Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter! I will keep this A/N short! I just want to thank all of you for your reviews and for being patient with me! I'm officially 17 weeks into my pregnancy and I'm feeling so much better! :-)
Of course I do not own any of the characters. I wish I owned Fred or Jasper, but I don't. *pouts* ;-)
Previously
"Where's my brother?" George asked him.
"With your father." Barty replied, clearly lying through his teeth. "Now come along Isabella, time to get going."
"Bella!" Myself and the others in the room said at the same time, correcting Barty. I swear if he calls me 'Isabella' one more time, I'm going to shove my cast covered foot up his butt. We watched Barty as he spun around and went out the door.
"Fred's not with your dad, is he?" I asked George.
"No, there's no way. Something's going on."
"I don't like it." I said to him.
"Me either." George said as he looked warily at me.
BPOV
"I guess I have to get going." I said as I looked at the Cullen's, George and Harry. "There's just one thing I need to do first." I looked at Alice, knowing that she had already seen what I wanted to do. She had a sad look on her face, but I think she understood. I think she may have still have hoped that I would be her sister someday, but it won't happen now. I saw her turn to the others, taking Jasper's hand into hers and pulled him outside of the hospital wing. The remaining people had watched them leave and then turned to face me.
"I need to talk to Edward, alone please." I saw Carlisle pull Esme to him and they started walking out. Rosalie and Emmett weren't far behind them, but Emmett stopped to face me.
"If he tries anything funny," he said as he pointed to Edward, "I'll gladly rip him to shreds." I couldn't help but smile at Emmett. He was like the brother I never had, but of course, now I do have a brother. Who happened to be standing in front of Edward with his arms folded firmly across his chest.
"Harry, please. I just need a few minutes with him." Harry turned to face me, clearly not liking me being left alone with Edward. Maybe I shouldn't have told him about what Edward had done to me back in Forks. I shook my head at my brother's stubbornness as George swung an arm across Harry's shoulders.
"Come on mate, she'll be fine. She is a witch, you know." I laughed at George and watched him drag Harry out of the room. I didn't want to face Edward, but I couldn't stall any longer.
"Edward-" I started, but he cut me off.
"Please, Bella, don't say it." I swear I saw tears fill his eyes, the eyes that I once got so lost in. "I already know what you're going to say. Please, give me a chance to explain my side of things." I saw a hopeful glint in his eyes and thought about giving him a chance to talk again, but quickly changed my mind. He wasn't that special guy in my life any more. I had my heart set on another now.
"Edward, you need to leave." I choked back a sob, why did it hurt to say that? I wanted him to leave. "And not come back." I saw his face fall. I imagine this was how I looked when he broke my heart and now I was the once breaking his.
"Bella, don't make me leave. I love you, you have to know that." He moved forward and sat on the bed with me, taking my warm, tiny hand into his large, cold hand. I nodded my head at him.
"I do know, Edward. That's why you have to leave." He gripped my hand tighter, it didn't hurt, but my knuckles could feel a bit of uncomfortable pressure. "You left me and I didn't think I would see you again, I've moved on." I looked down at our hands, remembering the way I used to relish in his touch, how I would do anything to have him hold my hand. It didn't have the same effect on me now though. I held on to his hand a minute longer and let go. Letting him go and the ghost of our past relationship. It was done and over with now. I looked up at him and I know he could feel that it was over too. We stared at each other for a moment and I saw him stand up, assuming he was leaving…
What happened next caught me off guard. In one swift movement, he ripped the sheet that was separating us off of me and yanked me into his arms.
"Then you're coming with me." He hissed in my ear. "If I can't have you, neither can he." I felt panic, filling my every fiber as he picked my legs up and cradled me like a baby.
"Edward, put me down." I tried to speak calmly, but he responded be gripping me harder. I felt the searing pain of my leg and ribs as he crushed down on them. I yelped out in pain. Before Edward could get anywhere, the doors of the hospital wing swung open, the doors nearly ripped off their hinges. I could only see blurs racing towards us and I felt different arms grasping me. I looked up and could see that it was Jasper holding me in his arms. It was silly of me to think of this now of all times, but I couldn't help but wonder if this is how he looked when he was The Major. I should be scared, seeing the menacing look on his face, his eyes blazed with fury as he watched Edward like a hawk.
Emmett and Rosalie has Edward's arms pinned back so hard, that you could almost see the tiny cracks forming as they threatened to rip his arms off.
"I told you I'd rip him to shreds." Emmett said as he grinned at me, his dimples showing as he did so.
"Just get him out of here." I said to Emmett and Rosalie. I looked up to Jasper, but his eyes were glued on Edward. I lightly tugged on his chin length, wavy, blonde hair. He looked down at me and it took a second for his blazing eyes to go back to normal. I was in pain and I know he could sense it now as he looked at me. I felt the pain ease up a bit. "Thank you, Jasper." He smiled in response.
"Come on, I'll carry you to wherever you need to go." He said as he held me as lightly as possible, doing what he could to causing further pain.
"Where are Harry and George?" I asked him. Alice skipped over to us.
"They went to find Cedric, at least I think that's what his name was." Alice said with a full smile on her face. She is just way too happy. "They wanted to talk to him about the task." I nodded my head; they were trying to help prepare me for whatever was lying ahead of me. I know the task has something to do in the lake. Something about lost treasure or something. My mind was too foggy to really think at this moment.
"Cedric? Edward's doppleganger?" Jasper asked in a questioning tone.
"A dopple what?" I asked and giggled at the sound of it.
"What are you two talking about?" Carlisle inquired.
"Edward has a twin. Bella here thinks that they're distantly related. Cedric's great grandmother had a twin sister, Elizabeth, she disappeared and the last they heard... she had gone to America in the early 1900's or possibly late 1800's." Jasper explained to the others. I saw Carlisle's eyebrows raise up in surprise.
"Just wait until you see him. It's crazy how much they look alike." I quieted for a moment. "I wanted to tell Edward, but I guess, well maybe some other time." I said looking up at Jasper and he nodded his head at me.
"Maybe once this tournament is over, I can tell him. If you want, of course." Jasper said to me.
"That would be good. He should know, I don't want to keep this from him."
We were getting close to the dock; I guess I'm really going to drown in the water today. Joy. I saw everyone crowding around the long dock. Anticipation danced in the air. Everyone was pretty excited about this task. The Cullen's, Emmett and Rosalie had caught up with us, stayed on the shore, but Jasper cared me out to meet up with Harry and George. He gentle handed me to Harry and I said a quick thank you to Jasper and he kissed my cheek and then raced back to the other Cullen's.
"Why aren't they staying with us?" Harry asked me.
"I think they're worried about scaring people. They are vampires after all and only the Gryffindor's have seen them." I explained and looked up to see George scratching his head, he looked worried. "George, what's going on?" He looked to me and I could see that it was more than just worry, he looked scared.
"I don't know where Fred is." He said as he eyed me carefully.
"What do you mean?" It dawned on me; we'd talked about this before he left this morning. "He's really not with your father is he?" I said looking past his shoulder. He looked over at them and then turned back to me.
"That's the thing, he wasn't with them. My father hasn't spoken to him. I didn't want to alarm them or you. I've been looking everywhere…" He paused before he spoke again. "Bella, I think something happened to Fred." I felt my heart drop. But I didn't have time to think a few others come running over to me. "People laugh when we talk about the twin telepathy thing, but I really can feel Fred. I know when something's wrong." He paused as he looked out into the water. "Bella, I have a really bad feeling about this. I just don't know what 'it' is though." I was about to respond to him, but was interrupted.
"Bella, I've got it!" Neville said as he ran up to me. I looked at him questioningly. "It's gillyweed." I looked up at Harry and he shrugged as he placed me carefully on the edge of the dock.
"Why do I need this?" I asked him as he placed glowing, worm, plant-like things into my hand.
"You have to swallow it." He said with a look on his face that clearly said he thought I was losing it.
"Okay, I'm not following." I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Why do I need to eat this alien plant thing?
"We talked to Cedric; your task for today is recovering something that was taken from you. You have exactly one hour to reach it." I didn't realize that Ginny was by us, she sat down next to me as she spoke. Now everything made sense. This 'treasure' that I lost was somewhere in the lake. She took in my condition. "You can't do this. There's no possible way."
"We already talked to Barty Crouch, he said I have to compete." I said sadly. She was right; there was no way I could do this.
"NO! There's no way. I'm going to Dumbledore. There has to be something he can do." She quickly scrambled to her feet and took off to find Dumbledore. I didn't think he would be able to help me though.
I sat talking with Neville, Harry and George. Neville explained to me that the gillyweed, would allow me to breathe underwater for almost an hour. Well, hopefully it will. It gave me a tiny bit of hope. At least I wouldn't have to worry about that part of the task.
"Out of my way!" Cried a strong voice. "Isabella!" The voice called. I looked up to see Dumbledore pushing his way through the crowd. He stopped suddenly when he took in my appearance. I could tell he was upset. He turned to Ginny, who was trailing close behind him. "Why wasn't I told about her injuries?" He asked her gruffly.
"We thought you knew." She said simply. Dumbledore turned back to face me and moved closer. Neville got up from his spot next to me and Dumbledore crouched down to my level.
"My dear, why didn't you come to me?" He said in his kind fatherly tone.
"Barty said I had to compete, he said there was nothing he could do." I told him. He shook his head.
"Normally he would be right, but in this case, you are not fit to compete. I'm pulling you out of the competition; I will not have you injuring yourself further." I have never felt freer, than I do at this moment. I didn't have to compete! I was done. I left out a deep sigh of relief and Dumbledore smiled at me. "Next time, my dear, come to me." He looked thoughtful for a moment and looked at my leg that was wrapped in a cast. "Where's Poppy? She could, at the very least, healed your leg."
"I-I'm not sure. She wasn't in the hospital wing when I woke up there." He looked at me strangely.
"Who took care of you then?" He seemed confused and I felt myself becoming confused as well... where was Madam Pomfrey.
"Carlisle Cullen. He took care of me. All the Cullen's are here, well accept for Edward." I said I glanced to where the Cullen stood watching over everything. Dumbledore looked and saw them under the shaded trees. He gave them a small wave. I'm not sure if they waved back, it was too far for me to see.
"Well, I'm glad he was there to take care of you then. Now I just need to find out where Poppy went." He stood up and dusted off his spotless robe. "Rest now Isabella." He said and then turned and walked back to the judge's seats.
"They're about to start." Harry said and I could tell he wanted to get a closer look at what was going on. He and Cedric were starting to become friends and even if I was still in the competition, I think he would still cheer for him too.
"Go on ahead, all of you." I said to my friends who were still with me. "I'll be fine here. I don't want to risk being bumped by the crowd." Although they didn't seem entirely sure, I know all of them were eager to watch the start of the competition. "Go!" I said firmly and smiled at them. Slowly Harry, Ginny, George and Neville started walking towards the crowd.
"Hey Neville, thanks for finding the gillyweed for me." I said and a soft pink blush rose into his cheeks.
"No problem." He said and turned to walk with Harry. I heard them talking to each other as they walked away from me. I like that Neville is talking more. He's kind of strange, but I like him. He's really nice.
It was only a few minutes later when I heard Dumbledore's amplified voice carrying over the crowd.
"Our champions are ready for their second task. After the performances we witnessed during the first task, I have a good feeling that today will be even more exciting. Each champion has something taken from them during the night; they have exactly one hour to retrieve it. Good luck champions. You will start at the sound of my whistle." He paused for a moment and allowed my fellow champions to break through the crowd and position themselves to jump into the water. He blew the whistle and everyone cheered as the three champions jumped into the water.
You really couldn't see much once they jumped into the water, but everyone kept cheering for their favorite champion. I stopped watching after a couple of minutes and enjoyed the relief I felt at not being in the water.
"Isabella Potter." Said a loud voice, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Barty Crouch storming towards me. "What are you doing?" He barked at me.
"I'm not competing. Professor Dumbledore told me I was done." I could see his face turning purple and waited for him to explode.
"You HAVE to compete Ms. Isabella." I have had enough of this guy; I didn't care if he was part of the ministry of magic.
"BELLA!" I growled out to him. "My name is B-E-L-L-A!" He looked shocked at my outbreak and paused to study me. I saw an evil glint in his eye.
"You do realize what you've done right? Or did Dumbledore forget to tell you?" I looked at him cautiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I turned away from him.
"So, he didn't tell you then?" I didn't respond. "He didn't tell you that you just sentenced your boyfriend to death?" I felt a small gasp escape me and turned to face him. He laughed wickedly. "Yes, I do know about you and Mister Weasley and because of your cowardness... he'll die because of you." I felt my heart stop.
"Wha-what do you mean? That can't be true. You're lying." I said to him and checked for any signs of lies in his face.
"Oh I'm not the one lying... Bella. Your precious boyfriend is though. He's lying at the bottom of the water, waiting for you to save him." He was challenging me and I had no idea if he was telling the truth.
"No." I barely whispered out, shaking my head.
"Yes, my dear. He is what was taken from you." I could feel my head spinning and I looked to the Cullen's to see if they could hear anything, but I didn't see any movement from them.
"I'll do it." I said and started removing the jacket I had wrapped around me.
"You'll need that gillyweed." He said and I snapped my face up to him.
"How'd you know about the gillyweed?" I questioned him.
"Who do you think gave Neville Longbottom that book on Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants, last week?" I felt my stomach lurch. There was something not right about this, any of this. He was lying, I could feel it. "You'd better get going Miss Bella. Time is ticking away." He said as he pointed at his watch.
I quickly shoved the gillyweed into my mouth and hopped into the water. The gillyweed tasted awful and I thought at first that it wasn't working. But then I could feel searing pain on the sides of my neck and I thought surely I was going to die. But as quickly as the pain came, it vanished just as quickly. I felt my neck and could feel slits on both sides, like the ones you'd find on a fish. That's when I noticed that my fingers had changed. They looked more like flippers now. Now if only the gillyweed would have fixed my broken ribs and leg. They were all throbbing with pain.
I quickly looked around, trying to figure out where I needed to go. I could see pretty well, even though the water was murky. As I was looking I thought I saw a flash of yellow, and hoped it was Cedric. His jersey he was wearing was yellow and red, the hufflepuff colors. I quickly followed in the direction that I last saw him. I realized my leg was pretty useless and weighed me down with the cast, but my other leg did change and was more flipper-like, just like my hands. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to swim without one leg. I was swimming okay, not great, but I just really hoped it would be enough to save Fred.
Why didn't someone tell me that he would die? I knew people had died in past tournaments, but I thought they changed that. Was Dumbledore really going to sit back and allow a helpless student die? I felt myself fill with rage at this thought. I would do whatever I could to save him, I won't let him die without a fight.
Through the searing pain of my leg and ribs, I started swimming faster, looking around at everything that I swam past. Something brushed against me and I saw what look liked a mer-creature. Much uglier than I had pictured. I figured she knew the way and followed her. Thankfully my instinct was right; she led me right to them. I saw Cedric there already, his 'treasure' was Cho, a sweet quiet girl that I think Harry had a crush on. Cedric saw me as I swam up and looked at me like I was crazy. I tried speaking to me, but realized he couldn't, he had used a spell to create an air bubble around his nose and mouth to breathe with. He shook his head at me and pointed to Fred. He quickly started swimming for the surface.
I swam to Fred, but was distracted by a shark-like creature swimming at me; it took me a minute to realize it was Viktor. His had half performed a transfiguration spell. Only his head had changed into a shark. He abruptly hit me as he swam to his treasure, I hadn't even realized it was Hermione. I sighed with relief when he freed her. I needed to stop wasting time and quickly turned to Fred and felt my own relief release as I freed Fred. I wanted to hold him close to me, but I knew we were running out of time. My cast was now a soggy mess and no longer supporting my broken leg. Each stroke I swam, sent shooting pain through it. I couldn't give up, as much as I wanted to. My life and Fred's life were in my hands.
I started swimming to the surface and was almost there, I could see the stands with the people cheering us on. Cedric and Viktor had already breached the surface. I'm glad Cedric won. I had almost reached the surface when I heard a scream from bellow me. I turned to look and couldn't see anything. So, I turned back, but I heard the scream again, louder this time. Gabrielle! I had to make a quick decision, so I pushed Fred as hard as I could to the surface and swam back to find Gabrielle. I pulled out my wand, readying myself for anything. I realized I was back at the place the held the 'treasures' but no one was there. I was confused. Where was she? I looked around and couldn't find anything, but then one of the mermaids swam to me, laughing, a hard cackle-like laugh.
"You really thought, she was here? You really are a stupid human." The mermaid taunted. "Your little friend was here long before the others, but we had to lure you here somehow." I looked at the creature and I realized that I had been set up. "Oh, that's cute. You really thought your little boyfriend would die." She said as she swam around me. "Barty, played his part so well, didn't he?"
"Now we get to have our 'fun' with you." Said another mermaid as she swam to us. I turned to see that I was now surrounded. The second mermaid giggled. "This is going to be fun; it's been a while since we've had a human to play with." They started closing in on me. I was so confused. Why was this happening?
"Why was I set up? Who's behind this?" I asked, not knowing if I would be heard or not. The first mermaid looked at me.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." She replied as she came forward, the circle of mermaids were close enough for me to touch now. I held me wand out, trying desperately to think of a spell to save me. I felt defeated when nothing came to me. I knew I was about to die. A mermaid snatched my wand, shattering it in her hand. She poked me with the triton she had in her other hand. A touch of blood seeped through my skin, where it touched me. I felt another poke and another. Terror filled me and I screamed. Water filled my lungs and I started choking. My time with the gillyweed was up. I panicked and hoped to God, that Fred was at least alright. I wanted so badly to see him again. To have him hold me, just one last time. I knew my wish was in vain. I felt the darkness closing in on my mind. I was dying, never knowing if Fred was okay. I started to cry.
Something caught the mermaids attention, something that scared them. I looked up to see what was coming for me now. I guess it had to be bad, because the mermaids swam away, screaming with fear. I looked at the thing and saw two familiar golden eyes looking at me. I was being saved.
I sure hope this chapter was worth the wait. I know it took me a long time to write it. Please review! I love you! ;-)