Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Less than few weeks later, the second task rolls around, Lily can't help but feel slightly scared for her brother, especially given the fact that Lily is now sat with Fred, on the second floor of the platform that they had built a few days ago for this task. Bagman spaces the champions ten feet from each other along the bottom of the platform and as this happens, Liy's knee begins to bounce up and down. Fred places his hand on top of Lily's knee, trying to calm her down.
Lily turns her head, looking up at Fred. "It's fine. Everything's fine. There's nothing to worry about," Fred says, rubbing Lily's leg with his thumb. Lily leans back in her seat, resting her head on Fred's shoulder.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"
The whistle echoes in the cold, still air; the stands arupts with cheers and applause. Lily watches as Harry jumps into the water. The crowd in the stands begin to laugh, looking at how ridiculous Harry looks in the water. And before long, the crowd stops laughing and they're left in silence.
It's a long silence, then after a while, they see a head come out from under the water. Everyone moves to the edge of the platform, to look over the railing to see who it was. "It's Fleur!" Lily hears someone yell from below them. They watch as Fleur swims over to the ladder, and no person is seen in the water with her.
"Miss Delacour is the first out of the water, unsuccessfully retrieving the person dear to her," Dumbledore and to Lily, she seems that it could most-likely be her sister Gabrielle.
They watch as Fleur gets out of the water, Madam Pomfrey wrapping her in a towel, to help warm her up from the cold water.
About thirty-five minutes into the task, another head is from out of the water. This time, with their hostage. "Cedric! It's Cedric everybody!" a hufflepuff yells near Lily. Fred notices the look on Lily's face and can tell that with Harry being underwater all this time, that she's worried that he won't make it out in the time slot.
The stands begin to cheer for Cedric as he and Cho swim towards the ladder and soon enough, they are wrapped in towels by Madam Pomfrey as well.
Yet, before anything could be said, two more heads are seen coming out of the water. "Viktor and Hermione!" someone yells, this time, Lily can't tell where that voice came from.
And as Lily watches Viktor help Hermione out of the water, she can't help but feel more anxious for her brother so with one last glance down at the water, she lays her head on Fred's shoulder.
***
It's been over an hour now, and there has still been no sign of Harry, yet alone Ron or Gabrielle. So, with her head resting on Fred's, Fred rubbing her arm, in attempts to soothe her. And although it works, the next thing she hears is yelling. Two heads come out of the water. One ginger and one blonde. And a second later, a black haired boy breaks from the water. Harry. Lily gets up from her seat, running over to the stairs before running down to get down two platforms.
"Harry," Lily whispers, dragging Harry into a hug as he holds a towel around him. "You stupid idiot. Why didn't you just take Ron?"
Lily pulls away from Harry after a moment before pulling Ron into a hug. "I'm so glad that you're safe. And I'm pretty sure that your mother would have had a heart attack if she knew that any of us let you die," Lily tells Ron.
"And you go back to my brothers and tell them that I'll kill them if they tell mum that I'm dead, tell them that I will personally kill him myself," Ron tells Lily, making her chuckle. She nods her head before pressing a kiss to Ron's head.
"I'll make sure to tell them that," Lily tells Ron before walking back up the stairs to Fred, George, Angelina and Lee.
"You okay?" Fred asks as Lily sits back down and rests her head on his shoulder.
"I am now," Lily whispers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have made 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 champion, 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."
Applause from the stands.
"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."
Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Karkaroff claps particularly hard.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continues. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However the Mercheiftainess 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 here feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr Potter's score is fourty-five points."
The corwd starts cheering and clapping loudly for Harry.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," Bagman continues. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
It's over. The second task is finally over and Lily has time to rest before the third task. She knows that she will continue to worry during the third task for her brother, but she knows that she has a while until that's time so she can finally relax.
"Hey, you doing okay?" Fred asks as they make their way back up to the castle after getting off the boat.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Perfectly fine," Lily says before Fred wraps his arm around her waist.
"Well, that's good. Because having a worried girlfriend is not something that I want," Fred tells her.
"Well, it's a good thing that you won't have to see for quite a while now," Lily says, looking up at Fred. Fred smiles down at her, pressing a kiss to her lips.
"Keep it moving lovebirds," they hear Angelina yell fromm behind them, making them pull apart before beginning to laugh at their best friend.
