Something Magical

Chapter 18

The Lake

"Say it again Harry." Hermione demanded as the four friends tried to find a way for Harry to survive an hour long underneath the lake. Millie had tried not to gloat to Harry too much when he had come to tell her that Cedric had helped him figure out the golden egg. But now, it was the night before the task. Dinner had been hours ago and they had been in the library every free moment they'd had, still having no luck in finding something to help Harry survive an hour underwater.

"Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." Harry recited the song back to them in a monotone voice, his chin resting on a stack of books in front of him. Millie yawned loudly as she read the same sentence in a book about obscure magical objects, figuring it wouldn't be any help but Hermione had handed it to her so she was going to read it.

"Maybe it's all a joke Harry. I say you go down to the lake tomorrow, peek your head in, shout at the merpeople to give back what they took, and call it a day." Ron piped up from where he was lounging, having given up on his pile of books a while ago. Hermione gave him a dirty look but Millie giggled at his suggestion, thinking that the lack of sleep was getting to her.

"There has to be something!" Hermione snapped, yanking yet another book off the shelf.

"I don't know, I feel like we've been looking forever. Too bad you can't become an Animagus in a day, Harry." Millie told him, picking up a book that Hermione had found on animagi. Harry just looked at her, defeated, like he had already given up on the task tomorrow.

"Well, maybe we should go look in the..."

"Lovely evening, isn't it children?" George interrupted Hermione as he and Fred appeared around a bookshelf.

"What are you two doing here?" Millie asked, arching a brow. "I thought you two were still banned from the library."

"Special permission." Fred grinned at her.

"Well, what do you want?" Ron asked tiredly.

"McGonagall sent us to find you two, Millie and Hermione. She needs to see you both in her office. Now." George told them, leaning against Millie's chair.

"What? But we can't, Harry still needs our help!" Hermione shrilly protested.

"Don't shoot the messengers, Granger." Fred said, holding his hands up. "We are just doing what McGonagall told us, like the good little boys we are."

Hermione looked like she was about to continue arguing so Millie stood up, crossing to her and grabbing her arm, "C'mon, Hermione. Let's just go see what she wants and we can continue helping Harry in a bit. Boys, try to take as many books with you as possible."

All the boys nodded, Fred and George saluting her as she left. She rolled her eyes at them as she made her way out of the library. "See you all in a bit."

Hermione and Millie made their way to McGonagall's office quickly, wanting to get whatever this was over soon so they could get back to helping Harry.

"Maybe McGonagall knows something that could help." Millie suggested to Hermione quietly.

"You know it's against the rules for teachers to help."

"Yeah, but Harry is the youngest competitor in the tournament's history. Maybe she'd make an exception, she has always wanted to see a Gryffindor victory."