? ??? ????????? ??? // ????? ??????

'They say I did something bad
But why's it feel so good?'

Hermione and Ron had still not gotten back yet. I sat alone in my bed, too nervous and too scared to get up, although it was 8:46 am and the task started at 9:30.

"I guess I should get ready now," I mumbled to myself, groaning as I stood up from my bed.

I walked over to our shared bathroom, splashing my face with water. I used the bathroom, washing my hands and then brushing my teeth. I brushed my hair, pulling it into a pony. I walked over to my clothes, pulling out a black one piece bathing suit. I really don't remember why I brought it, but I like to come prepared.

I undressed, putting the bathing suit on and a Gryffindor wind-breaker over top. I also slipped on some joggers.

I grabbed the flask, putting it into my pocket and running out of my dorm and then the common room, sprinting down the hall. I checked my watch, 9am.

I finally got all the way to the Black Lake, about to hop in a boat by myself to get to the three stands in the middle of the lake where we'd be starting from.

"Potter? Mind if I catch a ride with you?" A voice said as I was grabbing the boat. I turned around. It was Nott.

I rolled my eyes and looked back to the boat, "Fine then. Just don't talk to me."

"It takes about a minute to get there, there's not much to say," He said, grabbing the boat and hopping into it. He put his hand out to help me in. He was a gentleman, due to the way he grew up. But I was still shocked, I was a half-blood after all.

I ignored his hand, sitting down in the boat by myself.

"Potter... any chance you'd know where Malfoy went? He's been gone all night," Nott drawled, acting like he knew something suspicious.

"Why would I know?" I scoffed as the boat took us to the middle stand where my brother, Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor were standing. Nott got off first, offering me his hand again. He hummed as I ignored it again, pushing myself out and standing on the wooden dock.

I pushed past him, going to greet the other competitors, "Good morning everybody!"

They all nodded good morning as I smiled at all of them, walking to stand next to my brother.

"You alright?" I asked, taking off my joggers and wind-breaker, grabbing the flask from the pocket.

"Peachy," He said sarcastically, sticking out his hand. A wet, seaweed like mush sat in it.

"Appetizing," I smirked as he rolled his eyes.

"Welcome to the second task," Dumbledore started over a speaker, "Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These five treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the Black Lake. In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure, and return to the surface. Simple enough."

Moody appeared behind Harry and I, "Put that in your mouth and you drink it," He demanded, pushing Gillyweed to Harry's mouth and the flask to mine.

"Except for this, they will have but one hour to do so, and one hour only," Dumbledore continued as I gave Moody a weird look behind his back, unscrewing the cap of the flask and downing it back. Harry shoved the Gillyweed into his mouth.

All of the competitors waved to everybody around them except Harry, as he chewed the Gillyweed. Dumbledore continued, "After that, they'll be on their own. No magic will save them."

The potion tasted like rotten eggs and berries mashed together. I gagged, as did my brother. It was disgusting. I felt gills slice into my neck and fins started to sprout out of my back and feet. Suddenly I couldn't breathe.