A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any character thereof! I just like to play with them! *grins*

Chapter 72

Remus,

I have a question for you. Snape has been trying to tell me something all year long. I think I've figured out what he wants to tell me and I wanted to know from you if it's true. Were he and my mom more than friends? He told me that they knew each other before Hogwarts and when he talks about her, he kind of goes all goopy eyed, like he's remembering her.

If this is what he's been wanting to tell me, why does he think that it'll upset me so badly that I won't be able to do these tasks? Why does he want me to know that at all? He's been ... nicer (well, for him anyway) to me since last year. Does he think that because they dated (if they did, that is) that he has to try to protect me or something? He's just gone all strange. He promised to tell me whatever it is at the end of the year. I promise to still act surprised if what he does tell me is that they dated, but some kind of warning would be nice.

So did they date?

Oh, and please don't tell Sirius about this letter. There was no way I'd be able to ask him. I can only imagine the type of letter that he would send back to me. Don't tell Snape I wrote you either. He might get upset and not tell me whatever it is at all. I hope where ever you are that you're safe.

Love,

Harry

Remus looked down at the letter in his hand and couldn't help but chuckle. 'Some kind of warning would be nice,' he re-read to himself. Harry was going to be shocked when Severus finally tells him the truth.

'Of course, when Harry realizes that I've known all of his life that he had a living relative, he is liable to hate me,' he thought painfully. Hopefully, when the truth comes out, Harry will give him a chance to explain.

This letter, however, does put him in a small bind. He supposed that it wouldn't hurt to admit that Severus and Lily dated. In fact, it might even make Severus' job of telling Harry even easier.

He got up and headed to his writing desk to pen a reply.

"What if they're not random circles?" he asked himself out loud as he stared at the golden egg.

Harry was procrastinating his homework and Gabriella was in her study group so he had some time on his hands.

'What if they're bubbles?' he mused to himself.

Harry ran down the stairs. "Hermione can I borrow your ancient runes dictionary?"

"You have the same one I do," she said over a mountain of books.

"No. Not the one for class. The one that you got for extra reading."

"Sure. Hold on. I'll go get it."

"I thought you were trying to figure out your egg, mate? I heard it wailing a minute ago."

"I am," Harry said to Ron.

She came back down the stairs with a thick book.

"Thanks."

It took Harry about 30 minutes before he deciphered another word.

Merge.

Harry laid back down on the bed and tried to figure out what went with the word merge.

Suddenly he sat straight up. Submerge.

Harry took his egg and went to the small bathroom upstairs and looked at the sink.

It wasn't deep enough.

He would need to use one of the tubs in the main shower area.

Deciding that it would look odd if he carried his egg into the bathroom, he figured he would wait until everyone went to bed.

Later that night, Harry wrapped his robe around himself, grabbed his egg, and headed to the bathroom.

He'd used the tub before. He liked to play with the different color waters – not that he would ever admit that to anyone of course. These tubs weren't like the muggle tubs that his aunt and uncle had. They were like mini-swimming pools, deep enough that if he stood in the middle of it, the water went up to his neck.

After stripping, Harry climbed in and pulled the curtain around the tub. He then pushed the egg under the water and opened it.

At least it didn't wail.

"You've got to put your head under the water to listen to it."

Harry startled so badly that he thought he'd had a heart attack. As a result, 3 mirrors cracked from his accidental magic.

"Myrtle. Dear sweet Merlin don't sneak up on me like that." He picked up his wand and fixed the mirror's quickly.

She giggled. "Sorry Harry."

"I have to put my head under the water?"

"That's what the handsome boy Cedric did."

Harry, feeling really self conscious, asked "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," she said coyly. "You never come to see me any more."

"I'm sorry Myrtle. I've been … uh … busy. I always have lots of homework."

"Hmph. Not too busy for your girlfriend. Everyone loves to gossip about you and her."

Harry groaned. "So I have to listen to it with my head under the water?" asked Harry again, hoping the diversionary tactic would work.

She nodded.

Harry took a deep breath, then placed his head under the water. He then re-opened the egg.

The voices were odd but at least they were clear.

"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 back."

He came back up. Myrtle laughed at him because of the bubbles in his hair.

After listening to it a couple more times, Harry had it memorized.

"Uh, Myrtle, can you please turn around so that I can climb out?"

"But Harry," she protested.

"Please?"

"Okay," she said, really disappointed.

As soon as Harry made sure she wasn't looking, he climbed out and pulled on his robe. "It was uh ... nice to see you again Myrtle."

"Come and visit me sometime, Harry."

"Er, sure. G'nite."

Harry watched her zoom up the nearest pipe. He was forever going to be paranoid in the shower because of this experience.

Once in his room, he stored his egg and quietly sat at his desk. There he copied the poem down.

'Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground.'

'Since I had to put the egg underwater, that means that it's an underwater task,' he thought. He then groaned.

He couldn't swim. His aunt and uncle had never bothered to give him lessons, no doubt hoping that if he entered the water, he'd drown.

'What has a voice under the water?' he wondered.

Harry's mind flashed back to the project that him and Susan had worked on together. They had discovered that there were mer-people living in the Black Lake.

"And they probably live at the main bottom," he whispered.

This was really going to suck.

The rest of the riddle was clear. The mermaids were going to take something from him and he had an hour to get it back or he would lose it forever.

"Bloody marvelous," he quietly groaned to himself.

Deciding he would ponder the solution in the morning, he went to bed.

"You sure are spending a lot of time in the library," pointed out Gabriella one evening as they walked towards dinner together.

"I know and I'm sorry. The second task is in two and a half weeks and I've still not figured out the 'how' yet."

She grabbed his hand. "It's alright. I just wish I could spend more time with you."

He smiled at her. "Were you still going to the library with me after dinner?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I need you to help me with my charms paper if you have time. I promise to find some way to reward you later."

Harry's face turned blood red as he sent a bashful smile towards her. Behind them, Ron made a random gagging noise.

Once they entered the Great Hall, they separated. Most of the gossip, it seemed anyway (despite what Myrtle had said), had died down about them being together.

It helped that there had been nothing in the paper other than a photo of each of the Champions and their dates.

It seemed that Dumbledore was keeping a very tight leash on Rita Skeeter.

Speaking of, he had yet to tell Ron and Hermione about that.

Sirius seemed to take the news of his dating a Slytherin well. A lot better than he thought his god father would … that's for sure. He suspected that Remus had a hand in that.

Harry glanced up and down the table as he ate. He needed a stress reliever and had just the one in mind – straight out of the Marauder's Playbook.

He slid his wand in his hand and tapped the underside of the table twice as he softly said, "Cibiliquis Tabuflect."

To his amusement, the twins were the first one to experience the change. The spell caused all of the solid food to act like liquids and the liquids to turn into solids.

"What the –"

Up the table, he saw a 7th year try to cut into his pork chop, but it wouldn't since it was a liquid … still in a solid shape.

Chaos ensued a couple seconds later. Everyone thought it was very funny once they realized what had happened.

And to everyone's consternation, the twins didn't claim credit for it.

Hermione gave him a knowing look and Harry suspected Ron heard him whisper it, which was confirmed 2 seconds later when Ron leaned over and said, "Nice Harry but change it back. I'm hungry."

Laughing, Harry discreetly reversed the spell, which to his amusement again, caused a lot more confusion amongst his fellow Gryffindor's, especially since the twins had been playing with the solidified pumpkin juice when it turned back into a liquid.

Harry sat staring at Remus' reply. Hedwig had brought it about two minutes ago.

'I don't know when they started dating officially, but they were always together from their first year until their sixth.'

So his mother and Snape had dated. Surprisingly, the notion that Snape and his mother were together didn't bother him that much, but he suspected that it was purely because he had braced himself for such an answer.

'This is most likely not what he's going to tell you.'

This, more than anything, made Harry frown. It would appear that everyone was in on this big secret but him. Of course, if that was not what Snape was going to tell him, what on earth was it?

He was beginning to hate mysteries.

However, Harry would make Snape stick to his word and tell him at the end of the year.

"C'mon Harry! We're going to be late for breakfast!"

"Coming Ron." Harry quickly stored the letter in his trunk and followed his best friend down to the Great Hall.

Harry had a dilemma, which was the reason he was currently looking for one of his best friends. He found her in the common room sewing a hat together. (Sadly, she had yet to listen to reason about the house elves, but Harry was eternally hopeful that he would get through to her one day. He didn't have the heart to tell her that Dobby was the one taking the pieces of clothes she left lying around.)

"Hermione, I need your help."

"Oh?"

"Well, it's just that you're a girl … and you know what girls like …"

Hermione just shook her head, a smile playing at her lips. It only took Harry and Ron 4 years to realize that she was a girl. "What is it Harry?"

"I don't know what to get Gabby for Valentine's Day … and her birthday is February 16th too."

"What does she like?"

"All kinds of stuff. Quidditch, flying, reading … uhh .. I know she likes roses … she mentioned it once. She doesn't like chocolate. It makes her sick."

Hermione held up a hand after about 10 minutes of his rambling and she was smirking.

"You obviously know her. Get her something she'll like."

"That's not helping," he huffed.

Hermione picked up some catalogues and handed them to him. "Look through those. Pick out a couple of things and I'll help you narrow it down … and Harry … make sure you separate her birthday from Valentine's Day."

He nodded.

Girls were so confusing, not to mention a lot of work. But they sure did smell nice and were really soft. That seemed to make up a lot for all of the confusing things. He scurried away to look through the catalogues because Hermione was giving him a look that said she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Dobby!"

"Oh! Harry Potter sir is calling Dobby!" the elf said when he appeared in front of Harry.

"I was wondering if you'd do something for me. I can pay you whatever you want."

"Harry Potter sir is not to be paying Dobby," he said scandalized.

Harry made a face. "I promised Hermione that I would."

"What Miss Hermy doesn't know, won't hurt you."

Harry laughed. "You can get into the Slytherin dorms right?"

"I can sir."

"Do you know where Gabriella Nott sleeps?"

"I can find out, sir."

"Tonight, while she's sleeping, can you put these roses next to her bed and this present beside of it?"

"I can be doing that, no problem. Does Harry Potter want Dobby to wake her?"

"No. I'll let her be surprised when she wakes up in the morning. You sure you won't take some money Dobby?" Harry asked while he handed over the flowers and the present. "You can use it to make yourself a new tea cozy."

Harry smiled when Dobby's ears perked up so he handed over 2 galleons as well.

Harry and Ron were snickering amongst themselves as they entered the Great Hall behind Hermione. She was red faced because of the present Krum had sent her – well the card at least. She wouldn't show them what the actual present had been.

Harry glanced at the Slytherin table, and as he expected, Gabriella was not present. She was a late riser. Harry teased her over it all the time.

Just as he made a turn to head towards the Gryffindor table, he heard a noise associated with what sounded like his name.

He turned around (along with those present in the Great Hall so far) and saw Gabriella launch herself at him, kissing him full on the mouth. He was utterly shocked. They really hadn't kissed before except for pecks on the cheek. He had been too shy to do anything more with her. (That and anytime he tried, Snape always seemed to be lurking around the corner waiting to give him a detention.)

"Miss Nott!" came what sounded like Snape and McGonagall at the same time.

"That was so worth the detention I am going to get. The roses on my night stand and on my bed was incredible. So was your present." She reached up and kissed him again.

"Miss Nott, come with me," said McGonagall. Evidently she moved faster than Snape, who was right behind her.

"See you later, Harry."

"'Kay."

Harry finished meandering his way to the Gryffindor table. Eventually the noise started to pick back up.

"You can fry an egg on your face mate," said Ron. "It's really red."

Harry simply nodded … too shocked for words.

"What did you give her?" Asked Dean, clearly curious.

Everyone around him leaned in to hear the answer.

"A bracelet and some roses."

Finally coming around he realized what she had said. 'Roses on the bed?' He would have to question Dobby.

He quickly ate a waffle then excused himself. He could only imagine what was going through everyone's mind as he scurried away.

Going into an empty room, Harry called for Dobby.

"Yes, Harry Potter sir?"

"Thank you for helping me Dobby but I have a question for you. How did you arrange the flowers?"

"I is hoping Harry Potter wouldn't be mad but 3 of the red ones and 3 of the green ones, I is taking the petals and placing them on her bed while she was sleeping. I is thinking that Harry Potter's girlfriend might be thinking that it was romantic!"

Harry eyes widened in surprise. He would have never thought to do that. He reached down and hugged the elf, who burst into tears.

"I need to run to class. Thanks again Dobby. I owe you big time for helping me."

As Harry hurried to class, he realized that he was still holding the present she had handed him before she was dragged off by McGonagall and Snape. Evidently he had held onto it while he scarfed down breakfast and didn't even realize it. Ducking into an alcove, he opened it and grinned. "Wicked!" he exclaimed.

"So did Hermione help you pick it out?" asked Gabriella as she joined Harry in the library. She was playing with her bracelet. It was chain linked with a green heart that would warm against her skin when Harry thought of her.

Harry faked a hurt look. "You don't think I could pick something like that out on my own?" he pouted.

"So did she?"

"No. Well, not really. You know, you should be happy. If I didn't have a girl best friend, I'd be blundering through this worse than I already am."

"I think you're doing just fine."

Ron and Neville both made a gagging noise. Hermione simply rolled her eyes.

"So how exactly did you get this stuff in my room?"

"Let me have some secrets," Harry said as he reached for his potions book while grinning at her. "Thank you for the present by the way. It's awesome."

To everyone's amusement, Gabriella's cheeks flushed.

Harry spied Gabriella across the Great Hall. He had her birthday present in his bag but hadn't seen her all day to give it to her. "I'll see you later Ron."

Ron nodded as he continued eating.

Harry crossed the Great Hall and parked himself next to her at the Slytherin table. That earned a few glares from the Slytherin's but no one said anything.

"You free after dinner?"

"I have detention again."

Harry snickered. "What did you do this time?"

She made a face. "I didn't do anything."

"Which was the problem," said Astoria on the other side of Gabriella.

"Huh?" was Harry's intelligent reply.

"I forgot to do my homework for Professor Snape."

Harry winced. "Before you head off to detention, come see me. I'll be waiting in the room across from the Great Hall."

She nodded.

Harry then got up from the table before he was glared into submission from the rest of the Slytherin House.

When Gabriella entered the small room a few minutes later, Harry said, "Happy Birthday". He handed her a cupcake with a candle on it (courtesy of Dobby) and her present.

"Harry! I didn't expect anything for my birthday," Gabby said as her friends started giggling from the doorway. Evidently they had followed to see what he was up to.

"You didn't ask to be born near Valentines Day. Besides, it's not much. I remember you saying that you wanted one at the Yule Ball."

For some reason, that made the girls giggle even more. If he lived to be 100, he doubted he would ever understand them.

Gabby blew out the candle on the cupcake and then tore open her present.

"Oh Harry! It's perfect! It's even prettier than the one Astoria has." She launched herself at him and kissed him.

'Yep, definitely worth it,' his mind said before it went numb.

Harry smiled at her when she pulled away. He was glad that she liked it.

"I gotta go. If I'm late, I'll end up scrubbing cauldron's for a month. Meet you in the library afterwards?"

Harry nodded as he watched her put her present in her bag and walk away. He then headed to the library. He still needed to find out how to do the second task.

"I'm beginning to think I'm doomed," muttered Harry. He had researched charms, potions, transfiguration (he was that desperate), and a whole bunch of stuff in between but the problem was that he just didn't know enough. He had even made nightly venture's to the Restricted Section in the library as well as to the Founder's Library.

And he had came up with squat.

On top of that, he also had an invisible Moody following him around and that was driving him bonkers as well. The man was creepy when he was visible. Invisible took it to a whole new level of creepiness.

"Why are you doomed?" asked Neville, who upon entering the dorm, had heard Harry.

"Because I can't find anything that will allow me to breathe underwater for an hour and live and the task is in three days."

"Have you considered gillyweed?"

Harry sat straight up. "What's gillyweed?"

"It's a plant that, when eaten, will allow you to breathe underwater by giving you gills."

"How long does it last?"

"It depends on how much you take."

Harry watched as Neville crossed the room and pulled out a book.

"Is that the book Moody gave you earlier in the year?"

Neville nodded as he flipped through the pages. "For an hour, you'll need to swallow 3 ounces of it."

"Neville, you're a life saver. Thank you!"

Neville turned red.

"Professor, I have a question about the assignment," said Harry hesitantly as he approached Snape's desk after class.

"The assignment was perfectly clear Potter," he snarled. "Even someone as imbecilic as you should understand it."

Once everyone was out of the room, Snape closed the door. "What don't you understand?"

"Er .. actually, sir, I understand it fine. I have a different question for you."

"Oh?" Snape raised an eyebrow as he sat back down in his chair.

"I was wondering if I could have 3 ounces of gillyweed, sir. There isn't any in the student cupboards."

"Mr. Potter, I am not allowed to help you in your tasks for the tournament. I'm sorry." Snape seemed genuinely surprised that he would actually ask him for it, but Harry wasn't about to take it without permission since the man was being nicer to him.

"Oh." Well at least he knew that it would work.

"However, before you go, if you would be so kind as to bring me a couple ounces of Monkshood from my personal store room before you leave, I would appreciate it."

"Yes sir."

Harry realized, that in a round about way, Snape was giving him the opportunity to take what he needed, so he did. After depositing the Monkshood on Snape's desk, he left.

"You nervous Harry?" asked Gabriella as she leaned into his leg. She was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with him. None of the other Gryffindors seemed to mind – and it certainly seemed a lot safer than him going to the Slytherin common room. He had asked McGonagall a couple of weeks prior about how cross-house visitation worked. As long as everyone was okay with her in the common room, she could visit.

"Terrified, actually," pointed out Harry as he moved a chess piece.

"You'll be fine," said Ron as he announced check mate. "Honestly Harry, as much as we play, you should be better at this."

"Yeah. Yeah. Rub it in why don't you."

"Reckon I'll see you before hand tomorrow?"

"I hope so," said Harry.

Hermione chuckled lightly. At Harry's questioning look, she grinned. "I wouldn't think that you'd blush as much as you still do."

As retaliation, he sent a tickling hex at her.

"Miss Nott, third year curfew is in 20 minutes," said Finley, a 6th year Gryffindor prefect.

Harry hopped up, then pulled Gabriella to her feet. He stepped outside the portrait with her. "I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sleep well," she said as she kissed him.

"You too," he said while smiling.

"Well at least you weren't in a make out fest like – well nevermind," McGonagall said as she came around the corner.

Harry and Gabriella jumped apart guiltily, even though they hadn't really been doing anything.

"Third year curfew is in 15 minutes, Miss Nott. Run along."

Harry stepped back inside the portrait after McGonagall.

"Weasley, Granger, I need to see you."

"Which one?" called out Fred.

"Ronald."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all exchanged funny looks. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning."

They nodded to him as they followed their head of house out of the Tower.

A/N: As you can see, I kept the chapter longer, instead of cutting it in half. As I was writing the third task (yes third, not second), I realized that I had completely skipped Valentines Day, and that couldn't happen with Harry having a girlfriend, so I figured I would play around with his cluelessness about girls and see what I could come up with. Hopefully everyone liked it.

I originally didn't have Gabriella having a birthday, at least not during the school year, but around the same time I added the V-Day scene, I decided to add her birthday that way we can see him interact with her some more. And besides, I had to use the 'if i live to be 100, i doubt i'll ever understand girls' line. *grins*

As for the un-named gift that Harry received as well as Gabriella's un-named birthday present. They *might* be made known at a later date. hehe

I realize that there isn't a lot of Snape in this chapter and I apologize. Of course, I didn't quite realize that fact until I went to write the scene where Harry asks him if he could have the gillyweed. By then, this chapter was already fairly long, so instead of adding a scene or two with him, I figured that would try to make up for it in a later chapter. =)

I hope everyone liked my take on how Harry figured out the egg (without Cedric's help) and then his struggle with it as he tried to figure out how to breathe under water. He was struggling pretty bad if he even considered transfiguration. hehe

Graven: The answers to your questions: I asked Snape if he had a favorite cauldron and he pointed to one. When I asked him if he had a pet name for it ... I was sentenced to scrubbing all of them! *flail* I'm afraid that I can't confirm or deny if the smurfs are indeed related to the house elves, but during my said detention with Snape, he did take a fire call from someone and I clearly heard "I HATE SMURFS!" in the background. As for an answer to your final question, well, hopefully the next chapter will answer it quite nicely. bwahahahaha

And for the record, if I suffer from a case of writer's block, then it's Graven's fault for not giving me the antidote! *nods*

French: I didn't leave the torches with the pitch forks because I was hoping that I'd be able to hide from the mob better in the dark. ;-) After all, you can't poke me with sharp objects if you can't see me!

Up next, the second task! I still need to do some editing. (There's something off about it and I need to figure out what it is.) I imagine it will be up in a couple of days