Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Since Crabbe and Goyle very rarely acted without Draco's order, all three were harshly punished by Severus and Dumbledore for the catastrophe at the Yule Ball.
Draco determined their punishment had been too light once he learned they had received four months worth of grueling detention involving manual labor and letters of deep apology that they were forced to read aloud in front of everyone during breakfast, not to mention a three hundred points deduction from Slytherin house.
As Draco faced Professor Snape the day after the Yule Ball, the rage in his teacher's dark glare made him fear for his life.
Despite his vehement plea declaring his innocence to Severus, the ominous scowl he saw on his darling's father's face had made the Dark Lord seem comforting.
Draco didn't care about his unjust punishments.
Draco didn't really care about Severus's hatred.
What stopped Draco from eating and sleeping was the horrifying truth that Harriet held him accountable for the mortifying incident.
He tried to catch her in the hallway.
He screamed an apology to her at the Owlery one morning after following her there, but his words fell on deaf ears.
Harriet had turned away from Draco.
What had she been thinking when she had allowed herself to believe they could ever be anything besides bitter enemies?
Draco Malfoy was a foul, spoiled brat and nothing more.
He would never be anything else besides a cold, selfish monster.
Harriet had no need for monsters in her life, she had Tom Riddle.
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After her encounter with Tom, Harriet struggled to focus on her schoolwork and the next tournament task.
"Harriet!"
"Harriet!"
"HARRIET!"
She finally jolted herself out of her own daydreams as she turned to scowl at Hermione.
Harriet sat at the library desk with a massive book open in front of her as she snapped, "What, Hermione? You don't have to shout, I'm right here!"
"Clearly I do!" Hermione retorted, "What's the matter with you?! You've been staring off since the Yule Ball! Hasn't she, Ron?!" Hermione demanded as she turned to scowl at Ron who sat across the aisle at the desk opposite from Harriet.
Ron shrugged as his eyes widened under the scorching glare of Hermione's frustrated grimace.
"Sorry." Harriet sighed, "I suppose I'm a bit nervous, that's all. It gets worse by the minute, but that's alright……This time tomorrow, it'll be over and then I'll just have one left."
Hermione frowned sympathetically as she reached a hand out and laid it on her friend's shoulder, "Harriet, you've got-"
"-The Gillyweed Dad gave me, I know." Harriet nodded, "I'll be able to breathe. I'm not bothered about that…..It's what I'll have to do that worries me."
"What do you think that'll be?" Ron asked.
Hermione shot him a glare before Harriet sighed and repeated the song for the upteenth time, "An hour long you'll have to look to find what we took…….What does that mean? What can they possibly take?...Better yet, how are merpeople going to take anything from Hogwarts? I didn't know they could leave the water."
Hermione and Ron exchanged nervous frowns as Harriet sighed and laid her head down on the open book.
As she closed her eyes, she wished Tom could have been there with her.
Although they hadn't seen each other since the Yule Ball, during their continued nightly writing sessions, he had been wise enough to helpfully suggest Harriet ask her father for some Gillyweed to use in the upcoming task.
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Twelve hours later, bright and early the next morning, Harriet stood on one of the three newly constructed platforms that rose out of the Black Lake as she prepared to begin the second Triwizard Tournament task.
As Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric readied themselves to dive into the cold water, Harriet noticed there were a few faces missing from the crowd.
Ron and Hermione clapped her on the back and whispered words of encouragement after Severus, Lily, and Ellery bid her good luck, but Harriet brushed them all aside.
As the starting horn blew and she dove into the water after swallowing a mouthful of Gillyweed, the pain of the herb's effects was muted by the worry in her heart.
Cho Chang was missing.
Viktor's date to the ball had failed to appear on the stands along with Fleur's little sister, who usually followed her like a shadow.
As Harriet's body finally relaxed once gills appeared at the base of her neck, she took her first breath under water as she began her search.
Her pulse pounded as she considered Draco had been the fourth person mysteriously absent that morning.
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While Harriet and the other Champions swam through the Black Lake, Severus wondered if Lily would break his hand as she clutched onto it for dear life.
"At least it isn't a dragon this time, my love." He whispered to his darling flower as he kissed her lips sweetly.
"Mum?...Dad?" Ellery asked as he turned around, "How long do you expect it'll take?"
"For Harriet to come back up?" Lily asked as she forced herself to put on a brave face in front of their son.
When Ellery nodded, Severus answered, "That depends……If the task is simple, your sister may return well before the hour mark. If the task is complex, its completion may require more time."
Ellery looked away from his parents with a frown and stared at the Black Lake's dark waters.
His mind was heavy that morning.
Not only did Ellery worry for his sister, but he too had noticed four people had gone missing………including Gabrielle Delacour.
As he stood and waited for the Champions to return, Ellery became disgusted by his own helplessness.
Behind him, Severus and Lily watched the water with similar frowns, anxiously awaiting any sign of Harriet.
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The onlookers who packed the stands had no idea about the battles that raged under the lake beneath them.
Viktor emerged first, with the girl he had taken to the ball safely within his grasp.
Cedric came up for air second, with Cho Chang in his arms.
The Snapes, along with Harriet's friends, remained hopeful until Fleur was lifted from the lake, trembling and unconscious.
An announcement boomed across the enchanted microphones at the top of the stands, "Fleur Delacour is unable to continue and will take no further part in this task!"
Severus and Lily glanced at each other with repressed terror in their eyes.
What had happened to Fleur?
Would the same thing happen to Harriet?
………Or worse?
Ellery turned around in time to glimpse his parents' worried expressions, which caused his eyes to widen.
"Come on, Sissy……." He murmured under his breath as he stared back at the Black Lake's lapping darkness, "...Come on!"
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Under the water, Harriet held Draco's arm in one hand and Gabrielle's in the other as she pulled them to safety while the clawing, biting, flailing merpeople opened nicks and scratches on her skin.
Gabrielle and Draco remained in a deep, enchanted sleep as Harriet attempted to rescue them both.
She soon realized that her inability to reach for her wand left her unable to fight her assailants back.
When one particularly vicious merperson opened a large gash on Harriet's shoulder, bubbles came from her mouth as she cried out in pain from the bleeding wound as a burst of scarlet issued forth into the water.
Her gills began to shrink as the surface grew further and further away while she slipped down, down, down………
Her hands released their grip before she slipped her wand from her swimming suit's pocket.
As she held its tip directly between Draco and Gabrielle, she shouted into the water and watched as they both shot towards the surface.
Draco sputtered once he surfaced.
Gabrielle gasped as she suddenly returned to consciousness.
Ellery's heart leapt as he watched them both be ushered back onto the platform and wrapped in warm blankets, but the lack of his sister's return diminished his joy.
"Sev………." Lily whispered anxiously while Severus clutched her hand.
He gnashed his teeth as his scowl deepened.
Although he didn't want to humiliate Harriet by interceding, he knew well enough that her Gillyweed would certainly wear off soon.
As he tensed himself and took a step towards the Black Lake, Lily let go of his hand.
She held her breath as she watched Severus reach for his wand just as a great shout issued forth from the explosive wave that erupted from the water.
As Harriet flew through the air, Severus already had his wand grasped and pulled her onto the platform for a surprisingly gentle landing using one flick of his wrist.
While everyone crowded around Harriet, including Severus and Lily, Ellery moved through the throngs of people to have a good look at his sister.
He stayed long enough to nod at Harriet and watch her nod back before he moved over to Gabrielle, but only after he knew his older sibling would be alright.
While Ellery frowned as Fleur cuddled her soaked, terrified little sister, across the platform Draco coughed and gagged while Crabbe, Goyle, and the rest of his friends attempted to dry him.
"What happened to me?!" He shouted in between hoarse, exaggerated heaves.
"The merpeople took you into the Black Lake with the others……..It was part of the tournament task, I suppose." Goyle shrugged.
"I didn't remember any of that!" Draco snapped, "I would have drowned, wouldn't I? How did I get up here?!"
"Snape pulled you out." Crabbe shrugged.
Draco sucked in a breath as his grey eyes widened.
"...She did?...Snape?...Snape pulled me out?" Draco demanded with his brow furrowed.
"Yeah, that's what everyone says anyway." Goyle shrugged.
Silence passed as Draco became overwhelmed by guilt and hope.
He stared into the distance for a moment before he scowled at his two cronies, "The next time either of you touch her, speak to her…….interact with her at all, I'll kill you both, do you understand?! I'll kill you!" Draco vowed.
Unaccustomed to anything besides following Draco's every whim, Crabbe and Goyle blinked as they nodded fiercely.
Draco closed his eyes as he passed a shaky hand over his pale face.
He blamed his two friends that Harriet hadn't rushed to his side as soon as she had managed to pull him back onto the platform.
His treatment of Crabbe and Goyle had become appallingly worse since the Yule Ball.
Draco delighted in taking his rage out on them.
Anger burned in his heart each day knowing that if it hadn't been for their ignorant antics, Harriet may very well have remained on his arm after the ball had ended.