Chapter 36 The Second Task

Even though I was usually in the library trying to help Harry find a way to breathe underwater, Cassius was usually there.

He would pull me in between the bookshelves and start more make out sessions with me.

He was starting to get handsy too. But I was liking that part.

We did almost get caught by Ron once, but I was able to push Cassius away and out of sight when that happened.

Hermione did catch us.

She smacked me in the back of the head with a book and gave a scathing glare to Cassius who chuckled at it but left me alone after that.

Soon the week was almost over and we were two days away from the Task and we still didn't have a clue how to help Harry.

Harry was picking at his food at breakfast when a brown owl dropped off with a letter from Sirius.

'Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.'

"Weekend after next," Hermione whispered. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away."

I got excited just reading that letter.

Now I knew what we were doing at Hogsmeade that I couldn't go with Cassius.

"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" Ron asked.

"Dunno." Harry responded dully.

I wanted to tell him, but I decided not too. In case it didn't happen this time around.

"Come on… Care of Magical Creatures."

I followed him out with Hermione and Ron.

Draco met up with us and he gave me his arm so I put my hand in the crook of his elbow.

"Warrington's been wearing a scarf lately." He said casually.

I let out a snicker at that.

"And I see you haven't been wearing a scarf." He pointed out.

I looked at him like he had turned back into a ferret.

"What?" He asked innocently.

I turned my hair from his shade of blonde to Ron's shade of red and then back to blonde.

"Oh. Right." He said sheepishly.

I let out a laugh at that.

Hagrid had returned to work, thankfully.

And I don't know if he was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, because now there were only two of them, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Grubbly-Plank could, but he was continuing the lessons about unicorns.

He had managed to get two foals from the forest and they were golden in color.

"Cassie, when do they start changing color?" He called on me.

"They turn silver when they're two years old, they grow horns around four years, and are not pure white until they're fully grown." I answered.

"Excellent! Ten points ter Gryffindor!" He smiled at me proudly.

"You would know that." Harry said, patting the foal on the side.

"Wouldn't know it if it wasn't for Celeste." I grinned at him.

Hagrid was handing out sugar lumps to the students, and even Parkinson was eager to get in and touch the little unicorns.


The night before the task, we were in the library again. Reading through books with a more vigorous energy.

"I don't reckon it can be done," Ron's voice was flat. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"There must be something," Hermione muttered, her nose an inch away from her book. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

"They have," Ron was firm. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

I had to cover my mouth from laughing at his comment.

Just imagining Harry yelling into the lake was just too funny!

"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!"

"I know what I should have down," Harry rested his head on his book. "I should've been learning to be an Animagus like Sirius."

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish anytime you wanted!" Ron said.

"Or a frog," Harry yawned.

His exhaustion was contagious.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," Hermione said vaguely, looking through a different book this time. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember… you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic of Office… what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it…"

"It was a joke, Hermione. Besides, he wouldn't turn into an aquatic animal. He'd turn into a stag." I said, flipping lazily through another book.

I was met with silence.

I looked up at them, they were staring at me.

"When you perform a spell like a Patronus Charm, or whatever spell Moody used on Draco that one time, you know what animal you're likely to be." I told them.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"I asked McGonagall after the lesson. It was more out of curiosity than anything." I answered.

"Besides, I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning…" He yawned again.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione snapped as she closed her book. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," Fred's voice answered from behind me. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

I leaned my head back to see the Weasley twins coming from the bookshelves behind me.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"I never would have thought you two would step into the library of all places." I teased them.

George flicked my forehead as I laughed at his look he gave me.

"We're looking for you. McGonagall wants Ron, Hermione, and Cassie."

"Why?" Hermione asked, looking surprised.

"Dunno.. She was looking a bit grim, though." Fred said.

Everyone looked at me.

"What?" I asked them.

"Do you know?" Harry asked.

"It's probably got to do with the Task tomorrow. Exactly what, I have no idea." I said, standing up.

I stretched my arms over my head and let them drop down.

"We'll be right back, Harry." I ruffled his hair before pushing my chair back in.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office," George said, putting a hand out to stop me.

"We'll meet you in the common room," Hermione stood up, starting to look anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"

"Right," Harry said uneasily.

"Hey, it'll be alright." I said, ruffling his hair again.

"I know." He sighed, waving my hand away.

Hermione, the Weasley boys, and I all walked away from Harry.

"This feels wrong." Hermione told me when we linked arms.

"It'll be okay." I told her.

As we walked through the corridors, we heard the familiar thunking of Moody's club leg.

"I'll be right there. I need to talk to Moody for a second." I said, pulling my arm away from Hermione.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I'll only be a moment." I told her.

I turned down the corridor to follow Moody's leg.

"Professor!" I called out.

His thunking stopped and I saw him poke his head around a corner.

"Zwart, what do you want?" He growled.

I jogged over to him, wanting a quiet conversation.

"Harry hasn't figured how to breathe underwater." I told him in a low voice.

"How is that my problem?" He growled at me.

"Because you're the one who told Hagrid to show him the dragons. We couldn't find anything in the library about charms or potions that could help him complete this task." I whispered this last part.

Even though there was no one else in the corridor I didn't want to speak too loudly.

Moody let out another growl at me.

"Please, just help him." I said.

I didn't wait for another second, I turned back around and jogged towards McGonagall's office.

"How wonderful of you to join us!" I was greeted by Ludo Bagman.

"Sorry, I had a question for Professor Moody I wanted to ask before I forgot." I smiled sheepishly.

"Ah yes, school work is most important." He nodded.

He put a hand on my shoulder as I looked around the room.

Madame Maxine had a little girl who looked like a miniature version of Delacour.

Karkaroff was glaring at Hermione.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were both looking at me and Ron.

McGonagall looked like she was going to be sick to her stomach, and Dumbledore was staring at me thoughtfully.

"So what's going on?" I asked.

"Have a seat, Miss Zwart." McGonagall gestured to the empty seat next to the little girl.

I sat next to her and gave her a kind smile.

She gave me a shy one and she looked quite frightened.

"My name is Cassie, what's your name?" I asked her, speaking clearly.

"Gabrielle." Her voice shook but she tried to sound confident.

"That's a pretty name." I told her.

She grinned at me and immediately pushed her chair closer to mine.

She wrapped herself around my arm.

I glared up at Dumbledore.

"Why is Gabrielle here?" I asked.

"You are what the Champions have to look for in the Black Lake." Dumbledore answered calmly.

I blinked at that and I pulled my arm away from Gabrielle's grip to put it over her shoulder.

"Is it going to be safe for her?" I asked, this time looking at Madame Maxime.

Her eyes flashed at me.

"I'm fifteen, Gabrielle is only…" I looked at her.

"Eight." She said softly.

"Eight years old!" I was shocked and angry.

Madame Maxime held her gaze with mine.

"If eet was not safe for her, she would not be here." Madame Maxime was firm.

I waited a few seconds before nodding once, but I didn't let Gabrielle go.

"You will be taking this potion, it will put you to sleep while we put you in the Black Lake. When you break the surface, you'll be able to wake up." Dumbledore explained, gesturing to a cauldron.

"Will we be able to breathe under the water?" I asked as cups were handed out to us.

"Yes." McGonagall nodded.

Ron and Hermione looked at their cups and then looked at each other.

Gabrielle took her cup but she stared at me.

"I'll drink mine first, and then you drink yours okay?" I asked Gabrielle.

She nodded, but looked at Madame Maxime.

Madame Maxime said something in French to Gabrielle who nodded a lot more bravely.

"Bottoms up, mates." I raised my glass and took a drink.


The mermaid in the painting in the prefects' bathroom was laughing. Harry was bobbing like a cork in a bubbly water next to her rock, while she held his Firebolt over his head.

"Come and get it!" She giggled maliciously. "Come on, jump!"

"I can't," Harry panted, snatching at the Firebolt, and struggling not to sink. "Give it to me!"

But she just poked him painfully in the side with the end of the broomstick, laughing at him.

"That hurts - get off - ouch -"

"Harry Potter must wake up, sir!"

"Stop poking me -"

"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!"

Harry opened his eyes. He was in the library; the Invisibility Cloak had slipped off his head.

He was in the library because he was still desperate to find a way to complete this task.

"Harry Potter needs to hurry!" Squeaked Dobby. "The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter -"

"Ten minutes?" Harry croaked. "Ten - ten minutes?"

He looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Harry's chest into his stomach.

"Hurry, Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked, plucking at Harry's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!"

"It's too late, Dobby," Harry said hopelessly. "I'm not doing the task. I don't know how -"

"Harry Potter will do the task!" Dobby squeaked fiercely. "Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!"

"What?" Harry asked. "But you don't know what the second task is -"

"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake find his Wheezy -"

"Find my what?"

"- and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!"

"What's a Wheezy?"

"Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy - Wheezy who is giving Dobby his sweater!" Dobby plucked at his maroon sweater.

"What?" Harry gasped. "They've got… they've got Ron?"

"The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!" Dobby squeaked, still pulling at Harry's sleeve. " 'But past an hour -' "

"- 'the prospects black,' " Harry recited, feeling horror climbing up his throat. " 'Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby - what've I got to do?"

"You has to eat this, sir!" The elf squeaked as he reached into the pocket of his shorts.

He pulled out a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, sir - gillyweed!"

"What's it do?" Harry asked, taking the gillyweed with caution.

"It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!"

"Dobby," Harry was starting to sound frantic, "listen - are you sure about this?"

"Dobby is quite sure, sir!" Dobby was nodding earnestly.

"Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby has heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task… Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his Wheezy!"

Harry's doubts vanished.

He jumped to his feet and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into his bag, put the gillyweed into his pocket, then tore out of the library with Dobby at his heels.

"Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!" Dobby squealed as they burst into the corridor. "Dobby will be missed - good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!"

"See you later, Dobby!" Harry shouted.

He sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time.

The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as Harry flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as he leapt down the stone steps and out onto the bright chill grounds.

As he ran towards the Black Lake he noticed that the seats that were at the dragon enclosure had been moved to the bank of the lake. They were packed to the point of bursting. The excited bable of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as Harry ran flat-out around the other side of the lake towards the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Warrington, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges' table, watching Harry spring toward them.

"I'm… here…" Harry panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes.

"Where have you been?" A bossy, disapproving voice asked. "The task is about to start!"

Harry looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges' table - Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again.

"Now, now, Percy!" Bagman, who looked intensely relieved to see Harry. "Let him catch his breath!"

Dumbledore smiled at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see him… It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up.

Harry bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath; he had a stitch in his side that felt as though he had a knife between his ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it; Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. Harry was on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready.

"All right, Harry?" Bagman whispered as he moved Harry a few feet farther away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," Harry panted, massaging his ribs.

Bagman gave Harry's shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges' table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands.

"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!"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake.

It was so cold he felt the skin on his legs searing as though this were fire, not icy water. His sodden robes weighed him down as he walked in deeper; now the water was over his knees, and his rapidly numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. He was chewing the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it felt unpleasantly slimy and rubber, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the freezing water he stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to happen.

He could hear laughter in the crowd and knew he must look stupid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goose pimples; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting his hair, Harry started to shiver violently. He avoided looking at the stands, the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeering from the Slytherins…

Then, quite suddenly, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck -

Harry clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping the cold air… He had gills. Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense - he flung himself forward into the water.

The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life. His head had stopped spinning; he took another great gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through his gills, sending oxygen back to his brain. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet - they had become elongated and the toes were webbed too.

It looked as though he had sprouted flippers.

The water didn't feel icy anymore either… on the contrary, he felt pleasantly cool and very light… Harry struck out once more, marveling at how far and fast his flipper-like feet propelled him through the water, and noticing how clearly he could see, and how he no longer seemed to need to blink. He had soon swum so fat into the lake that he could no longer see the bottom. He flipped over and dived into its depths.

Silence pressed upon his ears as he soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. He could only see ten feet around him, so that as he sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the oncoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. He swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily gray-lit water around him to the shadows beyond, where the water became opaque.

Silver fish flickered past like darts as he swam. Once or twice he thought he saw something larger moving ahead of him, but when he got nearer, he discovered it to be nothing but a large blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron - nor, thankfully, the giant squid.

Light green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom… and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle.

Harry twisted around and saw a grindylow, a small horned water demon, poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Harry's leg, its pointed fangs bared - Harry stuck his webbed hand quickly inside his robes and fumbled for his wand. By the time he had grabbed it, two more grindylows had risen out of the weed, had seized handfuls of Harry's robes, and were attempting to drag him down.

"Relashio!" Harry shouted, except now sound came out…

A large bubble issued from his mouth, and his wand, instead of sparks at the grindylows, pelted them with what seemed to be a jet of boiling water, for where it struck them, angry red patches appeared on their green skin. Harry pulled his ankle out of the grindylow's grip and swam, as fast as he could, occasionally sending more jets of hot water over his shoulder at random; every now and he felt one of the grindylows snatch at his foot again, and he kicked out, hard; finally, he felt his foot connect with with a horned skull, and looking back, saw the dazed grindylow floating away, cross-eyed, while its fellows shook their fists at Harry and sank back into the weed.

Harry slowed down a little, slipped his wand back inside his robed, and looked around, listening again. He turned full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against his eardrums. He knew he must be even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed.

"How are you getting on?"

Harry thought he was having a heart attack. He whipped around and saw Moaning Myrtle floating hazily in front of him, gazing at him through her thick, pearly glasses.

"Myrtle!" Harry tried to shout - but once again, nothing came out of his mouth but a very large bubble.

Moaning Myrtle actually giggled.

"You want to try over there!" She pointed. "I won't come with you… I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close…"

Harry gave her the thumbs-up to show his thanks and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more grindylows that might be lurking there.

He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took…"

Harry swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Harry swam past the rock, following the mersong.

"... your time's half gone, tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot…"

A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces… faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom…

The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gill, talking behind their hands to one another. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople were singing the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

Ron was tied between Hermione and Cassie. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silver hair made Harry feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

Harry sped towards the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and strong. For a fleeting second he thought of the knife Sirius had bought him for Christmas - locked in his trunk in the castle a quarter of a mile away, no use to him whatsoever.

He looked around. Many of the merpeople surrounding them were carrying spears. Harry swam swiftly toward a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head.

"We do not help," his voice was harsh and croaky.

"Come ON!" Harry said fiercely, (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing.

Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp… anything…

There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.

Harry looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? Harry looked between Hermione and Cassie.

Even when Cassie was asleep, her hair stayed silvery blonde. Matching Malfoy's hair color.

'She'd tell me to get Hermione first.' Harry thought to himself and swam over to Hermione.

He raised the jagged rock and back to hack at her bindings too -

At once, several pairs of strong gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired head, and laughing.

"You take your own hostage," one of them said to Harry. "Leave the other…"

"No way!" Harry said furiously - two large bubbles coming out.

"Your task is to retrieve your own friend… leave the others…"

"They're my friends too!" Harry yelled, gesturing to Hermione and Cassie.

"And I don't want her to die either!"

The little girl was placed next to Cassie, looking ghostly green and pale. Cassie must have made a connection with her because that was just how she was.

Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. He looked wildly around. Where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Ron to the surface and come back down for Hermione and the others? Would he be able to find them again? He looked down at his watch to see how much time was left - it had stopped working.

But then the merpeople around Harry pointed excitedly over his head. Harry looked up and saw Warrington swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.

"Got lost!" He mouthed as he swam to Cassie. "Delacour and Krum're coming now!"

Harry nodded, feeling enormously relieved.

Warrington pulled a knife out of his pocket and cut Cassie free. He pulled her upward and out of sight.

Harry looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour…


I woke up gasping for air.

"Are you okay?"

I looked around and Cassius was floating next to me.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

He blinked at me.

The roaring crowd started to register as my senses came back.

The water was freezing, my lungs were a little sore, my eyes had lake water in them, my ears were clogged and my tongue was numb.

"Come on. Let's get out of the water." He said.

We swam over to the judges table.

Madame Pomfrey was waiting with blankets and a potion for us.

Delacour was shivering with anticipation next to Madame Maxime.

"And you're in the lake again." She said when I climbed out.

I let out a shivering giggle at that as she wrapped me up like a tight burrito.

The potion Cassius and I drank was hot and I could feel myself warming up.

"Where are the others?" I asked again.

The crowd broke into screams again as Krum and Hermione came out of the water and started to swim towards us.

"Potter was there first. He was waiting for the rest of us to get to you guys." Cassius answered.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I'm fine. I got lost down there." He said.

I kissed his forehead and waited for Harry to come out of the water.

Three minutes later Harry popped up with Ron, Gabrielle, and several strange looking creatures.

The merpeople.

I didn't waste a second, and Cassius was waiting for it.

"No. Potter has to do it." He said, making a grab for my waist when I went to drop my blankets.

"But -!"

"No, Cassie. It's okay." He said, pulling me back to him.

I watched as Harry and Ron tried to help Gabrielle swim.

The merpeople had started to sing, but instead of it being beautiful, it sounded really screechy and it was starting to hurt my ears.

"Here. Have another cup." Madame Pomfrey pushed another cup of the potion in my hands.

"Yes ma'am." I nodded and took my cup of Pepperup Potion.

When they got closer, I was surprised to see Percy rushing into the water to get Ron.

Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Delacour who was hysterical.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?" Delacour asked.

Hermione was next to me.

"Are they alright?" She asked.

"I think so." I told her.

Percy seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank; Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling Harry up on his feet; Delacour had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging Gabrielle.

"It was ze grindylows… zey attacked me… oh Gabrielle, I thought… I thought…"

Madame Pomfrey was on the last three people in no time.

She had Gabrielle wrapped up tightly and gave Delacour the Pepperup Potion to give to Gabrielle.

"Harry, well done!" Hermione cried when Harry was within earshot. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"

"Well -" Harry cut himself off.

I didn't see where he was looking.

"Yeah, that's right." Harry raised his voice.

I looked in the direction he was looking and saw Karkaroff was still sitting at the judges table.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny." Viktor told Hermione.

I felt bad for him.

He was trying to get Hermione's attention back on him, but she was so focused on Harry.

I turned back to Cassius, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

"Are you still cold?" Cassius asked.

"A little." I nodded.

"Let's change out our blankets." He said.

He led the way to the table where more blankets had magically popped up on.

We dropped our wet blankets on the ground and wrapped ourselves up in two blankets each.

He found a third one that looked big enough and put that over the both of us.

When we got back to the crowd, Harry was flushed and trying to look away from Hermione.

Dumbledore was crouched by the edge of the lake, talking with the merpeople in the same screechy dialogue.

"Dumbledore speaks Mermish. Who knew?" I looked up at Cassius who was nodding in agreement.

"A conference before we give the marks, I think." Dumbledore told his fellow judges when he was done talking to the merman.

Madam Pomfrey had gotten Ron away from Percy, and she was trying to clean Delacour's scratches but Delacour had other ideas.

"You saved 'er," she said to Harry breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

Delacour bent down and kissed Harry twince on each cheek and then turned to Ron, "And you too - you 'elped -"

"Yeah," Ron suddenly looked hopeful, "yeah, a bit -"

Delacour swooped down and kissed him on his cheeks too.

Hermione looked rather furious.

I was surprised when she turned to me.

"Gabrielle tells me zat you comforted 'er. When you were preparing for ze task?" She clarified.

"She was the only child in a room of teenagers." I nodded.

She kissed my cheeks.

Where her lips touched, they burned.

"Thank you." She whispered when she pulled away.

I nodded to her as she walked away.

If Hermione could have steam coming out of her nose, she would.

Before she could say anything to us, Bagman's voice boomed across the lake.

"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…"

Cassius pulled me closer to him. I didn't know if it was because of Delacour or if he just wanted me closer.

"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."

"I deserve zero." Delacour shook her head.

"Cassius Warrington, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was the first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour."

Slytherin erupted in cheers and I smiled up at him.

"We therefore award him forty-seven points."

Victor and Harry were outside of the time limit too.

"Victor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped hard, looking very superior.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "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."

I laughed at Ron's and Hermione's faces.

"I would have done the same thing." I told Cassius.

"I know." He sighed.

"Most of the judges," Bagman gave Karkaroff a nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However… Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

I cheered with the crowd, Cassius politely clapped.

"We're tying for first place." He said in my ear.

"Feeling threatened?" I teased him.

"Not at all." He answered back.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," Bagman continued. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions!'

Madam Pomfrey herded all of the champions and hostages back to the castle. She was fussing over Gabrielle the most because she was only eight years old and most susceptible to the cold.

Cassius put his arm around me and gave the top of my head a kiss.

"I didn't think they were going to take people." He admitted to me.

"I'm not surprised. Nor am I surprised that the majority of us have some sort of connection with Harry." I admitted to Cassius.

"You four do have some weird sort of luck and I can't tell if it's bad or good." Cassius chuckled at that.

"Sometimes it's good. Other times, it's going to be bad."

I didn't notice the look he gave me.


Shout out to Dreamy-Girl2016 for adding the second, third, and fourth book to your favorite list!

Shout out xYasaminax for adding this story to your favorite list!

Shout out to LaViolaViola Rose for leaving a review!

LaViolaViolaRose: I've been getting a lot of those kinds of comments. You'll just have to wait and see!