The Dark Lords Daughter

Chapter 15

     Task day comes quicker than I had anticipated. Just yesterday it seemed like I had figured out my clue. Now I stand in the great hall, waiting with the rest of the champions to be escorted to the lake. I clutch the gillyweed in my sweating hands, Harry stashing his in his swim trousers. My tongue feels numb, and I feel as though at any moment I will fall to the ground. The other schools headmasters enter the hall, followed by professor dumbledore. He sands in the center of us, and leans on a long cane.
    "Dear Champions. I hope you all have had the chance to analyze your clue. Today will not only test your wit and your skill, but your ability to act under pressure. Once you enter the lake you will have exactly one hour to find what was taken from you. Each champion will be escorted to the lake by their school's headmaster. Good luck," he says, earning claps from each of the champions and the professors. Harry, careful not to let anyone see, steps behind me as everyone disperses, wrapping his arms around me.
    "Are you ready for today?" he asks me. I shake my head, and he places his chin on my head.
    "What are we trying to find? Aren't there monsters in the lake?" I ask. He nods, pondering the question.
    "There's the giant squid, but that's all I know of. If something really scary comes just summon up a basilisk again, or call on me. I'll save you," He says, flexing his right arm before kissing his biceps. This earns a slight chuckle from me, before a whistle sounds, and the champions start moving towards their headmasters. Harry lets go of me, so the attention isn't drawn to us. It would be bad if the heads of all the schools knew about our secret affection. God I don't even know what to call it.
We approach dumbldoor, who stands calmly next to several other professors.
    "Good luck today. A smooth sea never makes for a great sailor. But a rough one..." he says, trailing his words. I look at Harry, who has now taken his Gillyweed out and is clenching it in his hand like I am. Professor Moody hobbles over to the both of us, grasping Harry on the shoulder.
    "You both know what you are doing today?" he questions, his false eye zipping across the room. We nod in usion. "Good," he says, turning to me. "You would have made your father proud,"
I shake my head.
    "I have no interest in impressing him," I state. Moody smiles slightly, then mutters something that sounds like, "we'll see,"
Before I can say anything else we start walking out of the great hall. Harry is no longer beside me, but leading the line of champions while I pull up the rear. Before we even arrive at the lakes shores I can hear the cheering of the crowd suspended on towers above the lake.
I take a deep gulp, and enter one of the specific boats for the champions.

I stand at the edge of the tower, a few feet above the water. All the champions are now lined up, Fleur and Krum each holding wands and me and Harry holding our Gillyweed. The time had passed so fast, and in a few moments I will be entering the water. I see professor Moody come up to Harry, and a few seconds later Harry puts the gillyweed in his mouth. He coughs, his face scrunching as if he's tasted somthing sour. The whistle sounds for us to go, and I watch as Moody slaps Harry on the back before pushing him into the water.
     I shove the foul looking plant into my mouth. It tastes bland, almost like dirt, and I swallow it, diving into the water. Icy waves hit me, but I don't feel them. Instead I feel pain. A wave of hot stinging pain goes through my body. It claws at my neck, my feet and my hands. It feels as though everything is falling apart. My neck Sears, and I scream, gasping in the water. Something grabs me by the shoulders, shaking me back and forth as the pain starts to subside. I suck in water, it feels like slime in my lungs.
     Harry is holding me, looking at my face with worry.
     "You good?" He says. I look at him. His glasses are gone, and his neck is etched with slits like gills. His hands and feet are webbed with green silk like skin. He looks like an aquatic man or something. 
     "I'm fine," I breathe, looking at my own hands and feet. They are webbed as well. Holy crap, I just talked underwater too.
The lake from under the water doesn't look as murky as I thought it would. Instead I can see all sorts of watery plants and crevices.
     "We better start looking," Harry says. "I'll head south, you head wherever."
I take the East, which is full of seaweed and old mermaid ruins. I wave him goodbye and start swimming into it. I have only an hour to find what I need.
     After about thirty minutes of swimming through endless sea life I punch an old rock. I have found nothing to help me find what I've lost, let alone come close to finding what I've lost. I groan, pissed off.
Before I can hit another bolder or ruin, a bright ball of light appears in front of me. It's black and glowing, and when I reach out to touch it, it unfolds to let me hand past. I pull back, afraid I ruined it. But it forms back together, and starts to move south. I chance after it, it gains more speed with each turn. What is this thing?
     It rounds another corner, passing through some ruins that I narrowly miss. These ones look more new. I swim forwards, but a long line of rope is blocking my path. I skid to a stop, the black hall hovering under the rope. There are four ropes, each leading up higher in the water. I swim upward, and to my suprise, Hermione is attached by the rope. She almost looks paralyzed, her eyes closed and her hair and robes floating around wildly. I go to unhook her, but a sharp stab in my gut makes me jump back. I turn around, ready to fight whatever's there.
     A green skinned mermaid with pointy teeth and hair like seaweed is in front of me. She had a stone pointed spear that she had just pulled from my side, and behind her, a band of merfolk with the same weapons.
     "Not yours," she croaks, pointing her spear at Hermione. I look up at the other ropes. Two of them have nothing on them, meaning the other champions have gotten there first. The other has a pale boy hooked on, with even lighter hair and robes that float around like Hermione. Draco.
     I move forward, grabbing a sharp rock from the lake's floor, and cut away at the rope. It releases, and draco starts to float to the surface. I set the rock back down, and my neck begins to burn, along with my hands and feet. My time is up, and I still have a long way till the surface. I suck in one last breath of water, and start swimming higher and higher. I can no longer feel the help of my webbed feet and hands. My lungs burn, aching for air. Despite my efforts to keep the water out, I instinctively suck in the water, hoping for it to be air. The surface is so close. I just need to reach it. I push harder and harder upward, my vision blackening. I wasn't going to make it.