Hogwarts legacy coming out soon, so don't panic if i don't update for a while, i'll get back to it :)
After seeing the quality of education provided to British Wizards Harry cut the students of Hogwarts a little slack, it wasn't their fault they were being poorly educated, but hopefully the pamphlets for correspondence courses from schools outside of the UK would help them be less... well, dumb. He was also feeling guilty for leaving Diggory to be blindsided for the first task as the look on the boy's face showed he had no idea about the dragons, he would have to make sure he got the next hint.
Delores Umbridge was incensed, that little armored delinquent had leaked the first take to the other champions which was against the rules the minister had set up, this could not be allowed. She would keep a close eye on the mixblood's son to make sure he didn't do it again.
Fleur, Cedric, and Victor met each other at the black lake one morning, each had received a not from Harry asking them to meet him here, but there was no sign of him.
Deloris spotted the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory and the foreigner from the dark school leaving for the grounds, what could they be doing together? She followed them at a distance so if it was nothing she could slip away, after all it could embarrass the minister if she was found tailing them. Her suspicions rose when they met up with the half-breed Veela, it was only a moment later when the Potter brat emerged from the lake and she hurried to stop him from breaking more rules.
Harry emerged from the water, "Hello you three," he greeted cheerily, "I thought it might be a good idea if we all got in some exercise to up our fitness, and the best form of exercise is swimming," he enthused, "and we can explore the lake at the same time for a bit of adventure!" he slapped his thigh in a jovial way drawing their attention to his trunks which had stylized on the front "don't be a bubble head" and as he turned to go back into the lake on the back in flashing neon was "be a gilly weed!" but before he could take a step,
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING BOY!" came an angry voice,
"CHAMPIONS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO HELP EACH OTHER IT'S AGAINST THE RULES!" she screeched like a banshee who stubbed it's toe,
Harry utterly nonplussed promptly screamed, "OMG A PERVERT COME TO GRAB MY NAUGHTY BITS," and dived into the water thrust his hands between his legs and cast an overpowered Aquamenti, which propelled him away and also fired a blast of water out of the lake and directly into Umbridge's face knocking her off her feet.
After getting back to her feet spluttering in rage Umbridge looked around for the little delinquent but he had long gone, she then began ordering the three to forget coming here and forget what the brat had said, to witch Fleur walked off without a word and Victor scoffed before doing the same, leaving poor Cedric to face the angry pink toad alone.
Umbridge was frustrated and angry, she realized her mistake almost instantly, by shouting that the brat was attempting to help them she pretty much confirmed what the second task was, making the whole egg gimmick pointless. The champions continued their early morning swims and exploration of the lake, and she couldn't think of any way to punish them since she was only a guest of the minister, the rule she suggested about only having their wands had turned out useless, and she still hadn't figured out how the boy had done the first task.
After one particularly bracing swim in the ice-cold lake as the champions entered the great hall for breakfast joined by Harry, he remembered that he hadn't called off the twins as dumbledore was sat at the head table looking thoroughly depressed dressed head to toe in a giant chicken suit, complete with beak. He complimented the twins on their work and told them they could relax now and stop focusing on Cluckdork, they seemed very proud of their work but were relieved to be able to take a rest from making the headmaster's life a misery.
Finally it was time for the second task, the crowd had gathered and taken their seats and a now prank free Dumbledore was telling the crowed about the task, and that the champions had something stolen from them and hidden in the lake, Harry at the commencement of the even summoned his pocket watch from the castle. Harry reached out to catch his watch as it arrived only for Umbridge to snatch it out of the air before he could,
"The use of any equipment besides your wand for this task is prohibited by the rules," she smugly stated,
Madam Maxine while glaring at Umbridge chimed in, "It is true, the rule was introduced an hour ago, we protested but..."
Before Umbridge could say her next line he dived into the water, he had her punishment already set up, it would be a waste to turn her into a fish and feed her to the giant squid, but he was considering it. The familiar cold of the lake washed over him as he cast a warming charm and a bubble head on himself, and then used the same overpowered aquamenti spell cast from each hand to rocket through the water towards the village.
Victor, Fleur and Cedric each followed their individual routes through the lake. Cedric chose the central route which was almost completely clear except for the giant squid, he encountered the massive creature and was shocked at just how massive this beast was, it would normally avoid any swimmers but seemed to now be part of the task. Victor partially transfigured into a shark had chosen to swim the grindylow reeds route, most of the little menaces were frightened off by his shark head but some did attack only to either get burned with scalding water, punched or in the case of one bitten. Fleur had chosen the underground cave tunnels, these were twisting and small but also deserted, it would take her longer but she would meet no obstacles. Cedric after several minutes of dodging the squids attempts to grab him managed to hit it with several spells in quick succession causing the squid to rise to the surface very confused, he was glad of Harry getting him to 'think outside the box' and had chosen to hit the squid with featherlight charms causing the creature's natural buoyancy to greatly outstrip it's weight.
Harry arrived at the merpeople village well before the others, he of course had no intention of winning, but he wanted to see what the treasure that had been stolen was, the discovery made him very angry. First was a girl in a Hogwarts uniform that would likely be Cedric's hostage, second was a house elf probably his as the elves were the only ones he really spoke to in Hogwarts. The last two however enraged him, one was Ginny Weasley and the other was Gabrielle Delacour (who he recognised from photos), both of them way too young to have anything to do with this idiocy of a tournament, it meant that either the parents had given permission (fat chance) or Dumbledore had kidnapped them.
After waiting for his fellow companions to pick up their hostages Harry cast a summoning charm at the spectator stands, which caused him and his elf to shoot towards them at extreme speed. The crowd exploded and cheered Bagman began announcing, but all of it was ignored by Harry who gave Dumbledore the dirtyest look he could before asking the now awake and confused elf to pop them both to the castle kitchen. While pandemonium erupted in the stands, Harry made sure the elf was ok and had no injuries and also lectured them all reminding them they could say 'no' to idiotic orders like this.
Montle and Appoline Delacour were in an absolute panic, their little Gabrielle had vanished and they had no idea where she was. They had decided to visit Fleur to lend support for the tournament and had safely arrived in hogsmeade, but before they could set out for the second task Gabrielle had gone and they were frantically searching when they were approached by a Gringotts goblin.