Chapter 5

The Lake

Once again, the school became consumed with Triwizard fever as the second challenge approached in late February. Charity's father was able to break away for this challenge and joined her just after breakfast that morning. His eyes were ablaze with excitement, and he wore an excited boyish grin, the likes of which Charity had never seen on him before.

"Hi dad!" she said brightly as she rose up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. On the way down, she nearly gored her chin on the large Bulgarian National's Quidditch button he had sloppily pinned to his cloak.

"Dad," she chastised him, "you're supporting Krum? What happened to family loyalty?"

"Not to worry kitten," he said and flopped over the end of his scarf to reveal the Hogwarts crest with the lion, snake, raven and badger.

"You're the best, dad," she smiled at him. They headed out the big front doors and down the stone steps with the throng of students heading in the same direction. This time, the bleachers were set along the edge of the large lake on Hogwarts property. Once the crowd was packed to bursting in the stands, Ludo Bagman stood up in front of them. He held his wand to his throat, and suddenly his voice was magnified so all could hear. Bagman seemed nervous as he spoke; his eyes kept shifting about as if he was looking for something.

"Yes, well, it's almost time to begin the second task. As we've just explained to the champions, the Merpeople at the bottom of this lake are holding something very dear to each of them. Something very dear indeed, more valuable than gold galleons, if you can believe that," Bagman explained. At this point, he appeared to begin sweating despite the frigid temperature, because he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. "What has been taken from each of the champions is a person – a very close friend, or in one case, a sister." Fleur visibly flinched at this comment. "The champions must rescue their treasure, and only their treasure, within the prescribed time period in order to receive points for this challenge."

Bagman's eyes continued roving back and forth, almost as if he had two of Moody's mad eyes. "Yes, well…" his hand was convulsing inside his pocket, and after a few moments of frantic searching, he pulled out a wadded up piece of paper. "…here, yes, let me read you the clue each of the champions have been given:

"Come seek us where our voices sound

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour – the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back1."

Ludo Bagman had read this whole verse with a wide nervous smile, and didn't seem to be paying any attention at all to the words until the crowd gasped at the end. He seemed surprised at this reaction and quickly scanned the wrinkled paper. "Oh, oh, oh no calm down, calm down. You see," he said with a nervous laugh, "The victims, no um, treasures have only been put into a sort of trance. They'll be completely safe until they reach the surface of the water." The crowd gasped again. "Oh, ah, at which point they'll still be safe. Yes, ah, they'll simply regain consciousness at the surface and then be safely escorted to the shore." He wiped his brow again as a chilly wind whipped the stands.

Charity's father said quietly, out of the corner of his mouth, "Bagman really mucked that one up, didn't he?"

Bagman, meanwhile, had lowered his wand from his throat and walked over to the judge's table, where there appeared to be a bit of frantic discussion. Just then, Harry Potter ran up to the table and bent over, gasping for breath. Charity hadn't even realized that there'd only been three champions standing at the ready before. After talking briefly with Potter, Bagman returned to the judges table, placed the wand back at his throat and announced to the crowd,

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle.2" The old glib Bagman was back without a trace of nervousness, "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One…two…three!"3

Exciting as the challenge must have been for the four champions, it was actually quite a boring task to watch from the stands, even with the Aquascopes that the entrepreneurial Fred and George Weasley were selling to the crowd. The Aquascopes were essentially charmed toilet paper rolls that allowed the user to peer beyond the surface of the lake into what was going on below. They didn't penetrate darkness; however, so even observers with the scopes couldn't see anything once the champions fought their way past the grindylows hiding in the seaweed.

"We're working on it," the twins explained to Professor McGonagall when she forced them to give refunds to any complaining customers. Charity and her dad kept theirs.

At least Fleur Delacour provided a good bit of entertainment by becoming ensnared by a particularly vicious pack grindylows in their seaweed forest. She put up a decent fight, but was eventually forced to give it up. Young Harry Potter proved once again to live by his own set of rules. Bagman had been fairly explicit that the champions were to rescue only one victim, yet Potter appeared at the surface with two. He brought up Delacour's sister as well as his own victim - his friend Ron Weasley, Charlie's youngest brother. Most likely, Potter had missed those instructions since he'd come running down to the judges' table only moments before the challenge began. He apparently operated on his own time schedule as well.

Except for Igor Karkaroff, headmaster for Durmstrang, the judges chose to reward Potter's rule breaking and gave him high marks for showing "strength of character." Cedric Diggory had appeared first at the surface, and so received the highest marks overall on this task. Now it was Potter and Diggory tied for first. Karkaroff looked furious. Charity couldn't say she quite blamed him.

After kissing her father goodbye at the castle's front steps, Charity had time to explore a thought that had struck her as she'd watched the champions charm themselves bubble heads, transfigure into sharks and digest magical plants in order to complete the underwater task. Magical people had become so reliant on their magic that they didn't seem to work as hard as did Muggles at mastering basic skills, like swimming. She had vacationed in many Muggle beaches and so had become a good swimmer, but she couldn't really think of a time when she ever saw a group of witches or wizards swim without resorting to some sort of magic. So, she decided to give her students good old-fashioned swimming lessons.

Charity was merciful and waited until the weather warmed up in April before she plunged her students into the lake. It took about that long for Dumbledore to clear it with the Merpeople anyhow. Apparently, he'd already used up a lot of favors with them to secure the lake for the Triwizard challenge; that was one of the things that had put Hogwarts over the top to host the tournament. So, on a warmish April day, Charity led the students into the lake in their brightly-colored Muggle swimsuits, which they had ordered during the previous two weeks' lessons on 'How to Order from Muggle Catalogs.' Of course, she'd had to actually have the merchandise delivered to her parents' home and then forwarded by owl to Hogwarts.

Staying in the muddy shallows, the class first worked on holding their breath and bobbing up and down. That went pretty well, so they next worked on their back floats. A few of the students got the hang of that right away, resulting in whining insistence from the other students that their success was due to a charm they had placed on their swimsuits. The cheaters were immediately exposed when their swimsuits, apparently of their own volition, suddenly flipped the students face first into the water, while the backsides of the suits gasped for air. Nevertheless, most of the students had floating down by the end of that lesson (after a quick de-charming of the suits).

Keeping an eye on all of the students while instructing them on proper floating technique proved to be a greater challenge than Charity had anticipated. While she tried to get Nigel to hold his back stiff and Hannah to relax, some of the other students had unknowingly floated out across the deeper water. Their brightly colored attire must have attracted the giant squid, who apparently thought they were some sort of water toys. His tentacled arms swatted the students up in the air. When they came down, they were plunged deep under the water only to be swatted again, even higher. That section of the lake became a blur of orange, purple and tropical green, punctuated by terrified screams and violent splashes.

Charity and some of the braver students rushed to the edge of the shallows and dragged the squid toys back to shore one by one as they were flung to within their reach. It took a while, but eventually she had all the students safely on shore. As the class stood panting at the side of the lake, Charity could see the disfigured form of Professor Moody in the distance. He had his wand out and it looked like he was laughing. She got the strange feeling that he was responsible for the students drifting out to the deep water in the first place. She didn't dare say a word against him, though; she knew that he was one of Dumbledore's oldest friends, and besides, he was supposed to be leaving Hogwarts after this term, anyhow.

It was far too late for any of the students to hope to make it to their next class, so Charity obtained special permission to use the prefects' pool-sized bathtub for the students to wash off the lake scum and fine tune their floating in a more accommodating environment. A somber ghost of a young girl, who apparently frequented the prefects' bathroom, was thrilled with the company. She floated just above the surface of the water along with the class, until Ernie pointed out that it was easy for her because she was a ghost and didn't weigh anything. At this, she let out a large wail and went zooming up a spout.

Not wanting to inspire another flurry of owls from parents, Charity sent the students into the lake better prepared at the next lesson. This time, they all tramped down on a bright sunny day in Muggle life-vests, snorkels, masks and flippers. They looked at least as strange as half the magical creatures that inhabited the lake. The lake, below the surface, was a wonder to behold. It felt so much more alive and colorful when you were plunged right into it compared to sitting in bleachers trying to view it through Aquascopes. Pale fish floated by, and far off they spotted a gaggle of jewel-toned seahorses.

Everyone avoided the area over the tall seaweed, with the memory of grindylows attacking the Triwizard champions far too fresh in their minds. As they paddled about, Hannah pointed wildly to a round ball of a fish, which seemed to be rolling around in the water, struggling against something. A group of the students and Charity swam in for a closer look and saw that the fish was struggling against its own long legs, which were tied into a knot. Charity and the students bobbed their heads up and spit out their snorkels to discuss.

"It's a Plimpy!" shouted Bridget excitedly.

"What the heck is a Plimpy?" asked Nigel.

"Yes I think you're right, Bridget. It is a Plimpy," said Charity.

"What the heck is a Plimpy?" asked Nigel more loudly.

"Well, this is a Plimpy – a round fish with long rubbery legs. They like to feed on the bottom of lakes, and the Merpeople consider them a nuisance, much like garden gnomes are to us."

"How'd he get his legs all tangled?" asked Charles as he wriggled his pudgy legs underwater, apparently trying to tie them up.

"That's how the Merpeople get rid of them. They tie up their legs, and all the Plimpy can do is drift in the water, trying to untangle them. It can take hours."

"That's mean," said a distraught Bridget, who was dipping the front of her mask into the water, watching the struggling fish.

"Yeah," agreed her best friend, Jessica.

"Let's help him," suggested Hannah, and the three girls put their mouthpieces back in and dove under.

Charles shook his head, muttering, "Girls," and swam off in another direction. Charity stuck close by the girls to keep an eye on them. Their task was made more difficult by the fact that the Plimpy wasn't used to help and kept trying to nip their wrists. They finally met success, and the ungrateful Plimpy swam off toward the bottom of the lake, probably only to return shortly in another tangle.

Charity refocused her attention above the surface to check on the other students. They were splashing around and pointing to various underwater delights, really seeming to enjoy themselves. Charity was just beginning to congratulate herself when she looked back toward the edge of the shallows, where two of the more timid students were lingering, still wary of the giant squid. A large seahorse had approached them with his head and the top part of his torso above the water. He was shorter than the students but very thick and strong looking. He had gentle eyes and was a beautiful, shining blue. The two girls were stroking him, and the seahorse seemed to be encouraging them to come on his back for a ride. The students looked at each other and then threw their legs over him.

Charity wondered what variety of seahorse this was to be so large and so domesticated. She was glad to see it was giving the girls the courage to venture further into the lake. The seahorse headed into deeper water, and his entire body sunk beneath the surface. It looked to Charity as if the two riders were trying to unfasten their life vests.

Just as she was about to yell for them to keep their life vests on, she heard a familiar voice shout, "STUPEFY!" and a streak of sparks shot past her head, coming to within inches of some of the students near her. The sparks were headed straight toward the seahorse, and dipped under the water just before him. Apparently, the curse had hit its mark because the two riding students plunged under the water, but thankfully bobbed back up with their life vests still intact. The seahorse did not fair as well and disappeared from view.

Charity veered around toward the spot from where the sparks had originated and saw Professor Snape standing near the banks of the lake. She was furious and made her way awkwardly to the muddy edge of the lake, where she could stand in the water, and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU NEARLY HIT MY STUDENTS!"

"Calm down, Professor Burbage. Your students are fine," he called out in a completely even voice.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" she gasped, still seething. "what about the seahorse? What kind of a sick man attacks gentle creatures for sport? AND IN FRONT OF STUDENTS!"

Snape made his way around the lake and was now much closer to where the seahorse had been. Charity headed to the same spot, making slow progress as her flippers sank into the mud with every step. Snape now pointed his wand towards the water and said, "That was no seahorse."

Charity was fairly close now and gasped as she saw that the creature, which had floated back toward the surface, was indeed not a seahorse. It still had a seahorse-type head, but its features had become fierce, and its body had elongated into something like an eel with short stubby arms equipped with sharp talons. Luckily, it was still stunned and lay incapacitated on its side; its only movement was generated by the gentle sloshing of the lake. Most of the students had already made their way to the shore, and the ones that hadn't were slowly backing in that direction. They all gazed in horror at the menacing-looking creature now floating just below the lake's surface.

"It's a Kelpie," Snape explained. "A shape changer that uses its abilities to lure innocent victims deeper into the lake. Its next move would have been to plunge those students into the depths of the lake and drown them."

Charity stood rock still, staring at the beast in shock at how close these students had come to meeting their doom.

"Surely you warned the students about such creatures before your, er, lesson?" Snape said in his most condescending tone, when it was perfectly obvious she hadn't given any such warning. Her trips to the sea had always been at Muggle beaches along the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic Ocean. All Muggles needed to watch out for were jelly fish and the occasional shark. It was just dawning on Charity that there was a very good reason that witches and wizards weren't big on swimming.

"Everybody out!" she announced, as if that wasn't exactly what they were already doing, and silently took a head count. She helped the students get wrapped in towels, giving extra attention to the poor girls who'd now been victimized in the lake twice. By the time they were all bundled and started heading back to the castle, Charity saw that Snape was already half way there. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

"PROFESSOR SNAPE!" she shouted, her voice sounding strangely gruff, as she'd reached deep into her diaphragm to make herself heard across the sunny grounds. Snape turned around, and now Charity cupped her hands around her mouth to make sure he heard her clearly, "THANK YOU!"

He paused for a few moments, then nodded his head in acknowledgement and continued on to the castle. Now it was her turn to stare silently after him as he walked away. When she turned her focus back onto the students, she saw that, as they trudged along, they were pointing toward the lake and recounting their adventure.

"I knew something wasn't right about that seahorse," announced Charles.

"The Plimpy was so cute!" exclaimed Jessica and Bridget.

"Looks like we learned about a lot more than just Muggles today," Charity pointed out. "Professor Hagrid has a whole term's worth of lessons right there in that lake, doesn't he?"

When they reached the spot where Snape had been standing when he issued the curse, some of the boys mimicked him, saying things like, "Stupefy!" and "That was awesome!"

"I didn't know you could shoot underwater spells from the shore," said Hannah.

"Usually underwater spells can only be originated underwater," Charity explained. "Only a very skilled and powerful wizard can start a spell above water that will maintain its full power beneath the surface."

The spell had most definitely maintained all of its strength, because the Kelpie was still lying motionless. Charity looked again towards the skilled and powerful wizard as he disappeared behind the great oak doors. She wondered why he wasn't teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, a post she'd heard he was keen on. She didn't think to wonder why he'd been down by the lake in the first place.

1 Text is exact quote from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling p.463

2 Ibid, p. 493

3 Ibid