A Mermaid's Tears | Fred Weasley

Chapter 12

That day was the start of the second task, and Marceline could tell she wasn't the only one who was nervous. Cedric was barely touching his breakfast that morning.

"Eat. You'll feel better," Lola demanded, shoving some pancakes in front of him. Cedric took a single bite before pushing the plate away.

"You're not going to be doing yourself any better by not eating, Cedric," Marceline said, shoving the plate back in front of him. Cedric forced himself to eat a few more bites before getting up leave, mumbling about doing some last minute stuff for the task, and Marceline knew he was just making excuse to leave.

"You never told me why Lance was avoiding Cedric," Marcelina said, turning to Lola.

"Well he admitted to me that he liked Cedric, right before the Yule Ball," Lola told her, bringing Cedric's plate towards her and finishing his pancakes. "But now he's upset because Cedric and Cho are a thing."

"Oh. Who has he been hanging out with?" Lance had never talked much to the boys in his own year, always sticking with Aliyah and her friends. Lola shrugged her shoulders.

"I see him hanging out with some people from Ravenclaw sometimes, and he's started talking to the Hufflepuff guys in his year more. I guess it's kind of a good thing, that way when we leave he'll have people."

Later that day, the students went down to the lake to watch the second task. Aliyah, Lola, and Marceline met up with Fred, George, and Lee and sat with them.

"Who is Arty sitting with?" Marceline asked, turning to Aliyah. She was surprised the girl wasn't sitting with them.

"Lance," she said, pointing ahead of them to where Artemisia and Lance were walking together. Marceline frowned, wishing her group would come back together.

The students were informed that the champions had something taken from them, and they would have to retrieve the thing from the lake.

The second task was horribly long, and while many other students talked throughout it all, Marceline sat there with her leg bouncing throughout it all.

"Relax Marcy, if you bounce your leg through out this whole thing you won't be able to feel it by the time the hour is up," Aliyah told her, placing a hand on her friends leg.

Marceline was hardly able to relax. The lake was huge, Marceline herself hasn't swam in lots of parts of it, mainly because the mermaids wouldn't let her, and she also wasn't looking to come across the giant squid. She always stayed close to shore, and that was with a tail, and now four students were swimming in the waters where no one could see what was happening. Not to mention, Cedric had said that he thought it had something to do with mermaids, and they weren't exactly the nicest creatures. They were violent and protective of their home, and she was worried that the champions might be attacked, and no one would be there to help them.

Throughout the middle of it, Fleur had to be retrieved from the lake, and she heard that the girl had been attacked by grindylows. She felt bad for the girl but was glad she was okay.

When the hour struck and none of the other champions had appeared yet, Marceline started panicking.

"What if something happened to them? What if-" Marceline cut off as Aliyah gasped and pointed to the water. Marceline breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Cedric appear, with Cho in his arms. The both swam towards the dock and Marceline immediately started to head towards him along with Fred, Aliyah, and Lola.

"They took people from them?!" Marceline screeched as they stood up to walk over to Cedric.

"Cedric! Are you okay?" Marcelina said, concern etched on her face as they reached the boy.