A New Snake

Chapter 13

         

Before Harry were merpeople with spears. They guarded what the Champions were supposed to retrieve. Harry wanted to strangle whoever decided this for a task. Before him was Hermione, Lily, Cho Chang, and a little blonde girl. Harry was sure the threat of them being lost after an hour was empty. They wouldn't just leave students down here. Would they? Harry quickly swam towards his friends. He pulled Lily out of the stasis bubble and held her as he reached for Hermione. But one of the merpeople pointed their spear at him. And warned him to take only his due prize. Harry waited and waited for the other Champions. He wanted to be sure the other students were okay.

Krum came first. He had transfigured his head into a shark's head. He swooped in and gently held Hermione in his arms as he began to swim for the surface. Harry watched still. He used a vision enhancing spell he had learned on his own. It was a good thing too because he could see Miss Delacour struggling with some Grindylows and eventually be removed by ministry officials. He figured that was it for her. He turned to the merpeople.

"You should let her go." He pointed at the little girl he could now only assume was Miss Delacour's prize, "Her Champion isn't coming." The merpeople nodded and Harry watched her float to the top as Cedric swam into the clearing. He saw Harry with his prize and tapped the watch on his wrist. He let Harry go ahead of him, seeing as he was there long before he was.

They surfaced several meters from each other, but as soon as Harry took a deep breath, some Grindylows pulled him under. He heard screams and shrieks muffle as he struggled to both released himself and hold his breath because the Gillyweed had worn off just before he had reached the surface with Lily. Now, he struggled as the sharp, little claws of the creatures fulling him down dug through his flesh. The blood that trickled from the open wounds only pushed them into more of a frenzy. He saw ministry officials trying to reach him as he sank deeper and deeper. He felt his lungs run out of air. He carefully relieved pressure from his lungs by letting out little bubbles of carbon dioxide. No one dove into the water after him. He felt himself getting dizzy from oxygen deprivation. His vision started going black. His mouth, throat, and lungs started filling with water.

As quickly as they had come, the claws of the grindylows' claws were gone, and he felt something large and vaguely squishy rushing him through the water until he felt his clammy skin hit the cold air. Whatever was holding him had shocked the audience, because not a sound was heard other than the splash of whatever saved him going back into the water and the crash of the Lake's waves on the dock and shore. His sense of sound was flooded with professors, contestants, and friends calling his name frantically. He tried to breathe, but his lungs were so full of water, that there was no room left for the air. He heard the sound of the school's Medi-Witch walking quickly towards him. She forced everyone back, but Lily ignored her and stayed by his side, holding his hand.

Madam Pomfrey turned him over on his stomach and ordered, "Cough, Harry." He did and water poured out of his lungs. He coughed and coughed until he started coughing up blood. His throat has been worn raw enough by the water, but the coughing put it over the top. He laid there shivering as Lily, Madam Pomfrey, Mrs. Weasley, and Hermione began piling dry towels—charmed warm—on him. Lily held him in her arms and he felt the dizziness come over him again. He began to panic.

"Shh, Harry. It's okay. It'll all be okay. Sleep. We'll take care of you." Lily whispered in his ear. And so, he slept.

When he next woke up, he was in the infirmary and his throat hurt like hell. Like he had swallowed a million razors, swallowed buckets of needles, then proceeded to drink salty lemon juice. Madam Pomfrey came into the main room from her office.

"How are you feeling Mr. Potter?" She came to his bed, potions in tow. He tried to speak, but his voice wouldn't work and trying made his throat feel like he had swallowed liquid lava. The medi-witch held up a hand to stop him. "Don't bother trying to speak, you'll only make it worse. Now, using your fingers, on a scale of one to ten—one being the least, ten being the most—how much pain do you have?"

Without hesitation, he easily held up an eight. She nodded and her quill made a short note on her clipboard. She handed him several potions with instructions to drink them with his next meal and not to eat any foods that were too solid—stick to puddings and soups and the like. "Now, go on your way. Your friends are worried about you. If you have any side-effects or your throat gets worse or doesn't get any better, you know where I am." With that, she returned to her office and Harry went to Lunch.

When Harry entered the Hall, everyone was already there and he saw all of his close friends waiting for him at his regular seat. He sat down with them, between Lily and Hermione. As soon as he sat, they began raining questions down on him. He held up a hand to stop them then patted his neck, meaning he couldn't speak. Hermione asked him how long until it was better. He shrugged because Madam Pomfrey hadn't given him any amount of time. It would probably be a while.

"That sucks, mate," Fred said across from him.

"Yeah," George added, "It really does."

Harry only shrugged again, took his potions and ate what he could.

~ ~ ~ ~

Madam Pomfrey had sent notes to all of his teachers that he wouldn't be able to speak in class so he wasn't called on, even by Professor Snape. He was glad for that because he was in a lot of pain and didn't really feel like trying to force his voice to do anything at that point. But at the end of the Potions class with the Gryffindors, the Potions Master called him to the front.

"I know you're having trouble with your throat. Being distracted by pain is terrible to potions-work. Here." The man handed his two potions. "One will help the pain, one is an advanced healing potion that will speed up the healing." Harry looked up at him with confusion—obviously wondering why the man that seemed to hate him for so long was trying to help him—but took the potions anyway and was very grateful for it. He took them immediately and handed the vials back to the Professor. He sighed in relief and his muscles relaxed as the pain slowly began to dissipate. He hoped his thanks were conveyed to the professor before he had to leave for his next class.

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