Daughter of Black

4.17

The Black Lake.

Mermaids.

An hour.

And unfortunately for me, the last time I had seen George was last night when he was sent to McGonagall's. Fred hadn't seen him this morning. Angie hadn't seen him. No one had seen George this morning. I was stuck between upset and worried. "Welcome to the second task. Last night something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These five treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the black lake. In order to win each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough. Except for this, they will have one hour to do so and one hour only. After that they'll be on their own." I looked back at Harry as he put something in his mouth. "You may begin at the start of the cannon." It felt like hours before the cannon was fired. All of us dove into the water. As soon as I was in the water, I cast the bubble head charm and suddenly I was able to breath under the water. I couldn't see anyone else. I naturally assumed they were already in front of me. Despite the harsh circumstances, I can't help but notice how beautiful the lake is when you're swimming in it. From up above, it just looks black and murky. I can see the schools of fish swimming past and every once in a while, I can hear the singing voices of the mermaids. As I swim past the coral reef, I see a clearing where 5 people are tied up, unconscious but protected. I swim closer to them and upon seeing George, my eyes go wide. Mione, Ron, Cho Chang and Fleur's sister are all there as well. I look around, seeing Harry swim up as well as Cedric and a half-shark Krum. I quickly untie George, assuming that he is my "treasure", dragging him with me. Cedric was already near the surface when I had finally untied George. Holding onto him tightly, I swam as fast as I could to the top, Krum catching up behind me. As soon as our heads came above the surface of the water, the charm disappeared and George became conscious again. Krum popped up right after me, his shark head quickly turning back into his regular one.

"You did it love." George gasped as I breathed heavily, both of us swimming back to shore. As soon as we sat on the edge of the deck, I pulled George into me, kissing him hard. Though surprised, he kissed me back, his hands finding my back and pulling me closer to him. We only pulled apart when we heard a cough, Fred and Angie standing there with their eyebrows raised. I blushed a deep red as I looked back at George.

"Never scare me like that again, ok?" He nodded, though we could all see the huge smile on his face as Fred and Angie handed us the towels.

"I think I speak for us all when I say, 'finally!'" I laughed, looking back at Fred.

"Actually... George and I have been dating for a few weeks now." I told the two of them, their mouths dropping like flies.

"Two and a half, if we're being exact." George said, wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me closer so he could kiss my temple. Two heads came popping out of the water as the clock struck an hour. It was Ron and Fleur's sister. I stood up quickly when I realised Harry hadn't come back up yet, Ron and Fleur's sister having swam to the deck. I waited a few more seconds but when Harry didn't come up, my brain flipped some sort of switch and I threw off my towel, diving back into the water. The bubble charm had worn off a while ago so I made sure to gather plenty of air before I had dived in. Well, I hoped it was plenty of air. I looked around for Harry but I couldn't find him. I looked down, seeing a body drifting further down. I could feel myself start to lose air as I swam down, grabbing Harry's hand.

"Ascendio!" I shouted, despite the fact that water was quickly filling my mouth. The spell flew us out of the water and onto the deck. I let go of Harry, coughing up all the water I had breathed in. My eyes hurt and my lungs hurt but I looked back towards Harry, handing him a towel. George ran over to me, wrapping me in a towel as well. But I wasn't focused on me. I was focused on Harry as he coughed up water. "Harry, are you ok?" I asked him as Seamus, Ron and Fleur all ran over to him. He nods, probably feeling a little weak. So did I. Seamus and I sat next to Harry, trying to get him to warm up.