Hey, people! Here's another chapter! Thanx 4 all the reviews! Enjoy!

Breathe.

He desperately needed to breathe. But he knew instinctively that if he opened his mouth to try to suck in a breath, he would die. Gritting his teeth fiercely, knowing there was nothing more he could do for his friend, Harry turned his face upward, toward the feeble light, and after an agonizing few seconds during which he had the horrifying sense that he was sinking, not rising, his head broke the surface. He sucked in a huge, spluttering breath.

Then something suddenly hissed angrily from the bottom of the lake. He whirled around, turning his gaze back down toward where he'd left Hermione. Something had happened.

Fearing the worst, Harry took a series of quick, deep breaths, hyperventilating to force as much oxygen as possible into his lungs, then slipped back under the water. He quickly swam toward the floating form of his friend, but found no danger there. Instead there was something else, something that made Harry's heart skip a beat.

The plant had shrunk back as if it had come into contact with something hot, uncoiling its tentacle-like vines from Hermione's foot. She was now floating freely, just above the vines. Something had made the plant release her.

Springing into action, Harry reached out and pulled Hermione to his side. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he began towing her toward the surface. But this task was proving far more difficult than he had first realized. Progress was slow. So slow. The extra weight was slowing him down. Harry closed his eyes, and even as his lungs started hungrily demanding air, he tried to find a calm place in his mind so he could control his body.

C'mon! Swim! He ordered himself. You can do it! Focus! Concentrate! Believe!

His lungs were screaming and his thought processes were beginning to go fuzzy due to lack of oxygen. The muscles in his arms and legs were throbbing. He focused his mind. He was so tired. It would've been so easy to just let the water take him.

No! Ignore it! Keep swimming, Harry! Do it! You're Hermione's only hope!

His entire body was aching now. But he hardly felt the pain. He was a machine now, with just one purpose: to get to the surface. To save his best friend's life.

Swim, Harry. Just a bit farther. Swim.

As he neared the surface, he could feel his lungs about to give out. In the next five seconds he would take a breath and they would fill with water. For Hermione it was probably already too late. She'd been underwater with no oxygen for far too long. With his last ounce of willpower he kicked his legs, propelling himself upward. But he didn't go very far. He didn't have the strength. He was beaten.

As the last molecules of oxygen disappeared from his lungs, a wild carousel of thoughts started racing around his brain.

Sirius. He would never see his godfather again. He wouldn't even know that he had died here, in this strange, godforsaken place. He would never know that Harry's last thoughts had been about him.

Then he remembered. Sirius was dead. He died a few months ago at the Ministry, fighting off a band of death eaters.

And now he was about to join him. With that thought, Harry's body seemed to relax, accepting its fate, and he felt himself begin to slip back down, deeper into the water.

No! He couldn't give up. He couldn't let the enemy win at last. He had to survive until the final battle with Voldemort. He had to survive to fulfill his destiny.

But first he had to save Hermione.

And then…at that moment, he felt a strange force brushing against his mind.

Help me. He pleaded.

In a dream of sinking and sinking, he reached out to a vast and powerful magical force that he could not define. He reached out to it for strength.

Swim! Get to the surface! Get to the shore, then you can rest.

The water around him suddenly began to churn, surrounding both he and Hermione in a swirling vortex of water. Then with a violent wrench, they shot up through the water and were spewed out onto the shore.As the waters still surged over him, Harry managed at last to take a huge gulp of air—along with a large mouthful of water—into his lungs.

Choking violently, he raised himself up onto his hands and knees, and for the first time in what seemed an eternity, he was fully out of the water, caressed by an icy blast of precious air. And then a head of sopping wet, brown hair was hugging him tightly around the neck, crying with joy as air filled her own lungs.

"Oh, Harry!"

It couldn't be. It was impossible. But there she was. Hugging him with all her might, nearly cutting off his air supply. But he didn't care. She was alive.

Hermione was alive!

"H-Her-Hermione!" Harry hugged her back just as tightly, and found that he was gasping, laughing, and crying for joy all at the same time.

Phew…she's all right. Wonder what happens next? Review!