It was a week later that Cassia and Cedric finally found time to go open the egg; the day before school started again.

The last week had been glorious. Cassia had lazed around with her friends, went into Hogsmeade with Cedric, and properly confirmed her relationship with him, which was amazing. It felt nice to have a boyfriend around the castle, whether it was to rant to, talk to or just for him to be there.

Anyway, the time had finally come for the egg a week later, and Cassia was beyond excited to finally work out what was inside it.

They were on their way right now, swimming stuff in their hands. Cedric had told Cassia to bring it because obviously they'd be going underwater, and she had said a million times that she wanted to go in with him.

So there they were, inside the prefect's bathroom, Cassia in awe of it all, as Cedric filled the bath with water.

There were, like, a thousand taps. Well, maybe a hundred. And each of them was filled with a different soap or shampoo or conditioner; only two had water in them.

"Holy shit, this is amazing!" Cassia said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bath as she waited for it to fill.

Cedric chucked from the other side, where he had the egg. "I could pretend I didn't have the same reaction a year ago, but I'd be lying."

"Well, you shouldn't lie," Cassia chuckled.

"Shut up," Cedric rolled his eyes. "The bathrooms are over there, for changing."

"Cool," Cassia said, getting up and taking the green bikini she had brought, going into one of the cubicles to change into it.

It fit fine, even though it'd been four years since she had worn it, and once she was satisfied with it she stepped out of the cubicle again, Cedric waiting by the side of the bath, in swimming trunks.

Now was not the time, but his fucking body? Oh my god, Cassia was swooning, and not even in a lust sort of way (she was too young for that) just in an awe type of way.

And she wasn't sure, but he seemed to think the same of her, from the way he looked at her in that moment. However, how could he think anything of her body when his was the way it was?

Regardless of that, though, the bath was almost full, which meant it was almost time to finally figure this out.

"You ready for this?" Cassia asked Cedric as she slipped into the water, which was nice and warm and even a bit bubbly, thanks to the bubbles he had decided to add.

"No," Cedric said with an honest laugh. "But I need to figure this out, so... yes, as well, in a way."

Cassia smiled, wading over to him before giving him a splash.

Cedric looked at her in disbelief. "Oh you did not just do that!'

Then he splashed her, which of course, caused her to retaliate, and ended up causing a massive splash war between the two of them, laughing like mad.

"Right," Cedric said, as Cassia still tried to splash him. "Do you wanna know this clue or not?"

"I have a feeling that this is blackmail to get me to stop," Cassia said. "But yes."

Cedric smiled, wading over to the edge of the bath, where he put the egg, and coming back into the middle.

"Right," he said. "I'll open it first, and then we can go under to hear."

Cassia nodded, putting a reassuring hand on his arm and squeezing it. "It'll be fine."

Cedric took a deep breath before putting the egg underwater, twisting the top, and opening it.

Low and behold, when Cassia listened, there was no screech or shout. Instead, there was what sounded like a... song?

She looked to Cedric, who nodded, and then the both of them dived underwater to listen to it, holding their breath.

It was a song, Cassia realised, as she listened through the water.

"Come and seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot speak above the ground

An hour long you'll have to look...

To discover what we took."

As the song seemed to finish and the melody stopped, Cassia and Cedric shot up out the water, taking deep breaths as they surfaced, Cassia brushing her hair out her eyes.

"Oh my god," she said.

"Too right," Cedric commented, looking at her. "What did all that mean?"

"Well, the 'come and seek us' line must be the Black Lake, that's self explanatory," Cassia said. "And the 'hour long' thing means you've got an hour to go down there and rescue whatever it is they take, but... who are they?"

Cedric shook his head. "Creatures?" He suggested. "I don't know if there's anything down there except the giant squid, though..."

"There probably is," said Cassia sensibly. "But we can figure that out later. The most important thing is out next problem, which is-"

"How am I supposed to breathe?" Cedric finished off her thinking process for her.

Cassia nodded in answer. "I can't think of anything."

Cedric sighed. "Well, I've got a couple weeks," he shrugged. "Hopefully I'll figure it out before then."

"Yeah," Cassia said. "D'you think the others have? Fleur and Krum, I mean. Potter's not given the egg a second thought."

"D'you think I should tell him?" Cedric asked.

"What d'you mean?" Cassia frowned.

"Well, Harry helped me out a lot with the dragons, so I should repay the favour," Cedric said. "And if he's struggling with the clue, it's the perfect way."

Cassia smiled at him. "Give him a week."

"What?"

"Give him a week, then give him the hint," she said. "That way, he's got a week to figure out if he wants to do it or not, and if he tries it, to figure out what the clue means and how to breathe underwater."

Cedric smiled. "Okay."

"And in the meantime, I'll try and do a bit of research," Cassia said.

"You don't have to-"

"No, but I want to," Cassia said with a smile. "After all, I can't have my boyfriend drowning only a few weeks after I got him, can I?"

Cedric laughed openly at this.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

A week passed as though it were a day and soon, Cassia was sitting in the library, lit by the evening moonlight outside and the lights in, with Cedric. They hadn't had a lot of time the past week to hang out, and they had agreed not to talk about the task to each other for the week, so this was the first time since the bath that they were discussing it.

So, tucked up in a booth in the library, sitting opposite him, Cassia shared her findings.

"It's merpeople," was one of the first things said. "I only realised it last night, but it's got to be them, they can't speak above water, they're very sneaky and on top of that, there's a bunch of them living in the Black Lake."

She showed Cedric the book that documented this but he hardly looked at it, instead staring at Cassia.

"You're amazing, you know that, right?" He told her.

Cassia smiled slightly and tried to conceal her blush. "Thank you, but... I'm really not."

Cedric shook his head, but didn't say anymore, instead saying. "I found this," he handed her a book open at the right page. "It's called a bubblehead charm, and it basically puts your head in a bubble so you can breathe underwater."

"That's perfect," Cassia grinned, skim reading the page. She looked up at Cedric. "You're amazing too, you know."

Cedric grinned modestly and continued. "I've been practicing the incantation for it, and I've got it pretty good," he smiled. "But thank you so much, Cass. I couldn't have done any of this without you."

"That's just what I'm here for," Cassia giggled slightly. "Are you going to tell Potter tomorrow?"

Cedric nodded. "I just hope he believes me. What I'm going to say will probably sound very stupid."

Cassia sighed. "Just come out with it. Potter takes things better if you don't tiptoe round them."

"Okay, Cass," Cedric smiled. "D'you want me to walk you back to your common room?"

"Yes, please," Cassia smiled, both of them starting to get up. "But only if I get a goodnight kiss."

And he did give her one, right on the cheek.

And she knew it would stay with her forever.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

I'm not ready for this, went through Cassia's mind again and again as she and Cedric walked across the bridge to where Harry and Hermione were stood talking on it.

"Hey, Potter!" Cedric called out once they were near. Harry turned, sighing slightly when he saw them.

Cassia rolled her eyes. "Don't give us the sass, Potter, you don't know what he's gonna say."

"You mean this isn't you?" Harry raised his eyebrows.

"No," Cassia sighed.

Harry turned to Cedric, who asked. "How- how are you?"

"Spectacular," Harry looked at him hard.

Cedric sighed. "Look, I- I never really thanked you properly for tipping me off about the dragons."

Harry shook his head. "Forget about it, I'm sure you would've done the same for me-"

"Oh, stop being noble, Potter, and listen," Cassia told the boy.

"Exactly," Cedric said. "Exactly, I would do the same."

Harry started at him.

"Listen, you know the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor?" Cedric said suggestively. "It's not a bad place for a bath."

He means it's a fucking amazing place for a bath, Cassia bit her tongue to stop herself from saying.

Harry was now looking extremely confused, and concerned.

"Listen, just take your egg, and mull things over in the hot water, okay?" Cedric said, grabbing Cassia's hand and leading her back down the bridge.

Cassia gave Potter a slight smile as they left.

And she just prayed he would listen.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Well, he had, apparently. The only problem was, he had done it six days later than expected.

It was the night before the second task. Cassia had been with Cedric during the day, but as the sky started to darken he had told her to go check up on Harry as well, to see if he had taken the hint. She was just heading to the library to do so (she'd had a tip off from Seamus that he, Ron and Hermione were in there) when she was stopped in the corridor by Professor Moody.

"Miss Malfoy, I've been looking for you," he said. When Cassia frowned, he continued. "Professor McGonagall would like to see you, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, in Dumbledore's office."

"Me, Ron and Hermione?" Cassia frowned. "They're in the library right now, but-"

But Moody was already walking in that direction. Cassia hurried to catch up, because even though the guy only had one real leg, he could be fast when he wanted.

When they got to the library, they heard Hermione talking.

"Look, Harry, we can do this, the three of us can figure it out!"

Figure it out? Cassia frowned. But Potter got the tip off a week ago-

"Hate to break up the little study session," Moody said. "But Professor McGonagall wants to see you in Dumbledore's office."

Hermione frowned at the sight of Cassia at Moody's side, confused as all three of them started to get up.

"Not you, Potter, just Weasley and Granger," Moody was quick to say.

"But sir," Hermione tried. "The second task is only hours away, and-"

"Exactly," Moody was way ahead of her. "Presumably Potter is well prepared by now and could do with a good night's sleep. Now come with me and Miss Malfoy. Now!"

Cassia sighed as Hermione and Ron joined their little procession through the corridors and up to Dumbledore's office.

"Potter got the clue almost a week ago," she hissed to Hermione. "Wanna tell me why he waited until the last day to figure it out?"

Hermione sighed. "He thought it was a trick, or a joke, or something," she whispered back. "He didn't want to end up looking like a fool-"

"Well, he would've if everyone had known what the task was but him-"

"Sherbert lemon!" Moody growled to the massive phoenix outside Dumbledore's office, watching as it began to turn and let them in. Cassia had only been in this place once before, after the whole Chamber of Secrets debacle, so it was still very interesting for her.

As they stepped onto the moving staircase and went up it, Cassia started to wonder why they were here. Like, why them?

Moody knocked before entering, and the first thing Cassia registered was that the mood in the office was a bleak one, despite four people already being in there.

McGonagall was one, standing talking to a second, which was a small blonde girl, the one Cassia recognised as the gymnast from Beauxbatons' entrance. Snape was stood to the side, watching the scene with an unreadable expression. Dumbledore was sat at his desk, also speaking to the little girl.

They all stopped when Cassia, Ron, Hermione and Moody walked in.

"Hello, you three," McGonagall said, turning round. "You must be wondering why I've summoned you here."

"Yeah," Cassia nodded, Hermione and Ron following her lead.

"Well, you three, along with Gabrielle here," McGonagall gestured to the little girl. "Are going to be the objects that the champions have to find in the second task."

Wait a second, what?

"One person for each champion," McGonagall went on. "Gabrielle is Miss Delacour's, Miss Granger, you are Mr Krum's, Mr Weasley is Mr Potter's, of course, and Miss Malfoy, you are Mr Diggory's."

Cassia was shocked.

"Wait, so- what?" She stuttered. "How are we supposed to breathe down there-?"

"A spell will be put upon you, Miss Malfoy," Snape said cuttingly.

"Yes, Cassia, that is correct," Dumbledore put in, standing up. "We're going to put you all into a powerful slumber, place you in the lake and let the merpeople handle you, but instruct them to let you go when the champions come to save you. And not to worry, the sleeping spell with wear off the second you get out the water. All you have to do is give permission for this."

Ron and Hermione gave theirs straight away, but Cassia was more skeptical.

"So you're spelling us unconscious and chucking us in the lake?" She raised her eyebrows, frowning. "Yeah, makes perfect sense."

"Your permission, Miss Malfoy," Snape snapped.

"Okay, I give my permission," Cassia muttered.

She still couldn't quite believe this. She was a part of the second task. Cedric had to save her.

It was McGonagall who spelled her, coming up to her with her wand and offering the girl a comforting smile.

"Just relax, Miss Malfoy," she said. "It'll all be fine."

And Cassia wasn't one for empty reassurances, but she decided to take this one.

But that was mainly because she had blacked out before she could argue.