The next morning, Harry was led away immediately after breakfast by Flitwick, Neville following close behind with a cup of gillyweed. As I had predicted, Ron and Hermione had not made a reappearance. Alice and I said our nervous goodbyes to Harry and Neville, and made our way to the stands that were on the edge of the lake, Mrs O'Leary close at heel, we soon were joined by Luna and John.
As we reached the stands I noticed there was no shield to prevent anyone from interfering, which was strange, the shield had been there in the first task and in every Quidditch match since the one where Quirrelmort tried to kill Harry, I guessed it was to allow whatever spell kept the people under the lake alive.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," the announcer started, "before we start, you may have heard that Barty Crouch Senior was missing," there was a lot of chatter about that. "Well, yesterday morning, he was found, or at least his body was," everyone was stunned into silence. "He was murdered in his home not long after the first task, but as he lived alone, no-one had noticed, his son has been charged with his murder." The stands erupted into nervous talking, Mr Crouch was a powerful ex-Auror and he had been murdered in his own home, that was enough to get everyone concerned.
"This means we now lack a judge, but thankfully, Mister Brunner of the Chiron Academy in America was kind enough to step in at the last minute to take Mr Crouch's place until a suitable replacement can be found." I looked up at the judges, sure enough, next to Ludo Bagman was Chiron in his wheelchair and usual ensemble of a corduroy waistcoat, a white button up shirt and brown tie. He noticed me and waved, I waved back. "Now, on with the task, someone very important to each of our champions is tied to the bottom of this lake, they have a spell on them to prevent them from drowning and they are guarded by Merpeople. The champions have one hour to retrieve their loved ones, they will receive marks depending on their flair and speed at accomplishing the task. Ah here are our champions now," the champions paraded out onto a pontoon, I would be lying if I said I did not stare at Fleur in her swimwear, it was very revealing and she looked very attractive in it. "You may begin with the sound of the cannon."
"The what?" Alice asked, her question answered by a very loud explosion, the champions dove in, except Harry, who was pushed by Neville. "This is not going to be a good spectator sport, welcome to lake watching, the least interesting event ever." I laughed absently as I reached out to find Harry.
I focused on the rock, Harry was carrying it attached to his waist, I could feel its general location, he was swimming around near the bottom of the lake, I kept a close eye on it (figuratively, as I could not actually see it). What I had not told Harry was that it was also a tracing spell, just in case he was unable to press the emergency beacon. After three quarts of an hour, Cedric re-emerged from the lake, he was carrying Cho, he waved at the crowd and dragged Cho out the lake before collapsing on the beach. Next to emerge was Fleur, who collapsed on the beach empty handed, she immediately started coughing and crying in equal parts, it appeared her spell had failed and she'd been forced to surface or drown, Veela are fire elementals, demi-Veela do not do well under water. Seconds before the hour was up, Krum surfaced with Hermione, he had taken the logical step and partially transfigured himself into a shark, it was a rather impressive transfiguration, for a mortal. He was chanted on by the crowd as he turned himself to normal and carried Hermione to the shore, where he sat down facing the lake with his eyes closed.
Time passed and there was still no Harry, "this isn't good," John said, leaning forward in his seat.
"Looks like Potter bit the dust, or should I say, drank the lake?" We turned to see Malfoy and his goons.
"I thought I smelt something unpleasant," Alice growled, "I thought it was just the lake," Mrs O'Leary growled her agreement.
"Oh," Draco said, pressing his hands to his face in mock horror, "I'm mortally offended, a filthy Mudblood thinks I'm unpleasant, whatever shall I do? My heart might just give out from the torment."
"Oh please do," John said through gritted teeth as Luna put a hand on his arm to calm him down.
"Shut up Draco, or I'll turn you into a rat and feed you to Mrs O'Leary," I growled. Restraining myself from throttling him. Mrs O'Leary looked ready to spring at him, I put a hand on her back to calm her down, she was tensed and did not react to my hand.
"What kind of girlfriend are you if you don't defend your girlfriend's honour? Can your kind even have honour? Is it possible for a fag to grasp such a high and civilised concept as honour?" Draco asked leering at me.
"If you want a duel, I'll be more than happy to duel you, just not here and now, because I'm a bit busy being worried that my friend is in trouble, so please go away."
"We will have our duel, you disgusting freak," Draco whispered before walking away.
I sent out a thought to look for Harry, I found him carrying Ron and fighting merpeople, he was out of the range of any magic I could use to help him. 'Harry, the hour is up, please surface with Ron.' I thought at him.
'There's still someone down here,' he thought back, sending the thought of a young Beauxbatons girl tied by her ankles to the lakefloor.
'Harry, you'll drown,' I implored.
'No, I can do this,' I cursed his stubbornness, I sent a thought to look for the girl, she was within my range. I commanded the water around her feet to cut the plant matter that tied her to the lakefloor, then I carefully lifted her towards the surface.
'She's free Harry,' I thought at him, 'now surface.'
'Okay,' I felt the stone be used, seconds later, Harry, carrying Ron, breached the surface and shot six feet in the air, he then fell back into the lake just as the girl floated to the surface. The stone sank into the murky depth of the lake, its power spent. I heard a shout and turned to the beach where Fleur was receiving medical attention. I turned to face her, she was trying to get into the water as an exhausted Harry tried to pull her friend, no, sister, they looked too similar to be anything else, to the shore while also pulling Ron along. I pulled on the water and the three people floated steadily towards the shore. When they reached the shore, Harry pulled himself out and collapsed while the teachers got the other two, I saw Fleur kiss Harry on the cheek, probably to thank him for saving her sister. Harry blushed so red I could see it from the stands.
"Come on," I said as I stood from my seat, we ran down to the beach, Harry had lapsed into unconsciousness and the hostages were still unconscious.
"Well, that was exciting," the announcer said with his usual abnormal cheer, "time for the scores from our judges. First, Cedric Diggory," he got tens across the board, except Bagman and Karkaroff, who gave him nines, Chiron's score was presented by Dumbledore, as Chiron could not do it himself. "Forty eight, highly impressive, he has received the highest single score of the competition, now Fleur Delacour," Fleur cringed, she got sixes across the board, except Maxime and Dumbledore gave her sevens. "Thirty two, that's a shame, better luck in the next challenge Miss Delacour. Next Mr Krum," he got eights, except Chiron and Karkaroff, who gave him nines, he looked on without a reaction as he sat on the beach, "forty two, not bad Mr Krum. And finally Mr Potter," Harry got three eights, Bagman gave him ten whilst Karkaroff gave him seven, "forty one, impressive. However, I have been informed that as he went over his time limit Harry has lost ten points," there was considerable booing from all three schools. "But he has gained eleven points for knowingly sacrificing his own score and maybe even the tournament in order to save a person in need and in doing so showing great moral fibre, bringing his score up to forty two." There was cheering in response to that, apparently the scores for this were just as arbitrary as the points for the House Cup. "At the end of the last task the scores stood with Harry Potter on forty four points, leading Viktor Krum who is one point behind on forty three, Fleur Delacour on forty and Cedric Diggory on thirty nine. After this task the score stands with Cedric Diggory on eighty seven, Harry Potter on eighty six, Viktor Krum on eight five and Fleur Delacour on seventy two. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, I will see you all in the Summer for the final task, I'll be amazed if you miss it."
"Why did he emphasise amazed like that?" Alice asked.
"Maybe he would be really amazed if anyone missed it," I suggested, she smiled at my lame comment.
We were interrupted by Harry coughing and waking up, "did I miss anything?"
"You lost the lead, you have eighty six and Cedric has eighty seven," I said, "aside from that not much."
"An excellent display of heroism," Chiron said as he carefully rolled his wheelchair down to the edge of the beach (as we have found out many times, wheelchair + loose shingle = Chiron going for a swim).
"Thank you Professor Brunner," Harry said as he sat up and almost fell straight back over, "whoa, headrush."
"Oh, I'm not a professor, just an instructor, Mr Brunner will do," Chiron said smiling joyfully at him, "now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to talk to Janet."
"Of course Mr Brunner," I said as I helped him back up the beach.
"Janet, sides are being taken for the summer, it's not looking great," he said quietly as we moved into an empty part of the grounds.
"How bad is it?" I asked as I thought about how bad things could be.
"Many of the minor Gods have betrayed us, Hypno, Nemesis, Janus, Prometheus, not even the Gods know how many more. But it is not all bad, your mother refuses to side as does Iris, Thanatos is with us in theory, as is Coeus and probably by extension Phoebe, the winds are currently on our side, but they are changeable at best. The ancient deities, Nyx, Geras and the like, refuse to side, Cupid is nominally with us, as is Eros, but I doubt they'll be able or willing to do much. The Aurors are going to fight by our side, I told them the full extent of what is going and they are unhappy that we kept it from them, they are supporting us. The Amazons are currently under siege and have been for months, my father has apparently decided to tie up a large chunk of his army keeping them busy, which is the logical thing to do. The party pony Centaurs will side with us, whilst the wild ones refuse to side, and of course the Hunters will be there, I reckon between the Aurors, Centaurs, Hunters, Nature Spirits, Hunters, Satyrs and Campers we will have about two thousand fighters. I am concerned though that the Satyrs and spirits don't have combat training and may not be much help in an actual battle and they compose at least one thousand of that number. I have put in a request to both Hades and Poseidon for help, but they are both busy, Hades is having to put down a major rebellion in the Field of Punishment and Poseidon is losing his war in the oceans."
My brow creased with worry, "that doesn't sound good, what about some of the loners, magicians and the like, the ones who act by themselves, some of them are quite powerful and will probably help us."
"I've talked to a couple, The Clock is conflicted as apparently he serves some entity that is very similar to Kronos and at best will stay neutral, but at worst may be forced into siding against us. Dr F is retired. Mr Z is trying to restrain a demon and won't be much use for a few months while he does that and I am on my way now to talk The Defender, but I doubt he will listen to me, but it is worth a try. I'm concerned that if we win, the victory may be pyrrhic, hundreds of Aurors, Demigods, Hunters, Satyrs, Nature Spirits and Centaurs could be lost, weakening our chance of defending against another attack, by, something else."
"You're thinking of the Gigantes?" I asked, Chiron nodded.
"One has historically followed the other and the Earth has been stirring in her sleep for years, I'm concerned that she'll make her move soon." Chironsighed and rubbed his face, "I'm getting too old for this."
"Chiron, that is a matter for another day, what matters now is beating Kronos, the Earth might not make her move for centuries, or even millennia, she is known for her patience." I put my hand on his shoulder, "Kronos is a problem for today, if we don't beat him, there's no need worrying about tomorrow."
"You're right Janet, I just feel so old, I'll look for some more allies, the Sanctuaries are too busy squabbling with each other to help and the Necromancers are going nuts with religious fervour. Even the more powerful ghosts might be worth trying at this point. Kronos has chosen his moment well, if he had launched his all-out assault on the Gods last year we could have gotten more help from the Sanctuaries and maybe even the Necromancers."
"Chiron, we will win, believe in us, believe in everyone, we will beat Kronos," I said with a weak smile, not even sure in my words myself.
"I know, we need to believe in everyone. On that note I must be on my way, I have a train back to London to catch and then a plane to Italy, I mustn't be late. Please will you walk with me back to the castle Janet." I walked him back to the castle, making small talk by telling him about my year so far, when we reached the castle I said goodbye and went to find the others.
When I arrived at the Common Room the others were already there, except Harry, "so, what did Mr B want?" Alice asked.
"He was just talking about the summer and recruitment for that family reunion for Percy's birthday," I carefully chose my words, as several people in the room probably spoke Greek.
"How's it going?" She asked nervously, her eyes wide with mild panic.
"Not well, the Hunters will probably be there, the Aurors have agreed to help with um, security, he also thinks some Centaurs may crash the party, but aside from that, no-one else can make it."
"So few, I suppose the um, local nymphs will help, but that's still so few," I nodded.
"Where's Harry? I would have thought the twins would throw him a party again."
"Oh, they are, Harry got summoned away by Dumbledore, he apparently wants to have a chat or something, the twins are going to have the party when he gets back."
"Well," I said switching back to English, "let's see if they need any help."
We helped the twins set up a party for Harry, which involved putting up streamers and banners that the twins had made before the task had started, acquiring food and drink from the kitchens, rounding up people who may want to attend and borrowing a gramophone from McGonagall (the twins dealt with that bit, and it was definitely borrowed, totally borrowed). As soon as we finished, Harry re-entered the Common Room looking exhausted and worried. He almost jumped out of his skin when everyone cheered for him simultaneously and several people started singing a Quidditch victory song, very soon everyone joined in on that one. "Thanks guys," Harry said tiredly as he eyed the table laden with food, the House Elves had been more than happy to use some of their surplus food to make him a cake and prepare a buffet for everyone.
There was a cheer and people started talking to him and each other, the gramophone was put on and some moderately passable wizard pop started drifting through the air, the party had just spontaneously started. "Janet," John said as he walked over.
"John, I thought this was just for Gryffindor students, how'd you get in?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The twins invited me because I'm Harry's friend. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about the next task, what do you think they'll throw at them next?" He sounded worried, "because they might try and top the Dragons..." He trailed off
"Which could kill someone, no, would kill someone," I finished the sentence for him, "the thought had come to mind."
"I have a few ideas, it might be duelling, they haven't tested that yet, or an intelligence test, not like a written paper, more like I don't know some giant puzzle, maze or riddle, because that also hasn't been tested."
"I think duelling sounds more likely," I mused, "that's big and flashy and dangerous, exactly how these things are meant to be."
"I think that means someone will have to give Harry a lot more training in duelling," he looked at me.
"I know, I gave him some last year and so did Lupin, you know, in case Black attacked him, I'll talk to Uncle Alistair about it, he might even let something slip about the next task." John nodded and smiled slightly.
"I think I'll give him some lessons in hand to hand combat," John said thoughtfully. "Even if it turns out he doesn't need them in the task, dark times are coming in the near future and he will need them then. It will give him an edge, wizards never seem to expect being punched in the face, he needs every edge he can get. Dark times indeed."
"John, you sound like Trelawney," I said with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess so, I am totally killing the excitement over Harry's win. Whatever happens, we have a term to do this, Harry doesn't have to face the next task until early July and it's March now, we have like four or five months to get him ready for this." John gasped in sudden fright, "I just thought of something, when is Percy's birthday?"
"Mid-August I think," I scratched the back of my head, "it's definitely August, why?"
John relaxed, "I was worried it might be in July and we would miss the last task because of, you know, the family reunion."
"Oh, yeah, don't worry about that, the third task comes first," I said smiling. The smile turned hollow as I realised we were only just over half a year away from either saving or losing the world, no pressure or anything.
"Yeah, by the way, are you going to take up Draco's challenge to a duel?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He didn't challenge me, he told me that we would have a duel one day, I'll let him make the first move so that it's his fault," I said. I was worried that Draco's idea of a duel might be to attack me in a corridor, take me by surprise and declare himself the victor.
"Would a pre-emptive strike not be the best strategy? Before he just starts attacking you?" John said, his voice laced with concern for me and contempt for Draco.
"No, I will not be the aggressor in this," I said calming myself, "if he wants to fight a duel, I will fight him."
"I don't think that's the right attitude," John muttered, "it's also, oddly level headed of you."
"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head slightly out of confusion.
"Usually you make more," he froze for a moment and tapped a finger against his lips, "um, aggressive choices, which usually involves turning people into animals."
"I like turning people into animals," I mused, "I don't do it enough."
"Janet, that's kind of weird, don't just go round turning people into animals," John cautioned me.
"I suppose, I might get into trouble," I said, smiling at him, he was so easy to annoy sometimes.
"Also, you know, people don't like randomly changing species," John said folding his arms.
I chuckled, "it's fine John, I was joking," he rolled his eyes at me before getting distracted by an argument about philosophy (Athena kids, go figure).