Harry scowled at Ron's empty bed on the morning of the Second Task. He hoped that Ron hadn't had another fit of jealousy and decided to hide away because Harry was going to go and give a pitiful performance at the Task.
He would probably find him at breakfast, though. Or scooping up a meal in the kitchens, which Fred and George had shown them how to find last year.
But when he got down into the common room, he discovered Hermione wasn't there, either. His skin prickling. Harry headed down the stairs towards the Great Hall. If he couldn't find Draco, either, he was going to send a Patronus to their parents.
Luckily, Draco was standing near the top of the stairs that led up from the dungeons, looking around as if he thought Harry would be downstairs already. He jumped when he saw him, and ran right over.
"Henry!" he said in a low voice. "I heard some of the older Slytherins talking. Some of them have parents who work for the Ministry. Apparently the Second Task involves them taking someone you're friends with."
Harry stared at Draco. "And doing what with them?" he finally asked, when Draco's face didn't change and Harry had to get rid of his suspicion that Draco was joking.
"Putting them somewhere. Then you have to get them back." Draco bit his lip. "Where are Weasley and Granger?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen them this morning." Harry ran his hand through his hair and stopped when it just fell back limply. "But would they take both of them, do you think? Why? To try and force me to participate?"
"I don't know, either. But you remember that Granger went to the Yule Ball with Krum? Maybe they took her for him to retrieve."
Harry felt a little guilty. That had obviously been important to Hermione, but he had been so busy with his end-of-term work, getting ready to go home for the hols, and planning his prank with Tonks that he'd only felt grateful Hermione wasn't around to give him more lectures about Moody during the time she'd probably spent with Krum. And she hadn't talked much about it when Harry and Draco came back from Malfoy Manor, either. Harry had gathered that she and Ron had had some kind of huge fight over it, and he hadn't really wanted to hear about that, either.
"Do you know where the other Champions are?"
"Yeah, I think they're out at the lakeshore."
Harry hissed suddenly. "You don't think they put the people they took under the lake?"
Draco's eyes widened. "I don't—that would be stupid. There's merfolk and the Giant Squid and all kinds of other creatures under there!"
"That's probably why they thought it would make a good Task," Harry said grimly. He glanced sidelong at Draco. "Although, if they picked Ron—I don't know why they didn't pick you instead."
Draco's cheeks turned pink with soft pleasure. "Mother and Father would never have given permission. Presumably Weasley's parents did."
Harry nodded, although he wondered if the Ministry people like Crouch had told Mrs. Weasley exactly what they planned on doing with Ron. He couldn't see her agreeing to anything that would put Ron in danger.
Harry paused. He also couldn't see Hermione agreeing to put herself in danger just for a stupid Tournament Task, no matter how she felt about rules and fairness.
"I think it's kind of a trap."
"Well, obviously. If you're supposed to dive under the lake and retrieve your special person—"
"I didn't mean that. I mean that probably the people under the lake are going to be fine, and the challenge is to see how fast the Champions can get to them and bring them back to the surface."
Draco looked skeptical. "Are you willing to bet Granger and Weasley's safety on that?"
"Well, I don't think they'd let me rescue Hermione, either, if she's supposed to be there for Krum to save. As for Ron…" Harry hesitated. "Do Malfoys always get their way with money?"
"I don't know who to bribe, here."
"I just wondered if they also got their way with loud and obvious displays of temper, sometimes. You know." But Draco looked blank, as if he wasn't getting the reference, so Harry rolled his eyes and provided it. "My father will hear about this!"
Draco blushed furiously again, but this time his eyes were glittering with temper. "It works."
"Good. It'll work this time, too, then," Harry decided, and marched outside with Draco trailing behind him.
....
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