

When he felt the usual pain in his neck and became suffocated, Harry flung himself into the water – a gulp of water through the gills sending much needed oxygen to his brain. Harry pulled his wand out of the wand holster and started to swim in the direction he and Hermione had taken a few weeks back.

The non-verbal 'Relashio' spell proved to be useful against a quick encounter with the grindylows half way to the merpeople village. As he swam on, Harry met Moaning Myrtle who tried to point him in the right direction. Soon enough, he reached the merfolks village without any other encounters with the grindylows. Swimming through the village, he saw many merpeople eyeing him curiously but he paid them no mind and kept his eyes open for any signs of the hostages they had taken.

Following the mersong that floated over to his ears, he finally noticed a group of merpeople holding spears and guarding the hostages. Harry held his wand tightly and prepared himself in case the merpeople attacked him as he swam forward. When he got closer, he saw four people tied tightly to a stone statue of a merperson and spotted Hermione in less than a second. She looked like she was in a very deep sleep and there was a stream of bubbles escaping her mouth. A deep panic and fear filled his mind when he saw her looking so fragile and… seemingly dead. He swam quickly to her and tried to shake her awake but Hermione did not seem to be waking up anytime soon.

Harry looked at the other hostages – Cho Chang, a young girl with silvery hair, who resembled Fleur Delacour, and… Ron? Harry stared at his friend in confusion for a moment, his mind working out whose hostage Ron was because Ron was not particularly close to any of the other champions except Harry himself. Maybe Ron was his hostage… then, whose hostage was Hermione? Cho must be Cedric's hostage and the girl, without a doubt, was Fleur's. That would mean… Hermione was Krum's hostage.

Blind fury and jealousy bubbled within him as realization hit him. Hermione was the thing Krum would sorely miss?!! That was the most ridiculous thing he had ever known. Krum hardly knew Hermione; how could she be the thing he would miss most?! Dumbledore and the judges had got it all wrong!! Hermione was the thing Harry would sorely miss! Not that Bulgarian git!

And there was no way he would put Hermione's life in Krum's hands. Harry did not know if he should take the mersong seriously but what if the guy turned up late? He was not risking Hermione's life. With non-verbal cutting hexes, Harry cut the thick weeds tying Ron and Hermione, which caused an uproar with the merpeople guarding the hostages but Harry paid them no mind. Taking hold of both of their arms, he began to swim upwards but the merpeople pulled Hermione out of his grasp.

"Take your own hostage!" one of them said, brandishing his spear at Harry.

"I'm taking her with me!" he tried to yell back but only large bubbles came out of his mouth.

Just then Cedric came with a huge bubble surrounding his head. He nodded at Harry but quickly cut through the ropes around Cho with a knife he had brought and he was off in no time.

Harry was now more determined than ever to take back Ron and Hermione and resurface himself. He pointed his wand at the merperson holding Hermione and gave him a warning look. The creature looked terrified and quickly released Hermione, whom Harry summoned to him.

Sending a silent stunner whizzing past a merperson's head to scare them and prevent them from stopping him, Harry began to rise with both of his friends when an overly large fish swam out of nowhere towards them at a tremendously fast speed. Pushing his friends out of harm's way, he ducked and was about to curse the fish away when he noticed that it was no fish at all. It looked like… Krum had transfigured himself into half a shark – with a shark head and a man's torso and limbs.

The shark-man tried to reach for Hermione but Harry instinctively sent a hex his way. Krum moved just in time to avoid his hex and snapped his jaws, as if telling Harry to give back his hostage. Harry realized Krum had a right to take Hermione from him and he had to give her. Another wave of jealousy and worry boiled inside him as he struggled with his conscience to let Krum take Hermione up. He could not trust Hermione's safety with anybody else except himself. What if Krum accidentally hurt her when taking her up?

He was so absorbed in contemplating his next action that he failed to notice the merpeople swimming towards him and restraining him with their spears as the Durmstrang champion took Hermione by the waist and quickly swam away. The merpeople released him just as he was about to curse them and scampered away… back to Fleur's sister.

He was about to follow Krum when he realized that the half-veela still had not come to retrieve her sister. Although he did not think Dumbledore would let the hostages die just because their champion could not save them in time, he was not entirely sure and he did not want to risk the life of a young girl who had nothing to do with the tournament.

Glancing around to see if Fleur was coming, Harry cut the weeds and summoned the girl to him when he did not see the Beauxbatons champion coming, all the while sending a warning look to prevent the merpeople from interfering. He held both of the hostages and swam up before the effect of the gillyweed ran out.

Harry finally made it to the surface of the water but not without applying the bubblehead charm after the gillyweed became ineffective. Hermione had made him learn the charm in case something happened with the gillyweed and he was glad that he listened to her.

Ron and Fleur's sister had woken up from their enchanted sleep as they surfaced, coughing up some water.

"You made it Harry!" Ron said. "Wait a minute! Why the bloody hell did you bring her for?" he asked as he saw the girl.

"I wasn't sure if I should take the song seriously!" Harry replied.

"Well, you shouldn't. Dumbledore would never let anything happen to the hostages. I hope you didn't act a hero down there," Ron commented.

Harry frowned, feeling stupid and chastised. "Whatever… let's just get out of the water!" he said as they helped the scared younger part-Veela towards the shore and the awaiting crowd with the merpeople following them. Dumbledore and Bagman stood smiling at him but Percy came splashing into the water and tried to drag Ron onto the bank. Fleur, also, was hysterical with panic, breaking free from Madam Maxime's grip on her and hugging her sister tightly, muttering about the grindylows.

His eyes quickly searched for Hermione and he felt greatly relieved when he located her wrapped in thick blankets and surrounded by Cho, Cedric and Viktor, who were being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey. Hermione, having seen Harry emerge, wrestled with the blankets and tried to make her way to him but Madam Pomfrey saved her the trouble by dragging him towards the other champions and hostages. He was wrapped up in blankets like the others in no time and Madam Pomfrey forced a steaming potion down his throat.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione said as she took him in a hug.

He hugged her back tightly. "Hermione! I was so worried! Are you alright? I didn't want to let Krum take you. I was going to take you up myself."

"I'm alright now, and I'm very proud of you. You behaved just as I expected you would," she said happily as she beamed at him proudly.

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Gabrielle – Fleur's sister. It was very noble of you to bring her," she said and kissed his cheeks.

Harry blushed Weasley red and replied, "Well… I couldn't just leave her there when I wasn't sure she would be alright." He smiled inwardly, glad that Hermione approved of his actions. He did not care what the whole school thought of him; her opinion was the one that mattered most.

"I'm just so happy that you're safe now," he said. Feeling daring, he took her hand in his and noticed that Krum looked very much put out. He smiled smugly at him, still holding Hermione's hand, and looked around. Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Ron, and Dumbledore seemed to having a conversation with the chief of the merpeople. Karkaroff glared at Harry, looking displeased that Harry had returned safely with the hostages.

Harry looked challengingly at Karkaroff and moved his attention to the merpeople and Dumbledore, who looked up at him at the same moment. He felt a subtle Legilimency probe in his mind when their eyes met and his shields snapped up instantly, blocking the probe. To say Harry was shocked would be an understatement; he could not believe Dumbledore had tried to read his mind! And for what reason?!

With an unreadable expression on his face, the Headmaster broke eye contact with him and returned to his conversation with the merpeople. Harry gave Hermione's hand a squeeze and mouthed, "We need to talk later."

The rest of the second task went by rather quickly with Ludo Bagman announcing their scores. Harry was pleasantly surprised when he got second place with forty-five marks after Cedric who got forty-seven marks out of fifty. Krum and Fleur got forty and twenty-five marks respectively.

Thanks a lot for reading. Please leave a review.