The Second Task

The trio were sitting at the back of Charms class with a table to themselves and Arthur talked about the clue from the egg and what he saw on the map, excluding his theory, despite the fact that they were supposed to be practising the Banishing Charm, the opposite of the Summoning Charm.

Because there was a potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Flitwick gave each student a stack of cushions to practise the spell on, the theory being that they wouldn't hurt anyone if they weren't on target.

Despite being a good theory, it didn't work out too well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier items flying across the room, such as Flitwick himself.

"Why would Crouch pretend to be ill and sneak around in Snape's office?" David questioned as Flitwick whizzed resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet.

The three simply continued with the class when Chrys and Arthur didn't think of a convincing response to David's question.

Arthur found the Banishing Charm to be really fun and became a natural at it, very much like the Summoning Charm.


As Sirius told Arthur, he sent a letter with an eagle owl explaining what he saw on the map, even including his theory about the fake Moody, not in detail.

He then decided to focus entirely on the issue that was plaguing him: how to hold his breath underwater for an hour on the twenty fourth of February.

David, Chrys and Mike had their own ideas.

"You could Transfigure yourself into a submarine." Chrys suggested. "But we haven't tackled human Transfiguration yet! We don't start until sixth year and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what to do."

"Yeah, I don't want to walk around with a periscope sticking out of my head." Arthur said.

Arthur was finding himself spending so much time in the library, mostly with Mike, that he felt like he spent a lifetime there, burying himself among dusty volumes, looking for anything that could help him survive underwater without struggling.

No matter how much he looked through, even asking McGonagall for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asking Madam Pince for help, there was nothing whatsoever.

He was now starting to feel genuine panic and struggled paying attention in lessons.

Arthur always took the lake for granted, being a part of the Hogwarts grounds. But now he found himself looking out windows at the iron grey mass of chilly water, whose dark and icy depths seemed as distant was the moon in the sky.


Time started slipping away as though someone made the clocks go faster, just like when Arthur was about to face the Horntail. There was now a week left before the second task on the twenty fourth of February before he kept telling himself that there was still time, and did so as it became five days left, then three….

With two days left, Arthur found himself losing his appetite again. The only good thing about breakfast that Monday was the return of the eagle owl that he sent to Sirius. He pulled the parchment off and unrolled it, seeing the shortest letter Sirius wrote.

Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.

He turned it over and saw that there was nothing else.

"It's the weekend after next." Chrys whispered, having read the note over Arthur's shoulder. "Take my quill and send the owl back straight away."

He scribbled the dates down on the back of the letter and tied it back onto the eagle owl's leg, watching it take flight.

"Why would he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend?" David asked.

"Most likely that he's heading his way here to talk in person." Arthur suggested, which he liked the idea of.

They then went to their first lesson of the day, Care of Magical Creatures. And whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast Ended Skrewts, or because there's only two of them left, or because he tried to prove that he could do what Grubbly-Plank could, he simply continued her lessons on unicorns ever since he returned to work. It seemed that he knew as much about unicorns as he did about what are considered monsters, though he clearly found the lack of fangs disappointing.

Today, he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike fully grown unicorns, they're pure gold. Both Parvati and Lavender went into delight at the sight of them, even Pansy had to work to conceal how she liked them.

"Easier ter spot than the adults." Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white 'til they're full grown, round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies… don' mind boys so much… c'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want… give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps…."

"You okay, Arthur?" He then muttered, moving aside slightly, while most of the others swarmed around the baby unicorns.

"Yeah." Arthur replied.

"Jus' nervous, eh?"

"Pretty much." Arthur shrugged.

"Arthur." Hagrid then said, clapping a massive hand on his shoulder, making Arthur's knees buckle under its weight. "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha' Horntail, but I know now yeh can do anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin' ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?"

Arthur nodded back wordlessly, despite still having no idea how to hold his breath for an hour underwater.

"Yeh're goin' ter win." Hagrid then growled, patting Arthur's shoulder again, making him actually sink into the muddy ground a couple of inches. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win, Arthur."

Arthur felt bad about the fact that there's a chance he won't so he just pretended to be interested in the young unicorns and forced a smile in return.


In the evening before the second task, Arthur felt like he was trapped in one of the nine circles of hell. Even if he, by some miracle, managed to find a spell or whatever, he'd have to master it overnight.

He, David, Chrys and Mike all sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing with a passion through many pages of spells, hidden from each other by the large piles of books on the desk in front of each of them.

Arthur was now starting to think that maybe there's no spell to look for and just looked through a book on plants, believing it was a long shot that there's a plant to help him breathe underwater.

But even with plants, he didn't find anything, it was just becoming hopeless.

Suddenly, the four heard someone knock on a bookshelf and they saw both Jack and Kevin.

"What are you two doing here?" David said.

"McGonagall wants both you and Chrys." Kevin told them.

"Why?" Chrys asked, surprised.

"Don't know… but she looked rather grim." Jack replied.

Arthur was starting to suspect what that meant and he didn't like it.

"And we're supposed to bring you two to her office." Kevin added.

Both David and Chrys stared at Arthur, whose stomach dropped. He had no choice but to nod for them to go, which they did wordlessly.

Both Arthur and Mike left the library at eight o'clock in defeat as Madam Pince extinguished the lamps and led them out.

The two sat in the Gryffindor common room, looking at the fire in silence.

"Why did you look at that book on plants?" Mike broke the silence.

"To see if there was a plant that could help make someone breathe underwater." Arthur replied in defeat, which resulted in Mike looking like he was in thought until his eyes widened.

"I just remembered… Neville told me about that book Moody gave him. He mentioned how there's a plant that can make someone breathe underwater, it's local to the Mediterranean sea." He revealed.

"What's it called?" Arthur asked, wanting to know what it was.

"It was… oh what was it…? Bloody hell, I don't remember other than 'weed' is part of the name!" Mike groaned.

"Great! I'm gonna look like an idiot in comparison to the rest of the champions." Arthur groaned as well, especially since the second task is literally tomorrow.

After that, Arthur resigned himself to bed, feeling defeated for the first time in his life. He didn't want to imagine how everyone else would react, some more than others as he changed into his pyjamas and slept immediately.


Sleeping seemed to have moved on so fast because after what felt like thirty seconds passed by, he felt a finger poking his side, waking him up.

"Arthur Pendergast must wake up, sir!"

Arthur opened his eyes and found Dobby standing next to his bed. He looked around and found no one was in bed and said that the time was twenty past nine in the morning. He had to have overslept.

"Dobby, why did you wake me?" Arthur asked

"Because Dobby has found what Arthur Pendergast needs to take Mr Merlon back from the merpeople!" Dobby replied. His fear was confirmed.

"And what is it?" Arthur asked, sounding desperate.

"Gillyweed, sir! It will make Arthur Pendergast breathe underwater, sir!" Dobby said as he pulled out a ball of what looked like slimy greyish green rat tails from his pocket of his shorts.

"What do I do with it?" Arthur asked as he took the Gillyweed.

"You has to eat it, sir!"

"But how'd you know?"

"Dobby hears things, sir!" Dobby replied earnestly. "He is a house elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors, Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staff room, talking about the next task… Dobby cannot let Arthur Pendergast lose his Merlon."

"Thank you so much, Dobby!" Arthur said before he changed into his robes and ran out of Gryffindor Tower at top speed.

He bolted through the castle so fast that he can be described as a blur if anyone saw him.

He checked his watch to see that it was twenty five past nine and just kept running.

In a short amount of time, he reached the Entrance Hall, hearing everyone in the Great Hall having breakfast while Arthur continued on out through the front doors and pounded on the lawn as he saw the seats that encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were yet to be packed.

Arthur continued sprinting to the other side of the lake where the judges were to be situated at a golden draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur and Krum were beside the table, watching Arthur sprint.

"I was wondering where you were, Arthur!" Bagman said upon seeing him, sitting at the judges' table, along with Sam, who still took over for Crouch.

"Overslept slightly." Arthur panted as he held his side, as he now had a stitch that felt like he was stabbed between the ribs. They all then heard the entire school arrive, along with the judges.

By the time everyone was seated, including the judges, Bagman moved among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. Arthur found himself on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who wore swimming trunks and held his wand ready.

"Alright, Arthur?" Bagman whispered as he moved Arthur a few feet further away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah" Arthur said, now feeling normal.

Bagman gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges' table, pointing his wand at his throat, like at the World Cup and shouted "Sonorus!", his voice booming out across the dark water towards the stands.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One… two… three!"

His whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupting with cheers and applause. Arthur pulled his shoes and socks off and pulled out the handful of Gillyweed from his pocket as he waded out into the lake.

Right before he was fully submerged, he stuffed the Gillyweed in his mouth and sunk his head in the water.

The lake was so cold that it was like Arthur's skin was on fire. His robes weighed him down as he chewed the Gillyweed as fast and hard as he could, finding it to be unpleasantly slimy and rubbery. He eventually swallowed it and felt like the normal struggle of holding his breath underwater was gone.

He felt his neck and felt two large slits just below his ears. Gills. He took a breath and felt the water pass smoothly through the gills, sending oxygen to his brain.

Arthur then stretched his hands out and found that they looked green and ghostly under the water, and that they're now webbed. He then twisted to look at his feet to see that they've elongated and his toes were now webbed as well, looking like he sprouted flippers.

The water no longer felt icy, if anything, it now felt pleasantly cool and very light.

He decided to test himself out and struck out with his flipper-like feet propelling him through the water very far and fast. He also noticed that everything seemed clear and didn't feel the need to blink.

Arthur now swam so far into the lake that he could no longer see the bottom. Preparing himself for what else could be down here other than selkies and the giant squid, he flipped over and dived into the depths.

Silence pressed against his ears as he swam through a dark and foggy landscape. Arthur was only able to see ten feet around him, meaning that as he sped through the water, new scenes would loom suddenly out of the darkness. Whether it was forests of rippling, tangled black weed or wide plains of mud that littered with dull, glimmering stones.

He'd swim deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the lake with his eyes wide, staring out through the eerily grey lit water around him.

Small fish would flicker past Arthur like silver darts. Once or twice he'd thought he saw something larger moving ahead of him, but it turned out to be a large, blackened log or a dense clump of weed when he got nearer.

There still wasn't any sign of the other champions, the selkies, David or even the giant squid, which he was glad about, as he didn't want to face it.

Light green weed stretched out ahead of him as far as he could see, being two feet deep, as though it were a meadow of very overgrown grass. Arthur stared unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to see if there were any shapes in the gloom.

But then, without warning, something grabbed his ankle.

Arthur twisted his body to see that it was a Grindylow, a small horned water demon that poked out of the weeds. Its long fingers were clutched tightly around Arthur's leg, its pointed fangs bared.

Arthur snarled as he grabbed his wand at the same time as two other Grindylows rose out, seizing handfuls of Arthur's robes, attempting to drag him down.

"Relashio!" He shouted, though no sound came out and instead a large bubble issued from his mouth. And his wand pelted the Grindylows with a jet of boiling water, instead of sparks, striking them and angry red patches appeared on their green skin.

Arthur managed to get his ankle out from their grip and swam as fast as he could, sending the occasional jet of hot water over his shoulder and kicked his feet at a horned skull, making the now dazed Grindylow float away before sinking back into the weed.

He slowed down a little, still holding his wand tightly in his hand as he looked around and listened.

After a short while, he swam through the rippling weed and set off for what had to be twenty minutes, now passing over vast expanses of black mud, which swirled murkily when he disturbed the water.

Then finally, he heard a part of the haunting song from the egg.

An hour long you'll have to look.

And to recover what we took….

This made him swim faster and he soon saw a large rock emerge from the muddy water ahead. It actually had paintings of the selkies on it, carrying spears and chasing what resembled the giant squid. Arthur continued on, following the song.

your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot….

There was a cluster of stone dwellings that were stained with algae looming out of the gloom on all sides. And here and there at the dark windows were faces. They didn't resemble the face of the mermaid in that painting in the Prefects' bathroom.

The selkies had greyish skin and long, wild dark green hair. Their eyes were also yellow, along with their broken teeth. They all wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks.

All of them leered at Arthur as he swam past them, one or two would emerge from their caves to watch him better, letting their powerful and silver fishtails be seen beating the water and spears clutched in their hands.

Arthur continued on, staring ahead as the dwellings were now numerous with gardens of weed around some of them. There was even a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door.

The selkies now emerged on all sides, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, taking behind their hands to each other.

Arthur then sped around a corner and saw a strange sight in front of him.

A whole crowd of selkies floated in front of the houses that lined what must be their village square. A choir of them sang in the middle, calling the champions towards them. Behind them was a crude statue of a large selkie hewn from a boulder.

And four people were bound tightly to the tail of the statue.

David was tied between both Chrys and Cho Chang. They were here for Krum and Cedric, for sure. The fourth was a girl who looked like they were eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made it clear that this was Fleur's younger sister.

All of them were in some kind of deep sleep and their heads were lolling onto their shoulders with fine streams of bubbles issuing from their mouths.

Arthur shot towards the hostages, partly expecting the selkies to lower their spears and charge at him, yet they just kept watching him. The ropes of weed that tied the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy and very strong.

He looked around, knowing the selkies wouldn't hand him their spears to cut the ropes that tied David. He looked at the lake bottom and grabbed a jagged rock and went back to hack the ropes binded David. After a few minutes of this, David now floated, still unconscious and a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.

Arthur looked and saw no sign of the other champions. He was getting a bit annoyed as they should've showed up by now.

He just waited there, not doing anything, not even trying to free Chrys, as she's for Krum to save, which he still felt a bit disgusted by, that an adult would be attracted to an underage person.

Arthur looked down at his watch to see that it wasn't working as the selkies started pointing excitedly. He looked and saw Cedric swimming towards them. He had an enormous bubble around his head, making his features look wide and stretched.

"Got lost!" He mouthed, looking panic stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!"

Now feeling relieved, Arthur watched as Cedric pulled a knife out from his pocket and cut Cho free, pulling her upwards and out of sight.

Arthur looked back around, waiting for Fleur and Krum to show up. Time was starting to grow short, based on the song and the hostages would be lost after the hour was over.

The selkies started to screech excitedly. Arthur looked and saw something monstrous cutting through the water towards him: it was a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark. Krum poorly Transfigured himself, this would no doubt affect his grade badly.

Krum swam straight to Chrys and snapped and bit at her ropes: the trouble with this was that Krum's new teeth were awkwardly positioned to bite anything smaller than a dolphin, and if he wasn't careful, he'd rip Chrys in half.

Arthur was going to let that happen so he hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held out the jagged stone for him to use.

Krum seized it and cut Chrys free. He grabbed her around the waist and, without a backward glance, he rose rapidly towards the surface.

All that remained was Fleur and yet she didn't show up.

Something must've happened to her.

Not wanting to leave her sister to possibly die, he grabbed the stone that Krum dropped. But then the selkies all closed in around David and the girl, shaking their heads at him.

Arthur growled as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at them.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" He roared, only for bubbles to fly out of his mouth. The selkies clearly understood him because they stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were now fixed upon his wand, looking scared, partly because of his angry expression.

"MOVE! NOW!" He bellowed at them as he waved his wand, ready to cast a spell at them.

This caused them to scatter and Arthur darted towards the ropes that bound the girl to the statue and hacked at it until she was finally free. He then grabbed the girl around her waist and grabbed David's arm and kicked off from the bottom.

He used all his strength as he no longer could use his webbed hands to propel himself forwards. He had to work his flippers furiously against the weight of David and the girl combined with his eyes fixed skywards, hoping to reach the surface of the lake before it's too late.

The selkies rose with him, swirling around him with ease, watching him struggle through the water….

Arthur now drew his breath with difficulty, feeling pain on the sides of his neck… the water in his mouth was now growing wet and the darkness was thinning upon seeing daylight above him.

He kicked the hardest he could with his flippers, realising that they were nothing more than feet as water flooded through his mouth and into his lungs.

Arthur was growing dizzy but he couldn't stop with only ten feet to swim through.

He kicked his legs so fast and hard that his muscles were screaming in protest and his brain was very waterlogged, needing oxygen.

Finally, his head broke the surface of the lake, feeling the wonderful cold air stinging his we face, gulping it down as though he didn't breathe properly before and panted, pulling David and girl with him.

All around him were wild green haired heads emerging out of the water and he noticed that they were all smiling at him.

The crowds in the stands made a lot of noise, shouting and screaming and on their feet. Both David and the girl's eyes opened up, with the latter looking scared and confused, whereas David expelled water from his mouth and blinked in the bright light.

He then turned to Arthur and said "Talk about being wet." He then noticed Fleur's sister. "Why'd you bring her?"

"Fleur didn't turn up. I couldn't just leave her down there." Arthur replied, confused by David's reaction.

"Oh, Arthur…" David shook his head. "...you actually took the song seriously. Dumbeldore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"

"But the song -"

"It's just so you could get back within the time limit!" David told him. "Did you really waste time down there, acting like a hero!"

Arthur truly felt like an idiot. He didn't consider that they'd make sure the hostages weren't in any real danger. But he felt like couldn't leave Fleur's sister down there, that would just be too cruel.

"Help me out." Arthur said. "I don't think she can swim well."

The two pulled Fleur's sister through the water back to the bank where the judges stood watching. Around twenty selkies accompanied them as though they were a guard of honour, singing their screechy songs.

Arthur saw Madam Pomfrey fussing over Chrys, Krum, Cedric and Cho, all wrapped in thick blankets.

Both Dumbledore and Bagman stood beaming at Arthur and David from the bank as they swam nearer, yet Sam looked white. He splashed out to meet them.

Maxime, meanwhile, tried to restrain Fleur, who was hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

"She's perfectly fine!" Arthur assured her, despite feeling so exhausted.

Sam seized David and dragged him back to the bank as Dumbledore and Bagman pulled Arthur upright. Fleur finally broke free of Maxime and hugged her sister.

"It was ze Grindylows… zey attacked me… oh, Gabrielle, I thought… I thought…."

"Come here, you." Madam Pomfrey said as she seized Arthur and pulled him over to Chrys and the others. She wrapped him up tightly in a blanket and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat, resulting in stem to gush out from his ears.

"So you finally found out how." Chrys said.

"Yeah." Arthur said, noticing Karkaroff watching him, being the only judge who didn't leave the table and wasn't thrilled that Arthur, David and Gabrielle made it back.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Chrys." Krum said, clearly trying to draw her attention back to himself. But Chrys brushed the beetle away impatiently.

Arthur realised that it was Skeeter but before he could grab her, she crawled away, leaving him to growl in annoyance.

"You were outside the time limit. Did it take you ages to find us?" Chrys asked.

"I didn't." Arthur replied, his feeling of stupidity growing. He was probably too selfless for his own good.

He noticed Dumbledore crouching at the water's edge in a deep conversation with the chief of the selkies, who was a truly wild and ferocious looking female. He made the same screechy noises that the selkies made when above water, meaning Dumbledore spoke their language.

He eventually straightened up and turned to his fellow judges saying " A conference before we give the marks, I think."

They all went into a hurdle.

Madam Pomfrey grabbed David from Sam's tight embrace and led him to Arthur and the others, giving him a blanket and some Pepper Up Potion before fetching Fleur and her sister. Fleur had lots of cuts on her face and arms, her robes were even torn, but she didn't seem to care, not even allowing Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

"Look after Gabrielle." She told her before turning to Arthur. "You saved 'er." She said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah." Arthur said.

Fleur bent down and kissed Arthur twice on each cheek, leaving his face to burn up. She then turned to David.

"And you, too, you 'elped -"

"A bit." David replied before Fleur swooped down on him and kissed him as well. Chrys didn't look too happy about that, but then Ludo Bagman magically magnified his voice, which boomed out beside them, making them all jump and make the crowd in the stands go quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows…. Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty five points."

There was applause from the stands.

"I deserved zero." Fleur said throatily, shaking her head.

"Mr Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs filled the air and Cho gave Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty seven points."

Arthur was growing a bit worried about his score, now that he knew Cedric was outside the time limit.

"Mr Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.

"Mr Arthur Pendergast used Gillyweed to great effect." Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr Pendergast was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."

Both David and Chrys looked at Arthur, half exasperated and half commiserating.

"Most of the judges…" Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look. "...feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However… Mr Pendergast's score is forty five points."

Arthur's stomach leapt, he was now in first place over Cedric by five points. David and Chrys were caught by surprise and stared at Arthur before laughing and applauding hard with the rest of the crowd.

"Look at that!" David shouted over the noise. "Looks like your moral fibre is a good thing after all!"

Fleur was clapping very hard, whereas Krum wasn't happy. In fact, he made another attempt to engage Chrys in conversation again, but she was just too busy cheering Arthur to listen.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June." Bagman continued. "The champions will be notified of what is coming, precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

It was now over as Madam Pomfrey began to herd the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes. And Arthur felt some relief, knowing that he had until June the twenty fourth to relax from the stress he felt.

He also decided that the next time he goes to Hogsmeade, he'll buy Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.


I actually did the math and with Harry and Cedric, they both had the same score of 85 after completing the second task, this meant that Cedric, taking away the 47 points he won for the second task, had 38 from the first task. So it makes since for Arthur to be in first place over him because of his 45 points from the first task, gaining him 90 points, instead of 85.