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Milo's plan to get justice for what was said about Hagrid was going to have to wait a bit longer as it would take time for his plan to go through. However, in the meantime, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Dumbledore had convinced Hagrid to come back to his teaching position. Although according to the story that Harry shared with his brother, Dumbledore really wasn't taking no for an answer, he expected Hagrid to return to work that following Monday. In Milo's mind, he could see how happy his brother was that Dumbledore interfered and even Milo had to admit that he was thankful about Hagrid's return, but Dumbledore still rubbed him the wrong way. The boy had a feeling that if it had just been Hagrid under fire, it would have remained that way.
But Dumbledore's name had been dragged through the mud, he was labelled as the one who had made the 'mistake' of hiring Hagrid. However, Milo had the idea in his head that if his name hadn't been mentioned in the article, Dumbledore wouldn't have made it such a scene to interfere. He was now considered even more of a hero in the eyes of Harry, his friends, and of course, Hagrid. Milo wasn't exactly falling for the 'kind gesture.' He still didn't trust Dumbledore but he couldn't voice such things, apparently with Rita Skeeter able to pick up information without being present.
The best thing to do would be to remain silent until he gathered enough evidence to sort things out on his own. He wouldn't dare make a false accusation against someone without having solid evidence to back up his statement, his mother would hang him by his ankles to dry if he did such a thing. In the meantime, Milo just took the situation as something to be thankful for, not thankful for Dumbledore, but thankful that Hagrid was going back to work.
The world needed teachers like Hagrid, just like they needed teachers like Milo's mother. It was a perfect balance of hands-on to the textbook experience, something Milo wouldn't trade for any of the wizarding schools in the world.
With the egg figured out, it was Harry's responsibility to inform Angelina, it was best that they all remain on equal terms somehow. Milo wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament, so he only felt as though it was right. But Harry came back with the news that Angelina had already figured out the egg, in fact, she was waiting for a moment of privacy to tell Milo. That left Viktor and Fleur as the only champions that Milo wasn't sure if they knew or not. The problem was, he knew there was some cheating taking place in the tournament.
Fleur and Viktor knew about the dragons, only Milo and Angelina would have been left in the dark if it wasn't for Gwen slipping in information. But Madam Maxime and Karkaroff had figured out the first task and told their champions. They were determined to win, just like Angelina was determined to bring the victory home for Hogwarts. Milo had zero interest in actually winning anything, he just wanted to remain alive and well.
Yet, every time that Milo passed Fleur or Viktor in the corridors or saw them at dinner, he felt the pull to reach out to both champions. He wanted to make sure that they knew as well, simply because he only thought it would be fair if they entered the second task on the same playing field.
But his fair and just were taking a back seat during moments where Harry was trying to help his brother figure out what the clue of the egg meant. They had determined that it would more than likely involve the merfolk of the Black Lake but the clue had hinted that something would be taken and they couldn't figure out what that would be. Milo knew that mermaids didn't really pride themselves on material possessions but he couldn't think of anything they would take from him.
Harry decided that he was going to go to the library during the evening, enter the Restricted Section to see what he could find. Even Hermione found herself surprised that Harry was volunteering to head to the library on his own, but really, the pleaser was that he was doing it for Milo. What a difference time had made when Harry didn't think of doing anything for his older brother, now he was willing to get into plenty of trouble for him.
"Harry, you don't have to-"
"I know," Harry cut Milo off before the boy could try and talk him out of his plan, " but I want to. So I'm going to do it. Can I borrow the map?"
"You don't have to ask, Harry," Milo reminded him. "It's just as much mine as it is yours, and well, it also belongs to Silas too if we're really being honest with ourselves."
"Have you ever noticed that he doesn't show up on the map?" Harry asked him. "I know this sounds mental, but I swear, I've never seen his name on the map when I have it. I see Neville and even if Silas is sitting right next to him, he doesn't show up."
"Maybe it's a glitch with a map," Milo said quickly after feeling his heart skip a drastic beat. "I don't know how long the map will remain accurate, you know? It was made a while back and as much as I would love to give credit to those who made it, I mean....look who made it."
Okay, it was a slight jab at their father, Sirius, Remus, and even Peter who had been brilliant enough to come up with the idea in the first place, but Milo needed to get Harry to back off the idea of the map and the Silas' "mystery."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Harry nodded, "it's lasted this long, hasn't it? I guess it would be prone to some glitches. Well, I'll have the cloak on me, so I'll be fine if I don't see who's coming up."
"Just be careful."
It was really the only solid advice that Milo could give to Harry in that moment because he knew just telling his brother not to do it would fall on deaf ears. Harry would still do it anyway and Milo couldn't really talk anymore, he was doing things that First Year Milo would have had suffered a heart attack over.
Harry returned to Milo the next day and while he didn't find any information that offered light on what would be taken, he had plenty of other information to share with Milo over what he had witnessed. The two had to steal time in between their classes to even speak with each other, Milo knew he was going to be late heading to Flitwick's but he was sure that the man would understand. However, Harry was taking a mighty big risk daring to possibly show up late to Professor Snape's.
"It was the strangest thing, the way he gripped his arm," Harry told Milo as they stood behind one of the large statues in one of the corridors tucked away. The boy was telling Milo all that he had witnessed as he came upon the interaction of Professor Snape, Professor Moody, and Filch the night before.
"But he nearly got me. Snape knew it was me, or at least one of us. He knew I was there. I was so stupid to hit the armour making all that noise and then the information I had written down on the egg fell. Filch suspected it was one of the champions and the map hit the floor too. It could have been really bad if Professor Moody didn't help me."
Milo scratched the side of his head. "Seems Professor Moody has taken a liking to you, hasn't he?"
"He likes you too!" Harry quickly reassured him but that wasn't reassuring to Milo. He honestly didn't want anything to do with the man, he had felt that way since the start of the term. "Anyways, I shouldn't have been there anyway, but I was following Crouch, it looked like he was trying to break into Snape's office strangely enough."
"What? Why would he do that?"
"I dunno," Harry shrugged. "That's what I saw on the map although I didn't see him. Perhaps the map is growing faulty. But anyways, I let him borrow the map-"
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Milo snapped as he stared at his little brother. "Why in the world would you do such a thing, Harry?"
"Because he asked me if he could borrow it, I didn't see the harm in it. He's an ex-Auror, Milo. What do you think he's going to do with it? Not to mention, he's on our side, you should have seen the way he handled Snape last night. He covered for me, I don't think that speaks of any harm. Not to mention, he said I would make a good Auror one day."
It took everything Milo's moral fibre not to smack his brother in the face in that moment as Harry had been buttered up and rolled right into Moody's hand without so much as a second thought.
Apparently, all it took was a bit of flatter and Harry was ready to just go along with anything. Milo wished he had known that earlier in their relationship, would have saved them plenty of time and trouble.
"It wasn't yours to loan out like that," Milo said, " I was loaning it to you!"
"But you told me that I didn't need to ask for it, that it was as much mine as it was yours. I was exercising my right as partial owner."
"You were exercising your right as an idiot is more like it," Milo rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks for running it by me before you just went and loaned it out. Now that leaves me stuck, next time, why don't you offer your invisibility cloak?"
Stubbornly, Harry turned to face away from him, placing his arms on his chest and avoiding all eye contact with him. "Maybe I will."
Milo huffed, feeling the pressure of the tournament weighing heavy on his shoulders now as he walked towards Flitwick's classroom. Unfortunately, he didn't have the map on him to sneak out to the forest later on if he wanted to clear his head. He wasn't so much as angry with Harry as he was with the situation but he was annoyed that Harry had given the map over to the ex-Auror without even running it by him first. After all, the Weasley twins had given it to him first. He was the one that offered it to Harry to help keep him safe, not so he could just throw it around.
Things were not looking good for Milo in that moment as he really did feel as vulnerable as a kitten. It was all he could think of instead of the lesson on the Substantive Charm that Professor Flitwick was reviewing in class that day. He wished there was a charm that could make all of his troubles just go away, but that was just too advance and possibly too dark of a magic for him to learn.
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The Second Task was coming upon Milo and he was internally freaking out, even though he was trying to keep his external composure calm. He had apologised to Harry about the little spat between them, which Harry quickly apologised for as well promising to get the map back as soon as possible. With that behind them, they were facing an even bigger problem, Milo had to figure out a way to stay underwater for an hour and there was nothing.
Hermione couldn't find anything in the library and every option they tried to figure out, there was a major flaw. Milo thought about his animagus form and how convenient it would have been if he had been a water creature of some sort but then it would be highly convenient for every other calling.
All he did was work himself into such a frantic state that rather than focusing on what he needed to do, Milo fell asleep inside his trunk during the night before. Only did he wake up to the frantic chirping of Paden trying to get him up the next morning, along with a swift bite to the ear brought on by Linet.
"Ow!" He howled as he clutched his ear and looked up."What are you two...what time is it?!" He looked frantically around until he spotted the small clock he had taken down only to see that he didn't have any sort of time to spare.
Jumping up, the boy quickly hurried out of his trunk, falling to the floor as he rolled out and had to find something that he could wear in the lake. He was surprised that Cedric hadn't come to wake him up or at least find him as he was missing from breakfast. They were all probably gathered at the lake already and he was going to be close to being disqualified if he didn't hurry up.
Running out of the Hufflepuff Common Room, Milo was suddenly brought to a halt as he was tripped, bringing him to the floor. "What the-...Bitsy?"
Bitsy, the small house-elf, looked awfully apologetic for tripping him but she had no other choice if she wanted to stop him. "What is going-"
"Mr Potter, Bitsy has something for you," she began, " it was a gift from Dobby, Mr Potter. He said since you are brothers with his favourite person that he had a gift for you. Dobby told Bitsy to give this to Mr Potter before the tournament. Dobby and Bitsy wish Mr Potter good luck and Bitsy has made lemon tarts for when Mr Potter comes back to celebrate!"
She placed a small vial in Milo's hand and he recognised the gillyweed plant right away, leaving him to look up in confusion. "Bitsy, do you know where Dobby got this from?"
"Dobby did not say, Mr Potter. It was a gift!"
He gave her a little smile, thanking Bitsy before pushing himself up to keep moving. He glanced down at the vial in hand as he raced along with a frown on his face. "Why do I have a feeling this is going to come back to bite me in the arse?"
He wasn't as late as he thought he was as he arrived at the scene just as Fleur and Angelina were taking their spots. He was so out of breath that he was practically panting like a dying dog as he tried to catch it. Angelina and Fleur both put their hands on his back, scared that Milo was going to pass out right then and there if he couldn't manage his breathing soon. However, his focus was set on finding Cedric or Harry just to catch a glimpse of them, but both of them, he couldn't seem to find.
"Have you seen Harry this morning?" Milo asked Angelina but the girl shook her head.
"I don't know what's going on," Angelina said, "Katie and I couldn't find Alicia this morning either. She didn't show up at all to breakfast."
"I could not my sister!" Fleur added to the conversation, leaving the two Hogwarts students to turn to her before they all looked at the water. It was all clicking in at those moments. "Oh Gabrielle!"
"No," Angelina shook her head, " it can't be, they wouldn't...they wouldn't do something like that, would they?"
Milo didn't know what to say, curiously, he looked over in Viktor's direction, the champion was silent staring at the water, while the rest of them were panicked. Everyone probably had a clue as to who they needed to retrieve from the depths of the lake, except him because he didn't know if it was Cedric or Harry. Knowing his poor luck, it was probably going to be both of them. Not to mention, to make matters worse, the lake water looked absolutely freezing. It was going to be a long day with the second task.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle," Bagman began after making his voice louder with the use of his wand and the Sonorus charm. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One ... two ... three!"
Milo couldn't afford to waste time as he emptied the gillyweed into his mouth with a horrified squeal as he swallowed it and just before he was about to dive in, he was stopped by Indra.
"Milo, your glasses! Don't forget your glasses!" She warned him from where she stood at Fred's side.
"Right! Right!" He nodded his head as he brought his wand out and pulled off his glasses. Instantly, he could feel the effects of the gillyweed tacking in as he was the only champion still left on the docks. The odd sensation of the gills developing beneath his ears was enough to make even the least squeamish person cringe. He was holding his breath to ensure that he didn't make the fatal mistake of trying to breathe on land.
"Impervius!" He muttered quickly, waterproofing his glasses and hoping that they would be able to handle the journey. However, it was quite the mistake as his newly webbed hands dropped his glasses and they ended up going right into the water.
"Of course."
Jumping in, Milo let out a cry underwater with how cold the water was. But as his glasses were slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake, Milo realised just how well he could see underwater all of sudden. Although no longer having to blink felt a little too weird for his liking. He snatched his glasses up in one hand and held his wand in the other before he started swimming along.
Luckily, his body acclimated to the temperature of the water quickly thanks to the Gillyweed and Milo began his search for his brother or Cedric. If he was correct about the merfolk, he was going to have to find the colony. He knew to avoid the weed bottoms of the lake, knowing that the Grindylows loved to rest in that area and the last thing he wanted to do was disturb them. Merfolk kept them as pets but Milo knew his strengths were not going to be in training a Grindylow in a matter of seconds if one chose to attack.
But to his good fortune, Milo couldn't fluently speak mermish due to his lack of whistling, but he could read it. Large rocks underwater contained carvings and sort of paintings in the rock that directed those in the direction of the mer-village.
"Wwiigoo paash," Milo read on one of the rocks, 'rock-shelf place.'
He continued to swim along following the signs although hoping that he would come upon something soon as he felt like he was running out of time.
"Bett wuutaah Aah-teeree," if memory served him correctly, Milo was going to have to pass through the 'Freshwater Forest' in order to get to the mercolony. The long "trees" of freshwater weeds tickled the arms and legs of Milo as he swam through them.
That's when he finally heard it, the distant singing of the mer-folk as he reached the Alassi otherwise known as "home" to the mer-folk. He could see them as he reached the clearing, a choir of them singing the same song from the egg. Milo was practically squealing as he arrived in what appeared to be the village square of the mer-folk, it was such an honour of an opportunity that he couldn't find himself breathing despite the gills.
It took him practically five minutes to realise that there were four people tied to stone mermaid carvings, holding them in place. Of course, when he did spot them, Milo gasped under water.
There was Alicia Spinnet for Angelina, her eyes closed as she floated calmly. Then there was Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's little sister who looked no older than eight years of age. She had the same silvery hair of her sister, making Milo think of about the part-veela traits until he shook his head to clear the thoughts. He needed to focus.
Then much to his surprise, there was Hermione and at first, he thought that was who was taken from him, until he saw the person that was right beside the girl.
"MUM!"