Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(75) Under Water

It had been approximately 58 minutes into the allotted time given to the champions, and neither of them had surfaced yet. The patience of the twins, too, were at it's final straw, entirely bored out of their minds. Fred had tried, multiple times, to convince Florence to head back to the castle with him, but the Ravenclaw was entirely focused on seeing if Cedric was going to get Cho out in time.

"Florence," Fred groaned, "Please? I'm bored. I want to go to the kitchens and see if the elves have any food for me." he whined, only to have his girlfriend shun off his complaints as she continued to stare at the surface of the water intently. He was about to let out another loud groan when she had brought her hand up to his mouth, quieting him down. "Fred, sweets, please do be quiet. You're testing my patience here. Why don't you go bother George?"

"Sorry, dear." he mumbled in defeat, realizing that he didn't really want to get snapped at by Florence. Just as his eyes skimmed the crowd in search for George, who had wandered away out of boredom, a loud splashing sound made him look back. One of the champions had made it out entirely.

It was Cedric, the bubble around his head popping as soon as his head emerged from the waters, clutching Cho who was slowly starting to regain consciousness. He was struggling to stay afloat, swimming both of them to shore as quickly as he could. Ludo Bagman rushed forward to help heave Cho onto the docks, as did Florence who had grabbed a towel from Madame Pomfrey, immediately wrapping it over her shoulder, "Are you alright, Cho?" she asked in concern, Madame Pomfrey handing her a vial of potion as Cedric was pulled out of the water too.

"I'm fine, Florence. Thank you. I was asleep the whole time, so it wasn't as much of a big deal." she said, lips still pale from being in the water for the longest time. She approached Cedric, who was being dried off by the school nurse, checking if he had any cuts and bruises. Fred and Nicolai had also went to congratulate the Champion, who was surely leading the Task in terms of points.

"I'm glad you made it out of there, mate," said Fred, before sharing a glance with Nicolai, "But...we were wondering—out of curiosity, ofcourse—what was down there exactly? What did you have to fight off."

"Was it merpeople?" Nicolai asked, over eager.

"It was grindylows, wasn't it?" Fred quipped in.

Cedric raised his brows at the both of them, obviously sensing the bet behind the seemingly innocent questions, "Actually," he said as he slung his towel around his shoulders, "It was both." he watched in amusement as the two looked genuinely distraught, "It was the merpeople guarding the, er, hostages, but I had to fight off pretty aggressive Grindylows before I got to them."

"Ugh" Nicolai groaned, "A tie. I hate ties."

"A tie breaker, then," Fred proposed, "Whoever gets out of the water next. I say Krum."

"Fine," Nicolai agreed, "I," she paused, "I say Harry, then. Chosen one. He has to come before Krum, surely."

"Speaking of Harry," Florence said, turning to Cedric who watched both Fred and Nicolai bicker in amusement, "Did you see him at all, down there?"

"I did. He got to Ron before I got to Cho, actually. But he was too busy trying to argue with the merpeople. He wanted to save Hermione and Fleur's sister too, but they wouldn't let him. I told him to leave it alone, said Krum and Fleur were coming—"

Then, a massive shark-headed human emerged from the waters, safely cradling Hermione in it's arms as she continued to spew out water from her mouth. Fred let out a triumphant shout of victory as Krum transfigured himself back.