The Time Ship.

The Second Task.

After the incident with Draco Malfoy, no one in the castle had seen Harry Potter for a sometime. Many people wanted to speak to him, most notably Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, Lucius Malfoy, and naturally his estranged parents. Dumbledore wanted to speak to him to try and get the pressure off him because Amelia Bones and Lucius Malfoy had been contacting him, pressuring him for their own reasons. It never occurred to Dumbledore that talking to Harry would merely strengthen the younger man's contempt for him, nor did it occur to him that Harry wasn't deliberately out to get him though it felt like it. Amelia had always been in the neutral spectrum of those Dumbledore could manipulate and control, her sense of duty and hard work, but her inability to do what the old wizard wanted had taught the aging headmaster how dangerous it was to manipulate everyone though it didn't stop them from trying. Dumbledore also wanted to speak to Harry because of the younger man's blatant disregard for the rules of the tournament, and not bothering to go to the Yule ball so then it would be simple to select a worthwhile hostage. To make matters worse, his previous plan which would have involved a more pliable Harry saving the life of Ronald Weasley and cast doubt on the boy's sexual preferences was not workable.

Amelia personally wanted to speak to Harry because she wanted to know what had driven the famous young man from the magical world. She had heard from her niece that Harry had been entered into the tournament, but Amelia had no authority to just waltz into Hogwarts without a good explanation. The business with Lucius Malfoy's son was the perfect excuse for her to visit, but unfortunately Harry hadn't been seen despite her four attempts to find him. Each time she felt frustration because she couldn't see him. No one knew where he'd gone, and frankly Amelia was worried about the thought of Harry Potter being so estranged from the magical world.

She was also worried about Hogwarts, and the fact Dumbledore continuously let scum like Malfoy strut around like he owned the place - both Malfoys, and seemed to get away with murder, and Amelia could honestly see it coming. Her niece Susan had been brought up by the head of the DMLE to report everything suspicious and wrong in the castle. The young witch's mind had been engrained with Amelia's dedication to law and order so much that she was easily offended by the actions of the junior Death eaters, but Dumbledore kept thwarting her attempts to prevent them from becoming like their parents and relatives. Amelia had seen first hand on the battlefield that the Death eaters were beyond redemption, beyond all conscience, but Dumbledore was one of those people who fought from behind the scenes. As a result he rarely saw what she had, that the Death eaters were subhuman animals, and Amelia had no intention of letting the younger generation become their parents. Not if she could help it, but it would help if certain people had common sense. That was exactly what happened when you constantly interfered with the judicial process. If Amelia had had her way, the entire Malfoy line along with a few others would be shown exactly that their crimes were not tolerated, but unfortunately she didn't have that power.

Dumbledore did, but he didn't use it.

Lucius Malfoy was in two minds about Harry Potter. On one hand, the young wizard had been the one to defeat his master, earning him the hatred of all in the Dark Lord's organisation. When the boy hadn't bothered to arrive at Hogwarts at the traditional age of eleven, every single one of them had rejoiced, Lucius amongst them. All of them had dreamt up ways of finding and killing the boy before he could become a threat. Naturally when the boy hadn't turned up at the school that first year, they had all suspected a death eater to have found him and killed him, but there in way a flaw; the Death eaters were boastful of their deeds amongst their ranks, and the death of the boy who had killed their master would have been boasted about over rounds of firewhiskey. None of them had boasted to anything; for a while Lucius had wondered if a Death eater was holding the boy captive somewhere for entertainment, but of course he couldn't prove it. Now he knew it wasn't true though he'd harbored fantasies of taking Draco to torture the boy. The Potters were one of the most powerful magical families in Britain, and though Lily and James had lost much of the respect afforded to them because of their abandonment of their only son and heir, they were still powerful enough to be a threat to the pureblood agenda, and Lucius and those in the organisation who were on the wizengamot had worked hard to prevent that by not drawing attention to themselves. They needn't have worried, the Potters were so firmly in Dumbledore's corner it would take a summoning charm to get them out. Now their son was back, and he had refused to tell anyone what he'd been doing, where he'd gone. All they knew was he wasn't afraid to kill anyone, as his demonstration of the strange armor had had at the Quidditch world cup had proven. Lucius was not a fool; he knew the difference between a baby and a young adult who had made his choices. He had figured that if he could persuade the young heir of the Potters to speak with him, he could go about manipulating the boy to his way of thinking. Unfortunately that meant trusting Draco. He had written to Draco when news of Harry Potters return and entry into the Triwizard tournament to try and get his son to talk to the Potter heir, offering friendship. If Lucius's father had ordered him to carry out the assignment, a relatively easy one needing common sense and intelligence, then Lucius would have waited and watched whilst working carefully to gain the trust of his target. That sort of task was right up Lucius's street, and it gave the older Malfoy the chance to use his silver tongue. Unfortunately Draco lacked this needed ability; he'd taken Crabbe and Goyle to intimidate and bully the Potter heir, and it had landed them in the hospital wing with Severus calling him on the floo!

Lucius was worried about his son, and feared his upbringing had made Draco so dependent on him he couldn't find any other way to live. Lucius hated the prospect of an adult Draco in his 40s continuously saying, " when my father hears about this," it sounded so pathetic and unworthy of a Malfoy.

The knowledge that his father was in the background always gave Draco a sense of arrogance, a sense of invincibility. It didn't help matters Severus never bothered to correct that flaw; if anything the potion masters blatant favoritism of Slytherin house made things worse, at least in Lucius' mind though it did have its benefits. Draco believed that he could needle everybody in the castle bar the teachers, and expect to get away with it. Harry Potter had shown his son he wouldn't tolerate it, and the insulting thing was he hadn't used magic, but physical force to demonstrate to Draco how contemptuous he was of using magic to solve the problem. His son had also not realised that Harry Potter was not a Hogwarts student to begin with, so the normal rules of the school did not apply to him so Severus couldn't touch him.

Because he'd been taught non magical means was inferior and beneath him, Draco hadn't been able to cope. Lucius knew his son, knew he would've complained about his harsh treatment, but Potter had got there first. He'd sent the memory of the encounter to him. Lucius had been depressed for days, wondering why he had a son with no brain cells in his head.

Now he had to clean up the mess, but he couldn't do that because Potter had vanished to Merlin knows where.

Lily and James had been trying to find their son and talk to him, with the grudging help of Remus and Sirius. Both men had been part of the plan to abandon Harry to his fate, whilst watching him and guiding him the way Dumbledore had wanted. Sirius hadn't been made guardian of Harry but he was the godfather. Unlike Lily and James, who always had Dumbledore with them, Sirius could see why their attempts to speak to Harry had so far failed. It helped matters when you considered the fact Sirius didn't spend as much time with Lily, James and Dumbledore in the same room, so he was on the peripheral side of things, the observer. And he didn't like what he saw, either. He'd decided to try and speak to his godson alone, hoping to subtly guide him back to his parents. So far Harry had ignored him until Sirius had gone too far, and his godfather had needed to go to St. Mungos because Harry had beaten him up before breaking his arm. All he knew was he wasn't going to step a foot closer to the boy ever again.

Harry wasn't in the castle because he wasn't on Earth. He'd gone to one of his favourite planets, a world he'd taken as his own. Oh, he hadn't bought the planet; the universe was littered with so many unpopulated worlds that came in different shapes and sizes. Harry had terraformed this world into an Earth type world with bodies of land and sea. He'd made sure the planet's bacteria was more Earth like to allow Earth flora and fauna to flourish here.

Harry had always believed his people were a reckless lot; Earth was their home and yet they abused it, they slaughtered animals to the point of extinction, and they destroyed the very habitats that were essential to human life itself like the rainforest, which provided the world with its oxygen. As a young boy Harry had taken to spending time in the library to escape Dudley and his gang, and he'd passed the time by reading, and what he'd read had terrified him because Earth was their home and they were tearing it down. That had stayed with him for years to come. Harry had travelled in time to the future to see the outcome of his fears. Earth would survive, and though he knew animals and plants evolved he wanted to preserve them as best he could, and if some of them evolved to a certain level then he would remove them to another world for them to life on whilst preserving the whole.

Harry had used the TARDIS as a timescoop to capture small numbers of animals and plants from Earth's past to place on the planet, mixing them with clones from animals in the present to preserve the species. It had been a long task, which had been before Harry had met Natalie. At one time Harry had wondered if he was falling in love with the nurse he'd invited to travel with him, an understandable mistake since the young time traveller had never really experienced love in his life. Work had filled his life, and yet Natalie had filled his mind with an attraction.

He'd decided to take Natalie to the Preserve, and he showed her what he'd done. Natalie had been amazed, but she never returned Harry's feelings as much as he'd wanted. He'd understood though, and she reciprocated by showing him what love was. An achievement since she didn't have anyone to love herself besides her siblings.

The Preserve had a number of compounds where the TARDIS could land, and Harry could relax. Unlike Earth, with the wildlife trails and boat tours, the Preserve had a number of satellites in orbit to protect the planet against hostile intruders in case the planetary forcefield broke down, and it had a number of cameras.

Harry sometimes left the security of the compounds, and he sometimes swam with whales, observed the chimpanzees hunt down monkeys, and lionesses tear down an antelope. Right now though his visit was purely to rest on a world away from Earth. It also gave him an excuse to escape from the magical world. There were no magical beings on this planet for him to worry about, so he could simply embrace nature like he had on so many occasions. He would always be awed by alien life forms but this world and his homeplanet held a special place in his heart.

As he stood on the moulded stone ledge that acted like a natural balcony into his compound, Harry considered his plans for the magical world. He had two things in mind; the tournament, and the death of Lord Voldemort. Both goals were relatively straightforward to deal with, though it would help a great deal if he didn't have to deal with little problems like Dumbledore and his parents.

As always the subject of his parents made Harry sigh wearily, and it made him remember what he had done to Sirius Black, the most pathetic excuse for a godfather in human history. Harry hadn't even known he had a godfather, at least until the posturing bastard had appeared to him. At first Harry had been delighted though he hadn't shown it, his habitual distrust of people had been so engrained into his personality since his time at the Dursleys, at the orphanage, and his time on Gallifrey when Natalie and he were under fire by the prejudicial Gallifreyans that when Sirius had introduced himself Harry had hidden his emotions behind a mask. He was grateful for the mask when a few moments later the stupid man had made the mistake, the same old boring mistake the magical world simply never got over, of saying he should forgive his parents. Harry had told him to mind his own business, but Sirius had made another mistake. He'd touched Harry, only to find a fist breaking his jaw.

Breathing in the warm, grassy air similar to that of Africa Harry considered his next move. He knew what the Second task was, but since he hadn't bothered going to the ball he had no idea who the hostage was. He already had a means of getting to the merpeople's little settlement in the lake, but he had concerns about who Dumbledore and the other organisers of the fucking waste of time would select as his hostage. He wasn't close to any of the students since he never bothered to actually speak to them, so they were more than likely out, though with a man with the kind of mindset of Dumbledore's and the sheep following him...No matter. He would complete the task, push the person aside, and get on with his plan. Nothing else mattered.

The meeting with the wizard in the fact future had given Harry knowledge of the past, the present, but that didn't mean Harry had to spend his whole time in the magical world. Harry checked his watch which was tuned to the TARDIS. He knew he could have nipped forwards to the time where the Second task was, but that was the benefit of a time machine, really. You could hold off on something for decades, or months, but you would have to do it anyway, and in the meantime you could prepare for every possibility. That was why Harry had only just come back into the magical world's spotlight. He'd spent twenty years preparing for the meeting with the magical world, training his mind and body whilst keeping his magical knowledge as limited as possible.

He would be leaving soon. In an hour or so he would be back on Earth, back in the public's eye he thought to himself bitterly. A friend of his was already on his way on an agreed schedule. Besides said friend owed him.

" Where is he?" Ludo Bagman hissed at Dumbledore who was standing serenely on the floating pier, at least outwardly. Inwardly Dumbledore was seething with nerves. He'd spent the past few weeks trying to find Potter, even employing the House elves to do the searching since they knew places in the castle he and Filch didn't know about. Obviously they hadn't found him, and Dumbledore was close to losing his famous cool on the subject.

Bagman, ever the showman, was smiling and waving at the crowd waiting for the task to start, but the glances sent at Dumbledore were far from happy.

Finally something happened.

The skies above the lake darkened, and storm clouds gathered though there was no sign of thunder or rain. Everyone quietened down, and then people started chattering as something appeared in the clouds, something big, metallic.

Muggle born students started talking about aliens, to which the more small minded pureblood students mocked them even with the proof hovering over their heads.

There was a flash of light, and someone appeared on the pier.

Harry Potter smiled at the looks of surprise he was getting from his arrival, but he ignored them. He merely looked back at the ship and waved a hand.

" Cheers, fellas!" He shouted, secretly sending the transmission over the comm. pin attached to his massive coat though the wizards didn't know about that little detail.

The ship didn't move, but Harry smiled as he heard the reply saying he was more than welcome, and then the ship lifted off before flashing out of the atmosphere. The crew and Harry were not worried about their presence being detected by the non magical population, their technology was too primitive for them to do anything, and the magical people were too busy gaping like fools at the sight of his ride.

It had been risky of course, showing the magical people such a contact, but Harry didn't do it without a good reason. The TARDIS was something he wanted to protect, but he couldn't do that without compromising her. The magical world's policy on time travel was simple; don't. If they found out about the TARDIS then the law enforcement would have no alternative but to take it from him, and he didn't want that. The TARDIS was his most prized possession, but apart from that Harry didn't want it to be known he travelled in time. It would answer too many questions about where he had been, what he'd done, and it might also tempt a few people to learn the truth about the future of magical kind. It might also change history.

By arriving in an alien ship, however, it would surprise them into accepting life existed elsewhere, and because of his fame the masses would accept it as fact like the sheep they were. It would be assumed that Harry must have been kidnapped when he was younger, especially when the muggle born students made it known aliens often kidnapped humans before bringing them back with their memories erased, but the magicals would question and debate that. Harry wasn't worried about that, it would be more beneficial to have people regard him questioningly, and also make him more mysterious.

That was what he wanted.

Harry glanced at the magicals, and smirked at the looks of surprise. Ignoring them he went over to the other champions. This was the first contact he'd had with the champions since this tournament had begun; aside from the First Task he had taken care to minimise his time with them. He wasn't interested in potential friendships with them.

Silently he shrugged off his coat, revealing his muscled form with black swimming shorts. A utility belt with a large and wicked looking knife attached to his waist caught their eye, but not as much as the blaster attached to the other hip.

At the sight of the muggle looking weapons, Dumbledore stepped forwards to protest, but Harry was waiting for him. " I don't use magic, so I have to protect myself with knowledge and technology. If you have problem with that then I will leave, and you and those pitiful fools who call themselves my parents will never see me again, and your plans will be nothing but cinders at your feet."

Dumbledore's eyes flashed with disbelief. How did this wretched boy know about his plans? Harry smirked at the look, and he removed a box from his left side. When he opened the box he removed a few patches that to the muggle borns looked more like nicotine patches smokers trying to give up used, but the more intelligent of their number guessed they were used for anything but nicotine addiction.

Harry took a few of the patches, slapping them against both his legs, then his arms, and then both sides of his neck, and the final one went on his chest. As soon as the biochemicals entered his bloodstream, Harry took a hissing breath, feeling the transformation coming. He had to get into the water now before he started suffocating.

Ignoring the magicals who were staring at him, he did a backflip and leapt into the water.

" He doesn't even know what the task is!" Someone shouted.

Harry dove down deeper and deeper, the cold of the lake shocking him but the transformation pain made him focus on more than just the cold. He could feel his feet and fingers become webbed, all the better for swimming underwater. His skin tingled as the biochemicals altered his skin, rendering it fitter for an amphibian rather than a human being, though his skin became rougher in texture, similar to that of a shark. Harry grimaced in agony as the gills started to appear on his neck, making him release his remaining air into bubbles into the water.

For a moment he felt as though he was suffocating, making him panic slightly as he floundered in the water as he waited to breath again, fighting the urge to swim to the surface, but as the water passed over the newly formed gills in his neck he was able to breath again. The momentary panic left him like it always did.

Swimming under the lake like a fish was freedom for Harry. He carried a cache of biochemical patches that allowed him to experience the freedom of swimming without aid under the waters of lakes, rivers, and oceans. Once upon a time Harry had travelled back in time to walk under the surface of the seas when Man was still trying to refine their diving technology. The suits were cumbersome, weighing a ton out of the water, but under the water the suits didn't weigh anything at all.

But this...Scuba tanks didn't afford this the same freedom. Now he could breath easily, and he was moving through the dark, murky water speedily. Occasionally he checked his divers watch. The biochemical patches lasted for a certain amount of time as the body's natural immune system would eventually burn through the chemicals. Harry had more patches in the box attached to his hip, but the possibility of using them underwater where he was vulnerable from drowning wasn't something he wanted.

Harry swam in the general direction of the Merpeople's village, which was easy enough to find. He didn't have any trouble finding it and eventually he found the rough hewn buildings of the village. The merpeople weren't surprised to see him as they hurriedly swam to safety of their homes like a school of frightened fish; Harry wasn't surprised because the merpeople lived in this lake, knew what was going on at all times, and the news that strangers had entered the lake would've spread like wildfire.

As Harry approached the village he saw the merpeople watching him curiously. He idly wondered if they could feel the lack of magic coming from him and his means of moving through the water, but he decided it made no difference. Aside from a few mermen with wicked looking spears, the waters were quiet. The merpeople watched him from the holes in their houses, the spear holders were watching him cautiously.

Harry surveyed the hostages tied to the posts. He saw an oriental girl wearing Hogwarts robes, a boy wearing dark robes with a striking resemblance to the Durmstrang champion, but Harry's attention was drawn to the last two hostages.

A tiny girl with white blond hair wearing sky blue clothes, similar to the hair of the Beauxbatons champion. A brother and a sister to two champions, but it was the last hostage that got Harry shaking his head.

It was his mother.

Shit.

Dumbledore, you asinine old fool. Oh well, Harry took out his blade and started sawing through the bonds holding his mother to the post. Without any hint of trouble from the merpeople he took his mother's arm, and swam upwards. His progress through the water was hampered by his mothers unmoving body, but he wasn't going to surface until he arrived at the pier. The spell his mother was under was keeping her in stasis under the water, but when she broke the surface she would be awake, and Harry wasn't in the mood to speak to his mother. Not now.

As he swam closer to the pier he could feel a burning sensation in his body, and it was spreading. The biochemicals were losing their strength, and soon it would only be a matter of time before the webbing in his feet and hands retracted into his hands, and then the pain of the gills disappearing would be fading would overtake him. Harry hoped to be out of the water before long, and he didn't want to risk using another patch otherwise the chemicals would be cooked faster.

When they reached the pier, he pushed his mother out of the water. The stasis charm was broken and Lily coughed and spluttered, but when she saw her savior beneath the surface, she did her best to hug him, but Harry pushed her arm away as he lifted his head out of the water so he could better hear and see the wizards grab Lily and pull her out. He ignored the hurt look she was sending him, and focused on something else.

" Non!" The French champion was shouting, her headmistress holding her back but the girl's strength impressed Harry. He watched her with concern, she had cuts around her perfect heart shaped face. " Ma soeur!" She screamed, trying to break free vainly.

Harry's mind froze. A little girl with blond hair down in the lake...What were they thinking!? Resolutely, he submerged again, and swam as fast as he could towards the merpeople's village again, but the extra effort only served to burn the biochemicals more. It didn't help matters that on the original trip the swim was as smooth as gliding over ice, but now his movements were stiffer as the burning grew worse. He only hoped when he got there the merpeople didn't put up too much of a fight.

The other hostages except for the blond girl were gone, and the merpeople watched as he approached again and heading for the girl. At once the spear wielding mermen swam closer, their body language clear. In answer Harry took out his blaster, and without a moment's hesitation he fired two shots at two guards. The energy fried their nervous systems at once, cooking them where they hovered. The merpeople backed off when they realised what he had done, and so they didn't stop him from cutting the bonds around the girl.

Harry found it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. The more he worked the more he burned through the chemicals, they were probably exhausted by how. When he finally cut the girl free, he checked his hands and the gills. They were still there but they were significantly smaller, and the webbing was retracting.

Removing a small sphere from his belt, he started to work as he pulled the girl to freedom. As he swam he programmed the teleporter. It wasn't hard to do; he'd programmed the sphere to co-ordinate the first planetary section when the ship had transported him to the pier. All he had to do was simply activate it. Carefully putting it back in his belt, Harry swam on.

The pain began to spread through his body. He felt as though every pore of his skin, very atom of bone, every cell of blood was on fire, and he felt a pain starting in his neck. The gills, they were fading. Soon he wouldn't be able to breath. Harry concentrated his reserves into conserving his remaining air, but the effort of swimming through the pain with the girl combined with the weight of objects in his belt was using it all up, and making the burning of the chemicals worse. But he had to try and get a bit more out of them before they faded completely.

The pain in his legs, hands, and neck faded. It simply stopped.

Harry held back his fear. He knew the amphibious skin, the gills, the webbing was gone completely. He reached into his belt for the emergency breather and checked the gauge. He only had enough air for a minute, which made him put it away in disgust as he moved to get the teleport sphere from his belt. Hoisting the girl in his arms, his vision was going black as he activated it...

...Only to reappear in a bubble of water which collapsed onto the pier. Harry absently heard the screams of shock as he and the girl collapsed onto the pier. The girl coughed and spluttered as the stasis charm on her was broken, and she sat up in shock before looking to her side to see her rescuer.

Harry was lying on the side of her, shivering and gasping for breath though his genetically engineered body worked rapidly to heal him faster. He felt a bit light headed, and the heat in his lungs from lack of air didn't help. Regardless he forced himself to pick up off the the hard wooden planks, and he found himself looking into the crystal blue eyes of the girl.

She had a beaming smile on her face as she looked at him with awe and concern.

" Thank you for saving me," she said in French.

Harry smiled weakly though his strength was coming back. He glanced at the patches still attached to his skin, and he started pulling them off. " You are welcome."

" You speak French?"

Harry smirked at the girl's surprise. " Does it surprise you?"

" Yes," the girl replied with such resolution Harry laughed. " Gabrielle Delacour. My sister's Fleur. She's the Beauxbatons champion, but why didn't she save me?" She asked with big eyes.

" She must have run into some of the more hostile inhabitants of the lake," Harry reasoned. " When I pushed...my hostage out of the lake, she was screaming with gashes down her face. If she could've she would have gotten you out. It wasn't her fault."

Gabrielle smiled, and as her sister appeared. Fleur wrapped her sister up in her arms, jabbering away in French. Harry watched the conversation bittersweetly. How many times in the past had he had a conversation like that, with someone to love him? Harry was too old to believe in the concept of true love, but he wondered sometimes how life would have been if he had had a sibling. Would his brother or sister travel with him in the TARDIS? Time travelling siblings?

It would never happen.

Fleur listened as Gabrielle told her about what Harry Potter had done. Like everybody else in the school, she wasn't sure what to make of him. She'd been awed and terrified when he had spoken to the dragon, and now he had rescued her sister. She raised her head to thank him, but she was stunned when she noticed there was no one there but gasping onlookers.

Harry had disappeared. Again.

Authors note. Thank you for the support so far. Oh, and Gabrielle will make another appearance in the next chapter.