HARRY POTTER Book 4: Chapter 26
Chapter 26
THE SECOND TASK
“You said you already discovered the clue to the egg!” says Hermione angrily. “Shh! Keep your voice down!” says Harry. “I just need to make some small changes.” Harry, Ron, and Hermione sit at the back of Charms class. Today the class is practicing the Banishing Charm, the opposite of the Summoning Charm.
Professor Flitwick gives each student many seat cushions to practice with. Cushions are soft, so they should not hurt anyone if they fly the wrong way. The idea does not work very well. Cushions fly everywhere. Neville’s aim is terrible. Instead of cushions, he sometimes sends heavier objects across the room. At one point Professor Flitwick himself flies past Harry’s table and lands on top of a cabinet.
“Forget the egg for a minute,” Harry whispers. “I’m trying to tell you about Snape and Moody.” Harry quietly tells them everything that happened the night before. “Snape said Moody searched his office too?” Ron whispers. He sends a cushion flying. It knocks Parvati’s hat off. “Do you think Moody is here to watch Snape as well as Karkaroff?” “I don’t know,” says Harry.
His cushion slides off the desk. “But Moody is definitely watching Snape. Moody says Dumbledore only lets Snape stay because he is giving him a second chance.” “What?” Ron says. His eyes grow wide. His next cushion flies into the air and hits the chandelier.
“Harry… maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!” “Oh Ron,” says Hermione, shaking her head. “Remember before? We thought Snape was trying to kill Harry. But really he was saving Harry’s life.” Her cushion flies neatly into the practice box.
Harry looks at Hermione. It is true that Snape saved his life once. But Snape still hates him. Snape hated Harry’s father when they were students at Hogwarts. Snape loves taking points from Harry and giving him punishments. “I don’t care what Moody says,” Hermione continues. “Dumbledore is not stupid. He trusted Hagrid and Professor Lupin when other people did not. Why shouldn’t he trust Snape?” “Because Snape is evil,” says Ron.
“Why is Mr. Crouch pretending to be ill?” Hermione says. “It is strange. He couldn’t come to the Christmas Ball, but he came here in the middle of the night.” “You only say that because of Winky,” Ron replies. “You only want Snape to be guilty,” Hermione answers.
“I only want to know what Snape did with his first chance,” Harry says quietly, “if this is his second one to stay at Hogwarts.” He waves his wand again. To his surprise his cushion flies perfectly into the box.
Later that night, Harry writes a letter to Sirius. He explains everything that happened with Snape and Moody. And especially about Crouch being in Snape’s office. Then Harry thinks about the problem that worries him most: how to stay underwater for one hour during the second task.
Over the next few days, Harry, Ron and Hermione discuss different options to help Harry breathe underwater. They talk about using the Summoning Charm to call a scuba diving tank; they consider Transfiguration into a submarine. They search through books and scrolls, but they do not find anything that can help him.
Harry begins to feel panic again. Every time he looks out of a window and sees the lake, his stomach feels cold. The dark water seems deeper and more dangerous every day. Time moves too fast. One week remains. Then five days. Then three. With only two days left, Harry begins to lose his appetite again.
On Monday morning an owl returns from Sirius. Harry quickly pulls the letter from the owl’s leg. Then he opens it. It is the shortest letter Sirius has ever written to him. Harry reads it out loud.
“Let me know when the next trip to Hogsmeade is.
Then send the answer back with this owl.”
Harry turns the parchment paper over. He hopes to see more writing on the back. But the back of the paper is blank. “The next trip to Hogsmeade is the weekend after next,” whispers Hermione. “Here, take my quill pen and send this owl back right now.” Harry takes her quill. He writes the date on the back of Sirius’s letter. Then he ties the parchment to the owl’s leg and watches the owl fly away again.
What does Sirius want with that date? Harry does not know. For a moment he feels happy when he sees the owl. But the feeling soon disappears. He was hoping Sirius might send advice about how to survive underwater. But Harry never told Sirius about the egg. He was too busy telling Sirius about Snape and Moody. He forgot to mention the egg’s clue.
“What does he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?” says Ron. “I don’t know,” says Harry sadly. “Come on… it’s time for Care of Magical Creatures.”
Hagrid is their teacher again. He brings two baby unicorns to show to the class. They are bright gold. The children love the unicorns. Hagrid explains that unicorns turn silver-white when they are fully grown adults. And that they grow their horns when they are about four. Harry enjoys the class, but he has difficulty paying attention. He is very anxious about the next task.
The night before the second task feels like a nightmare. Harry sits in the library with Ron and Hermione. The sun begins to set outside. There is a huge pile of books on the table. Every time Harry sees the word “water” on a page his heart jumps. But most of the time the texts are part of a potion recipe. They still have not found any solution to Harry’s problem.
Suddenly, they hear Fred Weasley’s voice. “Thank goodness! I finally found all of you.” Harry, Ron, and Hermione look up. Fred and George stand behind them. “What are you doing here?” Ron asks. “We were looking for you, Ron,” George says. “Professor McGonagall wants you. And you, Hermione.” Ron and Hermione look at each other, worried. “We’ll meet you in the common room,” Hermione tells Harry. “Bring as many books as you can.”
Later, Harry returns to the Gryffindor common room. He has many books with him, but he cannot find anything that might help him. The common room slowly empties. Students wish Harry good luck for the next day. They all believe he will succeed again. By midnight Harry is alone with Crookshanks.
He has searched every book. Ron and Hermione still have not returned. It is over, Harry thinks. He cannot do the task. He stands up suddenly and rushes upstairs to get his Invisibility Cloak.
Soon he returns to the library. “Lumos,” Harry whispers as he opens the door. By the light of his wand he searches for more books. One o’clock in the morning. Two o’clock in the morning. The only way he continues is by telling himself: the next book… maybe the next one.
Suddenly something pokes him hard. “Harry Potter must wake up, sir!” Harry looks down. Dobby stands in front of him. “Harry Potter must hurry!” Dobby squeaks. “The second task starts in ten minutes!” “Ten minutes?” Harry gasps. “Yes, sir!” Harry feels panic crash over him.
“It’s too late,” Harry says. “I don’t know how to do the task.” “Harry Potter will do the task!” Dobby says happily. He pulls something from his pocket. It looks like slimy green plant strings. “Gillyweed!” Dobby says. “Eat it before going into the lake. It will let Harry Potter breathe underwater!”
Harry stares at it. “Are you sure?” “Dobby hears Professor Moody talking about the task,” Dobby says proudly. Harry jumps to his feet. He grabs the gillyweed and runs from the library toward the lake.
The stands beside the lake are full of students and teachers. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum stand beside the judges. Harry runs toward them, breathing hard. “Where have you been?” Percy Weasley asks sharply. “Give him a moment,” Ludo Bagman says kindly. Bagman lifts his wand and his voice becomes loud.
“All champions are ready! They have one hour to recover what has been taken from them.” Bagman raises his whistle. “One… two… three!” The whistle blows.
Harry pulls off his shoes and socks. He puts the gillyweed in his mouth and walks into the lake. The water is freezing. Students laugh from the stands as Harry walks deeper into the water. Then suddenly Harry feels pain on both sides of his neck. He touches his neck. Gills open beneath his ears.
Harry dives forward into the water. The lake water fills his mouth. But instead of choking, he breathes. Harry can breathe underwater. He begins to swim under the dark water. He looks at his hands in surprise. There are webs between his fingers, like a duck’s foot!
Harry kicks hard and moves very quickly through the water. His feet have webs, too! He can see clearly under the water! Harry swims deeper and deeper. He is almost in the middle of the lake now. He cannot see far ahead of him. Only three meters.
In the dark water ahead he can see many green water plants, lake weeds. There is a large field of weeds. The weeds are about one meter long. The weeds move with the water, like wind blowing on grass. He swims forward, over the large field of weeds. He does not know what he is looking for!
Suddenly, something grabs his leg! Harry turns around and sees a grindylow coming out of the thick weeds. The small water demon has horns and sharp teeth. Its long fingers are tight around Harry’s leg. Harry quickly takes his wand from inside his robe. Before he can use it, two more grindylows come out of the weeds. They grab his robes and try to pull him down.
“Relashio!” Harry shouts. But underwater no sound comes out. Only a large bubble leaves his mouth. His wand shoots a stream of very hot water at the grindylows. The water hits their green skin and bright red marks appear.
Harry pulls his leg free! He swims away as fast as he can. He points his wand behind him and sends more streams of hot water at the grindylows. As he swims, other grindylows try to attack him. But Harry kicks hard. He escapes! The grindylows do not chase him.
Soon, Harry slows down. He puts his wand back inside his robes and looks around. He turns slowly in the quiet water. The pressure in his ears feels stronger than before. He must be deeper in the lake now. Nothing moves except the long weeds moving in the water.
“How are things going?”
