𝐢. 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂 ; harry j. potter ( UNEDITED )

023. "decay too far gone absorbing no light or water"

"Don't tell me he didn't have a plan!" Ginny pointed. "I thought you, Hermione, Ron, and Harry spent the whole night planning — speaking of which, where are those two?"

"Snogging, I reckon," said George, snickering with his twin.

"I wished that were the case," Lucia said squeakily, "but neither of them came back, leaving me and Harry to do things our own!"

Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck —

Harry clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping in the freezing air... He had gills. Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense — he flung himself forward into the water.

"About time," said Dean.

Neville pulled Lucia aside for a moment, "Did he used gillyweed?"

She nodded furiously. "Can it really make him breath underwater?"

"Yeah, if he chews it right," said Neville. "I read it in one of my Herbology book, but he'll have to submerge himself back as fast as he could."

"Why?" Lucia gulped, scared.

"Because there's not a proper time limit,"

"Y-You're saying that the effects can go away at any given time?!" Much to Lucia's dismay, Neville nodded. Lucia felt as though she couldn't breathe as she fell to her knees, ruffling her hair. "D-Dobby and I am going to be reason Harry drowns!"

"H-Hold on, Lucia. Let us not insinuate stuff —"

Right as Neville tried (failing) to reassure Lucia, there was a chorus of cheers, drowning out the laughter and jeering that was loud prior as Harry propelled himself up in the air, doing a magnificent flip before submerging himself back into the cold water.

"Atta boy, Harry!" Fred yelled, before muttering under his breath, "I'm totally going to get my money now..."

"Is money all you think about?" Ginny scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Eh, most of the time," said George. "But can you blame us?"

Ginny looked away, mumbling, "No..."

"There, there," Astoria crouched down beside Lucia, rubbing her back. "He's fine,"

"But not for long," moaned Lucia, hiding her face in Astoria's arms as she cried in fear.

As they waited impatiently for the champions to emerge from the water, it never came to their mind how boring the wait would be. This task was the opposite of how the first task was, in which they could see the champions fend off against feral dragons as they capture their eggs, while this task did not provide them any sort of action. Only wait.

Many minded their own business: Like how Malfoy and his posse were making banners that says "POTTER STINKS" only this time with much more pizzazz with how they decorated the banner with a lightning striking Harry as a laugh. But Dean could do a hundred times better than they did. Others were chatting, like Dean and Seamus, and Lavender and Parvati were. There were some that were... singing? And most were playing card games that were hosted by Fred and George. Erin and Ginny ended up joining the game and winning every single round as a duo. While some, like Lucia, Astoria, and Neville rested quietly as they wait.

With evident exhaustion, Lucia yawned, reading her dad's journal as she leaned her head against Neville, who was reading the book that Moody lent him, shoulder. Astoria was napping on Lucia's lap, snoozing like there's no tomorrow.