As they surfaced, Hermione took note of where they were. They could still see their robes and shoes in a pile at the shore underneath their notice-me-not wards at a distance. Two hours of exploration and they had only managed to map out about a quarter of the lake. They knew what would keep them busy right up until the Trial of Water.
Harry and Hermione found that they had to do most of the work in preparation for the trial. Moody, unfortunately, wasn't much help with this trial. "Not many wizards think of hiding in a lake," was his excuse. "If they do, I'd just blast them from above on my broom." They still had their Saturday morning practice with him, as Harry knew he still had a lot to learn about combat and duelling. Luna and Neville couldn't accompany them, either. Neville had only just become comfortable with getting his face in the water. They ended up heading to the Black Lake every day after class, spending about two hours under the surface each day.
Over the next week, the two of them had several close encounters in the lake. Harry insisted on practicing defending both of them against Grindylows, causing him to take a few scratches while chivalrously leaving Hermione unscathed in the encounters. They also wandered into what they thought was another kelp forest, but turned out to be the edge of the merfolk village, where they had their kelp farms. They were nearly speared as they attempted to make apologetic motions to the merman-farmer. They swam away as quickly as they could and circled the entire village, taking note of where its borders were. The next day, they found where the old textbook had said the mer-village had been a few hundred years ago- there were many abandoned structures and the area seemed to be infested with some kind of red, bubbling coral- the water in the area was warmer, too. There were some other humanoid creatures there, poking at the coral with rocks and kelp stalks, playing around in the abandoned buildings. They resembled merfolk, but were smaller and had smooth skin, unlike the scales that merfolk had. Selkies, Harry remembered. Aren't they only supposed to be in the ocean? In fact, how did the merfolk get to the lake in the first place, anyway?
Harry found his answer in the form of an underwater tunnel. It appeared to be an underground river that passed directly underneath the Hogwarts grounds. They swam for several minutes, but as it appeared to have no ending, they decided to turn back. They figured it lead to the ocean at some point. On the way back, he noticed something man-made on the side of the underwater cavern. It was a huge disc, partially hidden because it had clams and algae growing all over it. At the center, however, was a familiar design. Harry tried whispering in parseltongue, ~Open.~ Even though his voice came out muffled by the water, the cover slid open, grinding away the molluscs from its surface. They both cautiously entered. It opened up to a small cavern, filled with air, and several large pipes leading away, much like the entrance from the second-floor girls' bathroom. They were both sure this was an alternate entrance to the chamber of secrets, but couldn't explore further until the gillyweed wore off. They went back to the shore, preferring to be where they left their clothes once they returned to their fully human form.
They managed to finish mapping out the lake in four days, but continued to swim for the remaining days to make sure he was even more familiar with the lake. Swimming at full speed from one end of the lake to the other, he could make the distance in about fifteen minutes. A very quick, rough search without checking the nooks and crannies would take an hour and a half. With the map in hand and remembering some of the better hiding places, a good search still took twice that long. Thankfully, his regular appearances helped him become more familiar with the "locals" of the lake. The mermen noticed him coming by and merely watched him as he took his usual route around the outside of the village, not quite on their guard as much as his first encounter. They also managed to encounter the giant squid every time. It seemed to enjoy chasing them down for fun, but it was never actually hostile. He found out that the selkies wandered everywhere around the lake, and some occasionally swam down through the tunnel, although the boiling-coral infested areas seemed to be their favourite, along with the jellice breeding ground. Some of the more curious ones actually swam up to Harry and Hermione, prodding them playfully with some kelp stalks before swimming away quickly and watching their reaction. Well, why not? thought Harry, and decided to work on his swimming speed and agility by playing tag with them. He kept losing, being unable to keep up with actual aquatic creatures, but it was still a fun way to end his training.
"You have the map?" Harry asked as they walked down the path towards the lake.
"It should be in your belt!" Hermione answered. "Along with your gillyweed capsules..."
"No, I'm talking about the Marauder's Map. Your job is to catch Rita in the act today," Harry said.
"We still haven't figured out what to do with her after I've found her," Hermione protested. "I mean, she apparently hasn't done anything illegal, so I can't get Auror Shacklebolt to arrest her or anything."
"Well, at least figure out what she looks like. And try to stop her from getting any good quotes. I don't know, maybe you can set her parchment on fire or something. Just stop her from writing about me... or you!"
"And you just focus on the trial, Harry. Good luck!" She gave him a quick kiss as they parted ways. Harry stepped into the champion's tent while Hermione went to the stands.
All four of the champions were there early, and all of them were dressed for the occasion. Harry was having trouble keeping his eyes off Fleur even without her aura, but so were the other two boys. Oddly enough, Fleur was the one looking the most distracted as she kept nervously glancing out towards the lake.
"Something wrong, sweetie?" Cedric asked her, rubbing her shoulders.
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