The four champions were led down to the docks on the Black Lake, where Minister for Magic Crouch, Ludo Bagman director for Magical Sport, and the three Headmasters all waited the four champions.

Fleur Delacour noted the hungry photographers, all waiting for Fleur to show her swim suit for the task, and suppressed her sneer. English, French, the reporters were all the same. All they wanted from her was more skin and more scandal, the fact that she was already a witch far beyond any of their hopes and dreams to equal did not matter. She was pretty, and soon to be displayed in a bathing suit, and it is all they and the public cared about. Headmistress Maxime towered over all of them, and gave Fleur a nod. She would prove her worth. If this challenge was harder for her than for any of the rest, she would just have to work twice as hard to win it anyway.

Victor Krum noted Headmaster Karkarov's viscious smile directed at him, not the false bonhomie he usually slapped on when he was kissing Krum's ass to make sure his star pupil knew just how much his Headmaster was behind him. This was the smug smile that he showed those his cruelty was let lose upon. No one who had met Karkarov doubted the rumours of him being a Death Eater in the war. Krum was not sure why Karkarov dared to smile at his own champion that way now, but he was sure he would not like it.

Harry came down to the docks and looked over at the stands. Looking to the family guest sections he saw Sirius, Narcissa, Griphook, Fangborn as expected. He glanced at Hufflepuff and noted Neville, and Hermione were both there, Hermione was glaring at him and unwrapping a scarf from around her neck, wiggling it then pointing at the lake.

Hermione had been prepared she had her bathing suit on under her clothes, she had gillyweed grown specially by Neville to be extra potent in her pocket potion belt to deal with all the other champions and all the hostages in the event something went wrong. Hermione was not under Black Lake being a hostage, but in the stands. Griphook and Fangborn were in the stands, as was Sirius. Who was missing? Harry went cold. Hermione had unwrapped her scarf and wiggled it. Noodle. Where was Noodle? Harry reached through his familiar bond and got only the sense that he was sleeping. This was bad. Noodle was under water? Would potions even work on a snake? Noodle could only use mind magic and some related charms like notice me not and invisibility, he couldn't exactly cast a bubblehead charm. Noodle could swim under water for several minutes, but the challenge was over a hour long.

Harry gripped his wand, and fingered his knife. Again he wasn't allowed to bring anything else in that was magical. Luckily Milicent and Neville had been making him work inside the cold waters of the Black Lake every day, learning to identify and harvest the active portion of Gillyweed. Harry thought he was close to NEWT levels of underwater herb identification and harvesting, which was good because while he was allowed to bring whatever he wanted for himself to deal with the water problem, he was not allowed to bring anything for his hostages or the other champions.

Luna had said the Banshee screamed, but did not cry. Someone was going to die today, but not a child. Harry had decided it would not be a hostage or champion either. Harry turned to look at Cedric. The Hogwarts champion, his Quidditch captain and Hufflepuff Prefect, looked like a man being led to his execution. He looked defeated before the challenge even began.

Cedric looked up at the sound of his father, Amos Diggory. Amos shouted out to his son, cheering him on, telling him how proud he was of Cedric. Each word hit Cedric like a bludger, causing him to reel back, his face a hot mess of embarrassment, fear, and no little anger. Amos Diggory's face looked confused.

Barty Crouch stepped to the stage, looking far too energetic for the stoic and serious Minister for Magic. He grinned at the gathered champions and audience, touching his throat with his wand he cast his Sonorus and his voice boomed over the festivities.

"Witches, Wizards, and lesser species like reporters, it fills me with no small amount of joy to welcome you to the second task of the Triwizard cup. You will note the four large mirrors set in front of the stands, these are matched with mirrors in Durmstrag, Beauxbatons, and at our own Diagon Alley where the Ministry has funded a temporary theater so all Wizarding Britain can see each champion in their life and death battle beneath the waves, and more importantly the swimsuit competition."

Dumbledore and Madame Maxime tried to grab Minister Crouch's arm to censor the Minister, but Crouch ignored them, letting his security detail bar the angry Headmaster and Headmistress as Crouch continued talking.

"I know we are all looking to see the amazing display of witchly, ah, talents, that the Beauxbatons champion will have for us. Good thing the lake is cold or the other champions might embarrass themselves!" Barty Crouch leered and licked his lips.

In the audience, Mad Eye Moody began to frown. That was not the Crouch he was used to seeing. Granted the vicious old geezer had a staff up his ass that could double as a ship's mast, but he had never been anything but proper, to the point of prim. Alastor had locked up Barty Crouch junior, and knew where he had seen that lick lipping twitch before. If Alastor didn't know Barty Crouch junior died in Azkaban, he would swear that he was looking at him again. Maybe the old man's finally going soft in the head, and whatever rot existed in his son was finally coming to the surface. Still, Alastor would watch him. Keeping an eye on someone he wasn't looking at was harder, now that his real eye was growing back, but it was a skill he had only improved with the magic eye; it didn't rely on it.

"Minister Crouch pointed to the view screens. If you will cast your eyes upon the screen, you will see the hostages for our champions. They have one hour to retrieve their hostage, one hour in which the stasis spell of Headmaster Dumbledore will hold them safe beneath the waves. At the end of the hour, the stasis breaks, and any champion not recovered will be trapped dozens of meters beneath the lake, far from light, far from hope, far from air!" Minister Crouch grinned and licked his lips at the thought.

"For our first champion, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbaton, little eight year old Gabrielle, her baby sister sleeps beneath the waves! Will her sister come to her rescue, or will we all watch in horror as the stasis fails, and pretty little Gabrielle fights for air, chained to her stake in the Merman village at the bottom of the Black Lake!"

The mirror now showed a sleeping blond child in a pretty dress, chained with links of dull bronze to a stout wooden post driven deep into the lake bed. The girl's eyes were closed, and she did not breathe.

"Gabby!" Fleur yelled, then dropped her robe to stand in a blue one piece swimsuit that flattered her form, and a flat black wand holster strapped to her right wrist. She glared at the judges, impatient to be off to rescue her sister. The photographers went mad, snapping so many pictures the flash threatened to outshine the sun as the crowd cheered the image of Fleur replacing her sister, the magical camera eyes moving around the Veela beauty like a modelling display. Her face however, remained fierce and angry.

Barty Crouch gave a wolf whistle that had more than a few heads turning in disapproval to glare at him, but the Minister for Magic carried on unconcerned.

"For our Durmstrang champion, the Quidditch superstar Victor Krum, what witch could hope to capture his heart? None, for Victor Krum is a mama's boy! Say hello to mommy, Victor. Don't be late, or she might meet a cute Merman and leave your father." Barty laughed as the image of a late forties woman in simple jeans and a sweater hung unmoving from the post, her resemblance to Krum easily marking her as the boy's mother. Krum's face snapped to the Minister, and while he neither spoke nor made any gesture, the Minister flinched from the feeling of the champions magic transmitting his desire to do violence and even death to the British Minister.

Krum dropped his robes, and stood in what looked like a Muggle dry suit, running from elbow to knee, and made from some sort of black fabric. He turned to face the lake, poised like a wolf, prowling the limits of the ward keeping him from its surface.

Cedric looked at Minister Crouch who smirked back at him. "Cast your eyes on the third mirror witches and wizards. The Hogwarts Champion, the Hufflepuff Golden Boy, the hear and heart throb of every witch in the Hogwarts upper years, and no few among the female teaching staff all want to know, which witch has captured his heart. I see our Department of Magical Creatures head Amos Diggory is here, ready to find out if Cedric has left out any updates about potential marriage partners and future mothers of the Diggory heir.

Sorry Amos, it turns out Cedric's most precious one is none other than Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain and star chaser, Roger Davis. Sorry Amos, odds of him bearing your Diggory heir look bleak." Minister Crouch smirked as he watched Amos Diggory's face shatter, disbelief giving rise to a black and terrible anger.

While Cedric was universally admired, Amos Diggory had stalled in his current position due to his deeply prejudiced nature. Among his particular hatreds were magical creatures that did not know their place, those including Goblins, House Elves, Werewolves, and Centaurs. Other than that, his hatred was reserved for Dark Wizards and "sexual deviants" which was how he described any witch or wizard who did not marry one of the opposite gender right out of Hogwarts and live in eternal heterosexual monogamy until death.

No one in Hufflepuff, and indeed no one who had any family working in the Ministry of Magic in any capacity had any doubt that Cedric had never dared to tell his father that he was dating Roger Davis from Ravenclaw, even though the other boy was nearly his equal in academics, athletics, and birth status. To Amos Diggory who had Cedric's future planned to the last detail, there was no room for a gay son in the carefully crafted plan to make his son the future head of wizarding Britain, with a bride of a family even higher in status than their own family.

Cedric dropped his robes to stand revealed in long shorts that had one black leg, and one gold leg, with a wand holster on his right hip. He turned his face away from his screaming father, and towards the Black Lake.

Harry Potter walked over to Cedric and gripped his shoulder, the embarrassed Diggory turned to look at Harry who jerked up his chin in silent signal for Cedric to stop looking down.

Harry spoke loud enough to be heard by the sound amplification charms on the platform, and his words washed over the crowd, drowning out Minister Crouch's ill mannered laughter.

"Cedric, you are my captain, my prefect, the champion not of Hufflepuff, but of Hogwarts. That is one of ours down there, and you are going to get him back. This is just another match, you keep your head on a swivel, your eyes on the prize, and win like you always do." Harry said, ignoring the mix of cheers and boos coming from the audience. Wizarding Britain was somewhere in the last century when it came to gender roles and identity, which was odd because magic sometimes altered your body in ways far stranger than gender swaps frequently enough that they had no excuse for their parochial attitude.

Barty Crouch pointed his wand to the last mirror. "What have we here for the famous Boy Who Lived, who loves him enough to be selected by the Goblet of Fire to be his hostage?"

The picture flashed to a black rock viper with shining silver runes bound by bronze chain to a post deep in the bottom of Black Lake.

Minister Crouch shook his head in mock despair. "I know Harry Potter was raised by goblins, and starved for proper human affection, but he doesn't have a single friend, family member, girlfriend, or I guess even boyfriend who cares about him enough for the Goblet of Fire to detect. Instead, it had to take a pet, and a snake at that! Oh well Harry, at least yours is easier to replace. Do put in an effort anyway, or the Goblet will eat your soul!"

"Let the second challenge begin!" Minister Crouch shouted, and with a wave of his wand, started the countdown clock and dropped the ward stopping the champions hitting the lake.

Harry dropped his robes, and Hogwarts, its assembled guests and dignitaries, and all the viewing audiences around Wizarding Europe were treated to Harry Potter in a golden thong. Woven of actual gold, Hermione had given Fangborn and Glitterbright fashion magazines from Italy detailing the latest and most daring male swimsuits, along with the very clear statement that the Headmaster and Minister for magic want Harry to properly represent conservative wizarding values.

Obviously the answer for the goblin matriarch and Harry's goblin sister was to make him a gold woven thong that bared as much of his cheeks as was legal, and presented his assets in such a way as to improve their odds at non basilisk grandchildren ( or nieces and nephews ). Harry put his wand on his throat, touched his wand to his throat and cast Sonorus.

Harry pointed to his left ass cheek and gave it a slap. "Kiss my goblin ass Minister!"

Taking the Gillyweed from his robe pocket, he chewed it a few times, and dove into the lake as he felt the gills form on his neck. With his arms and legs adopting the transformation half way between full Merfolk and human, Harry's body adapted to the water totally, his eyes and ears reshaping to interpret the light and sound beneath the lake, even as his limbs reshaped themselves for powerful swimming like a sea lion. He cut through the water like an arrow, not towards the merfolk village, but down to the first dark, where the light changed from the overworld's pure sunlight to the dark green of perfect jade, the light with which magical plants that were free from the mortal energy of the light could grow in water mana and earth, taking only that light that had been bent to the will and nature of water to nourish itself.

He harvested Gillyweed by the bunch, and tucked it into the clever loops on his bathing suit. Harry had counted on its scandalous brevity being all the judges would see, not the spatial expansion loops at each hip that he now filled with fresh harvested Gillyweed to transform whoever needed it. He gathered enough for each champion, and hostage, then holstering his wand and goblin silver dagger, he began swimming slowly after the other champions.

He was a goblin warrior, deep in enemy territory. Enemies unknown, he would be just another shadow in the deep until all the threats were revealed.

-Minister of Magic's box.

Barty Crouch turned to his aid, Delores Umbridge, and cast a quick spell on her.

"Crucio!" Barty cast the unforgiveable, an watched his father's chosen instrument writhe in agony at his feet, smiling as the half dozen Aurors of his personal protection detail watched their precious "Minister for Magic" cast the unforgiveable torture curse on a Ministry undersecretary, and do nothing. That was the beauty of the Imperius Curse, if you got access to truly secure areas, and started with enough authority to isolate your targets of choice, taking over even the Minister's own entourage was ridiculously easy.

Barty leaned down and patted Delores cheeks. "Delores, do you mind if I call you Delores?" Barty asked, then Crucio'd her again, because he really didn't care. "Delores, I have no choice but to let the Boy Who Lived not only live, but put on a properly heroic show. I really want to kill him. He mocked me Delores. He dared to mock me in front of all the wizarding world. Granted he thought he was mocking my father, but still, he was mocking me. The Dark Lord needs him alive, and unhurt until the last challenge, and it was your job to whip him into being a good little Ministry lapdog before that happens."

Barty stood up, went to cast a third curse, and realized as soon as the last one finished, Delores had gone unconscious.

"Oh bother, not a lot of fun that one. My father can't even select durable toads. Probably better off as a tree, all things considered. Still, I do get to watch the extra Hogwarts Hufflepuff die. Merlin but it will be fun to offer Amos Diggory my condolences for the loss of his son, then rub it in his face that the last words Amos had spoken to him were screaming about being gay. He may bust a vein and die in front of all the reporters."

It had taken a lot of work, to reprogram the Ministry drones, the swimming automatons that broadcast the live feed back from the champions to the mirrors above the surface. The only reason Barty had been able to work the magic at all was the Death Eater masks and Dark Marks both contained a magical code key in Parselmagic that, if used together, would allow Death Eaters to pass through the anti-teleport and anti-portkey wards of Morsmordre, Lord Voldemort's own spell to put the Dark Mark above the sky of his targets, both trapping them and marking them.

With Lord Voldemort himself available, Barty had been able to adapt that sorcery to make the drones not see the Death Eaters Barty had sent to make sure that Victor Krum, the half blood and his Muggle Mother along with Cedric Diggory and his Ravenclaw lover, died tragic deaths, allowing only the Heroic Harry Potter and the beautiful Fleur Delacour to survive. Fleur was to die in the third task to demonstrate how amazing Harry was to survive it.

The devil, as his Dark Lord put it, was in the details, and Lord Voldemort was the devil. Two champions would die this day, for in the end, only Harry Potter must stand, the undisputed champion of the wizarding world. Only then will his death at the hands of a reborn Lord Voldemort be a fitting sacrifice and tribute to the Dark Lord's second coming.

Barty just loved it when things went right. He put his feet up on the whimpering form of Delores Umbridge, then sat back to enjoy the show.

-Victor Krum, approaching the Mer folk village

Victor had gone with partial human transfiguration. As an Animagi he had a much greater understanding of human/animal transfiguration than most. He had used this to partially transform himself into a bull shark.

His torso and neck were marked with the gills of the only large predator shark species that thrived in fresh water, and he bore it's shark's head, dorsal fin and tail. His arms remained human, and his wand was in his holster. He could only use chantless wanded magic down below the sea, but surface sounds could not invoke spells properly in water anyway, so his lack of human vocal cords did not matter.

His mother was a muggle. If she was down here when the stasis faded, she would drown. No spell or magic potion meant for witches would work on her, as she had no internal magic to fuel it. Karkarov must have known she was a muggle, and determined to use this to "accidentally" remove his champions unfortunate tie to muggles, and free him to be rebranded as a properly pure blooded champion. Krum noted that if his mother died, Karkarov would follow her into the grave.

The Mermen of the village boiled up to oppose him, the Death Eaters who hung back had Imperiused the Mermen to attack without hesitation mercy. Unfortunately for them, Krum saw them swim between his mortal mother and him, and had neither hesitation or mercy to spare either.

The charging Mermen with their tridents were used to being the apex predator of the deep waters, as the Kraken of Hogwarts rarely bothered with lesser beings. They knew their mastery over wizards in the ocean depths, and while this was normally true, it was not just false with the Death Eaters, but Victor Krum.

A seeker lives in a three dimensional world full of fast moving threats. The only protection he had was his senses and reflexes. Victor Krum was not actually the most agile seeker on the international stage, but he thought faster and held better situational awareness than his peers. The reaction speed deficit he made up with hard trained strength, forcing his broom into harder turns than anyone could match not through blinding speed but from faster thinking, and ruthless and unhesitating application of brute force.

As an experienced Animagi, he was not helpless in a strange body, but a master at functioning with senses human beings were not born with. While not a shark by nature, he had trained ruthlessly once the underwater nature of the task had been made clear, and if his awareness was not as natural as the Mermen, his teeth matched everything but the trident's reach, and Victor had a wand.

Exelliurmis was a basic disarming charm. As a duelist he had been drilled to cast it both chantlessly with a wand, and wandless with the chant, allowing him to either silently cast, or cast with his off hand to surprise his enemies.

The Mermen were surprised when the bull shark they charged to fight began to blast their tridents and nets from their hands, then tear through them with the terrible shredding teeth of a shark. The blood of the mermen was an emerald green in the strange light of the deeps, but the cold eyes of Victor Krum noted only targets, threats and obstacles between him and his mother.

In the Merman village, four Death Eaters snarled in their masks which served as bubblehead charms, drew their wands, and moved to intercept. Never trust a subhuman with work that belonged to their betters. Trusting that their Dark Lord's magic would shield them from detection by the hovering drones, they discussed briefly their strategy, then began to cast, using verbal and wand movements as the amount of mass they had to effect was large, and the amount of energy they needed to manipulate was frightening.

Still, only Voldemorts own Death Eaters would dare to covert that much of the Black Lake into ice, entombing the Durmstrang champion in an iceberg. The last sight of the shark would be his dear muggle mother, hanging on the post where she would drown when the hour was up, long before he melted free.

Krum moved through the Mermen with deliberate savagery, knowing that shock and awe would drive them before him like prey, before they could see if their numbers trumped his wand and shark body. There was little between him and his mother save the dark jade of the Black Lake when the shock of cold hit his skin.

The bull shark had been chosen because it tolerated fresh water, but it was a tropical shark, a cold blooded animal. Krum could feel body and mind growing slow and unresponsive. He drove his tail to push him farther and faster, past the unnatural cold pool, but it was vast beyond his worst nightmare, and now his thoughts grew sluggish. He tried to cast his most powerful Finite Incanto silently, but with his wand. Against whoever had cast this killing cold, it was not enough. Krum felt his vision going black.

- Cedric Diggory

Cedric had his packages of Gillyweed ready, but as he was rather more flexible as a mage with incantations and wand than with either chantless or wandless magic, Cedric had gone for the bubblehead charm.

Diving for the floor of the Black Lake, Cedric cast "Aqua Eructo" with his wand pointed behind him. He was so glad he had taken Care of Magical Creatures past his OWL level. The study of Kraken or giant squid had taught Cedric how some magical water creatures used jets of water to blast themselves through the sea faster than most swimming fish. Using a constant and controlled blast of water from his wand, Cedric found himself more flying than swimming through the lake.

Flying low over the weeds, Cedric hoped to remain concealed from whatever threats the Ministry team had set up, and he knew no Mermen would be close to the weeds due to fear of Grindylow attack. Cedric knew the Headmaster could not negotiate with the Gridelow like he could the more intelligent Mermen, so he knew they would not attack a wizard of obvious power who was moving too fast for mass pursuit.

Cedric grinned as the Grindylow erupted from the weeds, too slow to catch him. He was a seeker, and speed had always been his best armour, at least, when he didn't have Potter and Longbottom (his beaters) to actively defend him.

The Death Eaters posted in the weeds to control the Grindylows they maintained under Imperius were growing tired. Maintaining so many Imperius at once was draining, and the little green humanoids were so different from humans that the spell took more energy bending the slippery little beasts to their will.

As Diggory, the target selected for them to kill jetted past, they decided to intervene. A powerful "Finite Incanto!" came from the concealed Death Eaters, and popped Cedric's bubblehead charm.

Knowing he was under attack by wizards, and unable to see the presumably disillusioned attackers, Cedric knew he needed concealment, as he doubted without incantation any spell of his could block their attacks, and he had little experience casting spells in water.

Faking clutching his throat, Cedric let out a stream of bubbles as if he was drowning, covering his shoving Gillyweed in his mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, he saw the Grindylows charging, and reviewed his magical options. Without chanting, which years of experience were required to do underwater, his spells were relatively low level.

Again, Care of Magical Creatures, bless Hagrid's oversized heart, came to his rescue. With a grin, and nod to the Weasley twins constant pranking that made this spell chantlessly reflexive and almost effortless, Cedric began to cast Scourgify.

Casting it at people would wash their mouths out with soap. Casting it at a creature that exchanged oxygen through gills or its skin would drown them as soap disrupted their exchange membranes. The horde of panicking and scattering Grindylows were perfect cover. Cedric worked through a slow rune based illusion spell, carving the rune in ice in the water itself, Cedric cast a disguise on himself that made him look like a Grindylow, then cast a Notice Me Not on himself to make him the least interesting Grindylow in the swarm, and began slowly swimming towards the Mer Village and Roger Davis. He better get boyfriend points for this.

-Fleur Delacour

Knifing through the water like the athlete that she was, Fleur was protected by her bubblehead charm, and wrapped in a powerful invisibility charm. Whatever traps the English ministry had laid, she would simply avoid them. There was nothing she would permit to get between her and Gabrielle. She had gillyweed enough to save both of them, but if she used it on herself, she lost most of her magic. If she took too long to reach Gabrielle, then she would drown before Fleur could save her.

Passing the Grindylow, she noted a great ball of them thrashing around like they were dying. This brought Grindylow from all over, and worried the Veela champion. Hundreds would be too many to face, even for her.

She swam through the water with efficiency, trusting her invisibility to hide her from threats she could not waste time or magic fighting.

The Death Eaters, exhausted from holding so many dying Grindylow on task while the Diggory boy drowned, could not find the boys body. Searching frantically, because the boy had to be seen to die for the Dark Lord's purpose to be served, one of them saw a target his mask highlighted.

Evard Carnarvon was a Death Eater of pure but unremarkable blood, and while he was a decent fighter with his wand, his expertise was more surveillance and infiltration. He was one of the leading experts on the uses of the many charms Voldemort had woven into his Death Eater's masks.

One of the best was the invisibility detection. Against a Death Eater in his mask, it was better to simply trust a notice me not to make yourself uninteresting. Actual invisibility may have been a flare to draw his attention. Evard signaled his companions to begin directing their Grindylow to the new target, then blasted out a Finite Incantum with all his power.

Fleur felt her bubblehead and her illusion spell fail, just as she noted the swarm of Grindylow coming from all directions. No. She would not permit it. Gabrielle's life depended on her. Fleur stuffed the Gillyweed into her mouth and felt the gills form.

Without chanting, she did not have spells enough to get through the Grindylow, her allure was useless against them, if anything making her more a target. Her fire would not serve her so far below the hated water.

Fleur had spent her whole life being told to always act human, never let her other self be seen. She had been half a Veela out of fear of humanity remembering Veela were more than just beautiful women with magical charm, but rather a kind of lesser fairy, a bird creature who used its allure and ability to adopt human form to prey upon, and mate with human men trapped by their charm.

Always pretend to be nothing but human, while Veela were exploited for their beauty, they were not destroyed as a species that began as one of the fairy races bred to prey upon humans. Fleur had accepted this until she had seen the little boy, Harry Potter, one with not a drop of human blood, proudly boasting and embracing his Goblin identity in the face of his own Headmaster and Minister of Magic's anger.

Fleur was done pretending. Done pretending to be less than she was, half a Veela. A pretend human. They thought to take her magic away, lock her from the sky and fire, take her voice and her spells away?

Fine. Let them find out what they hunted was no weak witch helpless without chanting magic. Fleur let the rage take her, let the change take her. Her head stretched into a powerful beak, her arms to half wings with her hands replaced by terrible wing talons. Her feet grew to be eagle claws half the size of a Hippogriff.

Her wings driving her through the water like a osprey looking for fish, she met the rising cloud of Grindylow with beak and talon, and the water went dark with blood. The Death Eaters fought to keep control of themselves as the powerful allure of the most potent Veela in all of Europe sang its siren song to lure them to their deaths, sang for them to lay down all thoughts of doing anything but worshipping and adoring the terrible thing that danced amidst the dying Grindylow.

Dividing their attention between resisting the magical allure of the Veela they were here to kill and tracking the same creature as it dove through schools of Grindylow like some sort of pint sized aquatic dragon, they did not notice the small figure swimming up from behind.

Harry Potter had no great list of spells he could cast silently. His list held very few of combat utility, mostly disarming, knockback (which he didn't think would work under water), the summoning charm, banishing charm, and a few first year jinx. His most potent weapon was not actually a weapon at all, the simple Notice Me Not charm made him the least interesting thing in its targets view. Given they were actively fighting the effects of Veela charm, and tracking Fleur in the swirling knot of Grindylow, they could be forgiven missing Harry swimming up.

Forgiven by anyone whose parents had not been murdered by Voldemort. Harry leaned back as he threw his whole body weight into cutting the rear wizard's throat. It took four more hacks before the head came off, and Harry tied it by its hair to his golden thong.

Harry swum on to the next Death Eater. The remaining Death Eaters noticed many of their Grindylow bolting from combat as their controlling mind died, but didn't immediately suspect one of their own dying was the reason.

One of the Death Eaters cast a stunner, the second a cutting curse, the third a blasting hex.

The stunner nailed a Grindylow, which honestly got it out alive, as the cutting curse cut a second in half even as the blasting hex set off an explosion that was far more damaging underwater. Two Grindylow died, but Fleur and the closest Grindylow were stunned.

The shouts of triumph of the Death Eaters died as the second of their number had his throat cut by the silently swimming goblin, or boy, depending on whose bestiary you were looking Harry Potter up in today.

The two remaining Death Eaters panicked, and almost earned themselves the wrath of their Dark Lord as they both cast "Avada Kedavera!" At the blood covered figure swimming out of the dark.

Harry, being much smaller than an adult, ducked behind the dying man, and as he was still dying, not dead, the two killing curses ripped Harry's victim's soul from his body in brutal overkill. Harry poked his wand around the corpse and disarmed the first Death Eater, who discovered losing a wand underwater was not like losing it above ground. It disappeared into the depths, its core heavier than water and dragging the wand into the depths of the muck of the Scottish loch floor.

The last Death Eater began sending stunners at Harry Potter, recalling the orders to keep him alive, while the disarmed Death Eater swam deeper looking for his wand, and attempting wandless and chantless Accio to summon his wand, while unclear as to what direction she should be aiming it.

The wandless wonder missed the dark predator arrowing above his head, as the wings of death passed over him as unworthy. Fleur Delacour closed upon the last Death Eater, and grabbed his mask. Assuming that inside the mask was some version of the bubblehead charm, she summoned her Veela fire to fill the inside of the mask.

Fire roared through mouth, nose, lungs, searing the eyeballs, and consuming the available oxygen inside the mask at the same time its Veela fire magic disrupted the delicate charms of its systems as the runic array was physically broken by flame damage.

Leaving that Death Eater to sink down and finish dying alone, Fleur and Harry confronted the Death Eater who lacked his wand, and desperately Apparated out to avoid capture or death. Harry wondered if running to Voldemort worked out better than death in battle. He doubted it, but Death Eaters were predators, not warriors. They fought the weak, and fled the strong. Their instincts made them weak when confronted.

Together they swam towards the Mer folk village and the hostages after Harry cut off the heads of the other two Death Eaters. Fleur thought briefly about it, before knotting the hair of one of them to one of the strap of her bathing suit. Someone thought that her Gabrielle was bait, and that Fleur was prey. Perhaps it was time they remembered that Veela used to be a fairy tale creature humans whispered about in the dark, for fear one would come for them.

She was done hiding.

Cedric found Victor, it had to be Victor, trapped in a block of ice, half transformed into a shark. He was slowly rising to the surface, and clearly too cold to move. Cedric could not shatter the ice, not chantlessly, but he could do the warming charm, and a quick Renervate to wake and begin to reheat the boy.

Given Victors power, he would be surprised if warmed and awakened, he could not free himself quickly from the ice. Cedric was about to descend for his hostage when the green light of the killing curse past him to shatter a quarter of the ice binding Krum.

Cedric bolted, aware no shield could block the killing curse, but not aware of any magic he had which could transfigure water into an effective shield. Panic began to set in as Cedric saw four figures rising from the darkness, each bearing the white mask and individual faces of Death Eaters.

Cedric would be terrified to face one of the legendary killers on dry land where he could chant. Facing four under the water, he knew his only chance was to flee. If he did, the hostages would die. Victor was trapped in the ice, he didn't see Harry or Fleur.

Amos Diggory had very strong ideas about what it took to be a man. Cedric was sure that Amos could never forgive him for who he chose to love, but that didn't matter. Amos taught him that a man defended those he loved, and those who depended on him no matter the cost. He was too Hufflepuff to run, and too tired to despair.

He charged, disarming and stunning spells flying off his wand as he darted madly using every bludger dodging reflex in his Seeker trained body. If this was his last fight, he would meet it face to face.

Harry and Fleur opened the fight with two powerful stunners cast at the Death Eaters closing on Cedric.

Unfortunately, only one hit, and the second one was swatted away with a duelists wand generated point shield. That Death Eater turned to begin spraying spells at Fleur whose Protego protected both Harry and herself as long as she could hold the power intensive thing under the battering.

Harry grabbed his gillyweed and taking careful aim, banished it at one particular, and small target.

In the seconds that took, the free Death Eater cast renevervate on his stunned companion, and four highly trained Death Eaters in masks that gave them the equivalent of a bubblehead charm, and thus chanting magic available, turned to face three half or less trained children, none of whom could cast chanted magic under water.

No one expected the fight to last long. Harry had a slightly different reason for not expecting the fight to last long, but he could be forgiven this odd difference, because he had banished his gillyweed into a particular mouth. A mouth he could no longer see bound to his post.

Noodle was a most unhappy snake. Now being a reptile of taste and breeding, he was too well mannered to point out the many failings, and there was quite a list, of his favorite mammals. That being said, he had one serious issue to take up with his Speaker.

The idiot child kept trying to get killed. How he was allowed to undertake any of these challenges without adult reptile supervision he could not understand. At least Speaker had the good sense to love Noodle most of all. This was just right and holy, but would never earn him a mouse of his own from Mouse Giver. It would not earn him even the right to scratch behind his jaw where he itched after a good molt if Speaker got himself killed before Noodle could save him.

Noodle being the creature Speaker loved most meant two equally important thing, firstly, his Mouse Giver was safe on land. Secondly, the Death Eaters who sought to harm his Speaker were trapped alone in the darkness of the lake where mere humans were little better than prey, with the greatest reptile that ever slithered the earth (with the exception of Harry's mate, but Queen Basilisk over a thousand years old should not be allowed in normal lists anyway).

Noodle didn't know if his notice me not charms worked, but a black snake in the deep dark of the bottom of Black Lake was less than a shadow, and struck as fast as any fishing spear. Honestly, if the Speaker kept getting more powerful, Noodle's venom might start dissolving things into goo like the basilisk. The first Death Eater Noodle struck began thrashing like he had been hit by lightning, but gave no cry, nor made any attempt to activate the mask's portkey for emergency extraction.

How convenient.

Speaker had got himself disarmed, and his Quidditch Captain had gotten himself stunned, but the Shining Maiden was doing well to keep everyone alive.

Noodle closed on the second Death Eater and gave the fool his stated desire, the taste of death. It must have been everything the Death Eater dreamed of, because he never spoke, nor attempted to strike back, merely writhing in what Noodle chose to think of as ecstasy from the very great honour of taking the venom of Speaker's own Noodle.

That or it hurt worse than a basilisk venom enema. Noodle made a note to use Legimency on one of these Death Eaters to find out which.

That last kill got him detected, and a cutting curse slashed through the water at Noodle. Was he not the mighty Noodle? Was he not limber as any actual Noodle, and blessed with a reptilian desire to remain alive and unhurt in a world full of mammals who praised each other for doing dangerous and damaging things like being hurt was somehow not stupid?

Noodle dodged, and began to think about how he was going to get close enough to bite this last Death Eater if he kept using water jets to scoot away from him. Speaker and the Shining Maiden were busy rescuing hostages, leaving Noodle to deal with serious matters. This was, of course, proper, as killing was reptile business. Monkeys, even or especially monkeys with wands always made a mess of it.

As Noodle was working to close the distance, and beginning to get frustrated, the Wolf who is Not a Wolf, who was also not a shark, but awfully close to one at the moment shot down and drove his shark teeth into the neck of the last Death Eater.

Well, that was fitting. A shark was basically a reptile that had gone slightly wrong a few million years ago, then stopped changing at all when they realized they were only becoming less perfect. He would allow this almost reptile to have one Death Eater of his own. It would not make him a true reptile, but Noodle was a well raised snake, and was not going to be greedy about prey he wasn't planning on eating anyway.

Now, where had his Speaker gotten to?

There was a very small girl, she looked like Shining Maiden, but not quite. Noodle decided she was Glitter. This small girl was sobbing, which did not work with gills at all, and trying to speak to her sister, which honestly wasn't working well at all either. Shining Maiden being brighter than most mammals was simply hugging the little one. Being smarter than most males was a trait shared by Water Witch and Mouse Giver, making Noodle wonder if mammal brains were actually mounted in their breasts. This would explain why so many witches were smarter than Seeker and Root Singer. This would explain why the little girl, Glitter, was not smart enough to realize she could not talk under water. The girl had not grown her boob-brains, leaving her no brighter than mammal males, which Noodle knew was barely smart enough to operate door knobs and scratch itchy spots on his skin.

Noodle would fix things. It was what his Mouse Giver would expect, and would impress Speaker once again with his reptilian superiority. This kept Speaker from the delusion his insane ways to risk his life could be mistake for plans. Noodle planned, Speaker improvised in strange and disturbing ways until large numbers of people were dead, and something was on fire. Not bad results, but hard on a growing reptile's blood pressure.

Noodle felt the wash of Shining Maiden's allure as it surrounded the weaker child, Glitter, and stopped her sobbing. That was good. Noodle wrapped around both woman and girl child, and thrust his mind into the small one with delicacy no mere human could muster.

Harry called this process "Info dump" but since that is also what he called Mouse Giver providing detailed information necessary for survival, Noodle chose to rise above Speakers ignorance, and simply transfer Noodle's understanding of their situation and plans to Gabrielle.

Since Noodle could not stop distracting the small girl, he let her cuddle him like Mouse Giver often did, while his Speaker continued cutting off Death Eater heads. It was Goblin custom, and his Speaker was competing as a goblin, let the Ministry and Liar of Light get a taste for what that meant.

As an afterthought, he turned and provided the same for the Shining Maiden. The two Veela now aware of Speaker's plan, they formed up together, four champions and four hostages, and swam for the surface together.

-Minister's box.

"He can't do that! Only Potter and the wench were supposed to survive. This is the Dark Lord's plan. What right does that half blooded goblin loving sacrificial offering think he is doing?" Barty shouted, Crucioing two of his guards, and Umbridge once more as he watched all four Champions and hostages step from Black Lake in a line, holding hands.

The crowd went wild, cheering filled the stadium until Harry, Fleur, Victor, and Cedric's hips cleared the water, and the crowd noticed the Death Eater masks, with skulls still in them, hanging from their suits.

Cheering turned to screaming, and the veterans of the last war looked up at the magical big screens to notice that the Death Eater masks failed to show on the big screen, but were visible to the naked eye. These were real Death Eaters, ones that had stalked the champions beneath the waters of Black Lake while the Ministry, its Aurors, the Headmasters of the schools sat in happy ignorance on the shore.

Dumbledore's face paled, Karkarov fell off his chair, screaming in alarm. Madame Maxime rose instantly, her wand in hand. Photographers flashes went off, and Rita Skeeter charged the water, uncaring about its temperature.

There was a hot scoop to be had right now. You could regrow toes, but you could not regrow an exclusive!