As it transpired, Cedric was the first one to figure out the egg's clue.

After several unsuccessful attempts at deciphering the clue, which sounded like nothing but wailing, Cedric decided to take the egg into the Prefect's bathroom and take a bath there. The relative quiet of the room would allow him to think more.

He opened the egg under water and now could understand the mermaids' song.

"Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground.

An hour long you'll have to look. To recover what we took.

But past an hour the prospect's black.

Too late. It's gone. It won't come back."

Remembering the agreement of The Four Champions, Cedric, still naked after getting out of the bath went back to his dorm room and retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill from his trunk.

Tearing the parchment into three, he wrote

Dear Harry, Viktor, and Fleur:

I believe I have solved the clue as to what the Second Task is. Please meet me in the prefects' bathroom. Password's pinefesh. Please come naked.

Cedric then folded the three pieces of parchment into paper airplanes, retrived his wand from his right hand pocket with his right hand, and placed Banishing Charms on all three pieces of parchment so that each would go to its intended recipient.

Cedric zoomed back to the prefects' bathroom faster than a cheetah chasing its prey and was joined a minute and a nanosecond later by Harry, Viktor, and Fleur, all of whom had come naked as Cedric had asked.

"Into the bathtub," instructed Cedric.

Cedric, Harry, Viktor, and Fleur all climbed into the bathtub, which, being a prefects' bathtub, was quite big enough to comfortably hold all four of them.

Cedric now dropped his egg under the water and opened it to allow Harry, Viktor, and Fleur to hear the song.

"That is mermaid song," recognized Fleur.

"Yes," nodded Cedric, "We will be facing mermaids in the Second Task."

"Come seek us where our voices sound," reasoned Harry, "The Second Task must be taking place in The Black Lake."

"My thoughts exactly," agreed Cedric instantly.

"Well, the second part of the clue must mean there's an hour time limit," piped up Viktor.

"Yes," said Cedric matter of factly, "The goal is to complete The Second Task in an hour or less. "

"Points will be awarded on how well we complete the task, but I have to assume there will be a lateness deduction," said Harry matter of factly.

"It sounds like these mermaids are going to steal something of each of ours that we will have to recover," realized Fleur.

"If we work together as a team," said Harry warmly, "We can figure out how to survive the task and perform it successfully. We should each have a different approach to attacking The Second Task though. It'll look too suspicious if we all do the same thing."

"OOH!" piped up Cedric suddenly, "Harry, Viktor, Fleur, I would like all three of you to spend Christmas Vacation with me at Diggory Manor. Diggory Manor is big enough for each of you to have a room of your own while you're staying with us. The tragedy of the roommate concept doesn't exist at Diggory Manor. My thinking is that we can discuss and share ideas together over Christmas Vacation at my place."

"That sounds good," smiled Fleur, "I would rather not have to spend Christmas vacation at Hogwarts, or any school for that matter."

"Well, I would accept the invite just to get away from Karkaroff for a few weeks." said Viktor bluntly.

Harry felt a swooping sensation in his stomach.

He knew it wasn't the time or place to voice this, but, with Karkaroff's very obvious favoritism towards Viktor, Harry suddenly wondered if Karkaroff had rigged the Goblet of Fire to ensure that Viktor would be the Durmstrang Champion. he didn't suspect karkaroff of putting his name in the Goblet of Fire though. Harry now sensed that it would be someone who he would never have guessed who put his name into the Goblet of Fire.

"I usually stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because my only living relatives are a right nasty piece of work, but I welcome the opportunity to experience a different kind of Christmas away from Hogwarts," said harry happily.

"I'll make sure we have a good Christmas," promised Cedric, "But do understand that there's also an element of this being a business trip. We'll have time for fun, but we need to also retain a focus on our mission."

When the champions all parted, Harry went outside and found Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna sitting together by the Black Lake.

"Why are you naked?" Hermione asked Harry curiously.

Harry told her where he had been and what the Four Champions had discussed.

"I assume Cedric just didn't want our clothes to get water damage," said Harry simply, "Magic can't undo water damage."

"How do you feel about going to Cedric's for Christmas?" wondered Neville.

"I'm looking forward to it," replied Harry glowingly, "It'll be my first Christmas away from Hogwarts since I became a student and I'm excited to experience a different kind of Christmas at Cedric's.

"I'm going home for Christmas for the first time since first year," said Hermione happily, "Second year I stayed because of the whole Polyjuice Potion thing and last year I stayed because I needed study time. Mom and dad are delighted I'm coming home for Christmas this year."

"I take it you don't regret dropping Muggle Studies?" guessed Harry.

"Not in the slightest," confirmed Hermione, "Having a normal schedule again is the difference between day and night. Remember that the Time Turner was only for getting to classes. I wasn't allowed to use it for extra homework time or sleep. "

"Madam Pomfrey would do her nut if she knew how little you slept last year," smirked Harry.

"Yeah, Madam Pomfrey fusses worse than my mom and that's saying something," piped up Ginny.

"Tell me about it," replied Harry, who was all too familiar with Madam Pomfrey's fussiness.

"it's good that the Four Champions are working together," said Luna dreamily, staring up at the sun.

"Luna," said Harry clearly, "Don't look directly at the sun. You could damage your eyes."

Luna looked down.

"You're right Harry. The Wracksprurts affected my brains there." piped up Luna.

Ginny grinned at Harry's dumbfounded expression at the mention of Wrackspurts.

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