—TOM LOOKED AT 'MAD-EYE MOODY' IN SUSPICION, GLARING AT HIM. "What's the second task, Barty?" Tom asked, the golden egg in his hands. It was now 23rd of February, meaning the second task was tommorow, but Tom didn't have the time to check the golden egg since he was too busy planning raids that would happen next year.

"All I can say is that you should take the egg and listen to it underwater, my lord." Moody said and walked away, not wanting to wait long enough to experience Voldemort's wrath.

"Take it— underwater?" Tom asked himself in confusion.

••

Thomas Gaunt walked to his dorm, ignoring his dorm mates/friends, and walked to the bathroom.

He filled the bathtub with water and took his clothes off, already thinking of ways to kill Barty if this didn't work.

Grabbing the egg, he sat in the bathtub, taking a deep breath, and going under the water, opening the egg.

'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.'

His head no longer under the water, Tom closed the egg and stood up, putting a towel around his hip.

What did he care for the most?

All he cared for were his horcruxes, power, Rigel—

Tom's eyes widened. Rigel!

He didn't even have time to think about how he just admitted to himself that he cared for the boy and rushed out of the bathroom, changing quickly.

••

Draco and Blaise were in the middle of the conversation when their dormitory's door burst open.

"My lord?" Draco asked in confusion.

"Where's Rigel?" Tom immediately asked.

"Professor Snape and McGonagall needed him for something. Is everything alright, my lord?" said Blaise.

Tom didn't answer, and closed the door, making the two boys share a confused look.

••

"I beg your pardon?" Rigel asked when they were finally done.

Dumbledore peered over his spectacles, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You are Mr. Gaunt's treasure, Mr. Potter-Black."

"Black." Rigel corrected immediately. "I apologize, but I'm not agreeing to any of this."

"You have to, Mr. Black." Minerva McGonagall said, giving the quiet Hermione Granger and Gabrielle Delacour two potions that Snape made.

Rigel frowned. He had been ignoring Tom for about 2 months now, and now— he had to be saved by him?!

"Drink up, Mr. Black." Snape monotonously said, giving him a potion.

"And if he doesn't rescue me?" The boy asked, looking at the judges, headmasters, and teachers.

"The mermaids will bring you back to us. Dumbledore has a good relationship with them." Barty Crouch Sr. said.

Rigel made eye-contact with Mad-Eye, the desperation in his eyes evident, but Moody pretended that he didn't even notice.

He sighed, frustrated, but drank the potion reluctantly, and suddenly— everything went black.

••

"Where's Rigel?" Tom asked, looking murderous.

'Moody' flinched. "He's your treasure, my lord."

"What do you mean 'treasure'?!"

"The goblet shot out the names of who the champions care for most. Yours was Rigel, my lord."

Tom opened his mouth then closed it, frowning in thought. Had he become that attached to Rigel already?

"Mine was... Rigel?"

Mad-Eye nodded.

••

The next day, Tom and the other two champions were standing at the black lake.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!" Ludo Bagman exclaimed.

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing,

Tom pulled his wand out and cast a bubble-head charm, jumping into the water immediately.

He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water.

Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mer-song.

'An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took ...'

Tom swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead.

It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears, and chasing what looked like the giant squid.

Tom swam on past the rock, following the mer-song.

'... your time's half-gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot ...'

If Tom could, he would've scoffed. As if he'd let Rigel stay there to rot!

A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides.

The merpeople had greyish skins and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks.

They leered at Tom as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful, silver fishtails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

Tom sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door.

Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to each other.

Tom sped around a corner, and a very strange sight met his eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople were floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square.

A choir of merpeople were singing in the middle, calling the champions towards them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Three people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.

Rigel was tied between Hermione Granger and some Beauxbatons girl that Tom didn't know, nor did he care.

"Diffindo!" Tom exclaimed, pointing his wand at the rope that was holding Rigel.

As soon as Rigel was let go, Tom swam over to him as fast as he could, holding his hand.

Trying to ignore the way his heart sped up, he pointed his wand upwards, "Ascendio!"

••

A few minutes later, the attention was finally gone on them and was now on the other champions, who were busy with their own treasures down in the lake.

Rigel kept glaring at Tom the whole time, who was avoiding his eyes, and putting towels on him.

Rigel rolled his eyes, pushing the towel off of himself, and gave it to Tom. "I have enough." He mumbled.

Tom nodded, sighing. "Look, I'm sorry again for what I said that night."

"Don't apologize."

Tom looked up, looking confused and slightly shocked. "What? Why?"

"Apologize when your hurtful words actually mean something to someone."

Tom tried not to let his hurt show by nodding, looking away from him.