Over the next few weeks, Calla felt herself swept up into a mess of homework and Tournament preparations, as the weather turned colder and blustery. Her potion was pretty nearly correct after her fourth attempt - Snape had even given her a respectful nod - but that didn't mean she was ready. She would need to perform a Heating Charm reliably to combat the shock of the cold water, and she needed to learn how to swim.

So a couple of weeks before the Second Task, she stood with Padma and Daphne by the edge of the lake, shivering nervously. "I can't believe you don't know how to swim," Daphne said, shaking her head.

"It isn't my fault," she muttered. "I told you, the Dursleys never got us lessons."

"Good thing you've got such good teachers, then," said Padma, and shot Daphne a look. "You remember what we told you?"

Calla nodded. She demonstrated the two arm strokes Padma and Daphne had shown her in the dormitory - Lisa had been very unamused - both front crawl and breaststroke. "Good," said Padma. "So long as you can do those, you should be fine. Front crawl's faster, but breaststroke's easier if you don't have much experience. You're meant to come up for breath at different points, but you won't need to do that, obviously." She grinned. "Do you want to get in?"

Calla stared at the cold, black lake. "Not really."

Daphne laughed. "It's alright once you're in, I'm sure."

"Easy for you to say," Calla retorted, "you're not going in."

She took a deep breath and cast a Heating Charm over herself to ease her chittering. She was glad no one else was about to see as she took off her heavy outer robes, and, chattering and shivering, squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to run into the water. It was cool, but not freezing as she'd expected, as she waded further into the deep. Once it was deep enough, she turned around to wave to Daphne and Padma, who were watching her amusedly from the shore. She went over what they'd told her, and taking a deep breath, she turned and started kicking through the water. Her feet dragged against the bottom but when it dropped away she felt her stomach tumble and had to kick furiously as she tried to keep herself afloat.

It wasn't as bad as she'd thought, she realised once she'd regained a bit of her composure and gotten used to the strange feeling of having nothing to stand on. True, she was swimming very slowly, and knew she could have run a lot faster, but she was getting somewhere, and managing to keep herself afloat. She swam for ages until she could feel the Heating Charm wearing off, then returned to her friends at the shore, where Padma cast a drying charm on her, Daphne tugged the tangles from her hair, and she shivered as she put her robes back on. "You didn't drown," Daphne said cheerfully. Calla shot her a withering look. "Well done."

"Thanks," she muttered, taking her wand back from where she'd left it on the grass. "I'm not very good at swimming, though, I don't think."

"At least you can do it, though," Padma said, as the three of them huddled closer and headed up towards the castle. "It's only your first time."

Xx

Calla had never been much of a morning person, but jumping into a freezing cold lake before breakfast was certainly an effective way of waking her up. Every second day, she would practice swimming, hoping that if she did it enough then eventually her limbs would feel normal moving through the water. She almost grew to like the feeling of the water after that first icy shock, and out of necessity she had gotten very good at the drying spell.

The other champions, it seemed, had also taken it upon themselves to refine their swimming skills; all except Harry, who was instead obsessing over a way to breathe underwater. Calla had offered to help him brew a counter drowning potion, but he didn't seem a fan of asking Snape to let him brew in the Potions classroom, nor was he confident in his brewing abilities. She told herself that if it came to it she was going to shove a vial in his hand before they went to the lake and force him to drink it.

If only she knew what the other champions were planning, she might have passed it on to her brother, but even during their swim practices they all seemed tight-lipped. At least on the matter of the Tournament. Krum was as sullen and untalkative as ever, but Fleur especially seemed to have warmed to Calla more recently.

"My little sister is interested in Divination," she chose to inform Calla a week before the task, as they dried their hair off by a large oak tree.

Calla raised her eyebrows. "Oh. What age is she?"

"Only eight - a little young for it now." Fleur laughed. "She is quite desperate to visit me, if only to see a wizarding school."

"Has she never seen Beauxbatons?"

"Oh, no." Fleur smiled at Calla in a strangely warm way that made her stomach flip. "No, we at Beauxbatons guard our chateux most secretively. The first glimpse of it for first year students is meant to be special."

Calla thought back to the first time she had seen Hogwarts rising up out of the darkness across the lake, and a smile ghosted her lips as she turned her head again to the castle. "Yeah. Hogwarts is special, too."

With a laugh, Fleur finished off drying the ends of Calla's hair for her, and handed over Calla's thick winter cloak before drawing her own silk one around her shoulders. "You know, I never understood how you don't freeze in such a thin cloak," Calla mused.

"Protective enchantments," Fleur told her with a smile. "They are a part of all our uniforms to keep us warm, and far more fashionable than the Hogwarts cloaks." Calla tried not to be offended. "They have rune patterns in them, see?" She swept her hair out of the way and shrugged the cloak off a little so that Calla could see the lining of the collar. She felt strangely breathless as she touched the smooth silk material, peering at the intricate stitching. "Quite ingenious."

"I think we could do with those," Calla said thickly, trying not to blush as she stepped away. Suddenly her throat felt very tight. "Scottish highlands... Freezing in the Winter."

"And rainy," Fleur added, wrinkling her nose.

Calla laughed. "To be fair, it's rainy in the Summer, too."

Smiling, the pair of them made their way up the slope. There were the barest signs of movement from the Beauxbatons carriage, while Hogwarts looked as sleepy as ever. "I notice your brother does not join us?" Fleur said as they approached the giant winged horses.

"Oh, he's still... Preparing." Fleur raised her eyebrows. "He took a little while longer to figure out the riddle, but he's certainly getting there."

"Well," Fleur said, "let us hope he can swim as well as you do."

Without another word, she went into the Beauxbatons carriage, the golden door swinging shut behind her. Warmth flooded to Calla's cheeks and she felt oddly light as she headed back to the common room. The comment on her swimming wasn't exactly a massive compliment, and indeed, she thought it was a bit of a strange one, but the thought of Fleur thinking well of her... Well, Calla wasn't quite sure why she was blushing, but it felt very nice.

Xx

"Where is he?" Calla asked anxiously, glancing around the Great Hall. Breakfast was in full swing, though she didn't feel like eating much. She hadn't seen Padma this morning, and Harry had also not made an appearance yet, nor had Ron or Hermione. Maybe they'd been helping him? But that didn't account for Padma.

"He's probably just stressing out in his dormitory," Daphne said. "I doubt he'll have figured it out overnight."

"That's not really helping," Calla muttered, and Daphne rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

"Don't worry. You know he'll be fine, he gets out of these sorts of situations all the time."

"Yeah," Calla said snappishly, "when he can breathe."

Daphne, Isobel and Terry more or less forced her to eat, though she didn't want to have much; not just because of her nerves but because she now knew that swimming on a full stomach was not a very good idea. By the time Flitwick was bringing her to the lakeside, she still hadn't seen her brother, and he wasn't at the lake either.

"I'll see if I can find him," Daphne said, squeezing Calla's hand tightly. "He'll be alright, you just concentrate on you, yeah? And I'll get Padma to come see you once I find her, I've no idea where she's gotten to."

That worried Calla too. She was beginning to think something had happened, that someone had taken her friends and her brother - but by Padma - and then it hit her, as she stared down at the Black Lake. They had taken them; for the Tournament.

Although that still didn't explain Harry. But without a Ron or Hermione to wake him and give him a pep talk... She bit down tightly on her lip, as the crowd by the lake grew and there was still no sign of her brother. Maybe he really hadn't figured out what to do and hadn't told her. She should have told him what to do, pride be damned. Fleur had come to stand by her side, eyeing the lake apprehensively. "Do you know what you are going to do?" Fleur asked.

Calla nodded faintly. "Yeah. I've got it right here." She patted the pocket where her two vials were stoppered and zipped tightly up. She should have brought more, so Harry could have some too if he didn't have a plan. "You?" Fleur nodded, her silvery sheet of hair rippling in the sunlight.

"Isn't your brother joining us?" Fleur asked, looking around. "He is very late."

"I know," Calla groaned. Maybe she should go and find him... If only she had the map. Of course. She turned around and made to hurry over to Moody, who was standing by the judges, but was stopped by a rather nasty look from Karkaroff. He seemed to be gloating.

Dumbledore looked troubled when Calla caught his eye, and she tried to communicate that she had no idea where her brother was, and she knew time was running out. His face settled rather grimly as he turned to whisper something to Moody, but at that moment Calla caught sight of a figure thundering down the slope towards the lake and almost sagged in relief. "Harry," she whispered as he came to a stop, panting, next to her. "Where the hell were you, you weren't at breakfast, you're almost late! Have you had anything to eat?"

He shook his head, doubled over. He appeared to be nursing a stitch in his side. "'M here now," he said. "That's all... that matters."

"And you know what you're doing?" She narrowed her eyes at him, but he nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah. Well, I... I think I do."

"Brilliant." Her thumb ran over her corked vials. "Good luck. Listen, you haven't-"

"All set, Harry?" Ludo Batman's voice boomed as he came over, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Very good, very good. Now if you'd just move along and stand here for me..."

He ushered them all into positions ten feet apart from one another, Calla between Fleur and her brother, who looked rather pale. She felt slightly like she was going to be sick, as she unzipped her pocket and wrapped her hand around one of the little vials. They had better work, she thought, eyeing the lake. It looked freezing. Bagman said something quietly to Harry, who grimaced as Bagman clapped a hand on his shoulder and stepped away, surveying them all.

"Well," Bagman's voice boomed out across the stands, "all our champions are now 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." Calla tightened one hand around her vial of potion and the other around her wand, ready to cast the warming charm. "One." She cast a glance at Harry, stomach twisting from nerves. "Two." She scanned the crowd for her friends, but couldn't see any of them. "Three."

The whistle blew shrilly and Calla immediately raised the potion vial to her lips and downed it in a quick gulp, before hastily casting a heating charm around herself. She could already feel her fingertips warming as she knelt by the edge of the lake and stuck her head in the lake, well aware of how ridiculous it probably looked to everyone else, and breathed in. It felt normal, no blockage or choking or anything, and she smiled as she raised her head again. Harry was wading out into the lake, waist-deep in the cold water. She got back up to her feet, zipped up her pocket carefully and, bracing herself, ran forwards into the shallow water and bent down to half-swim, half-wade through the silty water until the bottom dropped away and, with a grimace, she flipped over and dove downwards into the darkness.

She couldn't see very much around her, especially since she didn't have her glasses on, but the extra element of the eel's eyes seemed to have done its work; she could gradually see the dark shapes around her coming more into focus, so she at least had some sense of presence. She couldn't see any of the others, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing; she'd prefer to keep away from the action, anyway. The water around her seemed to change in shades every so often, as new scenes and places revealed themselves, great forests of seaweed floating in the water around her, reeds brushing against her skin, and tiny schools of silver fish zooming past in clusters of bubbles, seeming to giggle. There was an eerie sort of silver glow around to her right, a haze over the rocks that she had to swerve violently to the side to avoid.

She stopped a moment past the cluster of rocks, treading water as she looked around, keeping a very tight grip on her wand. She couldn't see much of anything, here, and while there were clumps of weeds around her, she didn't want to risk going into anything when she couldn't see what it was hiding. Trying to do as Dumbledore had been teaching her, Calla attempted to shut her eyes and see where she might have to end up, but there was nothing leading her. After a minute or so of no success, she let out a groan of frustration and opened her eyes again, just in time to see someone with the head of a shark zoom past. She blinked in surprise, and reeled for a moment before she realised it must have been either Cedric or Krum. They disappeared into the weedy darkness and Calla thought for only a moment about following them, but decided not to. She couldn't see the bottom of the lake, but she was sure it was still very far down. Going down and working her way up would work best, she thought, and dived down further, the cool water rippling against her skin.

There was a muffled shout from somewhere in the distance, clouded by the thick, deep water. She swam deeper past a cluster of rocks, a thick clump of dark blue-ish weeds, and passed a strange muddy shelf which gave her a fright as she realised there were very human-like skulls laid into it. Something giggled eerily up ahead, and a great sense of foreboding over came Calla as she pushed off against the shelf and made to swim away.

Something scraped against her ankle and she gasped, letting out a bubbly shriek. She shook her leg furiously, twisting around to a see a grey, slimy, clawed hand reaching out from the mud, and another scrambling out of one of the skull's too-wide eye sockets. Her stomach twisted and she was sure if it weren't for the fact that she was underwater, she would have been sick. She kicked back, aiming a Stunning spell at the hand; it did not work of course, and she had to twist in the water to try and shake the grindylow off, her robes dragging against the current of the lake. Something propelled her against the mud shelf, as she felt herself dragged towards it, and she kicked and kicked, struggling against the hold.

"Reducto!" she shouted, and only a stream of bubbles came out. She kicked out, and one of the skulls in the wall cracked. Another hand shot out from where it had been and Calla jerked her leg, hitting that hand with the toe of her boot. It recoiled, and with a hammering heart, she shoved her foot against the mud shelf, crushing the wrist of the hand that had grabbed her. It let go suddenly and she wasn't taking any chances; she swam forward and downwards furiously, not sure where she was going except away from that, whatever it had been.

Something swam across the stretch of water in front of her, like a great black tentacle, dragging the water and pushing her back. She tread the water furiously, and though that if anyone had seen her she would have looked extremely silly indeed as she tried to make her way through the water.

It seemed to take forever until she came across anything that wasn't just deep water, as she swam past a cluster of thick weeds that she was careful to avoid. And then she heard a very faint, but still haunting, snatch of mer-song.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

"And to recover what we took."

She dove down further, kicking as fast as she could as she swam past a large, black rock with pictures depicting the merpeople, and she knew she had found the right place. She swam on, feeling a little bit more positive, certain that she would be in the right place soon.

"..hour's almost done so tarry not,

"Lest what you seek stays here to rot..."

That propelled Calla on further through the darkness, great stone structures leering out at her and seeming to press all around. She followed the sound of the haunting music, her arms chilling and raising with goosebumps as she pushed her way through the water. A few minutes later, she turned around the corner of one of the massive merpeople structures and came to a break in the buildings, like a clearing surrounded by shifting weeds and reeds, and in the centre of it were five large wooden masts. Four of them had people tied to them, and Calla's stomach did a flip as she saw them all: Padma, Ron, Hermione, and a pale, silvery-haired girl who looked like she must be Fleur's little sister.

She swam harder, as Harry's head poked out from behind one of the poles. He raised his hand, reaching out to Calla, who hurried over. "What are you doing?" she mouthed, bubbles dancing from her mouth as her brother handed a sharp rock to her. "Get Ron and Hermione!"

He shook his head, holding up a single finger. One. But how were they meant to know who they were to take? Calla went over immediately to Padma, sawing at the thick ropes that bound her; she fell into her arms, a sickly colour. Calla resisted the urge to take her and swim back immediately, but Harry didn't show any signs of leaving. "Come on!" she mouthed to him, and pointed at Ron. "Have you seen Krum?" Harry shook his head; it must have been Cedric who had already been. "He'll get Hermione, won't he?"

Harry shook his head again and pointed helplessly to the pale little girl. Calla's stomach twisted; she hated the thought of leaving any of them down here, but they had already taken enough time, and all she wanted to do was to get Padma to safety. And she had faith in Fleur, too, that she would find her sister, and that Krum would do the same for Hermione.

So she shook her head and, with Padma secure in her arms, downed another vial of potion to be on the safe side, and pushed off from the silty lake floor and upwards towards the dim, murky light above them. Harry had better hurry up after her, she thought, as he faded from her vision. But she knew he'd be alright; he was Harry, after all.

Padma was heavy in her arms but Calla refused to let her slip even the tiniest bit as she kicked furiously back through the water. How long had it been down there? At least the hour they'd been given. And she'd seen no sign of Krum or Fleur on her way back up, and even though she couldn't see much when she looked back, she was sure with a newly sickening feeling in her stomach that Harry was still down there. Waiting.

She contemplated going back down; getting Padma safely to the surface and then doubling back before anyone could stop her, but she didn't know if she had enough potion left for that, and she couldn't help but worry that if she tried she'd just be slowing her brother down. Her eyes returned anxiously to Padma, looking sickly and half-dead in her arms and she kicked harder, propelling herself to the surface with all her might even as her head started to pound from the pressure and her chest tightened as she felt the potion start to wear off. She should have brought more, had more, should have prepared for the worst not settled like she had.

She struggled her way to the surface and the light with Padma, arms straining from the effort of keeping her friend afloat and her heart thumping not just from the effort of breathing but because, with Padma weighing on her more and more and still no sign of anyone else or her brother, she was beginning to panic. After what felt like an age, she managed to push herself towards the light and burst through the surface of the water, squinting as the sunlit sky burst into full view.

Beside her, Padma came up for air and spluttered, Calla holding her up so she didn't fumble and go back under as she dragged her back towards the shore. Cedric was already there with Cho, both sodden and wrapped in towels, and she could see Fleur hurrying over - but the silver haired girl from the bottom of the lake wasn't there with her. No one was. Her gut churned. What was she doing?

"Gabrielle," Fleur gasped as Calla reached them. "Is she still down there? My sister!"

"Y-yes," Calla stammered out, as Dumbledore and Bagman hauled her and Padma out of the water. "She - she - Harry's still down there, he's with her and Ron and Hermione but - but I don't know where Krum is." She looked wildly back towards the lake.

"They wouldn't let me go back in," Fleur said thickly, knowing exactly what Calla was thinking. Her eyes shone tearfully and panicked. "I said I could, I had to find Gabrielle..." A grim line settled on her lips. "The Grindylows got me."

"But..." Calla faltered. She should have stayed, too, should have been there to help Harry and get Gabrielle. But she was sure that Harry would try to bring Gabrielle, too, if he realised Fleur wasn't coming. She just hoped he would manage it.

"Calla," Dumbledore's voice said. "Madam Pomfrey has blankets for you and Miss Patil."

"Harry's still down there," she said in a rush.

He nodded in understanding. "He will be alright. For now, we have to get you warmed up."

"I have to go help-"

"You have to stay here," Dumbledore told her sternly. "Not only is it in the rules, but I am not sure that potion of yours will work for another trip."

He was right, she knew that. Padma's hand was on her arm, shaking and cold, as Madam Pomfrey came over holding the blankets and tutting and fussing. But Calla couldn't take her eyes off the lake, watching and waiting. Fleur was the same. The pair of them sat down, shivering, and at some point one of them had taken ahold of the other's hand. "They'll be okay," Calla said nervously. "Harry will make sure Gabrielle's okay. I'm sorry, I should have-"

"There was nothing you should have done," Fleur said with a heavy sigh, "except to save your friend, as you did. It is I who failed. I should have gotten past the Grindylows."

The surface of the lake rippled suddenly and Calla leaned forward as there was a great wave and Krum, his head still in a shark form, burst from it, holding a spluttering Hermione. "'Mione!" Calla yelled, leaning forward as Krum and Hermione both hurried over. Hermione was dreadfully pale and slightly green, and she clasped Calla's hand tightly.

"Is Harry back?" she asked worriedly, looking around. Calla shook her head, panic knotting in her chest. She could see it reflected in Hermione's eyes too as she was hauled up onto the shore, dragged towards Madam Pomfrey. Padma laid her hand on Calla's shoulder.

"He'll be alright," she said confidently. "He's Harry, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but..." She trailed off. He was still down there, and she couldn't see him. Closing her eyes desperately, she tried to force her mind clear, to mentally feel her way towards him to see something, anything, but she couldn't.

"Come on, Harry," she muttered, because she was sure that was all she could do as she stared at the lake.

It felt like forever before there was a ripple of movement under the surface of the water. A moment later, Harry, Ron and Flyer's sister appeared, all of them panting and struggling to wade through the water. "Harry!" she cried in relief, while Fleur shrieked for Gabrielle.

The three soaking figures waded through the water towards them and Calla didn't breathe easy until Harry was right in front of her. "Jesus, Harry," she muttered as Dumbledore helped pull the three out of the water. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, coughing. Fleur had broken away from Madam Pomfrey, who had been restraining her, and was clutching her little sister tightly.

"Oh, Gabrielle, I was so worried! It was the Grindylows... They attacked me... I thought... I thought..."

Madam Pomfrey came over, holding blankets. "Come on, you two. Miss Potter, put your blanket back on, please." Calla flushed as they were dragged off, over to where the others had all clustered together, and Harry was bundled very tightly in a blanket, having Pepper-Up Potion poured down his throat.

"Oh, Harry, you did it!" Hermione cried as she bounced over to them, Padma in tow. "You worked it out, all by yourself!"

"Well-" Harry seemed to hesitate for just a moment, his eyes flicking to Karkaroff, before he said with an unexpected level of confidence, "Yeah, that's right, I did."

Calla narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything, not with everyone watching them. "You have a water-beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," Krum said, and it took a long moment for Calla to realise he was talking to Hermione.

Hermione didn't pay him much attention, just brushed the beetle impatiently out of her hair - Padma and Calla exchanged interested looks - and said, "But you're well outside the time limit, Harry. Did it take you ages to find us?"

"No." Harry's cheeks seemed to go red.

"He was the first to get there, weren't you?" Calla asked and Harry nodded. "He was just being good, he wouldn't leave you and Gabrielle. And a good thing, too." She grinned at her brother. "Even if you did terrify me, taking so long."

"Yeah..." Harry said, and Calla followed his drifting gaze over to Dumbledore, who seemed to be having a very in-depth discussion with the mercheiftainness.

Calla watched a long moment before Dumbledore stood up and said, "A conference before we award the final marks, I think."

He and his fellow judges huddled together a bit away from the champions, and Calla looked anxiously at Padma. Would Harry get in trouble for breaking the rules? Surely not - he was doing it to help Gabrielle, after all. Madam Pomfrey had rescued Ron from his brother Percy, who had been fussing like he was competing with his mother, and then brought Fleur and Gabrielle over to them, shoving Pepper-Up Potions down their throats and wrapping them tightly in thick, heavy blankets. "Look after Gabrielle," Fleur told Pomfrey, and then turned to Harry. "You saved her," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your hostage."

"Er, well, yeah," Harry said awkwardly, flushing.

To Harry's apparent shock, Fleur leant down and swiftly pecked him on each of his cheeks, which immediately turned scarlet, and then turned to Ron and said, "And you - you helped."

"Yeah," said Ron, looking rather hopefully at Fleur, "yeah, I suppose, a bit."

And then Fleur kissed him too and Calla had to try not to laugh at the look on his face. Hermione looked rather furious and Padma was giggling wildly, but then they were interrupted by Ludo Bagman's voice booming out across the lake, magically amplified and making all of them jump.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. The Merchieftainess Murcus has informed us of the events that occurred at the bottom of the lake and we have therefore decided to award the marks out of fifty for the champions as follows.

"Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows before she could reach her goal and was therefore unable to complete the task and retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

There was a polite applause from the crowd, but Fleur still looked miserable, even with her sister hanging adoringly onto her and beaming. "I deserved zero points," Fleur said throatily, throwing back her hair and shaking her head.

"Mr Cedric Diggory, who also demonstrated use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was the first to retrieve his hostage and return her to the shore, though he returned one minute outside of his allocated time of one hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."

There was a mass cheering from the stands, where Calla looked up to see a sea of yellow. She could pick out Zach's face even from here and her stomach twisted uncomfortably as she forced herself to look away, face burning and joined in the applause.

"Miss Calla Potter demonstrated use of the Counter-Drowning Potion which she brewed herself, as verified by Professor Snape. She was the second to return with her hostage and we therefore award her forty points."

Shocked but proud, Calla glowed under the cheers of the crowd and of her brother, who was beaming at her. "Told you you'd do it," Padma whispered, and she just grinned wider, heart burning happily in her chest. Two down, one to go, and she'd come second.

"Mr Viktor Krum," Bagman went on, "used an incomplete form of Transfiguration which was nevertheless effective. He was the third to return with his hostage and so we award him thirty-five points."

The crowd clapped for him, though less than they had for Calla and Cedric. Krum looked a little put out, especially when Hermione grabbed Harry's arm tightly, anticipating his results. "Mr Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect," Bagman said. Gillyweed... Calla wracked her brain for Herbology knowledge. How had Harry gotten that one? It must have been in an obscure book because she'd never heard it mentioned in class and she paid very good attention. At least he seemed to have turned over a new leaf when it came to preparing and reading. "While he returned well outside the time limit of an hour, the Merchieftainness informs us he was the first to reach the hostages at the bottom of the lake and returned last due to his determination to return all of the hostages safely, not merely his own."

Calla grinned at Harry, though Hermione, Padma and Ron all gave him rather exasperated looks. "Most of the judges-" Bagman threw Karkaroff a nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However... Mr Potter's score is forty-five points."

Calla quickly did the maths in her head; that put Harry and Cedric on equal footing in first place, both with eighty-six points, Krum behind them with seventy-six, her just behind him on sixty-six, and Fleur in last place with fifty-five points. She hadn't gone up in the rankings by much, but she had gone up, and that was the most important part. And there was still one task left. The whole audience seemed to be roaring with applause, and Ron yelled something Calla couldn't hear and Padma grabbed her arm and was beaming, and as they were hustled in a crowd back towards school, Daphne, Isobel and Terry were sprinting towards her, with all the others - even Lisa and Michael - behind them and she beamed, heart all of a sudden very light. Maybe she wasn't going to be first, or win this, but she never thought she would. She had doubted she'd even make it through. But she'd made it this far, and she couldn't stop herself from beaming.