His Guardian Angel

Chapter 5

It turns out, the Black Lake is quite cold this time of year. And the best side-effect of gillyweed, besides being able to breathe underwater, is that Harry now couldn't tell if the water was cold or hot. It just felt like the same temperature he was, which was weird but not uncomfortable.

He was wrong when it came to the no-magic concern he'd had. He still had no idea what they took of his, but it hadn't been his wand and for that he was grateful.

He coasted through the water at a relatively fast pace, thanks to his webbed hands and feet. He was purposefully following the sounds he could hear off in the distance. It didn't sound like talking or singing-but it did remind him of when you're some distance away from a crowd and getting closer. He could hear what seemed to be some sort of chatter, but he couldn't make anything specific out.

When he arrived at what seemed to be a stone building, he caught his first glimpse of a merperson. It looked somewhat feminine with a very curvaceous figure and long hair but the facial hair and lack of breasts made him consider the possibility of it being male. He shook his head and focused, he didn't need to be concerned about a different species right now, he needed to finish this task so he could go back to the castle. Surely everyone else had finished by now, they'd been in the lake for what seemed to be an eternity.

He followed what looked to be heavily trafficked paths into the heart of the merpeople and saw four people floating in the water. They were all tied down so they didn't float to the surface and Harry practically saw red.

How dare they?!

It was one thing to endanger the life of the people who were competing but to endanger the lives of others as well? That was inexcusable. He knew for a fact that the little girl with flowing silver hair hadn't been able to give her consent to this and he knew Hermione and Ron both well enough to know they'd never agree to being put underwater for an hour amidst the merpeople of the Black Lake. And something told him that the Ravenclaw girl he saw would have been smart enough to decline to something like this.

He decided right then and there that he wasn't leaving any of these people down here for the other champions. It was insane to do so, and if Mr. Crouch didn't like it then he could stuff it where the sun didn't shine.

It didn't take long at all for the merfolk to realize he was planning on taking more than one person with him, but they all fled at the sight of his wand when he pulled it out of its holster. They swam off to hide as he cut all four people loose. He sent each one to the surface with a mild floating charm and followed them all up only to realize they were now in the center of the lake, very very far from where the judges were. They had all woken up once they'd broken the surface but Harry couldn't come up quite yet to join them. It was Hermione that managed to see him and when he pointed to his gills, she nodded and directed the others towards where the judges were. Harry and Hermione helped the little girl swim, seeing as she couldn't swim on her own. Harry swam under her so she wouldn't fall and Hermione helped teach her what to do with her arms and legs. She calmed down enough to try to follow directions when she realized Harry wouldn't let her drown, but he suspected there was a language barrier. Hermione wasn't really talking but she used a lot of hand motioning to help the girl understand what to do.

When they arrived back, Harry's gills and webbed extremities had all been set back to sorts. The other three champions were already at the docks, two of the three looking furious. Fleur was the only one who looked relieved when she saw the little girl and went on and on about how wonderful Harry was for rescuing her little sister.

Harry smiled and nodded but when she turned back to the girl, Harry turned to look for Mr. Crouch.

"Are you out of your bloody mind?! You thought it would be okay to take four people who didn't sign up to have their lives endangered to be put in harm's way and put them in the depths of the Black Lake? How dare you! And not only that, but were you even aware that this lake has some incredibly nasty things in it that would have loved to munch on the free snacks you left floating around in there?"