Harry Potter and the 30 Tasks
Chapter 3
Task Number Two

The three stopped at the wooden sign for Task Number Two when they arrived there after a little under a minute's time. They looked beyond that, to the waterfall. Towering a good fifty feet over their heads, it was huge and majestic, spilling barrels and barrels of water over its ridge. The task's sign was just at the entrance of another long path that went behind the falling water. Ron stepped forward to get on it, but Hermione held him back.

"We haven't answered the riddle yet," she said.

"Well, where's the riddle?" asked Ron, looking around. Harry pointed at a little girl sitting on the path behind the waterfall. Hermione looked, and then called out to her.
"Hello?" she called. The girl, who had long brown hair and looked to be about eleven years old glanced up from the ground. She had been toying with a stick. She smiled, stood up, and walked down the path towards them.

"Hi," said Hermione," We're supposed to answer a riddle to get into this task, but there's no one here to give us our riddle. Could you possibly tell us where we're supposed to get it from?"

"I'm supposed to give you the riddle," said the girl. Up close, Harry noticed that she really didn't look eleven years old at all, but rather maybe twenty-two or even thirty. What was deceiving was her height. She was very short, maybe a few inches shorter than Harry.

"Oh, allright," said Hermione.

"Are you ready for it?" asked the girl. The three nodded.

"Okay.
Still, I am like a mirror,
Fast, I am stronger than stone.
Wet, I can burn you,
Cold, I can keep you warm.
Life, I can be in the desert,
Death, I can be on the riverbank.
What am I?"

"Still, I am like a mirror...what's like a mirror when it's still?" said Hermione, looking at Harry.

"Water? I dunno..." said Ron.

"Fast, I am stronger than stone," Hermione looked at the waterfall and smiled. "Wet, I can burn you, Cold, I can keep you warm. That's it, it's water!"

"Correct. That was another easy one...the first task's riddle isn't complicated either." She smiled and nodded. "You've earned the right to Task Number Two," she said, "Here is what you are to do." She reached into her pocket and withdrew a large, jewel-like stone. It was red in color, like a big ruby. She let the three see it, then tossed it into the enormous water-filled gorge and it disappeared into the depths of the water beneath.

"You are to retrieve that stone from the water. You have exactly fourty-one minutes to bring it back."

"Um...a couple of questions," said Ron, "How are we going to get down there? It's an awfully big drop."

"You jump," said the girl, shrugging.

"Jump?" said Harry. It sounded more like a statement the way he said it.

"Yes. You jump."

"Allright...and how are we going to stay under there long enough without breathing?"

"That, you'll have to figure out for yourself," she responded, her eyes twinkling, much like a certain Headmaster of theirs. Ron's question seemed to have struck a cord in Harry's mind. He knew exactly how they were going to stay underwater, but there seemed to be only one flaw...

"And...how will we be able to see the stone? Won't it blend in?" asked Hermione.

"Chances are, it landed itself right, so it will glow. You'll see it."

"What do we do with the stone once we find it?" asked Harry.

"You give it to me," the girl said. She looked out to the waterfall, then back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "By the way, my name's Laurie." The three nodded and looked at the waterfall as well.

"I'll walk with you to the place you have to jump off at," said Laurie, "Now, come on. We only have thirty years." She stepped back onto the path, and began walking. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, then followed her.

"Yeah well, I only have about twenty minutes," said Ron.

"Oh, you'll come to find that you'll be here much longer than that. Expect to be here longer than that," said Laurie, smiling to herself. Ron moaned and Harry moved closer to his two friends.

"Hey guys, listen," he said, "Remember you wanted to know how we're going to stay underwater long enough to get the stone, Ron?" Ron nodded. "I know how we'll do it," he said.

"How?" asked Hermione, Then, she unwrinkled her nose, realizing what Harry was saying. "You don't mean.."

"Yes," said Harry, "Gillyweed."

"That stuff Dobby gave you for the Triwizard Tournament two years ago?" asked Ron, catching on. Harry nodded.

"Do you think there'll be any on this path?" asked Hermione, "Near the water?"

"Well, given the fact that there's no other way to do it, there's got to be some around here somewhere."

"What does it look like?" asked Ron.

"You'll see it if it's here," said Harry.

"Watch out, it gets pretty rocky soon," Laurie called back. And indeed it was starting to get rather rocky. The four climbed and climbed the ridge and before they knew it, they were nearing a large slab of stone. They were still behind the loud waterfall, as it stretched about twenty feet horizontally and was about a fifty foot drop.

"Hey, look, look, look," said Harry.

"What?" Ron said. Harry bent over and grabbed in his right hand a ball of what looked like seaweed, then held it so that his two friends could see.

"I take it that's gillyweed."

"Yes, Ron, that's gillyweed," said Hermione.

"And we have to eat that?" asked Ron, turning a bit green.

"Not much different than the Polyjuice Potion, I would say," said Harry. "And you won't believe the results," he added a bit sarcastically, handing out the gillyweed. He wouldn't be at all surprised if Ron had jumped out of his skin once he saw that he had scales on his arms and had sprouted fins and flippers. Laurie turned stopped and turned her head, smiling, to look at them.

"I see you've found how to breathe underwater. Are you sure you haven't been here before?"

"Positive," said Hermione, eyeing the glop in her hand, "I've read about this stuff...but I've never actually seen it."

"Yeah, I would have remembered if I had," Ron said, the green leaving his cheeks. In fact, all color left leaving them ghostly white. Laurie smiled again.

"I'll see you when you're finished." With that, she stepped up onto the stone slab just two feet away from her, and dove, headfirst through the waterfall into the gorge. Hermione let go a gasp and the three stepped a bit closer to the edge to get a better look. They saw, through the water, Laurie's legs turn a dark shade of green, stick together, combining themselves into one big green scaly mass. They stepped up onto the platform and watched her disappear into the water.

"She's a mermaid," said Hermione incredulously.

"Is she?" asked Ron, bewilderdly, "Mermaid's can't grow legs...can they?"

"Then she's a Metamorphmagus," she said, with a final tone. "Are you two both ready?" Harry and Ron both nodded.

"Allright, eat the gillyweed," said Harry. Ron eyed the glob again, and Hermione, holding her nose, shoved it into her mouth. Ron did the same, then Harry.

"Harry!" Ron said, his eyes wide, watching scales crawl up his arms.

"Jump!" Harry shouted. He jumped high over the gorge through the waterfall and gripped his glasses to his face. He couldn't see anything without them, and they would be extremely useful underwater looking for the red stone.

"Harry!"

"Come on, Ron - Jump!" exclaimed Hermione, looking at her feet, which were slowly morphing into large flippers.

"I can't breathe!" Ron gasped. Hermione frowned and grabbed onto him and jump.

Down below them, Harry had lost all of his breath and had closed his eyes. All of his senses vanished except for his hearing, as his mind went completely blank. He faintly heard the roar of the waterfall through the wind rushing past his ears...and then he hit the water. His flipper feet first, then his head whammed the surface of the water with great force. The impact was enough for him to scream, but when he did, bubbles flowed out. He opened his eyes and focused on a rippling piece of seaweed on the bed of the lake. It was entirely blurred, and he noticed that his glasses had been knocked off of his face when he made contact with the water. He turned his head and saw an explosion of white, mixed with a clump of bubbles. He thought it was the waterfall, until two figures emerged from the cloud and joined Harry. Ron had spots of blood on parts of his chest, mostly his shoulders, as Hermione had dug her fingernails into him while they were falling.

"Have you spotted the stone?" asked Hermione. Even though no sound emitted from her mouth, Harry had read her lips and shook his head in response. Ron tapped Harry and pointed to a small red glimmer that was dropping very slow deeper and deeper in the lake. Harry was off like a shot. Ron and Hermione both followed him as he dove lower and lower. The blood was pounding in his head from first, going so fast, and second, the water was getting very heavy now...weighing him down...making his bones feel like they would collapse at and seconds. He reached out his hand to catch it, when it stopped in what seemed like midair. He made to grab it, but a plant - like an underwater Venus Flytrap emerged from the darkness. It had four long strands of what looked like thick hair on both sides and it looked as though the stone had landed in the middle of it. When Harry went to grab it, the plant slashed his hand fast and with great force. Harry screamed from the pain...of course, there was no sound, but his hand was bleeding badly. He wrapped it in his shirt and looked around. It was completely dark and he could barely see Ron and Hermione behind him. He needed a stick or something...or something to grab it with. Then it came to him. When he thought of the idea, he felt that he should have thought of this as soon as he saw the stone stop in midair - he should have considered that there may be something holding it there that would resist his hand. He pulled out his wand and yelled: "Accio Stone!" The wand responded and the stone flew out of the plant - that snatched at the stone a few times before it successfully made it out - and into Harry's hand. He smiled with satisfaction and slipped it into his pocket. He tapped his friends' shoulders and motioned for them to go up. They swam up and up and soon Harry could see through the darkness and they entered light. The lake was beautiful - a greenish blue with a large amount of flowering plants and coral at the beds. There were some brightly colored fish there as well that swam out of the way as Harry and his two friends emerged from the dark crevice below. They reached the surface and looked around, keeping themselves up with their flippers. Laurie was sitting on a rock, her long tail swishing around in the water and she smiled. Harry, almost unable to breathe took the rock from his pocket and threw it to her.

"Come on over here," she said, catching it. The three swam to the rock and crawled out of the water.

"Oh, here he comes...a little early actually - " Laurie looked up towards the sky at what resembled a large golden eagle with horse legs - it was a hippogriff - but a golden hippogriff. It looked very much like Hagrid's former-pet, Buckbeak, but its feathers were a darkish yellow. It let out a loud cry and it flew down to the large rock where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Laurie were, and scooped the three of them up on its back.

"Bye!" called Laurie, waving, "Good luck!" The scales and flippers were vanishing from their skin, and their lungs were coming back so they could breathe again, so they called their goodbyes back and watched Laurie dive back into the water. Harry, at the head, looked forward at where the hippogriff was taking them. They were flying over a large forest - it seemed to be stretching across the land for miles and miles. Harry closed his eyes and felt the wind whip at his face. He loved it - the place smelled great. He had a feeling that some of these tasks wouldn't be all bad - it was thirty adventures in one trip. Finally, the hippogriff landed in the middle of the forest and bent down so they could dismount it. They did so, and looked around.

"There!" said Hermione, pointing to a wooden sign shaped like an arrow that, in red paint, said: 'Task Number Three'

"Thank you," said Harry politely to the hippogriff. It made another cry and took off above the canopies of the gigantic trees. "Come on, let's go." The three walked in the direction of the arrow and came to a clearing of the forest - the floor was entirely dirt and trees seemed to just not have been ever planted there, for there were no stumps or traces of them being cut down.

"Look up there," said Hermione, looking up into a tree at a large wooden treehouse, "I bet that's the next task."

"How are we supposed to get up there?" asked Ron, looking from the treehouse to Hermione.

"There isn't any ladder or anything to climb up on - "

"Hello," said a girl's voice. They turned around to look at a silver-haired woman with white robes. Her robes were flowing around her - and her hair moving with no wind. Her eyes, a bright yellow and her lips, a perfect shade of scarlet. She was completely barefoot and was a bit lanky - but nonetheless one of the most beautiful creatures that Harry and Ron had ever seen. She was sitting on a swing, gently moving back and forth on it; but it wasn't a normal swing. The seat of it was a sanded wooden plank and the ropes were not ropes - but long green leafless vines. Those vines had a few more vines spiraling up them, littered with leaves and a few flowers. They were not tied to anything, for the tops of the long ropes of green vanished in thin air - a few colored sparkles slowly moving about the tops. The veela in the swing smiled at them.

"She's a veela," observed Hermione.

"I see we know our Magical Creatures," said the veela smiling more broadly, "Call me Grenadine though."

"Isn't that a syrup?" Ron whispered. Hermione shot him a cross look, then after glancing at Harry, who seemed to be just staring at the veela with a quite charming half of a smile, looked at Grenadine.

"Are you the Task Manager?" she asked.

"Right I am," Grenadine responded.

"How are we supposed to get from here - to up there?" asked Hermione, gesturing at the tree house.

"I can't give you hints - you have a nymph, I believe - Fredora?"

"That's correct," said Hermione. "Fredora?" The nymph appeared next to Harry's ear with a faint 'pop'.

"You called?"

"We need a hint," said Harry.

"To get up to the treehouse? Oh that's easy - what do you think? What's the only thing here that you think you can get up there with?"

"The swing!" said Ron after a few seconds thought.

"Mmhm," said Fredora, "Anything else? I can stay for this task to help with what's in the treehouse if you'd like."

"That'd be great," said Harry, "Thanks."

"No problem. Now after Grenadine gets off, all you have to do is sit in the swing, get as high as you can on it, and let go. Hopefully you'll launch yourself into the treehouse. If not...well...That's your problem," said Fredora, ending vaguely. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances and watched as Grenadine stepped off of the swing.

A/N: Thanks to um...that one site i went to where I downloaded the WriteARiddle thingy. I used the tutorial's example 'cause it was actually a riddle that had to do with water. YES, LAURIE - YOU ARE A MERMAID. I have many other friends...I'll twist them around and fit them in here. I know who's going to be in Task Four. Heh. You'll see when I write it. Unfortunately, he's not one of my friends. But he is an awesome character.
I was thinking about having this and the sequel to Golden Bell tie into each other. The sequel will take place during the summer between years six and seven, like this story. But I thought...I'm going to have that sequel end at King's Cross with them going into seventh year. I thought I could not end it that way and have it just be like...Harry went to the Burrow at the end of that summer and then I could have this pick it up where that left off...but then it would be waaaay too much action for one summer. The sequel to Golden Bell will take place at the Dursleys, and then at the end, at Anna-Nicole's. There won't be much about the Golden Bell until the end...when Harry gets -

You'll see what happens. I already have the end written.