Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 53 – The Second Task

The holidays drew to a close and classes resumed. With it came renewed attempts to figure out the golden egg, with the Second Task now only six weeks away. After trying every spell they could to try to force the egg to reveal its secrets with no results, it was determined that whatever the clue was was not magically concealed. The question then became if the screeching itself was the clue, or if there was something else that had to be done to turn the screeching into something they could understand. Each of them had their own theory that they researched but it was Viktor who finally found the answer. Standing around a large tub of water they had conjured, Viktor placed his egg at the bottom and opened it. Not much could be heard, though it sounded melodic coming from under water then the nails on a chalkboard sound above water. Knowing they would have to stick their heads under the water, Harry removed his glasses and the four Champions nodded to each other before taking deep breaths and submerging their heads. Immediately they could hear that the reason the sound was melodic was because it was a song:

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

To recover what we took

But past an hour the prospect's black

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back

The four lifted their heads from the water when the song began repeating and Harry was the only one spluttering from holding his breath so long; the others having cast bubble-head charms. Accepting his glasses from Ginny and gratefully feeling the drying charm Hermione cast on everyone. They relayed what they had heard to the entire group and given that from the research they had done on past tasks they knew that the second task often involved hostages it didn't take long for conclusions on what would be taken to be reached; Harry held Ginny closer, a fierce look on his face. That they would be taken somewhere underwater also took only seconds, while Cedric quickly provided them with the answer as to what would take the hostages.

"I fell into the Black Lake on the boat ride across first year." He said, admitting to an infrequent moment of imperfection. "The squid lifted me out, but not before I heard singing. Hagrid told me that it was the merpeople, that even though no one usually heard them they sang every year to welcome the new students."

"But ze merpeople cannot be ze ones 'oo weel capture zat we love most." Said Fleur, who was clutching Bill's hand and looking even more fierce than Harry. "Zey cannot come on land."

"More likely someone from the tournament vill give the hostages to them"

"Eef zey touch Beel…" Fleur muttered threateningly

"Unlikely they'll take a veela's mate."Ginny said reassuringly. She'd come around to the idea of Fleur and Bill together and found there was much more to the French girl then she'd thought. Fleur smiled thankfully at Ginny but still refused to let go of Bill's hand.

"Regardless of how the hostages get taken, how are we going to get them back?" Harry asked.

"I think we should stay together." Said Cedric. "At least until we reach the hostages. There's much more than just merpeople in the Black Lake, a competition is not worth someone getting hurt." They all quickly agreed on that and Griphook smiled from his place at the back of the room. While it was said that the tournament was established to foster international magical cooperation, there had never been a time that the Champions ever actually cooperated like this group did. "Once we reach the hostages, though, we race for it." The group spent the remainder of the afternoon practicing the bubble-head charm, none of them leaving until even Harry, who was learning it from scratch, perfected it. The next six weeks were spent researching the creatures that lived in the Black Lake and practicing various spells that would work against them. Early on Moody had offered to show Harry spells that would work against merpeople and Harry got the impression that the defense professor had been trying to tell Harry what the task was, assuming Harry hadn't already worked out the egg. Harry politely declined, said he had it all worked out, though he noticed Moody hanging around any time he wasn't in the Goblins' tent. He had done the same thing for the first task, though Harry had written it off as a former auror looking after the Minister's ward. Now he wasn't so sure, though; Moody's interest appeared to be more than just care for a former employer's ward, though why and to what end Harry wasn't sure.

Finally the day of the Second Task arrived and Harry was missing having Ginny at his side. McGonagall had come for her yesterday and Harry had surprised his Head of House when he'd warned her that no harm better come to Ginny. Assuming correctly that he knew what the task involved given how unsurprised he was that Ginny was being taken, McGonagall had assured him that Dumbledore wouldn't let any harm come to any of the hostages. Her surprise at Harry's words had come when Harry then said that he wouldn't trust the Headmaster to protect a dung beetle, let alone someone so important to him. Any trust or respect Harry had had for Dumbledore had disappeared on learning that he'd left a piece of Voldemort inside Harry when he was just a baby. The Headmaster had tried several times since then to speak with Harry, but he wasn't interested. The one time he spoke to the old man was to tell him that anything he had to say to him could be passed through Griphook, and had better be in relation to finding the remaining horcruxes. They had found one more in the weeks following the discovery of them. It had been located at Hogwarts, which was unsurprising given how much Voldemort loved the castle, in a room full of lost things. The horcrux had been housed in the Diadem of Ravenclaw, another goblin made object that after being cleansed had been reclaimed by Ragnok. Since then they'd found nothing, though the search was far from over.

Standing on the platform in the middle of the lake with the other Champions, Harry was as prepared as he could be. A look to the others showed the same concentration and determination that he knew was reflected in his own eyes, though Fleur's were also slightly frantic. Looking around Harry saw Bill standing with Griphook, which meant they hadn't been stupid enough touch a veela's mate, so he concluded that she was worried for the replacement person that had been taken.

"It's her sister." Cedric muttered from beside him, rightly guessing why he was looking so often at Fleur. "She's ten years younger than Fleur…just a kid." Harry felt his blood run cold.

"They put a seven-year-old down there?" He growled and Cedric nodded. Anything else Harry might have said was interrupted by Ron who ran up to him crying that Hermione was missing.

"What?!"

"She wasn't at breakfast so I asked Lavender to go look in the girls' dorm but she wasn't there either. I can't find her anywhere!" Ron was near frantic. Harry cursed. He'd been so concerned for Ginny that he hadn't thought to look for Hermione this morning, though in his defense he hadn't thought she would have gone anywhere. "You don't think she's down there, do you?" He motioned to the Black Lake. Harry thought for a moment. Three of the hostages were known. Ginny for him, Fleur's sister, and Cho, Cedric's girlfriend. That only left Krum.

"Viktor!" Harry called. "Do you know who's down in the lake for you to rescue? Hermione's missing." The Bulgarian's eyes widened.

"Mione is missing?" Ron bristled at the nickname, especially that is contained a possessive 'my' sound.

"Her-mione." He ground out.

"She must be there for me. I haff no family or anyone else important to me here." The Durmstrang Champion said. Harry gritted his teeth.

"First we rescue Fleur's sister." He began issuing orders without realizing it. "I don't care that this is a competition, they put a child down there and I don't trust Dumbledore's promise no one will be harmed, so she's first. Once Fleur is away with her sister then we go free our hostages and get out of there as fast as possible." His tone left no room for argument, though luckily none of them had wanted to argue, none of them liking that a child not even of school age had been put in such danger. "Ron, go tell Griphook and Bill what's happened. Children are sacred to goblins and I don't want him killing those in charge of the tournament because he was caught by surprise." Ron nodded and ran off. Moments later a roared "WHAT?!" was heard. Harry refrained from looking at the goblin, but was glad that someone had had this reaction.

"Zank you." Fleur mumbled, taking Cedric's place next to him and leaning down to kiss him on both cheeks.

"What's your sister's name?"

"Gabrielle."

"We'll save Gabrielle, don't worry." Ludo Bagman then stepped forward to begin the tournament and when the sound of the cannon was heard all four Champions cast their bubble head charms, checking with each other to make sure they were properly in place before jumping in. The water was ice cold against his skin and Harry cursed himself. They had thought of every possibility of what they might face down here except for just how cold the water would be in February. Or rather, Harry hadn't thought of it, but it was clear that the rest of them had for Harry felt himself warm and turned to see that Cedric had cast a warming charm on him. While not as effective against water as it was air, the warming charm at least made the cold bearable, for which Harry was immensely grateful. The group began swimming towards the middle of the lake, knowing that merpeople liked to build their villages in the centre of whatever body of water they lived in as it was the furthest from land. It was slow going but they knew they were heading in the right direction when they started to hear the merpeople's song, the same one from the egg, and it began to grow louder. Along the way they were attacked by grindylows and it would have been the end of Fleur's participation if the others hadn't been there; they were all immensely glad they had decided to stick together. They were swimming through a darker part of the lake, a large outcropping of rocks almost extinguishing what sunlight managed to get down this far when the merpeople's song changed.

Your time's half gone so tarry not

Lest what you see stays here to rot

"At least they're keeping time for us." Cedric said, his voice muffled by the water. The bubble head charm let them speak normally as it kept an air pocket around their mouth, but the water still impaired their hearing. Luckily, though, they were swimming close enough to still just hear each other. Suddenly Harry whipped around, his wand drawn.

"Vot is it?" His actions naturally drew the attention of the others who were on guard as he was.

"I heard a voice." He replied, looking around for what had spoken.

"Not ours or ze merpeople's song?"

"No. Shush!" Harry listened intently. The last time he'd heard an unknown voice like this had been during the First Task when the dragon had spoken in broken Parseltongue, and the time before that had been when he'd heard the basilisk in the walls during second year. Following that conclusion, it wasn't hard to guess what he was hearing, but how and why when the piece of Voldemort's soul was gone from him was something he'd have to examine later. "Cedric, are there sea snakes in this lake?"

"It's a freshwater lake, Harry, sea snakes inhabit salt water. And the only snake native to Scotland are adders, which are not aquatic snakes." Cedric replied.

"Vot about a beithir?" Asked Viktor. "Are they not native to Scotland?"

"A what?" Asked Harry.

"A beithir, Harry." Cedric rolled his eyes. "It's a giant venomous snake said to roam mountains and valleys, but nothing says it lives in water, only that water can heal you if you get bitten. Not to mention that they're extinct, none have been seen since before Hogwarts was even built." Harry turned to face his fellow student, an exasperated look on his face.

"And basilisks didn't exist in Britain anymore either until suddenly one did." Not a moment later Harry was proven right as the rocky outcrop moved. The four Champions watched in a combination of awe and horror as a giant snake unwound itself from around the rocks. Its scales were murky green, with hints of blue where the sun shone on them, making it perfectly camouflaged in the murky water. There were two fins on either side of its head and more running along the top of its body and again on the tail. Its mouth was closed, forked tongue flicking out the centre, but Harry had no doubt that should it open its mouth there would be rows of venomous fangs. It wasn't quite as large as the basilisk had been, but it was getting close and Harry was not looking forward to fighting another giant serpent.

"You three go save the hostages. I'll handle this thing." He said.

"Are you mad?!" Cedric asked. "We're not leaving you." Fleur and Viktor clearly agreed for they swam forwards and raised their wands alongside Harry and Cedric. Harry was about to argue but the voice that he now knew to be the beithir spoke.

"Careful of the merpeople. They have already taken four captive today." Harry lowered his wand.

"You…you're warning us?" The beithir recoiled slightly.

"You can understand me?"

"Yes. It's a gift I have. Not really sure how or why."

"None have sspoken to me sssince a boy may yearss ago. He ssaid he was the lasst one alive who could ssspeak my language." Harry wasn't too surprised that Voldemort as a student here had discovered that a beithir lived in the lake.

"He lied. Or perhaps he truly thought he was the last one. He's not a good man."

"I know what he became. I hear the merpeople sspeak of him."

"Why are you warning us about the merpeople? And you're not going to attack us?" The beithir seemed to bristle indignantly.

"Not all ssserpentss are mindless monsterss like the one that lives in the castle."

"Harry?" Cedric interrupted. "What's going on?"

"He's not going to hurt us, he's warning us, I'm trying to find out why." Harry said quickly before turning back to the beithir. "I'm sorry. I meant no offense. And the basilisk is dead, by the way. I killed it two years ago."

"Good riddance." The beithir growled. "Ssuch beastss give uss snakess a bad reputation."

"Why are you warning us of the merpeople?" Harry asked again.

"They have taken four young oness captive today. I do not know why, but you musst be careful if you go to resscue them. The merpeople can be viciouss. I am sssurprissed four more young oness were ssent to resscue them." Harry relaxed slightly.

"They aren't real captives. There's a competition up at the school and the four of us are the competitors. Rescuing them is the task we were given. The merpeople were asked to participate."

"I ssee." The beithir's tongue flicked out again and its eyes moved between the four Champions, three who were quite obviously still on guard. "I will leave you then, young one. Your friendss sseem quite uncomfortable with my pressence."

"My name's Harry. And thank you for the warning. We appreciate your help."

"You may call me Silass. Goodbye, young Harry. Perhaps we will meet again."

"Goodbye Silas. And thanks again." The beithir swam off and once he was gone the three other Champions turned to Harry.

"It's not a secret that I speak Parseltongue." Harry shrugged. Though why he could still speak it with Voldemort's horcrux no longer in him he didn't know. "The beithir's name is Silas. He's not a mindless monster, he's actually quite intelligent. He didn't know about the competition so thought the merpeople just captured four students and wanted to warn us. Once I told him this was all planned he left cause he saw you were all uncomfortable. Now let's go, we're running out of time!" Harry began swimming again towards the merpeople's village.

"Only you could befriend a beithir, Potter." Cedric muttered and Viktor and Fleur laughed as they followed the youngest Champion. It wasn't long before they reached the village, most of which seemed to be made up of the ruins of some ancient civilization, or perhaps it just looked that way under water. It was easy to find the four hostages, they were in the centre of the village, and Harry felt his heart stop seeing Ginny so still. They were like statues, stiff and unmoving, looking very much like those who had been petrified in his second year. Bypassing Ginny for now, Harry cast a spell and snapped the rope holding Fleur's sister to the bottom of the lake. Fleur arrived then and immediately grabbed her sister and began to swim for the surface. Once she was away safely the three boys went to their own hostages and released them, beginning to swim for the surface as well. The bubble head charms broke the moment their heads breached the surface, and that seemed to be the key to releasing whatever spell had petrified the hostages as well for as soon air could enter their lungs they came back to life, spluttering in the freezing lake.

"It's alright, Gin, I've got you." Harry said wrapping his arm around her and beginning the swim back to the platform. "You're not hurt?"

"No." Ginny coughed. "But bloody hell it's cold!" Harry laughed and cast a warming charm on her then took a quick look around, seeing that Hermione and Cho seemed alright as well, both Viktor and Cedric helping them to stay above water as they worked through the disorientation they felt on waking in the lake. Looking ahead Harry was glad to see that Fleur and Gabrielle were already at the platform being helped out of the water, Fleur no doubt having used magic to speed up their return to the platform for she had been not even a minute ahead of them and they still had a ways to go. The three boys looked to each other and silently agreed that their alliance was over and began swimming back to the platform as fast as they could. They were all pretty evenly matched, though Harry was just about to overtake the other two in the last thirty feet of the journey when suddenly he was pulled underwater.

"Harry!" Ginny screamed. She dove under after him but a massive swirl of tentacles prevented her from even seeing Harry and without her wand she couldn't help him so returned to the surface. "It's grindylows!" She said to Cedric and Viktor who had abandoned the race and came over when they heard her scream. "Loads of them, they've got Harry!" Once again casting bubble head charms the two Champions dover underwater preparing to help their friend. Fleur, from her spot on the platform, had seen what was happening and didn't hesitate to cast her own charm and dive in again as well. She saw the boys casting spells at the grindylows but there were so many of them, it seemed that for every grindylow they hit two more took its place. Unfortunately they were limited with the spells that would work underwater and none of them knew of a spell large enough to hit all the grindylows at once.

"We can't reach him!" Cedric growled.

"Vithout a bubble head charm he vont last long."

"Keep at 'eet. I shall go for Dumbly-dore. 'E can 'elp!" Fleur took off back to the platform while Viktor and Cedric continued to fight the grindylows. They weren't at it long, though, when just as suddenly as they'd grabbed Harry, the grindylows released him and took off. It wasn't hard to see why, for coming at them at top speed, its mouth open and sharp fangs ready to kill, was the beithir. Both boys felt a moment of fear, but the giant snake didn't pay them any attention and instead wrapped its powerful tail around Harry before heading to the surface.

"Harry!" Ginny screamed again from her place on the platform where she, Hermione and Cho had been forced when the grindylows had attacked. The crowd screamed along with her, seeing what was wrapped around Harry. The adults in the audience all pulled their wands, pointing it at the beast, and Cornelius and Aldora, both of whom had again come to watch the task, gasped loudly. Harry was coughing up water the moment his head broke the surface, his lungs taking in large gulps of air, so it took a moment to notice what was going on, but when he did he yelled for wands to be put away. None obeyed him, though wands were lowered as the beithir gently placed Harry on the platform, it's tail unwinding from around him once he was safe.

"Thank you. You saved my life."

"I did not think I had to warn you of grindylowss as well, young Harry. They are well known to be viciouss creaturess."

"If I had known they were there I would have been more careful. I didn't think they'd come that close to the surface."

"Normally they wouldn't, but the excitement of your competition hass all creaturess in the lake behaving abnormally. I, for example, have never sshown mysself like thiss before." Harry reached out without an ounce of fear and laid a hand on Silas' head.

"I'm very grateful you did, though, I'd be dead if you hadn't. Thank you, my friend." Silas' tongue flicked out rubbing against Harry's cheek.

"It hass been a long time ssince I had a friend. I would enjoy sspeaking with you again, if you would vissit me."

"I will. Goodbye, Silas. And thanks again." With a final flick of his tongue Silas disappeared below the water once more and the wands trained on him were finally put away.

"You can't do anything normally, can you?" Ginny asked in both shock and awe.

"Apparently not. Though one as extraordinary as I can't be expected to be normal." He replied cheekily, accepting the swat to his shoulder as the two stood up and went to face the incredulous horde of spectators.

A/N - Review please!