Chapter Fifty-Three

"Welcome one and all to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed from the platform in the middle of the Great Lake where the judges sat. Harry grimaced at the volume and tried rather unsuccessfully to ignore everyone and everything around him. The other three champions accompanied him one the edge of the platform in only their swim wear. Harry wondered if they were as freezing cold as he was, silently wishing they could get on with it so he'd be allowed to cast a heating charm already.

Everything about this task already had his nerves shot. Not only were both Hermione and Ron missing when he got up this morning, he'd missed breakfast looking for them. Then he'd been rudely dragged away from the kitchens by an overly excited Ludo Bagman who was very unsubtlety trying to help him cheat, only to be 'rescued' by Snape of all people who informed him that he was on his way to be late. And of course, it had decided to rain today.

So here he was, cold, wet, and hungry standing on a platform to compete in some stupid task in a tournament he never wanted to be a part of instead of looking for his missing friends!

'If I ever find out who picked this to be the second task,' Gabriel growled in their head. The threat was unfinished yet Harry knew what the archangel had been going for. He whole-heartedly agreed as well.

"Begin!"

Harry startled before diving into the lake, wand securely in hand. He internally sighed in relief as the heating charm went to work on his cold skin before focusing his magic as he cast the Water Bubble charm. He sucked in an experimental breath of air before he grinned smugly. 'Alright, let's find our lost items and get out of here.'

'We're supposed to be heading towards the Merpeople's village.' Gabriel added helpfully. Harry was glad that at least some part of him was paying attention because that had gone over his head. 'I think that's the center of the lake, if I remember correctly.'

Harry adjusted his trajectory accordingly before he continued swimming. With the heating charm keeping him warm and the Water Bubble charm helping him move through the water, Harry honestly had trouble remembering that this was supposed to be a super hard to complete task as he went completely unimpeded.

'Shouldn't we have run into some sort of obstacle by now?' Harry frowned as he watched a poisonous eel swim by him without acknowledgement. In fact, all the marine life was leaving him alone as he swam. 'I could almost believe that this was just a leisurely swim and not some super dangerous task.'

'Huh,' Gabriel muttered. 'I wonder if they can sense us? I know that the animals in the Forest can. It wouldn't be a stretch for the aquatic life down here to know what we are.'

That did make a bit of sense in a very anticlimactic sort of way. Not that Harry wasn't grateful that he was being left alone, he really was, he just hoped that the judges didn't have some way to tell if he was engaged or not. Harry really didn't want to have to deal with questions that would bring up and even if he had a history of nature loving him, it would be a stretch to explain why everything in the lake was avoiding him.

'Not like we can really do anything about it.'

Wasn't that true? Harry groaned internally as he thought about the many different questions that he might face when he got back. Well, at least he'd be able to get whatever it that they-

Harry's thoughts sputtered off as two familiar faces came into view. 'They didn't,' Gabriel snarled.

There, floating in the water and tied by seaweed, were Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang, and an unknown blond child that Harry had a suspicion was related to Fleur. 'I'm going to kill them,' Harry snarled. 'I don't who they are but I'm going to kill them.'

'We can't just leave them here,' Gabriel snarled. 'That girl can't be older than 9 and she's down here in the freezing cold?! She could get pneumonia! Not to mention Ron and Hermione! How dare they!'

Harry didn't have an answer, too caught up in his own shared anger at this. Whipping out his wand, he immediately cast heating charm on all four of them, ignoring the gathering presence of merpeople around him. None of the crowd approached him so he ignored their presence as he settled next to Ron, waiting for the other champions to arrive. They were already half way into the hour that was given to them so Harry suspected that the others would be showing up at any time.

Forty-eight minutes into the task, Cedric appeared to free Cho. The other teen was clearly using a Bubblehead charm and paused the moment he saw Harry. Harry shook his head at the other teens questioning look and point towards the floating girl and Hermione respectively. Eyebrows raised, Cedric shrugged before grabbing Cho and swimming away.

Fifty-four minutes into the task, Victor Krum appeared with his head transfigured into that of a shark. The Bulgarian wasted no time in grabbing Hermione and kicking off to the surface. He barely spared a glance at Harry as he left. He didn't acknowledge the little girl at all.

Harry waited a few minutes before deciding that Fleur wasn't coming and there was no way he was going to leave that poor little girl here alone. Moving towards her, Harry made to grab her arm in order to pull her up.

Immediately, one of the surrounding merpeople moved towards him. The merperson stopped the minute Harry let out a warning growl, his wings spreading behind him threateningly. While uncomfortable to move in the water, Harry had mostly ignored the sensation of water moving through them as he swam, and it was even easier to ignore as anger coursed through him.

'Try it,' Gabriel growled. 'I dare you. Some misplaced aggression might let us burn through some anger before we have to go back.'

Probably sensing the hostility, the gathered Merfolk immediately back away from them a few inches. Harry grabbed the blond girls' arm and pulled her towards him before moving to Ron. Once both were secured, he kicked towards the surface, intent on getting them out of the water so they could be checked over.

It took perhaps a minute to breach the water, his Water Bubble charm dispersing as soon as it hit air. The rain had mostly let up so Harry easily spotted the starting platform. The observers were cheering loudly as Ron and the little girl sputtered away, coughing small bits of water out of their lunges. Harry's anger rose at the sight though it sputtered off as the poor thing started crying and clinging to him.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Ron coughed, looking around in confusion. "Why are we in the middle of the Great lake? And who is that girl?"

Harry was saved from answering by the increased crying of the small girl. Showing his rare older sibling instinct, Ron attempted to calm her down by rubbing her back soothingly. By the time they reached the platform, her sobs had calmed down and she was only slightly shaking.

Climbing out of the water, warm towels immediately wrapped around them and they were ushered onto the deck. "You saved 'er!" The ecstatic cry of Fleur Delacour caught Harry's attention. "My 'ittle sister!"

Harry was too stunned to protest the quick kissing on both of his cheeks before the little girl, the younger sister of Fleur apparently, was claimed by her older sister. "Gabrielle!" She cried and disappeared into the crowd.

"What just happened?" Ron asked, seemingly stunned.

"The Ministry is full of assholes who took a small child and put her in the middle of a freezing cold lake for sport," Harry growled in answer, his anger renewing as he recalled the sight of that little girl floating there unconscious.

"Mate," Ron tried to sooth, though Harry noted the anger burning in his soul. "I think that you should probably take a breather. Your eyes are starting to glow."

Harry froze, his hand twitching as he resisted the urge to move it towards his eyes. 'That could be a problem,' Gabriel sighed.

"Dumbledore can speak mermish?"

Harry's eyes snapped to the judges' panel. Sure enough, there was Dumbledore talking to a very familiar merperson. It was the same one that had tried to stop him from taking Gabrielle, Harry noted with growing horror. As Dumbledore talked to the guard, his normally twinkling blue eyes turned to Harry. There was no twinkle there, however. In fact, Dumbledore almost looked stunned as the two conversed, looking at Harry as if he'd never seen him before.

'I guess that takes care of the problem of how to talk to him.'

Harry didn't reply.

This truly was the worst day ever.


First. Place.

Somehow, some way, Harry was currently in the lead of the Tournament despite having come last in the Second Task. Apparently, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, and Ludo Bagman had outvoted the other two when discussing how to award points. Harry had been given the most due to his rescue of Gabrielle Delacour, much to the excitement of the audience.

Cedric, the wanker, was laughing at him. Harry had no doubt that he'd informed all the Hufflepuffs that Harry had reached the hostages first and had chose to stay behind to ensure that everyone was rescued. The way that all the Hufflepuffs jumped up in a standing ovation when Harry's score was announced could only be explained by that.

"I hate this Tournament," Harry moaned as he walked through the halls on the way to the Headmaster's office.

"I think the whole school knows that by now, pup." Sirius snorted.

Colin Creevey had taken a picture of the horrified look on Harry's face when his score was announced, and it had been featured in the Daily Prophet that morning. The rumors around the castle had gone insane after paper had been delivered. It was getting to the point that Harry missed having the school actively shun him. At this point, the student body had basically declared Harry their hero.

Harry still wasn't sure why that picture had caused that reaction. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to find out either.

Still, Cedric was still a wanker for finding this so amusing. Sirius was getting up there too, if his godfather didn't stop snickering every few second.

"Did your note say what Albus wanted?" Remus asked, likely trying to keep Sirius from tormenting him too much. Harry flashed a grin at the werewolf before sighing.

"Just that he wanted the three of us to come up for a meeting after breakfast, along with the password to his office." Harry glared at the offending piece of paper. Hedwig had dropped it off with him this morning as he was eating. Harry had been forced to leave breakfast early in order to contact Remus with his mirror. Sirius had gotten his own message, thankfully, and had met them in his office so that they could head up to the Headmaster's office. "Somehow, I think that this meeting is going to be about what the Merpeople told him after the task."

Sirius winced. "We're lucky that Dumbledore was the one that they talked to. Originally it was supposed to be Minerva but the Merpeople refused to deal with anyone that didn't know their language. Unfortunately, the only one who does know Mermish is the Headmaster so instead of trying to reason with Cornelius Fudge, he was forced to proctor the Tournament."

"Wasn't Albus planning on staying in the castle during our last meeting?" Remus broke in. "To dissuade Voldemort from pulling anything until we knew how he was going to go after Harry."

Sirius grimaced. "That was before Fudge contacted him in a nervous breakdown. Apparently, the pink toad that left the Dementors alone with Crouch Junior was found dead with a Dark Mark above her house. It was discovered that she'd been replaced sometime after Crouch was arrested. No one is sure if it was her or someone else who let the Dementor's Kiss Crouch however, there's been a series of stolen Dark Artifacts from the Auror Evidence vault."

'The news just keeps getting better and better,' Gabriel moaned.

"What was stolen?" Harry sighed. It would be better if they were prepared for those items popping back up. They would need to know to be wary.

"A blood quill, a set of illegal portkeys, and an unidentified cursed object that was about to be sent to the Unspeakables for identification and disposal." Sirius informed them both grimly.

"Do you think it was Peter?" Remus asked quietly.

"Unless Voldemort managed to find another errand boy," the animagus snarled. "I should have killed him when we had the chance."

'I'm starting to think that the world is conspiring against us,' Gabriel sighed. 'I know that our Hogwarts years are usually filled with drama but this is pushing it. Everything that can go wrong seems to be going wrong all at once.'

He wasn't wrong either, Harry admitted silently. The Tournament, Moody and Crouch, the Chamber, Horcruxes, and Voldemort? It was just one thing after another and it was beginning to make his head spin as he tried to keep up.

"Fudge won't be able to deny that Voldemort is alive after this," Remus continued. They were almost to the Headmaster's office, Harry noted silently. "That's two Ministry officials dead and the Dark Mark has been conjured twice. And the Death Eater's at the world cup? Denial isn't an option anymore. Not to mention we still haven't located Crouch Senior."

The elder Crouch had gone missing by the time that they had uncovered his son posing as Moody. Crouch Junior had been using forged notes to explain his father's absence that had mostly gone unnoticed until the aurors went to question the man and he was nowhere to be found. Crouch Junior had been Kissed by the time that they thought to question him about his father's disappearance.

"Don't bet on it," Sirius snorted. "From what I've gathered from Minnie, Fudge is almost hysteric in his denial to the point that Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE, is on the verge of cursing him for impeding her investigation. Or arresting him but I'm sure that a few curses would 'accidently' hit him during the arrest if it comes to that."

"We're here," Harry interrupted before the two could start discussing the numerous ways that Fudge failed in his job. Harry had heard all of this the night before when Sirius had cornered him after the Tournament. Remus had been invited (or kidnapped, really) by Molly for dinner so that they could all have dinner together. It had become habit for the werewolf to spend most nights at the Burrow for dinner after he had spent the Holidays with the Weasley family.

That meant that Remus was unavailable last night after Sirius had been filled in on the lastest news by McGonagall. Apparently, the teachers were sticking with keeping Harry in the loop on what was happening, since it did pertain to him. Though really, it was more likely an attempt to keep him from unknowingly getting involved in even more life-threatening experiences than he already was.

"Blood Pops." The gargoyle slid out of the way and the trio made their way up the stair case silently.

Harry felt his stomach role and he knew that he was not going to enjoy this next conversation. This was the second time in a few weeks that he'd been forced to explain everything to someone else. With Hermione, it was easy. She was one of Harry's closest friends and he'd always wanted to tell them. Sure, he'd been a little frightened on how she would react but that was it.

Dumbledore was a different matter altogether; there wasn't a trust that had been built upon when it came to himself and the Headmaster. Other than at the end of his first and second year, Harry no interactions with the man. Not to mention his seemingly incompetent handling of the stone in their first year and his inability to figure out where the Chamber was in their second year. Seriously, how did it take three second years to find it when Dumbledore had fifty years to look?

On top it all, every instinct Harry had was telling him that he could trust the man. It was so contradictory that Harry wanted to scream. There was a reason that he had wanted to get it over with when he'd first decided to tell the elderly man. He hadn't wanted to lose his nerve.

Adding to this, Dumbledore hadn't even found out from him. He'd found out from the Merpeople in the lake! Harry had no idea what the Merperson had told him, he'd been out of hearing range when the two were talking. Albus Dumbledore could have been told anything and Harry had no idea how to deal with that.

"Come in!" The man's voice rang out as they approached his office door.

Harry took a deep breath as Sirius moved to open it.

It was time.


Hey look, I'm not dead!

In all seriousness, I have had a rough few weeks. Family drama, school work, and a computer virus have made my life interesting. I have about on day back in the country before everything went insane. As it is, I had to rewrite this chapter due to the fact that I lost most of my files on my computer to said computer virus. I'm so behind on everything that I only just finished this tonight.

And on top of it all, Finals are in a two weeks so that means that I'm going to be cramming as much as possible until then. Thankfully, the final for my study abroad class was the week after we got back so I only have four to worry about instead of five.

Anyways, it'll likely be a couple weeks before a new chapter is out. So probably around the second week of May? I won't make any promises, as I'll have to see how long it takes to unpack after moving out of the dorm, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter down around that time frame.

As always, feel free to ask any and all questions that you might have and I'll do my best to clarify without spoiling later chapters.

~MisteryMaiden~