Cassia's POV

As soon as Christmas Break was over, I dove right back into mentoring Harry and Cedric and preparing them for the second task. In order for me to do that, however, we had to get the clue without either one of the eggs screeching like nails on a chalkboard. I would literally spend hours after classes and after meals trying to nut this out, and the stress was really starting to take its toll on me. My energy during the day was almost fully depleted. Focusing in classes was borderline impossible for me now, due to lack of sleep (my pale skin and the dark circles under my eyes showed that), and I had awful headaches.

Which brings me to today. After my classes were all finished, I found a note in my bag. I unfolded it and read it to myself.

Hey, love.
I'm hoping you have some energy left for a date tonight. Make sure you have a swimsuit on under your robes after dinner, and meet me near the kitchen corridor at 8:15 tonight.
See you then.
-Cedric

Seeing that note and the prospect of having a date with my boyfriend to look forward to made me perk up right away, like I'd just had a shot of espresso.

I snuck into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom so I could wash my makeup off alone. Concealer, makeup...everything. Wow, I REALLY need to get some sleep tonight, I thought as I looked in the mirror at my eyes. The dark circles were so bad that they looked like bruises.

"Well, well, look what Filch swept up," I heard a familiar, taunting voice remark, making my head snap up. Despite the mirror being a little cloudy, I could still see who it was.

"Myrtle?" I hadn't seen her since second year, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

"Nice to see you again, Cassia," she greeted. She floated closer and took in my appearance, dark circles and all. "You look awful."

"Gee, thanks," I snapped.

She put her hands up. "No need to get snippy..."

I heaved a sigh. "Sorry, Myrtle. The second task of the Triwizard Tournament is coming up, and I can't for the life of me figure out the clue for the golden egg, and it's stressing me out."

Her face softened. "Oh." She floated closer to me. "You haven't been to see me for ages, you know."

This was true, though only because Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I had found Myrtle's bathroom a convenient place to brew Polyjuice Potion in secret, a forbidden potion that had turned my brother and Ron into Crabbe and Goyle for an hour so they could sneak into the Slytherin common room to see if Malfoy was involved with the chamber of secrets opening. After that and rescuing Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, we thought it was best if we didn't return to that bathroom for a while.

"It's a long story, but let's just say my brother and I have been busy," I summed it up.

"I see," she said. "Not being naughty, are you?"

"It's funny, even though we're not looking for trouble, it somehow manages to find us," I remarked. "This time, Harry's a champion in the Triwizard Tournament, along with my boyfriend, and I have to mentor both of them."

Myrtle's expression became sympathetic. "No wonder you're so stressed..."

I nodded. "I know...at least I have a date with my boyfriend to look forward to."

Her eyes brightened up. "Who are you going with?"

"Cedric Diggory," I admitted, feeling a light blush appear on my face.

"Ooh...he's quite the catch," Myrtle gushed. "I'm jealous. So what're you going to do on your date tonight?"

I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the note. "I don't know. He didn't say. The only hint on this note he slipped me earlier was that I had to wear a bathing suit, so it's probably a swimming date. The question is, where?" It couldn't be the Black Lake--the water there was way too cold, and there was also the risk of getting points taken off for being out after curfew.

Myrtle flew even closer so she could read the note. She grinned at me, all of a sudden, her eyes alight with excitement behind those thick glasses. "Oh...I think I know where he's taking you."

"You do?" I asked. "Where?"

Her grin got bigger. "That's for you to find out." She sped away from me, diving headfirst into one of the toilets, creating a big splash in her wake, strongly reminding me of the first time we had encountered her.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Oh, Myrtle..."

Looks like I'm just gonna have to wait until tonight.

<><><><><>

I rushed back to my dorm after dinner, and grabbed a bikini from one of my drawers--nothing special, just a purple halter top (chapter pic) with some beading in the middle, and plain black bottoms. It was all covered by my uniform, except I had discarded my tie and my black Hogwarts robe, and I was wearing slippers on my feet instead of normal shoes. Harry's golden egg sat on top of my dresser; I had kept it in my dorm because I knew it'd be safe there. I looked over at it, wondering if I should bring it with me. On the one hand, it seemed like a bad idea, considering I didn't want anything distracting me during my alone time with Cedric, but on the other hand, we might be able to figure it out together. You know, kill two birds with one stone.

Wrapping an arm around the egg, I exited my dormitory and started to walk out of the common room. Right as the portrait hole opened for me to leave, Hermione entered.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Well...Ceddy and I have a date," I admitted sheepishly.

Hermione grinned, before she notice of my holding the egg. "And you're holding the egg because...why?"

"I thought maybe Ceddy could help me with the clue, because it's really frustrating me that I can't do it myself," I said.

"Maybe..." she agreed. "Good luck. And have fun on the date."

I started to go, but I turned and called over my shoulder, "Tell Harry not to wait up!"

She laughed. "I will!"

The portrait door closed behind me, and I headed downstairs to the basement level, where the kitchen corridor would be. Goosebumps formed on my skin from anticipating where Cedric was taking me.

Walking down all those stairs to the basement level seems like a long time, but for me, it wasn't. It was actually a fast trip, and before I knew it, I saw Cedric waiting for me as I rounded the corner. I felt a twinge of nostalgia, remembering the first time I met him, literally ramming into him as I headed around a corner on my way to Potions class.

He pulled me close to his chest, wrapping his arms around my frame. "How are you, love?"

I let out a soft hum as the sound of his heartbeat echoed against my ear. "Better now that you're with me."

"How come you brought the egg?" he questioned.

I tapped the egg with my index finger nervously. "I, uh...I was hoping we could figure out the clue on our date. I've tried doing it myself, and I just can't, and it's driving me nuts."

"Shh..." Cedric kissed the top of my head. "Don't worry about a thing, Cassi. We'll get that clue together. But first, I'm going to help relieve your stress." He laced his fingers with mine and led me out of the corridor, back up about five flights of stairs.

We reached a statue of a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, and his clothes inside-out and backwards. Cedric approached one of two doors near the statue, leaned close to it, and whispered, "Pine fresh."

The door creaked open. He led me inside, bolting the door behind us. He started to remove his robes while I gazed around.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"This is the prefects' bathroom. Well, technically, it's not just limited to prefects. Quidditch captains and the Head Boy and Head Girl of every house is allowed in here," Cedric explained.

Now I wished I could be a prefect, or Quidditch captain. It'd be worth it if it meant I was able to use this bathroom. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including an empty, rectangular bathtub, big enough to pass for a swimming pool, sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool's edges, each with a differently-colored jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in the corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.

I picked up one of the fluffy towels and placed it, along with the egg, at the edge of the pool, and then walked over to the taps. Two in particular caught my eye, one had a citrine gemstone in the handle, and another had a light blue jewel that I guessed was an aquamarine. Turning them both on, I could tell at once that each tap carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed in with the water, though it wasn't any bubble bath I had ever experienced before. The bubbles were so thick and large they looked like giant clouds of pale orange and icy blue. An intoxicating aroma of jasmine mixed with wild orange blossoms filled my nostrils.

A faint giggle caught my ear, and I looked up to see it was the mermaid in the portrait. She had just woken up, presumably from the sound of the gushing water, and she was smiling and flapping her tail excitedly. What was she getting so worked up about?

She was looking past me, at something across the way. I followed suit and realized that she was gawking at Cedric, who had taken off his robes. He was shirtless, clad only in simple black swim trunks that cut off just above his knees. Boy, he was hot! I couldn't take my eyes off his muscular arms and his toned chest and stomach, with just barely-visible abs.

Cedric grinned at my reaction to him. "Like what you see, love?"

My cheeks began to burn and I felt a blush coming on.

He chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes, then."

Once the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, I turned off the taps and crossed back over to the spot where I had placed my towel and the egg. I stripped off all my outer clothing until just my swimsuit was left. My hair had been in a messy bun all day today because I was too tired to do anything else with it this morning. Reaching up, I pulled the elastic out of my hair and shook it out, letting my hair fall down my back. Because it had been tied up like that, it was now slightly curled at the ends.

Hearing a gasp from behind me, I turned around to see Cedric gazing, awestruck, at my body.

"Like what you see?" I mimicked him, smirking.

He blushed, just as I had previously done, and gently lowered himself into the water. I slipped in right next to him. It was so deep that my feet barely touched the bottom, and I actually did a couple of lengths before swimming back over to Cedric, who had just taken a seat on the edge of the bath.

"C'mere," he beckoned. I floated as close to him as I could get. He twirled one of his index fingers in a circle, and I turned so that my back was to him. I felt him place his hands on my bare shoulders and start to rub them in clockwise circles with his thumbs, applying just the right amount of pressure. I groaned in pleasure, already feeling the tension in my body recede.

"That feel good?" Cedric asked.

"Mm-hmm..." I hummed in reply.

Half an hour passed before he stopped rubbing my shoulders. My body was so relaxed that I felt like it'd turned to jelly.

I kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Ceddy. I needed that."

"Oh, it was nothing..." he waved it off, sliding back into the bath. Since he was taller than me by a healthy margin, obviously he was able to stand in the deep water. "So we know the egg shrieks whenever we open it."

I nodded. "Harry's egg did that when he first opened it. It was awful."

Cedric rested his chin on his hand, thinking hard. "Hmm...Professor Moody asked me if I tried putting my egg in water."

"We could try," I contemplated.

"Let's give it a go," Cedric advised.

I grabbed the egg from behind me and placed it in the water. I lowered the egg beneath the foamy surface and opened it...and this time, it didn't screech. A muffled song was coming out of it, a song whose words I couldn't distinguish through the water.

Taking a great breath, Cedric and I slipped under the surface. A chorus of eerie voices sang to us from the open egg in my hands:

"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,
To recover what we took
But past an hour, the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back..."

We resurfaced and I put the egg back on the edge of the pool, giving my head a quick shake to move my jet-black hair out of my face.

"Since the egg couldn't sing until we opened it underwater, it looks like that's what the next task entails. I'd guess the Black Lake. It's the closest body of water to the school," I deciphered. "The third verse is obvious; you only have an hour to complete the task, but...what about that other part of the song?"

Cedric hummed. "Here, give me the egg so I can listen to it again."

I handed him the egg and he sank back beneath the water. It took two more underwater renditions of the egg's song before he had it memorized; then he tread water for a while, thinking hard about what the rest of the song meant regarding the task.

"So we have to go into the Black Lake and recover something that we'll sorely miss, within an hour..." he mused.

"That means we have to find some way to enable you to breathe underwater," I added, sitting on the edge of the bath. Something about the song bothered me--who or what exactly had sung it?

"Something wrong, love?" Cedric asked, halting my train of thought.

"I was just thinking about what could've sang the song," I responded, propping a hand against my cheek. "Chances are they'll also be the one who steals what you'll sorely miss."

Cedric nodded in understanding. "It couldn't be the giant squid, I'm assuming."

A thought struck me. "Wait a minute, what else lives in the lake besides the giant squid?"

Our eyes suddenly fell on the picture of the mermaid on the wall.

"Mermaids," we both said at once.

<><><><><>

"Guys, tell me again," Hermione said. Tomorrow morning, the second task would take place, and Harry still had yet to figure out a method to breathe underwater for an hour. Just two days ago, Cedric had given him a hint on how to get the clue from the egg, and Harry had gone down to the prefects' bathroom (under the guise of the Invisibility Cloak) that night. Since then, we've been looking through every book in the library for something that could possibly help him with the task. Cedric was already all set, planning to use the Bubblehead Charm. We had practiced in the prefects' bathroom, as I had him use it to retrieve my snitch necklace from the bottom of the pool.

Harry sighed. "Come seek us where our voices sound."

"The Black Lake. That's obvious," Hermione noted.

"That and the 'hour long' part were obvious," I stated, not taking my eyes off the shelf I was looking through.

"Very obvious, though potentially problematic," Hermione observed.

Harry shot upright in his chair. "Potentially problematic?! When was the last time you held your breath underwater for an hour, Hermione?" he snapped.

I slumped into a chair next to him. "I would've suggested using human Transfiguration, but we don't learn that for at least another year or two."

"There goes my idea of turning into a submarine," Ron remarked.

"Ron, Transfiguration isn't a joking matter," I pointed out.

"Cassia's right. It can go horribly wrong if you don't know what you're doing," Hermione added.

"Yeah, I don't really fancy walking around with a periscope for a head," Harry commented dryly.

"Wait..." I looked across the way at Neville, who had his nose in a Herbology volume. "Neville, do you have that book on magical water plants with you?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling it out. "Why?"

"Is there anything in it about something that will allow a person to breathe underwater?" I pressed.

He opened it and thumbed through several pages before stopping almost halfway through. "Here's something--Gillyweed."

I beckoned him over. He came, placing the book on the table, and we all looked at the section of the page where it spoke about Gillyweed.

Commonly located in or near the Mediterranean Sea, Gillyweed is widely regarded in the field of magical water plants for its distinctive properties. Hence the name, those who consume Gillyweed are temporarily given fish-like qualities, primarily gills on either side of the head, permitting him or her to breathe underwater for a limited period of time.

Relief washed over me. "Thank you, Neville. Thank you so much."

"No problem," he replied.

Someone cleared their throat behind me. It was Professor Moody. "Hate to break up the skull session, but Professor McGonagall would like to see you in her office." He stopped Harry and Ron as they made a move to get up from their seats. "Not you boys. Just female Potter and Granger."

"Professor, we don't have time for this. The task is tomorrow morning," I tried to protest.

"Exactly," Moody declared. "Presumably, your brother and Diggory are well-prepared by now and could do with a good night's sleep. Go." We hesitated. "Now!" he yelled.

I put my hands up. "Alright, alright, we're going!"

Hermione and I sent the boys a sorry look, before leaving the library.

"What do you think McGonagall wants at this time of night?" she asked me as we proceeded through the corridors. She did have a point; the last time I had checked the time on my watch, it was almost midnight.

I shrugged in response. "Couldn't tell you, 'Mione."

As we approached McGonagall's office, I saw the door was wide open. Fleur's sister (Gabrielle, I think her name was- I'd only heard it mentioned once) and an older-looking boy -- whom I had only glimpsed once before with Cedric when Harry and I had gone to tell him about dragons being involved in the first task -- were standing in the middle of the room, facing McGonagall. To my surprise, Dumbledore and Professor Snape were also in the room. They looked up as soon as they heard us coming.

"Good. You're here." McGonagall rushed us into the room, having us stand next to Gabrielle and the other guy.

"You're Cassia, right? Cedric's girl?" the boy asked me in a whisper. Though not quite as handsome as Cedric was, he was still fairly good-looking.

I nodded. "Yes."

He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. The name's Zachary. Zachary Bennett, but everyone just calls me Zack. Cedric's my best mate."

"Pleased to meet you, Zack," I returned the greeting, shaking his hand.

"Professor, what exactly is it that you requested us for?" Hermione asked.

It was Dumbledore who answered. "For those of you who are not aware, the second task in the Triwizard Tournament will take place in the Black Lake. Each of the champions will need to retrieve something of great importance from the depths of the lake, within the span of a single hour. The 'treasure', so to speak, is the person whom the champions would miss the most. That is where you come in," he informed us. "Miss Delacour and Miss Potter, you will each have to be rescued by your siblings. Miss Granger, you are Mr. Krum's treasure, and Mr. Bennett, you will be Mr. Diggory's treasure." He gestured for McGonagall to speak next.

"For the duration of the tournament, you will all be put under a sleeping enchantment and guarded underwater by the merpeople. Professor Snape and myself have collaborated on how to efficiently cast the enchantment so as to allow you to breathe while you are in your state of unconsciousness underneath the water," our Transfiguration professor explained.

Okay, these people have officially lost their marbles. "This is insane..." I said, clutching at my necklace.

"I assure you, Miss Potter, all of you will be perfectly safe," McGonagall persuaded me. She looked over at Snape. "Severus, if you would?"

Snape pulled out a goblet and a vial filled with a lavender liquid. "The enchantment consists of a potion as well as a complex spell that will let you breathe underwater despite being in a deep slumber. For the potion, it is a combination of Fatiguing Infusion and a powerful Sleeping Draught," he described as he poured the vial's contents into the goblet. He levitated the glass, making it float over to me. "Inhale."

I tentatively sniffed the potion, which was emitting tiny puffs of purple smoke. It was a small sniff, but that didn't seem to make any difference. A wave of exhaustion overtook me. My legs basically gave out on me and I collapsed to the floor, my body succumbing to the effects of the potion, as my vision faded to darkness.