Wednesday, February 24, 1995 – Morning
The day of the second task dawned cold and bleak. The Tournament organizers had built platforms in the Black Lake and stands on the shore. The only thing anyone would see is the champions jump in the water from a platform and then swim away if they chose to swim on the surface. If the champions chose to dive under the surface, then there would be nothing to see until they returned.
The committee had agreed to allow the French divers to follow the contestants and record the event. Dumbledore had negotiated with the chieftain of the Merfolk to have his people follow the divers to ensure that they did not assist or interfere with any contestant. Madame Maxine was in favour of the movie making while High-master Karkaroff was suspicious. Dumbledore was very suspicious but allowed the recording to be done. Bagman, the Ministry man was ecstatic that there would some action to show from the event.
Gusty winds blew across the lake. The champions were collected together on the platform, they were freezing. Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric were wearing conventional swimwear and needed to constantly cast warming charms to survive. Harry was not warm, but he wasn’t as badly off as the others.
Cedric stepped up to Harry, “Love your suit. Are you going to be able to swim in that?”
“I’m using Aguamenti charms to propel me through the water. It will drain my magic. I have to finish before I’m exhausted.” Harry was shivering, his teeth were chattering.
The start was confused but after a delay they all went into the lake. Harry let himself sink to a lower level and set off. He had found the Merfolk village during his training days, but he didn’t approach it. His exploration of the lake extended along the shore as far as his one-hour time limit allowed. If he used the highest speed, his magical core was dangerously low by the end of the hour. The half-ahead speed gave him the best range and a safe reserve at the end of an hour.
The other contestants disappeared almost immediately. Harry saw Cedric and Fleur place bubblehead charms before they swam off. He didn’t see what Viktor did at all.
Harry had found some weed patches which grindylows had infested. He was avoiding them by taking a curving path through the safer areas of the lake. A loud scream pierced the water. It was followed by “Help! Help!”
Instinctively, Harry set off in the direction that the distress call had come from. A murky patch of long weeds came into view. Harry planed up over the weeds. As soon as he crossed the edge of the weed patch, he felt strong fingers grab his feet. He fired transfigured ice pellets below him in an arc. He heard a snarl and the fingers released him. Harry saw the Grindylows converge on him from the weed. More ice pellets fired at speed held them back.
He spotted Fleur being held down in the weed. A dozen Grindylows were preventing her from using her wand. Her bubblehead charm was almost gone. Harry aimed a stream of ice pellets at the attackers. They squealed and fled.
Harry dived down and grabbed Fleur. She was almost knocked out. He planed up to a safe level over the weeds and steered out of the Grindylow infested patch.
Harry took one of his spare bubblehead collars and placed it over her head. The more powerful bubblehead charm took over and refreshed Fleur’s air supply. She quickly recovered.
“Merci! Thankyou! I was almost out. They had me held down. Merci!” She hung on to Harry and showed sign of letting go.
“Fleur, hold on to my belt. We have to go and get our hostages.”
“Oui! They have taken Gabrielle, ma soeur, my sister. Mes parents could not find her this morning. They are mad with anger. My father is Deputy Minister of Magic en France. There will be war if Gabrielle is harmed.”
Their speed was not noticeably reduced by having Fleur trailing behind and above Harry as he headed towards the Merfolk village.
Cedric and Viktor had already taken back their hostages.
Cedric held the unconscious Cho Chang. He looked at Harry and pointed to his own diver’s watch on his wrist. Harry nodded as Cedric moved off with Cho.
Viktor was half transformed into a shark. He held the rope, which was tied to a smaller version of Viktor, in his impressive teeth. Viktor raced away towards the platforms.
The remaining hostage situation was bad. Gabrielle was tied to the end of the monument on which the hostages were restrained.
She was fully awake.
The Merfolk were gathered around her. They were keeping an air bubble in place around Gabrielle’s head. A relay team of Merfolk were swimming to the surface and collecting air in large shells to take to Gabrielle to replenish her air supply.
Fleur took the spare bubblehead collar from Harry and swam to Gabrielle. The collar inflated the bubblehead charm around Gabrielle’s head. Fleur used her wand to release Gabrielle from the stone monument. They swam towards Harry.
An older looking Merman swam to Harry and Fleur.
“Wizards! Chief Wizard Whiskers cast the spells to keep these prisoners alive. He also bound them to our chief’s rock. The baby girl woke up soon after she was put here. We have been working all day to keep her alive. Our chief went to Chief Wizard Whiskers and told him that the girl was awake. He laughed and said that it could not happen. Our chief could not persuade him to save her. We can’t cut the rope binding her to the stone. Only the one to save her can cut the rope.”
The Merman growled.
“Merfolk will not listen to Chief Wizard Whiskers again. If wizards don’t like us, we will move away.”
The last hostage was now the subject of a different kind of emotional response. He was Ronald Bilius Weasley.
Harry stared at Ronald for a long time.
“Are you going to save him?” Fleur asked.
“I’m thinking.” Harry answered.
“I suppose I have to; my personal feelings obviously don’t matter.” Harry swam down and cut the rope holding Ronald down. He clipped a lead to his belt and secured it to Ronald. He gave another lead to Fleur to tie herself and Gabrielle to Harry’s belt and diving suit.
Harry turned to the Merman. “Please tell your chief that we are all grateful for saving our little sister today. I will reward the Merfolk in any way that I can. My name is Harry Potter. My sisters in magic are Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. Please remember our names. Don’t worry about the redhead. We must go.”
The four returned to the platforms at a sedate pace. The time was nearly to the hour mark by the time they arrived.
Harry released Fleur and Gabrielle. They removed their bubblehead collars and Fleur cast new bubblehead charms for them both. They came to the surface and swam to the platforms to be claimed by their frantic parents.
Minutes later Harry surfaced with Ronald.
Ronald woke up in a confused state. He was dragged from the water by some Gryffindor supporters.
“WHAT THE HELL! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME POTTER! I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS!”
No amount of explanation about the Tournament and the Second Task could remove the conviction from Ronald’s mind that Harry had tried to drown him.
After some drying and tidying up the champions were presented with their scores. Viktor was first with maximum points. Cedric was second with a lower time bonus. Fleur was third and Harry last. Harry had a deduction of points for being late, which was what he was aiming at.
Riddle’s plan might be in disarray because Crouch Junior was back in Azkaban, but Harry and his advisors were of the opinion that coming first at any stage made him a bigger target.
The Ministry man, Bagman, made a long and embarrassing speech about what a wonderful event the tournament had become. The champions were sullen and looked at the ground. Harry took out his wand and started wiping the lake slime off it. A strong stinging hex shot from Harry’s wand and hit Bagman where it really hurt. He dropped to the ground and curled up, moaning with the agony.
Harry gasped.
“Oh! I’m terribly sorry. I was cleaning my wand and it suddenly went off.”
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