Yay I finally update!

Urgh! Revising, exams, fieldtrip etc. It all slows down my writing, its summer now though and hopefully I'll be able to update more often than I have been.

Any way, hope you enjoy this new chapter, I actually had a lot of fun writing it, especially getting around Kanda's inability to swim.

Enjoy! And please don't forget to review!

The first couple of days after the Golden trio found out about them being exorcists were rather awkward, but eventually Hermione's love of knowledge bullied the two boys into talking to them again and things went back to normal mostly, if a little strained at times.

It was nearly time for the second task and the Hogwarts staff were having a very interesting conversation about who each champion would be retrieving from the lake. They'd had to call Komui in since he has technically the Exorcists' guardian and they needed to ask his permission before they involved another one of them in a task.

"Is there a certain criteria for the person that is picked?" he asked thoughtfully, ignoring Cross who was smoking heavily behind him.

"Miss Delacour's hostage is her younger sister," Dumbledore told him. Komui shook his head.

"Kanda doesn't have any family," he replied sadly.

"For Mr Potter his best friend has been picked," suggested McGonagall.

"If he had a best friend, and he really doesn't, I'd say either Lavi or Allen," Komui paused for a moment. "And he'd leave those two down there out of spite."

"Well Mr Diggory and Mr Krum are both having their Yule Ball partners." Komui's eyes gleamed.

"I'm sorry but I absolutely refuse for my precious baby sister to be kidnapped to the bottom of a lake," he wailed. The teachers all stared as he then went on to rant about keeping octopus away from his precious Lenalee. Cross snorted in amusement.

"If that boy ever actually gets a girlfriend I'll stop making the brat pay back my debts," he said ignoring the disapproving glares it got him.

"Would he go retrieve anyone?" asked McGonagall in exasperation.

"That kid doesn't care about anything but his sword and completing his missions," remarked the General stubbing out his cigarette.

"We could always use Yana," mused Komui once he'd stopped ranting. Cross stared at him blankly.

"You want to use my apprentice?" he asked slowly. Everyone raised eyebrows at him, he seemed almost reluctant.

"You wouldn't mind if it was Allen," pointed out the scientist.

"Coz he's a brat and needs to learn to toughen up," replied Cross. "I practically raised that girl thank you very much."

"But Kanda would go after her," insisted Komui. "If it was someone else I'd say he had a crush on her."

There was silence for a moment while everyone in the room tried to imagine homicidal Kanda being romantic to slightly insane Yana, needless to say they couldn't quite picture it.

"So we're agreed on Miss Wolf then?" asked Dumbledore hopefully, he'd never realised how difficult it could be to find someone's important person. There were nodded all around except from Cross who was smoking another cigarette and sulking.

Yana looked around Professor McGonagall's office with curiosity, she didn't know why she was here with Ron and Hermione, they hadn't been given an explanation when they'd been asked to come.

"Ah good you're all here," said the transfiguration professor walking into the room.

"Erm… why are we here?" asked Yana confused. "I don't think I've done anything to get into trouble recently." McGonagall smiled faintly and shook her head.

"None of you are in trouble," she told them making them relax slightly. "You are here because you're participation is required for the second task." All three of them blinked.

"… Excuse me?" asked Yana bewildered glancing at Ron and Hermione only to see that they looked just as confused.

"For the second task each champion is required to retrieve something they value from the bottom of the lake," explained McGonagall.

"… So who is retrieving each of us?" asked Ron confused. The professor raised an eyebrow and sighed softly.

"You Mr Weasley will be retrieved by Mr Potter, Miss Granger will be retrieved by Mr Krum and Miss Wolf will be retrieved by Mr Kanda." There was a moment of silence while they all digested this, Yana thought Ron looked a bit miffed about Hermione being picked for Krum.

"Erm… so what do we have to do?" asked Hermione nervously. McGonagall explained that they would be put into a magical sleep and placed at the bottom of the lake, guarded by the mer-people so that they would not be in any danger, until their champion came to 'rescue' them. Yana was still frowning at the end of the explanation.

"Why was I chosen for Kanda?" she asked. "I'm pretty sure you didn't ask him and he wouldn't have replied even if you did."

"Process of elimination," was the deadpan reply. She tilted her head in thought and nodded.

"Sounds about right, the only other one he might have gone after is Lenalee and there is no way in hell Komui would ever let you do that." McGonagall smiled slightly and nodded in agreement, Ron and Hermione still seemed rather nervous about it.

"So you three are alright with doing this?" Yana agreed immediately and bounced up and down happily.

"Of course! I'll do anything I can to help!" she exclaimed not noticing the looks they were all giving her, did she not realise that that made it sound like she had a crush on Kanda? However Yana's immediate agreement encouraged the other two and soon the three of them were fast asleep.

Kanda was twitching so much it almost looked like he was vibrating. The other exorcists had been successful in teaching him some basic swimming but nowhere near enough to be able to complete this task, and he still didn't know how he was going to be able to breath underwater. What the hell was he supposed to be getting back anyway?

He was so highly strung he didn't hesitate to draw Mugen when Komui popped up out of nowhere in front of him.

"What the hell?" he yelled backing up slightly. The man had an unholy gleam in his eyes and thrust a bottle at his face.

"Here Kanda, this should solve the problem of being able to breath under water," he chuckled darkly. "Please let me know how it goes."

Then he was gone and Kanda was left twitching even more than before and holding the small bottle like one would do a bomb that was about to go off. He stared suspiciously at the bottle which had the picture of a fish on the outside, then he sighed heavily and pocketed it making his way towards the lake.

Unfortunately it didn't seem like he had any other choice since he had no idea how else he was going to be able to breath under water. He scowled darkly, if that thing turned him in to a fish he was going to kill the idiot.

Kanda stared blankly at the other four champions who were each dressed in some form of swimming gear, he rolled his eyes and removed his leather exorcist coat and then his white shirt from underneath that and his boots before he started stretching to warm up.

He'd decided that wearing his usual trousers would be too tight so he'd swapped them for a pair of training pants, the samurai was completely oblivious to the appreciative stares he was attracting from the females in the audience. He didn't seem to realise how much more toned he was compared to the other champions and many girls found his tattoo really hot.

The other exorcists were sat in the audience and rolling their eyes at Kanda's obliviousness, he could be so dense sometimes. They almost jumped out of their seats when Komui appeared out of thin air and started cackling.

"Brother! What are you doing here?" Lenalee asked warily.

"Kanda is testing one of my inventions for me," he laughed. "I can't wait to see the results!"

They all exchanged glances in alarm, Komui's inventions were not the safest things in the world and to here that Kanda would be testing one…

"I guess he doesn't have any other option," murmured Lavi with a shrug.

"True, we never did find a way for him to be able to breath under water," sighed Miranda miserably. "Too busy trying to teach him how to swim." Allen was glanced around worriedly, nearly biting his lip until it bled.

"Where's Yana?" he asked bouncing on his seat slightly. "There's no way she would miss this."

"Come to think of it I haven't seen her since last night," mused Lenalee frowning. "Did she not stay in your dorm?" Allen looked even more worried at that and shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen her since last night either actually," he replied.

"Attention students!" cried Bangman's voice over the crowd's noise. "The second task is about to start, now each champion has to swim to the bottom of the lake to retrieve a hostage who has been placed there for them and make it back to the surface, they have one hour in which to do this." The exorcists all paled and edged away from Allen slightly who was radiating fury.

"Ah, I forgot about that," muttered Komui stoking his chin. Allen turned on his and grabbed the front of him coat.

"You mean Yana is the one down there?" he yelled almost hysterically. The other exorcists backed away and noticed that Cross wasn't looking any happier than Allen.

"Kanda!" yelled Lavi. "You have to get Yana back!" The Japanese teen stiffened and turned to face them slowly.

"… Yana is the one down there?" he asked slowly. The other champions fidgeted nervously as his aura darkened and tried not to back away. "You mean that Yana who nearly got hyperthermia has been stuck at the bottom of a lake since last night in the middle of February?" he cried.

He turned to glare at the judges who all shifted uncomfortably, especially when the rest of the exorcists joined in.

"She nearly got hyperthermia?" asked Komui concerned, they certainly hadn't told him that when they had asked who could be Kanda's hostage.

"She had an unfortunate trip into the lake a few weeks ago," Krory told him.

"You better get her back Kanda!" yelled Allen. "And nothing better happen to her or there will be hell to pay!"

The judges looked even more uncomfortable at that remark. Kanda snorted but nodded to should he'd heard, Yana was one of the few people he could tolerate and the beansprout would never let him here he end of it if something happened.

He glared at the bottle Komui had given him before swallowing down with a grimace, after a few seconds he started finding it hard to breath and jumped into the water determined to ride out the transformation that seemed to be taking place somewhere that he could at least breath properly. He squirmed around as he felt himself transforming although he was relieved to find out he could in fact breath in the water.

"Hmm… it appears to be working," mused Komui adjusting his glasses as he observed from the stands.

"How can you tell?" asked Lavi curiously. Lenalee and Allen were straining over the edge of the stands in an attempt to see what was going on.

"Oh, well he wouldn't have felt the need to go into water to be able to breath if it wasn't working at least partially," the scientist explained looking a bit excited. "If it works properly…" He paused seeing Kanda's head appear above the water, he was scowling darkly.

After a while the feelings had stopped and Kanda looked down at himself in disbelief, he had a bloody tail! He felt around his chest and neck for any other changes and felt two sets of gills, one set of his neck and the others at the bottom of his ribs, he also discovered near invisible webbing between his fingers.

His eye twitched as he caught sight of his tail again, at least it wasn't a stupid colour, it was navy blue. He popped his head out of water and discovered that he could breath as long as he kept the gills around his ribs under water. He immediately looked for Komui and glared at him.

"You turned me into half a bloody fish!" he yelled. Everyone in the audience stared as he raised his tail out if the water slightly to show as proof. Komui smiled and rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Excellent it worked then!" he exclaimed. "After you've finished let me know if you feel any side effects."

The samurai just glared and dived under the water chasing after the other champions. The exorcists turned to stare at Komui disbelievingly.

"You are so dead brother," sighed Lenalee shaking her head. Miranda and Krory nodded sweat dropping at Komui's insanity.

"Are you suicidal?" Lavi and Allen asked deadpan in unison.

Cross just smirked and smoked another cigarette, he couldn't wait to see what happened when Kanda came back out of the lake, it promised to be entertaining at least.

It was very dark and gloomy in the lake, Kanda was thankful of his good vision otherwise he wouldn't have been able to even see where he was going as he went deeper into the water.

Swimming with a tail was also completely different from the little bit he'd learnt how to do before the task. But he found that he was able to move easier through the water using his tail and he sped up significantly. Still, being able to breath under water was a bit unnerving as it wasn't exactly something he did naturally.

After a while he came across a group of some type of water demon that tried to strangle him. He was able to beat them off with Mugen but it was awkward swinging his katana in the water, it didn't move as fast as he wanted it to either.

Eventually he caught sight of Harry ahead of him, he too had gills and webbed hands but his feet had turned into flippers. The other boy started in surprise when he saw him and stared for a few moments at his tail in disbelief, Kanda just rolled his eyes and swam forward leaving Harry to scramble to catch up to him.

Eventually they came across the mer-people village. Kanda stopped to stare at them for a moment, he was really glad he didn't look like them, the only noticeable to him was the tail thank god so at least he didn't actually look like some kind of humanoid fish.

He heard Harry gasp when they saw the hostages, they were each tied to a stone pillar with their hair floating eerily around them in the water, whatever light the mer-people used gave their skin a ghostly looking green tinge and they were all very obviously not breathing.

Kanda spotted Yana immediately and swam towards her, he tried not to notice how dead she looked and drew Mugen cutting through her bindings. He noticed Harry cutting Ron's bindings from the corner of his eyes and pulled Yana into his arms.

He nodded once to the other boy and started swimming back to the surface, he hadn't got far when he passed Krum and Diggory although there wasn't any sign of Fleur as he swam up he reasoned she could have taken a different route.

As soon as they broke the surface Yana took a big gasp of air and opened her eyes, she stared around in curiosity before turning to grin at him.

"I knew you could do it!" she cried hugging him around the neck. "It looks like you're the first back too."

He sighed slightly, at least there didn't seem to have been any bad effects of her staying at the bottom of the lake for the night.

"Tch, and to think I was worried," he muttered to himself.

"You were worried?" she squealed hugging him tighter. "That's so sweet!" Kanda flushed slightly and pushed her out of the water on to the dock.

"Whatever, just get dry," he mumbled watching as Madam Pomfrey wrapped a towel around her and began checking to make sure she was alright.

The rest of the exorcists came running up then and Allen flew at Yana in a tackling hug nearly knocking her back in to the water.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" he cried holding her tightly. "Why did you do it?"

She glanced at Komui who was looking a little nervous and grinned.

"Kanda never fails a mission," she laughed. "I had complete confidence that he would rescue me." They all turned to Kanda who turned red and ducked back down underneath the water. "By the way… how is he going to turn back?"

Lenalee giggled and held up a bottle, dodging out of the way when Komui tried to steal it from her.

"This is the antidote," she said throwing it to Yana. "Brother wanted to run some tests first but I think that Kanda probably wants to turn back now."

Yana nodded and reached up the water moving her hand around until she touched Kanda's hair, then she grabbed tight and yanked him up out of the water before shoving the opened bottle into his protesting mouth.

He almost choked on it before he managed to swallow and then it suddenly felt like his legs were popping apart, he looked down and saw that the tail was gone and his legs were back. He quickly pulled himself up on to the dock and wrung his hair out scowling when a towel was thrown over his head.

They all turned when cheers from the crowd announced the arrival of another champion and Cedric broke the water with Cho, a few minutes later Krum appeared with Hermione.

"Where's Fleur and Harry?" asked Yana as the four made their way to the dock.

"Fleur had to come back, she got attacked by grindylows," explained Lavi. "We don't know what's happened to Harry."

"He should have been back after me," said Kanda frowning. "We reached the hostages at about the same time."

"The idiot probably took the clue too seriously," snorted Cross. "I bet he stayed behind to make sure everyone was rescued."

These words proved true when minutes later Harry appeared with a Ron and a little girl who looked like Fleur's sister. Lavi and Allen helped pull them all out of the water and waited for the results as Dumbledore talked to the mer-people.

"So what happened?" whispered Allen to Harry, the champion blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"I waited until the others were rescued," he muttered. "I thought something would happen if they weren't rescued." Allen smiled and patted him on the back.

"That just shows that you care more about the people than winning this competition. I think that makes you the better person." Harry blushed even more. "You're definitely better than BaKanda," he muttered ignoring the glare the samurai gave him.

Then it was time to read out the scores. Fleur came in last obviously for not completing the task, then was Krum and Harry and Cedric drew for second place having decided that Harry showed 'moral fibre' and deserved extra points even though he was the most outside the time limit.

Kanda came first for being the only one to finish within the time, Yana was so happy that knocked them both back into the water with a hug.

After Kanda stopped chasing Komui around for not telling him what the potion would do Yana dragged him to Cross' office where the rest of them were having a party.

Well by party this meant that Cross was getting stinking drunk, Komui was wailing over Lenalee, Krory and Miranda were being quiet in a corner, Lenalee, Yana, Allen and Lavi were making fun and Kanda and just generally having a lot of fun.

Much to the younger exorcists' relief Komui left later that night since he had a lot of work to do back at headquarters and Reever had managed to attach a tracker to him, he knew if he didn't get back soon the Australian scientist would only come track him down.

They made their way back to the Gryffindor common room to find that the students were still in the middle of their party, they hung around for a while before Yana decided to go to bed, apparently staying in the lake that long had affected her a bit.

"Well good night everyone," she yawned stretching. Then she silenced the room by kissing Kanda on the check before she stumbled up to her room.

"What was that about?" choked Lavi, Kanda looked almost shell shocked for a moment before he scowled at everyone and stormed up to the boy's dorm. Allen almost looked like he was about to start hyperventilating.

"She kissed him!" he gasped. "Why did she kiss BaKanda?"

Lenalee giggled at the look on everybody's faces and patted Allen comfortingly on the shoulder before following Yana up to bed.

"Oh god!" gasped Lavi. "Maybe she likes him!"

Allen stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment before fainting.

"… Oh bugger."

So there was the new chapter, the potion was so something I could imagine Komui doing.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Please review!