Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.
The Second Task
Not long after the Hagrid story appeared in the Daily Prophet, Harry got more and more edgy. Ryua could tell he hadn't even started the egg clue, he was looking far too shifty whenever anyone asked about it. And then one day, late in February, looking as though he hadn't slept all night, Harry sat next to Ryua in Potions, Ron and Hermionie directly behind them. "I need your help!" he whispered hoarsely.
"What with?" Ryua asked, measuring out purified maple syrup into a glass.
"I've figured out what I'm supposed to do at the task..."
"About time..."
"Oh, shut up."
"Now, now, Harry, if you want my help you'll have to do better than that."
"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous at the moment," Harry said, his voice taking on a slightly hysterical note.
"Alright, alright, relax a bit. What's the task?"
"Water. The merpeople in the lake will be stealing something of mine, and I have to go get it."
"Left it a bit late, haven't you? I mean, the task's in five days."
"I know, I know..."
"We've been searching the library constantly," Hermionie put in from behind.
"And even Hermionie hasn't been able to find anything," Ron added.
"So, we're asking you now, maybe there's a forbidden curse or something we can't find in the library..."
Ryua frowned, chopping up tiger moth wings. "I can't remember curses like that. I know of a drought spell, but unless you get a dozen or so wizards working, you'll never drain the lake. I could try transfiguring you into something with gills... but we haven't done human transfiguration yet, I could kill you by evaporating your lungs and not giving you gills or something."
Harry shuddered, passing her some Dead Sea salt. "Yeah, that wouldn't work well. Any other ideas? Maybe a potion that would keep me supplied with oxygen?"
"Well... Snape did say something about a water potion... but it requires a day of brewing for every minute you want oxygen, not to mention the month before hand to get the ingredients ready..."
"And I've only got five days," Harry groaned.
"Not to mention that it requires ingredients even Snape doesn't have much of. And I doubt he'd lend even me ingredients right now, he's been having loads of people stealing stuff... he's convinced it's you, Harry."
"I have never been near his office. Well, unless you count the time in the second year when he took me and Ron there to expel us," he said in a careful voice.
"Right. Well, I can't think of any curses... unless you just don't want to breathe..."
"What curse is that?"
"Avada Kedavra."
"Oh. Never mind then. I doubt Harry could live through that a second time," Ron said, keeping a very close watch on what Ryua was doing to her cauldron, and trying to duplicate it.
"Is there anyone you haven't asked yet?"
"Well, teachers... but I'm not actually supposed to have help at all. Other than that, I can't think of anyone..." Harry stopped abruptly and jumped out of his chair as Neville's melting cauldron sprayed a very acidic mixture over where Harry had been sitting.
"I don't know, Harry. It's probably some bloody charm you need, or something else I don't know anything about." Ryua poured her finished potion into three flasks, handing one to Harry and adding just enough iron filings to the smallest to simulate a melted cauldron and dropping it on Neville's chair. He gave her a look of surprised gratitude and stopped trying to scrape his own into a bottle, and started the much easier task of mopping it up normally.
Although Harry was in no state to notice the day before the task, Professor Snape handed back their marks. Neville was overjoyed to receive a solid Average, and Ryua was amused to see that while her potion earned an Outstanding, Harry's identical one barely made Average. "He really does hate you, doesn't he?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah..." Harry was staring off into the distance, obviously deep into the lake.
"I'm sure you'll find something, Harry, don't worry..."
(Professor McGonnagall, Staff Room, After Dinner)
"Assez-vous, Mme Delacour, et la petite une." Professor McGonnagall said in a terrible accent and questionable grammar. For some reason, Dumbledore had never learned French, so it was up to her to explain things to Fleur's family. Luckily for her, Cho Chang walked in just then, and seeing the terrified expression on the little girl's face, started a game of dots and lines on what appeared to be the back of her Transfiguration essay. Minerva made a mental note not to dock marks for it. With many mistakes and halting phrases, she explained the task to Fleur's mother while her little sister was occupied. Severus sat in the corner, a nasty, amused grin on his face, Flitwick was playing with dust bunnies, and the Headmaster was studying the pattern on the silverware. Useless bunch...
Just then, the Weasley twins walked in, loudly announcing Hermionie, Ron, and Ryua. From the corner, Severus sat up straighter as he saw his prize Potions student walk in with a gaggle of Gryffindors. Albus stopped counting silver flowers and smiled as he looked up. "Ah, the last of the things have arrived."
"Things, sir?" Ryua, always the proud Malfoy blood showing through...
"The things the contestants will most sorely miss, of course!"
"Oh, that makes sense, I suppose." Hermionie said. Minerva quietly noted that none of the three seemed at all confused, although Cho did. Flitwick started to explain it to her, while Albus went on explaining about charming them.
"Sir, there're two extra people here for Harry." Ron said.
"Only one, actually. Miss Granger, you'll be the goal for Mr. Krum." Hermionie blushed at McGonnagall words.
"Actually, there is no contest between Ryua and yourself, Mr. Weasley." Severus said, rising from his chair in the shadows. You have been Mr. Potter's friend the longest, so you shall be the one chosen. Come, Ryua."
(Ryua, Corridor outside, One minute later)
"Sir, if I may ask..."
"Why I did not allow you to be one of the objects?" Snape replied as he strode down the corridor, "It is quite simple. Not only would life be uncomfortable for you if you were the thing Harry Potter most sorely missed, your father would not be at all amused."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess he wouldn't." It might be interesting to see what kind of a rise I could get out of him that way though... nah. He'd probably try to kill Harry.
The next morning, Harry wasn't at breakfast. Neither were Ron or Hermionie, of course, but they had an excuse. Harry didn't appear at all, actually, even when the other Champions were lined up at the lakeside, the rest of the schools watching from the specially charmed stands so they could see the Champions' progress underwater. Suddenly, "There he is!" one of the Creevy brothers screamed, pointing wildly. Sure enough, Harry was pelting across the grounds, something clutched tight in his fist. He nearly collapsed at the feet of the other Champions. The judges, Karkaroff in particular, didn't seem inclined to let him catch his breath, either. The whistle was blown almost immediately, and the four students waded into the lake.
"And Miss Delacour is performing an excellent Bubble-Head charm, I see, and so is Mr. Diggory... a very nice, airtight job from both of them..." (Hah! I knew it was a charm...) "And Mr. Krum appears to be well on his way into a Transfiguration spell... Oh my goodness! It's a shark! And he appears to be out of magic for the spell, but I suppose all he needs is those gills... And Mr. Potter, the widely acclaimed underdog, is eating something... Yes, it's Gillyweed! A good choice that, it'll give him gills and webbed limbs for an hour and a half, a chunk that size, more than enough time to get his prize out of the water..." Ludo Bagman didn't stop talking the entire next hour. He described the different obstacles they'd be facing, from Grindylows through the Giant Squid, right up to the Merpeople themselves.
Harry managed to curse off the Grindylow that attached to him, and wisely swam above the weeds after that. Krum spent five minutes biting a few in half, and wasn't bothered by anything else. Poor Fleur wasn't nearly so lucky, when she swam past the patch later on. Alerted to the presence of prey in the water, they ambushed. Obviously, they didn't have Grindylows in whatever part of France Beauxbatons was in, because she panicked. There were Grindylows in her hair, clinging to her arms, legs, robes... although she put up quite an impressive fight anyway. By the time she discovered that you could break their fingers off, she was nearly exhausted, covered in scratches, and her bubble was battered. In fact, one Grindylow made it its sole target, and it suddenly collapsed. Fleur kept her head enough not to scream and waste her air, instead propelling herself upward with a Banishing charm. She flew entirely out of the water, shedding the last of the Grindylows, and hit the water again with an incredible smack. Professor Flitwick levitated her to shore, where Madam Pomfrey set about reviving her.
At the same time, Harry arrived in the center of the village. He cut Ron free, and then with the trademark Gryffindor heroic-ness, tried to get the girls off the statue too. Even though the Merpeople refused to let him, Harry stubbornly floated just above the floor, waiting to make sure the other Champions arrived on time. What an idiot... As if Dumbledore would have let any of them die. Diggory did show up, just as the first hour passed, and hauled up Chang without a second look. He was greeted with a loud round of cheers, and proudly supported Chang the whole way back, even though she had more energy than him. Ten minutes later, Krum showed up. Apparently, a shark couldn't hear very well, and so he had trouble following the Merpeople's song. He set at Hermionie's ropes with his teeth, and Harry wisely handed him a sharp rock before he ended up biting her in two.
Fifteen minutes more passed, with no sign of Fleur, of course. Harry gave up waiting, and threatened to curse the entire village of Merpeople (That's the way, Harry! Curse whatever's in your way!) They scattered, and he cut Fleur's little sister out too, hauling both her and Ron up through the water. Unfortunately, the Gillyweed was wearing off, Ryua could see his flippered feet shrinking. The Merpeople were swimming up with him, although not offering any help. Ryua saw him starting to choke on the water he was still trying to breathe into his newly-reformed lungs, and then his head broke water. Thankfully, this meant that Ron and Gabrielle woke up and could move on their own. Ron actually did most of the work on the way back, because Gabrielle couldn't swim and Harry was completely drained.
Fleur, who had been revived just minutes before, was fighting with an incredible amount of strength, eventually winning free of Madam Pomfrey. She hugged her little sister, then leapt up and kissed both Harry and Ron, who both went bright red.
And then, the judges gave marks. Since no one had actually made it back within an hour, no one got full marks. However, Fleur got twenty-five, Diggory got forty-seven, Krum got forty, and although everyone else thought he deserved full marks, Karkaroff beat Harry's score down to forty-five. Tied for first place with Diggory, it looked like Harry's life was looking up for a change.
Author's Note: Does anyone know Flitwick's first name? It just occurred to me that I knew just about every other teacher's full name, but not his. And, the book said that Professor Vector is the Arithmancy teacher, but oh, well, I feel too lazy to change it, so it's staying Sinistra.
