Fred woke up feeling refreshed and eager. He had spent enough time in the room of requirements to perfect human transfiguration and it was all really thanks to Hermione. In the weeks since the Yule Ball, Hermione and Freds relationship was going along well. They met up a few times a week at the room of requirement to both train and as a date, and Fred made it his business to invite her and her friends to sit with them and join them at The Three Broomsticks as often as possible. There wasn't much for Fred to complain about, really, though if he could it would have been Hermione's friendship with Viktor Krum. Fred was by no means the jealous type, but he couldn't help feel a pang of insecurity whenever he saw the two sitting together talking. Part of it really was that Fred could tell that Viktor liked Hermione, and while he felt sure she didn't reciprocate those feelings, it was still somewhat uncomfortable for him from time to time.
Rising from his bed, those worries were the last thing on his mind. It was the morning of the second task and Fred Weasely was hellbent on staying in the lead. As he looked to his side, the boy noticed his best friend and twin were nowhere to be seen. While this was strange for George, Fred paid it little mind as he got up to get ready for the morning. On his way to the bathrooms though, Fred noticed that while Harry was sleeping, his best friend was no longer in the bed beside him. Family reunion without me, perhaps, Fred joked internally as he went to wake up his competitor.
"Get up, Harry!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, waking the entire dorm up along with the dark haired boy. Harry scrambled for his glasses tiredly, stopping to give Fred the finger as he did so. "Not much of a good sportsman, no wonder Draco hates you so much- flipping the bird at him during games I see."
Satisfied with the mild torment he'd put Harry through, Fred continued on with his morning routine before headed to the great hall, bidding Harry his goodbye as he took the lead. As he walked down the Gryffindoor table, Fred soon found Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson- no twin in sight. However as he sat down and received no questioning on the location of his twin, Fred felt a slight relief deciding he must have been somewhere else, and began plating his breakfast eagerly. The dread in his heart only had about a ten minute break before Harry approached the group amid their light conversation, a look of worry in the young boys eyes as he sat across from Fred, beside Angelina.
"Something the matter?" Lee asked as he drank a coffee.
"Yeah, I dunno… I was supposed to meet with Hermione this morning, but the girls said she didn't even make it to bed last night," Harry replied looking clearly upset. Fred felt a pit in his stomach as he began to internally panic with worry as to where she could have gone missing, recalling the previous night to try and figure it out.
They had gone to dinner separately, Fred thought, and then met up afterwards in the room of requirements to practice transfiguration one last time. Even though Fred had mastered the spell quite some time ago, he trained as often as he could as an excuse to spend time with Hermione in private. He continued to recall finishing and walking to the common room together, staying up a bit later before leaving to go to bed to get a good nights sleep. As Fred sat at the table he touched his lips absentmindedly, remembering sneaking her a kiss on the forehead before he retired for the night.
It wasn't like Hermione to wander off on her own, and if she did she would have gone with Ron… Though he was missing too, as was George. The more he thought about all of this, the sicker Fred felt really, and this was definitely not the problem he planned to encounter that day. To make things worse, since the Yule Ball both George and Fred had been feeling an eerie energy around Hogwarts. It was the same eeriness they felt around Professor Quirrell in their third year, and even towards Ginny in their fourth year- and those both ended terribly, so whatever was going on the twins had since agreed it was not good. Staring at his food in defeat, Fred forced himself to think that whatever was going on had to do with the second task and nothing else, though couldn't help but worry as he ate his food in silence.
The dock of the lake was set up with and arena, where the students of Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts all sat cheering and shouting for the schools they represented (or for Draco's group, the student they resented least). The stands appeared to be shaking from side to side with the crowds cheers, though they all seemed unconcerned, trusting in whatever magic that was being used to keep them all safe. Fred was now lined up next to Viktor and Harry, and took the opportunity to read his opponents. Fleur seemed hesitant, but kept on a brave face, though anyone near enough to her could tell she was very nervous and Fred had to wonder, no hope, that it was because someone dear to her was taken too. Viktor was a lot harder to read than the girl beside him. He appeared to be stoic and grounded, concentrated on the water in front of him, though looked around at Fred once he noticed the redhead was staring.
"Good luck, Fredrick," he smiled with a stone cold look in his eyes. It was a smile that confused just about everyone who knew Viktor personally, but he was nice enough that Fred returned the compliment, laughing to himself at the fact that he thought Freds name was really Fredrick and wondering who he could have lost to make the disappearance of the others plausible. Looking away from Viktor, Fred turned around to now face Harry. The young boy stood there, scruffy hair and shirt on looking, in the simplest term Fred could conjure, like an absolute idiot. Because it was a swimming task, Harry was forced to take off his glasses, resulting in him squinting about trying to make sense of the world around him. Feeling for the guy, Fred left him with a soft pat on the back before finally facing the great lake.
As the crowd quietened down, Fred listened intently as Dumbledore began to speak, obviously using a sound enhancing charm to reach the entire audience.
"In this task," The old man began. "You will be swimming to great depths to retrieve a dear treasure that has been stolen from each champion. Be warned, these waters are filled with dark and wild creatures of no mercy, their sole intention to get in your way. This task will test both your speed and ingenuity and will last a full hour, so be quick!"
And with that, the countdown began. Fred quickly held his wand to his chin, as did Viktor, while Fleur only grasped it, likely to perform something underwater. Interestingly to the Weasely though, Harry only stood there, holding something small in his hand. Finally, once the announcer struck one, the group began their task. Fleur immediately dove into the water, proving Freds theory, while the rest went ahead charming themselves. Fred watched as Viktor went in second, his body slowly morphing into something else, and then followed him into the water as he felt his own transfiguration work. After diving into the water, he heard a splash and turned to see Harry thrashing around as he too took some kind of a transformation. Once deciding that he was fine, Fred began to swim off, following the trail Viktor left behind and allowing his body to grow and change.
As he reached a forrest of seaweed, Fred lost the trail he had just been following, and decided he had to use his own newfound instincts and thought to find his way to whatever treasure had been taken. It took him some time to decide what creature to transform to, but it was finally Hermione that suggested the octopus. While it wasn't the fastest, it gave him a heightened control over his mental state due to the animals own genius, as well as extra arms, the ability to shoot ink from a strange gaping hole in his backside, and of course the ability to camouflage. It was that last skill that he decided to implement, making his body near entirely translucent aside from the clothes he wore.
Slowly, Fred wandered around the underwater leaves, careful to avoid the various creatures he seemed to come across, none of them paying much attention to Freds opaque exterior. Finally, the boy came to an exit of the forrest at hand, immediately taken away from the calming swim he had been having before. In the distance in front of him was Fleur. She had a bubble of air around her face and was currently busy fighting against a hoard of Grindylows that were swarming around her body. Fred leapt forward to help the girl, but was unsuccessful and watched as they bursted the bubble she wore, forcing her to use her wand to push herself out of the water.
He stared at her in the far distance of the surface world for a split second, before looking ahead to the Grindylows that were now swimming about for a new target. Fred silently thanked his choice of transfiguration and continued to swim on looking for the treasure. Now that Fred was in a clearing of the lake floor, he could clearly see the shipwreck in the distance, where what looked to be figures were floating just above the ground.
Thank Merlins fucking beard, he thought as he quickly swam ahead, reaching them in no time. While it was disheartening to see so many of his loved ones unconscious in the water, tied from their feet to a shipwreck, it was far better than to think something unrelated to the tournament had happened to them. Aside from George, Hermione and Ron was another girl that seemed to have a strange resemblance to Fleur. Fred wondered if that was her sister, and then looked from her to the others, figuring it out far too late. So we have to pick one, he thought, looking at the three. But then who's Viktor taking?
As if to answer his question, Fred felt a strong force in the water swim right by him and snatch Hermione out of her placement. He could barely see him in the foggy water, but Fred could easily make out the shape of a sharks head.
"Show off!" Fred shouted upwards angrily at his opponent before using his new found strength to yank the rope out of its knot and free his twin brother from the capture. Filled with frustration towards Viktor, Fred didn't stop to look back at the girl and Ron, instead holding tightly onto his brother as he swam up to the surface in hopes of beating Viktor.
Unsurprisingly, Viktor was already on the docks with Hermione, reaching the surface near a full minute before Fred did. Upon breaking into the air, Fred felt his brother immediately wake up into consciousness and flail himself away from his twin with a look of terror in his eyes, swimming to the docks independently and fast.
"You're welcome!" Fred shouted after him, watching his brothers panic with amusement. Now that he was back on the surface, Fred began to feel ridiculous at his anger to Viktor for doing his task, but still couldn't help but wonder why of all people Hermione was paired to him. Fred pushed this aside as he began to swim to the side, not quite ready to go onto land yet and, upon seeing both the cheers and looks of fear in the eyes of his competitor, realised that he was still a translucent half man- half octopus. Ignoring this, Fred dunked his head underwater to breathe for a moment before re-emerging quickly, feeling a pang of guilt and worry now surge through him.
Despite all the cheers and the officials that gathered around him, Fred fully submerged once more into the water and followed his trail to the shipwreck as quickly as he could Real dick move, he thought to himself. That poor girl nearly drowned and all you wanted to do was compete with Krum? See, this is why I hate jealousy! Fred continued to scold himself as he finally caught sight of the ship, and Harry, who was holding two bodies in his arms, being attacked quite badly by the hoard of Grindylow's from before. There was only 6 minutes left before over time, but at the moment things seemed far more grave for the poor boy. Quickly, Fred swam down from him and pulled out his wand, casting a small but efficient fire spell to ward them off as Harry swam upwards. The Grindylow's moved from Harry to Fred, who was far more agile in dodging them with his body. Making sure that the three were practically near the surface, Fred smirked to himself as he swam upwards, eager that he was able to finally use his trump card. Cramping his shoulders together, the strange tumour that was in his back expelled a massive amount of ink, completely filling that entire area of the lake with blackness that not even a Grindylow could see through. Satisfied with himself, Fred swam to the surface once more for the end of the task.
"Where in the world did you learn that, Mr Weasely?" Professor Mcgonagall asked quite sternly. Fred was now successfully back to being human by his own doing, standing on the docks with the rest of the champions and those they rescued. The crowds were still chanting and cheering as music played while the judges sat aside to give out the points for the performances done by the four students.
Fred looked up at his teacher with a goofy smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I'm a better student than you give me credit for." he joked.
"I'm being quite serious, as impressive as it was, there is no way you could have possibly gotten access to the restricted section on account to you and your brother being permanently banned from the area." this was news to Fred, who looked back at Hermione with a soft judgment as she stood with Harry and Ron.
"I've got good tutors," he finally stated, smiling up at his teacher from the ground.
"Clearly you do. I won't condemn you for choosing such a high level spell, but I will tell you that your irresponsibility will be your death," the professor replied, narrowing her sharp eyes into Freds skull. "Just stay on my good side and it wont be by my doing."
As Mcgonagall walked away, Fred Weasely watched as she turned to give him an ever so slight wink of approval, which was all Fred needed to see to know he was doing just fine. The officials rejoined the bottom of the dock, cheer breaking out for who should win as they began to hush the roars of students. Fred looked from Dumbledore to the rest of those standing around, taking a careful note that Viktor was standing far from Hermione with his head lowered in contemplation, while Hermione also looked very sad. Realising he was in front of the entire school, Fred decided to put these worries aside for the moment.
"Silence!" Dumbledore started, raising his arms for attention. "The judges and I have discussed the brilliant performances by each champion, and have come to the conclusion as to their scores. In fourth place, with 22 points, Fleur Delacour; for her masterful use of a bubble charm, but failure to find her treasure. In third place, with 42 points, Fred Weasely! For successful high level use of the Transfiguration charm and coming second in time. In second place, with 44 points, Viktor Krum! For successful high level use of the Transfiguration charm, as well as emerging first of the champions after rescuing his treasure. Finally, that leaves us for the first place, with 47 points for taking full control of the effects of gillyweed, as well as true bravery, managing to save not just one, but two people at once all within the time frame, Harry Potter!"
The crowd erupted with massive cheers, of support and amazement at the four below them, shouting everything from proposals to Fleur to Bulgarian motifs to Viktor, while many Hogwarts students released various balloon and spark charms. Fred smiled and waved at the crowd, the rest following suit, before they finally found their way back to the castle for 'a medical examination'.
Fred and George were walking in the far back of the crowd, observing everyone else as Fleur and her sister had some conversation in French and Harry, Ron and Hermione walked as a group, leaving Viktor out. While Fred did feel the slight jealousy towards Viktor, he couldn't help but feel bad seeing the sod walk on his own, and decided to intervene. "Hey Krum!" the boy shouted from the back, prompting him and everyone else to look back, Hermiones face bright pink as she did so. The large Bulgarian boy stopped in his tracks for the twins to catch up, and began walking beside them once more in complete silence.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked as they turned a corner, his voice as strong as ever.
"Not at all, just saw you walking alone and figured you'd want some company," Fred smiled back. "This is my twin brother, George. Do you have twins in Bulgaria?"
Viktor tilted his head slightly at Fred as he processed this, before bursting out in laughter as if it were far funnier than the poor excuse of a joke was. "Yes of course!" he smiled. "They say twins can see bad things happen in Bulgaria, is this true?"
Fred turned to a somewhat uncomfortable George before returning back to Viktor and nodded, Viktor looking back in surprise.
"We always know when someone evil is around," Fred started.
"But problem is we dunno which one it is," George finished, leaning forward to look at the boy. Viktor laughed again, incredibly amused by the twins, before once again looking forward.
"I think I know what you mean," Viktor revealed. "I get very bad feelings about Hogwarts… Funny, no? Because our headmaster used to be bad and yours is a very good man, but maybe its about the walls, not the headmasters. What do you think?"
Both Fred and George agreed, finding a new understanding for the boy. As they continued their walk to the hospital wing, the conversation dwelled more into quidditch than anything else, Viktor incredibly amused at the idea of twins being beaters.
The chatter of the various conversations came to an end when the group reached the hospital wing, the pair of participants and the ones they retrieved taking a seat each on one of the four free beds. Fred once again took note at the blatant ignoring between Hermione and Viktor, which was strange as they usually had something to talk about.
"Whats gone on there?" Fred whispered to his brother curiously.
"Well if you'd of asked me before you called the bloke over, I would have told you," George replied as he glanced at the two. "Granger was still out cold by the time I'd made it onto the docks, so I went to go see if she was alright. Opens her eyes, looks at Krum and looks at me of all bloody people and goes 'Thank you Fred!'. Needless to say buddy Viktor's pretty embarrassed, can't imagine how she feels."
Upon now understanding the situation, Fred couldn't help but smile at his brother. "Must have gotten water in her head to mistake your ugly mug for me," he joked, receiving a shove from his twin in return. Aside from finding it funny, Fred also smiled out of appreciation for Krum being such a nice guy despite what Hermione had said, the words clearly hurting the poor guys feelings. As he waited for Madame Pomphrey to clear him, Fred silently hoped that Viktor and Hermione could mend this without him, clearly seeing the potential for a true friendship they had.
—
So! I didn't give the point score all the way in the First Task so heres a lil update tally for fun:
First Task:
1. Fred Weasely, 45
2. Viktor Krum, 42
3. Fleur Delacour, 41
4. Harry Potter, 34
Second Task:
1. Harry Potter, 47
2. Viktor Krum, 44
3. Fred Weasely, 42
4. Fleur Delacour, 22
Current Leader Board:
1. Fred Weasely, 87
2. Viktor Krum, 86
3. Harry Potter, 81
4. Fleur Delacour, 63
And before anyone tries to say 'Nah Fred could never get that high up' please remember Fred Weasely (AS WELL AS George Weasely) wasn't just one of the best beaters in Gryffindoor quidditch (making him strong as hell + fast), but was also smart enough to start his own joke shop AND invent + cultivate countless products for said joke shop while consistently providing peak comedy. Nothing but respect for my presidents.
And also don't forget to lmk what you think because I do take suggestions into account since the story itself isn't completely set in stone. This esp goes for ships outside of FredxHermione RonxLuna GeorgexAngelina and ofc, our kings, SeamusxDean. So yeah haha