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On Boxing Day, Carina sat in the common room in the early morning with her friends. They were joking around and talking, mostly about the Yule Ball the previous night, but Carina kept her input to a minimum since the only eventful thing that had happened to her was something she couldn't share. Well, she could with Sylvia, but she didn't want anyone else overhearing, so she had kept it to herself for the time being.
Carina Lestrange had snogged Fred Weasley.
And it was bloody fantastic.
But the moment they heard students begin leaving the Great Hall to retire for the night or continue the parties in their common rooms, they had split apart and left the secret passageway, rejoining their dates. Carina was dying to know what was going through his mind.
Did he regret it? Was he thinking about her? Did he want to do it again? Carina definitely wanted to do it again.
Sylvia and Adrian thought Carina's mind was focused on the upcoming second task since she was playing with the egg while staring out the window, but they were wrong. She had brought the egg with her to the common room to give her something to fiddle with and give her an excuse not to talk. It was working. She had tried to get herself to think of other things, such as the twelve-week long Apparition class beginning once the Christmas holidays ended, but she couldn't.
The lake covering the windows gave the room a green tinge and Carina peered out of it, watching the occasional lake creature swim past. Carina leaned on the arm of the chair she sat in and spotted a mermaid swim by the window.
Merpeople, sentient magical beasts that live underwater, Carina recited in her mind. She remembered having a question about them on her Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L. They speak Mermish, a language difficult for humans to learn due to it being specifically adapted for underwater use.
Carina gasped and sat up, almost dropping the egg. She fumbled it but clasped it tight between her hands before it could hit the ground.
Her friends turned to her with worried expressions. "You alright, Car?" Adrian asked.
"I'm brilliant," she answered, hopping up from her chair. "Gotta go." She then ran up the stairs to her dorm room.
"Should I go after her?" Sylvia asked Adrian and Terence.
Adrian shrugged, turning back to the chessboard. "Honestly, probably not. I'll be worried if she starts talking to herself. She probably just figured something out with the egg and doesn't want to get distracted."
In her room, Carina grabbed a change of clothes and packed them along with the egg, a strip of parchment, quill, and inkwell into her messenger bag, then she ran out the door, down the stairs, and out of the common room, not bothering to tell her friends where she was going. She hurried as quickly as she could to the Prefects' Bathroom.
Once she entered the extravagant bathroom, the door locked the moment she began turning on the taps for the pool-like tub so no one would enter while it was in use. When the water was high enough, Carina stripped out of her clothing and lowered herself into the tub with the egg.
"Okay, you're really going to take a bath with a golden egg," Carina said to herself. She hoped she wasn't crazy about the idea. Taking in a large breath, Carina went below the surface with the egg and opened it, listening to the merpeople's song.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And recover what we took,
But past an hour — the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Carina closed the egg then breached the surface of the tub. Setting the egg down, she wrote the lines sung in the egg. She had to listen to it twice more to make sure she got all the lines right then set the egg aside. She dried her hands on a towel and picked up the parchment, re-reading the song over and over again.
Come seek us where our voices sound. That would be the Black Lake. They wouldn't be making a trip to some ocean or sea for a damn task, and the only large source of water nearby with merpeople was the Black Lake.
We cannot sing above the ground. Mermaids, obviously.
We've taken what you'll sorely miss. Self-explanatory, but Carina still wondered what it would be. An object? A person? Her cat? If it was her cat, she'd be pissed. Corvin didn't like being in still water. Oddly enough, he didn't mind being in running water, often liking to stick his head under the sink faucet whenever Carina washed her face or brushed her teeth, but things like a pond, lake, or just a puddle had him hissing and recoiling.
An hour long you'll have to look. She'd have to figure out a way to breathe underwater for an hour. Self-explanatory if you know the answer to the first line.
But past an hour — the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back. She'd lose whatever she'll sorely miss once the hour is up, so she had to complete the task in an hour or less. Also self-explanatory. Except if it was a living thing, she doubted Dumbledore would let it or them die if a champion failed the task. The clue only sounded dire to work as motivation for the champions and provide a time limit. Dumbledore was a lot of things, but Carina did not think he would let a living thing die for something as simple as a Triwizard Tournament task.
Carina eyed the water as she set the parchment down. She should brush up on her swimming skills. She had been taught as a kid, sure, especially since the Zabini Estate has a pool that she and Draco had spent time in, but was she the best? No.
Swimming back and forth around the pool-like tub gave Carina time to think about possible ways to breathe underwater for an hour. There was the Bubble-Head Charm she had learned the previous year due to the book she had gotten from the Restricted Section. She could also perform transfiguration to make herself into an underwater creature. She'd blend in better with potential threats in the lake if she did that, but she might be unable to use her wand effectively should she need it. There was also gillyweed, but she didn't think asking Sprout for some would be effective since helping the champions was forbidden, and she didn't want to eat a strange plant anyway.
She was pretty good with transfiguration, and if she decided on the Bubble-Head Charm, she could use a warming charm on herself so she wouldn't freeze in the lake. But swimming would be a hassle and slower, so human transfiguration seemed like the better option. And even then, she had to keep it partial because fully transfiguring a human into an animal left them with the intelligence of the chosen animal.
Carina decided to run her options by her friends for their opinions.
That night, while Mildred and Gertrude were in the common room, Carina and Sylvia were in their dorm room. Carina had just finished telling Sylvia what she had learned about the egg and some ideas she had regarding how to complete the task.
Sylvia, on the other hand, had something on her mind that wasn't the second task. She knew something was up with Carina. Had been since the Yule Ball. And so, when Carina was done talking about how she was thinking of doing a partial human transfiguration in the Black Lake, Sylvia asked, "What's up with you?"
"Pardon?" Carina said, looking at her friend strangely.
"Something happened at the Yule Ball," Sylvia stated simply, unwavering in her belief. She would find out what her best friend was hiding no matter what. "What happened?"
Carina set aside the egg, shifting in her spot on her bed. "Nothing really." Sylvia didn't believe her one bit, giving Carina a 'seriously' look. Carina sighed, stretching out her legs. "I snogged Fred."
Sylvia gasped, jumping from her spot. "Really? Finally!" she exclaimed, joining Carina on her bed. "What was it like? Was it everything you had hoped? Was there tongue? Was he handsy?"
"Really, Syl?" Carina asked, arching an eyebrow.
Sylvia shrugged and said, "What? All I got was a pathetic kiss on the cheek from a bloke I barely knew. It was incredibly lame. You've been crushing on Fred for at least a few months. I'm living vicariously through you. I need details." Sylvia shook Carina by her shoulders.
Carina smiled and pushed Sylvia's hands off her as she remembered the kisses again. "It was the best kiss I've had, okay? Adrian was awkward, Cedric was too gentle, but Fred? Felt like I was on fire."
"Are you going to kiss him again?"
"I hope so." Carina's eyes drifted back up to Sylvia. "And why are you living vicariously through me? There are loads of blokes who'd die to have your attention. It's your own bloody fault for not making a move. Just ask Lee out already."
"Car!"
It took far too long to see Harry, but a week into the second semester, Carina finally saw the young Gryffindor and pulled him aside so no one would see them talking.
"Have you figured out the egg yet?" Carina asked.
"No," Harry answered. "Every time I open it, it just wails at me. Seamus reckons it means we're facing a banshee, but Neville thought it was the Cruciatus Curse."
Carina shook her head, shirking the idea. "I can assure you it's no banshee or curse." She glanced around then back at Harry, leaning closer and keeping her voice low. "Look, on the fifth floor behind the fourth door to the left of the Boris the Bewildered statue is the Prefects' Bathroom. With me so far?"
"Fifth floor, four doors left of Boris statue," Harry repeated with a nod. "But what's a bathroom have to do with the task?"
"Not much really, it's just got an extremely large bathtub. Take your egg and put it underwater. That's how you'll hear the clue. Everything should make sense after that." She was about to walk off but realized she had forgotten something. "Oh, and the password is pine fresh."
Carina then left him there, turning down a different corridor and going to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She hoped Harry was as smart as she gave him credit for. If not, hopefully the stain-glass window of a mermaid literally staring at him would give him an idea.
A week before the second task, Carina was in the Room of Requirement practicing the spells she would be using for the task, including ones that were necessary and ones that she could use underwater should she need to fight. She didn't know where Fleur and Harry were at with their plans, but she often saw Krum swimming in the lake. Since most people didn't swim in a cold lake in the middle of February, Carina had to assume he was getting ready for the task as well and knew what the clue meant. She also saw him with Hermione in the library occasionally which was cute.
As Carina sat on a bean bag practicing the spells on herself, the door opened. Carina made the bubble disappear, standing and looking up at Fred closing the door.
They hadn't had a chance to properly talk since they had kissed because of everything that had been going on. Celebrations with the new year, classes starting up again, Fred and George trying to talk to Ludo Bagman, Carina figuring out the golden egg and her plans for the task, Carina doing homework and studying, Fred and George serving detentions, and Fred and George making and selling their products. The only time she could even get a proper look at him was during their shared classes. Although, as much as she enjoyed looking at him, she couldn't slack off in her classes because she was distracted by a boy, especially not the Apparition class.
They had both been busy. But Carina had been happy to hear that Fred and Angelina hadn't started dating after the Yule Ball like a few other students and their dates had done, such as Lee dating Katie, Cassius dating Sofia, and Cedric dating Cho Chang. She had even seen a Hufflepuff girl holding hands with a Slytherin girl in the hall, and they hadn't been together, at least not openly, before the ball. But Fred was still single, much to Carina's delight.
"Hey," Fred greeted, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Hey," Carina replied. It was silent for a moment and they both chuckled. "Why is this awkward? Why are we making it awkward?"
"I don't know." He smiled at her. "I do know that I want to kiss you again."
"Then what's stopping you?"
Fred began taking slow steps towards her. "The fear that you'll come to your senses and hex me."
"I didn't the first time." Carina smirked. "Or the second time. And when has the threat of being hexed ever stopped you from doing something?"
"Fair point. So, does that mean I can kiss you again?" Fred asked, stopping in front of her, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a teasing grin.
"Merlin's beard, stop talking, and kiss me already."
"Anything for you, love." Fred dipped his head down and pressed his lips against Carina's.
She had missed it. She had missed him. Everything about him. Him towering over her, his strong hands digging into her hips, the smell of smoke permanently embedded into his clothes from his experiments and fireworks, his lean body pressed against her, her hands in his soft hair. Everything.
When Carina woke up at eight on the morning of February the twenty-fourth for the second task, she found herself nervous. Sylvia ended up having to drag her down to breakfast in order to eat something. But as the girls sat at breakfast, being joined by their friends as breakfast continued on, Carina couldn't find Draco anywhere, and when she heard Blaise and Goyle talking about how he hadn't returned to their dorm room last night, she remembered the clue.
"And recover what we took."
They had taken Draco. Her godbrother. She should've expected it. Truthfully, the options were between Draco, Adrian, and Sylvia, especially since no one aside from Sylvia, Cedric, and George knew she fancied Fred.
Carina wondered if Draco would be angry or happy at the turn of events because, on the one hand, she had to rescue him from the lake, but on the other hand, he was a part of a Triwizard Tournament task and deemed something she would 'sorely miss.' She couldn't tell which one he'd focus on, though she hoped it'd be the latter, but knowing him it would probably be the former.
When Carina had found out about what the task entailed, she had ordered a swimsuit since she didn't have one, so at ten-past nine, Carina changed into the emerald green swimsuit, put regular clothes on over it, then walked down to the lake with Sylvia and Adrian.
Once at the lake, Carina was fully prepared and ready to go, waiting with Krum and Fleur by the judges, of whom Crumb was missing, being represented by Percy Weasley. All three of the champions stripped off their clothing to prepare for a swim. And of course, Harry was late. But when he finally arrived, completely out of breath, Bagman cast Sonorus on himself, just as he had done at the World Cup, so his voice boomed out across the lake and stands for everyone in attendance to hear.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle," Bagman announced. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then." Carina prepared to jump into the water, her wand in hand. "One. . . two. . . three!"
Carina cast the Bubble-Head Charm and a warming charm on herself for jumping into the water, not paying attention to what the other champions were doing. The cold lake water didn't bother her with the warming charm, and once a few meters below the surface of the lake, Carina brought her feet in front of her and cast a partial transfiguration on them, turning her feet into fins. She then put the wand in the holster on her calf and took off through the water, swimming towards the middle of the lake.
Even with the darkness of the lake, it was called the Black Lake for a reason, Carina felt strangely comfortable submerged in the water. Perhaps it was because of the countless hours she had spent about the surface staring at it or staring into it through the windows of her common room. Although, she did wish she had looked up a spell for seeing in the dark.
She swam past small, silver fish as she neared a forest of weeds. She sighed to herself and shook her head. It would be a bad idea to swim in there even if it was a direct path towards the middle of the lake, the likely spot for the merpeople. Grindylows preferred to be in the weed beds in lakes rather than the open parts of the water. It made it easier for them to hunt and sneak up on their prey, which ranged from algae up to humans.
And so, Carina begrudgingly swam around the weed bed, not going inside or above it. She wondered if any of the other three champions were dumb enough to go inside it.
Even with her feet transfigured into fins, swimming around the lake still took far longer than she would have liked, but she didn't come across any of the three other champions. Then she heard a hauntingly melodic song through the water.
"An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took. . ."
The mersong. Carina spun around, looking in every direction, trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. She swam forward once she determined the direction and found large rocks with merpeople depictions. She continued going, following the song echoing through the water until stone dwellings covered in algae came into view with merpeople peeking out from the windows or swimming around.
Aside from the window in the Slytherin common room, Carina had never seen merpeople up close, with their grayish skin, dark green hair, yellow eyes, and broken teeth. Carina paid them little mind as she swam through the settlement. They wouldn't attack as long as they weren't provoked.
She swam into what seemed like a courtyard where a crowd of merpeople was surrounding four people bound to the tail of a stone merperson. Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and a young girl who looked like Fleur were all suspended in the water, each in a deep sleep.
Then her eyes landed on Harry who looked to be squabbling with the merpeople. She rolled her eyes and swam directly to Draco. Grasping the binding around Draco, she cast Diffindo to release him. Grabbing him by the waist, Carina kicked away from the statue and paused, looking back at Harry who seemed relieved to see her but peeved at the merpeople.
"What are you doing?" Carina tried to say through the water, shaking her head. "Go!" She wasn't sure if he understood her or not because of the bubble and the water, but that didn't matter. She needed to move.
Kicking her feet, she swam towards the lake surface with her god-brother in tow. Their heads breached the water and Draco took in a large breath, the enchantment wearing off. He looked around erratically.
"Bloody hell!" he cursed, flopping his arms around the water.
Carina undid the Bubble-Head Charm on herself. "Calm down, Draco," she hissed, slapping him on the arm.
Draco glared at her, sopping wet from the lake. "I'm glad I'm your prized possession and all, Car, but did this task have to be in a lake in February?"
She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and chuckled. "Come on, let's get out of the lake." He happily complied. Carina put away her wand, and the two swam towards the stands.
The staff helped them out of the water and Madam Pomfrey immediately began fussing over them, giving them towels to dry them off and blankets to warm them up. The warming charm Carina had used was slowly wearing off, so she gladly took the blanket after getting dressed. Fleur was with Madame Maxime nearby looking livid and worried and without her sister. Carina assumed she must've had to bow out.
"Looks like you're back first, Car," Draco said with a smug grin. "Can't wait to see Potter's face when he finds out."
"He already knows," Carina couldn't help but tell him. "He was at the merpeople camp first."
"What did you say?"
Carina turned to see Dumbledore and Bagman coming closer, having heard what she said. She had only meant to tell Draco because she knew it would likely annoy him.
"Potter was at the camp first," Carina replied, looking up at her headmaster. "Looked to have been there for a short bit and was struggling with the merpeople. I assumed he had tried to take both Ron and Hermione."
"Trying to be the hero, no doubt," Draco sneered under his breath, glaring out at the lake.
Then they heard more splashing. The group turned to see Krum and Hermione swimming over to the stands, a few minutes outside the time limit. Draco looked pleased. Probably a mixture of smugness at Harry still not being back and awe at Krum being close.
And then a good few minutes after Krum and Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Fleur's sister made it back. Carina watched Draco glared at his rivals. He hadn't seemed to mind being around just Hermione, likely because of Krum, but he hated Harry and Ron making it back. Though the pleased glint in his eyes told her he was happy about Harry not making it back within the time limit.
Dumbledore conversed with the chief merperson at the water's edge then returned to the judges and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think." The judges huddled together, leaving the champions and their hostages alone with Madam Pomfrey.
Fleur was covered in cuts on her face and body, but she didn't care, asking Madam Pomfrey to focus on her sister Gabrielle. She turned to Harry and said, "You saved 'er. Even though she was not your 'ostage."
"Yeah," Harry said, looking uncomfortable.
Fleur bent down and kissed Harry twice on each cheek, making his cheeks burn in embarrassment. She turned to Ron and said, "And you too, you 'elped."
"Yeah, yeah, a bit," Ron replied, looking hopeful. Fleur kissed him on the cheeks, too.
"And I thought they barely bathed before," Draco remarked quietly to Carina. "Now they'll never do it again." Bagman's voice boomed across the stands before Carina could reply. She didn't know how she'd reply to that anyway.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Bagman said, "we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows. . . Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
Applause erupted from the stands, though it wasn't booming.
"I deserved zero," Fleur said, shaking her head. Carina was actually mildly surprised to hear her say that.
"Carina Lestrange," Bagman continued, "who used the Bubble-Head Charm and partial transfiguration, was first to return with her hostage, though she returned just under a minute outside the time limit of an hour." Carina grimaced, she hadn't looked at the time when she had returned, though her grimace didn't last long as the stands cheered, particularly the Slytherins. "We, therefore, award her forty-eight points."
Forty-eight? She could work with that. First back, good magic, and docked for time.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points. Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
Draco groaned and rolled his eyes from beside Carina.
"Most of the judges," Bagman shot Karkaroff an annoyed look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However. . . Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
The crowd in the stands cheered.
"At least he's still behind you in points," Draco said after quickly doing the calculation in his head. "Even if it is only by two." Carina couldn't care less about the points but nodded along with him anyway.
The crowds died down again when Bagman continued talking. "The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
It was time for another Slytherin party: just what Carina wanted. Not.