Harry and the other champions currently found themselves standing on a platform in the middle of the Great Lake (also known as the Black Lake) after being taken to the platform by boats, there were three platforms but the champions had all gathered on the middle one. Behind the four champions were a few close people, for Krum and Delacour it was several people from their schools including the heads of their school, Headmaster Karkaroff and Madam Maxime. For Cedric it was a couple of his Hufflepuffs friends while Harry had Draco, Nott, Tracey and Angela. Blaise had also been missing, Harry rather correctly guessed that he was Miss Delacour's treasure since he was who she went to the ball with.
Behind them was also Professor Dumbledore and the other judges, though Ludo noticeably tried to keep as much people in-between himself and Lord Black as possible. The students from all three schools had gathered on the upper levels of the platforms to cheer them on and to watch the task which they were thankfully able to do thanks to the flying two way mirrors. Eventually everyone appeared to have been ready enough to start the task.
"Welcome, welcome all to the second task of the Triwizard tournament," Dumbledore said, his voice magically amplified. "the task is a very simple one." Dumbledore said, and it was true, after the last task the judges had all looked over Ludo's plans for the other two tasks and found them convoluted, stupid, ridiculous and needlessly dangerous. Lord Black had actually said that if they intended to follow through with these plans then they would need to buy him a new pair of boots because he would probably lose a pair while kicking Ludo's arse. Needless to say the plans had been changed. They had also made sure to actually get permission from the guardians of the hostages along with the hostages themselves, the last thing they needed was more bad publicity. "We have taken something from each champion, I suppose that you could call them a treasure. In the bottom of the Black Lake is where we have put these treasures, one for each champion, their objective is simple. Get their treasure within the time limit, the time limit being one hour, good luck champions."
Dumbledore signalled the champions to start getting ready and they did so, Krum stripped to a simple pair of red knee length swimming shorts, revealing his muscular body which had clearly been affected by hours of quidditch practise. The mirrors zoomed in on him, many females in the audience enjoyed the sight. Next was Cedric who ended up wearing a simple pair of black knee length swimming shorts. His body was not extremely muscular nor did was it extremely skinny, he was thin but his abs didn't stand out, he had muscles but was not as muscular as Krum, still...the girls appeared to love it. Fleur Delacour ended up wearing a rather simple white, one piece swimming suit. Despite the simplicity of it she earned quite a few loud roars of approval from the many males in the audience.
Then the mirrors focused on Harry who was now standing in a pair of dark green knee length swimming shorts, the girls in the audience certainly appreciated his lithe body and some even began counting his abs, Harry's muscles were not as big as Krum's but they were very defined. Thanks to Ted and Tonks, Harry exercised daily and practising a lot of magic helped him burn a lot of fat, as did being an animagus. The mirrors also focused on the scar on Harry's arm from when the basilisk had bitten him, leading those who didn't know about it to wonder just how he got it.
If Harry looked behind himself then he would see Angela smirking while Tracey was blushing.
"Stay ready champions," Professor Dumbledore said, the champions moved to the edge of the platform. "stay ready and you may all begin at the sound of the cannon." Dumbledore said, the cannon fired a couple of seconds later, signalling the start of the task.
Fleur, Cedric and Victor all quickly started casting spells before they dived into the lake. Cedric and Fleur had decided to go for a bubblehead charm, a charm that is used to allow a person to breathe underwater. An enormous bubble appears around the head of the person casting the spell, which makes their features look oddly wide and stretched. It was a good spell but had the disadvantage of being easily breakable. Krum on the other hand had decided to go for a much more difficult option and had performed a partial transfiguration, turning his head into that of a shark's, including the gills.
"Mr Potter, aren't you going to go in?" Minister Fudge asked Harry who had simply got down onto one knee and was looking down at the lake.
"Slytherin." Harry responded in a way that made it clear that he thought that was a good enough explanation and that he should not need to say any more than that. Harry pointed his wand at a spot in front of the lake. Harry took a small breath before he cast a freezing spell, causing a small part of the water to turn into a small platform made of ice, one that was big enough for at least two people to sit on it. Harry smirked before hoping down onto the platform, he nearly fell right off but was thankfully able to stay on.
Harry, having known about the task, had placed some tracking charms on Daphne the day before the task. Through using a tracking charm to try and find Daphne, he was able to see that she was further into the lake. With a wave of his wand Harry was able to have the ice move forwards, after about a minute or so of that Harry stopped and checked the tracking charm again. Unfortunately for him the tracking charm was telling him that he still had more distance to cover before he was able to get to Daphne, so he sent the ice forwards again and after another minute or so he stopped and checked.
He repeated this until eventually his tracking charm told him that he was to go downwards, Harry rolled his neck before he cast a spell to keep the ice still so it wouldn't float off. He then cast a bubblehead charm and dived in to the water, Harry dived all the way down, he saw several sea ruins and some merfolk, thankfully Dumbledore had been right when he said that the merfolk weren't there to harm them. Harry eventually spotted the hostages, he saw Cho Chang for Cedric, Hermione Granger for Krum, Blaise for Fleur and Daphne for himself.
Harry highly doubted that Hermione and Blaise were the things that Krum and Delacour would miss the most but he figured that they probably counted as 'good enough'. Harry was tempted to try and rescue Blaise as well but he knew that Blaise would be safe, so he put all of his focus on Daphne. Harry cut the binding ropes with a quick cutting curse before he grabbed Daphne, he aimed his wand upwards.
"Ascendio!" He yelled, the spell propelled her and himself up through the water until they reached the surface. Once their heads were out of the water Daphne had woken up and Harry's bubblehead charm burst.
"Whoa!" Daphne blurted out, quickly wrapping her arms around Harry's neck. She looked around and shook her head before she looked at him. "Did...did you win?" She asked.
"Yep," Harry nodded as he helped her up onto the ice platform. "what about you?" Harry asked as he climbed up, he waved his wand and sent the ice platform moving back to the other platforms. "Are you alright?" Harry asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"I'm fine," Daphne said in a quiet voice, her face quite red. "just cold." She said as she leaned into him, Harry waved his wand over her and then himself, casting a warming charm. "Hmm!" Daphne let out an appreciative sigh as she felt the charm take place. "Thank you." She said, giving him a small kiss on the lips, she would have gave him a longer one but stopped when she saw the mirrors flying around them.
The next day nearly every student from all schools were talking about the second task, after Harry had gotten back Fleur Delacour had shown up without her hostage, having been taken out of the task by an attack from a group of Grindylows. Thankfully Blaise was brought out of the lake a short while after the task by the Merfolk. Krum had showed up next and Cedric was last, but overall Harry had been the quickest and had scored the most points.
By this point Daphne was getting a lot of jealous looks from other students, students who envied her not just for her good looks but also for the fact that she was Harry Potter's girlfriend. Only a few were foolish enough to actually try anything, Harry didn't even need to get involved since Daphne was able to easily take care of them. She might not have been as good with her wand as Harry but it couldn't be denied that Daphne Greengrass was a talented witch.
Right now Harry and his fellow Slytherin's were in the Slytherin common room, Tracey was feeding Thor who had taken a liking to her while Jet was curled up near the fireplace while Harry sat with Daphne leaning into his side. The group were talking and reading, though their relative peace was interrupted by an argument from the other side of the room. The group and the whole common room were now looking towards two seventh year Slytherin's that were arguing, one with brown hair and the other with blonde hair.
"But it's true!" The blonde one said in an exasperated tone.
"No it's not!" The brown one said in a stubborn voice.
"What are you two arguing about?" Angela asked the two, causing them to realise that everyone was looking at them.
"Well..." The blonde one blushed slightly before he continued, he looked at Harry before he started speaking. "...we were arguing about you-know-who."
"A common topic to randomly talk about." Harry said in a dry voice before he gestured them to continue.
"Well...I was saying that we should let the muggleborns stay in the wizarding world if for no other reason than to stop purebloods from having to work in lower jobs." The blonde said before he gestured to the brown haired one. "and he said that we shouldn't and then it sort of spiralled from there into talking about you-know-who and how he tried to get rid of them."
"Why are you looking at him for?" The brown haired one snorted. "Potter obviously hates the dark lord and..."
"Of course I do," Harry cut him off. "of course I hate him. He killed my parents, but despite that I truly believe that he is a great wizard." Harry said, surprising many people. "Despite my feelings on him as a person, he is a great wizard. But if I push my hatred to the side then I can still say he did not really help purebloods, halfbloods or muggleborns."
"What do you mean?" A first year girl asked, she just like the rest of the common room were giving Harry their complete attention.
"Well, think of it this way, if Voldemort had his way then purebloods would be on top and then halfbloods and then muggleborns would either be wiped out or enslaved, now that's what everyone believes, correct?" Harry asked, the Slytherin's had winced at his casual use of the dark lord's name but most nodded. "Great, well...here's the thing, if you think that that is his ultimate goal, his one goal above everything else, then...your wrong."
"What is his goal then?" A fourth year asked.
"The answer is quite simply 'power'." Harry answered. "Voldemort..."
"Don't call him that!" Pansy hissed. "You're not supposed to speak his name."
"I'm not afraid of him, I'd say his damn name and I'd say it to his face." Harry replied. "Anyway, Voldemort..." Harry drawled out the name, several Slytherin's winced, hissed and glared at Harry. "...might truly believe in blood dominating above everything else, he might. But I've done my research and his main goal is not to help purebloods."
"Of course it is!" A second year blurted out.
"Is it?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "Explain something to me then, have you ever heard of the Whitetail family?" Harry asked, the second year paused before shaking his head to say that he had not. "They're a pureblood family that had existed in Britain for over four hundred years. Do you know what happened to them?"
"No." The second year shook his head.
"They were wiped out by Voldemort," Harry told him in a blunt manner, he looked around and saw all of the Slytherin's were still paying attention to him. "that's four hundred years of history, give or take, wiped out and another pureblood family lost to time. How about the Redwoods? Another pureblood family, one with history of two hundred years, wiped out. The Doorsons, a pureblood family that has lived for over five hundred years in this country, they were reduced and cut down to one elderly old man who was too old to have kids. Can you imagine that? Imagine knowing that your family, all of its money and all of its history, has been cut down until you're the only one left and you can't bring it back to life?" Harry asked, the common room remained silent as Harry's words registered in their ears. "How about a more modern example? The Bones family has been reduced to two members, one of which is in my year, the Longbottom family is currently hoping for Neville Longbottom to provide a heir so they can continue. Or better yet, how about my family? The Potters are an ancient and most noble house, we've been in Britain since Ancient Rome. Yet thanks to one man, thanks to Voldemort..." Harry ignored everyone's reaction and continued speaking. "we have been reduced to just me. All of that power, that history, that prestige, the talent, skill, all that pure blood and all that magic wasted, all of it would have been wiped out completely if not for what was either a trillion to one fluke or a trap by my muggleborn mother.
The way I see it, Voldemort has cost us more pureblood families than any of the muggleborns in this school have." Harry paused before he looked around, and saw people taking in his words. "Don't believe me? Then do your own research, go and see how many families have become extinct thanks to Voldemort. If we didn't need muggleborns before then we most definitely do now, two wars have cut down the country's magical population, muggleborns are the key to bringing the population back up. Besides, as I've said before, muggleborns have children who will have more children and could eventually create more purebloods. It's basic logic. Perhaps it's the will of magic? I'm not one to argue with magic." Harry shrugged before he stood up. "I'm going for a walk, do you want to come?" He asked Daphne.
"Sure." She said in a soft voice as she took the hand he offered and stood up.
"Tracey, do us a favour and look after Thor please." Harry said to her before turning to Jet. "Jet, do me a favour and look after Tracey and Thor please."
"As you wish, Master." Jet nodded before Harry and Daphne left. Jet turned to the other Slytherins. "You all have brains, why don't you use them?" He asked in genuine confusion before shaking his head. The Slytherin's could not understand him but most of them could tell that whatever he said was not a compliment.