When Harry was a boy, he always wanted to visit the lake during the summers like the rest of the kids got to do, but the Dursley's never allowed that so he often was stuck in his overheated cupboard all alone. Today, however, he was almost wishing that he was back there and not about to jump in the Black Lake where he knows nothing but danger awaits him and has to find a person he loves in an hour. Thanks to Salazar, he had decided to use Gillyweed as it is the best way to breathe underwater during something like this and managed to get his hands on some with Neville's help. Now he just had to survive this task while contending with a wounded heart.
Over the last few weeks, when Harry wasn't in class, he was in the Chamber sulking as Fleur didn't want to talk to him and Penny & Tonks were still distant while working out their feelings. He was possibly in love with all three of these girls and not one of them wanted to see him right now so as one can imagine, Harry wasn't in the right state of mind while heading into this very deadly tournament. It took all four of the founders to snap him out his daze and get serious, it helped that he got to talk with Helga still concerning his feelings/sadness.
Harry was walking down to the lake where he would meet up with the other champions as they had to wait until everyone got to the platforms first before making their grand entrance. He was, however, stopped by a trio of Slytherin girls he knew, two of whom quite well.
"Hey there Harry, why the long face? I hope you're not too nervous about the task today, because I placed a couple galleons on you.", said a teasing Tracey who was with Daphne and Pansy.
Harry playfully rolled his eyes, "No, It's something else. It's very personal."
The girls widened their eyes slightly and Daphne said, "Well, you don't have to tell us Harry if you don't want to. However, you gave me hope that my sister wouldn't be forced into something horrible a while back and no one's done something like that for me before and I like to think we have become friends since then. So, we're here if you need us."
Harry smirked at her, "And here I thought you were just an Ice Queen."
Daphne snorted, "I'm like that to everyone else because they only care about my name or my body, except for you. You help me learn practical spells, listen when I talk, and can trade jabs back and forth without having your ego offended. You…You're my friend."
Harry smiled, "Thank you, Daphne."
Daphne nodded and Pansy spoke, "Try not to bottle up your problems too much Harry, otherwise they might consume you. Talk to the people you love most about it and if they're the problem, tell them everything and see what can be done from there."
Harry just smiled wider and nodded thanks. The girls departed wishing him luck and Tracey giving him a bear hug while whispering to be safe, allowing Harry to make his way down to the champions tent where he saw Cedric, Krum, and an angry Fleur. I really hope that look of death isn't for me, he thought. He didn't want to invade her space when she asked for time, but he was deeply concerned and so he decided to walk over.
"Fleur are you alright?", he hesitantly asked.
Fleur turned towards him and her gaze softened slightly as she said, "They took my leetle sister."
Harry's eyes widened as he knew what she meant, Gabrielle was Fleur's hostage to be rescued in this task, something that angered Harry because she was just a child although an argument could be made that likely applies to the other three hostages if Harry's guesses about who was down there to be correct. Harry just decided to place his hand on Fleur's and give her a reassuring smile to calm her nerves.
"I promise, no matter what, you will see your sister after this. I'll make sure of it.", he said.
Fleur just gratefully nodded and took his hand tightly. Eventually, the four were called to take the trip to the platforms on the lake and they made their way over. Harry kind of marveled at how those three wooden platforms were holding so many people, but he just figured it as much sense as everything else regarding magic. They made their way towards the center as Dumbledore was giving his grand speech and Harry noticed his friends looking at him with their smiles wide and cheers loud. Harry put the Gillyweed in his mouth after the headmaster was done speaking and he immediately regrated it because it tasted vile and was already messing with his body. Then, the cannon went off and the four champions dived into the water to begin the Second Task.
Harry entered the water and instantly started freaking out as he felt immense pain through his body as he suddenly developed gills on his neck and webbed feet/hands. The pain stopped and Harry felt rather comfortable in the water now, likely because he was part fish and soon he quickly began swimming towards the underwater village where the hostages await. He noticed it was surrounded by large seaweed patches and for a split second, could have sworn he saw something pass him, but he ignored it and pressed forward.
The village was rather run down being they don't have a lot to work with down here, but the architecture was still beautiful in its own way. Harry's eyes wandered until he saw that, in the center of the village, were four people whose legs were tied to a statue with rope: a young girl, who he assumed was Gabrielle, Cho and Hermione, whom Harry correctly assumed would be chosen for Cedric and Krum, and finally, he saw Penny on the end. While enraged they would do this to her, he knew it was going to be her or Tonks and he guessed that it would likely be Penny because she was still a student who had no family connections to the magical world as opposed to Tonks who is an adult and an Auror.
Harry swam with haste towards her and then noticed Cedric coming into view on his right, using what appeared to be the Bubble head charm to breathe and he headed straight for Cho. He had managed to get there before Harry and untied Cho while looking at Harry and pointing to his watch, signaling that time was running out. Just as Cedric was about to leave, a shark came up on the two quickly and while Harry narrowly dodged it, Cedric was not so lucky as the shark ran into him and cut his back up significantly as the Puff howled in pain. Harry then noticed the shark was also half-human, which confused him until he saw the Durmstrang symbol on its shirt, making him realize it was Krum who transfigured himself into a shark; something that Godric had told him was incredibly difficult even for the most skilled in the subject and very dangerous. It looked to Harry that because of Krum's new shark eyes, he could only see his sides and not in front of him, which is how he didn't notice Cedric.
When both Cedric and Krum righted themselves, they took out their wands and began dueling right there in the middle of the village, something the locals didn't seem to appreciate with all the damage they were causing. Harry decided to head over to the hostages and cast a Protego around them to avoid getting hurt as they couldn't move, which he managed to do but that was when the mermaids came in and decided to intervene before their home was destroyed. They began to swing their tridents and swords at the two, forcing them to strike back and Krum especially began biting and shooting curses at them. Eventually, the mermaids backed off as Krum rushed to grab Hermione and swam off with a very wounded Cedric not far behind carrying Cho.
Harry decided to follow suit as he rushed to Penny and cut the rope around her ankle, but as he was about to leave, he noticed that Gabrielle was still tied down and Fleur was nowhere in sight. He was thinking many different scenarios, none of them good, about what happened to her and while he was greatly worried and wanted to look for her, he knew she would want him to get her sister to safety since she was unable to. Therefore, Harry sent a spell to the rope around Gabby's foot and grabbed her as well before leaving the village. A few of the merpeople looked like they wanted to stop him but their leader just ordered them to stand down as they all appeared far too drained for another fight.
Harry was moving along, albeit very slowly, with the two girls on his arms towards the platforms when all of a sudden little creatures with tentacles, which he realized were Grindylows, and he decided to send Penny and Gabby up to the surface as he was pulled down. They were attacking him from all sides, biting and scratching, until finally Harry whipped out his wand and was going to stun them, but he didn't know if it would work on so many at once so he decided to use a new spell that Godric had taught him. Incendio Maxima! he screamed. Suddenly, a massive amount of fire blasted from Harry's wand and incinerated every creature and plant life directly near Harry until there was almost nothing left. Harry knew the spell would be powerful, but that was way more intense than he was expecting, bit he shouldn't be that surprised since the founders told him that was the second most powerful fire spell which was only behind Fiendfyre.
A very tired and now normal again Harry slowly swan back to the top and was able to breathe fresh air again as he made his way back to the platform. Neville was quickly on him with a robe and towels to warm him as he tried to get his bearings amidst the crowd's cheers/boos as he noticed the five judges huddled together in a circle, though he really couldn't care less about the score and only about him and the others surviving. He looked up to see Penny rushing towards him and engulf him in a big hug and kissed his cheek, sobbing thank you's and Harry just held her tightly as he too was grateful not to have lost her.
When she finally released him, Fleur came and also hugged him with another kiss on the cheek which made Penny slightly jealous. She pulled back and beamed at him.
"Thank you, 'Arry. I knew you wouldn't let me down since you promised. I couldn't make it passed the Grindylows and I was so scared for Gabby, but you saved her even though you didn't have to. Even though I…have been distant from you. I want to talk, Harry. About everything you told me when we last spoke.", she said while also side glancing at Penny.
Harry widened his eyes and just nodded before looking over to Dumbledore who was watching them very curiously and Harry knew this discussion would have to wait.
Harry spoke, "Yes, it's time I told you everything. I also have to tell you Penny and Tonks. The three of you deserve to know everything. I'll let you know when soon."
Fleur nodded and Penny also agreed, though she looked confused about what. They walked away and headed towards the boats where Harry could head to the Champions tent to get checked out. On the way, many of his friends congratulated him on his performance and in the background, he heard that the judges had agreed to award him second place behind Krum, which he hoped Cedric wouldn't be too upset about. He, Fleur, and Penny walked in and saw Cedric was heavily bandaged and resting and went over to exchange pleasantries while Pomphrey just berated him for being reckless again. After they were checked out, Harry said goodbye to Penny and Fleur with a promise that he was going to tell them all the secrets he has been holding onto and his feelings for them.
On the way back to the castle, Crouch went up to him to congratulate him and smarm his way into his way into Harry's circle of friends which greatly annoyed him until Professor Moody walked up and essentially told Crouch to back off. However, there was a moment when Moody did something with his tongue and Crouch seemingly paled and looked horrified for a moment before walking off, allowing Moody to walk up to Harry and congratulate him while also telling him he was an idiot for trying to save everyone before storming off drinking from his flask again. Harry kind of thought that Moody was weird for saying that kind of thing, but decided to ignore it. As he was almost upon the castle, his scar immediately began hurting again and he was almost seemingly called to a spot by the lake as it began to hurt more and more as he got closer. He stopped when he saw the lower half of a body behind a tree and stepped forward to see the lifeless body of Barty Crouch.
Later that night, after contacting McGonagall about the body, Harry went to Dumbledore's office to see if he could get some answers when he walked in on the old man and the Minister of Magic arguing. They stepped outside and Harry went over to the bowl that was glowing and was suddenly pulled into what appeared to be a memory of the headmaster. It was there he saw Karkaroff give up another Death Eater by the name of Barty Crouch Jr., Mr. Crouch's son, in exchange for freedom and it was then that he recognized the man as Harry knew it was the same man from the World Cup and the dream with Voldemort. After exiting the memory, he saw Dumbledore and the old man told him the story behind the memory about how Jr. died in prison years ago in Azkaban and he also told him that the Auror's have found evidence that some Death Eater sympathizers are likely responsible for participation in the tournament. Afterwards, he made his way back to the chamber where he came across Snape and Karkaroff arguing over the Dark Mark on the headmaster's arm and then Snape told him that someone had been stealing form his potion stores and was likely brewing Polyjuice potion, he also accused Harry but he didn't care about that right now.
All of these events, everything from his dream and the World Cup this last summer to all that he learned about today, left a grim feeling in his chest and everything was now definitely pointing to Voldemort or his followers trying something horrible during the tournament. The Third Task would be here soon and Harry had a feeling he was in for the fight of his life where his future and freedom would be decided, he could only hope he was ready for it. However, it was clear he would need help and there were only three people he could trust to do it and its time to tell them everything.