Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

32

All in all, Harry got a 40, Cedric and Krum tied with a 38 and Fleur got a 37. Once the task was all wrapped up, everyone was dismissed, and Alex couldn't wait to tell Cedric what she'd realised about the egg.

On their way to the seventh floor, Alex was pelted with balloons filled with red paint. She looked out for her offender, and caught sight of Danny. She pulled out her wand, glaring harshly at him.
"You stinking rat bastard!" She said, as Cedric restrained her lowering her wand.

"Alex, don't. Not here." He said, and began to drag her away. Eyes cold with fury, she hardly paid any attention to where Cedric was leading her. It wasn't until they'd slipped into a room that she'd realised he'd taken her to the prefects bathroom.

"I'm going to kill him." She said. "I'm going to kick his arse and leave him in a worse state than broken ribs. I'll break all two hundred and six plus bones so that he has to be mummified with bandages."

"No you won't."

"Won't I?"

"I'll wait outside." He said. "You can take a bath in the pool and cast a cleansing charm on your clothes. Towels are over there."

"Wait." She said. She took off her outer layers of clothes and jumped into the pool. "I want to show you something. Come here, and pass the egg."

"Okay." He said. He gave her the egg and stood at the edge of the pool.

"You need to get in here too, Ced." She said.

"Oh, erm... okay." He took off his shoes, jumper and bottoms, leaving him in his pants. He lowered himself into the pool.

"Okay, go underwater and then open the egg." She said, handing it back to him and disappearing under the surface. He followed suit and looked at her curiously before opening the egg up again. Instead of screeches, a beautiful voice sung.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour- the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

They both resurfaced, with a gasp. "That was dark." Cedric said. "How did you know to listen underwater?"

"It's mermish. Outside of water it sounds like screeches and wails, but if you're in any body of water you can understand them."

"And you just happen to know what mermish sounds like? Wait, let me guess. You know mermaids? Or wait, you were swimming with Taylor the crocodile and it led you to a mermaid whom you befriended and now have tea with every Fridays?" She splashed the water hard and he spluttered at the wave that assaulted him.

"It's not like I actually know mermish, but I did read that they sound sort of like nails scratching a blackboard outside of water."

"Okay, so the song. How did it go again?"

"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground." Alex recited the first two lines.

"Okay, so that makes sense. Their voices sound underwater. Above ground, they can't sing."

"The Black Lake?" Alex asked. "I've read in Hogwarts: a history that there's a colony of merpeople who live there."

"Sometimes you make reading sound interesting." He said. "But when I read, I get boring facts, not interesting ones. Where do you find the interesting facts?"

"Hidden between the boring ones." She teased. "And while you're searching, ponder this: we've taken what you'll sorely miss."

"Well I sorely miss the inter house quidditch games." He said. "But I don't think I'll find that amongst the merpeople."

"Well, they haven't anything taken it yet. Maybe they'll take your broom! The judges have to be in on it. Merpeople can't survive long outside water, they'll need accomplices." She teased him and he shuddered.

"Okay, let's move on. I don't like that bit. What came next?"

"An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took. But past an hour, the prospect's black. Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"Am I the only one who finds that disturbing?"

"No, but it's part of the task. It's telling you your parameters. You'll be searching underwater for an hour."

"Oh... Oh! I can't breathe underwater."

"Hence the warning."

"What can I do?"

"You've got options. Do you want a potion or a charm?"

"What kind of potion?" He asked.

"Well there are three to choose from. A partial animal transformation potion, a shared characteristics potion and a lifeguard potion."

"Never heard of any of them."

"Partial animal transformation can turn you into half or part of an animal that you wanna be, so for example part fish so you can breathe underwater. Shared characteristics doesn't turn you into an animal but you can choose to share characteristics with one, so if you chose an underwater animal, you'd maintain a connection with one, and share abilities- such as breathing underwater or seeing the same way they do."

"And the lifeguard one?"

"It repels water around you. You can swim without getting wet, because it keeps a sort of bubble around your body. You would be breathing in air underwater."

"Can we try that one?"

"Sure, I'll get the ingredients I need." She said. "Do I have any more paint in my hair?"

"Just a bit." He said. "Lay back, I'll try to get it out."

"Thanks." She tilted her head back and let him wash out the red paint.

"So how bad is it going to be for him? On a scale of doing nothing to hexing him?"

"We've passed the point for hexes. I'm going to destroy him."

"Alex..."

"It's going to be big and epic. I'm going to ruin him and make him regret messing me with me."

"You're going to get yourself in trouble."

"I can be discreet."

"I don't want you to get expelled."

"I won't. I think it would take actual murder for me to be expelled and I'm not going to kill him for splashing me with paint."

"So what are you going to do?" He asked as he washed out the last of the paint. She just gave him an innocent smile.

A/N- Lmfao, Cedric didn't say no. He said not here. Just saying, he would 100% help her cover up a murder or something. He'd complain about it, but he'd totally help her.
I know, I posted a lot later than usual. For once in my life, I was actually doing work 😊.