Second Task

The night eve of the Second Task arrived quickly much to Hermione and Harry's consternation. It wasn't that they didn't prepare, Hermione had made sure both her girlfriend and best friend were thoroughly prepared for this, they had the Bubblehead Charm pat-down, warming spells as well and had practised in the lake multiple times already… but it didn't stop the acidic anxiety from bubbling in her stomach.

She watched as her best friend sat pensively, staring at the lit fireplace in the Common Room. She dared not interrupt his thoughts though and it seemed Ron, who she hadn't spoken to since the ball, had picked up on the same thing, sitting silently in the armchair next to Harry's. It was only half an hour later that Harry got up and said goodnight to them, quoting it would be best if he went to bed early so he wasn't tired tomorrow. Hermione just nodded and bid him goodnight, watching as Ron followed him a few paces behind. Feeling a sudden desire to go see Fleur, she got off her chair and walked out of the room. Being the Head Girl did have its perks. She wasn't allowed to go roaming anytime she pleased but if she got caught, most would let her go… except Snape.

Making a quick way through the grounds and into the carriage with the help of the key Fleur had given her, she walked to the Veelas room and whispered the password, smiling when she heard a tiny click as the lock disengaged. She really had to speak to her girlfriend about her password. What sort of password was 'Fleurmione'?! Shaking her head, she silently slipped inside, finding the French girl sitting cross-legged on the floor, head bowed down and eyes closed as if meditating. "Fleur?" she called out, announcing her presence.

Fleur's head whipped up and she smiled as she saw Hermione. "'Ermione!"

Hermione smiled back and sat in front of the blonde, "what are you doing?" she asked.

"Just centering myself. I do zis sometimes after a Veela bonfire," Fleur replied, reaching out and pulling Hermione into her lap.

"How was the bonfire? I'm sorry I wasn't there," Hermione replied apologetically.

"It's ok," Fleur kissed the brunette's forehead, "Harry needed you more."

"I'm not sure about that, he spent the whole time staring into the fireplace but enough about him, how are you feeling?" asked Hermione.

"I feel well prepared but still a bit anxious not knowing what zhey will take from me," replied Fleur, abandoning her meditation and pulling Hermione to settle her back against her chest. She lowered her chin onto the brunette's shoulder, "'Ow are you feeling?"

Hermione sighed, "I'm worried. I know whatever they took from you will be dear, but all I want is for you to come out that lake safe and sound. Whatever it is, it's not more important than your wellbeing," she said, playing with Fleur's hands.

Fleur pressed a kiss against Hermione's hair in understanding. "Come on, why don't we get settled in bed and try to relax?"

Hermione hadn't planned on staying over, but she didn't feel like leaving so she nodded. The pair went about their nightly routine and slipped into pyjamas before settling underneath the blanket, wrapped into each other.

"Let's talk about anything other than ze task. You can ask me anything," said Fleur, hoping a change of topic would help relax the brunette.

"Hmm," Hermione tried to think of something, "I've got a question. When we went to your birthday, you said the names of those three little boys without problem, even with the H in their names but you struggle with mine. How so?" she asked, looking into Fleur's blue eyes.

Fleur chuckled, "I can say the H, if I concentrate well enough. I just like to say your name without it. Do you want me to call you Hermione?"

Hermione frowned at the proper pronunciation and decided she liked it best in Fleur's French accent, "No, it's fine," she said blushing, "you can say it like you usually do."

The Veela laughed at the brunette's flushed face, "You like it, huh?" she grinned.

Hermione blushed harder but nodded, "I do," she whispered.

Fleur couldn't resist and captured the Gryffindor's lips in a loving kiss. After a few minutes of snogging, the pair parted. "My turn for a question… hmm, what iz your middle name? I remember ze 'andkerchief you gave me for luck for ze First Task was embroidered wiz HJG."

"Jean… Hermione Jean Granger. It is my grandmother's name," replied Hermione.

"Ah beautiful. I'm excited to meet your family one day, 'Ermione. Zhey must be amazing to 'ave raised someone as amazing as you."

"Stop you, flatterer!" said Hermione, gently slapping Fleur's shoulder.

"But it's true," pouted Fleur.

They spent the night playing 20 questions until they fell asleep.

ᴥ

The morning had been jarring from what Fleur had expected. She had wanted to wake up peacefully in Hermione's arms and spend the morning kissing her mate but instead someone had knocked on her door saying there was an owl for the Head Girl outside. Hermione had hastily pecked her on the lips and changed before disappearing. Now she was grumpy.

It got even worse when she went to the castle for breakfast expecting to see the brunette, but there was no sign of her. She even asked Harry who replied that he hadn't seen her since last night but had heard that Professor McGonagall had requested her in her office. So she spent the morning, grumpily shovelling food in her mouth much to Gabrielle and Alexia's amusement.

The task was due to start in the afternoon so she decided to just relax until then. Surely Hermione would come find her to wish her good luck at some point. That was how she ended up playing Wizarding Chess with Alexia while her flock watched, scattered over multiple couches.

"Your 'ead iz not in zis, checkmate," said Alexia as she captured Fleur's king.

"I 'aven't seen 'er since morning. Usually, she sends me a message through ze bracelet," sighed the Beauxbatons Champion, sinking into her armchair.

"She must just be busy and in a place where she cannot just whip out ze parchment to send you a message, Fleur, " said Gabrielle, rolling her eyes as her sister pouted. Wasn't she supposed to be the child?

Fleur just grunted and crossed her arms over her chest. Fine, she'd wait.

ᴥ

Fleur was ushered to the main platform floating on the lake where she spotted Krum, glaring at her, cheek having the faint outline of the F she had carved in. It had only been a flesh wound so it was supposed to be all healed with proper treatment so she was surprised to find it still there. She then realised that he must have forgone going to Madame Pomfrey so as to avoid having to explain the injury and showing it to more people in the hallways on the way there. He probably tried to heal it himself and ended up botching it. He looked ugly with it. She smirked. She then noticed Harry fidgeting on the side. "'Arry! 'Ave you seen 'Ermione?"

Harry frowned, "You haven't seen her since morning? I thought she might be with you. I haven't seen her."

The Veela started to really get worried now but she was interrupted when Bagman urged every Champion into a longboat, taking them to separate smaller platforms set at a distance from each other.

"Hello everyone, we are now to begin the Second Task!" Dumbledore's voice ran clear despite the distance. Fleur could only see the outline of the man, "Something precious has been taken from the Champions and they have to retrieve it from the bottom of the lake within one hour but...there is a twist. To do so, they need a key," He flicked his wand and three large Frigates emerged from the water. "Their keys are on the other's ship. Fully functional with 36 cannons, they are to board each other to get their key." The crowd roared as the Champions were ushered on their ship.

"Champions! The ship will respond to your command as if you have a crew! Fleur Delacour's key is with Victor Krum. Harry Potter's key is with Fleur Delacour and lastly, Krum's key is with Harry Potter. Your one-hour timer will only start when you hit the water. Start!" A cannon boomed to signal the start of the task.

Fleur grabbed the ship helm and shouted, "Full sails ahead!" Heart thudding in her chest and blood roaring in her ears as she had realised that her Hermione was what was at the bottom of the lake and fucking Krum had her key. The ship was called HMS Hermione as a gigantic clue, for Merlin's sake! The Bulgarian had an advantage in this task because he was more knowledgeable about ships, he came here in one!

Large booms of cannon shots made Fleur turn to realise that Krum had angled his ship to fire his cannons at her. She quickly ducked and conjured a Protego for herself, gritting her teeth at the damage to her ship hull and sails. This would only slow her down! She spun the wheels to angle her own ship and shouted "Fire broadside cannons!" The side cannons blasted loudly and she watched with satisfaction as she hit Krum's ship.

"Ready Mortars!" She braced as Harry shot at her. She was getting into a tight spot. While she understood Harry being after her since she had his key, Krum seemed to have no interest in getting his own key from Harry, instead, targeting Fleur. "Fire Mortars!" She watched as it rained fire on Krum's ship, his sails catching fire, slowing him down. He retaliated with mortars as well but Fleur quickly spun the helm to avoid most of them.

She noticed Harry's ship getting closer to hers and called out, "Release Fire Barrels!" and barrels full of gunpowder dropped from the rear of the ship, forcing Harry to close his mainsail to slow down and avoid hitting them. Looking back ahead, she could see she was getting closer to Krum, but the man seemed to be waiting for her approach to fire all his cannons at her at close range. There was no choice though, she needed to get to Hermione right away. She approached him straight ahead, conjuring a quick Protego as his cannons fired. Wood cracked and splintered around her but she kept the helm straight until her ship rammed into the side of his. Wasting no time, she cut one of the sail riggings with a spell and used it to swing herself onto his deck, expecting to see the key attached to the main mast like it was on her ship but found Krum grinning at her, the key in his hand.

Her surprise gave Krum an opening. Throwing a spell at her, she was knocked back as she heard him shout, "She is mine!" as he jumped overboard, into the water.

Fleur shook away the spell and jumped back onto her feet, quickly casting the Bubblehead Charm before diving after him.

Harry saw Fleur and Krum dive off and quickly sailed towards their ships. Grabbing his intended key from the Beauxbatons Champion's mast wasn't a big deal with no one to fend him off, but he didn't get why Krum would have jumped without the key on his own mast. Not willing to abandon whoever was under the lake, he grabbed Krum's key as well before diving off behind the pair.

ᴥ

The cold water was a shock to Fleur's system and she quickly cast the warming spells. The water was murky but Krum's burly stature could still be seen. He had transfigured his head into what seemed like a shark. She powered forward, not wanting to lose him. She growled when he dived into the large seaweed overgrowth and out of her sight. The view got even darker, as the reeds blocked any little sunlight from entering. She pushed through, swiping away the reeds hoping to catch a glimpse of the Bulgarian.

Suddenly she felt something wrap around her ankle and start to pull her down, dragging her deeper into the darkness, she kicked at it and threw a stunning spell, freezing the creature, what looked to be a Grindylow. Seemed like it was the wrong thing to do as hisses were heard through the reeds and a group of them swarmed her, scratching at her. She cast spell after spell furiously pushing them away. Those pests wouldn't keep her from Hermione! The Grindylows shrunk away in fear and she powered out of the seaweed and away from them without hesitation. She looked around and spotted an incredibly large creature swimming in the distance. The squid? Couldn't be, the shape was all wrong. She listened carefully, praying for her heightened Veela characteristics to help her and heard the song from the egg in the same direction as that large creature! Wasting no time, she swam towards it.

Her eyes must be playing tricks with her because as soon as she got closer to the beast, it revealed itself to be a green rounded body with fins and a long neck to its head. Was that… it can't be! The Lochness Monster?! But it's a myth! The beast kept swimming away though and Fleur reached a point where the music was leading her away from it. Shaking her head, she swam away, following the tune.

It only took a few minutes for her to get closer to the source of the song and she quickly noticed three bodies floating, chained to some stone blocks, a small boy, a redhead that looked to be Ginny and… Hermione! She would recognise that mane of hair anywhere. She spotted Krum trying to open up the chain lock holding Hermione while merpeople tried to dissuade him. She pushed forward, slamming into his body which made him drop the key. Grabbing it, she unlocked Hermione, holding onto her tight and started swimming back to the surface. A searing pain laced through her leg and she looked down to find that Krum had sunk his shark teeth into her limb. Gritting her teeth at the pain, she kicked him hard on the face, making him release her leg. Using the momentary reprieve, she pushed Hermione toward the surface. Another searing pain travelled through her as Krum's jaw closed on her leg again. She noticed Harry unlocking Ginny and the little Bulgarian boy. The Gryffindor boy seems to be tempted to come to her rescue for a second but Fleur shook her head, "Get zhem out of here!" she shouted.

Harry seemed to have understood the message as he nodded and swam upwards, pulling both charges with him.

Fleur cried out when she realised that Krum had let go of her leg and wrapped his jaw around her waist. The water was getting red with blood as she fought against him. Elbowing him into the eye, she screamed as his teeth shredded her skin. He let her go and swam away to the surface. The Veela felt her strength leave her as her vision blurred. The sunlight was dancing in the water, flaring in her eyes as she felt herself sink deeper down the lake. I'm sorry, 'Ermione…

ᴥ

Harry broke through the surface, gulping for air and heard Ginny and the little boy do the same around him. He noticed Hermione swimming to him.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione cried out, grabbing the redhead to help Harry hold onto the frightened boy as they swam back to the main platform, "Where is Fleur?!"

Just as he was about to reply, the Shark form of Krum burst through the water and changed back into his normal form. Hermione watched in shock at the amount of blood in the water around him. The Bulgarian Seeker came forward and snached the little boy off Harry's arm and swam away.

"Rude! I don't think I like him, no matter how good of a Quidditch player he is," Ginny said as she climbed onto the platform and turned around to help Hermione up.

"Where is Fleur?" Hermione asked again, scanning the water surface, worry and fear laced in her voice.

Suddenly the water started bubbling and the body of Fleur surfaced being carried by a couple of mermen.

"Fleur!" Hermione cried out, dropping to her knees next to her and grabbing the blonde's limp hand as she was deposited on the deck. She had never seen so much blood. There was so much blood and the Veela wasn't moving, it didn't look like she was breathing. Oh God, no, please! She was moved aside by Madame Pomfrey who immediately started casting multiple spells at the Veela. Hermione's heart was in her throat as she watched helplessly, praying for the blonde to just breathe. Breathe please, Fleur.., Breathe! You cannot do this to me! There is so much I still need to say! She didn't even notice the tears trailing down her cheeks as she waited with bated breath.

A gasp resonated and Hermione followed it with one of her own, squeezing Fleur's hand. She watched as Fleur blinked her eyes open. "'Ermione, " the blonde croaked before her eyes fluttered shut again.

"I'm here," cried Hermione, peppering kisses on the blonde's hand and face as Madame Pomfrey healed her wounds. She didn't care that she had an audience. All that mattered was Fleur.

ᴥ

The mermen entered a screaming conversation with Dumbledore but Hermione paid no attention as she kept her hold on Fleur's hand as Madame Pomfrey carefully tended to Veela's wounds. Hermione gasped, crying at the damage, it looked so bad, so painful. She felt the blonde unconsciously squeeze her hand and it made her love her Veela even more, reassuring her when Hermione is the one supposed to be doing the reassuring. Love… I love her… so much.

Despite her attention being fixed on Fleur, Hermione couldn't help but hear Dumbledore's 'conversation' end with the merpeople and what followed.

"Karkaroff!" Dumbledore called out, "I've been informed that it is Mister Krum that attacked Miss Delacour," he said gravely.

Gasps were heard in the audience and through the jury at the news. Hermione's head whipped to look at the Durmstrang Champion in fury.

"What?!" Madame Maxime thudded forward, "What iz ze meaning of zhis!?"

"You must be mistaken!" said Karkaroff, "why would Krum attack the French champion?"

"The marks on her do match that of a shark's jaw," said Madame Pomfrey.

All eyes turned to the Bulgarian in question. Krum stood stiffly, crossing his arms over his chest and glared at everyone, "she vas after my prize," he said, eyes stopping to bore into Hermione.

Hermione felt her blood boil. He looked proud of himself, smug.

Karkaroff angrily approached his champion, "You attacked a champion for a girl!? Are you out of your mind?!"

Dumbledore looked at the jury, "Mister Krum is disqualified from this task on accounts of unsporting conduct." He watched as the other nodded, agreeing to his assessment. Madame Maxime looked to still be fuming, ready to crush him like a mosquito between her hands.

"She vas mine to save!" argued Krum, advancing towards Dumbledore.

Hermione couldn't listen any longer, she had focused on Fleur at the sword fighting duel last time because Fleur had handled it but this time, without even thinking, she advanced towards Krum and socked him hard in the face, feeling his nose give away and wasted no time in pulling her wand, a quick flick of her wrist, blasting him backwards. He smacked into one of the pillars on the platform and dropped heavily with a painful thud. "You fucking git! Touch her again and I'll eviscerate you!" She followed by a jinx, knocking him back onto the floor as he tried to get up and followed with another spell, wrapping vines around him and didn't stop her wand movement, tightening the vines around his body. She wanted to squeeze the life out of him, squeeze until-

Her wand shot out of her hand into Dumbledore's hand and the older man looked at her understandingly before flicking his wand at Krum to release him, "Miss Granger, while I understand your anger, it is not the right way to go about this."

"Come on!" said Karkaroff, disgusted at the struggling Krum and advanced towards his Champion, still lying on the floor gasping for air, blood pouring down his nose, "Get up!" He aggressively pulled Krum to his feet, "You will rue your stupidity when I'm done with you!" and started pulling him away.

Dumbledore proffered Hermione's wand back to her, "I think it's best you accompany Miss Delacour to the Infirmary, Miss Granger."

Hermione stiffly nodded, trying to calm the rage simmering within her. She walked back to Fleur and took hold of Fleur's hand again as she was carefully carried by Hagrid, following silently as they walked to the Infirmary.

LookingAtYouKid: There you have it xD

Morganlafayy: Thank you! Hope you liked this chapter as well, let me know :D

pclauink: Let me know how you found what happened in the Second Task!

Aaron Leach: Thanks!

lipeviez: Thank you, Lipz! He is such a cheater D: The girls are cute 3

E Elliot: Haha, yeah Hermione finds her cute like that xD Making you hate Krum is all part of the story :D

ShadowwCub: She wasn't expecting him to cheat in front of an audience. If it had been a secret duel, then she would have been wary. This caught her by surprise.

CelticOffspring: Thank you! Now you know a lot more about swords xD

Guest: Thank you! Let me how you found this one!

evattude: Thank you!

Flying high 93: Thank you for your kind words! I'm happy you enjoyed the duel! We will see Fleur transform in the future so stay tuned for it. Let me know how you found this task!

rabradley09: Thank you! I'm happy you enjoyed how the duel went. I did a lot of research on swords! :D

wkgreen: Hermione didn't want to interrupt and the other Veela would have stopped her. A split second of inattention from Fleur could have been disastrous as we saw when Hermione called her name.

andrewpine: Haha, we say Hermione do stuff this time. Let's be honest, she did warn him in the library before!

Unknown: Fleur handled it and Hermione did tell Fleur what she thought about it in a reasonable way, I think. As for the scene you wished for, you got it! Tell me how you found it!

xxDark Angel Babyxx: Here it is! ( ＾◡＾)っ