Disclaimer: I hold no rights over the Harry Potter series or the Danny Phantom series. Any and all direct quotes and texts belong to J. K. Rowling and are used for entertainment purposes only and not for profit or any additional benefits.

ΔOl

Chapter Twenty-Six – The Second Task III

The cold, crisp air met his starving mouth as Harry breached the lake; gulping down mouthfuls of it, feeling as though he'd never breathed properly before, and panting pulled Ron and the little girl up with him. All around him, wild, green-haired heads were bobbing up to the surface, looking far less intimidating with their knotted hair plastered to their heads and smiling at him.

The crowd in the stands made a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet. Harry had the impression they thought that Ron and the little girl might be dead, but they were wrong... both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused as she floundered about, paddling unsteadily in the water, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" then he spotted Fleur's sister and asked incredulously, "What did you bring her for?"

Harry struggled to stay afloat, his muscles aching as he panted, "Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her."

"Harry, you prat," started Ron, "You didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"

"The song said—"

Ron rolled his eyes, "It was only to make sure you got back within the time limit! I hope you didn't waste time down there acting the hero!"

Harry felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very well for Ron; he'd been asleep. He hadn't felt how eerie it was down in the lake, surrounded by spear-carrying merpeople who'd looked more than capable of murder, nor did he have to face the creature with the nightmarish green eyes.

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

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

Harry could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. An overwhelming sense of confusion and relief flooded Harry as he caught sight of the boy in glasses that Danny had been sent to rescue standing off to the side, unhurt and laughing at Danny who was in turn glancing nervously between Harry and the judges.

Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Harry and Ron from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and appeared much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. Meanwhile, Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

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

"She's fine!" Harry tried to tell her, but he was so exhausted that his voice had long given out.

Percy was nowhere near as patient and waded knee-deep into the water, where he seized Ron and began dragging him up to the bank ("Gerroff, Percy! I'm all right!"); Danny had slunk back into the water as well, looking rather hesitant as he offered out a hand to pull Harry upright. He let go the moment he was steady, scurrying back to his friend's side without a backward glance. 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 bossily. She latched onto Harry and pulled him over toward Hermione and the others, wrapping him so tightly in a blanket that he felt he was in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat, before moving on to scold Danny who'd just shoved his laughing friend back into the freezing shallow waters.

The potion left steam gushing out of Harry's ears.

"Harry, well done!" Hermione cried as he neared, "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"

"Well—" said Harry. He would have told her about Dobby, but he 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 Harry, Ron and Fleur's sister had got back safely, "Yeah, that's right," Harry announced boastfully, raising his voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear him.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," Krum spoke up.

Harry had the impression that Krum was attempting to draw attention back on himself; perhaps to remind her that it was he who had rescued her from the lake, but Hermione just brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well out of the time limit though, Harry... Did it take you ages to find us?"

"No... I found you okay..."

The feeling of stupidity was rapidly growing in Harry's mind. Now that he was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledore's safety precautions wouldn't have permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn't turned up. Why hadn't he just grabbed Ron and gone? He would have been back first... he wouldn't have had to have met that frightening creature way down below... Cedric and Krum hadn't wasted time worrying about anyone else; they hadn't taken the mersong seriously. Even Danny's hostage seemed to be fine…

A thought hit Harry like a Confundus Charm and he resisted the urge to hit himself. It was obvious that the green-eyed creature he had run into was just another challenge like the grindylows, or some sort of underwater boggart. Even out of the lake and rapidly drying, he could still feel those eyes as if they were boring into the back of his head. Glancing around, all he saw was Danny staring at him uneasily, before he turned away toward the lake.

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 screeching noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Many of the merpeople were hissing in their croaking voice when they passed by Danny, who had fallen back into Madam Pomfrey's clutches and looked like he was suffocating under the tightly-bound blanket she had forced on him.

Finally Dumbledore straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give marks, I think," he crooked a finger in Danny's direction by the bank, who looked like he'd swallowed a bludger, "Mr. Fenton, a word if you would be so generous?"

The judges and Danny went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue a shivering Ron from Percy's clutches; she led him over to Harry and the others, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister, who was looking irritated at Danny's friend as he had gone over and interrupted her and her sister's reunion ("The name's Tucker, Tucker Foley. Or TF, as in 'Too Fine'"). Fleur had many cuts on her face 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 the matron, cutting off Danny's friend and turned to Harry, "You saved 'er," she said in wonderment, "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," said Harry, trying to his the dismay in his voice as he now heartily wished he's left all four of the hostages tied to the statue.

Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and he wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, "And you too – you 'elped."

"Yeah," Ron looked extremely hopeful, "Yeah, a bit—"

Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious, 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. Danny shuffled away from the judges' table, head hung low.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us all she could about 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."

Polite applause rose from the stands.

"I deserved zero," hiccupped Fleur, shaking her magnificent mane of hair.

"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; Harry saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look.

"We therefore award him forty-seven points."

Harry'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 third to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. Krum puffed his chest out proudly as Hermione clapped for him.

"Harry Potter 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 Mr. Potter 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."

Ron and Hermione both gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks.

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

Harry's stomach leapt – he was now tied for first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd.

"There you go, Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise, "You weren't being thick after all – you were showing moral fibre!"

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

Bagman raised a hand and declared, "Danny Fenton, although only four minutes behind Cedric Diggory, used some... rather experimental magic that will have to undertake evaluation. At this present time, his points are to be withheld."

Danny's shoulders slumped even further; he looked devastated as angry protests and accusations came from the stands, some aimed at the judges and some at himself. Professor Lancer strode over and placed a comforting hand on his student's shoulder, but Danny shoved it off, making his way back over to Tucker, who looked outraged on his behalf. Ron, on the other hand, looked positively giddy.

"Do you know what this means, Harry? With Fenton out of the way, you're bound to win the cup!"

Harry would have responded, but Bagman wasn't finished, "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. Harry 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 got through… he didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth…

Next time he was in Hogsmeade, Harry decided as he walked back up the stone steps into the castle, he was going to buy Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.

ΔOl

Somebody asked whether Danny using his ghost powers in the competition was cheating, and that he would never do such a thing. I disagree, in the show Danny used his powers many a time to gain what he wanted (getting revenge, sneaking into the girl's bathroom, etc.) – that's pretty much how we were introduced to his villainous alter-ego after all, because he cheated on that big exam. So yeah, I could totally see Danny cheating, especially if he was getting desperate.

I actually did manage to upload in time – I have an hours break before I head off to my second job so I thought I'd throw this in while I still had the chance.

Review! I'll be uploading again tomorrow if I haven't keeled over from university life. xx