Harry owled Sirius telling him about what happened with Mr Crouch in Snape's office, and then after that, we turned our attention to trying to work out how he could breathe underwater for an hour on February 24th.
Ron quite liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again — Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an AquaLung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.
"Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing. . . ."
"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," said Harry. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me. . . ."
"I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," said Hermione seriously. "No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm."
So we poured over every book in the library we could find to try and get something of use, but to our immense frustration, we couldn't seem to find anything at all, no matter what we looked at, even in the restricted section! What made it even worse is that I was sure I had read something about it somewhere before, but I couldn't quite remember what it was. It was infuriating! We began to get more and more desperate, and Harry more and more nervous as the task drew closer. With two days left, Harry started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl he had sent to Sirius. It was a very short one.
"Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl"
"Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Harry's shoulder. "Here — take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
Harry did so.
"Wait!" I said, but the owl flew away too quickly.
"What?" said Harry
"You could have asked him how to breath underwater!" I said, burying my face in my hands
"Fuck! Ohh it's too late now, for god's sake!"
"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron.
"Dunno," said Harry replied to him dully. "Come on . . . Care of Magical Creatures."
By the time the evening of the 23rd arrived though, we still hadn't gotten any closer to finding our answer, and it was beginning to look like Harry might have to forfeit the task. This was especially disheartening considering that Hagrid had told him very confidently that he would win the tournament. Demelza, Amy, Magda and Luna were all just as clueless as we were, I'd asked them. Harry had done me a massive favour by keeping his word of not telling them about my blunder in the prefects bathroom. I was wondering when I would be taken aside to be escorted down into the lake.
We sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of us. My heart gave a huge leap every time I saw the word "water" on a page, but more often than not it was merely "Take two pints of water, half a pound of shredded mandrake leaves, and a newt . . ."
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."
"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."
"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."
"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!" She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before.
"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, facedown, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."
"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron. "Or a frog," yawned Harry. He was exhausted. "It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions.
"Professor McGonagall told us, remember . . . you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office . . . what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it. . . ."
"Hermione, I was joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning. . . ."
"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," said Fred's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
We looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ginny"
"Why?" I said, feigning ignorance.
"Dunno . . . she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred.
"We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George
"What's this about, Ginny?" Hermione said slowly, and I think she suspected by my facial expression, one of resignation, that I knew.
"No idea" I said unconvincingly, and leaving them to their confusion, I followed Fred and George out of the library.