Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

The password Moody had given him was indeed the password to the Prefect's baths. And damn was it a bath. It would almost be worth becoming a Prefect just to get to use this place.

Almost.

But Harry wasn't delusional enough to think he even had a chance at becoming a Prefect. He liked breaking the rules too much for that, and Dumbledore and McGonagall would have to be idiots to make him one despite everything he'd done over the last few years and this year in particular.

Harry played around with all the faucets and bubbles and soaps for a while, and once the massive tub was filled with a fascinating mixture of scents, stripped down and slipped into the hot water, bringing the golden egg with him.

Dunking the egg under the water so it was fully submerged, Harry opened it. Bubbles rushed out of it, but there was no sound at all, though there was a clear disturbance in the rapidly rippling water.

Holding his breath, Harry allowed himself to sink under the water, and the moment his ears were underwater, he heard the singing. He didn't manage to get through the entire song and had to go back up for air twice before he could get through the whole thing, and another four or five times before he got it memorized completely.

With a deep frown etched on his face, Harry closed the egg, put it on the floor, and washed up, thinking hard about what he'd heard. The song was pretty straightforward. Something precious was going to be taken from him and placed at the bottom of the lake, where he'd have to go and get it back within a certain time limit.

Too bad he knew it wasn't going to be anywhere as easy as it sounded.

It took Hermione all of five seconds to tell Harry about merpeople once he filled her in on the song he'd heard. Merpeople, huh? Why hadn't he thought of them before? It made perfect sense!

Of course, knowing they were the ones singing the song didn't help when it came to the task. All it did was tell him that the merpeople in the lake would be involved in the next task. Hermione told him they would probably be guarding whatever they had to retrieve. That made sense too.

"I'm not the strongest swimmer out there, but I do know how to swim," Harry told Hermione. "There was this deal where the swimming lessons would be cheaper for two children instead of just one, and you know the Dursleys love their deals, so that's the only reason why I got to learn. Dudley decided he didn't want to keep going after a while, so my lessons stopped too. This was before I started at Hogwarts though, so it's been a while."

Hermione nodded. "Neville's said he's pretty good at swimming, so you can always ask him for help. The twins said they can swim too, so they're an option as well." She sighed and folded her arms. "The biggest issue is how you're going to hold your breath for an extended period."

"Yeah. Any ideas?"

Hermione bit her lip, and then shook her head and said, "None, I'm afraid. I don't remember reading about anything that could help someone breathe underwater." She looked rather distraught about it too.

"Well, that's alright," said Harry, trying to keep his voice reassuring. "We've got time. It's only the beginning of January, and the task isn't until near the end of next month. We'll figure something out..."

Of course, having a few weeks left before the task didn't make Harry feel any better about any of this. He still didn't give a damn about winning or scoring the highest, but he sure as hell didn't want to drown, that was for sure. He'd heard dying by drowning was very painful, and that was something he wanted to avoid.

Dying painfully probably sucked.

He knew Hermione was spending most of her spare time in the library researching ways he could breathe underwater, and though he did his best to try to help her, Harry had no idea how to help her. The library was massive, and there were so many different sections, and Hermione had already told him there were probably so many ways to do this that sticking to one section would be pointless.

"I'm terrible at research," Harry muttered to himself, dropping his head onto the thick book on the table in front of him. He was sitting in a secluded corner of the library where Madam Pince couldn't see him, trying to do some research but turning up nothing useful. "How the hell does Hermione do this all the time?"

Neville, sitting across him, doing research of his own for a Herbology assignment, laughed. "I think Hermione's just unique."

"You got that right." Taking his glasses off, Harry rubbed his eyes as he sat up straight again. "Why did they have to decide to stick the things at the bottom of the lake of all places? ...Too bad I don't have the animagus form of like, a fish or a shark or something. Then I'd have gills and wouldn't have to worry about finding a stupid way to breathe underwater for Merlin knows how long."

Suddenly, Neville's eyes widened. "Gills! That's it!"

"Shh!"

The boys winced but ignored the admonishing shush otherwise.

"What's up?" asked Harry curiously. It was rare to see Neville worked up like this for, well, any reason.

"I think I might know a way to help you. Hang on, let me find the right book."

Neville was up out of his seat and disappearing between the shelves, and then back at the table before Harry even knew it. He set a book down on the table, opened it, and started flipping through it.

Harry watched him, his curiosity growing. The look in Neville's eyes was eerily similar to the look Hermione got whenever she figured something major out. ...It was actually kind of creepy.

"Here-" Neville turned the book around so Harry could see, "look at this."

"Gillyweed? What's that?"

"It's a weed," said Neville excitedly, not realizing the weed part was pretty self-explanatory. "It's mostly used in potions, but if you eat it raw, it gives you gills, and makes your hands and feet webbed, so you can breathe underwater and swim better."

Harry's eyes widened. "Whoa, seriously? Is there a time limit? How long does it work for?"

"The book says about an hour." Neville looked back up at Harry. "Do you think you could use this? That way you wouldn't have to learn any tough spells or anything. You'd just need to bring the Gillyweed with you, and eat it just before you got in the water."

Harry nodded quickly. "It'll help for sure. Where can I get it from?"

Here, Neville frowned. "It's not the most common weed out there," he said slowly. "I'm sure Professor Snape has some, but..."

Harry cringed. "Yeah, that's probably completely out of the question. There's no way I can ask him for some, and while I could probably steal some, I'd rather not. He's already pretty pissed at me. If he ever found out I stole from him, he'd probably kill me. Is there any other way?"

"You should be able to buy some," said Neville, still frowning slightly. "It's legal, so you don't have to worry about any restrictions. It tends to be a bit expensive though."

"That's fine, I'm sure I can afford it." He probably could, right? He had a lot of money in his vault, and there was no way it'd cost that much, right?

"We can ask Professor Sprout. She'll know where to get it from."

"Right," said Harry, pushing himself to his feet and grabbing the book he'd been trying to go through. "Let's try and track her down, then."

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!