Dear reader,

I sincerely apologise for the hiatus between this chapter and the last- especially as it is a two parter. I was distracted by five 2000 word essays I had to research, Christmas, and then returning to university without the book. Any way, I have now borrowed the book from a friend and have written this 4,628 word chapter which I hope will appease you as I work on the next which will be released far more punctually.

Thank you so much for not giving up on me and if you are ever curious about future updates you can always visit my profile on which is a list of all my stories and information, which I update, about when the next chapter is likely to be published.

Thank you once again. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Reeliams.

The great hall was brimming with excitement the following morning, but Wyatt was too distracted by the conspicuous absence of his brother and Harry to join in.

"Oh relax." Sighed Callum as he tucked into his second bacon sandwich of the morning. "I'm sure they just stayed up too late talking and overslept. Any minute now the four of them will walk through the door, Chris will be ready to cheer you on and Harry will have a genius idea which will show you up for the second challenge in a row."

Wyatt was too concerned about the fourth year's chances, however, that he didn't even seem to register the comment. His eyes kept on flicking towards the door.

"What if he didn't find a solution though?" Questioned Wyatt. "That kid is supposed to breath under water for an hour, and as of last night he had nothing."

"Yeah well he didn't have your little brother helping him out then, did he?" Pointed out Callum, though he too had doubts. "Besides, even if he doesn't come up with anything, they're not going to let him drown! Hopefully 'the thing that they took' from him won't be too valuable. What do you reckon it is?"

Wyatt shrugged, he hadn't given that part of the riddle too much thought- he had been too preoccupied with vanquishing potions and orb bubbles. Eventually the pair had to accept the fact that the others weren't joining them for breakfast, and they headed out into the entrance hall to walk down to the lake.

"Seriously though, what if Harry doesn't have a solution?" Questioned Wyatt. He hated having to compete against Harry- he saw too much of Chris in him for him to want Harry to fail, but he also knew that this concern wasn't going to win him the competition.

"Well-" Considered Callum. "-either he will meaning you get to compete against all three of the champions, giving you the chance to prove that you are indeed the true champion. Or he won't, all your worrying will have been correct, and you will have been proven right. And I know how much you love to be right. See, win win." Callum grinned. Wyatt rolled his eyes, but he didn't respond as at that moment Harry came running down the stairs, clutching something green in his hand, closely followed by Hermione.

"Hey, where's Chris?" He asked.

"And Ron..." Added Callum, beginning to put two and two together. Harry and Hermione exchanged looks- torn between telling Wyatt and Callum what Dobby had told them and wanting to keep the secret that Dobby had been the one who found a solution rather than Harry. Wyatt, however, had worked it out too.

"What I'll sorely miss?" He asked- quoting the egg. Hermione nodded. Callum winced- expecting an explosion from Wyatt, but his friend was strangely calm. As the group walked down Callum grew more curious.

"Why aren't you angrier?" He asked- not bothering to beat around the bush. "You do realise your baby brother has been taken and is currently trapped at the bottom of a lake surrounded by merpeople and water demons right?" Wyatt grinned.

"I can sense him." He stated simply and Callum immediately understood the advantage this gave the twice blessed. "Not only do I know he's ok, but I also know where he is- the moment I'm in the water I'll know his location so I won't even need to waste time searching."

"Good thing too." Stated Callum. "You're a slow enough swimmer as it is without needing to read a map at the same time." Wyatt rolled his eyes, shoving his friend slightly more than was necessary in response.

"Well all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle." Boomed Ludo Bagman's voice to the crowed once everyone had assembled down by the lake. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"

Wyatt walked confidently into the lake. Not bothering to waste any time he dived straight into the freezing cold depths, barely managing to raise his orb helmet before he was submerged. This had to be the easiest task yet, he thought to himself as he took a few moments to sense for Chris, even the dragon posed more of a challenge- and he is the heir to Excalibur! Not only could he breath as easily as if he were on land, but he also had no problem with working out where to go, as now he was under the water, he could easily sense out his brother's location. He was also armed to the teeth with a number of potions, as well as two athames, in case any of the monsters Chris and Callum had researched tried to cause him problems,

Even as he thought this, he felt something brush against his leg. He reacted instinctively- kicking out hard at the creature who was wrapping his long spindly fingers around his arm. The kick didn't dislodge the creature and through the murky water, Wyatt could see other shadows coming his way. Quickly he reached into his small bag of potions and drew one of them out, not hesitating as he through it at the water demon.

Nothing happened. The water prevented the potion from traveling fast enough so by the time it reached the creature it was going too slow. Instead it simply bounced off and started floating away and as it did so, another one of the creatures reached his other leg.

Still refusing to panic, Wyatt reached back into his bag, this time bringing out one of his athames but it was no use. The blade didn't seem to have any effect on the water demons at all- all he was doing was wasting time.

A third creature had now arrived. Its head knocked against the floating potion, trapping it between the three of them. If only he could find a way to smash it, Wyatt thought, he would be able to get away before any more of them arrived. He considered using his athame, but he was already deep into the lake and the water pressure prevented him from building up enough momentum with a swing of his arm to break the glass.

Desperately, Wyatt reached once more into his bag, hoping he might find another weapon he had forgotten about and, after a moment's rummaging, his fingers wrapped around a thin stick of wood- his wand! Callum had insisted he brought it with him just in case anything went wrong and now Wyatt was glad he had as although he hadn't managed to master the wand; he had learned how to make some quite forceful explosions with it. Most of the time they were accidental and a complete embarrassment for the twice blessed, but now they were exactly what he needed.

"Expelliarmus!" He yelled- or, at least, tried to yell as all that emerged from his mouth was a large amount of bubbles. The one time he had tried this spell on solid land he had created a forceful blast, sending Callum flying across the room with exactly the sort of power he needed now and thankfully his plan worked. The energy from his wand created a storm of bubbles as it headed straight for the small potion bottle- exploding it instantly- sending the potion through the water, straight into the bodies of the water demons. The potion wasn't enough to kill them, but the moment they released Wyatt's legs he swam upwards, resolving to stay closer to the surface- away from the weed where more creatures could be lurking- until he got closer to Chris.

Wyatt didn't meet any other obstacle as he continued on his path towards his brother. Every now and then he thought he saw a shadow dart away from him, but the water dwellers seemed to have learnt to keep their distance. Wyatt also had a sneaking suspicion that something was following him, so he decided not to put his wand back in his bag until both he and his brother were back on dry land.

Finally, after about half an hour, Wyatt began to hear noises and as he got closer he started to make out eerie voices- just like he had heard coming from the egg. Excited, he picked up the pace of his swimming- which had slowed down during his dull, steady movement through the murky water- and about a minute later he came upon a large rock with images of merpeople carved on it. Many of them appeared to be carrying spears and were in pursuit of some sort of huge octopus. No, not octopus- squid. Chris had told him that a giant squid lived in the lake, although Wyatt hadn't really believed him until now. Either way, Wyatt guessed that this rock marked the entrance to merpeole's home.

Before he could make his way any further in, however, something large and silvery shot past him, making him shoot backwards in shock- his sudden gesture inadvertently sent a stream of bubbles from his wand. Wyatt squinted ahead, trying to see what had swam past him- or, more accurately- whom. As the figure swam into a small ray of light which had somehow made it this far under water, the light shimmered of its hair in a way Wyatt recognised all too well. It was Fleur.

She had to have been following Wyatt all the way here- he had sensed something following him since those creatures had attacked. Fuming at this deceit, Wyatt pushed off the rock, swimming as fast as he could in pursuit of the girl- but she was a much faster swimmer than him and by the time he had made it through the merpeople's city, taking no note of the impressive dwellings nor the observing merpeople themselves, to a large statue in the middle of the settlements, only three bodies remained attached.

Wyatt spotted Chris immediately and didn't hesitate as he pulled out his athame and cut his brother lose. The moment Chris was free, Wyatt pushed hard off the base of the statue- hoping he could still catch up to Fleur. It was only at this point that he noticed an extra figure by the champions. Harry too had arrived at the statue- seemingly having beaten both himself and Fleur- why had he ever worried? Instead of simply grabbing his redheaded friend and taking first place, however, he was apparently waiting to make sure not only his own hostage was saved, but every one else's too.

"What are you doing?" He called down to the boy, although only bubbles came out.

Harry, however, seemed to have understood him as he mouthed back; "I'm not leaving her." He gestured to the only unclaimed hostage, a very pretty girl whom Wyatt vaguely recognised at Cedric's date to the Yule ball.

"She'll be fine!" Insisted Wyatt- the competition was designed to challenge and endanger the champions- not innocent students. Even so, Harry didn't move. Wyatt groaned. This kid was just as stubborn as Chris and he was clearly not going to be swayed. For a second, Wyatt considered actually going back down and pulling Harry out of the water as well but he decided against it. He had underestimated Harry at every stage so far and time was still ticking on. He wasn't as fast a swimmer as Harry and if he didn't leave now he wouldn't get Chris back to the surface before the hour was up, and at the end of the day Chris was his priority. In one final effort to sway Harry, he tapped the place on his wrist his watch would usually sit to remind Harry of the deadline, before pushing off from the top of the statue and heading back towards the surface.

The moment Wyatt reached the cool air above the lake, he dropped his orb shield. He breathed in several delightfully cool breaths of air, which tasted so sweet compared to the oxygen filtered through the orbs, before he got his Barings. He heard the noise of the crowds on the lake's edge before he spotted them- they were somewhat in the distance but even so he could make out the small group of magic school pupils cheering accompanied by the considerably larger group of Slytherin students who had apparently adopted him as their champion instead of either of the Hogwarts ones.

Before he could start the long swim back to the shore, he was suddenly startled by a large gasp from besides him marking Chris' revival.

"Well this is nice." Chris spluttered- slightly shivering from the cold February air. Wyatt smiled but now Chris was safe, his mind had returned to the bottom of the lake with Harry. He wondered if he had done the right thing- who knew how long the magic Harry was using would last and even though Dumbledore would have made sure the hostages were safe- there was no guarantee the same could be said for Harry. "Hey, Wy!" Said Chris, snapping Wyatt out of his contemplation. "Look, I love a morning swim in freezing waters as much as the next guy but is there any chance we could maybe head for dry land?"

"Right, yeah." Agreed Wyatt- noticing his brother's shivering becoming more pronounced He grabbed Chris' arm once again and kicked off- using his other hand and strong kicks to propel them quickly through the water. He ignored Chris' comments that he was a better swimmer than Wyatt and kept a firm grip of his little brother all the way until they reached dry land- only relinquishing him when madam Pomfrey arrived and forcibly separated the pair.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Called Hermione as she ran up and embraced Chris. Wyatt ignored her however as now he was certain of his brother's wellbeing- his mind was back focused on Harry and his eyes were flicking around the lake's surface looking for any sign of life.

"Is Harry still down there?" Wyatt turned to see who had asked such an obvious question and his eye's met with those of Cedric Diggory- who was looking very concerned.

"What are you doing here?" He asked- anger creeping its way to the surface.

"I was attacked by a bunch of Grindylows- there were too many of them and they almost got me, then there was this blinding light and I was back at the surface." Explained Cedric. "There was nothing I could do- there were too many."

"So you just left your hostage behind?" Questioned Wyatt. Cedric opened his mouth- clearly startled by Wyatt's anger, but before he had a chance to explain, Wyatt continued. "You know, Harry is waiting for you down there right?" Cedric's eyes grew even wider with concern at this news. "He didn't want to leave any of them down there so he's waiting to make sure no one gets left behind."

"But..." Began Cedric, taking a step back from the growing rage in Wyatt's eye. Before the enquiry could escalate any further, however, a cheer arose from the still watching crowd and Wyatt snapped his focus back to the lake to see three bobbing heads in the distance- Harry was back. Wyatt ran down to the bank- planning to swim out to help, but Madam Pomfrey ambushed him- wrapping him tightly and seemingly inescapably in a towel and insisting he stayed on land. Wyatt could only watch, therefore, as Harry, Ron and Cho their slow process through the water.

"'E saved ze girl too." Came Fleur's voice, and Wyatt thought he detected a hint of admiration in it. Wyatt nodded, but didn't turn to face her.

"You followed me." He stated- trying to keep his voice as devoid from annoyance as possible.

"But of course." She replied simply, and Wyatt didn't need to look at her to know that she had a small smile on her face.

"You cheated." He added.

"So it iz cheating for me to follow you, but not cheating to 'ave a magical connection with your brother zat told you where 'e was?" She challenged. Wyatt didn't respond- he had no defence, but this whole situation- from them taking Chris to Fleur following him and now Harry was beginning to get on his last nerve. "At ze beginning of ze task you and 'arry went one way and Cedric another. Would you rather I 'ad followed Cedric and been attacked by zose Grindylow as well? Maybe zen I would have 'ad to drop out and 'arry would be pulling my sister out of zere instead, is zat what you would rather?" Wyatt kept his eyes fixed firmly on Harry who had now made it to the bank and was being swaddled in a towel of his own.

Wyatt could almost feel Fleur's eye's burning into the back of his neck, but he was too annoyed at everything to apologise. Furious, Fleur stormed over to where Harry was standing and embraced him in a hug.

"You waited to make sure everyone was ok!" She exclaimed, pulling out of the hug to gaze into Harry's eyes. "You would 'ave saved her, even though she was not your's to save!" Harry shrugged sheepishly, apparently uncertain how to reply about this hypothetical thank you. Fleur then bent down and kissed Harry twice on either cheek, before turning to Ron.

"And you, you would 'ave 'elped!" She commended, kissing him on the cheek as well. Ron looked stunned and reached up to the place where Fleur's lips had touched him, apparently uncertain of what to do next. Then with a flick of her hair, she turned back to face Wyatt, a steely look in her eye before stalking back to where her little sister was standing.

Wyatt knew she had only done that to annoy him- or maybe even make him jealous- but even so it just added to the list of things that were pissing him off about this day.

"You alright?" Asked Chris, who had taken advantage of Harry and Ron's return to slip away from Hermione's side. "Harry told me what happened in the lake. He said it looked like you were ready to just pull him out of there." Wyatt nodded. "Hey, at least you came second." Chris added- clearly sensing his brother's frustration. Wyatt shrugged but was saved having to respond by Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice suddenly booming across the grounds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached out decision. Mer-chieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows..."

"Mr Cedric Diggory, though he demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as he approached her goal and failed to retrieve his hostage. We award him twenty-five points." Wyatt looked over to where Cedric was standing with Cho and Harry and saw him shaking his head- clearly he felt he deserved much lower.

"Miss Fleur Delacour, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with her hostage, though she returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We award her forty-seven points." A small cheer erupted from Fleur's class mates and some of the Ravenclaws who had clearly chosen to support Fleur. Fleur gave the crowed a glowing smile which seemed to enchant all the boys and many of the girls, before flicking her hair back to the group of judges.

"Mr Wyatt Halliwell used a... Ummm..." Ludo paused apparently unfamiliar with white-lighter magic and allowed Professor Lawrence to whisper a brief explanation in is ear. "...An orb shield, was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty two points." An eruption of cheers came from the magic school students and Slytherins alike and Wyatt felt Callum slap him hard on the back and ruffle his hair in congratulation.

"Mr Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect." Bagman continued. "He returned last and well outside the time limit of an hour. However the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all the hostages to safety, not merely his own." Wyatt saw the looks of resigned exasperation Harry's two friends gave him and guessed this wasn't the first time Harry had exhibited such aspirations. "Many of the judges feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However... Mr Potter's score is forty-five points."

Wyatt's heart sank. Despite everything- his connection to Chris, all his power and preparation, he had still come third- last out of everyone who had completed the task. He had been beaten by Fleur's trickery and Harry's 'moral fibre'- a trait which any other day that his brother was not being held captive at the bottom of a lake, he himself frequently exhibited.

Letting his frustration finally overpower him completely, Wyatt turned on his heels and walked away from the celebrating crowds and headed down towards the school gates. The moment he left the boundaries of Hogwarts, he orbed straight to the underworld- vowing not to return until he had used up the remainder of his energy and potions on every last demon he ran into.

Chris watched his brother walk away sadly. He couldn't imagine how hard this must be on Wyatt- all his life he had mocked witches who used wands, and had been told he was the most powerful witch that had ever lived. And now he was being beaten in magical competition by a fourteen year old.

"Don't worry, he'll calm down." Said Callum- although there was a sense of unease behind his voice. Neither of them spoke for a while, and they barely registered the activity around them as people began to make their way back to the castle.

"Hey, do you want to come back to the tower?" Asked Hermione with a large smile on her face. "There's always some sort of party after a Gryffindor victory- they'll be food and drink and..."

"I think I'm just going to wait for Wyatt." Cut in Chris- too concerned about his brother to be in the mood for festivities. Hermione's smile fell slightly but she nodded- assuring him that the party would continue for most of the day if he changed his mind, and then she hurryied away to catch up with Ron and Harry.

Chris and Callum remained out in the grounds until everyone had left. They knew Wyatt wouldn't return for hours- if he even returned today at all, but they both just stood there for a long while staring at the place where Wyatt had orbed away from, until Callum finally broke the silence.

"God, that task was dull to watch!" He said in an obvious attempt to break the tension.

"Yeah well it wasn't that much fun for me either." Chris commented, finally pulling his eyes away from the gate to face Callum.

"Yeah, but at least you were unconscious! I was literally staring at some water for over an hour with no clue of what was actually going on- I was promised that these games would be a spectator sport!"

"I'm sure you found ways to pass the time." Said Chris. Callum shrugged.

"Fred and George showed me some of the tricks they're working on for their joke shop which were pretty cool, and Lee Jorden attempted a commentary of what he reckoned was happening down there, but mostly it was just sitting on the freezing cold ground watching bubbles occasionally come to the surface. Chris smiled slightly, but his mind was still on Wyatt. He couldn't sense him which meant he was most probably in the underworld- a fact that did little to put him at ease.

Eventually the pair decided to go back inside, grab some food from the Great Hall and then wait for Wyatt back in the common room. They passed the time by trying out a few of the new wizarding bored games they had discovered during their time at Hogwarts. Callum, with his superior manticore reflexes, destroyed Chris at exploding snap, but they were roughly equal at gobstones and wizard chess.

It took perhaps six hours for Wyatt to return. None of the other magic school students had even returned yet as they had been invited to various celebrations and meet ups with their Hogwarts friends. Chris was working on his potions homework, but was jolted back to the room by the slamming of the secret entrance door and Wyatt's angry mutterings- clearly demon hunting hadn't calmed him down as much as they had hoped.

It looked like he was just going to storm up to his room without a word, but, when he spotted Chris and Callum sat there- clearly waiting for him- he paused, crossing his arms as he starred down at the two concerned faces. "What?" He demanded. Chris and Callum exchanged glances, and then Callum spoke.

"How are you doing?" He asked, trying to keep his voice as light and cheery as possible.

"I'm fine." Replied Wyatt simply, turning away to walk towards the dormitories, but Callum was quicker and shot out of his seat to block his path.

"Really?" He questioned, looking up and down Wyatt's body. His clothes were singed- suggesting he had been near one or two explosions and where his skin was exposed it was covered in cuts and grazes. His hands were balled into fists and Chris could see they were particularly bruised and his face was covered in flecks of demon blood. "Because you look terrible."

"I'm fine." Wyatt repeated through gritted teeth. "I just needed to blow off a little steam."

"So you got beaten by a fourteen year old, who cares." Said Callum. "Your little brother just beat me at two games of wizard chess in a row and you think I gave up? No, I insisted we play again and I have no doubt that if he hadn't have wanted to do his potions homework instead I would have beaten him!" Wyatt rolled his eyes.

"That's not the same, and that's not why I'm annoyed."

"So you admit you are annoyed? I thought you said you were fine." Challenged Callum. For a second it looked like Wyatt was going to punch him, but instead he just swiped his hand to the right, telekinetically pushing him into the side of the nearest chair before marching upstairs without a second look.

"I thought we promised we'd never go to bed angry." Callum called after him mockingly. Wyatt didn't respond. For a few seconds everything was silent, before Wyatt's voice suddenly exploded from above them.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Chris and Callum sprinted towards the stairs- tackling them two at a time until they reached the older boy's dormitory. The moment they arrived, they instantly saw what the problem was.

The entire place was trashed- it looked like the manor after a mass demon attack except that this mess seemed methodical. Every draw was upturned and case emptied. A few loose floorboards had even been pulled up and every mattress had been thrown of the beds. Someone had been searching for something.

"Is anything missing?" Asked Chris. Callum walked over to investigate his belongings, but Chris was focused on Wyatt who was knelt on the floor by his bed next to one of the pulled up floorboards. Wyatt looked up at Chris and he was a deathly white. All his anger had gone and it was replaced by an expression Chris couldn't ever remember seeing on his brother's face. Fear.

"Excalibur." He croaked. "It's gone."