"I think Viktor's figured out the egg." That had both of them picking up the pace, and they went outside to see Viktor and Fleur sat on the bank of the lake, right at the edge of the water. Viktor had his egg in his hands.
"Good, you're here," the Bulgarian said, beckoning them closer. The trio sat down, making themselves comfortable.
"Harry said you've figured it Cedric said, and Viktor shrugged.
out?"
"I haff made progress. Listen." Viktor picked up his egg and set it in the shallows of the lake until it was entirely covered, then twisted it open. Harry flinched, bracing himself for screaming, but none came. Instead it sounded like… music? "It is easier to hear vhen you are under the vater also," Viktor supplied. "But it is a song. Here." He held out a piece of parchment, and the other three champions crowded around it to read.
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 read the words over several times. "I assume your eggs vill say the same," Viktor said, closing the egg, "but you may vant to test them."
"So we must go underwater?" Fleur presumed, brow furrowed in thought. "To wherever ze creatures 'ave taken… whatever eet ees zey will take."
"An hour to look somewhere underwater. Presumably the lake," Cedric said, glancing out over the expanse of water. "Merlin, there could be anything in there."
Harry
thought
about
the
aquatic creatures he knew of; surprisingly, his brain went to his muggle upbringing rather than what he'd learned since joining the magical world. "Are there merpeople in the lake, do you think?"
The others stared at him. "I think so," Cho piped up. "I've heard some of the Slytherins talking about it before. They have that window to the lake in their common room."
Harry remembered it; he'd thought it was a bit creepy.
"So merpeople vill take something ve care about?" Viktor surmised. "That seems… simple enough."
"How
did
you
figure
the
egg
out, anyway?" Cedric asked curiously. The Durmstrang boy blushed.
"I, ah, accidentally dropped it off the edge of the ship," he admitted sheepishly. "It opened ven I vas diving to get it back."
The rest of them laughed, and Viktor merely smiled.
"So we know what we're up against, then," Harry said. "We should all work alone from here on out. Don't want any of our solutions looking too similar."
The others agreed, and Viktor pocketed his egg once more. "No more talk of tasks until February 24th, then," he declared. Harry wondered if Fleur and Cedric had as much of an urge as he did to check their eggs sang the same song. "Well, if we're calling it there, I've got a Transfiguration essay to write," he said with a grimace. "Unless any of you would like to help me with that?" Unsurprisingly, they all suddenly had places to be, and Harry snorted. "Some help you lot are."
"Why don't you go ask your girlfriend," Fleur teased, nudging his shoulder. She was getting far too much joy over the rumours of Harry's Yule Ball escapades, especially the ones that involved her.
"I thought I just did, dear," Harry replied sweetly, making Viktor and Cedric laugh.
"Away wiz you," Fleur said playfully, making a shooing motion. "I must study also."
The five of them parted ways, Cedric and Cho wandering off towards a different part of the lake, possibly to go test Cedric's egg. Harry continued back up to the castle, lost in thought. He really did have a Transfiguration essay — but now he also had some research to do.
.-.-.-.
The new term began on a bit of a sour note, in the form of another Rita Skeeter article. This one cutting far, far too deep. Dumbledore's Giant Mistake was the headline they woke up to on the first day of classes, and the more Harry read, the deeper his frown grew. "I mean, didn't everyone know that already about Hagrid?" he asked. "Just look at him. Bit obvious, isn't it?"
"There are other ways to get that big, with magic," Neville pointed out. "I think most of us assumed he got hit with a dodgy Engorgement charm as a kid or something. Giants… they've got a bit of a bad reputation."
"Well so have werewolves, and Remus is alright," Harry retorted. "How the hell did Skeeter get this information, though? If he's never told me, I can't see him telling her!" She wasn't even supposed to be on school grounds outside of task days. She hadn't even been able to get permission for the Yule Ball; a photographer had been sent, but a different reporter was along with them. The write-up had been a tasteful article about the whole affair, with a rave review of the Weird Sisters and hardly any mention of Harry save for the bit about the champions opening the ball. It was brilliant.
"Maybe he was telling someone else, and she was eavesdropping. Still doesn't explain what she was doing on school grounds, though."
They didn't have much time to talk about it, or they'd be late for Herbology, but with Care of Magical Creatures on his schedule for before lunch, Harry didn't worry about it too much. That changed when he arrived at Hagrid's hut with the rest of his class to find a woman waiting for them who was definitely not Hagrid. Professor Grubbly-Plank was a perfectly competent teacher. Possibly even a more competent teacher than Hagrid. But that didn't mean Harry was going to sit back and let Hagrid be bullied out of his job by that awful Skeeter woman. He hung back once class was over, knocking on Hagrid's door. "Hagrid, it's me!" he called, knocking louder. "Come on, Hagrid. You know I don't care about all that. Just let me in." He kept knocking, and let out a frustrated noise. "Hagrid, for the love of Merlin, if you don't let me in I'm breaking the door down." That got a reaction. The lock clicked, and the door opened the tiniest crack, just enough for Hagrid to glare through with one bloodshot eye.
"Go away, 'Arry," he muttered. Harry jammed his foot in the doorway, shouldering his way into the cabin. Hagrid clearly didn't want him gone that bad, or he would've tried harder to keep him out.
"Nope, sorry, not listening." He looked up at the enormous man, his heart clenching at the tear-streaked skin hidden behind his mass of hair. "Hagrid. You can't really think people care about that sort of thing, do you?"
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