Chris didn't see much of his friends over the next few weeks. Harry had finally solved the egg's riddle but as it was now so close to the second task; he was forced to spend all his free time searching for a solution with the help of Ron and Hermione. Chris, of course, would have been happy to help, but he didn't want to be thought of as either helping or sabotaging the enemy, so he was spending most of his time with the other members of magic school, only seeing his friends in lessons and meal times.

Wyatt too was becoming increasingly distant with Chris and he was even beginning to avoid Callum's company. The lake water was still somehow blocking his active powers meaning that while he would be able to use his orb helmet to breath, he was completely defenceless against anything that might be living in the lake.

He used every opportunity to sneak out of the grounds and orb back to the manor, constantly experimenting with some potion or spell. Callum insisted that using a wand was going to be Wyatt's only solution and that most probably some sort of enchantment had been placed on the lake to prevent Wyatt using his advantage as he had done in the first challenge. Wyatt, however, rejected this theory out of hand. Although his use of the wand was noticeably improving, he was still struggling to master simple defensive spells, let alone anything that could defeat a mermaid or whatever else he may face.

The problem was, reasoned Wyatt, that he had too much power to fit down a single stick. And indeed Professor Flitwick, whom they had consulted for some extra tuition, admitted that this could be part of the problem. In Wyatt's frustration he had now accidentally exploded three wands by attempting to use his full power to levitate a single feather. Flitwick had also suggested that Wyatt's negative attitude towards wand work and his unwillingness to work at it could also be contributing to his inability, but Wyatt maintained it was his excess of power.

With both wands and active powers out of the question, therefore, Chris found himself spending an unreasonable amount of time in the days leading up to the second task in the library with Cullum: researching whatever they could about the potential lake creatures and their weaknesses, in order to help Wyatt come up with vanquishing potions he could carry with him into the lake.

"Ok, here's something." Said Chris, leafing through his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. "The Grindylow. It says here that they live in lakes across Britain and that sometimes mer-people can keep them as pets." Callum nodded, adding the name to the list.

"Any weaknesses?" He asked, clearly very bored. Callum was not the book type and indeed he had spent the last twenty minutes doodling in his copy of 'Magical Beasts of the British Isles' pictures of fierce looking mermaids with tridents spearing Wyatt as he failed to use his wand. It was fair to say that Callum wasn't too happy with his best friend. He had originally been helping Wyatt down in the potion lab, but after one too many comments about Wyatt's impudence with a wand; he had been banished to the library to help Chris.

"Err, yeah. It says it's a horned, pale-green water demon. So hopefully a basic demon vanquish would suffice. It also said that their long fingers are easy to break, so if worse comes to the worst Wy can always snap off their fingers and use them as some sort of dart against the merpeople." Callum nodded disinterestedly, scribbling down Chris' suggestions before returning to his cruel, but admittedly very good art work. "Hey have you ever heard of a Jarvey?" Asked Chris, slightly of topic. Callum shook his head.

"Wasn't that the computer from Iron Man?" He suggested.

"No, that was Jarvis." Corrected Chris. "It says here that a Jarvey is effectively a talking ferret which lives in Britain, Ireland and North America." Callum nodded, finding this new discovery only slightly more interesting than the search for lake creatures.

"A talking ferret? Hmm... Why don't we go track it down, put it in Wyatt's clothes and let him face the task instead? He'd probably do a better job than Wy any way and at least he might act grateful for our offered help." He suggested

"It says it tends to use short, often rude phrases and almost never shuts up."

"Huh." Considered Callum. "So it would be practically indistinguishable from Wyatt." He grinned. Chris sniggered. He too wasn't that happy with his brother either, feeling he had turned far too quickly from his original decree of refusing any help now that he had realised how tough the competition really was, but he was still trying to be a bit more helpful than Callum.

"Um what else... Kappas live in water but... oh no. They only live in shallow ponds never mind. Umm... Oh, A Kelpie. It's another water demon, but this time it usually looks like a horse. This says it lures people on to its back and dives to the bottom of the lake to devour them and lets their entrails float to the surface."

"Well, Wyatt probably won't fall for that but I should keep Mel away from the lake if she ever comes to visit." Commented Callum, not looking up from his work. He remembered all too well the number of times he had entertained Piper's youngest child by walking around on his hands and knees giving her pony rides. "Do you recon it can be killed the same way as the umm..." -he consulted the list- "Grindylow?" Chris looked down the page.

"It says here that the best way to overcome one is to get a bridle over its head with an... ahh... he would need to use a charm." Callum sighed, crossing the name of the list so they wouldn't even have to discuss it with Wyatt.

"Oh well." He said with a sigh. "We probably don't have time to find a bridle any way."

For a while the pair returned to their various activities in silence, until Chris came across a very interesting page of his book.

"Oh look." He stated. "The Manticore." Callum's head shot up in trepidation, not wanting to know what the book said about his species. "You know you sound a lot cooler in writing." Said Chris, scanning the short entry. "You're meant to have the body of a lion and the deadly tale of a scorpion." Callum frowned. He had researched Manticores and, at least in North America, they hadn't looked that way since the dark ages.

"Wow, this book is ancient!" He said, trying to grab it out of Chris hands, ignoring the stern look from the librarian who was stacking shelves nearby.

"Hey, it says here that you croon softly when you devour your pray. Do you do it at any other times as well?" Asked Chris grinning, dodging out of Callum's reach, grabbing the list and heading quickly for the door.

Xx

Eventually, the day before the task Wyatt seemed satisfied that he was ready. He had a large collection of demon vanquishes of various strength and he seemed confident that he would be able to handle whatever he might face under water. Callum had also, once he had stopped giving both Halliwells the silent treatment, persuaded Wyatt to take his wand with him as well, arguing that even though he couldn't use any spells, if he sent enough of his power down it he might create a decent sort of underwater explosion. Besides, Callum had reasoned, if all else failed, Wyatt could always poke out a few mermaids' eyes.

Chris too therefore was feeling reasonably confident. Or at least he was until he met up with Hermione in History of Magic.

"Hey." She smiled as if she hadn't seen Chris for a week. She kissed him softly as they took their seats at the back of the class next to Ron and Harry. Ron, as usual, barely acknowledged Chris' arrival and Harry was so distracted with fiddling with his wand and staring off into space that he didn't seem to notice Chris was there at all. "Look, I'm really sorry, but I don't think I'm going to be at dinner tonight." Whispered Hermione as Professor Binns made his usual entrance into the class via the blackboard.

"Why not?" Asked Chris, slightly disappointed. He missed spending time with his new friends, but more than that; he was also not sure how much longer he wanted to spend with Wyatt and Callum especially now that he had experienced such a great alternative. Hermione sighed, lowering her voice so the other members of the class wouldn't hear her.

"We still haven't found a solution to the riddle." She admitted sadly. Glancing over at Harry who was still absentmindedly playing with his wand and staring wide eyed into the middle distance and to Ron who was yawning, clearly exhausted after their recent late nights.

"What?" Exclaimed Chris slightly louder than he had intended, causing several people to turn around and stare at them. He hurriedly lowered his voice. "Hermione, the task is tomorrow. You must have some ideas!"

"We have loads of ideas." Stated Hermione, slightly annoyed at Chris' critical tone. "The problem is they're all impossible, to advanced or illegal." Chris frowned at this news. He knew he was meant to support Wyatt whole heartedly but that didn't mean he was going to abandon his friend.

"Let me help." He suggested. Hermione, who had clearly been expecting this offer, did not look at all surprised at Chris' sudden desertion of his school and brother.

"Are you sure?" She tested. "I mean people might think that you're somehow sabotaging Harry." With her words, her eyes flicked over momentarily over to Ron before returning to Chris. Chris smiled and shrugged.

"They won't still think that when Harry does really well, beats the contestants three years older than him and comes out second." He promised.

"Second?" Hermione queried with narrow eyes. Chris shrugged.

"Well I don't want to be seen as a traitor either." He reasoned with a grin, leaning over to kiss her once more.

Xx

So it was that Chris joined Harry, Ron and Hermione at their table in the library, flicking through volume after volume of thick spell and potion books trying to find anything Harry could use to allow him to breathe under water in less than fifteen hours time.

Ron was initially very suspicious of Chris' presence, constantly questioning any suggestion Chris gave, but eventually, as the night wore on he seemed convinced of Chris' genuine intentions and his frustration turned on the situation its self.

"I don't recon it can be done." He said flatly, shoving the spell book he was reading away from him in contempt. He glanced over at Chris, finally asking the question that had been playing on the lips of the frustrated Hogwarts students since Chris had joined them. "How's your brother going to do it?" He asked in a hush voice. Glancing around them to make sure no one was listening.

"Ron!" Exclaimed Hermione, but she and Harry leaned in as well. "You can't ask him that it's cheating! Harry could get really badly penalised if they found out he was copying other champions' ideas!"

"Well if they punished me by eliminating me from the second task, it wouldn't be all bad." Pointed out Harry gloomily. "At least that way I won't look like an idiot in front of three schools tomorrow when I go down there and just float around in the water for an hour."

"Oh yes, I'm sure they'' think you a hero if you're eliminated for cheating." Retorted Hermione, shoving her frizzy hair out of her face as she reached for another book.

"Wouldn't matter if I told you any way." Cut in Chris, shifting in his chair to try and find some sort of comfort. "Wyatt's using his powers and I recon your animagi plan is more likely to happen before you become half white-lighter." He stated, referring to one of the many impossible schemes the group had been hatching throughout the night.

"I still think it's unfair that your brother has all those powers." Stated Ron, very disheartened by the lack of results the evening, and week, had reaped.

"Maybe." Replied Chris, his position on this matter drastically changed since his brothers preparation for the second task. "But then again, he can't use a wand which balances things slightly, plus it's not as if he's winning by loads. He is tied with Harry." He pointed out. Ron shrugged. By now only Hermione was actually trying to find anything in the books they had. The boys had pushed their books away, giving themselves a short break before they continued, but even Hermione's patience was wearing thin.

"Oh this is no use!" She declared, snapping Weird Wizarding Dilemmas shut. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind." Said Fred Weasley who emerged unexpectedly from behind one of the bookshelves, followed by his twin brother George. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, suspicious of his brothers entering a library at any time let alone at this hour.

"Looking for you." Said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. You too Chris."

"Why?" Asked Chris slightly nervously. He knew he shouldn't technically help another school's champion, but he would think Harry's own head of house might let them off the night before such a dangerous task.

"Dunno... she was looking a bit grim though." Said Fred, making Chris feel even more concerned.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office." George added.

Chris and Ron exchanged looks with the other two. None of them could think of a reason for McGonagall to call just those two into her office. Surely if they were in trouble for helping Harry then Hermione would have been called too.

"I'll meet you back in the common room." Said Ron. "Hopefully you guys will have come up with something by then. Harry and Hermione nodded, but it was clear that they were doubtful of their odds. Chris too stood up, quickly pecking Hermione on the lips,

"I'll meet you guys in the common room too." He promised Harry as well as Hermione. "We will find a way." He stated with a lot more certainty than he truely believed. Then together, Ron and Chris followed the twins out of the libary towards McGonagall's office.

"Hey." Said Ron after a few minutes of walking. He slowed his pace to let the twins get slightly ahead of them but kept moving forward, not facing Chris. "I just want to say thanks. For helping Harry I mean."

"Of course." Replied Chris. "He's my friend. He may be competing against my brother but that doesn't mean I want him to drown." Ron smiled slightly and shrugged.

"Yeah, I know, but you didn't have to." He continued. "I mean Dumbledore is never going to let Harry die in a lake, but you are actively trying to help him win."

"Come second." Chris corrected jokingly and finally Ron stopped and turned to face him,

"I'm serious." He insisted. "What you're doing is really cool and I'm sorry I've been such a jerk for the last couple of months. If there's anything I can do to say sorry..."

"Well." Considered Chris. "You did promise to teach me to ride a broom when I got you a date with that girl you ignored for a whole night." He reminded Ron, who grinned.

"Ok, deal." He agreed without hesitation. "First thing after this task is done I will teach you." He promised, shaking Chris' hand before moving off once more at a brisk pace to catch up with his brothers.