Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Seventy Seven

A sharp pain dragged down Hope's leg, causing her to open her mouth underwater. The disgusting taste of the Black Lake water filled her mouth causing the girl to try and expel it out, with little success. Keeping a firm grip of the key, Hope whipped her body around, clutching her wand tightly to see herself surrounded by grindylows.  As her lungs burned from the lack of air, the girl attempted to use her wand to relieve the pain, only to find herself being attacked again. They wrapped around her arms and legs, their sharp little horns digging into her skin. She could feel the loss of circulation forming as her fingertips tingled unpleasantly as they loosened around her wand.

"No," she thought to herself, if she lost her wand, she was doomed in that moment. Squeezing her fingers tightly, she held her wand and the key. However, she became distracted again by the pain in her body, not to mention the fact that her lungs were screaming for her to breathe. She attempted the Revulsion Jinx in order to ward them off, but she was prevented from doing so by a sharp pain that dug into the side of her neck.

It caused her to cry out and once again, her mouth filled with the lake water.

Henry stood at the platform, nearly chewing down his thumb as there was no more nail left to bite down on. As the Ilvermorny students arrived first with their key to open the chest, they were declared to be in first place. He had kept his fingers crossed that the girls weren't far behind, but as the Durmstrang team appeared next, panic set in Henry's chest. He had a bad feeling that was clawing at his stomach when he felt something similar to a pinch on his side.

Digging his hand into the pocket of his robes, he pulled out his wand to see several sparks emit from it, a dark red that made Fergus glance over at him.

"What are you doing?" He whispered to Henry, thinking the boy had lost it and was about to do something drastic.

"It's not me!" Henry told him, holding onto the wand loosely. "Something is wrong."

"Look, Henry, I know you're upset about them coming in last, but I'm sure everything is fine-"

"No, something is wrong!" Henry snapped at him. "My wand isn't doing this to entertain me. Something is going on with Hope, Stella, and Eliza."

"I'm sure they are fine," Fergus tried to reassure him. 

"How sure?"

Time was up as the horn sounded again, and the Hogwarts team was nowhere to be seen near the platform. Even the other teams glanced at each other nervously, trying to figure out what happened out in the water. They claimed they didn't even come across the team during their search for the pieces.

Henry looked to his mother and father that were standing near the other professors, including Remus that looked beyond pale in that moment. With the time up, Nixie saw the look on her son's face before approaching Professor McGonagall. After less than a minute of a discussion between judges, Nixie removed her heavy robes and handed them to her husband before jumping into the water.

With the exceptions of a few whispers, the platform was silent and the water appeared still after the ripples from Nixie's entrance into the lake died down.

Sirius was stuck between comforting Remus and comforting his son while trying to keep a calm expression on his own face.

"Come on, Little Lupin Weasley Spawn," he muttered under his breath.

It seemed ages had gone by before there was a sound of splashing in the distance. Immediately, Henry's eyes were scanning the water and moments later, his mother came into view with the girls.

Stella was in the lead as she reached the platform first and was immediately helped out of the water. Teddy was by her side instantly as he noticed the long gash on her face. When Eliza was pulled up, she had several cuts on her arm, as Madam Liddell was nearly cut off by Elliot trying to help.

Henry's mind was about to completely fry, trying to take everything in, but he quickly noted that Hope was resting against his mother's back as Nixie approached the platform. Henry was only able to utter out a small squeak as he saw that Hope was in way worse condition than the twins. Her arms and legs were cut, along with her face, and her eyes were closed.

The staff of adults quickly helped the professor get the girl onto the platform to be tended to before Nixie pulled herself out of the water. Everyone looked to the woman for an explanation while Stella and Eliza appeared too traumatized to speak of the events just yet.

"Grindylows," Nixie said looking down at Hope as Madam Liddell tended to her first. " A load of them."

In that moment, Henry was so determined to enter the water and backhand every single grindylow he spotted. But instead, he remained close to Hope's side alongside Remus.

Apparently, during the struggle, Hope had ingested plenty of the water as Madam Liddle worked quickly and leaned the girl's head to the side after a moment.

Hope let out a violent cough before vomiting a great deal of water onto the platform. The woman recommended heading back to the Hospital Wing so she could properly care for the girls.

"She has a death grip on something," Nixie pointed out the girl's right hand before they could pick Hope up. Remus opened up his granddaughter's hand after prying her fingers back to reveal the key.

"She never let go of the key," Eliza frowned from where she sat. "Even through all of that, she kept hold of the key."