Reviews:

Last Divine Shadow : Nah, he would've come out blaming James Potter for it.

Power of Magic: I honestly, genuinely, hand-on-heart believe that canon Snape is a virgin. The guy wanted Lily his whole life, she did nothing with him and we've not seen any evidence that he moved on since her death.

T-Biggz: There's more on my pat-reon

Chapter 62 -

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

"What the hell?" Harry blinked as he pulled his head out of the sink.

After having received a clue from Fleur, Harry did as any normal wizard would do and magically expanded his dorm's bathroom sink so he had enough space to put in the egg and his head. He had put his head in and opened the egg, only for it to blurt out that poem.

"I do not like poetry," Venom frowned as his head appeared next to Harry's, hanging off a tentacle that sprouted from Harry's left shoulder.

"Me either, but that's beside the point," Harry said with a small shake of his head. "The poem's a clue,"

"We must face a foe," Venom said thoughtfully. "They cannot sing above ground according to the poem, so perhaps they are underground. Are we to fight giant moles?"

"Maybe," Harry said doubtfully before pausing. "There's more than one way to be underground, like the chamber, but I don't think they'll hold the second task there."

"Would be pretty cool if they did,"

"The school has a lake as well," Harry continued. "Maybe the task is there," He guessed.

"Perhaps," Venom hummed. "The next part, they've taken what you'll sorely miss. That's bollocks obviously, I'm still here,"

"Perhaps it means an object or something," Harry frowned. "The next part, 'But past an hour, the prospect's black'."

"So am I,"

"Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." Harry finished. "That must be a time limit or something,"

"Must be," Venom frowned. "That's not fun,"

"No, it's not," Harry agreed. "It looks like we've worked out the clue, but we should make sure, just in case."

"How do you plan to do that?" Venom asked him curiously.

"We need to go to the library and see if there are any books about the lake, you know what that means."

"Operation 'Granger'!" Venom growled.

"Bullshit on a stick," Harry muttered to himself as he closed the book in front of him.

Currently sitting in the library, the young Potter had several books piled next to him. He had read through them all, trying to find as much information as possible about the Great Lake AKA Black Lake. So far, he suspected that the theory that he and Venom had come up with was correct. The lake had several creatures that lived in it, most weren't deadly to humans, but a few were. One of the creatures that lived in the lake was the merpeople, a sort of half-fish and half-human hybrid that according to the book could not speak above water and would simply make a screeching noise, a noise that Harry was willing to bet was a lot like the screeching from the egg.

'So, what to do?' Venom asked Harry.

'First things first, we need to figure out a way to breathe underwater,' Harry mentally replied.

'I have that sorted,' Venom assured him. 'Next problem,'

'We'll need to brush up on spells that could help us in the lake,' Harry decided. 'We'll need to make a backup plan in case you can't keep me breathing,'

'I'm sorry, are you doubting me?' Venom asked, sounding mildly offended.

'Merely preparing for worst-case scenarios,' Harry responded easily. 'Now, the question is what will they take that I'll sorely miss?'

'Well, they can't take me,' Venom said confidently. 'Carnage definitely won't go, not without a blood bath at least.' Venom couldn't help but add. Harry made a mental note to talk to Hedwig about not killing any potential idiots who tried to put her underwater, tempting as it might have been. 'Maybe something else important to you, your broom perhaps?'

'I do like my broom,' Harry frowned.

'It's a high-quality broom,' Venom replied. 'Maybe you can let your girlfriend take a look at it,'

Far sooner than Harry would have liked, the day of the second task arrived. Which was why dozens of students were gathered around the Black Lake, sitting in stands that were definitely not there a few days ago. The judges were all comfortably sat up on some watch tower that had been built for them.

'Cunts,' Venom decided to comment.

The champions all gathered around on a temporary dock that had been built, Cedric and Krum were dressed the same as they both wore shorts and a tank top, red for Krum while Cedric had yellow and black colours. Fleur wore a modest blue one-piece, it was quite attractive, as proven when a lot of boys had cheered and whistled at her, not that she appeared to notice as she stared at the lake with a pale face. Harry himself was wearing simply a pair of black shorts, magic kept him warm enough that he didn't see a point in wearing a shirt. He himself had gotten a few cheers when he took his shirt off. He stared at Fleur who had given him barely a smile when he removed his shirt before she pulled her attention back to the lake.

"What did they take?" Harry whispered to her, earning a surprised look from the blonde.

"Not what," She said eventually. "They've taken my sister,"

"They what?!" Harry blurted out before looking at the other champions.

"Cho," Cedric frowned.

"I believe they have taken Herminnione," Krum frowned. Ignoring Krum's horrible pronunciation of the person that he'd supposedly miss the most, he looked around, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. He could see Luna, reporter's hat and all, along with the members of the quidditch team. Tonks was still here as well standing close to Madam Pomfrey, doing her job along with the other aurors that were spread out everywhere. So who was he supposed to get then? Another quick look around and he spotted that a certain someone was missing.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Harry muttered before Ludo's voice boomed out.

"Welcome, welcome one and all to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament!" The former quidditch player cheered, and a few moments of applause followed before he continued speaking. "Now, each and every champion is tasked with going down into the lake and retrieving that which they will miss the most. Inside the lake, suspended in deep sleep, are four hostages!" He said dramatically, causing several audience members to gasp. "They have a maximum of one hour each to retrieve their hostage and return to the docks. Champions, are you ready? The task will begin soon, ready everyone? The task starts in three...two...one and a half...go!"

The other three champions all pointed their wands at their heads and started casting spells of some sort, but Harry didn't bother with that and simply leapt straight into the lake. He had barely got a few meters deep when Venom covered him and turned him invisible, the two shot through the lake, swimming at such great speed that there was no way that the other champions could physically catch up. It took only a few minutes but the pair eventually found themselves near an underwater village, Venom retracted himself back into Harry's body, save for a piece of himself that covered Harry's mouth and nose.

Harry pulled out his wand and slowly swam towards the village, cautiously. The village was made up of coral, various sea plants and large rock formations. In the centre of the village, Harry spotted the hostages. Tied to some rocks by ropes around their ankles, were four hostages. There were Cedric and Krum's Yule Ball dates, Cho Chang and Hermione Granger, followed by Ron Weasley, something that caused Harry to frown. Ron was hardly the thing or person that Harry would miss the most, Ron was at one point Harry's best friend, but that was no longer the case. Oh, Harry didn't hate the boy or anything like that, but Ron wasn't really anything more than a roommate anymore (he supposed they could sort of still be counted as friends), let alone the thing that he'd miss the most. Still, Ron was clearly for him as there were no other options for him to take as the only remaining hostage was definitely for Fleur.

A small girl with hair that probably would have been an exact match for Fleur's if it wasn't currently waving around in the murky waters of the lake, the girl was dressed in a beauxbatons uniform and like the other hostages, she floated around in an enchanted sleep. Unfortunately, the hostages weren't alone and were surrounded by merpeople. In the dark waters of the lake, the average person could probably barely see anything, the average person didn't have Venom at their side, which was why Harry was able to see the merpeople with little problem.

Everyone at some point had pictured a mermaid, imagining a fish's lower half attached to half of a very attractive human, the merpeople here were nothing like that. They had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. Some of them had spears in their hands, some with swords. Their bottom half was like a fish, but the shape and size of it made Harry suspect it was more designed to slap than anything else. They snarled and roared as Harry got closer, but thankfully didn't do more than that as he approached the hostages.

'They're all alive,' Venom told Harry who relaxed slightly. Looking at all of the hostages, he wanted to take them all but knew that that was not allowed. Besides, he figured that the other champions would be rather miffed with him if he did that...or perhaps thankful, who could say for sure? Aiming his wand at the rope that held Ron, he cast a cutting curse and caught Ron as soon as the rope no longer attached him to the sea floor. Tapping himself with his wand, he shot up with Ron in his arm, pretty soon the two managed to get above water.

"Blimey!" Ron blurted out as he suddenly woke up, he splashed around for a moment before spotting Harry. "Harry?!"

"Ron!" Harry replied. "What the hell's going on? Why were you my hostage?" He said as he waved his wand under the water.

"What are you...oh! Old McGonagall came into the common room, said they needed someone to help you compete in the task, and well...I volunteered," Ron said, ears a bit red, not just because of the water. "She said you would fail the task if they couldn't find anyone." He explained, embarrassed.

"Bloody hell," Harry sighed.

"That's what I said," Ron snorted before a yelp escaped him as the two of them suddenly ascended as an ice platform floated up from under them. "Is that you?!"

"Who do you think it was? Merlin?" Harry chuckled before tapping the platform and sending it moving back towards the dock.

"Wow, I know you're good at magic, but now you're just showing off!" Ron said in an amazed voice. Harry barely stopped himself from laughing, it was true, he had always been decently good at magic. But ever since having Venom come into his life, he had found it much easier to learn. He supposed it was helpful to have an alien remember everything he forgot. But it was more than that, ever since Venom came into his life, his head had been clearer, his memory had been better and he'd generally just been able to think more.

Pretty soon they were more than halfway back,

'Um...trouble,' Venom said, directing Harry to look down. 'Fleur is down there, being attacked by something.' Venom had barely finished speaking when a large red spell shot out of the water in front of them.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron gasped.

"Trouble," Harry said, standing up. "Stay on the ice, it'll take you back. I'm going to go and help!" Harry said, jumping into the water before Ron could say anything.

Diving into the water, he quickly swam down where he finally spotted Fleur. The young witch had a panicked look on her face as she was being swarmed by a pack of Grindylows. The Grindylows were about three feet tall each, the tallest one he could spot was about four feet, they were a sickly green colour with pointy horns on their heads, and they had octopus-like tentacles and sharp teeth along with thin arms that had long, spindly fingers. The horrible little water creatures had grabbed Fleur, one even being smart enough to hold her arm so her wand was pointed away from them. Blood floated around her and Harry was pretty sure that the blood didn't come from the Grindylows.

Aiming his wand, he cast a widespread revulsion jinx that caused the creatures to release her, a flick of his wand and they were blasted away. He swam over to Fleur as she flailed helplessly, her body covered in cuts as she held her hands against her neck, barely able to breathe. Grabbing her, he pressed his lips against hers, pushing in as much oxygen into her mouth as he could. Once she had calmed down enough, he separated and aimed his wand at her, casting one spell to remove the water that was drowning her before he cast another that sent her flying to the surface.

'Duck!' Venom forced him to duck, a second later a Grindylow swam over his head, narrowly missing him.

'Some fuckers just can't take a hint,' Harry thought to himself as the Grindylow swarm came back.

'Can I?' Venom asked hopefully.

'Go for it,' Harry nodded, waving his wand and casting a widespread freezing spell (not the ice one), immobilising the Grindylows. Harry could practically feel Venom grin as several tentacles came out of Harry's body and grabbed the Grindylows, a large black mass appeared above Harry's stomach and a familiar pair of teeth came out of said mass. Venom's tentacles pulled the water creatures close before wrapping them all in a cocoon centred from Harry's stomach that hid them all from Harry's view, a few seconds later, the tentacles retracted back into Harry and there was not a single Grindylow left.

"Yum," The mouth by Harry's stomach grinned. "Taste like sushi!" Venom said before disappearing.

'How the fuck do you know what sushi tastes like?' Harry thought before swimming up to the surface where he found a crying Fleur Delacour waiting for him. "Fleur, are you okay?" He asked the girl who seemed to have barely just regained to ability to breathe properly.

"No! No!" She cried, grabbing him. "My sister is still down there! I must go!"

"Fleur, you're in no state for that," Harry told her. "You're cut up and basically just one giant bruise right now."

"It's my sister, I must!"

"No, I'll do it, go back to the docks," Harry told her. "I'll get her and meet you there, go on."

"But Harry, I-"

"I'll keep her safe, I promise! Go!" Harry told her before waving his wand, Fleur floated into the air before she found herself landing on a small block of ice. With a tap of Harry's wand, the ice block started taking her back to the docks.

Fleur couldn't stop the tears that dripped down her face as she was brought back to the docks, she wasn't quite sure how long she had stayed on the ice, it felt like hours. When she got there, she barely noticed the dripping wet form of Ronald Weasley as she was pulled onto the platform by none other than that Tonks girl that she knew Harry had liked (Or perhaps still liked).

"You okay?" Tonks blurted out in shock, staring at the beautiful champion. The girl who always looked nothing less than perfection, now had several cuts of various sizes all over her body, several bruises, a face that was Weasley red and was crying so much tears that she could probably fill up the lake.

"Harry!" Fleur sobbed just as Madam Pomfrey came over, waving her wand several times while pulling out a couple of potions from her belt.

"Harry?! Is he okay?!" Tonks asked quickly.

"Drink this," Madam Pomfrey ordered Fleur, Tonks waited with forced patience as Fleur downed the first potion.

"He saved me," Fleur hiccuped, tears still pouring out of her face. "From the Grindylows," She cried out before Madam Pomfrey made her drink another potion whilst wrapping her up in a towel. "He sent me back here...he...he's going to get my sister,"

"That...oh Merlin, that sounds exactly like him," Tonks groaned. "Oh, I hope he's okay,"

"You and me both," Fleur sobbed, never in her life feeling so weak. "I...I can't have him get hurt because of me...he..." She trailed off, staring down at the ground.

"He'll be fine," Tonks said, soothingly. Not really a tone that she was very experienced with, but she gave it her best. "He's a tough kid," She told her, only to be met with a rather fierce glare from the younger girl whose face now seemed to be red for a completely different reason. Somehow, she was able to keep her glare whilst downing a third potion, which Tonks was admittedly impressed by.

"He is no child!" Fleur snapped at her, she coughed hard and ignored Madam Pomfrey's warning about exerting herself before continuing. "He's more man than anyone here! Don't you dare treat him like he's anything less!"

"I...I didn't mean it like that," Tonks said weakly and pretty apologetically. "Trust me, I know that Harry's no kid. He's...he's strong, he's strong and kind and brave and...so much more."

"Much more," Fleur said softly, nodding her head numbly.

"He's also extremely attractive," A voice said, the two girls nodded at that before pausing and looking to their side where they saw Harry standing at the dock with a young girl in his arm. "At least in my opinion," Harry said with a small grin, he looked at the girl in his arms and she blushed as red as a fire hydrant.

"Harry?! Gabrielle! Ma sœur!" Fleur leapt to her feet and rushed to the two of them, pulling them both into a rather strong hug. She lifted her sister out of Harry's arms and immediately began fussing over her, checking her for bruises while speaking so fast that the poor girl didn't even have an opportunity to respond before being pulled into another hug.

"Alright, Harry?" Tonks grinned brightly as she walked over, handing him a towel. "Can't help but do the hero thing, eh? Maybe you can join me in the auror force,"

"I'll think about-" Harry found himself cut off as Fleur grabbed him by the head and smashed her lips into his, he dimly heard the cheers and whistling from the audience as he placed his hands on her waist. He wasn't sure how long it went on, neither of them was really in any hurry to stop. After Fleur's valiant attempt to shove her tongue down his throat ended, she pulled away with a flushed expression on her face, she speared him with a look that Harry suspected every male in all three schools wanted to receive from her. Deciding to be on the safe side, he wrapped his towel around his lower body before people could notice exactly how much he had enjoyed her thank you.