Never Trust A Snake

Chapter Twenty-nine

'The Second Challenge'

Hadrian deciphered the clue within the golden egg almost immediately. Despite only being at Hogwarts for almost a year, he had seen mermaids from the Black Lake swim past the common room. He had recently acquired Gilly Weed in order to stay under water for the whole hour. After comparing it to the bubble-head charm, he had decided it would work better.

However, the task wasn't what was bothering Hadrian at the moment. As the task drew nearer, Draco was no where to be seen. The raven haired boy had already asked most of the Slytherin population, who had been equally as clueless. Hadrian sighed, running a hand through his hair. No one had seen Draco since last night.

Casting a quick Tempus, Hadrian noted the time and began towards the Black Lake. As he pounded down the lawn he saw the seats that had once encircled the dragon's enclosure were now situated on the opposite bank, rising in the packed stands. Hadrian headed around the other side of the lake towards the judges. Fleur and Victor were already waiting at the edge of the lake and thankfully, Hadrian could see his brother waddling towards them from afar.

As he waited, Hadrian's eyes scanned the crowds for the familiar colour of Draco's blonde hair. When there was still no signs of Draco, Hadrian's sharp mind finally caught on. The treasure that he had to retrieve from the lake was Draco. Anger flasher in his eyes before he quickly hid it. Dumbledore had taken Draco, his Draco, and presumably froze him at the bottom of the Black Lake. Turning to Fleur, a feral smirk flashed on his face. It was well know that Veela weren't the same a regular Wizards or Witches. Dumbledore undoubtedly knew almost everything about the species, including the fact that charms weren't quite as effective. Hadrian could barely control his laughter as he realised how detrimental this could be to Dumbledore's reputation. He had frozen a young foreign Veela girl in a dangerous environment, knowing that the charm might not last. If the Veela didn't survive the challenge than Dumbledore could ultimately be held responsible.

"I'm here!" Huffed Evan, his face red and sweaty from his short walk to the judges. His 'prize' was most likely Weasley, Victor's probably being Granger.

"Now, that all the champions are here, we may begin!" Exclaimed one of the judges, gesturing at Ludo Bagman with a wave of his hand. Bagman  pointed his wand at his throat, casting Sonorus, before launching into speech.

"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!" He announced as the champions lined up at the edge of the lake. Hadrian turned to Fleur, catching her attention before whispering.

"I think you better reach your prize quickly, Veela's don't do well in water," he smirked, as Bagman finished his countdown. Fleur's confusion was cut short by the sharp sound of a whistle. The stands erupted into cheers as the champions began pulling off their robes and shoes, revealing the swimsuits beneath. Unbothered by the cold, Hadrian stripped down to his boxers, stuffing the handful of Gillyweed into his mouth as he did so. He quickly began wading into the lake, allowing his body to be submerged in the icy water as he felt the Gillyweed taking effect. Moving his hands to his throat, Hadrian felt two slots just below his ears. His hands and feets looked green and ghostly in under the water. They had become webbed.

Hadrian began to swim forward, very quickly reaching the point where he could no longer see the bottom of the vast lake. Using his webbed hands and feet to push himself downwards, he swam into the depths of the lake.

He swam deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the lake, pushing through the eerily grey-lit water. Small fish flickered past him like silver bullets as he swam deeper. Watching his surroundings in search for Draco, Hadrian's eyes scanned the eerie forest of weeds around him. Suddenly, he felt a small hand grip around his ankle. Twisting his body around, Hadrian saw a Grindylow. The small horned, water demon had its long fingers clutched around his leg as it tried to drag him deeper into the murky green weeds. Grabbing his wand from the holster on his wrist, Hadrian slashed his arm forward in the direction of the Grindylow. Blood began to seep out of the Grindylow's fresh cuts as they appeared all over its body. The water demon shreaked in pain as its long fingers released Hadrian's leg. Two more Grindylows rushed out of the weeds, charging towards Hadrian with their teeth bared and long fingers outstretched to try and clasp his throat. He cast a similar spell on the first one and a reducto on the second, sending it flying backwards in pain. Ignoring the shreaking creatures, Hadrian pushed through the weeds and emerged in a clearing. He heard the familiar sound of merpeople singing.

"An hour long you'll have to look, and recover what we took,"

He swam closer and saw a large rock break through the muddy water. Following the sound of the song, Hadrian found a crowd of merpeople surrounding the 'prizes', who were bound tightly to a large rock. As he suspected, Hermione, Ron, Fleur's sister and Draco were all there.

He swam swiftly towards the rock, his eyes fixed on Draco. The boy seemed to be in a deep sleep, his head resting on his shoulder as a fine stream of bubbles issuing from his mouth. He was tied with a rope of weeds, running his hand along the rope, Hadrian could tell that it was strong enough that he would need a sharp object. Swimming down, he picked up one of the rocks that were littering the lake bottom. Find a jagged rock, Hadrian once again pulled out his wand and cast a spell. The rock began to elongate and turn silver as he swam back up. By the time he was at Draco again, the rock had transformed into an ornate silver dagger.

Fleur had obviously managed to figure out his warning, as she was franticly pushing through the weeds along with Victor who had transformed his head into that of a shark. Hadrian watched the edge of the forest-like weeds for a moment longer. There was still no signs of Evan, as he had figured.

Turning back to Draco, Hadrian slit the rope that was tying him down and grabbed the blonde's arm. He dragged Draco's sleeping form with him as he swam to the surface. The effect of the Gillyweed was wearing off as he neared the surface of the lake. His hands and feet were back to their regular form, and he could feel the gills on his neck disappearing.

With a final kick, Hadrian and Draco broke through the surface of the lake. As the air surrounded them, the charm on Draco vanished. The boy's eyes snapped open and he grabbed on to Hadrian, wrapping his arms around his neck, allowing himself to be pulled towards the stands.

***

"Being alone was never hard until I met you,"

Sorry for the wait, I've been pretty busy recently. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.