:) So… you guys seemed to like the last chapter… thanks to: rowellylovesgryffindor, Adora81, ForeverTeamEdward13 and Oogie for your reviews. You people are immense.
So, I was thinking of doing a short filler chapter in here, but all my ideas seemed crap and just didn't fit into the story, so I just skipped straight forward to the Second Task…
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone other then Mia :)
Oh yeah… and I hope I do the Second Task justice…
Chapter 15: The Lake
"Where d'ya reckon he is?" Mia asked. Down on the bank, Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum were standing side-by-side. Harry was no where to be seen. Hermione and Ron hadn't turned after they'd taken them down to McGonagall's office the previous night, either. Her eyes skimmed the surface of the lake. She had a feeling they were down there. Under water. Deep. Fred and George seemed to have the same feeling as well, because they, to, were eyeing the lake suspiciously. Mia thought they might slightly regret helping out McGonagall last night.
"There he is!" Seamus Finnigan, who was standing in the row in front of them with Dean Thomas, shouted, pointing to the other side of the lake. Sure enough, Mia could see Harry sprint towards them, circling the lake and stopping in front of the judges.
Bagman started fussing over him and Harry finally joined the end of the line, next to Krum.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task," Bagman shouted, his voice echoing around the stands, "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 whistle blew and everyone in the stands screamed and cheered.
"C'mon, Harry!" Mia yelled, "Beat their foreign asses!"
"Cedric's not foreign, Mia," Fred stated. Mia paused a second, trying to figure out how to react to the statement.
"He's a Hufflepuff, he counts a foreign ass," she replied, before shouting down at the champions, "Let's go, Harry! Show 'em what ya made of!"
Harry pulled off his shoes and socks and shoved something in his mouth and waded into the cold, black water. Krum ran out into the water, splashing, and diving in as soon as it was deep enough. Fleur and Cedric seemed to be doing the same thing as each other, pointing their wands to their face and murmuring something as they slowly walked into the lake. Fleur hesitated as soon as she put one foot in, and started muttering something as she waded in deeper. Mia was sure she was complaining about the cold.
"What the hell is he doing?" Seamus asked in front of them. Mia looked at him, some people around the stands started laughing. He was the only champion left, and he wasn't doing anything.
"C'mon, Harry! At least beat that fucking French princess!" Mia yelled. She wasn't sure if he could hear her, but a few Beauxbatons students near them looked over at her with an offended expression.
Down in the lake, Harry staggered a bit, his hands holding onto his throat. Suddenly, he threw himself into the water. And he didn't emerge.
"Is he alright?" Mia asked, leaning over the barrier.
"I dunno," Dean said, "he just… he looked like he couldn't breath!"
"He'd better beat that fucking French princess," Mia muttered, as she stood up straight again
"How long did Bagman say they had earlier?" Mia asked.
"An hour to get down there, get whatever they've 'lost' and get back up," Fred replied.
"And… how long have they been down there?" Mia asked. George looked down at his watch.
"Half an hour," he said, before looking back to the lake. They'd deny it later, but Fred and George were worried. They were nearly one hundred percent sure that Ron was the thing Harry had 'lost'. They were worried about what would happen if Harry didn't get back to the surface in time with him.
Suddenly, Fleur emerged from the water, dragging herself up onto the bank. Her limbs were bleeding and there was dirt in her wet hair. She was grabbed by Madame Maxime, who started talking to her quickly.
"Isn't she supposed to have someone with her?" Mia asked, watching the scene. Madam Pomfrey came running over, trying to heal Fleur's limbs, but she was fighting too much. She ripped away from Madame Maxime, going back towards the water, but she was stopped by her headmistress, who had grabbed her shoulders, telling her something softly.
Fleur started to struggling, trying to get back to the water. "Non, non! Ma soeur! Ma soeur!" she was shouting, shrilly. Madame Maxime kept talking to her softly, and within five minutes, Fleur had slumped her shoulders and stopped struggling. But she wouldn't move from the edge of the lake.
"What's a ma soeur?" Mia asked, looking at Fleur, who was gripping the edge of the towel around her body.
"She was saying 'no, no, my sister, my sister'," said Dean.
"No, she wasn't, she was saying 'non, non, ma soeur, ma soeur'," she told him.
"That means 'no, no, my sister, my sister' in French," Dean told her. Mia opened her mouth in an 'O' shape, before hitting Fred's chest when he started to laugh.
"Exactly an hour," George said after a while, looking at his watch.
"And the only person who's back didn't come back with her hostage," Mia finished. Suddenly, the crowed erupted into cheers. Mia flung herself over the barrier, leaning over to see who had come back to the surface.
"And here is Mr Diggory! Very impressive, only one minute outside the time limit. And with his hostage, Miss Cho Chang!" Bagman was yelling. Mia clapped slowly and sarcastically, glowering at Cedric. "I bet he hexed Harry or something," she muttered. Fleur rushed over to him, asking him something. Cedric just shook his head, saying something as he shrugged, pointed to the lake, and smiled apologetically. Fleur ran back to the bank, waiting and shivering.
Another half hour passed. A shark jumped up onto the bank. Or, at least, it was a shark's head with Viktor Krum's body… Mia stared at it, mouth slightly open. "What the fuck?" she said. The shark head morphed back into Krum's face, and he bent down to speak to a spluttering Hermione. "What the fuck? Hermione's his hostage? I mean, no offence to her or anything, but I thought they just went to the Ball together?" Mia yelled over the applause. The twins shrugged, and Dean and Seamus were yelling out the same sort of things Mia was.
More time passed, and soon, Harry had been under-water for just over two hours. "I'm telling you, if Harry doesn't get back up here soon with a living, breathing Ronald…"
"Don't worry, Fred, they'll both be fine!" Mia reassured him.
"Better be," George muttered.
"They will be!" Mia said. Later, Fred and George would deny this conversation ever happened.
"WOO! GO, HARRY!" Mia suddenly yelled, causing Fred and George to jump. They looked towards the lake and cheered along with everyone else. Yes, Harry had just come back to the surface with Ron. And a little blonde girl…
"WOO! HARRY!" Mia was yelling.
"Who's the blonde girl?" George asked.
"Looks like a mini Fleur," Mia stated, "yep… I think it is a mini Fleur…"
Harry, Ron and Mini-Fleur swam towards the bank, and a group of people with green skin emerged from the water, screeching. "What the hell are they?" Mia asked.
"Mmm… merpeople?" George said. Mia looked up at him.
"You mean, like mermaids?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"You mean… they're real?" Mia asked.
"Yep," Mia just looked back to the merpeople, then to back to the scene below.
Percy was fussing over Ron. Fleur was hugging Mini-Fleur. Hermione was smothering Harry. Fleur went over to Harry and said something to him, kissing him on both cheeks. Mia laughed, and laughed harder when she did the same to Ron. "Oh, dear," she gasped, "you're never going to give him peace about that," she said.
"Nope!" Fred replied.
"Ha! Fleur and Ronald, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" she sang, quietly.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Bagman boomed, "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..." he paused before giving out the scores.
"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." Mia clapped politely along with the rest of the crowd.
"Cedric Diggory," Bagman continued, "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. We therefore award him forty-seven points." The Hufflepuffs erupted into cheers louder then anything. Mia just heaved a sigh a crossed her arms heavily on her chest.
Bagman went on, "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." The Durmstrang students were applauding now.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "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."
"Yeah, yeah… put some fucking French princess' sister before your own school winning!" Mia sighed.
"Most of the judges," Mia saw Bagman look back to a smirking Karkaroff, "feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
Mia's mouth fell open. Then she grinned wildly, yelling, "YEAH! GO HARRY! YOU BEAT THEIR FOREIGN ASSES!" as Fred opened his mouth, she held up her hand, "he's in Hufflepuff, he counts as foreign."
Bagman finally finished up with, "The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
Mia, Fred and George cheered along with everyone else. In front of them, Dean and Seamus were punching the air. "WOO!" Mia shouted, dancing slightly, "WE ARE GUNNA WIN THIS THING!"
Back in the common room, food from the kitchens was all over the tables and people were screaming and congratulating Harry, wanting to hear tails of battles with merpeople from Ron, and teasing Hermione about being 'the thing Viktor Krum would miss most'. While Ron was in the middle or re-telling the story of what happened in the lake (which seemed to have become much more exciting then when he'd explained it to Mia) to a bunch of third year girls, Mia walked up to him and ruffled his hair, laughing as he turned a bright shade of red and the third year girls started giggling. He tried to carry on his story.
"Anyway, there I was, surrounded by all these merpeople-"
"Awwww, did you get kidnapped by Arial and Flounder, Ron?" Mia asked in a baby voice. One of the third year girls understood her joke and shrieked with laughter. Hermione, who was just a little bit away, laughed as well.
"What?" Ron said, not understanding her at all.
"Don't worry," she replied, laughing and winking at Hermione quickly.
Okie dokie… so… there was the Second Task… I think it turned out alright…
Annnnnnnnd… guess what? We are just a few chapters away from the scene you all want to read! The scene you've all been waiting for! I won't tell you exactly how many chapters, but know that it's coming soon!
So, please review, and we'll get to that chapter even quicker!