Damaged Raven

chapter 36

"DAMN IT!" Harry cursed, unintentionally frightening the owls. Harry quickly looked out of the owlery and saw a black shape flying near the ground. His eyes widened as he quickly took a few steps back just before he ran forward and jumped out of the owlery, he shot downwards, the wind moving out of his way as he did. When he got close to the ground he pulled out his wand and aimed it upwards. A rope with a spear head shot out of the wand tip and pierced the side of the building, Harry swung down and landed on a nearby roof, he jumped off the roof on to a tree branch then slid down the tree.

He looked at the black figure and saw that it was not Shadow, just some common raven.

"GODAMN IT ALL TO HELL! SHADOW! SHADOW!" Harry screamed, wishing for Shadow to just pop up out of a shadow and fly to his shoulder.

"Arry!" Fleur's voice called, he turned just in time for her to catch him with a hug "Arry! I can't find Gabrielle! She was supposed to stay with me while my parents stayed at Hogsmeade and I can't find her now!"

"I can't find Shadow!" Harry told her as he hugged her back "I woke up and he was gone!"

"What happened to them?!" Fleur pulled away and looked at him.

"All I know is if I don't get them back soon then I will be hurting a lot of people!" Harry vowed "Come on let's find them"

"Wait Arry, the second task, it's happening soon"

"Screw the task!"

"Arry if we don't do it then we'll lose our magic and that won't benefit anyone."

"Fine" Harry growled, he knew he was being emotional and erratic but he couldn't help it, Shadow was his first and best friend. "we'll do the bloody task and...no..." Realisation hit Harry "no they wouldn't do that"

"Arry?"

"Fleur remember the riddle we worked out from the egg! The one that said we had an hour to get back what we'll miss the most! They took Shadow and Gabrielle for the fucking task!"

"They what?!" Fleur roared as realisation hit her. "I'm going to kill them!"

"Not if I get them first!"

Soon Harry and Fleur arrived at the second task, they stood at the dock on the lake, the audience were watching from the crowd stands while the judges had their own tower. Krum and Cedric wore swimming trunks and vests, red for Krum and yellow for Cedric. Fleur wore a white one piece swimsuit and if the situation wasn't so serious then Harry probably would have spent a lot of time complimenting how she looked in it. Harry himself had also worn shorts and a swimming vest, except his vest was blue. The mirrors were also operational meaning the audience nearby along with people all over magical Britain could hear and see verything

"Fleur" Harry whispered to Fleur "I have an idea to help get them both"

"But Arry, you..."

"Trust me Fleur, it'll be fine. Trust me" He said, Fleur eventually nodded and agreed.

"Any questions?" Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice asked after he had explained the task where the champions had to go into the lake and rescue a hostage each.

"I have one" Harry said out loud after magically amplifying his own voice "who chose our hostages and who was responsible for putting them in the lake?" Harry asked, his voice sounding very innocent.

"Well..." Bagman adopted a thinking pose "the judges decided the champions, as for who put them in I think it was either them or somebody they had told to do it"

"Thank you" Harry gave a smile, to Bagman it appeared to be a normal smile but definitely not to the other judges.

"Brilliant, now let the task begin!" Bagman shouted cheerfully.