Hermione's suspicion was correct. Harry had returned to his old practice of pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion before finally quitting. Afterwards his body felt like it was on the verge of falling apart, but by the next day his aches and pains had faded and he was ready to do it again. He knew Daphne would worry about what it was doing to him if she knew, but he believed it was helping to make him stronger. And he was willing to make her mad if it meant he could keep her safe. He would stop after the next task, he told himself, and then he and Daphne would figure out just what he was doing differently than everyone else. That or they would figure out how he was different from everyone else, an option that Harry suspected was more likely. By the end of the week spent using his intense training method Harry felt that he had increased his magical power more in those few short days than he had in the months spent using normal training methods. Maybe it was dangerous, but the results spoke for themselves. And because of it, Harry felt ready for the second task. As he lay in bed the night before attempting to sleep, Harry swore that he would shatter the low expectations he knew people had for him.
...
When Harry woke up the next morning he was surprised he had slept so well. He had been much more nervous before the first task, which he admitted might make a lot of sense considering nothing in the lake was as dangerous as a nesting dragon trying to protect her eggs. The next task was scheduled to take place at 1:00 PM, so he still had several hours to prepare. The first thing he did was open his trunk and check on his belongings. As he suspected it would be, everything was as he left it the night before. That meant that either no one had come to take something from him yet or that what was going to be taken from him was not an item but a person.
"Reperio Daphne." Harry said, eager to make sure the spell still worked. He had recast it the previous day because he was worried it might wear off. The locating spell was still functioning perfectly, he found, and the bright yellow line coming from his wand was currently pointing towards another part of the castle. Harry suspected it was aimed at the dungeons the Slytherin dorms were located in but could not be certain of that. He ended the spell and decided to start getting ready for the rest of his day. That was when he noticed a small package lying on his dresser. Curious about what it was he tore away the brown paper covering it and found that someone had sent him red and gold, the Gryffindor colors, swimming trunks with a matching shirt that said "POTTER" on the back in large letters. The clothes appeared to be the right size for him and when he picked them up was surprised to feel that they were quite warm. A note was lying at the bottom of the package and Harry picked it up to see who the gift was from.
Harry,
I thought that given your newfound love for swimming you might enjoy some new swim wear. They are enchanted to keep you warm and dry off instantly. I am sure you will find an opportunity to use them soon.
- Professor Albus Dumbledore
Harry smiled and muttered a silent 'thank you' to Professor Dumbledore. He put them on and found that they did indeed fit perfectly. Harry put his school robes on over his swimming clothes and decided to walk down to the Great Hall and see what was for breakfast. When he got there he immediately saw that the Great Hall was full as if it were a normal school day. He guessed that most people wanted to be up early enough to get good seats for the second event, although he wondered how exciting it was going to be for them to stare at the surface of a lake for an hour. When the other students noticed him walking in every eye turned to look at him and most of the conversations stopped. Harry was used to this kind of reactions so he grinned and shook his head. That was when he heard someone shout "Go Harry!" and some people started clapping for him. Maybe a quarter of the student population seemed to be supporting him, even a few Hufflepuff's were clapping despite the fact that Cedric Diggory was from their house. Harry smiled and waved to everyone for a moment, still a little shocked by what was happening.
'Maybe there is hope for these people after all.' Harry thought as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. He glanced over to the Slytherin table and noticed that Daphne wasn't there. His certainty that he would have to find her at the bottom of the lake increased as he felt anger towards those responsible for the tournament. He never wanted to be in it and he especially never wanted to endanger anyone he cared about. Sighing, he decided that there was nothing he could do about it at the moment and he might as well eat breakfast. He found Neville eating alone and decided to sit with him. They both said a quick hello and then got back to their meals. Harry had heard that it was a bad idea to eat a big meal before swimming, but decided he still had enough time for it to settle and not cause any problems so he ate until he was content.
"Hey Neville, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked while taking another look down the table to see if she had sat down without him noticing. Most of Gryffindor seemed to be there but his friend was strangely absent.
"No. I haven't seen her all morning, actually." Neville answered. Harry nodded and wondered what she could be up to.
"Lavender!" Harry shouted, trying to get the attention of Hermione's roommate.
"What?" the girl shouted back from the other end of the table. She had been in the middle of a conversation and wasn't happy about being interrupted.
"Do you know where Hermione is?"
"Professor McGonagall came and got her this morning. She didn't say what for." Lavender answered and then turned back to the conversation she was having with Parvati Patil. Harry frowned as he thought about this new piece of information. Then he was struck by the realization that Hermione had been Viktor Krum's date to the Yule Ball. He jumped out of his seat and started looking up and down the Ravenclaw table. Cho Chang was missing as well. He did however see Roger Davies who had been Fleur Delacour's date at the Yule Ball, so that seemed to disprove his idea that the tournament officials had simply taken the people who had gone to the Ball with the champions. Perhaps there was someone else more important to her. In any event there was now no doubt at all that he would be looking for Daphne in the second task.
....
Join my P*atreon to enjoy 60+ advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/ScarletRosee (Remove the *)
Free members can get 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.