Hi Everyone long time no see, I hope you're staying safe! I wanted to post this sooner but I said why not post it on my birthday so a nice review and hopefully I can get the 9th chapter out soon!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: The 2nd Task

It had been a month since the Yule Ball and the "halt" of all orders from Lucius and Ron was beginning to be on edge. It was one mistake! Ron didn't understand why they had to resort to halt everything. This wasn't fair! All this time could be spent planning the next attack. It could easily take place before the third task happens; it would be perfect. But Ron had to settle to wait for Lucius' direction to even have a plan to start.

Since there was no end to the "halt," Ron could feel the tensity throughout his body especially in his hands. His technique of rubbing the back of his hand was beginning to be useless at this point and now had resorted to holding his hands together in his lap to keep from fidgeting in his he didn't the alternative would have been punching a wall at random. Everything Harry or Hermione said and did at this point he hated. Hermione's patronizing and telling him what to do made him want to leave again. As for Harry, Harry's pasting glances at Hermione were nauseating and the feeling of envy filled him even though he didn't understand this newfound hatred for both of them.

"Ugh, my head hurts!" Ron whined, dropping his head on the book he was reading on the table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the library helping Harry with the second task. While Ron wanted nothing to do and was gaining more confusion if he tried to understand each word he was reading. He tilted his head up to see Harry and Hermione with their books open across from him. The only thing blocking his view of them was the pile of books they, as a collective, were looking though, all on Wizarding Lake and Sealife. Harry and Hermione weren't too far behind in their confusion.

"Me too, but I'm worried that if I can't get through this, I won't be able to get through the second task," Harry confessed closing the book he had in his hand and placing it on the table.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm lost too," Hermione said looking up from her book. "That's all I've learned while reading that merpeople are not friendly."

"Bloody hell, Hermione! I could've told him that!" Ron corrected Hermione as they should already know about it. "Every wizard knows not to pester merpeople because they are known to drown them."

Hermione rolled her eyes to the comment as Harry gave a nervous chuckle and noting the information for later.

"I'm sorry Harry I don't know where else to look," Hermione said. As Hermione closed her book, the door to the library opened to show Professor McGonagall in search of someone. Her eyes scan the room and finally her eyes land on the trio and march right over.
"Good afternoon children, I'm sorry to disrupt but I am here for Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said. "Professor Dumbledore wants to speak with you both. "

Ron ran his hand through his hair to cover the fact he rolled his eyes and got up to leave.

"Uh," Hermione hesitated to turn back to Harry. "Okay, uh, good luck Harry. I hope you find something."

Harry gave Hermione a faint smile and a slight wave to her as she got up to leave the table. Once the three of them were out of the library, Harry slumped down in his chair and gave a heavy sigh. Now that his friends were gone he didn't know what to do but the second task was tomorrow so he couldn't stop because he was confused. Harry reached for the book Ron left and started searching its contents. After an hour Harry picked up Hermione's book and started reading it even though the words on the pages were beginning to blur. After, an hour with Hermione's book he rubbed his eyes and yawn. The further he read through these books the more confused he got.

Before Harry knew it, the sun had already set when he was coming across a section in the book called The Mystery behind Mermaids. The section he was reading explains how gills work for merpeople. Which wasn't what Harry needed, and it was boring him fast. Harry put his head down on the pages of the book no longer able to keep his head up and read. Throughout reading the text Harry jumped in and out of sleep until he actually fell asleep.

"Hey, Harry!" the voice said as Harry stirred with an accompanying moan.

"Huh?" he said, opening his eyes as he stretched his arms to see Neville Longbottom.

"The library is closing for the night, Harry," Neville replied. Harry's eyes widened when he finally understood what Neville was trying to tell him.

"Oh, no!" Harry said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "What time is it?"

"Five minutes to eleven," Neville replied as he looked at some of the books on the table and tilted his head. "So, what is so interesting about magical marine life, Harry?"

"It's for the second task tomorrow the egg says that I will lose something and I have to find it but if it's underwater how can I get to it without drowning?"

"Really," Neville said when a thought popped into his head. I think there is something in herbology that might help. I heard Madame Sprouts mention it maybe once or twice in class but I can see it if I can get it tomorrow if you would like?"

"Thank Merlin, yes!" Harry accepted getting up from the table to shake Neville's hand. "Thank you so much you don't know how much this means to me."

"No problem." He waved.

"Oh, uh," Harry hesitated, realizing something. "Hey, have you seen Ron or Hermione recently?"

"Uh, no, I haven't but let's get out of here before Madame Pince yells at us."

Harry and Neville went back to Gryffindor Tower with no sign of Ron or Hermione. Harry's worries subsided when he reached the boy's dormitory and saw Ron snoring in his bed. When Harry got into bed, he was more than confident for the second task with one question lingering over his head: what will he find that he will lose?

During the night, Harry dreamed he was back at the Yule Ball again but this time he was dancing with Hermione. She wore the same periwinkle blue dress, and he was lucky to be dancing with her. This is how it should have been. Harry and Hermione having a majestic time at the Yule Ball. It should have been perfect. It was everything Harry envisioned it to be. Hermione twirling by his hand, her dress fluttered in the wind. But then the music slowed down and Hermione kept her distance away from him. This confused him. Hermione would never push him away from her. He was her best friend. Why would she need to keep her distance? His stomach turned. The feeling was small as it churned lightly as Hermione's hands let go of was a weird and unsettling feeling that he couldn't understand why he was feeling this way. Hermione swallowed hard and looked down from his gaze. Harry's mouth opened to say something, but no words found their way out as Hermione turned on her heel. The uncertainty plagued his brain when he caught a glimpse of who Hermione was looking at. He stood far away with his back to them but Harry could tell he was tall like him but The broadness of his shoulders made him older he was older than he was. Hermione started to run towards him and he finally turned around revealing it was Viktor Krum. Viktor Krum picked her up into a spinning hug as Hermione laughed and giggled. The churning in Harry's stomach went from small to huge gut-wrenching pain, so huge he could feel the pain travel up and down his body. The pain hurt more than anything he had felt before. It felt like he was being stabbed in both his stomach and his heart one after another. He crumbled down to the ground-hugging his knees almost crying at the pain.

Hermione and Viktor weren't paying much attention to him at this point and ended their hug with a long passionate kiss. At that point, Harry's body couldn't take it anymore and faint to the ground with his knees still close to his body.

Harry jumped with his eyes shooting wide open. With his legs close to his chest just like in his dream with a little pain in his stomach also. He slowly put his legs back onto his mattress when there was a knock at the door with Neville open it and peering in.

"Good morning Harry," Neville greeted. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Harry said, reaching over to his end table to pick up his glasses. "I'm fine."

"Harry, I got the gillyweed from Madame Spout this morning. All you have to do is eat it and you'll be fine," Neville said, placing the slimy ball of rat tails into his hand. "Don't worry Harry, the second task won't be hard. I think you'll do great with this. We will be cheering for you."

Harry took a good look at the gillyweed and nodded his head taking a moment to calm down. "Thanks," Harry replied. "Do you know the effects of the gillyweed?"

"Of course," Neville replied. "Once you eat it you are going to produce gills like fish on your neck and make your hands and feet webbed so you can swim faster and better. It's fantastic really!"

"Thanks again Neville this will help a lot." Harry looked over to Ron's bed and saw that he wasn't there. "Did Ron go to breakfast?"

"I think so, I didn't see him when I woke up," Neville replied. "Anyway, good luck on the second task Harry. I'll be cheering in stands for your victory."

After Neville left, Harry ate breakfast and made his way to the lake. As for Neville, he headed his way to the stands. As he made the climb up the stairs, he could hear Draco Malfoy talking in his usual cocky snobbish voice. Knowing he was one of Draco's favorite targets, he turned on his heel back down the stairs until the coast was clear. But Draco was preoccupied with bullying someone else and that's someone else Neville could see as clear as day with her red hair.

"Oh, look there's the little Weaslette, I think it's a good time for you to share something you've been hiding from all of us don't you?" Draco boasted. "Why don't you tell the world your secret? You know it's not good to keep things in. Why not get it off your chest now?"

The Weasley family was always excellent targets for him and his goons but in Neville's mind, he always had faith in Ginny because he knew she was a no-nonsense type of person. Neville turned back and proceeded with caution to pass Draco to not be one of Draco's targets today. He could see up ahead Ginny and Luna were ahead of Draco and ignoring his antics.

"It's bad enough that you were born Weasley and poor but you go around not saying the things you want?" Ginny continued to ignore him as Luna turned her head to him out of curiosity.

"Why do you want to keep a secret from your friend? You know Luna is good for it because she can keep a secret. She deserves to know."

"Malfoy I don't know what you're talking about!" Ginny snapped hoping whatever he was trying to get her to say he would stop pursuing, but Draco was a cunning Slytherin for good reason and shot back, "Oh I think I do at the Yule Ball-!"

"Shut up Malfoy!" Ginny shouted, turning around with a hard scowl on her face.

"What are you going to do dual me? With your hand-me-down wand?" Draco mocked.

"Stop!" Neville blurted it out he had had enough Draco's pestering. This gained the attention of not only Ginny and Luna and a few other people ahead of him and behind him but the primary person he didn't want to interact with at all today. Draco gained the cocky smile. This was the perfect person for this perfect moment.

"Stop? Why stop? Why wouldn't the date of Weaslette wouldn't want to know what happened to his date at the Yule Ball?"

Before Neville could even process what the hell Draco was even talking about there was a fifth person clearing his throat to make known of his presence. This made the four students jump out of their skins as they turned to see Professor Snape standing behind them.

"Ahem, Mr. Malfoy I told you to stop picking fights," Professor Snape snarled. "Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Weasley, Ms. Lovegood you better go find your seats while I talk to Mr. Malfoy."

The three ran up the stairs while Professor Snape and Draco stayed behind.

"What are you going to do to talk to my father again?" Draco glared. Professor Snape smacked Draco on the back of the head with his hand.

"No, I'm not Lucius' dog but I want you in my office tonight. I have to discuss something with you."

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Welcome everyone to the Triwizard Tournament's second task!" Professor Dumbledore announced. "I want all the champions to line up at the starting line. The countdown will start in a few minutes. We wish you all good luck!"

"Good luck, 'arry," Fleur Delacour says, getting into position.

"Thanks, you too," Harry replied.

"The Champions will start the second task and just for a reminder, the champions will have an hour to finish the task. We wish the champions good luck. So champions get ready. Set. Go!" Professor Dumbledore announced.

Quickly Harry consumed the gillyweed and waited for the effects to start as he dived into the lake. The water was chilly and gave Harry an uncomfortable chill down his spine as the gillyweed took effect. Harry could feel gills growing from his neck and his hands and feet became webbed. The gillyweed was successful now to find what the egg said he lost.

Harry started swimming downward, searching anywhere and everywhere for anything pertaining to a clue. That's all he could see was the lake's plant life all around him. There is so much of it he thought he was going in circles. As he continued downward through the forest of sea plants, he could feel he was being watched. Stopping for a moment, he searched around to see what was there. Not seeing anything, Harry continued down even though the more he swam the more intense the feeling got.

Suddenly Harry could feel a whoosh of water on the soles of his feet. Stopping once more, he turned in every direction to find the source of what was it. He caught sight of a tail, a fishtail. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a merperson. The merperson was nothing Harry imagined them to be. He remembered one of Dudley's animated movies he would watch with a mermaid in it the top half of the merperson was human and the bottom part was fish. These merpeople were more fish than human than expected. The merperson yielded a triton in their hand and, as Ron said, they weren't too happy to see a wizard in their territory. The merperson tried to lunge their triton at Harry but he was quick and the merperson missed him. Harry dove fast without looking back as he could hear from behind him the merperson screeching so loud his ears popped.

After, a substantial distance between him and the merperson Harry changed his direction in the hopes to get out of the never-ending forest of sea plants. He continued his search for the clue as he finally found his way out of the sea plants. The water was more clear now and he could see ever so slightly four bodies chained down floating in place at the bottom of the lake. It was fizzy at first to who they were but it became clearer the closer Harry swam. These were the things the champions would lose. A red-haired boy, a bushy-haired girl, and a straight-haired girl. Ron, Hermione, and Cho, but Harry couldn't figure out who was the first fourth hostage. She was very young, childlike, with blonde hair with looks of a veela. She could easily pass as Fleur's sister.

Without thinking Harry went over to Hermione even though she was in a sleep-like state, like the other hostages, Harry could only remember back to their second year when Hermione was laying in the hospital wing petrified. But now she looked more tranquil. He undid her chains, and he didn't give a second thought to Ron. A shadowy figure which resembled a shark swam fast toward him. He had to act fast, so he tried harder to get Hermione's ropes undone. He was seconds from success when the figure was now so close to him their teeth were chopping at him full force. Harry froze in place and scared of what to do next. The figure was crystal clear. The tall and thin Quidditch player had transfigured his head into a shark and the only way Harry knew this because he recognized his body dancing with Hermione at the Yule Ball and in his dream. Harry remembered Professor McGonagall saying trying a transfiguration spell on yourself or on another human was very tricky and the most skilled wizards and witches couldn't do them successfully. Viktor Krum had successfully transfigured his head but not the rest of his body into a shark.

Viktor Krum with his razor-sharp teeth finished undoing Hermione chains and dragged her away to the surface. Harry's jaw dropped with how everything went so fast and watched Hermione's body carried off, he felt the pain in his stomach again. It was the same feeling he had in his dream that morning but this time it was so painful he almost forgot to breathe. What snapped him back to reality was Cedric Diggory with a conjured up Bubble Head Charm around his head swam past him to rescue Cho Chang. Reeling from his state of shock, Harry rushed over to Ron and speedily untied him. At least he could save one of his friends even though it would have been better if he could have her.

He wanted to kick himself. Why couldn't he be faster? Why couldn't he save her? Why did it have to be Viktor to save her? Why was she Viktor Krum's hostage?

He finally broke Ron free from his chains when he noticed Fleur Delacour had not shown up yet. He searched all around for her to come. From the forest of sea plants to the lake walls which were darker than the sea forest. He waited for her even though she wasn't his hostage; he didn't want the girl to drown. The second task was only an hour and time was running out. As a result, Harry feared for the worst and he took matters into his own hands.

While holding Ron, he swam to the girl with his best efforts. In a few inches away from the girl when a merperson showed again to block his way. Harry couldn't tell if this was the same merperson who stopped him in the sea forest but this merperson was noticeably more aggressive and in their hands yielded a golden trident. The merperson pointed the trident to Harry's adam's apple. He could feel the sharp end as he gulped hard. He had to think fast and save the girl and Ron before time ended. Thinking on his toes, Harry quickly reached for his wand and shouted Alohomora. The spell hit the girl's chains and let her float up. Harry, though carrying Ron in one arm, took this opportunity and quickly swam to the girl before the merperson could react or touch him to hold him back. He caught the girl with his free arm and quickly swam to the surface as fast as he could. Behind him he could hear the merperson screech so loud that his entire body could feel the magnitude of the volume through the water waves. This wasn't good. From, all around him as he swam to the surface he could hear more screeching and from the sea forest he could see more merpeople swimming towards him and they weren't slow. Not even halfway to the surface, he could feel multiple webbed hands grabbing at his feet and trying to grab the young girl out of his grip. But he held his hold on the girl and Ron as they clawed and scratched their way to keep the girl with them.

Harry knew this was a terrible thing for him to take another Champion's hostage but Harry couldn't see any way out of it. He had to save the girl and he would do it with scratches and cuts to his body. Some tried to latch onto him and pull him down. The hard fight between him and the merpeople involved a lot of kicking and shoving but he finally reached the surface.

The cheers and the applause started as soon as the crowd saw Harry take his first breath of air. As Ron and the young girl took their first breath, Fleur Delacour was already grabbing the young girl's arm pulling her out of the water. "Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Je suis très content que tu ailles bien. Je pensais t'avoir perdu pour toujours," Fleur cried trembling as she embraced her.

"Harry!" Hermione cried. As she held Harry tight. "You're won, Harry!"

"Hermione I came last I didn't win," Harry replied.

"Yes, you did Harry!" Hermione said kissing him on the head. "You've made it!"

I didn't get to save you Viktor had that honor.

As he sat on the sidelines, Ron watched Hermione kiss Harry on the head and all he could do was close his eyes for a moment. Since he couldn't unsee what he just saw as he closed his eyes he could feel how hard his eyes rolled.

The hero again; Harry's the best, why do I feel the urge to vomit?! Hermione is a traitor and you're eating it up. Why does my body yearn for something?

Dumbledore announced the winners of the 2nd task with Harry in 3rd place but points were added because of his heroism in the attempt to help save all the hostages and getting to the hostages first.

I'm sorry Hermione I should've done better...

This is stupid I hope another plan can be in the works soon! All of this is a bunch of bollocks!

French translation: I'm very happy that you are fine. I thought I had lost you forever

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see you very very soon later!