In the last chapter: Cedric helps Harry with the egg. Harry gets the clue from the egg. Barty almost gets himself caught stealing from Snape's personal stores but Harry saves him and promises to get his ingredients for him. Voldemort gets one minuscule step closer to figuring out who his 'friend' is. Philias starts getting grey hairs before he's forty.


The frozen grip of the harsh Scottish winter eventually thawed and gave way to chilled grey mornings with stubborn, dirty patches of snow refusing to disappear completely dotting the grounds. Thick clumps of plush verdant grass that were threading through the layer of its brown dead predecessors that had carried the weight of the suffocating snow on their backs all winter. Spring was dragging its feet lazily around the school.

The four champions had become noticeably withdrawn in the last week or so leading up to the second task, which took place on the twenty-fourth or February. They were tense about the notion of something precious being taken from them—and possibly never returned if they failed—wondering over the 'when, where, and what' almost constantly. As well as doing their bests to prepare themselves for the task, as they'd all figured out that they would be in the Black Lake for an hour, searching for what they'd lost and would therefore need to be able to breathe under water for that long.

Harry had been in the middle of researching a complex charm that would form a bubble around his head while underwater, when he received a surprise visit from a Hogwarts house elf by the name of Winky. The little elf was in a right state of drunkenness due to recently being publicly fired from service with Barty Crouch Snr after being instigated in the Quidditch World Cup the summer previous if the papers were to be believed, and had absently set a small package on his table before popping off without a word. Curious, Harry checked the little package for any curses or jinxes, but it was completely clean, so he felt it was alright to open it. Inside, Harry found an odd, slimy green plant, and when he checked that for spells, the only one he could find was a preservation charm to keep it fresh.

Harry immediately set aside the book he had been reading and began to scour the library for herbology books that might tell him just what exactly he'd been given. It took a frustrating amount of time—two days-worth of searching —before he found a book on very obscure Eastern Europe Herbology that detailed a plant called Gillyweed. According to the book, the plant was meant to have certain specific transfiguration properties. Supposedly, it would give the person who ingested it things like gills and more amphibious appendages to move through the water quickly. That peeked Harry's interest, considering that it would not only allow him to breathe under water, but also aid him in moving through it quickly, which would be suited perfectly for the task.

However, there were a few grey areas when it came to quantities consumed and how the environment and state of the water might affect the Gillyweed. So, Harry kept the Gillyweed, but also continued to search for any other, more reliable options.

It wasn't a question of where the Gillyweed had come from, though, as Harry knew exactly who had given it to him. He had to say, becoming the provider of Barty's polyjuice ingredients had paid off now that the man was able to focus on something else and do his job of helping get Harry through the tasks and to his lord when the time was right. It went far in redeeming the man in Harry's eyes after his last near-devastating cock-up. Gillyweed was not an easy solution to come by, and he had to admit that the older man would know of things he did not with both his age and his many years working with dark wizards.

In all honesty, Harry didn't know much about 'dark magic' and their practices. No, his knowledge revolved mostly around necromancy with a bit of it composed of what Hogwarts had to offer. That fact didn't bother Harry, though. Harry was still quite young and relatively new to the wizarding world. Logically speaking, he had the rest of eternity—should he wish to live that long—to uncover every little secret the world and everything beyond that had to hide.

'All in due time, little necromancer.' Death input gently.


The night before the second task, Harry returned from a day of looking into everything he possibly could about Gillyweed—as, in the end, it had come to be the most viable option for him—only to find someone missing from his dorm room. Harry had asked around for any indication as to where Anthony had gone, but it had yielded little and when curfew came and went, Harry realized exactly what had happened, and to say he was displeased would be putting it very mildly.

The precious 'item' that would be taken for the second task was not an item at all, but a person. They were taking the person most precious to them at Hogwarts, and sticking them at the bottom of the Black Lake with the threat of never returning them. Harry was livid. He knew that wizards in general willfully ignored the notion or their own mortality and fragility—unlike muggles, who tried to make their children aware of it as soon as possible to protect them—because they liked to think that magic could fix everything, even death—which Harry knew better than anyone that Death was not to be toyed with, and he could be mercilessly vindictive if you got too flippant with your own safety. And here they were, putting children at the bottom of a lake full of dangerous creatures, where if something were to go wrong they could easily drown before the task even began!

Harry was ready to storm out of the common room and up to Dumbledore's office tell him just what he thought of the ridiculous task when a cold, comforting and invisible force stopped him before he'd even left his dorm room. Harry paid little mind to the way his two other roommates shivered and made a beeline for the door with their toiletries in hand. The gentle weight of large skeletal hands settled on his shoulders and Harry closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and felt the soft brush of robes against his cheek. His forehead tilted forward slightly until it met the hard surface of a cold sternum under the soft fabric. He calmed his breathing down slowly as Death continued to sooth him.

'It is alright, child. Worry not, as you know, I always have an eye on those you favor. We cannot do anything at this point, as the cup has chosen the task and the champion's people have been collected. I know you are concerned for the young wizard's safety, but know that I will be watching him closely and will not allow any harm to befall him. However, if you truly wish it, I can bypass the enchantments of the cup and remove him from the task—though, that would also mean dismantling the entire tournament and missing the opportunity to perform the ritual in such favorable conditions. Is that something you would like?' Harry was shocked by the offer, as Death was not particularly compassionate and usually did not care about someone meeting an untimely end. With Harry, probably being one of the few exceptions.

Still, as much as the offer comforted Harry and allowed most of his anger to abate, he trusted his friend to watch over Anthony during the task and knew that the conditions Voldemort would be providing for them would never be more favorable than during his own ritual. Voldemort would never again allow himself to be so vulnerable if they let the opportunity to pass them by.

"Thank you," Harry said aloud, softly, allowing himself to grip the otherworldly robes and soak in the presence of his companion for a while longer before releasing his grip and letting the unseen being gently guide him over to his bed. "But no, we'll continue on as planned. We've come too far to just let it slip away." Harry laid down and pulled his warm covers up as the exhaustion began to pull more forcefully on his mind.

'Very well, Harry. Rest, now, as tomorrow will be hard on your body and you will need your strength.' Harry felt the cool touch of a smooth bone finger against his cheek as he drifted into a deep sleep.


The morning of the second task began with Harry almost falling out of bed. Eye's wide, vision blurry from sleep, and one hand pressed against the cold stone floor to keep himself still halfway on the bed. Harry climbed back onto his bed fully and inwardly groaned. Despite falling asleep at a decent time the night before, Harry had periodically woken up throughout the night to roll and toss himself about to try to drift back into sleep as a certain Someone had been rather active and irritable throughout the early hours. Before, Harry had only a few vague dreams here and there where he seemed to connect with Voldemort's consciousness and be able to see through his eyes while he was asleep. Recently, though, with Voldemort's growing power and incurring restlessness, Harry was being drawn into scenes of mundane or mildly interesting busy work more and more frequently over the past month or so. It was how Harry figured out that Barty Crouch Snr had been placed under the Imperious curse by Voldemort at the beginning of the year, before Death had even told him.

And last night, Voldemort had apparently reached a point of boredom strong enough to push him to really diving in to trying to find the mysterious associate that had been helping them recently and the man had grown rather incensed when he came back with nothing. None of that really mattered, though. The important thing, was that Harry was woken again and again throughout the course of the night so that he was unable to get anything remotely close to a restful sleep.

On top of that, Harry was feeling anxious about the task and second guessing his decision to use the Gillyweed or trying his hand at the bubbleheaded charm instead—which he only had a little practice with and was unsure if he'd be able to maintain it for an entire hour if he happened to become distracted by anything.

At breakfast, Harry ate his food silently without really tasting it. Hermione was apparently missing as well and one look at Krum's worried expression as he scanned the Ravenclaw table told him where she'd gone off to as well. Draco asked after Anthony and Hermione and he explained to him exactly what had happened. The Slytherin didn't look at all surprised that Anthony had been deemed his 'most important person' at Hogwarts—though Hermione being Viktor's, despite them attending the ball together, was quite a shock to him—but he was almost as angry as Harry had been about the champion's loved ones being used in a dangerous task.

Just like with the first task, right after breakfast, everyone was led outside and walked down towards the shore of the Black Lake where the same boats that brought first years to the castle on their first night at Hogwarts, waited to be filled and then carried its occupants to the newly built stands further out in the frigid waters. Harry and Draco bypassed the mischievous Weasley twins who were taking down people's bets for the outcome of the task to make up for the loss at the hands of a certain Ludo Bagman, who'd copped out of paying a debt to them—or so his companion explained.

They took a boat to the main platform where the judges, champions, and other staff were situated on the bottom level. Draco wished Harry luck with an earnestness in his eyes—now that he knew that not only Harry, but two others from their group were at risk—that told Harry of his worry. Then Draco was shooed off to the upper levels of the platform and out of the way as the champions prepped.

Harry was the last champion to arrive and despite the season, the air was still exceptionally frigid. While the other champions were bundled under large coats and thick robes over their swim wear, and were continuously casting warming charms on their wears, Harry was more comfortable with the chill and absently began slipping off his shoes and socks while they waited for the stands to fill. Besides, Harry knew that the water would feel far colder and the sooner he got used to the cold, the less he'd have to worry about warming charms or potential shock once he got into the water.

Shrugging off his thin jacket and loose pants to reveal the light-weight shirt and shorts he would be swimming in, Harry began to stretch out his body. He received a few odd looks from those around him at his seeming ease in the cold, but his sole focus was on preparing to dive into that icy water and return with his friend.

The only time his focus was interrupted, was when Sirius and Remus visited him for a moment, giving him a few tight hugs and some last-minute advice about staying safe, being on his guard, and never being afraid to back out if there was something down there he couldn't handle, as he was clearly at a disadvantage to the other champions. They, thankfully, were allowed to stay on the bottom platform like the other parents of the champions, though they stepped back to allow Harry to get back into the mindset of the task.

The last of the boats glided up to the left-most platform and the sound of the crowd as they screamed and cheered and chanted was a familiar roar Harry was starting to drown out after several minutes. Dumbledore cast a sonorus on his voice and announced the commencement of the official Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. He quickly explained the objectives of the task—that something had been taken from each champion, hidden at the bottom of the lake, and they would have an hour to retrieve it or risk being disqualified from the task.

As Dumbledore's speech about integrity and playing fairly began to wind down, Harry noticed 'Moody' step up to his right and was watching him intently. Knowing what the other man was expecting, Harry plucked his discarded jacket from the ground and grabbed the Gillyweed from his pocket. Harry had it unwrapped and in his mouth in a matter of moments without anyone really taking notice. The Gillyweed was bitter, salty, and slimy on his tongue and it almost seemed as though it was moving, but Harry forced himself to swallow without chewing—to be sure the effects would last the entire hour. Harry remained as clam as possible, even though it felt like he'd swallowed an entire live fish and it was now writhing around in his stomach and trying to squirm back up his throat.

He saw Moody glancing away with a small pleased smirk on his mouth from the corner of his eye. Harry could feel himself turning pale at the sensation in his stomach, but made himself listen carefully to the world around him as they were told to get ready. All four champions crouched with their hands gripping the edge of the platform, ready to dive in the moment the loud crack coming from the tip of a wand signaled their start.

Within the span of a breath, the signal was given and all four champions were diving down into the painfully cold waters and casting their various charms to help them breathe and keep themselves warm. The moment Harry was submerged, the wriggling in his stomach calmed and dissolved into a thrilling warmth. Pain lacerated the sides of his throat and Harry saw the small smoky red cloud of blood drift in front of his face for a moment. The pain dug a little deeper and then suddenly cold-water was filing his lungs and then whooshing out gently. The need for oxygen died and Harry reached up to feel smooth patch of scales where gills had formed.

Then Harry noticed the difference in his appendages as a dull ache took over them for a moment. His thin fingers elongated slightly and the spaces between them became webbed pale skin covered in tiny white scales that nearly reached his elbows. His feet lengthened and thinned out with flexible bones that acted more like cartilage. They were scaled and webbed just like his hands, but much longer, like flippers. Harry took another moment to adjust, before testing out his new physical additions by propelling through the water at a faster rate than he'd expected and disappearing into the thick forest of kelp before him like the other champions.

The downside to having gills was that Harry could taste the water he was taking in, and it wasn't very pleasant. On the upside, the Gillyweed also seemed to lower his core body temperature until the water around him no long felt more than a little uncomfortably cold. His companion sent him in the right direction to find Anthony and he started swimming quickly. Gliding past the slick kelp leaves that threatened to wrap around his wrists and ankles like hands. The light trickled out amongst the thick plant-life overhead.

Harry had been making his way through the kelp forest for several minutes when he heard a strange noise. Hesitating for a moment, Harry cautiously moved in a different direction off to his right until he found what was making all that commotion. Fleur appeared to be tangled in the kelp and surrounded by small, pale green creatures with little horns, rows of sharp teeth in their large mouths, frog-like eyes, and octopus-like tentacles that were currently trying to wrap around Fleur's rams and legs to impede her struggles. Grindylows. Hagrid had mentioned them once, something about the merpeople keeping them as pets and being one of the only beings that could tame the little water demons.

These Grindylows, however, were clearly not very tame. Harry wondered for a moment if it was because they were agitated with such drastic changes and invasions to their habitat, or if it was done on purpose—perhaps by a certain Death Eater that liked to meddle with the tournament—either way, it was quite the nuisance. Harry pulled his wand from the holster strapped to his thigh and sent out a few blasts of red sparks that quickly scared off the little water demons. Then with a few well-placed diffindo's Fleur was free and looking at Harry curiously as she pulled the loosened kelp from her limbs. Harry just pointed in the direction he was heading, waiting until she nodded in understanding, and swam off.

He didn't care about getting first, and as long as all of the people were collected, he only had to worry about Anthony's safety. Harry continued to swim through the dark waters until finally the thick kelp strands came to an end at the edge of a steep drop off. Following the directions of his companion, Harry began the descent into colder, darker waters.

At the bottom, it was like swimming through the shadowed ruins of some ancient society. Pillars of rough and jagged rock shot up and towered over him, most of it looking like the natural eroded away landscape, while other structures looking a bit more hand-crafted. There were plenty of little and big fish swimming by in schools or alone. Shadows darted around below him or at the corners of his vision, making Harry increasingly uneasy. Harry felt something cold and slick brush his foot, but when he whipped around, he saw nothing there.

Pushing on, the structures looked less and less derelict and the area seemed almost to be brightening up, more light from above cutting through the deep lake waters. As Harry began to spot what looked to be caves off to the side and odd hut-like structures made of piled stones and soft, flexible wood, he realized just where he was. The village of the merfolk. He'd had his suspicions with the egg's message, but he had no idea where it had been located in the lake. Plus, with the guidance of his companion, it really didn't take him long to reach the village anyways.

Harry looked around him as he proceeded a bit more slowly, cautiously, and got his first decent look at the merpeople. There in Scotland, they didn't have the siren-like beauties that were said to enchant men right off their boats and into the waters just by their looks and their voices. Those merpeople were only found in warmer climates, these were Selkies, their cold-blooded and more frightening cousins. Selkies were slightly smaller in size, with sickly inhuman grey flesh, thick and matted dark green hair, broken and rotting teeth, and bright yellows eyes. Around their necks they wore large ropes of pebbles, and a few small unidentifiable bones.

Harry wasn't sure if the bones held any magical significance for the merpeople, but they did remind him heavily of the totem he'd made what felt like many years ago. The grounding necklace made of shrunken skulls from witches and wizards not properly buried, painted with ruins in his own blood, strung with beads of black volcanic glass on a braided lock of a woman's hair who'd died in childbirth. He had not used the totem nearly as often as he would have liked—feeling his magic imbuing itself into the totem each time he used it to help with another spell or ritual. He eagerly awaited the moment when he could use said totem at Voldemort's ritual.

Shaking his head to collect his thoughts from where they had wandered, Harry continued to swim towards the center of the village, where most of the merpeople had gathered with the little Grindylows at their sides as well as a few huge dark grey eels with sharp teeth and massive bodies covered in loose flesh. In the very center near several tall, crumbling archways he could see the still, floating forms of four people in dark robes. The first one he identified through the murky water, was Hermione, looking as though she had been turned into a statue with color. Her thick curls drifted lazily around her, as did her dark blue and black school robe. Beside her was the much smaller form of a young blonde girl Harry vaguely recognized as Fleur Delacour's sister. He didn't remember her name, nor did he care to. On the end, off to the right, was an older boy in gold and black robes that he didn't recognize. Probably Cedric's 'person.'

Lastly, on the end off to the left, was Anthony. Harry was making his way towards Anthony when a selky swam into his path and leveled him with a severe look and a spear tip pointed at his chest.

"Only one!" It hissed out at him. Harry frowned, not quite understanding why it felt the need to say such a thing, but nodding in affirmation all the same.

The selky moved away slowly and Harry swam down to Anthony's ankle where he was bond by a single rope, keeping him from floating to the surface. Harry untied his friend and then moved up to make sure the spell hadn't worn off yet and his friend was fine. Once he was sure he still had time, Harry turned and looked out over the village, searching for a sign of the other champions.

Harry was there for a few minutes and no one else had come yet, when suddenly he heard an odd noise off to his left. Turning, Harry spotted Fleur's sister next to Hermione, instead of the blank almost corpse-like expression she'd held a moment ago, there was a slight furrow between her pale brows and a few bubbles were escaping her closed lips. Harry shifted closer a little when the small girl gave a sudden jerk and bubbles poured from her nose and mouth as the water filled with a horrifying muffled choking sounds.

'What the hell is happening?' Harry shouted in his mind and his companion was quick to answer.

'I believe that the girl is a quarter Veela. Veela have a rather strong resistance to spells and if the girl is too young to have learned how to allow her barriers to lower enough for magic to have a full effect on her, it is quite possible that the spell placed on her to keep her in this stasis is wearing off quicker than expected. She is waking up. She is drowning.'

Harry only spared a moment to look at the surrounding area to see if another champion would come help him, but there was no one and he'd already freed Anthony. He'd already chosen. Cursing under his breath, Harry grabbed Anthony and gave him a hard shove towards the surface with an added wandless ascendio to make sure he reached the top on his own. Then Harry moved over to the girl as quickly as he could, casting a panicked wandless bubbleheaded charm over her face. It wouldn't be enough though, the girl had already swallowed too much water and wasn't breathing, she'd need immediate medical attention once he was done. Harry placed a hand over her chest right on her sternum, and the other went on her back and he closed his eyes and allowed his magic to guide him as he pushed both physically, and with his magic, to expel as much water from her lungs as he could.

The merpeople were swimming towards him and so he gave one last push of magic to strengthen her vitals before casting another ascendio on the girl and watching her shoot up through the water. He was grabbed by strong hands before he saw if she made it or not. Death assured him that she did. Before Harry could feel any kind of relief, he was jerked down deeper into the water by dozens of hands until he was pinned against the bottom of the lake. The same selky who had warned him before got within inches of his face, bright yellow eyes boring into him.

"I said one." And then there was a harsh press of magic against his abdomen and before he could fight off the foreign creature magic, he felt a sudden violent thrashing in his stomach. It squirmed and crawled its way up his throat until suddenly it was sliding over his tongue with the taste of bile and sea water. Harry opened his mouth and the selkies hand raced forward and in a flash the Gillyweed was stolen from his mouth and he immediately felt the effects of the plant fading. His gills and enhanced appendices disappeared and water was rushing down his throat like a sentient creature seeking asylum inside his body.

Harry's body jerked as it fought against itself to cough out the liquid, yet only finding more liquid on each inhale. He knew that this hadn't been the intention of using the merpeople in the task, but merfolk—selkies specifically—were dark creatures and very tricky to deal with. If someone had said to make sure the champions only took one person each, they might take the liberty of interpreting that as 'do absolutely anything necessary to make sure they only took one.'

Harry's insides burned and he lashed out with his magic to try to prevent what was happening, but only the selkies closest to him were blown away, drifting limp and lifeless in the waters. More selkies came and took their place, now angered that he dared to harm their own. Thin hands wrapped around his throat and the encroaching darkness rushed in faster. Knowing he wasn't going to get out of this one as easily as he'd hoped, Harry allowed it to over-take him and he fell through the veil and down into the euphoric afterlife.

Surfacing the crystalline blue waters of a warm tropical lagoon, Harry sucked in a large sweet tasting lungful of air again and again as he trudged up onto the near-blinding white sand that had been worn down into such a fine grain that it felt soft against his skin. Harry took a few moments as he felt through his strong connection to his physical body that it was rapidly repairing the damage done to it. Death appeared before him after a moment.

"You need to return, now. The other champions will arrive shortly, the merpeople are tending to their dead."

Harry huffed in annoyance and ran a hand through his wet curls before taking another deep breath and grabbing the fabric of the veil around him and splitting it open so that he could dive back into its obsidian depths. When he opened his eyes back in his body, there was a persistent pounding inside his skull and continuous drain on both his energy and his magic as both fought to continue to heal him, but were impeded by the water currently inhabiting his lungs, like a wound that couldn't heal because the knife was still in the way. There was an odd lethargy and buzzing numbness to his limbs. He wouldn't last for very long under water in his not-quite-alive state, but he had a few minutes at least before his body ran out of energy and he was booted once more until it healed again.

Harry blinked and sat up, looking around he saw that the area was indeed empty except for him, Hermione, and the Hufflepuff floating above him. A few moments later, a large figure came swimming up from his right seemingly out of nowhere. From what Harry could see, based on the clothes it wore, it was Krum, who had transfigured his head into that of a shark—interesting. The Bulgarian champion spared Harry a single glance, and what might have been a nod if he hadn't had a shark head, before slicing through the rope around Hermione's ankle with his teeth and hooking an arm around her waist as he began swimming towards the surface with his powerful, muscle-corded limbs.

Harry was about to give in to the exhaustion and ache in his body by following Krum when a pale form caught his eye in the distance. Finally, Fleur seemed to have caught up and was swimming quickly towards him. When she reached him, she looked at the last statuesque student, then at Harry, then all around her in confusion. Harry swam closer to get her attention, then he tried to convey what he could by pointing at Fleur, then point directly up. It took her a moment, and she did a few last thorough scans of the area before seeming to trust Harry and started swimming upwards.

Harry could have sighed in relief if he had any air left to do so, but instead he just used all of his strength to keep up with the blonde and swim towards the surface as the magic leaked from him like an open wound. The moment they surfaced, Harry's body violently coughed out the water trapped in his chest and Fleur, who'd been about to swim back to the platform, turned with wide and worried eyes as Harry choked and coughed. At that point, they were still pretty far from the platforms and the waves licked up by the wind kept them from being spotted just yet.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Fleur asked as she reached out and grabbed his elbow when he started to sink down a little due to the lack of energy in his limps.

Instead of answering her question, Harry answered the unspoken one.

"Your sister's part Veela, isn't she?" At the confusion in Fleur's eyes, Harry continued in the raw, hoarse voice he'd earned for his troubles. "The stasis spell was wearing off when I reached the village. She was waking up and would have drowned if I hadn't sent her up along with my person as well. I'm not telling you this to make you thankful, just to make sure she gets the proper medical attention once we reach the platforms. Also, I used up too much magic trying to revive her down there and I might pass out before we get there. So, instead of any nonsense about favors or life-debts, can you just make sure I don't kick it before we get out of his damn lake?" Harry asked casually and Fleur looked startled by his words, but also kept glancing towards the platforms, clearly too eager to go take care of her sister to question his blasé words. With a short nod from the witch, she and Harry began swimming back and were soon greeted by the thunderous roar of the crowd when they were spotted.

They were only about five meters away when Harry lost the strength to swim on his own and Fleur had to practically drag him. The sight changed something in the throngs of on lookers as they realized that something wasn't right and the cheers lowered into worried murmurs. When they reached the center platform, Harry was pulled up by his two guardians as they called the Medi-Witch over to begin working on Harry. The wind and light began to be blocked out around Harry as they were joined by a worried Cedric and a panicked Anthony—both wrapped in thick towels and blankets with dripping wet hair—as well as Dumbledore and Moody.

Harry started coughing up more water that he hadn't realized was still in his lungs and he felt himself drifting into unconsciousness—or perhaps it wasn't unconsciousness, as Poppy had shouted something about vitals, a heartbeat, and then shouted for everyone to step back. And then it felt like someone had stuck a lightning rod right into his brain and sent him out in the middle of a lightning storm. Electricity, or something similar, shot agonizingly through his every nerve and his body bent off the wet wooden planks below him as it felt like every muscle cramped at once.

And then it was over just as quickly as it had begun, and Harry's heart was beating as fast as a jackrabbit's and he shot upright with gasping breaths.

"Bloody hell, that hurt!" Harry exclaimed and everyone seemed to be utterly still as they watched the boy unsure for a moment, then Harry was crushed between the bodies of his legal parents as they clutched him and soothed his wild wet hair and muttered things about him never scaring them like that again. They held him so tightly that the shivering that had started up was nearly forced into stillness by their binding arms. The crowds had gone mostly silent and were trying to figure out what was going on, leaning over railings and trying to push down the stairs to get a peek.

After a few suffocating—and admittedly, warm and comforting—moments subject to the fussing of Sirius and Remus, Pomphrey couldn't wait any longer and shooed the two-fretting parents away enough so that she could continue to check Harry and keep his heart from stopping, again.

She determined that Harry had a fairly severe case of magical exhaustion which, after Harry—with Fleur's permission, of course—explained the situation with Fleur's sister, became quite understandable. Harry was also physically exhausted and had nearly asphyxiated from the water he'd taken in while saving the younger Delacour. He would undoubtedly be put on bedrest in the infirmary for the next few days, but he didn't argue with the matron on that, knowing it would be useless.

Before Harry was moved to the infirmary, Dumbledore cast a sonorus and announced the scores. Harry was technically the last person to surface, but because he'd saved two people instead of one—some bollocks about bravery or heroics—and because his saved ones reached the surface long before anyone else, he and Viktor tied for first. Fleur took second place. Cedric was disqualified since apparently the Grindylows Harry had scared away from Fleur had found another prey and he'd been forced to back out—and his person just naturally floated to the surface once the hour was up.

Countless people tried to visit Harry in the infirmary later—both student and not—but thankfully Pomphrey was one wicked witch when it came to taking care of her patients and kept her space on a strict lockdown. She'd only let Sirius and Remus see him—even going as far as barring Dumbledore from seeing him—and any other patients, including the young Delacour, and any clever students that tried to get a peek at Harry by claiming head aches and stomach aches, were kept on their own cots behind their own privacy curtains, and physically couldn't get within a few feet of another patient's curtains without expressed permission from Pomphrey.

That night, Sirius dragged the neighboring bed (much to Poppy's ire) up against Harry's and he and Remus stuck as close as they could to Harry. Remus sat on one side, an arm wrapped around his shoulders, occasionally leaning in to quietly nose at Harry's hair or press his lips to his temple, to settle Moony who'd gone a little crazy with almost losing his cub earlier. Harry didn't mind the closeness, even leaning into the man every now and then when he got too wrapped up in his thoughts and started to frown again.

Sirius sat on his other side, legs fold up criss-cross as he taught Harry how to play a few car games—both wizard and muggle. Sirius wasn't nearly as obvious in his mother-henning as Remus, but Harry still picked up on a brush of their knees here or a quick squeezing hug as Sirius teased him there. Harry silently basked in the attention, and though his face remained mostly neutral, his smiles came easier and there was a soft glow of color high in his cheeks that was a mix of mirth and contentment.

Harry couldn't wait for his life, if these people were his family. . .