A Marauders' Daughter

72

The morning of the second task, I was sitting with the other champions at the breakfast table again. Again, at four in the morning. Fleur and Harry seemed more nervous than me and Viktor. Not eating a single bite, just picking at their food.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

"Non, Gabrielle wasn't in her bed this morning."

"What do you mean?"

"She was called to Professor McGonagall's office last night. I thought she came back but her bed was still untouched when I left this morning." She was biting her beautiful nails short.

"Hermione and Ron were summoned too. I don't know about Hermione, but Ron wasn't in his bed this morning."

"Has it something to do with the task?" Viktor asked, his accent still thick even with the translation charm.

"We've taken what you sorely miss." I whispered. I looked at them wide-eyed. "They didn't take objects, they took students." The others gasped with me. "They took Gabrielle for you to find, Fleur. I'm guessing Hermione for Viktor and Ron for Harry. Oh, De la Berre, they are in the black lake."

"They can't do that. They didn't agree to participate in the tournament." Fleur hissed in anger. "Gabrielle is just a child."

I wrapped her in a hug as she started to tremble. "It will be okay. Madame Maxime wouldn't let anything happen to her; you know that."

She nodded weakly against my shoulder, but I was trembling myself.

"But who did they take from you?" Harry asked.

Dread filled me. I didn't know. Draco, Angelina? Jack or Jazz? The twins. "I don't know." My voice shook. "I was in the Prefect's Bathroom until midnight, everyone had gone to bed by then."

Now it was Fleur who hugged me tightly against her. "We'll get everyone back, Alec. Everyone."

On one hand I wanted to know who was taken from me, on the other hand I didn't. I thought it would make me nerves even worse. So, the four of us wandered outside again to the large willow tree when we heard students come down from the staircases. Fleur put a warming spell around us as we waited. We tried to lighten the mood with different subjects, but the silence fell more than the conversation.

When we heard students walk past us to the stands in the water, we waited until everyone was up there. Then the four of us pushed our way through the willow's branches and walked over to the cheering crowd. But I didn't feel like cheering, not one bit. My eyes scanned the crowd. I sighed in relief when I saw the twins standing on the lowest stand, looking as nervous as me. Next to them Angelina, Lee, Jack and Jazz. That only left ... I took in sharp gasp as my eyes scanned the crowd. I had stopped walking and Harry placed a hand on my arm.

"Alec?"

"It's Draco. They've taken Draco."

We stepped on the bottom platform of the stands and mister Bagman smiled broadly at Harry.

We took our places at the edge of the platform, glancing at the cold, dark water. After I told Sirius about the dark, he had come up with a spell the next morning, so I was able to see everything around me like in broad daylight. I put the charm over my eyes, then the blood charm against my pulse in my wrist. And lastly the filter over my face, so water couldn't get in.

The Bagman fellow placed his wand against his throat. "Sonorus." His voice echoed over the water. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One, two, -" We glanced at one another, ready to dive in and get our friends and family back. "Three."