Treasure
Angelina was sure the grindylows dislocated her shoulder.
Years of being a chaser has only made her too familiar with the deep throbbing pain that came from a popped out bone. The pain was now spreading up her neck and down her chest. Every now and again, the bones would make strange clicks, and it was all she could do not to vomit. She had no clue what vomiting in a bubblehead would do, and now was the worst time to find out.
The remains of an old ruin jutted out of the dark. She swam into it, hoping for a quiet nook only to come face to face with a barnacle goose almost as tall as her. Massive feelers sprung out of the shell on its back and it was only through her chaser-honed reflexes that she managed to evade the whirlpools they created.
The grindylows who had followed her were not so lucky however. The swirling vortices held the poor creatures in place as the feelers coiled around their shapes. Long thin fingers poked out of the tentacles but the barnacle goose only squeezed tighter until they broke. Angelina shivered in horror, and she could not stop the shakes that stole through her.
Time was ticking however. She steeled herself, imagined that she was in the skies as opposed to the bottom of the lake. “It’s just another game,” she whispered fiercely.
On the bright side, both of her grindylow and the goose problems have been solved. The massive bird tucked itself back into its shell and clung to a wall.
She inched into a makeshift cove, and then, hoping to hell she wouldn’t vanish the bones in her arm, casted a non-verbal Os Epistofey. The bone dragged itself back into the socket, A scream wrenched out of her throat. Thankfully, the bubblehead drowned out the sound. The lake took care of her tears.
Breathing heavily, she peeked out of the cove and dove out the window. She checked her watch and let out a litany of curses. 30 bloody minutes left, and she still has not found whatever it was the judges stole from her. Her heart hammered in her chest. Her mind flashed to the empty bed she woke up to, to the lonely breakfast, to the stands she looked through half a dozen times before she gave up - a suspicion of “what” it was she missed most haunted her. She swam faster even as her newly healed shoulder protested.
She dove deeper into the lake, reasoning that such a hiding place would have to be deeper in enemy territory - the way goalposts in a quidditch game are placed at the end of the opposite team. She rushed through the corals as quickly as she could while keeping an eye out for more danger. It’s just like a quidditch game she told herself. The grindylows were stupid cheating Slytherins, and she’s merely looking out for more bludgers instead of giant geese who could eat her whole. The lake was still, and it made her fear for the worst.
20 minutes, she chanted to herself. There’s still 20 minutes left.
Then she paused. There was singing. Beautiful singing. With a racing heart, she followed the voices, stoutly ignoring the leering mermen and their menacing pitchforks. Her wand was at the ready, and she wove through the turrets of their towers with ease. At long last, she reached what looked like their village square.
Her heart stopped.
The world fell away as she spotted Alicia. She was tied to the statue, surrounded on all sides by seven-foot tall mermen, armed to the teeth and dressed as if preparing for war. She rushed through them anyway. One of the pitchforks grazed her arm - a guard who did not swim away fast enough - but she ignored the sting. Alicia’s face was wan and pale, lips almost blue from the cold. For the moment, she was all that mattered to Angelina. Getting her safe. Feeling her breathe.
There were 10 minutes left, and she was very afraid.
It took multiple diffindos to break the weeds, her non-verbal spells nowhere near as powerful as she needed them to be. And when Alicia was at last free, Angelina gently but firmly embraced her and swam with all of her might to the surface.
She felt her arm pop out of place again.
The pain made her swoon, but she could not allow it to matter. She simply conjured a rope and tied her love to her waist. She had scored goals in much worse conditions, and this was much more important than any game she had ever played.
When they broke through the surface, Alicia’s first breath was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
Angelina stole her second breath with a kiss.