Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Second Task Aftermath

Chapter 41: Second Task Aftermath

24^th of February 1995, Hogwarts

(Nathan POV)

And then he felt his head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; he gulped it down, feeling as though he had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Tracy and the little girl up with him.

He had done it. He finished the second Task of the Tri-wizard tournament.

He could barely believe it, he was done. It was a bit ropey in the end, considering he almost drowned, but he saved Tracy and the little girl. He realized for the first time that he wasn’t alone, and that this was a task not a rescue mission. Suddenly, the crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet.

Nathan ignored them in favor of checking on Tracy and Fleur’s sister. Both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Tracy merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Nathan, and said, “Wet, this, isn’t it?” Then she spotted Fleur’s sister. “What did you bring her for?”

“Fleur didn’t turn up, I couldn’t leave her,” Nathan panted.

“Did you honestly think that they would publicly kill a kid in front of an audience. A kid that isn’t part of the tournament in front of an audience that includes a great number of foreign ministry workers. Not good for international relations, I think.” A monotone voice said sarcastically behind him.

Nathan turned around to find his twin sister sitting next to his younger sibling, legs dangling, on the edge of the pier. Jasmine was still in her outfit and was playing a game of exploding snap against Rose. They both seemed dry and did feel like they never participated in the task in the first place. It was a bit humiliating comparing his state to hers, considering they both participated in the same task.

“So, my shining knight saved another damsel as well,” teased Tracy, “You’re lucky I think your hero complex is cute.”

Nathan blushed and tried to turn away to hide his embarrassment. Something that was futile, considering how Rose’s shoulders were shaking, reveling in his mortification. Trying to change the subject, Nathan looked at Tracy, “C’mon,” he said shortly, “help me with her, I don’t think she can swim very well.”

They pulled Fleur’s sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs. Nathan could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione and Krum who were wrapped in thick blankets.

Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Nathan and Ron from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

“Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she hurt?”

“She’s fine!” Nathan tried to tell her, but he was so exhausted he could hardly talk, let alone shout.

As Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling Nathan upright; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister, babbling and apologizing, half in French, half in English.

“Come here, you,” said Madam Pomfrey. She seized Nathan and pulled him over to Hermione and the others, wrapped him so tightly in a blanket that he felt as though he were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat. Steam gushed out of his ears.

“Nathan, well done!” Hermione cried. “You did it!”

“I guess I did,” He responded.

“You’re well outside the time limit, though, Nathan. Did it take you ages to find us?”

“No, I found you okay…” Nathan’s feeling of stupidity was growing. Now he was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledore’s safety precautions wouldn’t have permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn’t turned up.

Dumbledore went to speak to the merpeople. He could speak Mermish for some reason and when he was finally done, he asked to speak with the other judges in private.

Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey had gone to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn’t seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

“Look after Gabrielle,” she told her, and then she turned to Nathan. “You saved her,” she said breathlessly. “Even though she was not your hostage.” she bent down, kissed Nathan twice on each cheek, to Tracy’s apparent anger, and went back to talk with her sister.

Before Tracy could say anything, Ludo Bagman’s magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.

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“Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows.

“Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points.”

Applause from the stands.

“I deserved zero,” said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head.

“Jasmine Evanshade, who also used an unknown spell to find and summon her hostage without entering the lake, was the first to retrieve her hostage, with her finishing the task in seven minutes and forty nine seconds. We therefore award her a full fifty points”

“Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was the second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points.”

“Nathan Potter used gillyweed to great effect,” Bagman continued. “He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, outside of Ms. Evanshade of course, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own.”

Tracy and Hermione both gave Nathan half-exasperated, half commiserating looks.

“Most of the judges,” and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, “feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter’s score is forty-five points. Which means that into the first task we have, in first place Jasmine Evanshade, in second place, Nathan Potter, in third place, Viktor Krum and in fourth place, Fleur Delacour. The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions.”

It was over, Nathan thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes. It was over, he had got through. He didn’t have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth. He was even second, losing only to his sister, who had admitted before into being a magic prodigy, not that her performance in the first task could say otherwise. He now understood the difference between a graduated witch and a student.

As they made their way to the castle, Jasmine had surprisingly not disappeared this time, with Hermione needling her again about the secret spell she used.

“So, what was the spell you used? Why didn’t Dumbledore know of it? Was it dark magic? Is it hard to do?” Hermione practically kept babbling at her.

“It’s actually quite a simple spell, one of my own really. A mixture of charms and divination. It’s a simple scrying spell that determines the location of anything, sort of like a tracking charm I want and a modified summoning charm to get to the location and get Rose. The only issue was the fact that she was tied down and couldn’t just be summoned. Thankfully, the spell was a very modified summoning charm that allowed to somewhat control the spell. I could see what was happening because of my scrying spell and I was able to summon a sharp stone to cut the rope. Then all that was left was for my spell to grab Rose and bring her to me.”

Nathan looked around to make sure he wasn’t the only one gaping at her. Even Krum and Delacour who were subtly listening to her dropped all pretense of distraction and were looking at her like she was Merlin reborn. Hermione looked like she didn’t believe she would do this and asked with incredulity, “You made a spell just for the task?”

“Don’t be silly, of course I didn’t.” Everyone relaxed slightly. “I made it to be able to summon my books from the library. I made the scrying spell to be able to navigate the library and the modified summoning charm to take whatever book I choose.”

Hermione’s eyes seemed to brighten at the thought of that spell. She was probably imagining herself using it. Nathan himself didn’t believe she was so lazy as to create a spell just to avoid going to the library.

“I’m just grateful that I made that spell. I wouldn’t want to actually go swimming in this time of year. The water must have been freezing.”

Everyone’s eyebrow twitched at her comment. They had all gone underwater except for her. Even the hostages who weren’t champions had to get underwater. They were asleep, yes, but they must have woken up cold and wet when they got out of the water.

For the first time since she got to Hogwarts, Nathan started to wonder more about his sister. Something the Headmaster said to him that won’t leave his mind. He now realized how little he actually knew about his sister. He had no idea what happened after the Dursleys abandoned her. She said that she was adopted but she didn’t say anything about who actually adopted her. She was even incredibly secretive about it.

It unnerved him; especially with how good she is at magic. How did she learn so much magic, how is she so skilled at everything? His sister was a stranger, he realized. And his family was bending over backwards to accommodate her somehow. It was weird and he didn’t like it. He had first balked at the headmaster’s idea of observing his sister but now, he understood the wisdom of the idea. You must protect your home and your family, even if they don’t see it themselves. It was probably nothing but after the last few years. With Voldemort almost killing him a few years in a row, he had learned to be careful.

He was glad that his sister was back, he really was. But she was still a stranger, no matter what everybody says. The only thing he knew about her past was the fact that she was blood adopted and hence, isn’t a Potter anymore. His dad was miserable when he found out about it. That she would forsake them so readily.

Now that he was thinking about it, he was pretty angry with the way her return affected his parents. It should have been a momentous occasion not whatever the hell this was. His mother was crying a lot more now, his father got angry a lot more easily. It was clear that Jasmine’s rejection affected them deeply and she didn’t seem to care about it. Even his uncle Sirius was depressed because of the whole situation. He was normally so cheerful and now he just wasn’t. His Uncle Moony was still outside the country for some reason. Nathan didn’t know why he was always abroad, but he guessed it had to do with the werewolf laws that were passed when he was younger. Back then, his parents had cut almost all communication with the outside world and didn’t have any influence in the Wizengamot. A horrible woman called Umbridge had capitulated on the damage the werewolves did during the war and made it practically impossible for any werewolf to get a job.

Back to the Jasmine situation, his mother, father, Sirius, Remus, they were his family, they were her family and they loved her so much and she didn’t care. That’s what really made Nathan angry.

Nathan was quiet during the trip back to the castle, a lot of disturbing thoughts in his mind.

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