AN:Sorry I forgot to post this yesterday, had a TERRIBLE day at work and forgot the world. I hope your week ends on a high note.
All thanks given to Katherine my beta.
Mia was laughing as she left the great hall reading the signature at the bottom of Alec's letter. As she was passing the corridor towards Dumbledores office, she saw a witch in chocolate robes and bubblegum pink hair.
"Tonks!"
"Wotcha!" Mia ran up the few steps till she was level with the woman and hugged her. Her cousin hugged her back tightly before releasing. "How have things been, Mia?"
"Fine. What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know, just top secret triwizard things for the ministry. How's your family?" Her expression made it look like she didn't care about the answer, but her tone was hesitant as she carefully said the word family.
"Oh you know, Sirius is being Sirius, but I suppose you know better than I do how Remus is." Mia smiled wickedly as Tonks blushed.
"Did he tell you?"
"Of course not. He wouldn't tell me or Sirius who he was spending hours a day drafting a letter to or re reading the reply till the parchment got thin. So Sirius and I may have snooped a little." Mia smiled guiltily. "Sorry, not sorry."
Tonks laughed lightly, then her face started to fall. She sighed and sat down on the staircase. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore. He told me to stop writing."
"What? Why?"
"Why do you think?" Tonks glared up at Mia and her hair started going red at the roots. "Because he's too old for me, because I deserve better. Because he's too poor. Because he's a…"
Mia sighed and sat next to her cousin on the steps. "Remus is very good at looking out for the people he cares about even if it means he's sacrificing himself."
"So how do I get him to stop?"
"I don't know, force your way in?"
"I didn't stop writing," Tonks said with a small grin.
"Good! Does he still write back?"
Tonks smiled. "Yeah, every time. His letters are shorter now, and he's started just responding properly, mentioning everything in my letter politely, then ending it by saying the same thing over again, that I should stop writing, and he won't reply to my next letter. But he always does." She was looking absently across the corridor, a sad wistful smile on her face.
Mia wished she could help, wished her potion was ready and she could cure his disease. Maybe then he would be free to love who he wanted, and wouldn't hold back.
"Does it bother you, what he is?"
Tonks drew back as though slapped. "No! Of course not!"
"It doesn't worry you, what kind of future you would have together?"
Tonks stood up and crossed her arms. "No Mia, it doesn't. I love the man. All of him. And no hard truths are going to scare me away from him!"
"Good." Mia stood up and smiled sadly at her cousin. "Then don't stop fighting for him. He's amazing, and he deserves your love. We just have to convince him of it."
"And how do we do that?"
"I don't know. When's the last time you saw him?"
"Two months ago. He won't agree to go out anymore if I ask him," Tonks said.
"So maybe don't ask?"
Tonks started to grin. "What are you thinking?"
"Well, Sirius I'm sure could use some fresh faces. He's had a hard time of it, recovering from Azkaban, and he never goes out and Remus isn't exactly known for keeping a lively atmosphere. I bet seeing his cousin would help Sirius on his way to recovery. You should stop in."
Tonks was smiling wickedly now. "I like the way you think kid."
They parted ways and Mia headed to the library. She found a seat at a table next to Harry and Hermione. Their table was stacked high with books, and Mia moved a stack so she would have room to reply to Alec.
Hermione growled and slammed another book closed.
"Are you ok?" Mia asked. "You guys have been going crazy in the library. Is this about the second task?" It was two days till the task, Mia hoped they weren't still cramming.
At her question Harry went pale and put his head down on a book. Hermione sighed. "Mia, I don't suppose you know a way to breathe underwater for an hour do you?"
Mia thought about it. There were probably some advanced spells… then she remembered something she had read once when she was researching magical plants found at Hogwarts. "I think there's a plant you can eat that does it. There's a book in the restricted section that mentions it, but I bet Neville knows. He's brilliant at herbology."
Harry lifted his head and stared at her, Hermione also stared. They looked at each other and ran out of the library.
The morning of the second task, Hermione was already out of bed by the time Mia woke up. Mia dressed warmly and headed down to the great hall for breakfast with Gabe. They ate and chatted with the twins about what they thought the next task would cover. When it was time they walked out to the lake and found seats in the large stands surrounding the lake.
There was a large platform on the side of the lake, and on it sat the judges. On the shoreline stood Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor all in swimming suits.
Bagman walked out and put his wand against his throat. "And it looks to be that time for the second task!" Everyone cheered.
"Where's Harry?' Mia asked. Gabe shook his head. Just then a small figure in black robes came running towards the platform. Bagman sagged in relief and headed over to Harry. They spoke for a moment, and Harry joined the other champions, looking out of place in his robes.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One. . . two. . . three!"
A big clock over the judges stand started counting down from one hour.
Fleur and Cedric both pointed spells at their own faces, then took off running from the shore into the water before they submerged. Harry was slower, trudging through the shallows he took something from his pocket and ate it. Mia smiled as she realized it must have been the plant she mentioned. Neville must have come through. Harry waded further into the water, his robes weighing him down. He looked so out of place. Finally, he looked like he was choking, and dove under water.
Lastly, Viktor stood on the edge of the lake, his want pointed at his head as he shot spell after spell. His upper body started to thicken and he began calmly walking into the water, his neck widening, and his head growing thick and misshapen.
Something glinted on his shorts, and Mia smiled when she recognized the SPEW badge on the waistline of his swimming shorts. He shot his wand at his feet when he was waist deep, then at each arm. His arms thickened, and webbing formed on his hands. Finally, he pointed the wand back at his head, and with a few last wand movements, his upper body transformed into a hideous half shark, his teeth pointing out at weird angles. Everyone cheered as he dove into the water and took off.
When the last of the bubbles from Viktor's dive disappeared, the cheering slowly subsided. Bagman, as though looking lost said in an excited voice, "And now, we wait."
"That's it?" Mia asked. "We get to stare at the surface of the lake for an hour and freeze our butts off?"
Gabe opened his cloak and wrapped it around Mia as she snuggled close. "There are worse things I think. We could be forced to swim in that freezing lake."
"Good point."
They talked quietly as the clock counted down. When it reached 10 minutes Bagman raised his wand again. "I'm seeing bubbles! Could that be our first champion?" It wasn't.
The clock reached down to 0, and started counting up in red.
The bored audience jumped to their feet, and as Cedric breached the surface of the water, dragging Cho everyone screamed and cheered.
Next to show was Fleur, except she was alone, her arms cut and scraped and bleeding. She kept yelling and pointing at the lake like she wanted to go back in, but they wouldn't let her.
When Viktor broke the surface, in all his shark glory, Mia started to worry about Harry.
"Is that Hermione?" Gabe asked.
"So that's where she was this morning."
They swam to the platform, and Viktor quickly changed his body back to human. It was much quicker than the original transformation. They were pulled onto the platform, and thick blankets were thrown around them. Madam Pomfrey shoved potions into their hands, and their ears started smoking.
The clock was ticking by with time in the negative. Mia was really worrying now. If the plant Harry used only lasted an hour…
Finally Harry broke the surface, and he carried two people with him, Ron, and a small girl with silver blond hair. All around Harry merpeople surfaced, screeching as they escorted Harry to the platform. By the way Fleur acted, it looked like the little girl was her sister. Once everyone was wrapped in blankets, their ears smoking from pepperup potion, Bagman again took to the stage.
"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. Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We, therefore, award him forty-seven points. Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points. Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first 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."
Mia and Gabe laughed. Yeah, that was Harry for you. He could have won the whole thing.
"Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However. . . Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
Everyone cheered and clapped for their champions.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
On Friday, after potions, Mia waited for the rest of the class to leave and approached Snape's desk.
"What do you want?" He didn't look up at her.
"I was wondering if you would look over a potion I have been working on." She held out the papers.
Snape sneered nastily at her. "Tell me Miss Black, why should I help you when you have been raiding my potions ingredients all year?"
"What? I haven't–"
"Well someone sure has, I know you go through ingredients quite regularly, where do you get them all?" He was staring into her eyes intently, and Mia couldn't look away.
"I– I buy them."
Snape slammed his hand on the desk. "Do not lie to me."
"Fine!" Mia said, not liking this interrogation. "Give me detention if you must. Sometimes I go into the forest and harvest them."
This caught Snape off guard and he blinked. Then he straightened again catching her eyes one more time. "If that is true, look me in the eyes and tell me you have never taken anything out of my storerooms without asking."
Mia looked him in the eyes, anger flaring in her own. His eyes seem to glitter softly. "I have never taken anything out of your storerooms without asking."
He frowned and broke their eye contact as though it had been a physical force. Mia rubbed her head and looked down at the table. That was weird. It was like he had been seeing into her soul.
"All right Miss Black. So what exactly is this cute little project you want me to look over for you?"
He was back to sneering. It was familiar ground and Mia was relieved. She took a deep breath and set a small stack of paper on his desk. It contained her recipe and process on the table. "It's a cure. I want to know if you think it will work and I promised Professor McGonagall I would show it to you before I tried to brew it again." Professor Snape picked up the paper and Mia turned and left before he had a chance to read it over.
AN: How do you think Snape will respond to her potion? What did you think of the second task? The books never say how the audience watches the task, but it's clear based on needing the mermaids info that no one saw what really happened. I've always thought just starting at the water for an hour would be hilarious. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it!