The second task is here and the staff led us to the middle of the black lake.
All the way, Parvati and Lavender were confused as to where Hermione was last night that she hadn't showed up at all.
Just then, Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and one of the judges of the tournament, stood above the crowd as the four champions were ready to dive into the lake and started talking in a magically loud voice.
"Well, all our four champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle." His voice boomed out across the dark water toward our stands. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"
And so, by Bagman's whistle, the four champions dived into the lake as we cheered them on by our stands.
I looked in the judges' crowd, but failed to see Mr. Barty Crouch. But then it suddenly hit me and I shuddered; he was going to be murdered one of these days, by his own son.
My heart gave a painful ache as I thought about it, but then tried to remind myself that Dumbledore knew what was best, despite his habit of keeping deadly secrets. Perhaps he wanted to wait for the right moment and I had to trust him. But when was the right moment?
I started to think about what Dan said to me, I need to save people. Do I need to save him, I do want to but how when. He's not even here.
I looked through the crowd of students to look for him but no sign.
But then I thought back at Dumbledore's letter, in which he had said that certain sacrifices had to take place. What if he had looked into my mind using Legilimency and saw that Cedric was going to die, and saw it necessary?
Although I again tried to convince myself, saying that if Dumbledore had truly looked into my mind and seen everything, he would've known that Moody was an imposter. If he knew, then why wasn't he doing anything about it?
How could I just stand there and let Mr. Crouch and Cedric die? My mind kept wondering about the matter until I was reminded of Sirius, my stomach lurching at the thought of him.
I hadn't met him, but I felt like I knew him personally. I cared for him, and I couldn't stand the idea of his death; not now that I knew exactly what was going to happen.
"Some sweets would've killed right now," Fred said thoughtfully, watching the lake with precise.
My head turned on him and I froze on my spot.
Fred.
How could I forget? I thought in horror, my eyes filling up with tears when I remembered what was going to happen in three years. Fred had become such an important part of my new life that he made me forget about my old.
Just then, reading through my miserable expression, Fred turned his head towards me, giving me a worried glance. "You okay, Ash?"
Automatically, I leaped forward and brought him into a hug. Fred took aback, but after a few seconds, he hugged me back, despite having no clue as to what was going on.
"Get a room!" George shouted, causing us to pull away at last.
Fred laughed nervously at that, but I looked away, trying to prevent my tears from streaming down.
I still had three years. Until then, I had to just stand back and let things flow their own way until the time was right, just like Dumbledore had asked me to.
But I'll save everyone just as Alexander want. He believes in me.
I'm not going to let it happen, I promised myself. Not Fred, and not anybody else.