Chapter 30: The Second Task

December 26th, 1994

Harry woke up with his arm in a very comfortable position indeed, wrapped around Hermione's waist. He almost wanted to just stay there for a couple of hours, but he knew Hermione had to leave early. He also had the problem of Crookshanks laying on his face.

"Hermione, wake up," he said, as he pulled out one arm and removed the cat from off of him.

"I'm already awake," she replied, "I was comfortable."

"I had a very good time last night," Harry said before kissing the side of her face, "but we have to get up."

"Yeah," she said before standing up and giving him what he considered to be a very interesting view. At some point the night previously her bra had come off. She noticed his stare and just grinned at him.

"I'm starting to think that our little privacy screen may be nearing the end of it's useful life," she said, "We're not quite there yet though."

Harry shook his head. "I am definitely not there yet. Nice as this is, I'm, uh, not ready for it on a daily basis."

"How long until the Weasleys get here?" asked Hermione.

The Weasleys would be coming to Hogwarts as early as they could, while The Greengrasses and Davises would be coming later in the afternoon. As would Blaise's mother. This meant that the Weasley children's dates to the Yule Ball would have a chance to spend time with the family. Harry had been invited, but he had other plans.

Harry checked his watch. "Wow only about an hour."

"Well, I need to finish packing," said Hermione, "And you need to go meet Ginny for your 'snogging session.'"

Harry grinned wickedly.

XXXXX

The plan they'd worked out with the twins was simple, Harry and Ginny would go into a preselected broom cupboard, lock lips when the twins got near and get caught snogging when Arthur and Molly opened up the door. Of course Ginny wanted to throw some curveballs in there.

"It will work so much better!" insisted Ginny within the confines of the small space of the broom cupboard.

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable groping you!" Harry insisted.

"You were willing to grope Daphne!" said Ginny accusingly.

"Ginny listen, I like you. But this sort of flies in the face of our decision to be friends," said Harry with a shake of his head, "This is going to be awkward."

"What if I positioned your hands, so that you weren't choosing where to touch me?" asked Ginny, "I mean I am completely fine with you touching me if you have a valid reason to. It doesn't make me uncomfortable in the slightest."

"You know what, I think I can do that," said Harry, who was doubtful that she could be completely comfortable with this.

Ginny took one of his hands and placed it rather firmly on her backside. She then took his other hand and put it on her chest. On seeing him grimace however she moved that hand to the side a bit so he wasn't quite groping her.

"How about that?" she asked.

"I suppose I can live with this," said Harry.

"Good," said Ginny as she grabbed his backside.

"Ah, so this is why you wanted to do this," said Harry.

"Ugh, you weren't wrong, this really is uncomfortable," she said.

"Told you so," said Harry, "Why did I agree to do this?"

"Shhh!" shushed Ginny.

Harry suddenly realised that he could hear voices outside. It sounded like the twins. Ginny winked at Harry and they began to lock lips. Okay so maybe they were actually snogging a bit. Harry didn't hate it, but he didn't really feel anything either. He hated to admit it, but he was pretty sure the thrill of dating around was gone after last night.

The door to the broom closet opened, and Molly and Arthur Weasley were both standing there watching Harry and Ginny maul each other.

Ginny turned to look at them. "Oops," she said before pulling away from Harry and leaving the cupboard, "See you next year Harry."

Arthur was glaring daggers at Harry. Molly on the other hand... Molly looked very, very worried.

XXXXX

Harry returned to the Slytherin common room feeling a bit less confident. Arthur had not taken it well. Ginny would figure out how to deal with it, Harry guessed, but Harry decided that it might be a good idea to keep a low profile today. Maybe he could try to get into the prefects' baths.

Before he could do that he headed back to his room. Hermione had just finished pulling her stuff out, and was about to head out to Hogsmeade.

"I wish I was going with you," said Harry.

"Me too," said Hermione, "But getting that past Dumbledore this year would be tough. He'd want to send you to the Weasleys'.

Harry laughed. "Arthur might not want me there for a while," said Harry, "Not after he caught me groping his daughter."

"Oh wow," laughed Hermione, "I don't believe you actually did that!"

"I didn't want to, but Ginny insisted. I did make her place my hands though," said Harry.

"Prude," joked Hermione who leaned forward and kissed Harry lightly on the lips, "I'll see you in the new year playboy."

Harry watched Hermione leave somewhat regretfully. Not all his friends were leaving. Luna would still be around, as would Seamus. He was about to go into his room and get his egg when he heard a sound coming from Tracey and Daphne's room. It sounded like crying.

Walking up to the door, he saw it was slightly ajar. He knocked lightly.

"Who is it?" said the voice of Tracey.

"Harry," he said, "I just wanted to check on you."

"Come in," she said.

Harry walked in, and upon seeing Tracey he immediately shut the door. She was sitting on her bed in her underwear. Harry tried to turn away from looking at her.

"I invited you in, didn't I?" asked Tracey who was amused even through her tears, "I knew what state I was in."

"Sorry, but until recently you were pretty modest," said Harry, forcing himself to look at her, but not to stare.

"It's fine," said Tracey, "At least you are honest with me about how you feel. That you find me hideous."

"I do not find you even the least bit ugly," said Harry, "You're just a really good friend and it's weird for me to think about you that way." He sat down next to her.

Trace hung her head. "Ron and Daphne are thinking of getting together," she said sadly, "Daphne couldn't wait to tell me last night. I understand, she was excited. Still…"

Harry wrapped his right arm around her, and Tracey leaned into him.

"Hugging me in my skivvies Potter?" she teased him.

"I spent the whole night doing the same with Hermione," admitted Harry.

"Nice," said Tracey, "I don't know what to do. I know I don't want to go talk to the Weasleys right now."

"Me neither," said Harry, "I was going to go take a bath in the prefects' bathroom."

Suddenly inspiration struck him. "Want to come?" he asked.

"You're asking me to bathe with you?" said Tracey incredulously.

"Technically our main goal is going to be to open my golden egg underwater, but hey we can multitask," replied Harry.

"Oooh, let me get dressed. I'm definitely gonna be wearing swimwear. I'm not quite ready for you to see me starkers Harry. Though if you want to get all naked I won't complain," joked Tracey as she pointed at the door. Harry obliged, blushing slightly. He needed to get his egg anyway.

After Harry collected his egg and changed into swimming trunks (which he wore under his robes) and Tracey also got dressed, they made their way out into the common room. It was deserted except for Luna.

"And where are the two of you going?" Luna asked them.

"We're going to go bathe in the prefects' bathroom," said Tracey.

"Can I join you?" asked Luna.

Harry shrugged. "The more the merrier," he said. Luna leapt to her feet and led the way out of the common room.

"Does she have something to swim in?" asked Tracey.

"I don't think so," said Harry.

The two of them looked at each other, then Tracey finally shrugged. Harry, on the other hand, felt that he probably looked like a deer in the headlights.

XXXXX

It had taken Percy almost an hour to get his father alone, but he finally managed it. Arthur had been treating Ginny very oddly since they'd arrived. The twins had been snickering, so Percy assumed that Harry and Ginny's prank had gone off without a hitch, but Arthur had been looking at Blaise oddly the entire meeting, while he almost seemed to be trying to avoid Ginny.

"Is there a problem father?" Percy asked, "You've been acting oddly towards Ginny."

"Well," said Arthur as he looked towards Blaise nervously, "Before we came up here we caught Ginny in a rather um… compromising position."

"Ah, so Harry and Ginny did go through with it," said Percy with a grin.

"Wait, you knew they were going to be… well…" started Arthur.

"Pulling a prank on Mum? Absolutely. I guess they failed to anticipate you wouldn't know what was going on either," said Percy.

"A prank?" said Arthur, his voice almost relieved.

"Mum's been trying to force them together. They're friends, but they don't feel that way about each other. Which Ginny tried to tell Mum. And so did I, and Ron, and the twins," said Percy.

"Oooh," said Arthur, "So this was their way of getting Molly to cool off. That makes sense. Does this have to do with why you moved out by any chance?"

Percy thought about this for a moment. He was almost certain his father had nothing to do with Ginny's marriage contract, but he couldn't risk him telling his mother anything about this.

"I'll only say that Mum did something bad to the two of them, and it rubbed me the wrong way. Please, do not speak of this with Mum though. Even under the best of circumstances there is no possible good that can come of her knowing why I left. It is entirely possible that the situation will be able to be worked around relatively amicably, but only if the situation is dealt with without Mum's further interference," Percy paused, "If that happens, I will probably not hold a grudge beyond that."

Arthur looked at his son sympathetically. "I don't understand, but I will accept that you are trying to deal with the situation on your own terms."

"Thank you," said Percy.

Suddenly they heard a commotion from the other room, where they had been meeting. Heading around the corner and back into the room, they saw that Blaise's mother was there. Early.

"You promised you'd be here two hours from now!" objected Blaise.

"And deny me the chance to meet your date to the Yule Ball?" said Madame Zabini, "Not likely! You chose relatively well. The Weasley's are hardly high society, but they are purebloods. She'd make an acceptable match for you. Unlike others, like that Davis half-breed or that Granger mongrel."

Daphne had been sitting next to Ron, but she leapt to her feet at the insults to her friends. Ron was up beside her in an instant. But Blaise cut them off with a single wave of his hand.

"First mother, don't forget that I am one of those half-breeds. I'm not a pureblood," said Blaise his anger barely contained, "Second, Ginny is my friend. I invited her as a friend. While I have nothing against her, I am not interested in a relationship with her. And third, Hermione, Tracey and Ginny are all wonderful girls, and I would be honored if any one of them developed feelings for me. And to hell with their blood status! Now if you are quite done insulting my friends, let's get out of here before you embarrass me further."

And Blaise stormed out.

Percy had to admit, Blaise had a certain style about him.

XXXXX

When Blaise had stormed into the Slytherin common room he'd been all too willing to discuss what had just happened in front of the Weasleys. Harry had been rather impressed with Blaise and how he handled it. Of course he and Tracey had also then filled Blaise in on their adventure with Luna. An adventure which Harry had to admit, had left him feeling a bit shell shocked.

"You took a bath together," said Blaise, deadpan.

"We were wearing swimwear," said Harry.

"Well Harry and I were," said Tracey, "Luna was starkers."

"Yes I was," said Luna, "Apparently I'm the only one of us to have a bit of courage."

"Did you solve the egg?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Next task is in the lake. The screeching from the egg was Mermish. Something is going to be taken from us, and we'll have to get it back."

"And you didn't get caught?" said Blaise.

"Well…" started Tracey.

"Cho and Cedric did walk in on us," said Harry.

"Not that they could say much," said Tracey, "Cedric was the one who gave Harry the password and…"

"And?" asked Blaise, though he was pretty sure he knew what was up.

"They were starkers as well," said Harry, his face turning red.

"Oho!" said Blaise with a grin.

Luna poked Blaise in the chest. "You missed it," she said accusingly.

"I did," said Blaise.

"Harry and Tracey were cowards," she said, "Imagine taking a bath in a swimming costume!"

"Despicable," said Blaise, "Imagine denying Luna the sight of your bits, Harry. I can promise you that I would have had the courage to join you in the altogether."

"I had to settle for seeing Cedric's penis," said Luna, "he kept trying to cover it up, though."

"Cho wasn't trying to cover up," said Tracey, "which meant Harry had to make some hard choices about where to look."

"Cho thought it was funny and kept trying to get into his line of view," said Luna.

"Since you're staying behind, it's your duty to try to rid Harry of that bad habit, Luna," teased Tracey.

"As you are going to be my only friend here you have a duty to cuddle with me," said Luna to Harry seriously, "Also if we bathe together again you are showing me your bits. Fair is fair."

Harry was almost certain that this was a joke, but he gulped anyway. He had to admit that today had been far more difficult than he had anticipated. He'd seen Hermione topless, he'd groped Ginny, he'd seen Tracey in her underwear and he'd seen Luna and Cho naked. And the dominant feeling he'd felt had not been appreciation, but stress.

No, Harry had to admit it, he was absolutely not ready for this sort of thing yet.

Luna patted Harry on the shoulder gently. "Don't worry, we don't have to do it right away," she said quietly as Tracey began talking about Cedric and his recently exposed man parts, and Blaise nodded, rapt in attention.

How did Luna always know what he was thinking?

XXXXX

When Hermione finally got home she was exhausted. She'd been up late the night before. But she'd wanted to talk to her mother alone for a bit, so she had managed to resist falling asleep until they had time to talk.

"So, how was the Yule Ball?" asked Helen.

"You know how sometimes in movies they have parties where there is intrigue and fun and sexy people all having a good time and romance?"

"Yes," said her mum, "But those are just movies."

Hermione's face lit up, "No, it isn't. It was just like that. Harry and I had fun. It was romantic. It was fun. We caught a reporter spying on us and we blackmailed her."

"What?" said Helen angrily.

"Don't worry, she won't turn on us, not with the bait we held in front of her nose," said Hermione.

"Sirius Black?" asked Helen, to which Hermione nodded.

"It was amazing, and I even managed to fall asleep in Harry's arms," said Hermione.

"I thought you weren't doing that any more," said her mother.

"It was Christmas," said Hermione, "I think it's fine to do that every once in a while. "

"You're probably right," said Helen, "I don't want you going too far is all."

Hermione sighed, "That… isn't going to happen anytime soon."

"You sound disappointed," said Helen, her tone turning wary.

"It isn't so much that I want to do that sort of thing now," admitted Hermione, "the problem is that there are some real barriers to it happening at all, ever. There is possibly a way to deal with those barriers, but I can't do it until I'm ready to… well, do it, if you take my meaning."

"Anything you want to tell me honey?" asked Helen.

"I wish I could," said Hermione.

XXXXX

December 27th, 1994

"So, what are we going to do to fill our time for the rest of the holidays?" asked Luna the day after Boxing Day.

"I have no idea," said Harry, "The school is about the emptiest I've ever seen it."

Luna shrugged. "We could see what sort of magical creatures are hidden in the dungeons."

"Are there creatures there?" asked Harry.

"Oh, I'm certain I can find some," said Luna with a grin.

"Why'd you stay at school?" asked Harry, "Pretty much everyone else went home. I mean Seamus is still here, and some older students, but we're the only Slytherin students left. Surely you want to see your father."

"I do," said Luna, "But I didn't want to leave you alone here. I knew Hermione's parents would make her come home, and when it became obvious that you wouldn't be allowed to go with her I decided to stay. You have been the first person my age to believe in me. And my abilities."

"Thanks Luna," said Harry, genuinely touched. He suddenly threw her into a big hug.

"Oooh, we could cuddle," said Luna as Harry finally let go.

"We certainly can," said Harry with a laugh. He let Luna get settled on his lap. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist. She settled back and sank her head into his shoulder.

"Do you…" started Harry before he changed tack immediately, "I mean to say, are you trying to tell me something?"

"What do you mean Harry?" said Luna.

"Well you stayed here with me, and also you were willing to let me see you naked. And you've always had a little edge to your humour. By which I mean you have been rather suggestive. I know you probably aren't trying anything like that. I just…" Harry trailed off.

"Well, for the most part, you are right," said Luna, "If you weren't so interested in Hermione I might have been interested. As I said, you have been very kind to me. A year ago I definitely did have a crush on you. But as things stand, I'm not really interested in getting rejected by you. I will say that if I had intended on pursuing you, I probably wouldn't have let you see me completely naked."

"So I should take it as a vote of confidence?" asked Harry.

"Not really," said Luna, "I wasn't trying to show off, it was just convenient. No offense, but it wasn't really about you. I would have been just as naked with anyone else. Well, maybe not Neville. Strange, but I do feel a bit self-conscious about him seeing me naked."

"Ahh," said Harry, now blushing somewhat from embarrassment.

"Oh, don't feel bad," said Luna, "I'm not offended. I may not have been showing off for you, but I also didn't mind that you were looking. If you want, I can randomly answer the door to my room for you naked." Harry noted her completely deadpan delivery. Okay this was a joke. He thought.

"What if someone else opens the door? How will you know it is me?" asked Harry.

"I won't," said Luna, again deadpan.

"No tricks up your sleeve, just open the door and hope it isn't Snape?" said Harry.

"I suppose I could use my aura reading," said Luna.

"Since you mentioned it, have you seen anything about anyone's aura that is wrong recently?" asked Harry.

"Well there is one thing," said Luna, "Moody's aura is a bit… weird."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"The feeling I get from him is that he has a darkness about him, but also a dedication and a strong sense of paranoia," explained Luna, "All that I would expect from a legendary auror. But it all feels fuzzy. Wrong. Like there's a bunch of smoke in the room clouding my sense of him. It's almost like he has a second aura buried under the first, but I can't read it at all. I've never encountered anything like it."

"That sounds very wrong," said Harry, "Can someone cloud their aura like that?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe it isn't intentional," said Luna, "I suppose it could be… no that is far fetched. It probably isn't polyjuice potion."

Harry froze, "What?"

"Well one of the ingredients in polyjuice potion is a part of the actual person you have to turn into," explained Luna, "Maybe that would be enough to transfer the aura of that person to the person drinking the potion? I doubt it though. But as far as I know there is no literature on the interaction of aura readers and polyjuice potion."

"So it's just a longshot guess is what you are saying," said Harry, calming down noticeably.

"As far as I'm concerned," said Luna.

"Maybe Ginny or Hermione would know something," wondered Harry. The idea that Moody was actually Crouch seemed really unlikely, yet it was disturbing. But it probably wasn't true.

"Do you think Ginny would know because she has You-Know-Who's memories in her head?" asked Luna.

Harry hadn't been at all prepared for that. "How did you… Did you figure that out from her aura?" he asked.

Luna nodded. "That and from her behavior. Don't worry, I won't tell. And, well, you've tried to read my mind."

Harry laughed again. Luna's mind was something else, it was so bizzare and oddly shaped that he could believe an invader would get lost in there.

"Well, to get back on topic, I don't think you need to be answering the door for me in the buff Luna," said Harry, "I don't think I could take it. I'm… not really ready for that sort of thing. At least, not on a regular basis."

"I understand," said Luna.

"Thanks," said Harry.

"So," said Luna, once again deadpan, "Daphne told me that you are pretty good with your hands."

Harry laughed at Luna's joke. At least he hoped it was a joke.

XXXXX

January 9th, 1995

When Harry's friends finally returned, they quickly got down to planning his strategy for the second task. Aside from Harry's Slytherin friends, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Parvati all agreed to help. So did Padma from Ravenclaw, along with Sue Li. The only person from Hufflepuff was Justin, as the rest of the Hufflepuffs didn't want to help Cedric's opponent. Cedric had personally told Justin that he should help Harry, and the rest of his house understood that.

"There has to be some way to breathe underwater," said Daphne.

"There is," said Ginny, "It's called the Bubble-head charm. It's pretty difficult though."

"You think Harry can't do it?" asked Padma, not quite believing it.

"I'm sure he can," said Ginny, "But this isn't an area where we want mistakes. If he casts it wrong then it runs out early or there's a leak. He could die."

Neville suddenly spoke up, "I, uh think I might know something. There's a plant that gives you gills, it's called gillyweed. It actually makes you a natural underwater creature for a period of time."

"How long does the effect last?" asked Hermione.

"An hour give or take, depending on the dosage," said Neville thoughtfully, "You know what? Professor Moody gave me the book that had gillyweed in it after he demonstrated the c...cruciatus curse? You think that was on purpose?"

Harry looked at Hermione significantly, "Probably, this wouldn't be the first time he's tried to help me." Harry mistrusted Moody, but gillyweed sounded like just what he needed.

"I dimly remember reading something about that," said Sue, "but where would we get it?"

"Professor Snape has some," said Neville, very hesitantly.

"I could get it," said Ginny confidently.

"I'm sure you could," said Harry, "but why don't I just try to ask him first."

"The teachers aren't supposed to help us," said Parvati.

"And since when has Snape helped anyone?" demanded Ron.

"Ron, I'm a Slytherin," said Harry, "He'll bend over backwards to give an advantage to anyone in his own house. Besides, I'm going to say that it's so I can gather some fresh potions ingredients off the lake bottom."

"He'll see right through that," said Ron.

"And how many fucks do you think he'll give?" demanded Daphne, "None. Harry just needs to give Snape plausible deniability. He expects Harry to lie to him."

Blaise and Seamus had been talking quietly in the back of the room. But at this point Seamus lifted one finger for attention. "Me and Blaise think we can give you some bang-up spells to use underwater."

"Are they going to make things explode?" asked Hermione.

"Maybe," said Blaise evasively.

"Are they?" demanded Hermione more forcefully.

"Probably," admitted Seamus.

"Harry can certainly learn those spells," said Ginny, "but we can also look for versions of other spells that work better underwater. Harry doesn't need to go on a killing spree among the merfolk after all."

For the next hour they worked on a list of spells that Harry could use underwater. After that, Tracey ordered all of them to take a break.

"Keep your minds fresh and focused!" she said.

"She's gonna make a great Quidditch captain," said Blaise admiringly.

Harry sat down next to Hermione, who was talking to Padma and Parvati. Out of the corner he saw Ginny talking to Justin. That was an interesting development.

"Roger Davies has been moping I heard," Parvati was saying.

Padma nodded, "His date with Fleur didn't go so well I heard."

"Apparently, what Fleur told me was that Roger made a lot of promises about his, ah, skill and experience," said Hermione, "Apparently he was rather lacking in both."

Parvati and Padma giggled at that. "Poor Fleur," said Harry, "She'd been looking forward to it too, before the Yule Ball."

"She told you that?" asked Parvati incredulously.

"Fleur is quite open about those things," said Hermione.

"And we're friends," said Harry, "she wasn't explicit or anything, but she wasn't going to hide how she felt from me."

"Do you know how many guys would kill to be in your shoes Harry?" asked Padma, "And here you are admitting the most beautiful person we all know casually talks to you about her sex life? Damn Potter."

"Not the most beautiful person I know," said Harry as he winked at Hermione.

Hermione blushed as both of the Patil's laughed.

"So are you officially off the market then Harry?" asked Parvati, a bit disappointedly.

"Let's just say, I'm not looking around for new people to date at the moment," said Harry, "I can't quite bring myself into the mood anymore."

Hermione definitely smiled at that.

XXXXX

February 23rd, 1995

The preparations continued to go well. Harry was taught a bunch of useful spells for use underwater. One of the most useful was a superpowered version of the Stinging Hex. It should chase off any creatures Harry encountered. Harry also managed to sneak into the prefects' baths again to practice his swimming. One thing he discovered was that he could use a modified Banishing charm to accelerate himself through the water. He also made sure to master the Bubble-Head Charm. Just in case.

Harry's visit to Snape the week before the task went just as planned. When Harry asked for gillyweed so that he could hunt for fresh reagents, Snape had smiled knowingly, and provided the gillyweed, but did not ask any more questions. All in all, Harry felt that he was ready for the task.

The night before the task, Tracey and Hermione clashed over what Harry should do. Tracey insisted that Harry needed to get plenty of rest, while Hermione was of the opinion that he should go over his plan as many times as possible.

"Why don't you and I go back to our room," Harry said to Hermione, "We'll run over everything once more and then turn in."

"A good compromise," agreed Ginny.

"All right then," said Hermione. Before she could finish, Snape strode into the room.

"Miss Davis, Miss Granger, I need to speak to the two of you for a moment," he said.

"I'll head back then," said Harry.

Hermione nodded as she and Tracey left to follow Snape.

Harry went back to his room. After about fifteen minutes Hermione hadn't come back. He decided to run through all his spells on his own. Once again he performed flawlessly. Now if only he could do that under pressure.

About a half hour before curfew, Hermione hadn't come back. Harry was starting to get a bit worried. He left his room and knocked on the door to the room Tracey and Daphne shared.

Daphne opened the door. "Hermione isn't back yet," said Harry.

Daphne frowned, "Neither is Tracey," she admitted.

"Maybe they went to the library?" asked Harry. A thought occurred to him. Both Tracey and Hermione had accompanied Champions to the Yule Ball. Certainly they weren't going to…

Harry and Daphne made their way to the library. Once there they saw a few people still there, mostly Ravenclaws, though Ginny and Luna were getting ready to leave. Harry was relieved when he saw Roger Davies in the library.

As they left the library with Ginny and Luna, they ran into Cedric.

"Harry!" asked Cedric, "was Cho in the library? Her friends say she isn't in Ravenclaw Tower."

Harry's heart sank. "No… she wasn't," he said grimly, "Hermione and Tracey are missing too."

"But Roger is there," said Ginny, seeing where they were heading.

"Fleur and Roger had a falling out," said Harry, his voice sick.

"Those BASTARDS!" shouted Daphne angrily. Cedric's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

"Miss Greengrass!" shouted the voice of Professor McGonagall as she strode around the corner, "there is no excuse for that sort of language."

"Where are Hermione, Tracey and Cho then?" demanded Harry, his eyes afire. Ginny placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Surprisingly it seemed to help.

McGonagall's eyes softened. "They are safe, and rest assured wherever they are, they gave their permission."

Harry nodded curtly. "Very well then," he said, barely containing his anger, "but the rhyme said a thing would be taken, not a person. I am not even slightly okay with this."

McGonagall nodded, "Nor should you be Mr. Potter. But you'd best get back to your common room. Curfew is in a few minutes."

Harry let himself be guided back to the Slytherin common room. Surprisingly, Ginny followed him into his bedroom.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Change," she said as she motioned to his privacy screen.

Harry changed into his pajamas behind the screen. Walking out from behind the screen, he saw Ginny point her wand at his bed.

"Lie down," she said.

Harry suddenly realized what she was doing. "Thanks," he said to Ginny as he curled up under the covers.

Ginny pointed her wand at Harry, and Harry's world went black.

XXXXX

February 24th, 1995

"What was that spell you cast on me?" Harry asked Ginny at breakfast.

"It just puts you to sleep," said Ginny, "It isn't a very useful spell, as it doesn't keep you asleep or anything. It is also shockingly easy to resist. But you'd have stayed up all night worrying without it."

Harry wasn't really hungry, but he made sure to eat enough that his hunger wouldn't distract him. He needed to be ready. He'd almost headed down to the lake last night, but he realized that would have been stupid. The hostages probably hadn't even been in the lake last night.

Fleur walked into the Great Hall , her eyes looking around everywhere. "'Arry!" she said, her worry clear on her face, "My sister Gabi! She came to see the second task and now she 'as gone!"

If Harry had thought he had been angry last night, he'd been wrong. Hermione, Tracey and Cho at least had some idea of the danger they'd be put in, but Gabi wasn't even old enough to have a wand! She couldn't give any meaningful consent to being used as a hostage like this!

Without thinking he ran up to the head table. "Gabrielle?" he said angrily, "She's a child!"

"Harry," said Dumbledore, "She did agree…"

"She isn't old enough to agree!" said Harry, just barely remembering to keep his voice down.

"I agree with you Mr. Potter," said Flitwick, "But she's already in place. Someone is going to have to go down there and get her."

Fleur's face had gone ashen. "You took Gabi?" she nearly screamed before she turned and ran from the hall.

Harry couldn't even remember a time when he had been more furious.

XXXXX

As Harry stood on the shore of the lake, he briefly considered his options. Obviously the tournament organizers weren't going to put anyone not competing in the tournament in danger intentionally. But given how badly they'd fucked up with the age line, and not securing the dragon in the first task, Harry wasn't about to treat their precautions as foolproof. Harry wasn't about to leave Hermione's safety in their hands for any longer than he had to.

Krum had taken the news that Tracey was in the lake fairly well. He was angry, but not nearly as much as any of the other competitors. Fleur was practically shaking with rage.

"As if this was not going to be 'ard enough as is," she muttered to Harry as she stood next to him on the shore of the lake. "I am not a very strong swimmer, I am afraid."

"Let's team up," said Harry immediately, "We both want Hermione and Gabi rescued. If they give us flak we'll just break out the whole 'international cooperation' angle."

Fleur looked shocked at this for a second, then nodded firmly. "Oui, that sounds like a good idea."

Harry looked at the judges box. Crouch hadn't reappeared yet, so Minister Fudge was here today instead. Harry felt lucky he hadn't been here last time. Siccing a dragon on the Minister for Magic was probably too much for even him to get away with.

Still Crouch not being here wasn't good. If Crouch Jr. was imitating Crouch Sr., shouldn't he have reappeared to make sure Harry fell into his trap? Suddenly Harry was much less sure that Crouch Jr. was impersonating his father.

XXXXX

One hour.

They had one hour to get Hermione and Gabi. and they'd wasted far too much of it.

Things had started well for Harry and Fleur. His Gillyweed was an amazing boon, as it not only let him breathe in the water, but it also let Harry swim like a native water dweller. The largest problem had been just how bad visibility was in the lake. It was far worse than Harry had anticipated. Working with Fleur Harry knew that he had an advantage that no one else had: Two sets of eyes.

Still, they had been almost completely surprised when the grindylows popped out and began attacking them. One of them grabbed Fleur and started dragging her down. Fleur was less mobile than Harry, as she had chosen a Bubble-Head charm instead of using gillyweed. Harry had managed to avoid his attacker.

He fired a normal stinging hex at the grindylow that had seized Fleur. The creature let go of Fleur in shock. Fleur then turned and sent a spell at the grindylow attacking Harry. Harry didn't recognize it, but the grindylow immediately stopped following him.

The grindylow that had attacked Fleur was still at it though. He lunged again, but this time he misjudged Fleur's momentum and missed her entirely. Harry sent one of his more powerful Stinging hexes at the grindylow this time. The creature made a squeal when it was hit and retreated.

As more grindylows began to come out of the weeds at the bottom of the lake, Harry realised that this was a losing battle. Swimming over to Fleur he wrapped an arm around her waist and pointed his wand behind him, casting what he had taken to calling the repulsor charm. The two of them shot through the water at high speed away from the grindylows. Moments later the grindylows were far behind. Stopping his momentum with a quick jab of his wand, he turned to look at Fleur.

She was giving him a very… arch look on her face as if to chide him for grabbing her. He shrugged apologetically, which caused her to start laughing. Apparently she was just giving him a hard time. Though he had just wrapped his arm around her while she was in a swimsuit and it had no discernible effect on him. He put that aside for later.

Harry's escape actually turned out to be beneficial however, as he and Fleur had stopped just outside the merpeople's village. That was a spot of good luck. Swimming into the heart of the village they saw four figures floating there, held down by some sort of line or rope. It was the hostages, dressed in the same clothes they'd worn last night. Harry thought the rope might actually be some sort of seaweed. Suddenly he wondered whether he could leave the rest of the hostages safely.

Fleur seemed to sense what he was thinking. She was concerned as well, but she gestured to Gabi. Harry nodded at her. Yes, Fleur should rescue Gabi right now, no matter what Harry chose to do.

He swam over to what looked like the chief of the merpeople, gestured at Tracey and Cho, and then grabbed his own shoulders then pointed to the chief. The merman nodded at Harry, and then said, "We will keep them safe."

Suddenly Cedric was there, but he wasn't alone. The grindylows that had attacked Harry and Fleur had hunted him down, and he was doing his best to avoid them. Cedric was firing spells back at the grindylows as they pursued him. He swam past the hostages and let loose a barrage of spells back at his pursuers. Unfortunately, one of his spells hit Gabi.

Her eyes popped open, but by some miracle her mouth didn't. Without even thinking about it, Harry cast the Bubble-Head charm on the girl and cut her loose with a quick cutter. He began waving on Fleur as she grabbed her sister and began to swim up.

The time to wait was over, Harry had to get Hermione out of here now! Cedric was here for Cho, and Tracey knew the Bubble-Head charm if she woke up. Cutting Hermione loose with another cutter, Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. Then he pointed his wand down and cast a Depulso causing him to rocket toward the surface. He was soon catching up to Fleur, but she saw him and began casting her own banishing charm.

A minute or so later, They broke the surface, Fleur just barely ahead of Harry. When Hermione's head broke the surface, her eyes popped open and she took a deep breath.

"I hope you didn't scream at Dumbledore too much when you learned I was gone," said Hermione.

"I didn't when I learned you were gone, but when I learned about Gabi…" started Harry.

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, "Yeah go nuts about that!"

Harry angled his wand so that his banishing charm began to gently push them towards shore. Hermione wrapped her arms around him. They suddenly heard crying as Gabi's Bubble-Head charm wore off. Fleur was trying to comfort her as best as she could.

"Gabi nearly drowned," said Harry, "Cedric accidently hit her with a spell when he was being attacked."

"Who came up with this moronic task?" demanded Hermione.

When they got to shore, they were a ways from the stand where everyone was waiting. As soon as they were on land. Gabi ran up to Harry and began crying at him in French while she leapt up and put her arms around his neck. He didn't need to be able to speak French to know she was thanking him (though he could indeed still mostly understand her). He just gently hugged her back and whispered that it was all right to her.

Letting Gabi down gently, he was then confronted by Fleur. "You saved Gabi's life, without a doubt," said Fleur.

"You're my friend Fleur. Of course I did," he said with a smile.

Fleur suddenly bent down and kissed him. And wow, did she kiss him. It was a full on open mouthed kiss. Not only that but Harry could feel her allure tearing at the edges of his mind. It wasn't unpleasant really. It certainly made the kiss more enjoyable.

And then it was over. "Thank you 'arry," Fleur said her cheeks turning slightly red, "I ah, guess I was a bit more enthusiastic than I had intended."

"Um, that was fine," said Harry, "It was certainly memorable." Harry looked at Hermione with an apologetic look in his eyes. She seemed amused more than anything else. Suddenly Harry had to resist an urge to kiss her. The allure had apparently kicked his general sense of attraction in general into overdrive.

They walked back to the stands where Madam Pomfrey was running up to greet them. She quickly ushered them into a tent where she covered them all with blankets and drying and heating charms. Harry and Hermione threw each other's blankets over the other's shoulders so they could hold each other as they sat together. Suddenly he found himself looking into her eyes again. And the urge to kiss her came back again. This time he didn't fight it. And despite the fact that Fleur and Gabi were right there, Hermione leaned into it.

Harry had to admit that he sort of lost track of time there for a second, but suddenly he heard giggling. He broke away from Hermione to see Gabi giggling at them. She wasn't alone however. Cho and Cedric were there now, and they were almost as bad. Fleur wasn't laughing, but her eyes were shining as she smiled at them, and Krum and Tracey had just entered the tent. Krum gave them a good natured smile, but Tracey was pumping her fist in the air as if cheering them on. When she saw they'd stopped she simply said "Awwww," as if they'd taken away her favourite toy. Madam Pomfrey came back in and gave the two of them a look.

Once they were dry, they went out to get their scores. There was some sort of argument going on in the judges box. Ultimately Karkaroff sat down in a huff. Apparently he didn't like the new scoring system for this task. Harry couldn't empathize with that, as they'd adopted the new system because Karkaroff had given him a 0 for the first task.

"Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour were tied for first getting back. They cooperated in order to regain their hostages. As encouraging international cooperation is the main goal of this tournament, this is to be encouraged, not penalized, and they both returned within the time limit so they both get the full 10 points!" shouted Fudge.

"Furthermore, they both made sure that the merpeople would take care of the other hostages before freeing their own," said Dumbledore, "We cannot give them more points for this, but we commend both of them for their good character and judgement."

"Cedric was second back, and just outside the time limit," said Bagman, "and last was Viktor Krum who was five minutes outside the limit."

The judges began to show the scores for Krum and Cedric. Harry grinned grimly. He was now the leader, and Fleur had taken second place, though only just.

Which, after all, was probably exactly what Voldemort wanted.

Author's Note: I'm gonna level with everyone, this chapter required a lot of rewrites. Trying to exactly tune what I wanted to let Harry do, and what would be too far for his age was a challenge. Fleur is probably the biggest example of this. It's easy to take her tolerant flirtation and make it into something that's a lot more leading. She's supposed to like Harry, but not be smitten by him. Same thing with Luna and Tracey really.

We are right on the cusp of really big things happening, so I'll refrain from giving too much of a preview here. But the last task is in the next chapter, so look forward to that!