Chapter 33: The Second Task
The Second Task. It had arrived and there was no avoiding it; not now. Lucy picked up her stuff and applied the tight fitting swimsuit onto herself proudly wearing the red and gold for Gryffindor. She slipped over the tracksuit she had been given by McGonagall and exited her room. Snape followed, still feeling nervous but a little more confident in his daughter. Lucy clutched the egg carefully and they filtered their way out to the black lake, where growing crowds surrounded Lucy and applauded her.
Lucy walked with the thousands of kids walking through a plotted out route through the forbidden forest to the designated area. Teachers were positioned on every single metre to make sure. Lucy could feel eyes staring into her as she caught sight of the edge of the woods, leading to park of the black lake swirling in the chilly air and also saw harry floating across the water in a very unstable boat. When Lucy arrived she too saw a boat had been waiting for her, George bribing kids for bets and sweets.
“Want a Cornish pasty?” George asked
“Pardon?”
“Our new invention, it’s a Cornish pasty, but within a lolly pop.”
“Nice, I’ll take two,” Lucy said politely as George got his cash machine ready. But Snape grabbed her by the shoulder and tugged her away.
“You’ve got no time for sweets,” Snape moaned
“Dad” Lucy muttered as George threw the sweets at her, which she failed to catch. Snape ignored this and put her in the boat with Fleur, Cedric and Krum. Harry was already at the massive towers, accompanied by Dumbledore and Moody. Lucy shrugged and felt the boat rattle as she entered. The boat oddly drifted on its own to the tower of steel, all staying silent.
“George!” Lucy called out as she drifted closer away from shore. George titled his head as Snape watched her drift away from his grasp. “Where’s Fred?”
George suddenly went very pale.
“I don’t know” he yelled at her as a queue slowly formed behind him and little kids trying to be involved in the conversation. Snape looked at George with a confused face.
“Where did you last see Mr Weasley?” he asked in a raspy tone. George put his eyes to the sky and thought slowly
“I definitely saw him last night, don’t know when, probably before bed, he never came mind..."
George then went bright red as Snape flew past him and into another boat, thinking hard and leaving George to feel very stupid.
* * *
"Good evening everyone! Please take your seats! The next task will begin in 10 minuets!" A commentator in the top box roared. The crowd below chorused chants and sung tunes as the time got near. Lucy trembled in her boots, as all got ready to dive in. Snape was no where in sight, probably watching from above. Shona wasn't there either, and Lucy took comfort in a rather large shout from above:
“McGuire, stop stepping on my cape!”
“Its in my way!” the voice of McGuire shouted back, making Fudge shake his head and mutter something.
Lucy took out her wand and cast the spell, which would protect her from drowning in the water. She had perfected the spell last night, as Snape couldn’t seem to be able to find a suitable potion that would last long enough underwater for her. She felt a prickling feeling as the side of her arms gained three sharp like razors, a bit like weapons dripped in a slimy green texture. Her neck felt rather scaly an as she felt it the side of her neck moulding into gills.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE SECOND TASK! WILL EACH CONTESTANT PLEASE TAKE THEIR POSITION READY TO DIVE!”
A roar from the crowd above hid Snape’s solemn clapping, but pumped Shona’s roars and yells of good luck. She sat next to Snape and waited eagerly.
“How can you enjoy such cruelty?” He mumbled in spite.
“Why don’t you liven up a bit? Lucy beat a bloody dragon! A welsh Scaleback! You really think she can’t survive a splash in the water?”
“We don’t know what’s down there.”
"Well that's part of the adrenaline rush, isn't it?" Shona replied as the cannon sounded. All the spectators rushed to the bars to see the contestants jump in. Snape rolled his eyes and stayed where he was.
* * *
Lucy felt the bubbling water submerge her and hug her. Lucy battered around for a bit before realising how light she was in the water. She saw Harry swim off rather quickly before swimming herself. She went slower than him, not gaining fins or flippers, but the scales at her side made her more streamline and Lucy found it easy to curve dive and propel herself deeper. It was just as well she perfected this spell.
As she swam through the murky water Lucy could hear and feel seaweed entangling her as if they didn’t want her to go on, as if they knew what awaited. Lucy kept feeling that she was being watched and was continuously looking behind herself every time a dark shadow or bubbles tickled the corner of her eyes. This place was more creepy than yesterday.
At last Lucy appeared into a vast open space, wonderfully hidden in the middle of the black lake by the black water above. The crater looked unwelcoming and beautiful at the same time as Lucy focused on fiver floating bodies hanging oddly in the middle. It seemed the focus point and as Lucy ventured forward, she could tell distinctly who the people where.
Fred was the first in line, eyes closed and looking oddly pale. To his right were Fleur’s little sister and Ron along with Cho and Hermione, all just floating and waiting to be found.
Lucy swam closer feeling anxious and desperate to comfort her unconscious friends. It seemed like an eternity before she met face to face with Fred and the others. She put her hands on his face and felt a lump in her throat at the state of him before sending a sad look to the others. She then heard the sound of a sweet lullaby drifting slowly to her ears
Do you know what to do right now?
You must resolve the task that is here.
For your friends they cannot scream nor shout.
You may only take one to choose is hard but sacrifice is what this is about.
Lucy shook her head. ‘I need to save them all!’.
Then she heard something scuttle behind her and flinched as a low in human voice shouted at her
Good evening, Miss Snape, you shall not be going anywhere with anyone.
Lucy turned at the cloned voice and guessed it could only belong to one person.
Lord Zuc?
No it couldn’t be.
The voice laughed like from a movie and seemed to make the dark revolve around her.
Yes, fortunately for you I am not here, but I have made Sure you don’t feel welcomed in this Everest. You think it wise to stalk in the dark, far away where no one can hear you scream?
I’m not afraid of you! Lucy yelled into nowhere
You have not met me yet.
And that was it. Silence followed and no one spoke back. Lucy then saw Krum and Cedric appear together, using each other in team work. Lucy watched as they both swum to the bottom of the darkness and waited for the two to return. Suddenly the shackles around Cho and Hermione’s feet slackened and both floated eerily sideways. Both men then flew up out of the darkness like angels and took one girl each. They swam away and above, Cedric turned to smile at her softly and mouthed:
“Go to the bottom, don’t be afraid of what you can’t see.”
Lucy watched the only two safe faces disappear before turning in the water. She focused into the black and swam with confidence into it
“Lumos” she whispered and was happy to see some light in the gloom. She put both hands together in the hope to make her swim faster and place the light in front of her. One hand in front, she eventually felt the hard surface of the rock bed and saw a massive iron chain with a lock hanging loosely from it. All she had to do was take the lock off and let the chain hang loose and Fred would be free...
Lucy felt something swim past her at a sharp speed. Inches from her hand was an arrow, harpoon like and had dug itself into the ancient rock. Lucy swam back in fright and looked around as another zoomed past her head. In panic she nearly dropped her wand.
Without warning something closed over Lucy’s mouth and gills. She screamed into it as slimy hands grabbed at her legs and hands, dragging her around until she struggled to breath. This time she did drop her wand and saw the light float away as the mystery creatures tried to pull her apart. But one thing stood out, all the horrible red eyes looking into her as Zuc said something:
Kill her now.
* * *
Whistles and horns were aloud in the air as harry made his ascent. Still there was no sign of Lucy and Snape was holding his hands in an odd praying position with a very bored face, stooped over and tapping his foot. Shona came and sat next to him, all the other vacant as they were cheering by the rails.
“Lucy appeared yet?” He asked hopefully perking up slightly.
“No, not yet,” Shona confirmed. Snape stretched out and sighed deeply as Shona put her head on her hand.
“Do you know who put her name in the goblet of fire?” Snape asked distracted all of a sudden.
“No, besides I would have told Dumbledore way before then.” Shona replied and stooped like Snape making the two look like there was a mirror between them. They both looked at each other before looking away again.
“So you ur...” Shona tried to start a conversation with the potions master but stopped. Snape looked up.
“What?”
“Nothing”
“You were going to say something” Snape argued.
“No I wasn’t,” Shona said defensively and shook it off.
“Oh yes you were,” Snape said in a convinced tone.
“Oh no I wasn’t, Goldilocks!” Shona muttered and Snape straightened up and groaned.
“Goldilocks?” he said sourly, normally he would take McGuire’s comments and ignore them, but he needed something to do. Unfortunately McGuire was the only one to argue to. Soon the simple conversation had turned into an argument.
“Yeah, she wears a skirt like you,” Shona laughed as Snape looked unimpressed.
“It’s a cape!” Snape hissed
“More like a batman costume,” Shona protested back as both turned more to look at each other.
“You know, McGuire, if you weren’t one of the gifted you wouldn’t be seeing the light of day again.”
“Oh no not the cape! Anything but that!” Shona acted scared. Snape pulled a face and snapped at her.
“You really think you know everything about me do you? Well let me awaken you, you don’t, I only talk to you because you’re a gifted, not because we get along.”
"And you don't know anything about me then? Hmm? What about my m - "
“Shut up,” Snape stopped her and eyeballed her. Shona realised she’d hit a nerve.
“What? She is my m - ”
“I know, don’t bring her into it,” he warned and turned back forward.
“You got something against my mum?” Shona asked. Snape turned violently in her direction.
“Nothing. Go back and watch with your friends” he said sourly and retained from yelling at her.
“Great joke, Snape,” Shona clapped him as Snape shook his head and moved down a seat
“Just go away,” he said annoyed and moaned at her.
“I’ve got nowhere to go,” Shona admitted and Snape put on a sarcastic voice.
“Oh no, McGuire’s got no friends, wake up to the real world,” he said to himself.
“I have,” Shona hissed back wildly, making Snape realise what he’d just said. “You really think I’d waste my summers away working every day at bars and shops for work, I’m under age! My dad...Well...Mum works,” Shona finished it with a cover up. Snape didn’t proceed into it but remembered the conversation in his mind. Another thing to add to the day McGuire would tell him about Worthing.
“Why are we arguing?” Snape asked confused and looked at her as he furrowed his eyebrows
“I don’t know” Shona admitted and both sighed and turned away. “All I was going to say was did you want a hot dog…”
“No,” Snape said and both sighed at the same time, freaking each other out a little before crossing their arms the same way without noticing.
Both jumped to their feet though when they heard a slight scream from somewhere, hid by the roar of the crowd. Both looked at each other before sprinting up to the back of the stands.
“Where did that come from?” Shona asked Snape as he looked down the deep stairs and pulling a face as he peered down.
“Well it certainly wasn’t an exited spectator,” Snape summed up and racked his brain to see if this was actually real, but McGuire had heard it too so it must be true. Before looking further down the walkway.
Was Snape hearing what Lucy had to deal with all the time? The constant interrogation from Lord Zuc? Had Zuc now been able to invade Shona and his own minds? Or was this -
"LUCKY!" Shona yelled out all of a sudden, her fingers were pressed to her temples and her eyes were wide with shock. She ran to the railing and looked down and saw that her mind wasn't playing tricks on her for Lucy was actually being attacked by sea creatures, they wanted to kill her.
“Lucy! Lucy snape!” Snape roared and learned dangerously over the rails, the sound of clinking making Shona flinch. Snape looked at Shona before giving her his coat
“I thought this was your only love and affection from Jessica stone? Cheers” Shona said happily and tried to put it on but Snape snatched it off her and hung it on the rails. He then proceeded undo his black top. “No!”
“Shut up, McGuire!” Snape hissed as Shona covered her eyes as Snape rolled his. “I’m only taking this off so it doesn’t get ruined.”
“Oh right…” Shona said a lot calmer and put her hands to her sides. He took the top off to reveal his long white one that would only show with his cuffs, something you wouldn’t expect to see on Snape. He also took off his shoes and walked closer to the side and gulped at the way down, trying not to look scared in front of McGuire.
“You’re not...Jumping!” Shona said half hopeful, half shocked.
Snape took himself over the rails as a roar from the crowd confirmed Harry had returned yet again with somebody else.
“OK, McGuire, this is the plan…I’m going to….Jump” He swallowed his words and closed his eyes shut and cringed as a cold wind blew into him. Shona walked closer
“What?”
“I’m going to jump…” Snape mumbled and dared to look down
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights” Shona said suspiciously. Snape shook his head.
“No,” he said in a very high tone, his face giving off a lot of fear. “Right, this is going to be simple. I’m going to jump in and I want you to get Dumbledore as quick as you can.”
“Affirmative” Shona agreed and saluted him and went to turn but waited to see if Snape would jump.
“Right, Snape,” Snape told himself in a quivering tone. “Jump.”
His legs didn’t move, as his fist remained clenched round the cold rail, pale and frozen to the metal. The truth was it was the height scaring him…The long, deep stall towards the dead blackness...
“God sake man,” he cursed himself. “Pull yourself together.”
Snape shook the memory out of him and pulled a face as the crowd started to chant.
“McGuire” Snape said feebly without looking behind.
“Eh?” Shona asked confused. Snape tried to find something to say.
“Could…You…?”
“I’m not going in, I can’t swim!” Shona recoiled and Snape looked back at the water.
“This is going to take time, McGuire, you can’t just jump in. you have to get the right dive otherwise…Well. I need to prepare before - AHHHHHH!”
Shona casually pushed him of the side calmly. The faint splash was heard as Shona looked over
“MCGUIRE! YOU LITTLE - ”
"SNAPE'S SKINNY DIPPING!" Shona yelled and smirked at him, giving him a thumbs up as excited kids turned with their cameras, but Snape had dived under.