A whole crowd of merpeople was 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. Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. There was also a beautiful girl who looked my own age, whose clouds of silvery hair made me feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's 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.

I sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. For a fleeting second I thought of the knife Sirius had bought me for Christmas-locked in my trunk in the castle a quarter of a mile away, no use to me whatsoever. I looked around. Many of the merpeople surrounding me were carrying spears. I swam swiftly toward a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. "We do not help," he said in a harsh, croaky voice.

"Come ON!" I said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from my mouth). I tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. I swirled around, staring about. Something sharp... Anything... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. I dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. I began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.

I looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? I turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock, and began to hack at her bindings too-At once, several pairs of strong gray hands seized me. Half a dozen mermen were pulling me away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing. "You take your own hostage," one of them said to me. "Leave the others ..."

"No way!" I said furiously-but only two large bubbles came out.

"Your task is to retrieve your own friend... Leave the others ..."

"She's my friend too!" I yelled, gesturing toward Hermione, an enormous silver bubble emerging soundlessly from my lips. "And I don't want them to die either!" Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. I struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding me back. I looked wildly around. Where were the other champions? Would I have time to take Ron to the surface and come back down for Hermione and the others? Would I be able to find them again? I looked down at my watch to see how much time was left-it had stopped working. But then the merpeople around me pointed excitedly over my head. Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward the hostages. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.

"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!" Feeling enormously relieved, I watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and out of sight.

I looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour... The merpeople started screeching animatedly. Those holding me loosened their grip, staring behind them. I turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark... It was Krum. He appeared to have transfigured himself but 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 I was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward I hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface.

Now what? I thought desperately. If I could be sure that Fleur was coming... But still no sign. There was nothing to be done except... I snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Ron and the pretty silver-haired girl, shaking their heads at me. I pulled out my wand. "Get out of the way!" Only bubbles flew out of my mouth, but I had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood me, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon my wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of me, but I could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did. "You've got until three!" I shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from me, but I held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. "One... "(I put down a finger) "two... "(I put down a second one)-They scattered.

I darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the beautiful girl to the statue, and at last she was free. I seized the girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. I could no longer use my webbed hands to propel myself forward; I worked my flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging me back down... I fixed my eyes skyward, though I knew I must still be very deep, the water above me was so dark ... Merpeople were rising with me. I could see them swirling around me with ease, watching me struggle through the water... Would they pull me back down to the depths when the time was up? Did they perhaps eat humans? My legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; my shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Ron and the girl... I was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. I could feel pain on the sides of my neck again ... I was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in my mouth... Yet the darkness was definitely thinning now... I could see daylight above me... I kicked hard with my flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet... Water was flooding through my mouth into my lungs ... I was starting to feel dizzy, but I knew light and air were only ten feet above me ... I had to get there ... I had to ... I kicked my legs so hard and fast it felt as though my muscles were screaming in protest; my very brain felt waterlogged, I couldn't breathe, I needed oxygen, I had to keep going, I could not stop-And then I felt my head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making my wet face sting; I gulped it down, feeling as though I had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Ron and the girl up with me.

All around me, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with me, but they were smiling at me. The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet; I had the impression they thought that Ron and the girl might be dead, but they were wrong... Both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" Then he spotted Fleur's sister. "What did you bring her for?"

"Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her," I panted.

"Harry, you prat, " said Ron, "you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"

"The song said-"

"It was only to make sure you got back inside the time limit!" said Ron. "I hope you didn't waste time down there acting the hero!"

I felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very well for Ron; he'd been asleep, he hadn't felt how eerie it was down in the lake, surrounded by spear-carrying merpeople who'd looked more than capable of murder. "C'mon," I said shortly.

Fleur's sister still looked confused so I pulled her through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying us like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs.

I could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at me from the bank as we swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet Ron.

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!" I tried to tell her, but I was so exhausted I could hardly talk, let alone shout.

Percy seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank ("Gerroff, Percy, I'm all right!"); Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling me upright; 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 me and pulled me over to Hermione and the others, wrapped me so tightly in a blanket that I felt as though I were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down my throat. Steam gushed out of my ears.

"Harry, well done!" Hermione cried. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"

"Well-" I said. I would have told her about Dobby, but I had just noticed Karkaroff watching me. He was the only judge who had not left the table; the only judge not showing signs of pleasure and relief that Ron, Fleur's sister and I had got back safely. "Yeah, that's right," I said, raising my voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear me.

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

"No ... I found you okay... " my feeling of stupidity was growing. Now I was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledore's safety precautions wouldn't have permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn't turned up. Why hadn't I just grabbed Ron and gone? I would have been first back... Cedric and Krum hadn't wasted time worrying about anyone else; they hadn't taken the mersong seriously...

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. 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 had gone to rescue Ron from Percy's clutches; she led him over to me and the others, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then 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 me. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," I said, I was now heartily wishing I'd left all three girls tied to the statue. Fleur bent down, kissed me twice on each cheek (I felt his face burn and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of my ears again.)

Just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside us, making us 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 came from the stands.

"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head.

"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." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; I saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty-seven points." My heart sank. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, he most certainly had been. "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. "Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter 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." Ron and Hermione both gave me half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. "Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However...Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

My stomach leapt-I was now tying for first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at me, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. "There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all-you were showing moral fiber!" 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 me to listen.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth 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."

It was over. I thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes ... It was over, I had got through ... I didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth... Next time I was in Hogsmeade, I decided as I walked back up the stone steps into the castle, I was going to buy Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.