办不到
A Fanfiction Story by Gfyuwatr7
Author's Note: Thanks to all for your reviews, criticism and support. It helps me stay in business. Yes, I'm still alive.
To WinterRain 36: Fear not, my friend. There will be more of that in this chapter and future ones. I just wanted to slow things down a bit, develop their relationship in a way that didn't involve training, so we could learn a bit more about Cho's personal life. Also, we need to take into account the fact that she is in her fifth year, not in the Tournament, so that means she has to dedicate some time to her studies, to pass her OWLS. The champions are excused from exams that year, but not her.
To artfrogy: Thanks for the review, I'm still trying to do my best. The translation of what Cho said in regards to Ludo Bagman was, 'wicked old tyrant!'
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.
Just a few more chapters to go…
The Next Day…
"You could've told me the truth, Harry," Cho said crossly as she handed yet another towel to Harry. They were currently in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and they had a large fish tank in the center of the room. Harry was attempting to use the Bubble-Head Charm, a spell that would allow him to breathe underwater in preparation for the Second Task, but to no avail. He sat down on a chair nearby, panting from lack of air. He ran the towel through his wet hair wearily, knowing he still had some explaining to do.
"I know," he said quietly. "I just didn't want you to worry…," He had already explained to Ron and Hermione about his late night excursion to the prefects' bathroom. Telling the same to Cho was going to be a little more difficult.
"So you just decided to go for a stroll at night and said to yourself, 'I think I'll take my magic egg to the prefects' bathroom?'" Cho replied skeptically. "Why there?"
"Because…" Harry began, trying to think of an excuse. He paused, realizing that at one point or another, he would have to be honest with her about everything. Cho wasn't like anyone else, someone he could make up a story for and not feel guilty about. So with a heavy heart, he said, "Because Cedric told me to."
"Cedric?" said Cho suspiciously. "Is that what you two were talking about after the first dance at the ball, the tournament?"
"Not exactly," said Harry. "He told me about this after midnight, when you went to bed." He put down the towel he was using, knowing he would have to dunk his head into the fish tank again anyway. "I thought he was just trying to yank my chain, so I didn't listen to him. But after talking to Hagrid…"
"You felt like you didn't have a choice," Cho finished softly. She sat down next to him, wrapping her arm around him. She leaned her head on his shoulder, looking thoughtful. "I know you didn't tell me about the egg because you didn't trust me. You just had doubts. You wanted to do this on your own. Believe me, I understand that really well." She laughed softly. "I always try my best to do everything on my own before asking for help."
"I suppose you can't blame me for keeping quiet then, right?" Harry teased. They both laughed quietly, forgetting their worries for a moment.
"This is different, though," Cho said seriously. "People get hurt in this tournament, and worse… If anything happened to you, and I couldn't do anything…" she paused, her voice breaking slightly. Harry, alarmed, realized that Cho might actually start crying. And he had no idea how to comfort her.
Nevertheless, he gathered his courage. Turning to her, he wrapped both of his arms around her, lifting her chin up to face him. "Nothing's going to happen to me," he said firmly. "Especially not now, when I have an amazing teacher."
"I know," she replied, a soft smile on her face. She wiped away her tears, and leaned towards him, kissing him briefly. When they separated, she brightened up considerably. "And you're right, I am an amazing teacher," she said mischievously. Getting up, she took Harry's hand and led him back to the tank. "Ready to go again?"
"Let's do it," Harry said, determination welling up within him.
That night, as Sirius had requested in his last message, Harry sent him a letter explaining some of what had happened the previous night. He then turned his attention to more pressing matters; trying to master the Bubble-Head Charm and other spells to help him survive in the Black Lake for an hour. He spent the next weeks leading up to the Second Task looking up spells that were effective for combat underwater (for he remembered what Moaning Myrtle had told him about the merpeople in the Lake), and practicing with Cho as much as he could. He hadn't been kidding when he told her she was an amazing teacher; she explained things very well, patiently. She was also quite proficient at Charms, so that helped him immensely.
It seemed that someone had bewitched the clocks at Hogwarts to go at hyper-sonic speed, because soon enough, there were only two days left before the Second Task. It was on that day, during breakfast, that he received Sirius's reply. It read simply,
Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.
Harry turned over the parchment in his hand, but there was nothing on the back of it.
"Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, having read the note over his shoulder. "Here-take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
He did so, but felt slightly disappointed as he watched the brown owl fly away. What had he expected? Advice on the tournament? He had failed to mention the task to Sirius in his first letter. Still, he felt slightly abandoned by his godfather.
The Evening Before the Second Task
Cho was in the Ravenclaw common room, looking feverishly for more spells Harry could use in the Second Task. She was supposed to meet him, Ron and Hermione in the library soon. She had already torn through her assignments earlier in the week. Would an ice conjuring spell be useful? she thought. No, Harry might accidentally freeze himself as well. As she contemplated this problem, Marietta approached her, looking slightly worried.
"Cho, have you got a minute?" she whispered, hoping not to attract any attention from the others in the room.
"Not now, Marietta," said Cho. She didn't catch the flash of frustration that appeared on her friend's face.
"It's important!" Marietta insisted, pulling slightly on Cho's robes. She relented, with Marietta leading them to their dormitories. As they entered, she closed the door behind them, making sure no one had followed them. She turned to Cho, still looking worried, and said, "Professor McGonagall wants to see you, she's outside."
"What?" Cho said disbelievingly. Her annoyance at her friend had disappeared. "Why does she want to see me?"
"I don't know, but she looks serious," Marietta replied, shifting nervously on the balls of her feet. "I know you, Cho. I don't think you're in trouble, but…Just be careful, okay?"
"I will," said Cho reassuringly, though she felt a worm of doubt inside of her. As she walked out of the dormitory and toward the common room exit, she couldn't help but feel an ominous sense of foreboding.
The Second Task
"You're sure about this, Neville?" Harry asked apprehensively as Neville passed a wad of Gillyweed into his hand. They were walking together to the Black Lake for the Second Task. Three large platforms had been built above the lake, large enough to accommodate many of the students. Harry felt unease settling in his stomach as they moved closer and closer to them.
"Absolutely," Neville replied earnestly.
"For an hour?"
"…Most likely," came the uncertain answer.
"Most likely?" Harry said, panicking even more.
"Well, there is some debate among herbologists as to the effects of fresh water over salt water-"
"You're telling me this now?" Harry said exasperatedly. "You must be joking!"
"I-I just…wanted to help," Neville stammered quietly.
"Well, that makes you a right sight better than Ron or Hermione, or even Cho…" Harry said under his breath. He had not seen any of them since the previous night. Professor Moody had summoned Ron and Hermione to the Headmasters office, leaving Neville to help him clear away his books. Cho had not shown up either, but he had reasoned that she was busy with her studies. While he had been contemplating these things, Neville had suggested the use of Gillyweed, a herb of some sort that would allow him to breathe underwater for an hour, for the Second Task. Not wanting to hurt Neville's feelings by saying he had a plan in place already, he accepted Neville's offer. Can't hurt to have a backup plan, Harry had thought. Now, however, he wasn't sure about anything.
"Where are they, anyway?" Harry said exasperatedly, looking around desperately for them as they neared the Lake's edge.
"You seem a little tense, Harry," Neville said nervously, noting the look on Harry's face.
"Do I?" Harry replied sarcastically.
"Welcome to the Second Task!" Dumbledore cried, his voice magically magnified to carry above the cheers and yells of the crowds. As expected, there were many students crowded on the platforms above the Black Lake. The loudest of them all seemed to be the Durmstrang students, who seemed to be chanting in Bulgarian.
"Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts," Dumbledore continued. "These four treasures, one from each champion, now lie on the bottom of the Black Lake." As he continued, the champions in question were preparing themselves to enter the Lake, swimwear in place, representing their school's colors. "In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure, and return to the surface."
The rest of Dumbledore's speech was lost on Harry, as Professor Moody dragged him to his place at the edge of bottom platform. "Put that in your mouth!" he whispered tersely. Harry did so, chewing the Gillyweed gingerly and swallowing. There goes Plan A, I suppose, Harry thought gloomily, remembering the long hours practicing the Bubble-Head Charm. Still, maybe it won't wor-
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed to his mouth and nose. Coupled with that, he felt an enormous need to throw up. He felt like he couldn't breathe, his head was spinning. As he heaved and coughed, Moody began slapping him on the back roughly. Dimly, he heard Dumbledore above him say, "At the sound of the cannon-"
BOOM!
The cannon sounded (ahead of time, apparently), and the other champions, Cedric, Fleur, and Krum, dived gracefully into the Lake. Harry, on the other hand, was pushed unceremoniously over the edge by Moody. As he fell in, he could feel its icy cold presence all around him, gnawing at him. He writhed in the water, a stinging pain rising on either side of his neck. And then suddenly, it stopped; the pain had ceased, and he could see and feel clearly again, as though he were on the surface. Looking around, he saw that the other champions had gone; he was alone. Feeling on his neck, he discovered a set of gills, and as he looked at his feet, he realized both his hands and feet were webbed.
Smiling, and with a surge of strength, he swam powerfully toward the surface. As he broke it and jumped into the air, he shouted, "YEAH!" and dropped gracefully back into the Lake. As he did, he heard cheers and whistles all around him. Swimming away into the depths of the Black Lake, he felt glad that he had accepted Neville's help.
After some time of searching through a forest of weed (and fighting off a Grindylow or two), he encountered a familiar face.
"How are you getting on?"
Startled, Harry turned around in the water, and saw Moaning Myrtle floating dreamily along behind him. "Myrtle!" Harry tried to say, but all that came out of his mouth were bubbles. She giggled at him.
"You want to try over there!" she said pointing in a different direction. "I won't come with you…I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close…"
Harry gave her a thumbs-up gesture to show his thanks and swam off. After some time, he began to hear something, just outside his field of recognition, that it seemed more like a presence, a feeling, than an actual sound. Eventually, he got close enough to discern what it was: the song he had heard from the egg. If he could hear their song, it must mean he was getting close! He hurried on to the source of the song, not realizing that something was coming up behind him.
He heard a loud wailing sound behind him, and he turned once again, thinking he was having a heart attack. It swam past him, and he saw that it was a merperson. As it swam away, it turned back to him, wailing softly this time, then turned back to its original course. Harry, not left with much choice, followed it.
After some time, he arrived at what appeared to be an underwater village, and he could see various merpeople peeking outside their doors and windows as he swam past. They had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, and their teeth were broken. Some of them (soldiers, he presumed) had spears at the ready. He sped on, and the dwellings of the merpeople became more numerous. He turned a corner, and a very strange sight greeted him.
A whole crowd was gathered around the edges of what he could only assume was the town square. A choir of merpeople were singing their song, calling the champions to them. Behind them rose a crude sort of statue. It looked like a giant merperson. Four figures were tied to the tail of the statue.
Hermione, Cho, and two women he didn't recognize were tied side by side to each other, and they all appeared to be deeply asleep. Their heads were leaning on each others shoulders, and small streams of bubbles issued from their mouths occasionally. One of the girls, who looked quite young, had long silvery hair, which made Harry sure she was Fleur's sister. The other, a brown haired woman he didn't recognize, was beside her. She was dressed quite differently as well; while the others were wearing robes, this woman was wearing something more akin to a soldier; combat boots, loose pants, and a worn, patched jacket made of leather. Whose treasure is she? Harry wondered to himself.
Shaking off these thoughts, he sped toward them, half expecting the merpeople with spears to stop him. But they didn't; he reached the statue with the hostages, and saw that they were tied to the statue with ropes of weed. The strands were thick, slimy, and quite strong. Looking for something sharp, he saw stones lying at the (feet?) of the statue. Retrieving the sharpest looking one, he began to cut Cho loose. There was no doubt in his mind that Cho was his 'treasure'. As soon as he had seen her tied to the statue, a surge of panic had overtaken him. She had looked lifeless when he arrived, but he realized that she was just sleeping. At least, he hoped she was just sleeping.
Cutting Cho free, he held onto her, making sure she didn't start floating away. He checked her face and neck, trying to see if she was injured. Relief flooded through him as he realized she wasn't hurt.
He waited for some time, but there was no sign of the other champions. Reluctantly, he let go of Cho briefly, and began cutting away at Hermione's bonds. Immediately, the merpeople began laughing and pulling him away.
"She's my friend too!" Harry tried shouting at them. They continued to laugh, and shaking their heads, they replied,
"Only one!"
Harry struggled against them, but he couldn't pull free. At that moment, however, murmurs and excited chatter rippled through the crowd as something approached them. Harry looked up, and was relieved to see Cedric swimming towards them, Bubble-Head Charm in place, making his features appear slightly distorted.
"Got lost!" he said, looking panicky. "Fleur and Krum're comi-" he stopped suddenly as he caught sight of the brown-haired woman. He froze, staring at her as though he was seeing a ghost.
"Cedric!" Harry shouted, trying to bring him back to his senses. "Do you know her?"
"I-how did-when-" Cedric stammered, clearly shaken and confused by the appearance of this person. However, Harry knew they didn't have much time.
"Cedric!" he shouted again. "Get her out of here!"
"Right!" Cedric said, shaking his head in frustration and swimming towards them. The merpeople didn't stop him, and soon enough, Cedric had freed the woman and was swimming toward the surface.
Who is she? Harry wondered to himself.
On the surface…
"Where are they?" Ron muttered to himself. He was standing near the edge of the bottom platform above the Black Lake, waiting for Harry, Cho, and Fleur's hostage to emerge from the water. Fleur, Krum, Hermione, Cedric and his hostage had already returned. What he found strange, however, was that the woman who was Cedric's hostage didn't seem to be a student. The way she carried herself, as though she were above everyone else, suggested she was not from any of the competing schools. She was in deep conversation with Cedric, who seemed to be beyond happy that she was there. She herself looked distinctly uncomfortable.
All of a sudden, Harry, Cho, and a silver-haired girl emerged from the Lake, sputtering and coughing. Ron watched with relief as they swam towards the platform, with Harry and Cho helping the little girl to swim. All around them, cheers were erupting from the other stands. They made it! Ron thought to himself with pride. I hope he didn't try being a hero, though. There's no way he could've taken that song seriously, right?
"If she ever goes near you again…" Cho grumbled under her breath, still shivering slightly from her stay in the Black Lake. She, Harry, and his friends were walking back to the castle. While Harry and Cho were discussing the kissing incident with Fleur at the end of the Task, the others were discussing Harry's 'moral fiber' with exasperation.
"I didn't feel anything," Harry said unconvincingly. When Cho glared at him, he cringed slightly, but said, "Honest!"
"Hmm," she muttered, feeling unconvinced, but deciding to let it go for the time being. She did feel relieved to not be in the Lake anymore. To show her appreciation, she stopped them, and in front of everyone, kissed Harry on the lips passionately. Harry froze, but almost immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. The others stopped, watching with amused expressions the spectacle before them. All of them, except for Marietta, who stood near the back of the group, unnoticed by any of them.
As she tried to move past them, she spotted Cedric farther up the way to the castle, walking with the 'other' woman. As she watched, she saw them laughing at something, a private joke perhaps.
And on the inside, she smoldered.
"Congratulations, Potter," Barty Crouch said, a weary but genuine smile on his face as he greeted him further along the path. "Fine achievement."
"Thank you," Harry replied, slightly nervously. He couldn't recall the last time Mr. Crouch had anything positive to say about him, if he ever had. He also found it odd that he had managed to return to Hogwarts for the Tournament. He looked quite tired. He and Mr. Crouch stopped along the path, and the others continued to move to the castle.
"See you later, Harry," Cho called out before anyone else could say anything. She smiled at him, but as she turned away, Harry didn't see the slight worry that appeared on her face.
"I'm sorry we haven't spoken," Crouch began as they strolled near a pond's edge, near the Lake. "After all, your story is one I've heard so many times. Quite remarkable, really. Tragic, of course," he added quickly, not wanting to sound insensitive. "To lose one's family. Never whole again, are we?" He stopped, turning to face Harry. He didn't know what to say.
He continued, in a more hopeful tone, "Still, life goes on, and here we stand." He laughed slightly at this. Harry smiled nervously in return. He didn't know how to feel about Crouch's sudden philosophical turn of conversation.
Has he lost family, as well? Harry wondered.
"I'm sure your parents would be very proud of you today, Potter," he said quietly.
"Bartemius!" Professor Moody called out suddenly. Startled, Harry and Crouch turned quickly at the sudden interruption. "Not trying to lure Potter into one of the Ministry's summer internships, are we?" Crouch looked at him with slight distrust. Moody continued, "The last boy who went into the Department of Mysteries never came out!" As he finished, his tongue darted out from between his teeth to his lips for a fraction of second. Crouch, a sudden look of horrified recognition on his face, stepped toward him. Moody made the same movement again with his tongue, but only slightly. Harry had never seen him do that before.
Suddenly, Crouch walked past him without a backward glance. Moody, however, had one last parting shot. "And they say I'm mad!" he said loudly. Crouch, with one last look of horror and confusion at Moody, left. Moody himself took a swig from his hip flask and limped off.
Harry was left there at the pond's edge, wondering to himself what on earth had just happened.
AN 2: Finally done! This took me a while to write up, mostly because of work and school (pesky mid-terms!), but I finally managed it. Not sure when I'll upload another chapter, but I'm not giving up. Also, apologies for the almost near identical scenes from the book and film. I'll try add more original material in future updates and stories.
There will be more two more chapters after this one, the first dealing with the events between this Task and the Third one, so there will be a lot to cover. The last one will be on the Third Task and the fallout afterwards. Obviously, these chapters will be longer than the last few. I will also try to include more scenes with just Harry and Cho, which was the whole point of this story, anyway.
Who is the mystery woman? You will find out… In another story. :D Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. All will be revealed in the next story I'm planning to write. Also to be explained in the next chapter will be where Ron was during the Second Task.
Let me know how I'm doing. If you have any suggestions and/or constructive criticisms to make, please let me know in your reviews. Thanks for reading and I'll try to update again soon.
