Chapter 10: The Second Task
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and don't make money on my writing.
The morning of the second task dawned. Once again, Harry was well-prepared, having deciphered the egg two months prior. He was grateful Hermione hadn't let him procrastinate. His mind wandered briefly as he remembered how she'd helped him decipher the clue, but he carefully brought his mind back to the here-and-now.
After breakfast he and Ron walked to the edge of the lake. Stands had been placed for spectators. A judges table had been positioned by the banks of the lake. Harry joined his fellow champions and waited for the signal to begin. They were each in swimming costumes. Harry, on the other hand, was dressed in warm winter robes, with his Gryffindor scarf around his neck. The other champions looked at him incredulously at first, but then turned their attention back to the lake. Ludo Bagman seemed particularly concerned, "Harry, are you ok? Are you ready?"
"Of course, I'm ready." Harry replied offhandedly, glancing at his watch.
"Sonorous. All our champions have one hour to return what we have taken from them. On the count of three: one, two, three!"
The other champions jumped into the lake. Krum transformed himself into half shark, half man hybrid, while Cedric and Fleur conjured bubble head charms. Harry just waited, pulling a warm robe from his backpack and glancing once more at his watch. Many of the judges, particularly Professor Dumbledore, were watching him closely, wondering what he was up to. Dumbledore knew he valued what was taken, he couldn't understand why Harry wasn't more desperate.
Harry walked to a specific place by the lake bed and glanced at his watch a final time. With a flash, Hermione was standing next to him. He caught her unconscious body and wrapped her in the warm robe as she began to wake.
"What is this?" Karkaroff shouted. "He cheated! He didn't even enter the water!"
"I don't think anything said I had to enter the lake." Harry said calmly, gazing lovingly at Hermione, "Just recover the thing I value most in an hour. I think I managed."
Eventually the other contestants returned with their hostages, all except Fleur. The mer-people returned her little sister, Gabrielle, after the Grindylows balked the Beauxbaton's champion. Harry got full points, despite Karkaroff's words. Nobody could dispute his masterful plan and talented spell casting, even though it was done ahead of time. He had been confident in what he valued most and with that foundation, the rest of the task had been easy.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
Flashback:
Initially, they thought of ways to help Harry breathe under water. Hermione hadn't been able to come up with anything initially, but with a few days to research she thought of the bubblehead charm. They'd quietly conferred with some of their classmates and Neville had suggested gillyweed. Harry didn't have Hermione's research talent and his intellect might not be quite on par with the smartest witch of her age, but he did have a talent for innovative thinking. He considered muggle scuba equipment and that reminded him of Jaques Cousteau special he'd seen on tele, making him wonder if they could buy a propeller driven 'sea-scooter'. They all laughed at that, but it got them throwing a number of crazy ideas out. Ways to travel faster made Harry think of apparating. He could almost time exactly when Hermione said, "Don't you remember what it says in Hogwarts, a History? You can't apparate on the school grounds!"
"Can't apparate, but could we portkey?" Harry asked.
"Hmmm…ok, maybe. Would that count as you rescuing me?" Hermione asked.
"If I created the portkey, it should, shouldn't it?" Harry said.
"What if I'm not conscious to use it?" Hermione said.
"That's a good question; can you set one to be remote controlled?"
"I probably could create a spell like that. I could make it timed even more easily, but we don't know when to time it for…" Hermione thought.
"This is a really crazy idea, but we know you're going to be under the lake. What if I made a portkey, then placed it inside the same thing that muggle capsules are made out of, something that will dissolve in water. When it dissolves, the portkey will touch your skin and you'll be portkeyed out." Harry offered.
"That's possible, but timed might be better. We know what time the task is going to be, don't we? I think we could design it to be set for a certain time." Hermione said, growing more confident.
"Ok, let me think about it." Ron said, "Why don't you two research portkey creation. Figure out if Harry can even create one and if a portkey can work underwater. Meanwhile, I'll think of a few other options, in case this doesn't pan out."
"What about switching spells?" Harry asked Hermione as they began to look for books on portkeys. "Could I switch you with something else, returning you to the land that way?"
"Very likely, although range can be a significant factor. It would take a very strong wizard to use a switching spell over the kind of range."
The most difficult part had been deciding the exact location to target. They had actually waited until the day prior when the judges table had been positioned to finalize the target. By then, they'd done dozens of 'dry runs' and a few wet, confirming that a timed-portkey could return a human from the lake to the shore. It also gave Harry time to practice with gillyweed, an alternative he'd had ready in case the portkey hadn't worked.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
A/N: So I'm guessing I'll receive some negative reviews for this way of solving the second task. I think some will say portkey isn't possible on Hogwarts, but given the significance of the canon third task, I think that has to be a poor argument, unless I'm forgetting something.
Now, whether they could make a portkey is a different question. Harry's also not supposed to be able to cast a patronus, so it's clear he can do very advanced magic. I think this shows once again how with Hermione's intellect and work ethic and Harry's natural power, the combination would achieve things neither did alone or even working together with the limited coordination you can reach without a bond.
I welcome reviews and will try to think through any complaints.