FOURTEEN - Murky Water
Hermione sat at the dressing table in Fleur's room and waited while the older girl had stepped into her walk-in closet for a moment, a luxury which had surprised her. While Fleur was busy, she continued to observe the fancy living quarters, letting her sharp gaze take in the small bits of personal touches. It was Hermione's first time inside of the carriage, despite Fleur's previous attempts to bring her along. However, with Madame Maxime already upset over their association, it was best not to push their luck. If there had been a need before, they could always have snuck in, Harry did have an invisibility cloak after all.
She continued to peer around. Fleur's private space was rather opulently designed, albeit that it was the general aesthetiques of the carriage. It was presumably meant to be reminiscent of fairy tales. The furnishings looked of the renaissance style, with its half circle arches and dark wood. The upholstery was covered in different shades of silk and the finishings were in gold. Everything in the space around her breathed and espoused elegance and dignity, and perhaps a tone of unadulterated excess. A stark contrast to the interior decorations of Hogwarts' Gryffindor rooms. Where Hogwarts drew inspiration from warmth and homeliness, Beauxbatons put stock in refinement and extravagance.
"I found it," announced Fleur as she stepped out of the closet, looking like the picture of perfection. She was already dressed in her silver strapless dress, the silky fabric conforming to all the contours of her body, with a side cut to allow her enough freedom to dance in and showing off just enough of her perfect legs to be tasteful.
Her face had only the slightest touches of make-up, just enough to accentuate her features and her hair was done up in a half-French twist with loose locks which just brushed her bare collar bones.
The Beauxbatons beauty sat down on a stool behind Hermione, who faced forward again, allowing Fleur to pull some of her hair together. The Gryffindor watched her girlfriend work, she watched as Fleur somehow managed to turn her stubborn hair from the bushy mess she'd spent a lifetime struggling with, into the sort of flowing soft curls she'd always seen far prettier girls' wear.
Hermione couldn't stop the shivers passing up her spine every time Fleur's fingers brushed the nape of her neck. She prayed silently that her goosebumps remained unnoticed, as Fleur worked some of her loose hair into a half-up, half-down twist.
"Soooo– "Fleur slid the ornamental hairpin in place and peaked from beside her head, placing her delicate fingers on Hermione's bare arms and giving them a gentle squeeze. "What do you think?"
Hermione snapped out of her musings and quickly focused on the reflection in the mirror. She couldn't help but raise her brows in surprise. Both Harry and Fleur had called her beautiful on multiple occasions, but a lifetime of insecurity was not that easy to break.
The girl looking back at her now, though… That witch could believe them.
She had to swallow and fight the water trying to force itself onto her eyes, as the image reflected back at her did the same. Fleur leaned, careful not to disturb her work, and whispered in her ear. "You see what we see."
Hermione nodded without uttering a word, as she continued to fight back her tears.
Harry stood at the entrance of the Great Hall and chatted with Ron and Neville, gladdened to see his friend jittery with nervous excitement. The new robes had done wonders and thankfully seemed to help instil a bit of confidence in him.
"How long does it take to get dressed? Could they take any longer? I'm starving here..." whined Ron to Harry's amusement.
"Relax Ron, I'm sure they're putting in a lot of effort into tonight."
"You know, I think this actually might be the first ball I want to attend," chimed in Neville.
"Why? Been to lots of these?" asked Ron, voicing Harry's silent question.
"One or two a year usually," Neville shrugged, "but they're these awful things where I'd just try and fail to find someone my age to speak to at least."
"Sounds rough," remarked Harry with a pat to Neville's back.
Just then a group of Gryffindor girls rounded the corner. Ron immediately perked up as he caught sight of Fay, looking very pretty in her dark green satin dress.
Harry poked his redhead friend in the side, "Don't just stand there, go meet her, and don't forget the gift!"
Ron snapped out of his stupor and fumbled with the corsage before leaving to meet his date. Harry turned to continue his conversation with Neville and noticed his crestfallen expression and sagging shoulders. He followed his gaze and found Lavender walking into the hall on Seamus' arm. Harry placed a sympathetic hand on Neville's shoulder and squeezed it, offering what little comfort he could.
"You could still ask her for a dance," he encouraged.
The comment seemed to spark a conflict in Neville's mind. The boy eventually gained a glint in his eye which had Harry smirking. "There we go, that's the spirit."
They were then promptly joined by Cedric and Viktor along with their dates. Cedric was attending with Cho, a very pretty girl who Harry would admit to having fancied a bit at one point, and Viktor, who had a an older Ravenclaw girl on his arm, whose name he didn't know, but was certain he'd seen her wear a prefects badge before.
The group had just finished exchanging greetings and expressed their compliments when Professor McGonagall rushed over.
"Oh good, you three are here. We're only waiting on Miss Delacour then. I assume the two of you are attending together?" she asked Harry.
He nodded, "We are, yes. From what we've read, it should be fine. I hope that won't be an issue."
"Yes, quite. I doubt there's any precedent, but I can't see why it should be cause for complaint. The tournament's already irregular as it is," answered the Gryffindor head, to his relief.
Professor McGonagall began to explain the schedule of the evening to them, when she turned towards Harry once more. "Now, once Miss Delacour arrives— Oh."
An arm slipped through his from behind, the feel of the touch only too familiar to him and undeserving of the sense of alarm that had originated from McGonagall's utterance of surprise. He turned mindfully before his breath hitched in his throat at the sight before him. As the taller of them, he first noticed Fleur in her silver gown, her presence almost overwhelming. That was until he noticed his best friend beside her, gone was the book-ish witch, and in her place a stunning young lady, looking every bit as breathtaking as Fleur.
Fleur had a victorious smile, while Hermione blushed prettily as Harry gaped at their appearance.
"W—Wow," he voiced dumbly, "you both—Wow."
Fleur kissed his cheek lightly, "Merci."
Hermione followed suit with a quick kiss of her own before she blushed brightly, realizing she had done so in front of Professor McGonagall. The Gryffindor head was fighting to keep a smile down, the barest whisper of it twitching at the corner of her lip. Eager to escape embarrassment, Hermione held her arm out to Neville. "Shall we?" she asked.
With one final smile to Harry, Hermione let Neville lead her into the Great Hall.
"I'm feeling pretty jealous of Harry right now," he heard Neville remark followed by Hermione's giggle.
Once they'd disappeared into the Hall, McGonagall faced the champions and their dates again.
"Soon you will enter the Hall, one pair followed by the other. We'll start with Mr. Krum, followed by Mr. Diggory and Miss Chang, and lastly Miss Delacour and Mr. Potter. Once inside, you will take your seats at the champions' table. After the first light meal, you will open the dance."
Once she was finished explaining and was certain they understood their role, McGonagall left to herd the rest of the students into the Hall before calling them closer.
Harry and Fleur stepped inside the Great Hall, and he was honestly impressed with what they'd done. Gone were the house tables and in their place were statues of ice. The room was somehow lit in a bluish hue, creating a winter wonderland atmosphere. Harry placed one confident step after the other with Fleur on his arm. Fleur held herself like a monarch striding across her frozen throne room. All the champions received looks of admiration, but she stole all the glances.
They took their seats at the Champions' table, along with a few other important people. He was surprised to find Percy there, the Weasley in question trying to wave them towards the open seats beside him. But they were occupied by Cedric and Cho before they could act on his invitation, to Percy's disappointment.
Right before entering, Fleur held Harry back for a moment. He met her eyes as she raised a hand to his cheek. "Relax and enjoy this night, oui?"
Harry took her hand in his, moving it to his lips and placing a kiss on it. Fleur smiled at the gesture, she took a hold of his arm again, satisfied that he was going to take her words to heart.
They took their seats at the table, with Percy greeting them. Harry smiled and shook his hand. "Fleur, this is Percy, Ron's older brother."
"Enchanté," greeted Fleur cordially, but couldn't hide her surprise. "Pardon, but 'ow many siblings does Ronald 'ave?"
Both Harry and Percy laughed. "Well, you've met Ginny and the twins, then there's Percy here, and Bill who's the oldest, followed by Charlie."
"So, wait," she stopped to count in her head. "That's- Seven!?"
"Yes, and thankfully it stopped there," joked Percy as he picked up his menu.
"Not to be rude," said Harry, "but how are you here?"
"I'm filling in for Mr. Crouch, he's been ill for weeks now. But don't worry, he sends me instructions by letter. I may be here but he's still very present."
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He felt like he'd forgotten something important but try as he might, he couldn't recall whatever it was.
"That makes sense, with everything going on at the moment, it completely slipped my mind that you worked for him."
"It's alright, I understand, it can't be easy being one of the champions."
Percy glanced down at his plate and said, "Pork chops."
The requested meal appeared in front of him, and as if presenting a proof of concept, the rest of the table began ordering their meals as well. Harry followed suit and perused the menu. He found a few items he recognized, as well as some delicacies he'd never heard of.
"Trouble deciding, chéri?" asked Fleur as she noticed him stare at the menu with furrowed brows.
"I want to try something French, but I have absolutely no idea what any of these things are."
Fleur giggled, the musical sound causing some of the others at the table to peek at them. She leaned against him to better point things out, "Zhen why not ask your French girlfriend?"
"You wish you were over there?"
At Neville's remark, Hermione snapped out of her staring and turned back to eye him with guilt marring her gaze. "Sorry…" she said to him. Even if they were only attending as friends, she shouldn't have ignored him like that.
"It's alright," shrugged Neville before he looked towards the Champions table as well. "The three of you look good together. I can see you care a lot about one another."
Neville watched as a gentle smile formed on her face. "Thanks. You know, if you'd told me a few months ago that I would have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and at the same time at that, I'd have told you to stay out of Professor Trewalney's sherry."
"I'd have agreed," joked Neville before continuing, "really though, the three of you seem to make it work. From what I can see at least, that is. If you don't mind me askin', how did it happen?"
Hermione took a sip of water to moisten her lips before contemplating how to best answer his sudden inquiry. "It all fell into place somehow. I've had feelings for Harry for a while, and so did he for me, even if he didn't really realize it at the time. But then Fleur came into our lives, and she just… tears down all walls."
"Just like that? She shows up and everything's clear?"
"Well, we did dance around the issue for a bit, but if you come to know Fleur," she smiled as a giggle escaped her lips. "She doesn't really let things like convention get in the way. She was as straight as an arrow in her approach, we were both already falling for her, and then she liked us both, Harry and I."
"It was shocking, of course," she admitted with a faraway look. "Fleur is so beautiful, but she's also so much more than that, and Harry, he's so Harry, to know both of them like me romantically… to see it for myself…"
Hermione took a deep breath. "Fleur was the one to break the ice, 'lift the fog over our minds'. She made us face our feelings, and we just…fell into it, of sorts. The rest is history, as they say."
"Fascinating," Neville breathed with a smile, "And pretty brave."
Hermione glanced towards the Champions' table where her paramours were. "She has to be, it's not easy being a Veela, that is," she added. "It takes a lot to hold your head high when people are always bad mouthing you."
"It's good that she has the two of you then," said Neville softly as he saw the soft smile touch her cheeks as she watched Harry and Fleur.
"Yes," she agreed, returning her gaze back toward him. "But it's been even greater to have her."
"This is really good," said Harry as he took a bite out of his lamb.
Fleur smiled, eager to introduce him to as many French dishes as she possibly could manage. "Would you like to try a bite of mine?" she asked as she held up her fork with a piece of chicken on it.
"Hm?" Harry swallowed before nodding eagerly. He opened his mouth and let Fleur feed him a bite of her meal.
She watched his face closely to gauge his reaction and was happy when she found enjoyment in his eyes. "This is great too," he said, "but you were right, the lamb is more to my taste."
"And into their own little world they go," said Cedric teasingly.
The pair looked up to find the entire table's eyes on them, with the Hufflepuff champion leading the charge smirking.
"It's worse when Hermione's with them," added Cho, with a smirk of her own. The Ravenclaw girl had been a regular witness to their relationship at their table during mealtimes.
Viktor threw his own comment. "You would not think they faced dragon…"
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Harry is the most unassuming bloke in the school."
Harry squirmed in place at the attention when Cho came to his rescue. "How's your work with Madam Pomfrey going?"
"It's going great," he sighed in relief. "It's tough and I have very little free time with the tournament on top of it. Don't know how I'd cope without Fleur and Hermione."
Fleur smiled at his comment.
Percy's eyes widened as if a bulb had gone off. "Oh, yes, mum mentioned you apprenticed with the school healer," he said in realization.
Harry grinned as he looked at Percy. "You know, it was partially because of you that I ended up choosing this path."
Fleur gave her boyfriend a curious look, eager to learn how the young man had helped her Harry.
"At the Burrow, we spoke about career paths," explained Harry, not wanting to bring up the events of the world cup.
Percy looked quite proud of himself. "I'm glad it helped."
They fell into a comfortable conversation, once dessert was served, despite greatly enjoying it, it would have been all the better had Hermione been able to join them. The opportunity came eventually.
Fleur opened her mouth to comment, but was interrupted when Dumbledore stood. Conversation's stilled as the Hall's attention was drawn to the old man in his amusingly bright robes.
"I hope every one of you has enjoyed a wondrous meal. Would the champions and their dates please take to the floor for the opening dance."
Harry stood and held out his hand for Fleur.
She placed her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet before slipping an arm through his.
"Ready?" asked Harry, his own excitement surprising him.
Once in position and about to dance. Harry broke decorum by placing a quick, soft kiss on her lips. "You look amazing," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. Fleur's cheeks pinked slightly as she placed one hand on his shoulder and another in his hand. All the time spent learning to dance had paid off, though Harry was by no means an amazing dancer, he was able to look the part, and pull off the most important bit, not trampling all over her feet.
While they moved, Harry caught sight of Hermione sitting with Neville over Fleur's shoulder. She was watching them with a lovely smile on her face, even though he knew she'd want nothing more in that moment than to join them.
The champions dance came to an end, allowing the rest of the students to take to the dance floor.
Harry held a hand to Fleurs cheek and kissed her deeply, she smiled against his lips as she tasted the hints of treacle from his dessert. Fleur peeked over his shoulder and nudged for him to look. Neville and Hermione were dancing, the shy Gryffindor clearly knew how to dance, but the effort he was putting in to be respectful made his movements awkward.
"Let us join our girl," said Fleur.
"Mind if we cut in?" asked Harry of Neville.
Before the self-conscious boy could answer, Fleur to his horror grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dance floor to give Harry and Hermione a chance to dance.
Hermione giggled at the sight before meeting Harry's eyes, noting his offered hand for her take. She leaned up to kiss her boyfriend as she placed her hand in his palm and let him pull her closer to him. She couldn't deny that she was enjoying the whole Yule ball affair, it was tickling her Jane Austen fantasies.
"I think people are getting jealous of me," said Harry as they danced.
"Hm?"
"The two most beautiful girls in the room, and both mine," he teased with a wolfish grin.
Hermione laughed before slapping his chest playfully. "Not everyone would appreciate your possessiveness. Good thing we feel the same about each other, don't you forget it.
Harry stood on the barge with his heart in his throat as he looked out towards the water. The murky water akin to his troubled thoughts, he hadn't been able to find Hermione anywhere. The pair of them were almost always amongst the earliest risers in the common room. Granted, he'd been especially early himself that morning on account of the second task. But as he waited and waited, Hermione had not come down. He had eventually asked one of the other girls to go up and call her, but returned saying she wasn't there.
That had immediately sent alarms screaming through his mind. There was no way she would have gone on ahead.
Now as he stood above the freezing waters, he was sure of it. Hermione was down there, trapped. The thought filled him with so much fear, that he'd nearly thrown caution to the wind and gone in to get her already. It took Ron holding on to him by his shirt to restrain him. Who would have thought that Ron would be the level-headed one when Hermione was not there to witness it.
A bit of commotion passed through the crowd as the Beauxbatons contingent arrived. Fleur, having caught sight of him, rushed over. The panic on her face worried him, what she said only worsened it.
"Arry, I cannot find Gabrielle." Her sister had arrived the night before along with their parents on invitation by Madame Maxime.
Harry held Fleur firmly, causing her to still. She met his eyes and saw the seriousness in them.
"Hermione's missing too… I think I know where Gabrielle is…" he said and looked out towards the lake. The words of the clue rang in their heads.
'We've taken what you'll sorely miss…'
…
'But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.'
Fleur looked as if she was about to break down at the implication before she caught sight of the committee, and a change went through her. Her trembling stopped, and in its place was a cold fury.
She was about to storm towards them, when Harry's outstretched hand held her back. "I know," he said firmly in response to her accusing stare. "We get them back first."
Just then the other two champions arrived, both looking harried, an especially stark contrast on the usually stoic Viktor. Before Harry and Fleur could explain to them, the sound of Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed across the Lake.
"Welcome to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament!"
Harry and the other champions looked towards the judges' stand where Professor Dumbledore stood.
"Now that all four of our champions have arrived, we can begin. Each of them retrieved an egg at the conclusion of the first task. Within the egg was a clue pertaining to the nature of today's event, they had to solve the clue in order to adequately prepare."
Dumbledore paused before looking out towards the dark waters.
"Our champions have one hour to retrieve their loved one from the depths of the Black Lake."
The audience stilled at the knowledge of hostages under the lake, whispered murmurs spread throughout.
Madame Maxime stood and placed her wand to her throat as Professor Dumbledore stepped back.
"On ze sound of ze cannon, and please champions, remember ze words of ze clue."
Harry gave Fleur's hand a squeeze which she returned; they didn't care about the camera flashes going off. The champions removed their outer clothing, leaving them in the swimwear. Fleur's silver one piece of course drew a lot of attention, something they couldn't care less about at the moment.
Harry attracted quite a few eyes, some noted his smaller figure, compared to Cedric and Viktor. Others, though, looked closer, taking note of the definition in his lean build, of the numerous scars he'd acquired over the years, of the defiance and confidence in his stance.
Moments later the cannon blasted, shaking the entire structure. Harry quickly swallowed his Gillyweed while Fleur dove in headfirst and applied her bubblehead charm. He followed after her as the effects of the slimy plant took form. Once both were firmly under the water and able to breathe, Harry kept his wand in hand as they swam deeper in the murky depths. Unfortunately, Gillyweed did not make it easier to see through the water, it was hard to see anything clearly past a short distance. Yet, they had no choice and pressed on.
Fleur, in her impatience, ended up right above a kelp forest. Before Harry could motion for them to get away from it, a small hand shot out and took hold of Fleur's foot, pulling her down violently. Harry dove after her and managed to grab her hand. He pulled her towards himself, freeing her from the grip of whatever it was that pulled her.
They were given no respite though, as within seconds, everything was chaos as a swarm of Grindylows flooded out from the kelp beds. The hideous creatures, with their gremlin-like faces, mouths filled with sharp teeth and half tentacled forms clawed and pulled at them in an attempt to drag them down. Harry felt pain as thin arms wrapped around his throat and rubbed on his gills. He struggled to get a grip on the surprisingly strong beast, but the slimy slippery skin made finding purchase difficult.
He pointed his wand over his shoulder and yelled out the incantation for a cutting curse. It worked as the creature let go, but the sudden presence of its blood in the water had him choking as he breathed it in.
Before he could capitalize on being free, more Grindylows rushed him. One recognized the danger in his wand and bit into his forearm. He felt its teeth sink into his arm, but despite the searing pain, he held onto his wand tighter. Another Grindylow replaced the one which he'd removed from around his throat and felt it choking him when everything changed.
The usually frigid cold water of the Black Lake was warming, fast, as the brown murkiness filled with an orange light. The cold acclimatized Grindylows which held onto him let go quickly and dove into the kelp depths to escape the heat. Now free, Harry sought out Fleur and gasped at the sight.
There she was, looking like an avenging angel beneath the waters, with one of her hands wrapped around the throat of a Grindylow. Her hands which were wreathed in bright red fire whose heat seared the skin of the creature as it flailed in pain. Like placing hot steel beneath water, the heat vapourized the surrounding water, rapidly creating bubbles which rushed to the surface. It was a surreal sight, fire under water. Once the Grindylow had stopped fighting, Fleur released its charred form, letting it sink. Harry took in the rest of her appearance, her usually smooth arms had white feathers travelling upwards from her wrists, and her hair which always shone now seemed to glow with a silver light as it floated.
That's when Harry realised, her bubble had popped. He rushed to grab a hold of her and quickly recast the bubble head charm. Fleur coughed and inhaled deeply to regain her breath. Her eyes sought his, and he was shocked to find fear in them - Fear of rejection.
Harry squashed those fears. He lifted one of her hands, now free of their fire, revealing dark sharpened claws and leathery skin in the place of her usual smooth slender fingers. With the gentlest of motions, Harry brought her hand up to his lips. He met her eyes as he placed a kiss on her talons.
Fleur's lips trembled as she was overwhelmed by his acceptance of her. Harry stared into her beautiful blue eyes, which even the water couldn't dull, and had they been above the surface, would have sworn he saw tears in them.
Harry summoned her wand which she'd dropped during the attack and returned it to her. They put more distance between themselves and the kelp forest and took a moment for Harry to close up the cuts and bites they'd sustained. Thankfully those inflicted by a Grindylow were relatively minor and easily healed.
Fleur tried to continue, but her transformation, especially with the amount of power she'd pushed into her fire had taken its toll on her. Her movements were slow and sluggish, and they were likely far from finding the hostages.
Harry knew she couldn't continue; it was too dangerous in her state. He grabbed her hand to get her attention. She turned to face him, and he could see the exhaustion battling with desperation in her gaze.
"You can't continue, go back," he said, his voice muffled but audible.
He could see her getting angry at his suggestion, she looked ready to mount an argument, but he didn't give her the chance.
"Fleur! You can barely swim, we don't know what else is out there. Go back! I'll bring Gabrielle and Hermione back, I promise."
She listened but still hesitated.
"…go back," he pleaded again.
Moments passed as they held a battle of wills, with Fleur eventually conceding. She leaned to place a kiss on his lips, the bubble adapting to encompass some of his head, allowing him to hear her speak.
"Bring zhem back to us."
Harry nodded with determination. "I will, now go."
She swam up towards the surface, where she could get picked up. Harry watched her go, and once he was sure of her safety, he made haste to make up lost time. He went deeper and deeper into the lake, checking his watch constantly to keep track of the time remaining.
But no matter where he searched, he was finding no trace of them. There was less than fifteen minutes to go, when he heard it.
"Come seek us where I voices sound,
We cannot sing above the gro—"
'The song!'
Harry rushed in the direction the sound was coming from, his webbed feet propelling him as fast as he could go. The song was getting louder and louder, each echo of their ghostly voices filled him with hope. He'd make it in time, he told himself.
He came to a small underwater cliff which had hidden the merpeople from his sight before. Now he saw them swimming all around. They looked nothing like the pretty mermaid from the stained-glass mural in the prefect's bathroom. These were more alien looking, with greenish skin and smoother, sharper features.
Nearing the village, he searched around until he found the source of the singing, and there above them were the hostages, fastened with rope around their ankles. His heart went to his throat at the sight of Hermione floating there with her eyes closed, looking as if she'd long since drowned. There were only two hostages left, Hermione and Gabrielle. Both Viktor and Cedric had already retrieved theirs and returned.
Harry quickly swam over under the watchful eyes of the merpeople. He moved towards his two charges, and with a well-placed cutting charm, he freed them. One of the merpeople rushed over at seeing him freeing both hostages. Harry could see he was angry and was likely going to attempt to prevent him from continuing. He quickly raised his wand at the merman. Something in his eyes or posture must have shown how serious he was, because the merman stopped and watched the wand in Harry's hand wearily. Some more merpeople had come closer to observe, and Harry knew he had to get moving in case they too decided to get involved.
He wrapped his arms around both girls and used his transformed form to propel him away as fast as he could go. Thankfully he knew the way back and might just make it within the time limit.
Harry spared only a moment to glance back and felt his heart thump in panic as he found himself being followed by a group of merpeople, led by the large male who had attempted to stop him. He knew he couldn't risk a confrontation with the group, so he faced forward again and pushed himself to swim even faster.
Fleur was a mess. Her classmates stood a healthy distance away from her, unsure how to deal with her. She stood there at the edge of the barge, staring at the ominously flat surface of the Black Lake. A blue towel was around her shoulders, but she ignored it. Where usually she'd be freezing, the brisk air now barely phased her.
Madam Pomfrey had fussed over her but had relented after making her promise to return to her care as soon as everyone had returned.
Even the Beauxbaton headmistress knew not to approach Fleur when she was in this particular state. The tall woman had been disappointed to see her school's champion return first and without her hostage, but she couldn't help but feel ashamed to have allowed one of her students, her charges, to be in a situation where they felt so helpless.
The sound of water splashing snapped Madame Maxime out of her thoughts. She searched for the commotion and found Fleur in the water again, helping the young man who had garnered the proud Veela's interest, getting her sister and the other member of their unorthodox relationship out of the water.
Those nearest reached out to pull them from the water, before stepping back to give them space.
Harry was on his back as he struggled to regain his breath. He'd never swum that hard in his life, even with Gillyweed it was no easy task to pull two people through the water. Hermione tried to help him to a sitting position without much success. A bystander threw a towel over her shoulders and handed her another which she wrapped around Harry who barely managed to raise his upper half of the body and lean against a wooden beam, the stitch at his side made the motion even more difficult.
Fleur was eventually forced to surrender Gabrielle to the care of Madam Pomfrey. While the Matron gave her sister the all-clear, Fleur turned to Harry and Hermione. She threw herself at them, wrapping them both in her arms. The pair held her, providing the comfort she needed.
"You did it," she whispered tearfully. "You brought zhem back."
"I promised," he reminded her, his voice still raw as his lungs burned from the exertion and aftereffects of his transformation, "didn't I?"
END CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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