The Second Task
So apparently, he needed the egg to get the clue for the second task. The judges couldn't decide what to do about his situation since he failed to get it from the dragon. Some of them wanted to give it to him so he could prepare for the second task and not die a gruesome death or something. The others claimed that if he wanted to prepare for the second task he should have tried harder to get the egg in the first place. That is not to say that anybody asked Harry what he wanted – which was probably for the best. He supposed none of them would be particularly happy to know he really couldn't care less about any of it.
***
The weeks flew by, and somehow all anybody can talk about now is the Yule Ball, which according to Professor McGonagall, he is required to attend.
That is not going to happen.
He is pretty sure his attendance in the Yule ball is not mentioned in the contract. He really doesn't intend to waste his time and nerves on something as useless and boring as dancing lessons and finding a date. He has enough on his plate with the classes and attempted murder this year, thank you very much. He knows better than to mention that to professor McGonagall, of course. As far as anybody besides Ron and Hermione is concerned, he is will be there along with the other Champions. He figures he could grab something to eat and hide in one of the unused classrooms and then spend the evening having a relaxing broom ride around the castle grounds in case people are searching for him in the Gryffindor Tower.
When the time comes, that is exactly what he does and it works out perfectly. At least for that night, not so much for the following weeks when he is serving detention every evening. But he is not exactly upset about that turn of events either since he figures he is due some bad luck. He would be seriously concerned if everything went his way since that would probably be the universe’s way of telling him, he was to die a very gruesome death sometimes soon.
***
Ron and Hermione are not at breakfast the morning of the Second task, which is seriously rude. Harry knows he doesn’t take the Tournament very seriously but they could at least pretend to be offering some moral support to him instead of sleeping in. Although in Hermione's case, she’s probably just decided that her time is better spent studying than watching Harry pretend he is putting in the effort to win the Tournament.
That is how Harry finds himself at the lake, staring at the water’s surface. If he understands what is happening right now correctly, he is supposed to actually dive into it. He is not sure the judges realise this but it’s the middle of the winter. They expect him to dive into the icy lake in the middle of the winter because, apparently, there is something that he would dearly miss in it.
Yeah, no. He doesn't know what they stole from him but seriously doubts it’s valuable enough for him to go swimming around the lake right now. The only things that he would even consider doing that for are his invisibility cloak, the album with photos of his parents, his Firebolt, Marauders' Map and his wand – and he's pretty sure they don't have his wand since it is in his hand. All the other items are charmed waterproof and he can live without them for a month or two until it gets a little warmer and he can retrieve them without freezing to death in the lake. Literally. Because, you know, it’s the middle of the winter right now.
So, no. He is not doing that, thanks, but no thanks.
Although all the other Champions seem incredibly determent to dive into the freezing water right then and there, icy death trap or not. Serious props to them.
Also… Wow, they must be really attached to whatever stuff they had lost. But that had to be one of those normal people things. It’s not like living with the Dursleys had given him an ample opportunity to get attached to stuff. He learned at an early age that it was better to just let material things go since they never lasted long. Especially once Dudley'd get the hold of them. He never thought that there would be something he would be grateful to the Dursleys for but apparently, there was a reason people say never say never. The Dursleys would surely be disappointed if they knew, they saved him from a certain and premature death though.
However, when the second the task actually begins, he realises that for him to be competing, he will actually have to dive into the water and give the whole search thing a try. Merlin's hairy balls, he has to do it. He isn’t sure what it says about his mental state that, at that moment, the idea of his wannabe killer jumping out of the audience and trying to kill him directly, made him feel nostalgic. He would take a crazy lunatic over the icy cold water any day. At least he had experience with the former.
***
He was right. Crazy lunatics were definitely the way to go. He hadn't been in the water long. Just about three minutes trying to hold his breath and swim under the surface until he ran out of air and swam back to the shore. He had no idea what was happening outside since he had been chilling in Madam Pomfrey’s medical tent since then.
Get it? Chilling?
Ugh, even he knew that was lame. Clearly, the freezing temperatures had a disastrous impact on his already fragile mental state.
Oh, look! There are Ron and Hermione now! Why are they wet, though? Did one of the other champions manage to piss the Giant Squid off enough that it sprayed the audience with water or something?