96 Chapter 94 - The Second Task pt 3

***** Make Up Chapter ***** A/N: Passed out after work today.... feeling more tired than usual lately tbh. Been sleeping like 9+ hours a night these days..... and still waking up tired ahaha. Although if Im being honest.... its probably just my body catching up on the poor sleep I've been getting the past week+ when I was marathoning One Piece lol. *****

"Natty...." Muttered Khan aloud.

He could hardly believe that it was not a simple talisman that they had to rescue, but instead, their own close family and friends!

And viewing her rather lifeless body tied up on the pole at the bottom of the lake, through the viewing orb Louis had just summoned, Jordan had to admit, it made him more than a little upset.

At first.

'There's no possible way they took them without their express consent.... Natsai is much too powerful for that, to say nothing about Gabrielle, when Louis himself is over seeing this task....' Khan thought to himself, trying to rationalize everything, instead of getting angry. He HAD been attempting to work on controlling his anger and emotions after all. 'Wait a minute....'

Soon however, his face soon began to take on a smirk, as Jordan thought more about all implications the appearance of these hostages now implied.

'To think they actually chose live hostages.' he thought to himself, shaking his head slightly. 'Took all the urgency out of the task with their choices, they did...'

Khan knew in his heart that these 'hostages' were safe from any harm after all.

Unlike with Personal talismans, which could be lost if the champions failed the task, With Louis Delacour himself providing security, and his youngest daughter Gabrielle being used as a hostage herself, Jordan was certain that there would be little to no consequences should any of the champions happen to fail their tasks.

And that was without mentioning Natsai herself of course. A powerful witch in her own right, especially being Dumbledore's mentor, although she appeared to be unconscious at the bottom of the lake, Khan was certain that should any trouble arise, Natty would be able to act, and serve as a 'back-up' of sorts.

'But seriously... why am I always rescuing Natty?' He thought to himself amusedly.

Jordan couldn't help but reminisce and think back to that time he had to rescue her alongside one Mr. Isko Rabe, that one time they had been captured by the Ashwinders and trapped in their hideout under Hog's Head Inn, in Hogsmeade.

Natty had left her wand for him to find, since she was capable of wandless magic, leaving it up to Khan himself to stage a solo rescue mission, to rescue both her, and Mr. Isko Rabe, who's wife he had previously spoken to that da-

"Well... seeing as all our champions are now ready for the second task, we might as well get started!" Louis Delacour's voice cut into his thoughts of old, reminding him of the second task that was about to begin. 'Remember.... You will all have precisely one hour starting when the final champion departs, to rescue your taken hostage, and return with them to here to the shore."

"Mr. Khan.... are you prepared?"

Taking out his wand, Khan disrobed, leaving himself in his swimming trunks, to the delight of many of the watching females in the audience, before turning towards Mr. Delacour, and nodding his head courageously.

"Very well then! On the count of three then!"

Jordan readied himself.

"One... Two... Three!"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold February air, the stands erupting with cheers and applause, as Khan took off in a run, splashing, as he waded his way deeper into the lake, eventually disappearing underneath the water.

A few minutes passed before another whistle blew out, the stand once again erupting in applause, signaling it was time for the champions in second place, Harry and Krum, to start their task.

Without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry pulled off his socks and shoes, before pulling out a handful of this gillyweed that Neville had given him out of his pocket, and stuffing it into his mouth, as he waded out into the lake, a few meters behind Krum.

A few moments passed, before Harry stopped waist-deep in the freezing water. Swallowing the Gillyweed, he watched Krum eventually move on ahead of him until he too had also disappeared beneath the water, while waiting for something to happen.

Another whistle blew out, indicating that Fleur, the last champion, was finally departing, also signaling that their one hour time limit had finally begun.

Fleur herself, immediately stripped off her robes, leaving herself in nothing but her swimsuit, much to to the watching male students delight, and began running into the water with quick, graceful strides, eagerly trying to make-up ground, and catch up with the other champions.

In fact, within minutes, she had passed Harry, who was still standing waist deep in the water, eventually disappearing into the lake as well.

Harry could hear laughter in the crowd, and knew that he must look stupid walking into the lake and simply standing there not moving. Not that Harry cared... he knew that the catcalls and jeering must be coming from the Slytherins....

Suddenly, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over his nose and mouth. He tried to breathe, but it immediately made his head spin.

He couldn't breathe! His lungs were on fire and suddenly he felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck!

Clapping his hands around his neck in an attempt to comfort his pain, Harry ended up feeling two large slits cut into his neck, just below his ears.... Did he have gills?

Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense - He flopped himself forward face first into the water, eventually also disappearing into the lake below.

Finally all four champions were underwater.

The Second Task had officially begun!

*****

The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life to Harry. His head stopped spinning, and he immediately took a few more great gulps of water, feeling it pass smoothly through his gills, sending fresh oxygen into his lungs.

Smiling to himself, he stretched his hands out in front of him, staring at the obvious physical changes his body had now gone through.

Harry did not just possess gills after all.... his entire body had changed! His hands had turned green and he had apparently grown webbing in between his fingers.

Twisting himself around, he turned to look at his bare feet - they too had changed, becoming elongated, his toes also growing webbing between them.

Had he grown flippers?

Hell.... the originally icy water didn't even feel cold to Harry anymore. On the contrary, it felt rather pleasant, cool and light.

And not only that, he could now see quite clearly underwater, no longer needing to even blink!

Thanking Neville once more in his heart, Harry struck out, marveling at how far and and fast his flipper-like hands and feet propelled him through the water.

In fact, With this speed, Harry was hopeful that even though He had wasted time at the beginning of this task, he would be able to catch up with the other champions!

And with that thought he flipped over, and quickly began his descent into the depths below.

Soon enough, he had swum so far into the lake that he could no longer see the surface above him.

Silence pressed upon his ears, as he glided gracefully over a strange, dark, and shadowed landscape.

Harry could barely see ten feet around him, his new adapted aquatic eyes serving no use to him in cutting through the darkness.

He swam deeper and deeper, out towards what he thought was the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, his head on a swivel, looking through the eerily dimly lit water, and into the shadows beyond.

Small fish flickered past him curiously, and once or twice, Harry thought he saw something larger moving behind some weeds in front of him... only to discover it was nothing but junk; a piece of rubble or an old rotten log typically being the culprits responsible for scaring him.

Unfortunately for Harry however, after tens of minutes of searching, he had yet to see any signs of any of the other champions, let alone the merpeople, or the person he was supposed to rescuing, Hermione.

"How are you getting on?"

'Holy shit!' Harry thought he was hallucinating.... who the hell was talking to him?

Whipping around, he saw a familiar ghostly figure.

"Myrtle!" Harry tried to shout, although nothing but bubbles came out of his mouth, much to Myrtle's amusement, herself actually giggling, looking very different than her typical appearance, by which she was given the moniker 'moaning myrtle'.

"You'll want to try over there!" she said, pointing. "They don't like much though.... they always end up chasing me away when I get too close...."

Thanking Myrtle with a quick thumbs-up to show his appreciation, Harry quickly set off once more, swiftly gliding through the water, in the direction she had just indicated.

And although Harry knew Myrtle sometimes liked to play pranks, and didn't know if she was just pulling his leg or not sending him in the completely wrong direction, truthfully he had no real idea where he was going, and ultimately had no choice but to listen to her and follow her direction, in hopes that she was right.

Unfortunately, after a few minutes, Harry would discover to his horror, that Myrtle was right.... this was indeed the direction he was supposed to be swimming in.

Not only had he caught up to the other champions, but it looked like he had also found the mer-village, with the 4 hostages still tied up on each of their poles.

However, it appeared it would not be as easy as simply untying the hostages, and escorting them back to the shore.

You see, the reason Harry was originally horrified when he had arrived, was the same reason the entire second task didn't look like it would be as straightforward as Harry originally anticipated.

And it was due to what the other three champions were currently battling - or rather, were trying to get past....

'Bloody hell... what the fuck IS THAT?!? It looks larger than the basilisk!'

*****

* Outside the lake, a few minutes ago..... *

Silence filled the area; Everyone had their eyes glued to the large orb, watching for any signs of any of the incoming champions.

Unfortunately, as the audience found out earlier, the spells that Louis had cast, that allowed for the crowd to view the hostages underwater, had a flaw.

Similar to muggle surveillance video cameras, a 'recording' orb needed to be set up in the area, in order for the 'viewing' orb to connect to.

This meant that Louis himself had to travel to the actual location of the mer-village, and cast another spell summoning the recoding orb, all the way at the bottom of the lake.

As such, due to the nature of this second task, itself involving having the champions search for their hostages themselves, the audience was left impatiently waiting for the champions to appear at the hostage's location.

A few more minutes passed, with still nothing much happening, when suddenly, the audience all burst into cheers, as Jordan Khan appeared on screen.

A large bubble was around his head, and his wand in his hand, as he rapidly kicked and approached the mer-village/hostages in haste.

"Looks like Mr. Jordan Khan is the first champion to reach the mer-village!" Louis announced, providing commentary, much to the delight of the now roaring audience.

"Yes, yes... Halfway there, and only fifteen minutes into the task! Very impressive for the Hogwarts Champion!" Louis said, pausing for a bit afterwards to let the applause die down, before continuing.

"However.... I did say earlier that they would face 'unknown obstacles and challenges in their underwater search'....." He spoke out dramatically. "So in light of that... I have prepared a little gift, so to speak."

A large dark object suddenly passed in front of the recording orb, appearing like a blur as it moved aggressively towards the approaching Khan.

It only took a few seconds before it was suddenly in front of Khan, coming to a stop, blocking his way, and finally giving the audience a better look at it, shocking them all into silence.

"Thats right..... The champions will have to get past 'that' magical beast, in order to rescue their hostage."

Looking around at the crowd, their eyes and mouths wide open with shock, Louis smiled smugly, happy that his dramatics appeared to have the intended effect.

He had indeed prepared a gift.... however instead of a small gift like had originally teased, it was instead a giant gift.

Literally.

"Louis! Is that..." Dumbledore asked also sounding surprised at the appearance of that particular magical beast. He had definitely NOT planned for anything like THAT to appear....

"Yes... I brought him along when I was setting up the 'Visio Lumina' spell in the mer-village." Louis confirmed, nodding at the other shocked judges.

"It's a Horned Serpent."