Chapter 14
Harry was beside himself with worry. It was the day of the second task and BEN was nowhere to be found. He and Eyeless Jack had looked everywhere, trying to find the cybernetic entity.
It was time for the task to start, Harry wearing a full-body swimsuit that hugged his body. It was something that Harry was sure the ghost would tease him about, saying something about how much of his curves it showed.
Jack stood with him as support, looking around for the ghost silently, his glasses not giving away anything. "Maybe he had to go home for something and got caught up. I'll check when you go under real quick alright? You have to relax Harry. This is going to be hard for you if you keep worrying. Ben can defend himself." Jack told him, setting a hand on his shoulder to calm him slightly.
Harry looked at the eyeless being, under a glamour to seem human when he was very much not, and sighed. "I can't help but be worried, Jack. You told me that Dumbledore called him to a meeting and he hasn't been seen since. That's suspicious and who knows what Dumbledore or someone trying to get back at me for something could have done to him." Harry replied to the eyeless man.
Jack nodded. "We will find him. If I don't find him at the mansion I'll inform D'mann. He'll find him then and tear apart anyone who possibly took him." He flashed Harry a menacing grin, sharp teeth showing through the glamour. Harry couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.
"True. I'll help him too." Harry told him, his eyes flashing a blood red. It was an interesting thing that had happened after he snapped. Whenever Harry's bloodlust came up, his eyes would turn red. It gave him a much more menacing look so he didn't mind. With his mask, he looked like the killer he was when they shined red.
"So will the rest of us. Now relax. I think your headmaster is about to finally explain the task." Jack told him, making Harry nod as the two watched the headmaster stand up from the judge's booth, casting a spell to make himself heard while doing so.
"Welcome to the second task! Today, our champions will have to rescue something precious to them at the bottom of the lake, or rather someone. This morning, a special person was taken from each champion and is now guarded below by the merpeople of the lake!"
Fear gripped Harry's heart as the champions cried out in outrage. His eyes started to bleed red as EJ growled beside him. "That bastard-!" Ej spoke beside him, cutting himself off with a feral growl.
"From the Beauxbaton champion Fleur, we have taken her little sister." A loud cry came out of the half-veela, her hands covered in flames. "From the Drumstrang champion Victor, we have taken his mother." Harry could hear the Bulgarian cursing in his native language. "From Cedric, the first Hogwarts champion, we have taken his lover," Cedric swore loudly, his hands being bawled up into fists. "And from our other Hogwarts champion Harry, we have taken one of his friends."
Harry growled. "Of fucking course he did! Take the one that's terrified of water! That's fucking great! Bloody perfect!" Harry yelled out, angry, no not angry. That wasn't the right word. Outraged and becoming feral was more like it. Harry would like nothing more than to kill Dumbledore, choking him with his own intestines and make him watch as all of his precious plans went up to cinders.
Jack wasn't much better, looking as if he was restraining himself from going up and cutting open the bearded man.
"The champions will have an hour to claim their captive. After that, time is up. Now champions, your time starts… Now!" The cannons went off and the four jumped into the water. Harry took out the piece of gillyweed he had gotten from Neville, stuffing it in his mouth before diving under the water.
Harry felt the gills form on his neck, the webbing growing between his toes and swam through the water, worried for his friend. How dare Dumbledore take one of his friends. How dare he put Ben deep under the lake, a fear that was deeply embedded into the ghost after he had died under the water, crying out for help for no one to come.
Harry took out his wand and a knife, casting a charm to point him towards Ben, following the magic ball of light that formed in the water, leading towards the merpeople's settlement. It was a stronger spell than a simple point me spell, made to lead you towards someone a lot more precisely.
Harry swam over a patch of weeds, senses on high alert. This was why he quickly swam out of the way when a group of grindylows swam out to attack.
Harry growled, swinging his knife at one when it came at him. "I don't have time for you!" He yelled at them, casting a powerful jet of water at them to push them away, swimming at the rapidly leaving ball.
The beasts growled in rage, chasing after Harry, making him growl back as his eyes bled red. As one got close, he quickly reached out and grabbed it around the neck, crushing its neck under his strength. The grindylows yelled in anger at their killed comrade, rushing at the wizard.
Harry grinned manically, slashing at the next closest one, using a small blast of magic at another. More seemed to come every time one was killed, to be replaced by three more.
Harry was enjoying the killing spree, however. He hacked and slashed at any that got near to him. Soon, however, the Grindylow realized that they were outmatched. Even with their numbers, which had greatly dwindled at that point, Harry was able to easily wipe them out. So the group retreated, making Harry pout as his eyes slowly shined green once more.
"Damn. There goes my stress relief." Harry muttered as he started to swim back towards the settlement, his mind focused on saving Ben.
Harry didn’t know how long it took him to swim to the bottom of the lake. Time seemed non-existent here like it was a standstill almost. He was starting to wish he had help from one of the more watery pastas. He wished he wasn’t in this stupid tournament, as it now put Ben in danger in one place the ghost would be terrified to be at.
Harry couldn’t help but frown, feeling horrible and wondering how he would ever make it up to the entity for getting him in this situation. He wouldn’t forgive himself, even if Ben ever did. He wouldn’t blame him if he never forgave Harry for getting him in a situation like this.
Harry’s chest hurt at the thought but understood. Ben would hate him for being stuck under the water like this. The chill was seeping into his bones and Harry couldn’t help the shiver down his spine from it.
The glowing of the city caught his attention, making Harry speed up as he swam towards the place.
There he found the captives, guarded heavily by merpeople with spears. Harry was obviously the first of the champions to arrive, judging the fact that the four were still there. Seeing Ben there made Harry’s heart leap to his throat.
Ben floated there, ropes tied around his ankles and hands, not unlike chains to keep him from floating away. He was asleep if the relaxed look on his face was anything to go by. Harry couldn’t help but compare Ben to something akin to angelic-looking at the moment before shaking his head to clear his thoughts, swimming towards him with a quickness, senses on high alert as he eyed the merpeople cautiously.
Harry went to Ben, taking his knife and cutting the ropes from him. He then hugged the other male’s body close, some of his worries fading away when in contact with him. He looked at one of the merfolk, who sat on a pillar beside the champions. “When will they wake?” He asked, using a spell to translate himself to their language. It was extremely useful, as the spell helped him when dealing with some of the more animalistic pastas back at the mansion. It didn’t cause him to have a perfect understanding of the language, nor was it permanent. In a situation like this, however, it was greatly beneficial.
The merperson seemed surprised to hear him speak in their language. “They will wake once they touch the surface. Tell me, young human. Why does his energy seem off?” The mer sounded masculine to Harry. He shifted Ben in his grip, thankful he wouldn’t possibly wake up under the water.
“I do not know what you mean by that,” Harry replied, looking at him. He saw Cedric come by and grab Cho, giving him a questioning look as he did so before swimming off.
“His energy. We understand that he is not a normal human being, as he has the aura of someone who works for the man of no face on the surface. His energy level has spiked considerably once he arrived in our domain.” The merman replied.
Harry blinked, processing the reply. There was only one thing he could think of that the mer was talking about. “He is a ghost, technically speaking. Ben died by drowning, chained to the bottom of a lake just like this one. It is possible that what you sense was his body recognizing that he was going underwater and reacting to it. There was no way that he was taken willingly into this, as he has an extreme fear of going underwater because of how he died.” Harry explained.
Something flashed in the mer’s eyes as he seemed to tense. “They were taken unwillingly? We were told by the headmaster of the school by our lake that they were willing participants.” He seemed to growl out, causing several of the other merfolk to cry out in outrage at the thought.
Harry frowned, hugging Ben to him. “I do not know about the other three, but I know for a fact that if Ben was told of where he would be captive, he would have never agreed willingly to something like this. He had come to watch the task and was already uncomfortable with the thought of me being under the water. If he was told he was to be held underwater, he wouldn’t have agreed.” Harry informed them.
The merman got up from his spot, going to the young veela girl, as Victor at some point had come along and grabbed his mother. He cut the bindings on the young girl, handing her to one of the other mers and speaking quickly enough that even with the spell Harry was unable to understand it all. The mer swam up with the young girl as two others seemed to go off in search for, from what Harry could decipher, Fleur.
The merman that Harry had spoken to turned to him. “Thank you for telling us of this. The headmaster will not get off easy for such a lie. This is a serious transgression to us.” He spoke, making Harry nod in acceptance.
“I understand. Lying is something I have never cared for and after having it happen to me for most of my life, I have developed a deep hatred for it unless it is something completely necessary and would risk someone’s life at the time if the truth was said.” Harry told him, making the Mer eye him for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“We are much of the same way. Our kind have no tolerance for lying, much like many others of our kind. It is shameful.” He told Harry.
Harry hugged Ben to him, starting to feel the effects of the gillyweed leave as he gasped for air, the gills on his neck disappearing.
The mer swam up to him, taking Ben from him, to who Harry clung to, not wanting to let go of his friend.
Spots appeared in his vision as Harry struggled for air, knowing there was no way he would make it to the surface before he drowned as he was. The mer seemed to regard him for a moment, watching him struggle, before pulling him towards him and swimming off, commanding another to take Ben and follow.
The last thing Harry saw was the merman’s face near his own before darkness descended on him.