The second task was tomorrow amd Harry still didn't know any way to breathe underwater. Why did he have to put it off for so long? He was going to be embarrassed in front of everyone.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself, Harry Potter. If you hadn't lied to me that you already had this figured out.." Hermione scolded him, without pausing from her scouring of the thick time in fron of her.

"Quit it, Hermione. You can scold him later. He needs help now." Ron interjected. He had been trying very hard to be supportive of Harry trying to make up from not believing him in the first place. Though, after the ball, since Hermione had went with Victor Krum, he had been pretty prickly with her too.

Thankfully, Harry was spared from their upcoming bickering by Louise's arrival in the library. "Hey, how are you three doing? Working on homework?" She walked over to their table laden with dozens of books, eying it dubiously.

"We are trying to find a way for Harry to breath under the lake." Hermione answered, blunt as always.

Louise looked at Harry in concern. "Now? The task is tomorrow. Didn't Cedric help you with the clue?"

"If telling me to 'take a bath' is helping me with the clue, then yes he helped me out a lot." He snapped, unfairly.

Louise frowned at him in confusion. "I thought you were cool with Cedric.... Oh, the Cho thing. Right." She said, her expression clearing out in understanding.

"What Cho thing?" Harry tried to deny, his face burning red.

"Never mind. We don't have time for that. You do realise that even if you find out an appropriate spell now, you won't have time to actually learn it?" She asked.

Harry flushed. "What do I do, then? Surrender?"

"That would not be good for your public image." Louise said.

"I don't care about my public image." Harry was having a hard time controlling his temper.

"You should. Especially, after the hours I've spent with Rita Skeeter, trying to keep her from taking a dig at you." She informed him. "Anyway, do you want help with the task or not?"

"You said I won't be able...." Harry started to say, I only to be cut off by Hermione. "Yes, please."

"Great. So, there's something that will help you breath underwater without spending hours to learn the bubble head charm. It's a Mediterranean plant called gillyweed. It's unlikely to be grown in your green house but your potions professor might have some in stock. Now, given your relationship with him, he isn't just going to hand it over to you, so it's better to acquire it without asking."

"Bloody hell." Ron swore. "Are you telling us to steal from Snape?"

"Better use a house elf, though. Less chances of getting caught."

"A house elf.... Dobby." Harry though out aloud, only for the excitable house elf to appear right in front of him.

"Harry Potter sir called Dobby. What can Dobby be doing for Harry Potter sir?" Dobby squealed excitedly.

"Harry Potter! How could you?" Hermione shrieked at the same time.

"Quite!" Madam Pince appeared with raging fury.

"And that's my cue to leave." Louise said, waving goodbye. Harry couldn't decide whether to be grateful to her for the tip of annoyed that she had to give it in front of Hermione.

The next morning, Harry proceeded towards the Black Lake with a stolen gillyweed in the pocket, after reassuring Hermione for the hundredth time that he was only asking for Dobby's help as a friend and he didn't consider house elves slaves. He was also greatly annoyed at Rob for disappearing to God knows where, especially before the second task.

Aries and Cedric were already there, as Harry arrived, and greeted him with a nod. Harry nodded back nervously.

Louise arrived a minute later. "So, it seems that Fluer is someone I'll sorely miss. Hopefully, my sister will finally stop complaining that I don't care about her. What about you all, who are you missing?"

Harry felt his stomach drop. "Ron..."

"I haven't seen Cho since last night." Cedric added, worriedly.

"I haven't seen my cousin today." Aries offered nonchalantly.

"Draco? Really? He's the one you'll sorely miss? Should I be worried?" Louise winked at him, completely at ease.

Before Harry could say anything Mr. Bagman appeared, and ushered them towards the platform. With heart thundering, Harry put the gillyweed in his mouth and began to chew.

He faintly heard the signal to begin and jumped into the ice cold lake. This wasn't about winning anymore, but about saving Ron's life. He didn't know how Louise and Aries could be so nonchalant. He could understand about Aries (his hostage was Malfoy), but it was Louise's sister down in the lake....

Thankfully, with Myrtle's help, Harry reached the merpeople village where the hostages were kept. He slotted Ron, Fleur, Cho and Malfoy, suspended in a death like state, tied to poles. He quickly searched for a sharp rock and began to cut Ron's bindings, as Louise and Aries arrived together and used a non verbal spell to free their own hostages.

Harry freed Ron and was ready to leave when he noticed that Cedric hadn't arrived yet. He couldn't just leave Cho down here to die.

He gestured to Aries and Louise to leave, but they just glanced at each other and apparently decided to wait with Harry. Fortunately, Cedric didn't take much longer to arrive and all four champions swam up to the surface together, with their hostages.

"Marvelous, marvelous. Such spectacle of cooperation between the champions...." Harry heard Bagman's voice over the microphone as he helped Ron ashore, before promptly being ushered by Madame Pomphrey.

He was left alone after being prodded a bit and given a Pepper up potion, while Ron was being checked for any water in his lungs.

"Harry, you have a beetle in your hair." A voice called out. Harry turned around to see Aries walking towards him. He plucked out a green water beetle, with strange eye markings, out of Harry's head. "Ah, that one is a rare specimen. Do you mind if I keep it?"

Harry shrugged. "It's fine." He turned to leave before Aries stopped him.

"Actually, do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"Your scar is looking quite inflamed, much more than it did in the beginning of the year. Are you getting any treatment for that?"

The question caught Harry off gaurd. "Treatment? Uh, I don't think there is any treatment for a scar from a killing curse, Aries."

Aries smiled at that. "You could get treated for the symptoms, though. Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes." He answered, hesitating.

"Anything else?" Aries had apparently caught on to the hesitation.

"I.... I get dreams sometimes, of Voldemort." Harry hedged.

"Dreams?"

"Visions." He corrected himself.

"That's not good." Aries said, frowning. "Do you know any Occulmancy?"

"Occul..what?"

"Occulmancy. It's the art of protecting one's mind. I think that your scar provides Voldemort a connection to your mind, and it would be wise to occlude it. I would be willing to teach you if your godfather gives his permission. Think about it, Harry." Aries said, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder before walking towards Louise.

The scores were announced, giving all of the champions full marks, and all Harry could think about was that Voldemort had a connection to his mind.