Chapter 97 - The Second Task Pt. 6

***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: This is the wednesdays regular chapter. Posting it a bit early, as Im staying up playing the Cyberpunk expansion, and will probably sleep through my posting time LOL.

Regarding cyberpunk.... So I saved songbird first time around, and started my 2nd playthrough..... And my god, like i didn't trust her, but still had no idea about that twist with the neural matrix.... like damn..... but as a bonus, at least I wont feel so bad this time around, when I end up betraying her LOL

Anyways... Hope you guys enjoy the Chapter! *****

Khan channeled his ancient magic, channeling as much as possible into his family elemental magic before letting it out in a huge burst. 

Exploding outwards, his magic was channeled though his wand, affecting the very water itself around him. 

The water crackled with energy, as currents of air seemingly generated from his wand constantly intertwined with the swirling water currents, eventually creating a vortex of elemental force.

Jordan's eyes widened in disbelief as he realized what was happening - he wasn't just controlling the water itself; he was also controlling the air, bending them both to his will, with the power of his ancient empowered family magic.

With newfound determination, Khan directed the swirling vortex to surround them, moving the water around them away, and creating a pocket of air to sustain them in the water. Supported by his elemental magic, Jordan had managed to manipulate and create a protective swirling sphere of air and water! And more importantly....

They could finally breathe!

Coughing out water, still clutching Fleur to his chest, floating in his swirling sphere of air and water, he immediately began smacking Fleur Forcefully on her back, attempting to force out whatever water she had in her lungs, until after a few excruciating seconds, she too finally started coughing up water.

*Cough! Cough! Cough!*

Quickly giving her a wiggenweld potion to help her recovery, he held on to her as she slowly regained consciousness.

And almost immediately she was confused.

'What the fuck just happened?'

Having been hit directly in the head by the enraged horned serpent, Fleur had been slightly concussed, immediately blacking out upon contact. 

One second, she had managed to charm the Serpent with her singing and then the next thing she knew, she is coughing up water, waking up in her husband's arms. 

"Jordan?" She turned to look at him, as Khan let out a giant sigh of relief. 

She was ok! Thank Merlin!

And looking at this protective sphere around them, they were safe from drowning, at least for the moment.

But their ordeal wasn't over just yet. The Horned Serpent was still protecting the hostages they were to rescue, and now that it was enraged, it would be that much harder to get past it.

Taking a wiggenweld potion to refresh himself, Khan proceeded to clumsily guide their floating sphere of air/water back towards the mer-village in the depths below. 

They slowly floated down, catching their breath in the process, Jordan quiet the entire way, mind racing for any kind of way to make it past the Horned Serpent. 

He had managed to figure out that he was not only capable of manipulating lightning to an extreme level, but it also seemed that he had the ability to manipulate water and wind. However, as evidenced by his clumsy manipulation of this protective sphere, it appeared that it was not quite to the same mastery level as his lightning. 

Which meant that even with this new discovery with his ancient magic, he was still no better off trying to get past the Serpent. 

Suddenly, their floating sphere, which was originally slowly descending back to the mer-village thanks to Khan's (un)skillful manipulations, was shaken violently!

'Wha-' Khan began to think before getting knocked off balance, as their sphere began to slip out of his control. 

They had unknowingly entered a natural underwater current!

Picking up speed, they were soon flung through the lake, coincidentally enough, in the direction of the mer-village!

Soon enough, with help from the natural underwater current, Khan and Fleur had managed to make their way back to the mervillage. 

*****

Krum and his Rescued hostage were still there of course, frozen solid in a giant ice block, the Giant Horned Serpent roaring in half triumph/half warning to anyone else stupid enough to try to get past him.

Harry himself, was still off to the side, simply swimming in place, having no clue how he would even attempt to pass by. Not to mention, even if he had some kind of creative idea, it's not like he would ever act on it....

The Giant Serpent was roaring out violent random rubbish after all! And thanks to his Parceltongue, Harry could understand him! 

$Rip! Freeze! Smash!$

'He's gone crazy.... Man.... It's going to be that much harder to get past him...' Harry complained to himself, having no idea what he was going to do to rescue Hermione.

"♩LaLaLaLaLa♩"

Immediately upon hearing that beautiful melody, the Serpent halted its incessant roaring, stopping to listen to that familiar voice....

'They're ok!' Harry too recognized that voice! It was Fleur, somehow charming that serpent again with her voice!

Lucky for him, Jordan and Fleur had arrived, and thanks to that natural underwater current that had sped them along to the Mervillage, Khan had an idea!

And Step 1 was currently underway! 

*****

Having discussed the plan during their trip to the Mervillage, Fleur knew that this first crucial part depended on her!

Upon arriving in the vicinity of the Mervillage, Fleur had charmed herself with another Bubblehead Charm, before swiftly exiting Khan's Protective sphere, and swimming slightly closer to the Serpent. 

And when she was finally in range, she began to sing, activating her 'singing Allure' ability.

Although the Serpent had managed to break free of her charm previously, unlike before, she did not have the intention of attempting to control or command the snake; This time around, however, She simply wanted to distract it long enough to give her husband a little bit more time to set up their trap. 

And it seemed like it was working. This new 'singing Allure' of hers (Fleur herself doesn't know its called allurement yet lol) was once again able to successfully charm this Serpent!

Unfortunately, this new bit of magic put quite a strain on her magic reserves. Having not practiced or utilized her Veela magic actively growing up, after only a few minutes of singing, she soon began to grow tired.

Beads of sweat dropped down her face, as she tried her best to keep up her singing, and with it her allure magic..... Jordan needed more time!

But try as she might, soon enough her voice grew hoarse, and her reserves ran out, causing the melody and allurement to slowly fade away.

The serpent was free of the charm!

Roaring out in rage, at having been distracted from his task once again, It quickly shook its head, to shake free any of the remaining charm left over, before quickly locating a fleeing Fleur with a quick scan of his eyes.

Although the song reminded it of its old Master, it knew that its master had died a few hundred years ago and It could tell that the voice was simply imitating her. Enraged once more, it quickly swam, heading towards Fleur in a violent fury. 

Thankfully Fleur had gotten a head start, fleeing the moment her voice failed her, lengthening the distance the serpent had to travel to reach her.

Which would probably buy her an extra couple of seconds.....

'I hope he's ready.' She thought to herself, swimming as quickly as her legs could kick her.

*****

Harry watched in horror as the Serpent closed in on the fleeing Fleur. 

And this time, Harry knew he couldn't just hover there, stunned anymore. He had to help!

Quickly swimming behind them, Harry chased after the Serpent, who was chasing after Fleur, and quickly gaining ground!

And although Harry could now see Jordan off in the distance, he knew that at the speed the Serpent was going, she was not going to reach him in time!

Shit, he had to do something!

$SSSSSTOP!$ Harry yelled out!

But instead of a voice, a low hiss came out of Harry instead!

Slowing momentarily, the Serpent whipped its head around to stare at the speaker in confusion, before heading back to chasing Fleur.

But that pause in chase was all Fleur needed to finally reach Jordan!

She had finally arrived!

And it looked like.... Khan had just finished their trap!

*****

*A Few minutes ago *

Upon Fleur leaving, Jordan immediately got to work. He was quite new to this, so he would need all the time he could get. 

You see, the natural underwater current had given him an idea.

Casting a Bubblehead charm around his head, Khan proceeded to remove himself from his protective sphere of swirling air and water elements.

Although that sphere was an amazing piece of magic, unfortunately Jordan was not quite proficient yet at this new bit of elemental magic, being his first time using it after all, not to mention setting up what he had planned would take a little bit of time... thus wanted to save as much time as possible and make use of the magic already created. 

Taking advantage of the pre-made Sphere, Khan subtly began to direct and focus it, eventually concentrating it into a thin but focused beam of air and water.

Then, with precise control, Jordan began to intensify the magic concentrated there, directing it all to move in one direction, instead of constantly swirl around, slowly empowering it and eventually creating another underwater current.

And not a moment too soon, as literally only seconds later, Fleur came swimming onto the scene followed closely by the Horned Serpent.

All part of their plan.

Quickly signaling to Fleur to quickly get away, Khan then proceeded to direct his self-made underwater current, right at the Natural Underwater current.

*BOOM*

The two opposing currents crashed into each other! This caused the waters of the two currents to turn and swirl violently around, immediately creating

A giant Whirlpool!

The newly formed whirlpool churned violently, its powerful currents completely drawing in the Giant Serpent, who despite being a powerful swimmer, could not escape its inevitable pull.

The clash of the opposing currents had created a maelstrom of water, eventually completely pulling and trapping the enraged Horned Serpent within its swirling embrace.

Fleur Jordan and Harry meanwhile, watched from a safe distance as the whirlpool consumed the serpent, its massive form thrashing wildly against the relentless pull of the water. 

Unable to break free of the Whirlpool's grip, the Serpent was eventually swallowed up by the giant swirling vortex, its huge body quickly disappearing from view. 

*****

* Back on Shore *

With the Serpent trapped, the rest of the task went by without a hitch. 

Fleur, Harry and Jordan had managed to successfully rescue their designated hostages, and after a quick check up with Ms. Pomfrey, were currently warming themselves up with heavy blankets, waiting for their scores to be announced.

Meanwhile their rescued hostages themselves were taking a turn being checked over in the first aid tent.

Krum and his hostage of course, had been rescued, and were currently being thawed out in the first-aid tent located close by.

The Judges meanwhile were apparently in deliberations, huddle around the judges table in a heated discussion.

"Oh Well done, Harry!" Hermione cried immediately upon exiting the first aid tent. "You did it! You were able to not only find me, but you figured out a way to stay underwater! All by yourself!"

Running up to him in excitement, she gave him one of her patented (and crushing) Hermione-Hugs, very proud of her best friend.

Next to them, Gabby was climbing on Fleur's back giggling with joy, seemingly simply excited to be spending time with her big sister.

"Did you seriously almost drown?" Natty meanwhile was poking fun at her rescuer. "And not even from any damage or getting hit from the Horned Serpent..... But because you were too panicked?"

"....."

"BAHAHAHA" Natty had tears in her eyes. "I can't believe you popped your own bubble! BAHAHAHA"

Lucky for Jordan, Ludo Bagman's magical voice boomed out beside them, interrupting them, and saving Khan any more embarrassment.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We have reached our Decision!" Ludo Boomed out in extravagance. As someone who adored the spotlight, he really did not appreciate getting upstaged by Louis during this task. Fortunately for him however, Louis was not a judge, and thus, he would be the one responsible for giving everyone their scores. "Thanks to Louis here, and his unique spell, were were able to view exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake! Lets have a big round of applause for Louis!"

Pausing a moment for the cheers, he continued. "We have decided to award marks out of fifty, for each champion, as follows!"

"Viktor Krum, who used an incomplete form of transfiguration, to transfigure only his head to that of a shark, was the second champion to reach the hostages. Unfortunately, he was caught in an Ice Blast, incapacitating him resulting in him failing to return with his hostage. We award him 25 points."

The crowd politely applauded, before Ludo continued.

"Our Youngest Champion, Harry Potter, used the plant known as Gillyweed to great effect. He reached the hostages last, but displayed a willingness to help his fellow champions, working together with them to eventually rescue his hostage. We award him 40 points!"

*Cheers from the stands*

"Fleur Delacour, demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-head Charm and was third to reach the hostages. Utilizing her natural gifts, she successfully charmed the Horned Serpent, and eventually rescuing her hostage as well. We award her 42 points!"

"And last but not least, Jordan Khan. He too used the Bubble-head Charm to great effect, being the first one to successfully reach the hostages. Making use of the natural surroundings of the lake, he was even able to creatively entrap the Horned Serpent together with the other champions. For such an outstanding performance, we award him 45 points!"

Applause thundered from the stands, even as Ludo continued.

"The Third Task will take place on the 24th of June. The champions will be notified of what they should be prepared for exactly one month before hand on the 24th of May."

"Thank you all for coming!" He finally finished, officially ending the second task. 

***** A/N: So I didn't really want Khan unlocking some kind new magic and being able to use it like a pro right away..... I kinda image this Power of Khan's like a skill tree. He's a bit more skilled in lightning as evidenced by his lightning quilin golem in the first task, but is just starting into his air and water manipulation. So its more like if hes at tier 3 skills for Lightning skills, he just unlocked this air skill tree and water skill, and thus has no real skills, and abilities yet *****