February 24th, 2012

What he was definitely not ok with, however, was that that same girl that had shown him kindness and love for years now was currently in the lake. Outraged, seething with anger, he flew down the stone steps of the school grounds with Dean and Ron hot on his heels.

"What the hell does she mean that they're safe under a spell? They're under thousands of gallons of water! In February!" shout-whispered a stunned Ron.

They had bumped into McGonagall and Dumbledore in the Entrance Hall and no straight answers had been forthcoming. All in the spirit of not giving out hints to the champions, of course.

"I don't know, but something's not right," hissed Harry.

Dumbledore had said McGonagall asked the hostages last night for their consent to participate, but her roommates saw Hermione run in and out of the dorm in a rush. Hopefully, she really went of her own volition and took her own precautions, in which case… maybe it was relatively safe. He would keep a degree of caution, though. The pulsing feeling of the tracking charm in the back of his mind still pointed unerringly towards the lake.

"Harry?" finally came the frantic voice of Sirius. Ron handed the phone he had been trying to reach Sirius with to Harry.

"Sirius, you need to get here now. They've put her in the lake."

"Fuck. REMUS!" bellowed the man away from the phone. "WE GOTTA GO! Get Andi and Dora on the bloody Floo…!"

Dean fished the Map out of the prepared satchel just as they reached the deserted stands by the shore of the Black Lake. He activated it and passed it to Harry.

His eyes scanned the grounds, roved over the boundary of the lake, and finally landed on the centre of the body of water.

Hermione Granger.

Cho Chang.

Gabrielle Delacour.

Daphne Greengrass.

With a shaky sigh, he sat on one of the stands.

And he waited.

So he could run in there without getting disqualified and get Hermione the hell out of the Lake.

Ginny and Luna had walked down with ham and cheese sandwiches wrapped in napkins for the boys, seeing as they bolted down to the lake without stopping for breakfast. They tasted like ash in Harry's mouth, and not even the sickly sweet pumpkin juice they brought could wash away the bile climbing up his throat.

He stared unmoving at the Lake as the stands filled up slowly. He murmured a 'Thank you' to Sirius, who threw a warming charm on him as soon as he arrived with Remus, Andromeda and Tonks in tow.

"Sirius, take the Map. You need–"

"To keep an eye on it while you're down there. Don't worry, Harry," he said warmly as the boy handed him the parchment.

"Have you remembered anything else about the Map?"

"No," sighed Sirius. "I suspect some things, but I can't be sure." The creation of the Map had taken years of complicated spellwork from all branches of magic, and not even Sirius could remember all its quirks. The still mysterious identity of Moody had not been sussed out. A gong sounded from the wide pier that extended out into the lake. "It looks like you're up. Get your girl out of there and be safe," he said, enveloping the boy in a hug. "Please."

Harry melted into the embrace shakily. He stepped away from him and after receiving nervous and kind nods from his family and friends, he walked towards the edge of the pier in between the stands with the gear from the satchel tucked away in his outer robes.

"Very well, very well, now that all the champions are here, we can begin the Second Task of the tournament!" cheerfully announced Bagman, who had walked over to the four champions from the judges' table back at the shore.

Harry rose and fell on his heels, stretching slightly, as he watched the other champions. Fleur looked to be about to hurl at the thought of her sister stuck at the bottom of the lake, and Cedric matched Viktor's furiously furrowed brows for once. They all shucked off their robes, revealing swimsuits underneath along with straps on their knees and forearms for their wands.

Harry fished the first tool for this task from the robe before stepping out of the fabric now at his feet. His wand was strapped to his left thigh and his backup plan was stashed on a waterproof pouch at his beltline.

"Up here on the surface, we've set up these floating scrying mirrors to observe each champion. They're linked by a handy piece of magic to these pins. See here…" continued Bagman, stepping in front of each of them. As he pinned a small badge to each of their swim shirts (and had his hand slapped away by Fleur, who put it on her one-piece suit herself) a set of large mirrors were floated out over the water by a team of ministry wizards.

Identical balls of bluish light shaped like foot-ball-sized eyes emerged from the pins and settled over the shoulder of each champion, displaying their point of view towards the mirrors. The ingenious use of magic earned a few awed exclamations from the crowd. Harry grumbled mentally and added a point to Wizarding Britain's tally on magical inventions that he hadn't figured out yet.

"Now, our champions have one hour and one hour only to recover that which was taken from them with full points! Points will be taken for each fraction of time they go over the limit… We begin on the count of three…"

"One!"

Harry lifted the apparatus they had invented specifically for this task to his mouth and nose. He placed the mouthpiece carefully against his gums and took an experimental breath as two Champions to his side muttered an identical spell. Viktor waved his wand in a complicated manner that Harry didn't recognise.

"Two!"

Upon sensing his breathing, the metal unfolded and extended up and over his nose and towards his ears, stopping on his jaw. With a hiss, it clamped shut, creating a vacuum around his nose and mouth. He saw in the corner of his vision identical bubbles appear over Cedric and Fleur's faces. Viktor for his part was still chanting a spell.

"Three!"

He took one last fortifying breath, unimpeded by the apparatus, and dove into the freezing cold water of the Black Lake.

The magical rebreather was their first foray into collapsible tech. Dean and Ron had cajoled and pestered about the practicality of hiding away parts of the suit, and they saw it appropriate to first try their hand with the tool for the Second Task.

It unfolded from the tiny mouthpiece into a sealed half-mask. A modified air-freshening charm was carved into the metal, taking lungfuls of air from the nearest clean source and replacing it with his expelled breaths almost imperceptibly. It was tough, flawless and completely waterproof if their tireless testing in a pool conjured by the Room was to be believed.

And if anything failed, he still had the stash of gillyweed in his pouch.

The warming spell on the mask covered him from head to toe without mistake, protecting him from the savage cold of the water. He kicked and pushed himself further into the murky lake with deep, clear breaths in between.

It had been an experience to reveal to his friends that he couldn't really swim. Embarrassing, really, but his defeat at Cedric's hand had spurred him on to improve his physical strength, so he had actually enjoyed swimming regularly in the Room. It was a novel feeling to not feel as scrawny and small as he used to.

He followed the metaphysical pull of the tracking charm that guided him to the blackened mud and dark-green depths. He passed what seemed to be fields of algae and underwater plants, and spotted a green and blue-skinned merperson apparently herding a group of fish with a grindylow on a leash.

"Almost there, Harry," sing-songed a voice from his side.

He whirled around, wide-eyed, to see Moaning Myrtle floating alongside him. He didn't open his mouth to exclaim in surprise only because the half-mask didn't allow him to.
He lifted both hands in a questioning expression.

"I get washed out here sometimes through the pipes… and I kept Cedric company while he figured out his egg in the Prefect's Bath. Did you know?"

He shook his head, eyes still wide. Cedric had mentioned the bath, but by that point, they already had the pool in the Room to figure everything out. He gave her a tilt of his head and a look at the forest of algae.

"Keep going that way and you'll find them. I don't like to get too close, they're awfully mean…" she pouted.

He nodded and briskly swam through the plants, leaving Myrtle behind. The melodic singing and the unerring pull of the tracker guided him. He shook off a pack of grindylows with a silent Relashio, and once he exited the underwater forest he came upon rough, cobblestone buildings.

He saw yellowish eyes peeking at him from windows and doorways. The buildings became less and less spread out as he approached the centre of the mer village, and observed curiously how few merpeople were swimming around. It should've been more populated than this, he thought. Maybe some guards or patrolling mer supervising the task, but the village was oddly deserted.

Finally, he ended the descent down the gentle slope of the bottom of the lake and spotted his objective. Or at least what he thought was his objective.

A large translucent dome sat in the middle of the underwater plaza, at the feet (well, tail) of a large, mossy statue of a mermaid. Its surface glimmered and flowed as it deflected water away from the pocket of air it protected, and he could almost shout in relief as he spotted four blurry figures inside.

He kicked furiously, spurred on by the closeness of the hostages, only to stop dead in his tracks. Stupefied, his eyes widened impossibly in shock and horror, following the large mass that swam from behind the statue.

An unmistakable mane of algae-like hair flowed down its head and neck, and the hooved front legs shimmered with a green glow as it swam into the faint light from above. Harry's eyes trailed down its powerful body and ended on the membraned tail of the creature with dawning realisation.

The kelpie let out a bone-chilling whinny that sounded more like a roar as it charged at him.

Hermione blinked slowly as her awareness returned. The girl had expected to feel bone-chilling water soaking through her clothes or at least to feel like coughing for air, but she was strangely dry, not that cold, and not even winded. She glanced around her and was met with the sight of a rippling dome that only allowed her to see murky water and sand swirling around.

Hermione felt like her stomach turned to lead as she realised that somehow, the sleeping spell keeping her safe from the water had failed. She wasn't supposed to wake up until the magic broke in contact with the air on the surface! The water dome was another piece of that particular puzzle. Weren't the hostages supposed to float freely in the water?

She got up from the damp, stone surface from her prone position and realised her leg was still tied to the statue behind her. As she turned around slowly to examine her surroundings she spotted Cho, Daphne and Gabrielle, Fleur's sister, also stirring as they woke up slowly.

"Oh, bugger," she cursed under her breath.

"Granger?" asked Daphne with a frown as she sat up. "What's goin–?"

She cut off as their surroundings clicked in her mind. The girl blankly stared around.

"Something's gone wrong with the task. I don't know why we're waking up now."

"Fuck," hissed Daphne. Cho seemed to have shut down completely in wide-eyed shock, white as a sheet. Gabrielle was worriedly asking rapid-fire questions in French.

"Oh! I uh- We will be alright, Gabrielle. Don't worry. I think your sister will be here soon." Hermione mentally kicked herself for not polishing up her French in what free time she had during the year. The younger girl seemed to have mostly understood Hermione though, as she nodded shakily and wrapped her arms around herself with a sigh.

"Here, Daphne. I'll cut the rope." Daphne allowed Hermione to set her free. The now furious-looking blonde turned to Cho and frowned.

"Chang? Are you… well?"

It took several seconds for Cho to react, staring open-mouthed at something over Hermione's shoulder. "What?" she eventually said. "D-did you see that?"

The bushy-haired, well, now horribly frizzy-haired girl looked behind her to the dark waters. Puzzled at Cho's sudden terror, she turned back and shared a worried look with Daphne.

"No, Cho. Um... look, I have gillyweed on me, we'll split it between all of us…"

"That's… surprisingly cunning of you," Daphne said, taking the offered clump of algae. "I assume you knew about the task in advance?"

"For almost a month, yes," answered Hermione. "I have to warn you, though, I don't think it's enough to get to the surface…" she said, biting her lip. She placed a small piece of the plant on the other two girls' hands. "Don't take it yet, Gabrielle. You'll breathe underwater with this. We need to figure out what to do. Daphne, do you think we should wait for them to get here, or…?"

"AH! Y-you see that, right?" Cho said shrilly, and now Gabrielle was also looking worriedly at the water to where the Ravenclaw girl was pointing.

Hermione finished cutting away Cho and Gabrielle's ropes and looked at the murky surface of the dome. Cho was right; a large shadow suddenly moved across the water. Wide-eyed, she watched the shape move erratically a distance away from them.

A smaller shadow darted above them, and the larger shadow followed as if giving chase. It came close enough to crash against the dome, and among the shrieks of the other girls, Hermione noticed a scaly underbelly and a pair of hooves. She covered her head reflexively with her arms, but the dome held steady.

"What–?"

"Granger, was that a bloody Kelpie?"

"I really hope not," murmured Hermione.

The smaller shape suddenly appeared and came closer and closer. Hermione watched gobsmacked, and swimsuit-clad Harry Potter crashed through the dome falling hard on the damp ground. The kelpie-shaped shadow crashed again against the barrier, bouncing off of it with a terrifying gong, and Hermione's fears were confirmed. There was a fucking kelpie in the lake.

The boy placed a hand on his half-mask and it folded back into a mouthpiece that he spit out messily.

"Harry!" sounded three voices simultaneously. Daphne had her back turned, frowning at the swirling dome as she waved her wand.

"Mia?" he gasped. His eyes landed confusedly on the other three girls. "Why are all of you awake?" Harry asked between breaths. "No, never mind. Out there, in the water, there's a ruddy–"

"Kelpie, I know," grumbled Hermione. "Where're the others?"

"We need to get you all out of here. Viktor transfigured himself halfway into a shark, so he's distracting it. He's the fastest. Cedric was–"

As if summoned, the older boy also crashed messily through the dome, dispelling his Bubble-Head charm as he got to his feet. He was panting as he turned and stared open-mouthed at the group.

"...right behind me."

"This is not good," muttered the older boy.

"Oh, well spotted, Diggory," Daphne chimed in with a hiss. Harry took a step back at the cold fury rolling off the girl in waves. "For your information, this dome won't hold. It'll collapse in a few minutes."

"WHAT?" they chorused.

"Fleur! Where is Fleur? Where is my sister?"

"Daphne, what do you mean it won't hold, that's ridicu–"

"It means that for some inane reason the shield I've just checked is on a timer, Granger. Unless Krum somehow kills the kelpie we–"

"Fuck! Cho, I'll cast a Bubble-Head charm on you, here…"

"ALRIGHT, STOP!"

Everyone froze in place and turned to Harry with wide eyes. Cedric had his wand pointed at a white-faced Cho. Daphne and Hermione both were closely looking at the swirling shield, and Gabrielle was sniffling quietly, kneeling on the stone floor.

He took a deep breath, which was vastly refreshing without the stifling mask.

"Mia, split the gillyweed if you haven't already," he said and continued at the girl's nod. "Good. Gabrielle, I'm sorry. I don't know where Fleur went, but I am sure she wasn't anywhere near the kelpie when we arrived." Hermione quickly translated and the smaller girl sagged in relief. "I don't know who interfered with the task or how a river demon managed to turn up in the lake. How much time do you think we have?" he asked, turning to the two older girls.

"Not long. It's shrinking and whatever shield was placed here is not stable anymore," said Daphne after sharing a look with Hermione. The other girl nodded after checking the barrier herself with a few murmured spells.

"You can scan the shield just like that? Aren't you in your fourth year?" asked Cedric, impressed.

"Is it really that important, Diggory?" grumbled Daphne. She turned and spoke seriously to Harry. "Potter, the Delacour girl can't take gillyweed. She's Veela; her physiology can't process it. They're fire creatures."

"Damn. Uh…" he trailed off, looking down at his mask. He squinted at it and after a few seconds of thinking looked back up with a firm edge to his eyes.

"Alright. Here's what we're going to do…"

Sirius was ready to not lay eyes on the blasted parchment for the rest of his life whenever this whole mess ended. Both he and Remus had exhausted any leads they had come up with in the last two months, and they could only watch with worry as Harry risked his life again.

His knee bounced up and down rhythmically as his eyes flicked back and forth between the Map in his lap and the mirrors floating lazily over the lake shore.

It was unfortunate that the Delacour girl had to be pulled out of the lake. She was shakily hyperventilating in the embrace of her headmistress, gazing out over the wide pier, so now only three perspectives were available to them. He winced at his callousness, but at least the girl was safely out of the running and he could concentrate on his godson even more.

It was at this exact moment that both he and Remus gasped, or in his case, growled, along with the crowd, as the menacing figure of the kelpie appeared on all of the champion's mirrors with just seconds in between each of them.

He watched it charge at Harry, seemingly missing him by inches. Krum's half-shark visage was already speeding through the water at the monster like an arrow, no doubt to try and fight the thing. Sirius missed whatever Cedric did as he jumped down several steps at a time, sprinting across the shore towards the judges' table. The laboured breathing behind him signalled Remus following close behind.

"What is this?" he hissed just as he skidded to a stop next to the assembled judges. "What is the meaning of this?"

All of them blinked uncomprehendingly at the mirror, but only Dumbledore returned his gaze after a few seconds. The older man's stony expression clued Sirius into how utterly enraged the Headmaster was.

"Sirius, you have my word that this is certainly, absolutely, not part of the task," Dumbledore replied. Sirius had only heard this grim and blank tone during the darkest days of the war, and he gulped reflexively. No trace of amusement of grandfatherly twinkling could be found in his eyes. "Ludo," he called, startling the portly ex-player, who jumped in his seat. "I trust you were not aware of the presence of the kelpie in the lake either?" Dumbledore asked icily.

"Uh. Um- W–well, of course not, Albus, I–" sputtered Bagman.

"Headmaster, we need to stop it! Get them out of the water, at least!" pleaded Remus.

"Are you saying you have no idea how that thing got there?" asked Sirius with no little incredulity.

Dumbledore's eyes held no warmth as they flicked almost imperceptibly in Mad-Eye's direction.

Sirius shook his head. "I've been thinking the same. But here, look. No change."

He slapped the enchanted parchment in front of Dumbledore. Remus rounded the table and the Headmaster turned his body and arms, both blocking the other judges' view. It may have been futile, for most of them were still dumbstruck by the sight in the mirrors.

"Are you sure, Sirius?" questioned Dumbledore, peering at the Map.

"Yes, it's maddening! I'm certain it's not him, but I couldn't figure anything else out–" he trailed off, actually pulling at his hair. He sensed now that the crowd was buzzing with intrigue, worry and excitement bundled together.

Sirius quickly found the cause for it as he glanced at the mirrors. No sound came over the contraptions, and he cursed mentally as he noticed his godson frantically gesturing to a group of very awake and dry hostages.

"Merlin," breathed Remus, who was also staring wide-eyed at the image.

"The Goblet allows us to pull champions out of the tasks under circumstances similar to Ms Delacour, who actually lost consciousness down in the water…" mused Dumbledore. Sirius whirled to face him with a snarl, indignant, but the crestfallen and deeply thoughtful expression on the older man's face reined in his anger. "I– I never predicted such a drastic interference, and I fear that if we step in, something unimaginably tragic could happen to our champions…" he murmured shakily, one hand perched on his forehead, thinking furiously. Sirius was a bit taken aback by the seemingly unflappable Headmaster allowing the worry to roll off him in waves.

The other judges gained back the power of speech that moment, breaking into exclamations of outrage and disbelief, along with Sirius and Remus arguing back and forth with Dumbledore.

For the next few minutes, Sirius felt as helpless as he did during his 12-year stint out there in the North Sea.

His eyes danced nervously between the mirrors, the judges' table and the still deeply suspicious visage of Moody at the base of the stands a good distance away. Sirius could barely focus on everything that was going around him as he worried and fretted for Harry.

The dogman's train of thought screeched to a halt, however. Moody's expression was usually gnarly and scary-looking, but Sirius had never seen… whatever he was seeing now on the old auror's face.

"Sirius," croaked Remus. Sirius couldn't look away to face him.

Moody's face was twisted into a sadistic leer, both eyes firmly set in the direction of the mirrors. His crooked mouth turned upwards around a sizable scar, and his teeth were bared in a shark-like smile that made a shiver run down his back. He had never before been frightened by the auror, before or after Azkaban. Creeped out? Yes. Horrified? Never. This expression had no place on Mad-Eye's face.

Then his tongue darted out to wet his lips.

Sirius' blood ran cold. There was no way, it couldn't be him… James had fought beside him against the young man, and he could never forget him, even after just one duel. He had only met him once during the war, but once had been enough. But this… this was impossible. He was dead.

"Sirius!" barked Remus, shaking his shoulder with horrified disbelief colouring his voice.

He unstuck his eyes from faux-Moody. They blankly followed Remus' wide-eyed gaze, then his pointing finger, and finally landed on the Map. Alastor Moody's name was… melting away.

The letters were fading. A different name seemed to bloom from the ink dregs from the previous one and settled exactly on the same spot.

For the next few seconds, the three men said nothing. Sirius' absently noted how the crowd's noises turned into a faint buzzing and then he could barely hear anything past the rushing sound in his ears. He stared. He thought. He stared some more.

And then–

White-hot, primal rage shot through him like a lance, and he could feel his blood turn scalding with magic as his wand slid into his hand. He didn't notice Remus' cry of warning as he turned on the spot. He sprinted across the shore while his wand spat out angry sparks seemingly on its own.

Maybe this was the way the rumoured House of Black madness presented itself in Sirius, a small part of his mind remarked sarcastically in his fury. Later, people would remark how his features were twisted into an animalistic snarl, eyes glowing with hate and violence. His next words came out more like a roar rather than a yell.

"BARTY CROUCH!"

Viktor's muscles were beginning to tire, even transfigured as he was. He constantly had to keep one part of his mind on not following the instincts of the shark he had shaped himself into, his rational mind focused on using his form to evade, distract and stay alive.

He couldn't pin down exactly why he trusted Potter's frantic gesturing. Just as they had come upon the dome, they had 'agreed' on a plan. The younger boy had pointed at the kelpie and Viktor alternatively, then at himself and the dome, and held up five fingers while flashing his wristwatch.

After Potter had clasped his hands as if begging, Viktor couldn't do anything but agree with a shark-ish nod. He had no other ideas, after all.

His transfiguration required, unfortunately, a verbal incantation that he really regretted not mastering silently. Viktor had hoped to get in, take whatever had been 'taken' from him, and get out. Obviously, with this new development of a shield/dome contraption, he couldn't risk transfiguring himself back and forth at the bottom of the lake.

For now, he kept swimming desperately this way and that in between stone houses and pillars, the kelpie hot on his heels.

As he swerved past a corner, he pondered on Harry Potter, mostly to keep himself busy and not panic while he swam for his life. Viktor had known for most of his life that he wasn't the most approachable person, and he knew people regarded him as a surly, dim-witted athlete with broom dust for a brain first, and as Viktor second. He wasn't too bothered by it as it allowed him to spend more time observing people once they got tired of him.

For example, he knew the Skeeter woman was an opportunistic cow that was rude to anyone who couldn't give her cheap, juicy gossip to get her paws on. Cedric Diggory was honest to a fault and too kind for his own good. Fleur Delacour was judgemental and stubborn, but fiercely proud and protective.

Finally, Harry Potter was a mind-boggling conundrum.

He seemed to shrink back in revulsion to recognition and attention but regularly featured in the outlandish stories murmured in the halls of the castle. Potter gave the perfect picture of aloofness in those same halls but at first, he had struck Vikro as ill-tempered and waspish. Most importantly, he exuded a presence of integrity and heroics completely at odds with the impression of a 14-year-old child that was all hair and glasses, barely tall enough to reach Viktor's chin.

He grumbled mentally and shook his shark head as he kept swimming circles around the kelpie and the dome. For whatever reason, Viktor knew, irrationally, that he could trust Potter. If not with his life, at least with his prize inside the dome.

A hand sticking out of said swirling barrier caught his attention. It made a come-hither motion, then pointed expressively upwards towards the surface, and finally repeated both gestures continuously. On his next quick pass evading the creature, he noticed the refined features and perfectly manicured nails of the hand beckoning him over.

He was thankful for the animalistic parts that had partially taken over his senses since he was sure he would've panicked like a lunatic once he recognized Daphne's hand.

Once his human nerves settled and he had dragged the creature a good distance away, he swooped down and gave Daphne's hand a gentle but urging tug with his own.

Viktor wished right then that his observant nature had let him observe how stupid of an idea putting his name in the Goblet had been.

Harry watched Daphne gasp upon seeing… Viktor? Yes, Viktor's shark-like appearance swimming closer. He was a bit blurry behind the swirling barrier. He clutched Daphne's hand through the dome.

She hastily shoved her clump of gillyweed into her mouth, and with a final grim nod, she allowed herself to be pulled out into the depths.

"You three. Come on!" urged Harry.

Cedric reapplied his Bubble-Head with a murmur while Cho swallowed her gillyweed with a grimace. Hermione worriedly looked at him with her own plant halfway to her mouth.

"Harry–"

She was interrupted by a gong-like crash as Cedric and Cho jumped out. Wide-eyed, the three remaining inside froze. A steady stream of water started to fill the space from all directions.

"GO!" roared Harry, almost pushing the girl away.

She squeezed his shoulder and took the plant with no hesitation. Hermione's departure was punctuated with another resounding crash and the stream of water filling the pocket of air turned into a downpour.

Harry whirled around to face the whimpering Gabrielle and held her shoulders as he kneeled.

"Gabrielle. Listen, we'll get out and get you to your sister. Ok?" He received a shaky nod in response. "Ok. Put this on, here…"

He grew more impatient as the dome cracked and spilt water dangerously around them, not because Gabrielle was taking a little longer to put on the mask than he liked, but because what he had summoned as soon as he had outlined his plan still hadn't–

Splash! Smack!

His Quidditch-honed reflexes deftly caught one of his gauntlets on his outstretched hand. As he slipped it on his left limb, he regretted not testing beforehand how using a wand along with the thick armour piece covering his fingers would interact. For now, he limited himself to a single gauntlet.

"Alright, Gabi–" He was cut off by another rumble and the wall of the dome visibly shrinking. "Trust me with this. Let's go!"

He directed the girl to hold on firmly to his body with her arms and legs, in a move resembling a piggyback. Harry swallowed his gillyweed, which felt like slimy, wriggly leaves sliding down his throat. Immediately he found himself gasping for air and a burning sensation on his neck and toes.

The boy couldn't afford any more delay, as the barrier threatened to deposit tens of thousands of gallons of water on their heads, and he firmly pushed himself through the dome with the girl on his back.

The water rushed past him like a curtain, and he gave a few quick kicks to distance himself from the underwater deathtrap. The liquid that had been bone-chilling and heavy before now felt perfectly warm and he effortlessly turned himself around with his newly-webbed feet. His lungs filled with oxygen once he breathed in a lungful of water.

Harry's eyes widened once he saw the dome collapse in on itself violently, and he felt how the water pulled him forwards a few feet as it filled the former pocket of air, Gabrielle holding on almost painfully to him in the current.

Right, impending death by drowning and maddened kelpie. He needed to focus.

Ahead of him, he saw the other champions and hostages. Krum was once again nimbly evading the monster, while Daphne, Cedric and Hermione attempted to throw spells at it. Cho was floating behind some stone pillars, putting herself out of harm's way. He reasoned she had no confidence casting underwater. Most of the other teens' spells came out as scalding torrents of sparks and jets of water, owing to their pronunciation being mangled by water and gills or novice silent casting.

One of the kelpie's hooves sprang out and hit Krum painfully on a leg as he dodged. Harry quickened his pace desperately.

He caught Krum's black-eyed gaze as he swam towards Harry, the kelpie nipping at his heels.

With his gloved hand, he pointed at the beast and then gripped his other hand at the wrist tightly.

The Bulgarian champion didn't hesitate for a second; he whirled around immediately and violently clamped his jaws on the base of the kelpie's neck.

The vice-like grip spurred an agonised whinny from the kelpie as it thrashed, attempting to shake Krum off. It continued its path towards Harry, completely enraged.

The boy propelled himself with a backwards burst of energy from his gauntlet, shooting him forward like an arrow. He coiled back and met the kelpie halfway with a powerful punch to its jaw, enhanced magically by the runic enchantments on the metal.

A sickening crunch and a horrifying ripping sound reached his ears even through the water. Disturbingly fascinated, he looked back at how the combined forces of Krum's jaws, the thrashing movements of the kelpie and Harry's magically infused strike had left a terrible wound on the beast's neck.

It didn't look lethal, but the flayed portion of scaly flesh that hung from the kelpie's neck had well and truly frightened the beast. It violently recoiled from the humans and swam away, a red smoky trail behind it.

The group of teens shared equally stunned looks. Finally, they all shrugged simultaneously.

Daphne floated towards Krum and wrapped an arm around his waist to support him and his injured leg as they swam. The others soon joined them in the journey to the surface.

He gave Gabrielle's hand a squeeze, tightly wound as they were around his neck. He turned to look over his shoulder and saw that her eyes were firmly shut. She opened them and peeked at him through her eyelashes. Harry gave her a reassuring smile, receiving a few owlish blinks in response.

Harry decided to keep a calming hand on the smaller girl's arm as they ascended.

The merpeople emerged from their homes and from behind piles of stone rubble. Harry's free hand twitched towards his wand reflexively, but he realised they were raising their fists and weapons not as a threat, but in celebration, with toothy, pointy grins on their bluish-green faces. They accompanied the group of humans as they came closer to the bright sunlight above.

His neck burned once more and he felt his webbed feet morph back to normal, slowing his kicks. He clamped his mouth shut before he breathed in a lungful of water by accident.

Finally, blessedly, they broke the surface of the water.

Harry took rejuvenating gasps of air as he blinked the water out of his eyes. Next to him, the smaller Delacour did the same, albeit through his mask. He reached his hand over and disengaged it from her face, pulling her along towards land at the same time with a steady arm around her waist.

He paddled tiredly and his eyes found the pier. Harry almost froze where he was floating in the water as he lay eyes upon the scene.

Sirius duelled Moody, who was moving impossibly quickly away from him as he backed away, lights flashing between them as they exchanged spells. Dumbledore was rising from his seat, his wand moving fluidly through the air like a conductor's baton and Remus stood stunned for a few seconds before jumping forward to attack as well. The crowd yelled, shrieked and gasped in shock and disbelief, completely distracted from the task.

He felt like he was under the lake, gasping for air desperately, for he had guessed why the three wizards were attacking Moody. Dread filled his heart as he frantically pulled Gabrielle with him to the shore. The false Moody quickly fell to the grass, bound in dozens of ropes and other bindings under the assault of the trio. Harry reached the shore and pulled himself up almost distractedly onto the pier as the stands fell into an eerie, stunned silence. He lifted Gabrielle up as well and whirled around to face the impostor wearing Moody's face.

He watched Dumbledore silently summon Moody's hip flask. The old wizard turned it upside down, revealing a muddy, grey concoction that landed with a splat on the ground. Harry's laboured breath caught in his throat with recognition.

Horrified, he watched the fallen Moody's face distort as if it was melting wax, bubbling and changing. His peg leg shot out of its socket with a popping sound, along with his electric-blue eye, which rolled around wildly on the grass. His hair shortened and adopted a straw-like appearance, and the scarred, old face faded into a much more youthful one with a few traces of stubble.

A collective gasp rang out through the crowd before it fell silent again, making Dumbledore's next words feel tundra-cold as they projected clearly across the shore.

"Ludo, contact the Minister's office, please. It seems that one of their prisoners is not as dead as we thought."

Notes:

Gillyweed doesn't give you webbed hands in this universe because I say so. Besides, does it really matter? Punching kelpies underwater, mate.

I struggled with this chapter, but I enjoyed writing it way more after I realised writing by hand in a notebook was highly relaxing.

Also, Viktor as an actual character? In my fanfic? Unheard of.

You may have guessed how exactly Crouch avoided capture based on Harry's nightmare and the events of this chapter. Yes, Barty was revealed in front of a crowd, but it will not be all sunshine and rainbows from here.