Kindred Spirits
by Tailkinker
This is a work of fan fiction based on the Harry Potter series and the Sailor Moon franchise created respectively by J.K. Rowling and Naoko Takeuchi. The characters and settings belong to their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered as part of the official canon of either series.
The Second Task
"Dobby is procuring the gillyweed, Harry Potter Sir."
Harry grinned, and took the small bag from the House Elf. "Thanks, Dobby. You're the best."
Dobby grinned, embarassed, and vanished. Hotaru looked up from her book.
"Gillyweed? What's that?"
"I went to Professor Snape and asked about a water breathing potion," said Harry. "He told me that a potion wasn't required; that Gillyweed by itself will allow the person who eats it to breathe underwater."
"Good to know," said Hotaru. She looked around pensively, then said, "I'm worried about this one, Harry. I know you're not a strong swimmer."
"Don't have much choice," admitted Harry. "I still haven't figured out what they're taking from me. Everything's still in my trunk."
"Excuse me." Mandy Brocklehurst had approached them. "Professor Flitwick asked to see you, Hotaru."
"Oh?" Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Did he say why?"
"No." Mandy shook her head. "Just asked me to go collect you and Cho."
"Me and Cho..." Hotaru's eyes widened. She turned to Harry. "Don't take too long, Harry. I don't want to be at the bottom of the Lake the full hour."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding," muttered Harry. "Well, at least the clue got one thing right." He smiled at Hotaru. "They are, in fact, taking what I'd miss the most."
Hotaru blushed, a small smile touching her lips. She stood up, looking determined. "All right. Let's go, Mandy."
Hotaru's guess was confirmed correct when Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room, and found that Neville and Hermione were also missing. He spent a fitful night, and awoke the next morning to discover his swim trunks—Dobby's gift from the Room of Requirement—lying on the foot of his bed. He dressed quickly, and headed down to the Great Hall.
The Second Task had been set for ten in the morning, and not a single student from any of the four schools seemed willing to give it a miss. The Great Hall was quite crowded, and there was a feeling of tension in the air. Spotting the Mahoutokoro students at the Hufflepuff table, Harry quickly walked towards them.
"Ami."
The blue-haired girl looked up. "Harry?"
"I just figured this out. The thing we'd sorely miss—they took our partners from the Ball."
Ami gasped. "I never even considered that!" She shook her head. "I went through my belongings this morning, and found nothing missing. Now I know why." She frowned. "But at the bottom of the Lake? That cannot be good for them. Do they not think of decompression sickness?"
"Madam Pomfrey almost certainly did," said Harry. "I gotta go eat. Can't rescue pretty girls on an empty stomach."
Ami giggled. "Go on, then."
Harry grinned and started to head back to the Gryffindor table, but his path was blocked by Meiou-sensei.
"Mr Potter. A moment of your time, please?"
"Err...sure, Professor."
The two of them walked towards the Gryffindor table. Meiou-sensei said, "I'd like to thank you for offering assistance to Miss Mizuno."
"I owed her one," Harry admitted quietly.
"More than one, I think," said Meiou-sensei. "May I ask why you persist in refusing to use your Japanese?"
Harry's mind screeched to a halt. "Um...what?"
Meiou-sensei switched to Japanese. "You and I both know that both yourself and Tomoe-chan are fluent in Japanese. But you've chosen to conceal this knowledge. Not very friendly. One might almost think that you're up to something. Have we given you reason to distrust us?"
Harry turned to face her. "Actually, yes." There was no point in concealing his language skills any longer. "When Kino-kun entered her name, she questioned whether or not it was legitimate. I started to think that perhaps you were here for ulterior reasons."
"And when you eavesdropped on us just before the First Task, you had that theory reinforced."
Heat rose to Harry's cheeks. "Um...yes."
"I can't tell you what we're after, Potter-kun, but I can reassure you, we mean no harm to either you or to Tomoe-chan. I know that you were concerned about that."
"How do you know all this?" asked Harry.
"Did you forget?" Setsuna-sensei smirked. "I'm the Divinations Professor."
Several floating platforms had been placed out on the surface of the Black Lake. On one of these, the five Champions stood ready. Harry noted that Fleur Delacour looked very distracted. He'd seen Roger Davies in the Great Hall, and assumed that they'd taken someone else as her hostage. Clearly, the French Champion would not miss Mr Davies.
"When the cannon sounds," said Ludo Bagman, "the Champions will have one hour to retrieve their hostages. If they take time beyond that hour, points will be deducted. Champions, you have five minutes to prepare, beginning now."
Harry removed his robe, shivering in the February coldness. He fished the pouch of Gillyweed out of his pocket, and dropped the robe on the platform. Dobby appeared and silently whisked away the robe. He glanced over at the other Champions. Krum and Diggory also wore trunks, even more old-fashioned than Harry's. Fleur wore a silvery athletic swimsuit, and Ami a blue swimsuit with a white patch on the chest. There were Japanese characters on the white patch, but Harry's language transfer had been verbal only; he couldn't read the characters.
Mizugi, he thought, the Japanese word for swimsuit popping into his mind unbidden. Mizu means water. Mizuno means 'of the water'. And Ami seems to favour water magic. Why didn't this occur to me earlier?
The sound of the cannon firing drove the thought from his mind. He quickly stuffed the Gillyweed into his mouth, chewing it as thoroughly as he could. He choked down the nasty-tasting, rubbery weed, and felt the pain he'd been warned about start in his neck. He dived into the water, shuddering as his body went through the transformation imposed by the weed. It wasn't as bad as Polyjuice, but it was no fun at all.
But when it ended, he discovered that he could breathe underwater quite well. His hands and feet had become webbed, allowing him to swim more easily, and the cold water of the lake no longer bothered him. His glasses had fallen off; he dove quickly to catch them, and shoved them back onto his face.
'Mione said that the Merfolk village was near the center of the Black Lake...I'd better hurry.
He dived again, angling towards the deepest part of the lake. Ahead of him, he saw a flash of blue, and realized that whatever Ami was doing, it was allowing her to move through the water far more quickly than himself. And she seemed to be going the same way he needed to. He followed her, moving as quickly as he could, though she quickly receded past the range of his vision.
It didn't take long for him to reach the Merfolk village. He could see several of the fish-tailed humanoids circling a pillar of rocks at the center of their community. He was taken aback by their appearance; not the beautiful people of legends, these Merfolk were decidedly more piscine in appearance. He hesitated to call them 'ugly', but they certainly wouldn't appeal to most Humans, in his opinion.
Ami had reached the village before him. She was enveloped entirely in some sort of bubble. She glanced at him as he approached.
"Harry. I've found them." Her voice seemed to reverberate throughout the water.
The five hostages floated in the water before them. They were in some sort of magical sleep, which clearly was intended to keep them from drowning. Each was tied by one ankle to a rock on the lake bed. Aside from the four Hogwarts students, there was also a small girl, no older than nine, with blonde hair and a striking resemblance to Fleur.
He drew his wand, and pointed it at Hotaru's rope. But when he tried to say, "Diffindo", all that emerged were bubbles. And he'd not studied wordless charms yet. This is why this contest is supposed to be for of-age people, he thought angrily.
Ami apparently didn't have that problem. She shifted downward—Harry noted that her bubble moved her, rather than the other way around—and grasped the rope holding Neville down with her hand. Ice formed along the rope, and she snapped it cleanly off.
"See you on the surface, Harry." She grinned, and rocketed towards the surface of the Lake, Neville in tow.
Harry scowled, and pointed his wand at the rope again. Diffindo, he thought as hard as he could. And this time, the cutting charm worked, severing the rope cleanly. Hotaru started to drift upward; Harry slipped an arm around her, then turned to Hermione.
Immediately, one of the Merfolk angled towards him, a trident held in hand. "No! Your hostage only!" His voice was harsher than those he heard from the egg, but not unpleasant.
Harry scowled, and pointed his wand towards the Merfolk.
"The others will not be harmed," said the Merman. "We would not allow children to drown."
Harry saw another figure approaching, and turned to see Victor Krum, recognizeable only by his swim trunks. He had transformed his head and upper torso into that of a shark. He approached Hermione, and bit clean through her rope. Then swam off, towing her behind him.
That's three. And it was soon to be four, as he saw Cedric Diggory approaching. The Hufflepuff boy had a bubble around his head, like a less effective version of Ami's bubble. He cast a cutting charm, freeing Cho. Harry could see the concern in the older boy's eyes.
Harry waved at him, and pointed at the blonde girl.
"That must be Fleur's hostage," said Cedric. "But she's out. She got jumped by Grindylows." His voice was muffled through the bubble.
Harry scowled, and pointed his wand at the rope holding the blonde girl down. Again, a Merman approached, but Harry didn't wait to hear what he had to say. He cast the cutting charm again, freeing the blonde girl, then grabbed her under his other arm and swam for the surface.
The Merfolk didn't pursue him, but Harry put on as much speed as he could anyway. He could feel the telltale tingling in his neck; the Gillyweed was wearing off!
He broke the surface just as the need to draw breath was becoming overpowering. He gasped, filling his lungs with air once again. Beside him, he heard Hotaru doing the same, as the magical stasis ended.
"Où suis-je? Il fait froid!" The blonde girl had also come out of her stasis. Harry's French, however, was more or less non-existent.
"Let's get to the platform," he gasped. "It's freezing in here!"