* * *
HARRY INFORMED RON, ELARA, AND HERMIONE THAT HE'D FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT. hermione was upset, at first, that harry had lied, but she overcame when harry told them about the conversation between snape and moody. they continued theorizing about who could've put harry's name in the goblet, but as usual, they came up with nothing.
ron quite liked the idea of using the summoning charm again — harry had explained about some muggle device called aqua-lungs, and ron couldn't see why harry shouldn't summon one from the nearest muggle town. hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that harry managed to learn how to operate an aqua-lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the international code of wizarding secrecy — it was too much to hope that no muggles would spot an aqua-lung zooming across the countryside to hogwarts.
"of course, the ideal solution would be for you to transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," hermione said. "if only we'd done human transfiguration already! but i don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing. . . ."
"yeah, i don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," said harry. "i s'pose i could always attack someone in front of moody; he might do it for me. . . ."
"what's a submarine?" said ron.
"yeah, it sounds like its supposed to be an underwater boat, but that's crazy," said elara.
hermione and harry shared a look before hermione continued.
"i don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," said hermione seriously. "no, i think your best chance is some sort of charm."
so elara, thinking that she would soon have had enough of the library to last her a lifetime, buried herself once more among the dusty volumes, looking for any spell that might enable harry to survive without oxygen. however, though she, harry, ron, and hermione searched through their lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends — though harry asked professor mcgonagall for a note of permission to use the restricted section, and even asked the irritable, vulture-like librarian, madam pince, for help — they found nothing whatsoever that would enable harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale.
familiar flutterings of panic were starting to disturb elara now, just like she'd felt before harry faced the dragon in the first task. but at least last time, he knew what he was going to do. now, however, with the second task now two days away, he had nothing.
whether hagrid was trying to make up for the blast-ended skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that professor grubbly-plank could, elara didn't know, but hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. it turned out that hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. parvati and lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even pansy parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.
"easier ter spot than the adults," hagrid told the class. "they turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. they're a bit more trustin' when they're babies . . . don' mind boys so much. . . . c'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want . . . give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps. . . .
this time, everyone swarmed the foals. unsurprisingly, they seemed to like elara best, as they began jumping up onto her.
by the evening before the second task, harry was becoming really jumpy and nervous. he had barely ate at dinner. elara smuggled food up from the kitchens and almost forced harry to eat it.
she sat with harry, hermione, and ron in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them.
"i don't reckon it can be done," said ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "there's nothing. nothing. closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that drought charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."
"there has to be something," elara muttered, moving a candle closer to her. her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of olde and forgotten bewitchments and charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. "if only astronomy helped with this. then, we'd've had a solution ages ago."
"harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. best you can do, mate," said ron humorously.
elara let out a tired sort of snort. she was pouring over books for so long that she, surprisingly, longed for sleep.
"there's a way of doing it!" hermione said crossly. "there just has to be!"
she seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before.
"i know what i should have done," said harry, resting, facedown, on saucy tricks for tricky sorts. "i should've learned to be an animagus like sirius."
"yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said ron.
"or a frog," yawned harry.
"oh come on, you two," said elara. "dolpins are way cooler."
"it takes years to become an animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of weird wizarding dilemmas and their solutions. "professor mcgonagall told us, remember . . . you've got to register yourself with the improper use of magic office . . . what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it. . . ."
"hermione, i was joking," said harry wearily. "i know i haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning. . . ."
"oh this is no use," hermione said, snapping shut weird wizarding dilemmas. "who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"i wouldn't mind," said fred weasley's voice. "be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
harry, ron, elara, and hermione looked up. fred and george had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"where's rori? what're you two doing here?" ron asked.
"she's asleep," said george. "and mcgonagall wants lara and hermione."
"why?" said hermione, looking surprised.
"oh, don't be thick, hermione," elara groaned. "this is about what i said to rita skeeter."
"what'd you say to skeeter?" asked fred curiously.
"long story."
"well, we're supposed to take you down to her office, so we've got time," said george.
elara didn't answer. instead, she was staring at harry. she felt awful for leaving him, but it was time to face the music. she squeezed his shoulder lightly.
"we'll meet both of you back in the common room," hermione told harry as she got up to go with elara — both of them very anxious. "bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"
"right," said harry uneasily.
elara and hermione went off with fred and george. it was lucky they were so curious about elara's row with rita skeeter, as the talking was able to distract elara from the massive amounts of trouble she was about to be in.
hermione kept muttering vehemently to herself as they made their way to mcgonagall's office. so much so, that elara gave hermione's hand a tight squeeze, which seemed to calm her down some.
fred and george kept asking about harry. elara hadn't a clue as to why, but she answered truthfully to all except "do you fancy him?" because telling fred and george a secret meant that sooner or later, everyone would know. they talked quite a lot, so there was no telling what was going to be said next.
aurora and george tried to keep it under wraps that they had started dated a week before term ended, but soon enough, the train going back to platform 9 3/4 was buzzing with the news.
they arrived at mcgonagall's office. fred and george, who now knew what elara had yelled at rita skeeter, shot her looks of sympathy as she and hermione stepped inside. however, to elara's pleasant surprise, cho chang and a girl that looked mightily look a younger version of fleur delacour were sitting in chairs at mcgonagall's desk.
"miss lestrange, miss granger, have a seat."
elara couldn't resist asking. "is this because of what i said to rita skeeter? because she really had it coming -- "
mcgonagall held up a weary hand. "i will neither agree nor disagree with that statement. miss lestrange, please take a seat."
mightily confused, elara took the spare chair next to cho chang. they looked at each other, which confirmed to elara that no one here had the slightest idea of what was going on. the younger version of fleur looked scared out of her wits. elara could see why. mcgonagall was quite intimidating.
"as you may already know, the second task is for champions to retrieve what they would miss most from the bottom of the black lake. each champion has been assigned a person, and that is you four."
there was a pause to let the four girls soak in the information.
"how -- ?"
mcgonagall held up a hand, and elara stopped her sentence short.
"the tea cups in front of you are filled with a potion that will knock you unconscious, but it will permit you to survive under the water for as long as needed. with that being said, miss gabrielle delacour, your sister, fleur delacour, will be retrieving you. miss chang for mr. diggory. miss granger for mr. krum. and miss lestrange for mr. potter."
"professor," started elara again. "wouldn't it make more sense for harry to have to get ron? i mean, ron's his best friend."
"professors see things that students do not."
elara blinked.
"of course, you may refuse to do this. if you do so, we will just find someone else."
there was silence again, as each girl considered. elara was the first to decide.
"alright then, sounds wicked," she said, smiling.
"wicked indeed, miss lestrange," said professor mcgonagall. she sounded tired.
one by one, they had all agreed. gabrielle delacour was last, but when cho gave her an encouraging smile, she caved.
"but, professor," asked gabrielle, in a thick french accent. "what will 'appen if we are not gotten in time?"
"no need to worry, miss delacour. we will make sure to get you out safely. the enchantment should break as soon as you emerge from the lake. you can do it all together, if you'd like."
gabrielle nodded eagerly. not wanting to further scare the poor girl, they decided they'd drink it together.
"bottoms up!" said elara cheerfully. mcgonagall sighed.
the potion tasted nasty. the was very tart, and there was a faint taste of dirt. hermione made a sound of disgust, and then she slumped over in her chair. gabrielle and cho followed soon not after. as soon as elara started wondering if the potion had even worked on her, darkness clouded her vision, and she fell into a deep, dreamless, sleep.
the first thing elara felt was cold, clean air filling her lungs. her eyes shot open, but she saw nothing but darkness. groaning, she flipped her hair back. it was immensely bright. she raised a hand over her eyes to let her vision adjust.
finally, elara was able to take a look around. harry was staring at her, looking concerned and relieved at the same time.
"oh, you've done it!"
with great effort, elara was able to throw her arms around harry. it was difficult to stay aloft. she withdrew quickly when she saw gabrielle delacour looking like she was about to throw up.
"did you bring her up, too?"
"fleur didn't turn up, i couldn't leave her," harry panted.
"always the hero," said elara, smiling wider, "you took that song seriously, didn't you? they weren't going to let us drown."
"the song said —"
"it was a scare tactic, harry."
he huffed, annoyed that elara didn't appreciate he'd done a good thing.
"oh merlin, harry. do you want a kiss or something?" elara said cheekily.
"what — i, uh, a what — "
elara had moved in front of him and planted a kiss on his cheek. she didn't want the great crowd to see. rumors were already flying around about elara 'sucker punching rita skeeter'. there was no need to add fuel to the fire.
"let's get gabrielle to shore, shall we?"
harry was still stunned into silence as he helped elara bring gabrielle to shore. they pulled gabrielle through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs.
elara could see madam pomfrey fussing over hermione, krum, cedric, and cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. dumbledore and ludo bagman stood beaming at harry and elara from the bank as they swam nearer.
"ron!" elara called out to the redhead sitting near hermione with a sour look on his face. "help gabrielle!"
ron came splashing out to meet them. he helped gabrielle up as elara wrung out her waterlogged clothes and waded through the water. meanwhile madame maxime was trying to restrain fleur delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.
"gabrielle! gabrielle! is she alive? is she 'urt?"
"she's okay!" elara shouted to her.
dumbledore and bagman were pulling harry and elara upright; fleur had broken free of madame maxime and was hugging her sister.
"it was ze grindylows . . . zey attacked me . . . oh gabrielle, i thought . . . i thought . . ."
"come here, you two," said madam pomfrey. she seized harry and elara and pulled them over to hermione and the others, wrapped them so tightly in blankets that they felt as though they were in straitjackets, and forced a measure of very hot potion down their throats. steam gushed out of elara's ears.
"harry, well done!" hermione cried. "you did it, you found out how all by yourself!"
"well —" he paused. "yeah, that's right," said harry, raising his voice slightly.
elara raised an eyebrow.
"you haff a water beetle in your hair, herm-own-ninny," said krum. elara had the impression that krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "you're well outside the time limit, though, harry. . . . did it take you ages to find us?"
"no . . . i found you okay. . . ."
elara smiled at harry and bumped his shoulder. dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. he was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, dumbledore could speak mermish. finally he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "a conference before we give the marks, i think."
the judges went into a huddle. madam pomfrey had gone to rescue ron from percy's clutches; she led him over to harry and the others, gave him a blanket and some pepperup potion (although he had only waded into the lake), then went to fetch fleur and her sister. fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow madam pomfrey to clean them.
"look after gabrielle," she told her, and then she turned to harry. "you saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "even though she was not your 'ostage."
"yeah," said harry.
"and you too, 'lara! you brough 'er to shore!"
sensing what fleur was about to do, elara quickly said, "well, that was all ron, he deserves the thanks."
fleur bent down, kissed harry twice on each cheek, and swooped down on ron too and kissed him. she simply gave elara a hug, which the girl was happy to return. ludo bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.
"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."
applause from the stands.
"i deserved zero," said fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head.
"cedric diggory, who also used the bubble-head charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." enormous cheers from the hufflepuffs in the crowd. "we therefore award him forty-seven points."
"viktor krum used an incomplete form of transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. we award him forty points."
karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.
"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."
ron, elara, and hermione both gave harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks.
"always the hero," said elara, shaking her head. however, she was smiling widely.
"most of the judges," and here, bagman gave karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. however . . . mr. potter's score is forty-five points."
elara's stomach leapt — harry was now tying for first place with cedric. ron and hermione, caught by surprise, stared at harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. elara attacked him in a hug.
"there you go, harry!" ron shouted over the noise. "you weren't being thick after all — you were showing moral fiber!"
fleur was clapping very hard too, but krum didn't look happy at all. he attempted to engage hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering harry to listen.
"the third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of june," continued bagman. "the champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. thank you all for your support of the champions."
"four days before my birthday. harry, if you win, you don't have to buy me a present," grinned elara.
madam pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes.
* * *
AUTHORS NOTE
-- awwwwwwwwe
JANUARY 21, 2020