Fury Little Problem {A Harry Potter Fanfic}

Chapter Fifthteen: The Second Task

The morning of the Second Task, Harry awoke quickly and hurried down to the Common Room to meet up with Ron and Hermione. When he made it down the staircase, he was greeted by an abandoned Common Room. Puzzled that his friends were not waiting for him, he glanced at the clock in the corner of the room.

8:37.

"Where could they be?"

Figuring that they had already made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Harry quickly left the room and made his way there, hoping for a quick breakfast. He didn't have much time as he had to meet with Moony before the task, to make sure he was prepared for later.

He hated that he had to keep himself in check, but relented when thoughts about the previous task came to the forefront of his mind. He needed to keep in check, he didn't know what he would do if anyone got hurt because of him.

A loud Crack, startled Harry from his thoughts, causing him to lose his balance and land of his back. Rubbing the back of his head where it had made contact with the floor, he looked up and saw two tennis ball sized eyes staring at him.

"Harry Potter sir! Dobby is sorry for scaring yous."

"Don't worry about it Dobby. What do you want?"

Dobby pulled a disgusting looking plant from behind his back and presented to Harry. The smell of it was almost enough to cause Harry to gag, his eyes watering at the sheer force of the scent.

"Dobby heard that Harry Potter sir needed Gillyweed, so Dobby went and got some for him."

"Thanks Dobby." Although he felt sick at what the plant would taste like, Harry was grateful that the elf had managed to get his hands on some. One thing was bothering him though…

"Dobby? Where exactly did you get this from?"

The elf immediately shifted his gaze to the floor, obviously uncomfortable about where this line of questioning was going. "Dobby took it from the Potion Master, sir. Dobby knew he shouldn't have. Dobby is a bad elf!" and before Harry could do anything to stop it, he began bashing his head against the wall.

Grabbing the elf by his cloth, Harry attempted to placate him. "It's okay Dobby, you did good. No need to punish yourself."

"Thank you Harry Potter sir. You are a great wizard." Another resounding Crack radiated through the hall, and Dobby was gone. Harry shook his head in amusement, before continuing his trek down to the Great Hall. Once there he pushed the doors open and started scanning for his two best friends. After a minute or two of looking, it became clear that they weren't there either.

Deciding that he had better head off to meet with Moony, Harry turned from the Great Hall without eating. He did his best to keep himself calm but he couldn't stop the feeling of dread from building up inside him.

-HP-

The crowd around the docks situated in the middle of the Black Lake seemed to be larger than it was for the First Task. Harry figured it was because after all the publicity that came along with four students taking on nesting dragons, that people were curious as to see what the tournament organizers would concoct next. He himself was a little curious, but that feeling was greatly diminished by the fact that Ron and Hermione had still not turned up.

And he had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where they were.

Looking down into the lake, he envisioned every possible terrible outcome that could come from this task. From taking on the giant squid to the Gillyweed not lasting long enough and him drowning somewhere in its dark depths. What scare him the most was though wasn't his safety, but failing to save his friends and them getting hurt because of that.