Hello again,

I want to say thank you for the reviews, alerts, favorites and in general for reading the story. This is the new chapter, again thanks to Rachel Noelle that is helping me out with this.

Hope you enjoy the chap.

Chapter 12

The Second Task: Warnings and Consequences

The man looked inside the room. The place was cold and had white lights that gave the room an uncomfortable atmosphere; at least it made him feel a little uneasy. He was dressed up with a black suit and a pair of glasses; he had the appearance of a very healthy man nearing his fifties. The gun to his side felt a little out of place taking into account what he was used to carrying with him as a weapon.

"It's good to see you again, Marcus," said a female voice. The man, Marcus, turned to see the old woman smiling at him with a gentle smile that he felt forced to return.

"Yes, it's been a while." He said hoping he said the right thing. The woman shook her head, amused, and Marcus sighed in relief.

"Yes, you only come here when things get this bad," she said, walking towards a body that was covered by a white blanket.

"So, this is what I am looking for?" the woman turned to him with a frown.

"Probably." She discovered the body and Marcus flinched a little, it had been a while since he last saw a dead body.

"Okay, what I am seeing? And why do you think this may interest me?" he asked. After all, muggle or not, he still was an Auror…well, he used to be, but he knew the basics of interrogation. That and he and James used to watch too much TV back when they were younger.

The woman lifted an eyebrow at that question and he felt a little nervous, as if he had said something wrong or out of character.

"These three holes; they looked like gunshot wounds," said the woman signaling the holes.

"I see. But I thought you called me because you found another case like the one on England's coast, you know with those two men that died for no apparently reason?" he said with a puzzled expression. The woman merely shook her head and signaled the body and the holes on it.

"The funny thing about this is that neither in the crime scene nor in the body could we find the shells or the bullets."

There was a minute of silence in which Marcus examined the body carefully; he put a hand near the wounds and a frown appeared on his face.

"So, that's really unusual?"

"Marcus, that's a stupid question. Of course it's unusual, unless the bullet went through the body and the one responsible for this took them away by some sort of magic, it is highly unusual that we can't find the bullets or the shells."

"Magic?" asked Marcus, frown deepening.

"I know, I know it was a bad joke but habits die hard;" said the woman, giggling a little. Marcus turned to her giving her a strained smile.

"Yeah, crazy…" he said before walking towards the exit. " Look, I have to go, but thanks for the information."

He walked away from that place with a thoughtful expression. Rumors and some unusual happenings were the main cause for his return to England. That and the Second Task was two days away, but right now he felt really tired. He sighed, walking with a disgusted expression at the mere thought of spending time in his former place. If it wasn't the only place he could rest assured that no one would find him, he certainly wouldn't even think of going back to Grimmauld Place.

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The Second Task was two days away. Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the Room of Requirement waiting for Draco and Blaise, who told them to meet there. Hermione was so excited about that place; she was looking around the room taking everything she could put her hands on. From the chairs to the small bookshelf that contained, according to her, treasures of wizardry literature.

Harry was watching her with a soft smile on his face, his heart clenching painfully every time she smiled at him or her voice sounded too excited because of a new thing she discovered. Ron, however, was sitting, looking at Hermione as if she was crazy, and the red-head let her know it. This earned him a glare from the girl, then she simply ignored him to continue her search. Harry looked down, feeling a little sad. Even if he was there with them…it wasn't the same, somehow Harry knew it would never be the same.

Two hours later Draco and Blaise finally showed up. Hermione was sitting on a chair reading a book while Harry had his back against the girl's legs. Ron was sitting on another chair and was copying the Potions homework from Harry's parchment. The three of them looked at the door and greeted at the newcomers.

"What are you doing?" asked Blaise joining Harry on the floor.

"Well, 'Mione is reading and Ron is copying the potions homework," answered Harry.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," replied Draco with a sneer.

Ron shot him a nasty glare, his hand closing firmly on his wand. Harry rolled his eyes at Draco but decide not to say anything. Apparently that was the way Malfoys interacted with people they barely liked.

"I hope you have a good reason for meeting us here Malfoy," said Ron. "Because we don't like losing our time with people like you."

"Humph, you should be honored that I decided to meet you as well Weasley."

"Okay, stop you two," said Hermione closing her book with a loud thump. "Ron calm down and stop being on the defensive. And …Malfoy, stop provoking him."

"You have a wonderful woman there Harry, don't let her go," said Blaise wiggling his eyebrows at Harry, who snickered at the comment. Hermione blushed at that.

"I wasn't planning on that."

"Anyway, we didn't come here for that," said Draco, a little annoyed.

"No, that's true. You said you have the answer to Harry's problem. And that better be true because we don't have any idea as to how are we going to help him out for the Second Task," replied Hermione, looking with a serious expression at Draco.

The blond Slytherin smirked at that. He pulled out a small jar that contained a thing resembling a bundle of slimy, grey-green rat tails. Hermione and Ron were looking at it, fascinated and sickened at the appearance.

"What is that?" Ron asked.

"This, Weasley, is gillyweed"

"What?" this time the question came from Hermione and Ron looked at her with surprise.

"You don't know what it is?" asked Ron, Hermione shook her head and Ron let out a small laugh. "Wow, you don't know Hermione? That's huge news!"

Hermione rolled her eyes but said nothing; her attention went back to the jar and the smirking Malfoy. Harry, however, was a little worried about the whole thing. He had a small frown on his face that, apparently, only Blaise noticed.

"Where…where did you find that?" Asked Harry after a long moment.

"Well, here and there," said Draco, waving dismissively at the question and handing Harry the jar. "The important thing is that now you have something to go underwater."

"How is that going to help Harry?" asked Ron.

"He just has to eat them…"

"Eat them!!!" interrupted Ron, alarmed; he was looking from the jar to Harry. "Harry I bet he only wants to poison you!"

"Don't be stupid Weasley," growled Malfoy, "this will help him… he can eat them and then go underwater for an hour."

"How do you know that?" asked Hermione.

"Snape taught me that a long time ago."

"You stole them from him!" Draco cringed at that. Harry was looking at him kind of shocked.

"Well, if you prefer to drown in the lake I take this with me," said Draco dryly.

"No, I didn't mean that… it's just…thanks"

"You're welcome, Potter."

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Harry sat in front of a parchment he had pulled out earlier in the evening. In there were written the main aspects that he needed to sort out immediately.

The first of them was the small change of events. He knew that turning back had a high risk, that many things could change for the better or the worse if one did things wrong. However, he never imagined that Crouch would disappear earlier or that Draco would steal the gillyweed for him. Another thing he didn't count on was the sudden change in Winky or the fact that he would have dreams of Voldemort ever again.

"You look troubled." Harry lifted his eyes to the portrait. In there was the young version of Salazar Slytherin looking down at him with a bored expression.

"I am."

"This has something to do with what Dumbledore has been talking about for quite some time."

"I don't know, maybe," said Harry, looking at the portrait with interest. "What has he been saying?"

"He talked about your recent illness. That you faint without a reason."

"I see…"

Dumbledore had bothered him to no end, trying to look for a good answer or explanation as to why Harry had been so tired and drained. He didn't even know himself! How could he explain that? In his time, neither Severus nor Draco had talked about his magic being drained for some simple spell.

Maybe simple wasn't the exact word for that spell… but still. He could do it without any trouble back in his time. Harry looked at his wand and the box that had the horocrux inside. Maybe it was because of the horocrux; maybe the spell that was protecting it was too strong.

"He thinks you know something that you are not telling him…" Harry frowned at that. Slytherin was giving him a smug look and his eyes were shinning with something Harry couldn't identify.

"Well, there is something I am hiding from him, from my friends, from everybody" exclaimed Harry with a shrug.

"Yes, time travel can be such a dangerous thing…"

"What are you talking about?" Harry's eyes narrowed and he looked at Slytherin carefully.

"Well, it is kind of obvious that there are things that are changing, or more specifically you are changing," said Slytherin, looking down at Harry. "Those changes can do many things and it doesn't matter how good your intentions are there are always consequences…at least that's what Merlin used to tell us."

Harry's eyes opened in surprise at that; he looked at the young Slytherin that was looking at him with an expressionless face.

"Merlin? Did you know Merlin? As in…Merlin?" asked Harry, quite surprised and shocked at that revelation. Slytherin nodded his head.

"Of course we knew him! He thought us a lot back when we were still young. Even younger than here."

"Wow, I never imagined… I mean the books don't say anything about that"

"Well, books can't know everything. At least…" Slytherin trailed off and looked at Harry directly in the eye. "At least not the normal ones."

"Normal ones?"

There was a moment of silence; Harry was looking at Slytherin with a frown but the young boy didn't say anything else. Instead he moved in the portrait and smirked down at Harry.

"What do you say if we pick up where we left last time?"

Harry wanted to ask what the young Slytherin mean but found it futile. After the first try he picked up the bowl with the water and started doing the exercise that Slytherin was asking him to do.

*************************************

"I know she must be around here…" said Ron with a hint of worry in his voice. Harry watched him in amusement as Ron looked around trying to find Hermione. "Damn, what could possibly be so important for Professor McGonagall that she had to take Hermione away?!"

"I don't know Ron; I bet she will be here once the Task begins."

"Aren't you worried or mad at her?" asked Ron.

"Why? Should I be?" replied Harry. "Like I said she'll probably appear. Don't worry."

"I guess you're right…okay then, good luck," said Ron, waving at Harry. Harry waved back and started making his way towards the lake.

Harry stood near the lake. He looked at the stand where the judges were sitting; the black-haired boy saw that Fudge had joined the judges' post; he was smiling and talking animatedly with the other judges. Harry's eyes drifted to the side where he found himself looking directly into Moody; the man was looking at him with apprehension, an expression that disappeared as soon as he saw Harry looking at him.

"Ok, Champions. Let's begin the Second Task."

Ludo Bagman explained shortly what they were supposed to do. Harry fidgeted in his spot, anxious to start the Task and finish it as soon as he could. While he knew that Hermione wasn't in immediate danger that didn't mean he liked the prospect of her being underwater more than necessary.

Harry didn't lose time eating the gillyweed on the surface. He dove while still chewing the plant; it didn't take long until the plant started taking effect. The cold water felt refreshing and welcoming; Harry looked around before moving at full speed to the center of the lake.

He stopped in a dark spot and looked around carefully, when he was sure that he was alone a smirk formed on his face. Suddenly, he started moving his hands in the well-known movements he had been practicing in his own time and in the Room of Requirement. The water around him moved to his will, over and over again he worked his hands until the water around him formed some kind of column. A shadow caught his attention making him lose concentration; the column dispersed in a small explosion sending Harry deeper in the lake.

'Damn, have to remember that I can't lose my concentration like that…I just hope no one noticed this.'

Harry looked around searching for the shadow he saw earlier but found nothing. He shrugged and went back to swimming towards the village were the merpeople lived.

After twenty minutes Harry found the village. The place was just as he remembered it, the music coming from the group around the 'items' was relaxing to the ears, Harry swam faster towards the place where Hermione was tied up. However, when he arrived to the center of the village the music ended and the merpeople around it turned to look at him.

Harry fidgeted nervously; that hadn't happened the last time. He looked around and saw that all eyes were on him; trying to look calm he turned and freed Hermione from the ties that had her on the tail of the merperson stone.

"I do hope that this time around you only take the person you were meant to free," said a voice behind him, Harry froze on the spot, holding Hermione tightly against him, wand at the ready. "Even if the person isn't the same."

The voice was hard and commanding with a hint of sweetness in it which made it even more strange and captivating. Harry turned around to see the Merchieftainess in front of him. Murcus, the mermen chief, was as ferocious looking as the last time Harry saw her. The Merchieftainess was looking at him with what Harry could only describe as a smirk.

"How?" he tried to ask but the only thing that left his mouth were bubbles. However, she seemed to understand what he was asking, or at least guess.

"There are certain exceptions in this world to the trap of time," she said, swimming around Harry. "We, merpeople, are not tied to that as human's are."

Harry nodded his head, uncertain of what could that mean, Murcus stopped in front of him and looked at him directly in the eye.

"We also can make contact with presences that not even humans know about." A moment of silence then, "and that presence has left a message for you."

'A message?' Thought Harry looking around. What was she talking about? Who was that 'presence'? What message could they give to him? When Harry looked at the Merchieftainess again she was looking at him with a serious expression.

"You have changed far too much Harry Potter. Time is a delicate thing just as fate is. Be careful, because for every change there is a price to pay."

Both Harry and the merchief looked at each other for a few seconds; Harry heard the merpeople start singing again. However, his eyes and attention were firm on the merchief, who returned his stare with the same intensity.

"Good luck in your crusade Harry Potter. I can see that is not going to be an easy task for you." With that said she left.

The next minutes passed in a blur. Harry wasn't paying attention to the congratulations or the screams and cheers coming from the students. He tried to smile at Hermione who was hugging him over and over again; he tried to talk normally when Ron asked him what had happened.

"You did it Harry! You did it!!" said Hermione, "now you're in the first place!!!"

Yes, Harry had done it, but at what price? Harry's thoughts left him for a moment when he felt Hermione's lips on him. He kissed her back a little more passionately that he meant to; Hermione broke the kiss with a blush on her face and a happy grin. Harry sighed contently; he shouldn't worry too much…there was still time, right?

And with that last thought he left the place with Hermione and Ron beside him, talking about the great party that awaited them at the Gryffindor tower.

*****************************

He sat on a bar, looking at the muggles dance, talk and drink without a care in the world. A soft smile appeared on his face at the mere thought of all of them being, in a few years, under the control of his Master. It was a matter of time, muggles and wizards would bow before him.

He took the bottle with that strange liquid to his lips taking another sip of the drink. Beer they called it; it wasn't that good, but it wasn't that bad either. He looked at the watch on his wrist. The Second Task had passed and now the only thing that was left was for his Master to be revived and then he would do what he was sent to do… Kill Harry Potter. His Master had ordered him explicitly to kill the brat after he was brought back to life; if he did that he was allowed to conserve that body.

"Oh sorry!" said a black-haired girl. She was smiling at him shyly; he looked at her puzzled for a moment before returning the smile.

"No need to be sorry. Accidents happen," he said; the girl, for some reason giggled.

"Yes, I'm Amber," she said with a weird gleam in her eyes. He couldn't understand humans and more specifically muggles. His Master had said that he was allowed to have control over that body so…it wouldn't do any harm to have some fun.

"It's a pleasure Amber." A moment of silence in which the girl leaned over expectantly, then with another giggle.

"How may I call you?"

"Oh, where are my manners" he said smiling at her. "You may call me Nagini."

That was dramatic! I really like this chapter it was a little difficult to write, but I think it turned out well.

What do you think?

Until next time!