Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Eyes wide open

Fleur was nervous. Her palms were sweaty as she stood at the edge of the black lake, already  wearing her swimsuit for the second task. Her face looked pale, paler than normal at least. She had gone to see her parents again in the watcher’s stands, she saw Gabrielle with them as well, but she could not find Archie whatsoever.

Gabrielle said that Archie replaced her for the task, Fleur’s father was pissed of course, even if it was canceled, the fact that the British Ministry considered placing a nine-year old girl at the bottom of the lake is a red flag to Fleur’s father. Fleur’s parents debated whether they should bring Gabrielle home, but Fleur told them to calm down, as her worry was not diminished whatsoever.

Archie is at the bottom of the lake. And she had to save him, otherwise, he would not come back. 

Or so the song said. Archie repeatedly said that it is not going to be that way, while the British ministry made some idiotic moves, they are not so dumb to actually do it, it was just an empty threat.

But Fleur can’t help but worry. Archie seems to trust her that she could save him, but she couldn’t trust herself for that. Her being Part-Veela is already at a disadvantage here, she could not stand the cold, sure, the warming charm might help a bit, but prolonged exposure will diminish the charm eventually, and she had to look for Archie in under an hour, while also maintaining a bubble-head charm.

The announcer’s voice broke Fleur’s thoughts as he explained the task to the audience. The four champions stood side by side with their own uniform, all looking nervous. Fleur was holding her wand tightly, anxiously looking at the lake in front of her.

 

She went into full focus mode right now, giving her all to this task. When the announcer finally officially started the task, Fleur ran instantly to the lake, determined to find him.

—

This is… an unfortunate situation… I am now at the bottom of the black lake, I could feel a rope tied to one of my legs, and I was still wearing my Hogwarts robe.

I could not breathe at all, but strangely, it feels like I don’t need to breathe right now. My eyes are wide open, I could see the mermaids standing guard nearby, the villages of the creatures is an interesting sight to see. Even though I could see, even though I could think, I couldn’t move my muscles at all. It's… numb, it feels weird, it feels claustrophobic for some reason… Like I am buried raw in the ground with no coffin whatsoever… my worst fear of all…

Is the spell botched or something? Or is it because of the bloody mind shield that I couldn’t be unconscious because of magic? Ah, talent, a blessing and a curse…

So I just waited… watching the mermaids wandering around the place with their tridents… I wonder how Fleur is doing right now… Hope the Grindylows don't get her, I taught her how to deal with them, hope she listens…

—

Grindylows. Archie had warned her about it. Tiny little creatures with tentacles that will attack in groups, latching to the prey to make them drown, before eating them. Fleur was swimming through patches of weed in the bottom of the lake, searching for a sign of the task location. But she was suddenly pulled by Grindylows deeper the the lake, and they were biting Fleur’s legs rapidly.

Fleur felt the bites of the creatures, slowly taking chunks of her delicate skin to eat it. She couldn’t scream, the bubble-head charm prevented her from doing so, she tried to shake them off by kicking her legs, but it was of no use.

Then, she remembered Archie’s words. ‘Grindylows will latch on to your bodies and will do whatever it takes to drown you, fighting them physically is useless because of numbers, so, use the Revulsion jinx instead, sending jets of boiling water to their skin. It’ll make them run away, but make sure to run quickly though, as they will probably bring more of their kind to take you down.’

Fleur then quickly pointed her wand at the Grindylows while trying so that the Grindylows wouldn't latch on to her torso. She waved her wand in the water and casted a Revulsion Jinx, the water heated up because of the spell, and it shot to the group of Grindylows, boiling their sensitive skins.

The Gryndilows froze for a second, stunned by the boiling water, making Fleur be able to escape. She kicked them away from her and tried to swim away. She made it out of the patches of weed, but she was super slow, her feet bleeding and she could feel some of her flesh torn off.

She could only winch in pain as she forced herself to swim. But, she saw hope, she could see the floating hostages from afar, and it made her smile. Perhaps she could do this after all…

But then, she heard screeching sounds from behind her, she panickedly turned around and saw an even larger group of Grindylows swimming towards her. Fleur has never felt this threatened before, she could feel her heart beating wildly between the waters, and she quickly needed to think of a way to get out of this situation.

Then it hit her. The Revulsion jinx was supposed to be a Jinx that made people drop what they were holding right? But because of the water, the real effect appeared, which was sending a jet of hot air from the wand.

So, she could technically do it with other spells, right?

Instead of swimming away from the Grindylows, Fleur turned her body towards the approaching creatures. She pointed her wand at them, and murmured a simple spell.

‘Ventus.’

—

It’s getting boring here… I couldn't understand what the Mermaids were talking about, three other bodies were floating creepily beside me, and I could not feel my body at all… the feeling of ‘not breathing’ is starting to get in my head, I’m just scared that once the spell wore off I forgot how to breathe again… oh well.

As I just thought of that, I could see someone approaching the site. It’s a boy, wearing red clothing… oh, it’s Potter… well Fleur, come on… At least be second place… But then, I also saw something from a distance. It’s… a… vortex? The hell? Someone transfigured a propeller or something?

But then, as it was getting closer and closer, the one who was in front of the vortex of water was getting clearer and clearer, it passed through Potter, pushing him away because of the vortex.

The ones who were coming towards the site using this water vortex are getting closer, and I finally know who it is… it’s Fleur! Holy shit! How did she do that!?

When she finally arrived at the site, the Mermaids pointed their tridents at them, watching her ever closely. I could see her relieved face once she saw me, she weakly swam to me and touched my face. My eyes are opened so we are staring at each other’s eyes, not saying anything. She quickly examined my body and saw the rope that was tied to my leg and swam towards it.

She pointed her wand to the rope and casted a quick severing charm, cutting the rope easily.

Once the rope was separated from me, I could start to feel my body again, the feeling of ‘need to breathe’ practically screamed in my mind and I grabbed my wand that was in my pocket, before casting a Bubble-head charm towards my face.

Fleur then hugged me as I balanced myself, supporting me in the water. I looked at her and gave her a thumbs up, to which she smiled. We then started to swim towards the surface, but I could feel that Fleur was really slow. I inspected her body, and I noticed a huge chunk of her calves were torn off.

I frowned at her, only to see Fleur giving me a weak smile. I shook my head at her condition, damn, this girl tries too hard… I swam closer to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, before pointing my wand to the surface, specifically where the finish place is.

‘Ascendio.’ I murmured, and we were both launched towards the surface and we were instantly launched to the Platform of the finish place.

When we surfaced, I coughed up really loudly while also checking up on Fleur. I could hear the crowd cheering from around us, and the place started to get really stuffy.

“W-We need a healer!” I shouted to the employees nearby. I turned to Fleur’s legs and looked at her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded weakly at my words, wincing in pain while holding my hand. “I- I can’t feel it.” she said. “I can’t feel my legs…”

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Damn it… I quickly stood up, pushing away a couple of students and I picked her up from the ground, placing my arm around her waist while my other hand lifted her bitten off legs.

“Out of the way!” I shouted, pushing more people to make a way for me and Fleur. She wrapped her arms around my neck for added support, and I went to the healer’s tent.

“The hell happened to you? Grindylows?” I asked while frowning. “I told you to use the jinx, didn't I?”

“It got to me first.” she refuted, placing her head on my shoulder. “They pulled me from behind, I couldn’t react fast enough…”

I sighed at her words and just squeezed her waist a little, making her yelp. “Well let’s not swim in the lake again, yeah?”

She just shot me an amused glare. “Then let’s go to that bath again on the fifth floor.” she then whispered to my ear. “Naked this time.”

Always finds a way to make this sounds sexual without any action to back that up… classic Fleur…

—

Minutes later, I was now sitting beside Fleur who was laying on a hospital bed, with her legs wrapped with bandages by Madam Pomfrey.

“Miss Delacour, everything should be back to normal by tomorrow morning.” she said to her. “You might feel a little itchy on the wound area, but that is normal, do not try to scratch it, understood?”

Fleur nodded her head. “Merci Madame.”

Madam Pomfrey just hummed and looked at me. “I will lend you a wheelchair for the day, the scores will be announced shortly so I will bring it now.”

“Thank you Pomfrey.” I said, and Madam Pomfrey left the bed, leaving us alone.

“Do you think I got first place?” Fleur asked curiously, casually playing with my hand on the bed.

“Why would you think that you’re not first place?” I questioned her, confused at her thoughts.

“Well, I did get back with missing calves…” she chuckled nervously. “They will probably take away some points for that…”

“It’s probably not that much.” I shrugged. “The important thing is, you got out of the lake first, and that is already a lot of points.”

Fleur just hummed, not wanting to continue the conversation. Suddenly, the tent opened abruptly, revealing a worried Monsieur and Madame Delacour, along with Gabrielle who was following them.

“Fleur! Are you alright?!” Appoline launched towards Fleur, checking her body fully.

Fleur just rolled her eyes at her mother’s unwarranted worry. “I am fine Maman, Madame Pomfrey has taken care of me, I will be able to walk again tomorrow.”

“That is a serious wound Fleur.” Sebastian stated, looking at Fleur’s bandaged calves. “What happened?”

“Grindylows, they attacked me from behind, pulling my legs before biting it.” Fleur scowled, seemingly annoyed at the memory.

“And ‘ow did you get out of it?” Appoline asked curiously, already sitting on one of the chairs.

“Archie taught me ‘ow to deal with them, using Revulsion Jinx.” she answered. “It made their skin blistered from the ‘eat.”

“That is good thinking.” Sebastian nodded in approval.

“Last year’s DADA teacher taught me that.” I hummed, Lupin, such a good teacher he was… “But that is the least craziest thing I’ve seen today… I saw Fleur use the Ventus spell to push herself in the water to cope with her wounded legs… that is honestly ingenious from you Fleur.”

Fleur just blushed at my compliment. “It is nothing…”

—

I was now pushing Fleur that was in a wheelchair towards the Judge stands to hear the result of the task. Her family was following us, waiting for the Tournament standings to be announced.

I could then see Dumbledore appear from the stand, looking at the watchers and the champions respectively.

He then announced the standings loudly.

1st - Fleur Delacour

2nd - Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter

3rd - Viktor Krum

Holy shit, she’s actually first place… I could hear the cheers of the Beauxbatons as Dumbledore announced that Fleur is the first place, it’s as if they ignored their prejudice towards Fleur for a second to feel the glory. Fleur actually looks happy about it, but I could see the Delacours a bit sad at the announcement.

They were probably just scared for her…

Wait… shit… she’s first place now… which means…

Oh fuck… Well, I’ve got a lot of things to do now…

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