Disclaimer: I'm afraid I can award JK Rowling only 3 points for the design of the Second Task, and yet she is the most successful author alive, and I am not. How about that?

A/N: I have deliberately ignored the problem of decompression sickness because it was not mentioned in canon. Either the dive didn't require decompression (plausible, depending on the depth of the lake), or the Bubble-Head Charm or Madam Pomfrey's potions took care of it.

Credit to guest reviewer DS for being the only reviewer to think of using the fake galleon to send a message.

Chapter 78

Harry didn't notice anything unusual until he put his robes on that morning, and his hand brushed something hot in the pocket. He pulled out the fake galleon Hermione had given him before the First Task. It was supposed to be for him to send emergency messages to her, but now, it was burning like she was sending a message to him. He looked at the rim and carefully read off the letters:

AFTER 1 HOUR=STILL SAFE—HJG

Harry didn't know what that meant, and he didn't get a chance to ask her, either. Hermione was eating breakfast that morning with Luna Lovegood, looking tired. She waved to him, but didn't speak to him.

To his surprise, it was Madame Maxime who explained what was happening: "I am afraid zat we 'ad to…er, consult wis Miss Granger about some of zee details of zee Task. To make it fair, we asked 'er not to speak to zee champions until then."

That seemed weird to Harry, but it explained why Hermione had sent the message with her galleon instead of actually telling him. It still didn't explain what it meant, though, and that worried him, since it was obviously important enough for her to break the rules to contact him. It also didn't explain where Ginny was this morning. He hadn't seen her at all, and neither had her brothers. And it also didn't explain why Professor Moody approached him after breakfast.

The Defence Professor was in a bind. He knew Potter wouldn't be able to cast a spell strong enough to breathe underwater for the Second Task, no matter what his mudblood friend came up with. He'd planned for that from the start, but apparently, that stupid Longbottom hadn't made the connection between the book he gave him and Potter's predicament. He'd even tried staging a conversation about Gillyweed someplace the Weasley Twins would hear it, but as far as he could tell, they hadn't raided Snape's stores for it. It was risky, but he'd have to do it himself.

"Psst! Potter!"

The boy hurried over to him: "Professor Moody? What is it?"

"Do ya know what you're gonna do in the Task, boy?"

"Sure. Hermione worked it all out, Professor."

He could have gagged. That boy's faith in his friend was going to get him killed before his time. "Are you sure about that?" he said. "You're gonna have to go in the Lake, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said.

Moody stared at him. "Well, just in case you need a little extra help, take this." And he thrust a ball of what looked like green, slimy rat-tails into his hand.

Harry made a face. "What's this?" he said.

"Gillyweed."

"Er, what do I do with it?"

"You eat it—if you find yourself…in over your head, so to speak. You use it to breathe underwater. That amount's good for two hours."

"Thanks." Harry didn't think he would need it, but he pocketed it and went on to the Black Lake.

Hermione went down to the Lake with the rest of the school and sat beside Septima and little Georgina Vector, with Luna in front of her and several Gryffindors scattered around her.

"You know, I didn't think the Second Task could be worse than the First Task," she said, "but I think it just might be."

"Why? They're only going into the Lake," said Lavender Brown from behind her.

"Yeah. Without proper safety equipment and in the middle of February," she complained.

"So? They're wizards and a witch. They can take care of themselves."

"And I thought you worked out a plan," added Fred Weasley.

"I did. That doesn't make this whole mess a good idea, though."

"Come on, Hermione. Quit being such a killjoy," said Seamus Finnigan. "This isn't nearly as dangerous as the dragons."

"No, but it might be more mentally scarring," she countered. "Did you know they're using hostages for this?"

"Hostages?" Septima gasped. At least one person saw how screwed up this was.

"Mm hmm. I mean, they're not supposed to be in any danger. The merpeople are supposed to protect them the whole time, but—"

"Do the champions know about this?" Septima asked.

"If they did, it would be against the rules," Hermione said cagily. In fact, she had been up half the night figuring out how to reverse the Protean Charm on her fake galleon to send a message to Harry instead of receiving.

"Well, if they're not in danger, what's the trouble," asked Fred.

"Did I mention Ginny was one of the hostages?"

"What!"

Actually, Hermione wasn't certain about that, but considering she hadn't seen Ginny all morning, it was a pretty good guess. She wondered what Percy had told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to get them to go along with it. It really wasn't fair to Ginny and the others, either, since in addition to getting press-ganged into this, they would sleep through the entire task.

"I'm sure it'll be fine if the judges are okay with it," one of the older Gryffindors said. "Nothing really bad happened with the last task, did it? Just sit back and enjoy the show."

Hermione was about to object, but she was interrupted by Bagman announcing the start of the Task: "The champions have exactly one hour to retrieve what has been taken from them, beginning on my whistle…" He blew the whistle and the champions waded into the water together. When they were about chest deep, four spells were cast, and they submerged themselves, Harry lagging only a little. There were a few ripples on the surface, and then all was calm again.

Silence gripped the lake shore as everyone watched.

"Um…what're we supposed to be watching?" Fred said.

Cedric cast the Bubble-Head Charm on himself and then on Harry. Fleur cast the same spell on herself, but Krum…Harry wasn't sure what he did. It looked like he transfigured his head into a shark's head. Harry had never heard of magic like that before.

The water was unbearably cold. It felt more like he was on fire than freezing. Like the other champions, he had worn a swimsuit under his robes, courtesy of Dean Thomas—few people bothered to pack them at Hogwarts, and purebloods had little notion of athletic wear—and stripped down before going into the water. It was irrational to wish for his robes back since they would only weigh him down and wouldn't keep the cold out, but rationality fled from him as soon as he was fully submerged.

There was a perfectly round bubble encircling his head, about as tight as it could be whilst still allowing for his hair. The air inside stayed fresh, and it was small enough that it didn't drag him up very much, but bloody hell, it was freaking cold!

He started cramping up as soon as his chest hit the water. He couldn't breathe! The others were swimming on. "Help! Cold!" he choked out, but they didn't hear him. He was vaguely aware that he couldn't hear anything but his teeth chattering. The sound didn't carry through the water.

He was just about at the point of trying to crawl back to shore when Cedric turned around and saw him. He mouthed something, then tapped Fleur and Krum on the shoulders, and they also turned around. Fleur was the first to figure out what was going on. She pointed her wand at Harry and mouthed a spell. Immediately, he felt the burning pain subside. He was still cold—very cold, like being improperly dressed on a snowy day—but he no longer felt like he was about to keel over. The cramps were slower to leave, though, and he needed a moment to catch his breath.

Harry saw Fleur mouth something at him, but he couldn't make it out. He shook his head and cupped his hand to his ear. It was odd how it went partially inside the bubble. Without warning, Fleur took him by the shoulders and leaned towards him until their bubbles intersected, and she touched her forehead to his.

"You need to use zee Warming Charm," she said. It took all his willpower to focus on what she was saying and not on gazing into her eyes. "Eet ees Calora."

"Th-th-thanks," Harry said. The stuttering wasn't from his teeth chattering.

Fleur swam away, motioning for him to follow. He tried casting the charm on himself and was pleased to find he felt a little warmer. He had a feeling he'd need that spell a lot over the next hour.

"Ten to one says this is Bagman's fault," Hermione grumbled.

"What are we all doing out here if we can't see anything?" asked Georgina.

"Because certain people didn't think this entire tournament through."

"This is silly. It's cold out here."

"It's not really involving the schools, either, is it?" George chimed in. "Only the champions know what's going on."

"I know," Ron agreed. "Fat lot of good these are doing." He held up his Omnioculars.

Hermione perked up at once. "Wait, Ron, that's it. May I see those?"

"Uh, I guess."

Ron handed her the Omnioculars, and she looked them over. They looked watertight enough. But the refraction of the water would make them useless. She considered running down to the lake shore and dipping them in the water to adjust the focus, but she'd rather not make a scene, and she wasn't sure they'd focus that far, anyway. How did they make underwater cameras? Another thought came to her. She checked her pockets. The only thing available was the jam jar she carried with her, but it would do. She placed the jar over one lens and the lid over the other, transfigured both so they were transparent, water-tight, and undistorted, charmed them unbreakable, and fastened them with a Sticking Charm. Looking through them, the view still looked pretty good. She set the Omnioculars to record, then left her seat to seek out the resident Charms Master.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Could you enchant these to follow the champions at a distance, please?"

Professor Flitwick looked at what she had put together and smiled. "Of course; I'd be happy to," he said. "This is very clever. I'd give points if I could."

"Thank you, Professor," she replied as Flitwick enchanted the device and levitated it into the Lake.

On her way back to her seat, Hermione passed the Creevey Brothers and said to them, "Colin, Dennis, I think I'm going to have a big photojournalism project for you."

The four champions followed the directions on the map to get to the merpeople's village. It was slow going. Harry was glad they had decided to work as a team. He was pretty sure that pack of grindylows that attacked them would have overrun both him and Fleur if they had been on their own.

If their sense of direction was working right, the map didn't lead them to the village itself, but to a large patch of green, vine-like plants just outside the village. They saw a few merpeople scattered around the outside of it, but they couldn't see through it.

Cedric raised his hand to halt. He turned and came towards Harry, touching their foreheads together, as Fleur had done. "Strangler seaweed," he said. "Best to go over it if we can. Don't cut it unless you have to. It won't react well."

Cedric pulled back and tried to find Krum's ear to explain to him. Fleur gave Harry an impatient look, and he realised she was waiting for him to repeat the message to her. It was much more uncomfortable for him to initiate contact with the part-veela, but he pulled it off, stuttering and shaking a little.

The four of them swam up and over the patch of strangler seaweed. The vines reached up to grab at their ankles, but they managed to stay above their reach. They swam a fair distance over the patch before they saw a small circle in the middle, and Harry's heart started racing as he saw a flash of bright red hair. He had thought about it, but he couldn't figure out what the organisers would actually take from him for the Task. Sirius was rich; he owned so little that couldn't be replaced. He should have realised weeks ago that the thing he'd most sorely miss was a person: Ginny. Is it really Ginny? he thought, but he pushed it from his mind. He'd worry about the implications later.

The four hostages were bound to the lake bed and to each other by strangler seaweed wrapped around their ankles. It would be complicated to free them. The other three hostages were Cho Chang, one of the Patil Twins—Padma, he was pretty sure; she had been Krum's date to the ball—and instead of Fleur's date, a tiny, silver-haired girl he assumed was her sister.

The words of the poem came back to him: You have not seen the stakes! He'd never thought the organisers would be stupid enough to—unless they weren't. At last, Hermione's message made sense: AFTER 1 HOUR=STILL SAFE. So the one hour time limit was a lie.

Except the other champions didn't know that. While Harry was still moving, the others had all pulled ahead of him, Krum being the fastest. Harry didn't know game theory, but he could work out basically what was happening: encourage the champions to work together and then raise the stakes to make the temptation to go their own way unbearable, and if Hermione was right about that Prisoner's Dilemma thing, that would only make things worse. It was a dirty trick.

Krum was trying to free Padma with his teeth. Harry wondered if whatever protections had been prepared accounted for shark bites. However, he first made for Fleur, who was frantically trying to cut through the tendrils that bound her sister with cutting spells, but each time she slashed, more strangler seaweed rose up and tried to grab them. Even more was arching up around them and tangling like a cage. This time, Harry didn't hesitate in grabbing Fleur and putting their heads together.

"'Arry!" she said furiously, struggling against his grip. "We must 'urry! Zee time ees more zan half over!"

"The poem lied!" he said.

"What?"

"Hermione got a message through to me. I didn't understand it until now. She says they'll be fine, even if we go over an hour."

Fleur stopped struggling. "Are you sure, 'Arry?" she said.

"I trust Hermione with my life, Fleur." He didn't wait for her answer, but pulled away to go to Cedric, who had just about freed Cho. Grabbing him and bumping their heads together a little too hard, he said, "Cedric, the poem lied. Hermione sent me a message that we can go over an hour. We still need to work together."

Cedric blinked in surprise, but after the warning he had got on the First Task—and Hermione's offers to help him—he was willing to give Harry the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, I'll get Krum," he said. He pulled Cho free, and swam off. It was only then that he saw what had happened. Krum had bitten Padma free and was already swimming away. The poem had said a lone champion could get away faster. "Krum! Krum!" he called, but he couldn't hear.

Fleur freed her sister and helped Harry free Ginny, but by now, the strangler seaweed had formed a huge cage, completely enclosing them. Krum was trying to bite his way out. Cedric raced to catch up with him, pulling Cho, but he was too late. Krum chewed a hole through the tendrils and pulled himself and Padma through it. It closed back up by the time Cedric got there, but that wasn't the worst. Krum's thrashing had set off more seaweed, which was trying to ensnare them again. Harry had no doubt the attacks would get worse if more people defected and cut their way free.

Harry and Fleur also approached the wall with wands drawn. Through the mesh, they could see Krum struggling to get away and merpeople watching and laughing. Cedric held up his hands, though, and mouthed, "No cutting!" Harry cast another Warming Charm on himself as Cedric examined the plants. Carefully, the older boy grabbed one of the tendrils with his hand and pulled it aside. It moved with little resistance. His face lit up, and he motioned for Fleur to join him. Between the two of them, with difficulty, they pulled apart an opening in the cage large enough for a person to slide through, even though there were still loose plants trying to grab all of them.

Cedric motioned for Harry to go through. He did at once, pulling Ginny along with him. He hoped she was okay. She was still warm, but completely still and not breathing. Once he was through, he looked back and saw Cedric motion for him to grab the vines Fleur was holding to let her pass through.

Krum was still struggling with the strangler seaweed outside the cage. It suddenly occurred to Harry that if he swam away now and threw some more cutting spells behind him, he might be able to slow Krum down enough to win the task. But of course, that would give Fleur and Cedric more incentive to shoot back and make the seaweed attack him. At least it would put them on an equal footing, though. It was like Hermione said. No matter what happened, everyone had something to gain by defecting, but it would turn out worse in the end. He resisted the urge, and he was sure Cedric would, too. He wasn't so sure about Fleur, but she seemed a decent sort.

Fleur got out of the cage and held the opening again for Cedric and Cho to get out. They fought off more strangler seaweed and got out of the patch. Krum was way ahead of them by now, too far to catch up, but at least the worst danger was over.

Except there was one thing neither Harry nor Hermione had accounted for: once the worst danger was over, the game theory equation changed completely. Fleur smiled and waved at the two boys and took off at top speed.

Harry and Cedric stared at each other. Harry was worried. He wasn't sure he could get back past the grindylows and other hazards on his own. Cedric was conflicted. He didn't want to abandon Harry, whom he knew wasn't really up to it, but he didn't want to give up his shot at second place, either. He knew he and Harry couldn't catch up with Fleur together. He decided to leave Harry with a bit of advice. He pointed upwards, indicating that Harry should swim to the surface and cross back on the open water, where it was safer, and then, he also took off in hot pursuit. After all, Harry had told him he wasn't trying to win, hadn't he?

Harry watched him go. He had got the message, but it really ticked him off that they both abandoned him. He would have a slow time of it getting back on his own. He was smaller than Cedric, and while he was bigger than Fleur, she had to carry less weight. It was too bad Ginny was asleep.

Unless…

He did the maths. If his idea didn't work, he could use the bubble for air and kick for the surface. If it did, he just might have a chance of catching up. He took the gillyweed from his pocket and tore off about a sixth of it, estimating the time he'd need. Then, he pulled Ginny's face towards his and prepared to Rennervate her. To his surprise, her eyes flew open as soon as her face broke through the bubble, and she gasped for air. "Harry?" she choked, shocked to see his eyes so close to hers that she was practically touching his glasses.

"Hi," Harry said. He could feel himself turning red.

Ginny, however, turned white, and she shook and spasmed against him. "Harry—what—? Cold!" she gasped.

"Sorry! Calora!"

She sighed with relief and wrapped her arms around his bare chest, and they both started blushing. It didn't help that with no bubble of her own, she had to put her lips less than two inches from his to breathe. "What happened?" She asked. "Why are we underwater?"

"Long story. The others abandoned me. I need your help getting back. Do you have your wand?"

She checked her pocket. "Yeah."

"Good. Eat this." He squeezed his hand between them and popped the smaller portion of gillyweed in her mouth. "Moody gave it to me. It'll let you breathe underwater."

Ginny made a disgusted face. It tasted awful. But she was stuck a hundred feet underwater, so she had few options. She quickly chewed the rubbery stuff and forced herself to swallow. As she did, their lips accidentally touched.

They froze. Ginny had just enough sense to linger for a moment so she could call it a real kiss. Harry didn't pull away. How many people had their first kiss underwater? she wondered. When she pulled back, they both stared at each other uneasily, their eyes too close to focus properly. Then, she smiled: "If I have to taste it, so do—ach!" She gagged, wretched, and pulled her face out of the bubble. A moment later, she took in a lungful of water.

Harry was tense, ready to act if something went wrong, but Ginny grinned like a schoolgirl. She had gills and seemed to be breathing happily. She looked like she could see clearly, too. Then she grimaced and ripped off her shoes as quick as she could. Her feet were growing into long, flat fins the size of muggle swim fins. What was more, her hands had become webbed. Realising the advantage she'd just gained, she grinned again with a look up determination, and, grabbing Harry back around the chest, kicked off and propelled the two of them forward at a speed the other champions couldn't hope to match.

"So how have you been doing, Georgina?" Hermione asked. "I'm sorry I haven't really had time to talk to you."

"I'm having a lot of fun this year," she said eagerly. "It's cool getting to learn more about the wizards in other countries."

"Oh? Are they getting friendlier, now?"

"Uh huh. I think they've been nicer since Christmas."

"Nothing like a Yule Ball to bring people together, maybe?" Hermione asked. The fact that both Fleur and Krum went with Hogwarts students probably helped. They were certainly friendly enough when she met with them yesterday. "So what do you think of the Tournament so far?" she ventured.

"The dragons were cool, but really scary," Georgina said. "This is just boring."

Well, at least she understands that much, Hermione thought. "Yes, somebody really didn't think this through," she agreed. "I just hope the champions don't have problems with their plan."

"People were pretty mad when Harry did so well in the First Task," Georgina offered, "but my friends thought it was cool when I told them you figured out that spell. Did you invent one for Harry to use this time?"

"Sort of. I invented a lot of hexes for him to use, but this task is a lot more about strategy than spells."

"That's neat. I'm trying to test into Arithmancy for next year."

"Really?" Hermione smiled. "It looks like I've started a trend. I hope you get in." She was surprised Hogwarts didn't have an accelerated track to begin with, even if it wouldn't be used much.

As they watched, the first champion emerged from the lake. It was Viktor Krum, who quickly changed his shark's head back to human. The crowd cheered—mostly the Durmstrang contingent and their Slytherin friends. Padma Patil, whom he had brought back with him, immediately gasped for breath and started thrashing. Waking up in the icy water had to be a horrifying experience. Several Durmstrang students jumped in the water to help pull the two of them to shore, over the judges' protests. Madam Pomfrey approved, however, and told them to carry her in. She and Krum both went into the medical tent.

Hermione frowned to see that the other champions weren't with them. Had Krum abandoned the group, as she had feared? Had something happened to the others? Or, she realised with a start, had their alliance fallen apart as soon as they were out of danger? She had no way of knowing until the others got back, or at least until Krum reported something.

A couple minutes later, there was a big surprise as Harry and Ginny burst out of the water at high speed, flipped over, and flopped back down into the water like a pair of dolphins. Harry flailed a bit and started dog-paddling to shore. However, Ginny popped up, waved to the crowd with a webbed hand, and then dove beneath the surface again with a kick of feet that looked like flippers. Harry got close enough to stand and wade out, but Hermione could only see Ginny's red hair as she swam by his side under the water.

"Unbelievable!" Bagman roared. "Potter takes second place by convincing Diggory cast the Bubble-Head Charm on him, and then reviving his hostage and feeding her gillyweed to get him back faster. Talk about a weird strategy. It was a real sneaky trick if he planned it that way."

"It wasn't a trick," Hermione said, though truthfully, she didn't know what it was. She didn't know what gillyweed was offhand, and that was saying something.

"Bloody hell!" It was Neville. All eyes turned to him. "Gillyweed! I should have thought of that!"

"Huh?"

"You should've?"

"It was in that book Moody gave me. It gives you gills so you can breathe underwater. I could've ordered him some if I thought of it soon enough. I wonder where he got it."

"Hmm, I don't know," Hermione said. "Maybe Moody?"

"If he's trying to help Harry win," Ron suggested.

That was possible, Hermione thought. In that case, could Moody have been the one who'd entered him? That would explain a lot—except for a motive. What could he have to gain from Harry winning? No. More likely, he was just trying to help Harry survive, like she was.

Harry was waiting in the shallows while Ginny was still under the surface. Apparently, the gillyweed took time to wear off. It was another minute before she stood up, coughing water out of her lungs as Harry held her steady. He helped her limp the rest of the way to shore, and she clung to him from the cold.

At that moment, Ron's Omnioculars popped out of the water, following Harry. Flitwick had evidently charmed them to focus on him. Hermione raced down the stands to grab them. She snatched them out of the air and was about to turn the recording off when the shouting match started.

"Oh, sure, leave me behind, will you?" Harry snapped.

Fleur had emerged from the lake, closely followed by Cedric. Harry didn't look too happy with them.

"You seem to 'ave done well for yourself," Fleur said. "You 'ad gillyweed zee entire time, and you did not tell us?"

"I got it right before the Task. I didn't think I'd need it," he said.

All three champions and their hostages were staggering towards the medical tent. All of them were shaking from the cold, although Ginny looked less badly off than the others. Madam Pomfrey took them one by one to wrap them in blankets and force-feed them Pepperup Potion.

"I thought we agreed to work together," Cedric confronted Krum.

"Dey did not tell us people vould be in danger," Krum replied gruffly. "I could not allow Padma to be harmed on my behalf."

"We were trying to tell you the poem lied. She was never in any real danger."

"I had no reason to dink dat. I did vhat I tought vas needed."

"It shouldn't have mattered anyway," Harry protested. "Working together was the right stratgey either way…Right, Hermione?"

Hermione blinked a couple times when Harry looked at her. "Er, right," she answered, registering what he said. "In a strict game theory analysis, the payouts and penalties in the Prisoner's Dilemma don't matter. It's just a matter of which ones are larger than which others." Well, it might be a little more complicated than that, she reasoned to herself. With four players and uncertain payouts, depending on the exact design of the task, the heuristically-estimated expectation values for each course of action might make defecting an absolutely superior strategy, even with communication. Communication was what made the alternative strategy possible, but it wasn't foolproof. She'd have to look at the recording to estimate things better.

And how would people react if she published the photo of Viktor Krum abandoning the other champions? She wasn't sure she wanted to go that far. She spotted a beetle clinging to her robes as she considered it and brushed it away. She didn't remember Hogwarts having this many insects last year.

The champions were still arguing it out when Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice boomed across the lake: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision and awarded scores as follows. Viktor Krum returned first with his hostage, and within the one-hour time limit, making excellent use of partial self-transfiguration. We award him a full fifty points!"

The crowd cheered, but Hermione harrumphed and crossed her arms. Apparently, the judges didn't care which strategy anyone used.

"Harry Potter returned with his hostage two minutes outside the time limit. However, he made excellent use of both the Bubble-Head Charm, convincing one of his fellow champions to cast it on him, and gillyweed, enlisting Ginevra Weasley's help in returning to the surface faster. Therefore, we award him forty-eight points."

More cheers from Harry's supporters, who had been gradually increasing since the First Task. Hermione applauded her friend, despite her distaste for the whole thing.

"Fleur Delacour also used the Bubble-Head Charm and returned with her hostage six minutes outside the time limit. We award her forty-three points. And finally, Cedric Diggory used the Bubble-Head Charm and was last to return with his hostage at seven minutes over. We award him forty points."

So Fleur and Cedric were tied for last, while Harry was in a surprise close second—a surprise to Hermione, at least. A lot of the school didn't seem surprised at all (resentful, perhaps, but not surprised) that the Boy-Who-Lived could dominate two-thirds of his competition.

The after-party for the Second Task got a little wild, primarily because Fred and George yelled out "Free sweets! Courtesy of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!" and set out a tray of suspect desserts. No one over the age of five in the muggle world would fall for that, but many of the Gryffindors apparently did.

"Fred! George!" Hermione scolded. "You can't just set out your test products for people to grab like that—why are they even crazy enough to eat them?"

"Au contraire, Hermione," George told her. "We're not testing anything. All of these sweets are fully tested and ready for production. This is just advertising."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Advertising?"

"Of course. Canary Cream?" Fred offered.

She flicked her eyes between his face and the sweet in his hand suspiciously. "What does it do?"

There was a loud CHEEP! as one of the more adventurous boys ate one and turned into a giant, anthropomorphic canary, drawing lots of laughs from the Common Room.

"See, all in good fun," George said. "We're making some pretty good sales."

"I didn't know you were that far along," Hermione said. "How many products do you have."

"Only about a dozen ready for the shelves—if we had shelves—but we have a lot more in the works."

"Stop by the Burrow this summer, and we'll show you the Daydream Charms we're working on," Fred added. "We're self-studying runes to put them together. I think you'll like them." He wagged his eyebrows.

Hermione made a face at him, not wanting to go down that road, wherever it was leading. "What about money?" she asked. "I don't think Bagman's got your savings back to you."

"No, it's a pain in the arse, starting from scratch," George admitted. "At this rate, we'll be lucky to be able to rent a building once we graduate."

"But we'll figure it out, won't we, Georgie," Fred replied, ever the optimist. "Even if we have to start with a stall in Diagon Alley and work our way up."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck, then," Hermione said. They really did have a lot of potential. It was too bad they had such an uphill battle to get started.

Calora: Based on the Latin for "heat".

Triwizard scores after the Second Task. Viktor Krum: 90. Harry Potter: 88. Fleur Delacour: 78. Cedric Diggory: 78.