When Harry woke up, he started panicking thinking that today was the day he had to do the Second Task. He then realized it was the fifteenth of February, and the Second Task wasn't until next Friday, on the twenty-fourth of February. He mellowed out a bit by the time he got to the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron and Hermione. All the way down to the Great Hall, Harry was practicing the Bubblehead Charm, just in case Neville did forget about the gillyweed. He was getting rather good with the charm, and could produce it non-verbally when they got to the table. It was a somewhat enjoyable breakfast, as Harry decided to sit at the Slytherin Table, and eat with his girlfriend. The only thing that made it somewhat unenjoyable, was the fact that most of the Slytherins were glaring and sneering at Harry the whole time. He didn't care though, as he was only focused on Daphne.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron went to their only class for the day which just happened to be Charms. "Hurry up, and sit down." Professor Flitwick said in his squeaky voice. "Today we'll be doing a review of everything we've learned, including spells from our first year. Who can tell me the first charm we actually learned?" Like always, Hermione shot her hand right up into the air, but surprisingly, so did Ron. "Oh, Mr. Weasley, you can tell us the first charm we actually learned." Ron said in a confident, clear voice "We learned the Levitation Charm, Wingardium Leviosa, Professor Flitwick." Professor Flitwick clapped his hands together, and said "Well done. Ten points for Gryffindor. I've placed some feathers on all of your desks, you have two minutes to perform the Levitation Charm."
Malfoy grumbled something, and in less than a minute, everybody had their feather floating in the air. "Well done everybody, now we will do the Wand Lighting Charm, Lumos, then Lumos Solem, and after that Lumos Maxima. Begin!" In no time at all, the room was filled with white, bright lights, and everybody was shielding their eyes from the light. They all said the counter-charm for it, and waited for further instructions. "Now, we will perform Cheering Charms. So pick a partner, and start casting!" Flitwick said.
Ron partnered with Harry, and Hermione partnered with Daphne. Ron hit Harry with a powerful Cheering Charm, and Professor Flitwick had to lift it off of Harry. He was having trouble at first, because Harry wouldn't stop rolling around on the ground laughing. When Harry did get hit with the counter-charm, they spent the rest of the lesson casting Summoning and Banishing Charms. Everyone headed to lunch after the lesson, and this time Daphne sat with Harry at the Gryffindor Table. Everybody at the table looked at the couple, and some of the guys felt a severe bout of jealousy, as Harry was dating the most beautiful girl of their year.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Daphne went to the lake, and sat underneath the tree that was right by it. They watched the giant squid swim around in the lake, and Harry thought to himself "Next week, I'll be in that lake, and I'll have to recover something from the merpeople." Daphne saw that Harry was troubled by something. She asked him "What is it Harry?" Harry looked down at his girlfriend, and said "I was just thinking about how, on next Friday, I'm going to have to retrieve something from the merpeople in the Black Lake." Daphne got up and kissed him on his cheek, and told him "You're going to be fine. Besides you've survived more than a swim in the Black Lake."
Harry felt confident in his abilities after Daphne complimented him, and felt like he could do anything. It didn't stop him from wondering about what he had to retrieve from the Black Lake, as the week passed by faster than it ever has. He was walking downstairs to the Gryffindor Common Room from the Boys' Dormitory in his Triwizard Champion outfit, on the day of the Second Task. He saw Neville sitting by the fire waiting for him with a smile on his face, and Harry knew that Neville didn't forget the gillyweed.
They both walked to the area of the Black Lake where the competition was held, and Harry asked Neville "Have you seen Hermione, Ron, or Daphne? I couldn't find them anywhere on the way down. I'm starting to get worried." Neville shook his head and said "I haven't seen Ron and Hermione, since I gave them the message McGonagall wanted to talk to them last night. As for Daphne, the last time I saw her was when she was with you yesterday." Now Harry had a reason to be worried, because his girlfriend and his best friends haven't been seen since yesterday.
Neville walked to where the spectators were supposed be at after handing Harry the gillyweed, and Harry walked to where the champions were supposed to gather. Professor Dumbledore spoke to them, and said "In the Black Lake, there are obstacles that will try to stop you. Get through them and try to find what has been taken from you. You have the time limit of one hour. When the whistle blows, you may start." Harry, Cedric, Fleur, and Krum walked to the edge of the bridge, and waited for the whistle to blow. When it did, Fleur, Cedric, and Krum dived into the lake, while Harry swallowed down the gillyweed.
He was choking, while he was trying to get the gillyweed down his throat. He felt himself get pushed into the Black Lake, and wondered who it was. Turns out it was Mad-Eye Moody, thinking Harry was getting cold feet. When Harry hit the water, he felt himself transform, and looked at his webbed feet and hands, and felt his gills grow in. He could breathe without a problem. In complete ecstasy, he swam up to the surface, and did a backflip into the air. Then he swam towards what he thought was where the merpeople lived.
He swam through all types of caves, and saw all types of creatures in the Black Lake. One of those creatures tried to attack him, and it was the grindylows. He pulled his wand out of the holster on his leg, and repelled them with hot bubbles, and continued swimming towards the merpeople. He found them no problem, and was shocked to see what they had taken from the champions. It was each of their dates from the Yule Ball: Cho Chang, Roger Davies, Daphne Greengrass, and one of the girls from Beauxbatons. Harry could tell that he was the first to arrive, as all four people were there. He swam to Daphne and saw that her leg was tied to a rock with seaweed, and he tried to find a sharp rock to cut it.
No sooner than he got there, Cedric came out of nowhere with a bubble mask on his face, and used his magic to release Cho from her bonds. He grabbed her, and faced towards Harry, and pointed to his watch with his wand. Harry nodded at Cedric, and used his wand to release Daphne from her bonds, and grabbed her. Cedric left, and then Harry saw a shark come at him, but it didn't attack him, it freed the Beauxbatons girl from her bonds, and Harry figured it was Krum. Krum scared all of the merpeople away, when he approached them though. He watched Krum leave, and waited for Fleur to arrive.
That was the only problem though, was that Fleur never did arrive, so Harry did what he usually would do, and freed Roger from his bonds. He carried them both back to where he entered the Black Lake and swam upwards with them both, but he felt multiple grindylows dragging him down deeper into the lake by his legs, so he let Daphne and Roger float up. He also could feel that the gillyweed was wearing off, and his lungs were struggling for air. He pointed his wand at the grindylows and repelled them away. As he was starting to black out from the lack of oxygen, he pointed his wand into the air, and casted "Ascendio!"
The spell lifted him into the air, and he landed on the same bridge he was pushed off of, and he was greeted with a hug from his girlfriend, after he stopped coughing and breathing hardly. "Judges follow me, and we will tally up the scores." Dumbledore said. Harry was freezing upon getting out of the Black Lake, and Daphne, Ron, and Hermione quickly gave him multiple towels. "Where were you two?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione. Hermione said "We decided to get here early before you, so we could get good seats. It was rather useless though, as we couldn't see under the Black Lake."
Dumbledore and the other judges came back after she said this, and Dumbledore pointed his wand to his throat and said loudly "For Mr. Potter's outstanding moral fiber, and having the will to not leave anyone behind, we have agreed to award him second place!" Harry was shocked, then Hermione said "Cedric was in first place, Krum was in second, you were third, and Fleur was last. Now, you're in second place Harry!" Harry asked in shocked excitement "I'm in second place? That means Cedric and I are tied in first place. It all depends on the Third Task."
At this time Dumbledore started speaking, and he said to everybody, especially the champions "The Third Task will take place in four more months on June twenty-fourth. That's to give the champions time to rest, and learn more spells for the upcoming and final task. With that being said, everybody go and enjoy the rest of your day." Everybody left and went back to the castle, except for Harry, Daphne, Ron, and Hermione, they went to Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid walked with them through the Forbidden Forest, and Harry and Daphne were walking away from the group. Hagrid, Hermione, and Ron were singing the Hogwart's School Song, when Harry and Daphne looked on the ground. "Is that…?" Daphne said, covering her hands over her mouth. Harry finished her sentence for her "Mr. Crouch, but he's dead."