Queen of the Night: Years 4-5

by awalkerlifeforme

Tara Nox has had an interesting childhood. Lately things have taken a darker turn. From eerie presents and notes from a mystery sender to dreams of Voldemort's return, Tara knows something big is coming. When a competition between the three elite wizarding schools takes a strange turn, Tara finds herself, her best friends, and her boyfriend getting sucked into a dangerous scheme.

27. The Second Task

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" Hermione snapped indignantly.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry yelled crossly.

"You should have known that he wasn't going to figure it out until the last minute," I said carelessly.

Harry's face began burning as he shouted, "Hey!"

"Am I wrong?" I asked.

We both knew that I was right. Harry was always going to wait until the last second to take care of something important. "Shut up, Tara," Harry muttered awkwardly as he turned back to Hermione. "I just need to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

"You mean fine-tune as in figure out your entire plan since you just figured out what the Second Task is going to be?" I offered.

"Would you stop?" Harry growled.

"You should have worked on the egg earlier," I told him.

"I tried!" Harry said determinedly.

Harry hadn't spent more than an hour on the egg since receiving it. "Not hard enough," I told him truthfully. Harry's face was burning with anger. I hadn't meant to be a jerk, but his current circumstance was his fault. "Come on, Harry. You're the only one of the champions that don't know what they're going to do."

"Thank you, Tara. That's not at all discouraging," Harry said blandly.

"Sorry..." I muttered.

Talking about the way that Harry hadn't prepared at all for the Second Task and was so far doomed wasn't going to help him at all. He needed some encouragement rather than someone to tell him what he already knew. Currently, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to ourselves. Even though we were discussing the Second Task, we were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today - the Banishing Charm.

Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that they wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Flitwick, for instance. Hermione had slapped her hand over my mouth at least five times to keep me out of trouble for laughing.

"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past us, landing on top of a large cabinet. I snorted under my breath. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody."

"Who cares about Snape and Moody?" I snapped. I was sick of hearing the three of them go on and on about Snape. There was nothing to say about Snape other than he was a mean old man. Moody just put my nerves on edge and I hated talking about him. "They're creepy people who hate each other and everything that life has to offer. They suck. We all know it."

"It was something more than that," Harry said determinedly.

As the roar of the class rose again (Neville had sent Professor Flitwick rocketing across the classroom and toppling off of the stack of pillows sitting near him) Harry continued telling us about his encounter with Snape and Moody. This Charms class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun laughing and chatting to pay us any attention. Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour.

Harry had told us that he had seen Mr. Crouch in Snape's office last night as he was trying to work out the golden egg. He had decided to investigate, but his foot had become trapped in a trick step, causing him to drop the egg and the Marauder's Map that he had been carrying. The egg's noise had summoned Filch. Snape had then arrived and claimed someone broke into his office and had to be a wizard as he had sealed his office with a Charm to prevent Peeves from entering. Moody then appeared, just as concerned that someone was in Snape's office.

Moody's magical eye had been able to spot Harry under his Cloak, but he'd said nothing and offered to help Snape investigate the break-in. Snape had said he believed it was a student stealing potion ingredients. Moody had wondered if Snape could be hiding something else, to which Snape had retorted that Moody had previously searched his office. Moody had said that it was an Auror's privilege, and though Dumbledore might have had faith in Snape's loyalty, Moody was less trusting. Moody had dismissed Snape which hadn't gone over well.

Moody had then spotted the Marauder's Map on the floor; Snape naturally had immediately recognized it. Moody, able to see Harry's panic, had summoned the map from Snape's fingers. A furious Snape had probed the air searching for Harry hiding under his cloak. Moody had claimed that nobody was there, though he did seem curious at how quickly Snape's thoughts turned to Harry. Detecting a threat, Snape then departed. Filch, protesting that the egg was evidence, reluctantly handed it over to Moody and left.

As Harry finished recounting what had happened to him last night, the three of us stared at each other. "Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off).

"That doesn't seem that odd," I replied.

"How does that not seem odd?" Ron shot back.

"Didn't Moody say it himself?" I asked. Ron stared at me; he didn't understand what I was getting at. "He's an Auror who's specialized in taking down all dark threats. It makes sense that Moody - a notoriously cautious - Auror would want to search the castle himself for threats before taking a position to teach here."

"You don't think it's anything more than that?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

I shook my head. "Doubtful. Moody's been paranoid for years, this isn't anything out of the normal for him," I said.

Ron still didn't look convinced. "No way," Ron said determinedly as he looked back at Harry. "What? Do you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"

"Well, I don't know if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," Harry said, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk.

"We all know that Dumbledore trusts Snape," I said, Banishing a cushion across the room into an open container. Professor Flitwick nodded his approval. "It's been obvious for years."

"But Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something," Harry mumbled.

"So?" I asked.

"What?" Ron said, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk.

"Idiot…" I mumbled as Professor Flitwick reprimanded Ron's lack of focus. "Lots of people get second chances. Does my fight with Cedric not remind you of something?"

Harry shook his head. "Not the same thing, Tara."

"If we're going to be playing the reaching game, it's exactly the same thing," I shot back.

"Harry... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!" Ron hissed.

"What reason would Snape have to put both mine and Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?" I asked irritably.

"He hates you both!" Ron pointed out.

"He hates everyone!" I snapped.

"Oh, Ron, we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?" Hermione asked, shaking her head skeptically.

"No, not we. You three thought he was trying to kill Harry," I told them.

Hermione Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box we were all supposed to be aiming at. Harry looked at Hermione. It was true that Snape had saved his life once, but the odd thing was that Snape definitely loathed him, just as he'd loathed Harry's father when they had been at school together. Snape loved taking points from Harry, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school.

As bad as the evidence against Snape looked, I still believed that it was a juvenile feud that had lasted well into adulthood. "Look, Snape may not be my biggest fan or Harry's but he's loyal to Dumbledore. He'll take House points away and give us detentions but he's not going to try and kill us," I told them.

"If there's any professor here who's going to do it -"

"It wasn't a professor, you twat!" I interrupted Ron's baseless claims that Snape was the one responsible for Harry and mine's current predicament. "Someone wants us dead but it's not one of them. There's no way they'd risk us. I think Karkaroff would be more likely - a known Death Eater who hasn't exactly been our number one fan lately."

"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -"

"- evil," Ron interrupted promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?"

"We can circle back to the whole Moody-is-stupidly-paranoid topic later, then," I muttered.

"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" Hermione asked, ignoring us both. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"

"Did it ever occur to you that Mr. Crouch probably didn't want to come to a dance that was filled with hormonal teenagers for hours on his Christmas evening?" I offered.

If I was Mr. Crouch I wouldn't have wanted to be at the Yule Ball on Christmas either. "He was supposed to be there!" Hermione said.

"And I'm probably not supposed to be fooling around with Cedric in the middle of the night in the Astronomy Tower. Shit happens," I said carelessly.

"Tara!" Hermione gasped.

"What?" Harry and Ron growled, turning to glare at me.

The glare that I returned to them was just as angry. "We're all happy for Tara, who's had a bad time the last few months, right?" I asked warningly.

Both boys scowled at the floor. "Better Diggory than Malfoy, I suppose," Ron mumbled.

"That's so sweet, Ron. I'm happy to know that you're comfortable with my happiness," I said huffily.

"Does it have to be with -?"

"We're done with this conversation, Weasley," I snapped.

Knowing that I wasn't going to entertain the conversation any further, Ron turned his annoyance back on Hermione. "You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky," Ron told her, sending a cushion soaring into the window.

"You just want to think Snape's up to something," Hermione shot back, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box.

"She's got a point. You two have been after Snape since you first met him," I told the boys.

"I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance if he's on his second one," Harry said grimly, and his cushion flew straight across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's.

"Something tells me that Snape hasn't always been a straight arrow," I said, sending another pillow into the box. "He's got some interest in the Dark Arts and chances are that he leaned into that desire a little bit when he was younger."

"You're sure about that?" Hermione asked.

"It has to be something more," Harry said determinedly.

"Would it make you feel any better if I asked my parents if they know something about it?" I offered.

Harry looked at me in surprise. "Actually, it would."

"If it gets you to shut up about the Snape thing, I'll ask my dad the next time I see him," I promised.

Over the next few weeks, it amused me greatly to watch Harry panic over the status of his plan for the Second Task as February 24th began to loom closer. Harry sent Sirius a letter explaining about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Moody and Snape's conversation. Once he had done that, he shifted his attention back to the matter at hand. I had offered to help Harry a few times but he continuously denied any assistance. I knew that he was refusing because of his pride.

Though I didn't provide input for Harry's plan, at his request, I did listen. Their best idea was Ron's suggestion of using the Summoning Charm to Summon a set of Aqua-Lungs from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed that plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy. It was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.

Other ideas were batted around like Harry Transfiguring himself into a submarine - but there was no way that he could learn to do it himself in time. We wouldn't learn how to do human Transfiguration until Sixth Year. The others instead began thinking about a Char, which I did insist to Harry was the best option. I didn't see Ron, Harry, or Hermione much for the next few weeks as the three spent their lunches, evenings, and weekends trapped in the library.

It grew to be a little boring for me, but I couldn't stop them. Harry needed to have a plan and he was losing time. I knew that he still didn't want my help but I insisted that I could and would help him if it got that far. He continued denying my help but did thank me each time I offered. Not wanting to worry about Harry and his plans for the Second Task, and beginning to feel some panic creeping into my system as we approached the task, I decided to do anything possible to forget about it.

It led to me spending a lot of extra time with Cedric - way too much time with him. We were constantly sneaking away and I knew that I was going to get caught, but I refused to stop. We were having so much fun. I had recently pulled Cedric away from Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology to fool around in the Prefect bathroom, Astronomy Tower, and in any empty hallway, we could find. Cedric kept teasing me that I was going to get him in trouble. I insisted that he liked the risk.

Cedric had pulled me away from studying in the library and had taken me from two Potions classes (which had led to Snape disliking me even more) and Care of Magical Creatures - I knew that Hagrid didn't buy that I hadn't been feeling well and had slept through class. We had gotten caught messing around in the back row of the library by Madam Pince one afternoon and had earned ourselves a detention each. Cedric got stuck cleaning trophies while I at least got a night with the twins and Lee Jordan.

We were supposed to have been cleaning the bathrooms but had instead soaked the floor with water and soap bubbles and slid around like we were on a Slip 'N Slide, each attempting to get the furthest. I had won as I'd kept kicking the other three out of the way. I had paid for it by getting dog-piled by the trio. We had ended up getting another detention each for making the bathrooms even more of a mess than they had been before we had 'cleaned' them.

Though I had been enjoying myself over the last few weeks, I had grown more and more nervous as the days passed. The lake, which I had loved for my evening with Cedric, now drew my eyes whenever I was near a classroom window. Just as it had before I'd faced the Ridgeback, time was slipping away as though somebody had bewitched the clocks to go extra-fast. The only person who seemed to be growing more nervous than me was Harry - who looked about ready to faint at any given moment.

With only two days left before the Second Task, Harry and I both began to go off food again. My appetite slowed down but I still tried to eat a little bit. I warned Harry time after time that he needed to keep eating or else he wouldn't have enough energy for the task. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl Harry had sent to Sirius. Harry pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and we saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to either one of us.

Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.

Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, each of us hoping to see something else, but it was blank. "Weekend after next," Hermione whispered, as she had read the note over Harry's shoulder. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away."

Harry took Hermione's quill and scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. We glanced at each other and shrugged. Harry looked as dejected as I had ever seen him. I supposed that he had been expecting - or hoping - that Sirius would give him some advice on how to survive underwater, but he had been so intent on telling Sirius all about Snape and Moody he had completely forgotten to mention the egg's clue.

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

"Don't know," Harry said dully.

"Do you think he's planning on coming here?" I offered.

"Why would he?" Harry asked.

As much as I loved Harry, he could be a complete moron sometimes. "He's worried because our names were put in the Goblet of Fire. We can't risk writing letters back-and-forth about it. He's probably planning on coming to see us face-to-face to talk about it," I suggested.

"He can't risk coming here!" Ron hissed.

I didn't want Sirius risking his safety to come here any more than the other three did, but it was the only reason I could think that he would have asked about the Hogsmeade dates. "I might be wrong, but doesn't that seem like the only thing that makes sense?"

The other three exchanged a long look. "I hope you're wrong, Tara," Ron said.

"Me too," I agreed.

"Come on... Care of Magical Creatures," Harry mumbled.

Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, I didn't know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.

"Welcome back, Tara," Hagrid greeted as I walked up to him. "Are yeh feelin' better?"

"Uh-huh. Thanks, Hagrid," I replied.

The look on Hagrid's face told me that he didn't believe that I had been sick the previous class - rightly so. I blushed as the four of us moved away from him and went back to the lesson. Today Hagrid had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.

"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told our class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white till they're full-grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies... don mind boys so much... C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want... give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps... You okay, Harry?" Hagrid muttered, moving aside slightly, while most of the others swarmed around the baby unicorns.

"Yeah," Harry answered.

"Jus' nervous, eh?" Hagrid asked.

"Bit," Harry said.

"Harry," Hagrid started, clapping a massive hand on his shoulder so that Harry's knees buckled under its weight. "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha' Horntail, but I know now yeh can do anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?"

Harry nodded. I glanced at him but chose to remain silent. Harry's lie was none of my business. "Did yeh, Tara?" Hagrid asked.

At least this answer wasn't going to be a lie. "Yeah, I'm all set. I'm just ready for this tournament to be over with. Every time I start relaxing the next task comes up and I get nervous all over again," I explained.

"Yeh're goin' ter win, one of yeh," Hagrid growled, patting Harry and I's shoulders, so hard that I felt myself sink a couple of inches into the soft ground. "I know it. I can feel it."

"Really?" I asked.

"O' course," Hagrid said.

"That would make all of this worth it if one of us won," I said truthfully.

Hagrid smiled proudly. "One of yeh are goin' ter win."

The three of us smiled at each other. Harry looked a bit cheerier. I wasn't positive that I was going to win the tournament, but I couldn't bring myself to deny Hagrid his happiness. Plus, it was nice for someone to have faith in us. Everyone else seemed to believe that my turn with the Ridgeback had been a stroke of luck. Pretending that I was interested in the young unicorns, I forced a smile in return and moved forward to pat them with the others.

By the evening before the Second Task, I was a jumble of nerves. I could feel myself trembling constantly and I was now stuttering every time someone spoke to me. The other students knew that I was afraid for what was to come, but I was trying to put on a brave face. I refused to let anyone know how afraid I was. Not even Cedric, who I had noticed was a little more demure than normal at dinner. Even Fleur and Viktor were being a little on the quiet side as the nerves built.

Dinner was ending and I listened to Ron, Harry, and Hermione start their plans to head back to the library. I laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Harry, are you sure you don't want help?" I asked.

"I'm sure, Tara. It's my fault for waiting this long," Harry replied.

"Harry, maybe you should let Tara help," Hermione urged gently.

Harry balked at the idea of me giving him the answer to his problems. "Tell you what? If you haven't figured anything out in three hours, come find me. We'll stay up all night and put a plan together," I offered.

Harry smiled vaguely. "Thanks, Tara. I'll see you later."

"Good luck, guys," I told them.

The three of them sent me sweet smiles as they rose to their feet and walked off. I let out a deep breath as I stared at the table for a few moments. I was about ready to get up and go for a walk when I was interrupted by Fred. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hi, Freddie," I replied.

Following our tense night in the Common Room, I had decided that I wasn't going to allow Malfoy to keep getting in my head. I didn't want to think about any relationship other than the one I had with Cedric. That was the one that mattered. In the meantime, I wanted to get back to my old friendship with Fred. We had both seemed far more comfortable over the last few weeks as we had fallen back into our usual patterns of teasing each other and generally enjoying the other's company.

Fred glanced toward the doors of the Great Hall before looking back at me. "You're not going with them?"

"No. They're working on perfecting Harry's plan for the Second Task. He waited too long to figure it out."

"You have your plan together?"

"Yeah."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah," I admitted sheepishly.

"Don't be. You're in first place and going to keep that lead after tomorrow," Fred said determinedly.

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Freddie. It's hard not to be a little freaked out. I've messed around stomping through the lake but I've never dove underneath. I don't know what's down there."

Fred's red eyebrow rose. "You're afraid of what's down there when you've battled a Basilisk?"

"Okay, so maybe I don't have my concerns in order," I admitted, making Fred laugh. "I don't know, Freddie. The First Task was battling a dragon. They're supposed to get harder as the tournament goes on. What am I about to walk... swim into?"

Fred thought about it for a moment before suggesting, "Flesh-eating bacteria?"

My face dropped. "Why am I even friends with you?"

Fred grinned, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "You would miss me if I weren't around."

"That is true," I agreed.

"Hey, Fred," Cedric's voice called.

Both Fred and I turned around to see Cedric standing behind us. I smiled at Cedric as Fred released my arm. "Diggory," Fred greeted.

Cedric sent Fred a friendly smile before turning to me. "Can I borrow you?"

"Sure," I said, laying a hand on Fred's arm. "I'll see you in the Common Room a little later?"

"Of course. See you later, Tara," Fred said, standing from the table. "Diggory."

"See you tomorrow, Fred," Cedric said.

"Ready for tomorrow?" I asked Cedric.

Judging by the look on Cedric's face, I imagined that he was beginning to get as nervous as I was. "As ready as I can be, I think. There's always going to be some part of the task that we can't anticipate. Better to take things calmly as they come rather than panic over what we can't control," Cedric explained.

"That's a very measured response," I teased. "I much prefer panicking."

Cedric smiled. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Well, I was going to try and go to sleep early so that I could be well-rested for the Second Task but I can tell that that plan just went out the window," I told him jokingly. Cedric smiled again. "Want to tell me what I'm doing tonight?"

"How does a field trip sound?"

"Sounds like a blast. You're not having some party to celebrate the Second Task?"

"We're supposed to be, but I somehow doubt that they'll even notice if I'm not there."

"Then a field trip sounds wonderful," I told him. Cedric smiled as he grabbed my arm and began pulling me along with him. "So, where are we going tonight, Mr. Diggory?"

Not that I cared where we were going. "How about a moonlit walk?" Cedric asked.

"Where?" I asked curiously.

Cedric motioned me to keep walking. "Come on," he prompted. I laughed happily as Cedric pulled me through the hallways and toward the One-Eyed Witch statue. "Dissendium."

The One-Eyed Witch statue's hump opened and Cedric motioned for me to go first. I pulled myself through the opening and dropped into the tunnel. Cedric followed me a moment later and the hump closes, plunging us into darkness. "Lumos," I muttered, and the end of my wand lit the tunnel. "Come on, then."

We made it a few steps before Cedric spoke again. "Have you thought about what we might see in the Black Lake?"

"Oh no, no way," I interrupted. "No talk about the tournament tonight."

Cedric smiled. We both needed an evening without thinking about the tournament. "Deal. I was thinking about something the other night," Cedric said. I hummed and nodded for him to keep talking. "If I come to see you this summer when your parents are gone, what are we going to do when we get back to Hogwarts?"

It didn't take a genius to read between the lines. I laughed as I gently nudged his shoulder. "Finally make those broom cupboard rumors true."

Cedric grinned. "I like that plan."

"Of course you do. It's got me involved," I teased.

Cedric chuckled as he pressed a kiss against my forehead. "This summer's going to be fun." I nodded my confirmation. I couldn't wait to enjoy a full summer with Cedric without having to hide him. "I was thinking that since I can Apparate now, we could go do some things we weren't able to do last year."

"Like?" I asked curiously.

"I'd like to go visit the United States and see where you're from," Cedric said.

"I'd love that," I said honestly. "You can formally meet my friends that you originally met at the World Cup! Oh, I can take you to Walt Disney World! It's this theme park that Muggles go to all the time but my parents used to take me when I was a little kid. It's fun, I promise. We can go to the lake that I used to swim in behind my old house - which I could show you too. There are a bunch of national parks too that I bet you would love. I've always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon and you can ride donkeys -"

"Tara, Tara..." Cedric interrupted gently. I stopped talking immediately, feeling a little embarrassed that I had gotten so carried away. "We can do all that and more this summer. I just thought you were going to have a heart attack from how excited you were getting."

I smiled awkwardly at him. "There are a lot of great places we can go. I think you'll love the United States. We can even go to the Magical Congress. It's not the most fascinating place in the world but I think you'd like it," I said.

Cedric kissed the crown of my head and said, "I'll go wherever you are."

"Can I ask you something?" Cedric nodded. "What will you ever do once you've graduated and you're all alone?"

"Maybe I'll take a gap year and teach at Hogwarts," Cedric teased, nudging my hip.

That was my favorite answer I had gotten so far. "Professor Diggory... I like it," I said teasingly. Cedric smiled at me. "Maybe you can start teaching Astronomy. I know how fond you are of it."

Cedric laughed as I winked at him. "You'll be my top student."

"You'll have to be careful. We wouldn't want you to get accused of having an inappropriate student-teacher relationship."

"It wouldn't be an accusation. It would be a fact," Cedric said, making me laugh again.

Maybe having him as a teacher at Hogwarts wouldn't be the wisest choice. We were both destined to get in a ton of trouble if that happened. "Have you thought any more about what you're going to do after you graduate from Hogwarts?" I asked curiously.

As hard as I tried to stop it, I still felt the sting of nervousness when I thought about what was going to happen to us. "I'm still on the fence about what I want to do," Cedric admitted, shaking his head at himself. "I was thinking that I could become a Healer. I'm good at Herbology and Professor Sprout has even recommended that being a Healer might be the right path."

"Is that what you want to do?" I asked.

Cedric hesitated for a moment. I couldn't blame him, I didn't have a clue what to do with my future. "I've been thinking more and more about it. Otherwise, I would think about maybe becoming an Auror," Cedric said.

"You'd be a good one. You're probably the straightest arrow I know," I said honestly.

"Unless it's got something to do with you," Cedric teased.

"That's a fair statement." I laughed as Cedric yanked me into him. He pressed a quick kiss against my mouth before pulling away. "You would be good at either job. You're one of the best wizards I know and anyone would be happy to hire you."

"Thank you."

We exchanged a soft kiss as we continued walking down the passage to Honeydukes. Cedric wrapped an arm around my shoulder as we walked through the tunnels and eventually came out of the Honeydukes cellar. We walked out of the store quickly, carefully slipping into the crowds of people who were still wandering around in the later hours of the evening. Cedric and I chattered mindlessly about anything but the Triwizard Tournament as we walked, getting lost in each other.

The air was sweet and happy, however, there was an abrupt ending to my carelessness. "You're making a mistake."

I jumped about three feet in the air as I hopped out of Cedric's arms. "Tara, are you alright?" Cedric asked worriedly.

"Yeah," I laughed awkwardly, tossing my hair back over my shoulders. Cedric was staring at me with wide eyes as I started running my hands over my arms. "S - Sorry, I'm just a little cold. Can you get me a Hot Butterbeer?"

Cedric nodded, but still looked concerned for me. "Sure. I'll be right back."

"Thank you." I watched Cedric walk off, feeling a chill settle over my bones for the first time since we had wandered out of Hogwarts. Once I was sure Cedric wouldn't be able to hear me, I lowered my voice to hiss at the reappearance of the mystery voice. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The boy. I've already warned you."

"What is so wrong with my being with him?"

"It will destroy you."

"What?"

A flash of green light shot through my vision without warning. I saw the Little Hangleton graveyard flash past me. There were men with masks like the ones I'd seen at the World Cup. I saw an eerily thin man giving me an eager grin. There was a massive snake that turned its head to meet my eyes - the snake's eyes were glowing red. I heard laughter and an echo of the Killing Curse. I had a splitting headache as I heard a deafening scream that grew louder and louder and felt a burning pain shoot through my midsection and hand.

"Stop!" I howled.

"Tara!" Cedric shouted, breaking my painful trance. The voices and visions stopped suddenly. I opened my eyes to realize that I was on my hands and knees in the snow. Cedric was leaning next to me with his hands resting comfortingly on my back to try and calm me down. "What happened? Are you alright?"

We were in the middle of a Hogsmeade street. All around us was quiet. "I'm - I'm sorry," I stammered, wiping the sweat off of my brow. "I'm okay, I'm fine."

Cedric shook his head. "You're not okay. What was that?"

"It was nothing."

My problems didn't need to become his problems. Cedric glared at me. "Tara. Didn't we promise each other once that we weren't going to do this? We're not going to lie to each other." I swallowed thickly. We had promised on Christmas that we would stop lying to each other. "Something serious just happened. What was it?"

"You'll think I'm insane," I said awkwardly.

Cedric smiled vaguely. "I've been dating you for over a year. I know that you're insane and I'm quite fond of you that way." I smiled at him weakly. "You can tell me. I want you to tell me."

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them or think of a better way to phrase them. "For the past few years, I've heard this voice in my head. It only talks to me and no one else can hear it."

Cedric nodded slowly. "Okay. Who is it that speaks to you?"

"I have no idea. They won't tell me."

"Can you make out the voice?"

"No. It's a man's voice; that's all I can tell."

"What does he tell you?"

"For a while, it was kind of all over the place. He would help me at odd times and give me warnings when something was going to happen. I guess he's changed his tune lately."

Cedric tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"The last few times I've heard him, he's warned me to stay away from you," I told him bashfully.

Cedric's eyes widened in shock. "What did I ever do to him?"

We both chuckled. I appreciated the break in the tense air. "It's not because he doesn't like you. I don't think so, at least," I said. The voice seemed worried for me, but not because he thought Cedric was a bad guy. "He doesn't hang around long. He's saying that me staying with you is going to lead to me getting hurt. In his most recent words, 'it will destroy you.'"

Unlike me, Cedric didn't seem worried. He seemed more puzzled than anything else. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. I felt a little bad as I noticed that Cedric was lost in thought about the mystery voice's warning. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up."

Cedric pressed a soft kiss against my temple. "No, I'm glad you told me. I'm sorry that you've been dealing with this."

"It's nothing out of the ordinary for me."

My lack of concern didn't do anything to ease his. Cedric pressed a hand underneath my chin to force me to meet his eyes. "Listen to me, you're not going to get hurt. Not by me. I would never do anything to hurt you. Trust me, I've learned my lesson. I won't ever hurt you again," Cedric promised.

I leaned forward to kiss Cedric gently. "I know that. I'm sorry, this is supposed to be a good night. Let's not ruin things. We can talk about my insanity-laced life later," I said, waving off his concern.

Cedric nodded. "Of course." He gave me a hand back to my feet and passed over the Butterbeer he somehow hadn't lost while trying to take care of me. I laughed as I took it. "Well, I'll give you one thing, Miss Nox. A date with you is never boring."

Cedric's arms wrapped around my shoulders. "Wouldn't you prefer boring sometimes?" I asked.

"Nah."

That was a good thing, considering I didn't seem to know how to be boring. I pressed another kiss against Cedric's mouth, taking his chin gently in my hands as I did so. "Good," I said, dropping my hand to intertwine our fingers together. "Come on, let's pretend like I didn't just make this incredibly weird."

Cedric laughed. "Where should we go?"

"What's a more romantic spot than the Shrieking Shack?" I teased.

"After you."

Together we walked up the hill toward the Shrieking Shack. With all of the candles and lights out around Hogsmeade, I realized that I could perfectly see the stars. I sat on the icy ground with Cedric following my movements a moment later. I rested my head on his shoulder and we linked our fingers together as we gazed up at the sky. We remained still and silent for a moment before I felt Cedric move around. His fingers rested against my chin as he pulled my face to his in a gentle kiss.

"Cedric?" I mumbled against his lips. He hummed in response as we broke the kiss. "The voice and its warnings scare me. I'm worried about what will happen and I know that the easier choice would be to listen to its warnings."

"But?" Cedric asked, sensing that I wasn't done.

"You're worth the worrying," I told him. We smiled at each other as Cedric pressed another soft kiss against my lips. "Do you think we should go back?"

Cedric hummed. "Probably, but I don't want to leave."

"Good," I giggled.

We pulled each other in for another kiss before I had even gotten air. I giggled under my breath as Cedric wrapped an arm around my waist and tangled my coat around his fingers. I reached up to wrap my hands around the back of Cedric's neck. His hands worked their way from my waist to wrap around my hair. I flung my legs over Cedric's waist so that we were completely pressed together. Cedric pulled me even closer to him and tightened his grip on me so that there was no way we could pull apart.

More than once I heard the chiming of bell towers in the background signaling a new hour had begun. We occasionally broke apart so that we could breathe or chat among ourselves, but the breaks never lasted for more than a few minutes. Every time we came back together, the haze took over my brain and it completely escaped me that we could get expelled if we were caught out of the castle. The kisses went on for so long that I forgot how to break apart from Cedric.

As the night passed, Cedric and I began to roll around in the icy grass together. We both laughed into the kiss as we bumped into the fence that surrounded the Shrieking Shack. We didn't stop kissing though. We kept fooling around together as I shivered from the cold and Cedric wound his arms under my clothes to rest them against the shallow of my back. Cedric held me tightly against him and refused to release me. I had no intention of ever breaking the kiss until I noticed something.

We were locked in the middle of a lingering kiss when I broke it and glanced up. Something was wrong, considering the sun appeared to be peeking out from over the buildings. "Cedric. What time is it?" I asked.

"Who cares?" Cedric mumbled.

He sounded more and more like me every day. "Uh... I don't exactly care but the judges probably won't appreciate us being late for the Second Task," I explained.

Cedric bolted upright. "Huh?"

"The Triwizard Tournament? I mean, I know I'm hot but -"

Cedric rolled his eyes as he slapped a hand over my mouth. "Your head is big enough." I nodded understandingly. That was fair. Cedric glanced at his Muggle watch and hummed under his breath. "Sprint back to the castle?" he offered.

"Better hurry up slowpoke," I teased.

Cedric burst out with laughter as I launched myself to my feet, shoving him back into the grass as I did so. I began in a dead sprint along the path up Main Street toward Honeydukes. Cedric caught up to me within a moment as we sped back to the castle as quickly as we could. We had to get to Hogwarts and change into our tournament uniforms as soon as possible so that we could be back down at the Black Lake with time to spare before the Second Task was set to begin.

We also couldn't risk getting caught sneaking back. We seemed to always be having this problem. Cedric and I carefully broke into Honeydukes - whose owner must have hated us from how often we snuck into their store - before bursting into the cellar and back into the passage that would lead us to Hogwarts. We collapsed into the passage and - as much as I would have loved to fool around with Cedric for a while - continued sprinting back to school. We would have to move quickly to avoid being late.

It took us almost half an hour to get back, both of us having been sprinting as quickly as we could, stopping to walk or lean against the walls every few minutes to catch our breath. I had never been so grateful for all of the drills that Oliver had made us do during Quidditch practice before. This running was killing both my legs and my lungs. At least I wouldn't need my lungs for the Second Task. When Cedric and I finally pulled ourselves through the One-Eyed Witch statue, neither one of us was having an easy time breathing.

"I - I think that's the - the best workout I - I've ever had," I gasped.

"You know, I - I never considered myself to be out - out of shape before this," Cedric panted desperately. We both laughed as we leaned on our hands and knees and took a few deep breaths. "Okay. I'll see you by the lake."

"Bye," I replied, pressing a quick kiss against his mouth. "Good luck."

"You too. Don't worry about the task!" Cedric called back as he walked off.

We smiled at each other and turned back toward our respective Houses. It was just shy of eight o'clock when I walked back to the Fat Lady's portrait, yawning and a little annoyed with myself that I hadn't slept the night before the Second Task. I was in the middle of griping to myself when I jumped about a foot into the air, having just spotted my father walking down the hall not far from me.

"Dad!" I gasped.

He whipped around at the sound of my voice. "Tara," Dad said, glancing at the Muggle wristwatch he was wearing. "What are you doing awake this early?"

Anything but the truth, Tara. Think quickly. "Uh... I couldn't sleep so I decided to go on a walk," I answered.

Dad smiled. "Oh, honey... are you nervous? You're sweating," he commented.

I laughed awkwardly, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed at my hairline and eyebrows. "You have no idea," I said truthfully. In the excitement with Cedric, I had forgotten Dad was coming to the task. "Were you coming to find me?"

Dad nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to wish you luck. Mom sends her best too. She can't be here for this one but she'll try to be here for the Third Task."

"Good, she'll get to see something special."

He smiled. "You winning?"

"Even if it kills me," I joked, making us smile at each other again. "Okay, I'm going to go get breakfast, come back upstairs to get changed, and then try not to drown. I don't need my epitaph being written already."

A small smile turned up on his lips as he leaned down to kiss my forehead. "Care to get breakfast together?" he offered.

"Sure," I said.

Dad and I headed downstairs arm-in-arm to get ourselves breakfast. I was met with a round of thunderous applause from the Gryffindor's that was matched by the Hufflepuff's when Cedric entered a moment later. We both laughed and I took my spot at the Gryffindor table to start my breakfast. I glanced around to try and catch Harry's eye but I noticed that he was nowhere to be found. Ron and Hermione were both also absent. I assumed that they were ironing out whatever plan Harry had come up with for the task.

I didn't have much of a chance to think about where my best friends were hanging around. I was constantly interrupted by students who were coming to wish me luck in the Second Task and tell me that they would be cheering me on. I smiled at everyone who passed me and thanked them, feeling the nerves starting to creep back into my body. I thought about the warning and attack from the mystery voice but refused to think much about it. Not until I returned from the Black Lake, at least.

It became very hard for me to start forcing food down my throat. My father insisted that I should eat but didn't force the issue. He allowed me to eat an orange and down a cup of coffee but didn't push for much more than that, though he did ask me to eat a piece of toast, which I just barely managed to force down. I started chuckling as my friends all wished me luck and chatted happily with me until the warnings started for the Second Task. I rose from the Gryffindor table nervously.

As the chatter slowed in the Great Hall, I turned and left so that I could get changed. Cedric followed me a moment later. I hoped that no one could put together why we were both heading back to our respective Houses. I ran upstairs and changed into my red-and-black one-piece that closely resembled one a competitive swimmer would wear. I tied my hair up into a ponytail and threw my shorts and Hogwarts jersey on over it before heading back downstairs, where everyone was preparing to head to the Black Lake.

Upon a glance, I noticed that Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur all looked nervous too. The four of us exchanged polite nods as everyone began moving toward the Black Lake. As I started into the entrance hall, I had to push through the crowd who were all heading through the double oak doors to watch. I felt all eyes on me as I tried to walk as confidently as possible down the stone steps of the castle and out onto the bright, chilly grounds.

Though my father was chattering away, I remained silent as we walked. I looked around, noticing that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as I walked with the rest of the kids around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge.

As I walked toward the Black Lake with my father, I began wringing her hands together. I hadn't been too nervous about this task until right now. Mainly because I was afraid of what was under the water. Not far away from me, I spotted George Weasley taking bets with Lee Jordan - which I would be sure to yell at them for later - but Fred was nowhere to be found. I arched a brow. There was no way that Fred would miss me in the Second Task. I turned to my father first.

"Dad?" I called blankly, stopping his one-sided conversation about magical water sports. "Head over to the stands, okay? I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay, love. Take it easy," Dad said, patting me lovingly on the back.

"Yeah," I muttered. I waited for Dad to leave before I walked up to George and Lee. "Taking bets?"

"Of course," George said, grinning brilliantly.

"You're winning, you know?" Lee said.

Good to know that people were starting to think I had a shot at winning this thing. "Yeah? Good." I looked back at George. "Where's the other one?" I asked, pointing to the empty air next to him.

George shrugged. "I'm not sure. He wasn't in the dorm when I woke up this morning. Come to think of it, he got up during dinner and never came back last night."

"Maybe he made a new Beauxbatons friend," Lee joked.

The boys chuckled as I felt my cheeks burn with a nonsensical irritation. "You haven't seen him at all today?" I asked curiously.

It was odd for George to have not seen his twin for an entire day. "Nope. I wouldn't worry about it, Tara. Fred would never miss the chance to see you make an ass out of yourself," George teased.

"Hah-hah. I'll make sure to not mention you in my winning speech," I snapped. The boys laughed as I turned away from them and toward the judges' booth, wondering where Fred was and a little annoyed that he wasn't here to support me. I kept walking forward until I realized that I had walked up to Malfoy, who didn't even spare me a glance. After a moment of debating it, I decided to give it a shot. "Not planning on wagering a bet?"

Malfoy finally glanced up to stare at me for a moment. "I've already bet."

"Against me?"

With how angry he had been at me, I imagined that I had lost one of my supporters. "You're a pain in the ass and one of the most annoying people I know, Nox, but that doesn't change the fact that you're the most likely to win the tournament," Malfoy said.

"You bet on me?" I asked.

"Don't disappoint," Malfoy said.

There was a grin threatening to pull at the edges of his lips. I wondered if he had forgiven me for what had happened at the Yule Ball. "When have I ever?" I joked.

Malfoy walked in a circle around me and I stood ramrod still as he stopped behind me. I could feel that he had moved so close to me that he was almost pressed up against me. "Never," Malfoy said quietly. I felt him tug teasingly at the hem of my Hogwarts jersey. "I look forward to seeing what's underneath."

Naturally, he had to make it weird, talking about the bathing suit. I narrowed my eyes as he walked back up in front of me. It was a sports bathing suit which wasn't that flattering. "It's not that revealing," I snapped.

"Who said I meant today?" Malfoy said. My jaw practically dropped in shock as Malfoy grinned and backed away. "Good luck, Nox."

Even though he was being an annoying asshole - as usual - I knew there was still something to say. Malfoy was about to walk away when I called him back. "Malfoy." He turned back to face me. "I'm sorry about what happened at the Yule Ball," I said, forcing myself to swallow my pride and admit that I had been in the wrong that night. We stared at each other for a long few moments; he looked shocked at my admission. "I just thought you should hear that."

A smile threatened to tug at the edges of his mouth. "Don't waste my money, Tara," Malfoy said.

"Just say that you forgive me," I snapped.

Our awkward avoidance of each other was driving me insane. I wanted to get back to our quasi-friendship. "There's nothing to forgive," Malfoy said. We stared at each other for a few seconds before his face hardened. I stared at him curiously as I raised my eyebrows, unsure of what I had done to upset him this time. "Good luck."

Without another word, Malfoy turned and walked away. "I thought he wasn't speaking to you anymore," Cedric said.

My boyfriend was standing just behind me with Michael and Ted at his sides. So, that was what had driven Malfoy away. I noticed a few other Hufflepuff students appearing at our sides. "I couldn't tell you what he's thinking," I said honestly.

"Don't get jealous, Ced," Michael joked, patting his best friend on the back. "Not of Malfoy, at least. There are so many better ones! You've got to worry about Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Phil Troy, Fred and George -"

My cheeks were burning with annoyance as Cedric began to stop his friend; the rest of the Hufflepuff crowd that had appeared were laughing along with him. "Michael, why don't you go tell your joke to your girl... Oh, wait," I trailed off, grinning maliciously at him.

Their friends laughed even harder as Cedric wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'll meet you guys in the stands in a few minutes," Cedric said, clearing his friends out. "I'm sorry about him."

I shrugged off his concern. "It's nothing I'm not used to. Besides, I think I can handle myself."

"I agree."

"Tara," Phil Troy called, walking up behind us. He smiled at me as I returned the gesture. "Fancy meeting you here."

Cedric and I turned around to face Phil, who was grinning at the sight of us together. Cedric released me so that I could walk up to my friend. "Phil! It's good to see you again," I chirped.

Phil returned my hug as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "It's good to see you too. It's good to see you both together," Phil said, looking between us.

"It's good to be back together," I said, nudging Cedric gently with my hip. "Here to see the Second Task?"

"I am. I thought I'd stop by and wish you luck before I head to the stands," Phil said.

"Thank you. It ought to be a good one," I told him.

"You have my vote," Phil said. I smiled at Phil. Even Cedric looked pleased to hear that Phil was rooting for me. "Best of luck to both of you. I'll let you prepare and see you when this is all over."

"See you later, Phil," I said, waving at him as he walked off. Once he was gone, I turned back to Cedric. "What do you think? Ready?"

"Let's do it," Cedric said, sucking in a deep breath.

We smiled at each other and briefly grasped each other's hands before releasing the other and heading toward the judges' table. Viktor and Fleur were already waiting and most of the viewer stands were filled. I was happy to see plenty of signs reading 'Nox Rocks' in the stands. People had been far friendlier to me since my win in the First Task. Cedric and I walked into the stands settled just above the water and I looked around. It seemed that Harry was still nowhere to be found. Where the hell was he?

It seemed the others were wondering the same thing. "Where's Harry?" Cedric whispered.

"Not the slightest," I answered.

"Tara," Percy called, distracting me.

"Hi, Percy," I greeted.

"Where's Harry?" Percy asked curiously, looking between the champions.

Cold sweat began to build across the small of my back. Where was Harry? We were within a minute of the official starting time. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him since last night after dinner," I said. I was about to offer to go look for him before the task when I saw a flash of red and gold from across the grass. "I think we're about to get a pretty good story, though."

On the other side of the lake, Harry was sprinting faster than I had ever seen him run before. I smiled at the look of panic that was evident on his face. He looked like I had earlier when I had been running back from Hogsmeade. At least I'd been smart enough to leave Hogsmeade before it had gotten too late. Harry practically knocked the straggler students on their backs as he ran. Cedric, Fleur, Krum, and I were standing beside the judges' table, watching him sprint toward us.

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

I snorted under my breath at the look of disgust on Fleur's face. "Talk about making it in the nick of time," I whispered to Harry.

"I'm on time," Harry snapped.

"No, you're not," I shot back.

"Where have you been?" Percy asked in a bossy, disapproving voice. He had taken his place at the judges' table. I hadn't realized before, but it seemed that Percy was here as Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up for another task. "The task's about to start!"

"Now, now, Percy!" Ludo Bagman chirped, as he looked intensely relieved to see Harry. "Let him catch his breath!"

Dumbledore smiled at Harry as he had just barely made it to the Second Task in time, 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. I moved slowly out from behind Cedric so that I could stand between him and Harry. I wanted to know what the hell had happened and why he had almost been late. Had he been working on his ideas for today all night?

Harry was bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. I extended my hand and patted him on the back for a moment, hoping that he could regain his breath quickly. It looked like we were about ready to start. Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing us each along the edge of the platform at intervals of ten feet. Harry in between me and Cedric was on my other side at the very end of the line. Krum was on Harry's other side; he was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready.

"All right. Harry?" Bagman whispered not very discreetly as he moved Harry a few feet farther away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," Harry panted, massaging his ribs.

"Ready?" Cedric called out to me.

"Sure," I said shakily, feeling my nerves at an all-time high. Cedric smiled as I shivered from the cold and looked at Harry. He was holding a nasty-looking lump of what appeared to be seaweed. "What is that?"

"Something called Gillyweed," Harry answered. "Dobby gave it to me this morning."

Which meant that he hadn't come up with a better idea throughout the night. "You didn't figure anything out all night?" I asked. The redness in Harry's face faded immediately. "I offered to help!"

"Tara, now isn't a great time for a lecture," Harry mumbled irritably.

"Okay, but you'll hear about it after," I snapped.

Why hadn't he just accepted my help? It would have been so much easier. In the meantime, Bagman gave Harry's shoulder a quick squeeze and he walked to me. "Did you figure out what you needed for today, Tara?"

"Yes. Thank you for your assistance," I chirped.

Bagman nodded awkwardly. "My pleasure." He then headed back to the judges' table. Once there, Bagman pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, "Sonorus!" His voice boomed out across the dark water toward 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 and the stands immediately erupted with cheers and applause. Without looking to see what the other champions were doing, I stripped my outer clothes off, knowing that the fabric would create drag and slow me down, also ignoring the whistles that were being sent her way, and pulled my wand from the back of my bathing suit. I was a strong swimmer. I had been raised in Florida and had spent tons of time there in the water. I was going to be just fine.

"Aliquam Respirare."

The same thing happened as when I had last tried the spell. Nothing. I didn't take a moment too long to consider what might be happening. It worked last time. It would work this time. I leaned down and dove into the water headfirst. As far as I could tell, I was the first person to plunge into the water. It was horribly icy. As I gave myself a moment to adjust to the cold, I saw Krum dive headfirst into the water. I launched myself backward in the water, noticing that his head had been transformed into a shark.

Gnarly... Viktor immediately - and rapidly - swam to the left. I decided to take my chances and go to the right. I quickly dove as deep into the lake as I could before my legs began burning from exhaustion. The pressure from the water gave me a headache but I refused to give up. I had to keep moving. As I swam, I began to feel the oddities of swimming this deep in a lake. The silence was pressed upon my ears as I soared over the strange, dark, foggy landscape. I could only see about ten feet around me.

The darkness of the Black Lake made me a little nervous. I didn't like not being able to see where I was going. As I sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness. There were forests of rippling, tangled black weed and wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. I progressively swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, my eyes as wide as possible, staring through the eerily gray-lit water around me to the shadows beyond, where the water became opaque.

Small fish flickered past me like silver darts. Once or twice I thought I saw something larger moving ahead of me, but when I got nearer, I discovered it to be nothing but a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. I swam steadily through the water but I couldn't find anything. It felt very much like I was alone in the lake, though I knew something was around, probably watching me. Even as the minutes ticked by though, there was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, or anything else that might have lived in the lake.

Light green weed stretched ahead of me as far as I could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. I continued on the path, desperate to find whatever was taken from me. It felt like hours had passed but I knew it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes. It was driving me insane. Where was my missing... thing? What was my missing thing? I continued through the water and smiled as I finally passed the Giant Squid, who was watching me curiously. I waved to it.

"Deeper."

Somehow, I was still startled by the sudden appearance of the voice. "Go to hell," I snapped, my voice muddled from the water.

"Don't take that tone," the voice said chidingly. "I'm trying to help you."

"By telling me that my relationship with my boyfriend is going to destroy me? What the hell is that even supposed to mean? We're doing wonderfully together, in case you hadn't noticed," I growled.

"Focus on the task at hand. Deeper," the voice prompted.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Deeper. Take out your wand."

"Why?"

Without warning, something grabbed ahold of my ankle. I screamed but was met with only bubbles. I twisted my body around and saw a grindylow, a small, horned water demon, poking out of the week, its long fingers clutched tightly around my leg with its pointed fangs bared. I stuck my hand down the back of my bathing suit and fumbled around for my wand. By the time I had grasped it, two more grindylows had risen out of the week and seized me around my ankles. They were attempting to drag me down into the depths of the lake.

"Get off of me!" I yelped.

Within moments, four more grindylows attached themselves to my legs and arms. I yanked my wand arm free as I attempted to think of any spell to get them off of me. The voice was naturally irritatingly silent now. This was the one time that I desperately needed its help. I kicked and lashed out at the grindylows but one latched its grimy hands over my mouth. I began panicking as I felt them dragging me to the bottom of the lake. I kicked another grindylow hard in the head to try and get it away from me.

In a moment of disgust, I felt the grindylow's head squish under my foot. I gasped, wondering if I had just accidentally killed it. I didn't want to kill the awful little creatures, I just wanted to get them away from me. The grindylows were still crawling all over me. I could feel some of them reaching for my hair and others grabbing at my limbs. My heart was pounding away madly in my chest. I desperately wanted to be away from the little creatures but I couldn't get them to release their grasp.

All rational thought left my head as I fought against them. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't remember a single spell that I had learned in my classes. All I knew was that I had to get the grindylows away from me. Tightening my grip on my wand - as the grindylows were trying to pull it out of my grasp - I forced myself to think about spells. Just one spell... that was all I needed. All I needed was to buy myself a minute to think and get a better plan together.

Finally, a spell formed in my mind. "Confringo!"

A fiery orange explosion blasted from the end of my wand and locked onto its target - the six grindylows that were latching onto me. The nasty little creatures went flying apart in pieces as I gasped, launching back from them. My vision was blurry and my ears were ringing from the underwater explosion. I grunted in pain, unsure of what I was supposed to do next. I couldn't see through the reddish haze in the water and the ringing in my ears was growing even louder.

It felt like hours had passed before my senses returned. The haze in front of me calmed down and my ears stopped ringing. Though, as I raised my hand to my ear I noticed that it was bleeding. The power from the underwater explosion had ruptured my eardrum. I sighed and rolled my eyes at myself. I was going to have to fix that once I was back above ground and could properly cast a spell. I was going to have to be careful casting anything else as my wand didn't seem to like underwater use.

As my vision fully returned, I looked around in disgust. There were body parts of the grindylows all around me. I realized with a hint of horror that I had killed them. I hadn't just scared them away or hurt them... I had killed them. I had invaded their territory. They had had every right to attack me. I had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion and cast a spell that I had known was potentially fatal. I stared at the bodies, feeling my stomach churn. I was positive that I was going to puke.

The spell was the very same one that Peter Pettigrew had used when he decimated a London street and killed twelve Muggles at once while evading Sirius, who ended up being blamed for the crimes and Pettigrew's alleged death. The explosion that left a massive crater in the street seemed far too similar to the one that just killed the six grindylows. Did that mean that I was turning into someone like Pettigrew? Did this make me a murderer or was this just an unfortunate accident?

I didn't have much time to ponder my worrying behavior. A moment passed before I saw that three more grindylows were approaching me. Without looking around, I knew that they were heading toward me - likely very unhappy that I had killed their friends. I turned to swim away but I didn't make it far. I could feel the tips of their fins swiping against my ankles as I swam away. They were water demons and much faster than I was. There was no way I could outswim them and I couldn't use the same curse I just had.

There was one other curse that I knew that might get me out of this without causing any more fatalities. I stopped swimming long enough to turn and blast another curse into the face of a grindylow mere inches from me. "Oppugno!"

The spell worked just as I had hoped it would. One of the newly attacking grindylows that I hit turned to the rest of its counterparts and turned the attack on them. The two other grindylows looked shocked that their friend was attacking them but put up a strong front to try and keep their partner at bay. It didn't do much. The attacking grindylow was larger and faster; I had picked the right one to hit. There was a chorus of horrible screeching noise as the fight began.

The grindylows fought among themselves, scratching and shrieking. I winced as I watched them. It was one of the most animalistic fights I had ever seen and I didn't know how far the curse would make them go. Unwilling to watch any longer or wait for the spell to potentially wear off, I turned and began swimming at top speed away from them. I swam away and above the seaweed, figuring that more grindylows were likely lurking in there and wouldn't be happy to see me after I had hurt their friends.

At least five minutes passed before I slowed down a little, slipped my wand back underneath my bathing suit, and looked around, listening again. I turned full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against my eardrums. I grimaced as I realized the silence was heavier in one ear. Red came away when I raised a hand. I was still bleeding and likely signaling every grindylow where I was. Time to move again. I knew that I must have been even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed.

The anger then took over as I realized that the voice had been completely useless once I was attacked. "Thanks for the help, dickhead," I snapped, knowing the voice would hear me.

"You managed," the voice replied carelessly.

"I killed them..." I whispered hoarsely.

"Yes."

"Have any of the other champions killed any of the grindylows?"

"No."

"Of course not..." I couldn't imagine Cedric ever doing such a thing. Fleur seemed too weak to do what I had and Harry wasn't the type to resort to violence. I might have been able to see Krum doing it, but I imagined he would have been able to keep a more level head. "You told me to go deeper! You led me into their home! You're the reason they're dead," I snapped, angry with the voice for not giving me a fair warning.

"I did not cast the spell or suggest it," the voice defended itself.

"Why did you lead me even deeper into the lake?"

"The grindylows have chased you closer toward your goal."

As angry as I was with the voice, it had been somewhat helpful with the task. It was going to lead me where I needed to go to win the task. "Where to now?" I asked, resigned to following the voice's directions.

"Follow the path. You'll arrive soon enough," the voice explained.

It would have been polite to thank the voice for helping me figure out where I was supposed to be going, but I was still rattled by what had happened earlier. I couldn't believe that I had killed the grindylows. I had killed at least the six that were attacking me earlier and I wasn't sure what happened with the three that followed. All I could be grateful for was that I hadn't seen the rest of the champions; I was going to take that as a sign that I was ahead of them.

As I swam on, I kept drifting back to the moment that the grindylows were destroyed by my curse. I couldn't even think of why that curse was the first spell to pop into my head. Why hadn't I thought of something a little less destructive? There were so many alternatives, but I had settled on the one fatal option that I'd had. I wasn't sure what that meant for me. I couldn't turn into someone like Pettigrew or Voldemort. I was better than them. This was just an accident.

The only thing I could do to keep myself from crying (which I felt was going to happen at any moment) was try to focus on the task at hand. What was taken from me? Where had they hidden it? I swam onward at top speed for about another ten minutes. My legs were burning but I was used to being in the water for long periods. I was now passing over vast expanses of black mud, which swirled murkily as I disturbed the water. Then, at long last, I heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour-long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took..."

My head snapped toward the noise. The song was just like I had heard in the Prefect bathroom - haunting but beautiful. I swam a little bit faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead of me. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. A small frown appeared on the edges of my lips. I liked the giant squid... I swam on past the rock, following the echoes of the mersong.

"... your time's two-thirds, so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot..."

It meant that I had been underwater for about twenty minutes. It felt like it had been ages longer, but that was likely because there was no noise or conversation around me. There had been nothing to distract me but my thoughts. I continued swimming, feeling a little nervous from the sound of the song. Leaving something down here to rot? The only thing that would rot would be food or something living and it made no sense for food to have been taken from me. People, of course, rotted too, but...

My head jerked upward as I sucked in a deep breath that felt very odd as no oxygen or water came into my system. I realized suddenly what had been taken from me. My prize was a person! There was no doubt in my mind that my person was Fred. It was the reason that he wasn't around earlier. There was no way that I could leave Fred to drown or die or whatever was going to happen to him if I didn't succeed. I was going to get over the deaths of the grindylows and go find him.

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, I saw faces. They were faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom. I had seen pictures of real merpeople before in my Ancient Runes class when we had been going over underwater runes, but it was odd to see them so up close. I had never thought that we would be so close to each other.

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. My stomach churned with nerves as I swam past them. They didn't look like the pretty creatures from The Little Mermaid. They leered at me as I swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch me better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

Determined to not look afraid, I sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and I even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. The grindylow gave me a mean stare as I passed. I wondered if it knew what had happened. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching me eagerly, talking behind their hands to one another. I sped around a corner and a very strange sight met my eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like an underwater version of a village square. It looked like they were preparing for a sacrifice. Of course, I knew that I was overreacting because of my nerves. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson was hewn from a boulder. Five people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

A small gasp escaped my mouth as I stared at the people attached to the ropes. Ron was tied between Hermione and Ted; I was thrilled to see that Ted was Cedric's treasure rather than someone like Cho Chang. Fred was on Ted's other side. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made me feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All five 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.

It creeped me out seeing them swishing back and forth with the tide. Their skin had greyed and wrinkled from being under the water for so long. I imagined that the judges had cast some kind of spell on them to keep them from drowning. They would all likely be annoyed when they woke up to realize that they had been underwater for hours though. I wondered if they knew that they would be coming down here. They had to have. They could have sued the Ministry if this had been sprung on them without warning.

As I appeared to be the first one to reach the area, I was going to have to hurry up to keep the lead that I had. I sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at me, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong; too strong for me to break with my bare hands. I groaned, wondering what I could do. I was a little cautious about using a spell seeing as the last one hadn't worked out well for me.

Maybe there was something around me that I could use before relying on a spell. I looked around but there was nothing I could grab for myself. Many of the merpeople surrounding me were carrying spears though. Those could have easily cut through the binds and I wouldn't have to worry about a wayward spell accidentally hitting one of the sleeping prizes. I swam swiftly toward a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs who stared at me with an annoyed look.

"Can I borrow that?" I asked, pointing at the spear he was holding.

The merman laughed and shook his head. "We do not help," he said in a harsh, croaky voice.

"Come on!" I barked fiercely. "Please? I'll give it right back."

The merman laughed at me again as he shook his head. I scowled at him, wishing that the merman would be willing to help me. I could also take the trident and hope that the merman would let me have it... Without giving myself a moment to think about it, I tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, suddenly looking very angry. He shoved the trident back into my throat and I immediately backed off, feeling my skin threatening to break under the pressure.

"We - do - not - help," the merman growled.

"Okay, okay, I'll be on my way," I said innocently.

Even as I raised my hands in surrender, the merman didn't look happy to see me anywhere near him. I backed off and pulled out her wand, swimming back toward the statue. Everyone was still floating there, looking already dead. I stared at them for a moment. I saw some rocks littering the lake bottom but I knew that it would take too long for me to cut through one of the bindings. I was going to need a spell and I needed one that wouldn't hurt someone if it didn't hit its intended target.

There was one spell that I knew would work; I just had to be careful and ensure that I didn't accidentally send the spell the wrong way. I swam as close to Fred as I could, using one hand to hold his body in place and the other hand to pull out my wand. I pushed the rope as far away from Fred as I could and raised my wand so that it was directly in front of my body. I took a deep breath and focused on ensuring that the words got out correctly.

"Diffindo!"

Following the v-shaped wand movement as best as I could in the tide, a small blast of pink light burst from my wand and severed the rope a few inches from Fred's face. I let out a deep breath and smiled as Fred was released from his bind. I was thrilled that I hadn't accidentally hurt someone. I placed a hand underneath Fred's shoulder and shoved him upward. He raised a few meters above me and began floating toward the surface.

Before I left, I sent a brief look at the other prizes. It didn't feel good to leave them behind, but I knew that I had to get going if I wanted to remain in first place. It did strike me as a bit odd that no one else had shown up. As I began floating up behind Fred, I looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? I was surprised that no one else was here yet. We must have been closing in on an hour now.

I briefly glanced back again. Ted's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. Ron was bobbing up and down wildly. When the hell were the other champions going to arrive? I glanced down toward my wrist to see how much longer the other champions had but I immediately realized that I hadn't brought my watch with me. I groaned as I rose through the seaweed and left the merpeople village. It wasn't my concern. The others would be okay.

Another glance around the area proved that I was still alone. I had no idea where anyone else was. As I began swimming off, I glanced back at the merpeople. They were all pointing excitedly around. I glanced up and saw that Harry's shadow was coming from the other end of the lake. Harry and I met eyes, smiling at each other. I was a little shocked to see that Harry now has webbed hands and feet and gills on his throat. I supposed it was from the Gillyweed. I gave Harry a thumbs up and swam off.

Harry would have to free Ron. I imagined that if Harry was already here, it meant that Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur weren't far behind us. I grabbed onto a strand of seaweed and pulled myself upward faster. I could see Fred's shadow at least fifteen meters above me. I followed his body, hoping that sunlight was coming soon. That would be what alerted me that I was getting closer to the surface. I swam after Fred's body for about two minutes before I saw another figure coming from my right.

I stopped long enough to see who it was. It took me a moment, but I eventually realized that it was Cedric swimming toward me. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. I smiled as Cedric spotted me and swam to my side. We couldn't speak to each other but Cedric did allow me to look at his watch. I had only ten minutes left. I smiled appreciatively and pointed him toward the merpeople village. He grabbed my hand tightly before taking off.

Even though I wanted to win the Second Task, I didn't want my boyfriend to struggle with it. Part of me kind of wanted Cedric to beat Harry, anyway. I was swimming for only another moment when I saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward me: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark. It was Krum. His transformation had never completed itself. He appeared to have transfigured himself - but badly. I grimaced in disgust as I continued.

That now made four of the five champions that I had a general idea of their location. Viktor, Harry, and Cedric were all with their treasures. I was about halfway back to the surface. I didn't know where Fleur was, though. There had been no sight of Fleur since I had dove off the platform almost an hour ago. I knew she hadn't already gotten back as the little girl was still underwater. Fleur must have been having a problem finding the merpeople village, which didn't bother me.

I was nearing Fred's body when I felt an awful pain shoot through my ankle. My eyes stung with tears as the searing pains rose from my ankle through my legs. I tried to curl in on myself to shield my body from whatever was assaulting me, but I realized quickly that I couldn't raise my leg. Something was hooked on it. As I looked down, I realized that something wasn't hooked on my leg, something was hooked in it. I gasped as I saw that a spear had gone straight through my leg and was now lodged there.

On the other end of the spear was a grindylow. I had greatly upset them and they were coming to collect their penance. I tried to pull my foot away, but I couldn't get over the pain. It was awful and I felt like my foot was going to be ripped off as I moved around. I immediately feared for my safety as the water around me turned red with blood. Were the grindylows going to kill me? It had been an accident when I had hurt them. They were coming for blood.

Thrashing around wouldn't do any good. It was going to either break my leg or I would end up making the blood loss even worse. I heard screeching and looked up to see a gaggle of grindylows coming after me. I was in a sudden panic, panting and gasping even though I technically wasn't breathing now. I looked around desperately, wondering if Harry or Cedric are anywhere near me. I knew that they would have helped me, but they were nowhere to be found.

Panicking harder and harder with each passing moment, I reached back to grab my wand from my bathing suit. I was barely able to wrap my fingers around the wand and pull it out. A grindylow knocked against me though and my wand slipped from my fingers. I gasped in horror as the wand began to slink to the depths. The grip of the grindylows was too tight and I was unable to get away from them, plus I couldn't get my wand back. It sank further and further away from me.

My heart was pounding with fear as I used my uninjured leg to thrash around at the grindylows. I wanted these things away from me and to get back above water. I kicked at some of them hard enough to get them to release me. I quickly moved to grab her wand as it sank lower and lower into the Black Lake. I grabbed it and spun to face the rest of the grindylows who had their fangs bared toward me. I had a funny feeling that they were about ready to rip out my throat.

My fingers wrapped around my wand and I turned, hoping the grindylows weren't too close. "Lumos Solem!" I screamed.

A brilliant flash of light escaped from the tip of my wand as I shielded my eyes. The darkness of the Black Lake was swallowed by the light as the grindylows shrieked in pain. The light wasn't going to kill them but it wasn't going to feel good either. The grindylows released the spear as they swam away from the light. My eyes were stinging from the pain as I reached to my ankle and grabbed ahold of the spear. I had no option but to yank it out. I took the handle of the spear and gave it a good yank.

It hardly gave way as it was stuck in my ankle hard, jammed between the bones. My eyes watered and tears slipped out (an odd sensation, given that I was underwater) as I gave the spear four more harsh tugs before it finally came out of my ankle. I screamed through the water as I dropped the spear and kicked myself upward. My entire body was on fire from the movements of my injured leg as I swam upward. My blood in the water looked even thicker and redder in the light from the spell.

The blood looked horrible and it appeared that I was losing a lot more blood than I should have. I needed to get back above water so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting stuck under here or killed by the grindylows. My stomach was churning with sick nerves as I attempted to follow Fred's oddly blurred body toward the surface. I could hear the grindylows shrieking with fury as the light began to fade and they began to follow me again. I tried to keep moving up and forget about them.

As I attempted to swim back to the surface, I realized that I was slowing down. It wasn't because the spell was wearing off. It was because I was losing too much blood. It felt awful as if I had gotten to the point of losing consciousness. Since I wasn't quite to that point yet, I just felt weak and dizzy and… empty. Now that I was starting to lose consciousness, my body felt very heavy, and I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. A few moments later, my body began to shut down and my eyes started rolled back in my head, mild convulsions following shortly after.

I was thrashing my legs as hard as I possibly could to get to the surface. It felt like my legs were going to fall off from how hard I was kicking. I eventually reached Fred's body and grabbed onto him. I wasn't going to complete the task unless I brought Fred back above the water. I went soaring up through the water as quickly as possible, the sunlight beginning to flood my vision. We were so close. It was going to take less than sixty seconds to get back to the platform.

The grindylows were closing in on us. We had to keep this far ahead of them if I wanted any chance to get to the platform before they caught me. I raised as quickly as possible through the water and dragged Fred with me, wishing for a moment that my prize had been Fleur's little sister. At least she was light. I couldn't keep thinking about the grindylows - I instead focused on getting to the surface. After what felt like hours, I broke through the water and sucked in a deep breath.

We burst above the surface as Fred woke up, staring at my frantic face. "What happened?" Fred asked.

"Go, go! Get to the platform!" I shouted hoarsely.

We weren't safe until we were out of the water. My head was spinning and I could hardly breathe as we thrashed around through the water. I could see the water turning red behind me. Fred got to the platform first and launched himself onto it, taking my hands and pulling me up. The grindylows burst above the surface after us, making an awful shrieking noise as they sank back to the depths. Fred and I fell against each other's chests from pure exhaustion. Fred stared at me blankly.

The cheering from the stands seemed muted. "What the hell did you do to them?" Fred asked me.

I stared at him. "What? No, thank you?" I snapped.

"You got me stuck under there," Fred said defensively. He was right about that. I rolled my eyes before hissing in pain the moment I had moved slightly. My ankle was bleeding all over the platform. Fred sat bolt upright when he realized that I had been hurt. "What happened to you?"

"A grindylow stabbed me," I explained.

"Why?" Fred asked.

Telling him the truth felt like it would make what I had done too real. I couldn't admit it. Not until I spoke to someone about it first. "I don't know," I lied.

"Honey!" Dad yelled, running up to me and skidding in the slickness of the blood. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Please don't make a fuss," I said awkwardly.

We didn't need the whole school to realize what had happened. "But -"

"Dad, don't make a scene, I'm begging you. I'm okay, I promise," I said quietly.

Unfortunately, now a few others had realized that I was hurt. Professor McGonagall came running up to me as she yelled, "Nox!" Some of the other professors were running toward me now. Their eyes went wide as they looked at my injury. "What happened down there?"

"Oh, it was the grindylows. I..." I began, my voice catching in my throat. I couldn't bring myself to admit what had happened down there with so many people around. "I don't know, I guess they don't like me very much."

"Pardon me, Professor," Snape said gently. I stared at Snape like he had lost his mind as he leaned in front of me and took my ankle in his hands. Was he going to help me? I swallowed nervously as Snape took his wand out and held it over my wound. "Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur."

The wounds healed almost immediately and I quickly began to feel much better. "Thank you, Professor," I said awkwardly, as it still felt weird to be polite to him. Snape nodded at me and walked off without another word. I glanced back at the other teachers as towels were thrown around Fred's and my shoulders. "Did I make it back on time?"

"Unfortunately," Professor Karkaroff answered irritably.

"Thanks," I growled at him. "How much was left?"

"Five minutes," Professor McGonagall answered.

"No one else is back yet?" I asked curiously.

If they weren't fast, I was going to be the only person to return within the time limit. "You were the first. Congratulations!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed excitedly.

"Thank you, Professor," I said happily.

"Well done, love," Dad said, grabbing my shoulder lovingly. "I knew you could do it."

"You'll tell Mom, yeah?" I asked.

"Of course," Dad said.

Even though Mom was still terrified that something would happen to me, I knew that she would be thrilled that I was in first place. The crowd continued to cheer eagerly as I looked down at my ankle. It was healed and I felt a lot better, but my stomach was still churning with nerves from my encounter with the grindylows. "What happened down there with the grindylows?" Fred asked.

"Not now," I told him seriously. I motioned to all of the professors and students standing around. "We'll talk about it later."

"Okay. Congratulations on being first back, by the way," Fred said.

"Thanks. I'll still have to be scored though."

"Seems like you have a good chance of winning this thing."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. You won me five Galleons today, too."

"You bet on me?" I asked.

"Of course. Diggory bet on you too," Fred answered.

My boyfriend - who was also in the tournament - had decided to place his bet on me. My cheeks went bright red at his confidence. "He did?" I asked. Fred nodded and I blushed again. "That was sweet of him."

"He cares about you, you know?" Fred mentioned.

"Shows his poor taste," I joked.

We both laughed as I looked out toward the lake. Cheers from my reappearance grew even louder as Cedric popped out of the water with Ted behind him. I smiled brilliantly. "Go see him," Fred said, watching my gaze.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"You're about to win me a lot of money," Fred teased. "I'm just fine."

I chuckled as I pressed a kiss against Fred's cheeks. "Glad to have you back, Weasley," I told him.

"Always glad to see you go, Nox," Fred joked.

"You're such an ass," I said laughingly. We laughed at the looks on each other's faces as I darted across the platform to catch up with Cedric. He and Ted were chatting away and smiling happily. "Second place, huh? That's not too bad."

Cedric turned back and grinned, flicking me teasingly on the nose. I giggled as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "The points haven't been awarded yet," Cedric pointed out.

"We all know who the better one is," I told him.

We both chuckled as I wrapped my arms around Cedric's shoulders to hug him. At the same time, Krum popped out of the water with Hermione. That was also when I noticed that Fleur was already on the platform. She must have failed the task. I couldn't bring myself to care about the task for a moment though. Instead, I wrapped my arms around Cedric and pulled him in for a kiss. Laughter and cheers erupted from the crowd. Cedric wrapped an arm around my waist, his fingers lingering on the edges of my swimsuit.

"You're going to get in trouble for that, you know?" Cedric said as we broke the kiss.

"What else is new?" I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Besides, if anyone says anything I'll just blame you."

Cedric kissed me again. "You can always blame me."

"Miss Nox!" Professor McGonagall shouted. I didn't release Cedric but I turned around to see my Head of House scowling at me. "Do you have somewhere else you should be or something else you should be doing?"

"Yeah. We should be somewhere private celebrating how wonderfully we've been doing in the tournament," I joked, keeping my voice low so she couldn't overhear me.

Cedric chuckled. I whipped around when the cheers again rose in the audience. Harry had just popped above the surface with Ron at his side. "Go check and make sure he's okay," Cedric told me.

"Thanks," I replied.

Harry appeared above the surface, panting heavily, pulling Ron and the little girl up with him. All around him, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with him, but they were smiling at him. They liked him much more than they liked me. The crowd in the stands was shouting and screaming, and they all seemed to be on their feet. Both Ron and the little girl had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, and turned to Harry.

Harry and Ron pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs. I rolled my eyes. Why hadn't I gotten that much fanfare? Off in the distance, Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Hermione, Krum, Fred, Cedric, and Ted, all of whom were still wrapped in thick blankets. I had brushed her off earlier once my ankle had been healed.

Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Harry and Ron from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. I smiled at the look on his face. Percy might have been a general prat most of the time, but I knew that he loved his siblings. Meanwhile, Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?" Fleur shouted.

"She's fine!" Harry said hoarsely.

"What did you bring her sister for?" I snapped, helping pull Harry onto the platform.

"I'm not sure... I thought..." Harry trailed off.

He was the hero. He had saved Gabrielle believing that she would have been left to die if no one had grabbed her. "You thought there was a chance that they would let her die?" I asked. Harry's face turned about six different shades of red. "Harry, we're the ones at risk, not them! You would have been second to come up if you hadn't done that."

Harry shook his head at himself. "Yeah, I know."

Percy had seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank. "Gerroff, Percy, I'm all right!" Ron insisted.

Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister. "It was ze grindylows... zey attacked me... oh Gabrielle, I thought... I thought..." she panted desperately.

"Come here, you," Madam Pomfrey ordered Harry.

Madam Pomfrey seized Harry and pulled him over to Hermione and the others. She grabbed me around the wrist and dragged me with them, annoyed that I was refusing any help from her. She wrapped Harry tightly in a blanket and forced a measure of the same very hot potion she had given me a few minutes earlier down his throat. I chuckled at the disgusted look on his face that turned to shock as steam gushed out of his ears.

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

"Well -" Harry started.

"Who helped?" I interrupted, forcing him to tell the truth.

"Dobby," Harry admitted.

"Not bad. I think you owe him a new pair of socks," I teased.

Harry laughed. "At the very least."

Though I was dead curious to know what had happened last night and how Harry managed to find out how he was going to handle the task, he had stopped talking. I knew that he would have told us about Dobby, but he had just noticed that Karkaroff was watching us. He was the only judge who had not left the table; the only judge not showing signs of pleasure and relief that Harry, Ron, and Fleur's sister had got back safely, which didn't surprise me.

"Yeah, that's right," Harry said, raising his voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear him.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," Krum said.

Harry and I exchanged a quick look and smiled at each other. I had the vague impression that Krum was trying to draw her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though, Harry."

"It's been almost fifteen minutes. They're going to dock you a lot for those minutes," I told him.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said defeatedly.

"Did it take you ages to find us?" Hermione asked.

"No. I found you okay," Harry answered.

"Mione," I interrupted whatever Hermione was about to say, crossing a hand over my throat to get her to stop talking. I knew that she was about to make him feel even worse. "Let's talk about it later."

As we fell silent, I noticed that Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. The chief merperson didn't look very happy as she looked back at me. I swallowed thickly. Here it came... Dumbledore was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish.

Finally, he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

My stomach began churning in knots again, just as it did whenever I got too nervous. I was wondering if the merpeople had told Dumbledore that I had accidentally killed a few of the grindylows. What were they going to think about me? Was I going to get points taken away for it? Was I going to get into some type of trouble for what I had done? I grew more and more nervous the longer I stood around and waited for the judges to finish their conversation.

The judges were currently in a close-knit huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue Ron from Percy's clutches; she led him over to our small group at the edge of the platform, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them. It almost made me respect her a little bit more. Almost.

"Look after Gabrielle," Fleur instructed Madam Pomfrey, and then she turned to Harry. "You saved 'er. Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," Harry said dumbly.

Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (which earned her an idiotic grin and reddish tinge in his cheeks), then said to Ron, "And you too - you 'elped -"

"Yeah," Ron said, looking extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit."

Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. I rolled my eyes at them. Fleur wasn't romantically interested in either one of them. She was just grateful that they had been selfless and helped her sister when she couldn't. Hermione looked about as furious as I was, but just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside us, making everyone in our small group jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.

"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."

There was some applause from the stands. "I deserved zero," Fleur said throatily, shaking her magnificent head.

"I'll say," I mumbled.

Cedric chuckled at my side and whispered, "Hush."

"Tara Nox, who used a Scuba-Spell, was the first to return with her hostage, five minutes before the allotted time limit ended, and was the only champion to do so," Ludo Bagman continued. I smiled broadly but was still awaiting the admission of what I had done. "We, therefore, award her full marks."

Okay, not what I was expecting. Cheers exploded from the stadium as I jumped eagerly. It meant that, no matter what anyone else was awarded, I would be in first place going into the Third Task. "Congratulations!" Hermione shouted, shaking my shoulder. "You did it!"

"Good job, Tara," Harry said, smiling fondly at me.

"Thanks," I said breathlessly.

"Maybe you're not that much of a loser after all," Fred teased, leaning over my shoulder.

"Just congratulate me, asshole," I snapped.

We exchanged a tight hug as Fred smiled proudly at me. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Well done," Cedric said. I pulled away from Fred and felt my cheeks warm as his hands slid around my waist. He lowered his mouth to my ear once he was sure no one was watching. "Shall we celebrate more appropriately later?"

"We shall," I replied eagerly. That was also when I noticed that my father was standing at the end of the platform, whooping and cheering louder than anyone else was. "Dad... you're embarrassing me..."

"Don't care! That's my job!" Dad yelled back.

As eager as I was to celebrate and as happy as I was that I was in first place in the tournament, I couldn't stop thinking about what I had done to the grindylows under the Black Lake. How had I been awarded a perfect score? Had the mermaid not told Dumbledore what had happened? I looked at Dumbledore for any indication of what he had heard, but he merely looks at me and smiled with a little twinkle in his eyes. I knew immediately that I would have to find the opportunity to talk to him later.

"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," Ludo Bagman continued, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Loser," I teased.

Cedric laughed as he smacked me on the butt. I giggled as I jumped away from him. "Zip it, you brat," Cedric said.

Enormous cheers erupted from the Hufflepuff's in the crowd; I saw Cedric's friends and classmates giving him glowing looks. "We, therefore, award him forty-seven points."

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

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. "Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. I noticed the defeated look on Harry's face, so I grabbed his knee. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour." I moved my hand up to his shoulder comfortingly. "However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was second 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."

Ron and Hermione both gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks, but I knew that he had done the right thing and was about to be rewarded for it. "Don't be sad, Harry. You showed that you're better than the rest of us," I whispered to him.

"And I lost in the process," Harry mumbled.

"Not yet," I countered.

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

The scores meant that Harry was now tied for second place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. I smiled proudly at my best friend. "See? The judges respected what you did! You weren't that stupid after all!" I told him eagerly.

Harry laughed. "Thanks."

"There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fiber!"

Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. Even I couldn't resist smiling at Fleur. She didn't look thrilled that she was now in last place, but she respected that Harry had saved her sister and was now being rewarded for it. Fleur and I met eyes, and though we didn't smile at each other, we did exchange a respectful nod. In the meantime, Krum attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," Bagman continued. The champions all looked around at each other and nodded. I smiled at Cedric. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

It was over. My nerves could leave me and I wouldn't have to worry about the Triwizard Tournament again for months to come. When it finally came back around, I would have nothing to worry about. It would almost be over! My thoughts were interrupted when Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes, but I had a better idea. I excused myself from her for a moment, promising that I would be back as I moved Cedric away from the crowd.

"Any chance I can convince you to celebrate with me instead of your Hufflepuff admirers?" I asked quietly, ensuring that no one was watching us.

Cedric grinned. "Oh, I think you could twist my arm."

Without saying anything to anyone else, I took Cedric's hand and began tugging him backward away from the crowd. Cedric smirked at me as he pressed himself against my front and I pressed my lips against his ear. "Come with me," I whispered.

Before we got the chance to leave, we were interrupted. "Hate to interrupt this lovely moment, but may I offer my congratulations?" Phil Troy asked, smiling at us.

"Yes, of course," I said, breaking away from Cedric.

Phil chuckled as we exchanged a hug. "Congratulations to you both. I'm looking forward to seeing the Third Task," Phil said.

Cedric reached out to shake Phil's hand. "We're looking forward to seeing how the tournament plays out," Cedric told him.

Phil smiled at us both as he glanced over our shoulders. Madam Pomfrey was in a tizzy, trying to gather the champions and hostages. "Madam Pomfrey will likely be looking for you both to get you into some dry clothes and do a physical," Phil explained. We nodded. "If you would instead like to celebrate by yourselves, I would be happy to cause a brief distraction."

"Keep my dad from asking questions?" I asked.

Phil smiled. "Just this once."

"My hero," I joked, pressing a kiss against Phil's cheek. "I'll see you at the Third Task."

Phil nodded before turning and walking away. Cedric grabbed my hand once he had gone and pulled me back into him, pressing a lingering kiss against my lips. "How about we head to the Prefect bathroom?" Cedric offered.

"Mm... after you," I said.

We both chuckled under our breath as we began backing away from the crowd. I didn't want to be anywhere near anyone else. As I felt most other days, I just wanted to spend some time with my boyfriend after being kept away from him for so long. Cedric wrapped an arm around my waist as I leaned up to press a kiss against his mouth. I could celebrate with everyone else tomorrow. For now, I wanted to get my mind off of what happened in the Black Lake and onto my boyfriend.

A/N: Next time... Tara sees Sirius face-to-face again and allows Cedric to meet her godfather. Thanks for your patience with this update! I got to work from home today so it was easy to finish writing and editing. Thank you everyone for the follows and favorites. Please review! Until next time -A

Starpottergeek: Happy very belated New Year! I hope it's been a good one so far. I'm so glad you liked the next one! I like these next few slower chapters. It's a good time to further develop Tara's relationships with other characters. Hope you liked this one!

MsEcho: Thank you! I have a good time writing Fred and Tara's relationship. They're such sweet characters and super easy to write together. Awesome! One day I would love to write a Sirius/OC story.

Dove Salvatore 25051: I absolutely love your line about Skeeter skeeting out of here! She's the worst but I want to show that someone can be above her. The fluff is so fun to write! Especially now while we have a few slower chapters before shit really hits the fan. Well, I really can't blame you about your anxiety with the final task. I hope you liked this one!

ShardAura: Yes, a chapter! I promise I'll stop making you guys wait this long for chapters. Oh yeah, so many people are starting to get anxiety for the Third Task and I can't blame you guys at all. Hope you liked this one and are still staying safe!

Vincent FGS91: Unfortunately if I do choose to keep things canon we're not looking at a very happy ending for Tara/Cedric... Hope you liked this one!

Bloomlove: Can't promise that Cedric and Tara will be together but I promise we've still got plenty of happy times with them to come! I do plan on remaining canon and keeping Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione together though! Sorry about the long wait for this one but I hope you liked it!

Ghostie1701: Oh yeah, these two are so lucky that Filch has never found them. They're not exactly subtle lol. Oh yeah, we're all dying to slap the voice by now. They're kind of like that toxic friend you'd love to get rid of but they just keep coming back into your life. There are still plenty of happy times for Cedric and Tara, I promise! Dumbledore fully loves drama and I fully support that part of his personality lol. No fears! I couldn't drag out the Cedric/Cho thing too long. That wasn't fair to Tara or you lovely readers. I hope you liked this one!

gemsaysfeelings: It's still so hard to decide whether or not to kill Cedric. Love him dearly but his death is pivotal. Either way, I love that you're team Draco! Happy very belated New Year to you as well! I hope you've enjoyed your year so far. Poor Fred is working so hard for Tara but the man is having no luck lol. I can't wait to write Tara in Order of the Pheonix. Hope you liked this one!

zikashigaku: That's such high praise! Especially considering Cedric's been getting a lot of renewed love lately. I try to make Tara a realistic (as much as possible, at least) teenager. I like that she has a great relationship but still has those childish desires for other people, even if she doesn't want to admit them. Cedric's death would be fantastic for Tara's development, but I know that it would be devastating for the readers. Definitely, Tara and Cedric aren't the type to have a big blowup fight and just never speak again. They have that ability to smooth things over even if they need some time. Her dad would have been so funny! But I couldn't resist throwing Fred in there. Nope, I'm trying to give you guys a break with the Cedric/Cho drama! I hope you liked this one!

Amelia: Thank you! Sorry it took so long, but I hope you liked this update!