Last time...

"Then I'll figure it out. I'll figure out how to protect my mind. You're so incredibly strong already. I'll figure out how to be strong too. You'll never be without family again. I promise." He whispered into her hair. Leaning her back a bit so he could look at her, he continued on as normal. "So, I'm cool with you being blue, but can you dial back the ice a bit? I've got frost in my goatee, and that's not a good look for me."

Chapter 28

Tony hadn't been able to stay long after that. She wasn't really sure how Professor Snape had bypassed Hogwarts security wards to get Sirius and Tony there, and she wasn't going to ask. Professor Dumbledore already suspected something, most likely because her fellow Slytherins couldn't protect their minds as well as Hera could naturally, while Hermione and the twins had only just begun learning. Neville was actually coaching them, having teamed up with Draco to get the job done. Those two had certainly come a long way from where they'd started First Year.

She continued training for the Second Task as time passed, and was as ready as she was going to be, but she still didn't feel good about it. Hermione hadn't been there for bed checks the night before, and the day of the task was at hand. Hera had a bad feeling about that, but hoped she was wrong. When she saw Ron also was missing at breakfast, she raced out of the Great Hall. She couldn't let them be taken. She couldn't!

"Point me Ronald Weasley." She cast, having her wand flat in her palm. It did nothing. "Point me Hermione Granger!"

Still nothing. She was beginning to panic.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby called, suddenly popping up in front of her. "Harry Potter must be calming down. We can not be gettings your Tony here right now."

"They're both gone." Hera shook her head and started pacing. "What do I do? What do I do? What would Hermione do?"

"Dobby is not knowings what Miss Hermie would do, but you will be taking this, and saving your Wheezy." Dobby insisted, shoving a grubby cucumber looking thing with grayish green rat tails into her hand.

"My Wheezy? What's a Wheezy?" She asked, temporarily distracted and mildly confused by both the gift and his words.

"Your Wheezy. Wheezy who is giving Dobby his sweater!" Dobby explained. Hera froze.

"They have Ron." She realized, remembering how Ron had promised to give Dobby his old sweaters; the ones he couldn't fit anymore. Dobby nodded emphatically. "Do they have Hermione too?"

"They do, but only Wheezy is your task, the thing you'll miss most." Dobby warned her urgently.

"Thank you, Dobby. What is this? What do I do with it?" She asked, holding up the grubby thing he'd given her, already making rapid plans in her mind.

"This is being gillyweed. Eat it, and you can breathe underwater." Dobby explained, patting her hand. "Dobby will be missed soon. Dobby and Winky has been volunteering in the kitchens. You take this. Save your Wheezy!"

"Thank you, Dobby. I have to go get ready now!" Hera conveyed her gratitude before he popped back to the kitchens, and she bolted for the dungeons.

...

She wasn't sure she'd brought enough, but it was going to have to do. She'd worn cargo pants over her skintight scuba suit, stuffing the pockets with everything she'd thought she might need and then some. Thankfully said pockets were already prepared with all the appropriate charms for such a thing, or she would have never made it down there in time. Waving off Ludo, Hera stood with the other Champions. Unlike last time, she had no witty jokes for them, and something about her grave continence gave them pause.

When the applause sounded, Hera didn't pay attention to what the others were doing. Taking off her socks and shoes, she slowly made her way into the lake. The change in her skin was nearly instant, turning dark blue in what must be cold waters. To her it felt pleasantly cool, and maybe when she got enough courage up, she'd look at that Blood Inheritance Test to find out why she was like this. For now, she took out the gillyweed in her pocket, and ate it.

Dobby hadn't told her what would happen, and perhaps it had been foolish of her to accept the help without knowing such things, so she was quite unprepared to feel as if she were being smothered by a pillow. Her head was spinning, she couldn't breathe, and there was a splitting pain along the sides of her neck. Gills? Gills! She had gills! What was she going to do…oh! She was an idiot! Diving into the water, she took what felt like the first breath of air she'd had in ages. It felt like the breath of life, like she'd never known anything better.

Her hands had webbing, and now she was no longer surprised by the blue that spread over them. Twisting around, she saw that her feet had become elongated, looking almost like slippers. She could work with this, and she was already on a time crunch, not knowing how long this gave her. At least she had Tony's breathing apparatus as a backup in case the gillyweed faded from her system. Hera looked around, trying to decide where to go, when something with claws gripped her ankle.

Grindylows. Nasty little things, if her memory of DADA lessons with Lupin served well. A small horned water demon. This one was poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Hera's ankle, fangs bared. Where was her wand? Where was her wand?! In the time she'd wasted searching for it, two more grindlylows had risen out of the weed, seizing at her trousers in their attempts to drag her down.

'Relashio!' She thought, casting the spell nonverbally.

Instead of sending sparks at the grindylows, the spell pelted them with what seemed to be jets of boiling water. Where it struck them, angry red patches appeared on their green skin. She pulled her ankle free, swimming as fast as she could, sending more jets of hot water over her shoulder at random. The one time she'd chanced a look over her shoulders, the sight had shocked her, and she'd been surrounded by the creatures. It had taken physically kicking one in the face to get them to leave her alone. The grindylow had let go, floated off in a daze, and the others had taken to cover in the weed as they shook their fists at her; Apparently, they didn't take to physical altercations well.

"How are you getting on?"

Instantly on the defensive, Hera whirled around to face the new threat, only to see Moaning Myrtle floating in front of him.

"Myrtle?" She realized, her voice sounding far more musical than before, a very large bubble escaping her mouth. Myrtle actually giggled. "I'm sorry I haven't visited much this year."

"It's okay. This year's been pretty eventful. You want to try over there!" Myrtle stated, pointing towards Hera's right. "I won't come with you…I don't like them much. They always chase me when I get too close…"

"Thank you!" Hera replied, and began to swim away.

"See you later, Hera! I hope you die!" Myrtle called out happily, in parting.

"If I do, I'll try to come back so we can hang out more!" Hera replied with a big grin, giving her a thumbs up, before swimming off.

When she was alone, the elevated mood she'd enjoyed at finding an ally down here dissipated, and she was reminded why she'd been so angry before. Ron and Hermione were down here, their lives unnecessarily put at risk, because the adults around them had chosen not to care about the life of a child…again. Her anger returned tenfold, sending her swimming much faster than before, till she began catching parts of the song. The dwellings she came upon were in clusters, crude stone stained with algae. Slowing down, she saw faces in the dark windows, faces that looked nothing like the little mermaid she'd seen in the Slytherin bathroom.

The merpeople here 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 Hera as she swam past. One or two of them emerged from their homes to watch her better, and she noticed how powerful their silver tails looked. The further she swam, the more numerous the dwellings became. There were gardens of weed around some of them, and she swore she saw a pet grindylow on a rope tied to a stake outside one place.

Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching her eagerly, pointing at her webbed hands and gills. A whole crowd of merfolk floated in front of houses lined in what looked like a their village square. A choir of them were singing in the middle, calling the Champions towards them. Behind them was a crude sort of statue of a gigantic merperson, and tied to the tail of that statue were the four hostages. Ron was tied between Hermion and Cho Chang. A silver haired girl who looked no older than eight, who Hera felt for certain was Fleur's sister, was on his other side.

"You would do this…to children?" She asked, and the nearest of the merpeople reared back in surprise.

"Dumbledore sought our help with the tournament…" The nearest, a merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, carrying a rather eye catching spear, replied once he recovered from his shock. "He assured us that all of the champions are up to the task. Take your hostage and go."

It was strange how they didn't stop her from swimming over to the 'hostages'. She could tell her friends were still breathing, little bubbles trailed up, giving her hope as they did so. Still, she checked Ron's pulse first. However, when she went to check the others, hands from more than a dozen merfolk grabbed her. It took that many because she struggled to free herself of them as she had the grindylows, but they finally managed to pull her away from her goal.

"Only your hostage." The one she'd spoken with before reminded her.

"She's my friend too!" Hera insisted, shoving the merman away from her, and pointing back to Hermione. "I'm not leaving them down here."

"The rules were clear." He warned, raising the spear now. "We have a treaty with Headmaster Dumbledore. Do not start a war you can not win, little champion. Take your hostage and go."

"My name is Hera Potter," Hera declared, raising her hand to call forth as many blade like shards of ice to form around her as her magic could muster. "and Dumbledore does not speak for me."

...

Cedric came upon the most unusual sight as he came to where the song sounded from. Hera Potter was floating in front of the hostages, hundreds...maybe thousands of shards of ice in between her and the merfolk of the Black Lake. Oh, and she was blue; very very blue. She looked all the more fierce with red eyes, though they softened in familiarity when they flicked over to him. It was a good thing he had been able to see the lightning bolt with her hair floating about as it was; otherwise he might not have recognized her.

"Cedric, what happened?" She demanded. How she made her voice able to be heard down here, and be so musical on top of that, he didn't know. "What took you so long?"

'Got lost' He mouthed to her from behind his bubblehead charm. 'Fleur and Krum are on their way'

"Hurry up. You don't have a lot of time left." She replied firmly.

He wanted to tell her that she didn't either, but thought better of it. She didn't seem to want to leave the others behind, and he didn't have the kind of time it would take to convince someone as stubborn Hera to abandon her chosen path. Instead, he took the knife he'd brought with him out of his pocket, and cut Cho free. Only after he'd freed her did he hesitate, but Hera jerked her head towards the surface, something he took to mean she wanted him to get out of here. At that he took off, hoping the others would get there soon.

...

Victor had left with Hermione, and when she got back to the surface, they were going to have a long talk about what she was going to do if he ever tried to bite her friend in half again. For now, she waited for Fleur. However as time ticked away, the merfolk began closing in, and she realized her time was coming to a close. She sent the ice shards after them without warning, and rushed to Ron, freeing him with the knife in her pocket. Another wave of ice shards, and she managed to free most of the little girl.

Before she could free her entirely, however, one of the merfolk slammed into her from the side. It took the breath out of her. She knew her knife to be lost, but then another appeared in her hand, and she didn't question it when she saw the merman nearing the little girl again; instead throwing it without a thought, causing the merman to turn his attention back to her. This was worse than fighting grindylows, and there were many more of them besides. Every kick she landed, every hit with her fists or elbows, only seemed to bring about another enemy as she twisted and fought her way to freedom. At her wits end, she tried one last thing, unable to think of anything else.

"Expelliarimus! Immobulus Maxima!" She shouted, arching her arm around her in an effort to cast as wide a spell as possible.

Immediately, several things happened. The lead green bearded merman's spear sailed towards her. As this was happening, every merperson froze, and started drifting with the current. After catching the spear, she paid the merpeople no more mind, going back to the little girl and freeing her the rest of the way. Their arms were still tied, so Hera put the spear through the loop their arms made, and began swimming to the surface; one on either side of her.

It was very slow work. She couldn't use her hands to help her, as they were holding the spear that carried Ron and the girl. That gillyweed had to have some kind of time limit, she knew. She was beginning to feel the pain in her neck again, so she figured she was coming upon it soon. Risking one hand free, she fished for the breathing apparatus, and continued on. There were merpeople suddenly surrounding her, swimming with ease as she struggled to continue, but she didn't know why they were there.

Were they there to drag her back down when the time limit was up? Were they angry that she had disarmed their leader? Had that even been their leader? Did they perhaps eat humans? Damn it, she didn't want to get eaten! She kicked harder, and noticed her feet had turned back into…well…back into feet. Then she was breaking the surface, holding the trident above her head as she freed Ron and then the girl, the spear falling into the water.

All around her, wild, green-haired heads were merging out of the water with her. Why were they smiling? The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting, screaming, all of them standing on their feet. All that mattered to her was that Ron was alive. He and the girl were coughing up water, but they were alive.

Ron blinked a bit as she continued making her way towards the shore, before blurting out. "Why are you blue? You're eyes weren't always red, were they? I think I'd have noticed that."

She glared at him until he took out the apparatus in her mouth.

"It's a recent development." She quipped. "Help me with the girl. I'm not sure she can swim well."

"So, how mad are you?" Ron asked with a casual air, as he took to helping her with the girl in question.

"I'm thinking of punching the headmaster in the face, the other judges too." Hera growled. "I'm used to adults not giving a shite about my life, so risking it is nothing, but to risk others…children…whether the risk is real or imagined…"

"And why are we surrounded by merfolk?" Ron asked, furtively looking around at them all. "Also, why do they look like they've been in a fight?"

"I don't know, and because they have." She replied sternly. "With me."

They pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honour. Hera could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Hera and Ron from the bank, though they paled slightly at seeing the glare Hera was giving them. She could only imagine the sight she made; bloodied and angry, surrounded by merfolk as she was, not to mention the blue skin and red eyes she was currently sporting. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Ron, go to Madam Pomfrey." She ordered, but when she saw that he was drooling over Fleur, she flipped him on the ear hard enough that he nearly dropped the apparatus; which she quickly snatched back for safe keeping. "Go to Madam Pomfrey, or the next flip is to the bits."

Ron both paled and looked mulish, having obviously wanted to ogle Fleur some more, but did as she ordered.

"Gabrielle!" Fleur shouted, breaking free from Madame Maxime and rushing to Hera, not caring that she was surrounded by merfolk. "Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

"She's alright." Hera assured her, gently handing the girl over to her. "I got there first, and tried to wait for you, but when you didn't show, I-"

"It was ze grindylows…zey attacked me." Fleur admitted tearfully. "…oh, Gabrielle, I thought…I thought…"

"Come here, you." said Madam Pomfrey, suddenly just there, seizing Hera and pulling her over to Hermione and the others. She was wrapped up in a blanket in short order, and had some hot potion forced down her throat, pepperup, if she was to judge by the steam coming out of her ears.

"Hera, I'm so sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you." Hermione began. "I knew how you were going to worry, and I tried to tell them what a bad idea it was."

"I did too." Ron admitted sheepishly. "Oh, hey look, your skin is turning back!"

When Madam Pomfrey's back was turned, Hera wriggled out of the blanket and pulled them both into a hug, one which they quickly returned once they'd gotten over the shock of her initiating it.

"I didn't know what would happen, couldn't leave either of you down there. How was I supposed to choose? My first friends, my first friends, and they took you. They took you, and put you down in that lake, and I couldn't…I couldn't..." Hera whispered as she hugged them to her tightly. "What if something had happened to either of you? What if you had died? What would I have done?"

"We weren't in any real danger, Hera." Hermione soothed. "I know it doesn't change anything, but-"

"Something still could have gone wrong," Ron insisted quietly, as he rubbed little circles on Hera's back. "even with all Dumbledore's precautions. There's a reason this is called a Death Tournament."

"I can't lose you, either of you, my first friends." Hera continued. "If anything ever happens to you, if they ever do anything that gets you killed, there won't be anywhere they can hide from me. I'll make sure of it. I'll-"

"…'era?" Fleur interrupted, having been brought over by Madam Pomfrey. Hera plied herself away from her friends reluctantly, but relaxed upon seeing the extreme regret on her face. "You saved 'er, even though she was not your 'ostage."

"I couldn't leave her there. She's a child." Hera explained, shaking. "I couldn't…"

They were interrupted by Professor Snape, who was looking more than a bit bewildered.

"Potter, I've been sent to fetch you." He stated, straight to the point. "Dumbledore claims the mermish want to speak with you."

"Oh dear." Hera sighed. "Best get it over with then."