Beyond Friendship - Harry Potter

8. The Second Task

The day of the second task had come and Harry hadn't gotten any sleep, still worried about Ron and Hermione. He thought Ron would get back, but he never did, and he hasn't seen either one of them since last night.

Harry had lost track of time and realized that the task is supposed to start in 30 minutes. He quickly got dressed and ran down toward the black lake.

Fred and George were walking up and down the hill, taking money from people who wanted to bet on which one of the champions would win the second task.

"Any bets!?" George yelled loudly.

"Place your bets! Come on!" Fred yelled at the same time, but they both stopped momentairly when they bumped into Ginny, who was looking rather annoyed with them.

"Don't be so mean." She said and continued down the hill. The twins ignored her and continued yelling.

When Harry reached the bridge where the boats were waiting for everyone, he caught up with Neville, who had saved him last night with a plan to breathe underwater for an hour. Gillyweed.

"Neville." Harry exclaimed, out of breath. 

"Harry! Was afraid you weren't gonna show."

"For a minute, so did I. Do you have the gillyweed?"

"Oh yes, here." Neville said and took out some gooey green seaweed looking thing and placed it in Harry's hand.

"You're sure about this, Neville?"

"Absolutely."

"For an hour?" Harry asked, still feeling a bit sceptical about any of this, since he has no idea what gillyweed even is.

"Most likely."

"Most likely?"

"Well there is some debate among herbologists as to the effects of fresh water versus saltwater, but-" Neville explained.

"You're telling me this now? You must be joking."

"I- I just wanted to help."

"Well, that makes you a right sight better than Ron and Hermione. Where are they, anyway?" He said as he looked around hystarically for them.

"You seem a little tense, Harry."

"Do I?"

They climbed into the boat, and for the whole ride over to where everyone was, they were all quite.

When everyone was gathered and the boats had left, it was time for the tournament to continue.

"Welcome to the second task!" Dumbledore's voice took over all the chanting. "Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These for treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the black lake. In order to win, each champion need only to find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough-"

"Put that in your mouth." Professor Moody said to Harry, who did as he was told.

"-Except for this:" Dumbledore continued. "They will have but one hour to do so, and one hour only. After that, they'll be on their own. No magic will save them. You may begin, at the sound of the cannon." And so the cannon was shot.

The champions all jumped in the water, except for Harry, who had trouble swallowing the gillyweed. Professor Moody gave him a push, and Harry dramatically fell in.

He struggled underwater but a moment after he was relaxed. He could feel something had changed to him. He now had gills on the side of his neck, and his feet and hands were now like swimfin's. Harry swam up with great speed and jumped up in the air and did a flip, which amazed everyone. Neville was now very relived that he hadn't accidentally killed the Harry Potter.