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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊
"𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢."
—𝐷𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎 𝐴𝑛𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑎, 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟓𝟒𝟏𝟗

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 the Christmas holiday was one like no other. 

In previous years, most of the students went home for the break, leaving the school silent for the full two weeks. Of course, no one wanted to be in school over the holidays. This year, obviously, the school had been buzzing with the students that had wanted to stay for the Yule Ball, and that resulted in a castle as full as it usually was.

Liliana and the other boys spent the rest of their time after Christmas studying for tests (or at least, she attempted to make them study), hanging out in the library or the Hufflepuff common room, or trying to figure out that goddamn egg and why it wailed like a demon.

They had spent hours upon hours attempting to decode whatever message the egg was giving them, but still, they had nothing. It was now nearing the end of January, and it was seeming to be near impossible. 

There was less than a month left until the date of the second task, and Liliana only became more nervous with each tick of the clock. She feared Cedric would have to go into the second task knowing absolutely nothing.

She and the other four boys were now sitting in a section of the library during their free period. All of them had their own individual book laid out in front of them, and the hope was they'd get something, anything that might give them a clue. It was really the first time Liliana had seen any of them so quiet and concentrated. 

So far, unfortunately, they had found absolute zilch.

"I've read so many books and I haven't found anything yet!" Riley complained loudly as he shut his book and pushed it to the side. "You know how many I've read? Three! Three whole books!"

Liliana wrinkled her nose as she looked up at him from her own book. "Three isn't really a lo—"

"Three!"

"I mean, he usually can barely get through five pages without getting bored, so him reading three entire books is pretty impressive," Cedric remarked with a shrug as he flipped his page, and he spared a second to glance up.

"I don't know, mate. How is reading supposed to help us find out what the egg is screaming about?" Devon asked irritably as he pulled a new book towards him. "There's no way there's a message in there. You should just chuck it into the lake or something."

Liliana rolled her eyes. "Because if we can—Merlin's beard!"

"What?" they all asked simultaneously, their heads snapping in her direction.

She ran a hand through her hair, Devon's words resounding in her head. The lake.

Of course, how had she not recognized it before? What other things could make such a horrifying screeching noise? She knew that the merpeople's language couldn't really be understood out of the water, which made perfect sense in this situation. 

There was only one way to find out if she was right.

"Ced, get your egg and follow me." Liliana got up abruptly, quickly closing the book and stacking it on top of the pile that sat in the middle of the table.