Thanks to Luna's tip about casting the bubble-head charm correctly, Dudley started to make progress in the next couple of weeks. The first session he managed 40 minutes—a record. Then 57 minutes and finally, at last a full 60 minutes.

"Great work, Dudley!" Lockhart said approvingly. "You've got there in the end!"

"I just hope I can manage it during the task," Dudley said, taking a celebratory drink of some of Lockhart's homemade pumpkin juice that he had brought as a treat.

Dudley thought it should be used more of a punishment—it was very sour. But he forced himself to drink it, not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings.

"I believe in you," Lockhart said, simply.

Dudley looked at his mentor and smiled, suddenly feeling touched. Lockhart was a bit, well very, pompous and loved to toot his own horn, but he was a decent guy really.

"I'm coming along well with the spell's Dean and Ron showed me, too." Dudley said.

Lockhart looked thoughtful. "You know, sometimes it would be better to just flee from danger, rather than confronting it,"

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"Well, it's all well and good seeing off Grindylows and Kelpies and the giant squid and rampaging merpeople! I know all too well the satisfaction you feel in facing down some monstrous beast, but, that isn't really what this task is about," he smiled, clearly very pleased with his thinking here.

"You don't get points for fighting off a Grindylow," he said. "You get points for retrieving your missing object first." He tapped the side of his head with one finger and looked very smug.

"Your best bet is to just swim as fast as you can and avoid conflict, don't worry about what you see down there. Just focus on getting the missing object and making it back."

Dudley nodded. That was good advice and made sense. Find the object and return. It was a good, simple plan.

Most of the class were disappointed during Care of Magical Creatures when Hagrid returned. Dudley couldn't blame them. Hagrid's teaching had been awful this year. He had enjoyed the Skrewts himself at first, but had soon grew tired of them.

Thankfully, Hagrid had apparently decided to continue Professor Grubbly-Plank's lesson on unicorns.

Today he 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 the 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...

Despite his failure at the first task, Dudley felt pleased to see that most of the school were still supporting him. In the week leading up to the second task, a number of students, including Roger Davies and Cedric Diggory, came to wish him luck. Susan Bones, whose annoyance with him for going to the Yule Ball with Luna had spent most of Muggle Studies grilling Dudley about the second task for clues on what it was. Dudley was keeping tight lipped, too many people knew already and he wanted to keep it quiet to keep an advantage. He knew Neville had solved the clue and he had seen Krum practicing in the lake, so he felt confident he did too, but he hoped that Fleur Delacour hadn't solved it. The Beauxbatons girl wasn't seen much around the castle. She seemed to keep to herself studying or occasionally take a trip to a deserted classroom with Roger Davies (Parvati had seen the pair exciting Flitwick's class alone, looking a bit disheveled and giddy).

Ernie Macmillan and his gang of Hufflepuffs as well a small selection of Ravenclaws still wore their "Neville Longbottom" badges, and indeed, Neville was attracting a lot of attention. Harold Dingle had actually made him the favorite to win the whole thing. He and Lavender tended to attract jealous looks when they walked hand-in-hand along the corridors to class, especially from Hannah Abbott who still had a crush on Neville.

If Dudley and Luna attracted any jealous looks, Dudley didn't notice. Since he and Luna were in different classes and different years, they didn't exactly walk to class with each other. Though they always met for lunch and sometimes walked the grounds holding hands and talking, sometimes alone, sometimes with Ginny or Hermione or even Ron and Cho who continued to be a couple.

Ron had been in a great mood because of his relationship with Cho Chang, the prettiest girl in school. He even endured Fred and George's teasing about wedding bells being on the horizon with good humour.

Finally, the day of the second task arrived. "Brrrr I don't envy you going into the lake," Ron said, peering out of the tower window.

"Bit nippy is it?" Dean asked. "I best wear my gloves, wrap up nice and cozy." He smirked at Dudley.

"I should have practiced a heating charm or something," Dudley muttered. He was getting his things ready for the task which would begin in just two hours.

His wand—check

Wand holster—check (Lockhart had presented him this with a flourish two days ago, and Dudley could see right away it would be useful)

Speedos—check (Lockhart had also presented him with these two days ago. Dudley wished he had selected shorts or something less tight)

Waterproof deep-sea diving watch—check (this had been a gift three years ago from his parents)

"Do you think I've forgotten anything?" Dudley asked, glancing up.

"Invisibility cloak?" Dean suggested.

"Nah, I don't know if it'd work underwater," Dudley said. He grabbed the necklace with a gem on it that Luna had given him for Christmas and laid it next to his wand. He would wear that too.

All set, Dudley went down to breakfast with his friends. Neville was eating alone and they sat with him.

"Alright, Nev?" Ron greeted.

"Yeah," he replied, eating his porridge.

Dudley grabbed a few slices of very buttery toast.

"You haven't seen Lav? We usually have breakfast together,"

Dudley glanced around, sure enough, Lavender Brown was nowhere to be seen. Parvati was eating alone, looking a little odd without Lavender by her side.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Luna Today either," Dudley said, frowning as he glanced around. She wasn't with Ginny and her friends, nor was she at the Ravenclaw table.

"Hermione's missing too," Ron said, frowning. "She's usually here at breakfast."

"Hey, you don't think the missing thing is people do you?" Dean said. "You know the thing you have to find? Think about it, Nev's girlfriend's gone. Dudley's girlfriend's …"

"We're not officially boyfriend or girlfriend," Dudley quickly corrected.

Dean ignored him and continued. "… is gone, and Krum's girlfriend is gone."

"Could be," Ron said. "Roger Davies is still here, though," he said, pointing.

"Maybe for Fleur they got someone else—I don't think she knows Davies that well. I think they just, well, spend their time kissing." Dean said.

Dudley nodded thoughtfully, then swore, suddenly panic stricken. "Hang on, that means … if I don't get to Luna in an hour …"

"Come off it," Dean said. "Do you think Dumbledore would let them be harmed?" he nodded at the table to where Dumbledore was talking to Professor Snape. "I bet that's just a time limit. I bet if you don't reach them in time, they'll just be brought back to the surface normally."

Dudley relaxed, feeling Dean was right.

"After breakfast, Dumbledore got to his feet. "The second task of the Triwizard Tournament will begin shortly. All Champions are to meet in the entrance hall in 15 minutes. All other students are to make their way to the lake."

Excited muttering greeted these words from the students in the Great Hall, all talking about what this meant and what the task would involve.

Dudley finished off his last slice of toast and headed to his dorm room to get ready. He slipped on his speedos (cursing Lockhart as he did so) while Dean and Ron snickered, attached his wand holster, put on his watch and slipped Luna's necklace around his neck.

Not wanting to walk down to the lake in just his Speedos, he grabbed a red dressing gown to wear too.

"Not forgot anything?" Dean said.

"Don't think so."

"You ready, Nev?" Dudley looked over at Neville. He too had a dressing gown over his swimsuit. He seemed to be taking just his wand and a weird blob of something that looked like slimy rat tails.

Dudley raised his eyebrows curiously, but Neville shoved the ball into his pocket.

"I'm ready," he said, but looked as nervous as Dudley felt.

They walked down to the entrance hall in silence where Ron and Dean said good luck and left to take their places in the stands.

Dumbledore, Bagman, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime and Percy Weasley were waiting for them. Fleur was already there.

"Neville, just a quick word," Bagman said, leading Neville away from the others. They spoke hurriedly before Neville returned.

"What was that about?" Dudley asked.

"Nothing," Neville said.

Dudley didn't have time to ask another question for at that moment, Viktor Krum arrived.

"Champions, follow us," Dumbledore said, leading the way out.

The butterflies in Dudley's stomach turned into buffalos as they approached the lake. Beside him, Neville was looking faintly green. His nerves weren't helped by the cheering crowd sat in stands which had been erected overnight on the lake's shores.

Lockhart hurried over to meet them. "Feeling alright, Dudley? Remember everything we went through and you'll be fine."

"Sonorus," Bagman said, pointing his wand at his throat.

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!"

Dudley raised his wand, before he cast the bubble-head charm, he glanced at the crowd. He could see Ron and Dean cheering and Lockhart sat in the front row with the judges. He muttered the incantation "Bulla Oxygeni" and felt relieved when a bubble appeared around his head.

He tossed off his dressing gown and jumped into the water. It was freezing. Not for the first time, he wished he'd bothered to learn some sort of warming spell. But, he supposed there was nothing for it.

He took a deep breath, then realized that because of the bubble-head charm he actually didn't need to take a deep breath. Giving a small shake of his head, Dudley dived under and found himself under the murky waters of the lake.

It was dark, he could only see 10 feet or so ahead of him. He swam down, deciding that whatever the merpeople had taken would surely be near the bottom of the lake. He swam past formations of rocks, tall swaying reeds and once, the remains of an old wooden boat caught on a rock. Of the others he saw no sign. Indeed, the only signs of life he saw were small shoals of silvery fish swimming by.

He had now reached the bottom of the lake. Stretching in front of her were fields of long, green weeds. Without warning a trio of shapes shot towards him—Grindylows, reaching to grab him with strong, horned hands.

Dudley considered following Lockhart's advice to just flee from danger, but something stopped him. He wasn't the sort to just run away. Besides, he suspected the Grindylows would try and follow him if he did so.

He raised his wand, aimed carefully at the nearest one the cast Dean's favorite, the bludgeoning hex. It worked differently underwater. Instead of an invisible fist hitting the target like a hammer, a ball of super dense water shout out of his wand and smashed into the Grindylow, sending it spinning backwards.

The other two fled without putting up a fight.

"Easy," Dudley muttered and glanced around. He was entirely alone. After the dragons, the lake was a bit of a letdown, he realized as he swam forward. Other than Grindylows, there was nothing dangerous down here. He supposed he should have been happy, but he had come prepared for more of a challenge. He supposed the merpeople who lived there might be dangerous.

As he swam past a pillar of stone, he froze, catching sight of something entirely unexpected. It was a girl—a ghostly girl with a plump, spotty face and thick glasses who was floating in the water looking at him.

"Moaning Myrtle!" he said, finally recognizing her.

Myrtle's face hardened. "I came here to see how you and the others were getting on," she announced, a little stiffly. "Viktor Krum has already being passed, he didn't stop to talk."

"Yeah, well, we're in a bit of a rush," Dudley said. "Which way did Krum go?"

Myrtle smiled sweetly. "He went that way," she said, sweetly, pointing to a dark bit of the lake to the right. "I'd hurry if I was you, he was quite a bit ahead. I won't come with you, the merfolk chase me away if I come close."

"Thanks," Dudley said, swimming in the direction Myrtle pointed.

He swam 10 feet or so above the reeds to avoid any more Grindylows, and he remembered Lockhart mentioning Kelpies. He wasn't sure what a Kelpie was, but Lockhart had made it sound dangerous. He assumed they would be lurking in the reeds too.

He froze for a moment as a giant shape loomed out of the darkness in front of him. It was the giant squid, its tentacles swaying gently as it propelled itself steadily forward.

The giant squid had never seemed dangerous—some students like to tickle its tentacles, and he recalled Dennis Creevey being helped back into the boat by it. But, he felt he might as well not take chances and he waited until it was safely gone before proceeding.

Dudley glanced at his watch. It had been over 30 minutes now, and he still had to get back to shore. Surely he should have reached the merpeople by now? He had followed Myrtle's guide without turning anywhere, unless he had just swam in a big circle?

Dudley didn't think he had, though. He saw what looked to be a drop off further ahead and he quickened up his pace, surely this must be it. When he reached it and peered over, he saw nothing but a field of weeds below him. No sign of life anywhere.

Suddenly, a nasty memory returned to him—one of himself tormenting Moaning Myrtle in his second year by throwing dungbombs at her. Did she still remember? Dudley swore under his breath, suddenly thinking it was highly likely that Myrtle had deliberately sent him in completely the wrong direction.

Dudley swore. Swore again. And, to make himself feel better, he swore once more. He promised that once he returned to school, he would throw a dungbomb at Moaning Myrtle everyday for this.

He knew he wasn't going to beat the deadlin, but he didn't want to return empty handed and get zero points, so he turned around and swam as fast as he can back the way he came. He saw a few Grindylows peeking out at him from the reeds, so he sent a bludgeoning hex there were to scatter them. He wondered if the bludgeoning hex would do anything to Moaning Myrtle.

He swam and swam, every aware of the watch ticking away. Finally, he saw a shape looming out of the gloom. It was Neville—he had somehow turned himself into a weird, half-frog type monster with gills and long flippers. He had his arm around the unconscious form of Lavender and was dragging her upwards. He was so focused on his task that he didn't spot Dudley.

But, at least Dudley know knew which way to come. He swam the direction Neville had come from and soon saw a peculiar sight. It was Krum, he appeared to have transfigured himself into a shark, but hadn't managed it completely. He had a sharks head on a human body and had Hermione held in his arms.

He passed wordlessly, not even looking at Dudley. At least now Dudley knew he was on the right track. Not for the first time he cursed Moaning Myrtle for sabotaging him. He had to be dead last now, unless Fleur Delacour had gotten lost too.

At long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took..."

Dudley 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. Dudley swam on past the rock, following the mersong.

"...there's 10 minutes left 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, Dudley saw faces...faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom...

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

Dudley sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to one another. Dudley 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. Two people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

One was Luna, her blonde hair billowing upwards. The other was a pretty girl of about eight who had clouds of silvery hair and could only be Fleur's sister.

Dudley spared a thought for Roger Davies—a brief one, since he didn't like him too much—for being the only partner who not be sorely missed.

Dudley pulled at the ropes holding Luna. They were thick, slimy and strong. He wished he had brought a knife with him.

"Hang on ... I don't need a knife," he pulled out his wand, and aiming carefully at the ropes, cast a severing charm.

Luna bobbled free. He knew he wouldn't make it for the time limit, but at least he had saved the girl. He glanced at Fleur's sister, feeling certain she would be alright—no way would Dumbledore leave a kid to drown just because her sister was incompetent.

So, he swam out and onwards, aiming to return as quick as he can. It was a long journey, he glanced at his watch—he was 20 minutes over the time limit, thanks to Myrtle.

Finally, he could see daylight ahead of him. He kicked as hard as he could and finally broke the surface, he was 50 yards from shore and could see Dumbledore and the judges scanning the waters anxiously. Someone in the crowd spotted him and Luna and the crowd started cheering.

"You made it then?"

Dudley nearly dropped Luna in surprise. She sounded perfectly calm, as if she hadn't just been saved from a bunch of merpeople.

"Eventually," he muttered, keeping his arm around her as he kicked his way towards shore.

"It seems you were the last," Luna said, looking at the stands. Neville was there with Lavender and Krum and Hermione. All were wrapped in towels.

"Fleur didn't make it," Dudley said.

"She's there," Luna said, and sure enough, Fleur was sat on a bench, her head in her hands while Ludo Bagman tried to console her.

Now Dudley was closer, he could make out faces in the crowd. Malfoy and his friends were jeering and making rude hand gestures, but Ron, Dean and the Gryffindors were applauding. So was Susan Bones, she was stood on her bench waving and cheering with Hannah Abbott.

"Thanks for coming for me," Luna said.

Dudley looked across at her, she was smiling and despite being soaking wet and swimming in the lake, looked happy.

"No worries," Dudley said, a little awkwardly. He grinned slightly and, acting on an impulse—never mind the fact the entire school was looking, he wrapped his arm around her, pulled her close and kissed her.