Untold Ties // Harry Potter Universe

Untold Dives // Chapter 9

The weeks following Christmas Break were nothing out of the ordinary for the two Ilvermorny witches. They continued their classes just like they would at their school back in America. Magnolia finally started to get better marks in Herbology thanks to Neville's tutoring and he started to understand Divination a little better thanks to Magnolia's expertise. Nicole maintained her high grades although her main concerns were focusing on the Tournament. She had always taken pride in her grades when it came to school and she would never let them slip even if it meant that sometimes she couldn't have as much fun as she wanted to. Nicole and Magnolia had stayed up late the night before the second trial to better prepare for what was to come the next morning. Although they had cracked the riddle months ago, the witches were still faced with the problem of what the Black Lake would take from the Champions.

**The Day Of The Second Trial**

Nicole awoke early in the morning to make sure that she had a good meal before the inevitable water trial. She walked over to where she left Magnolia the night prior to wake her up. When she reached the bed, she took one of Magnolia's pillows that had fallen onto the ground and smacked the bed where she had been sleeping. After the soft thud of the pillow hitting the covers, Nicole noticed that Magnolia did not react to the pillow, she lifted the blanket on the dark purple bed to notice that her friend was nowhere to be seen. Nicole assumed that Magnolia had already gone to the Great Hall to get something to eat, but when she reached the hall, Nicole still couldn't locate her. She knew that this behavior was definitely out of the ordinary for Magnolia, but she could not waste the time before the task wondering what her friend was doing. After eating, Nicole got dressed in her cranberry purple two-piece bathing suit. She decided to add a red shawl that draped over her shoulders so that she could be warm walking through the fields of Hogwarts. She still couldn't help but wonder what Magnolia had gotten herself into this time.

Nicole had just reached the edge of the dock when she spotted Harry walking with Neville towards boats. She then caught out of the corner of her eye, Neville discreetly giving Harry something to put in his pocket. The three met up as one of the boats pulled towards where they were standing. They boarded the boat and sat across from one another. When he sat down, Harry asked Nicole if she had seen Ron or Hermione at all that day.

"I haven't seen anyone today now that you brought it up. I've looked for Mags all day and I thought she had just run off somewhere," Nicole replied.

"I thought that I was going crazy when I didn't wake up last night to Ron yelling about spiders," Harry acknowledged. The trio of students wandered onto the boat and took their seats as they sailed across the Black Lake when Nicole turned to Harry to ask about his strategy.

"Um, Neville got me some of this stuff... I'm not entirely sure what it does but I think I trust Neville enough not to kill me," The boy replied while pulling the slimy plant out of his pocket.

"Oh that's Gillyweed, well... I hope it works out for you," Nicole said hesitantly while looking over at Neville who was also looking quite nervous about the whole ordeal.

**The Second Task**

The five Champions climbed up onto a large wooden podium where Dumbledore and Mr. Crouch stood waiting for them. After making a loud announcement to the crowd, the group took their places in line while Dumbledore explained the rules to everyone in attendance. The Champions have one hour to retrieve something they have misplaced from the bottom of the Lake before the time runs out. They could use any means necessary to get their items from the Lake, but they are only allowed to retrieve their own item.

The water below the Champions was cold, freezing almost due to the weather that Hogwarts had during this specific task. Nicole looked above her head to see Mr. Filch with a match in his hand, standing next to a large cannon. The cannon that signaled the start of the task rang through the air and all of the Champions jumped straight into the icy water. Harry, however, was pushed in by Professor Moody rather ungracefully. Nicole, without thinking, swiftly channeled her Metamorphmagus abilities to appear as one of the mermaids in the lake. She found herself swimming with ease to the bottom of the murky water to see where all of her friends had been that morning.