Charms lesson seemed to be slower than usual. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I sat at the very back of the class with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to be practising the new Charm Professor Flitwick had demonstrated, but the anticipation of the Second Task was too grand.
"You said you'd already worked out the egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.
"Shut up," I hissed.
"Keep your voice down!" Harry said crossly. "I just need to, sort of, fine-tune it, alright?"
I rolled my eyes at the blatant lie he just told, but Hermione knew him too well to actually think he only needed fine-tuning and not a whole heap of help.
"Are you sure?" Hermione questioned.
"Forget about the egg really quick, I'm trying to tell you..." Harry continued to talk about last night when he and I almost got caught by Professors Snape and Moody, and Filch.
Hermione butted in many times asking about the map in specific, but Ron wanted to know more about Snape's nightwear than the possibility that someone actually broke into Snape's office. I scolded Ron about being more serious about the situation and Ron reluctantly listened. Something that stuck out to Hermione was the idea of Snape having more than one chance— as to why he got another one and what he lost the first one to.
After lessons had finished, for the day, the four of us went to the library to figure out Harry's most urgent problem: How to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February.
Ron liked the idea of using a Summoning Charm again— Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggletown. I crushed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy — it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts.
Hermione entertained the idea of Harry transfiguring into a submarine but I quickly shut that down as well being that human Transfiguration is sixth-year level magic that Harry did not possess.
After hours of trying to come up with a logical idea, Harry had given up. It was nightfall by the time the four of them left the library– missing dinner and all. For the next week, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I searched through our lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends; even the Restricted Section section of the library didn't have any answers.
With two days left, Harry panicked more and more. Adding onto the panic, Sirius had written a letter to Harry, asking for the next Hogsmeade weekend trip, so he could meet with Harry to talk about the upcoming events.
"Weekend after next," I whispered. "Respond and send this owl back straight away."
Without further instruction, Harry sent the owl back with the date, hoping it reached him fast. The rest of the day was spent bouncing from class to class, trying to concentrate on the assignments at hand, but I knew the idea of drowning was ever-present in his mind.
By the evening before the second task, Harry sat with Hermione, Ron, and me in the library as the sunset grew dim. Book after book, spell after spell, there was no answer to his question.
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron, completely giving up. "There's nothing. Nothing."
"There must be something," Hermione muttered.
"Where is the book?" I mumbled to myself, groaning at the sight of the large heap of books.
"Which book?" Harry asked with hope.
YOU ARE READING
Poisoned Youth | ✓
Fanfiction"I didn't mean for it to happen, it just did..." "For the last few years?" "No, for the last seven..." Possibly one of the worst things that could ever happen is falling in love with your best friend. Naturally, that's exactly what happened. - *conn...
