Chapter 40

The next morning, Harry got up and meditated for a few hours to reinforce his Occlumency shields. Once done, he carefully packed the Gillyweed potion in a secure glass bottle, took a bath, and came out of the bathroom. Once done, he looked at the blue swimming trunks his Grandmother had bought for the task. It was a snug fit, and he wouldn't be wearing anything else, but he didn't care. Clothes would hinder his mobility underwater and if the first task was anything to go by, he could use all the advantage he could get.

Harry put on the trunks and wore a cloak to cover his body. He asked a house elf to give him some light breakfast and once done, he checked to ensure everything he wanted was with him, took the case of the gillyweed potion, and left the room. When he reached the entrance hall, Rigel and Draco were waiting for him.

"Harry," Rigel said nervously. "Are you sure this would work? I've brought gillyweed in case you change your mind"

"It's fine, Rig," said Harry calmly. "I've checked that the potion indeed works. Do you have the parchment I gave you?" he asked turning towards Draco

"Yes," said Draco, patting his pocket. "I'll give it to Bagman when he starts to wonder what exactly you used to breathe underwater."

Harry chuckled as they made their way to the middle of the black were enormous stands constructed around the lake for the thousands of people who had come to watch. Potter's oversized mirrors were placed at every corner so that people could monitor the champions' progress. Harry, Rigel, and Draco went to the stand in the middle of the lake that was meant for the champions and judges. All of his family which included Blacks, Greengrasses and Malfoy's were already waiting for them there.

"Ready?" asked Sirius, his usual joyful demeanour gone

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"As ready as I ever will be," said Harry

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"Harry, I know dad had sent you some potion. Have you tried it, does it work properly if it doesn't we could still figure something out," James asked, the fear of losing Harry in this task evident in James's eyes.

"Yes dad it works, it was invented by Fleamont Potter don't you guys know?" Harry asked everyone, clearly irritated by answering everyone the same thing. James had his eyes wide open and a huge smile on his face when he heard Harry calling him Dad.

"NO we didn't, your Grandfather here was adamant not to tell us," Arcturus said pointing towards Charlus who just gave him a Potter grin.

"Shut it you two" Dorea warned them and hugged her grandson and told him to be safe and to look after his Brother who still was getting ready in his dorm.

Harry conjured a chair and sat down to meditate. Half an hour later, he opened his eyes to see that Thomas, Fleur and Victor had all arrived. It was nearly 11 AM, and it was time to start the task.

Harry and Thomas stood next to each other

Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One . . . two . . . three!"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause. Without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry and Thomas pulled the Vial of Fillyweed out of their pockets, poured it into their mouth, and began swallowing. It was a horrible wet, damp taste with a bitter aftertaste as the Fillyweed made its way down their throats, and almost instantly they could feel it taking effect.

Harry was struggling to breathe, most likely due to the gills he had developed on his neck and he looked at Thomas and they dove into the water together, perhaps a minute after the other champions. As soon as he took his first gulp of water, life returned to his body and the water didn't even feel cold. He could see the flippers on his feet and Thomas just beside him experiencing the same thing, despite the lack of lighting charms under the water.

Harry and Thomas nodded to each other, knowing their mouths wouldn't work underwater, and swam into the depths together, side by side. They encountered a few grindylows on the way but some quick spells from both Harry and Thomas made sure they wouldn't be attacking them or anyone else.

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the lake, where the 4 bodies of Daphne, Susan, Hermione, wand a little girl who Harry assumed was related to Fleur hung by seaweed wrapped around an ankle off the bed of the lake, illuminated by some ghastly light coming from the bed. Harry and Thomas whipped out their wands again, but their cutting spells couldn't dent the seaweed, not even the advanced ones Harry had been learning.

"Well time to try the Muggle way," thought Harry grabbing a couple of sharp rocks from the floor. He tossed one to Thomas who instantly got the same idea as him and began desperately hacking the seaweed wrapped around Susan's leg whilst Harry did the same to Daphne. After a minute or two of cutting the seaweed broke, releasing Daphne and Susan into Harry and Thomas's arms.

Harry gestured to Thomas to go, who didn't move looking at the bodies of Hermione and the little blond girl. Harry grabbed Thomas's arm and pulled him away from the 2 other bodies. Just before they moved too far away to be able to see the 2 other hostages, a humanoid shark swam up to the unconscious body of Hermione.

The way up to the surface took longer than the way down because they had a limp body with them that they had to drag upwards and they were fighting the water pressure. Eventually, both Harry and Thomas's heads broke the surface of the water together with Daphne and Susan's, the latter two suddenly becoming aware of where they were and taking in deep breaths to calm themselves.

"AND OUR YOUNGEST CHAMPIONS ARE THE FIRST TO RETURN WITH THEIR HOSTAGES!" shouted Bagman as the crowd cheered wildly. "AND IN JUST 45 MINUTES AS WELL!"

Harry pulled himself up to the wooden platform, Thomas doing the same and then they helped the thoroughly discombobulated Daphne and Susan up with them. "Here," said Harry, grabbing a few towels from a nearby basket, passing a couple to Thomas and wrapping one around Daphne and one around himself.

"Thanks for saving me," said Daphne, nuzzling her head into Harry's shoulder.

"Harry," said Thomas once he'd calmed Susan down. "Why didn't you let me save Hermione as well?"

"Because she wasn't your hostage," answered Harry.

"But what if Krum didn't-"

"Do you think Dumbledore wouldn't have installed some safety measures?" Harry asked rhetorically.

"And anyway, we would have missed out on points had we done so."

"Oh," said Thomas.

After about half an hour, Victor Krum emerged from the water, his transfiguration having worn off, and he was dragging the now conscious body of Hermione with him. Fleur emerged from the water 15 minutes after Krum, but she didn't take her hostage with her. What she had instead were several small cuts along her arms.

"What's wrong?" asked Madame Maxime once Fleur had pulled herself up to the platform. "Where's Gabrielle?"

"I-I was attacked by Grindylows," stammered out Fleur, tears running down her eyes. "I couldn't save her."

"Not to worry Miss Delacour," interjected Dumbledore.

"An emergency portkey was attached to each hostage in the chance that their champion failed- I'll retrieve your sister now." Before Dumbledore could flick his wand, Fleur instantly stood up and rounded on him.

"So you're telling me my sister was never in danger?" she shouted angrily.

"You didn't tell me that before the task, so I wouldn't drive myself into despair worrying for my little sister and not to mention the dangerous animals the lake has! I'm sure my father would love to know that!"

Dumbledore paled slightly at this since her father was a Head of French DMLE and if rumors were true The future French Minister of Magic , who could make Dumbledore's life very hard. "Now, now. I'm sure there's no need-"

"Bring back my sister now!" said Fleur angrily and Dumbledore complied, Gabrielle Delacour appearing in front of Fleur who crouched down to comfort her.

"You're a monster," she snarled.

Harry and Thomas ended up receiving 60 points each at the end of the day, with Karkaroff and Crouch not allowed to be biassed this time, Krum got 50 points and Fleur received 35.

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