Igor looked away from the other judges to give the lake another quick scan. The surface sparkled with all the bothersomeness of a precocious, starry-eyed little do-gooder and was, even worse, utterly calm. About forty-five minutes had passed since the champions had gone under, so he wasn't yet truly expecting to see anything, but it had already become something of a habit. Dumbledore's composed presence and knowing gaze was still unsettling after all these years, Bagman had an aggressively careless and completely irritating way about him, and Maxime was still flustered after her confrontation with the Delacours about the Beauxbatons champion's hostage, so none of his fellow judges made for good company. Ergo, surveying the still water was, as woefully unproductive as it was, better than struggling to maintain a conversation with any of them.
Besides, he was certain that Krum would be returning soon. The boy had worked out the clue fairly quickly – with some help, of course; not that anyone knew that except for the two them – and had come up with a simple but extremely effective way of tackling the task. The partial shark Transfiguration would remain until the boy chose to lift it, therefore not confining him to any strict time limit, and would provide a good defence against aquatic predators. Add to that Durmstrang's focus on offensive magic and duelling and the fact that Krum was accustomed to cold climates and icy waters, and Karkaroff had no doubts that the Durmstrang champion would be the first to return with his hostage. Orientating himself while underwater might be difficult for the introverted Seeker, who had never had much of a head for geography or directions, but the other champions would be in a similarly unprepared position in that regard. In his mind, the only question was when Krum would resurface, and Igor was determined to be the first to see Krum and his little mudblood dalliance emerge victoriously from the lake. Not even the sight of that worthless kid the media had been slamming lately would sully the jubilance at the win.
The media attention entertained him. Initially, the mention of the girl's cleverness and the allegations that she had brewed a love potion to ensnare Krum had sent him, hopeful, running for the antidote. The realisation that their little fling was, indeed, the result of Krum's bad judgment had been sobering. Time, however, had reframed the situation in his mind. The famous Seeker would hardly be able to maintain contact with the girl once he'd returned to Bulgaria and his travelling lifestyle, after all. Besides, Igor was well aware that many of his students found their French and British counterparts fascinating and attractive in their exoticness, and that was likely the reason for Krum's attraction. Now, he took amusement from the constant articles; while that Rita Skeeter wrote that the chit was playing both Viktor Krum and Harry Potter, he was certain that it was instead Krum who was playing the girl.
It was also amusing to see how readily the British media turned on their own, like opportunistic vultures spying a wounded fellow. He had met the girl briefly at the ball; she might indeed be smart enough to make a love potion, if Krum's assessment was to be believed, but did not seem to have the ability to actively flatter or flirt. Furthermore, he would have been appalled had that happened to one of his students, even if she did have that skill. It was just another thing to chalk up to being one of the many ways Hogwarts and wizarding Britain were inferior to Durmstrang and wizarding Bulgaria. Their curriculum, their inept teaching staff, their casual corridors, and now their inability to protect their student from their media…
He heard Bagman say something about apples to Dumbledore, but didn't bother honing in on the words; it would be as inane as ever, and he didn't see the point in wasting his time for the sole purpose of humouring the man. The older wizard laughed merrily in response, causing a shiver to run down Igor's spine. That voice still haunted his dreams sometimes, reminding him of all of the times that his stupid little Order of the Phoenix pet project had shown up at a raid. The sight of Dumbledore in the lead, his long white hair and wafting robes making a stately figure that cut through the lights and noises of battle as surely as if he had been bellowing at them, had never failed to cast fear through the Death Eater ranks.
A wet brown blob broke the surface and tendrils of hair spread outwards like a ripple, floating in the water for a second before a head followed it up. He was so lost in thoughts and memories that it took him a moment to register what was going on in front of him. As soon as the instant passed, he cast a quick charm to amplify his vision. Its potency wasn't as strong as usual – he was still shaky and distracted from the flashbacks, and was unable to focus on putting his full strength into the spell – but he was able to see enough. Drenched, messy hair framed the pale face and, while he couldn't make out any more details from so far away, he didn't need to; the wild brown hair was unmistakeable, even when weighed down by water.
It was the Hogwarts girl Krum had taken to the ball, the girl they'd collectively selected to be his hostage. He had been the one to put her name forward, of course; they had all suggested one or two names for their student before deciding together on the best combinations. There had been one minor overlap, but it had been quickly resolved.
"I believe we have our winner," he said proudly, drawing the other judges' attention to the bobbing head. He negated the charm with a flick of his wand; while it helped to magnify vision at all distances, the level of detail and the way every little imperfection or movement caught the user's eye quickly became annoying when focusing on things at short distances. Another head emerged near the first, but he didn't bother paying any more attention to it. He was already on his way down to the edge of the lake with two blankets, one as an excuse to see Krum and the other because the Seeker would just give his to the girl, leaving him in danger of catching a cold and having his future performance compromised, if there weren't one for both of them.
"It appears as if our first champion has returned!" Bagman announced, his voice magnified so it boomed across the grounds and reached everyone's ears. No wonder the man loved commentating; the idea of a captive, whether by interest or lack of alternatives, audience must appeal to him and his oversized ego. Karkaroff wondered whether the remaining two contestants could hear him too, and rather wished they could; knowing that someone had returned might break their focus and demoralise them, especially if they hadn't yet reached the hostages. "And... oh. Oh, this is very interesting. Yes, the first champion back is... Mr Harry Potter!"
Karkaroff faltered mid-step, and his foot came crashing down unsteadily. What? That wasn't right. Bagman must have misidentified the boy, silly swot that he was. Maybe that bludger had damaged more than just his nose after all. To be fair, which he was, admittedly, rarely wont to do, he supposed that Krum and Potter's heads might look similar from such a distance; the trick was, of course, in the girl's hair.
He inched his way through the rapidly swarming crowd until he saw the girl being pulled up onto the docks, wet curls plastered all over her face, by three children with red hair. One of them, a girl, swung a blanket around her shoulders as soon as she was clear of the ladder, while the lookalike boys turned back to help out the person following her. Clinically, he noted that the redhead girl was casting what appeared to be drying and warming charms. His gaze drifted over to the boy being assisted up the wooden rungs now, and, even as his organs powered on like normal, it felt as if his whole body stopped working.
It wasn't Viktor Krum. This boy was much leaner, much shorter.
The twins started fussing over him, enclosing him in a matching red-and-gold blanket, clapping him on the back, and chattering away cheerfully. It was only when he turned to answer something the curly-haired girl said that Karkaroff got a good look at his face, and was no longer able to deny the obvious.
Bagman was right. Harry Potter had retrieved – no, stolen; it had undeniably been theft – the wrong hostage.
Letting the blankets drop, he spun on his heel and strode back up the path towards the judges. Embarrassment threatened to overcome him – they all had to know what he'd thought, what he'd assumed – but he stamped down on it. It wasn't his fault; it was that meddling boy's. Everything was that boy's fault, from the Dark Lord's untimely downfall to this. While he hadn't particularly cared about his previous master's survival or wellbeing in and of itself, it had taken years of hard work to rebuild his reputation after the war's abrupt end. None of the Muggle-lovers had trusted him, and nobody from his side who still walked free wanted to be associated with someone who had only escaped punishment because he had sold others out. Even if they had forgiven him, any such association would have bought them their own personal bit of public scrutiny, which was something that none of them could afford at the time. And all of it, every struggle, had been because of that half-blood brat.
He was soon standing in front of Dumbledore, glaring down at him. "Your champion," he said, his face turned into a sneer for a moment at the title, "the one you twisted the rules to let complete, has sabotaged mine. I demand he be disqualified."
Bagman started spluttering, but, realising his voice was still magnified when the crowd quieted and looked to him in concern, paused to reverse the spell. In his silence, Dumbledore decided to respond. "I hardly think this warrants disqualification, Igor. Mr Potter obviously reached the pier and was confused about whom he was meant to save. I believe I already voiced my concerns about both the ethical and practical issues of using humans as hostages. Relationships are difficult to quantify and compare, and it's impossible for anyone to definitively determine the person that one – especially one as young as Mr Potter – would miss the most. Furthermore, I recall putting both Mr Weasley's and Miss Granger's names into consideration to serve as Mr Potter's hostage, and that we made the decision on the basis of the fact that you wanted Miss Granger to be Mr Krum's hostage. As it was indeed Miss Granger he chose, rather than Mr Weasley, perhaps the fault was with us for choosing the wrong champion for the hostage rather than with him for choosing the right hostage for him."
"I agree!" Bagman exclaimed, his voice at its normal volume once again.
Seeing that Maxime was about to contribute and, in all likelihood, correctly assuming that her opinion would be more in line with Karkaroff's – if Harry were disqualified, Fleur would be placed third rather than fourth – Dumbledore said, "Why don't we wait until the remaining champions have returned and we have discussed the matter with the hostages' guardians? It is impossible to develop an accurate understanding of what occurred down there or what its implications for the others may be until we have that information. And I, for one, would rather enjoy this lovely day. It's so rare for me to be able to sit down outside and do nothing like this. Busyness has the delightful ability to keep one's mind active, but, alas, it does not leave much time for quiet contemplation."
Desperately wanting retribution but having no way of arguing his point without obviously and overtly overstepping the mark of fairness, Igor sunk into his chair. Hopefully Krum would return soon, followed by Diggory, and the merpeople would confirm that Potter's obvious interference had cost them both time. With Delacour and Potter having both done so poorly on this task, Krum would have a much greater chance of winning the next challenge and taking home the title.
And it might help him save face after his rather obvious and very public blunder.
A/N:
Thank you again to my lovely brother for making the time to beta read this.
Also, thank you again to everyone who has followed, favourited or reviewed this story. The predictions on whom Harry was taking back up ended up being four to Gabrielle and two to Hermione. It was interesting to read your reasoning and compare it to mine and to what I'd tried to convey in the chapter.
Before I get to the guest reviews, LeeManG was wondering if anyone knows of any 100k+ Harmony stories beginning at the second task that deviates from canon at that point with Harry taking Hermione up instead of Ron. I don't, so I'm hoping one of you might.
To the first guest reviewer: Thank you for your review! The trip was fantastic and really relaxing; the only downside was that reception was about a fifty minute drive away. I really enjoyed reading your thought process. Hadn't thought about the practical benefits of taking Gabrielle back up. It would have been interesting if the person one of the champions would most miss was someone a lot bulkier than them, e.g. if - and I know this first one is crazy - Harry were taking Dudley up or Hermione was taking Krum up. Unless they were able to use magic underwater, they might have failed due to mere lack of physicality.
To the second guest reviewer: Such as?