Harry Potter was waiting anxiously upon the pier for the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament to start.

The long-winded Ludo Bagman had been declaring the instructions for a little over an hour now: "…And once they retrieve this thing that is significant to them, they will have to return to the surface, where they'll swim to shore, receiving aid from the judges if necessary, without penalty, as the judging technically ends once they are seen out on the surface of the lake…"

Thankfully, the long speech came to an end, and he finally finished, "…and now, I hearby announce the start of the Second Task!" He pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew it loudly, the cheers of the crowd (due to the speech finally ending) being cut off as Harry smoothly dived into the frigid water, chomping down upon his first slice of Gillyweed as he did so.

He swam quickly with the other champions, though he did slow down once he forced himself to breathe in water, as he obviously wasn't accustomed to the strange sensation of inhaling water.

This little break rendered him unable to see what Cedric had done, as he'd had already rushed ahead. He could still see Fleur however, with a bubble around her head, though her lust-inducing form (for most, though Harry himself was immune to such things. ) remained out of sight, and soon her bubble disappeared as well. Krum, on the other hand had taken longer with his preparations, and Harry saw him shoot past as a half-man, half-shark.

He shook himself away from the thoughts of the other champions as they took different routes, and soon he could see no one else, and he realized that he had nowhere planned to go, and that he had wasted some time. He then decided to swim off in another direction, towards the floor, and what do you know? Amongst the long kelp (undoubtedly the magical freshwater variety) saw Moaning Myrtle gesturing frantically in one direction. He mouthed his thanks, and the ghost merely smiled and headed back towards the castle.

He went in the direction that Myrtle directed him towards, and he soon saw the merfolk village come into view, and was heartened by the sight that all of the hostages were still bound to their respective poles. He set himself to the task of cutting loose Ron with a stray rock, and took the moment to survey the other hostages. Hermione, Viktor Krum's hostage he presumed, after seeing her attend the Yule Ball with Krum. Cho Chang, most certainly Cedric's hostage after Harry had stumbled upon them snogging in a broom closet, and a silvery-blonde haired girl that could be none other than Fleur's sister.

He had just shouldered Ron and was halfway to the surface when he took one last glance backwards and saw a flurry of flashes of light, a clear sign of someone in distress. Mentally sighing, he set Ron down at the Merfolk Village, and swam in the direction of the flashes. Krum and Fleur were fending off a mob of Grindylows, or more like Fleur was casting spells, whereas Krum was fending them off with his snout.

Harry contributed, and shouted "Reducto!", or at least shouted as best he could underwater. In any case, it had the desired effect, sending the Grindylow fleeing away. He continued to aid until it was clear that they had it under control, before leaving.

He returned to retrieve Ron when he was greeted by a disturbing sight. Five leering merfolk, clearly entranced by Fleur's sister, or more accurately, her ample curves, untied her, and were dragging her into a nearby hut, but since she was unconscious, she made no move to resist. Help was a long way off based on the continued flashes of light, and Harry knew that he must do something, so he followed them, and burst through the door into an air pocket but fortunately no one noticed him as they were busy removing their own clothing in front of a tied up, very awake, and very terrified sister.

Harry's shock at the existence of an air pocket prevented him from acting immediately, but it had soon disappeared when disgust at what was about to happen woke him up and he fired off two blasting curses and a disarming charm before the merfolk got over their shock, leaving two of them unconscious against the wall, and one was relieved of his spears strapped across his back. One of them wanted the "first privilege", and stupidly gestured in what was a command for them two to deal with Harry while he continued to rip her clothes away from her body.

While Harry watched this scene, he sent another blasting curse to knock the disarmed merman into unconsciousness, leaving only one left. To the merfolk's credit, Harry had an advantage with the element of surprise, and without it, the merman was a considerably tougher opponent, as Harry realized when he was forced to dodge yet another spear, this one nicking his arm as it passed. The magically enlarged room, much larger on the inside than the outside, gave Harry considerable room to retreat, but also considerable room for the merman to keep throwing spears and force Harry to duck his head down below an overturned table.

Fleur's sister was now clearly awake and rent the relative silence with an ear-shattering scream. The merman momentarily stunned, was sent into a more permanent stunned condition by Harry's stunning spell. A quick blasting curse stopped the final merman from finishing with his vile deed, and Harry rushed to Fleur's sister.

"Are you hurt?" Harry asked while conjuring a cloak to hide her body, which was now fully exposed to the stuffy air in the hut.

She could merely nod between her sobs of terror at what the merfolk had been about to do to her.

"What is your name?" Harry asked soothingly, or as best as he could. He hadn't had much experience in comforting other people.

"G-Gabrielle." Her sobs slightly more controlled.

Harry allowed her to recover, and pulled her into a light hug, as a comforting gesture. She leaned ever so slightly into his chest and Harry took the moment to survey the room. There was nothing terribly interesting, looking like a fairly ordinary home except for a rack of spears and the tattered remnants of Gabrielle's clothing, strewn all over the floor around them. This gave Harry even more reason to hate the merfolk. All of her clothes were torn except for her lingerie, which Harry presumed were going to be kept by the merman for "reminiscing" this horrid act.

When Gabrielle had settled down, Harry helped her up and out of the hut, giving her one of his doses of gillyweed before they exited.

Merely 15 minutes had passed, and Fleur and Viktor and were in the process of emerging from the gloom. Cho Chang was gone, signifying that Cedric had come and gone.

Fleur, surprised and more than slightly suspicious of Harry for carrying her sister, rushed over and hugged her sister. Her eyes narrowed even more once she realized that Gabrielle was naked under a cloak. She however, held her verdict and gestured upwards where they could talk.

Harry followed, pausing briefly to retrieve Ron from where he had left him, and no sooner than they emerged, heads popping out of the surface when Fleur turned upon him.

"Explain." She ordered demandingly.

Harry, with Gabrielle's help, retold what happened, and hoped that Fleur would understand.

Fleur looked quite thoughtful, and said,

"If what you have said is true…." Her eyes widened and she gestured for Gabrielle to follow and began to swim towards the shore.

"You go on and see the scores! I have to go talk with my parents!" she shouted back to him.

As they swam away, Harry shrugged, shouldered Ron, and began to follow.