The Girl Who Lived

Task Two

"An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took . . ."

". . . your time's half gone, so tarry not Lest what you seek stays here to rot. . . ."

Half an hour gone already?

I swam on. Then I saw them.
The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks.
I swam faster, going past them. They were looking at me, tilting their heads like dogs.
They were mocking me. I realized. Letting me past so they can kill me later.
A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.
Gin was tied between Mione and Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made me feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.
Oh my God. This is insane. I'm going to get myself killed doing this.
I sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at me, but they did nothing. They didn't need to. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong.
I swirled around, staring about. Something sharp . . . anything . . .
There were rocks littering the lake bottom. I dove down and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. I began to hack at the ropes binding Gin, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. She floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water.
I looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? I turned back to Mione, raised the jagged rock, and began to hack at her bindings too —
At once, several pairs of strong gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling me away from Mione, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing.
"You take your own hostage," one of them said to him. "Leave the others . . ."
"No way!" I said furiously — but only two large bubbles came out.
"Your task is to retrieve your own friend . . . leave the others . . ."
"She's my friend too!" I yelled, gesturing toward Mione.
Of course, they probably can't even understand me.
But then the merpeople around him pointed excitedly over my head. I looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward us. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.
"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!"
Feeling enormously relieved, I watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and out of sight.
I looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour. . . .
The merpeople started screeching animatedly. Those holding me loosened their grip, staring behind them. I turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark. . . . It was Krum. He appeared to have transfigured himself — but badly.
The shark-man swam straight to Mione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin, and I was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Mione in half. Darting forward, I hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it and began to cut Mione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Mione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface.
Now what? I thought desperately. If I could be sure that Fleur was coming. . . . But still no sign. There was nothing to be done except . . .
I snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Gin and the little girl, shaking their heads at him. I pulled out my wand.
"Get out of the way!"
Only bubbles flew out of my mouth, but I had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood me, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon my wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of me, but I could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did.
"You've got until three!" I shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from me, but I held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. "One . . ." (I put down a finger) "two . . ." (I put down a second one) —
They scattered. I darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the small girl to the statue, and at last she was free. I seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Gin's robes, and kicked off from the bottom.
It was tiring. We kept sinking back down. It was like two steps forward, one step back. Except with swimming.
I was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. I could feel pain on the sides of his neck again . . . I was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in my mouth (is water wet? XD sorry). . . yet the darkness was definitely thinning now . . . I could see daylight above me. . . .
I kicked hard with my flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet . . . water was flooding through my mouth into my lungs . . . I was starting to feel dizzy, but I knew light and air were only ten feet above me . . . I had to get there . . . I had to . . .
I kicked my legs so hard and fast it felt as though my muscles were screaming in protest; I couldn't breathe, I needed oxygen, I had to keep going, I could not stop —
And then I felt my head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; I gulped it down, feeling as though I had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Gin and the little girl up with me. All around me, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with me, but they were smiling at me.
Gin and the girl opened their eyes.
Gin and I pulled Fleur's sister through the water, towards shore.
I could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets.
Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at me from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet us. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"
"She's fine!" I tried to tell her, but I was so exhausted I could hardly talk, let alone shout.
Percy seized Gin and was dragging her back to the bank ("Merlin, Percy, I'm fine!"); Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling me upright; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister.
"It was ze grindylows . . . zey attacked me . . . oh Gabrielle, I thought . . . I thought . . ."
"Come here, you," said Madam Pomfrey. She seized me and pulled me over to Mione and the others, wrapped me in a blanket, and forced a very hot potion down my throat.
"Heather, well done!" Mione cried. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"
I only smiled.
"You're well outside the time limit, though, Heather. . . . Did it take you ages to find us?"
"No . . . I found you okay. . . ."
The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue Gin from Percy's clutches; she led her over to me and the others, gave her a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.
"Look after Gabrielle," she told her, and then she turned to me. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."
"Yeah," I said, feeling stupid.
"'ank you."
The judges then announced the scores.
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
Applause from the stands.
"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head.
"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; I saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."
My heart sank. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, I most certainly had been.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.
"Heather Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "She returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Miss Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in her return was due to her determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely her own."
Gin and Mione both gave me half-exasperated, halfcommiserating looks.
"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However . . . Ms.. Potter's score is forty-five points."
My stomach leapt — I was now tying for first place with Cedric. Gin and Mione, caught by surprise, stared at me, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd.
Gin hugged me tightly.
"There you go, Heather!" Gin shouted over the noise.
I looked at the crowds and saw Harry and Ron. They were smiling at me. Then i looked to their right. George was there, cheering loudly. Next to him was Fred.
His reaction was the best.
He didn't shout (which was very un-Fredly), but he had the biggest smile of all.