27 The Second Task
The rest of the school seemed to sense the mood of the champions and their friends, giving them a wide berth at breakfast. The eight sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, an area of quiet surrounding them. A few friends stopped by to wish them luck, even the twins toned down their gambling as they stopped to wish everyone well.
"What are you running for odds?" Hermione asked the pair quietly before they departed.
"Er… depends on what you want to bet…" One said nervously, unsure about the question from the notorious rule stickler.
"I see, and the odds of a four way tie?" even the twins weren't fooled by her innocent question.
"Insider knowledge?" One asked, as his twin tossed up a privacy charm.
"Educated guess," Hermione defended.
"We'd normally lay long odds on that, however, knowing you…." Twin one said conspiratorially.
"The odds we'd lay on that would probably hurt us when you win," The other confided.
"But we're nothing if not shrewd."
"So, we'll make you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Hermione asked, innocently.
"Well, since we have to make something out of this,"
"But we still understand you want to win,"
"We'd be willing to make the following deal."
"Four way tie, we split the pot seventy/thirty."
"But if it isn't, you help us by paying our largest payout."
"Tied by what standard? Time or score?" Hermione asked, noting the wince the twins made at her clarification.
"Score." twin one said definitively.
"Definitely score." the other agreed.
"No deal, Karkaroff won't score anyone except Viktor a reasonable score. Tie by time. In exchange, I'll lower my winnings to sixty percent."
"Lower?" Twin one asked.
"Yeah, that's double your take."
"Nope, mine is the seventy." Hermione grinned evilly. "I am winning you know."
The pair looked at each other, both a little unsettled by the look on the girl's face. Communicating in the way only twins can, they negotiated among themselves for a moment, playing the possibilities back and forth between themselves before turning back to her.
"Fifty-fifty," the offer came back.
"And tie by score exclusive of Karkaroff."
"I'll accept fifty-fifty but tie is by time." Her counter was immediate.
"All our other bets are on score."
"It could be really bad for us if the scores aren't a tie but the times are."
"I can see that," conceded Hermione, looking over at Harry, who nodded. "Very well, for a sixty-forty split, in my favor, I'll take it from the remaining gold after the score payout."
"You're killing us Hermione," Complained one.
"Leave us something will ya." Added two.
"Final offer, take it or leave it. Or I can just ask Professor McGonagall what she'd like to bet."
"You wouldn't."
"That's Evil."
"Oh Professor?" Hermione leaned out of the privacy bubble to wave down the professor in question.
"Ok Ok."
"Deal, Deal."
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Minerva asked, noting the terrified looks on the faces of the twins.
"Professor, I just thought you might like to get your bet in before these two forgot about you." Hermione informed her innocently, watching the looks of the twins faces as the utter fear segwayed to outright fear.
"Why thank you, Miss Granger," McGonagall thanked her, then turned to the twins. Looked at their marks and the odds, she huffed at the foolishness of her students. "By score I see, very well. Viktor to win due to Karkaroff, Cedric and Fleur to tie in second, with Mr. Potter receiving the lowest, despite a tie in time."
The twins just stared. Here, before them, was the harshest teacher in the school, the epitome of virtue, betting with students. The stunned looks on the twins faces as they tried to understand what had just happened caused both Harry and Hermione to laugh. Professor McGonagall just stood there, her stern expression never wavering.
"And how much would you like to wager?" Twin two finally asked, after a long recovery.
"Two detentions." The Deputy headmistress said succinctly.
"Two…."
"Detentions?" finished the other, as confused as the first
"Yes Messrs. Weasley, two detentions." McGonagall confirmed, "If I win, you two will owe me two detentions multiplied by the odds, which appear to be three to one. If I lose, you each have two get out of detention cards to play as you see fit."
"And if we refuse to take the bet?" One hesitated.
"Then you serve the full 6 detentions and I confiscate the whole lot." She informed them matter of factly.
"Now I see who taught you to negotiate," Twin two mumbled to Hermione as his twin accepted the Deputy Headmistress's wager.
The stands that had been erected in the middle of the lake for the task were odd, Hermione thought as she rode the boat with Harry towards them. Three towers, stark and foreboding, stood above the chop. At the base of each was a platform, where students were being offloaded. Stairs rose and bleachers topped the imposing edifices.
"What are they expected to watch?" she mused.
"The surface of the water." Harry said solemnly, then grinned. "I have no idea, actually. Seems kinda pointless for them to sit and freeze for an hour just to see who gets to the surface first."
"Well, given the rest of the tournament, I guess it doesn't surprise me that they think this will be 'good entertainment'." She sighed, then noticed that unlike the rest, their boat wasn't heading for the towers, they were heading instead towards a small raft not far from them. Neville, Luna, and Fleur were already there. "Are we…."
"Yup, we get to start from a tossing, unstable platform." Harry agreed, "Good thing we changed before we left shore."
They climbed nimbly onto the platform, aided by their friends already on board. They kept their robes on, ostensibly to help with the chill, but actually to cover their drysuits. The dry suits had ended up being a godsend, for they helped Fleur endure the cold water of the lake. They had fortunately had time to send off for and receive wetsuits for all the participants, if not the dry suits that Harry, Hermione, and Fleur had. Because of the issues with each one's distaste for water, the trio had opted for the drysuits, while the rest were satisfied with wetsuits. Even Cho and Viktor, who had had little to no love for the muggle world, loved these inventions.
A short while later, Cedric, Cho, and Viktor joined them on the platform, and a larger boat housing the organizers and Judges pulled up nearby. As the judges' barge settled, a group of heads broke the surface of the water nearby, the Merfolk had arrived. Turning to each other, Harry and Hermione shared one last kiss before joining the rest. Each champion helped their hostage out of the heavy over robes they'd worn, and into the water to join the Merfolk. A quick couple casts from Cedric and Fleur, and each head was obscured by a translucent bubble of air. The Merfolk leader checked each hostage, then turned to Harry and saluted, a clasped hand over its heart. Then with nary a wave, they were gone.
Harry sat heavily as he watched his wife disappear below the waves. That was it, the task had begun, even if it was still ten minutes from the official start. He pondered at the heavy emptiness in his chest. They had practiced being separated, but it never hurt like this did. Each breath was like a labor, like someone was sitting on his chest. Maybe because they knew it was forced, that they couldn't end it themselves if it got too bad.
"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore's grandfatherly greeting came to him distractedly, "I must wonder, what did you do to earn that salute from the Merfolk?"
"I just showed them respect, Headmaster." Harry mumbled distracted, "Like any sentient creature deserves."
"I find that odd," the Headmaster continued, "for all the respect he gives to me, I've never received such a salute."
"The problem, headmaster," Harry sighed, "is you mistake respect for the position and for the person. One can respect a person and hate the position he holds, or one can respect the position and hate the person. The key is realizing the person has earned the respect, while the position is just expected."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"It's easy, Headmaster. I'll give you an example. I respect your position as headmaster, it's due for the position you hold. I am less than thrilled with how you, the man who holds that and other great positions, trivializes the actions of others and yet does nothing yourself. I could give you examples, but the easiest is that you have failed repeatedly, to take action to protect the children under your protection. As a teacher and an educator, that is unacceptable."
"Now see here," Dumbledore started, clearly offended.
"No need, Headmaster," Harry cut him off, his concern for Hermione making his temper very short. "I've been on the receiving end of it. Being punished repeatedly for being the victim, or defending myself, has shown that. And now, I must go forth and participate, against my will, in a tournament known for its mortality rate. I have to rescue the woman whose life I hold more precious than my own from the depths of the Black Lake because someone thought it would be entertaining. Though how they thought people would be entertained staring at a lake for an hour is beyond me."
"Well, the thought was—"
Harry again cut him off, "Don't care, I have a very important person to rescue for the entertainment of those hopeless fools. And you need to arbitrarily judge me, look put out but not actually do anything when Karkaroff claims I cheated and gives me significantly less points than the others, much less his Champion."
"It was the decision—"
"Of the idiots that it was more entertaining to keep an obviously biased judge that even his own Champion wants censored in place? Yes, I know."
"Harry…"
"Can't talk, task is beginning." Harry moved around the aging wizard and began to remove the heavy robes.
Harry tuned out both Dumbledore and the loud announcements of Ludo Bagman, who seemed to think his commentary was hilarious. He stretched a bit, making sure the suit allowed for full movement one last time, then helped Fleur finish sealing her suit as well. He saw Cedric and Viktor give a thumbs up to indicate they were ready. The quartet stepped down to the transom, a lowered deck right at the waterline, and made ready.
BOOM!
A cannon blast sounded, signaling the start of the task. Harry and Viktor ate their Gillyweed while Cedric and Fleur cast their charms, and as one, the four champions entered the water. The murky darkness below called to them as they shifted into their formation. Harry moved ahead a bit, weaving back and forth searching for threats. As they descended, he noted the low kelp beds, and tried to steer clear, as they'd found they were populated with hordes of Grindylows.
Just past the kelp beds, as the water got darker and sunlight became dim, Harry thought he saw movement below. Holding his hand up to signal the others, he waited until they slowed and acknowledged before acting. One of the useful spells they'd found was a modification of the spark spell. Instead of many small lights, this one sent a single larger light out quickly to about 20-30 meters, then it slowed. Hermione called it a flare spell, after the flares used in search and rescue equipment.
The red flare shot out, directly towards where he'd seen movement. The eerie red glow distorted a bit, as if fighting back an unnatural darkness, before the scene before them illuminated. Half a dozen oddly shaped figures lay in wait, long spear-like weapons held in their hands. The figures looked vaguely humanoid, about the size of an eight or nine-year-old, with a hard shell like hump on their backs. Their faces were wide, a fleshy beak protruding forth and slanted eyes. It took a second to recognize what they were, for they were definitely not native to Scotland. They were from the other side of the world in fact.
Kappa, Japanese river demons.
This all flowed through Harry's brain as he began to move, avoiding several spears as they were hurled at surprising speed at him. As soon as they missed, they began returning to the hurler. It took a moment to realize the kappa had attached very thin lines to their weapons to retrieve them for reuse. If it wasn't being used against him Harry would be impressed. If they all weren't focused on turning him into a pincushion it'd be even better.
Harry swam evasively, the other three coming up fast and heading to flank the attackers. A coordinated throw came at him again, and this time Harry didn't see a way to avoid being hit, for they were bracketing him. If only he could stop them physically… ICE! He quickly started casting glacius to freeze a shield in front of him, praying it would be enough.
It was, kind of. The spear he's chosen to shield hit his makeshift barrier and shattered it, sending shards in every direction. The spear itself though, most of its velocity absorbed by the shield, found itself deflected above Harry. He saw many lights of spells reflected in the ice and water, which did nothing to help his ability to see the incoming spears. He avoided the next volley, noting there were only three in this one, then one in the next.
Harry reached out behind the spear that he'd just avoided and managed to snag the line. He relaxed, allowing the Kappa to pull him to itself, and cast a cutting curse just as the creature realized what had happened. The red crescent passed the distance between them before the creature could move, and green blood erupted into the water as its head separated from it's shoulders.
He looked around for the rest and found none, his fellow Champions had gotten them. Nothing but body parts and green ichor filled the water where the creatures had been. He swam over and checked them, as they did the same to him, no one had been hit. After getting a thumbs up 'I'm ok' sign from each, and Viktor had retrieved a head from one of the dead, they continued down. None of them were happy with the invasive species being brought in for 'entertainment'.
It took another fifteen minutes, and an ambush by Grindylows, before the champions made it to the Merfolk village. They were met at the border by a quartet of guards, their organic harnesses resplendent, despite the lack of light. The two groups approached each other, and they exchanged a greeting, as rehearsed over the past weeks. Even Fleur, who (as the fire creature) was beginning to swim weakly due to the effect of the frigid water, made an acceptable greeting and was permitted to enter.
The Merchieftainess waited for them in the village center, before the four hostages. Cedric and Viktor moved a little ahead and floated before the Merfolk leader. Carefully pulling his wand, keeping it pointed away from the Chieftainess, Cedric wrote in glowing letters, 'Beware, ambushed by these.'. As he did this, Viktor pulled the Kappa head from his belt pouch, and presented it to the mermaid. The reaction was severe. The scaly faced woman snarled, and her guards brought their tridents down to ready positions.
All four quickly raised hands, wands away or pointed very far from the Merfolk. Thankfully, it appeared that it was not they who had elicited the reaction, but the Kappa. Waving and speaking very urgently, the Chieftainess motioned to her guard, and a full two-thirds departed, joined by a dozen more, and moved out of the village quickly fading from sight. Turning back to her guests, the Merfolk leader saw their reaction, and with just a hint of a grin, bowed.
As the quartet relaxed, she moved aside, and the hostages joined their rescuers. Hermione, genius that she was, had brought one of Mr. Connors magic boards with her, and used it to communicate with them. Once assured that everyone was fine, and that they had not had much trouble otherwise, they left the village.
The swim back was in much the same order as the swim out had been, just with six people in the middle instead of two. The four hostages had joined Cedric and Fleur in the middle of the pack, while Harry and Viktor continued to patrol the perimeter. This formation led Harry to once again be the first to see the danger.
They were but a few minutes from the stands, just about home free when he noticed. The lake was quiet. There were no fish. Now you would think this would be normal, but throughout the task, there had been the occasional noise, water movement, fish swimming, and the like. Now it was dead silent. He looked around and the fish that had been at the edges of sight, never close but always present, were gone. Something was wrong.
From a ravine below it rose, an inky black creature of nightmare. It's horse-like head and barrel body reminded Harry of a Hippocampus, but that was where the similarity ended. Where a hippocampus had fin-like front quarters and the tail of a large fish, this had a pair of razor sharp looking hooked talons on its front legs and behind the body, a mass of tentacles. It's horse-like head snarled at Harry, showing a mass of sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. It was like a horse mated with the giant squid and it got possessed.
Harry bolted, and the creature followed. Again, it was single minded in the pursuit of Harry, ignoring the larger group now firing curses at it. Harry could barely keep ahead of the creature, nearly having his flippers snagged by reaching talons on several occasions. And the rest couldn't seem to hurt it. The curses they were firing were just bouncing off. They had to figure something out fast or Harry would be lunch.
Panic started to set in as Harry felt the now familiar prickle of the gillyweed wearing off. He had about thirty seconds before it was gone, based on their practices. Normally this would not be a problem, as they had extra, but he couldn't spare the time to eat it. And if that wasn't bad enough there was that cursed noise. He hadn't really noticed before, but now there was a tone, like when his ears rang, which was odd underwater. Under water…. Sonar, the creature was using some form of sonar to track him. To disrupt that he'd have to make noise, loud noise… he glanced at Hermione, firing desperately from the center of the group and sent a wave of love and apology towards her over their link. Then he turned his wand towards them and desperately put everything he had into the first charm he ever learned, a levitation charm.
The crowd for the second task of the tri wizard tournament was getting restless. It had been just under an hour since the Champions had slipped beneath the choppy waves of the lake. Just under an hour of staring at nothing. It was a very boring task.
The shouts as a series of splashes on the surface got everyone's attention turned back to the lake just as a gong sounding the end of the task sounded. Then, a massive geyser exploded beneath the shapes that had just been ejected, consuming them. There as a moment of stunned silence was only broken by the crash of the displaced water giving in to gravity and returning to the lake. And the shockwave reached the stands, and they began to sway, cries were heard. Two, no three heads were waving at them, hollering for help.
The judges' boat and a pair of row boats started towards them, making the best speed they could before four more heads broke the surface, dragging something with them. The stands quieted, everyone peering at the foamy white spot where the geyser had been as what appeared to be a body was hauled into the judges' boat, another joined it, then it turned and sped towards shore.
