Yours Regardless

The Second Task

           Charlize was pacing back and forth holding a bundle of sopping wet gillyweed that had been in a parcel dropped on her head this morning with a note attached saying it would help her but nothing else and considering she was not only desperate but Harry had been given the same thing from Neville; she had nothing to lose. But the task wasn't what was bothering her, no it was that Fred hadn't shown up yet and he had promised that he would be there before she had to get on the boat with the other champions to the middle of the lake.

           "George! George!" She called out to the younger twin as he walked towards her with Angeline and Lee.

          "A bit chilly to be wearing such a revealing outfit." George laughed causing Charlize to roll her eyes, obviously the maroon one piece bathing suit wasn't her choice, but at least she wasn't alone as Fleur had on a same style bathing suit that was a pale blue.

           "Sod off, where is your twin?" Charlize asked quickly.

George furrowed his eyebrows, "I haven't seen him, thought he came down here early to see you."

           "Well he got lost on the way, he never showed." Charlize felt dread settle at the bottom of her stomach as she wrung her hands together.

Harry didn't help with her nerves; he came by informing them that Ron and Hermione were also nowhere to be seen, neither was Taylor. Charlize felt her fingers start to tingle and her breath start to shallow, most of their friends hadn't shown up. She tried to control herself as she got into the boat for the champions sitting beside Cedric, and Fleur coming to sit down on her other side leaving Harry to sit in front of her.

           "Have you seen Taylor?" Cedric asked quietly as the boat started moving.

Charlize shook her head, her eyes not doing a good job at hiding her anxiety. Cedric nodded as brought his arm around her, his hand rubbing up and down in an effort to warm her up.

           "Ced...I've got a bad feeling about this." Charlize said slowly.

           "Why, she's probably just late-"

She shook her head, "Fred's gone too, so are Hermione and Ron."

Cedric had gone silent, both of them turning to look at the dark lake praying to all that would listen that they were wrong about what they would have to get back, or rather who.

Viktor, Fleur, Cedric, Charlize, and Harry stood just before the water as they were announced to the crowd. Gillyweed was still sopping wet in her hand, and she had half the mind to start chewing it just as she thought Dumbledore was nearly done speaking. She felt the air escape her lungs in no way she had experienced before, her head suddenly pounding with the distorted sound of the crowd cheering and she luckily was able to fall into the water just as the canon sounded. The water surrounding her finally brings a breath of fresh...water? It seems she realizes what Gillyweed does as she notices her crystal clear sight and ability to breath under the water, though the gills tearing open on her neck and feet stretching into fins weren't terribly comfortable.

She started to swim towards the bottom of the lake, Harry coming into view next to her. They both looked at each other as they heard the familiar singing that had come from the egg, now in the water. The excitement was short-lived as Charlize felt something uncomfortably slimy move against her leg quickly, just before catching a glimpse of a nasty flesh colored tail swimming away. She ignored the creature as it didn't seem to take any interest in harming her at the moment, and continued to swim toward a clearing in the kelp.

It wasn't long before she noticed the floating mop of red hair, her heart dropping as she saw Fred Weasley tied to the bottom of a lake, unconscious. Charlize kicked as hard as she could as she noticed who the other people were, Ron, Hermione, Taylor, and a small blonde child. She could guess who was saving who, and her theories were solidified as Cedric swam up to Taylor, zapping away the ties on her legs. He looked at Charlize and tapped his watch with his wand, signalling time was coming to an end, then he swam away.

Charlize wasted no time in taking her wand and pointing at the ties around Fred's feet, the easy part was done and pulling Fred up to the surface wasn't exactly a walk in the park considering his sheer size and dead weight. It looked as though Harry was also struggling as he tried to carry up both Ron and the little girl. Before she could look away, a swarm of grindylows attacked Harry just a few feet below her. Harry let go of Ron and the little girl, Charlize reaching to grab them and push them to the top as best she could though the added weight of Fred didn't help. She noticed her breath start to become more shallow and the webbing in between her fingers, she tried to push Fred up to join the other but there was a button on his shirt that had tangled itself in her hair refusing to release.

She looked back down at Harry, pointing her wand in the general direction of the grindylows before letting a nonverbal spell scare away the frustrating creatures. Harry still had his eyes open and that was enough for Charlize to know he'd be alright and she swam as hard as she could to the top Fred in tow, all six feet and three inches of him. Her head started to pound as she ran out of breath, her lungs begging her to just take a breath.

The surface of the water broke as Charlize and a mop of red hair gasped for air. Fred pushed back his hair and let out a few coughs as he swam to the docks, Charlize's hand in his. Charlize was trying to get her eyes to focus, dizzy from the lack of oxygen and the energy exertion of trying to carry a giant to the surface of the lake, luckily the button had freed her hair sometime during the debacle. Cedric bent down with Viktor Krum to pull Charlize out of the water, Viktor then turning to grab Fred's hand and pull him up. Taylor ran up to them both, giving a towel to Fred and holding one out to Charlize who was too out of it to grab it.

Fred crouched down to her, moving some of her hair out of her eyes and putting the towel over her as best he could before lightly tapping her to get her to open her eyes.

           "Hey, Poppet, you ok?" Fred asked with an encouraging smile as he saw her eyebrows furrow and coughs erupt from her.

Charlize took a moment before responding in a wheeze, "You're heavy."

           "Yeah I reckon it would've been smarter of McGonagall to have you pull up one of the smaller first years." Fred added with a laugh, helping Charlize sit up.

Harry had shot out of the water a few minutes earlier, though she knew he'd make it out eventually and quite frankly she was too tired to care.

Fred watched her sputter up some water with a lopsided grin on his face, he was the important thing that she had to get. Him, Fred Weasley, was so important to Charlize that he had been tied to the bottom of a lake, and a nagging thought at the back of his head told him that if Draco was still in the picture it would've been him instead, making his grin fall.

Charlize noticed the range of emotions that ran across his face and in the moment of tired adrenaline it was as if she could read his mind, it was as if she knew he was doubting his importance when she decided to be selfish yet again.

           "They wouldn't be as important to me as you are. No one has been and no one will ever be, Freddie."

And Charlize brought her hand to cup his face as she pushed her lips onto his. Fred wasted no time in kissing back, feeling his cheeks flush and heart soar as he heard what he had always wanted to hear, not just from Charlize but from anyone. Fred Weasley, the fourth of seven, was important to someone and there was no prank or joke required, just Freddie.

Draco sat a few stands up having a clear view of the task and the show on the docks. His nerves from the task concocting into a nauseating feeling of resentment as he watched Fred's hands come up to hold Charlize's face as they kissed. A part of him wished that he had drowned in the lake, effectively becoming mermaid fodder. His hands started to tremble with rage as he was unable to pull his eyes from the two now standing far too close to each other and looking far too cuddly for Draco's liking. Suddenly watching the girl you love be with someone else was not an easy task.