Chapter 85: Second Task

February came fast. Rose had finally unveiled the clue from the egg during Winter Break during a study session in the library. The carvings on the egg were mermish, a dialect used by merpeople living in freshwater and not salt water. Considering she couldn’t leave Hogwarts and its surroundings, it pointed out to the tribe living inside the Black Lake. The idea to open the egg inside water was obvious to her. She knew enough about physics to know what happened to sound either in the air or in water. If the sound was awful and distorted in the air, underwater may change that. And she was proven right.

The scream the egg released when opened was actually an english song sung by merpeople in water. Its content was worded like a poem but quite explicit. Something important would be taken from her. She thought of an object at first but she wasn’t really materialistic and she doubted the organizers of the tournament knew what she held dear. That was too difficult to find out and take a hold of. Since it wasn’t an object that left people and immediately she thought of her family. Most notably Susan.

She almost dismissed the idea when she realized that it would put other people that didn’t sign up for the tournament (beside her) in moral danger then thought back on it again. Wizard and witches had zero common sense so actually doing it, actually putting unrelated people into danger, was right up their alley.

She bet the organizers didn’t even think of the legal ramifications and the consequences if something happened to the people they took for hostages. Proof of that was Fudge deciding to change the dragons’ breeds for the first task. She was sure the man didn’t even know that originally some other dragons had been selected.

Of course she could be wrong about people being taken hostage but she’d rather not test it. Regardless she needed to go under the lake and had one hour to do whatever task she needed to do. She had plenty of options. The main one being the bubble head charm. It was dangerous however. Should the bubble break she’d be in deep trouble because she wouldn’t be able to reapply it. To be more accurate, she could but the bubble would be full of water as there would be no air for it to capture and allow her to breath.

The second option was the gillyweed. A better one, with better advantages. She would be able to breathe underwater and swim better by transforming the body partly into merpeople’s one. The problem was more serious however. Gillyweed lasted one hour but there was a debate about this regarding freshwater or saltwater. There was also a need to practice with the transformation. She didn’t want to find out how and what she could the day of the task. Here was also the issue of how to procure the plant beforehand. She was sure she could ask Neville about it but the inconvenients still stood so the option was discarded.

In the end Rose listed every method she could think of and stuck with what she knew best and was the most comfortable with.

Rose felt a wave of relief when the morning of the task she saw Susan in the Great Hall. Even more, all her siblings, cousins and friends were there. None were missing. That made her think again on what could the organizers have taken from her when she noticed her father’s absence at the teacher’s table.

Her mother and her Aunt Bella were sitting close together and both looked worried to death. She could have put her mother’s expression to her going through the second task but her aunt was only ever worried for her father. She only saw that face on her Aunt once when she was six.

At the time her father had won the quidditch world cup for the second time and the Argentinian beaters used their bats to attack him. Sore loser that they were. Her father spent a week in a coma. Unsurprisingly the IQF banned the Argentinians for life. Even more unsurprising, they never left South-Africa and no-one had seen them ever since. It wouldn’t be until years later that she would realize that her grandmother may have ‘taken’ care of them permanently.

Her Aunt’s worry and her father missing made her realize that he was her hostage. With how open and public she had been with Susan and their relationship she supposed that they settled with her father. Either because the organizers were too scared to put in danger the current head of the DMLE’s niece or because her father volunteered. Regardless, the second person she loved the most was under the lake and in potential danger. She was highly motivated to participate in this task.

A straight thought had crossed her mind. Who was the other champions’ hostage? They never particularly presented any interest or close bonds with people during their time at Hogwarts. Viktor’s family was way too far and he revealed they didn’t like to travel much. Not when his mother had a frail body and was prone to fall ill. Fleur’s family on the other hand was way closer so it was possible. She found out when she was on the champions’ stands which had been built on the Lake.

“As you must know from the clue contained in the egg, you have one hour to go into the lake and come back up with what was taken from you. In the case of Miss Potter it is her father. Miss Delacour’s hostage is her little sister and Mister Krum, his girlfriend Miss Granger.” Crouch explained.

“What?! You involved my little sister in zis?! She’s eleven!”

Rose was horrified on the spot. Fleur was part veela and if her little sister was too then there was a huge problem. Veela and merpeople didn’t get along well if at all. As matter of fact, saying they were at war for the last thousands years would be more accurate. She also wondered what was that bit about Hermione being Viktor’s girlfriend when he confessed to being gay.

“Vhat measures for the hostages’ safety?”

“The hostages are put in a sleeping state and would only come out of it once their head is out of the water. Headmaster Dumbledore did the charm himself and assured us that they were in no danger inside the lake. The merpeople will not harm them in any way.”

“Professor, did you take into account that Fleur was part veela and that her sister may be too?”

Dumbledore’s eyes widening told everything she needed to know. Inwardly she sighed at how sometimes the great wizard that he was, forgot some important details.

“If a single ‘air of my sister… Losing your job will be ze last of your problems.”

“The agreement I came to with the merpeople assures the safety of every hostage regardless of their origins. I have faith that your sister will be unharmed during the task.” Albus tried to reassure Fleur.

Rose put a hand on her friend's arm to calm her down.

“You know the task doesn’t matter to me. I’ll keep an eye out for your sister and bring her up if I can and you can’t.”

“Zank you.” the french witch replied with sincerity.

Viktor showed his support by putting her hand on Fleur’s shoulder even though he said nothing.

“How will the judges and the spectators see what we do?” Rose asked.

“Excellent question!” Bagman, who Rose wondered how that man became the head of a department, gave her the answer. “Lord Potter created this little marvel!” The object Bagman had in hand looked like a quidditch snitch but silver colored not gold. “It’s a surveillance snitch. There is one for each of you. They will follow you around and display what’s happening on those big screens that you can see over there!”

From the first time Rose and her competitors finally saw three stands floating away from the spectators’ with a huge screen on top of it. Each displayed the back of one Champion. When Rose turned her head she saw the little silver ball flying behind her.

“Thank Merlin for my father. The task would have been very boring to watch otherwise.”

“Eh…”

“Indeed. We were all so focused on the task and the safety of the hostages that we forgot about the public”. Dumbledore said.

That, Rose could believe it. At least the part about the task, not the one about the hostages’ safety.

When the cannon was fired, starting the task, Rose watched as the two other champions dove into the lake. She used her wand to summon a wooden stool to herself. Just like she practiced she turned it into a scuba diving suit helmet. A transparency charm was implied inside of it so she could have a 360° view of her surroundings.

Putting a bubble head charm inside of it too, Rose put the helmet on and jumped into the lake. Her objective was to scour the bottom of the lake on foot and not swim around. It was better for her to move in a two dimensional environment than a three dimensional one when her movements were limited. ‘On foot’ was a bit wrong though.

If she walked it would take her more than an hour to find her father. So instead when she reached the ground she transfigured one of the long thick weeds into a broom with a propeller instead of a broom tail. She now had a water propulsion device and could move even faster than a normal person swimming. Furthermore it was a device whose shape she was very familiar with.

Getting up on it she left the ground a foot above the tallest weeds and began to move. Realising that she forgot about how dark the bottom of the lake was she pointed her wand in front of her and cast one of the Lumos variants her father had taught her in her first year. She could now see twenty feet in front of her within a ten feet radius.

Rose didn’t know for how long she explored the lake but she had a few encounters with some Lobalugs and Grindylows. The former, she just had to shed light on them to make them flee, the latter was a toss up. They either fled not being able to withstand the light or became even more aggressive. In that case she just stunned them.

She thought she saw a shark from the corner of her eyes but dismissed it. Sharks didn’t dwell in freshwaters. At half past time, she began to move faster and encountered a huge group of Grindylows banding together and overwhelming Fleur. She thought at first to use a lightning base spell to hit many of them in a chain reaction but quickly dismissed the idea for fear of hitting and hurting her friend. Instead she pushed her broom at the fastest speed it could go and used her wand to create a powerful blast of wind scattering the group of Grindylows. She grabbed Fleur with one hand and darted out of there, releasing a huge cloud of ink behind her thanks to a spell.

When she felt they were safe, Rose created another helmet for Fleur who was a bit too shocked. Landing at the bottom of the lake, she created a huge bubble around them and expelled the water. Now under a dome of air they could talk.

“Are you alright?”

“Non but I will be.” The french witch replied, pulling herself together.

“I scouted the south and west but there was nothing.”

“I searched East and ze center.”

“Then that left North. They must be there.”

“Oui, I think too.”

“How are your wounds?”

“I can feel ze Lobalugs’ poison burning in my veins. ‘Eet iz very unpleasant. I’m not sure I can swim properly zey aimed for my legs.”

Indeed, she had many cuts on her legs and had trouble staying on her feet. Rose believed it was because of the poison as the cuts were not very deep.

“You think you can get behind me and blast any danger to bits while I light the way?”

“I can do zat. ‘Eet iz using my legs zat is difficult. My arms are fine. I zink zey wanted to tire me.”

“Alright then.”

Rose slowly broke the air dome, letting the water fill it until she simply dispelled it. She helped Fleur get on the broom and sat in front of her. She lit the way in her wand and after one more encounter with Grindylows to which Fleur took a sick but justified pleasure to deal with to the last, they found the merpeople village. They were keeping guard. Fleur tapped her shoulder and pointed to the far right at the edge of the light’s reach. Pointing her wand that way, Rose saw the hostages. Her father, Hermione and a young girl who looked like Fleur.

Making their way there, they saw a half-shark / half-human swim towards the same location. Rose realized that she definitely had seen a shark earlier but that it was in fact Viktor who used a partial self transfiguration to be able to breath under water. Apparently he too wasn’t confident in the bubble head charm for the task.

As Rose landed near her father, Viktor began to swim away with Hermione. The merpeople who had been passive but watchful until then began to attack. Throwing spears and blocking any escape. Viktor was forced to retreat towards her, Fleur and the hostages. Wondering what was going on for a fraction of second, Rose discarded the thought to defend herself and protect the others.

Viktor’s shark head made it difficult for him to properly fight while the poison was getting to Fleur and she was too weak to help. Things were bad and Rose’s brain went into overdrive to find a solution. A strange thought crossed her mind and without pondering much, she went with it.

She put a bubble around her father’s head and transmuted the water inside of it into air. Cursing herself for not having thought of that earlier, she paid him no more attention, returning to the defense of the group. When a huge dome of ice encased her surroundings, she felt relieved. Her idea worked and they were now safe from the merpeople. The water inside the dome was transmuted into air and Viktor’s self transfiguration was undone. Unfortunately it was quite a bit painful and he coughed a lot of water.

“What a mess. I knew something wrong would happen.”

Turning around she saw her father with an expression of serenity on his face. She knew then, without any doubt that everything will be alright.

“Everything was fine then suddenly they attacked.”

“I’ll go to the bottom of this but later. Right now we need to get out of here.” Rick replied as he went to check on Fleur and her sister.

Rose understood. Questions could wait. She gave a look at Hermione who had woken up too and checked on Viktor.

“Alright. We need to get out of here now. The Lobalugs’ poison is spreading fast into Fleur’s body. It’s a miracle she’s… Not passed out.”

He caught himself when he remembered that Fleur’s sister was there. Rose, and she wasn’t the only one, knew that it wasn’t what he was about to say.

“Ne t'inquiètes pas. Ta soeur ira bien. Il y a une medi-sorcière et une soigneuse à la surface.” (Don’t worry. Your sister will be alright. There is a medi-witch and a healer at the surface)

Hearing that Fleur would be alright albeit in French gave even more relief to Rose.

“Alright. Hermione and this cute little one, stick together.”

Rick conjured a huge transparent hollow plastic ball.

“Get inside. I’m sorry if it’s tight but bigger and your ascent would be way too slow or you’ll be too heavy. When I break the ice dome, water will push you up. A simple finite incantatem at the surface should undo it. Rose, use your broom to accelerate their ascent. Clever invention by the way. Viktor, your half-self transfiguration will help too. ”

The star quidditch player nodded and helped Hermione and Fleur’s sister get inside the bubble by holding it in place for them.Rose asked the question she had in mind. “Okay but what about you and Fleur?”

“I’ll give you some time so you can get away. I’ll take care of Fleur.”

Rose wanted to protest but nodded. She knew her father would be alright and so would Fleur. Once everyone was ready. Rick undid the dome and Rose did as instructed. The ascension was fast and in a minute they were at the surface. Hermione undid the bubble and Viktor swimmed with Fleur’s sister on his back.

Rose got closer and took the girl on her broom. Casting a warming charm on her. It was February after all. She quickly propelled themselves on water to the Champions stands where Madam Pomfrey was waiting and took care of her passenger. As she turned around to go and fetch Hermione she heard people gasping and looked at Fleur's screen. Her father was using a lightning spell, shocking the merpeople and doing something that had her eyes bulged out of their orbits.

Rick waved his wand around himself and Fleur. Water began to move faster and faster in a circular motion around them. Soon enough it was so fast the merpeople were swept away upward. The whirlpool began to grow and grow and expand until it reached the surface turning into a maelstrom but going up.

He and Fleur were not in the water anymore but in open air at the epicenter of it. Transfiguring his boots into something Rose couldn’t make sense of, her father took Fleur in his arms and jumped onto the heavy current. Its strength was strong enough to sweep them both away towards the surface while her father stood upright, holding Fleur tightly and making sure she didn’t touch it.

When they reached the surface, their accumulated speed sent them way up in the air. When they began to fall, Rick used his wand to create a spiralling ice slope and slide down on it. Being close to reach the lake's surface, he used a simple arresto momentum to slow them down to a stop. He conjured a wooden boat, put Fleur in it, picked up Hermione and Viktor on the way then brought everyone to the champions’ stand.

The bulgarian helped the bushy hair witch to get out of the boat and Rick carried Fleur to Madam Promfrey before turning to Dumbledore. Rose listened attentively.

“What happened?”

“It seems the merpeople were rather literal in our agreement. The moment the hour passed, they considered the task over and were not bound to the agreement anymore.”

“And so they attacked since among the group were part veelas.”

“I’m afraid so.” The answer made Rick sigh.

Rose could hardly believe what she heard and how idiotic it was. Had she not been so tired she may have said something but she was and honestly, in her opinion, it wasn’t worth it. Everyone made it out alive and that all that mattered. She barely even listened to the judges announcing the results.

Since all champions went beyond the time limits they were deducted points. Viktor being the first who took his hostage was awarded more. Rose came second, earning points for helping another champion and her cleverness in waking her father up in a dire situation.

She had remembered what Crouch had said about the hostage waking up the moment their head was in contact with air and was very smart about it. Fleur came last as she had needed help during the hour of the task. The french girl didn’t care however. Her sister was safe and it was all that mattered to her.

Rick was reunited with his wives. Lily gave him a deadly hug to show her relief while Bella hugged him suggestively from the back. Rose wasn’t surprised one bit by that. Her father had shown a powerful and impressive display of magic after all. She was herself hugged to death from the back by her girlfriend and realized that big breasts was the way to go.