If Hermione had expected the Ravenclaws to behave differently toward her in classes because their new moon activities, she would have been sorely disappointed; the Ravenclaws didn't treat her any differently whatsoever, other than a nod of recognition and respect from Cho Chang and her friend when their eyes met in the hallway.

It made sense, Hermione supposed – they only thought her a member of the secretive group, not the leader of it – but part of her still chafed that they weren't more impressed with her than they had been. Had they not seen the power of her coven, accelerating the growth of the trees through will and magic alone?

The Ravenclaws did, however, seem to behave differently toward Luna.

"It's very odd," Luna told Hermione, her blue eyes wide in wonder. "They went from ignoring me to respecting me. Some of them ask me for my advice or input on things. Things I have no business giving advice in, really – what do I know about 4th year potions? They should just listen to Snape."

Hermione found this very funny, even if it confused Luna. She was glad that the bullying against Luna had fully stopped (and reversed course, even),uhuhuhsad though Hermione would have happily helped plan another revenge for her friend.

February 1st arrived with rain in Scotland, a damp way to celebrate Imbolc. Hermione, Harry, Susan, Luna, and Blaise all met up after classes, wearing their cloaks and prepared to visit Lundy as they had planned.

"Blackwell's expecting us," Hermione said. She glanced up at Harry with a smile. "I think they're excited about helping you with the tournament."

Harry hefted the Golden Egg under his arm and huffed. "I'll take anything I can get."

The journey to Blackwell was different than usual – the lines felt open, free, and Hermione remembered how last year, she'd spent Imbolc practicing jumping the lines. Imbolc was one of the few days a year it was safe for anyone to travel the ley lines, instead of only those who'd torn open their own. The irony of meeting the Blackwell students at Blackwell on one of the only days they could literally go somewhere else only hit Hermione in retrospect.

Lundy was a bit cloudy overhead, but it was nowhere near the damp dreariness of Scotland, which lifted everybody's spirits. They met up with Variol and Shale, who were excited to show them around the school proper.

"If you're our representative, you should at least know what you'd know if you went here," Variol said, grinning. "Our wreck isn't nearly as cool or as impressive as your castle, but it's home."

To Hermione's dismay, it really was a wreck. While it might have once been a proper castle and bailey, it'd either been destroyed by invaders or lost to time. Only the bottom floor and some of the second remained – giving them a kitchen, a room she suspected had once been a dining room, and servants' quarters in which to sleep. The second floor housed incomplete rooms with partial walls and ceilings, exposed to the elements, and it was these rooms where spell notes had been carved into the walls.

"We didn't always have grimoires, apparently," Shale said. "We all do now, though. And we read the old ones, the ones people left behind."

"Magic here has been more of a tradition passed by word of mouth," Variol said, almost apologetic. "Your spellbooks have helped change all that, but it's all we had before."

After the tour, they met up with the other students at a large table they'd set up on the western cliffs for a feast. There were various dishes laid out with wreaths of woven branches decorating the table; it was Imbolc, and the Blackwell students took their magical high holidays seriously.

During the feast, Harry and the tournament was brought up. This spawned a dramatic retelling of Harry's performance in the first task, making everyone laugh and cheer while Iron Man listened on, amused, before leading to Harry's egg. The Blackwell students begged for him to open it, which Harry did so obligingly, leading to hands clapped over ears as unholy shrieking filled the air.

"We've figured out it's Mermish," Harry said, once the egg had been closed. "It recites a poem:

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."

Hermione was momentarily surprised that Harry had the whole thing memorized, before realizing she wasn't, really. If her life was on the line, she'd have written down and memorized that poem and stared at it for weeks and weeks.

"We're presuming that they're going to take a person," Luna explained to the Blackwell students, almost apologetic. "Mermaids are closer to Fae – and we know they like to abduct people. Harry will have to save a person, most likely."

"In water?" Andy demanded, aghast. "In winter?"

"That's part of the problem," Hermione sighed. "Harry could probably learn to use the Bubble-Head Charm – which basically makes a magical scuba breathing apparatus around your head – but that doesn't change the fact that he could get hypothermia within ten minutes in water that cold."

"Can he jus' wear a scuba suit?" Ooly wanted to know. "'cause that'd solve that problem. They have really warm ones, I think—"

"Probably not," Harry said, making a face. "Last challenge, they made me wear special robes. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a special, pre-prepared swimsuit for me this time."

"With 'Potter' emblazoned on the butt?" Blaise snickered.

Harry grinned, a bit red.

"Who knows?" he said. "Maybe."

After the feast, the coven followed the Blackwell students down to the base of the cliffs, where they sat on jagged outcroppings of rock and threw stones into the water as they brainstormed, tossing ideas around.

"Gillyweed has some potential," Susan said. "It has a limited time limit, but I think it's an hour. Harry could always eat more if needed. But it doesn't solve the 'freezing to death' issue."

"He can't use Warming Charms underwater?" the girl called Taco asked. "Those were in one of your books."

"Casting spells underwater at all is going to be a challenge," Hermione said. "The Bubble-Head Charm might help with that, but the water is still going to take away all his body heat. The Warming Charm works on air nearby, and all he'll have nearby is water."

"Can you turn yourself into a penguin?" Coal asked. She looked up at them, blinking. "Penguins are really good swimmers."

Harry grinned.

"That's not a bad idea," he said, praising the young girl. "I'm not good enough to do human-to-animal Transfiguration yet, though."

"The chill of water is the problem," Andy said, sighing, "but the entire challenge is in water. That's the point."

"'t's stupid," Ooly declared. "How are we suppos'd t'watch this, anyway? You can't see people underwater swimming – s'all wobbly, 'cause there's water in the way."

Hermione and Susan exchanged a look, both doing their best to stifle their giggles at Ooly's indignation.

"'t's stupid you hafta even swim at all," Ooly went on, stubbornly. "Be better if you could jus' pull a Moses, y'know, and not hafta deal with the water a' all—"

"Do what?" Harry asked, turning to look at the younger boy.

"Pull a Moses," Ooly said promptly. "Y'know. Like, take your staff, be all 'let my people go'—"

"Let my person go," Gabbro corrected, snickering.

"—whate'er, and part the waters," Ooly said, giving Gabbro a glare. He looked back at Harry. "Y'know. When Moses and them was runnin' from the Pharaoh back in Egypt. After the plagues 'n' stuff."

Hermione's eyes went wide. Harry blinked slowly.

"I think I heard the story about the plagues," he said cautiously. "Maybe once or twice? My relatives weren't real big on religion…"

Hermione, however, had read religious children's stories growing up. Hermione had read any book she was given as a child, even picture books given by her paternal grandparents meant to secretly indoctrinate her and corrupt her into becoming a Catholic. So Hermione did know the story of Moses.

And as she considered the idea, the more merit it had, and the more excited she got.

"That's—" Hermione could hardly speak, she was so overcome. "Ooly, that's brilliant."

Ooly turned to her, confused. "'t is?"

"Can your magic do that?" Gabbro wanted to know. "'Cause if so, that's sweet as hell."

"Harry," Hermione said, getting his attention. "Harry, do you think you can you use your water elemental to part the waters of the Black Lake?"

"Part the waters?" Harry repeated, quizzical. "What do you mean?"

"Like, literally push the Black Lake aside into two halves," Hermione said impatiently. "So there's an empty corridor right through the lake that you can walk down, directly toward your goal."

Harry started to grin.

"You think I can do that?" he asked. "Just walk straight for my goal again?"

"Worth a shot," Blaise said, smirking. "Go on, try it."

Obliging, Harry got to his feet. He looked around, hopped his way to a rock further out in the sea, and turned back toward the island.

"Better to try and split this little pool first," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I don't think I'd get very far in the ocean."

Hermione watched as Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and centered himself, before he opened his eyes and swung his hand through the air dramatically.

In front of him, the waters shifted, flowing and splitting apart, leaving a distinct path through the water. It wasn't quite splitting the waters entirely so much as it was combing a bad part into the water like it was thinning hair, but there was a path in the water now that was nearly six inches less deep than the rest of the area.

Hermione shot Harry a grin.

"That's a proof of concept," she declared, decisive. "All the rest is just practice."

Harry sighed, beleaguered and much put-upon, but his eyes were sparkling with excitement as he let go of the magic, the water splashing and flowing back into place. "You'll have to help me find a lake, then. I can hardly practice this on the Black Lake if we want it to have any dramatic impact at the challenge."

Hermione beamed. "Of course."

"If you're gonna do this, you oughta do it proper," Ooly said. He was grinning now, proud that his idea had helped out. "You need t'get yourself a staff."