章節 48: Here we go again…

"So?"

"So?" Harry asked back, bemused, from Fleur's thighs.

They were lounging in Fleur's private quarters in the Beauxbatons' carriage and Harry's head was currently resting comfortably on Fleur's soft lap as they enjoyed a rare moment of peace.

There was a crackling fire which cast a warm glow across the room, its gentle light dancing on their faces.

Fleur ran her fingers through Harry's messy hair.

"The next task, mon chéri. 'ave you given it any thought?" she asked calmly…

Harry sighed, everything was going so well after the ritual, that he almost forgot about the looming challenge.

'I totally forgot about that. I should probably start preparing despite the lack of information,' he thought to himself.

"To be honest, my thoughts were so occupied with the ritual, I haven't given it much thought," he admitted, his green eyes meeting Fleur's surprised gaze.

"What's there to think about, really? We don't have any clues, and there's no pattern to follow—the second task has always had a different objective in previous tournaments," he said, not particularly concerned, but not happy about the situation either.

Over the past few days he had mastered so many spells, mostly by imitating Fleur, he felt confident he could tackle a lot of things that the judges could throw at them.

"Wait, what do you mean? Didn't you receive ze golden egg?" Fleur asked, her face sporting a look of confusion.

She tilted her head slightly, her silvery hair cascading over her shoulder as she studied Harry's befuddled face intently.

"Egg?" he repeated dumbly.

"You left right after slaying ze dragon didn't you?" she said, not waiting for an answer before continuing.

"Did no one tell you about the clue after the task? I mean, you've been to tons of public spaces since then. Surely someone must 'ave mentioned it?"

Harry's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the new information.

He sat up, his emerald eyes clouded with confusion and… anger.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," he said slowly, feeling a headache forming…

"What clue are you talking about, Fleur?"

He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

The French champion sighed, placing her hand on Harry's arm and gently started tracing patterns on it.

She had an inkling of what happened, based on many of the dreadful memories her partner shared with her, and if Harry hadn't realised it yet, he was no doubt going to do so swiftly.

Fleur gently squeezed his arm, hoping to soothe him before his temper flared.

"Harry, after each champion completed the first task, our respective headmaster and headmistress, in my case, came to us and gave us a small golden egg, about zis big," she gestured with her hands to indicate something about the size of a large grape.

"The egg contained a clue for the next task. We received a runic text that, when correctly translated and spoken near the egg, would open it. We then had to decipher the message inside," she explained, feeling Harry's muscles tense beneath her touch.

Needless to say, Harry wasn't pleased to hear all that.

He allowed himself a few breaths, doing his utmost best to calm down; he didn't want Fleur to see one of his infamous blow-ups.

'Well, it makes sense really. There was no way in hell that the bastard would make it easy for me,' Harry thought bitterly.

"Dumbledore," he spat out the name with venom, and Fleur couldn't help but nod.

That was the conclusion she had reached as well.

The old man's manipulations seemed to know no bounds.

Another deep breath.

"So, what exactly did this golden egg say?" he asked Fleur, trying to keep his voice level.

Under different circumstances, she may have teased him and asked for something in return, something fun preferably.

However, neither was in a joking mood.

"If you simply open the egg it emits a loud, piercing shriek," Fleur explained. "But if you submerge it underwater, you can hear the message clearly. It's a riddle about retrieving a precious item from the depths of the Black Lake wizin an 'our."

"The Black Lake? So the next task involves swimming?" he asked, his mind already racing with implications and potential challenges…

"How will you fare underwater love?" Harry asked, his concern growing as he thought more about it.

Fleur being a Veela, a being of air and fire, didn't have the blessing of the water.

The image of her struggling in the murky depths of the Black Lake sent a shiver down his spine, his gut twisting with anxiety.

"It will be... challenging," she admitted, her voice soft but unafraid. "But I 'ave been practising some charms that might 'elp. And in the end, I have you," she finished with a smile.

"That you do, mon amour. I'll make sure you're safe, no matter what," he assured her, pulling her close.

Harry's words made Fleur feel warm inside.

She leaned into his embrace, melting in it.

After a few peaceful moments, Harry's mind registered something he had overlooked earlier

He gently pulled away from Fleur.

"What was that about something precious being placed in the depths of the lake?" he inquired.

"The riddle mentioned that they'd take something we'd 'sorely miss' and we'd have an hour to retrieve it," she replied, confused as to what bothered Harry.

"Before, you said it was an object… Can you tell me the exact words?"

Fleur nodded, her brow furrowing slightly as she recalled the exact wording of the riddle.

She took a deep breath and recited:

"Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching, ponder this: We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour — the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

'They cannot sing above the ground, and the egg had to be placed underwater to hear the message, or else you'd hear a shriek. The Black Lake has merpeople, which are also easily accessible from the school,' Harry thought.

Having the answers beforehand made it very easy to glean the secret meaning of the message…

Had Harry heard the recording, he would have noted that Fleur's melodious voice sounded much better than the merpeople's.

However he hadn't, and truth be told, at that moment, he wouldn't have cared as he stilled, processing the implications of the egg's words.

The thought of someone taking something precious to him and submerging it in the depths of the Black Lake briefly ignited Harry's temper.

Upon thinking a bit more about it, he realised that there wasn't anything they could take from him.

Everything that he owned and cherished was either on his person or in the chamber.

No one could get them.

'Taken what you'll sorely miss,' the line echoed in his mind.

His mind raced, connecting the dots between the riddle and the judges' inability to take something precious from him.

'What can they take?'

"They have to steal four things, I doubt anyone would give the judges anything precious for safekeeping. I know, I won't," Harry mused aloud.

"Neizer would I, nor the ozers," Fleur agreed.

"I must confess, I didn't zink much on it. How would they choose what to take? I mean, do they know what we like and not? Will zey ask the people that know us?" she asked aloud, not really waiting for Harry to answer.

However, hearing Fleur talk, something clicked inside Harry's mind and his eyes widened as the full implication hit him.

'We've taken what you'll sorely miss,' echoed again in his mind.

That line.

Something precious, something so important that they'd have no choice but to jump inside a chillingly cold lake in the middle of February, and retrieve it.

Something that could leave and never come back again.

Something they could take even from him without his consent.

Not a thing… A person.

Suddenly, the answer dawned on him with chilling clarity, and he felt his heart rate quicken.

"Surely they wouldn't. Would they? I mean they brought dragons, they brought Ozeth for goodness' sake," Harry mumbled to himself, not noticing Fleur's concerned gaze that followed his every movement.

The idea that the tournament organisers would go to such lengths, endangering not just the champions but innocent bystanders as well, seemed almost inconceivable.

And yet, given everything he'd experienced so far, he couldn't dismiss the possibility.

In fact, he was certain that he got it right.

He turned to Fleur, his voice barely above a whisper. "They're not going to take things, Fleur. They're going to take people."

She clasped a hand over her mouth.

"Exactly as you said, love. People close to us. Friends, family—anyone they can get their oily hands on," Harry said, each word dripping with growing dread.

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