Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 15: The Second Task

Harry woke up the next morning to Nico shaking him. "Get up, we have two hours," Nico said, then proceeded to leave the room.

Harry turned to look at Ron, then realized he wasn't there, Professor McGonagall having taken both him and Hermione. "Hey Nico!" Harry yelled. Nico turned back with a scowl on his face. "What?"

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked.

"I dunno." Nico replied, seemingly uninterested. "I couldn't find Luna this morning, I think they all went down the lake."

Harry nodded glumly. "Wish they were here."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Well, they aren't, so hurry up and get ready." He then left for real, making his way back to the Great Hall. When he reached the hall, McGonagall immediately told him to make his way to the lake, even though it was over an hour before the task actually began.

Harry entered the hall just as they were leaving, so McGonagall gestured for him to join.

Harry was fretting about the task, worrying where Ron and Hermione were, but Nico was completely nonchalant. Harry tried to start a conversation, but Nico was only responding with grunts and "mmm"s, so Harry quickly stopped talking.

They arrived at the pier, then took a small boat to the centre of the lake, where they were greeted by Ludo Bagman. "All right, Harry?" He hissed at them, completely ignoring Nico. "Know what you're going to do?"

Harry scowled slightly. "Yeah." He could at least acknowledge Nico, but Bagman hadn't even tried.

Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and muttered a spell. When he spoke his voice was much louder, projecting to all the people around them. "As all our champions are ready for the second task, it shall commence on my whistle. They have an hour to recover what has been taken from them. Three! Two! One!" He let out a piercing whistle. Nico saw Harry shove the Gillyweed into his mouth and dive in. Fleur and Krum were chanting something under their breath.

Nico aimed his wand at his head. "Viveties Onmia," he whispered under his breath. Suddenly the air became thicker, almost like water. Nico waved his hand through it. He wasn't breathing, either. Professor McGonagall was peering at Nico in shock, so he quickly dove into the water.

He was around twenty minutes in when he caught sight of Moaning Myrtle. "Myrtle," Nico acknowledged. "What are you doing here?"

Myrtle giggled. "You can talk! The other one couldn't." He assumed she meant Harry, seeing as he had transformed himself into a fish-human-mutant thing. Nico didn't know exactly how Gillyweed worked.

Nico nodded. "Yeah, I can talk, what about it?"

Myrtle giggled again. "Nothing. You're heading in the wrong direction though. Your friends are over there," she said, pointing with one ghostly hand.

Nico nodded. "Thanks."

As he got closer to the centre of the lake, it got more dangerous. First it was the Grindylows, which attacked his feet, dragging their long claws through his skin.

Nico bit his tongue to keep from screaming as the bottom of his feet were clawed off. "Relashio!" He yelled, a spell shooting from his wand and hitting a few of the creatures. That didn't do enough, though, still leaving around five of the animals hanging onto his feet. Nico clenched his hand and they immediately dropped off, unconscious.

The lake was now so dark he couldn't see the surface, or the bottom, just murky layers of water and kelp. Nico cut a piece of seaweed off of his leg with his wand.

Nico was swimming over mud now. He began to hear chanting.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took..."

Nico put in a jet of speed and saw a large rock ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were holding spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Nico ignored the rock, swimming past, following the mersong.

"...your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you see stays here to rot."

He came in sight of the merpeople. They had gray skin, and wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, the same with their teeth, and they had thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. Behind them were ghostly houses, floating in the currents.

Nico shivered, but continued past, the water stinging his cut feet. In the centre of the town there was a statue, which held three people. Ron, Luna and a girl he didn't know. There was an empty chain, showing him that Krum had taken his prize. Harry was already there, looking worried. He smiled faintly when he saw Nico, and gestured at the girl. Clearly Fleur hadn't arrived and he was concerned. Nico shrugged. He wasn't going to stay behind to lose. Harry was fine-he could leave.

Nico pointed his wand at the chains that held Luna. "Diffendo!" The chains broke, leaving Luna floating. She looked ethereal-her white blonde forming a crown around her head.

Nico kicked up to the surface as fast as he could, his feet hurting more with each movement. Slowly the murkiness began to clear up. The water lighted, and soon Nico burst through to the top of the lake. Luna groaned, her eyes fluttering open. "Oh, hello." She said blankly, confused.

Nico ignored that. "C'mon, you have to get to the towers," he waved his hand at the floating structures in the middle of the lake, where the schools were waiting.

They started stroking towards the towers, slowly making their way over. Nico glanced at the clock second before they arrived. Fifteen minutes over the hour.

Nico clambered into the dock, his feet stinging. He held out a hand to help Luna, who smiled at him, then found her wand and bound his feet in bandages. "Thanks," Nico clattered out. He was still shivering, even though he had been given a blanket. Luna sat down next to him and they waited for Harry.

After ten minutes, murmuring in the back increased. Nico was getting worried-he had been sure that Harry was safe, but what if something happened?

Just as everyone was getting frantic, Ron and Fleur's younger sister burst out, gasping for air. They were helped onto the tower and given a towel. It was still tense until Harry came out of the water. Ludo Bagman gave him a towel as well. "Good job, Harry, my boy." Nico rolled his eyes. Bagman was fondling Harry a lot. It was kind of silly.

Hermione rushed over from where she had been standing beside Krum. Nico tuned them out, instead looking at the judges, who were conversing.

Soon enough, Ludo Bagman's magically enhanced voice rang out. "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. Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was first to return with his hostage. We award him forty points. Nico di Angelo used an incredibly powerful spell and arrived immediately after Viktor Krum. We award him forty-seven points. Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. 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. Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points." The crowd erupted into cheering. Nico did the math in his head. He and Harry were now tied. The final task would determine who won the tournament. And who won the prize.