"Have any of you seen Thalia?" Harry asked nervously.
All the Slytherins looked between each other. None of them knew where she was either, they were just told not to wait up by Snape. With a few eyebrow movements and a few nods, the boys silently decided that it was absolutely none of Potter's business when it comes to Thalia's whereabouts.
"None of your business, Potter," Draco scoffed, speaking for the entire group. "Just get on with the second task and hope the monster of the Black Lake wipes you out." The other boys laughed coldly and continued on their way to the platform where they would be watching the second task.
Blaise fell back a bit but the other boys didn't seem to notice as he approached Harry with his hands in the pockets of his black coat. "We haven't seen her since after classes yesterday," Blaise informed, breathing out the winter air. "Good luck, Potter."
He jogged to catch up with the rest of his friends and Harry walked off towards the platform where the champions would dive off. He took a place next to Cedric, at the edge, and Neville handed him the gillyweed.
"And you're sure this'll work?" Harry asked while eyeing the gillyweed.
"Well, I don't know for sure," Neville mumbled. "There are some studies about the effects on freshwater versus saltwater-"
"You're not sure?" Harry sputtered. "Neville, my life depends on you!"
"I didn't know, I'm sorry!" Neville apologized quickly as the buzzer started to countdown. Harry mumbled curse words to himself and stuffed the gillyweed into his mouth.
The bespectacled boy started to choke and he felt someone push him into the freezing water. He couldn't breathe for a moment, but then his hands started to turn into webs and he felt gills on the side of his neck.
Harry smiled to himself and searched the murky waters for something he was supposed to retrieve. He heard the familiar sound of sirens and swam closer, pushing through the long overgrown seaweeds floating upwards.
Harry paused as he reached four floating figures with seaweed tying them down. He swam closer to Thalia and admired her sleeping figure, then looked over to Hermione and Cho Chang and some other girl he didn't know.
The Gryffindor wasn't sure which girl he was supposed to retrieve until Cedric came from behind him and cut the seaweed that was on Cho Chang. He shot Harry a friendly smile and swam upwards.
A few seconds later, a half-shark half-man came speeding towards the group and grabbed Hermione's frail body. Harry guessed that he was probably supposed to save Thalia then.
He didn't see Fluer coming to save the other girl so Harry tried to grab both of them until a creature approached and stabbed his arm, hissing, "only one."
If he didn't grab her, then Fluer's person would be down there forever. Harry undid Thalia's seaweed rope then held on as he quickly undid the other girl's. He swam upwards but the creatures started to attack him.
With all his power, Harry pushed Thalia and the Beauxbatons girl to the surface. He grabbed his wand and tried to fight off the creatures.
Thalia gasped the fresh air quickly. She shivered from the freezing cold water and grabbed the other girl and began pulling her towards the platform. "God, this is abuse!" Thalia screeched. "Submerging me underwater without consent! My mother will hear about this!"
Thalia let the other girl go up the ladder first and quickly followed. Her best friends quickly left the stands they were in and made their way to the main platform to comfort Thalia. "I will sue!" Thalia warned. "I practically fund this school and this is how I'm repaid! What the fuck!"
Draco wrapped the soaking wet girl in a thick towel and rubbed her arms to calm her down. "Lia, it's fine," Draco muttered. "Don't make a big fuss. It's not like Potter didn't save you."
"Fucking assault," Thalia mumbled angrily. "Yesterday, I was completely dandy and next thing I know, I'm in the fucking water and I didn't even get to eat fucking dinner. Fuck this shit. Where the fuck is my savior?"
She was about to beat the shit out of Harry. If he hadn't been so obvious about his undying love for her, maybe she would've been perfectly fine and watching the task from the stands. But no, her hair felt fucking crispy from being surrounded by that black water and her lips were blue.
"He didn't come up," Theo huffed.
Thalia's anger immediately turned to worry and she tossed the towel off of her, passing it over to Draco. "Thalia, what're you doing?" Draco asked.
Thalia neared the edge of the platform and Theo's hand grabbed Thalia's arm to prevent her from jumping off. "I need to save him," Thalia said desperately. "If he hasn't come up, he's probably drowning."
"That'd be good, wouldn't it?" Draco snickered.
"You're not funny, Draco," Thalia responded. Just then, Harry emerged from the water and soared into the air. He fell onto the deck harshly and Thalia shook Theo's hand off her, then ran over to him.
Harry was coughing up water and Thalia rubbed his back while someone handed him a lavender towel. "Are you alright, Harry?" she asked worriedly.
"Perfectly fine, love," Harry managed to choke out through coughs. After he finished coughing up water, Harry suddenly realized that he was making physical contact with Thalia and he smirked at her.
"Can you stop making that face?" Thalia fretted, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze. "You almost died!"
"Love, if you wanted to snog, you could've just asked."
Thalia's jaw dropped and she took her hand off his back to slap him across the face. Harry cupped the side of his face delicately but Thalia didn't stop.
"You are unbelievable, Potter! You almost died and you think that I'm going to snog you at times like this?!" she shrieked angrily. "I will never snog you in general so stop being a fucking weirdo! Merlin, what the fuck is wrong with you!" Thalia stood and walked back to her group.
Harry let out a sigh. He could've asked her on a date or smugly asked for a kiss on the cheek, but he just had to go for the snogging offer again. "I'm such a fucking idiot," he mumbled under his breath.
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked. She draped the lavender towel around Harry's shoulders and rubbed his arms to dry him off, but Harry just shook her off. Hermione sighed and backed away a bit to give Harry space.
"Attention!" Dumbledore yelled into his elder wand, causing everyone to cover their ears. Harry got to his feet as Dumbledore continued to speak. "The winner is... Mr. Diggory, who showed innate command of the Bubblehead Charm!"
Everyone from Hogwarts, mostly the Hufflepuffs, cheered loudly and congratulated Cedric thoroughly. "However," Dumbledore continued, "seeing as Mr. Potter would've finished first, had it not been for his determination to rescue not only Ms. Forthing, but the others as well, we award him second place!"
All the Hogwarts students cheered for Harry, but not as loud as they'd cheered for Cedric. The Durmstrangs grumbled, for Krum was supposed to place second.
From a distance, Thalia politely clapped as Harry was awarded second place but she only looked away and out towards the Black Lake when she felt his burning gaze on her. "Let's get you inside," Theo suggested.
Thalia nodded along as Dumbledore began to announce the rest of the competitors' places. The others stayed behind and Theo and Thalia walked towards the school building.
Theo removed his corduroy jacket and helped Thalia put it on. "Thanks," she mumbled through chattering teeth.
"This competition is insane," Theo huffed. His arm slipped around Thalia's waist as they continued to walk and he pulled her closer as she shivered. "Did you see how Granger was Krum's most valued possession?"
"Yeah," Thalia laughed. "How pathetic is his social life?"
"It's gotta be pretty sad if the girl he just met is his most valued possession," the dark blonde said while shaking his head. He looked back at the giant crowd that was starting to file out.
"Tell me about it," Thalia giggled. "Do you think Potter's going to win?"
"I don't know how he placed so high in the last two tasks," Theo said, "but he's only a fourth year like us. There's no way that he's winning this competition. And the prize money? What does he need that for?"
"Exactly, he's almost as rich as us," the brunette said. "I suppose he's going to try to do his best, but why would he even do that? He's already famous enough, why does he want eternal glory?"
"Because he's a fucking idiot."