Dumbledore and the other judges, as it happened, were not thrilled with the idea of the four of them returning just before dawn to be put into enchanted sleep.
"They want to cheat!" Karkaroff accused, his eyes vicious. "They could tell the champions!"
"Then watch the champions," Blaise said, scoffing. "We just want to get a good night's sleep."
"But why?" Madame Maxime questioned. "If you are going to be put into an enchanted sleep—"
"You have just told us we will be in a non-restful status state, and when we awaken, we will be expected to swim to shore in freezing waters," Hermione said pointedly. She folded her arms. "I hardly think asking to be well-rested for such an event is an unreasonable request."
"That is not the plan," Crouch argued. "The plan was not to bewitch you at dawn—"
"Then change the plan," Susan snapped. "Unless you were truly going to put us underwater in the dead of night – in which case I will refuse flat-out, given I don't want to freeze to death – there is absolutely no reason we can't meet you back here at dawn."
"Harry won't wake up until after dawn, anyway," Luna assured Dumbledore. "He'll never know that we weren't kidnapped the whole time."
Bagman looked uncertain.
"We don't have any backup hostages planned," he reminded Crouch. "And it's not totally unreasonable – we could make sure they don't contact the champions at all—"
"And unless you literally want to kidnap them," Sirius said, his voice hard, "you will agree to their request. Or I will go immediately to the Daily Prophet, and you will wake up with angry parents on your doorstep before the challenge even begins."
Dumbledore looked at the other judges helplessly, and Madame Maxime heaved a sigh.
"I am okay wit' it," she pronounced.
"Well I'm not," Karkaroff said, scowling.
"I am," Sirius said immediately.
"I am," Bagman added.
They all turned to Crouch and Dumbledore. Crouch was glowering at them over his neatly-groomed mustache, while Dumbledore looked tired.
"It isn't unreasonable," Dumbledore said reluctantly. "And given they are underage, I feel some concessions might be made. Though it troubles me to have you doubt my promise to keep you all safe."
Hermione ignored the pang of guilt that prodded her heart, instead raising her chin and looking down her nose at Dumbledore defiantly. "You mean like you've kept Harry safe?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"I concede to their demands," he said, turning to the others. "Barty, even you vote against, that's 4 to 2."
"Dumbledore, this is madness—"
"Shut up, Igor," Snape snapped at him. "It's already done."
"We'll come back at dawn, then?" Hermione said. "Or will you send our Heads of House to track us down once more?"
"Meet us all at the base of the tower half an hour before dawn," Snape cut in, giving Hermione a sharp look. "That way if you don't show up, we'll have time to hunt you down."
Hermione gave him a saccharine smile. "Works for me."
Dumbledore exhaled, clearly frustrated and not pleased with how the conversation had gone. "In that case—"
"I need to be getting to bed, then," Blaise said loudly. He winked at Madame Maxime. "If I've got Fleur Delacour swimming to save me in the morning, I need to get my beauty rest."
The coven (sans Harry) met up an hour before dawn in an old classroom not far from the Hufflepuff common room, shivering in the cold of early morning. Hermione had Harry's cloak with her.
"It's quarter to six right now," she said, looking at her watch. "The challenge is at 9:30am, and they'll 'have an hour long to look'. Our drop-dread time for turning back would be quarter to noon, and the challenge should be well over by then."
"Are we turning back all the way to here?" Blaise asked. "Or are we turning back four hours, then another two?"
"We need Harry to not feel us being awake at all," Hermione said, reluctantly. "That means staying under the Invisibility cloak the entire time through the challenge, and only taking it off afterward, ideally after having Time-Turned back."
"Okay." Susan took a deep breath. "Who wants to go first?"
"I'll go," Hermione volunteered, shrugging. "It's not like it will matter. I'll leave the room in the cloak now. Presumably after I do, future-me will Time-Turn back and give the cloak to someone else, who will also Time-Turn back, who will also Time-Turn back, so you'll all be following me cloaked in just a moment anyway."
Luna laughed. "Shall we meet at the Kitchens, just in case?"
Hermione shrugged. "Fine by me."
Hermione's prediction proved correct: shortly after closing the classroom door behind her and starting down the hall, she heard the door open and close again, then again, then again. A figure brushed up next to her.
"This is mad," Blaise's cheerful whisper came out of nowhere. "This is going to be so much fun."
The House Elves were very confused at first by the phantom requests for breakfast that came out of nowhere, but they were happy enough to provide. They took turns pausing in their duties to stare at the food vanishing under the cloaks in astonishment, before going back to cooking the rest of the school breakfast.
"We've got what, three hours to kill?" Susan said, her voice coming from thin air. "What should we do in the meantime?"
Hermione hadn't planned that far ahead. "Err…"
"We could figure out where to get the best seats," Blaise suggested. "If they've constructed stands overnight, we'll need to figure out if we're going to climb a tree for this or what."
It was as good a suggestion as any. Fortifying themselves with warming charms, the foursome headed outside, silently making their way down to the Black Lake. In the faint light of dawn, they could see that the seats that had encircled the dragon's enclosure in November were now along the opposite bank of the lake.
"Were the stands up this high before?" Luna asked.
"Not sure," Blaise said. "Maybe it's so people can get a better view into the lake?"
They decided on climbing into a couple very tall trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, catty-corner to where the Judges' Table and the stands stood (if by 'climbing' they meant 'carefully levitate up so not to let any part of them peek out from under the cloaks'). Luna and Susan shared a tree, while Blaise and Hermione shared another.
"Do you think they'll make us strip?" Hermione asked curiously. "Or are they going to put us in the water fully clothed?"
"If they strip us, we really will freeze to death," Blaise grumbled.
"I think she was more wondering about the pendants and coven rings," Susan said, a smirk in her voice.
"Oh," Blaise said. "Yeah, that makes sense."
They didn't have long to wait; just as the sun rose, they could see a procession down the hill towards the lake, all the Triwizard judges and Heads of House in tow. When they reached the lake, Dumbledore cast a spell that looked like a great glowing squid, which fast disappeared into the water. Shortly after, they saw a school of merpeople poke out of the water at the shoreline, arms extended to take each hostage one by one.
"Merlin's balls – are you wearing your ball robes, Hermione?" Blaise demanded, amusement in his voice.
"Wait, what?" Hermione craned her neck, peering in the dark. "Which one am I? I was looking at you."
"We're in our robes from the Yule Ball," Susan confirmed, her voice horrified. "I can see mine in a glimpse of the light – look, they're putting you under now, you'll see the sparkle—"
Indeed, as one of the adults extended another hostage figure to the merpeople, Hermione could see a faint sparkle in the dim light, and she had to do her best not to laugh.
"Did they tell us to do this?" Susan asked, aghast. "If they made me ruin my robes in the lake—"
"Honestly? Yours are probably just bewitched to look similar to what you wore," Hermione admitted, her lips quirking upwards. "I can't imagine anyone but me is mad enough to actually wear their Yule Ball robes into the lake."
"This has 'Hermione' written all over it. I bet this is your fault." Blaise sounded incredibly amused. "You, and your internal drama queen – I bet you thought 'oh, this will really drive the point home'—"
"I wonder if the diamonds will sparkle in the water?" Luna wondered. "Maybe it will help the champions find you, Hermione."
"Your robes don't have sleeves or a back," Susan said, aghast. "You really will freeze to death."
"I won't," Hermione said confidently. "If I see myself freeze to death, I just won't do this when I Time-Turn back, and it won't happen this way at all."
Blaise snickered. "I bet Snape is mad."
It was very odd to see oneself unconscious and disappearing into the dark waters of the lake. The merpeople seemed to be being careful, but she couldn't see anything that happened once they were each taken away underwater. Dawn was starting to slowly creep over the horizon, sending beautiful reflective shimmers of light playing across the surface of the lake – none of which helped her see into it any deeper.
"So the idea is what, Harry can't feel us underneath the cloaks?" Susan asked. "He won't be able to feel our magic?"
"That's the idea," Hermione confirmed. "If he cannot feel us, and only feels the unconscious us, he will—" Hermione faltered, "—err—well, he'll be able to figure out we're all knocked out and under the water, at any rate."
"Harry will lose his mind," Blaise said cheerfully, and Hermione could hear the mischievous grin in his voice. "It should be enough motivation to save us, yeah?"
Time seemed to crawl along. The others were talking about Lockhart's latest embarrassment and Karkaroff's standoffish behavior, and though Hermione participated some, she couldn't focus on the conversation – she was too anxious, too amped up to relax enough to just chat and talk. Logically, she knew that the fact that the other-her was underwater itself was enough proof that this would work, but emotionally, she was still scared – scared for Harry, frightened for herself and the others, and anxious about the whole bloody thing.
Finally, finally, there was a growing hubbub of noise, and students started coming down from the door of Hogwarts, filing up into the stands that had been moved to surround the lake, their excited babble echoing strangely across the water. Hermione could spot the Blackwell students landing brooms not far away, and she balked – flying up from Lundy in the pre-dawn cold had to be miserable.
There was a special stand erected that had a gold-draped table at the top and a perch without a safety railing. This, Hermione presumed, was the judge's table, and the place from which the champions would be expected to dive into the lake.
"Anyone have eyes on the champions?" Blaise asked. "Are they being held back?"
"Is there a champion's tent somewhere?" Susan suggested. "Maybe they're all changing into their swimsuits."
"They made all the champions wear a standardized outfit for the First Task," Hermione said, remembering. "Do we think they made them all a standardized swimsuit for this one?"
"The First Task was testing their reaction in the face of the unknown," Blaise pointed out. "For this one, I think they're allowed to prepare properly."
Hermione continued checking her watch as it grew nearer and nearer to the appointed time. Finally, she saw the champions arrive: Fleur in an open robe draped over a shiny silver swimsuit, Viktor and Cedric in swimming trunks, and Harry defiantly in black robes.
"Odds on those being his coven robes?" Blaise's voice was amused.
"Oh, there's no question on it," Luna said cheerfully. "Once Harry realized we were all missing, there's no way that wouldn't be what he'd wear."
Suddenly, Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out across the water.
"Welcome to the Second Task of the Tetrawizard Tournament!" he announced, and Hermione could hear the responding cheering from the stands. "And please welcome our four champions!"
There were screams of support, and Hermione grinned as she caught the echoes of boom – boom – clap, boom – boom – clap from across the water.
"For the Second Task, each of the champions have had… something taken from them that they'll sorely miss," Ludo announced. "They will have precisely one hour to recover what has been taken from them. Is everybody ready?" There was a pause. "On the count of three, then. One… two… three!"
Bagman's whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air, and Hermione watched as Viktor immediately dived into the lake. Cedric and Fleur followed mere moments later, presumably after casting the Bubble-Head Charm, while Harry instead turned and began marching down the stairs from the judge's stand.
As Harry reached the ground, the surface of the lake suddenly became clear, as if it were glass, and Hermione could see into the lake and see the champions – Krum had transfigured himself into a human-shark hybrid, while Fleur and Cedric had both indeed used the Bubble-Head charm. They all currently seemed to be figuring out their mobility and determining where to go, trying not to get tangled in seaweed or attacked by grindylows in the meanwhile while they found their bearings. On another end of the lake, deep down and much smaller, Hermione could now see four figures tied with ropes of kelp and seaweed to a giant stone statue of a mermaid. Their bodies seemed to be drifting slightly in the water currents, surrounded by many merpeople carrying weapons and swimming around.
"And we're off to a quick start with – well, with three of the four champions in the water!" Bagman announced. "Ah—we rather expected all of them to be in the water by now, and until they are I feel I can't exactly commentate on what we all see for fear of fairness, but you can see as well as me – Krum is off to a solid head start!"
"Harry's walking around the lake," Susan said, a smug tone in her voice. "He's directly across from our unconscious bodies."
"He's tracking either our pendants or rings," Luna agreed. There was an excited note of anticipation in her voice too. "I think he's ready…"
"And Potter seems to have found a rock to stand on – perhaps he doesn't know how to dive?" Bagman's voice called out. "Now he's pulling out his – is that a staff? — and he's—"
Hermione felt her face stretch into a wide, satisfied smile as the small Harry in the distance made a wide gesture with his staff. His robes billowed in a strong wind, and with a crashing noise, the waters of the Black Lake parted before him, splitting in front of him to reveal a wide path through the Black Lake with towering walls of water roiling on either side. The gasps and screams from the spectators were everything Hermione's internal drama queen had hoped for, and she could hear Blackwell's frenetic cheering and screaming amidst all the other sound.
"And Potter says 'to hell with it!' and parts the lake—" Bagman's astonishment was undeniable, even as he continued to announce. "And now he's—is he just walking?"
Harry was, indeed, walking – his figure was growing slowly larger as he crossed the lake bed, his robes billowing as he did. Hermione felt herself beam with pride as she watched him – Harry defiantly marching directly to his goal, ignoring the assumptions and precepts the tournament judges had made—
"Krum and Diggory seem very stressed about all of this," Blaise observed, snickering. "Fleur's figured out what's up."
Hermione let her gaze dart up from Harry for a moment – Viktor indeed seemed very confused. He seemed to have been in part of the water that had flowed back and away from the path Harry had cleared, and he was now trying to figure out which way to go. Cedric was equally disoriented, spinning around in the water and trying to peer around, while Fleur was swimming efficiently along the water wall, seemingly using it as a guide.
"And Miss Delacour is following along Potter's water wall!" Bagman announced, seemingly having given up on concealing what the other champions were doing from Harry. "She's swimming of course, so not moving nearly as fast as Potter, but she's at least going in the right direction – oh no, look at poor Diggory now, he's gotten turned around–"
As Harry reached the hostages, Hermione watched as he greeted them, and then, with a gesture, all the ropes binding them magically fell away, and Harry extended his hand to help Future-Hermione up, her diamond robes sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.
"And Potter is rescuing all of the hostages!" Bagman crowed, as Harry helped Susan to her feet. "Oh, this is a change! Is this even allowed? Now none of the other champions have a chance at success!"
"Look!" Luna said. "We're leaving something behind!"
As Harry helped Luna up last, Hermione could see it – everyone except Luna was leaving a glinting metal oval behind on the stone behind them. She couldn't see from where she was, but she could see the other-her talking with other-Blaise…
As other-Luna found her footing, Harry turned, directing them to march ahead of him on the path, back the way he had come. Hermione saw herself leading the way, her robes of diamond glittering. Harry took up the rear, walking backwards with his staff extended, and to Hermione's astonishment, the waters of the lake began crashing down behind him slowly, in an extremely deliberate and controlled way.
"How's he doing that?" she breathed, astonished. "We never practiced that—"
"We never all practiced doing this together," Luna reminded her. "If he's got access to all our power now – or, more likely, you're helping him—"
"And the hostages have each left behind what appears to be a portrait of themselves!" Bagman announced. "If I'm not terribly mistaken, they've left behind reliefs of themselves made of some sort of metal – presumably very heavy and difficult to carry, even in water – is this how we can continue the Second Task?"
Hermione could feel her heart lightening and her fear leaving her body as she watched her other-self march across the lakebed without worry or pause, the rest of her coven following her. As they exited the lake, Harry gestured with his staff, and what was left of the lake crashed down violently behind him, somehow managing to splash all the way up to the judge's table.
"And Potter returns with his hostage – and the others – in under ten minutes! Merlin's Beard, I don't think anyone expected that!"
Hermione could see Harry walking them all up the stairs in the stands to the Judge's Table. Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric were all still swimming, and Hermione made a snap decision.
"Let's leave right now," she suggested. "The other-us are awake and watching. Let's let some of the Second Task remain a surprise."
"And what, Time-Turn back right now?" Blaise asked, confused. "We've got hours left."
"No, silly." Luna's voice was amused. "We've got to get to work on making three giant portraits, don't we?"
There was a pause, before Susan started laughing, and then they all joined in.
"If you each jump the line to the Entrance Hall, it should be pretty deserted," Hermione said, unable to stop herself from grinning. "We can use the old alchemy room Snape let me use. Let's go."
