Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dawn of Fate
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Ugh... sorry once again on how long everything is taking to come out. Thanks to everyone who's been patient with me despite my erratic updates. Now that my new webpage is sort of up again, I'll hopefully be able to update faster.
As always, read, enjoy, and then review.
.
.
.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - THE SECOND TASK
"Marik! Marik-kun, wake up!"
Marik jerked awake when Yugi shook his arm. He sat up in his desk chair, giving Ron, Harry, Yami Yugi, and Draco apologetic looks as he did so. They were in their Charms class, where they were supposed to be learning the opposite of the Summoning Charm - the Banishing Spell - but it was not going overly well. People who had poor aim, like Neville, were sending objects that were not meant to be banished across the room so often that it was almost impossible to do anything. Marik had set his head down to rest when Professor Flitwick buzzed by for the umpteenth time, only to fall asleep in his tiredness.
Truth be told, his nerves were shot to hell. Hermione had gone back to pointedly ignoring the fact he existed... and then there was the second task, the reason why he had fallen asleep in class. After finally figuring out what exactly he was supposed to do from the cryptic message in the golden egg, he was presented with a bit of a problem. The second task involved a lot of swimming in water...
...and Marik did not know how to swim.
Of course, with his luck, the only person out of his group of friends that even remotely knew how to swim was Seto. After a few good jibes at each other, the boy businessman agreed to teach him how to swim, but there was just one other problem. The only place adequate enough for the swimming lessons was the lake.
Ice-cold water in the middle of February was FAR from pleasant.
Other than the swimming part of the task - which he was pretty sure he had down pat by now - the rest of it seemed fairly easy. He had taught himself how to perform a Bubblehead Charm so he could stay underwater for a long time. All he had to worry about was rescuing the whatever it was that was supposed to be precious to him, and bring it back before the time limit. Really, how hard could it be?
"So, what were you guys talking about?" he asked, fighting back a yawn.
"Professor Moody," Draco supplied. "Harry thinks he might be spying on Snape."
"It's rather obvious, Draco," Harry protested, exasperated. "Snape said he caught Moody searching through his store rooms."
Yami Yugi cut in before Draco could respond. "If not Snape, then he at least may be keeping an eye on Karkaroff," the pharaoh reasoned. "I caught the two of them having a glaring match in the hallway one day. It looked like they were going to attack each other any minute."
Yugi shook his head, biting his lip. "I don't know, mou hitori no boku. I just get the feeling that Moody isn't telling us something."
Ron frowned. "Why's that?"
Yugi just shrugged. "I dunno. I just don't think Snape's the bad guy here. I mean, he's never tried to kill us, except with homework. And he DID help us out last year."
"Only because Dumbledore told him to," Harry grumbled as Ron face-palmed.
"Homework!" he exclaimed. "I forgot to do the Potions essay! Draco, can I copy off of you?"
"No way!" Draco replied, sending a cushion - what they were supposed to be using the Banishing Charm on - flying toward the box that was supposed to be the target. "Bad enough Snape isn't that favorable with me since I went to Gryffindor. I don't want to push his buttons."
Ron turned a pleading look to Yugi.
"Forget it," Yugi and Yami Yugi said at the same time.
"Harry, please!" Ron protested.
Harry just raised an eyebrow. "You think I did mine?"
"Marik...?"
Marik just gave him a tired look. Ron groaned pitifully, burying his face in his arms.
~.oOOo.~
The morning of the second task dawned bright and cold. Marik was not trying to eat that much for breakfast; since he was going to be underwater for at least an hour, he did not want to make himself sick. Since he was not preoccupied with eating, he was able to notice a few things; namely, a few things missing. Hermione was not there, but he sort of expected that. Neither was Ron, Yugi, or Harry. He frowned, looking over to where Yami Yugi was picking at his breakfast, a scowl on his face.
"Pharaoh, where IS everyone?"
Yami Yugi scowl just deepened, and he shook his head, not answering. Marik gave him a disapproving look, but did not have a chance to comment as McGonagall approached the table. He left with her to join the other champions, but not before noticing the odd look on the pharaoh's face. The only other time he had seen that look was during Battle City, during the first half of the forced duel between Yugi and Jonouchi. Marik felt his skin crawl.
Why did he have a feeling this was going to be far from easy...?
Harry was not with the other champions when they assembled together before the judges at the lake. Nor did he arrive when the rest of the school filed into the stands that had been set up. He finally came running up to the champions a few minutes before they were supposed to begin, clutching something in his hand and breathing heavily. The young wizard stopped when he reached the group, bending over and clutching his knees.
"You're late!" Percy accused from his seat, doing a good impression of Mr. Crouch, whom he was subbing for again.
"Percy, cut him a break!" Marik returned angrily, going over to Harry to make sure he was okay.
"It's... Ron..." Harry gasped quietly, only loud enough for Marik to hear. He gave him an alarmed look.
"What about him?" he returned.
"Something... precious..." the young wizard answered, slowly regaining his breath. "Took... him..."
It took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did, Marik's eyes grew wide. Hermione, Ron, and Yugi... they were not at breakfast that morning. Where they the something precious that they were supposed to save? No wonder the pharaoh was giving him death glares... and Hermione...
Hermione...
Marik turned slightly to glare at Krum, before helping Harry stand. Damn that Bulgarian! It was his fault that she was down there!
Once he was certain that Harry was not going to have a heart attack, Ludo Bagman started spacing the four of them out along the bank of the lake at intervals of ten feet. Marik almost dived in right away, anxious to get into the lake and help Yugi. He was in no mood to deal with the pharaoh's wrath if he did not make the time limit. Not only that... but maybe if he got to Hermione before Krum...
The whistle to start jarred Marik out of his thoughts. Without wasting a moment, he tossed off his cloak, leaving him in his favorite lavender hoodie and gray cargo pants. With a word of Latin and pointing his wand at his head, a bubble enclosed it with half of his hair sticking out. Not waiting to see what the other champions were doing, he dived right in, the bubble around his head not popping despite the abuse...
...and sank faster than a stone.
Marik panicked a moment, the cold water stinging his skin, trying desperately to remember what Seto had taught him. He struggled to float in one spot, all the while cursing the fact he had grown up underground, but he only fell faster. Finally reaching bottom, he landed with a thud, kicking up sand and almost tumbling to his knees.
The Egyptian looked around at the underwater environment. Everything was a green and ghastly color, and he had landed just before a forest of seaweed. He took a cautious step forward, his Ring floating up to bang against the bubble around his head, but the strap it was on was not long enough for it to fall off.
Pushing the Millennium Item out of the way, he trudged his way slowly into the seaweed forest, deciding the spare himself from attempting to swim until after he had found Yugi... and Hermione. He increased his pace, trying to run in the water, only to end up going at about an average walking pace.
Marik got about halfway through the weeds when he felt sharp teeth sink into his leg. He yowled in pain, spinning around and looking down to see a grindylow, a horned demon that lived underwater, had a tight hold on him. More arrived as he fought to keep his wand steady on it.
"Relashio!" he shouted, his voice muffled by the bubble around his head.
His wand seemed to get the idea though. Instead of sparks flying out of his wand, like what was supposed to happen, jets of hot water lashed out. The spell struck the grindylow clamped onto his leg head on, sending it spinning away from him. Snarling and shaking their fists angrily, the other demons vanished into the weed as well.
Marik sighed in relief, before kicking off from the ground and swimming up until he was out of range of the weed. Okay, so maybe walking along the lake floor was not one of his better ideas.
He continued swimming for what felt like hours for his inexperienced limbs. Just when he was going to descend to the floor again to take a brief respite, a haunting melody reached his ears. At first he could hardly hear it, but as he swam closer, it started coming in clearer despite the bubble around his head.
"An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took.
Your time's half gone, so tarry not,
Lest what you seek stays here to rot..."
Marik almost panicked again, briefly wondering what the Shadow Realm was like this time of year before he continued on, following the voices. The song got louder and louder, until he finally came upon his destination.
A small village of crude stone houses that looked like the algae growing on them held them together loomed before him. The creatures that dwelled in those homes... well, they were nothing like what Marik thought of when he envisioned merpeople. They had grayish skin and dark green hair so wild, it put Yugi's to shame. Their eyes and broken teeth were yellow, and the ropes of pebbles around their necks reminded him of some of the more primitive African tribes.
Marik did not know where to go, but it soon became apparent as the sounds of a fight came from what he assumed was supposed to be the town square. Swimming a little closer, he was able to see Harry struggling against several merpeople, with Ron floating near the bottom close by. On a statue before them that looked like it was carved with a hacksaw, the three other hostages were tied together.
He swam as fast as he could toward the statue, and as he approached, the fight between Harry and the merpeople lessened. The creatures scattered as he came up toward the young wizard...
...wait. Since when did Harry have gills...?
Never mind; he did NOT want to know.
"Are they all right?" Marik asked, hoping Harry could hear him. Apparently at least getting the gist of what he said, Harry nodded, pointing out that it just looked like they were sleeping.
"Take Yugi and get out of here," he said, his voice coming out in large garbled bubbles. "I'll wait to make sure the others make it all right."
Marik nodded, before swimming up to where Yugi was still tied up. Next to him was a young girl with wispy silver hair, and he could only assume that she was a relation of Fleur's (he was honestly surprised it was not Seto down there instead). On the other side of the statue was Hermione, her bushy hair floating about her face as her head lulled to the side in unconsciousness. He hesitated a moment, wondering if he should try to save her too…
"Marik!"
Harry's shout made him make up his mind fast. Let Krum save her; he would wait for another opportunity to win Hermione's heart back (though if he did not save her, he reserved the right to beat that damn Bulgarian to a bloody pulp). Besides, he reasoned with himself, what good would having his girlfriend back do him if he were taking up residence in the Shadow Realm?
Grabbing the Millennium Ring still floating about on his neck, Marik took hold of one of the points and speared the ropes holding Yugi. He attacked them again and again, until the ropes finally loosened enough for him to pull the duelist loose. Giving Harry a thumbs up for luck, he started swimming back up to the surface.
Swimming up proved to be a lot harder than swimming (or falling, as the case may be) down, especially with Yugi tossed over his shoulder like a heavy potato sack. The water was brightening ever so slowly as he made his way up to the surface, and after what seemed like an eternity, his bubbled head broke free of the water. He sighed in relief, sliding Yugi in front of him until he was holding the smaller boy around the waist, while using his wand to dispel the bubble around his head.
"And Marik Ishitar is the first to return with his hostage!"
Ludo Bagman's voice echoing in the cold February air made him snap his head up, only to be blinded by the bright sunlight above. Marik tightened his hold on Yugi, only to hear a grunt of protest. Looking down in surprise, he saw that Yugi had woken up.
"I don't think I've ever been this wet before," Yugi said around a yawn, brushing his sagging hair out of his face.
"Are you all right, Yugi-kun?" Marik asked. "Did they hurt you at all?"
Yugi gave him a confused look. "No... why would they?"
Marik blinked. "Waitta minute... don't tell me you VOLUNTEERED for this?!"
"Well, sure!"
Marik sweatdropped; great, and Harry was down there, making sure all of the hostages were going to make it out alive. He was going to be SO humiliated when he got back up.
He swam unsteadily toward the shore, with Yugi helping as little as he could. They got there just as Yami Yugi made it to the embankment from his seat on the stands, looking like stress had aged him several years. The pharaoh plucked his hikari out of the water as soon as they got close enough, holding onto him tightly, too preoccupied with placing relieved kisses on Yugi's cheeks and mouth to give Marik a hand up. Grumbling about the pharaoh's priorities, he crawled up onto the shore himself, before Madam Pomfrey arrived to help him stand, wrapping him tightly in a warm blanket as she did so. He was led off to sit down and warm up as the school nurse attempted to beat Yami Yugi off long enough so she could tend to Yugi.
Once Madam Pomfrey got Yugi settled down next to Marik (with the pharaoh practically glued to his hip), there was a loud splash from the lake. Fleur emerged, being carried up by two merpeople, and fighting desperately to go back down into the water despite the fact that her face was covered in cuts and her robes were torn.
Something breezed past Marik, almost knocking him off of his seat. He blinked in surprise as he saw Seto running up to where Fleur was being helped out of the water by Madame Maxime. The French girl latched onto him as soon as she saw him, crying fitfully.
"Gabrielle... my zister... ze grindylows..."
Seto held onto her tightly, whispering calming words while giving Marik a desperate look. The Egyptian gave him a thumbs up in return, assuring him everything was okay.
"Who ever came up with this task has got to be a total prat."
Marik and Yugi turned slightly to see Bakura, Yami Bakura, and Ginny walking toward them, with the youngest Weasley practically having her arms plastered around the tomb robber's waist. He did not seem to mind, strangely enough; in fact, he had a hand on her shoulder, and occasionally gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"For once, I agree with you, tomb robber," Yami Yugi replied. "Ugh... hold still, koi. You've got a water beetle in your hair."
Yugi stilled long enough for the pharaoh to flick the beetle out of his hair. Unfortunately, instead of landing in the grass that he was aiming for, it ended up impacting against Marik's ear with a wet SMACK!
"Ew! Pharaoh!" Marik exclaimed, batting the bug off of his ear and into the grass somewhere. "Thanks a lot."
Yami Yugi apologized just as there came another splash from the water. Hermione and a half transfigured Krum emerged from the water. She slowly awoke, a bit started by the half human, half shark that was holding onto her. Once she realized who it was, she relaxed, clutching to him in a manner that made Marik growl angrily. Everyone gave him an alarmed look, but he managed to keep himself in check as the two of them were wrapped in blankets and sat on the bench as well.
Now all that was left was to wait for Harry to come up. Marik bit his lip nervously; he was probably waiting for Fleur - who was still attached to Seto and mumbling incoherently - to show up. Either that, or the merpeople decided he was too much of a nuisance...
Just as he finished that thought, Harry's head broke the surface of the water, pulling up Ron and Fleur's sister along with him. He gasped for air desperately as his two rescued hostages slowly regained consciousness. Marik breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against Yugi and massaging his temples.
Two tasks down, one more to go.
Once everyone was settled on the bench - which was a bit cramped because Yami Yugi refused to let go of Yugi, and Fleur still had an iron lock on Seto and now also her sister - Bagman announced the scores. With his voice magically amplified, he explained that the scores were out of a full mark of fifty, before starting on their individual marks.
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubblehead Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
There was polite applause from the stands as Fleur sniffed, holding her sister closer to her.
"I deserved zero," she muttered. Seto gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.
"Marik Ishitar," Bagman continued, "who also used the Bubblehead Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."
Marik beamed as enormous cheers erupted from the Gryffindors in the stands. Depending on how Krum and Harry were scored, that put him in first place!
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Marik almost outright sneered as the Durmstrang students and Karkaroff applauded. He still had Krum beat. That was just such sweet justice.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman said. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, Merchieftainess Murcus informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
Harry looked like he wanted to hide under the bench as Hermione and Ron shot him exasperated looks.
"Most of the judges -" Bagman gave Karkaroff a rather nasty glare at that - "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
Marik and Harry's mouths fell open in utter surprise. They were TIED?!
The two of them exchanged worried looks laced with concern. This complicated things quite a bit…
Dawn of Fate
.
.
Ugh... sorry once again on how long everything is taking to come out. Thanks to everyone who's been patient with me despite my erratic updates. Now that my new webpage is sort of up again, I'll hopefully be able to update faster.
As always, read, enjoy, and then review.
.
.
.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - THE SECOND TASK
"Marik! Marik-kun, wake up!"
Marik jerked awake when Yugi shook his arm. He sat up in his desk chair, giving Ron, Harry, Yami Yugi, and Draco apologetic looks as he did so. They were in their Charms class, where they were supposed to be learning the opposite of the Summoning Charm - the Banishing Spell - but it was not going overly well. People who had poor aim, like Neville, were sending objects that were not meant to be banished across the room so often that it was almost impossible to do anything. Marik had set his head down to rest when Professor Flitwick buzzed by for the umpteenth time, only to fall asleep in his tiredness.
Truth be told, his nerves were shot to hell. Hermione had gone back to pointedly ignoring the fact he existed... and then there was the second task, the reason why he had fallen asleep in class. After finally figuring out what exactly he was supposed to do from the cryptic message in the golden egg, he was presented with a bit of a problem. The second task involved a lot of swimming in water...
...and Marik did not know how to swim.
Of course, with his luck, the only person out of his group of friends that even remotely knew how to swim was Seto. After a few good jibes at each other, the boy businessman agreed to teach him how to swim, but there was just one other problem. The only place adequate enough for the swimming lessons was the lake.
Ice-cold water in the middle of February was FAR from pleasant.
Other than the swimming part of the task - which he was pretty sure he had down pat by now - the rest of it seemed fairly easy. He had taught himself how to perform a Bubblehead Charm so he could stay underwater for a long time. All he had to worry about was rescuing the whatever it was that was supposed to be precious to him, and bring it back before the time limit. Really, how hard could it be?
"So, what were you guys talking about?" he asked, fighting back a yawn.
"Professor Moody," Draco supplied. "Harry thinks he might be spying on Snape."
"It's rather obvious, Draco," Harry protested, exasperated. "Snape said he caught Moody searching through his store rooms."
Yami Yugi cut in before Draco could respond. "If not Snape, then he at least may be keeping an eye on Karkaroff," the pharaoh reasoned. "I caught the two of them having a glaring match in the hallway one day. It looked like they were going to attack each other any minute."
Yugi shook his head, biting his lip. "I don't know, mou hitori no boku. I just get the feeling that Moody isn't telling us something."
Ron frowned. "Why's that?"
Yugi just shrugged. "I dunno. I just don't think Snape's the bad guy here. I mean, he's never tried to kill us, except with homework. And he DID help us out last year."
"Only because Dumbledore told him to," Harry grumbled as Ron face-palmed.
"Homework!" he exclaimed. "I forgot to do the Potions essay! Draco, can I copy off of you?"
"No way!" Draco replied, sending a cushion - what they were supposed to be using the Banishing Charm on - flying toward the box that was supposed to be the target. "Bad enough Snape isn't that favorable with me since I went to Gryffindor. I don't want to push his buttons."
Ron turned a pleading look to Yugi.
"Forget it," Yugi and Yami Yugi said at the same time.
"Harry, please!" Ron protested.
Harry just raised an eyebrow. "You think I did mine?"
"Marik...?"
Marik just gave him a tired look. Ron groaned pitifully, burying his face in his arms.
~.oOOo.~
The morning of the second task dawned bright and cold. Marik was not trying to eat that much for breakfast; since he was going to be underwater for at least an hour, he did not want to make himself sick. Since he was not preoccupied with eating, he was able to notice a few things; namely, a few things missing. Hermione was not there, but he sort of expected that. Neither was Ron, Yugi, or Harry. He frowned, looking over to where Yami Yugi was picking at his breakfast, a scowl on his face.
"Pharaoh, where IS everyone?"
Yami Yugi scowl just deepened, and he shook his head, not answering. Marik gave him a disapproving look, but did not have a chance to comment as McGonagall approached the table. He left with her to join the other champions, but not before noticing the odd look on the pharaoh's face. The only other time he had seen that look was during Battle City, during the first half of the forced duel between Yugi and Jonouchi. Marik felt his skin crawl.
Why did he have a feeling this was going to be far from easy...?
Harry was not with the other champions when they assembled together before the judges at the lake. Nor did he arrive when the rest of the school filed into the stands that had been set up. He finally came running up to the champions a few minutes before they were supposed to begin, clutching something in his hand and breathing heavily. The young wizard stopped when he reached the group, bending over and clutching his knees.
"You're late!" Percy accused from his seat, doing a good impression of Mr. Crouch, whom he was subbing for again.
"Percy, cut him a break!" Marik returned angrily, going over to Harry to make sure he was okay.
"It's... Ron..." Harry gasped quietly, only loud enough for Marik to hear. He gave him an alarmed look.
"What about him?" he returned.
"Something... precious..." the young wizard answered, slowly regaining his breath. "Took... him..."
It took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did, Marik's eyes grew wide. Hermione, Ron, and Yugi... they were not at breakfast that morning. Where they the something precious that they were supposed to save? No wonder the pharaoh was giving him death glares... and Hermione...
Hermione...
Marik turned slightly to glare at Krum, before helping Harry stand. Damn that Bulgarian! It was his fault that she was down there!
Once he was certain that Harry was not going to have a heart attack, Ludo Bagman started spacing the four of them out along the bank of the lake at intervals of ten feet. Marik almost dived in right away, anxious to get into the lake and help Yugi. He was in no mood to deal with the pharaoh's wrath if he did not make the time limit. Not only that... but maybe if he got to Hermione before Krum...
The whistle to start jarred Marik out of his thoughts. Without wasting a moment, he tossed off his cloak, leaving him in his favorite lavender hoodie and gray cargo pants. With a word of Latin and pointing his wand at his head, a bubble enclosed it with half of his hair sticking out. Not waiting to see what the other champions were doing, he dived right in, the bubble around his head not popping despite the abuse...
...and sank faster than a stone.
Marik panicked a moment, the cold water stinging his skin, trying desperately to remember what Seto had taught him. He struggled to float in one spot, all the while cursing the fact he had grown up underground, but he only fell faster. Finally reaching bottom, he landed with a thud, kicking up sand and almost tumbling to his knees.
The Egyptian looked around at the underwater environment. Everything was a green and ghastly color, and he had landed just before a forest of seaweed. He took a cautious step forward, his Ring floating up to bang against the bubble around his head, but the strap it was on was not long enough for it to fall off.
Pushing the Millennium Item out of the way, he trudged his way slowly into the seaweed forest, deciding the spare himself from attempting to swim until after he had found Yugi... and Hermione. He increased his pace, trying to run in the water, only to end up going at about an average walking pace.
Marik got about halfway through the weeds when he felt sharp teeth sink into his leg. He yowled in pain, spinning around and looking down to see a grindylow, a horned demon that lived underwater, had a tight hold on him. More arrived as he fought to keep his wand steady on it.
"Relashio!" he shouted, his voice muffled by the bubble around his head.
His wand seemed to get the idea though. Instead of sparks flying out of his wand, like what was supposed to happen, jets of hot water lashed out. The spell struck the grindylow clamped onto his leg head on, sending it spinning away from him. Snarling and shaking their fists angrily, the other demons vanished into the weed as well.
Marik sighed in relief, before kicking off from the ground and swimming up until he was out of range of the weed. Okay, so maybe walking along the lake floor was not one of his better ideas.
He continued swimming for what felt like hours for his inexperienced limbs. Just when he was going to descend to the floor again to take a brief respite, a haunting melody reached his ears. At first he could hardly hear it, but as he swam closer, it started coming in clearer despite the bubble around his head.
"An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took.
Your time's half gone, so tarry not,
Lest what you seek stays here to rot..."
Marik almost panicked again, briefly wondering what the Shadow Realm was like this time of year before he continued on, following the voices. The song got louder and louder, until he finally came upon his destination.
A small village of crude stone houses that looked like the algae growing on them held them together loomed before him. The creatures that dwelled in those homes... well, they were nothing like what Marik thought of when he envisioned merpeople. They had grayish skin and dark green hair so wild, it put Yugi's to shame. Their eyes and broken teeth were yellow, and the ropes of pebbles around their necks reminded him of some of the more primitive African tribes.
Marik did not know where to go, but it soon became apparent as the sounds of a fight came from what he assumed was supposed to be the town square. Swimming a little closer, he was able to see Harry struggling against several merpeople, with Ron floating near the bottom close by. On a statue before them that looked like it was carved with a hacksaw, the three other hostages were tied together.
He swam as fast as he could toward the statue, and as he approached, the fight between Harry and the merpeople lessened. The creatures scattered as he came up toward the young wizard...
...wait. Since when did Harry have gills...?
Never mind; he did NOT want to know.
"Are they all right?" Marik asked, hoping Harry could hear him. Apparently at least getting the gist of what he said, Harry nodded, pointing out that it just looked like they were sleeping.
"Take Yugi and get out of here," he said, his voice coming out in large garbled bubbles. "I'll wait to make sure the others make it all right."
Marik nodded, before swimming up to where Yugi was still tied up. Next to him was a young girl with wispy silver hair, and he could only assume that she was a relation of Fleur's (he was honestly surprised it was not Seto down there instead). On the other side of the statue was Hermione, her bushy hair floating about her face as her head lulled to the side in unconsciousness. He hesitated a moment, wondering if he should try to save her too…
"Marik!"
Harry's shout made him make up his mind fast. Let Krum save her; he would wait for another opportunity to win Hermione's heart back (though if he did not save her, he reserved the right to beat that damn Bulgarian to a bloody pulp). Besides, he reasoned with himself, what good would having his girlfriend back do him if he were taking up residence in the Shadow Realm?
Grabbing the Millennium Ring still floating about on his neck, Marik took hold of one of the points and speared the ropes holding Yugi. He attacked them again and again, until the ropes finally loosened enough for him to pull the duelist loose. Giving Harry a thumbs up for luck, he started swimming back up to the surface.
Swimming up proved to be a lot harder than swimming (or falling, as the case may be) down, especially with Yugi tossed over his shoulder like a heavy potato sack. The water was brightening ever so slowly as he made his way up to the surface, and after what seemed like an eternity, his bubbled head broke free of the water. He sighed in relief, sliding Yugi in front of him until he was holding the smaller boy around the waist, while using his wand to dispel the bubble around his head.
"And Marik Ishitar is the first to return with his hostage!"
Ludo Bagman's voice echoing in the cold February air made him snap his head up, only to be blinded by the bright sunlight above. Marik tightened his hold on Yugi, only to hear a grunt of protest. Looking down in surprise, he saw that Yugi had woken up.
"I don't think I've ever been this wet before," Yugi said around a yawn, brushing his sagging hair out of his face.
"Are you all right, Yugi-kun?" Marik asked. "Did they hurt you at all?"
Yugi gave him a confused look. "No... why would they?"
Marik blinked. "Waitta minute... don't tell me you VOLUNTEERED for this?!"
"Well, sure!"
Marik sweatdropped; great, and Harry was down there, making sure all of the hostages were going to make it out alive. He was going to be SO humiliated when he got back up.
He swam unsteadily toward the shore, with Yugi helping as little as he could. They got there just as Yami Yugi made it to the embankment from his seat on the stands, looking like stress had aged him several years. The pharaoh plucked his hikari out of the water as soon as they got close enough, holding onto him tightly, too preoccupied with placing relieved kisses on Yugi's cheeks and mouth to give Marik a hand up. Grumbling about the pharaoh's priorities, he crawled up onto the shore himself, before Madam Pomfrey arrived to help him stand, wrapping him tightly in a warm blanket as she did so. He was led off to sit down and warm up as the school nurse attempted to beat Yami Yugi off long enough so she could tend to Yugi.
Once Madam Pomfrey got Yugi settled down next to Marik (with the pharaoh practically glued to his hip), there was a loud splash from the lake. Fleur emerged, being carried up by two merpeople, and fighting desperately to go back down into the water despite the fact that her face was covered in cuts and her robes were torn.
Something breezed past Marik, almost knocking him off of his seat. He blinked in surprise as he saw Seto running up to where Fleur was being helped out of the water by Madame Maxime. The French girl latched onto him as soon as she saw him, crying fitfully.
"Gabrielle... my zister... ze grindylows..."
Seto held onto her tightly, whispering calming words while giving Marik a desperate look. The Egyptian gave him a thumbs up in return, assuring him everything was okay.
"Who ever came up with this task has got to be a total prat."
Marik and Yugi turned slightly to see Bakura, Yami Bakura, and Ginny walking toward them, with the youngest Weasley practically having her arms plastered around the tomb robber's waist. He did not seem to mind, strangely enough; in fact, he had a hand on her shoulder, and occasionally gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"For once, I agree with you, tomb robber," Yami Yugi replied. "Ugh... hold still, koi. You've got a water beetle in your hair."
Yugi stilled long enough for the pharaoh to flick the beetle out of his hair. Unfortunately, instead of landing in the grass that he was aiming for, it ended up impacting against Marik's ear with a wet SMACK!
"Ew! Pharaoh!" Marik exclaimed, batting the bug off of his ear and into the grass somewhere. "Thanks a lot."
Yami Yugi apologized just as there came another splash from the water. Hermione and a half transfigured Krum emerged from the water. She slowly awoke, a bit started by the half human, half shark that was holding onto her. Once she realized who it was, she relaxed, clutching to him in a manner that made Marik growl angrily. Everyone gave him an alarmed look, but he managed to keep himself in check as the two of them were wrapped in blankets and sat on the bench as well.
Now all that was left was to wait for Harry to come up. Marik bit his lip nervously; he was probably waiting for Fleur - who was still attached to Seto and mumbling incoherently - to show up. Either that, or the merpeople decided he was too much of a nuisance...
Just as he finished that thought, Harry's head broke the surface of the water, pulling up Ron and Fleur's sister along with him. He gasped for air desperately as his two rescued hostages slowly regained consciousness. Marik breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against Yugi and massaging his temples.
Two tasks down, one more to go.
Once everyone was settled on the bench - which was a bit cramped because Yami Yugi refused to let go of Yugi, and Fleur still had an iron lock on Seto and now also her sister - Bagman announced the scores. With his voice magically amplified, he explained that the scores were out of a full mark of fifty, before starting on their individual marks.
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubblehead Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
There was polite applause from the stands as Fleur sniffed, holding her sister closer to her.
"I deserved zero," she muttered. Seto gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.
"Marik Ishitar," Bagman continued, "who also used the Bubblehead Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."
Marik beamed as enormous cheers erupted from the Gryffindors in the stands. Depending on how Krum and Harry were scored, that put him in first place!
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Marik almost outright sneered as the Durmstrang students and Karkaroff applauded. He still had Krum beat. That was just such sweet justice.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman said. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, Merchieftainess Murcus informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
Harry looked like he wanted to hide under the bench as Hermione and Ron shot him exasperated looks.
"Most of the judges -" Bagman gave Karkaroff a rather nasty glare at that - "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
Marik and Harry's mouths fell open in utter surprise. They were TIED?!
The two of them exchanged worried looks laced with concern. This complicated things quite a bit…