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-February, 24-
A few days passed, and the day of the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament finally arrived, and at this moment I was heading to the black lake where the task would take place.
"I still can't believe you're going to have to swim in the lake in this cold weather" Sue, who was accompanying me along with my other friends, said with a frown.
"Yeah, that's crazy" Anthony said, with the others agreeing.
"Just imagining how cold the water in that lake must be makes me shiver," Terry said, hugging himself to keep warm as he shivered.
And looking at him I saw him wearing three coats, two scarves and a beanie, and I remembered how much he hated the cold.
"I don't know why you're complaining, since you won't be the ones who have to go into the lake" Michael said, looking at all our friends with disdain.
"We're only complaining because we care about our friend" Lisa said, staring at Michael fiercely.
"Yeah" Padma nodded, "And are you going to tell me that you also don't think it's an exaggeration that the task is to go into a lake in this cold weather?"
And seeing the two girls staring at him made Michael grimace, but even he couldn't deny that having to swim in a freezing lake was a bit much.
And feeling my friends' concern for me made me feel happy and cared for.
"You don't need to worry about me guys" I said to my friends, joining the conversation too, "You know very well that the cold doesn't bother me at all"
And turning to them I smiled lightly, "Then let's consider that swimming in the black lake will just be a refreshing fun for me, okay?"
"How can you call swimming in a lake that must be as cold as the waters of the North Pole a 'refreshing fun'?" Sue asked, looking at me like I was crazy.
"Now who is exaggerating?" I looked at her with an amused smile.
"Don't change the subject Mr. Night" she pointed at me with narrowed eyes.
And realizing that she was actually waiting for an answer from me I shook my head, "Look, I already told you that swimming in the lake is no big deal for me" I said.
I then saw her open her mouth to say something, but before she could say a single word I continued, "And besides, it wouldn't be a Tri-Wizard tournament task if it didn't have some challenge, would it?"
'And cold water is nothing compared to a fierce and deadly dragon' I thought wryly.
And upon hearing this Sue and my other friends couldn't deny that I was right, but I could still see the dissatisfaction on some of their faces.
And I was sure they would keep complaining, but to my relief we had finally reached the black lake.
The tournament organizers had set up some stands around the black lake dock, and looking around you could see that almost everyone from the school was present here.
'Magic really makes things easier' I thought, remembering that there were no stands here yesterday.
And as I looked around Harry, Ron, the twins and Ginny approached us.
"Hey Ethan, have you seen Hermione around?" Harry asked me, with a worried face.
"No, I didn't see her" I replied.
"Damn" I heard him swear under his breath, frowning.
And Ron beside him also had a frown on his face, "Where did she go?" he asked aloud while scratching his head.
"Huh, don't you guys know where Granger is?" Michael asked them with a raised eyebrow.
"No, we don't know," Ron replied, "The last time we saw her was before Professor McGonagall called her into her office this morning, and after that she disappeared."
"Maybe she lost track of time while in the library again," Fred said, with George nodding.
However, the other two members of the golden trio weren't too sure about that.
But before they could say anything Ginny interrupted our conversation, "Hmm, where's Luna?" she asked, looking at our group as she looked for the blonde girl.
And as soon as she asked that, everyone looked back, noticing the absence of our peculiar friend.
"Uh, now that you ask, I don't remember seeing Luna since this morning either" Lisa commented.
"Yes, the last time I saw her was when Professor Flitwick came to our common room and called her to his office..." and as soon as Padma said that a silence fell over the group.
It didn't take a genius to realize that there were many coincidences in Luna and Hermione's disappearance, and that's why everyone began to suspect that something was happening.
"Ethan!" and while everyone was looking at each other, a female voice with an accent called me, and looking to the side I saw Fleur walking hurriedly towards me.
"Hi Fleur" I greeted her, but then I noticed her distressed look.
"Have you seen my sister around? I can't find her anywhere" she said, and as soon as those words left her mouth everyone turned to look at her in surprise.
"Wait, your sister is missing too?" Sue asked her with her mouth open.
"Huh? What do you mean by too?" the Veela asked confused.
And Sue then started to explain to her that Luna and Hermione were also missing, but I wasn't paying attention to them.
I was actually looking at the black lake, using my senses to feel the magic of the three missing girls who were at the bottom of the black lake.
'So these are our three hostages' I thought, frowning.
And Harry, who noticed that I was quieter than usual, looked at me, and then he noticed that I was looking at the black lake.
He was confused for a few moments, but then everything clicked in his mind, making his eyes widen.
'No!' he thought, turning to look at the black lake with a feeling of dread washing over him.
And then he remembered the clue in the golden egg, talking about something precious to us that we should rescue from the bottom of the black lake.
'Hermione's there' he felt his breathing become more difficult.
"Hey buddy, are you okay?" Ron, who noticed his abnormality, asked worriedly.
And this seemed to catch the attention of the others, who noticed that Harry was pale as he looked at the black lake.
"What's happening to him?" Stephen asked confused.
"I don't know" Terry said with a strange look on his face. He then turned to me, "And you Ethan, what do you think…Ethan?"
And Terry noticed that just like Harry, I was also staring at the black lake, with a serious and even irritated look on my face.
"Ethan?" Terry repeated, and my friends looked at me too.
And following my line of vision Stephen noticed where I was looking, "Man, what is there in the black lake that you two are looking at it with expressions like that?" he asked.
And upon hearing this, everyone then started looking between me, Harry and the black lake in confusion, wondering what was wrong with us and what was in the black lake.
However, after a few seconds the realization began to hit them one by one, until everyone finally realized.
"Holy crap!" Ron exclaimed.
"So they're all in there?" Terry looked at the lake in shock.
"They wouldn't dare do that, right?" Lisa asked, but her grimace showed that she wasn't really sure about that.
And everyone else was also in disbelief and shock, but the person who was most affected by this discovery was obviously Fleur.
"No... They couldn't have done that... Gabi couldn't be there..." she said in a trembling voice, looking at the dark water of the lake with fear.
And realizing that she was panicking I went to her, and taking her hand I gave it a light squeeze.
"Fleur, calm down" I said, making her look at me, "Headmaster Dumbledore and Madame Maxime obviously aren't going to let anything bad happen to the hostages, so don't worry about them."
"For now, just focus on completing the task quickly to get her out of the bottom of the lake as soon as possible" and when I said this I glanced at Harry, so that he would understand that I was also talking to him.
I then looked back at Fleur, and let a small playful smile appear on my face, "And besides, after completing the task you can think about how you are going to jinx the tournament organizers for doing something so stupid and dangerous like that."
And my attempt to calm them both down and lighten the mood a little seemed to work, as they both sighed before gaining determined looks.
"It's true, the Headmaster won't let anything happen to them" Harry said, having complete trust in the old wizard.
"Oui" Fleur nodded, "And like Ethan said, all I need to worry about is rescuing Gabi as quickly as possible, and after that I can teach these stupid organizers a lesson." and she had a serious and vengeful look on her face.
"Wait, you didn't take what I said seriously, did you?" I asked.
However, the French girl didn't answer me, which made me very worried.
'It seems that after this task the tournament organizers won't have a quiet time' I thought while sweating, however I couldn't deny that they deserved what was coming to them.
"Champions, this way!" and we then heard someone call us.
And looking at the black lake dock we saw Bagman waiting for us with a happy smile on his face, already next to Krum.
The three of us then looked at each other, and you could see the determination in all of our eyes, as we all had the same goal in mind.
And nodding to each other we prepared ourselves, before heading towards the Bagman to begin the second task.
End.
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