AN: Second part for the day. I posted TWO chapters. Make sure you go back and enjoy the first. You all like the new fic pic? Thought I'd give it a try.

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Disclaimer: I own no source material.

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Chapter 5.7: The Second Task.

The crowd was alight in cheer as hundreds had gathered in the stadiums set by the Black Lake. The ancient black waters that had existed long before Hogwarts had even been thought up.

Some say the lakes waters had underground channels, leading to the ocean beyond Scotland's lands. The lake's depths held secrets beyond even those who publicly owned it, with even the species who called the waters home keeping away from the deep dark.

And now four stone-faced champions from three schools stood at the docks, awaiting the signal to begin their challenge.

Fleur's worried blue eyes scanned the crowd a final time, hiding an inferno of fury trapped within. 'That fool took off his Portkey. He knew what would happen and still allowed it. I'm going to get past that ridiculous skin of his and make sure he feels the heat when I'm done here. And then I'll fry the balls off whichever ridiculous male thought up this abomination of a challenge.'

Her eyes narrowed with the intensity of an eagle eyeing her prey as she stared straight at the judge's panel, specifically at Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman. The first shamelessly looked away while the second sweated in his seat at not only the glare from the French champion, but the collective stares of two dozen Veela in the crowd, headed by Apolline Delacour herself, cradling her eleven-year-old daughter to her side protectively.

None of them were amused.

The signal went off, and the four champions dove into the lake's waters without hesitation. Fleur wrapped her head in an air bubble, Krum transfigured his head into a shark, Cedric copied Fleur's use of the Bubble Head Charm, and Harry struggled to breathe as the Gillyweed in his system changed his anatomy.

And as the crowd cheered and suddenly realized they had nothing left to see until someone surfaced, Appoline Delacour turned away from her glare to eye the water worryingly. 'Go get your man, ma fille.'

Flashback to two days earlier:

"You want to do what?!"

"Madam Delacour, we assure you we are taking uptmost precautionary metho…!"

A flash of intense flames lit up the office as Ludo Bagman was sent ass over kettle with scorch marks covering his clothes. Appoline stamped a high heel down on the man's stomach and looked down on him like a piece of trash. "Listen here, you pathetic excuse for a man, if you think, for one goddamn second, that I, or any self-respecting mother, would let you take their eleven-year-old daughter, stun her, and put her at the bottom of a god-forsaken lake filled with dozens of species that want nothing more than to taste our flesh….you will find yourself with much less to worry about than a tournament."

Ludo's mind turned to mush under her controlled allure and kept him from moving as Dumbledore tried to intervene. "Appoline, please, we would never put your daughter at risk."

Appoline's eyes snapped to the headmaster, and she was not calm. "I did not give you permission to use my name as if we were friends, headmaster. And at risk?"

She stepped off the worm beneath her heel and approached the desk with heat radiating off her like a furnace as she stabbed a well-manicured finger onto his desk. "At risk? Dumbledore, my daughter is a VEELA! You would put a creature of fire and air in the dark water where the Merfolk are always waiting to taste our blood?! Our racial enemies?! I don't care who you think you are you old bastard, but I will skin you alive before my daughter is at their mercy!"

A squawk to the side got her attention as she snapped to it. "Don't you dare defend him you old bird. Why don't you go for a swim into the depths and come back, huh?"

The phoenix stayed promptly silent at that and abandoned his partner, much to Dumbledore's pain. He knew this conversation wouldn't be easy, but like it or not, not even he would kidnap an immature Veela from its family. God knows what their conclave might do if one of their young was targeted. The last time a rising Italian mafia magical family attempted to kidnap a pair for a slave ring, well, Pompeii wasn't the only location in Italy to be entombed in ash.

Dumbledore was saved in his response by a well-timed knock at his door. The old man felt a wave of relief at his backup plan and waved a hand. "Come in."

The door opened, and in walked a calmly smiling Jin with his hands in his pockets. "You wanted to see me, Headmaster?"

Jin's eyes trailed to Dumbledore's guest as she looked back at him, and he froze. "Fleur…?"

Apolline's eyes widened slightly as she took in the tall young man, dressed in a button-down flannel shirt with the sleeves folded up and the top two buttons undone, showcasing the powerful muscles held underneath. "Jin Fluff?"

Jin nodded unsurely, and the woman broke out into a huge smile, contrary to the fierce expression she had given Dumbledore for the last few minutes. "I have been dying to meet you, young man. Ma Fille has told me all about you."

At the women's words and wink, Jin put it together and scratched his cheek with a chuckle. "Wow, I know Fleur said she looked like her mother, but I didn't expect it to be this close. You could be her sister ma'am."

Appoline laughed softly behind a hand. "Ara, ara, how kind of you to say Mr. Fluff."

Jin internally shivered at her choice of words as he strode forward. 'She said the Ara. Don't fuck with her.' He extended a hand and bent to kiss the one he received. "Please, call me Jin, ma'am."

"Only if you call me Appoline, or perhaps, mother?"

Her predator-like smirk set his hackles on edge as he had to force down his instincts to attack or flee. "Maybe a little too soon for the second one."

She laughed and took back her hand. "Appoline then. My, Fleur really caught a good one with you, huh Jin? How is my daughter been? She hasn't burned you too much has she?"

Jin shook his head with a smirk. "Not at all Appoline. I'm a bit harder to burn then most. Doesn't stop her from trying though."

The older woman smiled in amusement. "Good, she has always been a little hot tempered in the moment. I feared she wouldn't bond for decades more till she calmed."

Dumbledore gave the woman a silent incredulous look. 'She's the one hot-tempered? My desk has burn holes in it.' He coughed into his hand to get their attention. "Yes, I hope the pleasantries have passed for the moment, as we should finish our business first."

Appoline's eyes hardened at the reminder. "You really want to test me old man?"

Jin looked unsurely between the two. "Err… what am I here for sir?"

"Appo…" He paused at the heat wave. "Ms. Delacour, I assure you that I had only explained the back up plan to you. It was never my first idea." He said with a straight face while internally knowing how much bullshit he was spewing. 'I shouldn't have let Bagman handle the planning, why the man thought going after a young Veela instead of the plan to use the Yule Ball dates I haven't the foggiest idea.' He turned to Jin. "Young man, we require your aid for the sake of the second task."

Appoline's rage only grew at the tradeoff. "First you target my baby girl, and then you target my other daughters bonding paramour?! Do you have no shame, Dumbledore!?" Her entire body ignited in controlled flames, and it was only the hand that gently touched her shoulder that stopped her from attempting to burn a hole through Britain's most fabled Wizard.

"Appoline, please let him speak. I think I have an idea of what he is asking for." Jin's calm words and the fact that he could touch her inflamed body without damage got her to calm down slightly.

"You do?"

Dumbledore also blinked. "You do?"

Jin chuckled at the two's reactions. "I spend every day with Fleur, and we have no secrets between us. We cracked the riddle of the Golden Egg weeks ago." He internally sweatdropped at the memory of her first opening it. 'I'm still embarrassed for fainting at that screeching noise. I thought my eardrums had exploded. With that and the Centaurs horn taking me out of commission, I'm glad we worked out a targeted silencing charm to single out high pitched noises from my sensitive ears.'

The older Veela giggled like a schoolgirl at that. "Ara. No secrets, huh? You sure you don't want to call me mother yet, Jin?"

Her words were both a tease and a warning, and Jin got the message. If Fleur told him some of the Veela's secrets, they were to stay with him. "My apologies Appoline."

She pouted. "Oh poo."

Dumbledore took back the conversation. "Wonderful. I knew all the champions were talented, and you two have shown a beautiful understanding of Charm theory back at the ball. I never had any doubts."

'Although, it sadly took my own champions until the last two weeks to figure it out.' He pushed on. "If you know the secret, I assume you know what is at stake for the champions during the second task."

"A hostage, right?"

"Precisely. At the start of the school year, we collectively decided that the champion's dates to the Yule Ball would be ideal for motivating the champions to compete at their best." The old man side-eyed the still delirious and drooling Bagman. "Apparently, other voices took it into their consideration to change the setup at their own word. Nevertheless, we would like to ask you to cooperate and be the young Ms. Delacour's hostage. I assure you, we will take utmost measures to keep you, and the other three hostages, perfectly safe and unharmed."

"This is foolish Dumbledore; you cannot control what happens down there!"

"The school has had a treaty with the Merfolk tribe in the lake for centuries! We have never had an incident where they betrayed us."

Jin's eyes flashed as his mind turned back to his first interaction with Orios. 'The treaty does not stop them from indirectly harming. Just like how the movie showed, if you break the set terms, they have all the right to act.'

Appoline went on. "But they are not the only race down there! And how would they react to their racial foe appearing in their domain?!"

Jin interrupted before they could get heated up. "I'll do it."

The two turned to him at the exact time.

"What?!"

"Excellent!"

Appoline shot the man a glare and stepped back with a hand pulling Jin with her to the other side of the office as she waved her wand and cast a silencing charm. "Jin, you don't have to do this. This entire set up is insane."

Jin smiled reassuringly at the woman. "Appoline, with all due respect, I trust Fleur."

The woman was taken aback by his words. "With your life?"

He didn't miss a beat. "She trusted me with hers." Fleur had told him the nature of a Veela. Told him of what a bond does to them. Told him of their loyalty, and how for good or bad, they bonded to a single soul until proven without a doubt they were unworthy.

She knew he would one day have to leave, and if she didn't come with him, it would be a challenging time for her. It goes against their nature to choose anything before the bond. And Veela are anything if not true to their nature.

Appoline stared hard at the young man before her, and suddenly her allure flared far more powerfully than anything Fleur had hit him with before.

Jin's eyes glassed over, and deep within him, his spirit as a tiger roared its anger. Like a pane of glass shattering, Jin's claws stabbed deep into his palms as he refocused and looked at the woman with a growl. "Only one woman. Gets to do that to me."

The older Veela's eyes widened. 'What strength of will! What loyalty. Oh, ma fille, what a wonderful partner you have found.' Her eyes gained a trace of wetness from her joy before they vanished with a burst of heat. "My apologies. I just wanted to test the strength of your words." Her gaze turned into one of amusement as she eyed the predatorial look of anger on his face. "Although, it seems my girl has trained you well~."

Jin took back control of himself with a crack of his neck. "One Veela to one partner, right? Can't have myself being led astray by another girls allure."

She smiled widely and held out her hands. "Good answer. Put your palms beneath mine." Jin retracted his claws and did so, and the woman placed burning palms into his own as his open skin sealed from the heat. He hissed at the pain, but it was over in a second. "Oh, don't be a baby. If you can resist allure at my level, then I would be disappointed in ma fille if she didn't scratch up your back worse than this. I'm sure you can heal the internal damage yourself, correct?"

He took back his hands. 'Fleur did say she told her of my background while keeping my true history to herself, but I guess she included my ability to cast without a wand. Bah, who cares at this point.' He gave the woman a nod. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

She smirked at him and patted his chest. "You're a strong young man, take care of my girl. And a word of warning, prepare yourself for when ma fille gets to the age she wants to start experimenting." The wink she sent him as she passed by and dismissed the Silencing Charm filled him with dread.

"Wait…she hasn't started…?"

The older woman's laugh was very unsettling.

Flashback end.

Appoline smiled at the memory. 'He trusted you without hesitation Fleur, don't let him down.'

"Mama, is Fleur going to be alright?"

The mother looked down at her little girl and held her close. "Don't worry ma fille, it's not her we should worried about."

The young Gabrielle Delacour looked up at her mother. "It's not?"

The older Veela smirked and kissed her daughter's forehead. "You will understand when you're older. Coming between a bonded Veela and her partner never ends well."

The surrounding birds of fire laughed in unison at that, and suddenly Bagman felt much more afraid than he did before.

In the water:

Fleur had entered the dark waters for all of thirty seconds before she realized the lack of progress she was making by attempting to swim. 'I can do laps all day in a hotel pool with my stamina, but this environment is damning.'

The cold darkness was inherently the opposite of her nature, and she could feel her inner flames stall and slow as her magic was suppressed. 'Time for a change of plans.'

Being so close to the shore, she looked around and managed to eye a piece of driftwood on the sandy floor. A summoning charm brought it to her before she cast the locomotion charm on it, and it began pulling her deeper into the lake. The more mana she fueled the Charm with, the faster she moved.

Five minutes into her journey, she got a visitor as a man-eating Kelpie came rushing at her with a screech. Her eyes narrowed on the creature as her wand flared in a trio of stunning charms that did nothing but push the beast back.

The XXXX-rated dark creature returned in a fury and played a game of cat and mouse with the girl as it tried to get in close, only for her to bash it back.

After five minutes of this, Fleur was well and truly fed up with the pest. 'You . are . getting . in . my . way.'

Rope exploded from her wand as she wrapped it around the beast while her enchanted ride pulled her in circles around it before she came up to its side and slashed her wand through the water.

A Severing charm alit with blue fire cut through the beast's neck like a hot knife through butter as she kicked it away. 'Now I'm glad we spent a week combining charms with Bluebell flames; the cost is too high to use en mass, but it's wonderful for precision.'

Her journey continued at a pace as she came up over an underwater hill covered in thick seaweed. Not taking any chances, she cast the Presence Revealing Charm and gasped at the hundreds of red lights that hid beneath her. And it was a good thing she did as the creatures sensed the vibrations in the water and charged en mass toward her from a dozen feet away.

A cloud of XX-rated Grindylow descended on her as the water-imp creatures salivated at her presence. The nature of her magic calling to them like a shark to blood.

Fleur hmphed at them and spun her wand as a cloud of birds were conjured from it, but she wasn't done as she directed the birds at the cloud and intoned her self-made spell. "Defodiavis."

The birds turned in unison and spun rapidly as they darted toward the oncoming imps like high-power drills and painted the water an inky black as dozens of creatures were shredded and pierced straight through.

The mass conjuration combined with her Charm was enough to send the flock of creatures swimming away in fear, forgetting their hunger at the death of so many of them.

Fleur smirked at the sight and ushered her ride forward. 'Jin's not the only one with tricks.'

Her time spent around Jin since she first arrived had been full of charms talk, theory, creation, and combinations. Not to mention all the dual practicing, life or death experience, and the sheer joy and confidence she got from having such a strong emotional, physical, and mental support by her side every day.

The Fleur that came to Hogwarts worried and unsure about her future, and the young woman confident in her dreams now were worlds apart in mentality.

Thirty minutes into the challenge, Fleur finally found her destination. And it wasn't due to dumb luck, but because of the ghostly blue light purposefully glowing in the dark waters.

The young woman cursed at the sight. 'He's awake, isn't he?'

Fleur directed her bewitched driftwood forward and shot into an underwater city with a severe lack of residents. Said residents were found a moment later as she approached the city square and deadpanned at the scene before her.

Ron Weasley and Cho Chang were tied to ropes and unconsciously floating on a raised platform surrounded in all directions by a swarm of Merfolk holding pitchforks and staring fearfully forward.

She approached without hesitation, and the Merfolk who sensed her turned as their eyes lit aflame with wrath. "Death to the one with flame!"

A hundred calls answered its own, only for another voice to ring out.

"Ah! Ah! What did I say?"

The Merfolk froze in unison and quickly became docile as Fleur continued undaunted to where Jin was sitting cross-legged in his own bubble, with a single hand held out holding the Merfolk Chieftain by the throat. "Babe! Knew you could make it."

Fleur floated over and coldly looked back at him. "Why am I not surprised."

He winked at her. "Hey, I allowed them to use me like this, that didn't mean I was going to let them knock me unconscious."

Fleur crossed her arms and pointed at his arm. "And you are holding the chief of this tribe because?"

"We had a disagreement."

Fleur looked up at the blue flames coating his body. "I can see that. Did you threaten them with a steam explosion?"

"Hey, they poked me with sharp objects first. I have a phobia to being poked with sharp objects at this point."

Fleur tried to hold back the quirk of her lips, but she couldn't stop the laugh that escaped. "For fucks sake, why was I worried?"

"Don't ask me. Do you know buddy?" Jin asked the chieftain, who had been held by his throat for the better part of the last twenty minutes, and the Mer creature hissed at him.

"The creature of fire should die! Her essence insults us!"

Jin squeezed harder and growled at the fish man. "Ok, and then you all die as a result. What do you care more for? One life or your city, because I know what I'm willing to sacrifice first."

The Mer chieftain hissed in wrath but settled. "Leave! Never return!"

Jin chuckled. "As soon as we're clear, you're free to go."

He stood up and floated over to the waiting Fleur with a smile. "So-."

She slapped him. "That's for making me worry!"

Jin looked at the fish man. "I think I deserved that one."

She slapped him a second time. "And that's for fighting my own battles."

Jin looked at the fish man again. "I don't think I deserved that one."

Then she pressed their bubble head charms together and kissed him as she wrapped around him. "We will talk about this more at home Jin." The heat of his blue flames and body heat soothed her like nothing else could in such a place.

He smirked and licked his lips. "So it's our 'home' now is it?"

She flushed and looked away with a huff. "Come on, we need to break the surface away from shore or they will know you woke up early."

Jin eyed the fish man. "You know if you tell the staff about this I'll be coming back, right? And there won't be a warning."

The creature spat at him. "Just go! Your love makes me sick."

""It's not love.""

The two teens denied on reflex and blinked at each other before turning away again while the Mer chieftain gagged.

With Fleur holding onto him, Jin pointed his free hand down and used an adjusted Banishing charm to propel him away from what he was banishing, instead of banishing something away from him.

They rose quickly to the surface, and Jin released his hold on the chieftain, who swam away from the creature of flame and the blue-flamed tiger they allowed into their city unknowingly.

Once they reached the surface, it was Fleur's turn to turn up the heat while Jin shut off his own to avoid being seen. "Holy shit, that's cold!"

"No shit Jin. We're you using the Bluebell flames the whole time?"

"Yeah, the staff kinda just tied a long ass rope to our legs and enchanted it to pull us to the bottom. I turned up the heat the second I was out of sight."

"And then you threatened their tribe?"

"Yeah, by the way, I should mention something."

"What?"

"Viktor showed up first, you're coming in second."

"What?! Did he see you using magic?!"

"Nah, I memory charmed him. I'm surprised he showed up so soon though. Guy was really determined to find his girl."

"That's actually pretty adorable."

"I know right? Oh, and I met your mom. She's super-hot."

Fleur looked at him for all of two seconds before pushing him away by his face into the cold water. "I'm going back, and I'm forgetting this day happening."

"Sparkles wait! You're my heater!"

"No, go away Jin, I'm ignoring you!"

"Babe~."

"No."

"Mon Soliel."

"Don't start with me Jin."

His response was to tackle her in a bear hug. "Ah~, so much better."

She hated herself for finding his arms so comfortable. "What did my maman say?"

"Not much. We talked to the headmaster, she hit me with her allure, then she burned my flesh, then we had brunch with white wine, and then she showed me baby pictures and made plans for the coming summer in France. Nothing special."

The water boiled around them.

Fleur came in third after being delayed trying to drown her lover.

End.

AN: Thoughts?

Upcoming: 5.8: The Auction Results.