AN: This is literally my first fanfiction. Don't expect high quality content because I certainly don't. In the future I will probably read this and think it is a piece of garbage. But right now, I am proud of it. Therefore, advice is not only allowed but encouraged. I shall also warn you, I am going to change most canon events, so don't expect the timeline to be precise.

On a happier note, please join the Haphne server! Link: discord dot gg/pKSdvJQvhU
We do several weekly activities such as a discussion club, Care of Magical Creatures lessons and our own movie/anime club!

"Mr. Potter?"

"What?" Harry asked, still surprised by his own success.

"If you could sit down on the bed, please, I have to check you for injuries before you receive your score." Madame Pomfrey said.

Harry obeyed the matron. She could be worse than the dragon if she wanted.

After a quick analysis, Pomfrey was only able to find a few scratches and bruises on Harry's body, which were easily healed by a potion she had in her cabinet. After that, she deemed Harry healthy enough to leave the tent, under the condition that the boy must not exhaust himself during the following week.

Harry sneaked a glance at the other champions. Krum was laying on his bed but seemed to be more tired than anything else. Which was confirmed after the Bulgarian saluted him.

Delacour appeared generally okay too, but she seemed to have received a nasty burn on her legs. Her scorched skirt also showed to have been through a rough time.

Cedric was the worse for wear. He had a couple of burns (though not as severe as Delacour's), and he was covered in bruises.

"What happened to you, Cedric?"

"Tried distracting my dragon by transforming a rock into a dog. The dragon lost interest in it before I could leave the arena, so he almost flamed me. I had to duck in order to avoid it, and I fell over, hitting several rocks. You?"

"I managed to distract it by exploding rocks. The dragon went to investigate, so I took it as my chance to steal the egg. Then I used my Patronus to distract it again so I could leave. It almost got me in the end."

"So you know how to cast a Patronus?" The Hufflepuff asked. "You have to teach me that one at some point!"

"I will. But first we have to survive this stupid thing. Agreed?"

"Good for me. You should leave the tent to see your score!"

Listening to his older classmate, Harry left the tent again. The dragon was no longer there, but instead there was a long table with all the judges sat on it. As soon as Harry approached them, Bagman spoke:

"Now that our fourth champion is finally here, let's see his scores!"

Maxime was the one to begin, and she gave him an eight. 'Not bad!'

Next to her, Dumbledore gave him a nine.

Then it was Karkaroff's turn, and he gave him a five.

"You damned idiot! You gave Krum a ten!" Ron yelled.

After that, Harry received a ten and a nine from Bagman and Crouch respectively.

At last, it was Remus' turn, and he gave him a nine and a wink.

Once that was done with, Harry was suddenly assaulted by Ron and Hermione, who had been waiting in the side lines:

"You got fifty points Harry; you are in the lead by two!" Hermione informed him.

"Krum is behind you with forty-eight, and then it's Cedric and Delacour! You stand a good chance Harry!" Ron added.

"I don't care that much about it to be honest. At least I have made it out of there alive, and the worse that happened to me has been healed by Pomfrey in less than a minute. That is already my victory." Harry assured.

11th of December 1994, Hogwarts

A few weeks had passed since the First Task of the Tournament. Harry had been victim to even more staring, and lots of congratulations from several students.

His life had continued as usual though. He still hung out with his friends, met with his godfather and Remus, and still had his duelling sessions with Daphne.

And this last part had changed. Ever since the first task, Harry's relationship with Daphne had taken a stir to a different direction. A path that Harry wished for but was afraid of failing at.

And the most recent news hadn't helped either. Just yesterday, there was a public announcement at dinner, telling everyone about the traditional Yule Ball. Harry had almost forgotten about it since his name came out of the goblet, and now it was here. At least he had learned how to dance…

Speaking about dancing, Harry knew who he had to ask, but also didn't know how. Much to the boy's embarrassment, he had been forced to open the book Astoria had gifted him. It had been useful in giving Harry an idea, but useless in getting him to calm down.

Knowing that the earlier he asked, the more possibilities he would have, Harry decided to enact his plan during breakfast. He had made sure to promise Hedwig a platter full of bacon in return for her collaboration and hoped everything would work out.

And there she was. Hedwig could now be seen in a cloud of owls, landing at the table to hand over the deliveries. It was at this point, that Harry saw his owl giving a couple laps in the sky.

'Great… She is now teasing me in front of everybody. I will NEVER live this one down!'

Once most of the Hall's attention was on her, Hedwig decided to land just in front of Daphne.

The girl found herself speechless, not because of the owl itself, but due to the bouquet of red roses she was carrying.

Seeing this, Hedwig stood in front of her, so she could grab the note Harry had written:

I didn't know what I was supposed to be writing here, so I am going to keep it simple:

Daphne Greengrass,

Do you want to go to the ball with me?

H. J. Potter

"Damn, it didn't take long, did it?" Pansy wondered.

"I thought it would take at least a couple days before Harry did it." Tracey added.

"Wait. You two knew this was coming?" Daphne asked, glaring at the two.

"Of course, we knew. And probably half the castle knew!" Pansy answered

"You have been getting more and more 'friendly' for a while. It was only a matter of time!" Tracey assured.

"It was. But now our dear friend has to answer to his lover boy. I also have something to do at the lions table as well… Come on Daphne!" Pansy ordered.

The Slytherin trio quickly approached the Gryffindor table at the other side of the Hall. It was only a matter of seconds before they reached the fourth years.

Daphne took her chance to look at Harry. It was impossible to miss the hopeful look in his eyes when he saw her. God damnit! When did his eyes become so green?

"That… That was a beautiful gift and I accept! Make sure to make yourself presentable!"

With that, she directed a look at Pansy, who had been busy kissing Neville's cheek.

"Come on Pansy! Let your wonder boy have breakfast in peace! We have other things to do!"

16th of December 1994, Room of Requirement

Today Harry was having another of his duelling sessions with Daphne. He knew that she was at Arithmancy class right now, so he had about an hour to prepare everything, which was more than enough.

But preparing the duelling room was not the reason Harry had arrived so early today. What he really wanted to do is to decrypt the clue for the second task.

He had shown it to Ron and Hermione a couple of times before, and they were unable to discern anything. Hermione didn't even know of a creature capable of doing such a noise.

That day, the only thing they had ended up with, was a massive headache.

For that reason, Harry thought of something else before entering.

'I want to know what the egg says!'

After three walks in front of the tapestry, the Come and Go room showed itself again for Harry.

The interior, however, was quite different to what he was used to. There was a strange machine in the middle of it, with what seemed to be a microphone. There were also several runes written on it, and a book standing in a pedestal in front of it.

Harry had never seen anything like it.

Not wanting to be discovered, Harry closed the door of the Room, and made its way to the machine. When he read the first page of the book, he found himself surprised by the capabilities of the room once more.

Language Analysis Device

Able to detect more than 10000 languages, magical and muggle!

Able to provide information about each language, and their respective cultures!

This was exactly what Harry had asked for! If he could find out the language, it would be easier to translate it! Seeing that there were instructions, Harry began reading them:

Step 1: Press the activation rune.

Step 2: Speak in the language you want to analyse. At least a couple sentences are needed.

Step 3: Press the insert rune.

Step 4: Once the rune is pressed, the book will automatically search for the language spoken

Harry breathed in relief; it was really easy! He would find out in no time!

Harry activated the machine, and then opened the egg. Loud screeches filled the Come and Go room, and Harry let it go for several seconds. When he was sure some sentences had been said, he closed the egg and pressed the insert rune.

The book began fumbling through its pages, and after a few seconds of waiting, there was a 'Ding!'.

Harry read over the page:

Mermish

Mermish is the language spoken by the Merpeople. The Merpeople are a humanoid civilisation that resides under water. They usually live in the warm waters of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, though there are several tribes known to live in deep lakes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Mermish is a language that can only be understood underwater. When heard on dry land, they will sound as ear shattering screeches.

That seemed to be it! And if they lived in deep lakes, that meant that the task was going to take place in the Black Lake!

The only thing left to do was listen to the message. If only there was a pool nearby…

It was at that moment, that another door appeared in the room. Harry grabbed the egg before walking through, and it took him to a changing room.

A couple minutes later, Harry jumped to the pool, carrying the egg in his arms. He let go of the egg and opened it.

No sound could be heard.

Taking a deep breathe, Harry submerged himself underwater. And now he could hear:

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

'So that is it!' Harry thought, while drying himself. 'They are going to steal something from me, and I have to dive for an hour to get it back!'

A couple of hours later…

Harry returned to his dormitory, tired after another session of duelling. He was thinking about skipping dinner altogether, when he saw that he was not the only boy in the dorm. Neville was busy with a Herbology book:

"Hey, Neville! What are you reading?"

"101 Mediterranean plants and their properties. Professor Moody gave it to me a while ago… It is quite good!"

"Glad to hear it. Anything interesting?" Harry asked Neville.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. I've just read about Gillyweed. It's a plant that lets you breathe underwater. Isn't that amazing?"

Harry stood very still. This was exactly what he needed! What were the chances of something like that happening?

"It really sounds like it… Say, if I had enough of it, could I stay underwater for an hour?"

"Provided you have enough, there shouldn't be a problem with it. It is not recommended to use it for more than two hours though, since it can wear you out. Why do you ask?"

"I find myself in a little bit of a pickle because of the second task." Harry replied. "Where do you think I could buy some?"

"In the apothecary in Hogsmeade, maybe. But it is most likely that you will need to wait for a while. They don't usually have it in their inventory, and it is mostly imported from Spain."

18th of December 1994, Hogsmeade

This last week had been hectic. Harry had only been the first of many male students to ask a girl to the dance.

There had been plenty of declarations coming from the male side of the student body, though he had seen a couple of girls doing the asking as well.

One of Harry's favourites had to be Fred's declaration to Angelina. Ron had been grumbling over how difficult getting a date was, when Fred had said that it was relatively easy.

The younger Weasley then challenged his older brother to get a date at the moment, since "it was that simple!". Fred then picked up a piece of parchment and tossed it to Angelina.

A few well-chosen words later, 'The most handsome twin' as he called himself, already had a date.

Seeing Fred's success, Justin Flinch-Fletchley tried the very same with one Tracey Davis during Runes class. His initial proposal (a parchment ball to the head) had been greeted with a stinging hex, but judging by his and Tracey's smiles, Harry guessed that she ended up accepting in the end.

There had also been several unsuccessful attempts. If Harry's guesses were right, Fleur Delacour was on the lead of rejections given. He knew of at least a couple dozen students that had been rejected by her. Ron had been one of those unfortunates…

And then Ron had gone and done the stupidest thing he could do at the time: He asked Hermione to the ball. This backfired horribly for the redhead, since Hermione revealed that she already had a date.

But this wasn't Harry's problem right now. This was the last Hogsmeade trip before Christmas, which meant that it was his last chance to buy presents for his friends and family.

He had agreed with Ron and Hermione that the best idea was to split up. That way, none of them could see what they were buying for the others.

That was what they had decided when they arrived at Hogsmeade. They would be meeting up for Lunch, and Harry already had most of the things he wanted already.

The first thing he had done was asking for the Gillyweed at the apothecary. As Neville had warned him, it was not in inventory, but they would deliver it to him via owl in two weeks.

He had bought a wireless radio for Ron. That way the boys would be able to listen to the Quidditch matches from their room. And since it was a Chudley Cannon's themed radio, it was perfect.

Ron had actually gotten something else from him. Harry made sure that a school owl would deliver a decent set of dress robes from an anonymous benefactor. Harry believed this was a present for both Ron and the rest of humankind. Ron's old robes were atrocious.

He had bought Hermione a biography from a woman named Anne Walker, who had been one of the first promoters of witches' rights in Britain. Her main success had been the abolition of arranged marriages in the late eighteen hundreds. Maybe that could inspire her for other ways of seeking elves' rights…

He had bought a weird cactus for Neville, as a compensation for his help in the second task. Harry didn't know much about it, except that it was quite rare.

Astoria would be getting a compilation of the biggest hits from the Wicked Sisters. The girl had told him that she was a big fan of them a while ago, and she would definitely enjoy it.

There had been several other stops, buying things for Remus and Sirius, and he even found something for Tonks. But he still lacked one thing: he needed something for Daphne.

And the worse thing was, that he had ran out of shops to go to. He had visited most of the town in search of something for his date, but he had nothing that could be deemed appropriate. He was not buying her jewellery, and he had already bought her books in the past…

He had been so desperate, he had even entered a clothes shop. There was nothing he thought Daphne would enjoy. But on the bright side, he found a pair of woollen socks for Dumbledore and another for Dobby.

Which only left him one thing: the pet shop. He knew from Astoria that their owl wasn't Daphne's. It was the family owl, so Astoria was the only one in the family with a pet of her own. Unless you counted Professor Greengrass and whatever thing she had going on with Carl…

Hoping to find something good, Harry entered the pet shop. He quickly skipped over the owl section, seeing as they already had one. A dog wouldn't be practical during their stay at Hogwarts, so that was out too.

There weren't many cats in the shop, and none of them really convinced Harry. It was at this point, that he ended up at the back of the shop, staring at two identical cages.

There were several bunnies in them, hopping around and eating hay. It was at this point that Harry found the perfect present: There was a jet-black rabbit with green eyes staring back at him. Harry petted it through the bars, and the rabbit seemed to enjoy it.

"I will take that one, sir." He said at owner.

"Ah, you are taking a male bunneh, then. He is one of the tamer ones. He just needs someone to pet him constantly. Do you have everything needed to care for it?"

"No, I don't. I was expecting that you could help me with that."

Fifteen minutes was the time Harry spent at the pet shop. They had provided him with anything Daphne may need, with a cage, litter box, and a couple brushes. He had also included a few toys, and enough hay to last for a couple months.

Once he finally had everything, Harry had ordered Dobby to take the bunny back to Grimmauld, and take care of it until Christmas, when the elf would deliver it to Daphne.

19th of December, Grimmauld Place

Sirius Black was overviewing the last details of the reformation of the old Black home. After months of extensive cleaning and hundreds of galleons spent, this old house finally looked like something else.

Most of the old furniture was gone, along with the curtains, and most of the paint in the walls. The latter had been replaced with warmer colours, making the house feel 'homey' for the first time ever.

His mother's old portrait was finally gone as well. How good that was! He had invited Andromeda and her daughter that day, and they had blown up the wall between the three of them. Kreacher had been inconsolable for a week, but it had been worth it.

At least Winky had been able to keep the old elf in check. Kreacher had been slowly improving, and despite knowing that they would never get along, Sirius knew that they would grow to tolerate one another.

He was inspecting the last details of Harry's room, when he saw something he wasn't expecting. Dobby was staring at a cage:

"Oh yes! Little bunny must stay here and behave until Great Master says so! Then Dobby will take little bunny to the Great Miss Greeny! Dobby can't wait until future Mistress' comes to visit!"

22nd of December 1994, Potion's dungeon

Persephone Greengrass had just finished her last class of the day. The third years' were just bottling up their potions, and she would have them graded over the holidays.

Remembering something she had promised her aunt, she said:

"Mr. Creevey? If you could, stay for a minute after class. There is something we need to talk about last week's assignment."

"Yes, Professor Greengrass!"

"Good."

Persephone waited until the class emptied of students, until it was only her and Colin Creevey left in the dungeon. Picking up a little bag from her pocket, she grabbed it and offered it to her student.

Colin opened the bag, and looked at the interior before saying:

"You know Professor… It is usually the student who tries to bribe the teacher, right?" he joked.

"I know. But this is not really a bribe, Mr. Creevey. I need a favour from you." She replied.

"And what is it Professor?" He asked nervously.

"I need you to take a few photographs during the ball."

"But I am not allowed to go…" Colin responded.

"Not unless you get an older student to go with you. I heard that Gryffindor's Miss Patil is still available…" She felt sorry for Astoria, but she hoped that her younger cousin would forgive her.

"And what are the photographs supposed to have in them?" Colin asked, after thinking about the proposal.

"Quite easy. I want plenty of photographs of my cousin dancing with Mr. Potter. Her mother asked me to make sure she got some for Daphne's first date…"

"That's it? I suppose the money is a payment for the materials used?"

"That is correct. As well as a supplement to compensate for your time. When you have them, hand them over to Astoria. She will know what to do with them."

"Okay then Professor. I will do my best!"

This chapter is shorter than usual, I know. But the Yule Ball is coming next, and I believe it deserves to be in the following chapter, so it can be done properly.

I have also changed the summary of this story, since it has been pointed out (with plenty of reason) that it had aged horribly.