DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. does, and she has every right to do whatever she thinks is best for Harry Potter. I just love writing. So sue me. Wait, seriously… don't.
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"Hermione, why can't I go in, too?" Ron asked for the umpteenth time, causing her to stop what she was doing and look at him with an exasperated look.
It was in the middle of the night when he and Hermione snuck out to get another ingredient, the hydrangea bud, an underwater flower located somewhere at the bottom of the lake.
The knowledge of where it was found made Ron act against the whole thing. And it only increased more when he learned he was to be left on the shoreline.
"You know for a fact that if something happens down there, you would rescue me, don't you?" she asked, returning to adjusting her clothes together.
Having thought it was absurd to wear her robes underwater, she had used instead her old cycling shorts and a sleeveless top.
"Yes, but--"
"And that if there's someone coming, you'd be able to warn me, right?"
"That's true, but…"
"And you don't know what the hydrangea bud looks like and if you even know what it is, it'll take you a long time to find it because you will have trouble swimming, won't you?"
"That's ri-…no!" Ron reprimanded, turning red
She ignored his claim and said. "And I know for a fact that you have already realized that you're only wasting your breath trying to talk me out of it because you know I'm not going to be stopped. You do know that, don't you?"
"Of course I know that!" Ron said, finally giving up and giving the gillyweed to Hermione. "I haven't been your best friend for seven years for nothing, have I?"
She smiled triumphantly and took it. Popping it into her mouth, she dove into the lake without waiting for the effect to subside in her system.
"Wait! You forgot your--!" Ron said hurriedly but she was already swimming towards the bottom, causing him to just plop himself on the ground and told himself to stop worrying.
"What could go wrong anyway?"
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At first Hermione couldn't see clearly and she was having trouble breathing. She tried to gulp for air but all she swallowed was water. She choked and coughed, bubbles formulating when she released air.
But as some minutes passed by, Hermione could feel her artificial and temporary mutation taking over her. Her arms suddenly felt light, as well as her feet. She could feel gills forming on her neck and her lungs were slowly relieving itself with air.
When her mutation had finally reached its concluding alteration, she began swimming in every direction to look for a blue flower with two yellow styles poking out in the middle, but even as she reached the bottom of the lake, the Hydrangea bud was nowhere to be seen.
As her time slowly ebbed to the due, she could feel her lungs getting heavier and both her arms and feet were aching madly. She began to panic.
What if she wasn't able to get even just one bud in time? Knowing she mustn't waste any more of it, she paddled deeper to the lowest point of the lake. Her muscles were already throbbing and her head was swimming with difficulty in shifting.
Her vision suddenly narrowed as she saw a flash of blue flicker at the corner of her eyes. She paddled faster to the lower left of the bottom of the lake and there tangled in the weeds were a vast preserve of Hydrangea Buds.
Excited of what she just saw, Hermione swam to it and grabbed one flower, and then she grabbed one more, then another. Satisfied these were enough, Hermione began to swim up.
But without warning, her feet got tangled through the net of weeds below her. She tugged and pulled to release her leg but to no avail.
She would have thought of a way to get extricated immediately, but something had suddenly gnawed her at her feet and she shouted more in surprise than in pain.
She looked down and saw plimpies, attacking her clothes. Although Hermione knew they were not harmful…very much, she panicked. She could feel the little creatures consuming her robes and it was only a matter of time before she would be naked!
She reached inside her robes to find her only solution and tried to grab her wand.
…her wand!
`My wand! Where's my wand!' she cried out in confusion.
She left it ashore with Ron!
`What am I going to do?'
Then she did the only thing that came into her mind. She started yanking a plimpy away at a time as she felt it eat nearly consume what's left of her shirt. Then she bent over, though it was hard, and yanked the plimpies that were eating her lower garments.
When she had been free of the last underwater annoyance, she tried to swim up again, but the sudden stopping of her caused her to remember her feet were still twisted on the weeds.
Being reminded once more that she didn't have her wand; she looked around for a sharp object and saw a stone with a pointy edge, lying 3 meters away.
She shifted positions and rowed to the rock but before she could even move, a rush of bubble discharged from her chest, she slowly felt her gills beginning to dissipate. Her oxygen was starting to empty and she could feel an hour of swimming slowly creep to her body…
She was returning to her normal form.
Horror-struck, Hermione quickly grabbed the stone and wedged it on the weeds. She got it to disentangle her and the moment she did, she swam towards the surface.
She was losing oxygen now, her eyesight was getting dimmer and dimmer; not knowing if she'll make it or not, Hermione prayed. There was one moment when she didn't know if she was swimming in the right direction.
Everywhere she looked, she could only see vast darkness filled with water. Then she remembered that she wouldn't be able to sink because she was buoyant, so she just stilled herself for a moment and waited for her own body to float.
Her theory was right. She began to drift towards the surface and as she saw a light shining on her…the moon's beam, getting closer, she knew she would make it. And she did.
As she emerged from the waters, the first thing she did was look around. She saw Ron, the person she'd never been so happy to see, sitting near the shore.
But before she could call him, the plimpies had returned and they had pulled her down, their teeth grabbing her feet.
She managed to lift herself up once more, although her mouth was still submerged into the water, and before she was pulled down for good in one hard tug, Hermione had managed to shout out.
"Ron!"
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Ron saw Hermione's head bobbing out for the first time in the 20 minutes he was alone. He thought she was already okay but she went down under again, then emerged once more, only to be pulled down, and this time, he heard her call his name, asking for help.
He paled. He didn't know how to react. Not knowing what to do, he blanked out for a moment; his head was swirling from all the ways he was trying to think on how he was to make himself move.
But as he saw sinking bubbles erupt from the waters; Ron knew if he didn't help her at that instant, she could die. Using this thought, he was able to gather himself.
But no sooner than he could jump in the lake when he heard the rustlings of the leaves from behind the bushes. He turned around, just in time to see Harry throw aside his robes before diving into the lake.
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Harry had been hiding the entire night. Using his Invisibility Cloak, he followed Ron and Hermione when they got out at the late hour of 12 o'clock. They walked out of the castle, passing by Hagrid's hut, the Greenhouses, the Whomping Willow.
He expected them to go someplace dangerous, someplace concealed, but he would have never guessed that they were going to the lake, not that it was less dangerous. He settled himself once again behind bushes, but this time, he could hear their conversation clearly. But, to his disappointment, it didn't have anything to do with him at all.
Although he had the chance to see what was going on without being caught, he had no choice but to stay away. Hermione's instincts were far too good for Harry's liking. So he waited and patiently, he did.
It caused him a great deal of self-control not to jump out and shake the hell out of Ron when he found out that Hermione was to go underwater alone. He couldn't understand why she was willing to do it in the middle of the night, in the freezing lake water of June, and without anyone accompanying her!
But as far as he was concerned, he just couldn't understand why she was doing this, period.
He was getting frantic when it took her a long time to emerge from the waters. And his feelings went all numb when he heard her scream Ron's name.
At first, all he was aware of were violent splashing of water, but then, there it was, Hermione's voice, helpless and weak, shouting for Ron.
He wanted to save her there and there, but he couldn't.
No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't do anything.
And he waited.
He waited!
Why?
Because he didn't want Hermione to see him there…He didn't want her to see him and find out he followed them. He should have risked it altogether rather than gambled her life.
When he heard her, more like felt her, sink into the lake, Harry did the only thing that came into his mind. He jumped out from behind the bushes, ran towards the banks, passing by Ron who was gaping at him. Once he had thrown his robes aside, Harry jumped in, not considering the fact that he knew very little how to swim.
Why did he, though?
He was thinking about that as he swam faster than a rocket towards the limp and nearly exposed body of Hermione underwater. He didn't know how on earth he found her so easily, but he didn't care how he did…Hermione's safety was all that mattered to him.
Thankfully, whatever was attacking her left her alone…or he would have had to deal with it. But she had lost oxygen; he knew that right away because she was already unconscious when he got to her.
Good
`Good?' He nearly hit himself.
`Yeah. Good. Then she wouldn't be able to find out you were there to rescue her.'
He ignored whatever was going inside his head and proceeded to retrieve her best friend's body. Harry couldn't look at her properly. He didn't want to look, no matter how much he wanted to check on bruises.
She was nearly naked after all.
But even as he got her with his eyes shut tight, he knew that Hermione's helpless form would never clear his mind right away.
Harry swam towards the surface, all the while thinking on a new problem he knew he was soon to face.
He didn't like it, but he was expecting for it. He couldn't help but think of someone who was waiting for his return. Not merely for his return, but more for an explanation on why he was there.
And if he ever did receive one, he would be telling the person he held securely in his arms, no matter how much he didn't want him to.
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