That evening, Harry and Hermione were sitting together on the couch in the common room, discussing what might be stolen from Harry for the next day's task, when the twins walked up.
"McGonagall wants to see you, Hermione," said Fred, plopping down on the armrest next to the genius brunette.
"Why?" asked Hermione in confusion, looking up at him. She couldn't ever remember a teacher wanting to see her for anything when she wasn't in trouble with Harry, and they certainly hadn't done anything wrong recently.
"Dunno…She didn't look too happy, though," answered George, who'd taken the armchair next to Harry.
Looking over apologetically at Harry, Hermione said, "Looks like I've been called away," before leaning over for a long kiss. Breaking apart, she added as she stood up, "I'll hurry back as quickly as I can, but don't stay up too late if I'm still gone — you have the second task in the morning."
After watching Hermione disappear out the portrait hole to go find Professor McGonagall, Harry turned to the twins and asked them how their joke shop plans and inventions were going. So for the next several hours, Harry and the twins talked and played with Crookshanks, enchanting random objects they found scattered about the common room to fly or roll around for the kneazle to chase. But by eleven o'clock, Crookshanks was curled up on the rug in front of the fire, and Harry, remembering his girlfriend's admonishment to get a proper night's sleep before the second task the following morning, bid the twins goodbye and headed to bed himself — for Hermione still hadn't returned. But Harry wasn't particularly worried, as he knew he'd see her in the morning before the task.
But when Harry entered the common room to meet up with her before walking down to breakfast together the following morning, Hermione wasn't there like normal. After waiting ten minutes to see if she was just very late from having had to stay up so late the night before, he finally gave up and walked down to the Great Hall alone, beginning to become worried. When he walked into the Great Hall several minutes later, he didn't see her anywhere in there, either, and panic began building inside him — she had never just disappeared off the face of Hogwarts like this before, and especially not without writing him a note to let him know she was safe and what she was doing.
Harry milled about in the Great Hall for as long as he reasonably could after he'd finished eating, waiting for her to appear out of nowhere and tell him everything was alright. While waiting, he mulled over in his mind what it could possibly be that the merfolk had stolen from him, as he hadn't noticed anything missing that morning or any time recently. Meanwhile, people began making their way outside towards the lake, having apparently been told at some point that that's where the second task was going to be. Though when or how they had been told, he had no clue, as he certainly had never been told, and if Hermione hadn't helped him figure out the clue, he would have had no idea where to go that morning. And Hermione had never mentioned to him having been told where to go, either, despite the fact that as a non-competitor, she should have been told with everyone else.
But as long as Harry waited, Hermione never showed up.
So thirty minutes before the task was to start, when he could wait for her no longer, he finally departed the Great Hall in a minor state of worry bordering on sheer panic, and slowly walked down to the lake, wondering where she could possibly be, and what could have possibly happened that she wouldn't be there to wish him good luck — it was completely un-Hermione-like in every possible way.
Arriving at the Champions Tent on the edge of the lake, Harry saw that Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were already there and waiting. As soon as Harry stepped into the tent, he was accosted by the bossy voice of none other than Percy Weasley, demanding, "Where have you been? You were supposed to be here an hour before the task starts!"
"Now, now, Percy," interrupted Ludo Bagman, "He's arrived no more than five minutes after Cedric, and there's still ten minutes before the task starts," before adding irritably under his breath, "And the only person here more than thirty minutes before the task was you."
Harry meanwhile said nothing, simply directing his attention to Bagman for any last minute instructions before he went searching for whatever it was they'd stolen from him.
In the back of his mind he did idly wonder why Percy was there again instead of Mr Crouch, same as at the Yule Ball, and wondered if Mr Crouch was still ill and if it was from the same apparent sickness that Bagman had mentioned the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation had been out with for a couple weeks before he and Hermione had ran across Bagman in the Three Broomsticks, nearly a month and a half earlier. Mr Crouch's absence was definitely something he'd have to pass on to Hermione when he finally saw her again after the task, but at the moment, just like at the Yule Ball, Harry was suffering from an acute attack of no curiosity.
They all just stood and sat there twiddling their thumbs for another five minutes, until at 9:25 Bagman finally stood up and instructed them to spread out along the edge of the lake. As the four of them got ready to find their stolen objects, Bagman briefly addressed the crowds on the other side of the lake to let them know the task was about to start.
At the sound of the shrill whistle signifying the start of the task, Harry waded into the icy cold lake, eating the ball of gillyweed Dobby had given him the morning before, trying not to hack back up the slimy, rubbery glob. As soon as its effects were complete, he dove into the water, off to find whatever had been stolen from him.
Forty minutes later, past the grindylows and with a bit of help from Moaning Myrtle, he'd finally found the mercity. As he swam through the outskirts of town, he could hear the merpeople singing, "An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took...your time's half gone so tarry not, lest what you seek stays here to rot…."
Another warning that the object he had to take back would be lost forever if he couldn't get it back up to the surface in under an hour.
He was becoming very irritated by this point with the merefolk, and the tournament judges and organizers, assuming they knew all about this theft and permanent loss. The tournament was supposed to be a challenge of their magical ability and a risk to their personal safety, not straight up theft of their rightfully owned possessions — whatever possession that might be, as he still didn't have any idea what they could have taken from him.
But as he approached the statue in the center of town, he saw thorough the murky water something that was resolutely inconceivable —
For tied with seaweed to the tail of the merman statue seemed not to be four possessions, one stolen from each of the four contestants, but rather four actual, human beings.
A look of utter shock and horror crossed his face.
"Humans!? But that's kidnapping! Not taking something we'll 'sorely miss'! And straight up murder if even just one of us fails to rescue our kidnap victim — 'they won't come back', 'what you seek stays here to rot' — What the bloody hell?! Do the judges know what the hell is happening down here?!"
He swam as fast as he could through the water to find out who these poor, innocent victims of this cruel game was, just to discover that he recognized all four victims with ease.
"Hermione! Ravenclaw Seeker! Krum's Yule Ball date, and what has to be Fleur's little sister! This is straight up kidnap and murder!"
For tied to the merman statue were in fact Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Quidditch seeker Cedric had gone to the Yule Ball with; the Durmstrang girl Krum had gone to the Yule Ball with; a young girl with silvery-hair that could only be Fleur's sister; and finally Hermione Granger, brightest witch of the era and his girlfriend.
Only the fine streams of bubbles that kept issuing from their mouths kept Harry from completely panicking that they were already dead, and enabled him to keep an almost level head. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, knowing he still had over fifteen minutes to get Hermione back up to the surface, and his fellow hostage rescuers would have the same if they got there soon, before pulling out his wand.
He first tried casting "Relashio", the revulsion jinx at the seaweed, but it apparently didn't work quite the same underwater as it did above. It had still made the grindylows release their grip on his legs when he'd been swimming there, but that had apparently been the jet of boiling hot water the spell created underwater, and not the normal magic that forced the target, living or inanimate, to release its grip on whatever it was holding, in this case the seaweed holding onto the statue's tail and the kidnap victims. So then he tried casting the severing charm at the seaweed, shouting through the water, "Diffindo!"
This fortunately worked, cutting right through the thick, slimy seaweed.
Once free, Hermione continued to just float where she was, drifting slightly from the ebb of the lake. Harry peered through the murky water around him, looking for the other champions. Time was getting short, and he couldn't leave the three other innocent victims there to die.
Fortunately, a few minutes later, Cedric finally appeared, quickly followed by Krum. But there was still no sign of Fleur.
So with just minutes before the hour was set to expire, Harry pointed his wand at the seaweed holding the youngest victim in place, and cut Fleur's sister free before the mermen could even try to stop him. Storing his wand away again, he struggled to swim them both up to the surface. He could feel the effects of the gillyweed growing weaker with every passing kick of his legs, but just before it gave out completely, he broke through the barrier between water and air, and could breath again.
Immediately upon breaking the surface of the lake, both girls woke up from the curse they'd been under, causing Harry to breathe a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a short bout of sputtering as he swallowed water — but at least the victims were still alive, and not dead like they would have been if he hadn't been able to find them or had left Fleur's sister behind.
Once Hermione had woken up and collected her bearings — and helped Harry not to choke to death when he'd just rescued them from their own deaths — she helped Harry pull the younger girl towards the bank, where Fleur stood looking quite hysterical, restrained by Madam Maxime from dashing into the water to help them. But as soon as the three in the water had gotten close enough that they could stand up, Fleur did break free and rush into the shallows, throwing her arms around her sister as soon as she reached her.
Only when the four of them had reached the bank and climbed out onto dry land, did Fleur finally let go of her sister for Madam Pomfrey to take care of. Then she turned to where Harry stood, with his arms wrapped around Hermione in a noble, if slightly useless gesture of trying to warm her up from the cold water.
" 'Ou saved 'er, even though she was not your 'ostage!" she said breathlessly, bending down to kiss Harry twice on each cheek, and then once on each of Hermione's cheeks just for good measure.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore had gone over to the water's edge to talk to the merchieftainess who'd surfaced, before huddling back with the other four judges. But Harry only just had time to notice this before Madam Pomfrey rounded him and Hermione up to force blankets around them and Pepperup Potion down their throats. Hermione found it odd that Madam Pomfrey gave them blankets instead of casting the spell over them that would make them and their clothes as warm and dry as if they had been hanging in front of a blazing fire, instead leaving them standing there still soaking wet, just under blankets now, but she didn't say anything about it.
Soon, Ludo Bagman announced to the crowd that he and the other four judges had made their decision on the points. After going over the three champions, he finally came to Harry.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect, but he returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mister 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. Even though the hostages were never in any real danger, and Fleur's hostage would have been safely returned to the surface at the end of the task had Harry not brought her up with his own hostage, most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However...not all agree, so Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
From the glare Bagman had shot in Karkaroff's direction near the end, Harry guessed that it was the Durmstrang headmaster who had been the one not to agree with the others, but he really couldn't have cared less. All four victims were alive and safe, and he'd survived another task.
"Finally, 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," finished Bagman, dismissing them all to return to the castle to celebrate their respective champions or get started on an early lunch.
But as Harry and Hermione remained standing where they were to let most of the crowds clear out before they headed back up to the castle themselves, Ron stormed over the where Harry stood with his arms still wrapped around Hermione, and shouted, "What'd you bring Fleur's hostage for, you prat?! Didn't you hear Bagman? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of them drown! How could you waste time down there acting the hero!? You could have easily won this task!"
Harry looked up at his former friend in surprise at being yelled at so vehemently, and wondering since when the redhead took such great interest in how he did in the tasks. So he asked as much —
"What does it matter to you whether I got fifty points, or forty-five points, or zero points? You're not the one competing. What does my number of points matter to you?"
"How do you expect to win if you don't get the most points?!" shouted Ron back at him. "This is a competition! How can you be the champion and win all the gold and eternal fame if you do stupid things like saving that bitch's sister!?"
At hearing Ron call Fleur a bitch, Hermione spun around to give him a slap that would have made the slap she gave Draco the year before look like a loving pat on the cheek, but before she actually could, Ron was suddenly blasted backwards fifty feet, landing in the shallows of the freezing cold lake. Harry and Hermione turned together to see who cast the charm, to find Fleur subtly slipping her wand back into her pocket. When she saw them looking at her, she gave them a wink, before turning back to her sister and the conversation she was having with several of her schoolmates, like nothing had happened.
But now that Ron was no longer bothering them, Harry turned to Hermione and asked, "What Bagman and Ron said about you guys not being in any danger…?"
Hermione sighed.
"We weren't, Harry," she said, before adding urgently, "But don't think badly of yourself because you didn't know, and don't think better of Dumbledore and McGonagall because we weren't actually in any danger!
"Everything you and I knew about the task beforehand made it seem like whatever they stole — or kidnapped to be more precise, from your perspective at least — was going to be gone forever. So before you start questioning your decision to wait on the champions and then save Gabrielle as well as me, and whether you should have known that they wouldn't actually murder anyone, I'm proud of you, Harry. You did the right thing, the only competitor to out of the three of you who actually made it that far to do so. The judges and tournament organizers or whoever made the egg clue are the ones who did wrong. This was their fault, not yours — thinking they needed to make you believe they would kidnap and then murder up to four students, just to make you complete the task in under an hour. Truly despicable and evil, honestly."
To say that Harry's heart felt a thousand times lighter at hearing her say this would have been the understatement of the century, even more so than saying several people were slightly surprised when Harry's name came out of the goblet.
"Thank you," he whispered to her, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, as he gave her the tightest hug he could.
Hermione hugged him back tightly, until he finally let go of her. But as he stepped back she took his hands in hers and said, "Also, just so you know, I was very strongly against all of this when McGonagall told me what they were doing last night — I nearly walked right out of her office, even knowing that no harm would come to me. It was just such a terrible thing to do to you guys, not knowing that we were completely safe regardless of whether you succeeded or not.
"But as I turned to walk out on them, wanting nothing to do with their cruel games, Dumbledore said that if I didn't agree to do it, then you wouldn't have a victim to rescue, and would therefore receive zero points for the task, since you wouldn't be able to successfully return with a kidnap victim you didn't have. And I knew, had you been there, that you would most likely say that you'd rather get zero points and know I was safe, but I also knew that you were tied for first place, and having the gillyweed to be able to complete the task with, it shouldn't be too hard or dangerous for you and you would most likely do very well in this task, so I made the choice to stay. And I'm really sorry for how much worry I had to have caused you, both last night and this morning, and then when you got down to the mercity and saw us, so if you hate me for what I did I won't blame you in the least."
By the time she finished, her voice was cracking and Harry could see tears forming in her eyes, so he quickly hugged her to him again, not wanting her to feel guilty about the choice she made. Sure, had he been the one offered the choice, he would have had her safely by his side and taken the zero points for the task, but he completely understood the decision she made, and he was still tied for the lead in the tournament because of it.
After holding her for a while, her face buried in his chest, Harry finally said softly into her bushy hair, "I'm not in the least bit upset with you, and I certainly don't hate you. I'll admit I would have gladly taken the zero points in exchange for knowing you were safe, but other than some minor panicking when I first saw the four of you, the task wasn't that hard or dangerous, and I am miraculously tied for first place against three actual champions three years older than me. Which is, of course, entirely thanks to you, on both tasks. So please don't feel guilty or upset with yourself, because I'm certainly not upset with you."
Hermione pulled back slightly so she could give him a watery smile.
"Thank you," she whispered softly as she leaned up to kiss him.