"Ze water is not ze best place for me," Fleur answered. "Much like ze Trial of Air for you, I only 'ope not to do too poorly for zis trial." She sighed, and then brushed Cedric's hands away. "And for today, I am your competitor, not your 'sweetie' Monsieur Diggory," she added.
"Right you are, then," Cedric laughed. "I've got a school to represent."
Krum was keeping quiet. Without robes covering him, his well-toned, athletic body was visible to everyone. He was obviously well-fed and well-trained, the byproduct of being both a professional athlete and now the favoured student of Durmstrang. Harry wondered how well Krum knew the lake. He'd seen Krum dive into the waters often to swim, but never once saw him at the bottom while he was doing his mapping. Then again, it was a pretty big lake. He hadn't seen Cedric or Fleur in the lake, either. He was sure they didn't know about the Room of Requirement, either, so where else could they have trained?
His thoughts were cut short as Ludo Bagman walked in. "Well well, everybody's here already! Then let's get started with the event, shall we? The ground rules for this trial are the same as the Trial of Air- no casting directly against your fellow champion on top of the other rules for the entire tournament. There are two additional rules. First, no casting spells against humanoid creatures, including the Merfolk or their property underwater. You can rest assured that they will not attack you."
Oh, good, thought Harry. Those mermen guards looked vicious, even after they got used to me. It was also the one part of the lake that Harry was unable to map.
"Secondly, there are four chests in the water today. Each of you will retrieve one of them. The second rule, of course, is that you may not take the chest from another champion who has laid their hands on."
So, a treasure hunt, thought Harry. Looking around the room, it seemed that nobody was surprised in the least.
"Inside each chest is a golden egg. You must get the egg out of the chest and return to shore in three hours or less."
Another egg? Well, at least I brought five hours' worth of gillyweed just in case. Harry unconsciously patted his belt. But a thorough search, for me, still takes three hours... and I've been exploring the lake every day for the past week! There had better be an easier way to find them...
"And finally, I'll leave you all with a hint. Listen to the song." Bagman smiled at them and left.
I hope that means the song will lead us to the chest...
An hour later, the stands were once again packed with spectators as the four champions stood at the edge of the dock. The first-years' boats had all been put away and the dock was dressed up so that it was far prettier than before. It was carpeted for the champions' bare feet, and the dressing-room tent placed at the end. The judges sat at a long table along the length of the dock so the champions had to walk past all of them to reach the water. At the very end were a drop-gate and a large clock, ready to count down from three hours, hung above. They were all waiting at the gate, eager for the trial to finally begin.
As a bang sounded from the judge's table behind them, the gate dropped and three of the champions dove in immediately. Harry popped a capsule into his mouth and began chewing. I guess nobody else bothered getting themselves gillyweed, he thought amusedly as he felt his body begin to change. As soon as he jumped in the water, he heard a noise he'd never encountered during his explorations. Calming down, he realized it was a song, but coming from multiple sources, causing it to overlap and sound distorted. Which way to go first? Left is the squid's nest. Right is the selkie hunting grounds. Harry decided to go left. The squid was friendly enough, but maybe the other champions wouldn't know that and it would be a perfect distraction for them- if the squid was actually resting at its nest, of course. The selkies, on the other hand, were rather unpredictable. They might help or hinder him, depending on their mood.
He moved quickly through the water, having learned how to take full advantage of his gillyweed-morphed body, including his breathing technique. The minute-long head start that the others got was quickly eliminated when he saw Cedric swimming up ahead. He was using the modified bubble-head for breathing and had transfigured something into fins to wear on his feet. Harry waved as he passed by. He didn't see Fleur or Krum along the way, so he assumed they went in the other direction. He raced ahead, following the source of the music for several minutes. He stopped dead in the water when he realized he was right on top of it. If the chest was the source of the song, it was right below him- and in the middle of a kelp forest.
The kelp itself was extremely tall- almost ten meters in length. It could be packed with grindylows all the way down, and it was so thick he wouldn't even be able to see his own hand if he stuck it out in front of him. But on the other hand, Cedric would catch up soon- and Bagman had warned them that a champion couldn't take a chest that another champion had reached, right? He couldn't afford to let Cedric get to this one first or else he'd have to go search for another. He threw a few slicing curses straight down, causing some of the stalks to float away. There was some movement below as a few creatures ducked away. Harry couldn't tell if it was fish, grindylows, or something else. Casting a few more, he figured he was close to the lake bed by now, so he lit up the area with a light spell. He could make out something boxy at the bottom, but still mostly obscured by the long, leafy plants.
By now, Cedric had nearly caught up to him, following the same source of music. Well, now or never! Harry thought. He dove down as quickly as he could, and grabbed the box. As soon as he touched it, there was small flash, and instead of just a song, there were lyrics as well. He didn't have time to listen to it as he sensed many, many eyes on him. Oh no,he thought. Here they come.
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