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He looked at Harry for a moment and then said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love. Harry? I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd show 'em all... Yeh don' have ter be pureblood ter do it. Yeh don have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Harry?"
"Great," said Harry. "Really great."
Hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile. "Tha's my boy... You show 'em, Harry, you show 'em. Beat 'em all. "
I knew that lying to Hagrid wasn't anywhere the same as lying to anyone else, and I knew that Harry probably felt like the world's largest prat at that moment.
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Harry, Cedric already warned you about the egg." I said that night, as Harry sat at the desk, staring at it. He sighed and sat back.
"I know, but his clue made no sense. He said to 'take a bath with it'." Harry said, actually using air quotes.
"Well then, I think it has something more to do with water, rather than actually bathing with it, come on." I said, getting out of bed. Harry and I entered the bathroom, but instead of heading over to the shower stall, I started to fill the huge bath with lukewarm water. When it was filled, I used a spell to change my pajamas into a bikini, and Harry's pajamas into black swim trunks.
I took one of his hands, and he used the other to hold the egg, and we stepped into the pool, wading out until I was up to my shoulders, but the water only came to Harry's chest. He held the egg underwater, but nothing happened. "Open it," I said obviously, taking a guess.
Slowly, Harry undid the clasp and let the egg fall open. Open, it did not wail and I heard the faint sound of music coming from under the water. "We have to duck under water to hear it!" I exclaimed. Taking the egg from Harry, I closed it again to start it over, and looked at him. "Ready?"
"Yeah, just do it." Harry said. I counted to three, and we both submerged ourselves completely underwater, our hair fanning out, twisting and waving in the water. I opened the egg again, only this time we heard a chorus of eerie voices singing to us from the egg in my hands.
"Come seek us where our voice 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,
To recover what we took,
But past an hour –the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it's won't come back."
As soon as the song faded away, I closed the egg, and Harry and I came up for air. "We need Hermione and Ron," I said, putting the egg on the black marble floor. "so we can solve this together. And Luna too, she's a freaking Ravenclaw."
I lifted myself out of the bath, as did Harry, and we wrapped ourselves in towels. I scooped up the egg in my arms, and we left the bathroom. I dropped the egg onto my bed, and we went out into the common room, knocking on all three doors of occupied rooms. After gathering the three back in my room, we settled. And as I towel-dried my hair, I explained what we'd done and heard.
I repeated the poem again while Hermione wrote it down. "The poem itself is rather easy to understand." I said, leaning back onto my pillows.
Ron and Harry stared at me, while Luna and Hermione agreed. "And how is it easy to understand? What does it mean?" Ron asked.
"It means that the champions," I said, "have only one hour to retrieve something from the Black Lake, or lose it for good."
The boys raised their eyebrows, and even Hermione looked confused. "I'd figured out the retrieve an object part, that was rather obvious, but how did you come up with the Black Lake?"
"The song is a mermaid's song," I started, "like, a real mermaid, not the mythical creatures in muggle movies. I should've recognized that screeching sound before. That's what they sound like out of water. Anyway, mermaids are water-dwelling creatures, and it says 'come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground,' meaning they've taken it into the water. One line says 'the prospect's black', so I figured it's a reference to the task's location, the Black Lake."
They all stared at me, clearly impressed. "That strangely makes sense," Harry said, "but how do we know what object they're taking? We'd have to figure that out if I'm going to search a bloody lake for it. Plus, I have to be able to actually breathe underwater for an hour to find the object, and not freeze to death!"
I could see him getting worked up, so I flicked his nose, bringing him back. "Calm down Harry, one problem at a time."
"So, what's important enough that you're willing to go into the freezing lake to get it?" Ron asked. My eyes lit up.
"Ron, you're a bloody genius!" I exclaimed, sitting up straight. Ron looked bemused, but pleased.
"Why is Ron a genius?" Harry asked.
"Because he just gave me a thought." I said. "I don't think it's an object you have to retrieve…"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Because if something means that much to you, if it's important enough that you're willing to risk your life to get it back, then wouldn't it already be in a safe place, locked away?" Luna piped up. "It would be somewhere that nobody else would be able to get to it, including the tournament's organizers."
"And if that's the case, there would be no task to watch." Hermione said slowly, catching on.
"Exactly, none of you would probably risk your lives for an object that other people had easy access to." I said. Harry nodded slowly.
"Alright, I see what you mean. Anything that has that much sentimental value to me is locked away in my trunk, which is up here, a place no one knows about. None of it can be summoned, thanks to the wards Gia put up. And if it's not in my trunk, then it can be replaced, and I wouldn't risk my life for it." He said.
"Precisely, and I'm sure the organizers will have thought of that. So, if they can't take an object, they'll take…" I trailed off expectantly.
"It's a person!" Hermione yelled suddenly, finally realizing. "They're going to take the person you'll miss the most, someone you'd certainly risk your life going into that lake for!"
We all fell silent, letting the realization sink in.
"If that's the case, then it's surely one of you. I'd say that it's Hermione or Ron, or even Luna, but everyone knows that Gia and I are dating, so it's most likely to be you." Harry said, wrapping his arms protectively around me.
"There's nothing you can do Harry, if they really want to make me your hostage. You'll just have to rescue me." I said, looking at him. "I trust you to rescue me."
We shared a quick but loving kiss, before getting back to business. "I'll do whatever it takes to save you, but how do I breathe for an hour underwater?"
"Well," Luna began, "Neville was showing me one of those books that Professor Moody had given him. It had one plant…Gillyweed, it was called. It lets you grow gills and flippers, the time slot depends on how much you eat."
"That sounds promising, but how do I get it?" Harry asked.
"Prim!" I called suddenly. Immediately, the little house-elf popped onto the bed, bounced, and curtsied.
"Yes, Miss Gia?" she asked.
"Can you go to one of the Herbology greenhouses and see if you can find some Gillyweed? Don't be seen, and bring it back in a jar, please?" I instructed. Nodding, Prim popped away. "Problem solved." I said smugly. Fifteen minutes later, Prim returned and handed me a jar of the little plant. It looked like a bundle of slimy, grey-green rat tails.
Harry looked a bit green himself. "I have to eat that?" he choked out. I hummed.
"If you want to rescue me, you do." I said. He groaned lightly.
"Fine, but only for you." He said, kissing my forehead. With that problem solved, the others bid us goodnight, and retreated back to their own rooms. That night, as I slept, I had a dream…or more like a vision. It was about Harry, as practically all of my visions seemed to revolve around him. He seemed to be wandering about the school under his cloak, but I could still see him. He was holding the egg and the Marauder's Map. I watched as he used the prefects' bath to solve the egg, with Myrtle's flirtatious help. Afterwards, he dropped his bloody egg, which called the attention of not only Filch, but also Snape and Moody. They promptly had a fight, speculating about various things before Harry revealed himself secretly to Moody, who ended up helping him.
In the end, Harry let Moody borrow the Map, and he returned to bed.
When the vision finished, I was left with quite a few questions, like why was Crouch pretending to be ill, if he could manage to get to Hogwarts when he wanted to? Why was he wandering about the school at one in the morning? And what did Moody think Snape was concealing in his office?
"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.
"Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "And it was only a vision, it didn't actually happen, and it doesn't need to now that we have solved it!"
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today –the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target.
It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room—Professor Flitwick, for instance.
"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" I hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past us, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody..."
This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay us any attention. I had been recounting them with my vision from the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour, absently banishing stray cushions that flew towards us.
"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). What... D'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"
"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," I said. I watched as Harry waved his wand without really paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something..."
"What?" said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"
"Oh Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head skeptically, "we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?" She Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at.
Harry looked at Hermione, obviously thinking...
"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit—"
"Evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?"
"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"
"You just don't like Crouch because of Winky," said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window.
"You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box.
"I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," said Harry grimly, and his cushion, to our very great surprise, flew straight across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's.
"In my opinion," I said, banishing another cushion, causing it to land neatly on top of Harry's, "most of the mystery revolves around Moody."
The trio looked at me. "What?" they said in unison.
"Well, think about it. If Dumbledore did tell Moody to search Snape's office, then he was only doing his job, but even if Dumbledore didn't, then why would he feel that he had to? Why doesn't Moody trust Snape? Why doesn't Moody like Snape at all? And Harry's right, what did Snape do with his first chance?" None of them had any answers.
Obedient to Sirius's wish of hearing about anything odd at Hogwarts, Harry sent him a letter by brown owl that night, explaining all about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape s office, and Moody and Snape's conversation, phrasing it as if had actually happened to him so as not to reveal my gift.
As the second task approached, I forced the trio back into the Room of Requirement more, during our free periods, breaks, evening, and even throughout the whole weekends. I pushed them through harsh training and all of them, even Ron, were improving tremendously. None of them, not even Harry, could beat me in a duel yet, but I hadn't expected them to. They had mastered plenty of new spells of all sorts, their physical training had taken off, and the various skills I taught them were becoming fixated in their brains. I had a growing bad feeling in my gut as time went on, and soon there was only two days left until the second task.
Monday morning at breakfast, I noticed that Harry wasn't eating and piled food on his plate. "Harry, don't make me force feed you. Eat."
"Yes mum," he grumbled. I knew he was just stressed, and I rubbed his back soothingly as he forced down the breakfast. As the usual invasion of owls swooped into the Great Hall, the arrival of the brown owl from Sirius seemed to pick Harry up more. He pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him.
Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.
Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank. "Weekend after next," I whispered, having read the note over his shoulder. "Here—take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again.
"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron.
"Dunno," said Harry. "Come on ... Care of Magical Creatures."
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, we didn't know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.
"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies... Don mind boys so much... C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want... Give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps..."
I kneeled on the ground, letting one of the little unicorns come to me. It was a boy, and the other was a girl. I fed him sugar lumps, petting him and cooing lovingly to him. He made a cute little whinnying sound and rubbed his muzzle against my face. I heard several clicks, looked to see that Harry had once again snapped several pictures with my camera. As I petted the foal with Hermione and some of the other students, I stretched out my hearing a bit, and heard Hagrid give Harry a very heartfelt pep talk. At the end of it, Harry looked considerably happier.
That night, after much last minute training, I dragged Harry and the others to the Gryffindor common room to relax in a familiar place before the task tomorrow. We were talking and laughing, finally relaxing, when Fred and George popped up. "What do you two want?" Ron asked, not meanly.
"McGonagall wants us to take Gia and Hermione to her office." Fred said.
"Why?" Hermione and I asked together.
"Dunno, she just told us to bring you down to her office." George repeated.
"I have a feeling I know…" I said, giving the trio an obvious look. Understanding dawned in their eyes, and Harry swept me up into a tight embrace, pulling me into a kiss so thorough I was breathless afterward.
"I'll save you." He murmured seriously. I gave him another kiss.
"I trust you." I murmured back, before spinning out of his arms. I grabbed Hermione's hand. "We know the way Gred, Forge, thanks for passing on the message." I said.
Without waiting for them to reply, I pulled Hermione out into the corridor, and we walked down to McGonagall's office. On the way, Hermione spoke up. "I know why she wants you, but why am I being called down?" I shrugged.
"I have no idea." I said honestly.
When we entered McGonagall's office, she wasn't alone. Headmaster Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Moody, and Professor Snape were all there, as well as Cedric's new girlfriend Ceria Miltes, and a beautiful young girl that looked a lot like Fleur.
"Hello Miss Grey, Miss Granger." Dumbledore greeted as we walked. We returned the sentiment and looked at everyone. "I'm not sure if you two know why you're here…"
I nodded. "We're hostages for the task, right?" I asked. The professors looked impressed.
"You figured that out?" Dumbledore asked. I shrugged nonchalantly. "Very good," he said. "Anyway, you four are here, as Miss Grey said, to be a hostage for each Champion to rescue from the depths of the Black Lake. Each of you means a great deal to one of the champions, and this will test not only their strength, smarts, and bravery, but also their loyalty to a loved one. Now,"
"E-excuse me," Hermione piped up in a small voice. Dumbledore smiled at her and nodded encouragingly. "Whose hostage am I?" she asked.
"Mr. Potter's," Dumbledore answered simply. Hermione and I raised eyebrows.
"I thought I was Harry's hostage?" I said.
"You are Mr. Krum's hostage, Miss Grey." He explained. Now, my eyebrows shot up. Hermione looked ready to protest, but I caught her eye and shook my head. Let it go…
"Now that that's clear, we shall be putting each of you in a special sort of sleeping stasis, so that you will, essentially, be unaware in the Lake." Dumbledore said.
"What if it wears off before our champion rescues us?" I asked.
"Or what if they don't rescue us before an hour?" Hermione added. We could tell that though Moody appreciated our caution, the other Professors were slightly exasperated.
"They won't wear off, I assure you, and the hour mark is simply how the task is judged." After that, Dumbledore had us each sit down in a chair as he put the stasis on us. He did the little girl, Gabrielle, first, and then Ceria. I hugged Hermione one last time before she too was placed under stasis, and then it was my turn.
As I sat down, I looked at all of the adults in the room. "If anything happens to Harry or Hermione while in that lake, there will be hell to pay." I said, unapologetically. And then I knew nothing….