Summary: The second task is upon our heroes. Harry and Ginny, unable to solve their clue, are forced to improvise… Again. All the while, Ron makes a prophetic discovery.
Chapter 21: The Predictions of Tyco Dodonus
Thursday, the 23rd of February 1995.
Ron sat down on a squashy poof in the fourth-year Divination classroom. It smelled awful, was oddly humid and stuffy, and Ron just wanted to doze off. Divination had quickly become Ron's absolute least favorite subject. Now that he was putting in a pinch of effort into his classes, he'd come to finally regret taking divination. It had always been a bit of a joke. He and Harry had enjoyed their homework by taking the mickey out of Trelawney. But without Harry, the class was a mindless chore.
Without Harry, a lot of things had lost their flavour.
He watched through half-closed eyes as Trelawney made her typical dramatic entrance. She spewed unnecessary information for a while before finally discussing her daily topic of interest.
'Now, as this is our last class together before…' she paused, and Ron waited for the inevitable outburst. 'DISASTER STRIKES!' Half the class flinched. Likely coming to their senses after falling asleep. 'I thought we'd do something… exciting!' she continued.
'Bloody hell. Do I even want to know what excites this old bat?' Ron heard Seamus whisper to Dean from behind him. He almost smiled. It was like something he'd have said to Harry.
Trelawney cast her arms above her head in a swooping arc, framing her face. 'Today, we will be reading about prophecies! And how they impacted our world!'
An audible groan was heard from the entire class. Ron noticed that neither Parvati nor Lavender reacted negatively. Instead, they leaned forward in their seats, eyes wide. 'Tosspots,' Ron thought to himself.
'Now, remember,' Trelawney said with a voice that sounded as though she were talking to infant children, 'these are prophecies that may not have truly predicted the future, but had impacted our world due to their interpretation!' Ron perked up slightly. This may not be a load of irrelevant gossip after all.
'For today's little activity,' she continued, 'we will be analyzing a very old, and very famous piece of literature, The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus. Now, I want you all to skim to Prophecy twenty.'
The books floated out of a bookcase from Trelawney's office and flew to leave one book per table. Ron picked his copy up off the surface and turned it over in his hand. It was indeed very old. Clearly, it hadn't had a recovering in many years.
'Now, these are all original copies. Don't worry, they have preservation charms all over them,' privately, Ron really wasn't all that concerned. 'Now, does anyone know what Prophecy twenty refers to? I doubt you've had a chance to cover it in your history of magic lessons…'
Ron chose right then and there that whatever she was about to talk about was completely irrelevant. History of bloody Magic? Fucking hell. He read over the prophecy inscribed on page twenty.
It was absolutely meaningless. Going on and on about wings from the water and other general nonsense. But then he heard a voice say…
'…Chamber of Secrets…' Ron's head shot up. Why had Trelawney brought up the subject of the Chamber? Surely it was Trelawney who spoke. She was the only one talking.
'Now, it is believed that Grindelwald had a vision… that to come out victorious in his battle against Professor Dumbledore, he'd need an obscurial. Do you all know what that is?'
Ron's interest was piqued. They were talking about the war. That was far more interesting that clouded balls. He watched as everyone shook their heads.
'And Obscurial is someone who holds an Obscurus. A parasitic lifeform created by a witch or wizard who wishes to hide their powers. By concealing them, by pushing it away, they force their magic to attack themselves. It is… very powerful, and corrosive. It often buids pressure until a release is needed, typically destroying the host, and any life around it.'
'Something interesting coming out of this class?' Ron thought, absently.
'Now, they are quite rare these days. In fact, I'd doubt it very much if there'd been one in the past fifty years, but there was one in the continental war. Credence Barebone.'
Ron let his head fall back as he let Trelawney's words wash over him. So, Grindelwald had believed in a prophecy which was misinterpreted and had ultimately led to his failure in gaining a secured election for the ICW. Ron couldn't help but feel like this had absolutely nothing to do with The Chamber of Secrets. Perhaps he'd imagined it?
Then he heard it again. But this time, he wasn't zoning out nearly as much, and he recognized that it wasn't coming from Trelawney at all. He sat up straight and stared at his copy of The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus.
'Chamber of Secrets.'
There it was again, coming from the folds of the pages. The voice repeated the words over and over as Ron turned page after page until finally, he arrived at page forty, and the voice stopped. It so happened to contain Prophecy forty.
'First in seven,
First of seven
She rises as the sword falls,
Born to those lesser
With the power to conquer them all,
She is the key,
The key to it all,
First in seven,
First of seven.'
The prophecy rang through his mind and seemed to echo all around him. His skin felt… odd. As though it had been prodded with a stick incredibly lightly. He looked up and was surprised to find the class rising out of their seats and making their way to the exit. Had he been staring at Prophecy 40 for that long? Ron quickly shoved all of his things into his bag, throwing it over his shoulder, he picked the book up from his table and walked over to Trelawney.
'Sorry, professor, I hadn't returned the book,' he lifted it so she could grab it, but she made no motion to do so, she simply stared back at him.
'I thought you ought to keep it,' she replied dreamily.
'Er,' Ron didn't know what to say, so he settled on a question that had actually been bothering him. 'Right, well, Professor, I've been meaning to ask you… when was this book written?'
Trelawney smiled. 'Before Merlin himself,' she replied. Ron gaped at her and then frowned once again.
'Then it couldn't possibly have to do with the Chamber of Secrets, could it?'
Trelawney took on a pensive expression for a moment before shaking her head, the beads and odd clothing ratting as she did so. 'Oh, no you are quite incorrect. Some of these prophecies have continued to come true years after its publishing. It is famous for the exact reason that only one of the prophecies has yet to be interpreted correctly.'
Ron furrowed his brow. He couldn't believe that he was having a legitimate conversation with Professor Trelawney. 'Which prophecy is that Professor?'
Trelawney snatched the book from his grip and flipped through the pages until she seemed satisfied. She handed it back to him and Ron was not entirely surprised to see that she had landed on Prophecy Forty. 'It has been quite the ear scratcher for quite a long time. Thousands of years, in fact. Before that, Prophecy 20 was also unanswered, but it has since been concluded.'
Ron nodded dumbly before he turned back up to look at her magnified eyes. Trelawney seemed to smile in sympathy at Ron's confusion. 'Would you like to hear my theory?'
Ron opened his mouth, gaping like a fish, before finding his voice. 'Er, yeah, alright.'
Trelawney took a quick intake of breath and exhaled for a much longer than necessary amount of time. 'I believe it is a piece of a much larger picture…' she folded her hands up in a way that made it clear that she was passionate about what she was discussing. 'What I mean to say, is that this is only a piece of a much larger prophecy, that seers, such as myself, have yet to decipher. It could be a two-piece sort of thing, or perhaps it is one of twenty. I am sure we will one day find out. But for now, this thousand-year-old puzzle remains… unsolved!' She gave an uncharacteristically girlish giggle and clapped her hands. Then, she – quite aggressively, in Ron's opinion – jabbed him in the chest. 'That, my dear boy, is the fun of divination.'
'Right,' Ron replied, cautiously. He had another question, one that he knew he couldn't ask anyone except maybe… well Harry wasn't available to him anymore, but Trelawney was a decent second. 'I heard this book… speak to me. The voice was coming from that', he indicated Prophecy Forty, 'page, and I just wanted to know if that was normal…' Ron couldn't help but feel as though he was going mad. Like Harry hearing the Basilisk through the walls.
Trelawney's smile broadened. 'That is quite uncommon, actually,' and with that, she turned around and walked through the curtains that hid her office from view. Ron had a lot to think about as he walked down the ladder and back to the Gryffindor common room.
On his way there, Professor McGonagall spotted him and waved him down. 'Mr. Weasley! Mr. Weasley, come this way please,'
Ron started at the sound of her voice and frowned. Following her into her office. 'What is it, Professor?' he said in the most respectful tone he could muster.
'I merely wished to say how proud I am of your academic achievement this year. Your third or fourth in your year in all of your subjects!'
Ron smiled at the praise and nodded.
'However, I'm afraid I am here to speak with you on much more… serious matters,'
Ron's anxiety spiked and he folded his hands in his lap. 'Did something happen to my family, professor?'
McGonagall's eyes widened and she shook her head. 'No, Mr. Weasley, everything is going quite well at home as far as I am aware,'
Ron couldn't help but notice that there was something odd about her expression when she said this. It reminded him of when he knew his mother was lying to him.
After a long pause and a lot of Ron mulling over the fact that his head of house was most definitely lying about his family. McGonagall continued. 'There is no way around this so let me be blunt. For the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, you've been selected as the aim,'
Ron stared at her with straight faced confusion. 'What?' he eventually blurted out.
McGonagall sighed. 'Each Champion must retrieve what they would miss the most. There was a magical calculation done on each Champion and for Mr. Potter, you were the first on his list,'
Ron sat dumbfounded. 'I don't understand… I'm what Harry would miss the most?' he asked, quietly.
McGonagall gave him a sympathetic smile. 'Have a biscuit, Weasley,' she said, holding out a tin.
Ron, never one to say no to food, took a biscuit and murmured his thanks.
'You will be placed into a magically induced sleep for approximately one hour. Mr. Potter will have one hour to retrieve you.' At Ron's scandalized expression she hastily added, 'Do not worry, you will be perfectly safe the entire time. No harm will fall upon you while you are asleep.'
Ron nodded and stood up. 'Is that all, then?'
'I will need you at the headmaster's office at eight o'clock. Eat dinner, finish your homework, socialize…' she trailed off and seemed to be thinking hard over something. She shook her head as though to clear the thought and said, 'The password is once again sherbet lemon.'
Ron, again, nodded and turned on his heal. His brain was, quite literally, flooded with information at the moment. For one thing, he was Harry's most prized possession. Well, possession wasn't the right word. Ultimately the term didn't matter. Harry cared. And had cared for a long time. And even after all these months of practically zero contact, he, Ronald Weasley, was still Harry Potter's most important friend.
He didn't know how to feel about that.
On one hand, it was rather confusing. He'd sort of assumed Harry would move on. Not that he himself had. He just figured Harry would.
Looking back on that, he realized how stupid that assumption was.
Harry had never really had friends, and he'd always been very close to Ron. The beginning of this very term more than ever, in fact.
But Ron had thrown that all away because Harry was 'acting different.' As though people didn't change. Hell, he himself had gone over a veritable mental makeover since the end of their third year.
Then there was Trelawney's odd behaviour. Something about Prophecy 40 was quite literally calling to him.
'Am I a seer?' he thought. Then promptly laughed out loud at the thought. He heard a faint metal clang and stopped walking. Staring down at his feet, he saw the S.P.E.W badge that had fallen off the strap of his bag. Leaning down to pick it up, he fidgeted with the pin before setting it in correctly on his bag.
Originally, he'd told Hermione off for what he'd deemed spew. But then Fred and George had lent him their copy of Ten Failsafe Ways to Charm Witches after the horrific display in the Gryffindor common room before and after the ball.
One of the first things discussed in the book was learning to love your witch's passions and interests.
So, Ron had started wearing the badge.
Had he learned to love her passion? No, not in the slightest. But was Vicky Krum wearing one?
Didn't fucking think so.
Someone grabbed Ron's right arm and he was pulled behind a tapestry. 'The hell?' he said as he was flung against the wall.
There she was, again, out of the blue.
Daphne Greengrass.
'Oh,' said Ron, hesitantly relieved that he hadn't been jumped by Malfoy or Krum.
'I know what's wrong with him,' she said, excitedly.
Ron raised his eyebrow, still breathing rather heavily from shock. 'What?'
'Potter, I know what's wrong with him,'
'Oh, er, right,' said Ron, thoughts going back to Harry and how he really, really needed to talk to him.
'He's a werewolf,' she said, smirking in triumph.
Ron gaped at her for a full ten seconds before bursting out laughing. 'You're joking!'
'No, actually, I'm not,' she replied in a resigned tone. 'The scars on his face,' she began counting her fingers as she listed off her points. 'His absences at the full moon with Professor Lupin! I know he's not an Animagus, even if that's what that book wants us to believe. His growth spurt and personality change. OH! And his behaviour around Delacour. Werewolves feel pain when in close proximity to veela.'
Ron shook his head. 'Alright, alright, I get it… but don't you think he would have told me?'
Daphne stared at him in disbelief. 'Aright, maybe he wouldn't have,' said Ron is resignation.
'Oh, and don't even get me started on the book!' she threw her arms up in the air and began pacing. 'Have you read it?'
'No, I haven't, actually,'
'Well, there's a portion halfway through that is just Potter's story. It's right there. Plain and visible for the world to take pity on,' she said.
Ron frowned. Would Harry have kept something like this from them all? Was that why he'd spoken only to Ginny all summer? Perhaps she'd found out and he hadn't felt comfortable talking to anyone due to his condition.
It surely explained a lot.
He could distinctly remember feeling like Ginny knew something more about Harry following their car ride to London than she had been letting on.
'Are you sure?' asked Ron, worriedly.
'Positive,' said Daphne with a glint in her eye.
Ron ran a hand through his hair and sighed. 'I've got to talk to him,'
Daphne stared at him intently for a moment. 'Why?' she asked after a while.
'Because… well I've been a prat,' said Ron dejectedly. He didn't even really consider Greengrass a friend, yet here he was, opening up to her.
'I think you should probably talk to your sister first,' said Daphne absently. Seemingly disinterested now that the topic had shifted away from Harry's supposed lycanthropy.
'How come?' said Ron.
'Because when me and my sister have a disagreement… it always takes precedence,' and with that, she flung the tapestry aside and disappeared.
Ron walked slowly at first, but eventually got enough energy to really settle into his stride. He walked aimlessly around the castle, thinking long and hard about everything that had happened over the past few months.
Ginny had always been a focus at the Burrow. Everything she did was a first. She's the first girl to clean in the house. She's the first girl to learn how to fly, even though none of them were supposed to know that. Granted, Ron himself hadn't known until that past summer when Ginny had taught Elizabeth how to fly.
Ginny got new things the most. Yes, she wore hand-me-downs, but they were always relatively alright. They tended to suit her. She always got first pick. And so, Ron as relegated to last place.
Constantly.
He hadn't recognized why certain things bothered him as much as they did. He never really understood why Harry writing to Ginny bothered him. It wasn't that Harry couldn't have more friends. He knew he wasn't Harry's only friend, and he held no celebrity status over him either. He was just Harry.
But it was the fact that now Ginny had that too. She had 'Just Harry' as a friend, and Ron, again, had nothing to himself. It was petty, he knew, but at the time it had upset him.
Again, it isn't the fact that it was Harry Potter that made Harry special. It was the fact that when Ron was around Harry, he felt alright. He was happy. He could laugh, he could smile, he could get angry, he could cry. He was his best mate.
So, when Harry vanishes for a summer… it hurt. It hurt quite a bit, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't simply forget about it when classes started up again. In many ways, they had a friendship that could go months without communication and when you were around each other, it was like no time had passed at all.
But it was still odd!
Greengrass's explanation excused a lot of Harry's actions, but also damned him further.
Like, yes, it would make sense for Harry to only communicate with Ginny because she must have figured something out on that flying car ride back to London. But he'd gone through so much in such a short amount of time. New guardians, new house, new life… hell, a changed personality.
And yet he was still Harry. They were still best friends.
Surely Harry knew that he could confide in him. Surely, he knew, especially after the events of last year, that Ron would never judge him for being a werewolf.
And then his name came out of the goblet.
In hindsight, he couldn't really discern what made him so angry over Harry's selection. He now knew that Harry would have to be mad to enter himself into this rotten, murderous Tournament, but that was beside the point.
No, now that he really thought about it, what had made him furious was the fact that it was Ginny who had been selected.
Ginny, who had always had the attention she craved. Ginny, whose interests had never been a passing point in a family discussion. Ginny, who was loved and cherished by both of their older brothers.
Bill and Charlie were both so… distant from Ron.
But Ginny was different.
Ginny was special.
And so, his resentment for her grew. It spread like wildfire for months until realization struck.
He was insecure. Like, incredibly insecure.
It hit him after the Yule Ball and his ridiculous fight with Hermione.
He'd come to realize how much of an insufferable prat he'd been.
Friendless, and unsupported by his own family, was what he deserved for what he'd done.
He was going to talk to Ginny. He needed to talk to Ginny. Glancing down at his watch he nearly ran into the banister of one of the moving staircases. It was nearly eight. He turned around and ran as fast as he possibly could to Dumbledore's office. Realizing now that his conversation with Ginny had to wait.
He shouted the password, ran up the slowly moving spiral staircase and burst through the door, a whole minute late.
'Ah, Mr. Weasley,' said Professor Dumbledore, smiling kindly.
A few people were gathered in the room. McGonagall and Flitwick were the only two teachers besides Dumbledore, and, for some inexplicable reason, Ron's father stood there.
'Hey dad,' said Ron, siding up next to his father.
'Hello,' he responded with false cheer. Again, Ron wondered if something was going on in his family.
'Now, I am sure you are all aware why you are here?' said Dumbledore. Everyone nodded and he said, 'Excellent,'
He walked up to a small blonde girl and held his wand over her head. 'Young Gabrielle, for Madame Delacour,' her eyes closed, and she became perfectly rigid. It was eerie.
Then, Dumbledore walked to Hermione. 'For Mr. Krum,' he said, repeating the action and Ron watched Hermione stiffen. It was uncomfortably familiar seeing her like that. Just like her petrification.
For Krum? Hermione was honestly what he'd miss the most? After one night? 'Bloody hell, he must have absolutely no one in his life,' Ron thought.
But then again, it was sort of sweet in a way. That Hermione had made that sort of impact on Krum's life. And if his existence truly was so miserable, perhaps he deserved it.
Dumbledore then cast the spell on his father for Ginny, before turning to Ron. 'And, finally, for Mr. Potter,' and then everything went black.
He knew he was asleep, but his mind continued to repeat the prophecy he'd read. It echoed in the hollows of his mind the entire time he slept. Whatever it was, was important. Ron knew that.
'First in seven,
First of seven
She rises as the sword falls,
Born to those lesser
With the power to conquer them all,
She is the key,
The key to it all,
First in seven,
First of seven.'
He needed someone with insight, who wouldn't necessarily toss aside Divination to help him.
An impossible task, he decided.
Harry rose early on the morning and walked down to the common room to find Ginny. He found her sitting on the sofa in front of the fire with her legs tucked under her chin. Her left arm was wrapped firmly around her legs, while her right was picking at a thread on the cushion.
'Hey,' said Harry, collapsing down as far away as possible from her.
''lo,' she said in return.
'Do you have any idea…'
Ginny sighed and tucked the curtain of hair hiding her face behind her left ear. 'Not until a couple of minutes ago,' she said quietly.
Harry frowned. 'What happened? Did you crack the egg? I mean…' he chuckled at his unintentional pun. 'Did you figure it out?'
'It's mermish. That's why it sounds like screeching. I feel like such an idiot for not having thought of that before,' she tossed her head back, so it rested on the back of the sofa. 'We have to retrieve what we'll miss most from the lake,'
Harry stared at her in shocked disbelief. 'How… how do you know?'
She pointed to the window on the far wall. Harry rose from the sofa and scrambled over to the window. He let out a quiet gasp.
In the middle of the black lake were a dozen large wooden sailing ships. They were strung together in groups of four and each group was connected to one of the four banks for boarding. They formed a large rectangle in the lake, and the surface of the water had been made completely clear. You could see down to the lake floor as though it was a resin model of the ocean. It was incredible charm work. It would allow for thousands of spectators to view the Task unhindered and safely on the ships. He wouldn't be surprised if the ships were doused in warming charms. February was not exactly anyone's comfort month.
Save maybe the odd sappy couple.
Harry immediately started pacing. 'Fuck!' he cried after a while. Kicking the leg of a chess table.
'I'm assuming there's going to be a time limit… I reckon it'll be an hour or two. But how on earth are we supposed to hold out breath for an hour?' Ginny wailed. 'I don't know who they took! What if I can't get them in time,'
Harry walked over to her and sat closer this time. They weren't touching, that was a conscious decision on Harry's part, but he was close. 'I'm sure… I'm sure it isn't real… right? I mean,'
'It is,' said Ginny with solemn determination. 'I read about the Tournament, you know, before we were actually involved… there's usually a hostage task and, well, that's where the most deaths occur. Practically one every Tournament,'
Harry sighed and dropped his head into his hands before looking back up. 'Alright, that's… but they changed the rules! There are more defenses and security measures in place this time… I'm sure… I'm sure,' but he wasn't sure. And he couldn't convince himself that Dumbledore wouldn't allow it to happen. The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, being bitten by a werewolf, possession of a student, the list went on and on.
They couldn't put their trust in the school. Not properly anyway. Merlin that was fucked up.
'Do you have… any idea how one could survive that long underwater?' said Harry, flexing his fingers.
'Underwater?' came a timid voice from behind them. They were both relatively surprised to see Neville standing there, Trevor in hand, watching Harry and Ginny peculiarly.
'We… for the task, we have to be able to breathe underwater for an hour at least… Or, well, that's what we got out of it anyway,' said Harry, smiling a smile that didn't come close to reaching his eyes.
Neville's eyes widened and his grip slipped on Trevor, who promptly leapt out of his hands. 'I think… I think I can help you,' he said quietly.
'You think? NEVILLE!' Ginny cried, jumping to her feet and walking over to Neville who stood behind the sofa. 'Anything you can give us. Any information. PLEASE!'
'Gillyweed,' he said quickly. 'It's an herb… from the Mediterranean… I'm sure Snape has some,'
Ginny turned to Harry with a broad smile. 'Get the cloak.'
Harry grinned and bolted up the stairs, he paid no mind to the fact that Ron still wasn't in their dormitory and whipped open his trunk. He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and clattered down the stairs.
'Right, thanks Neville, for everything… want to come?' he added as an afterthought, pulling Ginny in under the cloak and ignoring the light fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Neville shook his head. 'Third floor corridor is enough adventure for me, mate,' he said, smiling slightly.
Harry rolled his eyes. 'One day, you'll be center stage. You'll see!' and with that, Harry flung the other end of the cloak around him and Ginny, concealing them properly.
The walk down to the dungeons was done without problem. Unless you counted the fact that Harry's increased height and newfound potential attraction to the girl next to him as severe issues instead of minor discomforts.
Snape's storeroom was off to the right of his office. You could also get in via the potion's classroom.
Lately he'd been on surprisingly decent terms with Snape. Of course, 'decent' meaning acting with the regular amount of disconnect and respect a teacher should have. Because of this, Harry had half a mind to simply ask Snape. For the Gillyweed.
When he voiced these thoughts to Ginny, he was quite aggressively rebuffed. 'You're a fucking idiot, Harry,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'It's Snape!'
'Yes,' came the greasy, drawling voice of Severus Snape. Harry could have slammed his head into the wall. 'It is… me,'
Harry pulled off the invisibility cloak and Snape seemed to flinch at the sight of Harry and Ginny in close proximity. 'Ha! Get all the flashbacks you want, dickhead,'
'Harry…'
'Sorry, mum,'
If Harry had been anywhere else, he would have been able to smell Snape coming. But the putrid stench of the potions and ingredients hidden inside, and the overall aroma of Snape that seemed to inhabit this part of the castle, had masked his scent.
As for being unable to hear the potions master, that was another question altogether. Perhaps he had cast a silencing charm on his own feet?
'Professor! See, I felt it would be disrespectful to simply steal from your private stores, seeing as you've been… respectful to me these past few months,' Harry paused and watched as Snape's left eyebrow rose. 'But Ginny here was rather adamant on breaking school rules,'
Snape sniffed but otherwise remained silent. Ginny was glaring at Harry, and he tried not to smile. 'Now, I know you're probably, and rightfully, quite… angry… but see we've only just figured out what we need to do for the second task, and we need a way to breathe underwater, so we thought of-'
'Gillyweed?' said Snape contemptuously.
Harry and Ginny both nodded vigorously.
'And why, pray tell, did you not work on your clue… earlier?' said Snape, folding his arms across his chest.
'We were working on it for months… sir,' said Ginny, gritting out the 'sir'. 'We never actually figured out what the egg said… I only understood that it was mermish because I saw the ships on the lake,'
'While your detective skills are admirable, Miss Weasley, I must say that I am disappointed in our Hogwarts champions,' Snape said with a smirk.
Harry sighed. 'I checked the curriculum. We aren't even supposed to be able to recognize mermish until our sixth year. And that's IF we take care of magical creatures to the N.E.W.T level,'
Snape's smirk grew. 'Correct, one point for Gryffindor for basic research. Still, I don't see why I should let you use my personal stores… especially from the girl who was so adamant on stealing…'
Ginny grimaced and Harry nodded solemnly. 'Professor, please, I'll pay,' said Harry desperately.
Snape seemed to be enjoying this far too much. 'I don't care for your money, Potter, truly,' he paused for a moment and then in one quick motion, waved his wand, and summoned a small jar. 'Oh, how unfortunate… there appears to be only… one remaining,' he fished it out with his fingers and eyed it appreciatively. 'This is not a rare herb, and you're lucky for that, Potter,'
Harry couldn't believe what was happening. He reached out with his right hand and Snape dropped it there.
'Now, do make your school proud,' he said with a sneer. Whirling around in a flurry of black robes and stalking off down through the dungeons.
Ginny groaned and pulled at her hair. 'FUCK!' she yelled after a moment. 'I'm going to fail. I will lose this task,'
'Ginny,' said Harry, grabbing her by the wrist with his left hand. He pulled her hand down and forced her to unclench her fist. Then, he took his right hand and deposited the gillyweed onto her palm. 'I'll figure something out,' he said quietly. Closing her other hand over the herb.
She stared up at him with such gratitude she really didn't have to say thanks. She just hugged him instead.
He might fancy Ginny Weasley, judging by the odd tingle at the back of his throat, and the swooping in the pit of his stomach.
They ran through the halls of Hogwarts, up to the main floor. There were students and visitors everywhere. Aurors, for security, and merchandise booths left and right. It was 9:15 and they had no time for breakfast.
Cameras flashing and spectators demanding autographs, Harry and Ginny ran through all of it. They got to one of the docks and bolted down the jetty. Harry pointed his wand at his trousers and wordlessly transfigured them into a somewhat acceptable swimming costume. He didn't know if they'd receive jerseys like last time.
Ginny was doing the same, although she seemed to be struggling with the task. 'I have… never… been this… unprepared… in my life!' said Ginny through breaths. Grinning like an idiot.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at their current situation. He had absolutely no plan!
They boarded the ship and made their way through the crowds to the Champions tent. They found Fleur and Krum standing there, biting their nails.
Well, Fleur was biting her nails. Krum was staring off into space like an ape. As though his brain had lost connection to the rest of his body. 'Poor bloke,' Harry thought.
Ginny was pacing frantically, clutching the gillyweed in her fist like a lifeline. Harry had sat down on the floor and was currently rolling a pebble around. 'Do you need 'elp?' said Fleur from behind him.
Harry glanced up to make sure she wasn't talking to him and was surprised to see her facing Ginny.
Ginny's cheeks pinkened and she mumbled something. Fleur seemed to find this endearing as she took a couple of steps forward. 'I doubt you 'ave learned this in your schooling,' she said gently, drawing her wand. 'Would you like my 'elp?' she asked again.
Ginny swayed on the spot in thought, never meeting Fleur's eyes. 'Yes please,' she said quietly.
Fleur smiled and waved her wand, transfiguring Ginny's clothing perfectly to form a comfortable (he thought) one piece swimming costume. Ginny's cheeks flushed some more, and nodded, murmuring her thanks. Harry couldn't understand Ginny sometimes. She was shy around certain people, but then the most talkative person in the room at other times. He'd have to figure it out someday.
Ludo Bagman bounded in, eccentric as ever and explained the rules.
'So!' he cried, bouncing on the balls of his feet. 'I hear your most… precious possessions have gone missing…' Krum glared at Bagman so aggressively that the ex-Quidditch player stumbled back. 'Um, right, anyway… you have an hour to retrieve what has been taken from you! The play area,' he smirked, 'is five hundred meters square! If time runs out for you… well, time runs out for them as well.'
Harry was horrified. By Ginny's facial expression, he could tell she agreed. And this man was smiling!
Bagman said some other unimportant nonsense before leaving the tent. The next time they heard his voice was not ten minutes later, when he called the Champions by name out onto the deck of the ship.
Ginny was called first, then Fleur, then Harry, followed by Krum. The crowds had parted to let them through, and Harry walked behind Fleur up onto a large diving plank. There were four of them, one for each Champion.
'Line up on the planks!' said Bagman through his magically magnified voice. Thousands of cheers could be heard from the ships around the designated area. Harry noticed with a start that the transparent surface of the water had darkened when the Champions arrived. Supposedly to avoid cheating. 'Now, you will face dark creatures, strange civilizations, and perhaps even… the giant squid!' he let out a dramatic gasp and the crowds mimicked him.
Harry noticed with a touch of satisfaction that he, Ginny, Krum, and Fleur all rolled their eyes at Bagman's act. It was a brief loss of tension, and it did Harry a world of good.
'At the sound of the canon, you may dive in.'
And like Harry colliding with the barrier at King's Cross, it hit him that he really couldn't swim.
Harry Potter was statistically more likely to die by drowning due to his own lack of skill than dying at the hands of Voldemort.
Well, then again, Voldemort had orchestrated this whole Tournament.
At least, that's what he thought.
On top of that, Harry could not hold his breath for sixty minutes. It just wasn't fucking possible. He started to laugh. At first, it was a light chuckle, but it quickly evolved into shoulder shaking silent laughter.
The canon went off and Harry saw Ginny stuff the gillyweed into her mouth before diving in gracefully. Fleur cast some stupid charm around her head and Krum started transfiguring his own body.
'Mum, any chance you know the charm Fleur used?'
'Bubblehead charm. It'll solve the breathing problem, but not your swimming ability,'
Harry sighed in resignation. 'Focus on the bubble head charm so I can cast it,'
He could tell she had done so because his arm tingled as he touched his head with the point of the Elder Wand. He saw his vision distort slightly due to the bubble and jumped in the water.
He was an atrocious swimmer, but air had been half the problem, so he was at least somewhat confident. The water was dreadfully cold. All the air shot out of his lungs, and it felt as though he'd been canned three times over. A feeling he was most familiar with back in his 'Harry Hunting' days.
He couldn't feel his arms, he couldn't feel his legs, and he couldn't see a thing past maybe two or three metres. The lake was murky, and inexplicably terrifying. It felt as though he was falling through an abyss of cold confusion.
He didn't know who they'd taken from him. He assumed it would have been Sirius or Remus, seeing as Ginny was competing and his mum was dead.
He swam forward experimentally and found that he couldn't tell if he was moving fast or not. Seeing as he couldn't see the bottom.
Then, like some religious figure reaching through the clouds, everything brightened considerably. He could see for… well not miles, but ten to fifteen meters ahead of him. He looked up and could see the surface of the lake. What appeared to be kelp forests surrounded him.
'So, they activated the viewing charms,' he thought to himself as he began to swim at a sufficient pace through the kelp. It was brilliant, really. An event like this would typically become incredibly boring to spectate, but with the water magically modified, everyone could watch.
He had no measure on how much time was passing, but he was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of… well, anything.
He thought he'd caught movement over to his right at some point, but hadn't been certain, and wasn't about to go and investigate.
The first sign of life came in the form of a beautiful melody. Instrumental music playing at the back of his mind.
'Mum, is that you? Playing music?' she'd never played music for him before, but it was worth checking.
But Lily didn't reply. Harry found that quite odd, but the music was simply mesmerizing. Captivating. Enchanting, even.
He swam left. He didn't know how he knew it was coming from his left, but he didn't question it. His instincts had never failed him. He brushed past kelp rather aggressively and came to a beautiful sight.
There was a large amphitheatre at the lake floor. Seats declined into a stage which was empty of anything but a single solitary figure. She was beautiful.
She had an athletic build and was quite short compared to him. At least, that's what he thought from this distance. Her skin was pale but not unnaturally so. It was clear that this was her natural pigmentation and was not due to a lack of sun. She was covered head to toe in freckles. Not in an unattractive way. No, not at all. She had flowing red hair. It billowed behind her as though it were being pushed by a delicate wind. It was odd, then, that the woman didn't seem to be standing in water. Her clothes and hair were behaving as though stuck on the surface.
For the time being, Harry paid it no mind.
The music seemed to be coming from these colourful bands of magic swirling around her. They were a mixture of purple and gold and seemed to be made of strings. The strings each moved in time with the instrumentalization. It was a magical orchestra.
He swam closer, and she began to sing. Her voice was… familiar, in a way. In fact, everything about her was familiar. She was a little taller than she was now, and her face had changed significantly, but those eyes.
This was Ginny.
Only… she was older.
Which wasn't possible.
And Ginny was competing in the Tournament.
And this was supposed to be underwater. Something her hair and clothing were not making apparent.
Harry shook his head and blinked. The magical effects the music and this Ginny had on his mind and senses were blissful, but they couldn't be real.
What lay before him now that the spell had been broken was not an elegant amphitheatre, but the ruined debris of what may have once been some grand structure. The figure at the center had changed. She was… well, simply put, not human.
She was fish-like. Scaled but still quite beautiful, in her own way. She was not whatsoever humanoid but had arms, a neck, and a head. The rest was that of a fish. She was pink in colouring. Iridescent scales made her seem to shine between pink and purple. Her head seemed to be made of coral. With odd branch-like structures protruding like antlers upon her brow to form a sort of crown.
'It is interesting, my young wolf, the effect I have on you,' the siren spoke through the mind calmly. 'The man with the head of a shark did not break my spell by such noble means…'
'Noble?' Harry said, his voice echoing through his bubble, and he realized she wouldn't be able to hear him. It didn't seem to matter because she seemed to have understood him.
'Yes, you broke it because I was not, she,'
'Er… right,'
'You have passed a difficult test… most men would have died with me as their final sight… but you fight for a better cause… The one you seek is directly north of here. I am sure you will have few troubles finding him,' her voice truly was beautiful. He still couldn't hear his mum and he wondered if he was falling into another trap. If the siren was luring him into a false sense of security.
She laughed heartily and shook her crested head. 'Though very wise of you to question the advice of a deceiver… there are times, Harry Potter, where one must take risks. One hour, before he is lost forever,'
It clicked then, who Harry was searching for.
It was Ron.
The person he'd miss the most. The person he did miss the most. The person who had stuck with him through thick and thin. The person who had changed simply to keep their best mate. The person who had stood up to a supposed mass murderer and offered up his own life as a sacrifice.
One hour and he'd be gone forever. Hell, that hour had already lost far too much sand.
Forever. Forever, and Harry had never apologized, or attempted to reason with his wayward best mate.
Fuck. Who was wayward at this point? Harry was in the wrong, Ron was in the wrong. They were being such senseless gits!
Harry rolled his eyes in his bubble. Merlin, they were acting like fourteen-year-old girls.
That just wouldn't fly.
Ron's last words to him would not be some petty remark about not being involved in the Tournament. With newfound determination, Harry focused on the task ahead. He turned to the siren to thank her, but she was gone.
Realizing that the whole thing may have been a hallucination, he took her advice.
His wand, oddly enough, didn't float in the water. It hung there suspended, as though gravity had left the Earth and all that remained was stillness. He didn't have much time to think about that before aligning it with his palm and murmuring 'Point me,' a useful spell he'd learned back when they had no idea what the First Task was going to be.
His wand pointed forward and to the right. He angled his body that way and swam as pathetically fast as he could.
Ginny thought herself a fairly competent swimmer. With the gillyweed having given her flippers and webbed hands, not to mention gills, she was practically unstoppable.
But a 500m-by-500m space of water was still quite large, and she couldn't find whatever she was looking for.
Truthfully, she didn't know who she'd be rescuing. She knew it should be Harry, but seeing as he was competing, that wouldn't make much sense, now would it.
She was passing an underwater cave for what felt like the fifth or sixth time. Merlin, was she swimming in circles? All the kelp looked the same, and that grindylow she'd stunned earlier was still here.
She was most definitely swimming in circles.
Opting for a different route, she swam to her left and continued straight. She caught the odd glimpse of a grindylow or see a piece of kelp move in a way that caught her eye, but for the most part, she was unsatisfied with the lack of any trial.
Unsatisfied did not, however, mean that she wanted to encounter what she'd just stumbled upon.
Fleur Delacour was suspended in the water in a very unnatural way. Then, Ginny noticed the tentacles wrapped around her middle. Ginny's eyes traced the tentacles down and found, to her horror, a brain.
It was floating there, sucking whatever it was out of the part-veela.
Ginny aimed her wand at the tentacle wrapped around Fleur and shot a stunning spell. It only went so far, the water slowing the momentum of her magic.
She swam closer and realized that it was not apparent how hard Fleur was fighting. She was conscious, at least. Her bubble-head charm wavered slightly but she must have been pouring out enough magic to keep it going.
Ginny was close enough, she felt, to hit the tentacles. Her stunning spell slammed into the tentacle, but it did nothing more than quiver slightly. Ginny scowled. Aiming her wand again, she cried -though muffled through the water – 'REDUCTO!'
The tentacle was blown to shreds by her spell. Pieces of flesh and a purplish liquid with the same consistency as blood leaked out. Ginny quickly grabbed Fleur by the leg and whisked her down with her to the lake floor. The brain's other tentacles seemed to come alive. Though it couldn't seem to move, it most certainly tracked Ginny.
'Go!' Ginny shouted, though again, her voice came out as a strangled murmur through the water. Fleur clearly understood her meaning, though she was acting quite odd. Laughing herself silly underwater. Ginny figured it had something to do with the brains.
She swam as fast as she could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. She felt something latch itself to the back of her head, and everything went black.
'Wake up, Ginevra,'
Ginny threw her eyes open and nearly screamed at her surroundings.
The Chamber was warm, today. Far warmer than she'd ever remembered it. There was no sign of the Basilisk, no sign of the damage wrought by years of neglect to the Chamber. Everything appeared to be brand new. Furnished and comfortable.
Perhaps this was what Salazar Slytherin had initially intended his secret murder Chamber to look like.
She knew he was behind her. She knew that she'd have to turn around and face him again. But she couldn't seem to move her feet.
'Remember when I first took you down here?' he said, soothingly.
Ginny didn't respond. Opting to intently stare at a green sofa.
'Because I know I do,'
Ginny closed her eyes and shook her head. This was a vision, something coming from that brain with the tentacles.
'Correct,' said Tom. She could tell from the inflection in his voice that he was smiling, and it made her want to turn around and deck him so badly. 'Do you remember how I told you, you were special?' he asked conversationally.
Yes, in fact, Ginny did remember that. Quite vividly, in fact. That she was 'The Key' to his grand plans. That he wished he had been born later so she could have been by his side.
'Well… you've grown far more important,' he said. His voice was closer now, she knew he must be directly behind her.
'Do you believe in fate?'
Ginny frowned at the sudden change of direction. 'No,' she said in reply. 'I think fate is always chosen. Nothing ever happens because it is meant to. Only people's actions can decide the future,'
Tom chuckled quietly. He was so close his voice was nearly whispered against her ear. 'You are so very wrong, Ginevra.' He pulled back and Ginny could physically feel the distance. Her breathing steadied slightly, and she focused on what he was saying. Despite what she like to tell herself, she'd always learnt things from Tom.
And now that she was intent on killing him, she most definitely wanted to get any information she could from the man. Vision, or not.
'Fate is never decided by individuals such as ourselves, no. Prophecies dictate our every move. Everything is set in stone from the very beginning. That is why I chose you. That is why I never asked you to hand over the diary to someone more fitting. Someone like Harry Potter.
'I know not why my future-self went after Potter, but it must have been fate. Fate to have me rise again, stronger, more powerful, more intelligent… yes… but you… you are so much more than a weapon.
'You are what I made you. You are The Key. The Key to it all.
'Rise, Ginevra,'
It was as though the floodgates had opened. The Chamber began to fill with water and Ginny desperately ran around. Tom was nowhere to be found, and her control over her body had returned. But it was for naught. She would drown in here. She would die here. Just like before, only this time, Harry wouldn't be there to wake her from her fall.
The water pooled in. The Chamber was full. Ginny couldn't breathe, it was all ending.
She felt something detach from the back of her head and Ginny felt dizzy. She was still there, in the Black Lake. The gillyweed hadn't worn off, and she was moving through the water of her own accord.
Then, she realized that she was, in fact, being summoned. Fleur was there, underwater, hidden in the kelp, wand outstretched, summoning Ginny towards her. She arrived at Fleur who caught her and seemed to look Ginny over to make sure she was alright.
The part-veela smiled and swam away from her.
Ginny couldn't help but feel that she'd gotten an incomprehensibly wrong initial reading of Fleur Delacour.
Shaking herself slightly, she used a spell to check the time.
She had fifteen minutes left.
Cursing, she swam as fast as she could away from the brains, but not after Fleur.
She swam through a stone archway, strange runes were inscribed all over it and Ginny wondered, not for the first time, what was here before Hogwarts.
She was about to leave the archway behind when she noticed a familiar shape.
There was a triangle with a circle in the middle. A line cut horizontally from the summit to the base. She could have sworn she'd seen it somewhere, likely in ancient runes, but it sort of… called to her. It was strange, really.
She shook herself, for the second time in five minutes, and continued to swim. She was certain that her target was hidden among the submerged ruins. It would only make sense.
Three bodies, suspended in mid-air… well mid-water, she supposed. They were attached by a thick rope to the lakebed. She kicked with all her might, the webbed feet assisting her speed dramatically. She reached the base of…
Her father?
Was that seriously who she would miss most in the entire world? It was a bit eye-opening if she was honest with herself.
She looked at the other Champions' possessions. A beautiful young blonde girl, probably a relation of Fleur's, was to her right. Then there was a large gap, presumably due to Krum having already found and collected his person, and then there was Ron.
Her jaw slacked slightly at the sight of him. That was her brother, here forever if Harry didn't come soon. She quickly cast a severing charm on her father's bindings and swam over to Ron.
Thinking about it now, she'd been rather ignorant of how much Ron actually meant to Harry. She was cross with him, yes. Even hurt by his actions, but she'd all but told Harry he was an idiot for caring about Ron.
Now she felt like a bit of a prat herself.
'Fucking hell,' she thought to herself as she swam closer to Ron to try and untie his bindings. Not entirely confident in Harry being able to rescue him in time. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, more that this was her brother, a brother she was currently at odds with, and she wouldn't let him die. 'We're all a bunch of prissy shits,'
When she raised her wand to sever the ropes, she felt a sharp pressure at the base of her back. She whirled around and was face to face with a… well, a merperson. She had no idea of its gender.
'Only one,' they said, raising their trident to her throat.
Ginny shook her head. 'That's my brother!' she tried to say, but it came out as bubbles. The merperson made a sort of tight-lipped smile.
'Only one. His owner is arriving shortly. Don't fret, little one,'
Ginny scowled at being referred to as little but nodded all the same. She swam upwards, and just as she was beginning to wonder whether or not he may be lying, she caught a glimpse of Harry arriving at the base of the ruins. He was making his way over.
Letting out a mental sigh of relief, she swam up to the surface.
Harry watched Ginny rise to the surface with a sense of overwhelming relief. He knew she was alright, and he knew she had completed the task.
Now, he just had to do the same.
He swam up to Ron and was glad to feel a pulse in his wrist. He aimed his wand and severed the rope. He was just about to swim up when he took note of something.
The girl beside Ron was making his entire body shiver in pain. She was definitely part-veela. So, this must be Fleur's possession… but Fleur was nowhere to be found. He waited and waited. But no mane of silvery blonde hair made its debut.
Then, he felt Ron jerk in his arms. His eyes widened and he saw, horrified, that Ron had appeared to have woken up, as had the veela girl.
'MUM! CHARM!'
She didn't respond, instead, she focused the bubble-head charm into Harry's magic, and he cast it over Ron and the veela girl. They both breathed sighs of relief, but Harry was not whatsoever comfortable with what had just happened.
They would have died down here.
Had Harry not been here, had he not reached Ron in time, he would have remained strapped to the bottom of the Black Lake forever. He knew that's what the egg was supposed to have said, but that was still… well… ridiculous!
Something was wrong. Someone had interfered with the Champion's goals.
Ron was coughing inside of his bubble but Harry, for the time being, paid him no mind. He swam over to the veela girl, Ron still in his arms. She looked positively terrified. Flailing her arms around and coughing up water. Luckily, Harry had been quick enough that neither had swallowed too much of the stuff.
Her veela magic was physically disabling him and he had to figure out a way to calm this girl before she passed out by hyperventilating or something. He turned to Ron, still in his arms, who was fighting to get free.
Harry let him go and he floated there a moment, before turning to face Harry. He had tear tracks down his face and Harry couldn't tell if he had let himself cry out of fear. He swam up to Harry and their bubble-head-charms collided, forming one large breathable space around the two.
'Bloody hell,' Ron croaked.
Harry gave him a sympathetic smile. 'I didn't think they'd actually cancel the charms after one hour,' he said, rather shakily himself. He had been so close to losing Ron forever.
Ron's expression softened slightly, and he cracked a smile before it faded slightly. 'Listen, mate, I'm sorry, I've been such a prat, I can't even begin to explain because… well there is no explanation. Mate, honesty, I'm such a git,'
Harry couldn't help himself. He laughed his ass off. Here they were, floating underwater in the middle of the Black Lake, apologizing to each other in a shared breathable bubble. It was so hilariously ridiculous that it took him a while to recover.
'Honestly, Ron, whatever happened since Halloween, all's forgiven. I reckon we've both learned a lesson, yeah?' said Harry, grinning despite himself.
Ron smiled hesitantly. 'Yeah, alright,'
Harry grinned and raised his hand to slap his shoulder. Of course, underwater this was rather… unemotional, but it got the point across, and Ron did the same to him.
Harry then seemed to remember the veela girl. 'Oh, shit, right, erm… See that veela girl over there?' Harry pointed at the silvery-blonde writhing and crying her eyes out to his right. 'I can't touch her, not really, because well…' Harry suddenly remembered that he was not out of the woods with Ron yet. He still hadn't told his best mate about his condition.
Ron laughed now. 'Bloody hell, you really are a werewolf, aren't you?'
Harry gaped at him and nodded slowly, casting his eyes down. He felt a squeeze on his right shoulder and looked back up. 'I wish you'd told me at the time, mate,'
Harry nodded and cringed. 'I honestly don't know why I didn't… I don't know I just…'
Ron's face hardened into a determined mask. 'Listen, we can talk about all that later. For now, let's get that girl up to the surface… I hate to break this to you, but my arms are still numb from that sleeping spell. I don't think I can hold her,' he paused and glanced over at the girl in question who was crying out. He turned back to Harry and said, 'I can hold her enough to push her, I suppose, but I can't hold her body to lift her up. We're weighted to stay down here,' he indicated his pockets which were full of little iron balls. 'So, it's going to be hard… can you help me?'
Harry didn't have a choice. He nodded and swam away from Ron, their bubbles separating again. He watched Ron swim up to the girl and raise his weakened arms to hold her shaking shoulders. Their bubbles conjoined and he watched as Ron attempted to soothe her.
It took quite a long time, but after a certain while, it must have been a few minutes, the girl calmed down. Ron was talking very delicately; he could tell from his facial expression and how he was moving his head.
'What's your name?' said Ron after he'd finally calmed her down. He already knew her name, having heard it before being put to sleep, but he figured it was important for her to say it. She seemed to know very little English. Even less that her drop-dead beautiful sister.
'G- G- Gabrielle,' she said, her chin quivering.
Ron smiled reassuringly. 'Good, now… we're going to get you out of here. I'm still tired from sleep, but me and him,' he pointed to Harry 'Are going to help you to the surface, alright?'
Gabrielle nodded dumbly and drew in a ratting hitched breath. 'Ok-ay,' she said after a minute or so.
Ron smiled and began to sink to her feet. 'I'm going to leave this bubble now, alright?'
'Attends!' she cried, tears forming at the corners of her eyes again. ' 'e is a werewolf!'
Ron smiled. 'Yeah, and I'm a wizard. Don't worry, you hurt him more than he hurts you,'
Gabrielle seemed quite hesitant, mildly horrified, actually, but nodded all the same.
Ron separated their bubbles and turned to Harry, giving him the thumbs-up to indicate that the time had come.
Ron's arms felt weak, unbelievably weak. He couldn't wrap them around her legs securely, so he swam underneath her and placed her feet on his shoulders. He saw the line of brightly coloured air bubbles strike the ropes and knew that Harry must have cast the severing charm.
Harry let out a sigh of relief as the ropes cut. No merpeople arrived, which was a relief to Harry, who had been expecting it after watching Ginny's experience with them.
He approached Gabrielle. He assumed it was because she was in distress that it pained him so much more to be around the part-veela, but he didn't know for sure. In what felt like a thousand hot knives being driven down the lengths of his body, he wrapped his arms around her shoulder area securely, and began to perform large whip-kicks. He saw Ron start to kick as well, faster and more aggressively. Probably more skilled, to be honest, seeing as Ron had grown up by a large pond.
It was insufferable pain. Gabrielle was crying, and Harry was barely holding in a scream. He wondered if this experience was going to leave a mark.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and he did scream. He felt tears form behind his eyes and he kicked even harder, trying to replicate the way Ron was doing it without accidentally kicking either Ron, or Gabrielle.
The surface was drawing nearer, and he was clambering to be free of this girl.
They breached the surface and Harry's bubble shattered. He screamed in agony, and it echoed throughout the lake. Ron surfaced after him. His arms limp by his sides. He was struggling to stay afloat by treading water with only his legs.
'Here, Harry, I'll try and hold her,' said Ron, his bubble also broken.
Gabrielle was staring at Harry with poorly hidden awe and reached for him. He bit his lip as her skin made contact with his shoulder and tried very hard not to accidentally bite himself to bleeding.
Him and Ron, together, hauled Gabrielle to the Champion's ship. There, stood Fleur and Ginny, screaming in French and English respectively to the Ministry men who were quite red in the face. Fleur's veela magic was radiating off her and Harry didn't know if he'd ever been in more pain. It was dizzying, and he could hear his mother screaming at the back of his mind as well. It was like being around the dementors, except he was being physically harmed at the same time.
They reached the side of the ship and Ron called out. 'Oi! Let us up you twits!'
The entire audience finally noticed them, and a roar of applause rang out through the valley. Fireworks were being shot off. Sparks of magic exploding through the air. The unfurled sails of the anchored ships changed to display Harry's banner and Harry's senses were officially on overdrive.
The sounds and the pain from Gabrielle in his arms. It was everything in him not to start screaming again. He was well aware that he was crying. Hopefully it appeared as though he was pleased to have surfaced and not that he was scared shitless and in considerable pain.
Fleur and Ginny both jumped at the sound of Ron's voice and ran to the side of the ship. Both Ginny and Fleur's eyes widened at the sight before them and Fleur burst into tears.
Overall, there was a lot of crying going around.
'Ma soeur! My leetle sister! Oh, mon dieu!' she drew her wand, as did Ginny, and they both, together, levitated Harry, Ron and Gabrielle out of the water. They deposited the trio onto the deck of the ship and Harry groaned from the pain of it all.
Fleur was now hyper-emotional as well, and he could have sworn he could sense a third veela presence. Merlin forbid it was another sibling or perhaps even a parent. Harry closed his eyes to try and nullify his raging headache.
Ron stood from the ground and brought Gabrielle away from Harry. He was immediately embraced by Fleur.
'Thank you!' Fleur wailed into his shoulder. 'You saved her. You 'elped her. You're… oh, thank you!' she kissed Ron, quite firmly, on the cheek. Ron seemed quite pleased with himself.
She finally relinquished her hold on him and whisked her little sister out of his arms. Harry was still on the deck of the ship. His brow was furrowed as though deep in concentration, but Ron knew this was more him attempting to block the pain of the veela.
Then, Ron was nearly bowled over by his sister who also had tears in her eyes, but in typical Ginny fashion, was refusing to let them fall. 'You stupid git!' she punched him in the chest, 'insufferable loveable prat, Ronald Weasley!' she hit him again, this time wrapping her arms around him and slamming her face into his chest. 'You could have died! And we would have been cross with one another oh, Ron!' she finally did cry, he could feel it through his robes, which, up until this point, had had some sort of impervious charm on them to keep them from getting wet in the water.
Ron's face cracked into a rueful smile. He didn't hesitate to envelop her in a returning hug and rest his chin on the top of her head. 'I know. I'm a git, I'm a twit, I'm a wanker, arsehole, pillock,'
'Creative cursing,' Ginny giggled into his chest, and he laughed as well.
'That was such a kind, loveable, endearing reunion,' came the scratchy voice of Harry Potter from their feet. They separated and stared down at him. His eyes were barely cracked open, and he was grinning sheepishly. 'You lot are the prime sibling relationship,'
Ron kicked him in the side at the same time as Ginny and Harry winced. They both instantly murmured their apologies, crouching down to make sure he was alright.
'Yeah'm'fine,'
Ron snorted, and Ginny grinned. 'So, you're either alright, or need to get shipped off to St. Mungos,'
Harry nodded. 'One of the two. No in between,' he said, chuckling.
Madam Pomfrey came by to see Harry, then, and waved her wand over him and audibly gasped. 'What happened to him?' she said to Ron.
He glanced around and leaned in. 'Werewolf senses and Veela magic,' he said in a nearly inaudible whisper.
'Ah, yes, Professor Lupin told me of his troubles with veela as well,' the matron said, touching Harry on the temple with the tip of her wand. 'That should numb him until his body heals.'
A small beetle went completely unnoticed by the people on the deck of the ship. Harry's senses were too clustered by their overload to smell it either.
Harry nodded gratefully and slowly got to his feet with the help of Ginny and Ron.
He still felt dizzy, but with Ron's help, he made it to the magical podium.
Bagman went on to announce the scores. Krum had taken first place, for having dealt with the siren and saved Hermione in time. He still couldn't believe that Hermione was what Krum would miss most. It was mildly hilarious, but he didn't have much energy left to laugh.
Then, Harry somehow scored higher than Ginny for excellent spell work and, to quote Bagman, 'A formidable sense of morality,' whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.
Ginny came in third, and Fleur in last. But she didn't seem to care. She was still showering kisses and hugs over her sister, who seemed quite taken with both Harry and Ron. Constantly staring at the pair in adoration.
Ginny noticed Gabrielle's attention on the two boys and leaned in. 'Believe me,' she said in a conspiratorial whisper, 'They aren't worth it,' she flashed a smile at the young girl and turned to walk back to Harry.
Harry's hand was suddenly filled with a pepper-up potion, and he instantly downed it. The world came back into focus, and he blinked owlishly. He coughed once, twice, and finally collapsed on his back. His body was regaining its normal strength, and he felt like he was almost up for the inevitable after-party.
Ron sat down beside him, and Harry couldn't help but smile. In true Harry fashion, it only took a near-death experience to set everything right.
Well, almost everything. Hermione was over with Krum in the corner.
'Does that piss you off?' said Harry, gesturing to the obscene display the Professional Quidditch player was pulling off with Hermione.
Ron didn't have to look to know what Harry was referring to. 'It did,' he said slowly. 'But… I don't know. I suppose it still irritates me, but he made the move before me, didn't he?'
Harry was quite surprised at Ron's reaction. 'I mean, yeah, I wish it was me over there with her,' he sighed, and Harry saw his eyes dart to the corner before settling back on Harry. 'But he beat me to it. Fair's fair,'
'Impressive,' said Ginny, who had just arrived and sat opposite Ron on the other side of Harry's laying form. 'Quite insightful, for someone like you,'
Ron rolled his eyes and mock-glared at his sister.
'Ron,' said Harry, breaking the light-hearted mood. 'I just… I'm sorry, for doubting you and… not sharing such an important… life-altering thing… I just,'
Ron shook his head. 'It's fine, Harry. I can't imagine what I would have done if I was put in your situation. So I reckon it isn't exactly fair to judge you if I can't even judge myself,'
'Merlin's pants, you'd think you came out of Ravenclaw,' said Ginny, staring at Ron in disbelief. 'Who are you and what have you done to Ronald Weasley,' she pointed her wand at him, and Harry honestly couldn't tell if she was taking the mickey.
Ron held up his arms. 'My emotional range expanded, I reckon,'
'Oh, so it went from a teaspoon to a salad bowl?'
'Come off it,' said Harry, interrupting the dispute. 'Salad bowl? He's made some insightful remarks, but he isn't a bloody poet,'
Ginny snorted and Ron grinned at his friend. It was so satisfying to just talk with Ron. As though nothing had ever come between them.
'How exactly did you two make up?' said Ginny after a short pause.
'Snogged each other senseless in front of a crying girl, if I remember right,' said Ron, tapping his finger to his chin as though he was deep in thought.
Harry grimaced. 'He wasn't great at it. The Giant Squid had more appeal, but he just came at me,'
'Yeah… Sorry, Harry. My game is a little off. Haven't had a good kiss since Aunt Muriel,'
'Who is a snogger of well repute,' inferred Ginny, raising her chin in mock elegance.
They laughed together and Harry sobered once again. 'Still, mate, I wouldn't have wanted you to have found out about my… problem, on your own,' said Harry quietly.
Ron stared at him for a moment before making a sound of dismissal at the back of his throat. 'While I'm glad you gave me the credit of having figured that one out… Thing is, I didn't.'
Harry frowned. 'Who told you, then? Hermione?' he furrowed his brow. He knew things weren't great between them, but he didn't think she'd spread that information.
'No, it wasn't Hermione,' he didn't seem perturbed that Harry had told Hermione before him. 'It was Greengrass, actually. She figured it out last night,'
Harry frowned. 'The Slytherin girl? From the World Cup?'
Ron nodded. 'Yeah. She's talked to me twice now. Sought me out both times,'
Ginny nudged her brother in the side. 'Look at you! We leave you for, what, four months? And now the Slytherin beauty herself is after the Ronald Weasley,'
Ron shook his head. 'I didn't even know she existed before the World Cup, so don't pretend like she has some celebrity status at the school,'
'She does among us girls,' said Ginny. 'That's why Hermione knew her name at the Cup,'
Ron nodded and turned back to Harry with a thoughtful look on his face. 'This was why you only wrote to Ginny, wasn't it? Because she had known about your…' he glanced around, 'problem.'
Harry nodded. 'She didn't know what was wrong with me, but she knew a part of it, and that made me feel sort of obligated to talk to her… if she hadn't figured a piece of it out, and flown in that car with me, I probably wouldn't have talked to any of you all summer. I was so busy with… well, everything. Remus and Sirius… even Tonks every once in a while,'
Ron nodded and then stared off into the distance for a while. 'We're good, right?' he said, without looking at Harry.
Harry smiled, sitting up and grabbing Ron by the forearm, a movement he reciprocated. 'Yeah, Ron, we're good.'
Part three will be up in a bit.