Harry was nervous, as he looked around to check where Ron went. Neville walked alongside with Harry, who was trembling with fear. Someone told him that the black lake was full with merpeople, which they're nasty when they try to bite you.
They went to the platform where all the champions stood there, waiting for the signal to dive in. Moody was also there, patting at his shoulder to give him comfort. Harry waited, as he began regretting all of this. He didn't even wanted to join this tournament in the first place.
Why is there a tournament, by the way? He mentally asked himself. Did they want to see children die just for the sake of entertainment?
"Have you seen Hermione?" asked Harry. Earlier today, Moody had asked Ron to go with him, leaving Hermione with Harry at the common room. Now, Hermione wasn't here today and that made him wonder.
Neville shook his head no and shrugged, not having a clue where Hermione went.
As soon as Dumbledore announced they're ready to go. Harry ate the gillyweed given by Neville. He wasn't expecting that the taste would be like this; it was awful. He wanted to spit out all of the gillyweed, but sadly, despite of the taste he needs to eat it so that he can breathe underwater. He lounged himself into the water.
Meanwhile, above the lake, there stood Draco with his cronies at the bleachers, cheering Viktor Krum, of course. He used the binoculars of the kid. He looked through it, checking to see where y/n stood at the platform.
He saw Neville and a couple of gryffindor, but no sign of y/n was spotted. He began thinking that y/n was just lazy to check out the game, but he knew y/n wasn't going to miss this- or worse he thought to himself that y/n was below them.
His heart quickened, imagining no one would pull her up. Theo saw the worried expression of Draco.
"Why are you so worried, mate?" asked Nott, patting his shoulder.
Draco let out a sharp breath and told him it was nothing. Nott nodded and paid attention back to the game, where they all just stared above the lake, waiting for the champions to pull up.
On the other side of the bleacher, Neville waited impatiently. His anxiety was slowly creeping up. He wanted this task to be over.
"Stop fidgeting around, Neville," Dean told him. He can't stand it anymore to look at Neville, pacing back and forth, as he mumbled to himself.
"It's just scary, you know?" he replied. Dean nodded in agreement. It was indeed scary to see one of your fellow housemate is under there, waiting for someone to pull them up.
Below them, Harry was struggling swimming his way through the seaweeds. It was very difficult indeed. Every seaweeds were wrapped around his legs, not wanting to let him go. He wriggled himself free. Harry swam and swam until he saw his three best friend tied; Ron, Hermione, and y/n.
He wanted to help the three of them, but when he was about to free Hermione. The merpeople told him that only one he could save. He mumbled a curse word, as he tried to free Ron from the ropes. Later on, a shark made his way to Harry, causing him to back away. Harry realised that it was only Viktor Krum, who happened to have a shark head. He successfully saved Hermione and swam away from the awful merpeople.
It was only, Ron, y/n, and Cho were left. Harry was still struggling and he was frustrated by it. All of a sudden, a sound of swooshing came in. Cedric untangled Cho by using his wand. He gestured Harry to use his wand and pointed at his watch, showing him that he's running out of time. Harry nodded and drew out his wand.
He realised that Fleur wasn't here to get y/n, and that made him worry even more. Harry remembered that Fleur and y/n were like friends- but not that close. Seeing, y/n away from him, made his heart clench with pain. He knew that only one he could save, but y/n was important to him. Despite everything that happened between them. He needs to save her, both Ron and y/n.
He casted a spell, which made Ron free from the tight ropes. As he was about to free y/n. The merpeople started to crowd over Harry, which making his mission even more hard and impossible to get out from here. Harry gave his best to fight off the merpeople.
Whilst he was fighting under the lake. All of the people started to buzz around, as they watch the clock slowly ticking off. Fleur was up at the platform, sobbing that she didn't save y/n. Hermione went beside her and asked what happened.
"What happened back there?" asked Hermione, placing her hand on her shoulder. Fleur began explaining, but Hermione didn't understand to what she was saying because she's speaking in French. The only word she understand was, "I'm sorry."
Hermione nodded and told her y/n's going to be alright. Cedric was also frantic, pacing back and forth, wanting to dive back in to save y/n. He couldn't believe that y/n was involved by this, and he knew that later or sooner, the parents of y/n will owl her by the time she gets back to the platform.
Draco harshly grabbed the binoculars of the kid once again, "Give me that!" the little boy demanded, kicking him at the his legs. Draco just ignored the little kid and went back to look for y/n.
Where the hell is she?
He saw Fleur, but y/n was never there. Cho and Granger were already at the platform. This led Draco to think that y/n was still down there with Harry and Ron. He never thought that in his life he would tell himself this:
Make sure that Potter save y/n or else, I would definitely push him to the merpeople.
Draco hate himself for thinking this and it was more like praying that Potter would be saf- no. He was disgusted- awfully disgusted. Draco sighed and corrected his brain for that.
It was more like praying that Potter would get back here as soon as possible so that I can see y/n.
That's more like it, he smiled to himself. He placed the binoculars on his eyes, looking for a sign that they will come back. Under the lake, Harry knew that the gillyweed was slowly washing off. He couldn't breathe clearly anymore. Harry was almost at the top, but then he was attacked. And so, he gave all his might to push Ron and y/n at the surface whilst he was slowly sinking.
Ron and y/n gasped for air. Y/n wasn't fond of the water and Ron knew that because he remembered y/n telling the trio that she don't know how to swim well. Ron grabbed her and guided her to the surface.
As soon they were pulled up, Hermione quickly rushed to her two best friend and gave them a warm towel. She hugged them both, as if she's not going to see the two again.
"I'm glad that you're okay!" exclaimed Hermione, "But where's Harry?"
Ron shrugged his shoulder and rubbed his arm up and down, trying to warm himself up. Hermione's face began to pale and started thinking the worst scenario of all time. She rushed herself to the front waiting for Harry to show up. Ron and y/n was left alone, surround by their fellow housemate, warming them up.
"Thank you," y/n blurted out to Ron, who was startled at first, but then gave fixed his expression. He gave a small smile to her and nodded.
"You weren't a swimmer after all. That's why I needed to guide you," chuckled Ron. When y/n heard that she found it very odd but comforting at some point.
"Are you still cold?" He asked y/n, who was still shivering. Y/n nodded whilst rubbing her palm together. Ron pressed his lip and then gave his towel to y/n, wrapping it around her shoulder.
"I thought you don't consider me as your best friend anymore," said y/n, bunching her brows in confusion. She really thought that after the yule ball, Ron would ignore her for the rest of the school year.
Ron sighed and gave her a look that give an impression of 'are you serious'. He knew that he was being harsh on her, but then, he realised all the good things that y/n had made. Ron considered y/n as her best friend slash sister and seeing y/n go out with that notorious slytherin bloke made him angry.
He knew right from the start that Malfoy have the intention of getting y/n. After all, according to Malfoy that they can get everything they wanted.
He knew that Malfoy was bad for y/n and that is the reason why he got mad at her. Yes, he knew that y/n could handle herself but he have this weird feeling towards that git. And it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.
"Even though, we fought... I still do consider you as my best friend, you know?" Ron chuckled once again at the last of his sentence.
"So... You forgive me then?" she asked, slightly teasing.
Ron laughed and playfully rolled his eyes, "Of course, you silly." y/n sighed in relief, placing her hand on her chest.
Later on, Harry went back to the platform, loads of people cheered and swarmed around him. Hermione rushed to Harry, as she gave him a towel. The two of them began talking whilst Ron stayed with y/n so that she won't feel like she was left out or something. Y/n stared at Harry, who was also staring back at her. She wanted to thanked him for saving her, but she was terribly scared.
Both of them stared for like five minutes and then looked away when they began to feel the awkward tension building between them. Y/n excused herself to Ron, telling him that she'd go beside Cedric. Ron nodded and told her to meet them at common room later.
She left the trio once again because she was getting awkward around with Harry. Y/n found herself standing beside Cedric, who was smiling and kept on telling her that he had the intention to dive back in the lake just to save her. When she heard that from him, it made her heart melt. She really do have a nice taste on picking friends.
"How did you managed to breathe underwater?" asked y/n.
"Erm, you know.. Bubble head charm," Cedric simply answered, slightly showing off.
Y/n was about to say something, but then she was cut off by loud booming voice of Dumbledore, which made her ear hurt. All of the people went silent when Dumbledore announced the first runner up. Some of the durmstrang student kept on chanting Krum, but mostly in here really knows that Cedric won this second task. After a few moments of silence and anticipation growing inside them, Dumbledore finally announced that Cedric Diggory won first place of the second task.
All of the hufflepuff students around him cheered and ruffled his hair whilst y/n kept on jumping up and down, as she continuously smacking his shoulder, in which Cedric yelped in pain. She was happy that her best friend won the first place and she knew that Cedric deserved it.
Dumbledore cleared his mouth and hushed the student to inform them about who will be the second runner up. Once the students were silent, the headmaster told them that it was Harry who came in second for saving y/n even though it wasn't supposed to be him for saving her. The crowd cheered whilst the students from Durmstrang groaned, hating the fact that Harry came in second whilst their very own champion came in third.
Y/n smiled, as she looked at Harry, who seems to check out his surroundings to find someone. He turn his head to the left and saw the person that he wanted to see and hugged with, and it was y/n. He can't put into words that no matter how hard he tried to forget about her, she will always be there in his mind, popping out of nowhere. Harry smiled and nodded at her, a silent gesture that he was grateful that she was finally safe.
And of course, far away from them, stood Draco with his whole gang behind him. He was furious about the idea of Potter winning second place instead of his idol, Viktor Krum. Although, pushing the hatred, he was also happy that y/n was already now on the platform with her childhood best friend, Cedric. Earlier when she's nowhere to be seen, he was frantic and was nervous all the time, but then it washed off when he saw the familiar hair colour of y/n.
The little kid who owned the binoculars, cheered for Harry. Draco scoffed at him and smack the head of the boy, which he doesn't care that much because he was way too busy cheering Harry that he won. Back again on the platform, Cedric left y/n for awhile to talk with Cho.
She was left alone— well, not technically alone, but the twins were there. The three of them talked about what happened earlier and how they felt watching the second task. According to them, it was the scariest task to watch. Earlier, they were scared when they noticed that y/n wasn't pulled up yet, and good thing that Harry was there to save the day.
"You know what? We haven't asked you about the crush of Hermione," said George, putting his finger on his chin.
"You won't get any answer from me boys," smirked y/n. Y/n realised that she kept on smirking a lot, and she blamed it on Draco for influencing her that much.
"You won't even tell us, if we're going to give some goods?" asked Fred, putting up a mischievous smirk curl on his lip. Y/n knew where this is going to end up and she needs to back away from them before she get tempted about their proposal.
"Still a no. Sorry," y/n shrugged and laughed in front of them.
"Well, your loss." Fred and George said in unison. With that, the twins left y/n alone. She bunched her brows, not getting a clue about what they said.
-
They all went back to the common room, having small celebration for Harry being the second placer of the second task. Lots of students came up to Harry, giving him words of congratulations and good luck for the the third task. Y/n went back inside also, but later she will meet up with Cedric at Hogsmeade. She went to the sofa, waiting for Hermione. As she was waiting for her to sit beside her, y/n decided to read for awhile.
Meanwhile, Harry was not yet done saying thank you to everyone who congratulated him. Fred and George came up, standing beside him. Harry shot them a weird look and walked away so that he can find Ron, but he was pulled back when Fred pulled him by the sleeves.
"What is it?" asked Harry, slightly annoyed because he was really tired and wanted to rest for the whole day.
Before they could answer, the twins looked both left and right.
"On 25th of December, we heard the four of you greeting to each other," answered Fred.
"Greeting? 25th of December? What the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked once again because he did not understand about what on earth the twins just told him.
"The greetings like 'Happy Christmas Markab, blah blah, and lastly, we heard the name Scheat," it was George's time to explain it to him.
"Yeah... What about it?"
"Who," Fred started.
"Is," his twin added.
"Scheat?" both of them asked.
I thought they were going to ask me some difficult questions. Harry thought to himself.
"It's Ron, why?" Harry asked, furrowing his brows. The twins formed an 'o' and slowly nodded. Soon, they left Harry with unanswered question, and that made him even more curious.
On the corner of his eyes, he saw y/n reading a book. He examined her from afar and all of a sudden, Harry found himself walking his way to y/n. He sat beside her— not close to her. Y/n felt a presence beside her and she was too busy to look it up to see who it was and so, she spoke.
"Hermione, I'm going out later to see Cedri-" she cut off her own sentence when she realized it wasn't Hermione who sat beside her, "-Oh Harry."
Harry pressed his lip together and shakes his head no. He don't why he was sitting beside her, and it seems like his feet has a mind of its own. Y/n could already feel the weird tension building amongst them and so she closed her book and stood up.
"Stay," was all Harry said, causing y/n to stop in her tracks and made her way back to the sofa.
Y/n went back beside him, placing her book back on the table. Harry and y/n opened their mouth at the same time. Y/n insisted Harry to talk first, but then Harry quoted ladies first. He did that because he was afraid and nervous around her.
She finally gave in and sighed, "Thank you and sorry for everything, Harry."
Harry was known for having a good sensitive heart when it comes to his friends. He knew that he shouldn't forgive her quickly, but a voice told him to forgive and forget. After, thinking some scenarios and battling with his own thoughts, he finally came down to his conclusions.
"I'm sorry for ignoring and being a bit a harsh on you, but the thing with that Malfoy, is not the same," explained Harry.
When y/n heard that, she smiled. Smiled that Harry finally forgive her but not the part with the Malfoy thing. Both of them admitted that they were wrong and was stupid during that time instead of discussing to each other properly. Soon, y/n hugged Harry, who also wrapped his arm around her. After weeks of ignoring each other, the two of them finally settled it down being best friends with each other again.
Their hugging session was cut off when Ron and Hermione came in to be a part of the group hug. The four was now back and complete this time, which made the day of Harry ten times better than rewarding him to second place.
After the very long hugging session, the four of them pulled away.
"Good thing we're finally back together," Ron breathed out, feeling a wave of relief rushed over him.
"And we will going to stick with each other until our last breath," chuckled Harry.
"Until the very end," said y/n, looking at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Okay, stop being cheesy! Now let's talk about the third task!" Hermione blurted out, refraining herself from crying. Out of the four of them, Hermione was the very sensitive one in their group. If told you her about sweet and poetic words, she will eventually cry her out.
Y/n gasped in realisation that she need to go out with Cedric today to celebrate his small victory. She stood up and fixed her clothes, grabbing the coat placed on the arm of the sofa.
"I have to go, by the way. Harry you tell 'em!" she shouted, rushing outside to meet up outside with her hufflepuff friend, Cedric.
***
hey loves!
Yippie! A new chapter! I hoped that you like this one <3 Tomorrow, I will be uploading a very sad chapter. Anyway, I love you all! And to those who lives in Australia, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Take care of yourself and have a magical day ahead xx