"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 recover what we took.
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
"Ah…" Anne let out a long yawn. In front of her stood Hermione, Ron, Harry, all looking rather anxious, and, naturally, Fanny, who appeared quite intrigued.
"You dragged me out of bed on the weekend just to tell me about the second task?" Anne said, unimpressed.
"Anne, this is really important…" Hermione said, full of conviction.
"There's only a week left until the second task, right? What were you all doing before this?" Anne asked.
Ron and Hermione both turned to look at Harry, who scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I only found out what the second task was last month. And the three of us have been digging through the library for nearly two weeks…"
"But we couldn't find anything immediately useful…" Hermione added, not wanting to admit that the library had been a dead end.
Anne caught her meaning instantly, she knew how deeply Hermione trusted books. "It's not that the answer isn't in the books. You just weren't looking in the right place…"
Hermione's eyes lit up with curiosity. "I knew it! The solution had to be in a book! Which one?"
"In Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean," Anne said. "It talks about a plant called gillyweed. It lets people grow gills and fins temporarily so they can breathe underwater freely. It lasts about an hour. I saw Neville reading that book a couple of months ago and borrowed it after."
"I knew it!" Hermione beamed. "Books always have the answers!"
"Does Professor Sprout grow that plant?" Harry asked.
Anne shook her head. "Not that I know of. But I did see some gillyweed in the Head of House's office…"
Harry's face changed instantly, but Anne just shrugged. "Relax, I'm not saying you should ask Snape for it. You can just order it from Slug & Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley. It costs about 15 Galleons, not cheap, but you can afford it."
Ron's jaw dropped. "Fifteen Galleons for a plant? I'd rather go ask Snape…"
"Professor Snape," Fanny corrected primly.
Harry, ignoring the interruption, lit up. "Anne, thank you! I'll send Hedwig to Diagon Alley right away!"
Hermione pulled out a quill and some parchment. "Here, use this. Write it now and send it."
"By the way," Anne added, stretching lazily, "you three owe Fanny a thank you. She took the risk of waking me up. Next time, though, don't do it so early, alright?"
She turned toward the window. The empty classroom they were in was on the third floor, and a huge glass window looked out toward the Forbidden Forest. Sunlight streamed in, and the snow-covered treetops shimmered silver in the morning light.
Ron blushed and gave Fanny a proper thank-you. She replied, "If you really mean that, you'll remember to add 'Professor' when you talk about our Head of House next time."
Fanny had always disliked how Ron and Harry ignored that formality. Ron nodded quickly, like a guilty schoolboy.
"Well, since I'm already up, I guess I can't laze around anymore," Anne sighed. She pulled out a bundle of letters and a thick stack of neatly clipped articles and charts from her bag, cuttings from magazines and newspapers.
Hermione, who had often done homework with Anne in the library, had seen her organizing letters and compiling data before. She knew Anne was preparing to take on family responsibilities once she came of age.
A week passed quickly, and soon, it was time for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament.
"Attention, everyone! Our champions are in position. As soon as I blow the whistle, the second task begins. They have one hour to recover what was taken from them!"
A sharp whistle pierced the cold air, and the stands erupted in cheers and applause.
Anne scanned the Gryffindor stands. "That's odd… where's Hermione? She'd never miss one of Harry's tasks."
"And Ron too. Where did those two go? I thought the second task was already sorted out," Fanny asked, equally puzzled. "They're Harry's closest friends!"
Then a thought flashed through Anne's mind, a movie scene from her past life. From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Hermione and Ron, kissing beside a river.
A wave of inexplicable anger surged through her.
Were they off somewhere, chatting happily while Harry risked his life in a freezing lake? Well, the solution had already been found, so they had no reason to worry, right?
Stop. A rational voice cut through the storm in her mind.
Why am I even thinking like this? If they end up together, what's it got to do with me? If they missed Harry's task, that's on them, they're his best friends, not mine.
Another quiet voice chimed in: But after spending so much time with them, aren't you at least ordinary friends? And let's be honest, do you really think Ron is good enough for Hermione?
Whether he is or isn't, that's between the two of them.
"Anne?" Fanny waved a hand in front of her eyes. "You zoned out."
"Ah…" Anne blinked and gave a sheepish smile. Why am I worrying about the leads in someone else's story?
"How long have they been underwater?" she asked.
Fanny gave her a strange look but checked her watch. "About five minutes…"
"Five minutes?" Anne stared at the still lake. "Don't tell me we're supposed to watch the water for an hour?"
"Of course not, look…" Fanny pointed to the judges' platform.
Dumbledore was standing at the center, speaking with Maxime and Karkaroff. After a moment, they all nodded, raised their wands, and pointed at the lake.
Four jets of water soared into the air, forming circles that morphed into massive watery screens. Each champion's progress beneath the surface appeared in a shimmering "mirror."
Cheers erupted from the stands again.
"Wow. It's like watching a live match broadcast," Anne said.
Forty minutes passed, and the mirrors still showed nothing but seaweed. Then, with just ten minutes left, something appeared in Harry's mirror. It looked like the central square of a merpeople village. Around it were strange buildings and floating clusters of merfolk. In the center, several merfolk were singing in unison, calling the champions toward them.
Behind them loomed a giant, rough-hewn stone statue of a merperson. Tied to its tail were four people.
Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. The fourth was a young girl, no older than eight, with silver, cloud-like hair. All four appeared fast asleep, heads slumped, bubbles escaping their mouths.
"They're at the bottom of the lake?!" Fanny exclaimed.
At the sight of Hermione, the cold, damp breeze coming off the lake suddenly felt refreshing to Anne, like the first taste of mint ice cream on a hot day.
But then Fanny's voice brought her mood crashing back down.
"Ohh! I get it now, the clue in the golden egg. 'We cannot sing above the ground', that's the merfolk. 'We've taken what you'll sorely miss', those are the people tied up. Each champion has someone taken: Cho for Cedric, that silver-haired girl must be Fleur's sister, Ron for Harry, and Hermione for Krum. This task is brilliantly designed, everything connects!"
Ten minutes flew by. Harry rescued Ron. Krum got Hermione. Cedric freed Cho. But Fleur had been entangled by lakeweed and failed to reach her sister. In the end, Harry returned and saved the little girl, Gabrielle, as well.
As Harry's head finally broke the surface, the crowd exploded with cheers. Everyone was on their feet, except Malfoy, who sat with arms crossed, scowling at the water.
"That was amazing! Harry!" Fanny clapped enthusiastically. "Anne, what do you think, " But Anne was already gone.
"Where did she go?"
Anne had sprinted down to the judges' area by the lake. Madam Pomfrey stood nearby, arms full of blankets, next to a wooden rack stocked with potions and bottles.
"Ah, Anne, you're here! Great! Can you help?" Madam Pomfrey asked urgently, eyes still on the champions swimming toward shore.
Anne, still catching her breath, nodded. She grabbed a few blankets.
She tossed one vaguely in Krum's direction, then marched straight to Hermione, wrapping her up tightly in two layers of wool.
"Are you cold? Hurt? Feeling okay?" Anne asked rapidly, her voice betraying more worry than she realized.
Hermione had spotted Anne the moment she'd rushed down. Smiling warmly, she shook her head. "I'm fine. Not hurt. Not even uncomfortable. I'm okay, Anne."
"Really?" Anne asked, skeptical, half-carrying her toward Madam Pomfrey. "They left you in a freezing lake in February, Hermione!"
"Anne, hand out some of the warming potion, please!" Madam Pomfrey called while checking on Cho and Cedric.
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey!" Anne grabbed a fresh towel from the bottom of the rack and wrapped it around Hermione's wet head. "Dry your hair quickly, you'll catch a cold."
Just before the towel closed around Hermione's hair, a small beetle flew out from the wet strands. Anne narrowed her eyes on it.
With practiced speed, she lined up the cups and poured the fire-red potion evenly.
She handed one to Hermione, then pulled a toffee from her pocket. "Down it in one go. It's spicy, but after, it helps."
She shoved a small dose into Krum's hands without looking at him, then handed the rest out, ending with Ron, who got only half a cup.
"You saved Gabrielle," Fleur said breathlessly, running over to Harry and hugging a blanket.
"Even though she wasn't your hostage."
"Yeah," Harry said.
Fleur kissed both of Harry's cheeks, and his face turned bright red. Then she turned to Ron. "And you, you helped too, "
"Yeah," Ron said hopefully. "Helped a little, "
Fleur kissed him as well.
Anne snatched the cup out of Ron's hands before he could finish.
"Sorry," she said icily. "We need the cups back."
"Hermione," she added, as she began sorting the remaining cups, "what was that about Harry and Ron saving Fleur's sister?"
Anne explained the sequence of events to Hermione.
In the end, though Harry was the last to surface, his bravery and moral choice earned him the second-highest score. He was now tied for first with Cedric. Krum came second, and Fleur came third.
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