Hey guys!

Back once again with a new chapter, I hope you like it!

XD

"English"

"emphasis"

'thoughts'

"Japanese"

"Demon sword telepathy"

"Demon telepathy"

Chapter 17

Harry carried on walking up the stairs, leaving Ron in the common room. When he reached his room he found Amaimon and Rin still awake.

"How'd it go?" Rin asked eloquently.

"Great... fantastic in fact... however Diggory has just given me a very strange piece of advice..." Harry said looking perplexed, "He said I should take a bath with the egg..."

"He said... you should take a bath with the egg?" Rin repeated slowly, completely bewildered.

"Yeah... and when I evidently didn't understand what he was trying to get me to do he said I should use the prefects bathroom on the fourth floor... gave me the password and everything..."

"You should follow his advice, he owes you for the dragons, so I doubt he would deliberately try to waste your time." Amaimon said wisely.

"Yeah I think I will when school starts again, I thoroughly want to enjoy my holidays"

"Fair enough" Amaimon said with a laugh.

They all woke up late on boxing day, the conversation in the common room was quiet and punctuated with yawns. Ron and Hermione seemed to have an unspoken agreement not to talk about their argument and appeared to be quite friendly however they were oddly formal. The three exorcists just rolled their eyes and sighed exasperatedly at them.

Their growing group of friends, which had now expanded once more; to include Daphne Greengrass, met frequently in the library to track steadily through their massive piles of homework. Due to the size of their group (that now had 10 people in it) they pushed a group of square tables together and squashed around them piling books, scrolls, parchment and quills onto the tables; as they creaked under the weight of it. It certainly made homework much easier with so many people working on it and it was another excuse to spend more time together.

Snow was still thick upon the grounds when school started once more, As they walked down the grounds to Hagrid's cabin they were dreading the skrewts and Haru's mind was firmly set on trying out Cedric's clue that night (as encouraged by his father and Rin) however upon reaching the cabin he was shocked out of his thoughts when it was not Hagrid who greeted them but an old witch with close cropped hair.

"Hurry up now the bell rang five minutes ago!" she snapped at them.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name is professor Grubby-Plank, I am your temporary care of magical creatures teacher"

"Where's Hagrid?" Rin repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed" She said briskly.

"Care to elaborate on indisposed? is he ill? or injured?" Amaimon snapped.

She ignored them, and the others soon noticed soft laughter from behind them. The Slytherins had arrived and none looked surprised to not see Hagrid in fact most looked gleeful.

Draco and Daphne weaved their way around the other Slytherins to the golden trio and and the exorcists.

"We'll tell you later" Draco said, with a significant look at Grubby-Plank.

The new professor lead them around the outside of of the paddock where the red eyed, winged Abraxan horses where grazing and to the edge of the forest where a magnificent unicorn was tethered.

"Ooooh" the girls and some of the boys cooed.

"Boys keep back!" Grubby-Plank instructed, "They prefer a womens touch Unicorns, Girls to the front, approach with care!"

As soon as she was out of hearing range, Haru and the others turned expectantly to Draco.

Wordlessly Draco handed a page of newsprint over to them. Haru read through the page with the others leaning over his shoulders.

DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE

Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore.

Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.

An alarmingly large and ferocious looking man, Hagrid has been using his new found authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures.

While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening."

"A student was attacked by a Hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm" says Theodore Nott, a fourth-year student "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything."

Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous cross breeds between manti-cores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.

"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject.

As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not, as he has always pretended, a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.

While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.

In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power, thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend, but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.

"Missing your large friend, Potter?" Theodore Nott's grating voice sounded from behind them.

Haru crushed the paper in his hand and glared darkly at him, "What did you mean by we all 'hate Hagrid'? so you're suddenly the school spokesperson are you?" He snapped.

"And what's this rubbish about him-" Rin pointed at Crabbe "-Getting a bad bite off a flobberworm... They don't have teeth!" Rin said angrily. Personally the whole Half-Giant prejudice reminded him of what he used to get for being a son of Satan and he didn't like it one bit.

Amaimon suddenly chuckled darkly, making all the others heads swivel towards him, "There are much worse things in this world than a mere Half-Giant" he said with a wicked, knowing smirk decorating his face.

Most of the Slytherins shrank back from him slightly, Whilst Harry muttered, "Yeah and a prime example of that is stood right there..." Nai who had been sat in his pocket burst into fits of high pitched giggles.

"Are you paying attention over there?" Grubby-Plank's voice echoed suddenly from over by the Unicorn.

Haru was still pre-occupied with worrying about Hagrid all through dinner which was spent sitting with the others in silence. He even forgot about the egg until Amaimon dragged him out of his bed at 12 that night.

"What?" he muttered tiredly.

"The egg, Baka!" Amaimon whispered.

"Shimatta!" he cursed quietly.

He silently grabbed his invisibility cloak and Map and crept downstairs with a whispered thanks to his father.

Rin opened the portrait hole for him on the other side, and Harry slipped away into the dark corridors as Rin whispered "Good luck".

It was quite awkward moving around under the cloak this night. He had his tail wrapped around the heavy egg carrying it behind him as he had in one hand on his new tanto and the marauders map in the other hand.

He avoided any teachers and filch quite easily, he moved as swiftly as he could whilst remaining as silent as the breeze outside. He reached the statue of Borris the bewildered and went to the door nearest to it.

He whispered the password: "Pine fresh" as quietly as he could and the door clicked open.

He slipped into the room and manually locked the door behind him.

Sheathing his tanto he took out his wand, "Colloportus" he said clearly, locking the door magically as well, "Well I can't be too careful now can I" he added with a mutter.

He turned around for the first time to study the bathroom, he would have been impressed had he not lived in his Uncle Mephisto's mansion, and quite frankly he preferred his uncles white, black, pink and purple colour scheme to this bathroom's. It was all white and gold and gave off an image of pretentious holiness; if he was honest it reminded him of the Vatican but considerably less expensive (it was how he imagined the Vatican would look if it was built by B&Q). There was a picture on the wall of a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, he shook his head at the ridiculous picture.

He sighed and put his cloak, map, egg, wand, tanto and one of the fluffy towels he found in the room down by the side of the ridiculously sized bath which in his opinion was more of a pool than a bath.

Whilst pondering how on earth this bath would help with the egg he tested out all the different taps and was mildly amused by the results. When the bath was full of hot water and various different types of bubbles he took off his pyjamas; consisting of an old t-shirt, jogging pants and plain socks, before untying his ponytail and letting his waist length hair fall down his back. He slipped carefully into the water not knowing how deep it actually was.

His feet touched the bottom but the water still went up to his neck, he swam a couple of lengths before swimming back to where he left the egg. He glared at it in frustration 'How in Gehenna's name is this helping me?'.

"I'd try putting it in the water if I were you"

He whipped around, thankfully it was just moaning myrtle.

"Myrtle please don't sneak up on me, announce yourself first... and I hope you didn't look when I was getting in the bath" He said exasperatedly.

"I closed my eyes when you got in" she said blinking her large eyes at him.

Somehow he didn't believe her, maybe it was the fact he could see a silver blush fighting its way across her translucent cheeks.

"Anyway..." she said (and he was positive she was deliberately changing the subject) "You should put the egg in the water... that's what Diggory did"

"Spy on him as well do you... at least its not just me then" Haru muttered but nevertheless grabbed the egg and opened it beneath the foamy surface of the water.

He didn't hear it wail this time and could faintly hear some sort of song but couldn't hear it properly even with his sensitive hearing.

He ducked his head under the water and was glad this water didn't have chlorine in it as he opened his eyes.

"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 surely miss,

an hour long you'll have to look,

and recover what we took,

but past the hour- the prospects black,

too late; it's gone, it won't come back."

He held his breath for a full minute memorizing the song before he came up for air.

"Well that's cheerful..." Haru muttered, "Hmm... if I had to open the egg in the water and seek these creatures below ground then its obviously underwater... that much is plain... well... unless they have even bigger baths than this one more than likely the task will be in the black lake... what else lives in the black lake besides the Giant squid and Grindylows?" he asked Myrtle.

"All sorts" she said cheerfully.

"But what would have human-ish voices?" He asked more to himself than her.

He tilted his head backwards on the side of the bath and the picture caught his eye. His head snapped back to Myrtle, "Are there Merpeople in the lake?"

"Oh that's very good... Cedric was in here for ages before he came up with that answer and she was awake then" she indicated the picture, "giggling and flashing her fins..." she finished with a grumble.

"Great now I need to figure out how to breathe under water for an hour... fantastic..." he said, "Thanks Myrtle... now close your eyes I'm getting out."

He trudged back up the stairs from the common room later on map-less after having to give it to moody after he helped him hide from Filch and Snape. Quite frankly he was angry and a bit depressed; he'd gotten attached to that map.

He crept into his bedroom silently.

"Well?" Rin whispered, trying not to wake Nai up; as he would squeal until everyone was up.

"I need to learn to breathe underwater for an hour" Haru replied just as quietly.

"That's easy... just use the bubble head charm, Angel and me can teach you" Amaimon muttered his voice muffled from where he was lying face down on his bed, "Now go to sleep"

Rin and Haru exchanged looks in the darkness. Having someone around who had technically already completed their magical schooling was really handy sometimes.

He had made great progress in the bubble head charm and could easily hold it for an hour or more by the time it was halfway through January and was now trying to learn a warming charm so he didn't freeze in the lake, it wouldn't be warm in February of course. Amaimon wasn't particularly pleased that Moody now had the Map but he conceded that there was nothing else Haru really could have done.

When the Hogsmeade visit reared its ugly head again he found he was looking forward to it for once.

"Don't you think you should be working on the egg whilst everyone else is out?" Hermione said reprovingly.

"I've already worked the clue out and I've got a plan so you have nothing to worry about" Haru replied.

"Have you really?" Hermione said impressed, "Well done!"

On the Saturday of the visit their group (joined once more by Shura and Mephisto) left the castle and set off through the cold, they walked through the slushy Hogsmeade streets chatting amicably; well Luna was skipping and humming alongside of Haru, off in her own world but everyone else was chatting.

They entered the three broom sticks and Haru ducked behind Mephisto so Bagman didn't spot him, he couldn't stand that man, and luckily his Uncles tall size and white cloak made it easy to stay out of sight.

Rin, Yukio and Amaimon went up to the bar to get drinks for all of them and returned shortly.

"So you've got the egg worked out then?" Draco asked.

"Yeah it was irritatingly easy to work out once I knew how to listen to the damn thing" Haru replied with a grimace.

"Uh oh" Ron muttered looking at who had just walked through the door.

It was Rita Skeeter.

"I really hate her..." Senbonzakura muttered to him.

'Senbonzakura?' Haru asked.

"Who else would be speaking in your head?" Senbonzakura asked calmly yet sardonically.

'No one, I'm just surprised... you've been really quiet lately... in fact you haven't spoken since just after the first task when you saw Skeeter then...'

"I haven't found anything to comment on... besides you don't need me consistently butting in on your life to know I'm here do you?"

'well no, obviously not, but I'd rather you speak up a bit more often than you have been... don't you get lonely anyway?'

"no... just because I'm not saying anything doesn't mean I'm not watching what's going on and besides your wolf is good company..."

'still... don't forget to talk' Haru said before jumping back to reality.

"Are you all right Haru? you spaced out... did the whackspurts get you?" Luna asked concerned.

"No I'm fine" He replied with a smile that was wiped off his face when he saw Skeeter and her photographer walk to a table near to them.

The whole group glared viciously at her as she approached (even Luna), amazingly Rita didn't appear to notice.

The pair sat down as she said: "didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did he, Bozo? Now, why would that be do you think? And what's he doing with a pack of goblins in tow anyway? Showing them the sights... what nonsense... he was always a bad liar. Reckon something's up? Think we should do a bit of digging? 'Disgraced Ex-Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman...' Snappy start to a sentence, Bozo... we just need to find a story to fit it-"

"Trying to ruin some one else's life?" Haru snapped loudly unable to hold his tongue.

"yeah you tell her!"

A few people looked around at them.

Rita's eyes widened as she saw who it was before she beamed, "Harry!" she exclaimed, "How lovely! why don't you and some of your friends join us-"

"We don't associate with the likes of you" Draco said sneering.

"We prefer to talk to people who you can trust not to stab you in the back" Daphne added haughtily.

Mephisto and Shura just watched on silently with their eyes narrowed.

"What possessed you to write all of those things about Hagrid, eh?" Haru practically growled.

Rita raised her heavily pencilled eyebrows.

"The public has a right to know the truth Harry-" she began as if talking to a small child.

"You didn't tell the truth though?" Luna interrupted looking genuinely confused and the others couldn't tell if it was an act or not, "Hagrid isn't frightening or brutal or anything else you said..."

"And who cares if he's Half giant? he can't help who his mother was!" Harry added.

"And there's absolutely nothing wrong with him!" Rin snapped. Nai on Haru's shoulder squealed his agreement.

The whole pub had gone deathly quiet and Madam Rosemerta didn't seem to realise that the glass she was filling had overflowed onto her hand.

"Well why don't you all give me an interview about the Hagrid you know?" Rita replied fake smile still on her face, as she got a quick quotes quill and parchment out of her bag, "The man behind the muscles, the unlikely friendships and the reasons for them... would you say he was a father substitute Harry?"

The group of 10 students plus two adults looked quite disgusted, but Amaimon looked ready to murder her; her last remark angering him a great deal, Mephisto put his hand on his shoulder in warning as the lights flickered briefly.

Hermione stood up very abruptly, her Butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade, "You horrible woman" she said, through gritted teeth, "you don't care do you? anything for a story, and anyone will do, wont they? Even Ludo Bagman-"

"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand" said Rita Skeeter coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl... not that it needs it" she added, eyeing Hermione's bushy hair.

Haru growled, "You're just a selfish, narcissistic, greedy monster... aren't you? it doesn't matter what lie it is does it? as long as it makes people buy your stupid paper and puts money in your pocket... you don't care who you shove down in your path do you?"

Even Rita was stunned speechless by this statement.

"Why don't you all head back to the school?" Mephisto said cheerfully, interrupting the silence, "you must have homework"

"Yeah lets go" Draco agreed glaring at the reporter.

And they left; many people were staring at them as they went. Haru glanced back as they reached the door. Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill was out; it was zooming backward and forward over a piece of parchment on the table. But Mephisto stood up and walked over to her table picked up the quill and snapping it in half, Rita spluttered but didn't say anything as Mephisto said "You had better watch what you print, we didn't appreciate the lies you wrote about the Order and our exorcists, we're already suing you, you wouldn't want us to up the charges now would you?" Rita glared at his back as he and Shura walked up to Madam Rosemerta to apologize for the commotion.

"She'll be after you next, Hermione" said Ron in a low and worried voice as they walked quickly back up the street, "Haru's got the true cross order to back him up so she can't say anything else about him.."

"Let her try!" said Hermione defiantly; she was shaking with rage "I'll show her! Silly little girl, am I? Oh, I'll get her back for this. First Haru, then Hagrid..."

"You don't want to go upsetting Rita Skeeter" said Ron nervously "I'm serious, Hermione, she'll dig up something on you-"

"My parents don't read the Daily Prophet. She can't scare me into hiding!" said Hermione, now striding along so fast that it was all the others could do to keep up with her.

"The last time you looked like this angry you punched me in the face... you're not going to do that to her are you? because whilst it will be amusing to the rest of us its not a great idea" Draco asked with a smirk.

"so that was why you had that red mark on your face... you said you'd tripped up the stairs..." Daphne muttered.

"Details, details" Draco said nonchalantly.

"Of course I'm not going to punch her... I wouldn't be able to get away with it..." she said, "And Hagrid isn't going to hide anymore! He should never have let that excuse for a human being upset him! Come on!"

Breaking into a run, she led them all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. The curtains were drawn, and they could hear Fang barking as they approached.

"Hagrid!" Hermione shouted, pounding on his front door, "Hagrid, that's enough! We know you're in there! Nobody cares if your mum was a giantess, Hagrid! You can't let that foul Skeeter woman do this to you! Hagrid, get out here, you're just being-"

The door opened. Hermione said, "About tim-!" and then stopped, very suddenly, because she had found herself face-to-face, not with Hagrid, but with Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, smiling down at them.

Hermione spluttered and the others just stared.

"We wanted to see Hagrid" Luna eventually said.

"Yes, I surmised as much," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "Why don't you all come in?"

"Oh... um ... okay," said Hermione finding her voice.

They all cramped into the Cabin, but nevertheless all 10 of them managed to fit in. Hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. He looked a real mess. His face was blotchy, his eyes swollen, and his hair was like a tangled mess of wire.

"Hi, Hagrid" said Haru when no one else looked willing to speak.

Hagrid looked up "Lo," he said in a very hoarse voice, although he looked surprised by who was there (particularly at the two Slytherins).

"More tea, I think" Dumbledore said, closing the door behind them, drawing out his wand, and twiddling it; a revolving tea tray appeared in mid-air along with a plate of cakes. Dumbledore magicked the tray onto the table, and they all sat down on whatever surface they could as only Haru, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Dumbledore could fit around the table with Hagrid. There was a slight pause, and then Dumbledore said, "Did you by any chance hear what Miss Granger was shouting, Hagrid?"

Hermione went slightly pink, but Dumbledore smiled at her and continued, "They all still seem to want to know you, judging by the way they were attempting to break down the door."

Hermione went even pinker.

"Of course we still want to know you!" Haru said flabbergasted, staring at Hagrid. "You don't think anything that Skeeter bitch- sorry, Professor," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.

"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said Harry," said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

"Er... right," said Harry sheepishly. "I just meant Hagrid how could you think we'd care what she wrote?"

Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's black eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.

"Living proof of what I've been telling you, Hagrid," said Dumbledore, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it-"

"Not all of 'em," said Hagrid hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan me ter stay."

"Really, Hagrid? if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said Dumbledore, now peering sternly over his half-moon glasses, "Not a week has passed since I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"

"Yeh... yeh're not half-giant!" said Hagrid croakily.

"Hagrid, look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously, "Look at the Dursleys!"

"Lots of Exorcists have demon blood in their family for Gehenna's sake and they don't let it bother them!" Rin said.

"Excellent points," said Professor Dumbledore, "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery..."

"Hagrid lots of people will hate you and try to bring you down but that's life... what does their opinions matter though? strangers who have never met you have no right to judge you, what matters is the opinions of the people who know you and are important to you" Amaimon said wisely.

"And what the other Slytherins say is a load of rubbish they were deliberately trying to get a reaction out of you" Draco said, "This is exactly what they wanted..."

"Come back and teach, Hagrid" Hermione said quietly, "please come back, we really miss you."

Hagrid gulped, more tears leaked out down his cheeks and into his tangled beard.

Dumbledore stood up, "I refuse to accept your resignation Hagrid, and I expect you back at work on Monday," he said. "You will join me for breakfast at 8:30 in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all."

Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fangs ears. When the door had shut behind him, Hagrid began to sob into his massive hands. Hermione and Luna kept patting his arm, and at last, Hagrid looked up and said, "Great man, Dumbledore... great man..."

"Yeah he is," Ron agreed.

"Ar, he's righ', o' course... yeh're all righ'... I bin stupid... my ol' dad woulda bin ashamed o' the way I've bin behavin'..." More tears leaked out, but he wiped them away forcefully, and said, "Never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here..."

Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid's black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid's shoulder. Hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless and young... he looked hardly older than eleven.

"Tha was taken jus' after I got inter Hogwarts," Hagrid croaked. "Dad was dead chuffed... thought I migh' not be a wizard see, 'cos me mum... well, anyway. 'Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really... but at least he never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year... Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad went. Got me the gamekeeper job... trusts people, he does. Gives 'em second chances... tha's what sets him apar' from other heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, s'long as they've got the talent... knows people can turn out okay even if their families weren'... well... all tha' respectable. But some don understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh... Yeh know wha, Haru?" he said, looking up from the photograph of his father, "when I firs' met you, you reminded me o' me a bit. Mum an' Dad gone, an' you was feelin' like yeh wouldn' fit in at Hogwarts, remember? Not sure yeh were really up to it... an' now look at yeh, Haru! School champion!"

He looked at Harry for a moment and then said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love, Haru? I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd show 'em all... yeh don' have ter be pureblood ter do it. Yeh don have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Harry?"

"Great," said Haru honestly. "Really great actually."

Hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile. "Tha's my boy... you show 'em Haru, you show 'em. Beat 'em all."

"Well I'll certainly do my best, believe it! Dattebayo" Haru said enthusiastically with a grin.

Rin and Amaimon started laughing; fully confusing everyone else, whilst Yukio cuffed Haru lightly around the head muttering, "Damn Otakus"

"Why do I get the impression we're missing some sort of reference here?" Neville asked the others who apparently didn't get the joke either.

When the next care of magical creatures lesson did indeed roll back around Hagrid was back on his feet, no one knew whether he was making up for the skrewts or if it was because there was just two of them left but Hagrid continued on with Grubby-Planks lessons proving he knew just as much about them as she did as he had captured two unicorn foals. Unlike the older unicorns these ones were pure gold and instantly all the girls fawned over them (even pansy although she tried to hide it) it led to an awkward encounter though as unfortunately boys were able to pet unicorn foals unlike their older counterparts, as soon as Rin, Yukio, Amaimon and Haru got within three feet of them the Unicorns strained against the ropes tethering them, neighing frantically. The boys instantly backed off and the unicorns calmed down but looked quite warily at the four of them.

"I don't know what's got in to 'em..." Hagrid said quite perplexed.

The rest of the class was looking between them and the unicorn foals suspiciously.

"Its probably because we have to interact with demons a lot... we've all had demon infected wounds as well... so they must be able to tell..." Amaimon said shrugging unconcernedly. The others tried not to relax too obviously that Amaimon had a cover story prepared as it would look less believable.

"Good thing your father has quite the silver tongue when he wants to... that situation could have gone down hill so fast"

'Yeah that had me really concerned for a second...'

"Right well... you lot keep back a bit then..." Hagrid said, not really knowing what to do in that situation.

It was the day of the second task and Harry was at the location for it before any of the others, he'd gotten up and had breakfast early so he could warm up before he had to dive in the lake, the last thing he needed was muscle cramps, he could imagine the embarrassment of his father and Rin diving in after him because he'd gotten cramps and couldn't swim any more, or equally embarrassing being rescued by his uncle Mephisto.

This task didn't have the same rules as the first one and you could take anything you wanted into the lake however he was leaving Senbonzakura with his father, he wouldn't have great manoeuvrability in the water and the sword would weigh him down. In fact the main thing he was worried about now was his weight in the water and what on earth was the thing he would miss most.

He was shirtless and wearing knee length grey cargo pants, secured with a thick, sturdy belt from which hung a sheath with his tanto in it. In a holster strapped to his thigh he had his wand and just in case also had the pen knife Sirius gave him for Christmas in another compartment on the holster. His tail was hanging lose instead of wrapped around his waist as he figured it would give him more manoeuvrability in the water.

Mephisto and Angel had also acquired for him a small, yet sophisticated diving kit that he could strap to his arm it looked like a large digital wrist watch.

As everyone else (not counting the exorcists who had been there since Haru had) arrived, Draco, Daphne, Ron and Neville walked over to where Haru was stood with Rin, Yukio, Amaimon, Mephisto, Shura, Angel and Lightning.

"Hey where's Luna and Hermione?" Rin asked.

"No idea I haven't seen Hermione since last night" Ron answered.

"I haven't seen her either... or Luna for that matter" Neville agreed.

"That's odd... its not likely they'd skip coming to cheer Haru on" Draco said shrugging.

"Well I guess I should go wait with the others for this stupid task to start..." Haru muttered, "Ja ne"

The others all muttered: "Good Luck" as he walked off.

"Hi..." Haru muttered to Cedric, Fleur and Krum who all nodded at him.

Bagman pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup and said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out towards the stands, "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then... One... two... THREE!"

Haru took out his wand and silently cast the bubble head charm and then the warming charm, he knew he must have looked like his was wearing a goldfish bowl on his head but didn't care quite frankly, he waded into the water and when it was deep enough dived in head first. Even with the warming charm he was quite cold however with demon blood flowing in his veins it wouldn't do him any damage.

He swam towards the centre of the lake diving further down all the time, Amaimon had carefully measured the waters depth; the deepest point of the water was 60 metres, Hermione, Yukio and himself had spent ages calculating how long they'd need to take into account for decompression and setting up the dive computer on his wrist with the right figures. If he spent fifteen minutes getting to his destination and fifteen minutes at the site, overall he would have to be in the water for a total of 90 minutes in other words an hour and a half, it would take a full hour to get back to the surface without suffering from the bends also known as decompression sickness (and he didn't fancy having nitrogen burst any of his blood vessels, Half demon or not he would suffer damage from that, it might heal later on without too much trouble but he really did not want to have go through that). What he had decided on was rescue what had been taken within the hour allotted for them and spend as long he bloody well wanted getting back to the surface. If he spent just five minutes longer at the bottom of the lake than he meant to, that would mean an extra fifteen minutes waiting for the nitrogen to decompress, luckily if that happened he had an unlimited air supply (as long as he held up the charm) so he wouldn't have to worry about running out of air.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to spend as long as he had allotted himself finding and retrieving whatever it was that had been taken from him, then he could spend less time decompressing.

As he swam on he began to wish he had used Gillyweed as Angel had suggested. He would not have to worry about the bends then as he would be forcibly adapted to the pressure of the water but it was not a regular plant you would find just any where, and Haru was positive that Snape would not give him any if he asked for it and stealing from Snape was not something he wanted to partake in; especially if it was obvious it was him.

The water was swiftly becoming opaque and even with his better eye sight he could not see far. He was swimming through some long green tendrils of an unidentifiable underwater plant when something grabbed his ankle, without thinking he drew his tanto from its sheath and spun around slashing whatever had grabbed him. Something let out a shriek of pain as the dagger cut into its flesh forcing it to let go of his ankle.

It turned out to be a Grindylow, and more were arriving as back up, he quickly palmed his tanto into his left hand in reverse grip and drew his wand, "Relashio".

He was expecting sparks to fly at them however they were blasted with scalding hot water, he kept up the spell and drove them away from him, slashing and kicking whichever ones got too close. One of the Grindylows he kicked away spotted his tail however and something like recognition flashed in its eyes and started gesticulating to the others and obviously saying something in their own language.

Haru almost jumped when he heard: "We humbly apologize... we will not trouble you again... please do not crush us, earth scion" Spoken as if from all sides as the Grindylows retreated swiftly, casting him fearful looks as they swam off nursing their burns and cuts.

Haru shook his head in slight annoyance his pupils flashing red, 'Why couldn't they notice earlier?! instead of wasting my damn time!' he thought.

"Well they are very week water demons, they are not known for their brains..." Senbonzakura argued reasonably, "By the way you need to check your dive computer more often, otherwise you might forget when you need it"

'Why would I need to remember if you will for me?' Haru thought with a smile.

Senbonzakura tutted at his young partners attitude.

"How are you getting on?" he heard a strangely cheerful voice say.

This time he did jump. "Myrtle!" he exclaimed, even though the logical part of his brain told him she would not be able to hear him through the bubble head charm.

She giggled at him, "You want to try over there!" she said, pointing, "I won't come with you... I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close..."

"Thank you" he said sincerely, flashing her a smile and giving her a thumbs up before he swam off in the direction she pointed.

He swam for ten minutes before he spotted something in the distance. He had now spent 25 minutes in the water.

He was passing over expanses of black mud now, giving the black lake a very literal name. Then at long last, his sensitive ears heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took..."

Harry swam on past a rock with crude carvings of mermen on it, following the mersong.

"...your time's half gone, so tarry not Lest what you seek stays here to rot..."

"What lovely people aren't they?" His partner asked sarcastically.

A cluster of extremely crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Haru spotted the merpeople who were very different to the one in the painting in the prefects bathroom.

The merpeople had grey-ish skin and longer, wilder green hair than even Harus own. Their eyes were yellow, as were their disgusting broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks, which reminded him eerily of Lunas Butterbeer cork necklace. They leered at him as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands, he could tell from their expressions that they knew what the Grindylows did and were determined to keep their distance, one even pulling a much younger mermaid back away from him, he sighed dejectedly.

"At least their not as bad as the unicorn foals" Senbonzakura commented causing a smile to pull at Haru's lips.

Haru sped on, staring around looking for something he recognized as his own that he would miss, the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of lake weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake that shrank back from him. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him warily, pointing at his tail and the bubble on his head, talking behind their hands to one another. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople were floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

His ears grew out slightly and his eyes kept flashing red in anger as he saw who was tied up there. The merpeople shrank further back away from him before he got his anger under control.

Luna was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang; her pale dirty blonde hair flowing around her. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made Harry feel sure that she was Fleur sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

Haru sped toward the hostages; swimming as fast as he could. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. He didn't even think for a second and drew his tanto and slashed through the weed pinning Luna to the statue. His dive computer was flashing red at him, he was already five minutes over what he wanted to spend at the bottom of the lake meaning he had to add 15 minutes to his decompression time however Luna had been down a lot longer than he so he didn't know what to do about that, he was going to have to follow his plan and hope for the best however he didn't want to leave until Hermione and the little girl were safe (he didn't care about Cho) more than likely Dumbledore would retrieve any hostages not collected but it still didn't seem right to him to leave them.

'I'll wait until the others are gone, I'm planning on returning after the allotted time anyway, what does longer matter?'

"Its the right thing to do... especially considering you're an exorcist, it is your job to protect people and lets face it... you don't care about whether you win this competition or not"

'thanks... that makes me feel a lot better about this decision...'

Just then the merpeople around him pointed excitedly over his head. Haru looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head.

'he must have used the same charm as me...'

"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking quite panic-stricken, "Fleur and Krum are coming now!"

Haru watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free, he was slightly disappointed a part of him had hoped Cho would get left and have to have a teacher come get her. Cedric pulled her upward and out of sight, not once considering the others.

A minute later the merpeople started screeching animatedly. Haru turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark... It must be Krum.

He appeared to have transfigured himself but quite badly.

The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin, and Haru was positive that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward Haru shoved Krum away and cut the rope for him, Krum nodded to him and then he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface.

Now what? Haru thought worriedly looking at the little girl. If he could be sure that Fleur was coming...

But still no sign and stretching out his senses he could sense no other human in the area. There was nothing to be done now except...

He drew his tanto once more, but the mermen now closed in around Luna and the little girl, shaking their heads at him.

Haru let some of his rage out and his ears extended fully from his head tapering to points, his pupils burned vibrant red that glowed in the gloom his tail lashed from side to side swishing the water angrily.

"Get out of the way!"

Of course they couldn't hear him, but he had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood him, because they suddenly shot backwards away from him. There might be a lot more of them than there were of him but Haru could tell; by the looks on their faces, that they would not test a Half-bloods wrath.

He darted forward and cut the weed holding the girl in place. once she was free he seized the little girl and Luna around their waists, and kicked off from the bottom.

He needed to add a total of 30 minutes to his overall decompression time, but he had already resigned himself to coming last in this race.

As he reached 30 metres water depth he settled himself for waiting here for at least 10 minutes and reverted his appearance to normal, he let out a sigh, 'this had better be worth it... if I find that there's some sort of spell on this lake to stop decompression sickness I'm going to punch Dumbledore'.

"That would be quite humorous... I'll remind you that you said that"

When he finally reached the surface, he instantly dispelled the bubble head charm and sighed as he looked at the diving computer he had taken just over two hours to complete the task.

The crowd in the stands were making an awful lot of noise and he winced at the volume.

"Hello again Haru" he heard a serene voice say from next to him.

"Hi Luna" he replied.

"Its awfully wet isn't it?" Luna said. She didn't even question Fleurs sisters presence.

"Yeah it isn't it" he agreed, before checking the little girl was okay. She seemed shaken up and a bit scared but was otherwise fine.

"Come on lets get back to shore, Luna can you help me with her? I don't think she can swim very well"

They pulled Fleurs little sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, some of the merpeople accompanied them back but gave them a wide berth.

Haru could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets, she appeared to be forcing potions down Krum's and Cedric's throats both of whom looked quite ill.

Dumbledore, Percy and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Haru and Luna from the bank as they swam nearer. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

"She's fine!" Haru shouted.

Dumbledore and Bagman pulled Luna upright as Haru was dragged out of the water by Amaimon who was trying not to look frantic; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister.

"It was ze Grindylows... zey attacked me... oh Gabrielle, I thought... I thought..."

"Come here you," said Madam Pomfrey. She seized Haru and pulled him away from Amaimon, the other Exorcists and his friends over to Hermione and the others, wrapped him so tightly in a blanket that he felt as though he were in a straitjacket, and quickly cast several diagnostic spells.

After a moment, with the Exorcists looking over her shoulder, she straightened and said: "Well done Mister Potter you have successfully avoided being on daily potions for the next few weeks"

"What do you mean by that?" Amaimon asked.

"All of the hostages had stasis spells placed on them so they would not be affected by the pressure, which were set to release once they reached the surface" Madame Pomfrey explained, "But it apparently occurred to no one to place similar spells on the champions, both Diggory and Krum have mild decompression sickness, thankfully Fleur wasn't down long enough so be effected so badly and could be fixed immediately. Mister Potter obviously accounted for decompression and is perfectly fine."

"Haru, well done!" Hermione cried, "You did it! you might have come second to last but you did so well!"

"Yes you did very well Haru" Luna added having just been forced into the seat next to him with a warm towel wrapped around her.

"Thanks Hermione, thanks Luna!"

"You haff a water beetle in your hair Herm-own-ninny," said Krum. Haru had the distinct impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the bottom of a cold lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though Haru... Did it take you ages to find us?"

"No... I found you okay... but would have felt guilty leaving any one behind so I waited... anyway it worked out that if I spent just 30 minutes in total reaching the bottom of the lake and actually at the bottom I would need to spend an hour ascending anyway otherwise I'd look as ill as Cedric and Krum do right now and because I took even longer than that on the bottom it took even longer to ascend again"

Hermione nodded as if she didn't know this already, it was best to give the impression that she and Yukio hadn't helped create those calculations.

"You did really well... and you made the right choice waiting behind" Amaimon said.

"Yeah we're proud of you kiddo" Mephisto said speaking for all of them as he ruffled his nephews green hair.

Nai leapt off his fathers shoulder onto his own cheering: "Haru! Haru! Haru!" over and over again.

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges and said: "A conference before we give the marks, I think" The judges went into a huddle.

Madam Pomfrey went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

"Look after Gabrielle," she told her and then she turned to Haru "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," Harry said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment (a trait he picked up from Rin) "It wouldn't have sat right with me to leave anyone down there."

Fleur bent down, kissed Haru twice on each cheek, he felt his face burn hot enough to fry an egg, and Amaimon and Mephisto winking at him from behind her back was not helping matters.

Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice suddenly boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows... Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

Applause sounded from the stands but it was more for politeness than anything else..

"I deserved zero" said Fleur her voice shaking.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour" there was enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; Haru saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look, he rolled his eyes at them. "We therefore award him forty-seven points. Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. Mephisto, Shura and Angel glared at him.

"Harry Potter- sorry I mean Haru Faust- also used the bubble-head charm to great effect," Bagman continued "He returned last and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr Po-Faust was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety not merely his own and large pauses in his return to avoid decompression sickness. Most of the judges" and Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fibre and impressive amount of thought into all possible circumstances and merits full marks. However... Mr Fausts score is forty-five points."

His friends all clapped very loudly. Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering for Haru to listen.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the 24th of June" continued Bagman, "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

'Thank god its finally over until June 24th'

"Pity though you didn't get to punch Dumbledore..."

Well that's it for another chapter! I'm not entirely sure about the information I used on the 'bends' however it stands to reason it would be an issue for the second task because pretty much all Scottish lakes are at least 65 metres deep (according to Google) the information I based the calculations on was from a book called 'black gold' written by Chris Ryan as part of the 'alpha force' series, I hope its accurate info, it should be because Chris Ryan is ex-SAS so it should be somewhat accurate... ah well, if not I tried.

see ya XD

Someone asked for translations so here ya go:

Translations (well the translation for what I'm trying say or intended to say any way it might not be wholly 100% accurate because I don't speak Japanese but this is my best shot):

Dattebayo- ya know (Naruto reference, wrongly translated/ replaced as 'believe it' in the dub)

Shimatta- Damn it (I think... I know its a cuss word along this sort of line but it might be a bit worse than 'damn it'... it doesn't really matter in this context anyway, its a hard one to remember because it keeps being subbed differently in the anime I've seen)

Senbonzakura- thousand cherry blossoms

Ja ne- see ya