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"SONORUS!" Dumbledore boomed, a silence settling over the cheering crowds. Eliza gripped Harry's hand in one of her own, Connor's in the other. Eliza's heat fluttered anxiously, searching the crowd for a sign of life from her sister. The journal, the writer, had said their sister was taken.
Meeting a pair of warm brown eyes akin to her own, an added weight was lifted off her shoulders. Sydney was in the crowd, whispering to Ginny Weasley. The pair shot Eliza a reassuring smile. Weight released for only a moment before it was replaced once more.
The journal said Hogwarts would take the one most important to her. If not her sister, then who?
Dumbledore's voice boomed again. "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 echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, "Now!" Harry screamed, ripping off his clothes, leaving nothing but his swimsuit.
The Ravenclaws did the same. Eliza pulled the handful of gillyweed out of her pocket, shoving it into her mouth and grimacing at the taste. It was awful, and she had once tried Charlie Weasley's cooking; so that was saying something.
She was going to die. She'd come to that conclusion whilst gasping for air, panic engulfing her demeanor. A cold hand planted itself on her back before she fell face first into the Black Lake.
It was so cold it burned. She was going to die, was all that ran through her head while she scrambled, flailing her arms and kicking her feet as if she forgot to swim. Pain shot through her neck, hands and feet; looking at Connor Carrow who kicked and flailed only a few feet from her, she reached out and grasped his hand as if their lives depended on it.
They probably did.
A breath of fresh air hit her suddenly, and the pain ceased in an instant, a snap. Her eyes grew wide as she looked now at Connor Carrow — who had gills. And the way he was looking at her, suggested she also had gills.
The pair admired their newfound webbed feed and fingers, taking a moment to giggle at the other. The icy water suddenly wasn't so cold and her mind finally felt at ease, gaining a better consciousness with the steadied oxygen in her body.
Harry had shortly after entered the water, calm and collected.
"Why did no one push you?!" Harry shrugged, and Eliza figured she wouldn't argue. Time was ticking, after all.
The three swam for what felt like hours, through the murky green waters. A few marine life piqued the girl's curiosity, but she quickly diverted back to the task. It looked like her own world above the surface, green grass as far as the eye could see.
