The image a of a Hippocampus came clearly into his mind, and he had to admit--they looked better in the book than in person. The front half was a chestnut-colored horse and the back half a shiny blue fish; it was not a pretty sight at all. It was pawing the water dangerously, it's tail swiping behind it threateningly. Its gleaming red eyes were glaring at them, daring them to move any closer to its eggs.

"Heh… heh… er, sorry…" Ron murmured, carefully backing away.

Harry, meanwhile, had other problems. Kelly seemed to have seriously injured her back, and was incapable of moving at the present time. The fact that she was only semiconscious wasn't much uplifting. He tried to back away from the Hippocampus, a rather difficult job, but wasn't doing much. He'd have to drop her, risking her getting beat by the Hippocampus' hooves, to escape.

Harry took out his wand, intent on that not becoming his last option.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The Hippocampus seemed to be immune to that particular spell, as it kept right on moving.

"A LITTLE HELP, RON?" Harry yelled while trying to dodge another hoof attack. The hooves met his left shoulder, and he immediately understood why Kelly was only half conscious. Screaming in pain, he felt that his shoulder blade wasn't functioning anymore.

"Stupefy!" Ron yelled, his aim off.

The spell completely missed the Hippocampus and hit Kelly before Harry could move in time. Now that Kelly was completely unconscious, this job seemed a lot more difficult; not that she'd been helping much before, but she was usually the brains and was their ticket out of trouble.

"Excellent Ron!" Harry said cynically.

He quickly swam, one-handed, toward a place where he could set Kelly down, and hopefully far enough from the Hippocampus' eggs that it wouldn't feel threatened.

Harry swam back as fast as he could, while Ron was giving him a look that said he was in need of help--the Hippocampus had him cornered.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, making sure his aim was right. The spell flew away and hit the Hippocampus square in the back. This did nothing but seriously anger the Hippocampus. It turned from Ron and started toward Harry, hooves ready for attack.

"Impedimenta!" Harry bellowed, again taking careful aim, so as not to hit Ron. The spell hit the Hippocampus, and to Harry's relief, the monster was slowed down.

"Ron! The Impediment Curse!" Harry shouted as the Hippocampus started again at full speed.

Ron nodded, and as one they raised their wands and shouted, "Impedimenta!"

The creature stopped entirely this time, mere feet from Harry. Harry and Ron wasted no time, not sure how long the Hippocampus was stopped. They swam down toward Kelly and Ron picked her up, Harry barely able to do so with one arm, and they swam away as quick as they could, hoping the Hippocampus was still frozen.

To their immense relief five minutes later, they had seen no sign on the beast.

"Well…" Ron said finally, "that was lovely."

"Yes, especially now that we lost Kelly. Hold on… the Reviving Spell! Ron, put Kelly down!" Harry exclaimed, ecstatic at the prospect of getting her back.

Ron set her down and Harry quickly pointed his wand at her and muttered, "Ennervate!"

Kelly didn't move.

"Harry," Ron asked apprehensively, "she's not…"

Harry felt for a pulse, his pulse seeming to go off the charts. He sighed in relief. "No, she's still alive."

"Then how come…?"

"I dunno…."

They didn't move or say anything for a moment. Ron still looked fearful at Kelly, and Harry wasn't quite sure what to think. Why wouldn't she wake up? Could she not be revived by spells, as a drawback to her secret?

But she could be healed by one. That had been proven several times. Why not revived, too?

"C'mon," Ron murmured. "Let's grab her and go."

Ron picked her up and started swimming again. Harry, looking around, however, didn't move.

"C'mon, Harry," Ron said again.

"Ron…." Harry whispered.

"What?" Ron asked, totally confused.

An ugly, long-fingered, pale green monster was about to grab Ron. "LOOK OUT!"

It grabbed Ron's foot before Ron even realized something was wrong. The grindylow pulled Ron and Kelly down into the field of seaweed.

"RON! KELLY!" Harry screamed, racing toward the spot where they'd fallen as fast as his right arm would allow.

Harry dived into the seaweed, not at all sure how deep it went or what he was expecting. He couldn't continue without them, that was all he knew.

He hit the ground very quickly. His body did fit into the seaweed, but there was not much more room space. He looked around, but could see nothing but a sea of green all around him. A space of seaweed did seem to be a bit flatter than the rest, however. Harry quickly raced in that direction.

The trail kept going, and Harry was sure he was not gaining on the grindylow. Then the seaweed did a horrible thing: it split into two paths that were flat. There must be two grindylows now. Harry took the left path and prayed sincerely that he would reach Ron or Kelly quickly.

A muffled cry came from ahead. "H-Harry!"

"RON!" Harry yelled, and Ron's cries for help became silent. "RON!"

Harry swam up. He wouldn't travel through the maze of seaweed when he could see above it, and that was always better than going through it.

Ron was several yards away. Harry dared a quick look around for Kelly and whatever had taken her the opposite direction, but she was no where to be seen.

"Ha--"
"I'M COMING! HOLD ON!" Harry bellowed, making a beeline straight toward Ron. He was gaining… the grindylow looked over its shoulder, nerves taking over. At seeing Harry mere feet away, it dropped Ron and headed off on its own, moving much faster with so less a load.

"Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked, helping Ron up.

"Yeah… blimey, that was hard. You try not suffocating from one of those things… eurgh… what was it again? A grilymow?" Ron asked.

"Grindylow," Harry corrected. "We can explain it later, though. I don't know where Kelly is."

"Another grindylow came and took her in the opposite direction," Ron informed him quickly.

"C'mon," Harry said, and they swam up and started swimming toward the path the grindylow had taken.

"Harry, d'you think we can save her?" Ron asked as he searched for the grindylow.

"I know we can," Harry assured him. "How long ago were you separated?"

"Not long after you got me," Ron answered, still searching.

Something bobbed above the seaweed, then disappeared below it.

"What…?" Harry asked, staring at the spot.

"There!" Ron exclaimed; the thing had bobbed up and then disappeared again.

"Come on!" Harry exclaimed as he swam as fast as his one arm would let him.

Ron swam right by his side, then started to get ahead. "C'mon, or we'll loose them!"

"You go on ahead," Harry told him, "I'll catch up!"

Ron looked hesitant for a moment. He looked at where what looked like Kelly's hand was bobbing up and down, visible then gone. He imagined the praise he would receive for rescuing Kelly, then looked back at Harry, struggling to keep up.

"C'mon," Ron said, going back to help Harry.

"Ron, go get her!" said Harry.

"Not without you," Ron said loyally. He grabbed Harry and started swimming hard, attempting to help Harry go faster.

Harry was deeply thankful for Ron's care for him, but he wasn't going to loose Kelly. "Ron, get your sorry butt down there and get her! We can't lose her! She's got the gillyweed and the brains, for a start, and--"

"Not… without… you…." Ron panted.

"Ron, honestly!" Harry exclaimed, though resolving to kick his feet a lot harder.

"Almost… there…" Ron breathed.

He was quite right, in fact. What Harry was positive was Kelly's hand was now floating mere feet away. Her hand disappeared again.

"Ron, go," Harry ordered with an air of one in command of a huge army.

Ron hesitated. "But…"

"NOW!"

Ron quickly let go of Harry and swam toward Kelly's just-appeared hand. He lunged at her hand and grabbed it. Ron tugged hard and half of Kelly became visible, her face pale in the shadows of the water. Her head lagged, showing she was still unconscious.

Then another jerk--the grindylow knew how to play. Ron looked taken aback for a moment, then tugged again. The grindylow tugged back.

Harry took out his wand and quietly entered the mountain of seaweed. He could just see the grindylow up ahead, though its attention was on Ron. Harry pointed his wand at the grindylow and muttered, "Stupefy!"

The grindylow quickly fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Got her!" Ron exclaimed triumphantly. "Harry, look, I did it all by my--Harry?"

"Right here," Harry said, swimming upward so he could see Ron. Ron still had Kelly by the hand and was, in Harry's opinion, unnecessarily carrying her. Harry was about to protest, but his voice suddenly stopped working, as did his lungs and his gills. "Gillyweed!"

Ron quickly started rummaging through Kelly's pockets and took out two pieces of gillyweed. He tossed one to Harry and swallowed the other immediately. Harry's didn't get to him, however; it hovered for a moment, then started falling.

Harry, now certain he wouldn't live to see Hermione again, swam toward it. His lungs were clouding up and it was still out reach. Ron's voice of telling Harry to hurry was becoming increasingly distant by the second. His vision was blurred, and getting darker all the while….

His hand grasped the gillyweed and he shoved it in his mouth just as blackness swept over him.