"How are you feeling, Harry?"
Harry turned his attention away from the windows that the owls used as an entrance to the Great Hall and towards Jeremy who had spoken to him. Harry had barely seen Jeremy all year, and the only times he'd seen the older boy the year before was during Quidditch Practises, but he was glad that he and Takashi had chosen to sit with him.
"Alright, thank you." Harry answered, before glancing back to see whether or not the owls had arrived yet.
"You look a little stressed." Jeremy commented.
"Of course he's stressed." Takashi rolled his eyes. "He's got less than an hour till the start of the Second Task."
Harry's stomach squirmed at the reminder. How was it already the 24th of February? And why hadn't the owl post arrived yet? The Gillyweed, which he would be using to help him breathe underwater, was supposed to be arriving this morning and he would feel much better once it was in his hands.
He had backup plans of course, a total of ten of them (though the plans from six through to ten were a bit bonkers), but he really wanted to go with his first plan. Plan two involved using the Gillyweed that had arrived by owl the day before, but the fresher Gillyweed would last longer. Plan three, which he didn't really need anymore, involved begging some Gillyweed of Professor Snape, and plan four was to use the Bubblehead Charm that Cousin Ted has suggested.
"Here they come." Luna commented quietly from his side and Harry looked up in hope as the owls flooded into the room.
He searched for Hedwig amongst the many brown and black owls and grinned as he saw her swooping down towards him a small box clasped in her foot. He could do this.
"So, Harry," Jeremy started, as Harry fed Hedwig a few pieces of bacon. "What's your plan?"
"You can't ask him that!" Takashi rebuked him.
"Why not?" Jeremy asked defensively.
"What if one of the other Champions overhears?"
Jeremy snorted. "He's a fourth year, no offence, Harry. Do you really think that any of the seventh years are going to be so stuck for ideas that they'll steal his?"
Harry didn't know why Jeremy thought saying 'no offence' would take away the sting of his statement. Though to be fair, he didn't exactly disagree. He doubted he'd be half as worried about the Task if he was the same age as the other Champions.
"What kind of House loyalty is that?" Takashi asked, with a frown.
"The realistic kind." Jeremy returned. "He's going up against Viktor Krum!"
"Who he's already beaten once." Takashi pointed out.
"So Harry has a bloody brilliant blasting curse," Jeremy acknowledged. "I doubt that's going to be what they're testing today. We're meeting down at the lake."
"Speaking of which," Takashi gestured over Harry's shoulder. "Harry, I think Professor Flitwick is coming over to get you."
Harry twisted around to see his Head of House walking towards him, before gripping the parcel that Hedwig had brought him tightly in his hand and standing up.
"Good luck, Harry." Luna smiled up at him.
"Thanks, Luna." Harry reached out a hand a squeezed her shoulder. "I'll see you and Neville afterwards."
"Of course you will." Luna agreed brightly.
"Merry meet, Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood." Flitwick greeted as he approached them.
"Merry meet, Professor." Harry agreed. "Is it time to go?"
"It is." Flitwick nodded. "Are you all prepared?"
"Yes, sir." Harry swallowed heavily as the followed his professor out of the Great Hall.
"Got the puzzle all figured out then?" Flitwick asked curiously.
"Of course, Professor." Harry smiled down at him. "I'd hardly be worth my weight as a Ravenclaw if I couldn't figure out one little puzzle."
Flitwick chuckled. "Yes, I imagine that our doorknocker has certainly given you enough practise over the years. Do you mind me asking what your strategy will be?"
Harry looked around to ensure that no one was nearby, before opening the parcel that Hedwig had brought and showing Flitwick the Gillyweed.
"Ah, most impressive." Flitwick said approvingly. "You will do Ravenclaw proud."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry acknowledged, before returning the parcel to his pocket.
"I do hope you aren't planning on wearing your robes into the lake, however." Flitwick commented.
Harry chuckled. "No, sir. I've got a swimsuit underneath."
"Excellent." Flitwick sounded pleased. "I believe you are to wait over there."
Harry looked over to where Flitwick was pointing and took in the sight of Cedric, Viktor and Nynke who were already waiting. "Thank you, sir."
The three other Champions bowed as Harry approached. "Merry meet."
"Merry meet." Harry agreed with a nod.
"Nice day for it, isn't it?" Cedric commented, looking up at the clear sky.
"Not really." Harry disagreed.
Viktor frowned. "You vould rather the veather vas different?"
"I would rather it was any season except winter." Harry told him. "It can't be more than five degrees out here."
"At least it is not snowing." Nynke pointed out. "And the lake is not covered in ice."
Harry shivered at the thought. "True. Thank you for putting it into perspective for me."
"You are velcome." Nynke looked amused.
"Here come the Beauxbaton girls." Cedric murmured quietly. "They don't look very happy."
Harry watched as Fleur and Aceline followed Madame Maxime towards them. Both girls were wearing their school uniforms and looked even colder than he felt.
"Their uniforms are hardly made for this kind of weather." Harry pointed out. "At least our robes are thick."
"It don't see why their robes aren't thicker." Cedric commented. "It's not any warmer in France."
Fleur and Aceline both curtsied to Harry and Cedric as they reached them, though Aceline looked as though she would rather be cursing them.
"Merry meet." Harry greeted them with a smile. "Horrible day for it, isn't it?"
"Yes, eet is." Fleur agreed, moving to stand beside Cedric and slipping her hand into his.
"At least it is not snowing." Nynke said again. "And there isn't any ice."
Fleur shivered visibly. "Do not speak of such zings. Eet is bad enough zat we will be entering ze water at all."
"Fleur!" Aceline rebuked sharply, before continuing in French. "You should not give away such hints to our opponents."
Fleur rolled her eyes dismissively, as replied in French. "Really, Aceline. It is not as though they do not already know that we will be entering the lake."
Aceline's face twisted in anger. "I doubt that Potter knows what day it is."
Harry raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I thank you for your concern, Mademoiselle Moreau, but I assure you, I am well prepared for today's task."
Aceline looked at him in surprised disdain, having apparently forgotten that both Harry and Cedric spoke fluent French, before pointedly turning away.
The spectators began to make their way towards the stands that had been arranged around the lake and Harry found his stomach twisting uncomfortably at the sheer number of them. He distracted himself by looking for his friends amongst the crowd. The problem was that unlike Quidditch games the stands weren't separated by Houses and so there was no way to narrow down his search.
After a few minutes, Sirius and the other judges arrived and Bagman instructed Harry and the other Champions to get ready.
Harry moved to stand on the bank of the lake, leaving ten feet between him and Cedric and Viktor who were to his left and right, before shrugging off his robes and letting them pool on the ground behind him.
It was freezing!
Harry clenched the fresh Gillyweed in his fist and used his other hand to cast a wandless warming charm on his leg. What a ridiculous time of year to go swimming in the lake. Thank Merlin that Gillyweed would held his body deal with the cold.
As Bagman began to announce the rules of the task to the spectators, Harry checked that the pouch containing the older Gillyweed was still attached to his belt. He hoped he wouldn't need it, since the fresher Gillyweed was supposed to last for an hour, but it was good to have a backup plan in case he was under the water for longer than he expected to be. He had wanted to have a language potion as well, just in case he needed to communicate with the Merpeople, but he'd only thought of that a few days before the Task and by then it had been too late to make some.
"…On the count of three, then." Bagman's voice echoed around the lake. "One…"
Harry stuffed the Gillyweed into his mouth.
"Two…"
Harry began chewing as quickly as he could.
"Three!" Bagman finished as a whistle blew loudly.
Harry began to swallow the Gillyweed, ignoring how slimy it felt against his throat, and strode forward into the lake.
The water was icy and his feet immediately began to numb, making it even harder to make his way across the slippery stones, but then suddenly the Gillyweed took effect and Harry had to dive shallowly into the water in order to breathe.
As he took his first breath of water, Harry was interested to realise that it felt different than it had during his practises. Understandable, since he'd practised in the Prefects' Bath rather than the lake, but he hadn't expected the water to feel so clean and refreshing as it passed through his gills.
Still, there was no time to dwell on the difference, so Harry kicked his feet and began to make his way out into the lake. The power behind his kicks surprised him and, when he began using his transformed hands to help him move, he was amazed to realise that was moving faster than his fastest running sprint. Well, that would be helpful.
After he felt as though he was far enough away from the shore, Harry paused and clumsily pulled his wand out of his wrist holster. Bollocks, he hadn't considered how hard it would be to hold a wand with webbed hands.
He tried to lay the wand across the palm of his hand to perform the Four-Point spell, but found that it kept trying to float away. Still, after a few tries, he managed to keep it on his palm long enough to say the incantation.
"Point Me Merpeople Village." Harry watched in frustration as a bubble of air exited his mouth instead of any sound.
Bloody hell, he really ought to have gotten over his dislike of cold and spent some time practising in the lake. He had been short sighted to think that practising the spells out of water and trying the Gillyweed in the Prefects' Bath was enough preparation.
It took multiple tries, and a wasted five minutes, but eventually Harry managed to cast the spell wordlessly and had a direction to head – north east. The loss of five minutes was frustrating, but he supposed that it was better than spending half an hour swimming in the wrong direction.
Harry set off in the direction that the wand had pointed as quickly as he could. He didn't want to lose any more time.
The lake seemed endless, he swam, and swam, and swam, and swam, and nothing really seemed to change. The water was still green, the weed was still green, the mud at the bottom of the lake was still black. Every now again he would see a school of small fish fleeing away from him.
Three times gangs of grindylows tried to accost him, but Harry easily despatched them with wordless spells. The first time he had decapitated them, but after realising that their blood then entered the water than he was breathing, he'd stuck with just stunning and repelling them.
After what felt like fifteen minutes, Harry began to hear the familiar sound of the Merpeople singing – though the song was different than it had been in the Golden Egg. About a minute after that, he noticed that there was no more weed. Instead large boulders lay on the bottom of the lake, some of which were covered in crude drawings of Merpeople.
Then, suddenly, there were no more boulders, and he was swimming past stone caves that obviously served as homes for the Merpeople. As Harry swam through the village, Merpeople began to emerge from their caves and stare at him. They seemed entertained to see him and occasionally one of them would point at him. Harry was pretty sure that at one point he saw a group of them laughing. He supposed that he probably looked a bit strange to them.
Eventually, Harry made his way to the centre of the village where a choir of Merpeople was singing the song that had drawn him to their village.
Looking around, Harry tried to find whatever it was that he was supposed to retrieve. That was the part of the clue that he had quite figured out. What was it that they had taken from him?
Suddenly, Harry spotted six people tied to the tail of ginormous statue of a Merperson that stood in the middle of the village square. Surely not! The Tournament organisers wouldn't have actually taken a person, would they?
Swimming closer, Harry was horrified to recognise one of the people as Daphne. He sped towards her, his heart in his stomach, and was relieved to see that small streams of bubbles were coming from her mouth.
As Harry wordlessly cast a spell to cut through the ropes holding Daphne captive, the Merpeople's song changed.
". . . your time's half gone, so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot. . . ."
That was worrying. Harry gripped hold of Daphne, to prevent her from floating to the surface, and took in the other five captives. There was a small blond girl who was probably related to Fleur, a Hufflepuff seventh year that Harry recognised as being Cedric's best friend, and three other people who Harry only recognised as being the people that Viktor, Nynke, and Aceline had taken to the Yule Ball.
What if the other Champions didn't make it? Would that mean that these people would rot?
No, Harry shook his head firmly, of course they wouldn't. Sirius was one of the judges and, while Harry knew that his godfather hadn't been happy with some parts of the tasks (especially the use of the Dementor in the first task), there was no way that Sirius would allow these students to die.
That decided, Harry tightened his hold on Daphne's arm and kicked off the ground hard. All he had to do now was get back to the edge of the lake.
The trip back was a bit harder since he had to drag Daphne along with him, but this time he made sure to swim closer to the surface to avoid coming into contact with any grindylows. Eventually though, the lake began to rise and meet with the surface and Harry began to consider another downside of Gillyweed.
He thought he probably had another fifteen minutes left before he could breathe above water again, but he would reach the edge of the lake in less than two minutes. What was he supposed to do for that extra eight minutes? Just lie in the water – looking like an idiot?
Eventually, the water was only a few feet deep and Harry allowed his head to break the surface. Well, he'd judged his direction well – he was only about twenty feet away from where he had entered the lake.
"Merry meet, Harry." Daphne greeted him with a smile.
Startled, Harry whipped his head around to face her. "Merry meet." He attempted to say, but only managed a sort of gurgle.
"Thank you for rescuing me." Daphne smiled sweetly, pushing herself to her feet.
Harry smiled back, before his need for oxygen became too great and he was forced to submerge his head again.
Daphne moved away from Harry, towards the shore. Harry almost stopped her, before realising how cold she had to be without Gillyweed to keep her warm.
It took another ten minutes, but eventually Harry could feel his feet and hands transforming back to their usual state and then suddenly he couldn't breathe. Harry pushed himself to his feet and quickly stumbled out of the lake – eager to get away from the icy water.
"Well done, Harry!" Sirius greeted him, wrapping a warm blanket around Harry's shoulders. "You were the first one back."
"Is anyone else back yet?" Harry asked, looking behind him at the lake. He'd presumed that his delay in being able to surface would mean someone would beat him back.
"Yes, Diggory arrived back a few minutes ago." Sirius pointed to where Daphne, Cedric, the other Hufflepuff seventh year, and Fleur were being fussed over by Madame Pomfrey in front of a small tent.
"And Fleur?" Harry asked.
"No, she was attacked by grindylows in the first half hour and had to be rescued." Sirius explained.
Harry grimaced sympathetically. "Her person is going to be alright though, isn't she?"
"Of course." Sirius assured him seriously. "The Merpeople will bring any extra hostages back."
Harry let out a relieved sigh and followed Sirius over to the tent, before allowing Pomfrey to fuss over him. She replaced the blanket the Sirius had given him with another one and then handed him a potion vial.
"Drink it quickly." She instructed sternly.
Harry did as ordered, wincing when the hot potion scolded his tongue. It was strange to feel steam gushing out his ears, but he welcomed the warmth that rushed through his body.
"What did you use?" Cedric asked curiously as Pomfrey bustled away to care for Nyke who had just arrived with her hostage in tow.
"Gillyweed." Harry answered, wrapping the blanket closer around him. "You?"
"Bubble-Head charm." Cedric answered.
"Ah." Harry acknowledged, before turning to Daphne who was wrapped in a blanket of her own. "Are you alright?"
"Of course." Daphne told him. "Congratulations on being the first one back. I expected no less of you."
"If I'd known that it was you that they had taken I would have gone faster." Harry said, though he wasn't sure what he would have changed.
Daphne looked surprised. "You didn't know?"
"No." Harry shook his head. "I had no idea."
It took another ten minutes for Viktor break the surface of the lake, and then another five for Aceline to appear, but eventually they were all back on dry land.
Almost immediately, ten more heads – one blond and nine dark – bobbed to the surface of the lake and Fleur let out a cry of relief.
"Gabrielle!"
Once everyone was dry, and warm, and Dumbledore had exchanged words with one of the Merpeople, the judged secluded themselves to decide on the Champions scores.
Harry felt a lot more confident than he had before the scoring of the First Task. He knew he'd done well, though admittedly the use of Gillyweed wasn't as advanced as Viktor's partial human transfiguration. Of course, if McGonagall's rants on the subject were to be believed, it was as stupidly dangerous either.
"Just one more task to go." Daphne commented, slipping her hand into Harry's.
"Thank Merlin!" Harry agreed. "And that's not for another four months."
"Any idea what it will be?" Daphne asked.
"No." Harry shook his head. "And I'm not even going to worry about it for at least another week. Not until I've handed in my Ancient Runes essay."
"Of course, by then, you'll probably have a Potions Essay and a Charms Essay due." Daphne pointed out.
Harry groaned. "Don't remind me. I'm looking forward to next year."
"Next year is our OWL year." Daphne reminded him.
"I'm already doing my Ancient Runes OWL year." Harry pointed out. "Besides, at least I won't have any Triwizard Tasks to be worrying about."
"No," Daphne agreed. "You'll just have a seat in the Wizengamot to concern yourself with."
Harry sighed. "I know. I'm mostly looking forward to it, though it would be nice to have a quiet year."
"Last year was a quiet year." Daphne reminded him.
"It was nice." Harry remembered. "I liked it. Nothing to do except study, read, play Quidditch, and spend time with friends."
Daphne opened her mouth, but closed it again when Bagman's voice began echoing around the lake.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to award the champions their points! Each champion will receive marks out of fifty. These marks will be based on the method each champion used, the time it took them, and additional details that Merchieftainess Murcus has provided regarding exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake."
Harry rolled his eyes in frustration as Bagman paused dramatically.
"Fleur Delacour," Bagman started again. "Cast an excellent Bubble-Head Charm, but was waylaid by the grindylows and was unable to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points.
"Aceline Moreau also used a Bubble-Head Charm," Bagman continued after the applause had died down. "And, while the grindylows did trouble her, she did manage to continue unassisted and retrieved her hostage – though she did so fifteen minutes outside the time limit. We award her thirty points.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was fourth to return with his hostage. We award him thirty five points."
"Nynke Visser used a plant known as Gillyweed," Bagman announced and Harry' stomach squirmed in disappointment. He'd hoped that he would be the only Champion to use it. "And she returned with her hostage with one minute to spare. We award her forty points."
"Cedric Diggory also used the Bubble-Head Charm and was the second champion to return with his hostage." Bagman went on. "We award him forty five points."
Harry couldn't help but feel hopeful. So far they had given the points out in ascending order – which presumably meant that he had gotten the most points.
"Harry Potter also used gillyweed," Bagman continued. "And he was the first to return with his hostage. We award him fifty points. That puts Mr. Potter in the lead with a total of ninety four points!"
"Yes!" Harry murmured excited to himself, smiling at Daphne when she slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. "Take that Jeremy!"
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