𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, fred weasley

˗ˋ 41

CHAPTER FORTY ONE
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH IT COMES TO A CLOSE

. . .

Elodie had never seen a dead body - and she still hadn't seen one. But it very much seemed like she had, as she stared up at the row of four bodies. Ron, Hermione, Cho and Fred. 

It was an extremely strange sight to see, the four bodies seemingly lifeless as they floated there, chained to the tail of a stone merperson. So this was what the riddle was talking about. These four people were what each champion would sorely miss. 

Fred was obviously for her, and Cho was for Cedric. And considering Ron's rudeness and lack of friendship towards Viktor Krum, she could determine that the younger Weasley boy was what Harry would sorely miss, and Hermione was for Viktor. 

Which was rather sweet, considering that they had such a language barrier and had only known each other a couple of months. Her and Fred were the same, but she had been able to communicate with him from the start. 

With the eyes of the merpeople on her, Elodie swam closer to the row of four. She was clearly the first there, and given that, she figured that she had enough time just to take a moment and clear her mind before trying to think how on earth she would manage to get Fred out of the chains. 

Fred Weasley, someone she had only known for four months, around 120 days. They had grown so close in that time that he had managed to beat out Fleur in something that she would sorely miss. 

She wasn't even sure how that was determined, however if she thought about it, Elodie had just always assumed that Fleur would be there, she hadn't considered that one day she could be gone. Or, if it was Madame Maxime choosing, then she had stumbled of Fred and Elodie together in a lone corridor more than enough times to know he meant something to her.

But either way, Fred was chosen. He was the thing she was sorely miss. And considering she had only known him for a few months and they had grown that close, it turned her mind back to the predicament she had about where she would go for her final year at school.

She was broken out of her trance when something swum by her, and she saw Harry. He met her eyes and then looked towards the floor of the lake, gesturing at the rocks that lay scattered there.

In her slight confusion, Elodie couldn't think of the severing charm and so she nodded, the two of them swimming down and picking up a jagged edged stone each and swimming back to the hostages. 

A look of horror appeared on Elodie's face as she watched Harry go for Hermione first, attempting to cut her free only to have several merman drag him away.

She couldn't quite catch what they said to him, but Harry was heavily protesting whatever it was, and Elodie assumed that they had told him that he couldn't help Hermione.

Harry was let go as the mermaids began to point over in one direction. Cedric was swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made hisf eatures look oddly wide and stretched - which must be what Elodie looked like.

"Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Krum's coming now!"

Feeling enormously relieved, Elodie and Harry watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and outof sight.

The mermaids began to screech and Harry and Elodie turned to see something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark. It was Viktor. He appeared to have transfigured himself - but badly.

The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin, and Elodie was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward, Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface.

Elodie watched all of this frozen, and Harry snatched up the stone that Krum left. The pair began to try and cut at the rope that tied Ron and Fred down.

They managed to free them, and Harry began to pull Ron up. Elodie was ready to do the same, but as she tried to pull Fred up, it seemed that she couldn't.

Elodie was far smaller that Fred, and because of this he was a lot heavier than she was strong. She could only get so far without having to stop, and Harry glanced back down, dragging Ron down again with him as both he and Elodie pulled Fred up to the top. 

The merpeople rose with them, and it was slow work. But it seemed to get lighter and lighter, and just about to reach the surface, Harry let go of Fred and helped pull Elodie up.

And they reached the surface, breaking through the water, Fred and Ron's eyes shooting open and the four of them gasping for breath.

It was over.

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