Chapter 39

The next morning, Harry got up and saw Daphne looking at him with a smile on her face. She had been watching him sleep. She adoringly tapped the tip of his nose and said "Good afternoon, sleepy head. I've been watching you sleep for more than half an hour."

Harry groaned. He hugged her closer and murmured, "What time is it?"

"It's just past noon. Think it's a good time to crack that egg of yours?" she asked, remembering Harry had told her how he could open the egg which would give him hints for the second task.

Harry made a noise of annoyance and buried his head under her chin.

"I'm not in the mood for that" he whispered, his breath tickling her.

She ran her fingers through his silky black hair. "What if I make it interesting?" she asked delicately.

"And how are you going to do that?" came his muffled voice.

"Skinny dipping" she declared. "We can crack the egg together, and you'll get a good view as a bonus."

Harry immediately removed his head from her chin. "You're serious?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"No, that's your godfather," said Daphne with a smirk. "But yes, I am serious about skinny dipping." With that, she called for an elf who brought the golden egg from Harry's room in Dungeons. She stood up, and Harry couldn't help but stare at her body; he was a fourteen-year-old hormonal teenager after all.

"Are you going to stare at my boobs with my bra on, or are you going to get up so that I can reconfigure the room and take them off?" she asked in amusement.

Daphne chuckled as Harry got off the bed at a lightning-fast speed. She closed her eyes and envisioned the bathroom she wanted. Their surroundings shimmered until they were standing in a duplicate version of –

"Hey! This is my bathroom at Potter Castle!" exclaimed Harry.

"I know," replied Daphne, walking towards the enormous bathtub. "I liked how it was designed. Your ancestors knew how to make things a lot more luxurious than those already living in the lap of luxury."

She activated the various taps with a flick of her wand and placed the golden egg at the side of the bath. She proceeded to look through the various flavours of bubbles and finally settled on vanilla. She poured the contents into the bath and the smell immediately filled the room. She turned to find Harry suddenly looking away; apparently, he had been admiring her arse.

Daphne rolled her eyes. He didn't need to feel embarrassed. She went over to him and kissed him. "I don't mind you staring at me," she whispered. "If you don't stare at me, who else will you stare at? I'm your fiancée. There's nothing to be ashamed of about Harry. I won't be mad if you stare at me for however long you want."

Harry smiled softly at her. "Alright. I can't help but admire you. You're the most beautiful girl in the world" he told her sincerely.

Daphne blushed but smiled nevertheless. Harry truly believed that she was so, and it baffled her as there were prettier girls than her. But it warmed her heart that he genuinely felt that way, which was why she had decided to take this step.

"Thank you for that. Now, do you want to go first?" she asked, a bit nervously.

Harry bit his lip and slowly nodded. He stepped back from her and slowly removed his boxers, which immediately showed his erect penis. He stood there nervously, not meeting her eyes. Daphne came forward and kissed him softly. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about," she said.

Harry smiled nervously and walked over to the tub, immersing himself in the water. Daphne faced him and slowly but nervously removed her bra and panties. Once she was done, she stood naked in front of him. Harry looked at her with awe in his eyes as he whispered, "I repeat what I said. You're the most beautiful girl in the whole world."

Daphne smiled as her confidence slowly came back to her and she walked to the tub and stepped in next to Harry. He slowly put his arm around her and kissed her. It started slow, but soon, once they gained confidence, Daphne was sitting on his lap.

"Why don't we work on the egg fist," said Daphne, breathing deeply. Harry nodded. He took the egg, plunged it into the water, and opened it. Both of them put their heads in the water and listened.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour-long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour — the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"There's no way I'm letting them take you!" said Harry as they resurfaced. "You'll be at risk just being in the lake in the middle of February. For all we know Dumbledore might try to set up a murder attempt and say you were fatally injured during the task!" he said angrily.

"Do you think Dumbledore is that stupid, Harry?" said Daphne frowning. "I agree that I'm the one who'll be taken, but there is no way Dumbledore is insane enough to try to kill me when there are millions of people watching. He's doing his best to keep his position as Headmaster; he's not about to risk it just to try to kill me. Think about the backlash to such an attempt! No, he is more cunning than that."

Harry leaned back towards the wall of the tub and pondered what she said. It made sense. "Alright. But we're taking every precaution possible. I'm not going to risk your life and let you get injured. You're too precious and important to me Daphne! I won't let anything happen to you" he said heatedly.

Daphne smiled and climbed on his lap. She cupped his face with her hands and looked into his eyes. "I don't for a moment doubt your love for me, Harry. We'll take precautions; we'll map out Black Lake so that we don't run into any surprises, and we'll research the best method possible for you to complete the task. Is that okay?"

Harry smiled. "Okay," he said. "Now, how about we have some fun and leave all that for later, Mrs. Potter?" he said, squeezing her bare breasts as one hand travelled downward, between her legs.

Daphne leaned down to kiss him as her hand gripped his erection. "As you say, Mr. Potter."

Needless to say, they never emerged from the Room of Requirement that day, and their friends were wondering where they had disappeared to.

Harry and Daphne emerged from the Black Lake, wet and shivering. They fired warming and drying charms on themselves and immediately headed for the Room of Requirement. Once there, a Hogwarts house-elf provided them with some hot coco, and they sat in front of a roaring fire.

"So, we've tried both Bubble Head charm and Gillyweed," said Daphne, cuddling up next to her fiancé. "Which do you prefer?"

"None," Harry said but his attention was fixed on an owl which was heading towards them Harry recognized it, it was his Grandfather's owl or rather their family owl Harry moved his hands forward and the Owl landed on his hands, it nuzzled its head on Harrys and Harry took the letter which also had 3 Vials which had a green potion it was from his grandfather.

Dear Harry,

I got a tip that the second task is going to be in Black Lake. (Having some contacts in Ministry surely helps you even after your retirement) I am sending a Potion which is a potion based on gillyweed which my Grandfather Fleamont Potter the greatest potion Master of his century had created and ironically named it fillyweed long story short it is better than gillyweed. I am sending over three vials as you can try one during your training period and check out for any side effects, which it may have as it was last tested by my grandfather in his journal he tells he was unwell for a month when he used it the first time but soon he got used to it and the other two are to be used during the tournament by you and your brother.

Your grandmother tells you she is missing you here and is sending her love. we will see you during the tournament

And tell Hello to that Lovely Ms. Greengrass next to you.

Your Grandfather,

Head of Potter Clan

Baron Charlus Potter

Harry was shocked had he become so predictable these days he surely was not becoming his grandfather well surely he can when he has Daphne around.

Harry showed her the letter Daphne scanned the whole letter and burst out laughing

"Fillyweed" She choked out giggling

"Hey we Potters have a Handsome face with a beautiful sense of humour so I can't blame him" Harry defended his Great Great Grandfather

" Yes, you Potters sure do have a Handsome face," Daphne told and kissed him passionately

"Let's test the potion right now I want to be prepared for the task," Harry said enthusiastically breaking out of the kiss

"I don't want to test it if it turns out to be harmful."

Harry rubbed his face. "Well, we won't know if we sit here. Have a bezoar ready, and in case of an emergency, call an elf and take me to the Hospital wing. Hopefully, it won't be anything bad, my Great-great Grandfather would never mention the potion in his journal if it would have had a devastating effect on the user's health."

Daphne nodded at him

Harry asked the room to provide a large and deep bathtub. Once done, Daphne nervously gave him a glass of the Gillyweed potion, which according to Fleamont Potter's calculations would last for an hour.

"I'll be right here in case something goes wrong," she said nervously, as she watched Harry strip naked. He nodded and took the potion from her. He got into the tub, and once he was waist deep in water, he swallowed the potion. It didn't taste too bad, and he gave the glass back to Daphne once he finished it. They waited with bated breath as nothing happened for several seconds. Suddenly, Harry felt pain below his ears. He didn't panic as this was similar to how it was in the case of gillyweed. He immediately flung himself forward in the water.

He opened his eyes and saw that he could breathe easily. His fingers were only slightly webbed; he flexed his fingers, and to his delight, he would be able to grip his wand without a problem. His feet too were webbed, but they were more than his hands but less than the effects with the gillyweed. He would be able to move more like a human and less like a fish now, but at the same time, it would be a lot easier than swimming without them. He flicked his wand to his hand and asked the room for objects which would help him practise his accuracy in casting spells in water. Just as the various discs appeared, he heard a splash behind him. He turned and smiled when he saw Daphne; she too was naked but had used a bubble head charm. She probably was too worried and couldn't handle having to wait outside for an hour.

Harry and Daphne practised casting spells underwater for nearly an hour. They had cast a magical timer, which showed them how long the effects of the potion would last. Finally, when it was just a minute to an hour, Harry felt the webs beginning to disappear. The pain in his neck reappeared, so he resurfaced, just as the gills disappeared. He coughed, just as Daphne surfaced as well.

"Are you alright?" she asked in concern.

Harry grinned. "I'm absolutely fine. Thank you Grandfather Fleamont for creating such a wonderful potion!"

It was the evening of the 23rd of February; the day before the second task. Harry and Daphne had been prepared for it, and just as they had suspected, Professor Snape took Daphne and Susan to Dumbledore's office. Inside, she found her father, Amelia Bones, the heads of the three schools, Fleur's sister and her father, and Hermione Granger

"Ah, Miss Greengrass," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling.

"You're finally here. Let's begin, shall we? As I said, we need hostages for the second task. I would like to tell everyone present that this isn't my idea. I only received instructions from the Triwizard Committee, and I'm informing you about it. The four hostages will be what our champions miss the most; not exactly true, but we'll have to make do. In the case of Mr. Krum, Miss Granger has agreed to be his hostage; Miss Bones has agreed to be Thomas's; Miss Delacour, Fleur's younger sister is the third; and Miss Greengrass for Mr. Potter. Agreed?"

"You're asking me to agree to put my daughter in such danger?" snapped Cyrus. "I'm already pissed off that my son-in-law has to participate in this rubbish, but I will not let my daughter be put in the middle of the Black Lake in February."

"Father, could I please talk to you in private for a minute?" asked Daphne softly. She took her father away and placed a privacy ward around them.

"Look, Daddy," she said softly. "I know that you're worried about me, but I've got it covered. Harry and I have been preparing for this for the past two months. Don't get so worked up about it. It will be fine. There will be people who will take care of us in case the situation goes awry. I don't want anyone else being down there for Harry to save; there are already so many girls waiting in line just to get their hands on him. I have to do this. Please Daddy?" she asked.

Cyrus Greengrass looked conflicted, but finally, he sighed and nodded. "Alright. But I'll be there tomorrow close to the water just to ensure you and Harry come out of there without injuries. And I'll agree to this only if you promise to be careful, understood?" he said sternly.

"Understood," said Daphne, hugging her father. "Thanks, Daddy"

Dumbledore then handed out four parchments, which were documents that said that the guardians of the hostages didn't have a problem with it. Cyrus read it over carefully, .Dumbledore signed in loco parentis as Hermione Granger was a muggleborn. Monsieur Delacour very reluctantly signed it after much convincing by Madam Maxime, though he didn't look very happy about it.

Once done, Dumbledore placed the four of them in stasis. He placed several warming charms and other protective charms on them under the eyes of Director Amelia Bones and he placed them in beds in a protected room for the night. He didn't dare try anything underhanded, as he knew that it would be his death sentence if he did. There was a place and time for everything and this wasn't it. They would be placed in the lake early the next morning.

Review please.