Check first chapter for summary, disclaimer, and other warnings. As well as the previous ones for additional notes (in short: the kids are now teens, growing up and rebelling).

Chapter 26 – Underwater
posted June 14th, 2020

Wotcher, Diary!

I took another day off to watch the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament – all capitalized, of course: it sells better on marketed products (I lost the count of stalls selling souvenirs of the event). Seriously, I'm disgusted by the fact that, of all the things from the muggle world, we only import the worst.

On top of that, there was nothing to see. I have half the mind of creating my own stall from thin air, and sell tee-shirts with slogans. Like "I paid the price to watch the Tri-Wiz, and spent an hour watching a lake."

But I won't, for several reasons. The first is that each of these stalls must pay the Ministry tax beforehand, as well as another tax depending on their sales. Tax in, tax out, another thing imported from the muggle world.

The second reason is that the people here actually have a spectacle to see (and those without recording omniculars will rue their choice): Fleur Delacour removing her clothes until almost nothing remained. Visibly, the girl didn't have many swimsuits, and was used to French Riviera fashion, and the one she had now was an exquisite bikini which seemed entirely made of strings. The males witnessing this where excited, and several females as well. I know I was.

When her name was called, the girl smiled at the crowd, turning around and showing her front, and receiving a roar of approval (but no applause, because many where grasping themselves upon the view). But despite her smile I distinctly saw the discomfort in the girl's attitude – not about her lack of clothes, but because she was going to plunge in the lake to save her sister.

She put her wand in the string of her bikini, and waited for the start – she really couldn't wait to go, but the magic of the Tournament prevented her from leaving the pier prematurely.

And I distinctly heard several people nearby wishing that the wand would untie the bikini knot.

I was attracted despite my honestly heterosexual preference, but it's perhaps because I haven't been laid in quite some time, myself. That's probably for this reason that I tend to focus my ramblings on the sensual displays in front of me – Fleur, for the moment, but not only.

Still, I wondered whether the rumoured Veelas' "special abilities" were to blame. I doubt so, however, because her fellow champions were still looking towards the lake, not towards her. And the three knew who awaited them there.

John was there with his two assistants, Luna and Su. However, the three of them were still in pyjamas, and quite sleepy, as if they just got out of bed. In addition, the two girls seemed lost without their Alpha. Still, their movements must have been practised beforehand because they helped him dress right: removing everything, they replaced the night clothes with a diver's suit. The girls in the stands hopped this way and that, hoping to catch a glance at something else than a pair of firm buttocks.

"One… Two… Three…" and bang goes the wand, signalling the start of the event. This shook John and the girls, because they weren't completely ready. The bottles came next, followed by the mask and the footwear. But in their haste, they fastened the feet before John was on the edge, and he had to take a couple of uncomfortable steps, making some laugh in the crowd.

The trio ignored them. "Come back soon." murmured Su, kissing him – and there wasn't many places to kiss on his face, so she did the mouth.

"Come back with her." added Luna with a kiss of her own. "Whole, the two of you."

"And check for the Veela." finished Su. "You have my little surprises?"

He grinned and indicated the appropriate pouch. And he fell in the water, on his back, as he has learnt.

From the sides, I prepared to wait for a long time, although Fleur was still giving us quite the show… but not on the pier. Concentrating, she had transformed her shape into a bird-like creature, and took flight towards the middle of the lake. Apparently, she had decided to skip the long diagonal trudge, choosing the vertical one. She took a bead off her bikini knot, held her wand in another hand, and uttered a couple spell. The second must have cancelled a transfiguration because the bead became a heavy weight propelling her towards the water depths. And my neighbours must be quite happy because they got their wish: the bikini knot was half-removed when she extracted the wand. And the plunge succeeded, leaving the floating strings as the sole clue of Fleur's passage.

John told me his own trek afterwards, and it was quite informative – most notably because his metal legs forced him to walk on the lakebed all the way to his destination. But to conclude about Fleur, I should mention that she reappeared first, and with her hostage in tow. But both were burned as if plunged in acid. And clearly not there by their own volition since they were both unconscious, floating on an inflatable raft.

John and Hermione appeared just afterwards, in the same way, and it was clear that Hermione was in a foul mood. She made gestures at him, asking for something. When he shrugged helplessly, she took his forearm, shook it… and found herself mostly dry. And mostly clothed. The arm wasn't as easy to use as a wand, and the spell was only moderately successful.

She was ready to use her knowledge of healing to good use, but reflected that "only moderately successful" wasn't enough to heal anyone, especially two young females in dire need of help. Instead, she pushed John towards the end of the raft, linked the two together, and gave him the signal.

And the boy breathed fire. Some who weren't there at the First Task almost fell from their seats. Others commented that it was his dragon ability, without realizing that it wasn't that simple. Still, it worked, and the two rafts quickly neared the coast.

On his way, John almost burnt Viktor and his hostage because the Bulgarian had been guided out of the water by the light from the flames.

And Cedric was still in the lake. Dumbledore spells worked like a charm, telling him that Cho Chang was starting to drown, and he hurried to the lake. Another self-inflating raft appeared then, with a coughing Cho on it. Apparently, you could put a timer on these things – who knew?

The Headmaster was then seen using the Point Me spell repeatedly in order to find Cedric Diggory and rescue him from the school of Grindylows fans of twilight holding him hostage.

It was good of Dumbledore to leave the scene, because Hermione was locked in another argument with a well-meaning but otherwise wrong authority figure, in the person of Poppy Pomfrey. Although, strangely, she doesn't remember the first one – has she been Obliviated by Dumbledore, once unconscious and alone with him?

"They need the salve, Miss Granger." said the matron. "Otherwise they will scar."

"Have you asked them? They're Veela. Their biology is different than ours."

"I thought that you weren't influenced by the pureblood ideology." Pomfrey said, shaking her head sadly. "Veela are like humans."

"Yes, the "everyone is equal under the sun" spiel, despite every experiment telling otherwise. Joy." mumbled the teen. Then, taking John's hand (because her wand was still on her nightstand, three floors up in the towering castle behind the medical tent they were in), she aimed at the girls. "Silencio. Enervate. Incendio."

The horrified matron was ready to hex her, but saw that conscious Veelas reacted to fire in a very strange way. Instead of damaging them, their whole body absorbed the energy, and used it do burn away every physical defect.

The only drawback was that they were quite naked afterwards.

To be continued in next chapter: Tangents...