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Chapter 13

Classes started, and soon it was the day before the second task. Cedric and I had been brainstorming what could have been taken. Cedric thinks that it has to be his broom, but I think it might be his favorite book or poster. He wants to win really badly. If he wins, he will be incredibly happy.

Ali and I were walking towards the common room after dinner. A first year girl came up to us.

"Charlotte Lupin?" she asked nervously. I nodded. "This is for you." She handed me a piece of parchment.

"Thanks," I told her smiling. She nodded and walked off, back to her friends.

"What's that?" Ali asked curiously.

I unrolled the parchment. It read:

Charlotte,

Please come see me in my office

-Professor Sprout

"Are you in trouble?" Ali asked.

"I—I don't think so. Maybe dad has to talk to me."

"That's probably it," Ali said "You should go see her."

"Ok," I said. "I'll see you later."

I walked towards Professor Sprout's office. I don't think I've done anything wrong, but I don't know. Oh god. What if something happened to dad? I wouldn't be able to bear it if Dad got hurt! Dad's my only family! Where would I go? I know Mum had a cousin she was close to…I think her name was Andromeda? I've only met her once or twice. Dad and her aren't very friendly.

I finally got to Professor Sprout's office. I knocked and then heard her say come in.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked.

"Oh. Yes, Charlotte," Professor Sprout smiled. "You're close friends with Cedric Diggory right?" I nodded. "We need to go to Professor Dumbledore's office."

"A—Alright," I said uncertainly.

"Oh, don't worry. You're not in trouble!"

We made our way to the office. My heart was pounding the entire time. I still feel like was in trouble. {Professor Sprout said that I'm not in trouble, but I still feel like I am. What was with that strange question about being close to Cedric? Professor Sprout knows that I am! It made me feel very confused. What does me and Cedric have to do with anything?

When we got to Professor Dumbledore's office, Professor Sprout said the password and we walked up the stairs. She knocked once on the door, and then we walked into the room. Dumbledore smiled at me. I saw three other people sitting there; Hermione, Ron, and a small girl who I didn't recognize.

"Ah, Miss Lupin! We've been expecting you. Please take a seat!"

I took the only open seat next to Ron. He and Hermione smiled at me. The small girl looked confused, and so did Ron.

"Now that everyone's here," Dumbledore started. "We can get started! As all of you know, the second task is tomorrow. You four have been selected as the thing each Champion will sorely miss. MR. Weasley, you are Mr. Potters best friend, Miss Granger, you have become quite close to Mr. Krum. Ms. Lupin you are Mr. Diggory's best friend, and Ms. Delacour, you are the other Ms. Delacour's sister."

Oh that's who she is! You know, she does look a lot like Fleur. I looked at Dumbledore as he continued to talk.

"I am going to put you in an enchanted sleep, and you will wake up the moment you hit the water again."

Dumbledore explained more to us, like what's going to happen and that if we wanted to we could say no. None of us did. One by one, Dumbledore put us into the enchanted sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Cedric's POV

I woke up early the day of the Second Task. Everybody in my dorm was still asleep, so I crept out of bed. I made my way over to my dresser and I pulled out a pair of swim trunks and a muscle shirt. I also pulled out a pair of robes. I knew that I should be resting, but I'm too nervous and excited to try to sleep more.

I walked out of my dorm and into the bathroom. I turned on the shower farthest from my room. I stepped in and just let the water pour out of the shower head and onto me. It felt so good. Showers always make me feel better. Once I finished my shower, I changed into my swim trunks and shirt and then I put my robes on over it. In our dorm, I could hear people starting to get up.

As I walked into the dorm, everybody shouted out versions of 'good luck!' and 'You'll be great!' I smiled and thanked everybody. I sat at my desk and looked at the clock. 8:15. That means I have until 9:30 until the second task. I should probably get there fifteen to twenty minutes early. I grabbed a piece of parchment

Dear Mum and Dad,

Today's the second task. I just got up a little while ago. I'm slightly nervous and anxious, but I'm also very excited. No dragons this time, just merpeople. I don't think I'm going to like going underwater. The water's probably going to be freezing, but I know that it will be ok. I'm still not sure what they took from me yet. Nothing seems to be missing. But I don't know. I'll write to you as soon as the task is over and I have the results!

Love,

Cedric

Sean walked up to me. He smiled at me as I sent my letter away with my owl.

"You nervous?"

"Yeah, a little.":

"You should eat at breakfast."

"I'm afraid I'll throw up."

"You won't. Everything will be fine."

I nodded. Together we walked down the stairs and into the common room. Ali was walking out of her and Charley's room. Alone. Why is she alone? And where's Charley? It's weird that they're not together. The two of them are inseparable. And it's not like Charley gets up early to go to breakfast or anything. When she stayed over, it was incredibly hard to wake her up. She hates waking up in the morning.

"Where's Charley?"

"What? No hello?" Ali asked.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"I don't know where she is. She wasn't in our room this morning."

"Maybe she went to the library or something?" Sean suggested.

"Maybe," I said doubtfully.

I thought back to our conversation yesterday. Did I say anything to her to make her mad? Or is she afraid to see me? I know that she didn't want me to enter my name in the Goblet, but she's been supporting me since then…has she actually been mad at me this whole time?

"Wait," Ali said. "I just remembered that Professor Sprout needed to talk to her last night. Maybe something happened to her dad."

"Should I owl her?" I asked.

"I think that if something happened, we would know," Sean said.

I nodded. We finally got to the Great Hall. Everybody yelled forms of Good Luck. I smiled in response, but I felt preoccupied. Where is Charley? Is she ok? IS she hurt? IS Remus hurt? I need to know! It's going to drive me crazy! I saw that Harry's two best friends were missing and so was Harry. They might have known where Charley is, but they're not here.

"Ced, Charlottes fine. Don't worry about her. She's fine wherever she is. But you need to stay focused. The second task is in like an hour. You need to just focus on that."

I nodded.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Harry hasn't shown up yet. The task starts in less than ten minutes and he still hasn't shown up. And I still haven't seen Charley. She's not coming. I sighed feeling upset. What did I do to make her not come? I need to know if she's ok or if she's mad at me! I hate not knowing things!

Suddenly, Harry appeared and skidded to a halt. Mud splattered onto Fleur's robes.

"I'm…here…" Harry panted.

"Where have you been? The tasks about to start!" Percy Weasley exclaimed.

"Now, now Percy! Let him catch his breath!"

Five minutes later, the task was about to start. My heart started racing. I scanned the crowd, hoping to see Charley there but she wasn't. I knew she wasn't there, though. She's not coming. I sighed one last time as I realized that.

"Well, all our Champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three then. One…two…three!"

A shrill whistle blew through the air. The stands erupted with cheers and applause. I quickly threw off my shoes and socks and my robes. I quickly created the bubble head charm and I dove into the water. I froze for a second, the water feeling like a million needles hitting my skin. I started to swim downwards, not exactly knowing where I was going. The water eventually became less painful to swim in. I knew that wearing swim trunks would be a good idea.

I swam as fast as I could, going in and out of seaweed. So far, everything's been ok. Nothing has really gotten in the way, except seaweed. For some reason, there's so much of it! It's so annoying! Why must there be seaweed? I kept swimming downwards, since that's the most logical way to swim. In reality, though, I have no idea where I was swimming towards. The Mervillage should be at the bottom of the lake, but who knows how far away I am from it. That's why I'm trying to drive as straight down as I could.

I felt seaweed wrap around my leg, so I had to turn around to pull my leg out. While I was busy untangling it, something grabbed at my arm. Soon a dozen grindylows were holding onto me. I tried to grab my wand, but I couldn't find it. I finally found it and managed to get the Grindylow off me. I knew that because of them, I had gotten myself slightly lost. I just kept swimming downwards. I saw a flash of something a few feet away, and I knew that it was Krum. I panicked slightly and kept swimming downwards even faster.

I started hearing haunting singing. I knew that by now, I was going in about the right direction. I swam towards the music and hoped that I wouldn't be down here for much longer. Times probably almost up.

I finally saw a rock with paintings of merpeople. I swam into the village. The buildings were very crude and made of clay. I looked at the houses as I swam by. I saw Harry fighting with the merpeople. I saw four people tied to statues. Ron Weasley was tied to one, Hermione Granger to another one, a young girl, and Charley. Instantly, relief flooded me. She's fine. She has been fine the entire time.

I mouthed got lost to Harry and told him Fleur and Krum were coming. I pulled the knife out of my pocket. The one that Sean had shoved in my hands right before the task began. I cut the seaweed tying Charley to the statue. I put my arms around her and began swimming upwards. Charley wasn't that heavy, but her wet robes added weight to her. It made it harder to swim.

Light began flooding the water, making it easier to see. I knew we should be getting up towards the surface by now. Finally, the water became less dark as I started to reach the surface. I knew that in a few minutes, I would reach the surface. I finally saw the surface and I knew that any second we would get there.

The second we burst through the surface, everybody began cheering. Charley gasped and looked wild and disoriented. She was struggling to stay above water, so I immediately grabbed onto her. She looked confused like she had no idea where we were.

"Here, hold onto me," I instructed putting my arm around her.

I awkwardly made ourselves move towards the dock. Charley couldn't really swim because of the cold. WE managed to get to the docks. Someone took Charley from me and then I got help to get out of the water. Instantly, a thick blanket was wrapped around me.

Someone led me over to Charley and madam Pomfrey. Charley had a blanket wrapped around her, but she was still shaking. I sat down next to her and opened my blanket in the front and pulled her onto my lap and then wrapped my blanket around her too. She rested her head on my shoulder.

Suddenly, more applause as Krum and Hermione Granger surface. Charley looked over at them but kept her head on my shoulder. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you Cedric," she said.

"I love you too Charley."

After all the other champions had gotten back to the surface, the judges discussed who got what points. Charley was still sitting on my lap, cuddling into me. We haven't moved from this spot since we got out of the water. She looked pale still and occasionally she would shake.

"Are you still cold?" I asked feeling concerned.

"A little," she responded.

I nodded and pulled her even closer to me, hoping my body would help her get warm. Suddenly, Bagman's magically loud voice made everybody go quiet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has 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…

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-head charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

Applause from the stands.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from our house in the crowd. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"Congrats Cedric!" Charley exclaimed leaning up and kissing my cheek.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

More applause.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last and well outside the time limit of an hour. However the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges, feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However…Mr. Potter's score if forty-five points."

I looked over at Harry and gave him a small smile. We're tied now.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Charlotte's POV

After the second task ended, Cedric helped me up. I kissed his cheek. He won! And so did Harry! I don't know how I feel about their tie. This could make my life awkward. What if they make me choose one of them? Cedric said he would never, but I don't know. I'm just…nervous. But one more task and this whole thing will be done with! I can't wait for that!

"Congrats Cedric!" Sean exclaimed coming up to us.

"Thanks," Cedric replied.

Ali walked up behind Sean. She hugged Cedric and congratulated him. As we walked back towards the castle. Everybody yelled Congratulations to Cedric.

AN: Thank you so, so, so, SO much for all the reviews! They really inspired me to write! I didn't think I was going to get this up tonight, but all the reviews made me want to update. You guys have no idea how much I appreciated it! I hope you liked this chapter. I have a poll up on my bio, so if you could just click on my name and vote I'd appreciate it! It's about chapter sizes. I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me as many reviews as my authors note! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!