The Potter Twins and the Goblet of Fire {4}

25. The Second Task

"Smooth seas don't make good sailors, jump ship and head for failures. Find yourself a tragedy, slowly lose your sanity" ~ Smooth Seas Don't Make Good Sailors

Obedient to Sirius's wish to hear about anything odd at Hogwarts, Harry and I send him a letter regarding the events we witnessed after we solved the egg (Crouch breaking into Snape's office and the conversation between Moody and Snape afterwards). And then, finally, we avert our attention to quite possibly the biggest issue facing us; how to survive underwater on the twenty-fourth of February. 

Ron quite likes the idea of a Summoning Charm again - we've told him about Aqualungs, and Ron can't see why Harry and I can't Summon two of them from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione and Tay squash this idea by pointing out that, on the unlikely chance we'd be able to figure out to use the Aqualungs within the set time limit, we're sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizard Secrecy - it is too much to hope that no Muggle will see two sets of Aqualungs shooting across the countryside. 

"Of course, the ideal solution would be to Transfigure yourselves into submarines or something!" she says. "If only we'd started human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing..."

"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," Harry says, shuddering. "I suppose we could always attack someone in front of Moody, he might do it for us..."

"I don't think he'd let you choose what you're turned into, though," Tay sighs as if it was a serious solution. "Your best chance is some sort of Charm; have you asked - " she lowers her voice and looks around the room, before continuing, "- your dad?"

"No," I whisper, shaking my head. "He thinks we solved the egg weeks ago; we don't want to stress him out."

We begin spending so much time in the library that it feels like a second home; flipping aimlessly through books hoping to stumble across something that can enable us to breathe underwater. 

Familiar flutterings of panic are starting to disturb me now, and I'm finding it difficult to concentrate during lessons again. Seeing the lake, which was once just a feature of Hogwarts, is enough to send me into a full-blown panic. And again, I've seen very little of Draco, and the time that I do spend with him I'm usually wanting to be back in the library. 

Just as it did with the dragons, the days seem to get faster and faster as the task approaches. 

A week to go before February (there's still time)

Five days before the Twenty-fourth (we're bound to find something soon)

Three days to go (Please let us find something...please)

With two days left, Harry and I have started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday is the arrival of the brown owl we sent to Sirius. Harry pulls off the parchment, unrolls it and, and presents the smallest letter Sirius has ever sent us. 

Send date of next Hogsmede weekend by return owl. 

Harry turns the parchment over, hoping to see something else; but it's blank. 

"Weekend after next," Hermione whispers, reading over our shoulders. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away."

I scribble down the dates on the back of Sirius' letter, tie it back onto the owl's leg and watch it take flight again with a feeling of disappointment. What had I expected? Advice on how to survive underwater? We'd been so preoccupied telling Sirius about Moody, Crouch and Snape that we completely forget to tell him about the egg.