It was the night before the second task and Rachel was feeling a little bit jittery. She'd had dinner with Severus and gone over her plans with him again and neither of them could think of anything else they could do before the task actually began. Rachel had rejoined her friends and they'd written an essay on the Severing charm. They had all wished Rachel luck and assured her they'd see her in the morning before the second task began.
Rather than sitting around in the common room, Rachel had gone into her dorm room and started writing in her journal, breaking down all of the things she was worried about and what she could possibly do about them. Millie was on her bed with the second Alanna book, because Rachel had loaned them to Millie after she'd loaned them to Theo.
"Rachel? Are you there?"
Rachel dropped her quill and looked around the room.
"What was that?" Millie asked.
"Rachel?" the voice called again.
This time Rachel recognized it. "Sirius." She got up and pulled the mirror Sirius had given her out of the drawer in her bedside table. "Sirius, can you hear me?"
"I can," Sirius said, his face appearing in the mirror. "Can you talk? Are you alone?"
Rachel glanced at Millie, who was already getting off her bed.
"I'll let you talk to Sirius, I'll be in our usual spot, just come find me when you're done," Millie said, taking her book with her as she left.
"Thanks," Rachel said, sitting back down on her bed. "I'm alone now, I can talk for a little while."
Sirius smiled. "Good. In your letter you said that the second task is tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow morning at nine thirty," Rachel said with a nod.
"How are you feeling about it?" Sirius asked.
"Well, we've been practicing. The gillyweed works pretty well, and I can still cast spells with it even though I can't speak while using it," Rachel said. "I'm scared though. I still feel like I'm missing something."
"It's okay to be scared. It's a scary situation. I know Dumbledore isn't going to hurt you on purpose, but this tournament wasn't exactly designed with your safety in mind," Sirius said.
"And it's not just me. I know I'm prepared as I can be, but what about the others? Maybe I should have tried to help them more?" Rachel said, frowning as she tried to remember if there was anything she could have told them but didn't.
"Don't worry too much about the others, they all put their names in the Goblet, they signed up for this," Sirius said.
"That doesn't mean they should die," Rachel said.
"No, it doesn't, and I'm not saying that either," Sirius said. "I'm saying they knew what they were getting into and they're preparing themselves too. In a way they have even more of an incentive than you do, they want to win, and that means not just surviving, but doing better than the others. I think they'll be alright."
"I hope so," Rachel said. "They're all pretty smart and they're good at magic."
"They'd have to be for their names to be drawn in the first place. Now, I think you should take your pocket knife with you for the task. The blade will cut through just about anything, so if the merpeople are keeping whatever they took locked up you don't have to search for a key, you can just cut straight through the lock," Sirius said.
"That's a good idea. I can fit it in the pocket in my wetsuit," Rachel said.
"Wetsuit?" Sirius asked.
"Special muggle clothes designed to keep you warm underwater," Rachel explained.
"Well, you'll need it. It's going to be freezing in there," Sirius said. "I know something that will make you feel better."
"Oh?" Rachel asked. She didn't have the slightest idea of what Sirius would think would make her feel better.
"I'll tell you about something that happened in our first year at Hogwarts. James, Remus, me, and Pettigrew, we had taken to exploring the castle after curfew. Mostly to see what was out there, but there was also the thrill of sneaking around in the dark and evading Filch. We were just in our pranking infancy, so mostly we were changing colors of things, making things smell bad, drawing mustaches on the suits of armor, the usual stuff," Sirius explained.
Rachel hadn't known there was a usual stuff when it came to pranking. She supposed the Weasley twins would know.
"So one night we had tried to get back into the common room, but the Fat Lady wasn't in her frame. So we went looking for her, but realized that Filch was on our tail. We hid behind the tapestry on the seventh floor. I'm sure you've seen it, the one of Barnabus the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet?" Sirius asked.
"I think so," Rachel said. She vaguely recalled seeing trolls in ballet costumes somewhere in the castle. Why someone would have wanted to make a tapestry of it, she hadn't the slightest idea.
"Anyway, we're hiding and suddenly we hear the sound of someone pissing," Sirius said, starting to laugh.
Rachel stared at the mirror.
"It was James, who had apparently been wanting to visit the toilet for a while now, but got so scared as Filch grew closer that he pissed himself," Sirius said, laughing harder. "Fortunately he stopped by the time Filch caught up with us. Eventually Filch left and we snuck back down to our common room. Had a good laugh over it back in our dorm."
Rachel forced herself to smile. "Okay?" she said. Apparently it was possible to know too much about your parents. Or maybe it was just certain things she really didn't need to know about them.
"My point is even if you get so scared you piss yourself, it's okay. Your dad did it too and in a much less scary situation. Besides, you'll be in the lake, no one will even know if you piss," Sirius said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, though she definitely had no intention of peeing in the lake.
"Do you have a plan if you run into trouble?" Sirius asked.
"I'm going to use the Revulsion jinx if I run into any grindylows. The rest I'm kind of just taking as it goes," Rachel said. "Unfortunately the Shield charm doesn't work underwater, but stunning and banishing do. I'm a little afraid to stun something underwater in case it drowns. You don't think that would cause a merperson to drown, do you?"
"No, they'd be fine, it would just be like being asleep for them, they don't breathe the way humans do. I don't think you're going to have to stun the merpeople. They wouldn't agree to being used like that in the tournament. I'm surprised they're participating at all, but Dumbledore does have a way of getting what he wants from people," Sirius said.
"Oh, did you see the article in the paper? The one that Professor Dumbledore wrote?" Rachel asked.
"I did. It was a nice change of pace from the Prophet's usual fare. I take it he was trying to challenge what Skeeter prints?" Sirius asked.
Rachel nodded. "Yes, Severus asked him to after the article Rita Skeeter wrote about the Yule Ball."
"Well, hopefully it works. Skeeter has made herself a lot of enemies, it wouldn't surprise me if she winds up at the wrong end of someone's wand one day," Sirius said.
Rachel shrugged. She couldn't bring herself to feel bad for Rita Skeeter. "How is Remus doing?"
"He's doing well. I've said plenty of things about Snape, and will continue to say them, but he's still making the Wolfsbane for Remus. I don't know whether Dumbledore asked him to or not, but he is. And that helps Remus a lot with his recovery from the transformation," Sirius said. "Used to be when we were in school that Remus would just be healed from all of his injuries when the full moon would be barely a week away. It helped when James and I were able to contain him in our animagus forms, we kept him from hurting himself, but the Wolfsbane is better by a large margin."
"I'm glad it helps," Rachel said. And she was glad Severus was still making it for him. She knew that Severus didn't particularly like Sirius or Remus.
"When is your next Hogsmeade weekend?" Sirius asked.
"Right before the Easter holiday," Rachel said.
"Good, and in the meantime we can stay in touch through the mirror and letters. Anything else going on at Hogwarts? Karkaroff is behaving himself?" Sirius asked.
Rachel shook her head. "We're mostly just studying. The only time I see Professor Karkaroff is in the Great Hall at meals."
"Good, if that changes, let me know. Let Snape know too because he can probably do something about it quicker," Sirius said. "I want to know how the task goes tomorrow. I'll keep the mirror with me, so you can call for me at any time."
"I will, but probably not until evening when I have the dorm room to myself," Rachel said.
"Alright. Do you need anything?" Sirius asked.
"No, I'm okay," Rachel said. And weirdly, she was. Talking with Sirius had helped a little bit.
"Okay. Good luck," Sirius said. "And goodnight."
"Thanks. Goodnight," Rachel said. She watched as Sirius' face disappeared and the mirror became a reflective surface again. She sat for a moment, staring at herself, before she shook herself out of it and put the mirror away.
She was going to let Millie know it was okay to come back into the dorm, and then she was going to get ready for bed. Hopefully she'd be able to sleep tonight, but she wasn't counting on it. This time tomorrow the task would be finished. She hoped everyone would be okay at the end of it.
Severus sat in his armchair, delaying going to bed. He was fairly certain Rachel was already asleep, but part of him had wished he'd asked her to stay in his quarters for the night. At least then he'd know if she was up worrying.
She had seemed anxious while they had dinner, but she had assured him that she was as prepared as possible. He knew she had practiced multiple times with the Gillyweed, but swimming deep into the lake was a far different prospect than taking a swim in the bath in the prefect's bathroom. Perhaps he should have encouraged her to take a practice swim in the lake despite the cold weather.
It was too late to second guess himself. And overall the task seemed less threatening than the first task. The grindylows weren't likely to be much of a threat and Rachel was well prepared to deal with them.
The flames in his fireplace turned green. "Severus, could you come through?" Albus asked.
"On my way," Severus called, so Albus would know to back away from the fireplace. He stepped through the flames and into Albus' office, feeling no small amount of trepidation to be summoned on the night before a tournament task.
"How are you this evening, Severus?" Albus asked.
"I am well," Severus said. "And yourself?"
"Well enough," Albus said. "I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you here so late. I wanted to make sure your House was situated for the evening first."
"What is the problem?" Severus asked, adjusting his thoughts to prepare for news about the Dark Lord.
"No problem, not at all," Albus said, shaking his head. "You will be what Rachel is retrieving in the second task."
"Pardon me?" Severus asked, though he understood what Albus intended well enough.
"We have performed an Affinity spell to select who is held most dear by our champions, and they will be tasked with rescuing those who were selected by the Affinity spell. Naturally we had to adjust it slightly to make sure the person was here at Hogwarts," Albus said.
"And when you performed the Affinity spell for Rachel, it selected me? Not one of her friends?" Severus asked, putting aside the fact that he was essentially being taken hostage for just a moment.
Albus went over to his desk and performed the spell, Severus following him to watch. Sure enough, the peacock feather quill on Albus' desk popped up and wrote Severus' name in a neat script. "I think it's very sweet. You've done well with her," Albus said.
Severus was touched despite himself. Rachel was very reserved in her affections, but it was clear he meant more to her than he'd realized. "I hadn't realized that you had intended to use people for the champions to rescue," he said, not having to say the part that he had expected Albus to tell him as much.
"It was a point of contention between the judges, I was outvoted," Albus said. "We only made the final decision today. The others believed that the champions would have more motivation and feel more was at stake if it was a person they were rescuing."
"Despite the Affinity spell, perhaps it would be better if Miss Bulstrode or one of Rachel's other friends was selected," Severus said. He wanted to be there in the morning to reassure Rachel before the task.
"I'd rather have you present in the lake, actually. My intention was to adjust the charm on you so that you wake up shortly after the hour time limit has been reached, rather than when you surface. This way you're equipped to assist Rachel and whoever else is still in the lake once the time limit has passed," Albus said.
Severus considered that. It was true that he'd rather be close at hand to help Rachel if she needed it and he would be a long way away if he remained on the shore. Finally he nodded. "That seems reasonable. If she's longer than the time limit she'll likely need my assistance," he said.
"I'm glad we agree. You and the others will have breathing spells that will be active for as long as you're beneath the water and a light sleeping spell. Your sleeping spell will end at roughly ten minutes after the time limit. Do you wish to change into different robes before you're placed in the water?" Albus asked.
"No, these are fine," Severus said, as he was already in his casual evening robes. I assume Minerva is watching over my House in my absence?"
"Yes, though it will only be until ten thirty tomorrow morning. I'm sure your House will manage, you've trained your prefects well," Albus said.
Severus hesitated, but finally nodded. They could manage without him for one night and Rachel knew to find Poppy or Minerva if she couldn't find him.
"Is there anything you need to do first?" Albus asked.
"No, I'm ready," Severus said. He suspected it would take a little while for them to be successfully placed into the lake.
"Let's floo down to the hospital wing and Poppy will get you ready," Albus said.
Once they were in the hospital wing Severus noticed that three of the beds were occupied. Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw fifth year occupied one - Severus presumed she was for Cedric Diggory. Predrag Petrovic, the Durmstrang boy who he almost never saw outside of Viktor Krum's company occupied the next bed. And Fleur Delacour's little sister occupied the next.
Severus once again wondered at the wisdom of using living hostages. Clearly either or both Maxime or Karkaroff had not objected for Albus to have lost the vote between judges.
"No need to worry, Severus," Poppy said as she came over. "I'll be on hand by the lake with Pepper-Up potion for everyone once this is done, though I've already made my objections to this task known."
Severus was certain Poppy had some choice words for Albus about sending students into the lake in February.
"I'll see you by the lakeside tomorrow morning," Albus said.
"You will," Severus agreed, reluctantly lying down on the hospital bed. The last thing he saw was Albus' wand moving in a broad stroke.
"Where do you think he is? Should we try his office again?" Rachel asked as she peered back in the Great Hall. No one was in there. She hadn't seen Severus at breakfast and she'd dropped by his office and quarters after she'd gone back to her dorm to get her wetsuit on.
"Maybe he's with Professor Dumbledore and he's already by the lake," Millie said.
"I don't think we have time to look again," Theo said. "You've got to be out there in less than fifteen minutes."
Rachel frowned. It was a little upsetting that he wasn't there. He was supposed to be there. He said he would be there.
"Do you have everything you need?" Hermione asked.
Not really, she needed Severus. "Wand, tether, pocket knife, wetsuit, Gillyweed," Rachel said, patting down her pockets underneath her cloak.
"Good, and no matter what happens it will be over in an hour," Hermione said. "You'll do fine, you've practiced for this, you know what to do."
"We believe in you," Neville said.
"You'll do great, I bet you'll be the first one back," Ginny said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, though she was having a hard time believing what they were saying. "While I'm in the water will you see if you can figure out what happened to Professor Snape?"
"We'll ask around and see if anyone knows where he is," Luna said.
"Don't worry about that right now, just concentrate on the task. Let us handle Professor Snape," Hermione said. She checked her watch. "We've got to get out there."
Rachel chewed on her lip as they went down to the lake. This was not a good way to start the second task. It was weird to realize how much she'd come to rely on Severus and him suddenly not being there was not a good feeling.
There were stands set up around the edge of the lake and they were filled with students. A table was set up right next to the lake and Rachel saw that the judges and the other champions were gathered there. Rachel looked around the crowd, but she didn't see Severus anywhere.
"I'll walk over with you, so that way you can give me your cloak and shoes," Millie said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, though she was not looking forward to taking off her cloak and shoes, there was still snow on the ground and it was quite cold.
As she came closer to the judges table she saw that Cedric and Viktor were both already in swimming trunks, while Fleur was holding her cloak closed.
"Good luck," Millie said.
"Thanks," Rachel said. She bent down and took off her shoes first, she hadn't bothered with socks, and then handed Millie her cloak and her glasses. "See you soon."
"Yep, one hour. That's all," Millie said, giving her a small smile.
Rachel shivered and managed a small smile back.
She joined the other champions in front of the table and Mr. Crouch checked his pocket watch.
"It's time to begin," Mr. Crouch said. "Let's have the champions take their places."
Mr. Bagman got up and began spacing them along the edge of the lake, Fleur taking off her cloak and handing it to Madame Maxime before she left.
"Good luck," Cedric said to Rachel as she passed by.
"You too," Rachel said.
"Are you ready, Rachel?" Mr. Bagman asked quietly as he guided her to her place at the end of the line.
"Yes," Rachel said, though she turned and took another look at the crowd, trying to see if Severus was there, but her distance vision was blurry enough that she couldn't make out any individuals further away than the judges table.
"Our champions are now ready for the second task!" Mr. Bagman announced from the judges table, his voice booming out. "The task will start on my whistle, at which time the champions will have one hour to bring back what has been taken from them."
Rachel wondered again what they had taken from her. She hadn't noticed anything missing from her dorm, so that probably meant they had taken her broomstick, which she wasn't particularly pleased about.
"One. Two. Three!" Mr. Bagman's shrill whistle sounded and Rachel put the Gillyweed in her mouth and managed to swallow it.
She began to wade out into the water, regretting it instantly because it was so cold that it was painful. There were splashes off to her side as the other champions disappeared beneath the water. Her feet were slowly growing numb and the wetsuit wasn't doing all that much to keep her warm. Finally, when she was about waist deep in the water, she felt the now familiar suffocating feeling and dropped down into the water.
It was a relief to breathe and the water didn't feel nearly as cold now, it was now just mildly cool. Mindful of Severus' advice to stay out of the weeds, Rachel began swimming further into the lake, heading steadily down.
She was surprised by how rapidly it grew dark. She couldn't tell how far into the lake she'd gone, but she could only barely tell where the light was coming from now. "Lumos," she said, though nothing came out but bubbles, but the end of her wand obligingly lit up. It was a little more difficult to swim while holding her wand, but her legs were doing most of the work propelling her forward.
With her wand lit she could see movement in the weeds below and she went forward for a ways before going down again to give herself some more space between her and the grindylows. Maybe she should have worn her watch, then she could check how long it had been since she left the shore, but she hadn't wanted to ruin it in the water. It felt like it had been a long time already. She had another dose of Gillyweed in her pocket in case hers ran out while she was still underwater, but she knew she'd be well outside of the time limit if that became necessary.
She'd have to tell Sirius that he needn't have bothered with coming in the lake while he was a student. There really wasn't much to see. She decided that was a good thing. She'd really rather not encounter the giant squid while she was down here.
Eventually she began to hear a noise, faint at first, and then growing louder as she grew closer. She could tell it was the same song from the egg. That must mean she was nearly there. She kept swimming at a steady pace, knowing that going back up was going to be more difficult than coming down had been.
She passed a large rock with paintings of merpeople on it, along with what looked like the giant squid. Hopefully the size comparison was not accurate.
Then she saw them. The merpeople were gathered around stone dwellings, their skin grey, with yellow eyes, long silver fish tails, and hair that looked a lot like the weeds she'd seen growing on the bottom of the lake. They were a little bit scary. Rachel waved her free hand, hoping that Severus was right that she wasn't going to have to fight the merpeople, and kept swimming.
As she swam the dwellings grew closer and closer together and more merpeople came out to watch her. Rachel even saw what seemed to be families with smaller merpeople, the larger ones keeping the smaller ones back. Finally she reached what had to be the center of the merpeople village. There was a group of merpeople gathered together singing the song from the egg, and several merpeople nearby holding spears.
In the center was a large stone statue of a merperson and tied to the tail were four people she recognized. Panic was mixed with a strange sense of relief. She had found Severus. This was why he'd been missing. She didn't know why he hadn't told her though, but she could ask him later.
Tied next to Severus was the Ravenclaw Seeker Cho Chang. Rachel assumed that she must be there for Cedric, since they'd gone to the Yule Ball together. Next to Cho was Gabrielle Delacour, her silver blonde hair puffed out around her. And on Gabrielle's other side was Viktor's friend Predrag. All of them appeared to be asleep, with small bubbles coming from their mouths.
Rachel swam up to them and tried to decide what to do. Obviously she needed to get them to the surface, but she couldn't do it on her own. She raised her wand and peered back out into the water. There was no sign of the other champions yet either. At the very least she could get them untied while she waited for them.
Glad that Sirius had suggested she bring her pocket knife, Rachel got it out of her pocket with her left hand and got to work on cutting Severus loose. The pocket knife made easy work of the slimy vines and soon he was floating free. Rachel moved onto Cho but as soon as she reached her bindings she felt hands grabbing her.
Rachel screamed, though nothing more than bubbles came from her mouth.
"She is not for you. Take your own and leave," one of the merpeople said.
Rachel kicked him in the chest as she struggled to get away from them. She waved her wand, the light at the end flaring brighter as she struggled to get into a position where she could cast something more useful.
"This is not your task. Take your hostage and go," the merperson repeated.
"I can't leave them!" Rachel tried to shout, more bubbles coming from her mouth.
Apparently she should have gone with the Bubble-Head charm after all. She hadn't realized she'd need to actually speak with the merpeople.
Something in the water hit all of them and Rachel quickly swam away from the merpeople as she felt them let go before she looked back.
It was Viktor, with the head of a shark and his regular body, his wand held out. That seemed like a pretty dangerous human transformation, but it was apparently effective.
Viktor swam over to the hostages and Rachel quickly joined him and began to cut them free again now that she had backup protecting her from the merpeople.
Once they were all free Viktor's shark head gave sort of a jerk in her direction and he took Predrag under one arm and began to swim away, leaving Rachel alone with the other hostages.
Rachel put her pocket knife back in her pocket and kept her wand held out. She didn't want to be grabbed by the merpeople again and they seemed a little bit warier of her now. She didn't know what to do. Maybe she could use the remains of the ropes and tie the three of them together and sort of pull them behind her?
She swam down and began examining what remained of the rope-like vines. She'd have to tie them pretty tight to make sure she didn't accidentally drop one of them into the weeds with the grindylows.
"Rachel?"
Rachel turned at the familiar voice and waved her free hand.
Cedric swam over to her - he was using the Bubble-Head charm. "What are you doing? We have to go back."
Rachel issued a few more bubbles to indicate she couldn't speak and then gestured at the three hostages and back out into the water. She'd gone for years without speaking, why was this so hard now?
Cedric looked back out at the water and then at Rachel. "You want to bring Fleur's sister as well?"
Rachel nodded vigorously.
"Viktor has already been here and gone?" Cedric asked.
Rachel nodded again.
Cedric paused but finally nodded. "Alright. I think we're going to have to put Professor Snape in the middle since he's going to be the heaviest, you take Gabrielle on your other side since she's the smallest, I'll take Cho on my side. Let's go straight up, they should wake once we reach the surface," he said.
Rachel nodded and then held her wand out at the merpeople to indicate that she would cast spells at them if they tried to stop them. They got into position, Professor Snape in between her and Cedric, Gabrielle on Rachel's right, and Cho on Cedric's left.
"Ready?" Cedric asked.
Rachel nodded once more and then pocketed her wand. It was now pitch dark. She grabbed Professor Snape under his armpit and Gabrielle under hers and began kicking upward. Even with Cedric's help it was difficult to get much momentum. She supposed they'd know they were close when they started seeing light filtering down through the water again.
The light didn't come all at once, but she started noticing that she could see dark shapes around her and then she realized that the merpeople were following them up. She hoped they were here to help in case something went wrong.
She realized the water was starting to feel colder. That was a sure sign her Gillyweed was wearing off. She thought they were close enough to the surface that she could make it though. Professor Snape began to move and she released her hold on him as he began to move his arms. It seemed Cedric was right that they'd wake when they reached the surface.
Gabrielle wasn't moving yet and Rachel pulled her the rest of the way to the surface, gasping for air as her gills went away.
Gabrielle gave a small yelp and Rachel was nearly pulled back under with her as she thrashed about.
"Fluito," Severus said, pointing his wand at Gabrielle and she bounced back up to the surface.
Rachel tried to tread water but was having trouble keeping herself up. She hadn't imagined that she'd come up in the middle of the lake.
"Fluito," Severus said again, this time pointing his wand at Rachel.
Rachel stabilized on the surface of the lake, feeling like something was holding her up around her chest.
"You can't swim?" Severus asked.
"I can swim with the Gillyweed," Rachel said.
"You came out into the lake not knowing how to swim?" Cedric asked from a few feet away where he was treading water next to Cho.
"We will discuss this later," Severus said. "Can you propel yourself to the shore?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure Gabrielle can," Rachel said.
"I swim a little," Gabrielle said in very heavily accented English.
"We'll go together," Severus said. "Miss Chang, I presume you can swim?"
"Yes, sir," Cho said, her teeth chattering as she spoke.
It was slow work making their way toward the shore and Rachel was shivering in her wetsuit. She knew it had to be worse for the others who were either in their clothes, or in Cedric's case, just a pair of swimming trunks. There was applause coming from the stands as they stumbled out onto the shore.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle!" Fleur shouted, dropping her blanket and running into the shallow water in just her bathing suit to meet them. She had numerous cuts and scratches on her arms and legs.
Rachel immediately felt bad. She should have gone to Viktor and Fleur and checked on them and made sure they knew about the grindylows. Of course they wouldn't know what was in the lake, they weren't Hogwarts students.
"You saved her, you saved her," Fleur said, now in tears as she held Gabrielle to her and pulled her up on shore.
Severus quickly performed a drying charm on Rachel and then one on Gabrielle before performing one on himself.
"Here you are," Madam Pomfrey said, hurrying over to them with her arms full of blankets. "I'll be right back with Pepper-Up potions for all of you."
Rachel accepted the blanket eagerly but looked at Severus when he performed a drying charm on her hair. She patted it with one hand, feeling the mess of frizzy curls that had escaped from her plait. "You're not supposed to use drying charms on hair," she said.
"You need to wash the lake water out of it anyway and I will not have you catching pneumonia," Severus said. He was wearing his blanket draped over his shoulders. "Do you have shoes somewhere out here?"
"With Millie, my cloak and glasses too," she said.
Severus promptly cast a warming charm on her. "I imagine she'll be down here soon."
Rachel spotted Viktor and Predrag nearby, both of them with blankets and steaming ears.
"Rachel, I must thank you," Fleur said, leaving Gabrielle with Madame Maxime. "You saved my sister. The grindylows, they attacked me. Thank you for rescuing her."
Rachel felt herself blush despite the cold. "It wasn't just me, Cedric and Professor Snape helped too," she said quickly.
"Rachel was there waiting with the hostages, she wouldn't leave until they were all rescued," Cedric said from where he was standing with an arm around Cho.
"But I couldn't have got them to the surface without you," Rachel said. "And Professor Snape helped us both once we reached the surface."
"Then thank you, thank you all," Fleur said. "I know you did not have to help her, but you did. So thank you."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the grindylows, I should have thought to," Rachel said.
Fleur shook her head. "No. I will not hear of it."
"Miss Delacour, I have some Healing Salve for you. Everyone else take a dose of Pepper-Up potion," Madam Pomfrey said as she joined them again.
Rachel accepted the vial of Pepper-Up potion and drank it, feeling much warmer afterward than just the warming charm had done. She could feel the steam coming from her ears and when she looked up she saw that steam was coming out from under Professor Snape's hair, making him look a bit like a boiling tea kettle considering he was wrapped in a white blanket.
"We have consulted with the merpeople and will now give the scores for the champions," Mr. Bagman announced, his voice magically amplified to reach across the crowd.
Rachel turned to see the judges. She didn't particularly care what her score was, she was just glad the task was over with and they were still alive. She didn't like that Fleur had been hurt, but she could see that Madam Pomfrey was taking care of her and she knew from her own experiences with Healing Salve that the cuts would be gone overnight.
"The scores are awarded out of fifty. Miss Fleur Delacour made excellent use of the Bubble-Head charm, however she was attacked by grindylows before she reached her hostage. We award her twenty five points," Mr. Bagman continued.
Fleur shook her head. "That is too much."
"Mr. Viktor Krum used an incomplete human to animal transfiguration, which was however effective. He returned first with his hostage at three minutes outside the time limit. We award him forty seven points," Mr. Bagman announced.
Rachel supposed that made sense, three points off for three minutes beyond the time limit.
"Miss Rachel Snow used Gillyweed and was the first to reach the hostages and insisted on staying until all the hostages were rescued. She returned fourteen minutes beyond the time limit. We award her forty points," Mr. Bagman continued. "And finally, Mr. Cedric Diggory also used the Bubble-Head charm and assisted with the rescue of the remaining hostages, returning fourteen minutes beyond the time limit. We award him forty points as well."
Forty points was reasonable considering how late they'd come back.
"The third task will take place at seven o'clock in the evening on June 24th. The champions will learn about the task precisely one month in advance. Thank you all," Mr. Bagman finished.
Rachel didn't even want to think of the third task right now. Mostly she wanted a shower.
"That's ridiculous, they should have given you more points than me," Cedric said. "You got there before anyone."
"It's okay. They probably took points off because I fought the merpeople," Rachel said.
"Excuse me?" Severus asked.
"You fought the merpeople?" Cho asked.
"Well, a little bit, but Viktor scared them off," Rachel said. "I need to go thank him for that."
She broke away, a little bit aware of the look Severus was giving her that meant he wanted to talk to her, and went over to where Viktor was standing with Predrag and Professor Karkaroff.
"Congratulations Viktor. And thanks for helping me with the merpeople," Rachel said, trying to ignore the way that Professor Karkaroff was looking at her.
"What did you do to upset them so much?" Viktor asked.
"I was trying to get everyone free, but they grabbed me when I tried to cut the ropes binding Cho," Rachel explained. "I was still trying to figure out a plan to get everyone out."
"You realize that they were safe? They would not hurt them even if we did not get them out?" Viktor asked.
Rachel paused and thought about it. At the time it had seemed like an emergency. She hadn't really thought about what would really happen to them if she left them there, she just knew she couldn't. "I suppose so. I didn't really think of it like that. It was scary down there."
"Thank you for cutting Predrag free," Viktor said. "I will see you at Quidditch practice. I think your professor wants you."
Rachel smiled. "Yes, tomorrow, I'll see you there if I don't see you in the Great Hall before then."
"Rachel!"
Rachel turned and found her friends approaching her.
"We were so worried when it went past the time limit," Hermione said as soon as she reached Rachel. "We're glad you're okay. You're okay?"
"I'm fine. I just need a shower," Rachel said.
"Here, glasses, then shoes," Millie said.
Rachel gratefully accepted her glasses and then crouched down to put on her shoes.
"If you don't mind, I need to speak with Rachel privately. She will join you later," Professor Snape said as he joined them.
"We'll meet you in the common room, Rachel," Theo said.
"Okay," Rachel said, wondering if she was in trouble. It definitely seemed like Severus was not happy about something.
She followed Severus back up to the castle. "Are you mad at me?" she asked as soon as they were far enough away from people not to be heard by anyone else.
"I am not mad, I'm just concerned," Severus said.
"I really am okay," Rachel said.
"Let's wait until we're in our quarters," Severus said, glancing down at her.
Rachel frowned. That definitely sounded like she was in trouble.
She slunk over to the couch once they were in Severus' quarters and sat down, watching as he settled himself in his chair.
"Are you at a comfortable temperature?" Severus asked.
"Yes, I want to take a shower and change pretty soon though," Rachel said.
"I do as well, though this shouldn't take long. Did you receive any injuries during the task?" he asked.
"No, it was a little scary but otherwise it was fine," Rachel said.
Severus nodded. "Why did you not tell me that you don't know how to swim?"
"Because I thought I had the situation under control. I could swim pretty well using the Gillyweed and Hermione taught me how to swim underwater. I didn't really think about what would happen once I reached the surface, I guess I kind of thought that I would wind up closer to the shore," Rachel said, looking down.
"You don't think this would have been good knowledge for me to have while we discussed how to breathe underwater and what you might find in the lake and what spells to use?" he pressed.
Rachel sighed. "It's kind of embarrassing. Everyone knows how to swim. And I really thought that I could manage with Hermione teaching me."
"I would have arranged private lessons for you with an instructor, in fact, I will in the summer so that you can learn to swim properly," Severus said.
"I don't think that's necessary. I'm not going back into the lake again," Rachel said.
"Swimming is a life skill. There is a good chance that you won't need it, but it's important to be prepared in case you do need it. I will arrange lessons for you," Severus insisted. "I need for you to tell me things like that, even if it's embarrassing. I won't judge you, but in order to protect you I need to know if there is a problem."
Rachel nodded.
"This goes for things like school work as well. If there is a spell you can't do or if you're struggling with something, I want you to ask me for help instead of struggling by yourself," he said.
"Okay," Rachel said, though she thought most things she probably could figure out on her own or with her friends' help. "I was worried when I couldn't find you this morning. Last night, after dinner, you said that you'd see me before the task."
Severus hesitated before answering. "I realize now that I should have come back to my quarters and left a note, both so that you would know where I was and what the task would entail. I apologize."
Rachel shifted on the couch. She was a little uncomfortable with Severus apologizing to her. "Thanks. Did Professor Dumbledore not tell you until last night?"
"He did not, nor was it his idea to use hostages in the task. The decision was made late yesterday and he was outvoted by the other judges," Severus said. "This brings me to the other thing I wanted to discuss with you. What happened in the lake? You said you fought the merpeople?"
"Well, fought is overstating it. They grabbed me when I tried to cut Cho free and I struggled and I kicked one of them. I was trying to get my wand pointed at them, but they were really strong and they grabbed me from by my sides. I'm not sure I would have gotten away if Viktor hadn't come along and helped," Rachel said.
"It might be wise for you to receive some training in how to physically defend yourself well enough to escape such situations. I'll look into it," Severus said. "Why did you feel that you needed to rescue all of the hostages? Did you believe them to be in danger?"
"I don't know. I just couldn't leave them there," Rachel said as she tried to put it into words. "I had to help them."
"You know that Albus would not have allowed any harm to come to them? And that after the task was complete the merpeople would have brought anyone who remained to the surface?" Severus asked.
"Well I know that now," Rachel said. "It just felt different down there. I wasn't really thinking."
"That can happen in frightening situations, especially in combat. You act on instinct because you are too overwhelmed to think clearly," Severus said. "I've felt it myself, but it's also something that we should work on. You are better off thinking clearly and making decisions than you are simply reacting to what is happening around you."
Rachel nodded. "That sounds difficult."
"It is, especially at first, but the more you can train yourself to stop and assess a situation before reacting, the better you'll get at it. Sometimes you need to react first, to move out of the way of an attack for example, but then you need to assess the situation. Who is attacking you? How many of them are there? Where is a defensible position?" Severus listed. "We'll work on it."
"You really think I'm going to wind up in a situation where I need to do that?" Rachel asked.
Severus sighed heavily. "I don't think placing you in the tournament will be the last we'll see of the Death Eaters acting against you. The longer we can stall them, the better, but we need to use that time wisely so that you are prepared to defend yourself. I don't intend to train you to fight in a war, but I do want you to be able to keep yourself safe. I will protect you, but I can't always be at your side."
"Okay," Rachel said. The idea that she could fight against Death Eaters sounded farfetched to her. What could she possibly do against them?
"Don't worry about it for now, I will figure out a way to prepare you. We have nearly four months before the next task. Take a break and focus on your studies," Severus said.
"You'll ask Professor Dumbledore what it is?" Rachel asked.
"I will, but I still want you to take a break from preparations. If there's something we need to start preparing for right away I'll let you know," Severus said. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm just glad the task is over and that no one was seriously hurt. I should have told Fleur and Viktor about the grindylows," Rachel said.
"That's not your responsibility," Severus said.
"It's not about responsibility, it's about being a good person," Rachel said, looking at Severus and trying to make him understand. "I don't want anyone to be hurt or killed during this stupid tournament."
"There is no doubt that you are a good person, Rachel," Severus said.
Rachel blushed and looked away. It was weird for him to say it like that.
"Did you wish to remain here instead of returning to the common room?" Severus asked.
"No, I really want a shower and to change, and I actually have some homework I need to get done today," Rachel said.
"Alright, but I think there is likely a celebration in the common room," Severus said.
"It doesn't take much for them to throw a party," Rachel said, shaking her head.
"No it doesn't. As usual, if people are bothering you you're welcome to come here," he said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, getting to her feet.
"I'll walk you back to the common room," Severus said.
"I think all the Durmstrang students are probably on their ship with Viktor and Predrag," Rachel pointed out.
"All the more reason for me to walk you, since that's where we'd expect them to be," Severus said.
Rachel gave up and let him walk her to the common room, the door appearing for him without the password. "Thanks, I'll see you for dinner tomorrow."
"I'll see you then," Severus said.
Rachel entered the common room and immediately wished the music wasn't quite so loud. Fortunately everyone was distracted by the music and each other and she was able to slip through to her dorm unnoticed. Now she could get a shower, deal with the mess that the lake water and the drying charm had made of her hair, and change back into normal clothes.
"What happened with Professor Snape?" Millie asked once they were out of the common room. Theo had finished socializing by the time that Rachel had showered, dealt with her hair, and dressed.
"Uh, well, he wasn't very pleased that I didn't tell him that I don't know how to swim very well," Rachel said.
"You didn't tell him?" Theo asked.
"No, but I thought we had it covered," Rachel said. "I didn't expect to have to swim such a long distance without the Gillyweed."
"How mad was he?" Millie asked.
"Not that mad, but I have to take swimming lessons in the summer," Rachel said. She really wasn't looking forward to that.
"Not a bad idea, just in case," Theo said. "I'm glad he wasn't too upset."
"Me too," Rachel agreed.
"I'd ask you what happened in the lake, but I think everyone is going to want to know," Millie said.
"It was really poorly thought out from a spectator's perspective. We just sat there freezing and staring at the surface of the lake," Theo said. "The only interesting parts were when people surfaced."
Rachel supposed that was pretty boring. "At least it's done with now."
"That's true, and you all made it through safely," Millie said. "For the most part at least. Fleur seemed like she wasn't hurt badly."
"Just some cuts from the grindylows from what I could tell," Rachel said. She kept coming back to this over and over in her mind. "I should have told her about the grindylows. Her and Viktor."
"It's not your fault," Theo said quickly.
"What if she had drowned? Or been more seriously hurt?" Rachel asked, a wave of guilt flooding her.
"But she didn't. And you did help Viktor and Fleur both with the clue so that they could prepare. They knew that they were going into the lake, they could have asked around to find out what was living in there," Millie said as they reached their study room.
Rachel opened the door, looking back at Millie. "I guess, but I still don't feel good about it." She looked around the study room as she entered and found that the study group had already gotten lunch from the kitchens. It was nice, and a little bit embarrassing, that her study group knew her well enough to know she didn't particularly want to go into the Great Hall directly after the task.
"Is everything alright?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," Rachel said, taking her seat at the table. "Thanks for getting lunch."
"We figured that the Great Hall was going to be kind of crazy today," Ginny said.
"Our common room was," Millie said.
"How were the merpeople?" Luna asked.
"Not very friendly," Rachel settled on.
"That's too bad, I'd like to meet them myself," Luna said.
"Can we ask what happened?" Neville asked.
Rachel gave a quick run down of her experiences in the lake, knowing that she'd wind up having to tell the tale to her roommates later tonight, to Sirius over the mirror, and probably to the Quidditch team tomorrow.
"I don't particularly like that they used people as hostages," Hermione said. "Nor that the merpeople were so rough with you."
"Professor Snape said that Professor Dumbledore didn't want to use people, he said he was outvoted by the other judges," Rachel said. "He also said that the hostages would have been brought up to the surface at the end of the task if they hadn't been rescued."
"That's something at least," Theo said.
"Madame Maxime must have agreed at least, since they used Fleur's little sister," Rachel said.
"Maybe the merpeople were trying to stop you from cheating?" Ginny asked. "Like if you took someone's hostage, they couldn't complete the task."
"Maybe, but there was no way I could have swam out of there with more than one person without someone's help. I've got to thank Cedric next time I see him. He probably realized that we didn't need to rescue all the hostages, but he helped me anyway," Rachel said. "Anyway, that's the second task finished with. Professor Snape wants me to take a break before we deal with preparing for the third."
"That's probably a good idea," Neville said.
"Oh, that reminds me," Rachel said, pausing to dig into her bag. She pulled out a jar full of Gillyweed and pushed it across the table to Neville. "I didn't wind up using my spare, so you can have it. I can tell you the password to the prefect's bathroom if you want to try it out."
"I think I'll see if I can get it to sprout," Neville said, peering into the jar with interest.
"Whatever you want, it's yours now," Rachel said, glad that she'd helped at least one person today.
"Thank you," Neville said.
"Well you're tied with Cedric for second place, and I'd say that the second task was more manageable than the first, though that might have been because we had more time to prepare," Hermione said. "I think you can get through this tournament, Rachel, even if you don't win."
"I'm not trying to win, I just want all of us to survive," Rachel said.
Theo frowned. "I think we're going to have to be even more cautious with the third task. Whoever put Rachel's name in the Goblet, this is their last chance at getting to her."
"At the same time, I think we can possibly rule out Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch as threats if they are the ones making the tasks. The second task wasn't particularly life threatening," Hermione said.
Rachel hadn't particularly considered Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch as threats at all.
"Maybe," Theo said. "They might have made the second task easier to convince us of exactly that though. We don't know how long they've been planning this."
"That's a little too Slytherin, I think. And I'm a Slytherin," Millie said.
"Well, we can only do what we can to prepare, right?" Ginny asked.
"Until we have more information, I think that's probably the best we can do," Theo said.
"Well, let's not worry about it for today at least," Hermione said. "We could all use a brief break."
"And some lunch," Rachel said, reaching for the platter of turkey sandwiches. For now she was going to try not to worry about the third task, at least not until she knew what it was.