Yellow (George Weasley)

26 - Black Lake

I flipped through the pages of one of the older charms books available at Hogwarts. Cedric was under the impression that the second task had to do with the mermaids in Black Lake in some way or another and had asked me to keep an eye out for a spell that would allow him to breathe under water.

So naturally, instead of doing my Transfiguration's homework I was searching through various books in the library. If I get behind I'll just copy Cedric's.

"What are you focusing so intensely on?" George's voice cutting through the silence made me practically fall out of my chair. He glanced around before leaning across the table and planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

It's so easy for him to give me butterflies. I smiled up at him once he pulled away. "Looking for a charm to breathe underwater."

"What? Do you just fancy a nice long swim in the middle of February?" He teased.

"Precisely." I rolled my eyes. "Cedric thinks the next task will be of the underwater sort so I'm helping him out."

"Getting in Black Lake in February would be a task on its own." He shuddered.

I flipped the next page and there it was. "Genius." I gasped reading over the pages.

"What?" George peered over to read the page. "A Bubble-Head Charm?"

"Yes! It's perfect. It creates a bubble around the mouth and nose. That should give him enough oxygen to breathe under water." I wrote down all the information from the book on a separate sheet of paper so I could pass it off to Cedric.

"You know what's even better? You could use that when tossing Dungbombs." He grinned as if he's had an epiphany. "You know...to not smell the stink yourself. Especially if someone drops one right at our feet."

"That was an accident and you know it!" I shook my head trying to hide the smile.

Third year I had went along with the twin boys to help them prank a group of Slytherin who had been bullying a younger first year. Unfortunately, I'm a butter fingers and had dropped the Dungbomb before I could throw it. It exploded at our feet and the three of us ran from the putrid green smoke, gagging at the stench.

"Well I haven't let you touch another Dungbomb since." He smirked. "But I am excited to try out the new charm I've learned on Fred later. You know we've been together for about a month now and you're already teaching me things."

"Let's go to dinner, you git." I pulled him out of his chair.

Of course he joked about the various ways he would use that charm the entire way to the Great Hall.

"How was your studying?" Lee laughed as he and Fred turned the corner.

I rolled my eyes. "Actually I did find something that'll help out Cedric for the second task."

"What is it?" Fred asked as we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Don't worry, Freddie. I'll show you later." George pat his brother on the shoulder before winking across the table at me.

I finished up my dinner and was listening to Lee's story about his failed attempt to ask out a Ravenclaw girl. "I thought being the Quidditch announcer might get me some bonus points but she just didn't give a rat's ass." The three boys laughed.

Across the room, Cedric stood from the Hufflepuff table with his friends and I excused myself from my own table before following him out of the Great Hall. "Ced!" I called after him.

"Hey, Leah." He grinned, turning towards me after letting his friends know he would catch up with them later.

"I found something." I unraveled the folded up piece of notebook paper I had shoved into my pocket. "A bubble-head charm."