"You have to listen to the egg underwater, that's the only way to understand it. I never even thought about doing that, Hermione. I just got really lucky."
"So what does it say?" she asked.
Harry thought for a moment, making sure he remembered it correctly, and then began:
" Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground.
And while you're searching ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took
But past an hour - the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back "
Hermione's face scrunched up in concentration, trying to determine the meaning behind the clue. "Harry, I think they are talking about the Merpeople in the lake." she said after a few moments thought.
"That's what I thought, too. So the Merpeople are going to take something from me and I will have an hour to look for it. Meaning we need to figure out how I am going to stay underwater for an hour and not die." Hermione nodded and walked over to a rock that was about as tall as her waist. Pulling herself up, she sat and the look of concentration came back to her. Harry, knowing that determined look, smiled and sat down next to her. "I guess I could always use scuba gear, right Hermione?" Harry joked. Hermione turned and looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another head.
"Harry I am pretty sure the point of the tournament is to complete the tasks using magic. Although, perhaps if you were able to transfigure something into scuba gear…"
"I was joking, you know." Harry replied, to which Hermione merely shrugged. "The second task isn't until February 24, so we have over two months to figure this out. That's quite a bit better than last time, I'm sure by then we will be experts at underwater magic."
"Hopefully so. That reminds me, how were you able to cast that Incendio for so long? And how did you make the flames so big?" she asked, intrigued by her friend's abilities.
"It's just a matter of focus and putting all of the power you can into it. I think I may be a bit stronger in that category than average. It's not normal that a thirteen year old could not only cast the Patronus charm but to do it strong enough to drive of dozens of dementors, is it. Plus, I've been working on my magic a lot recently." he said casually, as if he had not been spending almost all of his free time working on it.
"Do you think I could practice with you, Harry?" she asked hopefully. Harry frowned a bit, not ready for Hermione to learn about his secret lessons with Daphne.
"Let's wait until after Christmas, if you're still interested then let me know." Harry finally said, deciding that it was a good enough solution to the problem because by then Hermione would have already seen Harry and Daphne together at the Yule Ball. Hermione nodded in agreement, looking forward to learning new things alongside Harry. Harry wondered how Hermione and Daphne would act around each other, once his big secret was out in the open. He hoped they would be friendly because he didn't want to have to choose between them if he didn't have to. If he did have to choose though, he asked himself, which one would he choose? At the beginning of the year it would have easily been Hermione, but things had changed. Harry was amazed that in a few short months someone could become so important to him, but it had happened. So much had changed, he wondered where he would be if it weren't for Daphne's influence and friendship. 'Worse off' he decided.
"Let's go inside, Hermione. It's getting cold out here, but maybe I just feel that way because I jumped in the lake a few minutes ago." Hermione laughed at him, noting that he did indeed still look cold.
"Ok, but can I borrow your egg for a while? I would like to hear the clue for myself. Then maybe I should go down to the library and start looking up underwater charms, I think I know a good book to start with…"
"You can have the egg on one condition: take the night off. I promise you we will work on this soon. Why don't you go hang out with that mystery date of yours?" Harry asked with a grin. He had already begun to walk off when he said it so he could barely hear Hermione's annoyed response.
...
That night Harry excitedly told Daphne about how he had opened the egg and what the clue was. She agreed with his and Hermione's assessment that the Merpeople were going to hide something of his under the lake. Unfortunately, she also didn't know of a spell that could be used to breathe underwater. Daphne also told him of her sister's sudden interest in what she was doing with her time. Harry fully expected to be interrogated by the younger Greengrass when she did find out who Daphne's date was. Luckily, they both thought, no one else had any idea that they were going to the Yule Ball together. A few girls had asked Harry if he had a date yet, apparently him being a Triwizard champion was enough to make up for the fact that he was a future dark lord, but he had politely told every one that he already had a date.
And so the winter break began and the anticipation for the upcoming Ball grew. Most years the castle was nearly empty during the holidays, but this year almost everyone stayed so that they could attend the Yule Ball. At Daphne's request Harry had added ballroom dancing to their training. In the beginning he was absolutely dreadful at it, which Daphne discovered in the way of several stepped on toes. Daphne, who was expected to be able to dance due to pureblood customs, was slowly able to bring his performance up to an acceptable level. Two days before the Yule Ball she finally deemed him ready, saying that he might not embarass them both. Harry had been so busy that it wasn't until the day before the ball that the realization that he had never been on a date before and had no idea what to do really struck him. Part of him thought he was less nervous about facing the dragon, at least then he had a plan. He spent the rest of the night trying to calm himself down, and was mostly able to as he finally went to bed hoping that this Christmas would be one that he would happily remember.
....
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