A Potter and a Malfoy ✔️

18| The Second Task

"Still no sign of Ron and Hermione?" I asked as we boarded the boat taking us out to the Black Lake the next morning.

We didn't get much sleep at all last night so to say we are screwed was an understatement.

"No." Draco shook his head.

"Neville thank you, so much. You just saved our lives with this Gilly Weed." Harry thanked Neville sitting beside him.

"No problem." He smiled.

"Harry, Nat." Avery got our attention. "You guys can do this." She smiled warmly.

"Thanks Avery." I smiled back. "And thank you, Pansy." I turned to the girl.

"For what?" She asked confused.

"If it wasn't for you, I probably would still be stuck with Slate."

"Oh don't worry about that girl. I'm glad to help!" She seemed really sweet. Maybe I had her all wrong.

This morning at breakfast, we filled everyone in on everything and I went to report what happened to Dumbledore. Since then, I hadn't seen Slate at all.

I totally forgot to mention the spell Slate cast so I'm assuming it's still active. Whatever pain befalls him will come back at me even worse.

We reached the floating stands and said goodbye to our friends. Harry and I took our places next to the other champions.

"Welcome to the second task!" Dumbledore's voice came through loudly shutting everyone up. "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."

It suddenly clicked in my head. That's where Ron and Hermione are. That's why no one has seen them!

"In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough."

"Natalie eat it now." Harry and I split the Gilly Weed and ate it.

"Except for this. They will have but one hour to do so. And one hour only. After that, they'll be on their own. No magic will save them. You may begin at the sound of the cannon." Dumbledore finished explaining.

Harry and I gagged on the gross tasting plant as the cannon boomed. Everyone began cheering and we all jumped in.

As we sunk into the cold murky water, gills formed on the sides on our necks, our fingers became webbed, and our feet turned into flippers.

I smiled happily super thankful for Neville.

We began swimming off in the direction of the others. I didn't know exactly what we were looking for but it had to be at the very bottom of the lake.

We kept swimming down past some small fish and lots of vegetation. There was a lot of rock around us making it hard to move quickly.

As we approached a wall of seaweed, the same song from the golden egg began playing. I looked to Harry who heard it as well.

I took his hand so I wouldn't loose him and we swam through the thick plant together.

I turned around when I thought I heard something behind us. Harry ignored it and kept swimming so we did but before long, a creature came up behind us and pushed us out of the way.

We followed where it went and soon reached a beautiful looking underwater city. It was a little run down looking but it was really pretty.

As we swam further, we reached five people under some sort of charm. They were unconscious but appeared to be fine other than that.