Payback [Fred Weasley]

Chasing Unicorns and Butterbeer Confessions

Weeks went by, the memory/dream from the night after the Yule Ball playing over and over in my head. One thing that did help me distract myself from trying to place the redhead's face was helping Harry trying to solve the golden eggs problem. He needed a hint on what in the world the second task could be and supposedly the only way to do that was through the stupid screeching egg.

"I did it!" Viktor declared, barging into our room as Mia, Noah, Andre and I sat there trying to get through our homework.

"What exactly have you done?" Mia questioned, looking up at the Bulgarian boy, annoyed that he was interrupting her homework flow.

"I figured the egg out." He beamed, puffing his chest out in pride as he placed the now different looking egg on our dresser.

"What was the deal with it?" I questioned, intrigued. I stood up and approached the egg cautiously. I was worried it might jump at me or something.

"Vell, I accidentally dropped it in the lake..." he trailed off. "But then it started talking and explained what happened."

"And what did it say?" Mia pipped up from her spot sprawled out on her bed.

Instead of answering, Viktor grabbed Andre's water bottle and poured in on the egg in his hand. It started speaking. "Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"What the hell.." I mumbled, trying to process what the thing said.

"Voices under ground?" Andre murmured. "What are they? Mole rats or something?"

"Who knows." Viktor shrugged. "I think the 'we take what you love part is more important.'"

"Probably." Mia agreed, turning back to her homework.


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The wind howled through the crisp February air, biting at my cheeks and tousling my hair as I stood on the edge of the Black Lake, clutching the edge of my scarf with both hands. The crowd's excitement was palpable, a symphony of cheers and gasps that mingled with the lapping of the waves against the shore.

Harry, Viktor, Cedric, and Fleur were out there in the water doing whatever the council had dreamed up for this task. My stomach was churning with nerves as I stood next to the twins, watching. Mia was chosen to be a part of the task along with Ron.

As the lake's surface began to ripple, I leaned forward, my heart pounding. My eyes darted across the water, and then I spotted Harry surfacing. I released a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. He was safe. He pulled Ron up with him and hoisted him onto the edge of the lake, where he was wrapped up in a blanket. Before I could say anything, Harry was diving back in to the water as Fleur surfaced next to him, her face full of worry.

Viktor appeared out of the water, holding on to Mia before allowing for her to be wrapped in a towel before himself. As he started to dry off, I locked eyes with Viktor and gave him an approving nod, glad he successfully got Mia out of there.

The time was ticking down, as Harry still hadn't come back out of the water. Cedric appeared with Cho Chang, both of them shivering when they finally got out of the water. The timer got down to a minute and my heart started speeding up. What would happen if he didn't make it back up in time?

Fred seemed to notice my nerves, reaching down to grab my hand, surprising my a bit. The timer hit zero, and you could hear everyone's voices whispering about what they thought was happening. Maybe a minute later, Harry appeared out of the water, gasping for air with Fleur's little sister grasped in his arm.