Innocence | Severus Snape x Reader

36 - Treasure

I walked with Severus to the boats that would take us to the middle of the lake, I held the gillyweed tight in my hand. 

"Do you have it?" He said to me, and I nodded. 

Severus and I had come to the agreement that we could be near each other in public, but we were not to touch nor give any sign that we were in love. I could settle for that much. I had the comfort of him near while he had the comfort of knowing we'd be safe. 

I wore an old Slytherin sweater over my swim shirt and a pair of pants over the bottoms. Thankfully, the swim shirt was long-sleeved, however, the bottoms were not. 

"Hey, have you seen George?" Fred came up to me, just before I reached the docks. Instead of stopping, Severus continued. 

"No, I haven't," I said, and I was a little worried. George wouldn't go anywhere without Fred. "Let me know if you find him, okay?" I said. Fred nodded and continued on his way. 

I sat next to Severus on the boat, I anxiously toyed with the herb in my hand. Peculiarly, when Severus had gotten it for me, he said some had been missing. 

The stands were packed full when we had gotten there. I lined up at the base of the middle one with the other champions, I had someone take my sweater and pants. I stood between Harry and Cedric. 

"Welcome to the second challenge. Last night something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These five treasures, one for each champion, now lie at the bottom of the Black Lake. In order to win each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough, except for this. They will have one hour to do so and one hour only. After that they'll be on their own, no message will save them. Begin at the sound of the canon." Right after he says the word the cannon fires off. I shove the gillyweed in my mouth and dive into the water. 

The stuff tasted downright awful, but I hold it down. The next thing I know my entire body feels intensely itchy, and I feel my neck, hands, and feet begin to change. As I settle, I find I'm able to breathe and I'm just in time to watch Potter swim away, looking just like myself. 

So he must've taken the gillyweed as well. 

I swam in the same direction he did, eventually parting off slightly and taking my own course. 

I had no clue what I'd be looking for, r where I'd find it. As I swam though, I found myself in a mess of seaweed, but I could hear the song. So I followed it. 

I passed through crumbled architecture under the water and watched as the merfolk swam past me. Up ahead I could see five black blobs in the water. As I got closer, I realized they were people. 

At the far right was George. 

Next to him was his brother, and then Hermione, then Cho, and Fleur's little sister. 

I figured that George must have been mine. I swam up to him and looked him over. He seemed alright. 

I used my wand to fire a spell at the rope tied around his ankle that would cut it. As I did so, I noticed Harry swim up to Ronald, then glance over at Hermione. He tried saving both, but the mermaid wouldn't let him. 

As much as I was concerned for the boy, I also couldn't help but want to win, and I also wanted to let Fred know that I had found George, so I slowly, but surely started making my way directly up towards the surface. 

As my head broke through the water, I heard the crowd cheer, and then I heard gasping next to me, it was George. As the two of us swam back I noticed Fleur standing on the platform with a towel wrapped around her, nervously looking into the water. I looked back to see Cedric come up with Cho. 

George and I climbed up onto the platform on the far right, and I looked back at the water once more. Krum was there with Hermione.  

There was no Harry, Ron, or Fleur's sister. I waited for a moment, and nothing happened. 

Suddenly, Ron and Fleur's sister came up. But still no Harry. Something must've happened. 

By now I was freezing and the gillyweed had worn off, but I dove back into the water anyways. If my gillyweed had worn off then so had Harry's. I swam back down and found him surrounded by a bunch of tentacled creatures. 

I got as close as I could and used a spell to fiend some of them off, Harry was able to break free. By now my lungs were burning. 

Harry swam up and grabbed my hand as he did so, then used a spell to launch us out of the water and onto the middle platform. 

Someone places a towel on Harry and then another one on myself as Dumbledor comes over to check on the both of us. Harry is a coughing fit and I can say the same for myself. 

I feel two sets of hands pull me to the feet and I see that it's the Weasley Twins. 

"You saved her even though she wasn't yours to save, you saved my little sister," Fleur said, crouching in front of Harry, and then kissing him on either cheek as she said thank you. "And you helped." She did the same to Ron, and I smiled. 

"Well, where's her kiss?" I heard Fred say. 

"Yeah Y/N helped too!" Said George, but Fleur was already too far away. 

There was a beat, and then I felt two wet things n either side of my face. The twins had each given me an very intentionally sloppy kiss on either cheek. I shook my head and hugged the both of them. 

"Attention!" Dumbledore's voice boomed. "The winner is Miss Lestrange!" I clapped at the announcement though I couldn't see anything below. "However, seeing that Mister Potter would have been first if it were not for his determination to rescue not only Mister Weasley but the others as well, we reward him second place with Mister Diggory. For outstanding moral fiber." 

"First Place! First Place!" The twins started shouting, and I only shook my head while smiling. 

For a moment I was able to catch Severus' eye, he looked... jealous. But I was able to flash him a quick and genuine smile, one of those smiles that you could feel your nose scrunch up for. 

I went over to Harry now that he was standing, and hugged him. 

"Congratulations, Harry," I said. I was able to turn some and see Cedric, whose hand I shook.