"she looked at my demons in the eye and smiled. she fell for the very thing i thought she'd fear"
~the slytherin prince falls for the hufflepuff angel~
{year 3 - year 4}
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*** The second trial was today. Astrid had already gotten help from Professor Snape, but she suspected that was only because he was infatuated with her mother. She appreciated the help either way.
'Where is she?' Astrid thought to herself as she looked around for her mother. She had promised to be here to support her but she was nowhere to be found. She pouted to herself as she walked over to the starting platforms, hoping that her mother would be there.
<Time-skip> "Welcome to the second task! Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions! A treasure of sorts! Belonging to each champion lies on the bottom of the black lake! In order to win, each champion needs only to find their treasure and return to the surface! They will have one hour and one hour only! After that they are on their own! No magic will save them. You may go at the sound of the canon."
As Dumbledore talked, Astrid pulled out a skin test tube filled with iridescent white liquid. She popped the cork off and and waited for the sound of the canon, which went of the second the headmaster was done talking. She quickly drank the surprisingly sweet liquid and felt a dingle in her legs before diving in.
As a child, she didn't have a fear of water yet so her mother had taught her how to water thankfully. It was now the getting over the underwater part she had to overcome. After figuring out about the clue, Daisy and Rhea has helped Astrid work on her underwater fear by taking baby steps. Actually baby steps. They would put her in the water, only up to her waist at first and let her wade around for a bit before leading her a little deeper.
Once she was up to her neck, they would have her go underwater for a bit while holding her breath until she got to freaked out. The girls always were in the water with her and had supervision from Astrids mom from time to time.
This continued until she was finally able to start swimming a little underwater and open her eyes so she knew that it wasn't that scary. They also reassured her that the potion would work and she wouldn't get stuck under the water, no matter how much she tried to doubt them.
As Astrid let her body sink into the cold water of the Black Lake, she could feel the affects of the potion kicking in. Her legs seemed like magnets as they pulled together and stuck like glue. Relaxing her body, she just let it happen until the potion was complete. Her once pearlescent two piece swimsuit bottoms had merged with her legs as something like a cocoon formed around them. There was a sharp pain on the sides of her neck but she tried not to squirm to much.
Opening her eyes, she looked down and saw a beautiful shimmering tail that matched the color of the swim suit she was once wearing. Thankfully she was still wearing her top. Pearl scales ran up her arms and around her collarbone with gills growing from her neck were the pain had now subsided. Her fingers were webbed in between and fish like fins grew from the sides of her tail. Astrid swam in a circle to test out her tail for a second before swimming out into the deepest part of the lake.
The seaweed was tall and thick, swaying side to side with the water current. Astrid seemed to easily maneuver through them with her smooth scales and quick movements. Fish swam around her as she smiled and continued swimming.
Once she made it, through the murky water she could see a ancient runes covered in algae and seaweed. Floating in the water was the five stolen things, which were people. Ron and Hermione was there, the Weasley for Harry while Hermione stolen for Krum. Cho Chang, someone Astrid hadn't met but heard about from Cedric. There was a little girl that looked to be the same age of Niko, maybe younger, which she could only assume to be Fleur's younger sister. And there on the end was her mother.
Immediately swimming over to her she saw that, Harry was there trying to get Ron untethered so he would float up. The merpeople started to surround him as he tried to undo Hermione's as well. The small fish people had little shark tails and thick anemone like hair with sharp teeth.
In an attempt to look scary to them to drive them off of him, she made a growl sound and bared her teeth, which seemed to work as they swam away from the two students. When Harry looked at Astrid, she smiled and nodded to him before moving her tail and swimming to her mother. Her blonde hair was floating up with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open as she looked to be asleep but wasn't drowning from the water.
Astrid used her sharp nails to swipe through the rope around one of her mothers ankles and broke it. She looked back to see if Harry had done it and he had but was hesitating. Cho was already gone so she assumed Cedric had come and got her up to the surface as well as Hermione was gone to with Krum. The Hufflepuff looked it her unconscious mother and grabbed her arm as she started to swim to the surface.
Once they broke through the water, Ginevra woke up from whatever spell she was under and started to fret over her daughter. "Oh my Merlin..Ashy, are you ok? Are you hurt? Did anythin-" Astrid placed her hands on her mothers shoulders and stopped her. The Professor seemed to calm her down, even only slightly as she was guided back to the platforms.
Once she was there she saw that Harry wasn't there yet. Her mother was pulled out of the water by one of the other teachers but Astrid stayed in the water because her potion hadn't run out yet. She turned to see Ron and Fleurs little sister break through the water but no Harry. Astrid swam over to them and helped them to the stairs where Fleur was talking to her sister in French.
"Ron, where's Harry?" She asked quietly.
"I think he's still down there.." He said worriedly as he climbed on to the platform. She walked out into the water where she knew that he was. Daisy rushed over to the edge, knowing the look on her face. It was the one where she was about to do something stupid for a good cause. "Astrid, I know what you're thinking, don't do it. You would have time."
Astrid, ignoring her wisdom, grabbed her by the wrist and looked at her watch. "I have time." That was all she said before driving back into the water and causing gasps and an up roar that she going back down to save Harry, the boy who lived.
Quickly using her tail to get over to the runes as fast as she could, she could see her friend sink into the tall seaweed more and more. Astrid rushes over and grabbed him by the arm, him becoming heavier as he started to lose consciousness slowly. She swam up and toward the wading platforms as she started to feel her legs pulling apart and coming back. Her scales and gills starting to go back into smooth skin as they broke the surface.
They made it back over to the platform where Rhea pulled the small Hufflepuff out and Dumbledore pulling Harry out. The Gryffindor was covered in towels by Hermione as Astrid had flopped her back on the ground as she attempted to catch her breath.
"Mr. Diggory has been placed in first, Mr. Krum in second, Ms. Lux, in third, Mr. Potter in fourth, and Ms. Delacour in fifth. But with these shocking turn of events, the judges have decided to give Ms. Lux extra points for sacrificing herself to save another contestant even when she was not asked to, showing true bravery. Putting her in second place." Dumbledore said using an amplifying charm charm. The crowd cheered loudly for the champions as Astrid held up her arms weakly in victory, "Woo. Ok, that was fun." She chuckled weakly and panted.
'Woo!"
A/N: Sorry that I didn't post this yesterday. I was writing it late last night but ended up pasting out 😴
