Seventh Horcrux

Harry Potter vs. Alastor Moody (Pt. 3)

The current object of her affections waved me over from his place at the starting line. Krum asked, "Do you know vhere Er-my-o-knee is?"

I shrugged. "Probably in the library plotting against Skeeter. It's the sort of thing she does."

Krum nodded, chuckling. "You did not find the clue?"

"I didn't need to," I said. "It's just water."

One of the judges - a pompous ministry worker whose name I hadn't bothered learning - cleared his throat. "Everyone is ready to start, then?"

Krum nodded, but Delacour and I merely shot the judge disdainful looks.

The judge looked nervous. "Alright. The Second Task will start on my whistle. The champions have precisely an hour to recover what's been taken from them. The task begins in 3...2...1."

He blew a whistle, and I immediately whirled around to face Delacour. I shouted, "Silencio!"

She was sputtering soundlessly when I left. It was possible she would manage to overpower my spell and regain her voice, provided she knew the countercharm. But Beauxbatons had a poor reputation for nonverbal magic, and a slight delay would give me a head start in the race.

I jumped over the lake, casting the Ebublio Jinx at my chest. A large bubble full of air surrounded me, as I sunk into the lake. I cast the Aqua Eructo Charm, causing a jet of water to shoot from my wand. This propelled me forward, deep into the water and towards the merpeople's song.

I continued like that for some time. The Ebublio bubble protected me from the freezing lake water and various nuisances, such as Grindylows. As time passed, however, it grew thinner and more fragile.

Eventually, I realized that I was being followed. A glance backwards revealed an enormous shark coming after me. It was clearly charmed to attack competitors. A severing charm sent it hurtling towards the bottom of the lake, clouds of red floating in its wake.

Not long afterwards, I encountered the first roughly-hewn, dilapidated homes of the merpeople village. The hideous creatures peered out at me from their glassless windows, their grey-skinned faces framed by seaweed-like hair. I never tried to recruit the mermen in my previous life, primarily because they creep me out.

In the town square, a whole crowd of them were gathered. They continued to sing, yellow eyes watching as I ended the Ebublio bubble and replaced it with a Bubblehead Charm. A great, stone statue of a merman towered at their center, three girls tied to his tail - Hermione, Ginevra, and a young blonde.

I paused before them, considering the situation. Clearly, there was one hostage for each competitor. But who was mine?

If I had to choose one to save, it would undoubtedly be Hermione. Yet she had gone to the Yule Ball with Krum, just as Ginevra had with me.

The hostage wasn't based upon one's Yule date, however, because I was fairly certain that Delacour had not gone with a little girl. Beyond that, it was entirely possible I had interacted with the child before and simply didn't remember.

I refused to lose points for rescuing the wrong person. Hermione or Ginevra were both perfectly reasonable options, and the little girl wasn't out of the question, either. At that point, it was just easier to take them all.

I threw a blasting curse at the base of the statue's tail. Suddenly, the merpeople stopped singing. They raised their spears and approached me. I was surrounded.

"While that does explain Mr. Krum's unfortunate injury and your decision to take all three hostages - destroying a merperson relic in the process - I'm afraid I still don't understand what you did afterwards," Dumbledore said, looking very tired.