Fleur tried to shake last night's dream out of her head. It wasn't merely a dream but a memory.
She's by the water with the children from the village. The other children can sense she's different. The boys all start teasing her. She goes in deeper to get away from them, she's the strongest swimmer out of them so they won't follow her too far out. Moments later a hand is round her ankle pulling her down and under. She's strong but he's older. She kicks him off but the others join in, taking turns grabbing her ankles. It's a game but she's not having fun anymore. She's good at magic already but she can't control it yet. The waves are getting stronger and the water wilder, like a restless animal, mirroring her panic. A wind is kicking up around them. People are leaving the water for the safety of the rocky beach. She surfaces gasping for air and then another wave whips her under again so she can't tell which way is up. There's little twigs the waves pulled from the seabed getting caught in her hair and scratching at her face. She's swallowed so much water she thinks she might be sick and then something hits her head and….then nothing.
She'd wake up in her bed expecting to see the boys leaning over her on the beach with the same worried looks on their faces. She was proud that she faced her fears. Her grandfather had suffered a Quidditch injury once and never gotten back on a broom. She wasn't going to let that be her. She always knew she was going to have to prove herself. All her life all people could comment on was her looks. They were right, she was beautiful, but that's all they saw. It didn't seem to matter how smart or kind or determined she was. Her determination paid off.
Standing at the edge of the second task, staring into the murky waters below, she felt no lingering fear from her childhood encounter. She would prove herself once again. She was chosen from her school, the best school in her opinion, and The Goblet of Fire had no second thoughts where she was concerned. It chose her and only her. She was the best equipped from the best school.
The challenge began and she worlessly performed her incantation, the bubble round her nose and mouth, and dove in as soon as the water was deep enough. This was not the crystal clear, warm waters of France. This lake was dark and almost paralyzingly cold. She performed a quick warming charm on her swimwear. The deeper she went, the darker it got and she had to light her way with her wand. A water sprite in the vague fluid outline of a horse swam by her.
She reached a wall of thick, giant seaweed. She could swim around it but it would take too long and she knew she was running out of time. Then she heard the haunting song again from beyond. She made her decision and pushed into the underwater garden. It was easier to manoeuvre through than she thought it would be. The seaweed was exceedingly slimy which allowed her to slip through. The dense ropes of seaweed finally began to open up indicating she was nearly through.
She saw it. Something fast through out of the corner of her eye. Something grabbed her ankle and pulled her down fast. She tried to kick free but something took her other ankle. She aimed her wand at it, the light from the tip showing her her attackers. Light green skin with little horns and sharp teeth. Grindylows. Horrible little beasts, she thought, jinxing them. The light from her spell seemed to alert more though before she was sending spells every which way. They pulled her hair so hard she was sure they were going to rip it out. They clawed at her legs, more of them now coming to drag her under by the ankles. They scratched her arms and face and she hoped her bubble charm would hold. They sank their horrible little razor sharp teeth into her thigh and shoulder. She tried to remember what she had read about them in the research she had done for the task. They were water demons native to Britain so she had never faced them before. The hexes she had thrown had worked on the first two but there were simply too many. She tried to regain focus, telling herself she has the bubble-head charm this time, she couldn't drown. She could take the scratching and biting, she could take the pain, she was made of stronger stuff. One of the creatures clamped down onto her white knuckles and her hand opened involuntarily, dropping her wand into the depths below. She didn't have a chance to miss it because one of them was behind her on her back and wrapping its tentacles around her neck. It tightened quickly, squeezing the air out of her. She couldn't breathe. She was going to die underwater, just like she would have all those years ago. Her head was light and dizzy. Her eyes were closing. Things started to go dark and she faded away…
She was at the edge of the second task. The other champions were there, laughing and jeering. The Black Lake was not just dark but black as ink and thick as blood. The three boys pushed her in, jeering in French like the boys had all those years ago. The water surrounded her, suffocating her and she felt something huge wrap around her.
"Fleur? Miss Delacour?" She awoke to panicked cries.
Apparently the giant squid had scared off the Grindylows and pulled her from the depths below, along with her wand but she cared only for her sister. She vowed never to be so determined on proving herself again, but doing the right thing like 'Arry Potter.
FFN: AWellWish
House: Hufflepuff
Class: astronomy
Category: Drabble
Prompt[Animal] Grindylow
Word count: 997