Harry Potter and the Serpent Slayer

Chapter 12: Study Time

As expected, Professor McGonagall was absolutely livid, and just like Hermione predicted Harry was given detention every day until the Second Task, where his punishment would end "pending your performance, Mister Potter."

So, not only did Harry have to actually figure out what the Second Task was going to be, but he also had to do well in it. He was also forced to attend a meeting with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape regarding the severe beating he'd given Malfoy. Snape unsurprisingly wanted Harry expelled. However, Dumbledore noted that Harry needed to remain at Hogwarts because of the Triwizard Tournament, though he was very sternly told that his behaviour would be reviewed again after the Tournament was over. Snape was livid, but to Harry's surprise, he deferred to Dumbledore's judgement (but not before taking fifty points from Gryffindor).

But the nightly detentions meant that Harry, again, had little to no time to meet and talk with Cho about their budding relationship and thus hadn't seen her in days. Harry was just lucky that it had been McGonagall who issued the punishment, rather than Snape who had looked like he was going to hex him.

Detentions, for the most part consisted of mostly writing lines over and over again. I will not resort to violence very quickly became Harry's least favourite phrase, and every night after finishing up with McGonagall he'd return to Gryffindor Tower with a cramping hand. The detentions were frequent, but the sheer boredom Harry experienced every night was almost enough to make him regret ever knocking Malfoy's lights out.

Almost.

Fortune would eventually favour Harry, when towards the end of January, he finally decided to decipher Cedric's riddle with the golden egg after detention. A couple hours later, he walked back to Gryffindor Tower, pondering about the song. With a little help from Moaning Myrtle, he'd figured out that the Second Task was going to be in the Black Lake, with merpeople of all things to contend against. They were going to take something from him, something he'd sorely miss. Well, there weren't a whole lot of possessions Harry had that he'd miss. His father's Invisibility Cloak, the Firebolt Sirius had given to him last year, his Serpent Slayer...

Blimey, thought Harry suddenly. How was he going to take the Serpent Slayer down into the Black Lake? He wasn't a very good swimmer, but if he tried to bring the sword along with him, it would definitely drown him. Fine, he'd have to do this task without the Serpent Slayer, but that still didn't solve the issue of holding his breath underwater for an hour or what was going to be taken from him.

The brief altercation between Snape, Filch, Moody and himself left Harry wide awake, enough so that he figured a quick trip to get rid of some excess energy was a good idea, so he made a detour towards the hidden training room. But along the way Harry heard sniffling in a quiet corner of the castle, away from where the usual patrols of students and prefects usually travelled.

Feeling curious, Harry followed the sound, wondering who was up at this hour and crying. To his incredulity, he saw Cho of all people, sitting near a window overlooking the Forbidden Forest and crying quietly to herself. She hadn't noticed him because he was still wearing the Invisibility Cloak, but she looked too preoccupied to notice him even if he wasn't wearing the Cloak.

"Cho?" said Harry in a worried tone as he pulled the Cloak off his body.

Cho jumped up, startled by his sudden appearance. "Harry! What are you doing here?" she whispered in shock.

"I was..." Harry trailed off as he held up the golden egg. Cho's eyes darted down, then widened as she nodded her head.

"Oh, I see," she said. She quickly wiped at her face, then added, "Sorry, I was... busy."

"Are you okay?" asked Harry. He felt awkward- he'd never had to deal with a crying girl before, and he was utterly stumped as to how he should help Cho with whatever she was going through.