Daughter of Mine | Harry Potter

XIX.

The girl was embarrassed at her avoidance of the trio, especially since she knew Harry needed her help with the second task. Her fears of sinking into the lake outweighed her need to help the boy. She didn't know where she would begin to help him, not when she couldn't share her dream with him.

"Are you okay? You've been avoiding them," Ginny asked her softly.

"What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," stumbled Lalia.

"Well, if you say so. You know I'd be okay if you wanted to spend some more time with them."

"I know. But I'm fine with where I am." She smiled at Ginny and rested her head on her shoulder.

By the evening of the second task, Hermione, with secret urging from Ginny, had convinced Lalia to help her and the boys in the library as Harry still hadn't figured out how he would breathe underwater. The four of them sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of the,.

"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were tired she was pouring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

Lalia scoffed darkly thinking of her dream. She let her book fall shut before grabbing another.

"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!"

"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, face down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."

Lalia sat up straight, realizing just then that her nightmare had led her to displace the second mandrake leaf she had kept in her mouth.

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.

"Or a frog," yawned Harry. He was exhausted.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting own the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember ... you've got to register with the Improper Use of Magic Office... what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it... ."

"Hermione, I was joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning.

"But man would it be helpful," Lalia muttered, sliding into her chair, thinking of her own secret mission to become an Animagus.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hairs ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

Lalia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looking for the you," said George. "McGonagall wants Lalia and Hermione."

"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised. The two girls glanced at each other with raised eyebrows.