River's POV
It was a day before the second task, Draco and I sat in the common room, looking for water charms through the numerous textbooks we had got from the library. We sat on the couch; I had my back against the couch, with my legs on Draco's lap.
"I swear, I'll just hold my breath the whole time," I yelled, banging my head on the book.
"For an hour?" He asked.
"Yes,"
"Look for a charm, River,"
"Okay,"
"Have you noticed anything missing?" Draco asked, I shook my head,
"No, I have everything, maybe the take it when I'm sleeping," I shrugged, as a first year came up to us.
"Um, Professor McGonagall told me to come get you, Malfoy, and Potter, Snape is looking for you," The boy said.
"Thank you," I said. He nodded and ran away up to the boys' dorm.
"Why does McGonagall what to see you?" I asked.
"I don't know," We both stood up, almost tripping over the number of books present and walked out, parting ways at the exit. I walked down to Snape's office as Draco went upstairs to see McGonagall.
"Hey, Snape," I said, walking into his office.
"River, have you found anything for the second task?" He said, looking up from his book.
"I've been looking at everything, but I can't find anything,"
"Here," Snape said, handing me a piece of parchment.
I looked down at the parchment, seeing he had written a spell for me to use.
"How did you find this?" I asked,
"I've been looking for hours,"
"You weren't looking in the right places."
"That hurts my past feelings," I said, he chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"You should go to sleep, you have to wake up early tomorrow," Snape said.
"Alright, good night," I said. He hummed a response, looking back at his textbook.
----
The next morning, we stood in front of the lake waiting for the task to start; I rubbed my wand, nervously and looked up at the stands. Daphne, Pansy, Blaise, and Theo were all there, but I had no clue where Draco was.
"I'm here!" Potter yelled, running over to us, he was the last one to show up, and just in time, the task would start in two minutes. The judges were clearly not pleased.
"Where have you been!" Percy Weasley yelled.
"The task is about to start!"
"Now, now, Percy. Let him catch his breath," Bagman said, Potter had his hands on his knees panting, clearly out of breath.
"All right, Harry?" Bagman asked.
"Know what you're going to do?" He asked, again. Potter nodded.
"Yeah," Potter stood up, massaging his ribs, Bagman nodded and went over by the stands, looking pleased. Potter came to stand next to me, still panting.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!" The whistle blew, and I grabbed my wand, muttering the scuba spell Snape had shown me, before diving into the water, praying my spell had worked.
The water felt good as I breathed it in, thankful my spell had worked. I started looking around, seeing that the others had already started. I quickly started swimming after them, hoping I can find what I had stolen from me before it was too late. Small fish were swimming past me, but I swear I could see something bigger swim closer to me.
It's nothing, it's nothing,
I kept thinking, looking around the lake. I felt something wrap around my leg; I turned around pulling back on my leg, a piece of sewed was wrapped around my leg. I pulled on my leg, but it just kept getting tighter. I cringed at the pain and grabbed my wand.
"Diffindo," I mumbled, the sewed was cut from my leg, and I finally got it free. It was bleeding lightly, and I was not a master of healing spells. I ignored the pain and started swimming higher.
I spotted Potter standing by a group of mermaids; he turned to look at me, as I looked at the people in chains. Weasley, Granger, a small blond girl, and Draco. I swam to him, my heart started beating faster, as he was at the far end of the group. I pulled on his chain, but it wasn't budging. Potter swam over to me and handed me a piece of sharp rock. I widened my eyes and nodded, starting to hit it, hard. After a couple hits it finally opened, I swam up to him, and wrapped my arms around his chest, and pull him up. He was a little heavier than I was, forcing me to go a bit slower, I could hear the rock hitting the chain, realizing someone else must have found them, making me swim faster.
I felt the charm break as we hit the surface. Draco started coughing as he pulled himself up on the deck. He pulled me up next to him.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, cupping his face to look over at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, are you okay?" He asked,
"I cut my foot, but other than that, I'm okay,"
"Come on you two, we have to get you warm." Madam Pomfrey yelled, grabbing us by the arms, and pulling us into a tent where she wrapped us around in warm towels.
"I told them not to take me! I told them I didn't want to stay in a lake. I swear my father will hear about this," he said, as I rested my head on his shoulder, shivering.
"I knew you would have,"
---
"Look at Potter, of course he gets two people out instead of one," Draco rolled his eyes, annoyed, as we stood outside watching the judges talking quietly, still wrapped in towels.
"I swear you deserve first place; I mean you saved me! Not some stupid Ravenclaw, or Granger, or a Weasley! Seriously, a Weasley," he said, shaking his head.
"Draco, any spot but last would be fine," I said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows, 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. River Potter arrived first and used a squab charm which was very effective to bring her hostage. We award her forty-three points, Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was second to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour, we therefore award him forty points Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was last to return with his hostage. We award him forty points. "Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own." I could see Draco rolling his eyes as Potter smiled at his friends.
"Most of the judges, feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points," People stared clapping for Potter, Fleur the loudest. Krum looked annoyed at Potter, and Cedric smiled. Draco glared at the back of Potter's head, looking like he was going to smack him.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions,"
---
"That was stupid! You came in second place! You deserved second place! I swear I'll go have a word with Dumbledore right now," Draco yelled in our common room as he pace. We sat with our friends after getting cleaned up from the second task.
"Draco, it's okay, it's not a big deal, it's over," I said, wanting him to sit down.
"No! That wasn't fair at all! It's not your fault Potter took forever! He didn't need to be moral! He should have stuck to the rules, like you!" Draco was fuming.
"How adorable," Daphne giggled.
"Shut it, Daphne," Draco said, forcing Daphne and Pansy to scoot to the side so he could sit next to me.
"It's over, Draco, just let it go," I said, grabbing him hand.
"Fine, I will, for today. Tomorow I'll be mad about it."