~The Big Five at Hogwarts: The Triwizard Tournament~ *Sequel*

Chapter 15

Jack

You know that little voice inside your head that tells you to get up and do your homework when you're sitting around reading Quidditch magazines? Apparently I don't have that voice, and that's why I'm pacing my dorm room frantically trying to figure out an icy clue the night before the Second Task.

"Have you tried melting it?" My only genius roommate awake, Snotlout, suggests.

"Gee, I didn't think of that," I packed as much sarcasm as I could into my words.

"No need to be rude," he pouts.

"I've tried everything: burning it, putting it in water, freezing it more, cracking it, even talking to it!"

"Oh well, have fun drowning tomorrow." he turns to switch off the light and go to sleep.

I sigh and set the large egg-like piece of ice on the window seat, admitting defeat.

"Maybe I'll be able to wing it tomorrow."

I lie there on my bed staring at the moonlight bouncing off the ice and shining through the cracks, thinking. My eyelids are beginning to droop by the time the egg begins to shrink.

I jump off my back and throw the velvet covers aside. "It's--it's melting!" I cry. Snotlout's already snoring, so nobody is awake to hear me.

Because my eyes aren't deceiving me, and there are glistening drops sliding down the smooth side. But what made it happen? The moonlight?

I look up at the big blue disk and can't seem to take my eyes off of it. "Thanks," I whisper, though it sounds kind of stupid.

After about ten minutes of me practically dozing off while waiting, the egg is now a small chunk of ice housing a--wait, what is that? A crab?

A small red crab skitters out of the block and stops in front of baffled little me. "Hello?" I try cautiously.

"So you're a Champion? Not very impressive." It mutters, though I don't see any mouth move.

I expected it to be weird, but this is creeping me out.

"Could you just give me the clue already?"

"Ah, but it is not a clue, but a spell."

* * *

"Suddenly, I'm not so sure about this," I mutter, staring down at the dark surface of the Black Lake. My bare toes curl at the edge of the crowded dock and I run over all the creepy creatures occupying its depths in my mind.

"You're not getting cold feet are you?"

Elsa comes up from behind me along with Hiccup, Astrid, Merida, and Sandy.

"Of course not; just...studying the water." I shrug. "Rapunzel isn't here?" Now it's their turn to shrug.

"She's probably helping Eugene. But did you ever even figure out the clue?"

"Oh, please. I've got that covered."

"Champions, take your places. At the bottom of the Black Lake are gifts that you cannot move onto the next task without. The Champion to retrieve their gift in the best time wins. Other students, please step behind the line." McGonagall's voice instructs us from one of the upper levels of the dock.

I am joined by Mulan and Eugene, each in their own swimwear and probably their own underwater spells. I pull my wand out from the belt around my swim shorts and press it to my face, speaking the spell. The same cold, tingling sensation from when I practiced it last night spreads across my mouth and nose along with a silver ice bubble, which will allow me to breathe underwater. All my friends whisper-yell their good wishes and encouragement from behind me in the silence before the canon fires. Even Sandy shoots me a thumbs-up while the Champions tense up in their diving positions.

Then, the canon's boom is sounding, and I'm practically tripping over my long legs to get in the deep, greenish water.

I try to ignore the encasing cold and the murky bubbles blocking my vision once I begin kicking my legs furiously downwards.

Before I get far, I feel slimy tendrils wrapping around my left leg. My other leg is already kicking at the creature before I even look down at the orange octopus animal with a smile full of needle-sharp teeth. More are gathering, but with a muffled stun spell I can throw them off long enough for me to move on. I reach the pitch-black bottom and pass through a grove of seaweed.
Looking up, I see a small community of creatures with the torso of sharp-toothed, green skinned humans and smooth, almost shark-like tails below the waist. Merpeople. Some drift through simple house-like structures, while a few grasping golden tridents guard a group of figures in the middle of it all.

As I swim closer I realize I know these figures. Rapunzel, Tooth, and a popular Gryffindor I know is Shang float upright, in their winter clothing and with their eyes closed.

Seeing them sends a jolt through me before McGonagall's use of the word "gifts" strikes me. I suppose this is what we retrieve. Something about that angers me: the fact that our friends are being brought into this competition, even if I tell myself that they seem plenty safe. The school would never endanger them, right?

By the time I'm grabbing onto Tooth's wrist, Mulan has showed up to pull Shang towards the surface. Her crab must have also given her a spell, because I glimpse scaly fins along her limbs and webbed feet.

Before I start tugging Tooth farther along, I take a look at Rapunzel, who's looking pale and alone. I look around me quickly. Eugene is nowhere to be seen and I have no idea how long we've been down here. I debate with myself what to do, 'til I make the decision to push Tooth's stiff body as close to the surface as I can, and watch her float to the top before turning back to Rapunzel.
I told her she should've chopped some of this hair off. I frantically try to yank her by her upper arms, but her thick, floor-length locks are a major weight. We're running out of time, and Eugene hasn't shown up yet. Instinct is the only thing driving me now.

For most of the time, the merpeople have kept a close eye on us, and I spot one of them swimming towards me suspiciously.

I panic a little, since I don't know if these are the kinds of merfolk who'd shower me with sea horses and rainbows.

This mermaid has long, bright red hair and a friendlier face than the others. She approaches me shyly, seeming to understand the situation. Before I can stop her, she is taking Rapunzel and swimming her upwards by pumping her thin yet muscular tail. She's back, gesturing for me to leave, before any of the others notice. All I can give the kind stranger in return is a thank-you smile before swimming away myself.