Harry made plans to get into the Prefects bathroom as Cedric had advised, taking his egg, his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map with him. The map showed the whole of Hogwarts, including its many shortcuts and secret passageways and, most important of all, it revealed the people inside the castle as minuscule, labelled dots, moving around the corridors, so that Harry would be forewarned if somebody was approaching the bathroom. He was very careful about his expedition, quite often he had walked around the school at night and ran into trouble when doing so.
Ron was to help Harry, who was to be covered in the invisibility cloak already, out of the portrait hole as Hermione had done the day before the first task. Hermione was kept in the dark about this plan, given to the fact that she thought Harry had already accomplished the clue. Skylar and Ron wished him luck before he pretended to go to bed. Skylar was keen to hear what he might discover and what the next task may be, but also worried of the magic they'd need in order for Harry to accomplish it.
Friday, after Harry's exploits the night before, he told the three about what had happened. He'd gotten to the prefect's bathroom easily enough and Moaning Myrtle had been there. Myrtle was the ghost of a girl who'd died fifty odd years ago in one of the girls' bathrooms. She was very sensitive and constantly in tears. Regardless, she'd helped Harry understand what to do with the Golden Egg. It turned out that when put under water, the screaming of the egg became words. It seemed mermaids lived in the Black Lake and they were going to take something important from Harry, which he was going to have to retrieve within an hour.
But that wasn't where his adventure ended, on his way back he'd been watching the map, only to see Mr. Crouch in Snape's office. He'd been so distracted by this his foot had slid through a trick step and he'd dropped not only the map, but his screaming egg as well. Bursting open, the noises had called Snape, Filch and even Moody to Harry's location where Harry had overheard some interesting information.
Harry had only gotten away without being discovered — as he'd been covered with the invisibility cloak — thanks to Moody, who's magical eye could see through the cloak. Moody had covered for him, allowing Harry to get away from Snape without punishment but also have his egg returned to him.
"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.
"Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "I just need to — sort of fine-tune it, all right?"
The four of them were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today — the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room — Professor Flitwick, for instance.
"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody…"
This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention.
"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). "What… d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"
"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," said Harry, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something…"
"What?" said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry… maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"
"Haven't we been through this before?" Skylar sighed impatiently as she banished a cushion.
"Oh Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head sceptically, "Skylar's right, we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?"
She banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at.
"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit —"
"— evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?"
"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"
"Mr. Crouch I think has been weird for ages…" Skylar said. "I mean, remember at the Quidditch Cup, he went rummaging in the trees after his elf had been found, even though no one else was there? Why?"
"Trying to find a cover for why Winky was there." Hermione huffed.
"You just don't like Crouch because of Winky," said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window.
"You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box.
"I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," said Harry grimly, and his cushion, to his very great surprise, flew straight across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's.
"Pretty sure it's got something to do with Snape possibly being involved with You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters."
The three of them all turned to Skylar with their mouths dropped open in complete shock as their pillows went in all different directions.
"What?!" They questioned.
"My dad told me, Snape was always into the dark arts at school, he wasn't technically ever accused of being a Death Eater publicly…" Skylar said looking thoughtfully. "He was working as a teacher here before anyone really could, I think."
"Dumbledore took Snape in, even though he could have been though?"
"I don't know, it's all between Dumbledore and Snape." Skylar confessed.
"He's barking!" Ron said. "Maybe he did put Harry's name in the goblet?"
"Explains why Moody is inspecting him if he did." Harry agreed.
"But we don't really know any of the details." Hermione said, "For all we know, Snape could be completely innocent."
The two boys shared a look that said they highly doubted it.
Obedient to Sirius's wish of hearing about anything odd at Hogwarts, Harry sent him a letter by brown owl that night, explaining all about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Moody and Snape's conversation. Then the four of them turned their attention to the most urgent problem: how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February.
Ron quite liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again — Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.
"Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing…"
"That's way too extreme." Skylar mumbled.
"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," said Harry. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me…"
"I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," said Hermione seriously. "No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm."
"Which means, back to the library." Skylar nodded.
The four of them buried themselves once more among the dusty volumes, looking for any spell that might enable a human to survive without oxygen. However, though Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione searched through their lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends — though Harry asked Professor McGonagall for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asked the irritable, vulture-like librarian, Madam Pince, for help — they found nothing whatsoever that would enable Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale.
"God if they've removed the useful books to make it harder…" Skylar grumbled.
Harry was beginning to panic as the date slipped closer, Skylar was doing her best to help and remind him how the last task had turned out in an effort to comfort him, but she had one other issue that grew also as the date arrived.
It was Stephen. He was beginning to get irritated with her and how she was currently spending her time.
"He's a fourteen-year-old, doing tasks meant for students three years older than him, how can you complain about me making sure my best friend is actually going to live?" Skylar questioned as they walked through the corridors when Stephen made a comment about it.
Stephen didn't respond, but his mind didn't stop. He didn't like that she chose Harry over him, spending her time with Harry on research for the task, instead of studying with him, Stephen. However she was right, Harry's life was in jeopardy, this was more important and he, Stephen, was being ridiculous. But it wasn't just now, it was always like this.
"It's like this until the task is over." Skylar corrected.
Yeah, but there was still another task, and if they continued to spend time together…
Skylar stopped and turned to him, breaking Stephen from his strain of thought. "If we continued to spend time together, what?" She demanded.
Stephen couldn't look Skylar in the eye. He'd watched Skylar and Harry, seen them interact. They threw looks at each other without a word, indicating some secret understanding no one else knew about. And he didn't have that with her, she knew what he was always thinking, but he barely ever knew what she was thinking. He didn't like that Harry was closer to her, or knew her better, or got her time instead of him.
Skylar was silent for a moment. "Stephen, I'm going to be straight with you, you cannot have all of my time, nor can you demand it, and you cannot be upset that I spend time with my friends. I like my friends, I have classes with them, I'm in the same house as them and I enjoy spending time with them, and I am going to do so. I will not apologise for that and you should not be complaining about such."
"It's not that you're spending time with your friends," Stephen muttered.
"Then what is it exactly? Is it just that I'm trying to help Harry survive the Tournament then?"
"No…" but he was hesitant.
Skylar raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have absolutely no complaints about me spending time with Ron, why do you care if I spend time with Harry?"
"If you saw how the two of you interacted, you'd be worried too."
"About what?"
"You like him."
"Who?"
"Harry!" Stephen was getting annoyed now.
"He's my friend Stephen, I hope you have some evidence to support this." Skylar was getting irritated now, but truth be told, she could feel her cheeks heating up slightly from the comment.
"You don't see the way you are with him."
"He's. My. Friend." Skylar said each word with emphasis to try and get the boy to understand. "And if that's a problem for you then you're going to have to work it out, cause I will not give up my friends."
Stephen was taken aback by this comment but didn't get the chance to respond as she turned and stalked off up the corridor, now irritated. Harry's life was in danger and Stephen was jealous!
She faulted in her step before coming to a halt. She glanced around and saw she'd walked far enough away that Stephen wasn't in sight, or earshot. She put her hands on her hips and paced to the side a few times. She huffed again. But as much as she tried to, she couldn't be mad, she felt embarrassed instead. And then sad. Stephen was right about her relationship with Harry being different to any other, even with Ron who she'd known longer. She could read him better and he noticed her more than others did too. She enjoyed being in his presence and she thought he was brave and clever…
She shook her head. She was dating Stephen, because he was sweet and attentive and smart… Plus, Harry liked Cho.
She puffed again and crossed her arms stubbornly. Harry was her friend and that was it. And regardless Stephen had no right to tell her she couldn't be friends with him because of how they interacted. It wasn't like she was going behind Stephen's back with Harry either, and she'd agreed to go out with Stephen, not Harry.
Her annoyance returned and her resolve restored. She nodded and turned to hurry back to the common room. Regardless of anything, a charm was still needed to save Harry from drowning in the black lake. She paused as she looked out a window at the black glossy surface, sitting still like a mirror. Apart from the giant squid and now merpeople, they didn't even know anything about what the lake hid… There was finding a way for Harry to breathe underwater for an hour, and then there were the tasks that would be in the lake…
With that thought in mind Skylar hurried back to the library and began to scan the shelves, this time for something a little different. It was a bit refreshing looking at history and information rather than spells and charms. The distraction helped her move past Stephen's accusation of her affections for Harry and by the end of it she came back to the common room feeling a bit better.
"Where have you been!" Hermione demanded as soon as she arrived.
"With Stephen." Skylar sighed. Hermione looked surprised at the auburn-haired girl's tone before she walked past her and to the boys, taking a seat.
"Everything alright?" Ron asked, having heard her. He didn't look concerned though.
"It's nothing." Skylar assured, and she avoided Harry's gaze as he looked her over, not believing her. "So, any luck so far?" She asked, changing the subject before they could delve any deeper, she didn't want to admit the argument she'd had or the truth that came with it. She picked up one of the books they'd borrowed from the library in which they'd been looking through for a solution.
"Nothing." Hermione confessed as she sat back down. "What about you?"
"Well, I have some good news, it seems there's nothing ridiculously worrying about the creatures that live in the Black Lake, Grindylows and things like that, which we've already dealt with thanks to Remus, so all we really need is the charm to breath under water, which none of those books gave me." She sighed.
"What did you research the Lake for?" Ron questioned.
"Well, the last thing we needed was to find a solution to our current problem only for Harry to go into the lake and come up against a sea dragon or something." Skylar confessed.
Hermione agreed that it was a good idea to know what Harry would be facing and cut Ron off, stopping him from arguing about Skylar wasting her time.
The date for the second task seemed to slip closer and closer as if time was being bewitched forwards. There was a week… five days… three days, and still no solution had presented itself. With two days left, Harry started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl he had sent to Sirius. He pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him.
Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.
Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank.
"Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Harry's shoulder. "Here — take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again.
Skylar frowned and looked at Harry, no help? It didn't seem right that Sirius wouldn't give Harry any clue, but looking at the green-eyed boy she realised why; Harry hadn't mentioned the eggs clue to Sirius, he'd forgotten amongst telling him about Snape and Moody's encounter. They were on their own.
"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron.
"Dunno," said Harry dully. The momentary happiness that had flared inside him at the sight of the owl had died. "Come on… Care of Magical Creatures."
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much 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 till 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…" and he moved aside slightly to let the class swarm around the baby unicorns.
Hagrid hung back, standing next to Harry and beginning to mutter to him before Harry moved in with everyone else. He stepped in beside Skylar and she glanced at him.
"You alright?"
He didn't respond but it was a useless question to ask.
"We still have a few days." She continued.
"I should have started earlier."
"No point worrying about that now." Skylar muttered. "We just need to concentrate on finding a charm to help you. We have time." She sounded like she was convincing herself.
Harry glanced at her but she was watching the unicorns, avoiding his gaze. She'd been doing so in an effort to make Stephen feel a bit better but Harry had begun to notice the change and it wasn't helping his mood. Still, she wasn't going to stop helping him, regardless of anyone.
By the evening of the second task, they still had had no luck in finding a spell. Harry was practically sweating while they sat in the Library, pouring over books as the sun set outside. They tore feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them.
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."
"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."
"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."
"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!"
She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before.
"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, facedown, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius or—" he cut off and Skylar leaned to glance around a stack of books to see him gazing in her direction, she frowned. She still hadn't been lucky enough to have a lightning storm and complete her process.
"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.
"Or a frog," yawned Harry. He was exhausted.
"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. Skylar rolled her lips and could feel Harry looking in her direction, even if she couldn't see him directly. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember… you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office… what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it…"
"Hermione, I was joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning…"
"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."
"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised.
"Dunno… she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred. "We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George. Skylar's forehead furrowed as Ron and Hermione stared at Harry.
"Now?" Skylar asked and the twins nodded. Why now? There was no time for chit chat!
"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as she got up to go with Ron — both of them looked very anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"
"Right," said Harry uneasily and the two walked away.
There was silence for a minute before Skylar cleared her throat. "You still have me." She assured.
Harry was quiet for a moment. "You'll help?"
"Course I will!" She said strongly, offended he'd even had to ask.
"Just, you've been a bit busy lately."
Skylar frowned, annoyed. "Well, if I'm going to date someone that's not you or Ron, I'm going to be a bit more scarce." She couldn't help but say. Why is it that she cannot divide her time and make everyone happy? It seemed she'd said that out loud because Harry commented.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing." She muttered and turned her head to another book. Harry moved to look at her around the stack.
"Something with Stephen?"
She was silent for a moment before she glanced at him. The look on Harry's face was a mix, strange, worried, yet, hopeful?
"He's mad I'm spending time with you because he's jealous of how close we are." She confessed and then she shrugged.
Harry looked surprised and then he looked uneasy. "Why?"
"Why what?" Skylar repeated.
"Why's he jealous?"
"Because we have a relationship that he doesn't think he can ever compete with. Insecurity." She confessed. "He thinks he has to fight you for me."
Harry's expression contorted. "Makes you sound like a prize." He muttered.
"Well, if he cannot accept who my friends are then it clearly isn't going to work out." Skylar confessed.
Harry looked at her surprised now. "You're going to… end it?"
"Depends how he goes. Now, that's not important, we need to figure out how you're going to not drown tomorrow." Skylar reminded him.
Harry clearly looked like he'd rather talk of Skylar's relationship issues than remember tomorrow, but they returned to the books, scouring and searching into the darkness.
By eight o'clock, Madam Pince had extinguished all the lamps and came to chivvy Harry and Skylar out of the library. Staggering under the weight of as many books as they could carry, both returned to the Gryffindor common room, pulled a table into a corner, and continued to search. There was nothing in Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks… nothing in A Guide to Medieval Sorcery… not one mention of underwater exploits in An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms, or in Dreadful Denizens of the Deep, or Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do with Them Now You've Wised Up.
Crookshanks crawled into Harry's lap and curled up, purring deeply. The common room emptied slowly. People kept wishing him luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices like Hagrid's, all of them apparently convinced that he was about to pull off another stunning performance like the one he had managed in the first task. Harry couldn't answer them, he just nodded, feeling as though there were a golf ball stuck in his throat. By ten to midnight, he and Skylar were alone in the room with Crookshanks. They had searched all the remaining books, and Ron and Hermione had not come back.
"Where are they…?" Skylar worried. She ran her fingers into her hair, messing it up slightly and gripping it. How could they have nothing? How was it possible that there was no spell that helped with underwater expeditions? Wizards had been around for how long? And they'd never explored the ocean? Seems very unlikely, and yet, their school library, with all of its towering shelves and millions of books had given them nothing.
Harry suddenly stood up, knocking Crookshanks to the floor where he hissed angrily, gave Harry a disgusted look, and stalked away with his bottlebrush tail in the air, but Harry was already hurrying up the spiral staircase to his dormitory…
Skylar sat there gapping in confusion before Harry came back. He had his invisibility cloak in his hand. "I'm going back to the library."
"Let me come too." Skylar said.
"Won't you get in trouble?" He said, and there was a tone to his voice she didn't like.
"So will you for being out so late!" She snapped back. "Two pairs of eyes are better than one, I cannot let you go alone."
"Hermione and Ron might have gotten into trouble for helping me, I can't let you too." Harry said. "Get some sleep."
Sleep? How on earth was she supposed to be able to sleep with this looming over him? He had nothing for tomorrow and she was supposed to sit by and sleep? Her mouth was hanging open at him as her mind whirled at his madness.
"Harry, no. I cannot sleep, you need help!" She snapped, beginning to stand up, but he had already crossed the common room for the portrait hole without her. "Harry!" The portrait swung closed behind him, leaving her standing there alone.
Skylar's mouth was hanging open, what had just happened? Had he just left her behind? Skylar's forehead furrowed, how was this at all smart? And what was that comment about 'get into trouble'? Was that a stab at Stephen not wanting her to spend time with Harry? Why did that matter at such a crucial time!
She balled up her fists. A part of her wanted to go storming after Harry, tell him off. The rational part however, reminded her that spending less time with Harry did benefit her relationship with Stephen. Not only that, but she didn't have an invisibility cloak like Harry and she was more than likely to get caught.
She slumped herself back down into her chair in irritation. She shouldn't have said anything to him about her fight with Stephen. But then also, she shouldn't have to sacrifice her friends for a boy, and her friends shouldn't get irritated at such an unreasonable request and leave her alone like this.
She felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and yet, she knew what the solution was. If it was causing this much strife, perhaps it was for the best.