'Breathe in, hold, release. Breathe in, relax, breathe out. Breathe in, push thoughts away, release. Let your magic come to you, call it to you, breathe out.' Harry thought, floating unaided within the swimming pool room. Part of his mind was focused on maintaining the cocktail of wandless weightlessness, slowing and levitation charms.

The result was the ability to counter gravity, allowing him to hover in mid air. It also gave him a convenient use of magic, which he could then follow back to his core.

As his magic's river made its now familiar appearance, Harry began walking down its banks. Finally he came across the bridge that the Goblet of Fire's contract had chosen to manifest itself. While the bridge didn't restrict his magic in any way, it nonetheless stopped him sending boats down the river.

Of course, Harry didn't know what a boat would represent, but the fact he couldn't launch a boat down his own river vexed him. As had become customary, he knelt beside the bridge and tried to remove it, trying to ignore the burning pain the bridge sent his way.

Giving up, he then futilely tried to push the bridge. He had been trying to remove the bridge ever since the night of being chosen, to no avail. He wanted to say he had managed to shift the bridge a fraction, but it was impossible to prove.

He could also tell that the repetitive exercise was helping build up his control. He was hoping that if something else tried to bind his magic, he was now strong enough to stop that bridge being created in the first place, potentially by redirecting it elsewhere.

Distantly, Harry heard the door to the swimming room open, admitting Daphne's magical signature. Giving one last resentful kick to the bridge, he leisurely let his mind return to his body, letting the sight of her come into view.

"You do know we've only got half an hour before we need to be at Professor Snape's office, right?" Daphne asked with some humour.

"Yeah yeah. I still don't know how my time suddenly got so busy." Harry muttered.

"Well lets see, you asked for telepathy lessons, learned an entirely new way of making runestones, your secret mentoring lessons and also learning how to swim. With just two months before you need to use them." Daphne replied, counting off each item on her finger.

"That does sound familiar, now that you mention it." Harry grinned.

Daphne found herself staring into Harry's eyes half an hour later, after Snape had ensured Harry knew the plan. Her friend would try to touch her mind, while Snape exercised an extremely difficult form of side-along Legilimency.

Harry took a few deep breaths, then snapped his eyes to her, the familiar feeling of power rising behind him. It was impossible to spend any time with Harry without at least sensing his power, especially if you got into a duel with him.

For the most part, Harry's power just gave off a sense of pleasant warmness. Just being near him made her feel more energetic. That was until he got serious and it felt like being near a lightning strike. As such, Daphne couldn't help feeling some trepidation as Harry's magic began to build to an unpleasant intensity, especially since it was aimed against her.

Just as it reached a crescendo, Professor Snape forcibly snapped "Stop!"

Blinking hard, Harry turned to the Professor questionably.

"Your magic was too tightly contained, there was nothing for me to hold onto. For proper Legilimency in the future, that may serve you well, but for this I must accompany you."

Whatever that meant, Harry seemed to understand as he nodded resolutely, before looking back into her eyes.

Again his magic rose, except this time it wasn't stopped and pushed against her mental walls with enough force to physically push her backwards a step. Despite the blunt force, she was pleased to note her defences hadn't suffered any noticeable harm.

What surprised her was how his magic was still lying there, pressing against her walls. A normal Legilimency attack was incredibly quick, often lasting less than a second. With the close proximity, she could read some of its intent, the most prominent being a desire to avoid harming her.

"Good, while unorthodox, you have now built a connection with her defences. Now comes the important part, you must form your message and try to press it against her protections." Snape intoned.

Once again nodding, Harry's brow came down in deep seriousness, a gesture which made her want to giggle. It seemed Harry noticed her amusement, as his lips curved upwards.

'Stop laughing.' Harry's voice told her faintly, except she knew for a fact his mouth didn't move.

"You did it?" She asked, amazed.

"Yeah, it was easier than I was expecting, my mithrilium really helped guide me." Harry explained.

"Indeed, it seems your mithrilium provides more than just your mental defences." Professor Snape added. "But, you must work on your precision. Your message was far too faint, along with taking too long to talk."

"You want us to go again, then?" Harry asked.

"Assuming Greengrass is okay, certainly."

Two Hours, that's how long it took for Harry to go from unable to use telepathy, to barely needing a second of eye contact. Of course, he was only capable of short messages and the initial contact still made her wince, but still two hours.

Daphne wished she could just spend an afternoon and learn a completely new, complexly rare skill.

"You alright?" Harry asked as they left, looking at her with some concern.

"Well, my walls feel like they got kicked repeatedly by a Hippogriff, almost like you bruised them. Honestly, how do you bruise non-existent walls, Harry?" She demanded playfully, unintentionally wincing as her raised voice worsened her headache.

"Good, I'm satisfied you can now summon the Base sigil at a moment's notice. Your shapes could benefit from more refinement, but that will come with time. Now it's time for you to learn how to make complete sigils. In short, you can make up sigils on the spot, although just like with runes, you must know what each symbol means first.

"For this, you will need to be able to draw the symbols for; salt, 2nd form gold, 2nd form iron and phosphorus. You will need to use all of these around the base sigil, to create the pattern of a sword. But, this is not the only way to make a sword sigil, any combination of symbols will work, so long as it symbolically makes sense."

Sighing, Harry began the process of memorising the different symbols. It helped that the gold was just a circle with a dot in the centre, while the salt was a circle with a thick horizontal line in the middle. He thought the phosphorus looked similar to a fish skeleton, and the iron was just a smaller sword.

As the 2nd task drew nearer, Harry did his best to ignore his anxiety as he steadily worked towards getting the sigil to work. With some reliability he could get the sigil to hold together, but powering it was a constant issue.

With just a day to go, he irritably waved his hand through the sigil's hilt while his hand was infused with as much magic as possible. To his great surprise, rather than passing through the illusion, his hand instinctively gripped the now very solid sword hilt.

"Amazing… Harry, you should be very proud of yourself." Nicholas congratulated softly, staying quiet in both his awe and in respect to the very late hour. "Practice tomorrow, so that you can maintain it for the task, but you are ready. Now get some sleep."

So as the sun started to rise, with just 24 hours to go until the task, Harry climbed into his bed and let his exhaustion take him.

"Hey, Luna, Professor Moody was looking for you. I think he wants you to go to his office." Neville announced as he entered their duelling room, carrying his book of 'Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs'.

With some confusion, Luna put down her brush, half way through a painting of Harry swimming with a bunch of Scottish Merpeople. Harry had been greatly relieved to learn that the Merpeople in the lake were nowhere near the size of their Caribbean cousins.

"I'd better go see him, maybe he didn't like my essay on the best way to stop a water demon?" She asked as she packed up her things. "I'll wish you luck tomorrow, Harry."

Only after she left was Neville brave enough to ask "What was her best way to stop a grindylow?"

"Give it a Dirigible Plum and scratch behind its head. I don't think she cared that they were carnivorous." Harry answered. "So, how's Fleur doing?"

Blushing, Neville hugged his book tighter before saying "Yeah, she's doing good. Was able to get some Gillyweed through her parents, it's a lot cheaper in France apparently. She'd tell you herself, if you let her… then I wouldn't feel like I'm betraying you by spending time with her."

"I just think it's best if me and Fleur keep our distance when it comes to the tasks, that way nobody can accuse us of cheating. And you shouldn't feel like you're betraying me, because I both trust you and you aren't hiding the fact you are helping her." Harry replied honestly, "So she settled on Gillyweed? I must admit, personally I would've gone with that enchanted scarf idea."

"Thanks, Harry. Yeah, she went with Gillyweed, it turns out her magic doesn't react well when submerged in water. It's like that magic corrosion thing you talk about, she has to put a lot of power into sustaining her magic… We have enough Gillyweed for you too, if you want it."

"I appreciate it, but I don't think I can trust a plant like that, the unpredictability really doesn't sit well with me. But hopefully it'll work out for Fleur. I'm guessing it's because her magic is already similar to a fire elemental, so the water has a more dramatic effect."

After seeing Fleur's seemingly unique flickering magic, Harry had done his best to catalogue as many fire elements as he could. So far, that list consisted of just the fire Salamanders that Hagrid kept.

That had at least proven they also had a dark red flickering, although theirs had a much slower shift. He just hoped Fleur didn't follow the salamander tradition of dying when quenched in water.

"Well, I'll have my fingers crossed for both of you. I think I'll go to bed now though, best of luck tomorrow, Harry!"

After a very light breakfast, Harry made his way down to the lake, joining Krum by the judges table.

"Morning, looking forward to the task?" Harry asked, looking uneasily at the dark water before them.

"Dа, my swimming is very good I am thinking, perhaps greater than my flying. But I am being glad your lake is warmer than what I am used to. In the winter we cannot enter the sea around Durmstrang without several warming charms, although the summer is not being so bad." Viktor replied cheerfully.

"Viktor, do not go telling your rival how to find our school, we must preserve some of our secrets." Karkaroff called out jauntily, having apparently been summoned by Krum talking about his school. Harry couldn't help feeling bad for Krum, the man clearly loved his school and wanted to freely share that love, only to be shot down by his Headmaster.

It wasn't missed how Krum steadfastly ignored Karkaroff's presence as the headmaster took his seat at the judges' table, leaving a very awkward silence behind. To Harry's great relief, Cedric eventually jogged up to them, giving a reason to break the silence.

"Morning lads." Cedric announced, seemingly to also be in a good mood. "Wanted to show up early, but I ended up waiting for Cho… I couldn't find her, but I guess she must've slept in. I remember I was exhausted during my OWL year too."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I didn't see Luna either. Maybe something happened in the girls' dorms?" Harry added, making a mental note to check on Luna once he finished the task.

The three chatted for a while as the audience trickled into the stands and the judges slowly took their seats. Eventually Fleur showed up, with Neville at her side. To Harry's amusement, Fleur gave Neville a quick kiss before walking off, leaving a very red Neville to find a seat.

"Excellent, well with all our champions here, we best begin!" Ludo announced gleefully as the ministry wizards checked them for contraband.

"Welcome, one and all, to the second Triwizard task! Last night something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These four treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the black lake.

"In order to win each champion need only find their

treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough. Except for this, they

will have one hour to do so and one hour only. After that they'll be on

their own."

Cancelling his sonorus, Ludo quietly asked if they were all ready, and upon receiving confirmation blew his whistle. In one smooth -and well rehearsed- motion, Harry withdrew his two rune stones, burned his scheme into them and healed his burns.

It had taken them ages to get the perfect size and texture, which also fit within his mouth comfortably. But Harry had realised he could abuse the exact same loophole from his dementors cloak.

While they were a pre-prepared item, they were a non-magic pre-prepared item, so were completely ignored by both the Goblet and officials. Turning, he handed one of the runestones to Dumbledore, who solemnly stuck it to the table.

He had already cleared it with the man, where judges were allowed to hold and protect items for the champion that was to be used in the task. Technically the rule was added so that any summoned items were safe before being needed, but his runestone still counted.

With a flourish, he then ended the transfiguration on his clothes, reverting his fake trench coat back into the provided swimwear. The flourish also covered his summoning of Sirius' invisible pen knife.

Just as Harry placed the twin runestone in his mouth and dived into the water, he saw Fleur do a huge backflip out of the water, landing near to his location.

Glad Snape had finally cleared him for telepathy, Harry made deliberate eye contact and formed a two way connection between them.

"A backflip? I thought we were swimming, not flying." Harry sent jokingly, getting a shocked look back.

"You can use telepathy?" She thought back in perfect English. In truth, neither were actually talking, so neither were using any language. Instead they sent pure thoughts, that magic then ensured would be received as if heard.

"Yeah, it turns out the mind arts come fairly easily to me. Say, do you want to stick together for a bit? Because this connection only has a limited range." Harry proposed, getting a grateful response back.

Their pause had given Fleur's Gillyweed time to work, meaning she shot off instantly. She initially slowed down for Harry, only for him to easily catch up. His magic was pushing his muscles to the extreme limit, but it paid off as he shot through the water.

Together, moving at speeds which would've had Olympians weeping, they set off into the lake. As they descended, the light dropped to practically nothing, which would've left him blind without his mage sight.

Unfortunately physical objects didn't show up, meaning twice Fleur had to pull him out of a crash course. Suddenly, Fleur spun around and fired a spell behind them. Even with his mage sight pushed to the limit, he couldn't see what she was firing at, especially when her spell dissolved after only a few feet.

"What do you see?" Harry asked frantically, sweeping the ground around them.

"Grindylow!" She replied, firing a much stronger spell.

Not waiting to see if her shot hit, Harry summoned his sigil sword in record time, bathing the area around them in bright emerald light. This revealed a giant swarm of the water demons, which had silently gathered behind them.

Enraged by the new light, the entire pack swarmed them. While inexperienced, Harry used his sword to the best of his ability, aided by both his mithrilium's silent instruction and the swords innate desire for physical perfection.

He was further aided by the sword's complete lack of resistance, even when the demons got in the way of his blade. What didn't help was how polluted the water grew, clouding his view. He had long ago lost sight of Fleur within the swarm, a barely standing shield stopping anything from attacking him from behind.

Eventually with a final slice, one Grindylow became two, leaving a blissful rest. Breathing deeply, Harry swam over to where he had last seen Fleur, a trail of stunned Grindylows providing a helpful path.

To his alarm, she was in a very bad state. Her entire body was covered in sharp cuts, the only parts of her undamaged were those protected by her unbreakable swimsuit.

Through a half closed eyelid, she sought his eyes and managed a weak "I'm going to have to forfeit, I can't continue like this. Please, if you find my treasure, consider saving it for me?"

Nodding, Harry hit her with a strong buoyancy charm before continuing deeper into the depths. Without Fleur by his side, he was forced to go a lot slower, especially with one hand holding up his sword.

To his relief, the sound of the egg's clue started echoing towards him, growing stronger as he dove deeper. Cresting a dune, he was met with the site of an underwater village, lit up with balls of brightly glowing ice.

Entering the village, he was startled at just how fish-like the Selkies were, especially when compared to the mostly human Caribbean giant mermaids. Then right in the middle of a square were four ropes, two of which were empty.

But, instead of the items he was expecting, he instead saw two blonde girls with a deep sense of dread. The first was a younger looking Fleur, completely with a flickering light blue signature. The other was Luna, looking serene in her sleep, as if she wasn't deep underwater.

Retrieving his penknife, he tapped a hooked blade against the knot tying Luna to the statue, which instantly came alive and started undoing itself.

Moving automatically, Harry attempted to untie Fleur's hostage, only for a merman to roughly pull him away. Spinning around angrily, Harry completely forgot about the sword he still held in his hand, until it passed through his assailant.

For a shocked moment, nobody moved as the merman sank to the ground, until with a guttural cry another merman howled a war cry. Knowing he had messed up, Harry desperately stabbed his penknife into the girl's rope, while summoning Luna to him.

Throwing his sword at the ground, he deliberately made the magic holding it together fail, launching a giant shockwave of magic outwards. The blast knocked a few of the closest Selkies backwards, and stunned a great deal more.

Making the most of the time, he stuffed his penknife into Luna's inner robe pocket, then wrapped his hands around both. Wandlessly he hit both with the same buoyancy charm he had used on Fleur, while awkwardly drawing his wand and casting a shield charm.

Kicking frantically, he tried to rise as fast as possible, even as he started to feel the burn from keeping the shield and buoyancy charms going, along with pumping magic into his muscles.

Blind without his sword, Harry hoped the Selkies hadn't followed, only for a spear to slam into his shield. Now panicking, Harry resummoned his sword sigil, in the hope its appearance kept them at bay.

Unfortunately, it seemed like in their rage, they couldn't care less about any threat he might've posed. Spears began to regularly slam into his shield, sending a ripple of strain through his magic, a strain he couldn't afford to withstand.

Nearing the surface, Harry threw both girls up as hard as possible, then turned to deal with the soldiers following them. He knew that if they had followed him this far, they wouldn't leave simply because he surfaced, especially when he didn't know how far from the shore they were.

In a shotgun approach to using his telepathy, Harry broadcast a general intent of an apology and for them to leave him alone. If they heard, they didn't listen. The next spear that was thrown at him, Harry sliced with his sword, before waving it dangerously at them.

One brave merman hissed, then angrily swam straight towards Harry. Being careful to use the hand that wasn't holding a dangerous weapon, Harry used a banishing charm to reverse the merman's course. This had the added bonus of propelling Harry upwards as well.

Surfacing, Harry spotted Luna helping the other girl stay afloat, muttering soothingly.

"We need to get to shore, now. Those mermen aren't happy with me!" Harry shouted, shocking Luna.

Pulling the two close, he kicked towards where he could see the stands, occasionally feeling a clawed hand crash against his weakening shield.

"Harry, behind you!" Luna suddenly cried, pushing him out of the way. Instantly he felt something stab into his side, although that wasn't the worst part. He didn't have to wonder what had stabbed him, as the spear was still there.

The worst part was how the spear was sticking out of Luna's chest, her eyes wide in pain and surprise.

So, it's been a while since the last character death hasn't it?

I will say, with light spoilers for the next chapter, that she isn't dead by the final line. So if she is a character you deeply care for, I ask that you give the next chapter a chance before dropping the story?

I will also gently remind people that Harry has been studying how to undo death for about three years now.

Things I think need explaining:

- Chapter title: Taken from Aurora's 'under the water', which I highly recommend. Aurora is also very similar to Luna, and given recent events I think that'll be appreciated.

- Telepathy: From canon, I'd say Dumbledore is the only character who can use telepathy with any form of mastery. Any time he looks at Harry and Harry thinks he knows what Dumbledore's trying to silently tell him? Telepathy.

- Fleur doing bad in water: It's a common fandom trope, I'm sure you've seen it at least once. Luckily for this story I already had a pretty good reason for why. But this is my explanation for why she does so badly in this task in both canon and here.

- Relaxed Champions: So, in canon the champions don't actually realise there are hostages until they reach them, so all of them, even Fleur, don't think there are that many stakes. Canon Fleur only wanted to go back into the water when her sister surfaced. I suspect she assumed her hostage was her Yule date, just like Cedric and Krum's hostages.