Chapter Thirty Six

Draco looked around at the cheering crowds and grinned at Harry. The young girl was looking less happy and kept bobbing back under the water. Harry and Draco put an arm under each of hers and helped hold her up.

"You saved her as well?" Draco said.

All around them green heads were popping up as the Merpeople also came to the surface, Harry looked apprehensively at them but they were all smiling at him.

Harry turned back to Draco, "Fleur wasn't coming."

Draco nodded, "And she reminded you of Danica? Yeah I did think that might happen. Also pointed out to them that you'd want to save Hermione."

Harry rolled his eyes and grinned, "That predictable am I?"

Draco smirked, "Umm… I'm not saying nothing."

They swam the short way back to the shore and let people help them onto dry land.

"You did it!" Hermione rushed over, throwing the towel she was wearing to the ground and giving Harry a huge hug, "You saved the Delacour girl?"

Harry nodded, "Well the song did say that she was going to be lost forever."

"Only to get you back in the time limit, oh Harry." Hermione smiled.

Harry felt himself bristle but was quickly distracted. Fleur was being held back by Madam Maxime who was fighting her tooth and nail and had several scratch marks from Fleur's nails on her arm.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?" Fleur screamed, finally fighting free and rushing to her sister.

"And that is why I saved her." Harry said, feeling rather smug.

Hermione smiled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Viktor came over and wrapped her in a towel again.

"You are all right, oh thank you, thank you! You saved 'er! My little sister!" Fleur said, throwing her arms around Harry and kissing him on either cheek, "And you! You 'elped!" she kissed Draco and hugged him before moving back over to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle was wrapped in at least five towels, including the two that Fleur had been wearing, leaving her shivering on the waters edge.

"I am so sorry. I tried, I really tired. It was ze Grindylow, zey attacked me! I zought, oh gods..." Fleur sobbed into her sister's neck.

"I am all right, it iz OK." Gabrielle said from her pile of towels and blankets.

"You come here with me." Madam Pomfrey ordered, pulling Harry away from the edge of the lake. Harry felt himself be covered in blankets and towels, so tightly he felt very much like he was in a straight jacket and a scolding hot potion shoved down his throat; causing steam to come out of his ears.

Karkaroff was glaring at him from the judges table, he was the only one still sitting there, just glaring. Harry looked around for his father but he either wasn't there or was hidden in the crowd.

"Dumbledore didn't think it would me a good idea for him to be here, just in case he… felt the need to help." Hermione said, seeing Harry looking around.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, yeah that makes sense." It might of made sense but that didn't mean Harry had to like it.

"You were well outside the time limit, did it take you ages to find us?" Draco asked, walking over, also wrapped in a blanket.

Harry shook his head, "Not really. I just didn't feel like leaving people trapped down there."

"We would have been all right." Hermione said.

Harry nodded, "I know that, but I couldn't take that chance. You're my friend too, and look at her, she barely older than Danica."

Draco leaned in, "Do you think they asked your Mother to 'borrow' Danica?"

Harry snorted, "Can you imagine what she would have said? We would of heard her shouting from here!"

Hermione and Draco laughed loudly, causing Fleur and Gabrielle to turn and look at them. Dumbledore was crouched down by the lake side, talking to the chief Merman.

He nodded and stood up, smiling to Harry and walking back to the other judges.

"I'm annoyed I came last." Harry admitted, "I was first to the village, to find you guys."

Draco shrugged, "I wouldn't worry about it, you're only third as Delacour never finished, and you came first in the dragon task."

"That puts you at least second over all." Hermione grinned.

Harry allowed himself to smile, he was over halfway through now and still alive, he couldn't ask more than that.

Ludo Bagman's voice echoed around them, magically amplified once again, "Ladies and gentlemen, e have come to a 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…"

The area fell very quiet, all the students across the lake, listening carefully for the results.

"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!"

Applause came across from the stands. Fleur was still clutching onto her sister, but had now at least allowed Madam Maxime to wrap her in a warm blanket.

"I deserved zero." She said, clearly on the edge of crying, her hair, still wet and clinging to her face.

"Mr Cedric Diggory, who also used Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour."

There was an enormous cheer from the crowd, the Hufflepuffs cheering loudest of all; Harry looked over and saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look and felt a knot form in his chest, he turned back to the judges.

"We therefore award him forty seven points!"

Harry's heart sank, if Cedric had been outside the time limit than Harry must have been ages out, he was surprised the Gillyweed had even lasted that long.

"Mr Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of transfiguration, which was never the less effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty point!"

Karkaroff clapped furiously, looking very smug and pleased with himself; Harry glared at him, Karkaroff hadn't done anything, it should be Viktor who was a smug but he seemed more concerned with making sure that Hermione was all right and warming up.

"Mr Harry Potter 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 Potter was the 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."

Harry couldn't make himself regret waiting for the others to be saved as well, the sight of Fleur fighting to get to her little sister hit too close to home, Harry would have been forever grateful had it been the other way round. He might have come last, but he'd done the right thing, he was sure of that.

"Most of the judges," Bagman glared at Karkaroff, "feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However… Mr Potter's score is forty five points!"

Harry could have jumped for joy, he was now tying for first place with Cedric.

"Well done Harry!" Hermione said, over the noise from the crowd. The Hogwarts students, now sure that Hogwarts would win the Triwizard Tournament were screaming and cheering as loud as possible. Krum shook Harry by the hand.

"Very vell done Harry." He smiled.

Fleur was standing close by and beaming at Harry. Out of the water, the resemblance between her and her sister was even more striking; they could have been the same person a few years apart.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June," said Bagman, as the crowd calmed down, "The champions will be notified of what is coming, precisely one month before hand. Thank you all for your support of the Champions."

Harry allowed Madam Pomfrey to shoo the champions and their hostages into the castle for warm, dry clothes and hot drinks. Harry was very relieved to be sitting in a bed in the hospital wing, once more wrapped in blankets and having changed his clothes.

"Drink this please Mr Potter." Madam Pomfrey said, handing him a large mug of hot chocolate, "And after is it all gone you're free to go. A couple of scratches aren't going to kill you."

She moved over to the next bed and handed a mug to Draco as well. Fleur and Gabrielle were laying in one bed, Fleur's lay empty to the side, drinking from steaming mugs.

"Professor Snape, really! He will be down in the Great Hall for dinner in less than half an hour." Madam Pomfrey said, rather exasperated at the door, "Oh very well then."

Severus swept into the room straight over to Harry's bed, "You're all right?"

Harry nodded and grinned, "I'm told these few scratches wont kill me." he said, showing Severus the marks from the Grindylows.

Severus nodded and sat down on the hard wooden chair by the bed, "I was worried. Mr Crouch sent word through that horrible Weasley that I wasn't to be there after me trying to help you during the dragon task."

Harry frowned, "I didn't know you had helped."

"Well I didn't, I just said if they left you lying in that nest much longer I was going to do something about it." Severus smirked.

Harry grinned, "Ah well, thank you. I would rather not have been roasted, or drowned which was this one."

"At least it's nearly over now." Severus said with a sigh.

Harry wanted to say something, to make it all better, but really there was nothing to say. He knew how worried both Severus and Lily were, yet again they had to fear for his life for a year. Severus's face was still very pale, his hands clenched on his lap.

"Drink this Severus." Madam Pomfrey said, giving him a mug, "Spend as much time with your boy as you want." she said kindly, "Seems like you need a catch up. I can order dinner up here for you if you would like?"

"I would like to see Neville and the girls." Harry said, quietly enough that only Severus could hear him.

Severus smiled, "I think Hogwarts would never forgive me if they didn't get to see one of their champions at dinner. It'll be Easter holidays soon anyway, plenty of time to catch up then."

Harry sat quietly with his father until they had finished their hot chocolates and they were allowed to head down.

Fleur and Gabrielle swept into the Great Hall and took their normal seats on at the Ravenclaw table. Cho went to join them, many of the Beauxbatons students seeming pleased to see her. Neville saw Harry and rushed over.

"You did it!" he said, grinning broadly.

Harry grinned back, "Couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much."

Neville waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it."

Hermione waved goodbye to them and went with Neville to the Gryffindor table. She seemed to be rather more popular having been saved from the lake.

Pansy and Daphne were waiting eagerly for Draco and Harry at the Slytherin table. The Durmstrang students were also their but more focused on seeing Viktor again. He sat down and they began to talk very quickly in Latin; far too quickly for Harry or the others to follow; even with the small bits of Latin they knew.

"What happened?" Pansy demanded, "How did they get you to the bottom of the lake?"

Draco shrugged, "Well, you saw Professor Snape take me from the common room last night. He took me to Dumbledore's office and said that I needed to help Harry. Dumbledore explained that we would be put into an enchanted sleep and that we would be fine, just needed to be rescued from the lake."

"And you thought 'oh yeah why not'? Daphne asked, "What about Harry? What about us? We had no idea where you had gone!"

Harry sniggered, "It's fine. It all ended fine and we're all now safe and dry. They only would have come for someone else if Draco had refused." he pointed out.

"Well you're right there." Pansy conceded, "Still was a nasty thing for them to do."

"What happened with Fleur?" Harry asked, the dishes before him filled with fried chicken, onion rings and chips which Harry gladly filled his plate with.

Pansy sighed, "She sent up a spark from the water and one of the Merpeople carried her out, they then told Dumbledore she'd been attacked, the Grindylows nearly broke through her Bubble-Head Charm. She got onto the bank and started sobbing and trying to get back into the water, shouting for Gabrielle but Madam Maxime wouldn't let her go back."

"She was so upset." Daphne said, glancing down the table to where Astoria was sitting, "They tried to tell her Gabrielle would be all right I think, she slapped Bagman when he chuckled at her. Thankfully it wasn't long before people started to come up and then you came up."

Harry shook her head, "They should of just sent word to bring Gabrielle to the surface with the Merpeople as soon as Fleur had to be rescued."

"They weren't going to let anything happen." Draco pointed out, "I think she just felt really disappointed in herself."

"I wondered though." Harry said, "Logically I knew nothing would happen to anyone not saved, but there was a voice of doubt in my head, especially with the words of the stupid song."

Harry was starving and had three large portions of food before going to the library to flop with his friends. He wanted to believe that all four hostages would have been fine, even if none of them had been saved, but the little voice of doubt in the back of his mind wouldn't leave him alone; he just hoped that sleep would help.