Chapter 39

Viktor couldn't sleep.

He was just too anxious, too worried. There was only barely over a month left to the second task, and he still had no idea what he would be facing. Would he reach it completely unprepared? It looked that way. He supposed he might be able to manage, like he had managed with the dragon, but the fact that he had been given a clue made him uneasy. If it were possible to survive the second task without any preparation then surely no clue would have been offered.

It was extremely frustrating that almost everyone in Hogwarts seemed to know all about the second task, except him. Although the other champions didn't seem to know either, judging by the desperation on their faces, so at least he wasn't the only idiot. That wasn't much of a comfort, though. As much as he feared the prospect of reaching the second task unprepared, he was actually more worried about Potter, who was much younger and might not be able to cope with an unknown threat. Not everything could be resolved with the Killing Curse, after all.

Thinking about Potter as usual led him to think about the girl. Hermione. Viktor still couldn't pronounce the name right, but at least inside his head he spelled it correctly. He was also worried about that. Worried in many ways. Most of all, worried about how much he thought about her.

She had been beyond beautiful the night of the Yule Ball. Viktor liked her bushy haired and all, in a way he liked her more in her natural state, but seeing her that night had blown his mind. With the hair picked up that way, her eyes and her smile had been much more noticeable, and of course the dress and the lack of a dozen books at her back had definitely favoured her figure. Her conversation had been interesting and more than intelligent, and her touch... It had been during the first dance with her that Viktor had realized in how much trouble he was. He would have kissed her right then and there if he had not feared not to be able to stop. And of course he hadn't been sure if snogging would have been an appropriate behaviour to indulge in in the middle of the dance floor and with all the judges and teachers looking on. Nor he had been certain if she would have liked that.

He had been determined to try and kiss her at some point before the night was over, though. And he would have followed through on that intention if not for that annoying redhead. Viktor had worried before about Potter and the girl, but clearly he had been worrying about the wrong kid. It was the redhead the threat, and not just because the boy obviously liked the girl, but because the girl might like the boy in return. That had not been ordinary yelling.

She had been embarrassed afterwards, but in Viktor's opinion she had looked even more beautiful —and frightening— while yelling. He had felt the urge to shut her up by kissing her.

Viktor really was in trouble.

He was, of course, worried about the second task. But like a fool he was at least as much worried about dying without having kissed that girl at least once.

He had intended to do it that night, but after the incident with the redhead she had been distracted and upset, and Viktor had not managed to really capture her attention again. They had said an awkward goodbye at the front doors, and that had been it. The next day she had been her normal bushy-haired self again, and Viktor had not had any other excuse to talk to her.

He knew he was being a stupid coward. He ought to just approach her again and ask her out. Take her for a walk through the grounds, or perhaps invite her to go with him to that village near the castle the next time students were allowed to go. Despite not being a people person, Viktor had never had much trouble asking girls out. It was just this particular girl that made him nervous and insecure. Especially after the redhead incident.

Could he perhaps... ask Potter's advice about it? He must know if his friend and the redhead were a thing or what. And Viktor saw him almost every night up in the sky, so he would not lack opportunity for a private talk.

It would be weird, though. He and Potter were flying companions, but they rarely talked. It was like an implicit understanding that they had, to keep each other company without disturbing the silence. After all, they were both flying because they needed to get away from everything. So far they had only talked twice during their escapades. Once, when Potter had warned him not to fly over the forest in case the Acromantulas jumped on them. Viktor had initially thought that Potter might be joking, but his face had been dead serious so he decided not to risk the forest just in case. The other time they had talked had been when Viktor had taught the kid the full-body warming spell that they used in Durmstrang to keep themselves from freezing when flying in winter.

Those had been flying-related topics. Asking his advice about a girl would be a whole different thing. Particularly weird since the girl in question was Potter's friend.

Was he really worrying this much about a girl? He ought to be thinking about the egg! So far Viktor had only found the spell used to record sounds into objects, and all sorts of references to magical eggs. The sound itself was still a mystery, although just in case Viktor had read all he could find about banshees and how to deal with them.

Shaking his head in frustration, he finally gave up on sleep and sneaked out of his cabin taking his broom with him.

At first he thought that he was alone in the sky, since Potter could not be seen where they usually met. But then a low, horribly familiar sound filled his head. He had climbed to his broom to escape that damned sound, did he have it so deeply engraved inside his brain that he could hear it wherever he went? Would he hear it until the day he died?

A moment later he saw it. Someone on a broom, probably Potter, flying much higher and farther than usual. And the sound came from that direction, not from inside his head. Could it be...? Viktor snorted. Had Potter taken his egg flying? What did he expect to achieve?

As he watched, something unexpected happened. It looked as if Potter had dropped something. He couldn't be sure what from this distance... Maybe the egg? Viktor's heart gave a jolt, and he could swear that the kid had also frozen in midair. An instant later Potter was flying downwards in a straight line towards the water, clearly chasing the object that was quickly falling. Now Viktor was certain that it was the egg, still wailing while it fell, and also that Potter would not get to it in time. The boy was accelerating instead of slowing down, though. Was he insane? Water might be a lot softer than solid ground, but it was still suicidal to fly so fast directly into it.

This was a lot more exciting and stressful than to watch a professional Quidditch game, thought Viktor wildly when he saw the falling object losing itself under the water, and a instant later Potter stopping abruptly only feet from the surface in a move very similar to the Wronski Feint. Instead of pulling out of the dive, however, Potter jumped from his broom into the lake.

Viktor stared for several seconds, trying to process what had just happened. He had never seen something like that, so bold or maybe stupid. Although he could understand Potter's desperation, since the egg was his only clue to the second task. Why hadn't he just summoned it, though? He knew that Potter always had his wand with him. Was that too advanced magic for the kid?

All those thoughts vanished from his mind when he realized that Potter still had not emerged. He had assumed it would only take him a few seconds to retrieve the egg, since he had dived into the lake just instants after the object, but the surface remained unbroken.

He waited a few more seconds, anxiety rising, but still nothing was coming out. There was something wrong... Without really thinking, Viktor was suddenly flying at maximum speed towards the place where he had last seen the boy. He slowed down more gently than Potter, but just like him he didn't even hesitate in jumping into the lake, insane as that was.

When he found Potter, for a horrible moment he thought he was dead. He was suspended several feet underwater, with his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face, not moving in the slightest. Pushing down the horror, Viktor grabbed hold of him and dragged him to the surface, where luckily his broom was waiting for him and worked as a sort of floater while he tried to reanimate the kid.

He had never felt so relieved as when he heard the stupid kid cough and saw his eyes fluttering open.

"The egg..." he rasped.

"Just hold on to the broom, Potter," snapped Viktor.

Then he retrieved his wand from a pocket, relieved that he had not lost it during the dive, and waved it around.

"Accio Potter's broom!"

The other Firebolt had been close by, so he soon had both brooms and was climbing to one. Potter didn't look as if he could fly, though, he had drifted out of consciousness again. Viktor would have to carry him.

"Accio Potter's egg!" he yelled next, pointing his wand at the water. It took several seconds, but finally the thing emerged from the lake and almost knocked Viktor off the broom.

He would never know how he had managed to fly to shore carrying an unconscious person, a second broom and a slippery egg. It didn't occur to him that he could have made several trips until he was on firm ground, although to tell the truth he had been as anxious about retrieving Potter's egg as the kid had been, and it went against all his instincts to leave a broom soaking in water for longer than he absolutely had to.

After checking that the boy was still alive, he took a moment to hide the brooms behind some bushes. They weren't supposed to be flying, after all. It would be hard to explain why the kid was half-drowned without admitting to have been flying over the lake, but Viktor had learned long ago to hide his brooms when he got into trouble, just in case some teacher wanted to confiscate them.

Then he levitated his fellow champion the rest of the way to the Infirmary.

The matron was not pleased to see an unconscious Potter at her door, although she didn't look much surprized either. "One year!" Viktor heard her mutter while she levitated the kid onto a bed. "One year without seeing him here, is that too much to ask?"

"What happened?" she demanded sharply as she began casting spells and forcing potions into the boy.

"He... fell into the lake," said Viktor. The woman directed at him a look full of mistrust. "Not my fault."

"Humpf."

She paused for a moment to call a house elf and sent it to fetch someone, which made Viktor nervous. Would they accuse him of trying to drown Potter? Perhaps he should try to sneak away before anyone got here...

Before he could make the decision, however, the flames of a fireplace on a distant wall turned green, and someone walked out of it. It was the Transfiguration Professor, noticed Viktor with uneasiness, looking every bit as strict with her hair down and wrapped in a tartan dressing gown as she usually looked during her classes. He had never had a more stern teacher than her. His nervousness increased when, after glancing in concern at Potter and receiving an assurance that he was alive, she turned to pin him with a really frightening look.

"What is the meaning of this, Mr. Krum?" she demanded after dispatching a Patronus shaped like a cat. Viktor hoped it wasn't directed at Karkaroff.

"I did nothing," said Viktor immediately. "Potter just fell into the lake, I took him out."

The Professor looked around as if expecting to see a pair of brooms propped against some wall. As if she knew.

"Potter is an excellent flier," she argued with a hard tone. "I find hard to believe that he fell."

Hum...

Before he could think of something else to say, the flames of the fireplace turned green again, and another teacher walked in, also in a state of partial undress but looking as imposing as he usually did in his black robes. It was the Potions Professor, and according to the newspaper some sort of spy or maybe even a murderer. Not that Viktor had needed to read that article to be extremely wary of the man.

The article had said that this teacher hated Potter, so for a moment Viktor feared for the kid. But the man looked initially concerned and maybe even panicked as he pretty much ran to Potter's bed and began asking questions to the matron. It looked as if he wanted to begin casting diagnostics and healing charms himself.

"He's fine, Severus," she assured him. "Just unconscious. He seems to have almost drowned, but his chest is clear now and there is no permanent brain damage. He will come to in a moment."

The Potions Professor seemed to calm down, although he continued staring anxiously at Potter for a long moment, as if counting his breathing movements. Then he slowly turned around, and suddenly Viktor was fearing for himself and gripping his wand tightly, since the man was directing him the most terrifying look he had ever been subjected to.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, his words sounding like a promise of painful retaliation. "What did you do to Potter?"

"I did nothing," said Viktor again, retreating a step. Champions supposedly couldn't be hurt by anyone outside the tasks, but he knew that at least Potter had been punched in the face during the Yule Ball so clearly they weren't so completely immune to harm. And this man looked as he if wanted to crucio him.

"Calm down, Severus," said the Transfiguration Professor with a warning look at him. "Mr. Krum says that Potter fell into the lake, and he pulled him out."

"Potter doesn't fall," argued the man coldly and murderously. He glanced around, as if also looking for their brooms, and finally his dark eyes fell on the egg that Viktor was still holding under his left arm like a Quaffle.

"Whose egg is that?" he demanded.

"Potter's."

He exchanged a serious look with the other Professor, but before any of them could say anything else Potter suddenly coughed and everyone turned to look at him. The boy still had his glasses stuck to his face, which was fortunate since otherwise he might have lost them in the water, and Viktor probably would not have thought to summon them as well.

"What the hell, Potter?" roared the Potions Professor the moment that Potter had opened his eyes.

"Severus, please," exclaimed the matron. "The boy has just returned to us, he needs to rest..."

"He looks rested enough to me," spat the man, furious, "What the hell, Potter?"

"What happened?" croaked Potter, looking disoriented.

"That is my exact question." He turned to the matron, "Poppy, something for his throat."

The matron rushed to comply, making the boy swallow some potion. Only after that had been taken care of the dangerous Professor continued yelling.

"You look like a drowned rat, Potter, what the hell?"

"Mr. Krum says you fell, Potter," interjected the Transfiguration Professor, who looked less agitated than the man although still tense. "And that he pulled you out. Is that true?"

Potter's eyes searched the room until they found Viktor.

"I guess..." he said. "I don't remember coming out... Wait, the egg!"

He looked around in panic and tried to get out of bed, but the matron pushed him back.

"Mr. Krum has your egg," said the Transfiguration Professor. "Would you care to explain what happened, Mr. Potter?"

Viktor didn't feel much like approaching any of those scary people, but Potter still looked panicked, so he took a deep breath and moved forward to place the egg at the end of his bed before retreating again. He really wanted to get out of here, but he was certain that the Potions Professor would not allow him to go anywhere until the situation was clarified.

Potter sat on his bed and took the egg with relief.

"Well, Mr. Potter?" demanded the man. "What the hell were you thinking? How could you have fallen to the water?"

"What do you care?" the boy spat back, looking at his Professor as if he were his worst enemy.

"Mr. Potter!" scolded the Transfiguration teacher. "That is no way to address a Professor."

"He's a Death Eater!"

"Enough, Mr. Potter! You are in enough trouble as it is, now begin explaining what happened."

Potter continued glaring at the Potions Professor with mistrust and resentment, which seemed a suicidal thing to do in Viktor's opinion.

"I didn't fall," he said finally. "The egg fell, and I sort of went after it."

"You flew into the water?" exclaimed the man incredulously.

"No! I slowed down in time, then I jumped into the water."

"And how did you end up nearly drowning? Too lazy to swim?"

"I... I don't know how to swim," said Potter with embarrassment.

Both the Professors and the matron, and Viktor too, were staring at the kid with incredulity and horror. The man put two fingers on the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again and spoke, his voice was soft, but he didn't sound much calmer.

"You jumped... into the middle of the lake... not knowing how to swim?" Potter gulped and nodded. The man seemed to lose the little calm he had managed to find, "You're even more stupid than your moron of a father, Potter!"

Oh. So they knew each other personally. That made sense. Viktor had never heard a teacher and a student speaking to each other in such a way, in any language.

"I had to get to the egg!" yelled the boy defensively. "It's my only clue!"

"You didn't think of summoning it, Potter?"

Potter's mouth dropped. The Transfiguration teacher sighed in exasperation.

"All right, I didn't think about that," admitted the kid after a moment.

"Of course you didn't! You never think, you idiot! And you don't seem to remember that you are a wizard! You almost died because of that!"

"It's not like you would care if I died!" Potter yelled back. "Or is drowning not painful enough for your taste?"

"Mr. Potter!"

"He's a Death Eater, Professor! Why is he even here?"

"I'm here to arrange your detention, Potter."

"Like hell you are! I will not serve detention with you ever again!"

"Mr. Potter, that's enough!" admonished the Transfiguration teacher with a really stern look.

Viktor was watching the scene with fascination. Hogwarts was definitely a much more interesting place than Durmstrang, and the Professors definitely had a lot more personality. The students too, or at least Potter. In Durmstrang there wasn't so much familiarity between teachers and students. In fact, Viktor was being reminded of his own parents whenever he did something stupid while flying and he ended up with a cracked skull. First they would fuss in concern and panic, and then they would yell and scold and threaten him with eternal grounding. Of course in this case one of the Professors was a suspected dark wizard and murderer who supposedly hated Potter, but still.

"You will write 'I won't prove myself a retarded person by jumping into a lake without knowing how to swim' a thousand times!" was threatening now the man.

"I didn't have any choice!" argued Potter angrily. "And it's not like knowing how to swim would have helped me much."

"It might have helped you not to drown, you moron!"

"I would have drowned anyway, because of that bloody...!"

Potter seemed to forget his track of thought in mid-yelling, his eyes suddenly unfocusing while his mouth dropped open. Viktor would have expected the Potions Professor to take advantage of the kid's distraction to press some more yelling of his own, but the man just remained there, silent, his dark eyes watching Potter's face intently. The other Professor was also anxiously watching with lips pursed, while the matron kept staring at the whole scene with wide eyes.

"Mermaids," whispered Potter after a long moment, his eyes focusing again on reality and finding Viktor's. "You know?"

The Professors and matron had gone so silent and still that it was as if they were surrounded by statues, only he and Potter alive in the Infirmary. Viktor frowned in confusion.

"Know what?" he asked.

"The egg," said Potter. "It's singing."

Viktor was suddenly on full alert. Singing? In which world that sound could be interpreted as singing? Unless...

"Underwater," explained Potter. "I heard it. It's a song. I think the second task is mermaids." He turned to his Transfiguration teacher. "Are there mermaids in the lake, Professor?"

She didn't answer, although it was easily recognizable on her face the look that people had when they wanted to help a champion and couldn't. That's how Viktor knew that Potter was right.

"There are, Potter," said Viktor, his heart racing. When the Professors turned to look at him in shock, he shrugged. "It says so in Hogwarts: A History."

Potter's eyes widened, and suddenly he snorted, the tension of the room releasing. The matron actually seemed to breathe for the first time in minutes.

"You read that book?" exclaimed the kid with amusement. "You have to tell Hermione that."

Viktor raised an eyebrow. Could it be that they had ended up talking about the girl after everything that had happened tonight? That was hardly relevant at the moment, though. Mermaids. Viktor knew that Merpeople were known for their beautiful singing voices. And now that he thought about it, he thought he remembered that they could only be understood underwater. He would have never imagined they could sound so bad out of the water, though.

"Wait," said Potter abruptly. "You saved me."

"Yes," said Viktor uncomfortably.

"You also recovered the egg."

"With a Summoning Charm. Your teacher is right about that, you were stupid." Although if Potter was right about the mermaids, then Viktor could only be glad that the kid had been stupid enough to jump into the lake, and that he had survived to tell the tale.

Potter made a dismissive gesture.

"What I mean is that you were able to touch the egg," he said. "And just now, I told you about the mermaids. And you told me about the book."

Realization hit Viktor.

They had helped each other.

This chapter was posted on Oct 19, 2021