It was official. The night before a task produced worse anxiety than all of the OWLs combined. Cassius had begun to suspect this before the first task, but he'd acknowledged that the dragon may have been the main cause of that. But now, with the second task growing steadily nearer, he was forced to acknowledge that the Tournament itself was to blame for the disturbance in his sleep schedule. For what felt like the millionth time, Cassius rolled over in his bed and went over his plan.
Easily his biggest flaw was his inability to clearly plan at all. Other than learning useful spells and frequently practicing his bubble head charm, there wasn't much he could do to prepare. From his observations, he'd been able to guess that the merpeople lived somewhere to the right of the Slytherin common room, which was left of where they'd set up stands the day before, assuming that was to be the start. He'd have to watch out for grindylows, selkies, and, of course, the giant squid, among other creatures he'd been unable to identify, concerning him more than the others. His main worry, however, was that Adrian had not returned from the library that night, and he had a sinking feeling of why. Groaning in frustration, Cassius rolled over to his other side to begin the process again.
/
"You know that portrait down the charms corridor? Laurence the Leery? You look a shade worse than him."
"Thanks." Cassius didn't have the energy to fight back. In spite of his lack of sleep, he felt uncomfortably awake and rather on edge. He shoved his breakfast into his mouth, ignoring the fact that it tasted uncomfortably like how he imagined cardboard would, because he knew if he didn't, he'd regret it later.
"So where do you think Pucey is?"
"It's like the song said, isn't it? They took something, I've got to get it back." Andrew paled slightly.
"Oh. Right." Andrew shifted uncomfortably. "Um, didn't the song say something about if you miss the hour it won't come back?"
"Yeah. But that's probably an empty threat. I mean, after the Age Line, and the debates and discussions they're said to've had at the ministry, they won't let people die for this." Cassius realized he was saying this as much for his own comfort as Andrew's but it did make him feel a bit better. Still, who knew with Dumbledore.
Just the night before, Cassius had been dreading the task, but now he wished it would just begin. Anything was better than this waiting, the feeling of people looking at him and whispering. He looked over to the Gryffindor table, hoping to see Potter sharing in his nerves, and was surprised not to see him at all.
"Where's Potter, do you think?" Andrew turned around and looked down the Gryffindor table, then shrugged.
"Dunno. Last minute practice with some spells? Or maybe he's too nervous to eat." Cassius nodded, but wasn't sure if he bought either of those answers. "Granger and Weasley are gone too." Another quick scan of the table showed that Fawley was right.
"Well, one of them is probably the person Potter's got to find, right? And the other is probably with him, preparing or something, like you said."
"Right. Anyway, d'you reckon the elves would make me a basket if I slipped down to the kitchens before the task? Because if you're swimming, we'll just be looking at the lake for an hour, and there's only so much small talk I can take without snacks." Cassius rolled his eyes and laughed a little, and Andrew, taking this as encouragement, continued to explain himself. Questions about Harry Potter and worries about the task fell, however briefly, from Cassius' mind, and when Andrew went to the kitchens, he grabbed a pastry for himself.
/
Harry Potter was running down the bank of the lake to the stands, and although Warrington was slightly irritated at his near tardiness, he was at least grateful for the boost in his trust of his instincts. He had known it had been strange that Potter hadn't been at breakfast that morning. They still weren't friends, and Cassius still wanted to beat him, but he also wanted Potter to continue to outscore Fleur and Krum. The Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry was good in its place, but when it came down to Gryffindor or Beauxbatons, he'd choose Hogwarts.
Rolling his wand over in his hand, he waited for Bagman to finish talking to Harry, then, at the whistle, waded into the water. As soon as it was deep enough, he put a slight warming spell over his body, followed by the Bubble head charm. And he began to swim.
In different circumstances, Cassius may have enjoyed himself. The water was a light green color, making Cassius feel at home. Fish flitted in and out of view, and the water was alive with sounds he'd never heard, the sounds of life underwater were, it seemed as varied as those above.
"Memento Trahenta!" He muttered, grateful for the Bubble head charm allowing him to speak. A glowing light formed a post on one end, and on the other, wrapped itself around his ankle. As he swam forward, he saw that the string was doing its job of marking his path. Gripping his wand, Cassius continued to swim forward, looking for something different in the endless sea of grass that covered the bottom of the lake. Suddenly, he felt webbed hands close around his neck—not the long fingers of a grindylow, but something rather different.
Choking, Cassius crossed his arm over his chest and shot a silent stinging jinx at the creature, hurriedly swimming forward when it let go. The creature, it seemed, was more angry than hurt, and launched furiously through the water toward him.
"Stupefy!" Cassius looked at the thing as it sank into the grass. It seemed to be a sort of deep-water dwelling Kappa, but he was pretty sure those didn't exist. And if they did, he was they should be in Japan, not Scotland. Touching his neck, Warrington felt small welts starting to form. Catching his breath as he swam, Cassius checked his direction with a point me charm, ensuring that he was still headed to the general area that he had supposed the merpeople to be settled. After a run-in with fish that seemed to be after his blood and a near miss with a pack of Grindylows, who had looked as though they were on a hunt of some sort, he came across a settlement of merpeople.
Tied to a giant statue of a merperson were the hostages. All four were still there, but one of the champions was already by their sides. Swimming faster, Cassius pushed himself to the statue. It was Potter. Of course it was. Casting a severing charm, he cut Adrian free, then turned to look at Potter who, for some reason, was still there.
"Get a move on! Fleur and Krum'll be here any minute!" Not waiting to see if his advice was kept, Warrington grabbed hold of Adrian's leg. Now was the tricky part of the charm he had begun with. If he'd done it wrong, he had a long swim ahead of him. But if he'd done it right, and could get this last bit perfectly…
Tightening his grip on his friend, he aimed his wand at the string of light that still shone around his ankle.
"Reditio!" It felt like diving on a broom, except Cassius was pretty sure he'd left all his important organs behind him as the string rewound itself, dragging Cassius (and therefore Adrian) along with it. Stopping was almost worse though, and as he felt his stomach return to its position with a jolt, he had the urge to throw up all the breakfast he'd made himself eat. Swimming forward a bit, his head began to rise above the water. Removing the Bubble Head charm, he surfaced. Adrian's eyes opened slowly, as though he was waking up, and he released himself from Warrington's grip.
"I've got it from here, yeah?" Cassius heard Ludo Bagman's ringing voice announcing that he'd made it back with five minutes left in the hour, and nearly stumbled over his feet as he continued to wade out. He'd been looking for fifty five minutes? It seemed impossible. He and Adrian were handed towels and given huge hugs and pats on the back by all of their friends, who rushed past Dumbledore in an effort to meet them. Andrew provided them with some of his remaining pastries and a thermos of pumpkin juice.
"You're the first back, Cassius. Well, if you don't count Fleur. But she had to be rescued—grindylows got her—so that doesn't count. You've got to tell us everything tonight, we're celebrating and you can't say no, but if I don't leave for now I think I'll be kicked out." Cassius and Adrian walked over to the judge's table, where Fleur Delacour sat, shivering and in considerable distress. Uncomfortable, but unsure what to say, the two just talked to each other.
The next bout of excitement came when Viktor Krum (as a shark!) surfaced with Hermione Granger. People applauded, but there were also murmered giggles about the fact that Hermione Granger was the thing Viktor Krum would miss.
"Well he doesn't seem particularly close to his schoolmates, what were they supposed to do? Send for his family or a teammate from Bulgaria? That's way too far to come for a day." Cassius nodded along, but mostly he just thought it kind of sad that Krum didn't have closer friends, and was extremely grateful for Andrew and Adrian.
Finally (what had taken him so long?) Harry Potter surfaced, along with Ron Weasley and a little girl who, he reasoned from Fleur's shrieks, was Gabrielle Delacour (ah, that was what had taken him so long). Now all that was left was to hear the points, and he could go back to the dorm, and not worry about the tournament until they gave instructions for the third task. So as the judges deliberated, Cassius sat back and waited.
/
"Of course. Of course Harry Potter gets points for moral fibre. Taking a song like that seriously—come on! That's not morality, that's being stupid!" Andrew had been bemoaning Potter's luck for the past hour, sitting with Adrian and Cassius while what seemed like the rest of the house set up for a celebration.
"I'm still in first, you know. Tied, but still. First."
"But—"
"Yeah, it's still stupid." Cassius was frustrated, but he grinned in spite of himself. "We totally called this at the start of tournament though." Andrew laughed.
"That's right, 100 for waking up for the task or something, right?"
"You're the next Trelawney, Andrew," Adrian threw in.
"Tell us of our fates, please!" Andrew grabbed his palms and shrieked, pushing it back.
"Oh, my dears… You have… the Grim!" Andrew's voice took on what was meant to imitate the misty quality of Trelawney's, although it sounded rather like he was trying to sing falsetto.
"That's in tea leaves and crystal balls you prat," Cassius choked out through his laughter, swatting him. "You're supposed to tell me that my life line is short or something."
"Ah, well. You know what, mate, today'll be some great content for the second years' play." Grabbing the pillow by his side, Cassius smacked Andrew.
"Don't give them ideas."
/
Knowing that he didn't have to worry about the tournament until the twenty fourth of may was freeing. Looking ahead to three months of unburdened thought (Well, realistically two and a half—he had to start worrying at some point, right?), he was cheerful as he headed to classes the next day. Even McGonagall's four foot essay and Moody's pop quiz couldn't dampen his spirits. As he sat in the library and pulled out his work, he almost felt excited. Glory was good in its time, but there was some feeling of accomplishment around doing the ordinary well, and in that moment, he felt that his highest ambition was to live in this sort of peace.
So I was on a roll and thought why not? So here's another chapter. I'm guessing 2-3 chapters to go, mayyybe four. The next chapter will take place on the day before the final task, and will mostly be interactions between Cassius and his friends, old and new (review saying any you really want to see). Then, after that... well... the fourth task. Yike. And one or two chapters after that, probably, to wrap up. I'm still trying to decide whether to carry this on to more stories or to have a sort of epilogue, or to just extend this? I don't know. It depends on if I decide to keep this story going after book four ends or move on to writing something else (like what if Euphemia Potter hadn't died before she could fight for Sirius not being arrested?), so we'll see!
You know the last part-I love to hear your thoughts :)