The Houses Competition
House: Hufflepuff
Class: Herbology
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Character] Cho Chang
[Location] The Black Lake
Word Count: 1208
The Black Lake has always been a mysterious place, it wasn't a usual point of water. Few new of the vast world that existed underneath it. And fewer people knew of the creatures living in it.
Cho Chang was one of the selected few, during the Triwizard tournament, she had been submerged in the lake and since that day, she had felt an unnatural connection to it.
She had returned day after day following the second task and had stared at the surface of the lake. She could sometimes hear whispers and other times,she could make up the feightests words. Her logical mind tried to make sense of what was happening to her, but she never could make sense of it all. Cho had tried to research and search the library for books or texts about the Black Lake, but she could never find anything. So, she went back every day and sat at the edge of the lake and stared at it. The whispers never left, and she slowly started to find them appeasing.
Something was attracting her towards it and she couldn't do anything to stop herself from coming back.
"I feel it too, the constant yearning to be near it. The force that pulls you here does the same to me. Every day, I keep coming back and you do too." A voice came from behind the Asian girl making her jump.
"Hermione! You startled me!"
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I just see you coming here every day and I do the same."
"I... Well, I haven't been able to help myself, I keep coming back."
"I know, I feel the same thing, I've tried to research it you know, but I can't find anything. And Ron doesn't feel the pull, I'm sure of it, he never comes near the lake and Harry is the same. It's just me and you."
"I tried to research this place too, but there is nothing on it, not even a mention. Do you hear them too? The whispers? They used to drive me crazy, now I'm used to it, used to them." Both girls were in a trance-like state, they could hear each other but nothing else.
"I hear them too, they are soothing now, they call me to them. I feel like plunging into the lake and never coming up." Hermione told the other girl and touched the surface of the water longingly.
"Do you think it's the Merpeople calling for us?"
"Maybe, I think it's the lake, not the creature living in it. Maybe it wants us to join its population."
"But why us? Why can we hear these things while no one else can?" Cho's question was filled with uncertainty and unease. All of this was unsettling her, she liked stability and logic. What was happening to her, to them, defied logic. It was magic at its purest, more specifically it was magic at its rawest.
"I don't know, I'm not sure I want to know. I'm afraid if I let go, if I let this power lead me into the lake, I would never come back up." Hermione shivered as she let these thoughts out for the first time. They had been playing around her mind for a while now and she wasn't sure what to do about this mess she now found herself in. She was a person that liked to solve problems. She believed that for every problem there was a solution, but with magic that was sometimes not true. Magic, raw magic, was unpredictable, it was uncontrollable, it defied all logic.
"I feel that way too, if I just let go, I could be free, free to dive in and swim into the depths of the earth."
"What do you think we should do? We can't keep doing this," Hermione told her, lying back on the grass.
"We can't, but I don't see a way out just in."
"Maybe that's it, maybe the lake wants us to dive in, it wants us to know its mysteries.
"Maybe…"
They stayed on the edge of the lake in silence for the remainder of their visit. They were both staring into space, lulled into a peaceful trance by the whispers.
The days that followed were a repeat of that day, however they didn't talk, they just sat there and listened.
One day, while they were sitting on the edge of the lake like usual, Hermione stood up and started walking into the lake. Cho stared after her, not sure if she should follow or leave the other girl be. The whispers intensified and she soon found herself following the brunette into the lake.
Soon they were both necks deep into the water and they dived in. Neither had placed a charm to be able to breathe underneath the water but they didn't care. They needed to reach somewhere, deep within the lake.
They dive in and start going in deeper, they soon realized that they could breathe underwater with little to no problem. They hadn't used any charm or any magic method that would let them breathe underwater they just could. They dived deeper and soon they could see a city, Hermione mused that this could be Atlantis for all they knew.
The city was breathtaking, the buildings were placed on concentric islands separated by wide moats and linked by canals. The buildings and streets were all ornamented by gold and silver, and in the distance both girls could see a garden of exotic wildlife. In the center of the city, stood a majestic structure that screamed of wealth. It was covered entirely in gold and precious metals.
Cho stared wide eyed at the beautiful city in front of her and her mind started to work. She had researched Black Lake a lot these past few months and this city was never mentioned. This beautiful location was hidden from view and never mentioned in any texts.
She had asked Cedric about the Black Lake, what he saw there but all he could say was that the water was too heavy to see through. That he couldn't distinguish anything in there and that the only visible thing was the path to the hostages.
But she could see clearly, the water was pristine and everything was visible. She could see the body of water going on for miles and she could see the majestic city and all the details that made it up. There were trees and flowers too, she wasn't sure how they were alive but she reasoned that magic was the culprit.
She saw Hermione set foot on the city ground and she followed soot. They could walk as though they were on the ground, not under water!
She tried to talk but bubbles of water came out of her mouth and no sounds, so she resigned herself to walk in silence and observe the city she was in.
After what felt like hours the girls emerged from the Black lake and went back to their dorms as though nothing had happened.
The Black Lake is a mystery to many, but to select few that have been privy to its secrets, it's the most magnetic and majestic location to have graced the earth.