Author's note: I had this idea that instead of Ron, Harry would save Draco in the Triwizard Tournament but I couldn't find a fanfic about it so I decided to write it myself. Please be aware I'm not a good writer. I will use the book for the first chapter but after that it will be my own story.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters at all. They are still in the possession of JK Rowling. If I did own it, Harry would never be with Ginny; instead he would be with Draco.
Warning: Slash (meaning Draco/Harry), Dumbledore bashing (I just think he had to do something better and I will make sure that happens in this fanfic)
Summary: What if there was ancient magic involved in the Triwizard Tournament? Magic that the contestants felt and would act to make sure the right ones were chosen for the second task. Drarry slowburn, dumble bashing.
This is edited by aStarLightFairy on 4 August 2020.
*The first part are recited out of Harry Potter and the goblet of fire with changes that I need for this story so if you are like me you can skip this part entirely *
Harry's POV
I open my eyes to see Dobby before me. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and put my glasses right on my head.
"Harry Potter needs to hurry!" squeaked Dobby. "The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter -"
"Ten minutes?" I asked. "Ten -ten minutes?"
I looked at my watch to see that Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through my chest into his stomach.
"Hurry, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!"
"It's too late, Dobby," I said hopelessly. "I'm not doing the task, I don't know how -"
"Harry Potter will do the task!" squeaked the elf. "Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!"
"What?" I said. "But you don't know what the second task is -"
"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his precious person -"
"Find my what?"
"- and take his precious person back from the merpeople!"
"Who do they think is my precious person?"
"I don't know, sir. But you will miss it the most." squeaked Dobby. "'But past an hour-'"
"- 'the prospect's black,'" I recited, staring, horror-struck, at the elf. "'Too late, it's gone, it won't come back. 'Dobby - what've I got to do?"
"You has to eat this, sir!" squeaked the elf, and he put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, sir - Gillyweed!"
"What does it do?" I asked, staring at the Gillyweed.
"It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!"
"Dobby," I said frantically, "listen - are you sure about this?"
I didn't quite forget that the last time Dobby had tried to "help" me; I had ended up with no bones in my right arm.
"Dobby is quite sure, sir!" said the elf earnestly. "Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task. . . . Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his precious person!"
My doubts vanished. Jumping to my feet I pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into my bag, grabbed the Gillyweed, and put it into my pocket. I ran out of the library with Dobby at my heels.
"Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!" Dobby squealed as we burst into the corridor. "Dobby will be missed - good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!"
"See you later, Dobby!" I shouted, and I sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time.
The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as I flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as I leapt down the stone steps and out onto the bright, chilly grounds.
As I ran down the lawn I saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now arranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and the reflection could be seen in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as I ran flat-out around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges table, watching me sprint toward them.
"I'm. . . here. . ." I panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes.
"Where have you been?" said a bossy, disapproving voice. "The task's about to start!"
I looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges table - Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again.
"Now, now, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see me. "Let him catch his breath!"
Dumbledore smiled at me, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see me. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought I wasn't going to turn up.
I bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath; I had a stitch in my side that felt as though a knife had been stabbed between my ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it now; Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. I was on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready.
"All right, Harry?" Bagman whispered as he moved me a few feet farther away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?"
"Yeah," I panted, massaging my ribs.
Bagman gave my shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water 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; one. . . two. . . three!"
The shrill whistle echoed in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause. Without looking to see what the other champions were doing, I pulled off my shoes and socks, pulled the handful of Gillyweed out of my pocket, stuffed it into my mouth, and waded out into the lake.
It was so cold I felt the skin on my legs searing as though this were fire, not icy water. My sodden robes weighed me down as I walked in deeper. Now the water was over my knees, and my rapidly numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. I was chewing the Gillyweed as hard and fast as I could; it felt unpleasantly slimy and rubbery in my mouth, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the freezing water I stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to happen.
I could hear laughter in the crowd and knew I must look stupid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical powers. The part of me that was still dry was completely covered in goose bumps; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting my hair, I started to shiver violently. I avoided looking at the stands; the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeering from the Slytherins.
Then quite suddenly, it felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over my mouth and nose. I tried to draw breath, but it made my head spin; my lungs were empty, and I suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of my neck -
I clapped my hands around my throat and felt two large slits just below my ears, flapping in the cold air; I had gills. Without pausing to think, I did the only thing that made sense - I flung myself forward into the water.
The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life. My head had stopped spinning; I took another great gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through my gills, sending oxygen back to my brain. I stretched out my hands in front of me and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. I twisted around and looked at my bare feet - they had become elongated and the toes were webbed too; It looked like I had sprouted flippers.
The water didn't feel icy anymore; on the contrary I felt pleasantly cool and very light. I shot off once more, marvelling at how far and fast my flipper-like feet propelled me through the water. I noticed how clearly I could see, and how I no longer seemed to need to blink. I had soon swum so far into the lake that I could no longer see the bottom. I flipped over and dived into its depths.
Silence pressed upon my ears as I soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. I could only see ten feet around me, so that as I sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. I swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, my eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around him to the shadow 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. There was no sign of any of the other champions or merpeople - nor, thankfully, the giant squid.
Light green weed stretched ahead of me as far as I could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. I was staring unblinkingly ahead of me, trying to discern shapes through the gloom and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of my ankle.
No one's POV
Harry twisted his body around and saw a Grindylow; a small horned water demon poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Harry's leg with its pointed fangs bared. Harry stuck his webbed hand quickly inside his robes and fumbled for his wand. By the time he had grasped it; two more Grindylows had risen out of the weed and seized handfuls of Harry's robes attempting to drag him down.
"Relashio!" Harry shouted, except that no sound came out. A large bubble floated from his mouth, and his wand, instead of sending sparks at the Grindylows, pelted them with what seemed to be a jet of boiling water, for where it struck them, angry red patches appeared on their green skin. Harry pulled his ankle out of the Grindylows grip and swam as fast as he could; occasionally sending more jets of hot water over his shoulder at random; every now and then he felt one of the Grindylows snatch at his foot so he kicked out hard. Finally he felt his foot connect with a horned skull, and looking back, saw the dazed Grindylow floating away, cross-eyed, while its fellows shook their fists at Harry and sank back into the weed.
Harry slowed down a little, slipped his wand back inside his robes, and looked around, listening again. He turned full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against his eardrums. He knew he must be even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed.
"How are you getting on?"
Harry thought he was having a heart attack. He whipped around and saw Moaning Myrtle floating hazily in front of him, gazing at him through her thick, pearly glasses.
"Myrtle!" Harry tried to shout - but once again, nothing came out of his mouth but a very large bubble. Moaning Myrtle actually giggled.
"You want to try over there!" she said, pointing. "I won't come with you. I don't like them much; they always chase me when I get too close."
Harry gave her the thumbs-up to show his appreciation and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more Grindylows that might be lurking there, ready to attack.
He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. Then at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong.
"An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took. . . "
Harry swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Harry swam on past the rock, following the mersong.
". . . your time's half gone, so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot. . . . "
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces; faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom. . . .
The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick bands of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to allow them a better view of him. Their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, with spears clutched in their hands.
Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now watching him eagerly as well as pointing at his webbed hands and gills while talking behind their hands to one another. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.
A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.
*Here the chapter changes from the book and is totally my own*
There were three girls and one boy. One of the girls looked like she was barely eight years old, so that had to be Fleur's sister. Next to her Cho was in a sleeping state, almost like she was dead. Hermione looked to be in a similar state to Cho, although it was like she was petrified all over again. The boy seemed out of place, with his platinum hair among the dark water. Harry thought he would be saving Ron, but Ron had red hair. He only knew one person with platinum blond hair…..Draco Malfoy.
'Who would want Malfoy as his precious person?' Harry thought.
Harry swam to Hermione ready to cut her rope free but the merpeople stopped him before he could even get close enough to her.
"You can only safe your own. She isn't yours to safe!" one of them said.
"But she is my best friend. Who do I need to safe then?" Harry asked dumb folded.
At that moment a shark swam quickly up to them. It looked like Krum had cast a half body transfiguration to make his upper half resemble that of a shark. He looked between Harry and the merfolk; a confused expression etched upon his shark-like face. He did not give Harry a second glance instead swam to Hermione and bit the rope free. With the rope, and Hermione attached, in his mouth he moved upward and out of sight. Harry stayed still wondering why on Earth Krum had to save Hermione. At this moment Cedric swam towards him.
"Where is Krum going with your friend, Harry?" Cedric asked as confused as Harry felt.
"I don't know. I was stopped from saving her. It looks like need to save Malfoy…." Harry said.
"Why? Everyone knows you two can't stand each other." Cedric said.
"I know. Have you seen Fleur? Maybe she has to save him and I need to save her sister" Harry said hopefully.
"She's coming right now." Cedric said looking behind Harry.
Harry looked behind him and saw Fleur swimming like she was chased by a shark. When her sister was in her vision she looked angry. She swam faster towards her sister and used a diffindo spell to cut the rope from her sister. She took her sister in her arms and swam upward without looking at Harry or Cedric.
"Well…..that answers your question. Malfoy is yours to save. Good luck Harry. He won't be happy when he wakes up." Cedric said mournfully.
Cedric also used diffindo to cut Cho's rope and took her up. Harry decided to use the same spell for Malfoy's rope but it didn't work. Harry looked around on the ground for something he could use. He saw a rough stone he could use.
After a few tries the rope was finely cut. Harry took Malfoy by the arms and swam upward. When he was almost above the water he felt his lungs fill with water. The Gillyweed stopped working and his body was changing back to normal. When he was above the water he heard the loud noise from the stands. He looked around him only to see Malfoy blushing while staring at him before it quickly disappeared from his cheeks.
"What are you looking at, Potter!" Malfoy spat to him.
"Some would think a 'thank you' would be in order, Malfoy" Harry spat back.
"Why would I thank you, Potter; I was never in danger to begin with. The last thing I remember is sitting in the common room reading. The next thing I know is waking up in the lake next to you. If I was part of the second task I would know it and Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone get hurt except maybe you." Malfoy said.
Harry and Malfoy began swimming to the shore, with Malfoy making sure Harry stayed above water asking if he even knew how to swim.
When they arrived Harry was pulled in a hug by Hermione and Ron, with Ron making sure that they were both safe and sound.
"Why did you have to save Malfoy, Harry? Couldn't you just let him there?" Ron asked.
"I don't know why I had to save him Ron. I thought I had to save you?" Harry said.
"That was the plan. They used a sleeping spell on me yesterday but it didn't hold. I was awake after two minutes. They kept me the entire night so I wouldn't be able to tell you they took Hermione for Krum and not for you." Ron explained.
"But that doesn't explain where Malfoy came from?" Hermione said confused. "We can figure this out later; they're going to announce the scores right now."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchief Marcus 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," Ludo Bagman announced.
"The first to return was Victor Krum using an incomplete form of Transfiguration and while he was three minutes outside the time limit we award him forty two points. The second to return was Fleur Delacour who used the bubble-head charm to its maximum capability and a powerful diffindo to safe her sister. We award her with forty points. Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter stayed until every one of the hostages was saved before they proceeded to save their own. Cedric used the same tactic as Miss Fleur but due to his waiting he shall be awarded forty five points. Harry used Gillyweed to great effect but failed in his use of diffindo to cut the rope so we award him forty five points."
Harry was amazed; he was first place together with Cedric. He looked towards Malfoy to see if he wanted to celebrate with them considering that Hogwarts was the leading school in the competition so far, but he couldn't find him. Why he thought Malfoy would want to celebrate with him and his friends was a mystery.
After it was announced that the last task would be on June twenty fourth Madam Pomfrey herded all the champions and their hostages to the castle to check for injuries.
Cedric walked behind the group deep in thought. During the task he had looked back at Harry to make sure he was right behind him but he saw Harry using the same spell he had used although it wasn't successful. Something was not right here. Someone wanted Harry to end last.
Author's note: So this was the first chapter. I know some things are a bit confusing but I wanted to make sure there would be a few clues to how this story would evolve. I also think that Fleur was a missed opportune for Rowling. She could make her an amazing character from the start instead she was used as a scapegoat and a weakling in the book and movie.
Hope you liked this first chapter and please leave a comment; I still need to learn a lot about writing a fanfic. Thank you. Mischief Managed.