The day of the Second Task dawned grey, dreary, and cold, just as I'd predicted. My clothes for the task had been delivered to me instead of waiting for me. I'd scowled at the choice but fled to the bathroom and tugged on the emerald green one-piece, glad of the sweat pants and hoodie I was given to go over it.

I nipped down to the apprentice's lab and grabbed the warming potion and gillyweed, shoving them in my pockets before dipping my glasses into the bubbling Water-Repelling potion. When I removed them, beads of the potion rolled off like a duck's back. I smiled, pleased, and placed them back on. I snagged a vial with some extra gillyweed in it off the counter and shoved it down my swimsuit in case of emergency.

Breakfast was a jovial affair for most people. They were wondering excitedly about the task – large stands had been erected out in the middle of the Black Lake, and those who had seen them already were eagerly sharing the news. Many people were already bundled up, ready to head out to the lake and get good seats for the task.

I couldn't help but think they'd be very underwhelmed. They'd be staring at a lake for an hour.

"So you're ready?" Lily pressed as I ate. I was sticking to warm foods with lots of protein – eggs and bacon with orange juice. Hopefully, that would keep me from getting too tired to reach the bottom of the lake where the merpeople must be settled.

"Yes," I told her for the third time since I'd sat down. "I've got a plan, I've got my potions brewed, I'm ready."

"Good," Tracey said, looking relieved. I glanced sideways at Krum.

"What about you?" I asked him. "You ready?"

Krum nodded slowly. He looked just as grim as he had before going to face the dragons. Clearly he wasn't feeling as confident as I was, which gave me a little bit of pride. Hopefully, nerves would make him mess up.

Like with the First Task, Snape approached our table and told us it was time that we headed out to the stands to prepare for the task. Surprisingly, Iliya wasn't there to wish me or Krum luck. My year mates gave me their best before the pair of us left the hall. Cedric and Fleur followed us, but I didn't see Harry anywhere. I cast around worriedly for him. I swear, if he overslept and missed the task…

The four of us piled into one of the first year boats waiting by the dock. The moment we were inside, the boats took off across the lake towards the stands. I could see a cluster of people already out there and recognized the headmasters and Bagman. Moody, unfortunately, was there as well. Crouch still seemed to be gone. Percy was in his place again. I rolled my eyes. Joy.

"Here are our champions!" Bagman announced jovially as he moved forwards, helping Fleur out of the boat and up onto the stands. Cedric hopped out and offered me a hand. I took it gratefully – the boats were stable in the water but they still rocked – and let him help me out onto the flat platform on the bottom level of the middle stand. There were three in all with layers of seats every ten feet or so, the bottom layer being flat with stairs leading up.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Bagman announced as Krum left. He cast around, looking for Harry. His eyes flicked to me questioningly. "Your brother?"

"Overslept, probably," I grumbled. Bagman looked vaguely concerned.

"Very well, very well… no choice then, I guess. We'll have to get started without him. Now, you all figured out your eggs?" he asked, his enthusiasm slightly dampened by the lack of Harry. I sneered at that. "Does anyone have any final questions?" he asked, peering over my shoulder.

I glanced back and saw that the boats were starting to move out, clusters of students boarding from the docks. In no time at all, the stands would start filling up and then the task would begin. I couldn't see the burst of red that would declare Harry in his tournament clothes, but with everyone in casual clothes in various colors instead of the sea of black, that wasn't too surprising.

"I have a potion to declare," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the bottle. "It's just Warming Draught." I saw Fleur shoot me a jealous look, like she was wishing she'd thought of that. Cedric gave me an approving nod. "Professor Snape can vouch that I made it myself."

"Of course, of course, I'm not worried!" Bagman chuckled. "As if you need someone else to make your potions for you. Go ahead and take it," he requested.

As the first wave of students reached the seats and were guided by teachers up into the higher layers of the stands I uncorked the potion and downed it, smiling slightly as the warmth settled into my stomach and rested there, combating the chill of the day a little.

"I'm here!"

I turned around as Harry came flying out of a boat, panting slightly as he skidded to a stop beside the rest of us. He was panting slightly, his fist clenched around something. My eyes narrowed as I noticed a bit of slimy green tendril poking out of his fist.

"Ah, Mister Potter!" Bagman was visibly relieved. "Thank goodness, we were worried you'd be late!"

"Sir, they need to get into their starting positions," Percy reminded Bagman, looking down his nose a little at the portly man.

"Ah, of course!" Bagman agreed as he ushered us towards the edge of the platform.

"Gillyweed," I hissed to him as we took our places. I stepped out of my pants and pulled off my hoodie, making sure to retrieve the gillyweed from my pocket. I glanced down to make sure that the vial of extra was still in place between my meager breasts.

Subtly, I flashed mine at him. Harry grinned and showed his as well.

"How'd you come up with it?" I asked, surprised. No way Snape would have given Harry any gillyweed even if he'd asked. That begged the question then of how he'd gotten his hands on any. I supposed maybe Neville…

"Dobby gave it to me," Harry said with a grin. "Don't tell Snape, it's from his personals. I didn't even know the thing existed.

I scoffed, but said nothing. Of course. Once again Harry's fairy godmother had struck and he hadn't actually needed to anything but kick back while the answer was handed to him on a silver platter. Absently, I wondered what Harry would do if his life ever became difficult.

Bagman moved among us, spacing us out at ten foot intervals. Krum had already stripped down to his trunks and Cedric was in what seemed to be trunks and a swim shirt like Harry. Fleur was in a shiny silver suit.

"Alright Harry?" Bagman asked as he shifted Harry slightly. "Know what you're going to do? What about you, Lorena?"

The pair of us nodded and Bagman nodded happily before stepping back and placing his wand to his throat. "Sonorus," he murmured. I took that as my cue and crammed the gillyweed into my mouth, chewing. I winced at the texture and Harry took a cue to start chewing, I saw out of the corner of my eye. It felt like eels sliding down my throat as I swallowed, nearly choking as one tendril uncoiled and hug itself half in my throat and half on my tongue. Gagging, I hastily swallowed and got the rest of it down, relieved.

"The champions are ready for the next task!" Bagman announced as my body began to change, webbing growing between my toes and fingers. I was glad I'd practiced swimming under the influence of gillyweed a couple of times so I wasn't surprised by the sensation. "Last night, something was taken from each of them. They will have one hour to enter the lake and retrieve it. Begin on my whistle. One… two…"

The whistle blared. I arched off the platform, diving into the lake at the same time the others did. I noticed Harry writhing slightly and clutching his neck and winced in sympathy, remembering the first time the gills had come in. They'd hurt a lot when you weren't expecting them.

I watched as the other contestants sank through the water, wands in their hands. Cedric and Fleur used a quick bubblehead charm, but Krum seemed to be trying something more complicated. I waved my wand, the incantation coming out as a stream of bubbles, and cast the warming charm on my arms and legs.

As I kicked off, my flipper-like feet pushing me through the water faster than normal swimming, I felt pleasantly warm. The water still felt a little chilly as it slid past me, but I myself was warm. It was an odd sensation really, and one I wasn't used to – I'd always filled the bath in the prefects bathroom with warm water.

I got used to it quickly though and propelled myself along with my hands and feet, my wand stuffed down my swimsuit for safekeeping. I didn't seem to need to blink, which made it much easier to comb the area around me looking for signs of merpeople.

The water made the landscape around me dark and foggy as I dove deeper and deeper into the lake. I hadn't seen any sign of the other competitors since I'd started out, but that wasn't surprising. The lake was hardly small, after all, and there were plenty of things that could have blocked my view. Huge schools of silver fish you could get lost inside, dense forests of black weeds, I passed all of them as I went deeper.

I was crossing a wide mud plain littered with glimmering stones as it happened. From a cluster of weeds shot something green. I got a vague glimpse of green teeth and horns before whatever it was grabbed my ankle and began dragging me backwards, propelled along by squid-like tentacles that brushed my legs with every thrust.

Grindylow, I thought dizzily as I pulled my wand free. The creature's fingers were long but brittle. You were advised to break their fingers to escape if you didn't have a wand. I, however, had a wand. I shot a Stinging Jinx at the back of its head. The grindylow released me with a yelp as a large patch on the back of its head turned red and began to rise. It fled into another cluster of weeds.

Smirking smugly as the grindylow fled, I turned back around and continued farther along across the mud plain. It was black under me and swirled up sluggishly as I passed. I paused, bobbing slightly in the water, as I heard something.

"Your time's half gone so tarry not, lest what you seek stays here to rot…"

It was a mermaid's voice echoing through the water. Grinning, I kicked off and pushed through the water in the direction of the voice. My time was half gone, but that was alright. I could get up much faster than I got down. I couldn't be too far from the merpeople's city if I could hear the singing. I should be able to return within the time limit. I'd swallowed enough gillyweed to get me forty-five minutes underwater and what was in the vial would give me another forty-five in case things went wrong.

A rock loomed out of the water in front of me. Like native art, it was painted with designs of the merpeople carrying spears and tridents, hunting what looked like the giant squid. The edges of the rock were worn smooth… I wondered dizzily how old the squid was.

That was a question for another day. I used the rock as a springboard, shooting myself faster for a couple of feet. I was swimming as fast as I could now. I hadn't seen anyone – maybe they'd gotten turned around. Maybe I could be the first one back, wouldn't that be something?

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, I saw faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom. Then again I wasn't surprised. The merpeople around here – properly called selkies or merrows – were not as attractive of the sirens you found in warmer waters.

They had grayish 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 me as I swam past. One or two of them emerged from their caves to watch me better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

I sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous. There were gardens of weed around some of them, and I even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching eagerly, pointing at my webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to one another. I sped around a corner and found my 'stolen object.'

A whole crowd of merpeople were 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. Five people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made me think that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. On her other side, Iliya floated, clouds of dark curls swaying around his head and his skin looking oddly green in the light. All five 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.

It was easy to guess who was for who. Harry's best friend, Krum's date to the Yule ball, Fleur's sister, Cedric's girlfriend. Iliya was obviously for me, not Krum. No one else down here could be.

I heard the murmurs of the merpeople intensify and spun around. There was Harry swimming forward with his hands and feet in the same state as mine, his gills leaving a fine trail of bubbles behind him. His eyes sparkled and he waved a hand in greeting when he saw me.

I smiled back and nodded to Ron, tapping a finger against my wrist pointedly before turning back to Iliya. The weed rope his ankle was bound in was tough and strong-looking. I hadn't thought to bring my silver knife with me, unfortunately.

"We don't help!" croaked a voice. I turned around again to see Harry gesturing at one of the mermen's spears. I rolled my eyes and dove down a little, scooping up a rock from the lake floor. I chucked it at Harry. The water, predictably, slowed it down, but it still hit his shoulder before floating to the ground. Harry turned around.

I pulled out my wand pointedly and pointed it at the rope binding Iliya's feet. I cast a severing charm and the rope snapped loose. I glanced back over my shoulder at Harry nodding encouragingly. He flashed me a thumbs up as well as he could with his hands turned webbed and swam over to Ron.

Nodding approvingly I wrapped one arm under Iliya's shoulders and raised my wand with the other hand. I pointed towards the surface of the lake. "Ascendio!" I cast, and tightened my grip on Iliya as we shot up through the water. The speed forced water into my eyes. I closed them quickly and waited until the spell began to face. Unsurprisingly, we were still underwater. The lake was deep and it would take us more than one casting to get to the surface. I opened my eyes and looked around, pleased to see that we were getting closer to the surface. I could see the water beginning to lighten. Closing my eyes, I pointed up and cast the spell again.

We shot through the water like a cork out of a bottle and a minute later we popped out of the lake, breaking the surface briefly before falling back down. I looked around and realized we were in the center of the lake, several dozen yards away from the stands. We were up though, and that's what mattered. I heard cheers erupt from the stands.

"What… What's going on?"

I looked around. Coming out of the water seemed to have woken Iliya up, because now he was casting around and looking horribly confused.

"They took someone we each cared about and the merpeople held them at the bottom of the lake," I explained, raising my wand and sending up celebratory green sparks. They fell down around us as I added, "They seemed to pick either family or whoever we went to the Yule Ball with."

"I see." Iliya blinked in surprise and shivered as a cold breeze hit his wet hair. I cast a warming charm on him and gestured for him to follow me. Thankfully, the gillyweed was starting to wear off. I'd timed it perfectly, and this also meant that I'd made it back before the hour was up, which was a relief. The gills weren't entirely gone though. I alternated between gulping air and lake water as I waited for them to fade entirely, trying not to think about the fact that the castle's plumbing emptied out into the Black Lake.

"Come on, Potter…" Snape was kneeling on the edge of the stands, McGonagall standing behind him looking fretful and Moody with his magical eye fixed on the lake and his regular one fixed on me. Several of his friends moved forward and hauled Iliya out of the water as Madam Pomfrey hurried forward with towels and blankets for both of us.

I took Snape's offered hand and let him help me out of the water. Almost immediately I was smothered in a blanket by Madam Pomfrey. I took it gratefully and wrapped it around myself as I used my wand to dry myself off. I knew my hair must look a mess, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

My arms and legs were exhausted from swimming, I had bruises around my ankle from the grindylow, but I had done it. And, looking around, I realized I was the first one back. Well, aside from Fleur. She was huddled worriedly in a corner with some of her schoolmates, looking rather battered. I saw a similar bruise around her ankle and guessed the grindylows had gotten her too.

"Well done Potter!" Bagman congratulated me, his voice making my ears ring after the silence of being underwater. "Miss Potter is the first champion to return successfully, bringing up Iliya Dimitrov in forty-seven minutes!"

"Well done," Iliya congratulated, sniffling slightly and tossing his head to get a piece of dripping hair out of his eyes. "How's Viktor doing? Did you see him?"

I shook my head. "Not since we entered the water," I said, flicking my wand at him and drying him off too.

"Lorena?" I turned around and was surprised to see Fleur approached me, her blanket held tightly shut at her throat. She looked fearful, her hair disheveled. She looked real, instead of like some kind of ethereal Barbie.

"My seester," Fleur said softly. "I haff not seen her seence last night. Ees she…?" Fleur swallowed thickly, unable to continue.

Damn it, I felt bad for her. Drenched and shivering and scared she looked just like any other girl her age might, covered in cuts and bruises. I sucked in a deep, annoyed breath, cursing myself and my soft heart. This was a competition, she was my competitor, she was a bitch. But I couldn't help but think how I would feel if I was in her shoes and Harry was down there tied to a statue of a merperson.

"She's down there," I admitted. Fleur paled.

"Too late, eet's gone, eet won't come back," she said throatily, looking physically ill. I reached out, taking her shoulders in my hands and shifting her to face me fully. Fleur looked up in surprise, meeting my eyes.

"Your sister will be fine," I promised her. "That line was just to make sure that we got back within the time limit, otherwise we might have spent ages down there poking around. Think about it – they can't exactly drown your sister for the sake of a game, can they?" I asked mockingly, like she was foolish for even considering it.

Fleur nodded. "You… you are right, of course. Thank you," she said gratefully before retreating to her nervous circle of friends.

Warm breath blew across my ear. "That was nice of you," Iliya whispered to me. I twisted my lips into a scowl.

"Yeah, well," I grumbled, cheeks pinking slightly. I hoped he'd blame it on the wind. "Her sad face was putting me off."

Iliya looked down at me, unconvinced. "Of course," he said drily. I frowned harder.

"Don't tell anyone," I grumbled, and pulled a bit of the blanket over my head to cover my hair.

I cast a nervous look at the water. Harry was down there with me. Even if he'd swam the whole way back up, he should be back by now. I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe something had gone wrong. Had he tried to steal the merman's spear again and they hurt him? What if his gillyweed had worn off? He looked like he had enough, but what if he didn't.

My heart leapt and I rushed to the edge of the platform as a pair of heads popped out of the lake. My heart sank as I realized that it was Cedric and Cho. Cedric brushed Cho's hair out of her face and whispered something to her before urging her towards us as Bagman announced their return.

"Well done," I said as Cedric climbed out of the water with Cho. Madam Pomfrey was on them with blankets in a second. "Don't suppose you saw my idiot brother down there?" I asked casually.

Cedric glanced sideways at me, sympathy clouding his features. "He'll be fine," he assured me earnestly. "Last I saw him he was at the hostages. I told him to get a move on."

I scowled. "He's waiting, why is he waiting?" I murmured to myself. "He was there when I was," I explained. Cedric's eyes widened slightly.

"Then you're right, he is waiting. I'm sure he's got a reason," Cedric promised me before moving off to comfort Cho, who was looking a little rattled.

"Yes, he does," I spat out.

That idiot! I would kill him. He was being thick – did he really think they'd just let people drown for the sake of this tournament? It was serious business and people died, yes, but no way in hell was the Ministry prepared to deal with the shitstorm that would arise if any of the students they'd tied up down there drowned. There would be safeguard after safeguard in place to make sure the hostages didn't get so much as a bruise.

But no, Harry felt the need to be heroic. He was going to get himself killed! He'd admitted he didn't know anything about gillyweed. He didn't know how long he had, and if he stayed down there too long and lost his gills then there was no way that even the merpeople could keep him alive long enough to get him to the surface – they were over a hundred feet down!

"Potter, what are you doing?" Snape demanded, catching my arm and jerking me backwards. I pulled myself out of my stupor as I realized I'd been stepping out to reenter the water, some kind of vague plan of going back down there and dragging Harry back to the surface by his hair swirling dizzily through my brain.

"Harry's staying until all the hostages are up," I said sharply. "But Fleur-"

Snape understood my meaning and followed my gaze to the French girl in the corner. "She won't arrive. Potter, how is your brother handing the task?"

"Gillyweed, same as me," I explained. "But he doesn't know… much about it, he doesn't know how long he has. If he lingers too long he'll drown!"

Snape's mouth pressed into a thin line. "I will speak with Dumbledore." He hustled off towards the judge's table, bending close to whisper to the headmaster.

A third cheer went up from the stands. I looked around, hoping to see Harry coming up. No, it was Krum with Hermione. The pair of them swam to the stands. Iliya and I moved forwards to help them out. Iliya embraced Krum in a manly hug as Hermione flung herself into my arms, sodden hair sticking to her face.

"You're okay!" she panted in relief. She cast around curiously. "Where's… where's Harry?" she asked uncertainly.

I pulled away from her, scowling thunderously. "Being a dumbass, where else?" I said shortly, turning away from her and stalking a short distance away from her, curling and uncurling my fists and trying to reason with myself.

Fleur's hostage should be the last person down there now. Surely Harry would have realized by now that she wasn't coming? He'd just take Ron and come up, right? His gillyweed had to be running out by now… Or maybe he'd try and take Fleur's sister and fight with the merpeople, who would likely try and hurt him.

Worry rose up and clenched at my insides, making my breath come in pants. I felt hands on my shoulders turning me around. Iliya pressed me to his chest, hugging my shoulders tightly. Normally I wouldn't have, but I had worked my thoughts into a dizzied panic. I didn't have time to think about how it would look as I embraced him back, digging my fingers tightly into his back.

"He'll be fine," Iliya whispered to me. "He will be fine."

A final roar erupted and I whipped around. Three heads were bobbing in the water. One red, one silver, and one black-haired. Mermaids surfaced all around them as they escorted them to the shore. I flew to the edge of the platform, only barely holding back from hurling myself into the water to pull Harry out, just so I could slap him back in. Maxime had to hold back Fleur from jumping in after her sister and Percy looked like he was seconds away from leaping at Ron as well. Off to the side, Dumbeldore was conversing with one of the mermaids in a horrible, screeching language.

"Hey Rena," Harry said sheepishly as he approached. I offered him a hand, not smiling. "I know, I know," he grumbled as he took my hand and I hauled him out. I whapped him across the head with my blanket as Madam Pomfrey came for him with one of his own.

"You're stupid," I said bluntly, because he didn't know. He hadn't been the one up here smacking himself in the head for trusting me, for thinking I knew what I was doing. He hadn't been pacing around and considering getting back in the water to go look for him in case he'd drowned himself. He had no idea the kind of fear he'd put me through, and then he popped out of the water like nothing had happened and grinned at me?

Dumbledore turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

I turned away from Harry and stormed over to the other champions, rage rolling off of me. I'd thought, once Moody returned my map, that Harry had learned his lesson, had learned something. But no, he still stupidly threw himself into danger without a thought for himself or anyone else because he had some kind of hero complex. I could have cheerfully throttled him as he slouched over to us.

The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue Ron from Percy's clutches. She led him over to the rest of us, gave him a blanket and some Pepper-up Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister.

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

"Yeah," said Harry, looking a little disappointed. I hoped my cold reception had given him something to think about.

Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek , then said to Ron, "And you too-you 'elped -"

"Yeah," said Ron, looking 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 us, making us 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."

Applause from the stands.

"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her head and absently stroking her sister's sopping hair.

"Lorena Potter, who used a warming potion and gillyweed, was first to return with her hostage at forty-seven minutes. We award her forty-eight points."

Scattered applause echoed down from the stands. I wasn't a favorite for most people. But I had just reached 82 points. I was confident that I'd at least beaten Cedric in total points.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was second to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers came from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd. Cho gave Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"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.

"Harry Potter also 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 second 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," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

"There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fiber!"

My mental math wasn't wrong, but I ran it at least three times. Harry, Cedric and I were tied for first place. Cedric and I, who had done our work – had learned a new spell, brewed potions, figured out what we were going up against – were tied with Harry, who had a damn house elf pop up and give him the answer with a tip of the hat and a wave. He'd. Done. Nothing.

This was first year all over again. Harry and I had both gone up on brooms after Malfoy. I got detention and had to apologize. Harry got to become the youngest Seeker in the century. I was punished and he was rewarded for doing the same thing. This time I'd been better than him, better in every way, and yet Harry was still right there with me, coasting on his laurels.

You have got to be shitting me.

I was so sick and bloody tired of him doing nothing, absolutely nothing, and getting everything. Did he know how hard I worked? How many hours I spend in the library? How many extra projects I took on trying to improve myself? And he did nothing, but he still got everything!

It's not fair, Harry, and you don't deserve it, any of it!

My heart bleated feebly at him but I couldn't make myself say the words. I knew exactly what would happen if I did. Everyone would stare at me in disbelief. How could I possibly say something like that to Harry? To my twin brother? They had no idea, no bloody idea about how horrible it was to be his sister sometimes.

"Isn't that great Rena? Rena!" I heard Harry call behind me. I was already in a boat and on my way back to the castle.

My boy was sitting in the Slytherin Common Room. His nose was buried in a second-hand copy of an older edition of Hogwarts: A History. He was sitting in the black leather chair by the fire, the one that absorbed and held the heat from the flames, practically swimming in second-hand robes.

Everything about his attire was slightly shabby. His robes were worn and his slacks were slightly faded at the knees. The tips of his shoes were polished and shiny, but it couldn't quite hide the scuffed toes. His shirt had been hemmed and the sleeves taken up. His hair was neatly parted and combed to the side with not a strand out of place, like he was trying to combat his shabby appearance by any means necessary.

His eyes, a gorgeous blue-grey, flicked up from his book and towards a cluster of couches in one corner. There lounged a boy that looked to be his age. I would have said he was Malfoy, with his platinum hair and grey eyes, but his hair was longer and his face was slightly wider. My boy didn't like him, not one bit. I could feel the anger in his veins, in my veins.

His thoughts swirled in my head. The boy he was staring at darkly had done nothing to deserve the attention he was getting from the other students. He was an average student at best, and was not terribly polite. He was downright dismissive or disdainful to most people.

But because the other boy was rich and came from a good family, he had everything. He had nice clothes and books someone else hadn't dog-eared and spilled tea on the pages of. He didn't have to be careful to make sure his knees didn't wear through his pants. He didn't have to spend long hours in the library trying to understand the world he was a part of like my boy did.

My boy swore to himself that this would change. He would one day be the one in nice robes. He would be the one with all eyes fixed on him. He would use those long hours in the library and ace every one of his classes. He would be smarter, more powerful, better, than that platinum-haired idiot. No one would ever question him. No one would ever put him down. No one would ever hit him.

Never again.

The words beat like a promise nestled within his heart.

Never again.

I came awake with a jolt, choking on bitterness and anger and envy as I sat up, the greenish light of the lake filling the room. It reminded me of being out there, of the second task, of Harry tying with me and Cedric when he'd done nothing…

The anger surged through me like a cup of espresso and I was wide awake despite the fact that a glance at the clock showed that it was only just after midnight. I knew it was all over. Once I woke up, really woke up, there was no going back to sleep. I was up, at least for a while.

I forced down the anger and cast around for something to occupy myself. On the nightstand next to my bed were the two journals I'd gotten for Christmas from Tracey and Sirius. I decided this was as good a time as any to get started on my plans for one of them – turning it into my personal recipe book.

I grabbed my glasses and put them on my face, crawling to the end of my bed. I opened up my trunk and hauled out potions book after potions book. I dragged them back to the head of my bed with me, closing the curtains around me before lighting my wand and gripping it between my teeth.

From the drawer on my nightstand I pulled out ink and a quill. I picked up Tracey's notebook, the one bound in buttery brown leather with a floral pattern etched onto the front, and flipped it open to the first page, dipping my quill into the ink.

Reminding myself at some point to break down and buy a Self-Inking quill, I opened my potions textbook and began copying down recipes, one per page, with all of my additions to them.

For nearly two hours I worked, until my eyelids began to droop again. I took that as my cue and packed everything away, lying back down on my bed and closing my eyes. The next task wasn't until dusk on June 23. We were to be told what it was a month beforehand. There was no point to trying to figure out how to get through it when I didn't know yet what I'd be facing.

I was looking forward to nearly three months to focus on my own projects and interests before I had to throw myself back into the tournament. Smiling slightly at the idea that I'd have time to finish my Animagus reading and probably get through at least three years of potions changes, I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep.