Hi everyone! If you read my notes on the last chapter, you'll know that I've been having a rough time recently and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to update, but I decided to sit down and write something because I'm on break, and this is it! Thank you so much to those of you who left a supportive comment and everyone who came back to read after my inordinately long break - you guys keep me going! I'm planning another chapter soon, either within this upcoming week or over the holiday break. It turns out writing is rather therapeutic :) Anyway, please enjoy!
As the Second Task approached, Harry faced it with not a small amount of trepidation. It was true that he felt prepared, genuinely prepared - he had followed up with Neville about the book placed conveniently on his nightstand and found out about a plant, Gillyweed, that was perfectly suited to his needs. He'd had just enough time to place an order by owl for an appropriate quantity, and it had arrived several days in advance, in perfect condition. In theory, Harry was quite ready to face the lake and whatever lay in its depths.
This didn't stop him, of course, from overthinking. When he wasn't contemplating the mysterious theft that the egg had hinted at, he was thinking about Ginny. As the winter weather had geared up through January, they hadn't had much time together out on the pitch, and he was left imagining conversations in his head, waving at her when she passed, and trying not to let on to Ron how much she filled his dreams. There had been several dicey Divination lessons where he had been put on the spot by Professor Trelawney and was forced to invent something or risk confessing to Ginny's overwhelming presence in his subconscious.
The dreary days moved by, and suddenly it was the night before the task, and Harry was sitting in the common room with Ron, surrounded by whispering Gryffindors. They were supposed to be making a dent in the copious amounts of homework assigned to fourth years, but the two of them were nervously conversing instead, as the rest of their housemates shot Harry alternatingly enthusiastic and anxious looks. None of them knew how tomorrow would go, but they all knew that a chance for Gryffindor glory sat on Harry's shoulders.
After an hour of discussing increasingly ridiculous theories about the contents of the lake, from a hidden school of giant squids to an enchanted graveyard hidden beneath the surface, they resolved to go to bed. Ron glanced around surreptitiously, then mused,
"Have you seen Hermione? She was at dinner a little later than us 'cause of that Binns essay, but she hasn't come up yet. It's nearly curfew!"
Harry frowned. Ron was right of course - they were both on their way to bed, and their friend was nowhere to be seen. It was very unlike her to be late for anything.
"She's probably been caught up in a consultation," Harry rationalized, "and she'll come up with a signed note in twenty minutes."
"Yeah," muttered Ron, "she wouldn't miss the task. Let's get to sleep, and we'll find her in the morning."
The two of them rose from their chairs, stretching after their prolonged seated position, and gathered up the various papers and textbooks scattered on the coffee table beside them. As the rest of the Gryffindors noticed them heading towards the stairs, they called out, cheering and clapping, distracting Harry slightly from his anxiety. If he was honest with himself, there was only one face that he was scanning the crowd for, one person whose encouragement would mean the most, but he could not find her. Come to think of it, Harry hadn't seen Ginny in several hours - in the past couple of weeks, they had often sat with each other in the evenings, writing essays together and debating animatedly about the professional Quidditch season. It was rather odd that she wasn't here, smiling with her friends and sending charms around the room to entertain Crookshanks - but then, maybe he was just thinking that because he wanted to see her.
As he traipsed up the stone steps to his dorm, Ron closely behind him, Harry felt his spirits fall slightly. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but the absence of Ginny's blinding grin and witty charm lighting up the common room, the lack of a good-luck hug, made him feel bereft for some reason. He and Ron got ready for bed in hushed tones, trying not to wake the already-snoring Neville as they made their final predictions for the Task, failing to keep their minds off of whatever dangers lay in the day ahead. Fitfully, after many hours of tossing and turning, Harry fell asleep.
When he woke, the light was barely piercing through the window next to his bed, and the rest of the boys were still fast asleep. Winter was deceptive, though, and it was later than it appeared: the Second Task began in two hours. Harry rose quietly, slipping out of bed and tugging on his clothes with a slight tremble in his hands. He chose to dress lightly, rationalizing that a heap of wet clothes would be colder when coming out of the lake than only a single layer, and, with the mound of Gillyweed stuffed in his pocket, proceeded down the stairs and into the common room.
Harry glanced around hopefully, but Ginny was nowhere to be found. Now feeling thoroughly worried - Ginny was always an early riser, thanks to her nightmares - he pushed open the portrait hole and headed down the many stairs to the Great Hall. He spent quite a while at the Gryffindor table, nibbling on a piece of toast with no real appetite, and an hour had passed before Ron sat to join him, still yawning. Glancing around the way Harry had done earlier, Ron frowned.
"Okay," he wondered, "where is Hermione? Last night was odd enough, but she would've been down here before any of us, reading up on any last-minute tips."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, as people continued to trickle into the Hall, chatting animatedly, "it's weird that she's not here. I've been here a while, too. Maybe she went down to the lake early?"
"Maybe," Ron complied, but neither of them were comforted.
Harry's anxiety only increased as students walked around them, placing loud bets and patting him on the shoulder. His stomach was starting to churn, making the toast seem practically inedible, and he finally stood up when half an hour remained before the Task. Recognizing the expression on his face, Ron stood too, and they walked out of the hall together in silence.
As they approached the lake, Harry analyzed it carefully. Hermione was, to his and Ron's dismay, completely absent from the scene; bleachers were raised at the shore, and the judges sat at a velvet-covered table, conversing quietly. The stands were mostly empty for now, but Harry could picture them full of students, waiting for the failure or success of their champion. Calm down, he chided himself, it's no different than Quidditch. Except it was, most definitely, different than Quidditch.
Harry and Ron watched the crowd carefully as more people began to trickle in, but there was no sight of Hermione or Ginny, and Ron was eventually forced to go find a seat in the stands by Fred and George, leaving Harry with a pat on the back and an encouraging word or two. Harry turned to face the lake, rather than watch the audience, as he walked towards the other contestants. He could not tell what their strategies were, but it didn't really matter - all that mattered was retrieving his stolen item and making it out with his lungs intact.
In no time at all, the judges started their countdown, and, with a bang, Harry stuffed the Gillyweed into his mouth and dove into the water. It was freezing - he almost immediately felt his limbs going numb - but he was more concerned with the way his lungs were constricting, squeezing the air out of him. After several strained seconds, he had no choice but to breathe, and he opened his mouth, cursing the situation- but it was fine. The water slid through the newfound gills along his neck as smooth as the air did on the ground, and he could breathe. He glanced down at his hands, which were now webbed, green, and scary-looking. If he didn't know better, he'd say he was mutating.
Shaking his head, Harry thought once more of the task and paddled further into the murky green water. The silence was punctuated by unsettling sounds, and he felt oddly uncomfortable as the infinite landscape of gloom sailed by him, but he kept his focus. Harry didn't have any idea where the stolen things might be hidden, so he pushed forward, looking for a sign of some kind of life beyond the slimy reeds and the small creatures hissing on the floor of the lake below him.
Eventually, he heard noises, and not just scary sea creature noises - language. In their preparations, he and Ron and Hermione had researched merpeople, and Harry recognized the screechy sounds of their dialect in the distance. As he listened closer, he realized they were singing the song from the egg, and he pushed his flippers harder, propelling forward in the darkness.
He soon approached a town of some sort - huts carved into large boulders and silvery merpeople slicing through the water on either side of him. They did not stop him, so Harry continued, swimming towards what he thought was the center of the town, anchored by a huge, menacing statue. He thought he saw rag dolls tied, floating, to the waist of the huge stone bust, and he hurried forward.
As he approached, his heart gave a jolt: there, lifeless and cold, floated Ginny, her vibrant hair muted in the dark water and swirling carelessly around her. Harry let out a shout (which was only bubbles under the water) and struggled towards her, trying to calm his racing heart. Surely they wouldn't hurt her, not for a trial. The danger was supposed to be for him, not her. He reached out for her arm, struggling to find a pulse, but it was there, and he hung his head momentarily in relief. This scene was too similar to the chamber years ago, where he had run in and thought he was too late, thought she was dead.
Harry's heart lurched at the thought that he was the one putting her in danger - his connection to Voldemort in his second year, and their blooming friendship now. Was she going to be a casualty of his curse? No, she was too good, too kind for that. He would get her out of this.
Reaching forward, he felt for the rope attaching her to the stone. It was thick and sturdy, and he was not likely to be able to break it easily. Jagged stones were lying at the bottom of the lake beneath him, but instead, he pulled out his wand, carefully aiming it away from Ginny and towards the rope. He thought of the evenings he had spent poring over textbooks with her in the past months, chatting about their favorite classes, and was reminded of a spell she had mentioned, the severing charm.
Untested magic was not his strong suit, but in this moment, Harry felt he could have done nearly anything to overcome the anxiety in him, the choking feeling in his chest as he stared at Ginny's lifeless face.
"Diffindo!" He murmured, and the ropes fell off of her, leaving her drifting in the gentle current. Harry grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her and securing her at his side as he stared around hopefully, looking for the other contestants. He was ready to return, ready to see the life come back to Ginny as it had in that stunning moment in the chamber, but he could not leave the other hostages here. Hermione was there, Cho too, and a young girl that couldn't be more than ten years old. He looked towards the ring of merpeople, watching from a distance, and listened to their song.
"...Your time's near gone, so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot…"
The choir sang eerily, and Harry shuddered at the thought. Surely the others would be here soon, but perhaps he could help them along a bit, and he set to work freeing their bonds, keeping a tight hold on Ginny as he did so. The others, once freed, floated in place, and Harry swam back, cradling Ginny in his arms as he waited for the other champions. He saw figures approaching in the distance, and Cedric and Krum became visible in the murky water. They swam straight to their hostages, grabbing them carefully, and as they set out towards the surface, Harry gestured frantically at Cedric, whose head was encased in a large bubble.
Harry could not speak, but he waved towards the little girl with silvery hair, clearly a relative of Fleur's, and looked meaningfully at Cedric. He shook his head. "I haven't seen Fleur since the start," Cedric said, his voice traveling weirdly in the water. Frowning, he secured Cho and began to swim towards the surface. Harry bit his lip, glanced at his no longer working watch, then towards the merpeople, who were inspecting him carefully. The girl was not his to save, and they would likely put up a fight, so he thought quickly.
With Ginny's head propped gently on his shoulder and his arms around her waist, he swam over to the small girl. Surreptitiously, he tied a floating bit of rope to her hips and wrapped his wrist securely around it, then began to ascend. It took a moment for the merpeople to notice that an unclaimed hostage was leaving, but once they did, there was chaos.
Harry, whose breath was already getting shorter as the effects of the Gillyweed faded, shot stunners behind him as best he could with his hands still tight around Ginny and the rope holding the girl. He pushed towards the surface, straining as the light got clearer and brighter, kicking at the hands that grabbed him. As water began to fill his lungs and he thought he might drown, stolen away to rot at the bottom of the lake, he finally felt the bite of the cold air against his skin and was able to breathe again.
Coughing, he looked down at Ginny as her eyelashes fluttered, and he was finally gifted with the sight of her warm brown eyes staring up at him. Unable to help himself, he wrapped his arms around her more fully, tucking his head into her shoulder, heart racing when she returned the embrace. It was probably cold and dreary around them, but Harry couldn't be more happy; Ginny was safe and in his arms.
As he looked up, he saw Fleur desperately clinging to the little girl, seizing towels to dry her, and Harry chuckled at the sight. Meanwhile, the Weasley boys were splashing over towards them, eager to get to Ginny, and Harry reluctantly released her from his grip as she was heralded towards the shore and smothered by four stressed brothers.
Once away from Ginny, Harry realized that it was, in fact, freezing, and he hurried over to Madam Pomfrey who wrapped him in a towel and plopped him right next to Ginny to await his score. "Are you alright?" He asked hurriedly, anxious to hear the answer - this was surely not the romantic escapade she deserved. Beaming, she settled her head on his shoulder, and Harry felt the worry drain out of him. "I've never been better," she whispered, and her voice was the thing he was looking for, the thing that told him once and for all that she was okay and they were okay and everything was going to be okay.
Harry barely listened as the judges announced the scores, and had only the vague impression that he and Cedric were tied for first place as the champions rose to head back to the castle. He looked down at Ginny, who was standing awkwardly beside him, seemingly unsure, and he smiled.
"Walk with me?" Harry offered, gesturing towards the quiet path up by Hagrid's cabin.
"Yes, please," Ginny grinned, and Harry glowed inside.
They huddled in their towels, laughing at their equally messy hair, and began to hurry up the path. A lingering thought nagged at Harry, though, and he slowed as they walked further from the crowd, wondering whether to voice it. Ginny, as usual, saw his struggle and handled it for him.
"What's on your mind?" She asked, doe eyes peeking up at him, and he sighed.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Harry said, shame on his face.
"What in Merlin are you sorry for?" Ginny halted, staring at him.
Hesitantly, Harry explained: "It's my fault that you're here, Ginny, just like the chamber. You keep being put in danger because of me, and it's not fair to you. I can't help but think that-"
"Harry Potter," she interrupted, "you'd better not be about to tell me that you're not friends with me anymore, cause I won't have it." Harry moved to speak but shut his mouth again as she continued. "I don't care what ridiculous notion you've cooked up in your head about why this isn't working, but I'll remind you that I am standing in front of you right now, perfectly well and healthy."
"But Ginny, you could've been seriously injured," Harry protested, frowning.
"But I wasn't," she said, raising an eyebrow, "and I'm a powerful witch who can take care of herself." Softening, she looked up at him. "It means everything to me that you're concerned, Harry, but I promise you that I'm okay, and even though I would trade anything for your friendship, I won't have to. You keep me safe, and I keep you safe, and that's all that matters, right?"
As he looked down at her, Ginny, his friend, the person who understood him perhaps better than anyone else, he found himself nodding. Keeping her safe was something he could do. And then, so fast that he almost thought he imagined it, Ginny raised herself to her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. The air was cold, but her lips felt warm against him, like an imprint, and he hoped she couldn't see his blush, couldn't hear the voices celebrating in his head.
"Good," she smiled, and he swore there was a faint blush on her cheeks as well. For a moment, Harry allowed himself the joy of pretending that it was shyness or affection that caused her blush, and not simply the sharp bite of the wind against her cheeks. Examining the satisfied smile on her face, Harry felt a remarkable wave of fondness come over him; Ginny wanted to be his friend, to be near him, despite the shroud of chaos that followed him. She was ready, not just for evening laughs on the pitch, but for the inevitable danger as well. A large part of him hesitated, unwilling to subject her to such a thing, but she was headstrong and determined - so wonderfully headstrong - and it felt too good to be embraced, to be loved, for Harry to fight her any more about it. What would come would come, and right now, he simply enjoyed the feeling of their knuckles brushing as they walked side by side up to the castle.
Here we are! I know that this chapter had a lower Hinny-to-everything-else ratio than the others, largely due to the nature of the Task, but I tried to compensate by making it a little longer than usual and I hope you enjoyed! I'd like to give a quick shout-out to HG4EVER69, who influenced the events of this chapter in a previous comment - thanks hun, I actually wasn't sure what direction this chapter should go in. I've just realized that Rita Skeeter would've been all over Harry and Ginny at the Task, so let's pretend she doesn't exist in this universe (no one is upset). As always, feel free to leave a review and tell me your thoughts - even the smallest praise or encouragement lights up my day. Thank you dearly for reading and for your neverending patience 3
- BatBogey7