Chapter 15
Fred overtook Harry, as he would have--His legs were longer. First out of the castle, he shouted to make a path through the crowd waiting. "Move!" Harry followed behind, barrelling through anyone who entered the empty space Fred had left behind.
A line had formed, a long one. Apparently, no one had thought it necessary to alert the bodies of students that they would be taking secondary transportation to the second event and as a result, a queue extended wildly.
Ignoring the shouts of other students--students who couldn't possibly have understood--Fred and Harry launched themselves into the next boat with such force it nearly toppled over entirely. "Don't these damn things move any faster!" Harry shouted, reaching over and paddling with his hand to speed the boat farther. The water was cold as ice, which it had been only a few weeks earlier.
"Can't think about that." Harry silenced the instant drifting of his thoughts to how cold the girls must be. "Have to get to them."
Fred leaned over his side of the boat and followed Harry's example, his hand cutting through the water as fast as he could. Still a handful of boat-lengths from the scaffolding of platforms the students, professors, and other champions were on, Dumbledore's voice began to announce the beginning remarks.
"Welcome to the second task!" The students all around let out a wave of cheers. "Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions--A treasure of sorts." Fred pushed himself to get to their destination faster, though he didn't know what he was going to do when he got there. "These treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the Black Lake."
Harry let the momentum of the enchanted boat and what he and Fred had added to it take them the last bit, unscrewing the top of the gillyweed.
"In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough--except for this. They will have but one hour to do so, and one hour only."
Harry jumped from the boat and hit the wood running, shoving the horrid plant into his mouth and pushing his way to where the others were already lined up.
"You may begin with the start of the cannon." Filch lit the fuse at Dumbledore's direction, the boom of the cannon reverberating through the riggings as the three champions on time dove into the water.
Harry, behind them all, stumble-ran the last few steps. The skin around his throat had begun to prickle and burn painfully and, in the safety of under the water, his wandering fingers found slits at the source of the pain--Harry could breath underwater through his gills. The effects of the gillyweed further made themselves clear as he began to swim madly into the Black Lake, his hands and feet now webbed.
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Fred had been restrained by Professor McGonagall at the entrance of the extended dock the three champions had been on before the cannon, the professor trying to speak to him as his shouts attracted the attention of every person on the lake.
"She can't swim! She can't bloody swim!" Fred's voice only broke and grew more strained as he loudened himself. "S-She's afraid of water!"
"Mr Weasley!" Professor McGonagall shouted over him. "It is out of our hands now, the tournament has commanded it." He didn't know that she had had to be restrained herself when Barty Crouch had involved her in the tricking of her students, in the kidnapping for them to be used as bait.
George and Ron reached the dock with Ginny between them at the peak of Fred's screams, hearing as they cut through the crowd the sobs that had begun to replace them.
"Fred?" George asked, motioning for the boys holding him back in front of McGonagall to let go so he could hold his brother. The second Fred felt himself moderately freed, he tried to fight towards the water again. "No, no Freddie." George cupped Fred's head into the crook of his neck, his other arm wrapping around Fred's middle.
Ginny laid her hand on Fred's back as he continue to sob, his entire body moving with the force of them. "She can't swim." Ginny didn't understand what he had been repeating until it had gone past her ears a few times, and once she had she wished she hadn't.
Ron stared out over the water, hoping Harry was making well on his time. His heartbeat thudded in his ears painfully as he realised the last thing he had said to Hermione had been cruel.
Seamus and Dean were crouched down next to the water's edge, hoping to get a glimpse of anything that would have hinted towards which of the champions were succeeding and which were not before the emotions on the rigging had grown so dire. "Where'd he go?" Seamus asked quietly, averting his eyes from Fred out of respect.
"I don't know." Dean leaned closer to the water, nothing but his reflection peering up at him. "Can't see a thing."
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Unaware of anything happening above and unable to spare the time to think about it, Harry managed to make his way to the bottom of the Black Lake. There was no sight of the others, just the bottom-feeders drifting about. Harry clawed his way along, the muddy, sedimentary bottom providing well-enough purchase for his newly extended and webbed fingers that he was able to gain speed easily.
At the end of the plateau he found himself on, Harry found that that the Black Lake's true bottom was much farther down than he was currently--A trench loomed ahead with a darkness in its center he could hardly make out.
Harry kicked off the elevated section he was on and pushed himself to swim even faster, his wand still in the sheath at his ankle so he could use both hands to propel himself on. The darkness he had been unable to decipher wasn't a mass as he had thought but instead, a forest of kelp so thick it had to be parted to see past.
Voices in the distance began to sing the tune from the egg and, knowing he was on the right path, Harry dove into the kelp. He wove in and out of the leaves and tore through any patch he found too thick to separate, continuing to keep the song in front of him.
At the shuffle of kelp behind, Harry looked over his shoulder. "Fleur's going the wrong way!" He thought, panicked until something swam past him so fast it swiped down his cheek with its fin and drew a line of blood the water carried away.
The grindylows swarming around Fleur were out of Harry's sight, the mermaid that had stolen his attention beckoning for him to follow her instead.
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"The Beauxbatons' champion Fleur Delacour has, unfortunately, been forced to retire. She will take no further part in this task." Dumbledore announced, Fred launching to his feet at the breaking of the water's surface when she had climbed to the world after being attacked ferociously by the creatures in the water.
George had moved with Fred to the end of the pier, George continuing to keep a hold on Fred at all times. Fred's sobs had silenced, but the attention he was paying to every rippled that dare move over the water was taxing and worrying for George to witness.
"How much longer?" Fred asked, his voice hoarse and on its way out after his shouting.
"Thirty-five minutes." Ginny responded from beside him. She knew well enough, she was keeping count of every second.
Fred let out a groan and held at his stomach, pulling himself away from George as he moved to the bin set up feet away to be sick. Ron was the first in motion, patting Fred's back as he stood shakily and emptied.
"Mr Weasley," Madam Pomfrey rushed over again. She had already offered a peace draught twice. "We can give you something until-"
"No!" Fred answered sharply, taking the glass of water McGonagall conjured and shaking his head as he repeated himself softer. "No. I c-can't be muddled." Ron followed Fred as both left the women, those on the pier continuing to murmur amongst themselves quietly.
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The mermaid led Harry to a constructed set of stone monuments under the water. Different merpeople were pictured on both sides leading up to a massive archway he went through and let out a gasp. Ahead, the champions' stolen loved ones were tied onto weights.
The mermaid took pity on Harry, Fred's screams from earlier had been heard even by the colony of merpeople at the bottom of the lake, after all. Harry swam faster still, pushing his limbs to the brink and ignoring the searing of over-exertion in his muscles. Gabrielle, Cho, Hermione, and Rebecca floated lifelessly.
Harry went to Rebecca first, grabbing hold of her face and pressing his forehead to hers before turning to Hermione and doing the same cursory check. He flipped backwards and pulled at the ribbon around Rebecca's angle--It was too tight to undo.
The merpeople watching let out a string of hisses as Cedric entered the clearing of captured-treasure. He flourished his wand at the rope holding down Cho and severed it instantly, swimming forward with the bubblehead charm around his mouth.
Cedric still felt he owed Harry after the dragon hint--he thought he might be in debt as long as he lived for such a kindness. The least he could do was prompt Harry onwards. Cedric tapped his watch and gestured to Hermione and Gabrielle before taking Cho to the top, only intending to tell Harry to get Rebecca and go.
But, Cedric reminded Harry of the most terrifying line of the egg's song.
"But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Harry's stomach dropped. He certainly wasn't going to let someone's sister die from this tournament, not his and not Fleur's either. He would save everyone if he had too. Harry took his wand and went to sever Hermione's binding, but the same mermaid from earlier appeared in front of him and held a triton at his throat.
"Only one!" She hissed before letting out a shriek of fear as Viktor entered last. He had transfigured his head into a sharks and Harry used the distraction of the guardians to cut Gabrielle's rope along with Rebecca's, Viktor biting clear through Hermione's as he swam under her.
Putting each of his arms through one of each sister's, Harry began to kick his feet towards the surface.
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"Harry!" Fred demanded, pushing his way through the crowd that had tried to form around the edge that Cedric and Cho were swimming towards. "Has Harry gotten there?"
Cedric nodded, George holding a hand out for Cho and Fred pulling Cedric up onto the dock. "Yes, he's there. He got there before me...He was trying to get the other girl out first."
"Hermione?" George demanded now, hating that this event's happenings seemed so far.
"No." Cedric gestured towards Fleur. "Her sister."
Fred's attention to Cedric was torn away as the crowd began to cheer again, Viktor and Hermione rejoining the world above. Running his hands through his hair, Fred went back to where Ginny and Ron were watching the water attentively. "Nine minutes..." Fred murmured over and over. "Only nine minutes."
George stuck to Fred's side more so than he had any time in their life before. With an arm around his twin, George let his eyes wander to the spectators and--as he intended--onto Barty Crouch. He was the face of this tournament, he was the one who insisted that Harry compete.
George knew that he would be the one he would make pay if this ended in the way George hadn't let himself fully comprehend--The unthinkable, tragic ending.
Fred's voice carried George away from his violent reassurances to himself. "Nine minutes, only nine minutes..."
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Swimming with one body at your side was hard, Harry learned quickly. Swimming with two was infinitely harder. The going was slow and he was only halfway up from the bottom of the lake when he felt his fingers and feet begin to tingle, signalling the fading of the magical effects of the gillyweed. He began taking as many deep breaths as he could.
A grindylow grabbed Harry's foot, scratching through his skin and dragging Harry down to jump up to Rebecca's leg. Harry kicked at the creature violently, trying to dislodge it when another caught sight of the fight ensuing.
Harry pushed the little air he had left in his mouth down to his lungs, gathering his strength and pushing the girls up towards the surface. He hoped that they would continue to rise and not break the surface, the only plan Harry had been able to make to keep Rebecca under whatever spell the treasures had been under.
Harry sunk lower as the other grindylows closed in on him, their other targets too far into the light-soaked waters at the top of the lake. Harry fought on, but he could feel his body begin to fail him as his lungs seemed to ignite and his vision grew spotted--The beasts dragging him farther down all the while.
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Adrenaline does wild things to a body, especially one that feels that their family is in peril. Harry sent the girls up with more power than he had planned, Gabrielle and Rebecca both breaking the surface of the water in sight of those spectating.
Fleur fought her way out of the arms of the Beauxbatons students comforting her after conceding, action fueling her at the thrashing ensuing.
"ENTRANCE OF THE WATER BY ANY STUDENT NOT A COMPETITOR IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN!" Dumbledore's voice boomed as Fred was restrained once more.
"Cedric, Viktor!" Fleur shouted, giving up hope of getting to the stairs back down to the level of rigging at the water and climbing over the bannister up above. "Allez!" Neither boy spoke French but her meaning was clear as she dove back into the water.
Hermione had to be held back alongside Fred, tears streaming down her face as she tried to get anyone to do anything. "Somebody do something!" Rebecca's fighting was slowing right in front of them, her head slipping under the water more and more. "Please!"
Viktor dove back into the water from where he had been at Hermione's side as Cedric did, all three champions reaching Rebecca at the end of her fight. Panic had flooded her mind as water had flooded her lungs, dark, cold fear coating her mind. She fought as hard as she could, not knowing it was making the rescue attempt harder.
Fleur took a deep breath and plunged back under the water, grabbing hold of one of Rebecca's slowing legs and trying to raise her head above the water's surface. The lessening of the splashes in the most horrible way imaginable only raised Fred's fight further.
Cedric wrapped his arm under Rebecca's so that her head was against his chest, swimming backwards to bring the stilled body back to the scaffolding. Viktor pushed from behind, aiding when Cedric's exhaustion slowed him. The crowd, aside from the occasional gasp, had fallen silent.
Fleur swam around both boys and climbed up the ladder to the lowest, unattached platform. It bobbed as she climbed, though Fleur remained unbothered and steadied herself to pull Rebecca up.
Under the water, unknowing of anything going on above, Harry was on the brink of losing consciousness. He used his last measure of life to tighten his hold on his wand and cast one of the spells Hermione had drilled into his mind. "Ascendio!" The desperation he had to survive forced too much magic into the spell and instead of bringing him to the surface, his body was propelled up and out of the water where he landed in a crumpled pile at Dumbledore's feet.
Harry rolled onto his side and coughed, his body shaken and contorted with the force in which the water he'd inhaled was expelled from his lungs. The cuts and bites on his arms and legs bled onto the wooden planks of the rigging, suction cups imprinted onto his chest and up his neck from where grindylows had tried to drown him.
Those restraining Fred released him at McGonagall's command, the last champion had left the water and he could now go forward. He moved so quickly he slipped on the wet wood, dropping down onto the platform beside Cedric and Viktor as Fleur pushed on Rebecca's chest quickly.
"W-What are you doing?" Fred demanded, moving to Rebecca's side to stop whatever Fleur was doing to her.
"No!" Fleur shouted, shouldering Fred back harshly. "I cannot explain!" And she couldn't, not in English. The words to describe how her familial home opened onto the ocean in France, how her parents had gone to great lengths to impart muggle life-saving techniques in the off-chance their daughters were to have an emergency when magic was unavailable, evaded her.
Fleur could not speak anyway, she was too busy concentrating on timing. Fleur paused her compressions and lowered her head to Rebecca's chest, hearing no sign of life from within.
"Rebecca?" Harry whispered, managing to climb to his feet. The students around him avoided looking at Harry, he serving as a visual reminder of what they were trying not to think about.
"I want all the judges over here now!" Dumbledore bellowed, sweeping his robes behind him and storming to the edge of the rigging.
Fred held Rebecca's head, his thumbs tracing over her cheeks as they had so many times before. "Come on!"
George shielded Ginny's eyes and pulled Ginny further into him at Fred's pain-filled cry. Fleur continued with her compressions, not slowing.
Ron wiped his eyes before Harry met him, the sight too much for him to handle emotionless. "Why isn't anyone helping?!" Harry shouted, grabbing Ron's shoulder to keep himself upright.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head, her hand covering her mouth in horror. She had no idea what the foreign student was doing. As far as she had ever known, once the soul had moved on nothing could bring a person back. That was all she had known before the detention years before, and all that she had known then.
McGonagall went to Harry, grabbing hold of his arm as he nearly tumbled to the floor. "WHY ISN'T ANYONE HELPING?" He shouted louder, his voice echoing over everyone.
Gabrielle had been tucked under Hermione's arm in her towel, sniffling and watching the events take place silently until a small rivulet of water coursed out of Rebecca's mouth. "Arrêtez!" She shouted, pointing.
Fleur held her ear to Rebecca's chest again, a slow beating filling the silence that had been there minutes before. "Turn 'er over." Fleur commanded of Fred, grabbing Rebecca's arm that had been in front of Fleur's knees and turning her so that she was on her side.
The effect was immediate--Rebecca retched as the water that had collected in her lungs forced its way out of her violently. Fred moved her farther onto her side and patted her back as she began to breathe once more.
The riggings shook as the students came to life, stomping and whooping and clapping in celebration. Fleur stood shakily and pulled Gabrielle into her arms. Rebecca's head rested against the planks she lay on, a hand weakly grabbing Fred's wrist as he lowered his head into her shoulder and wept out of sheer relief.
Harry stepped forward, dropping down to the unattached platform and falling to his knees painfully. He crawled along, pulling himself to Rebecca's side and holding her. "I'm so sorry, so sorry." He whispered, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry."
Rebecca moved to sit up and Fred helped her with an arm behind her back, coughs racking her body as she tried to acclimate to oxygen--Her shaking frame jerked with every bout. Harry lowered his head as Fred pulled Rebecca up onto his knees and against his chest, Fred's warmth threatening to alleviate the frozen chill but not managing.
"Attention!" Dumbledore announced, his wand to his throat so he could be heard by all. "The winner is--Mr Diggory!" Cedric nodded his head to accept the victory but kept his attention towards the below. Rebecca had raised an arm and Harry laid his forehead against her collarbone, still apologising as Fred continued to hold Rebecca.
"However," Dumbledore continued. "As Mr Potter would have ended in first had it not been for his determination to rescue not only Miss Potter, but the others as well, we've agreed to award him second place-" Karkaroff spat in Dumbledore's direction, taking the change in awards as a personal insult. "For outstanding moral fiber."
Viktor bowed his head as Harry managed to lift himself from Rebecca's chest and stand. Harry nodded as Viktor acknowledged Harry's victory with the respect his headmaster should have.
Fred took his arm from around Rebecca's middle and slipped it under her knees, standing and setting her gently onto the main section of rigging where George crouched down to his knees and spoke to Rebecca quietly. Harry looked up at the climb he'd have to make, dreading it. His body hurt to a depth he hadn't felt in ages, ever maybe.
Fred picked Harry up easily, setting him up next to Rebecca with neither boy speaking on it.
"Towels and blankets, both of you." McGonagall held them out with tears in her eyes.
Ron took Harry's and put it around Harry's shoulders gently, trying to think of something to say other than how happy he was that Harry was alive. Fred took Rebecca's and surrounded her in the dryness with the utmost of care and gentleness.
Hermione tightened Harry's towel around him, using her blanket to wipe at the beads of blood threatening to spill over from a cut on his cheek. "I think you acted admirably well." Hermione sniffled, moving to Rebecca to tuck her blanket warmer as well.
Rebecca tried to stand on her own and found a collection of hands and bodies there to help. "I'm certain of it." She managed to get a hoarse whisper from her raw throat.
Harry fell into Rebecca's arms, burning his face into her neck and letting the sobs that had been building since he had seen her lifeless escape. "Harry," Rebecca whispered, rubbing a circle onto his back. "I'm right here."
"But you weren't." Harry answered, his voice so low only their friends around him could hear. "You were gone and I'm not-I'm not like you. I can't just poof you back. I would have been-"
"What?" Ron asked, putting his arms around both of them. "Alone?"
"Never." George finished, putting his arms around them as well. Ginny and Fred and Hermione filled in where they could, Fred staying at Rebecca's side the best he could through the group embrace.
When Harry was called to the middle with the other champions a few minutes later, the students around beginning to converse amongst themselves about the turn the event had taken, his tears had slowed.
Rebecca didn't move, staying where she was. An ache was growing over her, from her fingers to her chest and everywhere between and below.
Harry slipped his hand into Rebecca's, not releasing it as he began to limp to where the awards were being given out. "Harry?" Rebecca asked, though he offered no explanation. The second-place step was raised and Harry winced as he stepped up, pulling Rebecca up with him.
Cedric followed Harry's example and motioned for Cho to join him on the first-place step, Viktor waving for Hermione to join him on the third. Gabrielle put her arms around Fleur the second they were next to each other.
The Daily Prophet's photographer stepped forward to take a picture: The champions and their loved ones, side-by-side. Later, much later, someone would notice how Fred could be seen lingering at the edge of the camera's view--Anxiously waiting for the second he could be beside Rebecca again.
The moment the flash dissipated, he was moving to held both of them down the step. Both Potters back on the floor, Hermione and Ron surrounded Harry which left Fred able to have Rebecca all to himself. He laid his cheek against the top of her head and found himself, for the first time, memorising every inch of how they fit together. Fred had never--not through the attack at the World Cup or any moment since--actually considered a life without Rebecca in it and now that it had been so close, he couldn't shake the dark thoughts.
The crowd of students began to make their way towards where they had arrived on the rigging, professors directing them orderly. The champions lingered longer. Fleur waited for Hermione and Ron to step away from Harry before hugging him tightly. "You...you saved 'er even though she wasn't yours to save."
Harry looked at Gabrielle, shivering in Fleur's arms. "You did the same for me."
"No." Fleur shook her head, holding Harry an arm's length away to look at him and make sure he was listening. "No. You cannot."
"She's your sister." Harry said, his voice very nearly on the verge of breaking. "She's your sister and I can-t-I can't imagine losing a-" His words caught in his throat and he wasn't able to finish.
Fleur leaned forward and kissed both of Harry's cheeks, thanking him and moving to Rebecca as Gabrielle kissed Harry's cheeks and drifted to where Madam Maxine beckoned for them to board the boat waiting to go back to the shore.
Rebecca looked up from Fred's chest as someone cleared their throat from behind her. Dean stood next to a pale Seamus. "You look cold." Seamus remarked, holding out another blanket.
Fred unwrapped the blanket and added it to the one already around her. Seamus turned to go, but turned back to Rebecca at the look Dean gave him. "And...I'm sorry." Seamus said quietly.
Rebecca only nodded, trying to pull the blanket tighter around her. She couldn't think about spats from weeks before when she was so cold every inch of exposed skin was starting to hurt. Rebecca was the coldest she had ever been, it felt as if her very bones had been replaced with rods of ice.
Dean led Seamus away to get a boat, both boys feeling as if they were intruding as Fred lifted his hands to Rebecca's cheeks in an effort to fight away the chills that had her shaking. "N-no, please. T-there's got to b-be a dif-ferent way." Her teeth chattered and her trembling increased as those ahead of them climbed into one of the little boats like they had taken when they'd first arrived to Hogwarts years earlier.
Fred looked to Moody, the professor supervising the docks, and only got a solemn shake of the head as an answer.
"Look," Fred said softly. "We're going to be just fine. I'll get in first." Fred stepped into the boat and held his hand back out to Rebecca. "Give me your hand, love. I won't let anything happen." George put an arm around her shoulder and guided her until she was in Fred's arms again. The boat rocked twice more: Once when George entered and once when Harry entered.
Fred pulled Rebecca closer to him as the boat pushed off, putting his arm high enough that the wind from their movement was kept off her face and whispering encouragements all the while. Rebecca's shaking increased in his arms as the boat continued along, both the cold and the fear gripping at her soul contributing.
Something struck the boat's side, a splash following. Fred turned in his seat so that he was between Rebecca and whatever had come up from the bottom of the lake, shielding her. Nothing came, nothing besides the tinkling of something metal being thrown into the bottom of the lake.
George leaned forward and picked it up warily, his apprehension fading as he realised what it was. "Oh!"
Fred held his hand out and George set Rebecca's locket in his palm--Something had returned Rebecca's locket, the very locket he had helped pick out. Fred gave it to Rebecca when she raised her hand for it, but her hands were shivering so badly she couldn't grab the clasp. "May I?" Fred asked gently.
Rebecca gave it back to him, relieved that she had to lay her head back onto his chest for him to return her locket to its rightful place. Fred held her tighter, the boat nearly finished with its trip. "H-how was the m-m-morning?" Rebecca stammered, trying to keep her eyes from closing.
"Eventful?" George offered, not wanting to lie and not knowing how to talk about the morning without upsetting her. Harry scooted closer to George on the seat, quickly tucked under the older boy's arm.
"Hell." Fred countered, knowing Rebecca too well and loving her too much to consider lying. "From the second Harry got me from bed, this day has been pure hell."
The boat's bottom grounded on the stony shore, Ron waiting with Hermione and Ginny from one boat ahead.
Fred stood with Rebecca at his side, worried by how much of her he was supporting. Harry slowly tried to explain to Hermione and Rebecca how hellish their morning had been, shaking all the while.
Rebecca's hands found their way around Fred's wrist as Harry spoke, describing how they made their way to the boat and tried to make it go faster. George took over the narrative as Harry finished saying how he dove into the water, starting with how Fred fought to get into the water. Ginny let out a sniffle and Ron put his arm around her.
Rebecca glanced up at Fred, finding he was already looking at her. She couldn't help but look away fleetingly. Fred brought his hand up to her face and brushed his thumb against her lips, shaking his head as they were frigid.
The doors to the castle at the top of the path were open, minimal light and warmth washing out as students of all three schools found their way back inside. "We need to get you three warmed." Fred spoke to them all, though he only had eyes on Rebecca. "We've got three showers between us; Ginny, you get Hermione set up in yours. Ron'll get Harry into theirs. Rebecca, you can use ours."
George nodded and looked to Ginny, following Fred's lead on the path up to the common room. "Could you send clothes down with someone? I'll wait at the stairs and bring them." Ginny nodded and detached herself from Ron's side, taking Hermione's waist as her feet, still adjusting to the hardly-not freezing water forced her to stumble up the stairs.
Ron soon found he had to do the same with Harry, forcing Harry's arm around his neck without hearing a word against it. Those half-frozen were in need of help.
The Fat Lady gasped at the sight of them approaching her painting at the top of the last staircase, swinging open without having any of them stop to say the password lest they lose their momentum.
The Gryffindors that had already returned drifted away from their paths as they went their ways, George finding that Angelina had been imparted with the task of bringing down things for Rebecca as she assured George she would hurry.
Rebecca paused at the bottom of the boys' stairs where Ron brought Harry up without hesitation. She had spent so long cold and shivering that they seemed especially daunting and she was so, so tired. Fred put her arm around his neck and stood, her feet left to point towards the stairs, barely grazing the floor.
Only two boys broke from the herd of on-lookers busy pretending they weren't really looking, Nigel and Neville. The first felt he had had an implicit role in the taking of both girls and the second had been comforted by one or the other so many times, he felt he was only paying his debts.
Fred nodded to them both, thanking Neville quietly as the door to the hall of boys' rooms was held open and Nigel ran down to Fred and George's. "Can you start the shower?" Fred asked, letting Rebecca sit on the edge of his bed a moment and regretting it. Her head bobbed, her eyes so heavy she could hardly hold them open. "No, love. Open your eyes, we can't sleep yet. Rebecca? Talk to me, it'll help."
Rebecca heard him and tried to open her eyes. "I'm so c-cold." She managed.
"I know, we're going to get you warm." Fred kept his voice calm and level, slow and steady, as he peeled the layer of blanket and the layer of towel off from around her shoulders. "Nigel? Is it ready?"
"Yeah!" Nigel called back, the water warm but not hot.
Fred thought on it a moment and helped Rebecca out of the jumper she had worn over her pajamas the night before, not wanting the material to get heavier as it got wetter. "Come on, RJ. In we get."
Fred's heart thudded in his ears as he put Rebecca's arm around and helped her too her feet, her reactions slow and her head hanging limply. Nigel guided one leg and then the other of Rebecca's into the tub, Fred stepping in as well.
Steam began to climb into the air as the minutes past, Rebecca skin going from colder-than-cold to swarmed with the itch that happens when one comes in from the cold. Fred turned them a little, making it so that she wasn't directly under the water but mostly.
Neville and Nigel were lingering in the main bedroom of the older boys when George hurried in with his arms filled with clothes. Seeing the piles of wet towels and blankets on Fred's, George set them on his and entered the bathroom. "What can I do?"
"Keep her talking." Fred directed, trying to put what of Rebecca hadn't been warmed directly under the water to warm her as efficiently as possible.
"Becks?" George asked, pulling his jumper off and tossing it onto the floor behind him so he could reach into the shower easier. "You there?" George asked, cupping a hand under her chin and raising her head up as he tried to draw her out. He used his other hand to slide her glasses off, setting them on a nearby shelf. "How are-Fred?"
Fred's attention was taken by the panic of George's voice. Rebecca's shoulders shook with the force of the silent sobs racking through her. "What is it? Does something-"
"They were there." Rebecca whispered. "They were there, my mum and dad. I saw them."
George stepped into the shower with them, soaking himself the rest of the way through to sandwich Rebecca between he and Fred.
"I ha-had to choose, Fred. I had to-" Her sobs broke a piece of Fred that he wasn't sure would be able to be put back together. "I had to leave them."
The water coursed over the three of them, drops making paths down Rebecca's back as Fred busied his fingers with combing through the ends of her hair as she cried on. "You didn't choose to leave them, Rebecca." Fred's voice was layered with a fragility that hurt George to hear. "You chose to come back to us. To Harry, Hermione, Ron, George, Ginny, mum, dad, Charlie, Bill, Percy...me. You came back to me."
Rebecca cried into Fred's chest with both his and George's arms around her until she was unable to cry anymore. Fred nodded to George and George reached behind them and turned the water off. Fred took the hand of Rebecca's on his hip and brought it to his lips, his voice rasping after he kissed the backs of her fingers gently. "Dry clothes now."
George dripped from the tub to the cabinet, pulling out both of Fred's towels and one of his own. Tossing it to Fred, Rebecca found a delicacy unseen before in how Fred used the edge of the towel to dry off her face. When Rebecca took hold of her towel, Fred used his to dry his face and hair quickly, moving out of the bathroom with a purpose--He would only feel peace at last when Rebecca was in dry clothes.
On the bathroom counter, Fred laid her pile down before letting his towel fall to the floor to dry the tracks he'd left. "We'll be right out here, okay?" Fred waited for Rebecca to nod before closing the door gently behind him.
Rebecca moved slowly, the cold had left her body but the fog had yet to leave her brain. Glimpses of what she had seen when she had first come out of the water were coming back slowly, painfully. As Rebecca let her pajama pants fall to the floor with a wet thump, she began to remember more and more.
"Is that how I really look?" Rebecca wondered, confused as to why she could see her own body being dragged out of the Black Lake by Fleur--Her confusion growing as Fleur blew into her mouth and began to push on her chest. Rebecca turned around, wanting to know where she was and why she was there, and saw something that made her freeze.
Two somethings. Someones, really.
"My sweet girl." Lily spoke softly, reaching a hand up and tracing down the side of Rebecca's face. "My baby." Rebecca closed her eyes, feeling her mother's touch for the first time she could remember.
James moved forward faster, his shock swallowed by his pride. "I can't believe how big you've gotten!" He kissed Rebecca's forehead before looking her over again. "They were so little, Lily!"
"I know." Lily smiled sadly. "She's a young woman now, James. Our babies are no longer."
James nodded, sure of one thing entirely. "You're just as beautiful as your mother, Rebecca."
Rebecca looked over her shoulder at Harry's scream for someone to help, Lily put her hand to her mouth and turned into James' shoulder. "W-what is this? Am I-" Rebecca could hardly give words to the possibility. "Am I dead?"
"No, sunshine." James answered, putting his arm around Lily. "She is keeping you here, giving you the choice."
Lily steeled herself and faced Rebecca again, already filled with shame at the wasting of the little time they had with one of their children. "You..." Lily wiped at the tear that escaped, forcing a smile. "You have to choose between our world or yours, a decision only you can make."
Rebecca looked between her parents, seeing how young they had been and seeing flashes of the life she and Harry could have had had tragedy not struck. "There's only one choice really and I'm-" Her words stuck in her throat as Lilly pulled Rebecca into her arms and James wrapped his around both of them, a hand running through Rebecca's hair fondly. James realised, in a heartbreaking moment of clarity, he had his girls in his arms for the first time in over a decade.
"My mother's curls." He smiled through his tears. "She would be so happy to know one of you got them and not my mess."
Lily released them, leaning against James again. "Darling, your window is closing."
James squeezed Lily's shoulder. "If you're going to go back, you have to go."
Rebecca took a step back to her body without turning away from James and Lily, trying to keep them in front of her as long as she could.
"Your mother and I," James' breath hitched. "We love you both so much. So much more than you could ever know. We are so proud of the people you've become, of how you've taken care of each other."
Rebecca went to say something else, to say goodbye, but couldn't. She was forced back into her body and felt as if her chest had been doused in petrol and lit aflame as the water left her lungs and she was pushed onto her side. James and Lily were gone and Rebecca was alive once more.
Fred sat on his bed in their room, his head in his hands. He had already thought to see if Rebecca was okay but George told him to give her a few minutes more. "Fred?" Rebecca asked from the door to the bathroom, her cheeks streaked with tears.
Fred looked up the second he heard her voice, standing as she stumbled forward into his arms. Their warmth was easier spread between them all when all three were dry and though Rebecca's hands still trembled, Fred found her colour had returned slightly.
Harry was nearly swept away with emotion as he saw the top of her head in between the arms of Fred and George, the reality of how close he had been to life without her crashing onto him with the weight of the world behind it. Rebecca's eyes opened as Fred and George stepped away, Harry having laid a hand against their backs to ask for an opening.
Harry's arms wrapped around her perfectly, apologies forming as they had every moment he had been able to form coherent thoughts.
"Don't." Rebecca closed her eyes and laid her cheek against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "You can't keep saying your sorry, you saved me. Harry, you saved me."
"You were only there because-"
"Because you love me?" Rebecca's voice was growing harder to rouse, her body crying out for a rest. "That's not a thing to apologise for." Harry didn't know what to say--She was right. The only reason Rebecca had been taken was because he treasured her so. Tears fell down Harry's face again as he looked down to her. "I love you, too." Rebecca whispered.
Harry cried harder, falling to his knees and bringing her with him as Fred, George, and Ron found their emotions running out of control as well. "You were dead." Harry whispered. "You were gone and-"
"I chose you." Rebecca said, giving the briefest summary of what she'd seen. "I'll always choose you, Harry."
"Do you think it was real?" Harry hoped it was, pleaded that it was.
"It was." Rebecca's head felt as if it were growing heavier and heavier. "They knew I was going to come back."
"The only thing I am certain of," Harry restarted, bringing a hand to Rebecca's cheek and lifting her attention back to his words. "The only thing I know in the entire world, is that we are never going to leave each other."
Hermione and Ginny trickled into the room minutes later, after Fred and George had convinced Harry and Rebecca to lie down for a while. Ron sat on the edge of George's bed as Harry found even the minimal weight of the sheet to remind him of his cuts while Fred laid down in his bed beside Rebecca, stroking her cheek slowly as she tried to stay awake in case anything were to happen.
"My love," Fred whispered, Ron beckoning George over as Harry asked. "You need to rest."
"What about-"
"Rest." Fred pulled his blankets higher over the two of them, laying his head down beside hers on the pillow.
Hermione followed Ginny to Harry's side as Rebecca fell asleep, the plan outlined carefully. Harry wasn't going to rest until they knew what they were to do if there was even an inkling of a threat against any of the others again.
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Fred hadn't moved from Rebecca's side for hours and he wouldn't as long as he could. The others had left for supper earlier, telling Fred that they would either bring back something warm or go by the kitchens for soup on their return.
While Fred continued to find peace in the details of Rebecca's profile or memorise every facet of her beside him, Harry was put at the front of the Gryffindor procession formed in the common room. Every Gryffindor besides Rebecca and Fred had waited to leave before their champion, wanting him to lead them down.
"Let's hear it!" Neville shouted timidly, the first to stand and clap as the others joined him. The applause in the common room turned into a roar and Harry took his place at the front as the portrait hole swung open.
Not a single word of how slowly they were going passed the lips of the Gryffindors. Harry was walking slower than he normally would have, every step stretching the cuts on his legs and bringing the brute force of his pain to the front of his mind.
Harry was the first to enter the Great Hall and, at the sight of him, the hall fell silent as a crypt. When the last present Gryffindor sat down, Dumbledore stood and held a hand up at his podium to ask for their attention. "Today marked the completion of the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. A trying, difficult day for both the competitors and the spectators."
Dumbledore turned around and gestured to Barty Crouch as the face of the Ministry for the tournament began to speak. "The Ministry would like to extend its sincerest apologies for any duress caused today and-"
"Duress?" George asked, standing. The barely-managed anger in his voice was uncharacteristic and every eye in the room focused on him as he was the only one to give voice to their anger.
Barty looked away from the boy, trying to continue with the speech that had been sent to him. "Unfortunately, the Triwizard Tournament does-"
Ignoring George only heightened his anger. "What does tri- mean?" He demanded loudly, asking no one in particular at first. "Hermione?" George asked again, forcing himself calmer while speaking to her. "What does tri- mean?"
"Three." Hermione answered.
"Three!" George shouted. "How is this a three-wizard tournament with FOUR BLOODY COMPETITORS and the involvement of FOUR OTHER CHILDREN!" George's voice echoed through the Great Hall.
Albus turned to Minerva, expecting her to do something to control her student and finding only disappointment in the face of a friend. "He is not wrong, Albus." Minerva had pride welling up in her as she looked across the hall at George.
Dumbledore turned away from the staff table and stared at George. "Silence."
George stood his ground, meeting Dumbledore's stare with one of his own. Dumbledore waved for Filch to move forward as George refused to back down. George didn't say another word as he was taken from the Great Hall, his words had been said.
"I apologise for the interruption." Dumbledore said to Madam Maxine and Karkaroff with individual nods of his head. "As I was saying," He raised his voice again to address the beginning-to-whisper hall. "The second task is completed! The third and final task will take place on June 24th. More information will be given to the champions one month prior. You may eat." Dumbledore clapped his hands so that the feast appeared before storming out of the staff door at the back of the hall, no doubt to go to Filch and George.
"Don't look now." Hermione whispered to Harry. "But there's a reporter on the other wall, someone for the Prophet."
"So George did all that-" Harry started.
"-so they don't get away with it." Ron said, angrily stabbing his dinner with his fork. "Right on, George!"
Harry would ask George why he did that later, in privacy when it was the two of them. The strength of his answer engraved itself onto Harry's very being. "Harry, this tournament killed her today. It's not going to kill anybody else."
*******************************************
"RJ?" Fred whispered as a delivery came for Rebecca. "Love, time to wake up. You can go right back to sleep after."
Rebecca stirred softly, Fred's voice dragging her away from the peace of nothingness she had found behind her eyes. "What is it?" Both of their voices were hoarse, his from the strength of his screams earlier and hers from the trauma left by the water.
"Rebecca Potter must be hungry, she is." Dobby spoke, Gonray behind him with a tray. "Dobby and Gonray have brought foods."
Fred helped Rebecca up into a seated position, using the pillows to cushion the headboard of his bed so that she was as comfortable as he could imagine. Dobby snapped his fingers and brought a bed-table into the air above them, setting it down gently with magic.
"Tomato," Gonray sniffled. "As Just Rebecca likes best."
"Gonray," Rebecca tried to find words for her gratefulness. "This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me."
Gonray nodded, the words flooding the house elf with a pride she hadn't known before. "For Master Fred, we brought too."
"Thank you." Fred's voice crackled and reminded him of how badly it was hurting him. "Could we get-"
"And two cups of tea and honey." Dobby snapped his fingers again, a teapot appearing as the table had and pouring into the empty cups on the tray. "Best for rest and pain, Dobby knows."
Gonray let out another sniffle, loud enough to really be more of a honk. Dobby jumped at the noise and looked at her worriedly. "Dobby and Gonray will be going now, unless there is anything-"
"This is perfect." Rebecca said, leaning forward and motioning for each house elf to come closer. She hugged them each gently, waving as they left.
The others found them with empty bowls in front of them and dozing once more, Rebecca tucked under Fred's arm and his head resting atop of hers.
*******************************************
"Get in there, Mr Weasley." McGonagall demanded harsly, pointing into his room so that Filch could report back to whomever had told him to accompany her back that she had punished him accordingly. McGonagall's face lightened the second the old man was gone, even more so at the sight of them all bunched around the room. "It is always one of you."
George sat down at the edge of his bed, not entirely confused about the change in their professor's attitude. She had looked at him without anger in the Great Hall before he had been escorted out.
"George," McGonagall calling him by his first name was a change. "You are receiving a formal warning about disrespect of authority." George nodded once. "Not a single word you said was false but your delivery...was lacking."
George lowered his head only to find that Professor McGonagall was not through.
"Your message came from the right place, a proud, right place--One that you should feel the utmost of pride in. I hope you know that the Prophet was said to have recorded your every word."
George was glad to hear that it hadn't all been a waste.
Rebecca still looked like a shadow, a ghost, of her usual person and the sight of her in bed relieved McGonagall. "Mr Potter, Miss Potter, I must congratulate you both. Those who love you do so deeply, although one can almost say too much so."
McGonagall looked to George one last time before leaving the bedroom, her message given and owls needing to be written.
"What, and I emphasize this, the fuck happened at supper?" Fred asked for the both of those who had not been at the meal.
The story was retold between them all, an argument nearly forming as to whether or not George had screamed at Barty Crouch or merely shouted at him.
As the room almost began to feel normal, Rebecca shifted in bed so that she could rest her arm across Fred's stomach. He didn't know what possessed him, but his words fell out of him without crossing his brain. "I love you."
Rebecca looked up at him, Harry turning to them both as he had heard what Fred had said and was curious as to what her response would be. Rebecca thought she would feel panicked, or unsure, or even overwhelmed the first time someone said that she loved her, if someone had ever said that to her.
But she didn't.
Rebecca felt peaceful and made-whole both by the words and the person who'd said them. Rebecca laid her head back against his chest. "I love you, too."
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Author's Note:
This is a long chapter! 8500 words pre not? Crazy! I should have split it into two but I couldn't decide where and then just ended up releasing it whole.
A few things changed here from the original story, anyone remember what?
<3