A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. And here is the second chapter that I promised ya'll for my lack of updating. The time has now come for the Second Task! I hope you enjoy. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 34

"Annie, wake up!" Harry said shaking her arm. "Wake up, we've got to go!"

Annie lifted her head off the table where she had fallen asleep in the library and turned to look at Harry.

"Come on, I've got it! We have to get down to the lake!" Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the library and along the corridor.

"Hang on, I just woke up. What have you got?" Annie said as they sprinted out of the castle.

"Gillyweed. Dobby gave it to me. He said it would help me breathe underwater," Harry panted as they reached the path leading toward the Black Lake.

"Gillyweed?" Annie questioned. "And he's sure this will help? I mean this is Dobby we're dealing with."

"Well, it's more than what we came up with last night," Harry argued back as they reached the site for the Second Task. Annie wished Harry luck as he ran to join his fellow Champions and joined Fred, George and Lee up in the stands.

"Hey, babe, where were you last night?" George asked as wrapped Annie up in the blanket that he had brought with him.

"Library," she said. The boys gave her a stunned look and she laughed at their reactions. "Oh, don't look so shocked. I was helping Harry. We were there all night and we just woke up like fifteen minutes ago."

"So, is Harry prepared for the Task?" Fred asked uneasily.

Annie hugged the blanket tightly around herself. "I hope so. Have you seen Ron or Hermione?"

"Haven't seen them all morning," George answered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"That's weird."

She watched as Professor Dumbledore stood up from the judge's table and pointed his wand to his throat.

"Welcome to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" his voice boomed over the cheering crowd. "Our four Champions, at the signal, will plunge into the Black Lake and take back what they will sorely miss. Mr. Filch, if you please." Dumbledore gestured to Filch who made the cannon erupt with a mighty boom and the four Champions dove into the water.

Annie cupped her blanketed hands to her mouth as she watched Harry writhe about a few feet below the water. George kissed the top of her head and Lee squeezed her shoulder. As Harry stopped his jerking movements, Annie relaxed and watched him plunge deeper into the water with his wand held out.

"Where are Hermione and Ron?" she asked looking around at the crowd of watching students. But her question was answered for her when Dumbledore addressed the spectators once more.

"Now that our Champions have taken the dive, we can now reveal what this Task holds in store for them," he said and the crowd went silent. "The Champions must dive down deep into the lake and recover their friends and family from the mermaids guarding them. Once they have done so, they must return to the surface within the hour to receive their scores. Ms. Delacour of Beauxbatons will be recuing her sister, Gabrielle, Mr. Krum of Durmstrang will be rescuing Hermione Granger, Mr. Diggory of Hogwarts will be rescuing Cho Chang, and Mr. Potter of Hogwarts will be rescuing Ronald Weasley." Dumbledore resumed his seat at the judges table and turned to speak to his fellow judges.

"I guess that answers my question," Annie said looking down at the judges table. "Hey, is that Percy?"

"Oh, yeah, it is," Fred answered craning his neck over the people in front of him. "I guess this means Crouch is still under the weather."

"I guess so. So now what do we do?" Lee asked as they looked at the glassy lake.

"No idea. Hey, Freddie, you still have that flask?" Annie asked.

Fred patted all the pockets he had on his clothes and sighed. "I knew I was forgetting something," he said after checking the back pocket of his jeans. "Well, I'm gonna go find Angelina. Better than staying here and waiting for some action." He clapped his mates on the shoulder and left to find his girlfriend in the stands.

"Hey, Lee, they didn't need you for the commentating?" Annie asked looking over at her friend.

"Nope, what's there to commentate?" he answered gesturing to the lake. "Oh, hey, there's Katie." He waved over to the girl and left Annie and George alone.

"And then there were two," George said kissing the top of Annie's head.

"And then there were two," Annie repeated as she leaned back into him as he wrapped his arms tighter around her waist. Annie looked up and smiled. "So, can we agree that this task sucks?"

George laughed. "I think so. You want to get out of here? I think if we're careful enough, we might be able to sneak into Hogsmeade the regular way without getting caught."

Annie turned around and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss George on the lips. "That sounds like an excellent plan. We're almost there anyway. Look," she said pointing, "there's the gate."

"Well, then let's get going," George said taking her hand and leading her down the stands.

They walked along the back of the stands careful not to be seen by their professors and Dumbledore. Annie and George reached the gate and pushed it open and walked hand-in-hand along the path to the village.

"So where do want to go?" Annie asked as she held the blanket around her with one hand and George's hand with the other.

"Madame Rosmerta's at the task so the Three Broomsticks might be a bit boring. What about the Hog's Head?" George said wrapping his arm around Annie's shoulders.

"The bartender for the Hog's Head is at the task too," Annie said as she kicked a rock across the street. "I saw him sitting next to Hagrid. What if we go-"

"Annie?" said a voice behind them that made her jump. Annie turned around and came face to face with Lydia who was carrying two bags full of groceries in her arms. "What are you doing here?"

Annie looked up at George who's face went as red as his hair. "Well, the task was boring and well, we, er-"

"Uh huh," Lydia said smiling knowingly. "And you two decided to sneak off for some alone time. I got it."

This time Annie's face turned scarlet and she leaned into George's shoulder. "Yeah, well, like I said, the task was boring."

Lydia tossed her hair over her shoulder as she laughed. "Sure. Come on you two, follow me."

Annie and George looked at each other and Annie shrugged. She took his hand and started to follow Lydia down the path.

"Where are we going?" George asked.

"My house," Lydia answered simply. She turned around and smiled at them both. "Annie, dear, you look absolutely freezing. Where's your cloak?"

"I didn't have time to grab one. Harry and I fell asleep in the library and woke up fifteen minutes before the start of the Second Task," Annie answered as she shrugged the blanket higher up her shoulders.

They arrived at Lydia's house and George took the bags from her arms as she dug around in her pockets for her key. She opened the front door and gestured for them to walk in, taking the groceries from George as they passed. Annie looked around the living room as Lydia walked into the kitchen and placed her bags on the table. The room was small with a couch and two chairs, a coffee table, and a roaring fire in the fireplace.

"So, it's just you living here?" Annie called to her.

"Yup," Lydia said re-entering the living room with three bottles of Butterbeer in her hand and gesturing for them to sit down, "just me. I take it, this is what you came into Hogsmeade for?" she asked passing the Butterbeers over to the two kids.

"How'd you know?" George asked taking one and popping off the cap. The three of them clinked their bottles together and took a sip.

"Just a wild guess," Lydia said winking and placing her bottle on the coffee table. "Wait, the Second Task was boring you said?"

"Yeah," Annie said placing hers down on the table as well. "Bit of a letdown after the dragons. They dove in the water, Harry writhed around for a few seconds, and then swam off. All the action takes place underwater. We would basically just be watching the lake for heads to pop up for an hour."

"Yeah, I guess that could get pretty boring," Lydia said sitting back in her chair. "So when do you have to be back before anyone notices your absence?"

George looked at his watch. "Around ten-thirty, I'd say. The champions have an hour so we'd be able to sneak back in the midst of all the commotion."

"That's perfect," said Lydia. "You two can hang out here for," she looked down at her own watch, "a half-hour if you'd like and then I could walk you up to the gates. I don't have to be in work until eleven anyway."

"Great! Thank you!" Annie said grinning over at George who grinned back. But then she snapped her head back around to face Lydia. "Are you going to tell dad that I was here instead of at the Task? Because I'm supposed to be there supporting Harry not here because it was so incredibly boring."

Lydia laughed. "I won't tell him or James or Lily or Remus or Arthur or Molly if you two don't want me to, okay?"

Annie and George smiled at each other again and nodded. They sat with Lydia and talked and drank their Butterbeers until it was time for them to leave. Lydia led the couple back to the gates, Annie in one of Lydia's cloaks that she let her borrow. They said their goodbyes and Annie and George made their way back over to the lake, careful not to be seen sneaking back. When they finally found Fred and Lee in the stands, they sat down and asked what had happened in their absence.

"Well," Fred started leaning forward in his seat, "Fleur apparently couldn't get past the grindylows and now she's out of the Task."

"Cedric emerged about five minutes ago with Cho Chang. Now we're just waiting on Harry and Krum," Lee added. "Where'd you two go anyway?"

"Hogsmeade for some Butterbeer," George said as he wrapped his arm around Annie's shoulders.

"And you didn't bring us some?" Fred asked slapping his brother on the arm.

"Nope," Annie said blowing warm air into her hands. "We ran into Lydia and she gave us some at her house. Hey!" Annie pointed out to the bobbing heads in the middle of the lake. "Who's that?"

"Looks like Krum and Hermione," George answered as he squinted his eyes for a better look.

"I'm going to go see if Hermione's okay," Annie said getting up. She pecked George on the cheek and ran off down the stands to wait for her best friend at the edge of the lake. Hermione and Krum waded out of the water gasping for air.

"Hermione!" she exclaimed as she pulled her friend into hug.

"Relax, I'm fine. We were in an enchanted sleep," Hermione explained when they broke apart.

Annie followed Krum and Hermione into a tent set up at the edge of stands. Once inside, Madame Pomfrey came bustling over with heavy blankets and Pepperup Potion for the both of them. Annie sat down next Hermione on a bench as Madame Pomfrey tended to the few cuts on Viktor's arms. When she finished, she left the tent to wait for Harry to emerge from the water.

"Do you mind if I talk to Herm-own-ninny alone?" Viktor grunted to Annie.

Annie raised her eyebrows at Hermione who went slightly pink. "Absolutely," she said standing up and walking over to the tent flap. "I'm going to go wait for Harry." Annie winked at Hermione and left the tent, letting in a lone beetle behind her. She walked over to the water's edge and stood next to Madame Pomfrey who had a few blankets ready in her arms.

"How's it going, Poppy?" Annie asked crossing her arms across her chest. "Lovely day for a Task isn't it?"

"Lovely? Oh, sure. First it's dragons now it's diving into freezing water. These children could get sick!" Madame Pomfrey complained in a shrill voice. "Speaking of getting sick, I haven't seen you in a while. Aren't you due for a fever or a cold or something?"

"Probably," Annie sniffled. "I'll be seeing you in a week or two most likely. I think I see something."

Ron's head and a little girl's head had just broken the water and were looking around. Annie watched as Ron grabbed the little girl under the arm to hold her up and look down into the water for Harry. Harry's head popped up and spat out water. Harry grabbed the little girl and together he and Ron swam to the shore. Annie and Madame Pomfrey rushed forward as the three stumbled out of the water.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Annie said as she gave a sopping wet Harry a hug.

"Not you too," he said. "Ron just yelled at me for taking my time rescuing Fleur's sister."

"We weren't in any danger, Harry," Ron said as they all followed Madame Pomfrey, Fleur and her sister into the tent. "You could have come in first."

"Calm down, Ron. Harry was just being his usual noble self," Annie said. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Potter, Weasley, drink this," Madame Pomfrey said handing out two goblets of Pepperup Potion. "Once you're done with that you can go out and see your scores."

Harry and Ron drowned their potions in one swallow and left the tent with Annie following behind. They looked out toward the lake where Dumbledore was crouching in water up to his knees talking to one of the mermaids.

"Do you think Dumbledore knows Mermish?" Annie asked as she hugged her borrowed cloak tight around her.

"Guess so," Ron answered shrugging as he watched Professor Dumbledore wade out of the water and over to the judges.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Dumbledore's voice roared over the crowd of chattering students who suddenly went quiet, "It is now time to announce the places of our Champions. In fourth place, Ms. Fleur Delacour for failing to rescue her sister," Annie looked over Fleur who was hugging her little sister around the neck as she shivered in the three blankets that were wrapped around her, "in third place, Mr. Viktor Krum for his partial shark transformation, in second place, Mr. Harry Potter for showing moral fiber in rescuing not only his own hostage, but Ms. Delacour's as well, and in first place we have Mr. Cedric Diggory for being the first to come back with his hostage." The students in the crowd burst into cheers, the loudest coming from the Hufflepuffs. Ron clapped Harry on the back and Annie jumped up and down as she cheered.

"Way to go, Harry!" Hermione said as she ran forward and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. "Second place! This means that you and Cedric are tied for first out of the whole tournament!"

Professor Dumbledore called for silence and the cheering ceased. "The champions will receive information on the Third Task one week before. Have a wonderful rest of your day."

As Harry and Ron turned to walk back to the castle, Hermione grabbed Annie's wrist and pulled her back.

"I just want to say goodbye to Viktor and then I'll be up," she whispered.

"See you later," Annie said winking and following Harry and Ron up the path. "Tied for first, not too shabby, Potter," she said jumping onto Harry's back.

"I think so," Harry said hitching her higher up on his back. "So what do you have planned for when we get back to the common room?"

"Nothing special. Just some food and drinks and hopefully a rousing tale from Gryffindor's own Triwizard Champion."

"Sounds great."

A/N: So, once again I'm really sorry for the delay in these chapters. I hope the two of them made up for the wait. And remember when I said I might leak that chapter from Annie's fifth year? I think I might be doing that soon. Thanks to all you guys who have added me to their Alerts/Favorites and those who have reviewed. I really appreciate it! Until next time! XO