Chapter 14: The Second Task and the Horror
It was the day of the second task, and the Elementals were very anxious to know what was going to happen, especially since Neville gave Harry gillyweed.
"Are you sure this will work Neville?" Harry asked.
"Absolutely." Neville replied.
"For an hour?" Harry added.
"Most likely." Neville stated.
"What do you mean most likely?" Samantha asked.
"Well there have been debates among herbologists on the effects of fresh water vs. salt water." Neville explained.
"You're telling me this now?" Harry said in shock.
"I only wanted to help." Neville replied.
"Perfect." Harry said nervously.
"You seem a little tense Harry." Neville claimed.
"Do I?" He asked.
"Hey, has anyone seen Ron and Hermione?" Bethany asked.
"No, I haven't seen them since last night." Jimmy replied.
"I'm starting to get worried; I really hope they're alright." Amelia stated.
"Hey where's Chelsea?" Samantha said noticing the water elemental of the group was no longer standing next to them.
They saw her ahead of them looking at the water from the edge of the dock.
"Wow, look at that water." Chelsea said looking at the murky lake.
"Yes, now get back over here." Samantha demanded.
Chelsea didn't respond. She just kept looking at the lake water.
"Jimmy, go pull her away from the edge." Samantha demanded in a whisper.
"Why?" He asked, also in a whisper.
"Just do it!" Samantha replied.
So Jimmy went and grabbed Chelsea by the shoulders and pulled her toward the boat instead.
"Now Chelsea, you don't want to go in that water." Jimmy stated.
"Why?" Chelsea asked.
"It's, cold, and, murky, and full of creepy crawlies and other dangerous creatures. Come on now into the boat." Jimmy stated.
The others also got into the boat, and soon they were heading toward the second task.
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Once they reached the destination of the second task Dumbledore explained the directions like usual, and then the cannon sounded. The contestants dove into the water instantly, all except Harry who was practically joking on the gillyweed he just put in his mouth earlier. Moody ended up pushing him in.
"Where is he?" Dean asked as they looked at the water's surface for any sign of Harry.
"I don't know; I can't see him." Seamus replied.
"Oh my God, I've killed Harry Potter!" Neville said turning around and clutching his head.
"Wait Neville look!" Chelsea said as a random creature floated up to the surface, did a flip, and finally dove back under. Everyone could tell by the clothes and appearance that it was definitely Harry, only he had fins and gills now.
"See Neville he's fine, now will you relax." Samantha replied.
The others looked at the water waiting for something to happen. Jimmy at Samantha's request was still keeping Chelsea away from the edge of the platform.
"Chelsea, did you send Arrow down there?" Bethany asked.
"Yeah." Chelsea replied.
"Did you give her the instructions like I told you to?" Samantha added.
Chelsea nodded.
"Hey Samantha?" Jimmy said.
"Yeah?" She responded.
"Something's going on isn't it, there's no way you would just tell Chelsea to keep away from the water unless there was a reason for her to not go near it." Jimmy stated.
"Well, I wasn't going to tell you guys until it was absolutely necessary, but I can't lie to you since you asked. Come on we'll talk over here." She replied motioning to the corner of the platform.
"So what's up?" Bethany asked.
"Well, when I was training with Grandpa on Saturday I asked him if there were any more surprises left with our powers. He said there is another ability that we are now strong enough to perform." Samantha stated.
"What is it?" Amelia asked.
"We can become fully elemental, that is, take on the form of our elements. Grandpa says it's our strongest forms." Samantha replied.
"Cool, we should try it." Jimmy stated.
"No, we can't! According to Grandpa, if we stay in those forms for too long, we'll lose our humanity. Our minds will be completely free when we are the elements, so they won't want to return to our human forms; and the problem is that our elements can actually attempt to entrance us!" Samantha stated.
"That's why you're trying to keep me away from the water?" Chelsea asked.
Samantha nodded.
"We're just gonna need to be careful." Amelia declared.
"I wish it were that easy Amelia, but you and Chelsea are the ones who can be seduced the easiest by the elements right now." Samantha thought.
Jimmy didn't even think about starting a conversation about this.
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For the rest of the tournament all the Elementals could do was watch and hope that everything would turn out okay. Chelsea just continued to look at the water sadly. Fleur was forced to be removed from the task after she got attacked by a mermaid. She looked very upset about it though. A few minutes later Cedric resurfaced, and the others couldn't believe who was with him. It was Cho! People, the champions' treasure sources were actual people, which meant…
"Ron, Hermione!" All the Elementals thought.
Much to the Elementals relief, Krum emerged three minutes later with Hermione. When the clock struck twelve is when they really started to panic, when suddenly two figures resurfaced. They were thankful to see that one of the figures was Ron, the other figure was actually Fleur's younger sister Gabrielle, which made Fleur very relieved.
"Not good, where's Harry?" Amelia thought.
Literally a minute later Harry flew onto the platform, returned to his human form. The Elementals felt a slight burden lifted knowing that Harry made it out. Fleur even approached him and Ron and thanked them both for saving her little sister. After that the Elementals went straight to Harry's side.
"Are you okay Harry?" Samantha said rubbing his back, trying her best to help Seamus warm up their freezing friend.
"I think so it's just, so cold." Harry replied.
"Chelsea, go get him another towel." Samantha stated.
Chelsea nodded and went off to search for another dry towel.
"Harry…" A familiar voice said.
The others turned to see, Percy, standing right in front of them.
"Percy, what are you doing here?" Amelia asked, for once she was surprised to see her boyfriend.
"I had to fill in for one of the judges. Anyway, I want to thank you Harry, for saving Ron's life." Percy stated sticking out his hand.
Harry reached out to shake it. Then Percy returned to his spot with the other judges. Not before giving Amelia a quick smile first.
Soon after Dumbledore called for everyone's attention, he announced that Cedric was the winner of the challenge, but due to Harry's decision to save both Ron and Gabrielle, that he would be awarded second place.
Everyone was excited about this; well not everyone (cough, cough…Slytherin house. Cough, cough… Durmstrang… and Beauxbatons.)
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Later that night the Elementals and the Trio were out in the forest with Hagrid. Ron and Hermione seemed happy despite the fact that they were kept underwater for a long time. Harry and the Elementals however, walked ahead and they all seemed distracted by something.
"I remember when I first met ye all, biggest bunch of misfits I'd ever seen." Hagrid stated.
"We're still misfits." Ron stated.
"It's true." The Elementals thought.
"Yes, but we still have each other and Harry, soon to be the youngest Triwizard champion that lived, yaay!" Hagrid announced.
As Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione started singing Harry and the Elementals continued to walk onward. Then they noticed something on the ground, a black porkpie hat.
"Wasn't Mr. Crouch wearing that hat earlier?" Bethany asked.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Samantha stated plainly. They ran a few feet onward, until they were greeted by the horrible sight of Barty Crouch Sr.'s cold lifeless body.
Amelia and Chelsea screamed, loudly.
The anti-Dumbledore trio pulled them off to the side in an attempt to try and calm them down a bit. (Even though they were freaking out as well).
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"You guys, there's something I really need to tell you." Chelsea said finally catching her breath.
The anti-Dumbledore trio just looked at her.
"You three are right. Dumbledore can't be trusted." She stated.
Samantha, Jimmy, and Bethany couldn't believe what they just heard.
"Wait Chelsea, you aren't just saying this because you just saw a dead body, are you?" Samantha asked.
"No, it contributes to it, but enough is enough, the danger is the greatest it's ever been, and Dumbledore won't even talk to us. We're in the dark in a world where we can't make any sort of contact with are families, and our elemental abilities can now possibly make us lose our humanity. The thing that I feel a strong connection with could possibly consume me! I just want nothing more now than to wake up and find out this is all a horrible dream." Then she looked at Amelia. "I'm sorry Amelia; I can't live in these lies anymore." With that Chelsea started to cry.
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Looks like the anti-Dumbledore trio is now a quartet, poor Amelia! Anyway, as usual, chapter 15 will be up soon, please leave reviews! See you in the next chapter!