A/N: Surprise mid-week update! I'll be at a convention this weekend and wanted to do something special. This week there will be double posts! That means that this is in addition to the Sphinx Club Chapter that will be going up on Friday (which might be late because of that con, it's already written and ready to go, just needs to actively be posted which I might be unable to do on time) there will also be a Heart of a Hero chapter for those who enjoy that story. As for something specific to this story, you'll notice that we will have skipped over the 'juicy' part of the Yule Ball. I don't feel particularly comfortable writing exactly what happened that night, so I'll let you fill in the gaps with whatever you want. See you on Friday!
The events of the Yule Ball, as well as the night after, had shifted the relationship between Harry and his girls. This was to be expected, since Fleur had joined the group now, something which Harry was particularly unsure of.
Not that Harry didn't like Fleur, no. Harry thought Fleur was spectacular, and while he didn't know if he LOVED Fleur yet, he was aware that she loved him, and he was willing to allow those feelings to develop as they would. It would be VERY easy to love Fleur after all, she was a beauty nearly without equal, and while Harry knew that he found all of his girls equally beautiful, Fleur was attractive in a new way.
The girl's reaction to Fleur's inclusion had surprised him, but not in a bad way. They opened their arms to Fleur gratefully, happy to include her in their bizarre sisterhood. The French girl soon found herself among friends in ways that she had never fully experienced before. Harry was happy for her. The brief moments he had seen her among her acquaintances from Beauxbatons had proved that they were just that. Acquaintances, not true friends. It seemed that the only true friend that Fleur had ever made at Beauxbatons was Marianne, who shared her love of Dueling and her Veela heritage.
Hogwarts had proven itself to be different though. Alongside her friendships with Harry's other girlfriends, brought on by their shared love for Harry, she had also found real friends in the other members of the Sphinx Club. She shared her love of fashion with Lavender and Parvati, which they were overjoyed to have someone else to discuss it with, often leading to the trio spending some time flipping through various wizarding fashion magazines together, fantasizing on what styles would look best on them. With Hannah and Neville, she found a shared love in gardening. Fleur had maintained a small selection of houseplants at home, loving especially the Firepetal Blooms that were a standard addition to any Veela community. The British pair of botanists were intrigued by the plant, and Fleur promised she would send some seeds over when her houseplants produced them, so they may grow their own. While Fleur and Tracey hadn't bonded over anything in particular, the pair found an easy camaraderie between each other. Fleur had an equally sharp wit as Daphne, the pair being eerily similar in that regard, and as Daphne was Tracey's best friend, Tracey found similar companionship with Fleur.
January rolled around, and the Sphinx Club were hard at work deciphering the clue left for them in their golden eggs. The four champions had placed the aureate ova on a central table in the Sphinx Club room. As the group looked over the notes they had made on the objects.
"So, they're large eggs, gold in color, and when you open them they scream at you." Harry said again. "We're pretty sure the shape and color isn't meant to be a hint, given they were meant to resemble Dragon Eggs, but be noticeably different at a glance. So the screaming is somehow the clue."
The other three champions nodded in agreement. Cedric spoke up. "I managed to work out that the screaming isn't like mandrake screaming. The tone is too varied, Mandrakes shriek one single note, or occasionally swap between two. I think there is some kind of coded message in the screams, but I can't figure out what it could be."
"Well, knowing it isn't mandrakes helps a bit I suppose." Harry said, looking down at the offending objects. "I wouldn't think Mandrakes would be a great task anyway. You risk killing the audience for a spectacle that is both boring to watch and not even that challenging. Transfiguring a pair of earmuffs wouldn't be difficult for any of us."
Nods came at that. Mandrakes might be a suitable challenge for a first or second year student, but for students like themselves it would be a cakewalk.
"Miss Luna. As our magical creature expert, are you aware of any creatures notable for their screams?" Viktor asked, looking at the young blonde who was flipping through a textbook on magical creatures.
"Cockatrices of course, but given they were present in the last tournament before the hiatus, I do not think they would be reused. Cockatrices will also not be in mating season at the time, which is when they would be most active." Luna said. "There are a few others, but none that I think would make for particularly notable challenges for a competition like this, especially since they started with dragons so soon."
"Unfortunate." Came Cedric's reply, as he picked up his egg again and tossed it up in the air. Catching it with practiced ease.
"I'd think that maybe they'd use these to hint at catching a golden snitch as a challenge, maybe while maneuvering a kind of obstacle course. The original golden snitches were actual golden colored birds after all." Cedric noted. "Not that it'd be much of a challenge for Viktor, given he's already among the top seekers in the world. I know I'm pretty decent, and the few times I've seen Harry play a game on the pitch he's got the skills to be better than I am with some practice."
"I never understand ze love you two have for that game." Fleur said, rolling her eyes. "The most fun part iz ze flying, and it would be more fun to do that without ze bludgers."
"While I would love to listen to someone else talk about not liking Quidditch, I think it would be better to focus back on the eggs." Hermione said, bringing everyone's focus back. "I checked over the charms on the egg itself. It's just a recording charm that plays the sound, no other components."
"Can you open the egg? I have only ever heard you say there is screaming, I have never heard it for myself." Luna said, looking at the orbs on the table.
"Can't hurt anything but our ears I guess. Earmuffs anyone who doesn't want to listen again." Harry said, giving everyone a warning. Earmuffs flew to many people's hands as they focused on other parts of research. Ever since the first time they had opened these eggs, keeping earmuffs handy had proven essential. "Opening now."
The screams were loud and shrill as they always were, and Harry gleaned no additional information from this round of screams as he had any of the others. The pitch shifting indicated there were SOME kinds of words being spoken, but he had no way to translate them. Harry closed the egg back up, and everyone took off their muffs.
"See, it's indecipherable. There's something we're missing about it." Harry said, staring at the egg some more.
"Have you tried opening it in water?" Luna asked, having everyone look at her.
"No… why?" Harry asked, wondering if his youngest love was onto something.
"Well, references to merfolk taken out of the water claim that their song becomes incoherent screaming above the water. Maybe if you listen to it under the water that would make something clearer?" Luna suggested.
"Good of a shot as any. Although I don't know where we're going to find a place we can fill with enough water to submerge it. These eggs are massive, and I'm not exactly about to jump in the lake in January just for a clue." Harry said.
Cedric spoke up. "Well, there's the prefect's bath. There's a big tub there that people use for baths. It should be more than big enough to submerge the egg and a few of us in it."
"That sounds perfect. I guess one of us should try it out first before we put all of our eggs in that basket. Cedric, how about you go tonight since you know about the bathroom?" Harry suggested.
"Can't, I've got prefect duties. How about you go Harry? Password is Pine Fresh. Since all of us should be on patrol tonight, it should be good and empty." Cedric said, smiling at him.
"I guess I will then. Hermione, do you have a ballpoint pen? I don't think a quill would be good for writing near the water." Harry asked, looking to his girlfriend.
Hermione pulled out not only a ballpoint pen, but also a spiral notebook. "You're right. Here, let's head up to our room and grab some swimsuits. Then I can get in the water with you and we can listen to it together. If there's a message, I don't want you to take notes, your penmanship isn't very good Harry."
Harry felt embarrassed by her callout, but knew she was correct. Even he occasionally had issues dissecting his handwriting.
"I'll come too then." Came the simultaneous words of Padma and Fleur, who looked at each other and flushed.
"Come on guys, I know I can be a bit dumb at times, but do I need three people to make sure I write down some words properly?" Harry asked, a bit flabbergasted by the girls' quickness to jump to aid him.
"Harry, they want to see you in your swimsuit, and show you their bodies in theirs." Ginny said, frustrated at Harry's obliviousness. She was glad she had given up her childhood crush on the boy, thinking that if she had to work it through his skull it would take her until like his sixth year, and to an outside observer to Harry's life would come mostly out of nowhere.
"Oh." Harry flushed. He still wasn't used to that.
Arriving in the prefects' bath, Harry glanced at the three girls who were with him. While they had been… intimate the night of the Yule Ball, an experience Harry was unlikely to forget in his lifetime, the idea of seeing them in their swimsuits was still one that filled him in equal parts excitement and anxiety. The girls were pretty, gorgeous even. Seeing them in revealing clothes did things to him that often overwhelmed his senses. As they entered the bath, Fleur began to shrug off her robes, revealing the two-piece swimsuit underneath. It was a glittery silver color and, while being relatively modest by two-piece standards, was still very enticing on the Veela's body. Padma followed suit, her two-piece being a hot pink that stood out in contrast to her mocha skin. Hermione disrobed last, wearing a more modest one piece swimsuit in a lovely periwinkle color.
"Well Harry? Going to show us your swimsuit, or just going to gawk at us some more? I won't complain too much, I enjoy being ogled by you every once in a while." Padma said, her confidence showing.
"Oui, I am also enjoying 'Arry's reactions. It is very titillating." Fleur agreed.
Hermione merely flushed at the attention, although she notably took no efforts to hide herself. Harry supposed he had seen more of her body during the night of the Yule Ball, so she had nothing to hide.
"Fine, I suppose it's only fair." Harry said with mock annoyance, stepping out of his trousers and removing his shirt. "Happy now?"
"Very, the training for the tournament has been doing well for you Harry, you're much more muscular than you were last year." Padma said, as she moved forward and began running her hand along Harry's arms. "Here I thought you were a specimen last year. I'm glad we scooped you up early, we'd be beating the ladies off with bats if they knew what you hid under those robes.
Harry flushed at the attention, which didn't decrease as Fleur joined in.
"Oui, I knew 'e must be impressive from 'is dueling performance, though this is more than I imagined. I so enjoyed the feeling of 'is arms around me when he took me after the ball. It felt magical." Fleur said, as she leaned down and turned on one of the hot water taps of the large tub that filled the center of the room.
"We do have to remember what we came here for, even if I do want to watch Harry some more." Hermione said, trying to refocus everyone. "We're going to see if these eggs do change their sound underwater, and if they do, what they may say."
"Spoilsport." Padma said jokingly, as she lowered herself into the tub. "Oh, we are totally coming back here. This feels amazing! I haven't had a soak in a tub in so long."
"This is the prefect's bath. We're not prefects, we shouldn't even be in here." Hermione said. "I just know we needed a place to be able to be underwater with the egg."
"Hermione, it probably won't hurt to have a little soak every once in a while. Besides, you guys could just come in here with Cho, she's a prefect. I'm sure you guys could have some nice girl talk." Harry said, smiling at them as he sunk into the tub as well. "You're right. This is nice. I don't think I've ever really had a soak in a tub. Outside of when we got into that hot tub at that pool over the summer Hermione."
"That was a nice day. It's a shame none of the others could come." Hermione said, sinking into the tub herself.
"Oh? Do tell. It's not like we need to be in a rush for this egg thing. Some time to relax will be good for us." Padma said.
"Well, Hermione and I had heard that a public pool had opened in the town where I live, so we decided to spend a day there in the summer when it was hot. We had a nice time just swimming and enjoying each other's company. We tried to invite Luna, Daphne, and Susan, but they couldn't come." Harry said.
"Why not?" Padma asked.
"I'm not sure, they didn't tell me." Harry said.
Hermione spoke up. "It was unfortunate timing for them." Fleur and Padma seemed to understand immediately. Harry didn't.
"Regardless, I think I'd like to go ahead and listen to the egg. Maybe if we can understand the clue it gives us we can think about what it means while we relax?" Harry said.
Grabbing one of the eggs from the side of the tub, they took it underwater and opened it.
What came from the egg was not the shrill screaming that had happened above the water, but a soothing, if haunting melody that spoke.
"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 surely miss.
An hour long you'll have to look
And to recover what we took
But past an hour - the prospects black
Too late
It's gone
It won't come back"
The quartet raised themselves from the water as Hermione quickly wrote down the words to the poem, ducking back under one more time to ensure she copied it correctly. A quick listen to Fleur's egg revealed the clue was the same, which likely meant that Cedric and Viktor's were as well.
"So, what we'll surely miss. What could that be?" Harry wondered. "The only object I would be so attached to is my wand, but if they took that it wouldn't exactly be a good measure of how good of a wizard I am."
"That's true, I suppose I 'ave a few sentimental items that I would be very upset to part with, but nothing that I would risk my life for." Fleur said. "From the sounds of this though, we will be searching a body of water for whatever is taken."
"Probably the Black Lake outside, it's got a merfolk colony." Hermione said. "It wouldn't surprise me if they expect you to head to where the merfolk live to retrieve whatever they take."
"Well, do we know where that is?" Harry asked.
"We can look through some records, although my best guess would say somewhere towards the center of the lake." Hermione said, thinking critically. "You have to get there and back to the start in an hour it seems, so you'll need to swim pretty quick, and be able to keep up swimming for that long."
"Well, I'm a decently strong swimmer, especially after Nym had me swimming laps over the summer. I imagine I have enough endurance to keep a decent speed for an hour, although I'm sure there's some magical way to augment my speed." Harry said.
"I am concerned." Fleur said. "I am a creature of fire, my magic does not work as well beneath the waves. I will be at a severe disadvantage."
"I'll stick with you then. My magic shouldn't be affected, and we can watch each other's backs. The water of the lake isn't exactly known for being crystal clear." Harry said.
"So, we'll need to worry about a few things: Breathing underwater, traversing the lake, and thinking of what might get taken so we can understand how to deal with it." Hermione said, her mind racing.
"We'll also need to worry about staying warm. We're heading into a Scottish lake in the middle of February. It's going to be COLD." Harry said.
"You're right, hadn't even thought of that." Padma said.
"Well, warming charms are easy enough to do, I learned a rune sequence for them recently, Harry and I could sew them into some swimming costumes for ourselves." Fleur said. "We have enough magic at our disposal to passively power them, although I imagine we will need some more specialized swimwear. I have no desire for the boys of 'Ogwarts to ogle me in this, that is for 'Arry only." Fleur said.
"Hermione, think you can write to your parents to order some muggle wetsuits? That's probably better for this kind of thing. We'll get Cedric and Viktor's measurements. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to pay us for them." Harry said. "I think getting each of us a diving knife would be handy. Getting caught on kelp or something would be pretty bad, and I'm not convinced I want to try a cutting charm so close to my foot underwater."
"Probably not a bad idea. A diving watch would be useful as well. Keep track of how long you've been underwater." Padma suggested.
"Well, that's surviving the water itself handled, in theory. What about the other parts?" Harry suggested.
"Well, if you know what they take, you could maybe try a point-me charm." Hermione suggested. "That would allow you to orient yourself pretty well."
"There's also a compass charm that points north, to at least make sure you don't get turned around." Padma suggested. "They are both pretty simple, we'll run some drills this weekend."
"I had an idea for navigating the water, since Fleur and I will be teaming up." Harry said. "We could conjure an anchor and take turns banishing it while we're tied to it. I'm really good at the banishing charm, I could probably push myself with that faster than I can swim. Then once we have our thing, we can just transfigure the anchor into a balloon and float up."
"I believe this is a good idea 'Arry, I am not a strong swimmer." Fleur said, looking down on herself. "I only managed to learn over the summer myself, when Gabrielle demanded to learn how."
"I suppose then we will need to research ways to breathe underwater. Fleur, I don't suppose you know of any off-hand?" Hermione asked.
"I am aware of a charm that stores air, although the name escapes me. I also know there is a plant that allows you to breathe underwater, but it is highly poisonous to Veela if ingested." Fleur said.
"Well, if it's a plant, then Neville probably knows something about it. Might not work for Fleur, but it'd probably be good for the rest of us." Harry said.
"Oui, I will simply need to find another method." Fleur said, as she relaxed into the water. "Enough talk of tasks. I desire to soak in this water until it is no longer warm. 'Arry, 'old me please."
"No fair!" Padma said, saddling up beside him.
"I have three sides girls, just pick one and I'll cuddle you all." Harry said, with a bit of a laugh. They enjoyed their time in the water. Ready to tackle whatever came next.
