As the time for the second task approached, Harry found himself struggling with how to approach the problem.
If he'd been left to his own devices, he'd doubtlessly would have not found out about the task until it was almost time, but Steven's warning had given him weeks of extra time to master the spells he would need.
Unfortunately, the bubble headed charm was proving much harder than he would have thought. He was only successful in casting it one time out of three, which was not reassuring. He'd mastered the Patronus charm at an unusual age, but he'd been extremely motivated.
He was tempted to simply give the whole thing up and forfeit. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if the magical contract would accept that, or if there would be nasty consequences.
Hermione began spending more and more time with him, and less and less time with Steven. Her explanation was that he needed her help more than Steven did, but Harry suspected that there was more to it than that.
Their relationship hadn't been the same since the night of the dance; whether it was Steven feeling guilty because of the fusion, or his fear that the enmity of the Purebloods would spill out on Hermione, Harry wasn't sure.
He was selfishly grateful for the help, though.
Neville came up with the idea of using Gilly Weed; Harry decided to continue practicing with the bubble head charm and keep the Gilly weed as a backup. While the lazy part of his mind insisted that it would be easier simply to use the plant, another part reminded him that people were trying to kill him.
Being underwater when someone dispelled the plant could mean a death sentence if he didn't have a backup plan in place. He spoke with Steven, and they agreed to help each other if either of them got in trouble.
Steven seemed confident that he knew what he was going to do, and Harry didn't ask him about it. Steven had already helped him enough, and he didn't want the other schools accusing him of collusion.
The time of the second trial came more quickly than Harry would have imagined. He'd improved with the bubble headed charm, but still wasn't one hundred percent. He decided it would have to be enough; if it didn't work he'd use the Gilly weed.
When Ron and Hermione disappeared on the morning of the second event, he didn't think much of it. He was too busy feeling ill.
Still, when they were finally at the docks, he looked over at Steven and he felt himself inexplicably beginning to feel calmer.
Steven was wearing some kind of vest which had dozens of pockets. Each pocket seemed to be filled with some kind of heavy brick.
The dock actually groaned as Steven stepped out onto it, and Harry wondered what his plan actually was. With that much weight, he'd probably sink like a stone.
When the whistle was blown, they would have one hour to retrieve whatever it was that had been taken from them. Dumbledore said as much to the watching crowd.
Harry didn't worry about what it was that had been taken; he was sure he'd know it when he saw it.
When the whistle was blown, he waded out into the lake, casting the bubble headed charm. To his surprise, he actually managed to get it right, and as he slipped into the freezing water, his head remained entirely dry.
He heard a thunderous sound of footsteps behind him; he looked back and he saw Steven leaping off the side of the dock. In midair his bubble formed around him, and then he suddenly dropped like a stone.
Harry suddenly understood; the weights were necessary so that the bubble didn't float on top of the water. He wasn't certain how Steven was going to move inside his bubble, but that wasn't his concern.
As he slipped under the water, he saw Steven running inside his bubble, like a hamster in a hamster wheel. It wasn't as fast as swimming, as he had to deal with the mud on the floor of the lake, but it was much better than drowning would be.
Steven was wearing a glowing bracelet on his wrist; it definitely looked more like something a muggle would wear than a wizard. Wizards tended to be either archaic or ostentatious.
Harry swam forward, quickly outpacing his friend. Endurance was the one area where Steven didn't have a tremendous advantage over Harry. Harry had years of experience running from Bullies, while Steven had apparently spent his time eating leftover deep fried snacks.
It was darker than he would have liked; even when he cast a lumnos with his wand, the light didn't reach very far. Fortunately, he saw Moaning Myrtle, who pointed him in the right direction.
The rose colored glow of Steven's bubble quickly vanished behind him in the darkness, leaving him alone. There were no other champions in sight.
At times he though he saw something dark moving toward him out of the murky dimness, but invariably it turned out to be something inanimate; long lost junk on the floor of the lake.
He was able to avoid a group of grindylows and after thirty minutes he reached the village of the merpeople.
Seeing Ron, Hermione, Tracey Greengrass and a small girl floating in the lake, held by great ropes was a shock. The crowd of merpeople surrounding them was even more of one.
Harry approached them cautiously, but they didn't attack him.
They wouldn't lend him their spears either to help him cut Ron free, but at least they didn't interfere with him as he searched on the floor of the lake for a sharp rock.
He began sawing away at Ron's rope, knowing instinctively that Hermione was going to be Steven's target. It was slow work, given that the rock wasn't very sharp. He found himself wishing that he'd studied the severing charm; then it would have been a simple matter to remove the ropes.
Instead he was left struggling with the ropes.
He saw Victor Krum coming. Krum had given himself the head of a shark and he made quick work of the ropes.
Harry had freed Ron already, but he stopped when he realized that he didn't see Steven or Fleur anywhere.
When he tried to free Hermione and the small girl, the merpeople tried to stop him.
He wanted to win, but he wasn't willing to risk the life of Hermione or the small girl. He cast his patronus, which drove the merpeople back as he began to saw at the ropes holding the other two.
Time ticked on, when finally he saw Steven's bubble.
Steven was inside his bubble, but so, miraculously was Fleur, who looked much the worse for wear. Steven had Fleur thrown over one shoulder, and it looked like he'd gotten rid of some of the weights that he'd been carrying along the way.
His expression was grim, but it brightened as he saw Harry struggling to free the other two.
Harry's bubble charm was fading; he'd already reinforced it twice, but each time it was lasting less long. It wouldn't be long before he had to resort to Gilly weed, which he didn't want to do if he didn't have to because he'd have to stay in the water.
Steven came charging toward him. As he did, he pulled weights from his pocket and as he did each weight dissolved into nothingness.
The weights were conjured, Harry suddenly realized, designed to disappear the moment they came out of his pocket like leprechaun gold.
Steven gave a leap and his bubble came sailing directly toward them.
Harry grimaced and tried to dodge out of the way, but Steven's bubble disappeared as he was about to hit them, then reappeared around all of them, snapping the remaining ropes.
The bubble was full of water, though.
Fleur, looking exhausted waved her wand. She cast a bubble headed charm, but this one expanded until it was big enough to fill the entire bubble.
Harry wasn't sure where the water went; it was possible that the spell simply transmuted it into air. Creating a spell this large was impressive though; it really wasn't meant to do much more than cover the user's head.
Steven stopped for a moment, then sighed. He set Fleur down, then draped Hermione across his shoulders. He picked up the girl, then looked at Harry and pointedly down at Ron.
Harry bent down, but it was quickly apparent that lifting Ron was going to be impossible. Although he didn't look it, Ron was solid and he weighed much more than looked remotely possible.
Steven considered for a moment. He probably could carry all of them, but not hurting them would be difficult.
"Can we wake them up?" he asked.
"Finite incantum," Harry said, waving his wand.
For a moment he worried that he might accidentally reverse Fleur's bubble; Steven's would be fine, given that it wasn't a creation of Wizardly magic.
Ron stared up at him. "Wha..."
A moment later, they woke everyone in their group. A moment after that they were all running on the inside of the ball.
Steven looked exhausted. His face was red and he was out of breath, but he continued running without argument.
At least it was much warmer inside the bubble than the freezing water outside had been; the presence of so many people inside the bubble caused it to warm quickly. Harry didn't have time to shiver as he was too busy running.
They saw Krum fighting Grindylows. A huge swarm had come out of nowhere to attack him.
Numerous Grindylows darted toward them, but Steven's bubble seemed impervious to it. They lost interest after a time, and it wasn't until they came to the slope leading toward the surface that they saw a problem.
Climbing the steep hill was going to be a problem for all of them; although Steven's bubble seemed to repel the mud, going uphill against it was an entirely different proposition.
"You guys think you can make bubble charms for them?" Steven asked, gesturing toward the hostages.
Harry had gotten more confident in his spell work and he nodded. "What about you?"
"Not fair helping me," he said. "When you're trying to win. I can hold my breath for a fairly long time."
They could see Victor Krum behind them, having finally dealt with the grindylows. He was surging forward quickly.
They quickly cast the charms on their hostages and a moment later Steven dropped his bubble.
After that, it was every man for himself.
Krum won the race; his shark head form was simply too fast and he surged past them too powerfully. Harry placed second, Steven third and Fleur placed last.
It wasn't until later that he learned that Fleur would have had to withdraw from this challenge altogether if Steven hadn't helped her.
Furthermore, Peridot had helped "enhance' the event by placing special underwater omnioculars at key points along the route. They had been spelled to project what they saw onto large screens that had been borrowed from the Quidditch World Cup organization.
Everyone had seen how they'd worked together while the Pureblood had worked alone. Harry wasn't sure how that would affect public opinion one way or the other, but at least the event was over and he was actually in second place overall.
There was talk of giving them additional points for trying to help each other, but the headmaster of Durmstrang was adamant and angry at the idea. His champion had won and it was going to stay that way.