The next morning, Hermione walked down the corridor to the Great Hall for lunch, alongside Harry, Ron and Neville. She stopped and massaged her forehead with two fingers, "Harry? Are you sure that that's what the Egg said? You didn't mis-hear it, did you?"

Harry was beginning to get annoyed because this was the third time she had asked that question. He bit out, "Yes Hermione! I am 100% sure. Unless you would like to go to the Prefect's Bathroom with the three of us and listen to it yourself."

Her cheeks flushed as she caught the implications of that sentence. She snapped, "Harry Potter! Don't be crude! Now, let's break it down. I think the rhyme is referring to mermaids, and in the Black Lake. They've taken something from each of the champions. You'll only have one hour to search for that object."

Just then, Ron interjected, "I had a thought. Why would the missing item be an object? I mean, they're just objects and can probably be replaced. I think you will probably have to look for a person."

Neville looked at him in alarm, "Whoa! You mean, like a hostage!?"

Ron nodded grimly, "Precisely. Think of it this way. If they took Harry's Firebolt, he could always ask Sirius or Remus to buy him another one. But you can't buy a person's life. That would increase the urgency."

Hermione nodded, "That makes sense. So Harry's hostage could definitely be one of us."

Neville chipped in, "It could also be Mackenzie, Bianca or Katie. Alternately, the hostages could be their Yule Ball dates."

Harry nodded, "Okay, let's not worry about who's going to be the hostage. Let's focus on how I'm going to save my hostage. I'll see if I can talk to Jackson for help. There's no way that I'll be able to hold my breath for one hour."

A thought struck Hermione, "Harry, what if you used some scuba-diving gear! The oxygen tanks will definitely last for an hour."

He countered, "What about the hostage though?"

Neville piped up, "There's a plant called Gillyweed. I found out about it from a book that Moody gave me, yesterday. It can allow a human to breathe underwater. If I'm not mistaken, the person who consumes it will grow gills temporarily and have webbed hand and feet. However, I also heard that it tastes nasty."

Harry nodded, "Okay, that's an option."

The days flew by in a massive blur. Then, a week before the Second Task, Dumbledore came up to Harry, "Mr. Potter, would you mind accompanying me to my office? There's a visitor to see you."

Harry got up immediately and followed him to his office. Once he went up the winding stairs, he spotted a sooty Percy Jackson brushing himself off by the fireplace. He wheezed and coughed, "That… Was an experience…"

Harry led him downstairs and into the Courtyard. Fortunately, only Ron, Hermione and Neville were there, and they joined him. Jackson said, "Hey dude! I got your letter and I have an idea. I talked to Tyson and called in some favours."

He dug around in his pocket and fished out something. Percy dropped a single shiny pearl in Harry's hand. He said, "Remember our first quest? I spoke to that same Nereid and she gave me another one of these. What you need to do is, once you reach your hostage, you crush the pearl in your hand. It won't break now, but you can do it underwater. Also, don't lose it, I can't afford to give you anymore."

Harry grinned, "Thanks mate! I owe you."

Percy Jackson waved him off, "Ehh… don't mention it. You're my friend, of course I'll help you out."

He checked his watch, "Sh*t! I got to run! Mom's expecting me home for my lessons. Apparently I got attacked again in school, and got expelled… Again! So now mom decided to home-school me. Your uncle Remus is going to be teaching me from now on."

Harry grinned, "Good for you! Uncle Remus is a great teacher!"

Then Jackson's face became a little morose, "Hey dude? I've been noticing for a while now. Something's up with Nico. He's been really grouchy off late and more… emo goth. It kind of started when Sirius and Remus took him on one of their quests for that soul shard. Could you and Bianca maybe, I don't know… Talk to him?"

Harry nodded, "I will. Thanks Jackson. I'll see you when the year is over."

The son of the Sea God departed and Harry continued brainstorming with his friends. The night before the Task, a little after Harry went to bed, Professor McGonagall poked her head into the Gryffindor Common Room and summoned one of the students.

Soon, February 24th, the day of the Second Task dawned, and Ron smacked him awake with his pillow. The redhead grinned, "Oi! Get your arse up, lazy bones. You've got to get ready for the task."

Harry sat up, a little bleary-eyed and rubbed his eyes. He blinked and his vision focused on Ron, "Okay, okay, I'm up. What's the time?"

"Seven o'clock. Task starts in two and a half hours. You remember the plan, right?"

Harry dashed into the bathroom and was out in 5 minutes. He answered, "Yeah, I've got it mostly figured out. Where's Jackson's pearl?"

"Inside your bedside drawer."

When they descended the stairs to the Common Room, they were met by Hermione, who clutched a small package. She smiled, "I wrote to mum and dad a few days ago, asking for a scuba-diving kit. They wrote back, but said that a scuba-diving kit is too expensive. So they compromised and just bought a basic snorkel and a miniature oxygen tank."

Her cheeks flushed, "I… er… Might have told them a tiny white lie. I said that Hogwarts was trialling a diving lesson in the lake nearby. Thankfully, they bought it."

Ron nudged Harry and grinned, "Mate, I think we've successfully corrupted her. Three years ago, Hermione would have had a conniption about lying."

She scowled and stuck her tongue out at him, as the boys snickered. They rushed down for breakfast, which Harry wolfed down. Hermione scolded, "Slow down, Harry! The food is not going anywhere. You're lucky that the Task is two hours away, and not one hour or less. I made that mistake once when I went swimming in the ocean after a snack. Wound up with awful stomach cramps afterwards."

Soon, it was time to head to the Black Lake for the Second Task. They went to the Quidditch Locker Room and the two waited outside as Harry went in and changed into a pair of swimming trucks and a skin-tight vest. Hermione then helped him with the oxygen tank and he wore the snorkel as well. Clutching the pearl in his hand, he finally made his way to the Black Lake, while his friends joined Neville in the stands. The judges were sitting at a gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur, Marion, Yuliya and Krum were beside the judges' table, waiting for Harry.

Bagman grinned, "Quite the getup you have, Harry!"

Harry just gave a single nod of acknowledgement. Satisfied, Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said, "Sonorus!". With that, his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands.

He babbled, "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover someone who has been taken from them."

Harry raised his hand, "Mr. Bagman? How do we know who we have to rescue? What if one of us rescues the wrong person by accident?"

Ludo Bagman froze briefly and then smiled, "Excellent question! It would be awfully confusing. So, Ha- Mr. Potter, your hostage is Ms Mackenzie Dursley! Mr. Diggory, your hostage is Ms Cho Chang. Ms Popov, your hostage is Mr Alexei Medvedev. Mr. Krum, your hostage is Mr. Yuri Leonov. Ms Hubert, your hostage is Ms Aurelie Dumont. Finally Ms Delacour, your hostage is Ms Gabrielle Delacour. Now, I want to make this very clear, each of your hostages volunteered for this Task. Nobody was coerced into taking on the role."

As soon as Gabrielle's name was mentioned, Harry winced internally. Fleur had a massive protective streak, especially when it came to him and Gabrielle, her blood sister. He risked a peek at her, and sure enough, her fist was clenched tightly. However, when Bagman mentioned that everyone volunteered, she relaxed and took a couple of calming breaths.

Finally, Bagman took a deep breath, "Alright! On the count of three! One… Two… Three!"

Harry waded into the lake until he was waist-deep and then gave a piercing whistle. Nothing happened for a minute, and then, a small winding wake appeared a few metres ahead of him. It got bigger and bigger until the Ophiotaurus broke through the surface. Its appearance elicited awed gasps from the crowd. A few girls even cooed as its snake-like body curled around him and the cow's head nuzzled him.

Ludo Bagman was commentating once again and he babbled, "Egad! It appears that Harry Potter has summoned an unknown creature! Where's Newt Scamander when you need him!"

Back with Harry, he gently scratched the back of the cow's ear and whispered, "Hey buddy… I need your help."

The cow appeared to understand him and straightened out. Harry mounted its back and fixed his snorkel with one hand, the other clutching the pearl. He held onto its horn as it slowly dove into the icy depths. As they swam towards the middle of the lake, silence pressed upon his ears. He gazed upon the strange, dark, foggy landscape.

He could only see ten feet around him, so, as he sped through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the oncoming darkness. Forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones, flew past. He and the Ophiotaurus swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily gray-lit water around him to the shadows beyond, where the water became opaque.

He glanced around him and spotted Fleur a few dozen feet away. It appeared that she had opted for the Bubble-Head charm. Suddenly from the corner of his vision, he spotted a small dark shape heading for him at a rapid pace. Instinctively, his wand shot into his arm from its holster. He fired a Knockback Jinx, sending the creature, a Grindylow, backwards. Just then, two more appeared, and Harry turned his wand into a sword.

A single swipe was enough to get them to back off, but then he heard a muffle cry near him. He turned to see Fleur getting swarmed by a Grindylow horde. Harry pointed his sword and sniped several of them, thinning the horde. Fleur recovered and swam over to him, flashing a beautiful smile as he turned the sword back into its base form.

She took her place behind him and the Ophiotaurus set off again with its extra passenger. Not even ten seconds later, a familiar figure made his way through the murky waters. Harry looked on in confusion as Percy Jackson swam alongside them. He called out, "Dumbledore called me last night. He wanted some extra insurance because he didn't think that he could trust the lake's inhabitants. Those Grindy-things or whatever, they're freaking vicious! I had a hard time keeping them in check."

He jerked his thumb to the north-west, "The hostages are over there. You got to hurry because Gabrielle's in danger. Turns out, Veela are a little too similar to Sirens to the merfolk's liking. Mermaid despise the Sirens, I think you two can fill in the blanks"

The Ophiotaurus swam faster and in no time, they reached what looked like an underwater village. A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw the merfolk, and they bore no resemblance to the mermaid painting in the prefects' bathroom. . . .

They had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry and Fleur as they swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch them better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

The three demigods sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that formed the village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Six people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

Mackenzie was tied next to Cho Chang. There was also Fleur's sister Gabrielle, whose clouds of silvery hair billowed out around her. All six of them appeared to be in stasis. One merman growled and swam over to Gabrielle, with his spear brandished. Percy Jackson immediately sped over and snapped, "Hey! Back off!"

Fortunately, the merman listened and floated back. Harry sped towards Mackenzie and used his sword to cut her loose. Fleur also swam over and cut her sister loose. Percy nodded, "You two got this under control? Great! I'll go back and patrol. Can't let the other contestants see me, unless its Viktor."

Then, Harry began to realise that his oxygen tank was running out. In the nick of time he remembered the pearl. He swam close to Mackenzie and held the pearl out. He crushed it and it broke easily, and once he did so, a massive bubble formed around him and his cousin. Now somewhat dry, he shook her awake, "Kenzie! Kenzie! Wake up!"

She was up in an instant, "Harry?"

"I'm here, Kenzie. You okay?"

"A little cold. Why did they have to hold it in February, when the lake is freezing! Also, are we in a bubble?"

The two cousins huddled together for a bit of warmth as the bubble slowly floated up to the surface. Outside, Harry and Mackenzie could see Fleur swim away with an unconscious Gabrielle. The Ophiotaurus stuck by the two cousins and they watched as Cedric and the others turned up. Yuliya had gills growing from her neck, so Harry assumed that she took some Gillyweed. Meanwhile, Viktor Krum had partially transfigured himself into a bull shark. Cedric and Marion had the same idea as Fleur. After a few more minutes, the bubble finally broke through the surface and popped. Dutifully, the Ophiotaurus swam over and the two of them grabbed its horns. Their cow-serpent taxi steadily glided on the water's surface, and before long, they were back on dry land.

As it turned out, they had returned with ten minutes to spare. Ron and Hermione immediately rushed out, armed with thick, fluffy towels and wrapped the cousins up. Viktor and his hostage arrived a minute after them. Finally, after some waiting, Fleur and Gabrielle returned with five minutes to go. Marion, Cedric and Yuliya followed them shortly after, though Yuliya came a minute after the deadline.

Bagman announced, "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…"

He cleared his throat, "Harry Potter demonstrated excellent skills in Care of Magical Creatures to summon an unknown creature. Additionally, he helped Champion Delacour to drive off a Grindylow horde. He also showed excellent transfiguration skills to turn his wand into a sword and a pearl into a massive bubble! As he has returned within the time limit, we award him 50 points!"

The Gryffindors cheered loudly as Harry and Mackenzie huddled together. Viktor sat down next to them and grumbled, "Should have chosen mako shark. Would have beaten you to shore."

Harry replied, "The Black Lake is a fresh water lake. Don't know if your mako shark form would have survived. Bull sharks can survive in fresh water and salt water."

"Da, I thought the same."

Bagman rattled off the scores, with Krum scoring 48, Fleur scoring 46, Cedric and Marion were tied on 44. Yuliya was given 40 points for finishing outside the time limit. Once he was dry enough, Mackenzie helped him out of his diving gear.

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

The next day at Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid led the class to the Black Lake. He beckoned to Harry, "Hiya Harry… I don't suppose you could take the lead for this class? Seems that everyone is fascinated with that critter you summoned during the Second Task."

Harry smiled, "Sure thing Hagrid."

He walked over and faced everyone, "Hey everyone. I bet you're all wondering about that creature I summoned. It's called the Ophiotaurus, and as you could see, it is a half snake and half cow. As far as I'm aware, it is native to Greece, but it has the ability to swim long distances and appear in any body of water."

He waited as everyone jotted down notes. Harry continued, "Turns out, there is a bit of history to this creature. According to Greek legends, it played a pivotal role in the war between the Greek gods and their enemies, the Titans. It was prophesied that if anyone killed the creature and placed its entrails in a sacrificial flame, would have the power to destroy the gods. From what I read, the Titans killed an Ophiotaurus, but Lord Zeus sent an eagle to snatch the entrails before it was placed in the sacrificial flame."

There was dead silence at his statement before everyone began writing. Fortunately, Hagrid took over the rest of the lesson and spoke about Streelers. Next was Potions and Snape was having them brew the Skele-Gro Potion.

When the lesson wound up, Snape barked, "Potter! Stay back and clean up."

Harry knew better than to argue, so he stayed back and helped put away everything. As he scrubbed a few cauldrons, Lady Hecate entered the empty dungeon-turned-Potions laboratory. She was obviously in her Cathee Daly guise and Snape acknowledged her, "Professor Daly? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

She spoke up, "Severus, Mr. Potter… I trust you both know what is coming?"

He gave a single nod, "Indeed… It appears that Igor Karkaroff has noticed as well, and he is getting increasingly paranoid. He's afraid of facing the Dark Lord's wrath for essentially abandoning him."

She stroked her chin, "I see. I may have a solution that will free you from his clutches. Maybe I can extend the same invitation to Headmaster Karkaroff as well. Your arm, please?"

Snape extended his arm and rolled up his sleeves. This action revealed a black mark on his arm, which was slowly darkening. He glanced at her, "You think you can get rid of it?"

Her dark eyes shot to him and narrowed, her voice also had a dangerous edge, "You doubt me?"

Snape suddenly remembered who he was talking to, and swallowed, "My apologies. I should know better than to doubt the Goddess of Magic herself."

She held her gaze at him for a little while longer, just to make him squirm. Finally, Hecate looked back down and focused on her task. She held out her hand and chanted in Ancient Greek.

A bright glow surrounded the dark brand, and Snape flinched, as if it was burning him. This carried on for nearly a minute, until the glow died down. Snape inspected his arm, which was now completely blemish free. He bowed to her, "My Lady, I cannot thank you enough for freeing me. I am in your debt."

Elsewhere

Far away from Hogwarts castle, in the open sea, a small row boat was slowly making its way to a small craggy island. The island was practically a desolate place, with only a handful of dead trees scattered around the landscape. However, most of the island was taken up by a tall building with few windows dotting it. This place was none other than Azkaban prison.

The figure on the boat was cloaked in black, with their hood up, giving no indication of their identity. The mysterious person soon docked and carefully clambered out of the boat. There was a brief flash of a bright colour, but it quickly vanished. Then, they took out their wand and cast a Disillusionment Charm on themselves.

With that done, they slowly tip-toed their way towards the infamous prison. There were no Dementors, as they had all mysteriously vanished without a trace. The person thought wryly that it was a shame, because those blasted things had their uses.

Of course, the Dementors' absence didn't mean that Azkaban was totally unguarded. The DMLE had decided to posted a couple of Aurors to guard, so getting past them would be a challenge. Although the figure was Disillusioned, they hid behind a nearby dead tree and observed. There were four Aurors in total and they were stationed in front of each wall. The four were even patrolling around the prison, meaning that the window of opportunity was very small.

The figure waited and watched, taking note of the pattern. Then, they made their move, creeping up behind one Auror. After a few nerve-wracking moments, the figure reached the door of the prison. With a whispered Alohomora, they were in, with the Aurors being none-the-wiser.

The figure undid the Disillusionment spell once the door was carefully closed. Their footsteps echoed across the stone floor as they walked past various prison cells. Then, they stopped at one of the cells and they reached into their robes. Withdrawing a hand, they pulled out a set of keys and softly jingled it. Inside the cell, a figure stirred and a few moments later, the prisoner flew forward and grabbed the cell doors, pressing their body against the bars.

The prisoner was a tall woman with long, thick, shiny dark hair. Her face was gaunt and skeletal, with a strong jaw, a thin mouth and heavily lidded eyes and long eyelashes. Long ago, she would have been considered a great beauty, but her time in Azkaban took its toll on her. This was none other than Lord Voldemort's top lieutenant, Bellatrix Lestrange.

She gazed at the other figure and purred, "Dolly! So good to see you! You never Flooed, you never wrote… I was getting worried."

The other figure huffed and took off their cloak, revealing a short squat woman dressed in dull pink clothes. The now-identified Dolores Umbridge had a broad, flabby face, wide, slack mouth and a small neck. Her eyes were bulging and pouchy and she had mousy brown hair with a black velvet bow on it.

Umbridge spoke in a high-pitched simpering voice, "Bellatrix dear! You know, as well as I do, that I cannot afford to blow my cover. Our Lord personally selected me for this very purpose, to be a sleeper agent. My job is to lull the idiotic sheep in the Wizarding World into a false sense of peace, so that when our Lord had arisen, these fools would be ripe for the picking. Lucius was a moron to underestimate the Potter brat."

Bellatrix mused, "Yes, the idiot was always trigger-happy with his wand. Why on earth did he go for a Killing Curse, and right in front of my bastard of a cousin. That coward, Pettigrew got unlucky to be exposed when he did. I miss tormenting Sirius."

Umbridge's face twisted into a sneer, "Yes, well… Lucius was also a fool to trust *Muggle* mercenaries to kidnap the Potter brat. He should have known that they would back-stab him. That's why I never trusted Muggles and Mudbloods. They should all be purged from this world."

Umbridge spat out the word 'Muggle', like it was a vicious slur. Bellatrix asked, "So, what's the plan? I doubt you dropped by just for a chat. I don't see any tea or biscuits."

Umbridge smiled sickeningly, "Well… It seems that our source in the Unspeakable department has found a way to resurrect the Dark Lord. Our agent is already deep within Hogwarts and no one suspects a thing. To be honest, he didn't even have to do a thing to lure Potter into the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He entered on his own, so this makes our jobs easier. All that the agent did was tamper with the Goblet's enchantments, though I think the twit overpowered the spell."

Bellatrix asked, "So how are we going to get our hands on Potter?"

Umbridge giggled mirthfully, "Now, the Second Task just finished a few days ago. The Third Task is on June 24th. It was astonishingly easy to convince Fudge to let me keep the Tri-Wizard Cup for 'safekeeping'. All that I have to do is turn the thing into a timed Portkey. Our agent's job is to make sure that Potter gets to the Cup first."

Bellatrix purred, "Excellent…"

Umbridge continued, "Now, in the unlikely event that Potter manages to weasel his way out alive, he will undoubtedly try to warn the public. Fortunately for us, I have a cunning plan. I will be using everything in my power to discredit him and that meddling codger, Dumbledore. The Prophet will be perfect, and once everyone abandons Potter and views him as the delusional liar that he is, we will strike! Now stand back, let's get you all out of here and plan our next move."

Back at Hogwarts, a few days later

Harry was just finishing breakfast in the Great Hall, when he spotted Sirius entering. He stopped briefly in front of Harry, who noticed that he was in a foul mood, "You okay, Uncle Sirius?"

He barely prevented himself from snapping, "Far from it! Fudge is being an ass, and Amelia is hopping mad and fed up of dealing with him. There was a mass break out at Azkaban a few days ago. Lost four Aurors in the mess, and that moron wants to brush it under the carpet. Said some claptrap about not starting a panic among the citizens. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to Albus and vent."

After he left, Ron muttered darkly, "Blimey, things are really going tits up. First is Crouch's illness and then a second Ministry member has gone missing, now this. Percy told me about that second member."

Harry glanced at him, "Second one? Who was the first?"

Neville piped up, "Her name was Bertha Jorkins. According to Fudge, she was quite scatter-brained, so he insisted that she must be on an extended vacation. Now that another employee is missing, the absence of both employees cannot be a coincidence."

The days flew by quickly, Gryffindor managed to win their remaining two matches and won the House Cup for a fourth time in a row. Fortunately, Ron did not need the ear plugs anymore, as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff opted to play fair.

It was also around this time that Mackenzie began getting her monthly periods. She went to Harry straight away, because he had already gotten the Talk from his sisters, so he was not at all awkward. Harry wrote to Thalia, and in three days, she came through for him. Since then, Mackenzie wrote to the Daughter of Zeus often for help.

During the last week of May, Professor McGonagall told him to head to the Quidditch field at nine in the evening. At half past eight, Harry headed downstairs and met with Cedric in the entrance hall,.

The older teen asked as they walked, "What d'you reckon it's going to be? Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."

Harry shrugged, "Not a clue. She might be onto some- BLOODY HELL!"

Cedric also froze and exclaimed indignantly, "What've they done to it?!"

The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.

Harry murmured, "All of a sudden, I'm glad that Wood has already graduated. Bloke would have probably died of a heart attack."

Cedric sniggered, "Got that right, mate."

"Hello there!" called a cheery voice.

Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field with Krum, Yuliya, Marion and Fleur. The latter beamed at him and he grinned back. Bagman was oblivious to Cedric, Harry and even Krum's dismay. He happily babbled, "Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid will have them twenty feet high. Don't worry, you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

Krum grunted, "Maze."

Bagman beamed, "That's right! A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

Fleur interrupted, "We simply have to get through the maze?"

He smiled at her, "There will be obstacles. Hagrid is providing a number of creatures . . . then there will be spells that must be broken . . . all that sort of thing, you know. Now, everyone will enter one-by-one in order of the points standings. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

Harry exchanged a wary look with Cedric. If Hagrid was providing the creatures, then that changed everything. He liked Hagrid, but his definition of cute and cuddly was equal to fairly terrifying. Then he caught Viktor and Fleur's eyes, and another thought struck him. What if some Ancient Greek monster snuck into the maze? Knowing Hagrid, he would think of the monsters as interesting critters, and let them in.

After Bagman left, Harry sidled up to the other two demigods and voiced his concerns. Viktor gruffly said, "Da, possibility of Greek monsters is a risk, but then as you say in English, we cross bridge when get there."