Dive Deep

23rd of February, 1995.

"This isn't good," Minerva said. She was sitting with Albus. The Goblet of Fire had given them three names for people that were going into the lake as hostages. There had, however, been no name for young Potter. Whatever magic had entered the boy obviously did not extend to picking a hostage for the contestants.

"We'll just pick someone for him," Albus said while stroking his beard. "Young Mr Weasley for example."

"I don't think that Ronald Weasley would be a good choice, Albus," Minerva said. "Mr Potter isn't spending that much time with the youngest Weasley boy anymore." She thought about it for a moment and then she said. "It is a pleasant change. He seems far more focused on his studies now. As far as I can tell he spends most of his time with Miss Granger and Mr Longbottom these days."

"Well, Miss Granger has been chosen for Mr Krum, but Mr Longbottom should work just fine," Albus said. He didn't show his surprise. He had not counted on young Harry and Ronald to fall apart. They had their differences he knew that. He hadn't noticed any animosity between them. They seemed happy enough around each other so it would probably work itself out.

Later that evening Harry was sitting with Hermione and Neville in the Library. They were finishing off their homework like usual on Thursdays. The weather had been warming up slowly and they had finally started dealing with actual plants again in Herbology.

Harry had pushed everyone in Defence earlier that day. He had wanted to get people to understand just how important the lessons were. All of them needed a shower after class.

"Are you sure you are ready for tomorrow, Harry?" Hermione asked for the umpth time that day.

"Yes, Hermione I'm going to use gillyweed like Neville suggested," Harry said as he flashed Neville a smile. He placed his quill down. His potions essay was done. It had been interesting as he started getting his work back, especially after Yule. Snape couldn't accuse him of copying Hermione because his work looked nothing like hers, and he was doing a good job, especially in his written work. His practical potions were decent, but he had no drive. He loved watching people who loved to make potions, like Rashall and Rhavaniel and now Fred, but he didn't enjoy making potions.

He pulled out A History of Magic and settled down with the heavy book. He was slowly making his way through the entire thing taking notes as he went. He started reading where he'd left off. It was quite interesting when you didn't have Binns voice droning on about it. "Hi Fred, hi George," he said after a while not raising his eyes from the book.

"Darn, you're good," "At that," the twins said.

"Why are you guys visiting this lowly place of the world then?" Harry asked.

"Got a message for your comrades," Fred said. "McGonagall wants to see the two of you in her office," George said.

"Why?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Dunno… she was looking a bit grim though," Fred said. "We're supposed to take you down to her office," George said.

"You need to look grimmer," Harry said. "It could be an execution." He could see the look in the twins' eyes. He smirked. He knew they would have fun with that. He looked over at Hermione and Neville. "I'll see you guys back in the common room," he said.

Hermione nodded. "We'll see you there," she said.

Harry watched them leave thinking that they would probably not be making it back. At least he knew who to look for now. The teachers really could have done a better job. A good guess was that Hermione was for Viktor and Neville for him. That was decent enough. He would definitely miss Neville if he disappeared. He made his way back up to the common room. It seemed like they would be working together after all.

Harry lay down in bed next to the Jill egg. He wondered when it would hatch. According to the mother, it could take quite a while.

24th of February, 1995.

The next morning Harry was running through the Forbidden Forest. Fleur hadn't joined him that morning. She was a wreck. She was convinced that her sister was at the bottom of the lake. He would have to get back to her. He had left his swimwear and a change of clothes in her room before he had started his run.

For some reason, they had decided to place the Second Task in the morning. He had no clue why they thought that was a good idea. Though, he guessed the Black Lake was so deep that any sun they might get would not affect the water temperature at all anyway so it didn't matter. At least they could save their hostages faster that way.

Harry walked straight into the French carriage as he got back. They knew him well enough by now that no one cared that he came by.

"'Arry you are back," Fleur said.

"Let's get changed and meet up with the other two," Harry said.

Fleur nodded. She was twisting her fingers together nervously. She wanted to get into the lake and get her sister. At least they had a plan. She still couldn't help but check Harry out as he came back out of the bathroom. He was wearing a skintight wetsuit. He was out of glamour for now.

"Can you activate the glamour past that?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Harry said. "I just didn't want to get something like this only to know that I would have to get another set later cause I outgrew this one."

Fleur nodded. She headed into the bathroom and changed into her own wetsuit. They wrapped themselves in cloaks. Harry attached a thing to Fleur's suit so it would take on her school colours. He had one for himself too. And he had some for Viktor and Cedric as well.

"Hermione is gone?" Viktor asked as he met Harry.

Harry nodded. "She never made it back. I checked with the other girls. I haven't seen Neville."

"Cho is gone," Cedric said as he joined them.

"So we'll do what we agreed on?" Harry said.

"Sounds like it," Viktor said.

Harry checked the time. "Let's head out then," he said. "But first…" he attached his illusionary charms to Cedric and Viktor as well. "There now we match but still represent our schools," he said.

The four of them walked into the champions' tent together.

Students walked up to the stand behind and around them. Harry looked to his left and his right. They could still potentially be wrong, but by now they were prepared to have to go down and save four people that mattered a lot to them.

"Nervous?" Cedric asked.

"Do I have to be," Harry said with a smile.

Cedric shook his head. "There is something wrong with you," he said.

Harry bumped into him. "I'll just spread it around then," he said.

Cedric felt a warmth move through his body. He definitely felt better. He gave Harry a strange look but didn't say anything. Something had happened, but he didn't feel like he was in a position to ask questions.

Then Bagman's voice called out over the crowd. He spoke about the task for a moment and then he called them outside. The four champions walked out together. They stood side by side along the edge of the Black Lake.

"Champions are you ready for the second task?!" Bagman called out.

Together the four champions grabbed their robes and threw them off.

Harry raised his right hand into the air, fist clenched. He could see the others doing the same.

"Well, our champions seem ready. Now, remember that they have exactly one hour to recover what has been taken from them. They start on my whistle," Bagman said. "On the count of three, then. One… two … three!"

The whistle was shrill and the accompanying cheers from the stands were loud and excited.

The four champions moved into formation and walked into the water. Cedric cast heating charms on them. Fleur cast night vision. Viktor bound in an all-around detection spell and Harry connected the locator spell to Hermione. Then they all connected to each other with a series of spells that would keep them swimming in sync. They applied their underwater breathing of choice and then they were off.

"In a never before seen move, the Champions seem to be working together. How strange. What could have brought this on?" Bagman called out.

The water was dark. The spells helped them a lot. They swam deeper and deeper. Harry smiled as a school of fish swam by them. He spun around and fought off a few grindylows. He saw how Cedric sent off a few spells as well. They swam straight towards the Selkies' village. They didn't make any stops. They were surrounded suddenly and all champions raised their wands. A wave of boiling water moved out from the champions and hit the little water demons. The grindylows shrieked and took off as burns spread over their chests.

A song could be heard. It was the same one that had told them what to expect from the Second Task. Yes, the Selkies had changed it a little, but the overarching song was the same. They followed the sound.

Little stone buildings seemed to grow out of nowhere. It was a village. Selkies were swimming around the village. Some houses had grindylows tied up outside like dogs.

They swam through the village until they reached the village square.

A choir of selkies stood together. They had greyish-green skin and long wild hair. It flowed green in the murky water. Several sets of yellow eyes turned to face them. They leered at them as they swam past. More selkies appeared from the houses. Their long silvery tails swiped through the water. They held spears in their hands.

The Champions swam into the centre of the square where the hostages were held. They floated serenely in front of a giant statue that looked like a rough carving of a selkie. The four hostages were tied to long strands of seaweed in front of the statue.

Harry could see Hermione, Neville, Cho and a little blond girl that had to be Gabrielle. They looked like they were sleeping calmly. Each of the champions swam up to the hostages and freed them. They made sure that they had a good hold on each hostage before they started swimming up again.

Fleur pointed her wand at an approaching gaggle of grindylows. She forced them back. Viktor and Cedric helped her clear them off.

They started heading towards the shore before they broke through the surface of the water. By then they were on shallow enough water that they could stand. Well, everyone but little Gabrielle.

Harry could hear Neville breathing in deeply behind him. He freed his hands and turned around. "You alright?" he asked.

Neville nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said shakily.

Harry waded up to Fleur and helped her with Gabrielle. "Hello little star," Harry said in French as he placed her on his hip.

Gabrielle giggled. "Are you 'Arry?" she asked. "Big sis has written about you."

Harry chuckled. "Oui, I'm Harry," he said. "Fleur has told me about you too, little star."

They reached the shore together. Madam Pomfrey came rushing up to them with towels, and she tried to get them to sit down with a cup of tea each. Harry sat down with Gabrielle in his lap. Madam Pomfrey bustled around them and dried their clothes.

"Well, I guess you managed to make the judges confused," Hermione said.

"They should have thought about that," Harry said.

Hermione chuckled.

"What do you say to a nice hot bath once the judges are done up there?" Harry asked.

"I'm in," Hermione said.

"Sure vhy not," Viktor said.

"I'll sit out I think," Neville said. "I want to check on my gildergreen seedling."

"Alright," Harry said. He looked over at Cedric and Cho. "What about you two?" he asked.

Cedric looked down at Cho.

"I would love that," Cho said.

"We'll join you I guess," Cedric said.

Harry caught on to the tone and promised himself that he would make sure they got a chance to be alone.

"You have a vater-beetle in your hair, Hermione," Viktor said. He reached out and grabbed it before throwing it off.

Harry noticed. He could sense more from the bug than he should have been able to if it had been a real bug. So an Animagus then. He guessed he might have to keep his eyes open.

Albus Dumbledore came walking over to the champions. "We have seen an excellent work of cooperation today. I must ask why? What made you work together?"

"We didn't like the idea of other kids being placed in danger. They didn't put their names in a goblet and get chosen," Cedric said.

"It was kind of obvious that you had taken students when people around us that we care about disappeared," Harry said.

"So we wanted to make sure they would all get back safely," Fleur said.

"No ve knov that they veren't in any danger, but the song still said that ve vould lose them forever so ve acted the vay ve vould if that vas actually the case," Viktor said.

"And whose idea was that?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Everyone looked at Harry and Harry just sighed. "I guess I will have to take the credit for that, Headmaster," he said.

Dumbledore smiled. "Don't worry, my boy. You haven't done anything wrong," he said in his usual grandfatherly tone. "We will simply have to give you points accordingly."

"I'm cold," Gabrielle said.

"I know, little star," Harry said. He wrapped his arms around her and heat spread out from him. Gabrielle stopped shaking. She cuddled up closer to Harry.

"Merci," Gabrielle said.

The judges gave their scores. None of the champions cared that much. They wanted to get inside and warm up. Before the crowd got a chance to leave the Champions and their 'hostages' walked back up to the castle.

Neville headed off to take a shower while the rest of them went up to the seventh floor. Harry brought out a room with a big hot spring with a warm waterfall and a couple of small coves hidden by the sound of the waterfalls. Cedric smirked as he looked over at Harry. "Thanks, dude," he said.

"I got your back, Cedric," Harry said with a wink. He let Gabrielle down and they walked towards the back wall.

"This is very beautiful," Fleur said.

Harry nodded. "The room likes to play a little with what you give it," he said. He hadn't thought of every flower and stone that the room had created. It had done that on its own. He sat down and Gabrielle bounced over to him. She started talking rapidly and Harry did his best to keep up. His French was good, but not good enough to keep up with an excited eight-year-old.

Harry noticed how both Cedric and Cho and Viktor and Hermione disappeared to have some time to themselves. He just made sure that Gabrielle didn't run in on them. He played with her and Fleur laughed. At least Gabrielle would have good memories from this. Gabrielle rode on Harry's back as they headed down the entrance hall. Hermione left the group as they reached a floor where she could make it to the Gryffindor tower while Harry continued with the rest of the group. He joined Fleur and Gabrielle in Fleur's room and they took turns getting into clean clothes. Harry sat down in his usual seat and he soon had a lap full of Gabrielle as Fleur sat down next to them.

"Fleur says you know French but not so well," Gabrielle said.

"I know it well enough to get by," Harry responded.

"Not if Gabrielle gets going," Fleur said.

"I'll just have to believe you on that," Harry said. "I don't mind if the two of you want to talk. If you want me to leave I can do that too. Or I could get the guitar and…"

"Oui, oui please play," Gabrielle said as she bounced in his lap. Harry grabbed his guitar and Gabrielle moved so he could actually reach everything. She sat down in her sister's lap instead as they started talking about everything that Gabrielle had been up to lately mixed with some talk of Hogwarts, and Harry did hear his name once or twice in there. Harry was playing the guitar. Then he started singing. It was a language neither girl understood, but it was strangely familiar in a way.

Gabrielle was in heaven or at least she thought this was what heaven should be like. She had her sister and then there was Harry. He was kind of cute. He could play the guitar and sing and he had a really nice smile. Gabrielle sighed. This was the best. She focused back on her conversation with Fleur and just enjoyed herself.

This was the picture that Apolline Delacour, Fleur and Gabrielle's mother, walked in on as she came to get her youngest daughter. Her girls were talking happily and there was a young man with dark hair and dreamy green eyes playing the guitar next to them. She hid a small laugh. Her little girls were being serenaded. Something didn't quite fit in though and she called upon her daughters' attention. "Fleur dear. He is not what he seems," she said. Just like her daughter, she could tell that something was off, but not what that something was.

"I'm wearing a glamour," Harry said softly as he stopped playing.

"Oh, my apologies. I did not know you spoke French," Apolline said.

"That's fine," Harry said. He looked at Fleur. She had invited him to stay with her over the summer. If he was to actually do that, then he didn't want to have to lie to her mother. Besides he would probably walk around as Kato then so making sure that Apolline and her husband were fine with that was probably a good idea. With that in mind, he did his best to explain his situation to Apolline without going into too much detail. They would have plenty of time for that if he did come over.

Apolline looked at her oldest daughter. "He is not affected at all?" she asked.

"Not as far as I can tell," Fleur said. "It is really nice to have a friend that I do not have to worry about. Back home I have a few like that, but none of them came with me here."

Apolline turned to Harry. "Will you allow me to try? As a half-Veela I am quite a lot stronger than my daughter," she asked.

Harry looked at Fleur who shrugged. This was up to him. "Go ahead," he said.

Apolline didn't hold back at all. If he could take the fully released allure of her daughter then she wanted to know what he was capable of. Her husband was one of those rare cases of a man not affected. It was one of the reasons she loved him so much. He loved her for the person that she was not because of her allure. There was no reaction. Harry simply helped Gabrielle over to the table as Winky showed up with lunch. He didn't react.

"Now are you naturally immune or are you trained in mind magic?" Apolline asked. There really were three ways a man could be this unresponsive. She doubted this young man was gay. She could usually tell. Her husband was naturally immune so that could be possible.

"Both," Harry said. "Back during the Quidditch World cup when the Veelas that travelled with the Bulgarian team released their allure. I felt it at first, but it always faded. I could always stop myself from doing something stupid. Then as I learnt magic on Nirn I learnt mind magic. I am the master of my mind and no one else.

"I see that is very interesting," Apolline said.

"Can 'Arry come stay with us this summer, mère?" Fleur asked.

"If he would like to," Apolline said. "Won't your family miss you?"

"They would be happier if they never got to see me again," Harry said. "That is not a story appropriate for the dinner table, however." Winky had placed down plates of lovely chicken soup in front of each of them, something warming after the cold lake even though they had taken an hour-long bath in a hot spring.

Apolline nodded. "We would love to have you," she said.

"I will not appear as Harry though," Harry said. He released his glamour and attached the earrings that made him Kato. "This is a glamour I use to hide my real identity when I don't want to run around as a teenager. This is Kato Peverell."

"I see, very nice," Apolline said. "Well, then Kato. It would be lovely to have you over for the summer." She smiled at the happy squeal from Gabrielle and the grateful looks Fleur sent her. All she wanted was for her daughters to be happy. It was nice to know that Fleur had been able to make friends in Britain despite her difficulties.

They talked as they ate and Apolline could tell that Harry cared very much for her daughter. There was a hint of sadness to him though; she wondered briefly where it came from though she could guess that he had met a lot of people in this other world and losing them all must have been hard. Maybe there had even been a love interest. That could explain why he didn't have an amorous intent with her daughter despite them getting along so well. It would also explain why Fleur hadn't tried anything. Though it could of course just be that they simply did not feel that way about each other.

They talked late into the evening and Gabrielle fell asleep in Harry's lap. He shifted her so she would be more comfortable without really thinking about it.

Apolline smiled. "She really likes you," she said.

Harry chuckled. "Exactly what I needed. An eight-year-old with a crush on me," he said jokingly.

"At least then we know that she will not get hurt by her crush," Fleur said. "A cousin of ours had a crush when she was little. When her allure came forward she still thought he was really nice and now he was interested so it all went out of hand and he hurt her a lot."

Harry shook his head. "I wish there was something we could do to help her," he said.

"Be supportive," Apolline said. "The more people a young Veela has around them to support them the easier it is for them to get through the first few months and then it usually becomes easier anyway."

It will help her to have a male role model that is not her father that will not be affected," Apolline said. "That will teach her that it isn't really her fault. You will not act like an idiot so why should everyone else?"

"I guess that is true," Harry said. He wrapped his arms around Gabrielle protectively and leaned back. If he wasn't careful now he would fall asleep like that. A small smile played on his lips as he closed his eyes. That probably wasn't so bad.

Apolline smiled and Fleur fetched a camera. She just had to have a picture. They were so cute.

26th of February, 1995.

Kato was sitting in an office in Gringotts Bank. He was waiting for a woman by the name of Chiara Kim. She was one of the werewolves that they had cured to prove things to the Ministry. She was also one of the people that he had hired to find more werewolves and make them aware of the Cure.

The door opened and Chiara was led inside. She seemed somewhat nervous, but she sat down with him. "So you are worried the potion might have an impact on your ability to carry a child?" Kato said.

"Well, yes," Chiara said.

Kato placed down a parchment that the goblins had provided for him next to him. If you would just write something on this. Anything is good enough. Avoid your name. You will be using a blood quill and the parchment will let us know if there are any impurities in your blood. I can tell you right now that there are no traces of the curse left in you. You are completely free from that."

Chiara drew a heart on the paper and text appeared. She looked worried at first, but it didn't seem like Healer Peverell was concerned. "Everything looks normal. You might need some extra iron so I would suggest more meat, spinach and other iron-heavy foods. I'll write you a list. Apart from that you can go right ahead."

"And there will be no complications?" Chiara asked.

"Not because you were a werewolf at least," Kato said. "Other complications are obviously possible. I would get in contact with a midwife or OB-healer for more information on that."

"And If I would prefer you took care of it?" Chiara asked.

Kato blinked. "Why would you prefer that?" he asked.

"Because you know my history better, and I trust you to not treat me badly because of it," Chiara said.

Kato sighed. "I do not have the required…"

"Neither do most people in the magical world," Chiara said. "They just patch women together and hope for the best. I can get an OBGYN in the non-magical world too if you would like, but I want you in the magical world."

Kato closed his eyes. He wasn't surprised to learn that there weren't that many people who were actually professionally trained in pregnancies. It was just like the magical world to think that everything could be solved with a potion. Did he have time for this? Probably not but damn it if he wouldn't learn just for the damn sake of proving to people that things had to change. "I appreciate your trust in me and will do my best, but I would like it if you also had someone in the non-magical world look things over."

"I can do that," Chiara said. "I'll let you know… Well, I'll let you know after I have been to my first appointment with them I guess."

Kato nodded. He gave her the list of foods she should eat and she was on her way.

Kato sighed. What had he gotten himself into now?