Harry Potter Alternate Universe: Year Four
A/N: Glad you liked it and...did I make it really that obvious that Dean was just written in? Sorry.
Harry, Luke, Becca and Ron made their way down to the second task as Neville joined them.
"Don't eat any of it until you're a few seconds away from being in the water – it works instantly and you don't want to be on land when it starts." Neville warned, Harry nodded. Neville joined Seamus, Dean and the twins.
"Good luck, Harry." Becca said before following Neville.
"Yeah, good luck, mate." Ron said, he walked away before stopping and waiting for Luke.
"Hurry up and find what you lost so you can help me find what I lost." Luke said with a worried smile.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Steph's with Fleur or something." Harry said, Luke nodded with a sigh. "Hey, have you seen Hermione since yesterday?"
"No, hopefully they're together." Luke said as they walked closer to the dock where the champions would be starting the next task.
"Attention!" A loud male voice called out, everyone quieted down as they turned to see their headmaster standing there with his wand next to his throat, amplifying his voice. He cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second task. Our champions have been allotted a time limit to where they must go into the water, retrieve their 'sorely missed' and make it back to the surface before times runs out. Champions, take your marks." Harry, Fleur, Cedric and Viktor made their way to the edge of the dock and waited. Harry saw Draco and Lindsey but didn't see Steph or Hermione. He lifted the gillyweed into his mouth just as Dumbledore gave the signal to go. The horn let out a loud noise and all the champions jumped into the water. When Harry landed in the water, he stopped for a moment to get his bearings and for the transformation to take full effect. He looked down at his hands and feet and saw that they had become webbed, he scratched his neck, he felt gills. He gave a short smirk before swimming off, following his instincts.
Above the water, Luke was scanning the crowds. He spotted Draco and Lindsey and made his way over to them.
"Draco, Lindsey, have you seen Hermione or Steph?" Luke asked, Draco and Lindsey shook their heads.
"No, McGonagall just came to me this morning to fill in for Steph. But Steph's done a great job, Fleur understood everything." Lindsey said, not worried.
Harry moved deeper into the lake, keeping an eye out for any dangers when he saw faint outlines near the bottom of the lake next to a sunken ship. Pushing himself faster, he quickly neared the shapes and made out four hostages, apparently sleeping in the water. He saw one of Viktor's friends, one of Cedric's friends, next to her was Hermione, he raced over to her, then he caught sight of the girl next to his girlfriend; Steph. He looked around for something to free her before he grabbed his wand and cut the rope that was binding Hermione, he grabbed a hold of her and moved over to Steph when a merperson stopped him.
"She's my friend too!" Harry tried to shout, but they just shook their heads. Cedric came up next and cut the rope with his wand, grabbed his friend and then turned to Harry and tapped his watch. Harry nodded and watched him float to the surface. Soon, a shark came up, he cut his friend's rope and swam up with him. Harry looked around and didn't see Fleur, he knew Luke would never forgive him if he just left Steph. He quickly cut Steph's ropes and started to swim with her and Hermione when grubby hands pulled him back down. Harry pushed Steph and Hermione up and pointed his wand down, he said a spell and the merpeople left him alone. Harry felt the gillyweed wearing off and he looked to the surface as he felt himself floating down, the edges of his vision turning black.
Hermione and Steph gasped as they came to the surface, Fleur was crying but as soon as she saw Steph, she reached in and helped her out. Ron helped Hermione out. Luke was over by Steph in a flash, had a towel around her and kissed her passionately.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione's voice broke through.
Everyone watched as Harry surfaced, coughing and spluttering as he coughed up water and hurried onto the dock. His wand clutched in his hand.
The champions and hostages were being looked over by Madam Pomfrey to make sure they were alright. Soon it was only, Becca, Harry, Steph and Luke.
"Hey, it's the hero of the hour." Ron said as he walked in, he watched as Harry rolled his eyes.
"There was no way I was leaving Steph down there, Luke would've killed me." Harry said with a grin at his cousin. "Besides, I have too much to live for."
Harry walked into the Great Hall, he spotted his friends and hurried over. He sat next to Ron.
"Crouch is missing." Ron said bluntly, the group went silent and turned to him. "Percy's taking over for him as one of the judges."
"Do you think something happened? Did you see him at the last task?" Hermione asked as she grabbed Harry's arm, Ron nodded.
"Yeah, he was a bit pale but nothing strikingly different." Ron said, he looked over at Harry and felt his heart swell a bit before looking away. All he could think about was Percy's confession.
"So, what – Harry's gunna die?" Ron demanded, Percy sighed and shrugged.
"It isn't definite that Harry will die or that his death is even being plotted." Percy tried to reassure his brother.
"There's always a plot of Harry's death going on." Ron said with a sigh. "How am I suppose to tell my best friend his life is in more danger again? Wait, how am I gunna tell Becca, and Luke, Steph, Hermione?" Ron asked running his hands through his hair.
"Ron, you don't need to tell them." Percy said, Ron glared at his brother.
"Of course I have to tell them, Percy. I would want to know." Ron said as he closed his eyes tightly.
"Ron…" Percy started but stopped when he saw Ron's shoulder's slumped down in devastation and defeat.
"Ron?" Harry's voice called him back to the present. Ron looked up, blinking when he saw that everyone's eyes were staring at him, concern written in them. He searched until he found the brown eyes he was looking for. "Ron, are you okay?" Ron snapped back to the present and looked over at Harry.
"Yeah, fine mate." Ron said, silently deciding not to tell them all what Percy had told him. He looked over at Draco, his gray-blue eyes were clear and concern was written in them. Ron nodded before looking out of the Great Hall. Draco nodded. Draco pushed his food away and walked out of the Great Hall. "Um, I'll be back." Ron pushed his food away before walking out of the hall before anyone had a chance to question him. The mail came next but nothing for Harry, Luke picked up his one letter and opened it. He smiled before handing it to Harry.
'Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish & Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon.' – ST' Harry grinned at Luke.