A few days after the first task, Harry and his friends were studying in the library when Fleur Delacour approached their table. In a voice clear and rich as song, she asked, "May I join you?"

"Sure," Harry said, gesturing to an empty chair.

"Merci." She lowered herself to the seat, alighting like a butterfly settling on a leaf.

Due to Fleur's lack of interest in the pickup Quidditch games, Harry didn't know her as well as he did Cedric, or even Viktor, but they exchanged greetings whenever they happened to cross paths, ever since the day Cedric had recruited him and the others to make a public show of reaching out to her and Krum.

Since that day, Harry had noticed other Hufflepuffs doing little things to make the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students feel more welcome. As a result, Fleur had become more comfortable at Hogwarts, and less critical of it. She'd also developed at least a friendly rivalry with the other two student champions, if not quite a solid friendship.

Harry made introductions, and after Fleur exchanged brief greetings with everyone, she looked between Harry and Ron. "It is refreshing to speak with wizards who can have a proper conversation. Ze two of you seem very, how do you say?… mature."

Harry and Ron simply nodded and smiled in response. As friendly as she seemed, they didn't know her nearly well enough to reveal their Occlumency practice, so there was nothing they could say to explain why she didn't affect them as she did most of their male classmates.

Fleur went on, "Your eyes do not glaze, and you do not drool. You have not even asked if I can grow wings and a beak."

Harry said, "I know a Metamorphmagus, more than one Animagus, and a werewolf. Wings and a beak wouldn't be a big deal, but it didn't seem polite to ask. Or to drool, for that matter."

She laughed, and turned to Ginny, while gesturing to Ron. "And you. You are his little sister, no?"

"Yeah. I'm the youngest of seven, but please don't hold any of my brothers you meet here against me. You know, since you brought up your heritage, I wouldn't mind talking to you about fire magic sometime. I happen to have an affinity for it myself."

"Oh? How lovely," Fleur answered in a distracted tone. "I have a young sister as well. Gabrielle." She turned back to Harry. "Ze youngest child in a family is so precious. It is too much to bear, ze thought of her in any danger." She paused and gave him a hopeful look.

"Uh–I'm sure you have nothing to worry about," he said.

She smiled and took his hand for a moment, then excused herself and rose to glide gracefully away.

Harry glanced around the table. "What was that? Am I missing something?"

Ginny looked annoyed, but no one had any explanation for the French witch's odd behavior.

~*~

Later, when they were entering the Great Hall for dinner, Harry spotted Cedric and Cho also on their way in, and asked Cedric for a quick word.

"I had an odd conversation with Fleur," Harry began.

Cedric smirked. "Yeah, you and lots of other guys. Don't feel too embarrassed. You'll grow out of it."

"What? No, not like that."

As Harry explained his encounter with Fleur in the library, Cedric's smile faded. He said, "She's just worried about the second task. It's nothing you need to be concerned with."

"She went out of her way to talk to me about it for a reason. I just can't figure out what it could be."

"She shouldn't have. We all agreed not to. Not that I can blame her too much, considering."

"So there is something to tell. You might as well spill the rest. If there's trouble, I'll probably wind up getting involved, whether I want to or not. It's better for me to know what I'm up against."

Cho said, "You might as well tell him. We've both flown against him enough to know he doesn't give up easy, even apart from all the stories."

"What stories?" asked Harry.

Cedric said, "You know. About everything you've gotten mixed up in since you started school. Even Fleur and Viktor have heard them by now. I'm not sure how much they believed it at first, but after the thing with the dragons…"

"Right. Go on, then. Fill me in on the next thing I'm going to get mixed up in. At least I'll have an idea what to expect."

"Sorry, but we all agreed not to. There's a reason the Tournament is seventeen and over."

"Like you said, you've heard the stories. How many seventeen-year-olds do you know who've been through half as many scrapes as me?"

"I know you can handle yourself, but I've always gotten the sense you made it through most of those scrapes by relying on nerve and cleverness, which can only take you so far. Have I got it about right?"

"To be honest, it was mostly luck, with a bit of nerve–though my friends might call it recklessness. And they're the ones who usually supply the cleverness."

"I'm not hearing the part where you convince me to let you get involved."

"How about this, then? I can put real power behind a spell when I have to. You saw me cast Patronus mist last year at the match. I managed the full spell when I most needed it, and I won't tell you how many Dementors I drove away, because you wouldn't believe me."

"Impressive, as I'm sure you know, but there's more to magic than raw power. You need breadth of knowledge, which takes years to learn."

"Either way, you'll have your hands full during the next task, so I don't expect it'll be up to you whether I get involved or not. It never feels like it's even up to me. It just happens. Nothing you tell me will affect that. It might help me be better prepared though."

Cedric grimaced. "Let me talk to Fleur and Viktor. If they agree, we'll talk after dinner."

"My friends will want to hear this too. Hermione would never forgive me if she didn't get to take notes."

"I figured. Cho will be there too."

"Uh, okay."

"We're officially dating now, if you haven't heard."

"I hadn't, but congratulations."

"Thanks. Though I guess our first official date won't be until the next Hogsmeade weekend."

Cho put in, "But we're an official couple now."

Cedric turned to her. "Yes, ma'am."

They got lost in grinning at each other for a moment, then Cedric turned back to Harry with a more somber expression. "Unfortunately, it turns out I picked a hell of a time to ask her. It could mean she'll get pulled into the second task too."

"How so?" asked Harry.

Cedric shook his head. "I need to clear it with Viktor and Fleur before I say more. Not to mention my own conscience. I'll catch you after dinner."

"Alright. Talk to you then."

Cedric and Cho started to walk away, but Cedric paused and turned back. Lowering his voice, he asked, "By the way, have you and Ginny made it official yet?"

"We're officially friends."

"Oh. Sorry. The two of you just always seem…"

"It's fine. A lot of people assume the same thing. But the way my life is, any time feels like it'd be a hell of a time to ask anyone out. I've probably already dragged her in too deep."

Cedric shook his head ruefully. "Not as deep as Cho is going to get dragged in, but I get where you're coming from."

They shared a helpless look, then made their way into the Great Hall.

~*~

After dinner, Cedric and Cho approached the Gryffindor table as Harry and his friends were getting up to leave.

Cedric gave Harry a resigned look. "Is there someplace we can talk?"

"Sure. We know lots of places," answered Harry.

"What's she got to do with this?" asked Ginny, gesturing at Cho.

"A lot more than you do," Cho told her.

"I'll explain everything," Cedric said. "Shall we go?"

They found an empty classroom, and Cedric addressed Harry. "Viktor isn't happy about involving you, and Fleur feels guilty about the little she already let slip, but they both agreed to let me decide if I think you can actually help, and without getting yourself hurt."

"Since we're here, I guess I know what you decided," Harry told him.

"I decided I'm not telling you anything until you promise to let someone older handle any problems, if at all possible."

"Of course. If I see Dumbledore go charging in to save everyone, it's not like I'm going to elbow him out of the way so I can get there first. I'm not daft."

Hermione said, "That settles the matter, then. Dumbledore isn't always around when you might wish him to be, but of course he'll be at the second task, watching for trouble. He'll take care of everything."

Cedric shook his head. "It's not that simple. Not if there's a magical reason why Harry keeps getting mixed up in stuff he shouldn't."

Hermione frowned. "Don't tell me you believe this Chosen One nonsense?"

Cedric shrugged. "I believe that when a person has a set of qualities or abilities that fit a certain role, magic sometimes leads them in that direction. Or pushes them, depending on how unwilling they are. It's not a burden I'd wish on anyone, but that doesn't mean it's not real."

Harry turned to Hermione. "Knowing what the second task is doesn't commit me to doing anything. It's just in case. Would you really prefer us not knowing?"

"I suppose not," she admitted.

Harry looked back to Cedric. "Go ahead."

Cedric blew out a breath. "Okay. Obviously, this Tournament has been off the rails since the beginning, first with Crouch getting selected, and then everything with the dragons getting free."

"You don't have to convince me."

"Right. Anyway, none of us would involve you if this were a normal Tournament, or if we only had to worry about ourselves. But for the next task, we have to rescue hostages from the bottom of the Black Lake."

Harry scowled, while Hermione gasped. "How can they do that?"

"The organizers have assured us the hostages will be safe, but like I said, this whole thing seems…"

"Off the rails since the beginning," Harry finished. "This must be what Fleur was getting at, telling me about her sister."

"And linking her to me in your mind," Ginny added. "She must have noticed how much time we spend together. Crafty, I'll give her that."

Cedric said, "Like I told Harry, I can't blame her too much, given what's at stake. We don't know for sure who they'll take for each of us, but Fleur is convinced." He glanced over at Cho. "I'm guessing I'll have to rescue Cho. Not sure about Viktor. Or Crouch."

Harry asked, "Why did she wait until now, though? I thought the organizers were going to fill you in on everything after Crouch got picked, to even things up. What's changed?"

"They told us the second task would involve retrieving something valuable to us from the bottom of the lake, but they didn't tell us we'd be going after people until after the first task, so we wouldn't get 'distracted'."

"But that's the most important part!" objected Hermione.

"They claimed it shouldn't make any difference. The hostages are going to be under a stasis charm to protect them from the cold and lack of air, so it's not like they'll be actively involved."

Everyone but Ginny shivered at the thought of being submerged in the icy waters in February.

Cho said, "Thank you for not using the term 'dead weight' to describe it this time."

Cedric gave her an apologetic look.

"If it doesn't matter," insisted Hermione, "then why not use weighted mannequins instead?"

Cedric shook his head. "It's supposed to be more dramatic when we break the surface, and the audience gets to see our heroic rescue of those we hold dear." His grimace showed what he thought of that. "Now you know why I say I can't blame Fleur too much for dropping hints. Her sister is eight years old."

They all fell quiet at this.

Hermione turned to Cho. "And you're willing to go along with this?"

"If they can't get someone suitable to agree, Cedric can't compete. He might even be in danger of violating the magical contract."

Cedric gave Cho another apologetic look, then went back to addressing Harry. "Viktor, Fleur, and I have agreed to step in and help each other if we see anything suspicious, especially involving the hostages, and to hell with the Tournament. The thing is though, everyone knows that whenever something crazy is going on at Hogwarts, you always seem to be in the middle of it."

"I don't mean to. I just get dragged into it somehow."

"I believe you. Like I said before, I don't want you to put yourself at risk, if you can avoid it. If you see something which seems off, go to a teacher. But I figure you should at least know the situation–just in case."

Harry nodded. "Tell me everything you know."

Cedric relayed what the remaining organizers had shared with the three student champions, in their efforts to cancel out the information advantage Crouch would have had as a former organizer. He also summarized the research he'd done to develop his strategy, though the spells he was planning to use were awfully advanced for a fourth-year to attempt.

Ron raised an occasional question about Cedric's strategy, while Hermione took notes on everything.

"One other thing," Cedric added at the end. "Bagman keeps trying to give me advice, whenever he can catch me without Viktor and Fleur around. I've been avoiding him as much as I can. Besides not being fair to them, I don't know if he's actually trying to help, or if he has some other agenda."

"He might just want to place a bet on you," suggested Ginny. She told Ron, "We should warn Fred and George to stay away from him, no matter what odds he's offering."

Ron nodded. "Right."

Cedric said, "Sleazy, but I hope that's all he's up to, and not something worse. My dad said the Ministry questioned Bagman about Death Eater activities during the investigations after the war. They ended up clearing him of all the charges, but he's on my list of people to watch out for. I assume you already know about Karkaroff?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Sirius told me about both of them. They're on our list too, along with Crouch of course. And Rita Skeeter, for different reasons."

"Yeah. The less said about that menace, the better."

"Sorry again for pulling attention away from the Tournament."

"Apology not accepted again, since you still have nothing to apologize for."

Harry nodded and didn't try to argue.

Cedric said, "I hope this conversation turns out to be nothing but a big waste of time. And if things go the other way, you stay safe."

"Sure," agreed Harry. "You too."

After Cedric and Cho left, Harry looked between Ginny and Hermione. "I know you both tried to keep me out of this, but–"

Ginny stopped him. "You don't have to say it. Cho might not be any great loss, but I know you could never leave a little girl at the bottom of the lake. Or whoever they take for Viktor."

Hermione frowned pensively, already reviewing her notes.