A/N: I'd like to start off with a HUGE apology :( I promised it to you on Monday and it's SATURDAY! I have a legit excuse tho - my little birdie friend who reads this over for me was away and was only able to get back about mid week, and she reviewed it the next day, but there were a few things here and there that I had to fix up. I'm soooo sorry guy, and I hope the awesomeness (*cough cough*) of this next instalment makes up for it XD
Secondly, I'd like to, as always, thank my beautiful readers and reviewers. My love for you all is unmeasurable (is that a word?). Especial (again, I don't know if that's even a word :P I need a dictionary...) thanks to my reviewers. All the advice and praise you give is AWESOME XD
continue: yes I am so sorry for the slow update :( uhm *shifty eyes*... I wouldn't say that they're nearly there... maybe halfway nearly almost there ;)
SnazzMaster842: Yay you're still reading! I love your reviews - they always make me so happy XD Yeah I'm kind of mad at Sam too :P We were so close and then BAM he was there in the hallway and I could stop him :P Glad you liked the Chocolate Frog thingy - remember it, it's important ;) Sorry for the wait - I feel terrible :(
buddygirl1004: You're mom is Japanese? That's totally awesome! Haha, I'm glad you liked it XD
ChroniclesofNarniaGoTandSJA: Yes I know! Luckily things are looking up for my poor bb :) Sort of... ;)
Juliette Hummel-Anderson: SO glad you liked it! Bahahahha nobody likes Hevans - good thing it's a Klaine story! XD You liked the breakup? GOOD - I was so scared about that one...
JaneDoe: My dear, you are so sweet! Glad you liked the Yule Ball and cute Klainey bits - they were so fun to write, so it's good to know that they're fun to read too XD Nawww beautiful and
Once more, thanks to all of you and I hope this next chapter was worth the wait.
So Happy Reading to you all, for I present to you...
THE SECOND TASK
DUN DUN DUN *THUNDER*
During the Christmas holidays they spent most of their days having snowball fights, or eating too many red vines in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, playing wizard chess.
It was on one of these lazy days that Kurt, Harry, Ron and Rachel sat lazing about around the warm fireplace. Ron and Harry were in an intense game of Wizard Chess and Rachel and Kurt were watching.
"Have you thought about the second task yet?" Rachel asked Kurt. Lately, she had taken to spending more and more time in the Gryffindor common rooms, than her own, in an attempt to hide from Tina Cohen Chang.
"Uh…" Truth was that the second task was the last thing on Kurt's mind.
"Kurt!" Rachel cried. "It's in less than two months! You really need to start trying to solve the egg clue…"
"Please, Rachel," Kurt sighed. "You're turning into Hermione – I'll be fine."
"I don't know man. Cedric Diggory, he's pretty awesome," Harry said, before bursting into laughter.
"NOT! He sucks. You're totally gonna win. It's in the bag." Harry high fived Kurt. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, Kurt," She said, her hands on her hips, looking exceptionally Hermione like.
"Rach, I tried… all the egg does is wail when I open it," Kurt told her. Rachel frowned.
"What do you mean it wails?" She asked. "Show me." Kurt winced in memory.
"You know… I don't think that's such a great idea…" He said. Rachel narrowed her eyes.
"Go. Get. The. Egg." She said in an evil sort of voice. Kurt sighed and ran up the stairs to fetch the golden egg. He brought it back down and gave Rachel a look that said "I warned you" before opening it quickly and covering his ears.
Ron and Harry quickly followed suit and sent Rachel glares as if she was to blame from the horrid sound emitting from the golden egg. She however, listened intently without covering her ears. Finally when it was over they all uncovered their ears and Kurt sent Rachel an "I told you so" look, that she ignored.
"That sounds familiar…" Ron and Harry looked horrified.
"You must have encountered some pretty bad singers at band camp…" Kurt reflected dryly. Rachel ignored him.
"Hold on… I think I have it!" She cried excitedly running out of the room.
"Where's she going?" Harry asked
"Library, probably," Ron predicted. Harry and Ron shrugged and returned to their previous activities.
"Crap," Jesse breathed trying to hide behind a bookcase. He had only come down to look for a book to help him with his History of Magic paper. How could he forget that this was probably her favourite place in the school? Of course she'd be here.
And of course the book she was looking for just had to be on the shelf that he was hiding behind…
And naturally, she'd move that exact book that was covering his face, so she'd squeal and jump in fright when his face suddenly appeared.
"Jesse?" She cried.
"Rachel," Jesse said awkwardly. "Uh… sorry. I was looking for a book…"
"On mermaids? You figured out the egg clue too?" She assumed. Jesse had no idea what she was talking about but he nodded anyway.
"Yeah," He lied. "Kurt figure it out, too?"
"Well," Rachel said with an indulgent smile, the kind that mother's wore whenever they talked about their children. "He may or not have needed a little help" She said.
"You figured it out?" Jesse asked. Of course. She was too smart not too…
"Yeah," Rachel blushed modestly. Jesse admired the impact the pretty shade of pink her complexion turned. She was so beautiful…
"So… how's Tina?" Rachel asked conversationally. Jesse frowned. Tina who? Oh… Tina…. That girl he took to the Yule Ball.
"Uh… she's good. I think. I haven't really spoken to her," Jesse admitted. Rachel hid her smile by ducking her head and letting her hair fall over her face.
"Oh," She said, trying to hide her pleasure. "Really?"
"Yeah," Jesse said. "I don't know… she wasn't really my type I guess." Rachel blushed harder than ever.
"I have to go," She squeaked, grabbing the book she came for and running out of the library before Jesse could get another word in. Jesse sighed as he leant against the bookcase. At this rate, he'd never get a chance to ask her out.
On the last day of Holidays, Gryffindor versed Ravenclaw in the first match of Quidditch for the term. They won, and it was a spectacular game, which made up for the last match they had played.
Rachel had figured out the clue for the challenge and had told Kurt about it.
"It's merpeople," She told him. "They always sound like that out of water – in the water it really does sound beautiful. And maybe if you do listen to it underwater it'll give you a better idea of what the first task is!" She told him.
"Rachel, you're brilliant," Kurt told her, kissing her cheek. She grinned.
"Now all you need is to take it for a bath," She said.
Kurt followed her advice. In the winter months most people took to showering at night as it was too cold in the mornings. So Kurt took to the Gryffindor boys first year bathroom, at five in the morning the next day. As suspected it was freezing, so Kurt filled the bathtub with scalding water, before hopping in, bringing the egg with him.
He enjoyed the warmth of the water for a few minutes before deciding to try it out. Rachel had said that he would only be able to understand it underwater so he thanked god for his years of singing training that had strengthened his lungs, as he held his breath and slipped underwater, opening the egg.
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
And to recover what we've took,
An hour you have to look
But past an hour – the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back
Kurt had to listen to the rhyme a couple of times before he had it memorised. When he had, he set the egg on the side of the tub and laid back trying to decode it.
Come seek us where our voices sound
Underwater. Merpeople's voices could only be heard underwater…
We cannot sing above the ground
Yeah, Kurt had already figured that out…
And while you're searching, ponder this
So they had to search for something…
We've taken what you'll sorely miss
They had to search for something that they'd taken… something that they'd sorely miss…
And to recover what we've took,
An hour you have to look
So they had an hour to find it…
But past an hour – the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back
Or it would be gone forever?
So they had to look for something that the merpeople had taken (something that they'd sorely miss)… they had taken it where they voices sound – underwater – and they only had an hour to find it before it was gone forever.
Kurt had good lungs, but how was he going to spend an hour underwater?
He asked Hermione for his help that night. He hadn't seen her much lately - she had been avoiding the Gryffindor common room as she wasn't talking to Ron. She found him a plant, Gillyweed, in the potions cupboards that would help him breathe underwater for an hour.
Now that that was all taken care of, he had to tell Blaine. Blaine would probably have already figured it out, but if he hadn't Kurt owed it to him to tell him.
Kurt hadn't spoken to Blaine since the Yule Ball, and honestly this was just an excuse to see him again. He missed him. He had had a really good time with him on Christmas, and it was completely spoilt by the sudden appearance of Sam… and Blaine had been about to kiss him!
So later that day, Kurt made his way down to the Durmstrang ship, where all the boys were staying. He walked up to the front door and knocked hesitantly.
The door was opened by an unfamiliar Durmstrang boy.
"How can I help you?" He asked in a thick Russian accent
"I'm looking for Blaine Anderson?" Kurt said. The boy nodded, in recognition and gave him a smile.
"You're Kurt Hummel, aren't you?" The boy said, recognition flashing in his dark eyes. Kurt beamed and nodded. "You did very well in the first challenge."
"Thanks," Kurt said.
"I'll go get Blaine," He said helpfully, and disappeared behind the door. Kurt shivered – he wished he had brought a warmer coat. It was freezing out in the grounds.
About a minute later the door swung open to reveal Blaine standing there, looking awfully impassive.
"Hi," Kurt smiled. Blaine did not smile back.
"Hi," He said shortly. "Can I help you?" Kurt's face fell a little.
"Can we walk?" Kurt asked. He had no desire to talk on the front step of the Durmstrang ship. Blaine nodded curtly.
"You look cold," Blaine noted.
"A little," Kurt admitted. Blaine removed the fur from around his shoulders and slung it around Kurt's. Kurt shivered a little at the contact, and it was nothing to do with the weather. "Thanks," Kurt said gratefully, holding the warm fabric closer to his shivering skin. Blaine didn't reply.
They walked around the edge of the lake. Kurt looked into it, wondering how deep the merpeople lived.
"What are you thinking?" Blaine asked, curiously.
"I was wondering how deep the merpeople live," Kurt told him.
"Ah," Blaine said, a faint smile crossing his lips. "The second task…"
"You already figured it out?" Kurt frowned.
"Well, yeah," he said, matter of factly.
"Oh," Kurt said. "I came to tell you about it – after you told me about the first task… I thought I could repay the favour." Blaine's expression softened.
"You already did," He said.
"When?" Kurt asked, not remembering ever paying him back…
"When you let me take you to the Yule Ball," Blaine said, not quite meeting Kurt's eyes.
"That wasn't a favour," Kurt whispered. "I wanted to go with you."
"No you didn't," Blaine smiled sadly. "I let myself hope for a little bit, that you did. But I see now that you never stopped liking Sam…"
"Blaine-" Kurt began but Blaine cut him off.
"No, Kurt. It's okay. You can't control the way you feel. And neither can I… but I am sorry I tried to kiss you," Blaine said, looking out into the lake.
"Don't-" Kurt mumbled, but Blaine ignored him.
"You played well last week," Blaine told him. "Victor was very impressed." Normally that would have pleased Kurt immensely, but for some reason he felt strangely numb. Blaine sighed to himself.
"Look, I have to get back," he said. "I'll talk to you later." he turned on his heel and walked back to the Durmstrang ship without another word, leaving Kurt standing speechless on the water's edge.
Soon, the holidays ended and Kurt was thrown back into his busy schooling/Quidditch/Hexwizard Tournament schedule. Wood, had been driving them nuts, determined not to break their winning streak, making them practice every evening until rather late. Teacher's had been piling the homework on, as if it was some sort of punishment for the holidays. And the second task was looming closer…
The night before the second task Kurt hardly slept, and when he did he had a horrific nightmare of being eaten alive by Merpeople… not a promising start to the day.
He refused to eat at breakfast. He sat with Ron (Harry was with Professor McGonagall apparently), unable to stand Hermione trying to drill all the defence spells they'd been working on, on so little sleep. Several people stopped by to wish him good luck and he attempted a weak smile for all of them. But on the inside he felt sick…
At nine thirty he made his way down to the lake, where the crowd was assembling to watch the first task. In the crowd he could see Ron waving to him and giving him thumbs up. He couldn't see Rachel or Harry or even Hermione though…
The champions were all lined up by the water's edge, all looking as nervous as Kurt felt. Jesse was jumping up and down, in an attempt to warm up, Krum stood there looking surly as usual, Fleur was wringing her hands and Blaine was breathing deeply, in an attempt to calm his breathing.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will begin on my whistle," Bagman said, his voice projecting all over the crowd. "They have precisely an hour to find what has been taken from them. On the count of three then – one… two… THREE!" Bagman blew his whistle and the crowd cheered.
Kurt removed his shoes and socks, and stripped down to his undershirt and shorts, before reluctantly wading out into the icy cold lake. Kurt shivered and stuffed the gilly weed into his mouth, his chattering teeth chewing the tough substance. He finally swallowed it and dived into the water.
Suddenly, an odd sensation took hold of him. He felt a piercing pain at his neck. He clutched at his throat only to find gills slit just below his ear. He gasped in fright and felt a relief as oxygen filled his lungs, through the water. He could breathe underwater…
The water suddenly didn't feel so painful anymore… it felt sort of nice, actually. He swam around a little bit and found that he was an even better swimmer than he remembered. Oh, that's why, he thought as he caught sight of his now webbed feet and hands.
As Kurt swam through the lake, he could see no further than ten feet in front of him. The lake seemed depthless, and eerily silent. There was nothing around… no fish, no giant squid (thank god)…
He swam along for what felt like hours, until he heard a hauntingly familiar tune…
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
And to recover what we've took,
An hour you have to look
But past an hour – the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back
The merpeople. He could see them now… they were ugly things. They looked like people, blue-y, green people, with tails and ratty hair… Kurt thought they all needed an extreme makeover…
As he swam along he was met with a strange sight. Along the floor of the lake there were a group of about ten merpeople surrounding another group of people – humans.
They were tied up, and Kurt couldn't help but notice that several of them had eerily familiar faces…
There were five of them, tied up with binding rope, to a large piece of rock. The first, was a small girl, of about ten years, with silvery hair, not unlike Fleur'. The second, was a young Asian man, with slick black hair. The third was Hermione, the fourth Harry and the fifth Rachel.
We've taken what you'll sorely miss
What we'd sorely miss! Kurt realised with a sharp gasp. So it was Fleur's sister… and it was no secret that Krum was infatuated with Hermione… the Asian man was probably a friend of Blaine's… Harry was Kurt's best friend… and Rachel. Rachel was Kurt's friend too. And so was Hermione. Was Kurt supposed to leave them all here? Of course not – he couldn't do that.
Grabbing a piece of jagged rock from the rocky floor of the lake, he grabbed the rope binding Rachel and began to saw away at it.
"No!" He heard a merperson call "Only yours."
"But she's my friend too!" Kurt protested. The merperson tugged at Kurt's hands.
"No," It said firmly.
Suddenly Krum (or at least Kurt thought it was Krum – he had a shark head so he couldn't be sure) appeared at Kurt's side and grabbed another piece of rock from the floor and began sawing at Hermione's rope. With a resigned sigh, Kurt began sawing at Harry's rope.
Soon after Krum left, Jesse arrived and began sawing at Rachel's binds. Kurt raised an eyebrow. He did remember Rachel mentioning he asked her to the Yule Ball…
As Jesse sawed, Blaine arrived and freed his Asian friend. They both left at about the same time, leaving Kurt with Harry and Fleur's sister.
Kurt knew that he was wasting time and his hour was nearly up. What would happen if Fleur never came?
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back
No. He wasn't going to let this poor girl die because of Fleur's incompetence. Kurt grabbed the rock and began sawing at Fleur's sister's binds. He felt sharp claws on his bare arms, attempting to pull him off. Shouts went off in his ears but he ignored them and kept sawing. When both Harry and Fleur's sister were free, Kurt grabbed his wand and began shooting spells at the merpeople.
Afraid of being hit, they all swam away and Kurt took the opportunity to kick off the rock, keeping tight hold of his two rescuee's and swimming fast to the surface.
He could feel the gillyweed beginning to wear off. He was struggling to breathe and his kicks were getting weaker. But he pushed on. As he began to see the light of the sun above the surface he kicked harder than ever, pushing Harry and Fleur's sister to the surface, before finally emerging himself.
All three of them were gasping and spluttering for breath. Together, they all swam to the shore and crawled up onto land.
"Gabriella!" Kurt heard Fleur shriek, running to her sister's side and holding her close. "You saved 'er," Fleur cried, suddenly enveloping Kurt in a hug too "Zank you! How shall I ever thank you!" She cried. Kurt patted her back weakly, feeling very tired.
"It's fine," he muttered.
"Kurt you prat!" Ron smacked the back of Kurt's head "You didn't take the song seriously did you?" Kurt frowned.
"What?" He asked, confused
"Dumbledore wasn't going to let them die!" Ron groaned "You better have made it back in the time frame," Kurt swallowed. He bet he hadn't… and now he had probably lost and would be out of the competition for good.
After he had been given the mandatory check up by Madam Pomfrey, they were announcing the points.
Krum had gotten back first and was awarded ten points by Karkaroff, eight and a half by Dumbledore, eight by Madam Maxine and nine by Lucius Malfoy (the guest judge). Blaine got back second and was awarded ten by Karkaroff, eight and a half by Dumbledore, seven and a half by Madam Maxine and eight and a half by Lucius Malfoy. Jesse got back next and was awarded seven by Karkaroff, eight by Madam Maxine, eight and a half by Dumbledore and eight by Lucius Malfoy. Kurt got back last, and had points taken off from not making it back in the time limit. He would have been disqualified, were it not for Fleur who had not made it back with her captive at all – she was eliminated. Kurt was awarded six points each by Karkaroff and Madam Maxine, seven by Lucius and eight by Dumbledore – which was rather generous considering…
Now, overall Krum was in first place on a total of 69.5 points. Blaine was coming second on 66.5 points. Kurt, thanks to his victorious win in the first task was not coming last, but was in third place on 62.5 points and Jesse was coming last on 61 points.
The Beauxbatons students looked very disappointed that both their champions had been eliminated. Kurt could see some of them were even crying…
The Durmstrang students were very enthusiastic about their position with their champions taking both first and second place. Kurt hoped that wouldn't be the case for much longer and vowed that he would win the third task - for Hogwarts.