Chapter 40

The Second Task

As Lily woke up on the morning of the second task, she tried to get rid of the dark, empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. The night before, Hermione, Ginny, and Alicia had been collected by Aunt Minnie from the Gryffindor common room, and Lily knew that Cho would have been called to Dumbledore's office.

Breakfast was sombre, with Cedric, Fleur, and Krum joining Lily for breakfast, all of them simply sharing a look with one another. They had been training hard, and Lily had practised some extra curses, taught to her by Moody, under the guise of extra DADA lessons.

Neville and Dobby had also helped with the task; when Lily had explained to the common room what the task entailed, Neville had suggested Gillyweed as a backup (which Dobby had not only already suggested, but had gone and collected for them, but they didn't tell Neville, to help boost his confidence). Each champion took an amount of Gillyweed, knowing that if anything went wrong, at least the hostages would have a way to breathe underwater. Lily had thanked Neville and Dobby, making a note to buy them something nice the following weekend at Hogsmeade.

Lily had also left her necklace in her dorm, casting the Feminam Vox spell, since she didn't want to lose her necklace in the lake. It felt a little strange to have cast the spell after using the necklace for so long, but she knew it had to be done.

As the four went down to the lake together, Krum looked at them. "I am sorry, but I doubt Karkaroff vill be fair on points. He vill likely try to make you all look bad," he warned.

"We figured, but we appreciate you trying Viktor," Lily said, with a small smile. "I bet he hates you spending time with us."

"He keeps varning me that you vill all betray me, but I know that is not true," Viktor replied. "Be careful down there. Ve vill need to alert each other once ve have found ze hostages."

"Cast a Patronus Charm, according to Professor Moody, it'll be able to light the way," Lily suggested, as they reached the lake area. A large seating area had been set up for the students and judges to be comfortable, with a large, floating image of underneath the lake hovering above it.

Bagman was in the judge's box, as was Dumbledore, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, and Percy Weasley. Lily supposed that Crouch was still ill or something. She smiled as she saw Rita approaching them with Minerva.

"Are you ready, Lily?" Minerva asked. Lily nodded as she saw the others removing their robes, leaving them in their swimming costumes. As Lily went to take hers off, she froze, looking down and pulling her robe on tighter, her breathing becoming faster as she began to panic.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Minerva and Rita asked at the same time.

"I… I can't… I can't…" she began, her eyes wide.

"Lily?" Rita asked kindly, looking at her. She then whispered something to Minerva, who nodded.

"Ah, of course, I should have guessed," Minerva sounded annoyed with herself as she pulled her wand out from her robe and tapped Lily's hip. Lily looked down as she gently opened her robe and began to calm down as she saw a skirt that matched her swimming costume extending at her hip, covering her bulge, which had caused her to panic.

"Thank you, Aunt Minnie, Rita," Lily hugged both women.

"Anytime Lily," Rita said kindly into Lily's ear. "Good luck sweetheart."

"You are wonderful Lily, and I have faith in you," Minerva added softly, kissing Lily's cheek. Lily blushed, but smiled, not caring that the school could see. Lily joined the others by the starting point for the task.

"Everything okay, Lily?" Cedric asked.

"It is now," Lily replied, nodding as she took deep breaths to calm down.

"Now the contestants have arrived, the second task can begin. Today, each of our champions must go into the lake to recover a hostage dear to them. Will they succeed, or will they lose their hostage?" Bagman's voice echoed across the area. Lily wanted to curse Bagman for that comment.

As the whistle blew, Krum leapt straight into the lake, whilst Fleur, Cedric, and Lily each cast their Bubble Head charms, as well as a warmth spell so the water wouldn't be freezing to them.

As Lily leapt into the lake, followed by Fleur and Cedric, she was grateful to Remus for teaching her the warmth spell; the water felt quite nice.

"Alright, let's split up," Cedric said, looking at the two of them. Krum had already gone ahead; he had transfigured himself partially into a shark, something that Lily had been amazed at when he had demonstrated it.

As Lily swum deeper into the lake, she was amazed at what there was. There were all kinds of fish around, and as she swam towards one, she smiled, raising her hand, and gently touching it. It felt different than she expected; underwater it felt smooth, and not scaly. The fish almost seemed to smile before swimming off.

It was like a whole new world under the sea, or the lake, rather, and as she kept swimming, she had to squint as it was getting darker. She quickly held her wand and cast the Lumos charm, lighting the path ahead of her.

She neared the bottom of the lake, seeing what looked like a field of seaweed, but she remained above it. Remus and Sirius had warned her that Grindylows liked to hide in the seaweed. As she swam over the long field of green, she gasped as she felt something grab her. Looking down, a Grindylow had wrapped its long hands around her foot, so she quickly shot off a curse at it, watching at the creature let go, letting out a cry of its own.

More of the creatures began to swim up, so Lily kept firing her curses at them, sending streams of hot water at them for one, as well as stunning curses. As they continued to build up, Lily felt a wave of panic as she thought of Ginny, and her eyes widened as something just clicked in her mind.

"STUPEFY MAXIMA!" Lily cried out. A great ball of red light emerged from her wand, which then exploded, sending out a large wave, striking all the Grindylows. Lily looked at her wand, amazed that the spell had worked, as well as feeling grateful. How had she managed to fight off that many Grindylows?

Lily saw Fleur swimming over to her, looking grateful. "Was zat you?" Fleur asked. Lily nodded. "How did you do zat? I have never seen anyzing like eet," Fleur complimented.

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "I thought of Ginny, and it came to me."

"You saved me from ze Grindylows, zey were… overwhelming me. I thought I wouldn't make it," Fleur smiled at Lily.

"Let's get moving," Lily suggested. Fleur nodded, the two of them swimming side by side.

It wasn't long before they came closer to a large clearing, where Mer-People were floating around. Lily and Fleur swam though the area, avoiding going near them in case they were part of the task. Lily could hear them singing to one another softly. She had to admit, it was a beautiful sound.

As they neared what looked like an arena, Lily saw Ginny, Hermione, Cho, and Alicia all in their robes, floating with their eyes closed, as though they were asleep. Lily swum over to them with Fleur, looking around.

"Where are the others?" Lily asked.

"I don't know. Should ve wait?" Fleur asked. Lily nodded.

"I'm not risking anyone down here," Lily agreed.

"Even though ze minister and Dumbledore promised they would be safe?" Fleur tilted her head as she spoke.

"I don't trust Bagman one bit, you heard what that pompus ass said, right?" Lily asked. Fleur nodded and held Hermione's hand gently.

"I agree, I do not trust zat man," Fleur concurred with Lily, looking around. "Could zey have gotten lost?"

"Maybe," Lily agreed. She raised her wand, and aimed it at the way they had come, taking a breath. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The Silver Doe that was her Patronus shot out, and sped off, just as Fleur did the same, with an otter shooting out and swimming off in a different direction, making sure the area was lit up. Lily looked at Fleur; her Patronus hadn't been an otter when they first started to train. Why was it one now? She then remembered that whilst Hermione had struggled with her Patronus, it had taken a form of an Otter as well.

"You really love her, don't you?" Lily asked. Fleur nodded as they floated there, with Fleur protectively remaining in front of Hermione. "Go, get her out of here, I'll wait for Viktor and Cedric," Lily told her.

"Not alone," Fleur replied. Lily looked at her.

"Fleur, you're my friend, and so is Hermione. You're going to be in my life all the time now, and I need you both to be safe. You're anxious, so please, get Hermione out of here," Lily insisted. She could see Fleur struggle with the decision. "I'll be okay," Lily promised. Fleur removed the small pouch from her wrist that contained her Gillyweed and handed it to Lily.

"Be careful," Fleur told her. Lily nodded, and watched as Fleur blasted the rope holding Hermione, swimming upwards with her. Lily felt relieved as she watched them go and kept an eye out.

Moments later, she saw the shark that was Krum, who swam past, bit the rope holding Alicia, and swam upwards with her. Lily felt relieved but began to worry about Cedric.

She fired off her Patronus again, hoping Cedric would see it and be okay. She didn't know how long she'd been underwater for, but she was starting to worry. As she looked around, she couldn't see Cedric at all. Would be make it?

She decided that too much time had passed, so she went to cut the rope to Cho, when the Mer-People sped over, holding up their tridents to her.

"Take your own hostage," they hissed.

"She's my friend, I won't leave her," Lily replied, pointing her wand at them.

"Take your own and go," they insisted. Lily shook her head.

"No," she replied forcefully. She went to fire a spell off at them but stopped as Cedric came into view.

"Lily, thanks for sending the Patronus," Cedric replied. "Why are you waiting?"

"I wasn't going to leave anyone down here," Lily replied, as they cut the ropes for Ginny and Cho.

"Fair enough," Cedric agreed, as they swam upwards. Before they got to the top, Lily's bubble seemed to flicker. She quickly took a deep breath just as it popped. Cedric looked at her, worried, but Lily took her wand, and pointed it down, just as Cedric, still holding Cho, grabbed hold of Lily and Ginny.

Lily sent out a strong blast of water, which propelled the four of them straight up until they broke the surface of the water. Lily gasped for breath as the light hit her eyes.

"What happened?" Cedric asked, as Ginny and Cho opened their eyes. Ginny grabbed Lily and kissed her, ignoring the cheers of everyone in the stands.

"I think… I think I used too much power earlier. I had to get rid of Grindylows, so I… I used an enhanced stunning spell. It sent out a wave of stun energy," Lily replied weakly. "It only affected the Grindylows, and not Fleur though, who was being attacked by them."

"Are you okay?" Ginny sounded frantic as they swam over to the shore. Lily nodded.

"I'm okay," Lily replied, smiling as they reached the stands, where they were helped out of the water by Minerva, Sirius, and Remus, who had arrived to watch the task.

"Are you okay? We saw everything, that was… it was…" Sirius's face was ashen as he looked at Lily, who accepted a towel from Remus, and felt a spoon forced into her mouth by Madam Pomfrey. She began to warm up, not having noticed how cold the water had gotten. How had that happened?

"This whole tournament is insane," Madam Pomfrey was grumbling as she tended to the others."

"Lily, you were incredible," Remus complimented. "What you did, that stun wave… that's something that very few witches or wizards can accomplish."

"How did I do it? And why wasn't Fleur affected?" Lily asked.

"Fleur was trying to swim upwards as the wave reached the Grindylows attacking her, so she barely avoided the wave," Remus replied, with a small smile, as the group were led to the other champions. Hermione flung her arms around Lily.

"Fleur told me how amazing you were, thank you Lily," Hermione said, smiling.

"Hey, you're my sister, what's family for?" Lily asked, grinning as Alicia also hugged her. The group were interrupted as Bagman began to speak.

"We have now conferred with the Mer-Chieftainess, who has told us everything that happened down there. First, Miss Fleur Delacour, demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head charm and was the first to return with her hostage. However, she was outside of the time limit of an hour, and so, we award her forty-five points," Bagman said. Lily smiled at Fleur, who returned the smile.

"Second back was Mr. Viktor Krum, who used a form of self-transfiguration, to great effect, but was, again, outside of the time limit. We award him forty-three points," Bagman continued.

"Well done, Viktor, you were amazing," Alicia said softly to Viktor, kissing his cheek. He simply smiled at her, holding Alicia's hand.

"Third back was Mr. Cedric Diggory. He was outside of the time limit, but again used the Bubble-Head charm to great effect, and so we award him thirty-eight points," Bagman said.

"Mr Har… oomph," Bagman started. Lily looked up, and saw Bagman rubbing his chest, and Percy glaring at Bagman. Lily smirked; Percy must have elbowed him hard, with Bagman swallowing and continuing. "Ahem… Miss Lily Potter returned with Mr. Diggory, and well outside of the time limit of an hour. However, we have been informed that Miss Potter was the first to arrive with Miss Delacour, and she remained behind to ensure the safety of everyone, not just her own hostage," Bagman said.

He then glared at Karkaroff, which, Lily noted, all the judges, aside from Dumbledore, was doing.

"Most of us feel that shows excellent sportsmanship and strong, moral fibre, and merits full points. However… Miss Potter's score is forty-three points,"

The entire crowd cheered. Lily's eyes narrowed at Karkaroff, who still proved he was biased. It didn't matter, however. She had never wanted to enter the tournament, but here she was, joint first. She looked at the others, who were smiling at her.

"You deserve this, Lily," Cedric said, grinning. "Honestly, you've been so awesome in the tournament, and you're the best of us."

"Hardly, I'm just lucky to have friends like you," Lily said, blushing as Ginny hugged Lily tightly.

"And if you ever do anything like this again, I'll curse you," Ginny warned, although she was smiling with tears in her eyes.

"I believe you," Lily replied, giggling before kissing Ginny. Nothing was going to bring her mood down, not now. As she left with all her friends, she felt that whilst someone had wanted her to be hurt, being in the tournament was proving to be one of the best things ever.