Chapter 25: Task Two

Josh ran out of the dungeons and through the castle, and then ran out onto Hogwarts Grounds. He ran as fast as he could towards the Forbidden forest. He wanted to get away. No, he needed to get away from it all. What he had done, was a horrible thing. So horrible, how could he ever forgive himself. He just preformed an unforgivable curse. A curse so dark that it would give him a one way ticket to Azkaban.

Josh was running, he needed to get away. He ran through the Forbidden forest, not sure how far or where he was actually going. He just wanted to get away from the things he had just accomplished. He ran faster and faster, getting tired and slowly down, but suddenly, he tripped on a root, slamming down on his stomach, losing his breath. Josh slowly pushed himself of from the ground, and tried to catch his breath.

Once he done that, Josh walked over and sat on a fallen tree. He looked at his hands that still had some blood on them; his blood. He began thinking about what he had done. He had used an unforgivable curse and the worst part was that he had liked it. He had liked it when he tortured Cyrus, and if Daphne hadn´t stopped him, he could have done something really horrible.

"So what if you did do something terrible?" said a voice. Josh's head snapped up. That voice was really nearby and it sounded strangely familiar. "It would have given you the peace you needed," said the voice.

Josh stood up and looked for his wand. "Oh, you won't find it," said the voice. "You left it back at the castle like the young naïve kid you are."

"Who are you?" Josh yelled out. "Show yourself!" he demanded, and right in front of Josh, a person materialized out in front of him. He was taller than Josh, but he too had black short black hair, wore black clothes, but his eyes were red. There was only two other times Josh had seen this figure, and both times, he was facing down a boggart.

"Hello, Josh," it said. "And well, I'm you, from the future."

Josh shook his head, falling on the log. "No," he breathed. "No, you're not real. You're just a hallucination."

"A hallucination?" The older and eviler Josh said. "If that's what I am, do you know what that makes you?" he asked. Josh shook his head. "It makes you crazy! But you're not a crazy person Josh; you're as sane as that Looney Lovegood."

"Her name is Luna," Josh corrected, still breathing heavily.

"Oh, yeah, of course, of course," the evil Josh said, leaning against a tree. "Look, I'm just saying it like it is. You're not crazy. I am as real as you are; I'm just here from my time, about 5 years from now. And oh yeah, that's when things get really good. I mean, one, you kill the great master of death, Harry Potter!"

"No!" Josh cried. "No, that can be. Harry's my friend. Why would I kill them?"

"Oh, Josh," said Evil Josh. "You don't just kill Potter, but Granger, Weasley, oh Weasley, the torturing was so fun! Nielsen, Longbottom, Lovegood, Finnigan, Thomas, Davis, Weasley Twins, let's see, who else? Oh yeah, Malfoy, Snape and your own Grandfather, Flitwick, Shacklebot; yeah you pretty much start WWIII, or you're going to."

"Shut up!" Josh shouted.

"Hey man," The Evil Josh said. "I'm just telling you what I know and well, what I did. You are going to live up to one of the greatest sorcerers of all, Lord Voldemort. You're going to finish his work, all thanks to that smart wizard by the name of Dolohov."

"What?" Josh said, finally looking at the other Josh.

"Dolohov," Evil Josh repeated. "He's the one who set you on my path, the right path. He basically killed everyone you loved, which gave more rage the Voldemort could ever imagine and making way stronger than that no nose loser." Josh stared at his evil, older counterpart. "Well, he does kill a lot of people you love starting Next year, or maybe this year, I can never remember."

"You're lying," Josh said.

"Ha!" Evil Josh laughed. "I wouldn't lie to myself! Come on, Josh, you know that. We lie to our friends, and we keep secrets!" Josh shook his head. "Yes, attacking a muggle was our first big secret. No one knows but Sirius, but he won't tell anyone. Don't worry, no one will find out, but what's great is that you go back to that muggle and you kill him!"

"No!" Josh cried, shaking his head and covering his ears.

"Yes!" Evil Josh yelled. "He's your first killing, next year, and it was all for practice. And the smart thing you did? You threw up the Dark Mark over his house, which in set covered your tracks."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Josh began to say.

"No, Josh!" Evil Josh shouted, moving in front of Josh, grabbing his shirt and shaking him. "You are going to become me! And we are going to place this world into darkness! They took what I loved dearly and if I have to live in darkness, so do they!" Josh closed his eyes as shook him. "This is what you are going to become Josh. There is nothing you can do to stop it! This is your future, Josh! Josh! Josh –"

"Joshua!" cried a familiar voice. "Joshua, please snap out of it!"

Josh wasn't being shaken anymore, so he opened his eyes to see his worried father's face. He looked around and saw that his evil counterpart was nowhere to be seen.

"Josh," Sirius said softly. "What happened? What are you doing here in the forbidden forest, far away from the castle?"

Josh stood up and walked away from Sirius. "Nothing," he said stubbornly. "Why would you care? All you care about is Harry."

"I care because you are my son, Josh," Sirius replied. "You are important, and Harry is just as important, he's my godson. Now that his parents are gone, I have to look out for him, and you."

"Fat lots of good you are," Josh spoke sarcastically. "I mean, you are on the run from the Ministry. How you are even supposed to do your father/godfather duties is beyond me."

Sirius sighed. "Josh, let's talk about this later," He said, "And get you back up to the castle."

"Of course you'd say that," Josh replied. "If I was Harry, you'd probably want to talk about it, work out the feels and all, right?"

"Josh," Sirius sighed.

"No!" Josh cried. "Tell me why you favor Harry over your son. Why is he better than me? Why are things going down in a spiral," he said as he began to tear up. "What is wrong with me? Why did I torture Cyrus? Why am I going dark, dad?" Josh finished, and began crying.

Sirius watched his son in shock, feeling the regret for not being there for his own son, and for his punishment, his son changed to be so different than his parents. Sirius moved forward to hug his son.

"No!" Josh cried when Sirius hugged him, trying to push him away, but Sirius held his grip, and Josh too let go and let his father hug him.

"I am so sorry, Josh," Sirius said. "This is all my fault. I should have been there, but my selfishness got in the way. I'm so sorry."

A few minutes later, Josh and Sirius were sitting down and Josh was telling his father all about what happened back at the castle.

"- And the worst part was…I like it, dad," He said. "It felt so good to relieve that anger on him, but I couldn't stop, I didn't want to." Sirius nodded. "What's happening to me?"

"Look, you did nothing wrong," Sirius said. "He was attacking Daphne and you were there to stop him. You may have gone over the edge a bit, but you didn't do anything too Horrible. Thank merlin Daphne was there to stop you."

"Professor Snape was there too, but he didn't stop me," Josh added. Sirius sighed heavily.

"Probably hoping you'd be caught by another teacher so you could get expelled," Sirius muttered angrily.

Josh shook his head. "I don't know, but it didn't seem that that's what he was doing there," he said.

Sirius shrugged. "Josh look," he started. "You're angry, I get it. But things will change, I promise. Things will get better. A wise man once told me that it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." And the two began to talk more until the sun began to rise, talking more about Josh's anger and Sirius replying with fatherly advice and other things like school and the tournament.

"So, you save Daphne," Sirius began to say. Josh turned to look at his father while he tore a leaf apart. "Do you like her?"

Josh nervously laughed. "Of course not," he said, blushing a little. "I just care about her as a friend, nothing more."

Sirius smirked. "Son, you are talking to the guy who had more dates than average wizard. I was quite the ladies' man. If you need advice, all you need is to ask."

"How do I tell a girl I like her?" Josh asked.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, you'd look stupid," Sirius replied. "You want to be interested in her and talk to her like you are but you're not."

"What?" Josh said.

"You –"

POP! "Joshy Black needs to hurry!" interrupted a squeaky voice of Dobby who surprised the two Blacks. "The second task starts in ten minutes –"

"Ten minutes?" Josh shouted, standing to his feet. "Ten - ten minutes?"

Josh looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. He was so immersed with bonding with his Father he had lost track of time. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Josh's chest into his stomach.

"Hurry, Joshy Black!" squeaked Dobby, plucking at Josh's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!"

"But ten minutes?" Josh said. "How am I going to make that in time?"

"Maybe I could be of assistance," said a low voice. Everyone turned to see a familiar looking centaur.

"Firenze," Josh breathed out.

"Ah, you remember," Firenze said, and gave a nod.

"How could I forget," Josh replied, giving a small smile, making his way towards Firenze.

"Wait!" Dobby squeaked, running towards Josh. "I was tolds to give you this!" And shoved what he had into Josh's hand. It was gillyweed. "A boy Willy Nilly gave this to Harry Potter to give to me to give to yous!"

"Thanks," Josh said, pocketing the gillyweed, and then mounted Firenze. Sirius walked up to his son. "Dad?"

"Josh," Sirius said, giving a nod, "Good luck." Josh smiled and then Firenze galloped away from Sirius and Dobby.

"You don't happen to know what the second task is by any chance." Josh shouted over the centaur's galloping.

"I do," Firenze yelled. "The stars tell me of a young Black who will go into the Lake and find the thing he misses most which is a girl of the color green and happens to have a very grassy attitude."

"Wha – "Josh muttered. "What does that mean?"

"You will know," Firenze said, and a second later, they were out of the forest and stopped in front of the lake. Josh hopped off the Firenze. "Remember," he said. "You only have the hour, or all is lost." Josh nodded.

Josh ran along the bank of the lake. He saw the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as Josh ran flat-out around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges' table, watching Josh sprint toward them.

"I'm…here…" Josh panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes.

"Where have you been?" said a bossy, disapproving voice. "The task's about to start!"

Josh huffed and puffed as he looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges' table - Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again.

"Now, now, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see Josh. "Let him catch his breath!"

Dumbledore smiled at Josh, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see her, especially Karkaroff who was sneering at him. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up.

Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. Josh was on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready.

"Shite," Josh muttered to himself as he began stripping down to his pants and undershirt. He didn't have his wand, so how was he going to finish the task.

"All right, Joshua?" Bagman whispered as he moved Josh a few feet farther away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," Josh lied, nodding.

Bagman gave Josh's shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges' table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One…two…three!"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Josh pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake.

It was so cold he felt the skin on his legs searing as though this were fire, not icy water. His skin shivered as he walked in deeper; now the water was over his knees, and his rapidly numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. He was chewing the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it felt unpleasantly slimy and rubbery, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the freezing water he stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to happen.

He could hear laughter in the crowd and knew he must look stupid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goose pimples; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting his hair, Josh started to shiver violently wishing he had his wand. He avoided looking at the stands; the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeering from the Slytherins and other students…

Then, quite suddenly, Josh felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over her mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck - Josh clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping in the cold air…he had gills.

Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense and flung himself forward into the water.

The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life. His head had stopped spinning; he took another great gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through his gills, sending oxygen back to his brain. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet - they had become elongated and the toes were webbed too: it looked as though he had sprouted flippers.

The water didn't feel icy anymore either…on the contrary, he felt pleasantly cool and very light…Josh struck out once more, marveling at how far and fast his flipper-like feet propelled him through the water, and noticing how clearly he could see, and how he no longer seemed to need to blink. He had soon swum so far into the lake that he could no longer see the bottom. He flipped over and dived into its depths.

Silence pressed upon his ears as he soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. He could only see ten feet around him, so that as he sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. He swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around her to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque.

Small fish flickered past her like silver darts. Once or twice he thought he saw something larger moving ahead of him, but when he got nearer, he discovered it to be nothing but a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, or whatever girl Firenze had discovered.

Light green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass.

Josh was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom… and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle.

Josh twisted his body around and saw a grindylow, a small, horned water demon, poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Josh's leg, its pointed fangs bared – Josh instinctively stuck his webbed hand quickly inside his pants pocket looking for his wand, but it wasn't there. He forgot, he didn't have a wand.

By the time he remembered he didn't have a wand, two more grindylows had risen out of the weed, had seized his other leg, and were attempting to drag him down. Josh kicked as hard as he could, but the grindylows would not let go.

If only he had his wand, he could send these things flying, but he didn't have his wand. So, he tried swimming against the grindylows pulling which made him go slow. Frustrated and angry, Josh looked at the grindylows.

"Let go!" he shouted clearly underwater. The grindylows instantly let go and quickly swan away as if they had been scared of something. Smiling in triumph, Josh began to swim away as fast as he could before more grindylows showed up.

Josh slowed down a little and looked around, listening again. He turned a full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against his eardrums. He knew he must be even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed.

Frustratingly screaming in his mind, Josh set off once more, swimming a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more grindylows that might be lurking there.

He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took…"

Josh excitedly swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Josh swam on past the rock, following the mersong.

"… your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot…"

A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Josh saw faces… faces that bore no resemblance at all to the Muggle pictures of mermaids…The merpeople had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Josh as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

Josh sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door.

Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, and pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to one another. Josh sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

The first face he saw was Daphne's who was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made Josh feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

Josh sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. For a fleeting second he thought of the knife Sirius had bought him brother for Christmas – which happened to be in his pocket. He surprisingly never left without it.

He reached into his left pocket and pulled out the knife. He swam next to Daphne and began to cut at the ropes binding her, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Daphne floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.

Josh looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up?

He turned back to Hermione, raised his knife, and began to cut at her bindings too –

At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing.

"You take your own hostage," one of them said to him. "Leave the others…Your task is to retrieve your own friend…leave the others…"

"But she's my friend too!" Josh yelled, gesturing toward Hermione. "And I don't want them to die either!"

Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. Josh struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. Josh looked wildly around. Where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Daphne back to the surface and come back down for Hermione and the others? Would he be able to find them again? He looked down at his watch to see how much time was left - it had stopped working.

But then the merpeople around him pointed excitedly over his head. Josh looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.

"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!"

Feeling somewhat relieved, Josh watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and out of sight.

Josh looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour…

The merpeople started screeching animatedly. Those holding Josh loosened their grip, staring behind them. Josh turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark…It was Krum. He appeared to have transfigured himself- but badly.

The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin.

"Watch out you overgrown dolt!" Josh growled knowing he was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward, Josh hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the knife. Krum seized it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface.

Now what? Josh thought desperately. If he could be sure that Fleur was coming…But still no sign. There was nothing to be done except…

He tightened his grip on his knife, which Krum given back, but the mermen now closed in around Daphne and the little girl, shaking their heads at him. Josh held out his knife.

"Get out of the way!" He yelled. The mermen looked at Josh's small knife and laughed even harder. "Get lose!" Josh growled out, and this time, the mermen suddenly stopped laughing and swam away as if they had been scared.

Surprised, Josh darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the small girl to the statue, and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed under the arm of Daphne, and kicked off from the bottom.

It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forward; he worked his flippers furiously, but Daphne and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down…he fixed his eyes skyward, though he knew he must still be very deep, the water above him was so dark…

Josh's legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; his shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Daphne and the little girl, but he wasn't going to give up.

He was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. He could feel pain on the sides of his neck again…he was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in his mouth… yet the darkness was definitely thinning now…he could see daylight above him, he was almost there…

He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet…water was flooding through his mouth into his lungs…he was starting to feel dizzy, but he knew light and air were only ten feet above him…he had to get there…he had to…he was going to.

Josh kicked his legs so hard and fast it felt as though his muscles were screaming in protest; his very brain felt waterlogged, he couldn't breathe, he needed oxygen, he had to keep going, he could not stop, he won't –

And then he felt his head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; he gulped it down, feeling as though he had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Daphne and the little girl up with him.

The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet; Josh had the impression they thought that Daphne and the little girl might be dead, but they were wrong…both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Daphne merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Josh, and said, "Joshua," she cried and hugged him. "I thought…I thought..."

"It's okay, I'm back," Josh replied, hugging her back. Daphne let go, and then he spotted Fleur's sister.

"What did you bring her for?" she asked.

"Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her," Josh panted and Daphne nodded, smiling.

"C'mon," Josh said, "Help me with her; I don't think she can swim very well."

They pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs.

Josh could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Josh and Daphne from the bank as they swam nearer.

Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

The trio slowly made it back to the bank where Josh slid to his knees in exhaustion. Daphne, Dumbledore and Bagman pulled him upright; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister.

"It was ze grindylows… zey attacked me… oh Gabrielle, I thought… I thought…"

"Come here, you," said Madam Pomfrey. She took Harry and Daphne over to Hermione and the others, and wrapped Josh so tightly in a blanket that he felt as though he were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat. Steam gushed out of his ears.

"Josh!" Hermione cried, jumping on him with a tight hug. "You did it!"

"Well -" said Josh, but stopped - he had just noticed Karkaroff watching him. He was the only judge who had not left the table; the only judge not showing signs of pleasure and relief that Josh, Daphne, and Fleur's sister had got back safely, and he was glaring at Josh. "Yeah, that's right," said Josh, raising his voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear him.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," said Krum. Josh had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though, Josh… Did it take you ages to find us?"

"No…I found you ok…" Josh said. "I just thought….yeah, I found you okay."

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey, satisfied that Josh was warm, went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

"Look after Gabrielle," she told her, and then she turned to Josh. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah, I guess," Josh said. Fleur swooped down on him and kissed him, surprising him, and Daphne and Hermione who were shocked.

But just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows…

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

There was applause from the stands.

"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour."

Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd.

"We therefore award him forty-seven points."

Josh's heart sank. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, he most certainly had been.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.

"Joshua Black used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Young Mr. Black was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."

"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However…Mr. Black's score is forty-five points."

Josh's stomach leapt - he was now tied for first place with Cedric. There were many cheers and applause.

Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Josh to listen.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

It was over, Josh thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes…it was over, he had gotten through it…he didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth…hopefully.

A/N: There you go. Sorry it took so long, but i've been busy! so, yeah, may take a while. Hope you enjoy and please review.