Chapter 8

I was so nervous about today. Today I would be meeting Montague's father. According to some people I knew, his parents were Death Eaters. Should I really be falling in love with the child of a Death Eater? His parents had supported the death of mine, would they really accept me?

The idea that his parents could have poisoned the potion seemed to cloud my vision as I ate my breakfast. Thank Merlin it was a Saturday. I couldn't imagine how I would cope with this if I had lessons!

"Kirsty are you finished?" asked Montague, "father's here."

I nodded, pushing my plate away. Standing up, I took his hand and let him lead me to the entrance hall. Smoothing out my robes, I glanced around the hall and spotted a regal looking man speaking with Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore, once again, seemed to shoot me a disapproving glance as we walked over. I smiled politely at the two men before standing nervously and the stranger examined me.

"Father let me introduce you to my girlfriend Miss Kirsty Potter," commented Montague proudly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Potter, my name is Lord Grey," greeted the man before me, "I am one of the school governors."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir," I replied politely.

"Dumbledore, perhaps you would excuse me?" suggested Lord Grey, "I would like to spend some time with my son and his girlfriend."

Dumbledore gave us a small nod and polite smile as consent. We disappeared quickly into the grounds.

The weather this morning was nice enough for February. The wide, sweeping lawns were shining with the morning dew and the lake was rippling gently in the breeze. As the three of us walked in the direction of the Quidditch stadium conversation seemed to pause. The silence seemed to be slightly awkward and strained, as if none were too sure were to begin.

"So I hear you're a Triwizard champion?" began Lord Grey.

I nodded, "yes, as is my brother."

"I hear you did not put yourself into such a position."

"No, my name was entered without my consent."

"Does this scare you?"

"Very much, I don't believe I know enough magic to survive and many people have wished me dead from a very early age."

That caused us to fall into another awkward silence. By now we had arrived at the Quidditch stands and found the Slytherin section. Montague offered for me to sit, I did so, before sitting himself beside me. Lord Grey made himself comfortable in another green seat beside his son.

"Do you enjoy being in Slytherin Miss Potter?" he asked carefully.

"I do, everyone has been surprising friendly and I have made many friends and allies," I replied politely.

"They are saying in the Daily Prophet that you are a dark witch in the making."

I gave myself a few moments to answer, I hadn't been to pleased with the response to the article - I had lost the trust of members of other houses, "I do not believe myself to be. I can speak parsletongue, as can my brother. However, being in Slytherin allows the odds to be stacked against me. People have begun to hate me without knowing me."

"I understand the pressure you must be under, everyone expected you to fall into the hands of the Griffindor's. Many of my associates were surprised when you were placed in the noble house of our ancestors."

The conversation seemed to sway between the upcoming task, home life and school. We sat for a fair few hours and the sun had passed its highest point before Lord Grey bid us farewell. First he turned to his son,

"Montague, I must say I was surprised when you wrote home telling your mother and I that you were going out with Miss Potter. However, she has far exceeded the dire impression I was given by her name. Miss Potter, I approve of your relationship with my son and my wife and I look forward to seeing you at the second task," he then paused for a minute before fishing something out of his pocket, "take this, it will allow you to survive the necessary time in the lake."

I was not sure whether to be offended or pleased by the speech he had given. However, I smiled politely and thanked him as I took the small potions flask that he offered me. It was filled with a turquoise coloured potion and didn't look like any of the poisons I had studied - so hopefully it wouldn't kill me.

The two weeks between meeting Lord Grey and the second task seemed to have cause the sun to move faster through the sky. It was like waiting for the first task and, like before, as it got closer the nerves got worse.

On the day of the task I couldn't eat anything. Montague had disappeared the night before, even though he had promised to meet me for breakfast, and I had resigned myself to sitting with my Griffindor friends, well family really.

Harry was no where to be seen, nor was Hermione or Ron. I was worried, though the Weasley twins had decided that the boys had slept in and Hermione was probably in the library. Ginny kept trying to speak with me, but I wasn't listening. It was time for me to make my way down,

"Guys if you see Harry tell him I've already left," I told them, leaving my half empty plate behind me.

I met Krum, who I now only had platonic feelings for, at the Slytherin table. We walked down to the black lake together, my hand in my pocket - clutched around the cold glass of the potions flask. The water seemed to be almost flat this morning. Miss Fleur Delacour was already there and gave us both a small smile as we approached.

"Hi Percy," I greeted my adopted foster brother.

Percy, who was two years older than Fred and George, had left Hogwarts the year before and had started in the Department for International Magical Co-operation. His boss, Mr Barty Crouch, was meant to be sitting on the judges table, however, very recently, he had stopped turning up for work and had been owling Percy with his instructions. As a result, Percy had been asked to replace him on the judges table.

The older Weasley gave me a quick wave before finishing his conversation with Professor Dumbledore and coming over,

"Hi Kirsty, do you know where Harry is by any chance?" he sounded concerned.

"He wasn't at breakfast, the twins recon he's still asleep," I replied shrugging.

Percy groaned, "He needs to turn up soon, otherwise he'll miss the briefing."

Harry did miss the briefing. He missed out on the rules of the task, we were only meant to save one of them. One each. It turned out that the thing that had been taken was actually a person and I had a funny feeling that the person I would miss the most would be Montague, obviously Harry couldn't be down there as he was a champion. I could forgive him for not meeting me for breakfast.

We were all lined up at the edge of a wooden platform when he finally arrived. He looked like he hadn't got much sleep during the night and had a small green plant grasped tightly in his hand.

"Why are you so late?" I hissed, "You should have been here ages ago!"

"I over slept," was all he told me before turning to face the water.

The crowd around us was up on huge stands that were constructed above the water. The judges were the closest to us, however, our attention was on the water before us.

"When I say 'Go' the clock will begin," announced a voice, "1-2-3 GO!"

I brought the bottle up to my lips and swallowed. Nothing seemed to happen, but I took my chance and dived into the water anyway.

The lake was freezing. My hair was streaming behind me as I sailed down though the water. Krum and Fleur had already entered the lake, however, I was sure that my twin was still up there. Though I wasn't quite sure where I was meant to go, I continued down to the bottom of the lake.

I seemed to have found a safe passage, having expected to find all kinds of water demons down here, I was pleasantly surprised. Pulling my wand out of the small wand bag on my hip, I placed it on my palm - willing it not to float away,

"Point me," my words came out as small bubbles. However, it worked and the wand showed me the direction of what I was seeking.

Following the guidance it was giving me, I swam further across the lake bed. It was only then, in the silence, that I realised what the potion had done. I was breathing normally and unaided at the bottom of a huge expanse of water - I loved magic.

Soon I arrived at the edge of a group of kelp that seemed to be acting of some sort of fence. Deciding to swim around it, I used the greenery to pull myself against the current - hoping I would find an entrance. It took a few minutes, but I did. Their was a large metal gate before me, guarded by a rather fierce looking merman.

"Excuse me," I asked politely, "can I have entrance please, I'm here to collect the thing I would miss the most."

The man seemed to understand the bubbles that streamed from my mouth. He opened the gate and nodded politely as I swam through,

"Thank you!" I called over my shoulder.

I was swimming through a small village. It seemed to be almost deserted and I got completely lost. It was only after asking another mere-person which way I needed to travel that I found what I was looking for. In the centre of town there were four strands of kelp. My hand reached one and I used it as a guide to reach the top.

"Harry, what are you doing?" I asked, wondering what my brother was up to.

Harry seemed ready to make battle with an entire town of mer-people. His wand was out and he looked angry,

"Harry," I hissed, "they won't attack you unless you break the rules! Take Cho and go!"

He continued to ignore me sure, as always, he knew best. Shaking my head dismissively, I found an unconscious and alive Montague attached to one of the strands. Cho was on the one beside Harry, Hermione was obviously here for Krum to rescue and I supposed the small blonde girl was here for Fleur. Ron obviously had slept in this morning.

I cast slicing jinx to release Montague. I then grabbed him around the waist and swam upwards. We were so deep that I couldn't make out the sunlight.

The time limit of one hour had past by ten minutes before we finally came up. Upon having air reach his lungs, Montague awoke and we were both beckoned to the platform before being wrapped up in a thick towel each. I noticed that Fleur was already up, she was sobbing into her towel. She had been attacked by the water demons I had avoided and had been forced to forfeit.

The next to arrive into the sunlight was Krum. He and Hermione were also quickly wrapped up in towels and Hermione congratulated me on being first up.

Harry came up some time later, clutching both the small girl and Cho. Why does he have to be so heroic? He would have won the task if he had just grabbed Ron and swam up. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had taken the eggs clue seriously, though I was still pleased to see him safe.

We all sat silently as the judges debated the scores. I was sat in Montague's lap, he was constantly checking I was alright. Cho and Harry were sitting in a similar position, as were Krum and Hermione. Fleur had her arms wrapped around the girl beside her, who turned out to be her younger sister.

"Champions, congratulations for your fine efforts in the task.

In last place is Miss Fleur Delacour who was forced to forfeit the task, we award her 20 points, in third place is Mr Victor Krum who arrived second with his hostage, we award him 40 points, second is Mr Harry Potter who arrived at the hostages first but tried to save all of them, we award him 45 for gallantry, first is Miss Kirsty Potter who arrived first with her hostage. We award her 50 points."

I was beaming, that put me 10 points ahead of Harry, who was now second in the contest. I had been awarded 5 points more in the last challenge as well. It was friendly competition, but I enjoyed winning. Montague gave me a congratulatory kiss as we stood and made our way back to the castle.

A/N: There you go ladies and gentleman….the 2nd task. What did you think of my tweaked version? Any good?

Please review!!

TBC….