"YOU NEED to what?" Pansy asked.

"I need to figure out how to breathe underwater," Laura said quickly.

Pansy and Blaise had just met up with Draco and Laura in the library while Laura did some very last-minute research for the task the next day.

After about an hour, Blaise and Pansy had to go, but Laura and Draco were in too deep to stop for anything.

Draco was reading potion and spell books, and Laura was doing the same while trying to respond to a letter from Nick.

Dear my slowly more and more British cousin,

I can't wait to stare at a lake for an hour. That's going to be really entertaining... As long as you win, I'm okay with it. I want you to know that I almost had to miss a Quidditch match because of you.

Also, as a side note, I'm happy to hear you and Mandrake are getting along again. You know, I'll probably bug him the entire hour.

But good luck, break a leg, conquer the world.

Nick

Laura scanned the letter again and again, trying to see if Nick had left any hidden hints; however, there were none to be found.

"Ugh, this is so dumb," Laura frowned, slumping onto the desk.

"I know," Draco said. He took her hand into his, squeezing it softly. "However, we need to make sure you can complete your task. I don't want you getting hurt."

Laura nodded, sitting up again. She looked around the library, seeing Fred and George. They went over to talk to Hermione and then to Laura and Draco.

"Hi George, hi Fred," Laura smiled, looking up from her book when they looked up. "Did you two need something?"

"Yeah," Fred said.

"We need Malfoy," George said with a shrug. "McGonagall wants him."

"Why?" Draco asked, looking unsettled about it.

"Dunno," Fred shrugged. "Just hurry up, Malfoy, McGonagall wants you now."

"Yeah, and we're supposed to take you to her office," George added.

Draco hesitantly got up.

"I'll see you in the common room, okay?" he said. He looked a bit nervous. He placed a kiss on Laura's forehead and then left with Fred and George with a scowl on his face.

Laura researched for about another hour before changing her study spot to one of the corners of the common room. She sat next to a window, staring into the Black Lake.

No matter how much Laura looked though, she just couldn't seem to find anything. So, she gave up. She stared into the lake, thinking about how she would have to tell the judges she couldn't do it.

Thoughts of Bagman looking wide eyes, Karkoff smiling with his nasty teeth at her. She could almost hear Fleur saying, "I knew it... she is too young. She is only a little girl." She could even see Brown and her dumb badges.

That motivated Laura to return to the library to read more books. Her anger surrounding being looked down upon got her to study until she fell asleep.

However, as she was asleep, she was poked.

"Ouch- that hurt-" Laura said drowsily.

"Laura Potter must wake up, miss!"

"I'm awake, you can stop poking me-"

"Dobby must poke Laura Potter. She must wake up!"

Laura sat up, seeing it was Dobby waking her up. She blinked tiredly at the elf.

"Laura Potter needs to hurry!" Dobby squeaked. "The second task starts in ten minutes, and Laura Potter-"

An alarmed look took over Laura's face, checking her watch. It was indeed twenty minutes past nine.

"Hurry, Laura Potter!" Dobby squeaked, plucking at Laura's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, miss!"

"It's too late, Dobby," Laura sighed, frowning. "I'm not doing the task, I don't know how-"

"Laura Potter will do the task!" Dobby squeaked. "Dobby knew Laura Potter had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for her!"

"What?" Laura asked. "You don't even know what the second task is-"

"The thing Laura Potter will miss most, miss!" Dobby squeaked in panic. "'But past an hour-'"

"'The prospect's black," Laura recided, staring, horror-struck, at the elf. "Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby- what do I have to do?"

"You have to eat this, miss!" Dobby said he handed her a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, miss- Gillyweed!"

"How did I not think of gillyweed!" Laura exclaimed. "Oh my Merlin, you are a lifesaver, Dobby."

"Of course, miss!" Dobby said earnestly. "Dobby hears things, miss. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task... Dobby cannot let Laura Potter lose her Malfoy!"

"Thank you so much, Dobby!" Laura exclaimed, sprinting out of the library. She ran through the Great Hall and out to where the Judges were with Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor.

All of them stood there, watching her run to where they were.

"Made... it..." Laura said, out of breath. She came to a skidding halt in the mud, which sprayed onto Fleur's robes. Laura gave her an apologetic smile.

"Where have you been?" said a bossy disappointed voice. "The task's about to start!"

Laura groaned, seeing it was Percy, but she ignored him.

"Now, now, Percy!" Bagman exclaimed, looking intensely relieved to see Laura. "Let her catch her breath."

Dumbledore smiled at Laura, whereas Karkoff and Madame Maxime didn't look too pleased to see Laura. She could tell that they thought Laura wasn't going to show up.

Laura then bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for air. While she had been fine for about thirty seconds, she now had a stitch in her side that felt like a knife was between her ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it; Bagman was now spacing the champions. Laura was on the very end, next to Viktor.

Laura knew she would probably fall asleep, so she had a swimsuit under her robes. She took her robe off, her wand in one hand, the other holding the gillyweed.

"All right, Laura?" Bagman whispered as he moved Laura a few feet farther away from Viktor. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," Laura panted, massaging her ribs.

Bagman gave Laura's shoulder a squeeze and returned to the judges' table. He then pointed his wand at his throat, saying, "Sonorus!" His voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands.

"Well, all of 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!"

The whistle blew. Laura immediately stuffed the gillyweed into her mouth, gagged, and jumped into the lake. The water was cold as she waded around awkwardly. There was laughing in the stands as Laura just stood there.

Then, quite suddenly, Laura felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over her mouth and nose. She tried to breathe, but it made her head spin; her lungs were empty, and she suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of her neck-

Laura threw herself into the lake, realizing the gills had formed on her neck.

She took off, swimming through the lake. There were only signs of fish, but no merpeople, no Draco- and thankfully, no giant squid. She was then suddenly grabbed by the ankle.

She twisted her body to see it was a grindylow, a small horned water demon. It poked out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Laura's leg, baring its pointed fangs.

"Relashio!" Laura shouted. However, no sound came out from her mouth, only bubbles, yet a jet of water still shot at the grindylows, leaving red patches on its skin. Laura quickly got out of there.

As she swam, she ran into the merpeople.

There was a whole village in front of her. A choir sang for the champions, and with that, there was a statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the merperson.

Laura squinted to see that Draco was tied between Hermione and Cho. Next to Cho was a young girl who looked no older than eight, and looked to be Fleur's sister. The four of them appeared to be in a deep sleep, their heads were rolling onto their shoulders, bubbles coming out of their mouths.

Laura swam over to Draco; his blond hair waved through the water. She hadn't seen him much while he was sleeping, but she had to admit he looked cute. His hair somehow reflected in the little to no sun. Laura stared at him before remembering that she needed to save him.

"Diffindo," Laura said. Bubbles came out again, but the ropes were cut. She grabbed Draco and looked around, none of the other champions were there. Laura was unsure what to do until she saw Cedric coming.

"Get lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Viktor are coming now!"

He quickly cut Cho out with a knife and sped off. Laura was unsure why everyone else was so slow, but after Viktor showed up and left, Laura could tell that Fleur wasn't going to show up.

"Too late, it's gone."

Laura knew in the back of her mind that couldn't be true; however, her adrenaline was running high. She wasn't thinking logically.

So, Laura hurriedly shot a spell at the ropes. She grabbed the girl by the waist. She sped off to the surface, the girl in one arm, Draco in the other, and merpeople speeding off after her. However, because Laura wasted some time, the gillyweed was wearing off. Draco and the girl didn't help either, as they were now like potato sacks weighing her down.

Laura kicked as hard as she could, so close to the surface. When she finally broke the surface of the water. The cold air hit her face, causing it to sting.

Laura got help getting Draco and the girl onto the platform. When she finally got on, they were wrapped in thick towels. Draco and the girl opened their eyes. The girl looked confused, while Draco merely expelled a great deal of water.

Laura couldn't stop herself from laughing while Draco scowled at her.

"Laura, this is your fault," he said, "now I'm soaking wet and cold."

"I'm the one who had to save you, Malfoy," Laura said, sticking her tongue out at him. "You just slept the entire time."

"Well, it's still your fault," Draco said, raising an eyebrow. "Why'd I have to miss the last fifteen hours of my life?"

"Didn't I tell you what the egg said?" Laura asked, tilting her head.

"No," Draco frowned. "You didn't tell me anything other than you needed a way to breathe underwater for an hour- by the way, how did you do that?"

"Gillyweed," Laura shrugged. "But the clue said: 'We've taken what you'll sorely miss.' I didn't realize you were gone, so I didn't miss you, but I'm glad I could get you back."

"Yeah, maybe you should stop procrastinating, Laura," Draco chuckled. "You would have definitely missed me if you weren't panicking."

Laura opened her mouth to shoot something back, but Madam Pomfrey seized the two of them.

"Come here, you two," she gave them really hot potions, causing steam to come out of their ears.

"Laura!" someone cried out. Laura turned to see it was Hermione. "Well done!"

"Thanks, Hermione," Laura grinned, hugging her.

"You have a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," Viktor said.

Hermione didn't take heed to what he said, brushing the beetle off her hair. Laura stared at the beetle, wanting to step on it. She wasn't wearing shoes, so she kicked it into the water.

"You're well outside the time limit, though, Laura..." Hermione said, getting Laura's attention again. "Did it take you ages to find us?"

"Oh, I was the first one there," Laura shrugged. "I was at least five minutes faster than everyone else, but I took my time."

"I'm glad you made it," Hermione smiled, turning to Viktor.

"So," Laura said, turning back to Draco, placing her hand on his chest, "are you still mad at me?"

Draco smirked in response.

"Well-"

"You saved her."

Laura turned around to see it was Fleur.

"You saved her even though she was not your hostage," she said. She looked like she had gone through it.

"It was no problem," Laura said, as Fleur gave her a big hug.

"And you too," Fleur said, turning to Draco, "you helped-"

"Oh, no," Draco said, "I didn't do anything-"

Fleur didn't listen, swooping down and kissing him twice on both cheeks, then going to talk to her little sister.

"What about now, Blondie?" Laura smirked. "Are you starting to change your mind?"

"No, I still prefer difficult American witches," Draco smirked back, pulling Laura into a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Laura's face was flushed. She had completely forgotten about the crowd until there were faint cheers.

"Oh my Merlin," Laura muttered, turning away from the crowd.

"Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?" Draco teased.

"No- but my parents and Nick are in the stands," Laura mumbled.

Draco chuckled, pulling her into his arms as Bagman's voice boomed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchiefainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have, therefore, decided to award marks out of fifty for each champion as follows...

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

"I deserved zero," Fleur said throatily, shaking her head. Laura gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; Laura saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. "We, therefore, award him forty-seven points."

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

"Laura Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "She returned last, well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Miss Potter was the first to reach the hostages and that the delay in her return was due to her determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely her own.

"Most of the judges here," Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look. Laura just rolled her eyes, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Miss Pot- Pickering's score is forty-five points."

Everyone started cheering. Draco gave her a proud squeeze, but Laura just frowned. She was tied with Cedric now, and that was far from what she wanted.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," Bagman continued. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you for all your support of the championship."

The champions and their people walked off of the dock. Laura quickly cast a drying spell on her and Draco, putting her robes on.

"It is so cold," Laura mumbled as she waited for her parents to come see her. "A water task in the middle of winter was an awful decision."

"You are correct," Draco said, shivering a bit. "It's especially awful when you're surprised by being thrown into the water without warning."

"Hey, you quite literally did nothing," Laura said, nudging him. She showed off her muscles. "You were saved by the one and only Laura Potter."

"I thought it was Pickering," Draco teased.

"Usually, but I know it'll bug you if I say, 'Potter saved you,'" Laura smiled. "But enough about that- Nick!"

"Laura!"

Nick ran over, pulling Laura into a tight hug.

"You figured it all out," he grinned. "I knew you had the brain power to figure out something."

"Oh- I didn't figure it out," Laura said, causing Nick to look at Draco.

"I knew your boyfriend had a brain," Nick smirked. "How does it feel to be what Laura would miss the most but also be the reason why your life was saved?"

"I didn't find anything..." Draco said, giving Nick a strange look. "They took me away to be put to sleep for today. I actually have no idea how Laura came up with gillyweed."

"Do you remember Dobby from our second year?" Laura asked Nick.

"Oh, yeah," Nick said, giving Draco the side eye. "He used to be his house elf, right?"

"Yeah, but that's beside the point- he came and woke me up ten minutes before the task and gave me the gillyweed," Laura explained. "I felt stupid, realizing I should have thought of it ages ago."

"You woke up ten minutes before the task and still be the first person to get to the hostages?" Draco asked, his eyes wide. "Oh my Merlin, you're insane, Laura."

"Hey- I was running off of pure adrenaline," Laura said, putting her hands up.

"She did still save you," Nick pointed out, causing Draco to roll his eyes.

Laura's parents then walked over. Laura squeezed out, letting Draco and Nick keep arguing, giving her parents a big hug.

"Hi," Laura exclaimed.

"Hi, Laura," her mom smiled.

"You did amazing," her dad grinned. "Your mom and I were very impressed by your 'moral fiber' for saving that other girl."

"What can I say," Laura grinned, "I have the coolest parents- who are good examples to me."

"Does that include sneaking around the castle and losing your golden egg?" her mom asked, pulling away from the hug.

"Snape told you...?" Laura asked, pursing her lips.

"He said you and Harry snuck out," her dad said. There was a look of approval on his face. "Under Harry's invisibility cloak and his... map?"

"Just me," Laura admitted. "You know I have the other cloak. I borrowed the map from Harry, like a month ago," she added with a shrug.

"What is this map and its significance?" her mom asked, raising an eyebrow. "I feel like I'm missing a big part of this story."

"Dad, Uncle James, and their friends made a magical map to stalk people," Laura said nonchalantly, causing her dad to quickly shake his head.

"Belle, Darling- that's not what it is," he said quickly, giving Laura a pointed look. "It's an intensive map of the entire school- it just so happens to tell you who is where. James and I spent a lot of time on it, and it seems it has fallen back into the Potter's hands."

"Yeah, there are also secret passages. I haven't tried them out, though," Laura said with a shrug.

"How'd you figure out it was your dad's?" her mom asked.

"It said his nickname on it, same with Uncle James'," Laura said. "It was a nice surprise to see it there."

"Ah, well, use it responsibly," her dad said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Make sure your mischief is managed."

"You know it," Laura grinned.