Ok so I've been planning out this chapter for months, and I'm actually pretty pleased with the way it turned out-I hope you are too, but I won't know unless you review! (Hey, that rhymed! :D ) The reason it took so long was I wanted to take my time with it and make it good to make up for last chapter :P

You'll probably recognize some of the dialog from the book, but it was so awesome that I just had to add it in! Therefore, I OWN NOTHING! It all belongs to the wonderful JKR, my inspiration(:

On with the chapter!

Ch. 20: House of the Second Task
Hermione's POV

"This is impossible." Harry groaned, shoving yet another book away from him. He, Ron, Fabian, Nina, Patricia and I were all in the library, poring over books, trying to find any information that might help Harry with the second task.

"There's nothing." said Fabian. "Nothing."

"I don't reckon it can be done." said Ron flatly. He and I were back on speaking terms, after agreeing to just be friends for the time being.

"There must be something..." Nina muttered, holding the candle closer to the book. "They'd never set a task thats undoable."

"They have." said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do mate."

"There's a way of doing it!" I said crossly. "There just has to be!"

I just didn't understand it. The library had never failed me before, and now, when I needed it most, it didn't have what I was looking for. Figures.

"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting his face on the book he was currently reading. "I should've learned to be an animagus."

"Yeah, you could've turned yourself into a goldfish anytime you wanted." said Patricia.

"Or a frog." yawned Harry. He was probably exhausted. I know I was, and I didn't have half as much to worry about as he did.

I sighed. "It takes years to become an animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything."

"Hermione, I was joking..." said Harry wearily.

"Oh, this is no use." said Nina, slamming a book shut. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," said Jerome's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

Nina, Fabian, Ron, Harry, Patricia and I looked up. Alfie and Jerome emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you doing here?" Ron asked them.

"Looking for Patricia." Alfie answered. "McGonagal wants you."

"Why?" Patricia demanded.

"Dunno...she looked a bit grim, though." said Jerome. "We're supposed to take you down to her office."

Patricia glanced at us. "Well, I'll meet you guys in the common room."

We all nodded, and she followed Alfie and Jerome out of the library.

We continued reading, but around eight o'clock, Madam Pince shoo'ed us out. Ladened down with all the books we could carry, we headed up to the common room to and continued poring over books.

Four hours later, my brain was fried. Which is saying something, because I'm used to reading for long periods of time, but I was starting to agree with Ron and Fabian-there was nothing. Plus, Patricia still hadn't returned and I was beginning to worry about her.

"Okay, it's official." said Ron. "They've assigned an impossible task."

"They wouldn't d-d-do that." I said, yawning. I noticed Nina had fallen asleep, her head resting on Fabian's shoulder, but he didn't seem to mind.

Harry stood up suddenly. "I'm going to the library." he said. "You guys can go to bed."

"No, we can come." I said, standing up and feeling dizzy with lack of sleep.

"No, it's okay...I'll find something." Harry went up to his dormitory and returned a few minutes later with his invisibility cloak.

"Seriously guys, you can go to bed. I'll find something." he said.

"Are you sure?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Harry pulled the cloak over himself and left.

"You heard him, let's get to bed." said Ron. "I'm beat." he traipsed up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

I looked over at Fabian and saw he was trying to gently wake Nina up. She sat up slowly and looked around.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm just really tired. Where are Harry and Ron?"

"Harry went back to the library under his cloak, and Ron went to bed." I explained. "I was just going to finish reading through these last few books and then go to bed as well."

"Yeah, same here." said Fabian.

"Alright, I'll help too." said Nina, and the three of us continued looking through books.

Finally, I had finished my stack of books and I went over to the other side of the common room where we were piling up the books we had already checked to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

While I was over there, I couldn't help but overhear Nina and Fabian's conversation.

"So, what do you think they have that Harry would miss most?" Nina was asking Fabian.

"I don't know...his broomstick?" Fabian replied, tossing another book aside.

"Maybe..." Nina replied. They were silent for a few seconds. "What would the mermaids take from you, if you were in the tournament?"

"What?"

"Like, what's the most important thing in the world to you?" Nina asked.

Fabian paused for a second, and then looked at Nina. "You."

In the dim light, I could see that they were both blushing.

"Me?" Nina said softly.

Fabian nodded, and Nina smiled. They leaned in, and-

BAM! I had been paying more attention to Nina and Fabian than the stack of books I was leaning against, and they had all fallen to the ground. I hurriedly bent over to retrieve them, but the damage was done-Nina and Fabian had jumped apart, and were now looking around embarrassedly.

"I should-I should...get to bed." Fabian stammered, standing up. "Night."

"Night." said Nina, watching him rather sadly.

When he had gone up the steps, I walked over at sat down on the couch next to Nina.

"I'm sorry about that." I said. "I was trying to be quiet, but..."

"It's okay." said Nina, not meeting my eyes.

We lapsed into silence. Nina continued flipping through pages of the few remaining books, and I watched her, wondering what was going through her head.

"Hermione?" said Nina suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you...like Fabian?" Nina asked uncertainly.

"Of course." I replied confusedly. "He's cool."

"No, I mean, like, like him." said Nina.

"Oh! No way!" I said, finally understanding why she looked so upset. "He's nice and everything, but..." I trailed off.

Nina looked relieved. "Oh, okay. Cool."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously. "Do you like him?"

Her face went beet red. "No, n-not at all." she stammered. "What would make you think that?"

I raised my eyebrows, and she sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Sorta." I replied. "And you're sure you remember absolutely nothing about the ball?"

Nina groaned. "Everybody keeps asking me that, so I'm kinda getting the feeling that something happened that nobody wants to tell me about. But no, I don't remember anything."

"I wish I didn't." I muttered, remembering Ron and how complicated that night made things.

"Well, can you tell me what happened?" Nina asked.

I squirmed uncomfortably. Should I tell her? Should I let Fabian? But, will Fabian ever tell her?

"Alright." I said reluctantly. "But you cannot tell anyone, anyone, that I told you, especially not Fabian, because I'm pretty sure he'd behead me."

Nina nodded, so I continued. "Well...While you and Fabian were dancing, he...asked you out, and you said yes, and then you guys kissed."

"Seriously?" Nina looked shocked. "Why didn't he tell me?"

I shrugged. "Too shy, I guess."

"Why would he be too shy?" Nina asked, mostly to herself. "We're best friends, he can tell me anything..."

The clock chimed one o'clock and we both jumped.

"We should probably get to bed." I said. "We'll probably have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah." said Nina, standing up. "Oh, I hope Harry finds something soon, so he can get some sleep!"

"Me too." I agreed, waving my wand so that he books disappeared to the library.

We walked up the steps to the girl's dormitory and got into bed. Strangely, neither Mara nor Patricia was there, but I was too tired to think more about it, so I fell asleep.

The next morning, I awoke to Amber shaking me.

"What?" I grumbled.

"The first task starts in an hour, and I thought you might want to get some breakfast beforehand." said Amber. I looked over and saw Nina sitting up in bed too; Amber had evidently just woken her too.

"An hour?" I said, getting out of bed.

Amber nodded. "You guys apparently stayed up late last night."

"Yeah, no kidding." I said, rubbing my eyes.

We met Fabian and Ron in the common room.

"Where's Harry?" I asked them.

They shrugged. "No idea." said Fabian. "Maybe he's gone down to breakfast early."

"And Mara and Patricia are still missing too." said Nina. "Maybe they went down to breakfast early with Harry."

"I doubt Mara would go anywhere with Harry." I said. "She's still furious at him."

But, when we got down to breakfast, none of them were there. I was starting to worry. What if Alfie and Jerome had done something to Patricia instead of taking her to McGonagal, like locking her up somewhere as a prank? Or what if Harry had been caught in the library last night, and was going to be expelled?

We headed down to the lake, and sat in the front row of the stands. There weren't many people there yet, and Harry, Mara and Patricia were nowhere in sight.

Finally, after about half an hour, the whole school was in the stands, and all the champions were there, except Harry. And Mara and Patricia hadn't showed up either.

I glanced nervously at Ron's watch. It read 8:57-the task started in three minutes. Where was Harry? He was going to miss the task!

"Where is he?" Nina whispered to me, evidently thinking the same thing.

"No idea." I replied. "Do you think he was caught and expelled last night?"

She shook her head. "No, they would have made an announcement that he won't be competing...wouldn't they?"

Suddenly, we saw a figure sprinting towards the lake. It was-

"Harry!" said Nina, pointing excitedly. "There he is!"

Harry stopped running when he reached the spot where all the other champions were standing, and paused to catch his breath. He looked like he was holding a green blob in his hand.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task," came Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice. "which wil start on my whistle. They have precisely one hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three then: One...Two...Three!"

I watched as Harry ripped off his shoes and socks, shoved the green blob into his mouth and waded into the lake.

"What is he doing?" I asked. "And what was that green stuff he ate?"

"No idea." replied Ron.

The crowd had begun laughing at Harry, who looked rather foolish just standing there in waist-deep water.

"Come on, Harry..." I heard Nina mutter.

Suddenly, Harry dove into the water and the crowd cheered. I let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you suppose that green stuff was?" Fabian asked.

"I don't know." I said. "But I hope its working."

Mara's POV

I woke up as soon as I felt my head break the suface of the lake. Spluttering and gasping, I looked around and saw a little blonde-haired girl that I remembered to be Fleur's hostage on one side of me, and Harry on the other.

It took me a second to remember why I was in the middle of the lake, and couldn't remember anything for the past twelve hours. McGonagal thought that I would be the thing Harry would miss most, so he had to rescue me from the lake.

"You alright?" Harry asked me.

I nodded. "You did it! You saved me!" I beamed and wrapped my arms around his as best as I could while we were treading water in the middle of the lake.

He grinned. "Yeah. Can you help me with her? I don't think she can swim well." he gestured to Fleur's sister. I grabbed one of her arms and Harry grabbed the other, and we began to swim back to shore.

"Why'd you bring her back, anyway?" I asked.

"Well, Fleur didn't come and I couldn't just leave her-"

"Harry, you didn't actually believe what the song said, did you? Dumbledore never would have let us drown!" I said exasperatedly.

Harry scowled. "But the song said-"

"They only said that to make sure you returned within the time limit!" I said.

Harry didn't respond, just kept swimming.

"So... Am I really the thing you would miss most?" I asked after a pause.

"Er...well...yeah, you are." said Harry, looking me in the eye.

I almost forgot to swim, and would've dropped like a stone to the bottom of the lake. He missed me? Or, he would miss me? Even after I yelled at him and refused to speak to him? I beamed at him again, forgetting that I was supposed to be angry at him.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?" I heard Fleur shrieking when we crawled out of the water. Madam Pomfrey seized us and wrapped us up in blankets so tight that they felt like straightjackets, and forced hot potions down our throats that made our ears gush steam. I saw Patricia, who had been Krum's hostage, waving at me.

"Harry, well done! You found out how all by yourself!" Nina had run down from the stands and she threw her arms around Harry.

"I-geez, Nina, let me breathe!" Harry said, wrenching himself out of her grasp. "Yeah, I'll tell you about it later."

"You were well outside the time limit though," said Nina. "Did it take you ages to find them?"

"No...I found them okay..." replied Harry uncertainly.

"Harry, why'd you bring her up?" Ron had appeared too, he pointed at Fleur's sister.

"I didn't want to leave her down there!" said Harry crossly.

"Don't be thick, Dumbledore wouldn't've let her drown!" said Ron.

"I've heard." Harry grumbled, glancing at me and I felt slightly guilty for giving him a hard time.

Fleur had walked over, and she turned to Harry.

"You saved 'er." She said breathlessly, "Even though she wasn't your 'ostage.

"Yeah." replied Harry, looking slightly annoyed. Fleur bent down and kissed Harry twice on each cheek. I scowled at her as Harry turned red. Stupid Veela.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached a decision." Ludo Bagman's voice boomed accross the stadium. "The merpeople have told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows..."

Bagman said that Fleur recieved twenty-five points, Cedric got forty-seven, and Krum got forty. Then, it was Harry's turn.

"Harry Potter returned last, and well outside the time limit of one hour. However, the merpeople informed us that Harry was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to return all hostages to safety, and not merely his own. Most of the judges-" Bagman gave Professor Zeno a nasty look-"agree that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However...Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

I threw my arms around Harry again as everyone else cheered for him.

"There you go, Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all-you were showing moral fiber!"

"The third and final task will take place on the Twenty-Fourth of June." Bagman continued. "The champions will be notified of what is to come exactly one month beforehand. Thank you for your continued support."

People started to file out of the stands. We started to follow, with Madam Pomfrey ushering us to get warm clothes, but I heard Amber's voice from over where Victor and Patricia were standing.

"Oh, Victor, you must be so thirsty." said Amber, batting her eyelashes. "Would you care for a drink?" She held out a goblet.

Nina, for some reason, looked very alarmed about this. She ran over and knocked into Amber, causing her to drop the goblet and spill its contents all over the grass.

"Nina!" Amber shrieked. "How could you?"

"Oh, sorry, my bad." said Nina. "Here, if you're really thirsty-" she picked up the goblet and filled it with water with a tap of her wand and handed it to Krum. "There you go."

With a slightly confused look at Nina and Amber, Viktor took the goblet and walked over to talk to his headmaster, Professor Zeno.

"What was that all about?" Patricia demanded.

"Well..." Nina hesitated. "Amber was trying to give him a love potion."

Patricia looked outraged, as did Amber.

"Nina! I asked you to keep a secret!" said Amber, at same time Patricia was saying "Amber! How could you?"

"I'm sorry Amber, but I couldn't let you do that." Nina said.

Patricia glared at Amber and shoved her, hard. Amber grabbed onto Nina to try to steady herself, but they both ended up falling-into the lake.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fabian and I all gasped and rushed over. They had only fallen in knee-deep water, but they were still soaked. Fabian quickly ran in to help Nina up, and Hermione and I went to help Amber. The people that were still in the stands stopped what they were doing to watch.

"No!" Amber shoved Hermione and I aside, causing usto trip and fall down into the water too. Amber stood up, grabbed Patricia's arm and yanked her in.

Madam Pomfrey looked over just as Patricia was being yanked into the water.

"What's going on?" she demanded, marching over to us. Her eyes widened in anger when she saw that Nina, Amber, Patricia, Fabian, Hermione and I were all in the lake, all soaking wet.

"What is the meaning of this?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed angrily. "Never, in all my time at Hogwarts, have I seen such childish behaivor! And especially now, when we're trying to make a good impression on the foreign guests!" She paused, breathing heavily like an angry rhino. "You all have detention! And thirty points from Gryffindor!"

She stormed away, leaving us in silence.

Detention? Detention? I had gotten detention? I had never been in detention before, and all I was trying to do was help Amber out of the water! I glared at Amber, who mouthed "Sorry!" with a guilty expression on her face.

Harry cleared his throat. "Well, I guess we should get back to the common room."

Everyone agreed, and Harry stepped into the water and held out his hand to help me up. When we were out of the water, he grabbed a dry towel and wrapped it around me.

"Thanks." I said, smiling at him.

He grinned back. "No problem."

"I can't believe we got detention!" Nina fretted on the way back. "I've never gotten detention before!"

"Relax, Nina." said Harry. "I'm pretty sure I've gotten at least one detention every year since I've been here."

"But have you lost Gryffindor thirty points in one go?" I asked.

"Uh, Hermione, Neville and I lost Gryffindor 150 points in one go in our first year." Harry said.

I looked at Hermione in surprise. She buried her face in her hands. "Don't remind me." she grumbled.

"And there's plenty of worse reasons to get detention." said Ron. "Harry and I got one in our second year because we flew a car to Hogwarts."

"You flew a car?" Patricia asked.

"Yes, they did." said Hermione, shooting a disapproving glance in Harry's and Ron's direction. "And Ron broke his wand in the process, which made him barf up slugs when he tried to curse Malfoy."

"But thats not the point," said Ron hastily as we all laughed. "The point is, there are plenty of worse reasons to get detention than this, so don't worry about it."

When we got back to the castle, I showered, changed into dry clothes, and them went down to the common room to read for a little while.

Hermione, Harry, Fabian and Nina were already there. I took a seat on the couch next to Hermione as Harry stood up.

"Mara, could I-talk to you for a sec?" He asked.

"Sure." I replied, and I followed him over to the other side of the common room, away from everyone else.

"Look," Harry began, "I'm really sorry about...what happened and I was wondering if..." he hesitated. "Will you take me back?"

"Of course I will." I said smiling, and he grinned back. "I'm really sorry about yelling at you and stuff."

"Its fine." He pulled me into a hug and kissed me. I took his hand and we walked back over to everyone else, together.

I know, laaaaaaammmmeeee ending, but I'm terrible at writing begginnings and endings. :P

The part where they're all pushing each other into the lake may have seemed pretty pointless(it was :P) but when I wrote last chapter where Amber was making the love potion, I thought I was going to do something with it, but I changed my mind after I posted the chapter so I just added that part in instead.

I really would like to get more reviews, because when I only get a few it makes me think that you guys don't like it. I mean, I get it, the last chapter was terrible, but I'm really hoping that I'll get more this chapter. If you don't like it, give me some suggestions to make it better(in a NICE way, mind you :P) and if you do like it, let me know so I'm motivated to continue!