Many thanks to my beta, Seel'vor.
(((o)))
"Concentrate, Rose." said Harry.
Harry and Rose sat facing each other on a plush rug in the Room of Requirement, both of them with their legs crossed. At Rose's request, Harry had modelled the room after the living room of their house in Hogsmeade. That morning, Harry had decided that they would work on Rose's Occlumency then her sword training afterward. Her Animagus training had come to a close and there was nothing that Harry could show the girl that would help her transform; it was all up to her now.
Harry was currently probing Rose's mental defences while she tried to keep him out of her mind. She wasn't rubbish at Occlumency, but she wasn't a prodigy either. Harry had instructed her to imagine her mind as the place she felt safest. For Harry, the place he felt the safest was Hogwarts. Even after discovering Dumbledore's manipulations and numerous attacks by the Dark Lord, the ancient castle remained safe and sturdy.
Rose imagined her mind as their house, and Harry felt a warm tingly feeling when Rose told him so. The next step was the tricky part. She needed to secure her memories in the structure of her mind and ward them from detection. Harry explained that the warding could be in almost any form, from mentally casting spells, charms and wards, to simply locking the doors and windows. Rose was determined to do both.
"Okay, I think I have it." she whispered.
"Ready?" Harry asked. When Rose nodded, he cast Legilimens.
There was a rushing sensation, like being pushed through a tube before Harry found himself both looking at Rose in the Room of Requirement and at an exact replica of their house. Even after having mastered and used the spell since he was sixteen, he still found the dual-vision sensation disorienting. The odd thing was, no one else felt the same sensation that Harry did. Before the headmaster died, Harry had the chance to ask Dumbledore what his Legilimency felt like, and the old man had explained that it felt like he was simply pushing against a wall. When the spell was successful, the wall yielded and he was able to peruse the memories much like in a pensieve.
Hermione, whom Harry had practiced with, felt much the same thing as the headmaster. It seemed that Harry had the unique ability to actually see a person's mental defences and interact with them. Hermione had imagined her mind as a library, with all her memories as books locked away in their cases. He was even able to communicate with the person if he so chose and it was this that made him uniquely suited to teach Occlumency.
Thus, he found himself wandering outside his own home in the mind of a teenage girl. He walked up to the front door and found it sufficiently locked and warded. Nodding to himself he walked the perimeter of the house checking each window and finally the back door. He was satisfied that Rose's mind was secure until he came to the entrance to the cellar. Rose? he called.
Yes? Rose's voice echoed eerily about the mindscape.
Our house doesn't have a cellar, Rose Harry said worriedly. He hoped that it wasn't what he thought it was.
What cellar?
Harry both mentally and physically groaned and palmed his face in his hand. It was as he feared; the scar connection created a back door of sorts to Rose's mind. It wasn't just an extra access for Voldemort but a completely open and unguarded door into the girl's mind. Okay, I want you come in here with me. he instructed.
Rose concentrated for a moment then materialised in the mindscape with Harry. She, unlike Harry though, was naked. She squeaked and reddened with embarrassment while Harry chuckled at her. Why am I naked? she murmured. Not that she was opposed to Harry seeing her in all her glory, but she wanted it to be on her terms. Not by accident.
It's your mind. Maybe you wanted me to see? Harry offered. When Rose glared at him, he added. You can imagine yourself some clothing you know.
Rose closed her eyes and a beautiful white satin gown shimmered into existence on her. She smirked at Harry's raised eyebrow and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. So she said. What's wrong?
Can you see this? Harry asked, pointing at the cellar door.
See what?
Harry sighed and closed his eyes. Damn, he thought. He needed some way for Rose to see the connection with Voldemort, but he was at a loss. He knew that the connection was represented physically by her scar... Her scar! Rose, I need you to concentrate on your scar. Everything about it; its shape, its colour, how it feels, the pain...everything.
Why? she asked.
You have a door here that you don't know about Harry said casually, as if it explained everything. And it did; Rose's eyes widened in a panic as she realised what Harry was telling her. "Just concentrate on your scar and on this spot at the same time. If I'm right, you should see the cellar door."
Rose swallowed and then nodded. She focused on her scar. She recalled how it felt, what it looked like and what it did to her, and slowly, almost excruciatingly so, a wooden door phased into existence in the spot Harry instructed her to look. Oh my god... she breathed.
That, Harry explained with a flourish, would be your scar connection. Then he smiled mischievously. Want to explore it?
Rose looked like she swallowed something foul. She would rather simply ward, lock and entomb the door away so Voldemort could never use it against her. But unfortunately, her curiosity got the better of her. I guess she said hesitantly.
Rose approached the innocuous looking wooden door. No one would have been able to know that this was the entrance into the mind of a madman. She hesitantly pulled on the handle and the door opened with an ominous groan and a gust of nasty smelling air. Rose nearly gagged as she staggered away and into Harry's arms.
He looked at Rose worriedly. You don't have to do this if you don't want to he said.
Rose smiled shakily up at him. I know. I need to though.
I can't go with you he said.
Rose nodded and kissed Harry warmly and the mindscape whirled with pinks and bright reds. Rose gasped and pulled away as the sensation of pleasure and love nearly overwhelmed her. She saw Harry blink in surprise. Wow she whispered.
I'll say Harry answered as he urged her toward the gaping entrance into the ground. Be careful. I love you.
Rose walked cautiously through the doorway and into a stone walled room. The room had three doorways. The one she went through, another that seemed to be made of a damp-black wood, and the third which was made of rich oak. She decided to go through the oak door first and, as she guessed, it led into the house. It was an extra entrance into her mind she realised with a shiver. She made sure to lock, chain, ward and trap that door thoroughly before moving on to the black door.
Just being near it caused chills to run down her spine and she debated on whether or not to open it. Finally gathering up all her Gryffindor courage she pushed on the door and found that it opened easily and silently, as if the hinges had just been oiled. The tunnel beyond the door frightened her even more, though. It was dark and damp, and Rose could hear dripping sounds in the blackness beyond. She was pretty sure at that point that the tunnel led into Voldemort's mind, but she wasn't about to find out now. She closed the door and put as many wards and locks on her side as she could. When she was done, it looked less like a wooden cellar door and more like a bank vault door.
Satisfied with her work, Rose left the cellar and met a worried-looking Harry on the outside of the house.
Is it secure? he asked. Rose nodded wearily. Do you feel up to me testing them?
No Rose said. I don't think my mind can take much more abuse today.
Harry chuckled and faded from Rose's mind. "You still feel up to swordplay?"
Rose nodded eagerly. "I said my mind can't take much more, I didn't say I wasn't up to whooping you in a fight."
"That sounds like a challenge." Harry taunted. Rose blew a raspberry at him.
"You know I wouldn't be able to take you in a one-on-one fight."
"You're coming awfully close." Harry said. "So, just sword training then?"
Rose concentrated, summoning her Sword of Gryffindor to her hand, the weapon appearing with a small pop. She found early on that, like Harry had suggested, she favoured light, quick blades. She eventually settled on a sabre. The blade of her sword was twenty inches long, and the hilt and pommel retained the same shape and design as the original sword, if a little lighter. Rose gripped her sword and swung it with a flourish before pointing it at Harry, who was brandishing his own long sword version of the blade. "En guarde!"
They sparred back and forth, with Harry giving critiques and compliments where necessary. Harry had discovered late in his seventh year that the Sword of Gryffindor wouldn't harm anyone the wielder didn't want it to. Thus, seeing as how Rose and Harry didn't want to harm each other, they could practice with the undulled edges of their respective swords without fear of injury.
Rose landed a solid blow to Harry's ribs after a perfect parry and Harry called a stop to the training. Like her Animagus lessons, Rose was taking to the sword like a fish to water and Harry felt very proud of her. Harry checked his watch. "Okay, before we go, I want to discuss the second task with you."
For a second time that morning, Rose's eyes widened in panic. She hadn't given the tournament any though what so ever since the first task and the second task was tomorrow. "Oh my god! I completely forgot!" she shrieked.
Harry put a calming arm on her shoulder and Rose took a few deep breaths. "You already have a huge advantage with me here." he said reassuringly. "You remember what I told you was going to happen?"
Rose nodded. "They're going to take you into the lake and I will have to rescue you from the merfolk." Rose said in a small voice. "But how-"
Harry interrupted her with a finger over her lips which Rose kissed automatically. "You've become a very powerful witch," Harry explained. "so, I'll only give you one hint; phoenixes can teleport anywhere."
The girl nodded and kissed Harry's finger again, sucking lightly on it with a small smirk. Harry gasped and smiled at her. "Oh, you want to play that way, do you?"
Rose nodded as Harry pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. A few minutes later, after Harry flamed back to their house, a very dishevelled but satisfied Rose left the Room of Requirement.
(((o)))
As soon as Harry arrived at his house, he set about lifting the Fidelius charm from it. He knew that at some point during the day the tournament organisers would come to collect Harry for the second task. It didn't take him long, as reversing the Fidelius was much simpler that actually casting it. All it took the desire for others to know where the location was, and the phrase, "Fidelius finite."
Once he was done, Harry retreated to his library to do some light reading. He still hadn't made any headway as to his mystery stalker, but he was sure it had something to do with his travel from his dimension to this one. It wasn't long, however, before he heard a light knock at his front door. With a sigh, Harry closed his book and went to answer it.
Harry schooled his face into a pleasant expression before opening the door. Sure enough Dumbledore was on the other side smiling pleasantly as well. "Good morning, Headmaster." Harry said. He decided not to hide anything, seeing as how he had already let known that he had knowledge beyond what he should. "Come to tell me about the second task?"
Dumbledore's eyes widening slightly was his only reaction, but beyond that he was completely nonplussed. When it came to Rose and her boyfriend not much surprised him anymore. "Indeed I am. Am I to assume you already know what is to happen?" Harry nodded. "Then let us head back to the castle. We have much to discuss."
Harry muttered something under his breath to the tune of, "I'm sure." but he followed the headmaster out into the streets of Hogsmeade and up to the castle.
"It is amazing, really," Dumbledore began as soon as they left the house, "how we were unable to find you during the holidays. It's almost as if your house didn't exist before."
"It didn't, technically." Harry said offhandedly. "Unless I wanted you to know."
Yet again, Dumbledore was surprised. The Fidelius charm was one of the most complex and power consuming spells known to the Wizarding world. "You can cast the Fidelius?"
"Rose can, too."
"Really?" Dumbledore said, not bothering to hide his shock. "What else can she do?"
"She can do quite a few things you're unaware of."
"So, Harry, who are you... really?"
Again with the direct approach Thought Harry. It seemed that this Dumbledore and Harry's were more different than he first thought. "I fail to see how that's any of your business." Harry growled.
"Humour me, Mr. Potter."
Harry opened his mouth to respond but choked on whatever he was going to say. Did Dumbledore really just call him 'Mr. Potter'? He made to cover his slip up but knew the damage was done if the headmaster's smug expression was any indication. Harry sighed heavily. "How did you know?"
"Please, Mr. Potter, you insult my intelligence." Dumbledore said with mock hurt. "You and young Rose may be skilled Occlumens, but no mind is impenetrable."
"You used Legilimency on us?" Harry bellowed. Damn that cellar door! He had been too late in discovering it. His magic broke loose and pulsed from his body in waves causing the loose cobblestones on the street to go clattering away noisily. Crouch and Bagman, who had been slightly ahead of the two of them looked back in alarm, but Dumbledore made placating motions to both them and Harry.
"Please, Mr. Potter, you have to understand-" the aged headmaster hissed, but Harry cut him off.
"I understand that you're a meddlesome old man who can't keep his nose out of where it's unwanted! I understand that you think Rose is a weapon to be used at your discretion!" Harry's voice grew with each accusation until he was nearly screeching. "I understand-"
"Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore growled. "Please, you have to understand that I wouldn't wish this on anyone, let alone the young woman I see as my own granddaughter. You also have to understand the position I am in. An unknown person shows up out of nowhere and is suddenly Rose Potter's boyfriend?"
Harry bit back his retort and determined not to continue arguing with the headmaster, but he had to know one thing. "Then why the questions?" To Harry's surprise, Dumbledore actually looked bashful before responding.
"I wanted to see how forthcoming you would be."
Harry sighed and rubbed his face wearily. Everything he and Rose had worked for could have been destroyed just now. "How long have you known?"
"Since the Yule ball."
"Why didn't you confront Rose about it?"
"I assume you know the prophecy?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded. "Then you know what I assume the 'power the dark lord knows not' to be?"
"Love..."
"Indeed. Rose's love for you is powerful indeed."
"That's not the power." Harry said suddenly.
Dumbledore paused and looked at Harry strangely. "Indeed. And just how do you know that?"
"You'll have to regain my trust before I tell you that." Harry said.
"How can I regain what I never possessed in the first place?" Dumbledore said sadly.
Harry just raised his eyebrow.
Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Harry, it would be better for us to be allies than enemies."
"We'll see..."
The rest of the walk preceded in silence until the reached the castle. "Can I trust you to keep my secret until I say otherwise?" Harry asked.
"Of course you can, Mr. Evans." Dumbledore led them into the annex off of the great hall, where a group of people had gathered. Harry noticed the heads of the other two schools, Hermione, Gabrielle Delacour, and Cho in the room along with Professors McGonagall and Snape. Snape's lip curled disdainfully at Harry when they entered. All eyes turned toward the arrivals and Harry fought the urge to find somewhere to hide. He never was good with attention.
"Now that we're all gathered, I believe we can begin." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "We have gathered you four because each of you is precious to one of the champions.
"For those of you that don't know already," Dumbledore said with a pointed look in Harry's direction, "the second task for the champions is to rescue you from the bottom of the black lake in under an hour."
This statement was met with gasps from the three young girls and knowing silence from Harry. He noticed Snape raise a curious brow at his reaction but paid it no heed. Snape was the least of his concerns at the moment.
Dumbledore calmed them down before speaking again. "Please, we have taken every safety precaution to make sure nothing happens to any of you. In an hour, you will be given a modified version of the draught of living death and taken to the lake. Once submerged in the water, the draught will take affect and you will fall into a coma. Once your champion breaches the surface of the lake with you, the potions effects will be lifted and you will awaken."
Harry had always wondered what had been used to put the hostages to sleep, but it was only a passing interest. Now that he knew, and he assumed that Professor Snape had brewed the modified potions, his respect for the spy's potion making skills went up a notch. Modifying any potion, let alone the draught of living death was difficult at best.
"Are there any questions?"
Of course, Maxime and Karkaroff had questions. More like objections, anyway. "Yes, Dumbly-door, I 'ave a question. Eesn't eet against the rules for a non student to participate in the tournament?" Maxime asked with a barely concealed glare at Harry. Harry glared back and Maxime backed down.
Dumbledore nodded in recognition of the question. "In normal circumstances, Madame, yes. But, Miss Potter has recently had a falling out with her closest friends, with the exception of Miss Granger here, who is already claimed by Mr. Krum. Harry Evans, as her significant other, is the next best qualified for the role." Karkaroff looked like he wanted to object as well, so Dumbledore continued. "I have already cleared it with the organisers of the tournament."
Karkaroff backed down as well and Dumbledore looked around at those gathered. "Are there any further questions?" When no one raised any, the headmaster clapped his hands and a breakfast banquet appeared in the annex. "Very well then, let us eat."
(((o)))
Wednesday, February 24th, dawned overcast and chilly and Rose woke up with a foreboding feeling about the day. Today was the day that second task was to take place, at nine thirty in the morning. She ate an early breakfast by herself and began to worry when Hermione didn't show up.
After she finished eating, McGonagall gathered the champions together and led them down to the lake where the champion's tent was set up for them to get ready. As Rose entered the garishly-coloured tent, she scanned the crowd, hoping beyond hope that Harry would be there, waving supportively at her. But it was not to be, since she knew that, with Harry being the person most precious to her, that Harry would be at the bottom of the lake waiting on her to rescue him.
So, instead of Harry, Rose scanned the crowd for Hermione, but the bookworm was nowhere in sight. She then remembered that Hermione would most likely be taken for Krum and thus resolved that she was alone. She did, however, catch Ron's eye, and he simply sneered at her. He hadn't taken her rejection of his Christmas gift very well.
Rose made her way to the starting point and concentrated on her plan. She knew she was a shoe in for this task because of her Animagus abilities, but she would still need to be able to breathe water for a bit to free Harry from his ropes so Harry had taught her a bit of transfiguration to give herself gills. She didn't need any real way of moving through the water though, since she could just teleport down and back again in, literally, a flash.
She knew that she didn't really need to keep it a secret that she could fire teleport, seeing as almost everyone in the school had seen both her and Harry flame away from the dance. Still, Harry had suggested that she keep up appearances and she decided to get as far away from the others as possible before flaming.
A heavy hand on her shoulder startled her from her thoughts. She looked up into the round boyish face of Ludo Bagman. "Yes?" she asked.
"Are you ready? We're about to start." he said. Rose nodded and took her starting position on the platform, between a sullen looking Krum and a panicked Fleur.
She didn't hear Bagman announcing the event to the crowd, but instead tried to contact Harry through the rings. She didn't expect any answer, and she wasn't disappointed when she heard nothing but static through the connection. She briefly wondered why she would hear static, since static was definitely Muggle, but she quickly forgot that train of thought when she heard a whistle blow. Fleur and Cedric dove in head first, but both she and Krum stayed out of the water to perform their spells. Krum changed his head into that of a shark, just like in Harry's memory and with a quick wave of her wand on either side of her neck, she soon had gills.
It was an interesting sensation, having gills outside of the water. Rose likened it to having a sheet of wet cloth over one's mouth and nose and trying to breath through it. She felt like she was suffocating and quickly dove in the water, gulping mouthfuls of it and relishing the oxygen it offered. She then watched Krum disappear into the depths before swimming down a good ten feet and vanishing in a burst of bubbles and steam.
It felt odd, Rose thought, appearing underwater as opposed to in the air. When she appeared, there was a brief sensation of being smothered before it abruptly lifted. Air was more yielding than water, being less dense, and she immediately decided that she would never flame underwater ever again after today.
She also realised that she had panicked the merfolk and found herself at the point of numerous tridents. She held her hands up in surrender and mouthed that she was one of the champions. The merfolk didn't seem to understand her so she looked around until she saw Harry, then pointed at herself, then Harry, then the surface. The merfolk backed down and cleared the way to the hostages who were tethered to a stone statue of a merperson and floating gently in the water.
Rose swam over to Harry and looked him over. He really did look dead, she noticed. She drew her wand and cast a silent cutting hex to sever the rope then gently took hold of his arm and guided him gently away from the merfolk before flaming back to the surface. She was right on her mark; just fifteen feet beneath the surface of the water, and she reversed the gill transfiguration before coming up for air.
The crowd, which had been conversing amongst itself since the champions went under, immediately silenced when the two broke the surface, coughing and spluttering. It had taken Rose less than five minutes to rescue her hostage; the quickest time in the history of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Together, Rose and Harry floated over to the platform, where Rose struggled to get Harry's mostly dead weight up the ladder. She was quickly becoming irritated with the silence and she shouted, "Well, isn't anyone going to help us out?"
Dumbledore hurried over to give the youths a hand up onto the platform while Bagman announced to the crowd, "Rose Potter has just done the impossible. In just four minutes and twenty seven seconds, she rescued her hostage and made it back to the surface! It's a new record!"
The crowd then went wild. Even some of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were chanting her name and cheering wildly. She didn't blush until Harry leaned over to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek at which her face lit up like a candle. Rose was allowed to rest with Harry for the rest of the task and he took the opportunity to tell her that Dumbledore knew who Harry really was.
Rose panicked slightly, but Harry's reassuring presence in her mind calmed her. "Don't worry" he said. "He won't tell anyone."
Rose glowered at him. "How can you trust him after all he's done to us?" she growled.
"I don't." Harry answered. "But trust me. He won't tell anyone."
Rose still seemed sceptical, but she nodded her consent.
It wasn't long before Cedric came back with a sodden Cho, with Fleur following shortly after with her limp sister in her arms. But Harry and Rose began to worry when, as the hour mark approached, Krum still hadn't resurfaced with Hermione.
An hour and ten minutes after the task had started, the Merchieftainess, a wild and fierce looking merperson, brought an unconscious and bloody Krum to the surface. Karkaroff and Dumbledore rushed over to help the young man onto the platform while Dumbledore listened to the Merchieftainess explain what happened.
"What's going on?" Rose asked. Harry shushed her and listened closer to the conversation. Rose was a little angry that Harry would shush her like that, but was even more amazed that Harry understood Mermish.
"It's hard to make out, but I'm pretty sure that they had a kelpie attack and took Hermione away." Harry explained, and Rose's eyes widened in panic. "Go, before anyone can stop you!"
Rose dove back in the water after giving herself gills. Professor McGonagall made to stop her but Harry weakly held the teacher back. "Let her go." he said softly. "She knows what she's doing."
McGonagall looked worriedly at the water before turning back toward Harry with a stormy expression on her face. "She had better, Mr. Evans."
Rose wasted no time in flaming back to the merpeople village. She swam back to the statue where the hostages were and found a group of merfolk gathered around, conversing about something. Their language, while screechy and harsh above the water, was strangely beautiful underwater. It sounds almost like birdsong mixed with whale noises. Rose thought.
One of the merfolk saw her coming and swam out to meet her. Seeing as Rose couldn't get any air in her lungs to make noise with, she gesticulated wildly at the statue trying to get her point across. The merman, a sturdy looking male, took pity on her. "You look for girl?" he asked.
Rose paused and stared at the merman incredulously. They can speak English?
Almost as if she had asked the question out loud, the merman answered. "Yes, I speak human language." he said with something akin to a smile on his fishy lips. "Your friend taken by kelpie. They go that way." He pointed toward a deeper and darker section of the black lake.
Rose gestured to the gathered merpeople, then to herself, and finally in the direction the merman indicated. She wanted their help.
The merman shook his head sadly. "We can not help. Kelpie sacred to merpeople. We no understand why it attack."
If Rose could sigh underwater she would. She was alone in this. Taking a moment to transfigure her feet into flippers and web her fingers, she set off in the direction she was told. It didn't take her long to find the kelpie's cave. It was huge, and the size of it did nothing to reassure Rose. She glided silently into the blackness after silently charming her eyes to see in the dark.
The entrance of the cave was a tunnel that led into a large chamber that was full of glowing, multicoloured crystals. On the far end of the chamber, Rose could see the surface of the water. Evidently, there was a pocket of air in this cave. If this hadn't been a life threatening situation, Rose would have thought it beautiful. But she didn't have time to admire the scenery, so she quickly searched the water. After finding no sign of Hermione, she determined that her friend was in the air pocket.
This could be problematic Rose thought. Where she was good at self-transfiguration, she still was rather bad at human transfiguration in general, and that meant other people. So, giving Hermione gills to breath water was out of the question, and she didn't want to flame around more than she had to. Still, if worse came to worse, she could flame them both to the surface.
Slowly, she breached the surface and looked into the air pocket. The rest of the cave was a white sandy beach with various subterranean plants glowing in the sand. The same crystals that grew under water grew above it, and gave off a soft light. Then Rose saw her friend.
Hermione was curled up in the far corner of the cave, shivering with cold and fear. She was still wet and she was glancing around the cave, looking for anything that might help her out.
"Psst!" Rose hissed, trying to get Hermione's attention, but she looked everywhere but at the water. Finally, when Hermione noticed Rose's head and shoulders protruding above the surface, she beamed.
Hermione pointed over at a cluster of crystals near Rose and made shushing motions with her hands. Rose glanced over and had to stifle a gasp; she was mere feet from the sleeping kelpie.
The beast was huge. Its ten foot long equine body was covered in fine green scales, as well as its horse like head. Its fish shaped tail moved lazily back and forth, stopping just inches from hitting Rose. She floated away desperately from the aquatic horse but paused when something caught her eye. There was a black pulsating lump on the back of the kelpie's neck. "Hey Harry?" she asked.
Harry's groggy thought filled her head. "Yeah?" It seemed he still wasn't over the draught yet.
"You feel up to looking through my eyes here?" Rose asked. "I have something you need to see."
Rose felt her eyes tingle as Harry melded his sight with hers. "You found it?" he asked. Rose stared at the black lump on it's neck. "Oh, Merlin..."
"What?" Rose asked.
"That black lump, it's an Imperio cyst," Harry said. He could feel Rose's confusion, so he hastened to explain. "It's a physical manifestation of an Imperio curse. It allows the caster to control their target without having to recast the spell over and over again."
"Can I get it off?" Rose asked.
"Yes, you can, but the only spell I've discovered that will take it off is Sectumsempra," Harry said. He felt Rose panic a bit then sighed, realising that she didn't know the spell. "Brace yourself; this might be a little disorienting."
Rose was about ask what would be disorienting, but she was suddenly overcome with a horrible dizziness. Then she saw memories that she knew weren't hers. She saw Harry reading a book that had been heavily defaced and recognised it as the half blood prince's book. Then she suddenly knew how to cast the Sectumsempra spell... and felt like she needed to vomit.
"Are you okay, Rose?" Harry asked.
"Yeah." Rose answered back as soon as the cave stopped spinning. "Now, how exactly do I-"
But, Rose didn't get to finish as Hermione yelled, "Rose, watch out!"
Rose looked over at Hermione, and saw her looking fearfully at the kelpie. She turned toward the kelpie just in time for it to smash its heavily muscled tail into her and send her careening into the cave wall. Rose screamed in pain when she felt something crunch in her shoulder. Fortunately it was her left one, so she could still use her wand.
The kelpie reared up on its back hooves and brayed at her as Rose fired a stunner at the creature. The burst of red magic simply reflected off of its shiny green scales and it lunged at her again. She rolled out of the way of the kelpie's hooves, but right into the path of its tail and she once again found herself sailing through the air. She managed to get a good aim on the cyst and fired a Sectumsempra. The spell was on its mark and it severed the black growth from the back of the kelpie's neck. The cyst fell to the sand with a fleshy thud, and the kelpie roared in pain before diving into the water and swimming away.
As Rose lay panting in the sand, Hermione scampered over to the red head, and gingerly felt her shoulder. "Oh my god, Rose! Are you okay?"
Rose groaned and rolled over to face her. "My shoulder hurts, but other than that, I'm fine."
"Give me your wand." Hermione commanded. Rose handed the wood to her and Hermione quickly cast a numbing charm over Rose's shoulder. Rose then noted that for all the combat magic she learned from Harry, she still didn't have any knowledge of healing magics. Still, she was sure very few people could best her in a duel at this point.
Rose took her wand back from Hermione. "Hold on to me." she told Hermione. Hermione did without hesitation. "Ready?" Rose asked. When Hermione nodded Rose concentrated on Harry and the two girls flamed out of the cave.
(((o)))
Harry had mostly recovered from the potion by the time the girls appeared on the platform, startling everyone around in a burst of fire. Madam Pomfrey bustled the two of them off to the hospital wing almost immediately, but not before Harry had the chance to kiss Rose goodbye and tell Hermione to meet the two of them in the Room of Requirement that Saturday.
Harry stuck around for the judging, since Rose wouldn't have the opportunity to hear her score. The judges, after much deliberation, decided to give her extra points for outstanding moral fibre in rescuing Hermione from the kelpie and for utterly destroying the previous record of thirty five minutes. In the end, she had a whopping one hundred four points out of one hundred. She had more points than the total, which again, was a first in the history of the tournament.
Harry couldn't feel more proud of her.