On the morning of the second task, Harry awoke with Hermione in his arms. No one had come to tell them what was happening with the task but given that Charlus had not returned they assumed that he was now officially Harry's hostage for the task. The three teens had considered going back to Gryffindor Tower for the night, but their paranoia was running at full blast so instead they decided to stay in Charlus's quarters.
They had locked the door both physically and magically, and Harry and Hermione had taken the bed while Ron made himself comfortable on the sofa. Harry looked at Hermione and found she was already awake and was watching him sleep.
"You have a cute snore, Harry," Hermione said before she stretched up and kissed him on his nose.
"I hope it wasn't too bad." Harry asked, slightly worried. Ron snored like a buzz saw but none of the guys had ever said anything about it.
"No. Like I said, it was cute. I could easily sleep next to it. Besides, any noise you made was more than made up for by you cuddling me all night. Normally I only have Sparky to cuddle with and he doesn't cuddle back." Hermione cuddled into his chest as she spoke about cuddling.
It took Harry a moment to remember who or what Sparky was, but then he remembered the stuffed dragon he had won for her at the Quidditch World Cup. "Well I'll just have to apologise to Sparky for stealing his cuddle monster for the night."
Hermione giggled at Harry's words and the two of them just laid there for a few more minutes until a call of nature said it was time to move. After a few minutes where each of them visited the facilities, Hermione said, "Do you think Ron is awake yet? We really need to change out of yesterday's robes." She indicated the creased and dishevelled robes that they had slept in.
Harry opened the door to the living area and called, "Hey Ron, time to get up."
Hermione looked at Harry like he was doing something wrong, but Ron just rolled over on the sofa and mumbled something about five more minutes and dancing ostriches.
Harry looked at Hermione and saw the look she was giving him. He shrugged and said, "It's like this every morning. He will sleep until one in the afternoon if you let him. Hey Ron, up now or I'm giving your breakfast bacon to Hedwig!" Harry called the last part over his shoulder.
"Not my bacon!" Ron called out as he sat up, almost like it was his battle cry.
Both Harry and Hermione laughed as their friend looked around confused. The trio made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, had a shower, and got ready for the day. Harry's mood changed as soon as he saw the wetsuit he was to wear for the task, putting it on and everything he had to go with it right then. He wasn't going to risk not having the opportunity to come back and change closer to the task. He switched out his wand holster for one that had a slot for a knife and transferred the two items into it. His potions and goggles went into a zip up pouch that was built into the leg of the suit and he covered up the whole thing with his robes.
If someone looked closely, they would be able to see that he was wearing something thicker than normal under his robes, but as he checked himself in the mirror it looked more like he was wearing two thick jumpers to combat the February chill than he was wearing a special outfit for the task. He slipped his shoes and socks on, and realising that he was going to need to leave his shoes and robes on the side of the lake, asked Ron if he would grab them after he was in the water.
"Sure mate. I know I was a little slower than some but I got the summoning charm down before Christmas," Ron agreed.
Harry pulled out the map to look for his grandfather, but unfortunately he wasn't on the map. That meant it was likely that the merpeople were holding them in a part of the lake that wasn't on the map. That did eliminate a large chunk of the lake, which while not the most helpful was at least more of an idea than the other competitors.
There was one name on the map that worried Harry though. Professor McGonagall was now standing in the common room next to the only way out of the tower. He worried she was there to grab Hermione, so quickly checked to see where she was and sighed when he saw she was still in the shower. A brief thought about his girlfriend in the shower was pushed aside as he stormed down the stairs to confront his head of house. He didn't care if he had to duel her, McGonagall wasn't going to take Hermione and use her to replace his grandfather as his hostage. Sure she had been pissed off when she learned what was happening last night, but she was still the professor who built a chess set for a death trap in a school. Harry didn't trust in her ability to not be talked around by the headmaster.
When Harry got to the common room he was surprised to see Professor McGonagall relax in relief. She came walking over to him. "Mr. Potter, I have been looking for you all last night and all this morning, where have you and Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger been?"
"We were hiding Hermione so the headmaster couldn't put her in that bloody lake," Harry said stiffly.
"That's what I was looking for you to talk about. The headmaster has accepted your grandfather as a substitute hostage and Charlus asked me to tell you," The professor said. "I spent two hours looking for you last night to inform you and only just now had a painting pass me a message from the Fat Lady telling me the three of you had returned. So where were you?"
Harry almost felt bad, but not quite; he had done his best to protect Hermione and if the professor couldn't accept that it was her issue not his. He did however see no point in keeping it secret. "We spent the night in Grandfather Charlus's rooms. The exact same place you found us before." How the Scotswoman hadn't tried there Harry couldn't work out. What Harry didn't know was that the professors' rooms had extra wards on them to guard the privacy of the professors, and when they had magically locked the door the wards had gone into 'do not disturb' mode. Unless there was an emergency, there was a subtle Notice-Me-Not charm over the door.
"Well that explains why I didn't find you. As you had worked out last night, the second task has you recovering a hostage from the Black Lake, and your grandfather has agreed to fill the role as your hostage. Dumbledore has accepted this so you don't have to worry about any last minute changes. Also, you are expected at the lake by eleven o'clock with the task starting at midday. Any questions?"
"Any chance you can tell me where in the lake he is being held?" Harry asked sarcastically, knowing there was no way she could tell him even if she knew.
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Potter, but I do wish you the best of luck." With that she made her excuses and left through the portrait hole.
-ϟϟϟ-
Hermione convinced Harry to eat a decent breakfast to keep his strength up during the task, but now Harry was wishing he hadn't listened. He was standing on a new dock that the organisers had built for the task with the other three champions and the nerves were upsetting his stomach. The other champions didn't look much better than him. Cedric was staring at the water with a worried look on his face, Krum was pacing trying to bleed off his nervous energy despite his face looking stoic, and Fleur was just on the calm side of panicking as she muttered about someone named "Gabrielle." The rest was in French so Harry couldn't understand it, but guessed that the Veela girl who obviously had trouble with guys was more attached to her best friend or something.
Bagman was giving the commentary again and was trying to play hype man for the crowd, but he wasn't having a lot of success. It was obvious to the spectators that they weren't going to be able to see anything of this task and were just going to be stuck looking at the surface of the lake for an hour, and they weren't happy about that.
It was getting close to their starting time, so Harry pulled off his robes, shoes, and socks and left them on the dock. He was immediately glad of the warming runes Hermione had stitched into the inside of his wetsuit, because he was still warm while he was sure a few people around him who were still fully clothed were shivering a little. Seeing Harry discard his robes, the other champions did the same. Krum was just wearing a pair of swim shorts not unlike what was normal to see on any beach on a hot day. That it was currently the middle of winter and it didn't seem to bother him at all how cold it was and it made Harry wonder just how cold it was at Durmstrang
Cedric was in shorts and a tee-shirt but he was quickly casting warming charms on himself. That had been Harry's original plan, but they had switched to his current solution as if he needed to use the gillyweed potion he couldn't cast the charm silently. This worked better and it meant one less thing to concentrate on while he was under the water.
Fleur was wearing a swimsuit that looked like it had come from a high faction catalogue. It was a silvery one-piece that did very little to hide just how good-looking the French champion was. However, she didn't seem to bother with warming charms, she just suddenly seemed to start just radiating heat like a furnace. Harry's best guess was that it was some alternative use of the Veela innate affinity for fire magic.
"Witches and wizards, the second task of the Triwizard Tournament is just about ready to start. In this task, each of our champions has had a person dear to them taken and trapped at the bottom of the lake. Our champions will have one hour to find them and return them to the dock they are currently standing on." Bagman's commentary told them just how close they were to the start of the task. "The champions are apparently ready, raise an arm into the air if you are ready please."
They all raised a fist into the air signifying they were ready.
"Okay champions, when you hear the sound of a cannon blast charm the task will have started and you will be free to go about your rescue in whatever manner you have planned." He paused for somewhere between thirty seconds and a minute before he started counting down. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One." Then there was a bang like a cannon going off and the task had begun.
Fleur and Cedric were the fastest off the dock, they just cast bubble head charms on themselves and dove into the water. Harry pulled his goggles and the Hawk-eye potion out of his pouch and swapped out the goggles for his glasses that he also left on his robes. While Harry was getting his eyewear on, Victor was muttering to himself and waving his wand about and suddenly his upper body transformed into the head of a shark before he too dove into the lake.
Harry smiled to himself, as now that those three were gone he could enact his plan without the risk of being copied. He pointed his wand towards the castle's boat house and summed one of the boats that the first years used to cross the lake every year. Sure, he didn't know where in the lake the hostages were (he had double checked the map before he had come out here and had then given it to Ron to hold during the task), but Harry was well aware that they weren't in the third of the lake closest to the castle. So, why would he waste his time swimming through that part of the lake when he could just as easily sail over it? He also summoned himself a large rock so that he wouldn't need to actually swim down to the bottom. Harry didn't have much experience swimming, only the mandatory lessons he had had to take in his junior school in Little Whinging, so he was trying to tackle this task with his head rather than by brawn. Luckily he had Hermione to help brainstorm his strategy.
He climbed into the boat as soon as it arrived, and a quick tap on the side of the boat had it speeding off to where he wanted it to go. While he waited for the boat, Harry also drank down the potion and cast his own bubble head charm. The effect on Harry's eyesight was immediate; he could see details much further away than he could before and everything was so much brighter now. It was a pity he couldn't use this potion all the time, but apparently using it too much would damage your eyes and turn you blind. Harry was blind enough already, he didn't need to risk it getting worse.
The drawback of being the last champion above water was that Harry had to listen to Bagman prattle on longer than any of the others. Luckily, he was soon at the location he planned, and clutching the rock to his chest he jumped into the lake. For the first few seconds as he sunk under the surface of the lake he panicked. Something about the idea of breathing underwater had flipped a switch in his brain. Strangely enough, Harry's body did hold his breath and refused to breathe, but he did eventually start breathing heavily, quick and deep breaths. It took Harry a minute to calm himself down and start focusing on the task.
He looked around as he sank and saw nothing. The bottom of the lake was still too far away to see through the murky water. He could still see the light dancing on the surface and the shadow of the boat, but there was nothing he could do yet except cling to his rock and sink. Soon the lake bed came into view. It was a forest of some type of seaweed that looked like it was being cultivated, as it was growing in neat rows. Harry hadn't thought about it until now, but it was obvious in hindsight that merpeople would need food and would likely farm their own.
Harry let go of the rock, staying a good twenty feet over the plants. According to Moony, Grindylows liked to hide in dense seaweed and ambush anything that swam too close. There was a chance that the merpeople wouldn't let the wild water demons around their crops, but it was just as likely that they would leave them there to attack any wild animals that may try to eat the crops they were growing.
He looked around and tried to get his bearings, only to realise he had no clue what direction, apart from up and down, was which. Luckily there was a spell for that, but unfortunately to do it you needed to balance your wand on the palm of your hand. Underwater, wooden wands floated. He did have a plan for this, but it was a little risky and he had hoped he wouldn't need to try it. Unfortunately, as he had lost all sense of direction as he panicked, there was no choice now.
Harry held his hand out flat, palm down, and balanced his wand under his hand. Now he just had to hope that his wand didn't end up floating away as he said "point me". The wand swung around so that the tip was pointed north, and Harry quickly grabbed hold of his wand before it tried to float away. The lake ran mostly south to north, with Hogwarts on the east bank, so if Harry wanted to check the lake area that wasn't on the Marauders' Map he needed to travel northwest from here.
He had been right about the Grindylows, he saw a few of them as he swam overhead, but he was just beyond where they would feel the need to abandon their hiding spots and come after him. Still, he was doing his best to remain alert and kept his wand in his hand. His caution ended up being warranted, because when he got towards the end of the farm, what he thought at first was a wild patch of seaweed sprung up and attacked him. Harry used an overpowered Aguamenti charm to both push the kelpie away from him as well as push himself aside as the vaguely horse-shaped sea monster covered in seaweed swam hard at him, its razor sharp teeth bared and ready to turn Harry from Tri wizard champion to fish food.
As soon as the kelpie passed Harry, it started to turn back towards him. He swung around, wand raised,, and started casting. "Argenti incarnum! Argenti incarnum! Argenti incarnum!" Silver javelins shot at the kelpie, with the first javelin glancing off the flank of the creature, giving it a small cut but doing nothing in the way of real damage. The second javelin missed entirely, but the third was a solid hit. Harry was almost relieved, but then he noticed that having a spear stuck a good six inches into the side of this thing barely even slowed it down.
He wanted to run, but there was no way he could outpace a kelpie in the water. It would be like trying to outrun a champion racehorse while his own leg was broken. He once again had to dodge using the Aguamenti charm as an assist, pushing the two of them in opposite directions. Harry followed up again with the silver javelins and again they did little to slow down the water demon that was coming after him. He knew he had to think of something now. If he didn't, this fight was going to be a long one, and even if he won it he was going to be exhausted at the end of it. He tried to think of a way he could end it quickly, but unfortunately, the only combat spell he had that was effective underwater was the silver javelins and they weren't doing much.
But then Harry remembered all the other big monsters he had been forced to kill had a shared weak point, and there was nothing to say that it wouldn't work just as well for the kelpie. It was going to be risky, an all-or-nothing move. Harry had to dodge the kelpie again, and this time it almost clipped him as it went past. He considered trying to play it safe and to wear it down, but there was no guarantee that this thing would die any faster than Harry would run out of energy.
The timing was going to be critical for this. He focused on dodging for a few more of the kelpie attacks. Luckily the kelpie seemed confused by the sudden and unexplained water currents that were keeping it from its prey, but it kept attacking. The incantation for the spell was long, so Harry had to just start casting and hope it wasn't too early. "Argenti incarnum!" He finished the spell just as the kelpie opened its maw, and the silver javelin struck true. Unfortunately for Harry, by a million to one shot the javelin hit the kelpie at the back of its mouth but off to the side, it came poking out of the back of its head by a clear foot but had somehow managed to avoid hitting the spine or gill system or anything that would put this monster out of the fight.
The kelpie kept charging at him, now incredibly pissed off at him. Harry couldn't dodge this time, so he grabbed the back end of the javelin. That actually helped, as now the sharp teeth were at the other end of the spear, and as long as Harry was able to hold on then he was keeping himself the javelin's length away from becoming seafood. Unfortunately, the kelpie was thrashing around and the javelin was slowly working its way deeper into its mouth and out the back of its neck. Harry tried to do the curse again, but because of all the thrashing about it was hard to keep his wand level and he missed every shot. The javelin sank deeper, and quickly Harry's hand was only a few inches from those teeth.
He let go of the handle while shoving it, and by extension the kelpie's head, to one side. Acting purely on instincts at this point, Harry swam forward and this time wrapped his arms around the beast's neck. Unfortunately, Harry had forgotten that the seaweed-like hair that gave kelpies their appearance and mane was not like the hair of normal creatures. Kelpie's hair had more in common with Devil's Snare than just the colour green, and almost immediately the hair began to entangle Harry's arms.
Normally this was when a kelpie would drag a human victim underwater and drown them. As they were already underwater and Harry wasn't going to be drowning just yet, the kelpie started to swim around, flailing about in every direction and doing any weird move it could think of to get at Harry, who was starting to feel like he did in the bucking broomstick ride at the World Cup. It was only when he felt the kelpie hair begin to tug his wand from him that Harry realised he had managed to hold on to it. He instinctively set off a cutting hex to get the hair off his wand.
It only took Harry a second to realise that cutting spells underwater apparently worked, but only at point-blank range. He twisted a little, pointing the tip of his wand towards the monster and started casting. "Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo! " He kept repeating the spell until the head came free, leaving him clutching a bloody stump as the blood turned the water murky.
Harry sighed in relief as he caught his breath and tried to work out where the kelpie had brought him as he swam around. He couldn't see the farms any more, so there was a good chance that it hadn't taken him back the way he had come from. He looked around trying to see if he could see anything. Logically, as he had just left the cultivated field of seaweed, there should be some other signs of civilization nearby, but swimming people didn't exactly leave paths in the ground for him to follow
After a few minutes, he decided that the best thing for him to do was to follow his original plan. He did the Point Me charm again to get his bearings and started swimming. It wasn't long before he came across another field of seaweed, this time long strands of thick kelp that had to be ten to twelve feet tall. Harry wondered if this was more food or some type of rope, but whatever it was it was a sign that he was going in the right direction. Wary of having to fight another kelpie, Harry decided to swim around this, feeling it was tall enough and thick enough that it could hide a small herd of the bloody things.
Either the field was a lot larger than he predicted or he was a much slower swimmer than he thought, because it was taking him a long time to swim around. Harry was just considering going up and over when he heard a line from the clue, "we cannot sing above the ground." It was coming almost directly from the north, so Harry turned and went that way. As he travelled, he started to see signs of people. Not human or even any of the other races he was familiar with, but strange stone and mud buildings that were obviously homes, the occasional Grindylow tied up as a pet like someone might tie up a dog. And as he swam, the buildings got closer and closer together like he was going into a village. Merpeople started to come out of their houses looking at him. A few of the smaller ones who were obviously children were pointing at him and excitedly saying things to their parents. He supposed that a human in a mervillage was an unusual occurrence.
As Harry swam towards the source of the song, he found himself in a village square of some fashion. The centre of this space was dominated by a twenty-foot-high statue of a merman holding a trident. There was a crowd of merpeople around the statue. At first Harry thought it was something to do with the task, maybe to ask him riddles or something before he could take his grandfather, but as he got closer he started picking up on the tone of the crowd and it wasn't friendly. In fact, if he was right this was more of an angry mob.
Fearing for his grandfather, Harry rushed forward and swam up a bit as well to see over the crowd, and was almost sick. Grandfather Charlus, Cho and Alicia were tied to the statue with what appeared to be kelp rope, and they were completely fine. However, it was the fourth hostage that had Harry almost lose his breakfast. It was a girl who looked to be a 10-year-old mini version of Fleur, covered in small cuts and bruises. For a fleeting moment, Harry hoped that the merpeople were worked up and angry over the condition of the girl, but his hope was shattered when one of the mermen picked up a stone and hurled it at the small girl while shouting "Die you stinking Veela!"
Harry didn't stop to think, his wand snapped up and he shouted "Argenti Incarnum."