Chapter Thirty Five

It was freezing. He was only in up to his knees and struggling to breathe from the cold. His feet kept slipping underneath him and he was sure he was going to fall over soon.

Nothing seemed to be happening. He had swallowed the disgusting Gillyweed but it hadn't done anything, that was it, whatever they'd taken was gone. He'd lost before even having a chance to try.

Then, suddenly, it felt like someone had shoved a pillow over his face. He couldn't breath, his lungs just wouldn't take in the air any more.

Harry knew what to do, instinctively, and plunged his head under the water. He breathed in several breaths of clear, cold water and felt his pulse return to normal.

He pushed through the water until he was totally submerged without having to bend over. His hands and feet where now webbed and he felt two large slits on either side of his neck.

He tried swimming, it was easy with webbed hands and feet, he could move through the water like he was born to it. The water wasn't even cold any more, it felt pleasantly cool.

There was the issue of how dark it was; he could only see about ten foot in front of him and the fact he'd had to take his glasses off before coming into the water didn't help. There was also only quiet around him, silence pressed into his ears until it was almost painful.

He didn't know what he was meant to be looking for still but he figured it would be with the Merpeople. Well, that was the only clue he had.

He swam deeper and deeper into the lake, small silver fish darted around him and once or twice he thought he saw something bigger but it turned out to only be a lump of plant or a dead log.

A long stretch of light green weed twisted out before him as far as he could see. He was apprehensive about travelling into it, he would be very vulnerable, unable to use his wand with any great effect without getting his arms twisted up. There was also no sign of the other champions, or anything that he was missing.

Harry twisted sharply in the water as something grabbed onto his ankle and gave it an aggressive yank downwards.

A Grindylow was digging its pointed little fingers into his ankle, pulling him towards the weeds. Harry quickly reached down to the waist band of his trunks and pulled out his wand. He could see at least two more Grindylows, swimming out the weeds, reaching for him.

"Relashio!" Harry shouted. No sound left his mouth though, just a large bubble. He was surprised at the effect his spell had; it should have produced a stream of sparks that pushed the Grindylows away but instead forced them away with a stream of boiling water, leaving the covered in red welts on their mottled green skin.

Harry swam quickly away, pausing once or twice when he felt something reach for his ankle to send more jets of hot water over his shoulder. He was in a completely different part of the lake when he finally slowed down to catch his breath.

"MYRTLE!" Harry shouted, seeing her floating along, only again he couldn't speak.

Myrtle turned her head and giggled, "Hi Harry. How are you getting on?"

Harry shrugged, he had no idea of what he was meant to be looking for, apart from hoping it was something in the Merpeople's village, and he had no idea how much time had passed, he was painfully aware of how much time he didn't have though.

Myrtle swam a little closer and smiled, "I'd try that way if I were you." she pointed in the direction she thought Harry should go, "I won't come with you though, I don't like them very much. They're really mean and always chase me when I get close."

Harry grinned and gave her a big thumbs up to show how grateful he was before swimming away. He made sure he was a little further above the weeds than he was before, not wanting to waste time running into yet more Grindylows and listening to the darkness.

He was starting to think that Myrtle had given him the wrong directions, determined that he needed to die so she would have someone to live in that wretched toilet with. Then he heard it,

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took..."

It was starting to worry Harry that he still didn't know what they had taken but he couldn't think about that now. He swam faster and faster toward the sound of the eerie singing. He stopped suddenly as a large rock appeared in front of him.

Harry paused to look at it, it was covered in old paintings of Merpeople, they were carrying spears and were chasing something that looked suspiciously like the giant squid. Harry moved passed the rock and continued to follow the song.

It was growing louder now and more clear. Harry allowed himself a glimmer of hope that he might actually make it through this.

"Your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot…"

Harry tried to ignore the new words of the song, panicking about time now would not be the way to go.

More and more crude stone houses were appearing around him, looming up at his sides as he moved through the water. Myrtle was right, the faces peering out at him looked nothing like the pretty picture in the prefects bathroom. They were hard, with greyish skin and bright yellow eyes.

Harry tried to ignore how many of them were armed with sharp silver spears as he swam past. They could easily out swim him, their powerful tails made them move through the water with remarkable ease.

Harry was sure he was on the right track now. The Merpeople would have chased him away by now if he wasn't meant to be there.

He rounded a corner at the end of a street and stopped dead. He had clearly reached the town square for the Merpeople and he saw the strangest sight.

In the middle of the square was, what Harry assumed was, a large statue of a Merperson, carved from a very large boulder. Around the edges of the square was a choir of Merpeople, singing their clue/song on repeat.

But that wasn't what made Harry stop so suddenly. That was the four people, tied to the statue, sleeping peacefully. Small streams of bubbles were coming out of their mouths as they breathed.

Harry could have thrown up. He knew, in that second what had been taken and it wasn't his map. Draco, Cho and Hermione were three of the people trapped to the statue, along with a young girl, no older than eight who, by her long silver hair, had to be Fleur's baby sister.

Fleur had known, that's why she had been so upset, that's why she had been crying on the edge of the lake.

Harry swam forward and looked over Draco, he was still breathing and seemed to be under a strong enchantment. There were thick, slimy weeds acting as the ropes that kept them hostage. Harry needed something sharp.

The Merpeople had spears but Harry didn't even bother asking, he knew they would be of no help. Instead he was left to search the ground until he found a sharp enough rock. It only took him a few minutes to cut Draco free, he stayed by Harry's side, still fast asleep, floating a few inches from the lake bed floor.

Harry looked around, why was no one else here? He couldn't leave Hermione, well he didn't want to leave anyone but he did only have two hands and Draco hand Hermione came top of the list of people to save. He reached over and started to cut Hermione free as well.

The Merpeople rushed forward and pulled him back.

"Let me go!" Harry tried to tell them, he only let out a large bubble, but the Merpeople seemed to understand him, at least a little.

"You take only your own hostage!" one of them told him, "Leave the others…"

"No way!" Harry shouted, getting more and more annoyed at his inability to talk.

"Your task is to retrieve your own friend… leave the others…"

"She's my friend too!" Harry yelled, "And I don't want them to die either!" he said, gesturing to Cho and the silver haired girl.

Harry struggled, trying to free himself from the Merpeoples' grip but they were stronger than he was and more used to moving in the water so they just laughed cruelly at him.

Where were the other champions? He knew he wouldn't have enough time to take Draco up to the surface and then get back for the others, and he doubted he would be able to even find the village again.

The Merpeople around him looked excited and pointed over his head. Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming quickly towards them. He had a strange bubble stretched over his face which made him look like his face was too wide.

"Get lost!" Cedric said, looking worriedly at Harry, held fast by the Merpeople, "Fleur and Krum are on their way!" he mouthed.

Harry felt the grip loosen on his arms as he watched Cedric cut Cho free and start to swim quickly upwards with her. Harry used this to escape the grip of the Merpeople and grab Draco.

Krum arrived just a few seconds after Cedric had left. He had managed to half transfigure himself into a shark, it left him looking like something from a horror movie with a long fin down his back and a large sharks head on a human body.

He swam quickly to Hermione and tried to bite her free. Harry was about to swim off but saw that Krum was more likely to take a chunk out of Hermione than manage to get his teeth to the weeds holding her.

Harry rolled his eyes at himself before letting go of Draco to slowly bob in the currents once more. Harry quickly found another sharp stone and forced it into Krum's hand, pointing to the weeds and making a cutting motion.

Krum nodded and quickly started to cut through Hermione's ropes. Harry moved back to Draco and started to swim away, glancing over his shoulder. Krum was now racing for the surface with Hermione.

Fleur was still no where to be seen.

Harry looked around, Cedric said she was just coming. She wasn't here though.

Harry looked between Draco and the Merpeople still giving him dirty looks. He moved to swim away but a voice sounded in his head, that sounded a lot like his mother.

What if it was Danica?

Harry looked back again at the young girl, still alone, tied to the pillar. Logically he knew that she would be OK, Dumbledore, or any of the teachers for that matter, would not let an eight year old (at most) drown at the bottom of the lake but he knew that if it was Danica down here that would be of little comfort to him.

He cursed himself under his breath for being stupid and spun round back towards the statue and the girl. Once again the Merpeople swarmed around him but Harry pulled his wand and pointed it fiercely at them.

From the worried looks on their faces, the Merpeople had no magic, or at least nothing that could protect them if Harry used his wand.

"Stay back." He ordered them, swimming over to the girl, "I'm taking her too, there's no sign of Fleur."

The Merpeople looked unhappy at the idea of letting Harry go, but they seemed to have no way to stop him. Harry knew he'd never be able to fend them all off if they rushed him, and he was certainly running out of time.

It didn't take long to free the Delacour girl and position her so he could tuck her under one arm and Draco under the other.

It was a lot slower heading for the surface and not being able to use his hands to push him up. Fleur's sister was wearing a light silk dress that didn't seem to hold too much water, Draco on the other hand was pulling Harry down, his thick, woollen robes sodden and weighing a ton.

Harry tried not to think about how far it was to the surface, it was still just oppressive darkness above him. Every breath was becoming more and more difficult for him to breath with the weight of the two hostages trying to drag him back down.

The Merpeople were following him up, swirling around them like a strange fish school. Harry forced himself to push the panic of them dragging him back down to the bottom of the lake to the back of his mind, his current problem was far more urgent.

There was a sharp pain in the sides of his neck as his gills started to vanish. His legs were already cramping from the effort of kicking and his feet were quickly turning back to toes rather than flippers.

Harry looked up, the darkness was thinning, he was sure of it. He took one last deep breath and held it, just as he felt the water rush against his face, freezing cold again.

He was struggling to think, his brain and lungs screaming for oxygen. Just as he thought it was too late, his head broke the surface. He gulped in several breaths of clean air and let the relief wash over him.