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The cold February air hit Harry’s wet cheeks like a shot, making him shiver all the more as he stood at the end of the dock, watching as Gabrielle was scooped up by her sister and Mrs. Weasley came rushing over to him with a towel. He let her wrap him up in the towel, the cheering from the audience making him smile just a bit, “...when you were attacked by the merpeople we were all so worried! Why did you grab both Gabrielle and Ron when they said you could only take one?” Mrs. Weasley fussed at him as he brought the towel tighter around his shoulders.
“I wa-wa-wanted to make sure sh-sh-she got back ok. I saw F-F-Fleur get tangled up and kn-kn-knew that her sis-sis-sister was probably her p-p-person.” Harry tried to explain, his teeth chattering in between words.
“You are such a good boy, Harry.” She murmured into his wet hair. “But don’t you ever scare us like that again.” Fleur came up next to Mrs. Weasley, immediately taking over the hug before Harry could respond.
“Oh zank you, ‘arry! Zank you!” She kissed him on both cheeks, making him duck his head to hide his blush.
“No problem.” He muttered, unable to think of anything else to say as he dug his toes into the wet wooden dock. He looked towards the beach where the hostages were being warmed up with their own towels, Ron giving him a bit of a grin at the sight of him blushing. He swooned dramatically into Hermione, who immediately sidestepped him so that she could continue her conversation with Krum and Ron stumbled a bit to stay upright. Harry shivered a bit more as he started down the dock, ready for a Pepper-Up Potion or twelve.
But he only got a few steps before he heard a bubbling sound coming from the lake. He turned in curiosity, staring at the lake’s surface with eyebrows furrowed. Mrs. Weasley had gotten further ahead, but as she turned to check on Harry, she gasped. Out of the water sprang two mermen, easily twice Harry’s size in both height and width. Their blue skin glistened in the sun as they landed with heavy thuds on the dock, making it shake violently. Harry fell back a bit, only just able to keep from falling onto his ass.
One of them pointed a webbed finger at Harry’s face as Dumbledore and a few other adults started down the dock, making Harry go cross-eyed as he looked at it. Before anyone could say anything, the other grabbed Harry around the waist and dove backwards into the lake, dragging Harry with him.
“HARRY!”
~
“Shit.” It was only a couple of seconds before those in the stands started screaming, a few questioning whether the task was actually over yet. The other champions raced towards the lake, equally unsure if they were meant to go after the mermen. Madam Maxime held Krum and Fleur back with one in each arm with Fleur crying out in panic, Cedric being held by his shirt by his father. Snape ran forward from the group, unhooking his cloak from around his neck and casting a charm over himself as he dove into the lake after Harry, his black cloak fluttering down onto the deck.
“Look! The spell is still tracking Potter!” Someone called out, pointing towards the projection that the audience could use to see the champions’ progress. Initially, each champion had been assigned a colour so that the audience could differentiate them against the grey winter sky; Krum was black, Fleur was blue, Cedric was gold, and Harry was red. The projection floated above the stands, fiery strands in the air that came together to show Harry in the clutches of a merman. Harry was clearly fighting with everything he had, throwing his head back against the merman’s chest and kicking at the strands at his feet, the strands turning to bubbles. His cheeks were puffed out, the gillyweed that he had been using to breathe already used up from the task.
“He can’t hold his breath for this long!” Hermione cried from where she stood next to Krum, his coat over her shoulders. “They’re going to drown him!” They watched in horror as Harry’s mouth opened suddenly, bubbling strands coming out, several people screaming. The merman who wasn’t holding Harry appeared in the strands then, blowing out a bubble and encompassing Harry’s head. “Wait… they gave him air?” The bubbles stopped coming from Harry’s mouth as the strands continued down.
Other coloured strands appeared around Harry in the air, green strands of seaweed and blue strands as the mermen swam into the Merfolk village. The village was an odd mix of hills and valleys, dark grey strands for windows and openings into spaces rather than doors. Some vague shapes that might have been merpeople appeared then disappeared, the hills growing larger and taller the further they went into the village itself. “Where is Snape?” Ron asked, his grip tight on his towel.
“There!” A black strand materialized and came fast towards the mermen, kicking up black bubbles and flowing like an oil slick.
“I didn’t know he could swim that fast.” Ron admitted, watching as the mermen arrived at a towering black hill. At the top, a dark grey figure appeared, wearing a crown of blue and golden strands atop her head. She was almost the size of the mermen, floating serenely in front of a throne of grey strands.
“The High Priestess.” Hermione breathed.
“Who?” Ron asked.
“The High Priestess. She’s kind of like their matriarch, she does all of the rituals for merfolk from births to deaths and anything in between. She’s considered the intermediary between merfolk and their higher power. You should know this.” Hermione said, turning to Ron for a moment.
“I’m sorry, Merfolkian Religion wasn’t a class I decided to take this year.” Ron said dryly.
The mermen stopped in front of the High Priestess, Harry’s red strands still struggling. Snape came up behind them, stopping short as the mermen turned to face him. Rather than cast any spells, Snape began motioning with his hands rapidly, black bubbles coming up from his hands.
“Wait, what is he doing?” Ron asked.
“He’s signing to them.” Cedric said in confusion, having finally wrenched himself free of his father’s grip. “Why would he be doing that?”
“All Slytherins know sign language.” The group turned in alarm to find Draco Malfoy standing behind them, him staring above them with narrowed eyes.
“What are you doing down here?” Ron asked indignantly. “This is for champions and hostages.”
“My godfather’s down there.” Draco said as if Ron were the one in the wrong. Ron blinked at him in surprise, both of them staring the other down until Draco broke to look back towards the sky.
“Why would Slytherins know sign language?” Hermione asked.
“The Slytherin common room has access to the lake.” Ron realized suddenly. Malfoy turned and looked at Ron in confusion.
“How do you know that?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Ron waved him off. “What is he saying?”
“Uh… okay, he’s just saying to let Potter go. That sign is WSL for Potter.” Malfoy demonstrated without tearing his eyes away from the strands, using the middle finger of his left hand to draw a lightning bolt on his forehead. His gaze then turned to the High Priestess, who wasn’t signing anything but her mouth was open and a melody of bubbles of all colours came out. “Oh, of course she isn’t going to sign, there isn’t a barrier between them like there normally is.”
“So we’re only going to know Snape’s side?” Ron asked. Snape’s hands started moving again, Malfoy’s mouth moving silently as he tried to translate what the strands were showing. Some shocked gasps came from the Hogwarts side of the stands as Malfoy paled. “What? What’d he say?”
“They want to do something to his magic. I might have read that wrong, but the sign he used is normally for destroying?”
“They want to destroy his magic?!” Hermione shrieked.
“Someone has to get down there and stop them!” Mrs. Weasley yelled. “Albus!” Dumbledore’s face was the picture of confusion as he too stared at the colourful display above them. “Do something.”
“I don’t think that’s what he said.” Dumbledore said softly. “Though I will admit, it is hard to tell details with this particular spell.” After more bubbles escaped the High Priestess’s mouth in a rainbow, Snape signed some more.
“That can’t be right. That sign normally means Dark magic. He doesn’t have Dark magic.” Malfoy breathed.
“Wait, what’s that?” From the left of the High Priestess, another merperson came forward with a golden egg held in their hands. The egg was interlaced with silver strands, a black ‘X’ on the top.
“It’s one of their eggs.” Malfoy said softly. “Why would they bring that?” He asked in wonder, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched the egg be placed delicately at the High Priestess’s swishing feet.
“Like what Harry had from the first task?”
“No, not like that. That one was a fake from the start. Merpeople are incredibly protective of their actual eggs, they only have hatches of eggs once a year so they have to be. That one must be from last year’s batch since it has that mark on it.”
“Why do you say that?” Hermione asked curiously.
“Because that ‘x’... means that the egg didn’t make it. It happens almost every year, they have so many eggs that not all of them can survive. They wait a year for the egg to dry out in the hatch so then they can properly lay it to rest.”
“Oh, that’s so sad.” Hermione said softly. “Wait, what are they doing?” Harry’s red strands began to thrash again as the merman who had been holding him took him over to a stone surface, golden strands making him lay flat. Snape started signing again, much harsher as the bubbles flew about him.
“Don’t hurt him. Just get the… wait, I don’t know what that sign is. Just get… something? Out?” The audience watched as the High Priestess floated over, the egg laid in a bed of floating seaweed beside her arm. Her movements were as fluid as the water around her, more strands of every colour coming from her hands and surrounding Harry’s head and body. Harry’s thrashing got even more violent, his mouth open and the bubble popping, a mass of black strands escaping his throat. The strands came together above the High Priestess, turning and folding over itself several times, jerking towards Snape who shot out a flash of grey from his wand. The black mass thrashed from the spell, bolting for the egg instead. Harry’s strands went still as the egg cracked in its bed of seaweed, the black mass disappearing inside it. A grey bubble appeared around the egg, then another, then another, until the egg disappeared into an opaque bubble entirely.
For a moment, no one dared breathe, everyone simply staring up at the projection, a few grey strands falling away from Harry’s frame as if old skin was falling off. A new bubble appeared around Harry’s head as Snape swam over, immediately removing the bonds that kept him to the stone. Harry floated limply beside Snape as he bowed deeply to the High Priestess, then to the mermen, then grabbed Harry and shot up to the surface with a flurry of black bubbles behind him.
~
Almost as soon as Harry got onto the deck, he rolled onto his side and vomited bile and water, coughing onto Snape’s wet shoes where he stood near his head. “Oh, thank you, Potter.” Snape said dryly as the crowd near them cheered in relief. Harry rolled onto his back, staring up at the man in absolute wonder. Snape was soaked from head to toe, clothes clinging to him and hair flat against his head. Harry was sure he didn’t look much better, but somehow he felt better. Better than he had in years in fact. He was still cold, still soaking wet, yet now he felt lighter, like he had emerged from a dream. He sat up slowly, stretching out fingers and toes and truly feeling what it meant to have magic coursing through his body. Had he truly not felt it before?
“What just happened?” Harry croaked, looking up at Snape. Snape stepped back in surprise for a moment, making Harry blink in confusion. His attention was taken by Hermione and Ron rushing over, both of them stopping short when they met his gaze. He was surprised to find that he could actually see them from the moment he saw them rather than waiting until they got closer like he normally did. There was no blurriness around them, every detail of their faces right down to Ron’s freckles was clear.
“Harry, your eyes.” Hermione breathed.
“My what?” Harry asked, reaching up to touch his eyelids. “What about them?”
“Mate, you have lightning in your eyes.”
“Well, that’s new.”