A/N: Sorry for the long wait time! I've been suffering through a bit of writer's block working on a few of the chapters ahead so I've been a bit unmotivated and uninspired in continuing to write. I'm starting to get back in the groove of writing, so hopefully I'll be able to finish up this story soon, but updates will start to be a little bit less often than they used to be. Thanks for understanding, and enjoy!


"You said you were close to solving that egg ages ago!"

Harry grimaced at Hermione's accusing tone. It was a Saturday night, and Harry had just finished up a long essay on Fanged Geraniums for Professor Sprout. He had just settled into his favorite armchair when Hermione had come to interrogate him about his efforts to solve the clue for the second task.

"I'm really am close to solving it, I just need to work out a few kinks," muttered Harry, trying to ignore Hermione while he was reading Flying with the Cannons.

"The task is in four weeks, Harry, you need to get onto that! You're going to look really dumb if you're the only champion that hasn't solved it!" insisted Hermione, glaring at him.

"Look, when everyone goes to bed, I'll take the egg downstairs and try and work on it then," retorted Harry, feeling irritated. "Satisfied?"

Hermione said nothing. She folded her arms and sat down across from Harry on a couch. Ron, who was still working on his Fanged Geraniums essay, said nothing also, yet Harry knew Ron was looking at him. Harry avoided their eyes, instead trying to focus on reading about the fiftieth season of the Chudley Cannons.

He hadn't forgotten about Cedric's clue, but Harry was reluctant to accept help from him. It wasn't that he had anything against Cedric, for Harry thought that he was a good person and someone that Harry could genuinely call a friend. But accepting help from him was different than accepting help from Ron, Hermione, or Sirius. It seemed to Harry that it was almost like admitting Cedric was a better champion than he was, and although Harry knew he had no other way of solving the clue other than what Cedric told him, his pride prevented him from accepting Cedric's help.

But it wasn't like Harry hadn't made an effort to solve the clue of the egg. In most of his free time, he spent it in the library looking up creatures that sounded like the noise that came from the egg. Ron and Hermione even joined him sometimes, searching through books upon books about different creatures that Hagrid had recommended he look up, yet he could not find anything that seemed to describe the shrill screech that was heard when the egg was opened.

Hermione was right in that Harry was running out of time. Ever since the winter holidays had ended, February 24th seemed much closer than it had before the holidays had started. Their teachers had started piling on more and more work upon them when term had resumed. Angelina had taken over for Wood as Captain, which no one argued with. In fact, most of the team had thought she would be much more relaxed than Wood was as Captain. Only a week into the resumption of Quidditch practices, however, Harry was convinced that Oliver Wood had died and Angelina was channeling his spirit, for she was pushing the team like a madman, insisting upon practices at least every other day along with constant conditioning days, and constantly speaking to them about the glory Gryffindor and Hogwarts would get as a whole if they were able to defeat a Durmstrang team featuring Viktor Krum. Harry often returned to the common room hours after dinner, his body sore and his mind deadened. Homework plus Quidditch meant Harry had limited amounts of time to be able to work out the clue for the egg. Tonight would be the perfect night for Harry to work out the clue, seeing as he had finished his schoolwork fairly early.

"Hey, Hermione, do you mind if I look at your Herbology essay really quick, just to fact-check some of my information?" asked Ron tentatively.

"Oh please, we all know you're just going to copy mine word for word, Ronald," snapped Hermione.

"I haven't done that in weeks!"

"Then what about the wormwood essay we had for Snape? He seemed very interested that your third paragraph was essentially a word for word copy of mine!"

"Ah, well that's Snape, that's different…"

Harry tuned out Ron and Hermione bickering once more and started gazing around the room again. Fred and George were once more in deep discussion with Lee about some new product they were developing. Harry grinned watching them. They'd shown Harry a lot of the products they had been developing, and Harry had found each and every one of them funny and clever. He knew that if they were to start a joke shop, it would be an immediate success. It was a shame they didn't quite have the funds to do so. Harry's gaze continued moving across the room. Neville was reading a Herbology book titled Magical Mediterranean Water Plants and their Properties, a book that he had told Harry was lent to him by Professor Moody. Harry had skimmed through it a couple times to check some facts for Herbology and found it decently interesting, although he wasn't interested in looking at it for light reading. In the corner of the room, Seamus was building up a massive fortress with Exploding Snap cards, and had gained a rather sizable audience that was watching him with interest. As he just finished his rear walls, however, one card fell to the ground and exploded, causing the cards around it to fall and some to explode. When the smoke cleared, Seamus sat there with a disgruntled expression and an ashen face, much to the guffawing laughter of the crowd. Harry snickered seeing this and waved over at Seamus, who sighed sadly and started collecting his cards to bring to the dormitory.

Soon the common room started to clear out as people turned in for the night. Harry sat with his book in his armchair, watching as the room cleared out until it was just Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Soon Hermione finished knitting her elf clothes and started laying them around the common room, covering them in spare bits of parchment and quills before biding Harry and Ron goodnight, looking at Harry sternly to remind him of the egg before heading up to the girls' dormitory.

Ron sighed. "I think I'm going to go to bed also," he said. "I can't do this essay for Snape without her help. Are you coming?"

"Yeah," replied Harry, getting up from his armchair. "I think I'm gonna get the egg and try and work out the clue, though,"

"Now?" asked Ron, looking around.

"Well, probably not here," said Harry as the two started heading up to the fourth years' boys' dormitory. "But I'll find a quiet place in the castle where I won't be disturbed. I hope," he added as an afterthought. Ron nodded.

Ron quickly changed and fell asleep almost immediately. For a moment, Harry sat on his bed and thought about what he was going to do. As reluctant as he was to accept Cedric's help, Harry knew that he at least needed to solve the clue in the egg as soon as he could. And as he had no other idea of how to do so than what Cedric told him to do, Harry sighed quietly and decided it was time to see if his hint was worth anything. Harry took his egg and put it inside his backpack before putting it on. It was much heavier than Harry was accustomed to, but he was able to hold it nonetheless. He then took his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk, and after a moment's hesitation, took the Marauder's Map also as a precaution. He then looked around to see if any of the boys were still awake. None were. Harry then threw the Cloak on and quietly crept downstairs towards the portrait hole. He pushed the Fat Lady's portrait open slowly so as not to wake her and closed it silently before creeping down the hallway towards the staircase.

Harry walked slowly, letting the lanterns on the wall shine light onto the Marauder's Map. Cedric had told him the prefect's bathroom was on the fifth floor, and Filch was currently on the second. No other professors seemed to be out at night, so Harry started walking at a brisker pace, intending to get to the bathroom as soon as possible so that he could avoid meeting anyone. His worst fear was Peeves; he didn't show up on the Marauder's Map, so Harry had no idea of where he was. If he ran into him, however, Peeves would be certain to create mayhem for Harry.

Luckily Harry managed to reach the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor that Cedric had told him about without running into too much trouble. He then counted for the fourth door from the left, and as he approached it, he wondered if the password for it would have changed. Well, there was only one way to find out. "Pine fresh," he whispered. The door creaked open, and Harry quickly entered and closed it shut.

Turning around, he had to stop for a moment to admire the bathroom. While prefects did have a lot of responsibilities that Harry wasn't sure he wanted, this bathroom made up for it. It was brilliantly designed, with pillars around the massive bath in the center that was lit by a beautiful chandelier that hung above it. A few dimmed lights hung from it, giving the room a soft nightly glow. Crystals hung from a few extended parts of the chandelier, reflecting in the soft lights and adding to the glow of the room. Harry stood there for a moment, admiring how beautiful the bathroom was, and thinking that becoming a prefect was worth it just to be able to come in here. He saw two doors off to the left that he assumed led to the bathrooms and showers, but he only needed to use the bath. He went and turned on all of the taps, and jets of water shot out many of them different colors. Bubbles shot out of some of them, and foam shot out of others, and it was a bubble bath that Harry had never experienced before. As the different colored waters collided, bubbles began forming and the waters must have been magical, for they all formed a light blue colored water that slowly started to rise in the bath.

Harry waited until the bath was full and turned off all the taps. He then took off his clothes and emptied himself into the bath. He let out a sigh of contentment as he entered the bath. The water was definitely magical, for it felt like Harry was being massaged on all parts of his body, releasing the tension and stress that had been building over the last few weeks. As he sat there for a moment, enjoying the bath, he saw that across the room at the top there was a mosaic of a mermaid who looked like she was sleeping on top of a rock that sat just a little bit above the water.

Harry didn't move, instead closing his eyes for a couple seconds and enjoying the bath. He remembered what he had arrived there for, however. Pulling his backpack close to him, he pulled out the egg and set it on the edge of the bath, where it sat there, doing nothing. Harry frowned slightly. Cedric had told him to 'take a bath', but what was he supposed to do with the egg? Surely opening it near the edge of the bath wouldn't do anything?

"I must be mad," muttered Harry, screwing his face up in disgust as he opened the egg. As he expected, it started to screech immediately and Harry shut it almost as soon as he opened it, feeling dejected. He had no clue how to proceed from there. Harry checked his watch. It was past one in the morning. If he were caught out of bounds, it would definitely result in detention, and probably a lot of lost points for Gryffindor. Sighing, he decided he should probably get up and return to the common room.

Harry exited the bath and picked up the egg again. He wondered if maybe he was supposed to be in a certain position and open the egg there. He tried lying down and opening the egg, running with the egg, and even balanced it on his head. He knew that this was really just a waste of his time. But his frustration with the egg kept building and eventually he got angry and chucked the egg into the bath. Rather than screech as it had been for the past twenty minutes, however, it seemed muffled, almost as if it was a radio that was being covered. Harry frowned. Putting the egg in the water had never came to him, but now that he thought about it, it probably should have been the first thing Harry did. He approached the bath and got back in. The egg was near the middle, and Harry swam his way over until he was right above it. He closed the egg, and took a deep breath before going underwater, reopening the egg.

The egg was no longer screeching. Instead, it was singing a beautiful song that sounded like a choir:

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

Harry resurfaced once the song was finished. He stood there for a moment, running the song through his head. Then he started wading towards the edge of the bath, bringing the egg with him and keeping it submerged until he could reach his backpack. Drying his hands with a towel, he put the towel down and then pulled out parchment, ink, and a quill from his backpack. He scribbled down the song, occasionally going back underwater to check the song again until he had the whole song written down. Once he did, he read it a couple times to see if it was right. Then he closed the egg, set it on the edge of the bath, and sat with his back against the wall of the bath.

Well, now he knew what Cedric had meant by telling him to 'take a bath'. Harry couldn't help but think this task seemed a lot more sinister than the first one. Harry thought about the fourth line: "We've taken what you'll sorely miss". What did that imply? Harry could miss a number of things. There was his Firebolt, Hedwig, other things from his trunk…yet he had a feeling it was going to be something that meant much more than that.

Harry moved onto the next line that worried him: "Too late, it's gone, it won't come back". Did that mean that, if Harry failed to save whatever it was that he sorely missed, he would never have a chance to get it back? He had been told that the tournament wasn't going to be fatal, but they didn't mention anything about losing something forever. Perhaps it was just a part of the song but…the voices just sounded so eerie and creepy that Harry couldn't help but feel that it was a genuine threat.

But who were the voices? Harry had never heard anyone or anything that sounded like what the egg sounded. He had spent a lot of time in the library over the past few weeks trying to research creatures that sounded like the shrill screech that occurred when the egg was opened above water, but clearly that research was pointless to him now.

Maybe it wasn't such a vague creature that no one had heard of. The song had said that they could not sing above the ground, and since Harry had opened the egg underwater…The mosaic of the mermaid was staring pointedly at Harry, and he had a sudden realization.

"Merpeople!" exclaimed Harry. The mermaid snorted and dove into the water in the mosaic. Harry still sat there, this new realization sinking in. He was certain that the egg meant merpeople, but where would you find them at Hogwarts? There was no major body of…ah…

Harry had forgotten about the Black Lake. But now that he thought about it, it would have been an obvious location for a task. It was massive, stretching far across the grounds and between the mountains that surrounded Hogwarts. Of course the Ministry would have thought it sufficed as a task. But, now that he was sure he knew where the task was, panic started creeping inside of him as he thought about his next dilemma.

How was he supposed to breathe underwater?

Sure, Harry was a fairly decent swimmer, but the Black Lake was an entirely different situation. He had never swum deeper than four feet, and it was safe to guess that it would be much deeper than that. Besides, it was likely that swimming down to the bottom of the lake would not be the only challenge. There were likely to be several different species of animals and plants that inhabited the lake, providing another obstacle that Harry had to take account of.

Glancing at his watch, Harry was shocked. It was already half past two. Now it really was too late for Harry to still be out of the common room. Harry quickly drained the bath and got out of it, drying himself with towels from the bathroom and quickly putting his clothes back on. He put the closed egg back into his backpack and rolled up the parchment that had the clue written down on it, placing it along with his quill and ink back into his backpack. After pulling out the Invisibility Cloak, he then checked the Marauder's Map to see if Filch was still creeping around. Luckily, it seemed he had decided to retire to his office for the night. Harry was just about to put the map away again when he noticed something else. In Professor Moody's office was a dot labeled Alastor Moody, which Harry knew was Moody's real name. But also in the office was a dot labeled Barty Crouch.

Harry frowned. This struck him as very peculiar. According to what he had heard from other students, Barty Crouch and Professor Moody did not have a very good relationship with each other. Although they were both adamantly opposed to the Dark Arts, Harry had been informed that the two had often come at odds with each other, with Crouch being much more violent in his crusade against the Dark Arts. Moody had been strongly against this strategy, from what Harry heard, and that was where the two had begun to fall out. And also, Crouch was still sick. That was why Percy had come to the Yule Ball, in his place. Surely, he had more important things to do while he was sick rather than come to Hogwarts and speak to Moody?

For a moment Harry had half a mind to use his Invisibility Cloak to investigate the problem. Then he realized what time it was and the risks that such an investigation would require of him. He sighed inwardly, knowing that it was a stupid idea. Well, Harry thought, he could always tell Dumbledore. Yes, that was what Harry was going to do tomorrow morning. Slowly, Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak over him and began to creep back to the common room.


The next morning Harry woke up at the same time as Ron, who was bustling around the room as Harry sat up in his bed. "Finally!" exclaimed Ron, turning to see Harry had woken up. "I was just about to go to breakfast without you! You've been asleep for a bit longer than usual."

"Well, I had a bit of a struggle solving the egg last night," muttered Harry so that only Ron could hear him. Ron's mouth dropped.

"You actually solved it?" he asked quietly. Harry nodded, keeping his eye on Neville, who had just entered the room, presumably coming back from breakfast.

"I'll tell you and Hermione what it is later," said Harry. "Let's just go down to breakfast."

Harry and Ron made their way to the Great Hall, where most people were lolling about, doing nothing in particular. They ate quickly and were just about to head towards the common room when Harry saw that Dumbledore was also on his way out of the Great Hall, probably towards his office. He stopped in his tracks, remembering what he said he was going to do last night.

"Harry, are you coming?" Ron had reached the marble staircase and was turning back to stare questioningly at Harry.

"Uh, meet me in the common room Ron, I have to ask Dumbledore something really quick," Harry replied. Ron shrugged, said, "Alright," and turned to walk up the stairs. Harry hurried after Dumbledore, who had turned into an empty corridor. "Professor Dumbledore!" he called. Dumbledore stopped and turned to see Harry hurrying over to him, the omnipresent twinkle still in his eye. "Hello, Harry. I trust that you are doing well right now?"

"Um, yes, Professor," replied Harry breathlessly. "Actually, I just wanted to tell you something, but I was wondering if we could go somewhere private to talk?"

"My office is not far from here, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Join me, and we can continue speaking there."

The two departed for Dumbledore's office, traveling in silence for a little while. Then Dumbledore spoke: "How have you been, Harry?"

Harry was deep in thought when Dumbledore asked him this suddenly, surprising him a little. "Oh, I – um – I'm alright, I think, sir,"

"It doesn't sound like it, Harry," said Dumbledore kindly as they continued down another corridor.

"Um, well, truth be told Professor, I'm a bit nervous for the second task," confessed Harry, feeling rather lame. Dumbledore smiled at him.

"I would be surprised if you were not, Harry. Any champion who says they are not afraid for any task in the Triwizard Tournament is lying. Have you worked out the clue in your egg?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry, feeling relieved that he had finally done so. Then he remembered his problem with it and started feeling nervous again. "But I just don't know how to get past the – wait, I probably shouldn't be telling you this," said Harry guiltily, looking at Dumbledore.

"You may explain your situation to me like any other student would explain a problem, Harry," said Dumbledore cheerfully.

"Well, you see, I know what the second task is sir, but I just don't know how I'm going to complete it," said Harry, careful not to mention anything about the clue. "It's very – complicated – and it doesn't seem like something that I'll be able to solve easily, if that makes any sense."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Sometimes, Harry, the best solutions to our problems are right in front of us," he said simply. Harry nodded, not really quite understanding what he meant by that but appreciating the advice all the same. "Ah, here we are," said Dumbledore as the two arrived at a familiar gargoyle.

"Sugar Quills!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. The gargoyle leaped aside to reveal a swirling staircase. Harry followed Dumbledore up the staircase and through a pair of double doors into his office.

Harry had only been in Dumbledore's office once before, but it still took his breath away. It was a round circular room that contained many little trinkets and cases of magical objects. What interested Harry was that all around the room there were portraits of old witches and wizards. As Harry peered at one portrait, he read upon it the following inscription: Phineas Nigellus Black, Slytherin, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Looking around the room, he saw that all of the portraits bore a similar inscription, meaning that every headmaster or headmistress of Hogwarts had a portrait on the wall. Lots of them were empty, however some were still in their portraits and were looking down at Harry curiously. A set of stone steps led up to a smaller circular room that connected to the larger one, and in the smaller circular room laid a rather ornate desk that at the moment had several pieces of parchment on it. Behind the desk were a set of stairs on either side of the room that led up to a small balcony behind the desk, with a globe positioned on the balcony. Several bookshelves were also positioned around the room, featuring a wide variety of books, and Harry noticed a cabinet off to the side that was closed, concealing whatever was in it.

As Harry looked around the room, he heard a caw, and a few seconds later, a phoenix landed on Harry's arm. "Hello Fawkes," said Harry warmly, having met Fawkes in his second year when the phoenix had saved Harry in the Chamber of Secrets. He softly stroked Fawkes who nodded his head to him and then flew off to Dumbledore, who had sat down at his desk.

"Now then, Harry, what would you like to talk about?" asked Dumbledore, turning his gaze back to Harry.

Harry for a moment was unsure of how to begin. Dumbledore did not know about the Marauder's Map, and Harry was wondering if he would get in trouble for possessing such a valuable piece of information. He decided to just tell Dumbledore the truth, for if there was one person he could trust with anything, it was Dumbledore.

"Well, you see sir, last year Fred and George Weasley gave me this map of Hogwarts, called the Marauder's Map. This wasn't any normal map, however. It was an enchanted map that showed every part of Hogwarts, including all of the secret passageways, and all of its moving parts. But it also showed the people within Hogwarts as small little dots, with each dot labeled to show where everyone was. For example, if I had the map now, it would show both of our dots in your office right now."

"Interesting," said Dumbledore, stroking Fawkes as he peered at Harry. "May I ask where Mr. and Mr. Weasley obtained this map?"

"Uh, well, they didn't exactly do it without breaking rules…" said Harry nervously.

"I assure you, they will not be punished," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling once more.

"Well, they told me they took it from Filch's office in their first year," said Harry, feeling slightly embarrassed. Dumbledore chuckled slightly.

"Ah, whatever a pair of troublemakers those two are…and they gave it to you so that you could sneak into Hogsmeade, am I correct with that?"

"What?" blurted Harry, before realizing he was being a little rude. "Sorry sir, um, yes, that was why they gave it to me," he finished, his face reddening.

"Do not worry, Harry, you are not in trouble," said Dumbledore, chuckling. "Now tell me, did they tell you who made the Marauder's Map?"

"Well, you see sir, they didn't actually know that, but I figured it out on my own last year. You see, it was my father, actually, who created that map. He made it with Sirius, Professor Lupin, and – "here, Harry paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to check on his temper, before snarling, "Pettigrew."

Dumbledore noticed this. "Harry, I must apologize once more that we were unable to apprehend Mr. Pettigrew the night that Sirius escaped. Rest assured, I will be making my best effort in the near future to ensure that he is taken into custody. Now, I assume you did not just come here to tell me about this map?"

"Ah, yes, Professor," said Harry, remembering what he had come to Dumbledore for. "Well, actually, last night I was, uh, out in the halls after curfew."

"Something that seems to have become a bit of a habit for you," said Dumbledore sternly, though his eyes possessed a mischievous twinkle as he looked at Harry.

"Yes, well, I was actually working on the clue for the task. And when I was on my way back to the common room, I was checking the map to see if anyone was near me, and I noticed something strange. In Professor Moody's office, I saw his dot in there, but I also saw that Barty Crouch was in his office as well."

"Barty Crouch?" asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows scrunching together. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Professor," said Harry, nodding his head. "And I thought that was odd, since I heard that they don't exactly get along well, do they?"

"No, no they do not," said Dumbledore quietly, who had now stood and was pacing back and forth behind his desk. "And you saw this last night at what time?"

"About half past two in the morning, sir," replied Harry, now feeling slightly unsettled.

Dumbledore was quiet for a few moments before turning back to Harry. "Thank you for telling me this, Harry. It may be important for the future. Where is the Marauder's Map now?"

"It's locked in my trunk, sir," said Harry quickly. "Would you like me to give it to you?" he added.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "I think you may keep it for now. After all, it was your father's, so I believe you do have a right to it. Just do your best to try not to break any further rules with it, yes Harry?"

"Understood, Professor," said Harry.

"I will let you know if I need to ask you anything else regarding this matter, Harry. Until then, I ask that you not tell anyone else about this, is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor," said Harry, starting to move towards the door.

"Good. Well, go and enjoy the rest of your day, Harry," said Dumbledore, returning to sit at his desk.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry turned and exited Dumbledore's office, heading down the stairs, his brain filled with theories about why Crouch had been in Moody's office the previous night. None of them seemed to make any sense, however. He was barely paying attention to where he was going, and before he knew it, he was in front of the Fat Lady.

"Tentacula," he told the Fat Lady. The password had been changed a couple weeks ago. The Fat Lady nodded and swung her portrait open. Harry clambered into the common room. Almost immediately Ron and Hermione rushed over to him.

"Harry! Where've you been?" demanded Hermione.

"Had to talk to Dumbledore about something," muttered Harry.

"Well, tell us about the clue," said Ron.

Harry was about to tell them when he noticed that many people in the common room were eavesdropping. "Let's go somewhere a bit more private," whispered Harry. "Hold on, wait for me outside, I need to go grab something really quick." Ron and Hermione departed through the portrait hole while Harry bounded up the steps to his dormitory. He walked over to his bed and picked up his backpack, checking to see that the roll of parchment containing the clue was still inside. He then put the egg into his trunk, locked it, and set off back to the common room, leaving through the portrait hole and meeting Ron and Hermione. "This way," said Harry, and the trio started making their way down a hallway until they found an empty classroom. Harry closed the door behind them once they were all inside.

"So, what's the clue?" asked Ron.

"This," said Harry, and he took the backpack off his back and laid out the roll of parchment on a desk. Ron and Hermione peered at it for a few moments and Harry let them read in silence. When they finished, Ron looked up at Harry with an apprehensive expression while Hermione still stared at the parchment.

"Too late, it's gone, it won't come back? Blimey, that doesn't sound very promising, does it?"

Harry shook his head. "That's one of the parts that's worrying me. I'd prefer not to lose anything during this godforsaken tournament."

"But they said that the tournament would be safe for sure. Surely they wouldn't allow anything like that to happen," said Hermione, although Harry could tell she was doubtful herself about it.

"Anyhow, that's not the biggest thing," said Harry, turning to make sure the door was still closed. "I've worked out what it means, and I'm pretty certain that the task is going to be in the Black Lake, amongst the merpeople that live there.

"Merpeople?" asked Ron, perplexed. "There are merpeople in the Black Lake?"

"Apparently," replied Harry. "Of course, I'm more worried about how I'm going to have to stay underwater for an hour."

"Oh, I'm sure there's a spell or charm we can use!" exclaimed Hermione. "Professor Flitwick was just talking to me about the use of magic underwater, maybe we should try researching in the library?"

But although the three researched in the library for weeks, they were unable to find a spell or charm that would allow Harry to be able to breathe and survive underwater for an hour. Harry was prepared to swear that they had searched the entire library by the time the week of the second task had arrived. The closest thing they found to a spell that helped Harry breathe was one that turned him into a fish, but it was advanced Transfiguration for a seventh year, and Harry doubted that a fish would be able to complete the task that was intended for a Triwizard Champion.

Throughout this time Harry started to spend more time with Fleur. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he did start fancying Fleur quite a bit. She was a beautiful woman, veela or not, and Harry found himself drawn to her in a way that no other girl had ever managed to do, not even Cho Chang. They would relax on the grounds, sometimes with other people joining them, sometimes just the two of them, and talk about trivial things. Somehow, they never ran out of things to talk about. Harry learned a lot about Beauxbatons and Fleur learned a lot about Hogwarts. It was always a fun time whenever Harry was with her, yet he did not know how to deal with his growing feelings.

One evening found Harry sitting on his bed in the dormitory, silently reflecting on his preparation for the second task, which was to take place at nine thirty the next morning, on a Sunday. They had researched for hours every day. They had even brought Fred and George in to try and help Harry find a solution to his problem, but they still had not found a way. Hermione and Ron had set off to find another fresh set of books to look through, but Harry thought that the search was fruitless. He had no choice; he would have to forfeit the second task and accept defeat.

Harry shifted himself on his bed so that he was lying down on it and saw a book on the nightstand next to his. He turned and saw that it was the book Neville had gotten from Professor Moody, Magical Mediterranean Water Plants and their Properties. Harry was just about to turn away when he froze. Magical Mediterranean Water Plants…was it possible that there was a magical plant that allowed one to breathe underwater?

Harry had never heard of such a plant and Professor Sprout had certainly never talked about one in Herbology, but now was a time for desperate measures. He took the book and started flipping through the pages, looking for any phrases that jumped out at him. A few minutes later, he was halfway through the book and the feeling of despondence that had been so very common for Harry to feel the past few weeks was growing inside him once more. He was just about to slam the book shut and throw it across the room when his eyes skimmed over the phrase "breathe oxygen underwater". Harry stopped flipping through the pages and moved back to the plant for which said phrase was under the description for:

Gillyweed – a magical plant native to the Mediterranean Sea, around the Greek Islands. Physical appearance is of a slimy grey-green color that looks oddly reminiscent of rat tails. When eaten, a witch or wizard grows gills and webbing between their feet and toes, allowing them to breathe oxygen underwater and navigate underwater more easily. Herbologists often debate the duration of the effects of Gillyweed in fresh water vs. salt water, but it is generally agreed upon half a pound's worth of Gillyweed lasts approximately one hour.

Harry stopped reading the description there and stared at the picture of the plant just above the description in disbelief, wondering if the answer to his solution had really been here all along. Breathing oxygen underwater…was it that simple?

But, as Harry started feeling a brief sense of joy as finally finding his method of action, it was replaced by a feeling of bewilderment. Where was he supposed to get Gillyweed? It certainly didn't sound like something that would be in the student cupboards. And Harry wasn't sure if he was willing to break into Snape's private stores to steal something that very well may not even be in there.

Harry stood up for a moment, wondering what to do. Then he remembered that the last time he visited the kitchens to nick food with Ron, Dobby had told him that if he needed help with anything, he could summon him. Harry wasn't sure if this counted as something Dobby could help with, but he had no other choice. But how was he supposed to summon the house-elf?

"Dobby?" said Harry tentatively. Almost immediately there was a large popping sound and Harry fell backwards onto his bed, shocked by the sudden appearance of a familiar house-elf at his legs.

"Harry Potter called for Dobby sir!" squeaked Dobby.

"How – how did you get in here?" stammered Harry, still feeling flustered.

"House-elves can Apparate within Hogwarts, Harry Potter, sir! You need only say my name and I will be more than willing to help you as best as I can!" said Dobby, his eyes wide and his smile broad.

"Okay, well, this thing that I need help with might be tricky," warned Harry.

"Dobby will do his best regardless, sir!" said Dobby excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"I need you to get me half a pound of Gillyweed and bring it back to me tonight," said Harry. "Maybe just a little bit more than half a pound," he added as an afterthought.

He half expected Dobby to droop and say that it would not be possible for him to locate the plant in such a limited amount of time, but Dobby instead perked up and started bouncing even more excitedly. "Dobby knows the best place to get Gillyweed, Harry Potter, sir! Would Harry Potter like Dobby to bring it to him as soon as possible? It will only take a couple minutes!"

"Tha – that'd be fantastic!" said Harry, feeling very surprised. "You'll be able to get it to me tonight?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir!" And with that, there was another loud crack and Dobby Disapparated away from next to Harry's bed.

Harry sat on his bed, feeling incredibly lucky at this turn of fortune. In the span of a few minutes he had found a plant to do the second task as well as a way to get said plant. He had just decided that he should take a shower and had gotten up to do so when there was yet another loud crack and Harry fell back onto his bed again.

"Dobby has Harry Potter's Gillyweed, sir!" squealed Dobby, holding up a small bag. Harry took the bag and looked inside. Present was a balled-up plant that looked just like a pair of slimy green rat tails, exactly what Neville's book had said the plant looked like.

"This is amazing, Dobby!" cried Harry, grinning widely as he felt the Gillyweed. "Remind me to get you something really nice on the next Hogsmeade trip."

"Oh, Harry Potter doesn't have to do that, sir!" said Dobby, looking delighted all the same.

"No, no, I insist. Go get some rest Dobby, and thanks again!" said Harry. Dobby bowed to Harry and then Disapparated again with another crack. Harry looked at the Gillyweed for a few more moments before tying the bag securely and locking it in his trunk. No one was going to touch it until the next morning. He pushed the trunk back under his bed and went off to take a quick shower, finally feeling like he was prepared for the second task.