Tightening the grip on his wand, he grabbed the chest with his other hand and swam up as quickly as he could. As soon as he moved, something grabbed his foot. He didn't even think as he blasted the grindylow away, but another lunged at his thigh. He kept firing off blasting curses while kicking as hard as he could, but they were swarming him. One was on his leg and another had its fingers around his neck. Sticking his wand behind him, he cast blindly, but a third grindylow gripped his right arm just as he released the spell, causing him to lose his grip. Desperate not to lose his wand, he let go of the chest as he punched the grindylow away with all his might. Freed of the extra weight and now with another hand to fight off the creatures, he continued blasting with his right and punching with his left. He was quickly free from the creatures as he hovered above the kelp once again. Back to square one, it seemed.
Cedric had paused to watch him. Seeing Harry fail to retrieve the chest, he dove down while casting a modified cyclone shield around himself. This one created a vortex of water that pushed away anything that was approaching him as he went straight for the chest. Harry could see a few grindylows get knocked around as they tried to grab Cedric. Upon reaching the chest, however, there was another flash of light and Cedric was pushed away. Shaking his head, he surfaced and gestured towards Harry, as if saying, "It's all yours," as he swam off to find the next one.
Harry couldn't perform the cyclone shield nonverbally yet, and trying to talk underwater made nearly all the incanted spells useless, but he couldn't cast his basic bludgeoners and blasting curses fast enough. There was one spell he could use that he could simply hold continuously, though it would barely injure the grindylows, it might make them uncomfortable enough to stop trying to catch him. Positioning himself straight above the chest again, he cast the water-boiling spell. He swam down in a spiral so that he would surround himself in a shield of hot water, but was careful not to burn himself. Nothing attacked him on the way down. Grabbing the chest again, he swam up as quickly as he could, in a spin again. One of the grindylows tried to attack, but he held his wand towards it and it quickly flinched away. He maintained the spell until he was once again clear of the kelp and immediately began searching for a safe clearing to work on opening the chest.
As he settled down in an empty alcove, he realized he was getting extremely tired and gasping for oxygen, gulping the water as quickly as he could. Was that really that tiring? he thought. He then noticed his fingers weren't quite as webbed as before and he realized that his gillyweed was running out. Popping another half-hour capsule in his mouth, he nearly had to cast an bubble-head charm on himself to keep breathing before the gill slits in his chest returned to full size. Well, at least I know it's been half an hour, he thought. He inspected the box, noticing a small plate at the top now bore his name along with a time inscription: 0:16:56. That must have been when he first touched it. It was locked shut with three differently-shaped locks, none of which had keyholes. He listened carefully to the song that it was repeating over and over:
You have nearly claimed your prize
The egg you seek is just inside
The first lock doesn't like this taste
But do not quench its thirst with haste
The second latch thinks it's too warm
But it must grasp a solid form
A cold, the third's about to catch
It bickers with that second latch
Before I'm open, I'll say clearly
That I love the water dearly
Do not let me take a breath
Because it will be my death
The final warning was the easiest to understand. If it touched air, it "died," and that almost certainly meant he'd fail the trial. Second latch was easy- it's too warm even in this chilly lake in January, so it needed to be colder... and any colder and the water would be frozen. It needed a solid block of ice. Harry cast a freezing charm at nothing in particular, aiming to freeze the water at the tip of his wand. The water got colder, but didn't freeze. That was odd, he thought as he poured more strength into the spell. He finally managed to see frost crystals sprout from the end of his wand and jabbed it towards the latch. It clicked open. Success! he thought. However, the tiny ice cube he had created quickly melted and the latch shut itself tight again. He sighed, but left it shut, thinking, At least I know how to open it later.
He then looked at the first latch. It doesn't like the taste? What could it possibly be tasting? Harry thought about licking it for a second to see if something was on it, but decided that was ridiculous. There was also the fact that he was probably being watched by a large audience, with his image being projected in front of all the stands. Alright, there's got to be a way to do this with dignity, he thought. He waited until the song repeated and listened to the line afterwards. Quench its thirst? But we're sitting in water already... He then realized what it meant. He was sitting in salt water. That was why the freezing spell needed more effort than usual as well. Now how could he purify the water around him? There was the simple water-cleaning spell used for potions (which Snape never taught, forcing all the students to use his pre-distilled water. Harry was sure he gave the cleanest water to the Slytherins). He tried using it on the lock. No luck, as the clean water quickly mixed and got swept away in the small currents before the latch unlocked. Aguamenti might do the trick, Harry surmised. It always conjured fresh, drinkable water, after all. He held his wand right next to the latch to be sure he could cover it with the stream of water from his wand. After ten seconds, he wondered if it was really working, but the line did tell him not to be hasty. He kept his wand on for a little longer. After thirty seconds of spraying fresh water onto the lock, it popped open. He ended the spell thankfully, and the latch closed again. Thirty seconds to open it up and only one second to close again. That's just not fair, he complained to nobody in particular.
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