So, hello everyone, welcome back.

I'm very sorry for the late response on these, I mean it's already the middle of Feb, but life has been crazy.

Had a Rona scare earlier this month and have been extra careful, especially since I live with high risk individuals so I've been doing everything I can to be safe and cautious.

In other news I got a new Desktop, so I had to transfer some files over from my old Laptop for some reason that hasn't been easy. But in any case, here we are! So, please enjoy!


Last Time on Black and White:

The barbs from the audience wouldn't stop, they threw insults, and statements at Andrew as though they would make him back out. But Andrew was remembering something he tried a few days earlier with Professor Flitwick.

"God, I hope this works, Professor. Cause the crowd maybe arseholes, but they're right I can't swim." he muttered quietly to himself before he opened his eyes and raised his wand at the surface of the lake. And with a deep breath he cast his first spell in the second task of the Tournament.

"Glacius!"


Book 4 – Chapter 32: Task 2 Part 2

The freezing charm began covering the surface of the lake, Andrew forced his magic to focus it into a form of a straight line. Or rather as straight as it could be. He ignored everyone around him as he continued to spell the water.

Taking a tentative step, he tested the thickness and felt comfortable enough that he could walk along the ice, and so he began to walk, all the while freezing the section in front of him.

"Okay, so I need to get as close to the centre as possible. They're more than likely around that area." he muttered to himself as he continued on his way, as carefully as he could. This went on for a little while until he was sure he was close enough.

"I can only hold this for about 30 minutes. Christ, I hope they're close."

Andrew then performed the bubble head charm before taking a short breath and leaping into the ocean. He needed to go deeper for the next phase of his plan.

'Just kick your feet.' he remembered the twins telling him when he asked for some swimming advice. He began doing just that and found himself going deeper into the dark depths of the Lake. The water caused him to shiver, Andrew hated the cold.

Once he was confident that he was deep enough he looked around and pulled his wand from the holster they had provided for the task.

"Homenum Revelio" he spoke. He sent out the probe, hoping to get something back. He picked up a few bodies above him, and realised he wasn't deep enough, he would need to dive deeper.

After another five minutes of swimming straight down, Andrew tried the spell again and felt it ping back to him. Four people, he sighed happily. He had used a lot of power for the spell, hoping to get it as far out as possible. More or less Three kilometres out, to his right.

He began swimming in that direction, he cancelled the revealing spell and swapped it out for the Lumos Charm. He then began berating himself for being surprised that the Black Lake was dark. After ten minutes Andrew saw something that caused him to frown. It looked like a stone arch, moulded stone covered in plants, buildings of old, lost to time, and eroded by the harsh conditions of the seasons.

He stared in awe for a moment when he felt another shiver travel up his spine. He spun as quickly as he could and looked around, his wand lighting as much as possible but still left a large variety of the Lake uncertain. Someone or something was watching him. He really didn't like the thought of that, and decided it would be in his best interest to move on and get this task done as quickly as possible.

He began on his way once again, following the ping from before. Andrew was very tempted to stop and look around but the thought of being watched quickly made him abandon the thought as he continued on his way.

"Harry, you still okay?" he sent out to his brother.

"Yeah, still okay. But I have to admit, it's really cold here."

At his brother's response Andrew frowned. He looked to his left.

"Harry?"

"...Yeah?"

Andrew twitched... it was as close to a jump that he could do, given his current placement. He certainly felt his brother, he could feel the connection to his brother grow stronger and pull him to the left rather than down the way he was originally headed. He frowned, then what were the four he felt from before?

He tried the revealing spell once more and felt absolutely nothing. Nothing had been there any more, then what the hell did he feel the first time?!

Shaking his head and realising he only had about fifteen minutes left before his bubble head charm failed he turned to his left and made his way to his brother. After a small while Andrew stumbled onto what he could only describe as a town square, of sorts. Their was a large open space with buildings surrounding it, he could see four figures tied by string to the rocky bottom, weightlessly suspended within the middle of it.

He shook his thoughts clear and made his way over to the figures and approached each one, inspecting their faces; Cho Chang, Su Li, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

Andrew clutched his teeth angrily. "Fucking stupid organisers... I swear to God when I'm out of here..." he grumbled angrily.

Andrew pulled his wand and was about to sever the rope connecting Harry to the bottom when he frowned and stopped.

Harry was his hostage... right? It was only logical that Andrew had to save Harry, they were brothers. But then... who was supposed to get Su or Hermione? He paused and frowned again.

"Okay, so Cedric for Cho, obviously, they're dating, he cares more for her than the others, so that makes sense. Hermione... she could be my target, we've been friends since first year... we were friends... until recently. But..."

Before Andrew could continue his train of thoughts he felt a shift and quickly turned to see a fucking shark, it's god damned maw just inches away from him. Dodging as quickly as he could he reacted on instinct and sent a cutting charm at it. He watched as it sliced into the top of its head. He readied his wand for another attack when he saw it turn to him and shoot a glare.

Andrew blinked. And blinked again. Did this shark have arms and legs? Why did this shark have arms and legs?! Oh fuck!

"Shit, I am so sorry! I thought you were..." he didn't get to finish when he felt a sudden pain in his abdomen and looked down to see something dark oozing from a wound in his side. He looked back to the shark-man holding his own wand trained on him. Judging by the dark red swimwear Andrew guessed that it was Krum.

He groaned when a wave of pain rocked through him. "Fucking twat. I said I was sorry!"

Krum seemed to pay him no attention as he sent a cutting charm at Hermione's bonds and began pulling her up to the surface with him. Andrew watched them go while holding his side.

"Potter! What's going on?!" he heard from behind him, he turned to see Cedric swimming up.

"Don't worry about it, I don't have much time, I'm trying to figure out who my hostage is."

"Wouldn't it be Su?" Cedric asked with a small frown.

"But Harry's my-"

"Andrew, Krum had Hermione; I saw him swim away with her. I have Cho, you have Su and Fleur has Harry. They're who we went to the Ball with, mate!" Cedric explained quickly.

Andrew's eyes widened and he slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Of course! Damn it, I'm such a moron!"

"Hey why are you bleeding?!" Cedric asked in concern as he swam around the boy.

"Krum, but it's my fault, I cast first. So, it was self-defence." Andrew answered with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it. Have you seen Fleur anywhere?" he asked with a frown.

Andrew only had about five minutes left on the charm and was starting to get a little stressed.

"No, but we've got to move, ten minutes until the task ends. Grab Su and let's go!" Cedric responded while cutting Cho free.

Logically, Andrew knew Cedric was right and that if he wanted to get back to the surface alive he'd have to move right now, but he couldn't just leave his brother.

"Go! You care more about this whole thing than I do anyway, I don't care if I don't get any points. I'm cutting both out."

As Cedric swam away Andrew grabbed his wand and immediately cut Su free before he turned it on Harry's binding until he felt something poke his back and his neck.

He turned and knew he would never see mermaids the same way again.

"Only one!" it rasped at him.

"Oh, fuck off, what are you going to do? Kill me? Please." Andrew ignored before he cut Harry's binding and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Looking down Andrew saw the sharp end of a spear poking at his shoulder.

He felt his blood boil and turned to face the fish people.

"I'm going to make you regret that." he growled. "Bombarda! Diffindo!"

His first spell flew true hitting the mermaid's spear making it shatter as his second spell cut the spear tip off the other.

"You still wish to go on?!" he yelled angrily, his breath becoming ragged. He only had so much time left.

The mermaids began screeching at one another angrily, all the while pointing at him. It didn't take long before Andrew figured out what they had been doing, as he saw more figures begin to swim out of the stone buildings around him. He didn't need any more urging, as he knew this would not work in his favour. He swam as quickly as he could, grabbing his two hostages and began kicking like mad to reach the surface.

He felt the air in his bubble becoming thinner as the seconds passed and he was no near the surface, not to mention the continued screeching of the mer-people below him. He had to do something and fast. He pushed the two hostages up using as much of his strength as possible before sending a light banishing charm at them to allow them to accelerate at a faster pace right before he felt his ankle get grabbed and pulled back down.

HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP

Harry felt a sudden sensation of air being pulled into his lungs and gasped deeply before immediately spitting out water that somehow made its way into his mouth. Where was he?! He heard another gasp and turned to see Su next to him. She also seemed extremely confused as to what was happening.

"Harry! Su! Over here!" he heard, turning to see Hermione waving him over, she stood on a platform and he could see many others standing on the platform waiting for them and calling them over.

He grabbed Su and the two began making their way over, well Su more than him, thanks to the Dursley's refusing to take him or his brother to any swimming lessons. It took a while as he was ashamed to admit that she pulled him along more than he did her.

Once they reached the platform they were pulled out of the freezing waters and were immediately given towels and had some warming charms cast on them. He looked around and saw Ron coming over with Luna towing along closely.

"Harry! You're alright!"

"Yeah... yeah, I am, but I'm bloody freezing!" he said as his teeth chattered involuntarily.

"'Arry! You are alright! I am so, so, so, sorry!" Fleur yelled as she threw her arms around the boy and squeezed tightly.

"I'm fine, Fleur, it's okay. Really."

"Harry, where is Andrew?" he heard. Looking up he saw Dumbledore standing a little ways away with a look of concern on his face.

"I- I don't know. Isn't he up here?"

"Unfortunately, not." Dumbledore responded before he quickly walked around the teens and created a walkway similar to Andrew's one, but made of wood rather than ice. He walked out to the middle of the Lake and plunged his wand into the water.

The crowds noise level drastically fell as they watched the Headmaster. There were a few whispers before Ludo's voice boomed over the attendees.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it would seem as though there might be a bit of trouble as our youngest champion, Andrew Potter has yet to come out of the Lake."

"Did he drown?!" A voice yelled out. Harry immediately recognizing it as Malfoy's. There seemed to be a few Slytherins who chuckled at the question.

"That's what you get for being cocky and entering a tournament made for adults!"

There were more mutters and uncaring insults threw at the potentially drowned boy and Harry felt himself becoming progressively angrier and angrier.

"Vell are ve surprise? 'e vas alvays making light of de tournament. Lessons must be learnt."

That was the last straw.

"Shut your fucking mouth Krum, or I'll make you shut it." Harry growled as he turned to glare at the older teen. "God, I get it now, I get why he hates you."

"Oh, so you are boy's brother then?"

"Krum, just shut up." Harry snapped. "Something serious might have happened, can you not for just two minutes forget that he hurt your feelings and actually care?!"

There was a beat of silence as everyone watched the younger teen step up to the older boy.

"You are being a right dick." Cedric added as he too glared at the Bulgarian teen.

"Herminniny, zese are your friends?" he asked glaring at the surrounding teens, he placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Don't touch me." she said simply.

"Vhat?"

"Get away from me. I defended you. I told Andrew you weren't too bad, that you were actually kind and sweet. I lost my best friend because I took your side over his and you go and say that? As if everyone's going to just agree with you? Don't touch me and don't ever approach me again, Krum."

Hermione's voice was cold, she didn't yell, she didn't glare, she wasn't heaving in anger. If anything, she looked completely devoid of any emotion, as if she were seeing Krum as nothing more than an insect invading her personal space.

"There!" Someone yelled seeing Dumbledore pull something out of the Lake, Harry and co. abandoned Krum and immediately began moving.

When he got closer he paused, his eyes going wide at what he witnessed in front of him. Andrew, his body was covered in cuts, bite marks and several gaping wounds.

"Pomfrey!" he heard Dumbledore yell out. The Medi-witch seemed to materialise beside him and gasped as she looked at Andrew.

"Albus! What happened?!" she asked as she began to work.

"That is what I intend to find out." the Headmaster said with a growl.

"Albus, I must get him to the Hospital Wing, immediately." Pomfrey said urgently.

"Yes, please go, I will sort out this mess." Dumbledore responded, it was then that he turned and noticed Harry. "Harry, I need you to go tell the officials that Andrew was injured and will not be present to hear his final tally."

At his words Harry quickly nodded and turned to leave when he saw the others standing not too far away from him. Hermione, Ron, Su and Luna as well as Fleur and Cedric holding a shocked looking Cho. He then moved and went to relay Dumbledore's message.

"Ah, well that is unfortunate, it would appear as though Andrew Potter has run into some troubles but has been taken to the tender care of Madam Pomfrey. As such, we will now present the scores for the champions!"

Harry couldn't care less, he wanted to go check on his brother but he also felt as though he needed to speak to Dumbledore about what had happened. He figured that Pomfrey would not allow Andrew to leave for at least a month and he would have time to see his brother, right now, he needed to talk to the Headmaster.

Harry walked back over the conjured bridge and made his way to Dumbledore.

"Sir..."

"Harry now would not be a good time. I know you wish for answers and you shall receive them, but I must first understand what has transpired. I expect you and possibly those who know of Andrew's... affliction to be in my office before supper. Shall we say, 6 this evening?"

All the teen could do was nod numbly. So, he needed to grab the others and let them know that Dumbledore wanted to speak to them all.

The scores were called and Harry found himself seething at Andrew getting a low score for; going over time and failing to emerge with his hostages. Fuck these guys.

"As it stands at the end of the second task the scores are as follows; First Place with 84 points is Viktor Krum! Followed by 77 points for Cedric Diggory! Sadly, due to several point deductions Andrew Potter has dropped in the scores currently sitting at: 67 points and finally Miss Delacour has also had points deducted for not being able to get past a few Grindylows, she currently sits at 50 points!"

"What?! That's a load!" Harry heard Ron yell angrily.

"Drop it, these adults are mental. Let's go check up on Drew." Luna said pulling Ron by the arm and motioning to the others.

HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP

Madam Pomfrey refused any visitors for the injured boy. When they went to see the Headmaster, the aged professor met them at the base of the staircase leading to his office and promised that he would let them know, but for now, he needed to ensure several factors were secured. He would then send for a professor to collect the children.

Dumbledore watched the dejected teens walk away and sighed before he turned and headed towards his office.

Once he reached it he closed it and rubbed his face.

"So, Headmaster what has Potter done this time?"

"Honestly Severus, do you truly believe this is the appropriate moment for your petty and misguided hatred?" Dumbledore asked shooting the man a look.

Snape seemed to have swallowed for a moment before he responded.

"I apologise, Headmaster."

"Good, now to answer your question; the Mer-people attacked Andrew because they felt he was being a threat."

"Threat?"

"Yes, according to them, Andrew Potter, went to untie two hostages when he was only scheduled to take one. They informed him of this, and he responded aggressively causing them to attack."

Snape seemed to frown.

"And that was enough to drown the boy?" Snape asked, his tone dripping with scepticism.

Dumbledore snorted softly at that.

"No, it was the sudden feeling of panic that filled them which forced them to attack."

"Panic?"

"No matter how intelligent they may appear, Mer-people are still creatures, they have an almost animalistic panic response, they swarm and try to drown the threat. Apparently, something in Andrew caused this panic response to activate."

Snape frowned for a moment. "So, it is without a doubt the curse?"

"I fear with the trials and backlash from the wizarding community Andrew's feeling a large amount of stress and anger, this is all accumulating and the curse is feeding off of it."

"So, what does that mean?"

Dumbledore watched his young Potions Professor and seemed to sigh tiredly.

"It means Andrew might be deteriorating faster than we anticipated."

HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP

Viktor Krum angrily walked over to the Slytherin table after the events of the day. He thought back to Hermione and her little friends ganging up on him for that disrespectful trash, Potter. He thought back and realised he might have been a bit too aggressive in his assessment of the boy, but the slash on his scalp denied that thought. Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to scare the boy and just done his task? But was it truly an appropriate response? Well, he got him back with the piecing spell so Viktor assumed it was done.

He sat down as was once again bombarded by the white-haired annoyance, Malfoy.

"Hey Viktor. What happened to your head?" the boy asked with a frown.

"Ze Task."

"Really? I heard from father it wasn't supposed to be a violent task at all. Is that what happened to Potter 2?"

"Vhat you mean?"

"He came back with a hole in his stomach, nearly drowned and a bite and scratch marks." Draco informed him. "Serves him right. Walking around this school like he owns it."

Viktor leaned on his hands and thought for a moment. Why would the boy be attacked and yet he receives no trouble at all for being partially a shark? What did the boy do?