✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

23 | A T T E M P T E D

I don't want to be afraid,
the deeper that I go,
it takes my breath away.

   HE WASN'T GREETED with rejoicings and embraces. When Harry's head dived through the surface of the Black Lake, panting heavy, trying to hold up the little girl's head over water, he immediately noticed the strange mood hanging over the stands. The girl looked scared and confused, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" Then he spotted Fleur's sister. "What did you bring her for?"

   "Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her", Harry panted. 

   "Harry, you prat", said Ron, "you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"

   "The song said —"

   "It was only to make sure you got back inside the time limit!", said Ron. "I hope you didn't waste time down there acting the hero!"

   "C'mon", Harry said shortly, "help me with her, I don't think she can swim very well. "

   They pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where half of the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs. 

   Harry could see Hermione and Krum, both of them were wrapped in thick blankets.

   Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water. 

   "Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

  "She's fine!", Harry tried to tell her, but he was so exhausted he could hardly talk, let alone shout.

   In all this turmoil, Harry only slowly recognised the little details that made this whole scene so ... wrong.  The crowd was a multiheaded whispering creature. The excitement and joy of the beginning of this task was gone. And who also was gone, was Professor Dumbledore. He was the first one Harry noticed not to be around. As his eyes wandered over to Krum and Hermione, he started to wonder where Cedric and Ember were. They'd left the mermens' village long before Harry, they should have been back long ago ...

   "Potter."

   When he got to his feet, it was Professor McGonagall suddenly standing infront of him. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her lips a small line. "Follow me", she said, then throwing a quick gaze at Ron, she added, "you too, Weasley."

   The unwell feeling in Harry's guts grew rapidly. The last time he'd seen his transfiguration professor like that, she had told him and Ron that Hermione had been attacked by the Heir of Slytherin. This, mixed with Ember's absence, sent shivers down his spine that left him trembling.

   "What happened?", Ron asked, for what Harry was grateful, because there was a lump in his throat quickly growing, not allowing him to speak. The healers tent he already knew from the first task appeared behind the stands, and Harry's heart, having sped up for the last steps he'd taken, now seemed to stop beating completely. His breath got stuck in his lungs, and Professor McGonagall's voice was sounding like far, far away.

   "We don't know, Weasley", she pressed out, stopping in front of the tent, then looking at Harry. "Potter, I won't lie to you, it doesn't — doesn't look good." Her voice was cracking; a thing it had never done before. "This may be a shock and —"

   But Harry didn't listen any second longer. He pushed past McGonagall, ignoring her half-hearted attempt to hold him back, and chimed into the tent.

   "Emmie!", he yelped, freezing on spot so Ron, who was high on his heels, bumped into him and a gasp slipped from his lips.

   Her face still wore the same shade it had down on the lake's ground; greenish pale, making her look so ... so ... Harry swollowed hard, unable to finish that thought.

   Cedric was with her, holding her hand, his eyes not leaving her once. Madame Pomfrey bustled by, bringing more blankets to cover this petite body that had never looked so fragile. Just for the split of a second, Cedric had to let go of her, as Madame Pomfrey was checking for her pulse, and Harry watched him getting visibly uncomfortable; the muscles of Cedric's shoulders tensed, his jaw clenched, and not before he could cup those small hands back in his, did the Hufflepuff loosen this tension.

   It was this moment, Harry understood. This was why it was Cedric, not him, pulling Ember out of the lake. And again, there was this bitter taste on his tongue, this indescribable feeling in the pit of his tummy. He should have been the one to save her. She should have been the one thing in this world he cared about more than anything. Like a kick in the stomach, Harry realised that he'd taken her for granted. Thinking back to their childhood, it had always been Ember and him; she had been his safe haven for all his life. Until they came to Hogwarts ...

   "Is she — will she —" Harry's voice broke, but now the attendants noticed his presence. His heart skipped a beat, as he saw a faint smile on Professor Dumbledore's lips.

   "She's alive", said the headmaster, and the breath Harry had held, now was pressed out of his lungs. "It will take her a few days for recovery."

   "What happened?"

   "The spell we used on the hostages broke", Bagman explained, rubbing his neck. "Uncommon, not to say impossible! Thank goodness it happened on their way up."

   "But how — ?"

   "That, Mr Weasley, is the question we need an answer for", Dumbledore replied. "This spell is designed to not lose its effectiveness. It should have worked as yours, until getting back to the surface. Nothing else can break this charm. Unless someone is actively abrogating it."

   For the second time since he left the coldness of the lake, Harry felt like being punched, this time straight into his face. "But that means ...", he whispered more to himself than to anyone else, his voice getting lost.

   "Someone tried to murder Ember, yes."

—