More Important Than Any Broomstick [Harmione]

40. Rescuing Hermione

"Calm down, cub. Dumbledore isn't going to let anything happen to her or any other hostages in this task. McGonagall got his word on that before she collected Hermione."

Harry took a deep, calming breath. "All right. I guess I panicked. I know he won't let them die just because their champion didn't get to them in time."

"Good. Do you have your gillyweed with you? You've barely got enough time for a light breakfast before you have to go down to the lake."

"Oh, yeah," he said, reaching in his pocket. He'd taken it with him when he originally came down the stairs, before he knew Hermione was missing. He was wearing a red sleeveless T-Shirt along with a pair of black trunks under a school robe. He had a wand-holster on his leg with one of Snape's wands in it. He didn't use wands anymore (except in class) and he didn't want to risk losing his own in the lake. He'd thought about wearing his basilisk armor, but really didn't want anyone to know about it. He did however, put his best shield charm on himself and maintain it all morning.

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They went down to breakfast, where Harry forced a slice of toast, along with a glass of pumpkin juice, down his throat. He was nervous about Hermione's safety. He was glad that he'd practiced already, and figured if he hadn't, he'd have been even more nervous. A lot of people wished him good luck, including Susan Bones of Hufflepuff.

When Susan came up, Harry asked, "So how are things going between you and Ron?" causing her to blush.

"Well, I've been meaning to thank you for that. I can't believe I was so shallow to not want to dance with him because of those awful robes." She chuckled. "He was so nice to me when I asked him to dance, and he's so funny. He has his own type of charm that..."

"I get the picture," said Harry, not wanting to hear how wonderful Ron was. He smiled and said, "I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks. Good luck," she said, and kissed him on the cheek before leaving to find Ron.

"Should Hermione be worried?" came Cho's voice from behind.

"About Susan?" asked Harry after he turned to see Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory, "No, she has her own reasons to worry."

Cho took on a concerned expression. "Why? What's wrong?"

"This stupid task!" said Harry. "We've each got to rescue a hostage from the merpeople in the Black Lake, and mine is Hermione. McGonagall took her last night, and I've got to find her!"

"That's horrible!" exclaimed Cho.

"And ridiculous!" added Cedric. "I'm glad I wasn't chosen. I wouldn't fancy trying to find Cho at the bottom of the lake."

"I know! Why can't they just have us rescue another golden egg? Anyway, I've practiced and prepared as best I could, so I just have to wait until the task begins. Bye the way Cho, I never did thank you properly for standing up for me when Fleur tried to ruin my reputation."

"Oh, it was nothing Harry. I just know how much you care about Hermione, and would hate for a lie like that to come between you."

Harry smiled at her. "You really are a wonderful person. Cedric's lucky to have you."

"I agree," said Cedric.

She blushed and said, "Thanks," and walked off with her boyfriend.

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The whistle echoed shrilly through the cold, still air, as Harry dived into the lake, his mouth full of gillyweed. He felt the icy lake warm up as he grew gills, and started swimming as fast as he could in the direction of the mer-village he'd found with Hermione, carefully avoiding the grindylows.

It was about twenty minutes after he entered the water that he saw Hermione, as well as a male Durmstrang student Harry guessed was Krum's best friend and a little girl who appeared to be Fleur's sister apparently in a magically-induced sleep. He swam up to Hermione and saw the she was tied to the tail of a stone merperson. He looked around him and saw that the merpeople weren't interfering, so he pulled out his wand for show, and then magically loosened the rope binding his beloved. He put an arm around her and turned when he saw the scariest thing he'd ever seen in his life.

A shark was swimming straight at him, and hit him while he was momentarily frozen in fear. He soon realized that he hadn't been eaten, and that the shark was really a half-transfigured Viktor Krum. He then realized with rage that Krum had purposely hit him, so he wandlessly enlarged Krum's trunks, causing them to fall down to the bottom of the lake while Viktor was figuring out how he'd loose his best friend without biting his hands off. The last thing Harry saw as he took off toward the surface with Hermione was Krum swimming hurriedly downward. Harry laughed as he continued upward.

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At the half-hour mark, everyone was surprised to see Hermione surface near the shore. She opened her eyes and saw the crowd applauding. She felt Harry holding her, but saw that he was still below the surface. She then realized that he must have more time before the gillyweed wore off. She swam ashore and was immediately met by Dumbledore, Ginny, and Neville. Madam Pomfrey rushed up and threw a towel around her. Hermione said, "Harry's using gillyweed, so he can't come up yet. How long has he been under?"

"Gillyweed?" repeated Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes. "That's a great idea. He's now been under water for thirty-five minutes. I believe that leaves him twenty-five more. Don't worry about his score. It's based off of when you came out of the water, not him." She saw Karkaroff and Maxime looking very unhappy.

About five minutes after Hermione came to the surface, Fleur was brought up by a rescue team. It was announced that she couldn't get past the grindylows. Right after that, Krum's friend surfaced, missing several fingers and bleeding. Once his eyes opened, he started screaming in pain. Krum surfaced as the girlish screams began. He was holding his oversized trunks up with one hand while yelling in Russian at his friend, who made a fist, but then looked at his hands and yelled something Harry, who was nearby in the lake, believed to be an extremely vile Russian profanity. The student put down his hands and got out of the water. Madam Pomfrey immediately went to him. While she was still tending him, Harry resurfaced (to be greeted enthusiastically by Hermione), followed by the merpeople carrying Fleur's little sister.

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The scores were as follows: Harry got the full fifty points and Fleur got twenty-five. Krum had earned the fifty for getting back on time, but lost five points for every damaged finger on his hostage, so he ended up with twenty points. Both Krum and Karkaroff argued about it, but the other judges were adamant that Krum shouldn't have injured his hostage by using his shark teeth to free him. If he didn't have a knife or wand with him, he could've found a sharp stone at the bottom of the lake.

All of the champions and hostages were interviewed by Potter Press reporter Anna Jesse for what was sure to be a thorough description of the event, not the love-lives of the participants. After Hermione thoroughly rewarded Harry in a broom closet, they found a party - not in Gryffindor Tower, but in the Great Hall. There were not only Gryffindors, but Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Even some Slytherins were there who congratulated the hero of the Black Lake. Harry had earned an incredible head start in the final task!