A Sister's Safety

The ghost appeared to ask Harry how he was doing and then she pointed in a direction to which Harry had given her a thumbs up. That's when it happened.

Harry reached out and touched her arm. It had been a gesture to indicate that they should swim in the direction the ghost had pointed, but it had been so much more. Where his fingers had touched her skin, Fleur had felt warmth, warmth that had nothing to do with the warming spell that still protected her.

She couldn't describe it, but it was something she felt she wanted more of. She found herself looking into those green eyes and wondering what they hid, or wanted to say.

She wanted to know why he was there and she wanted to know what he was thinking. But thoughts of her sister reappeared forcing her to turn and swim in the direction that he'd indicated. On and on they swam but eventually the landscape changed and they found themselves approaching the outskirts of an underwater village.

Merpeople lined the street that led to the center of the village; all of them watched the two of them as they swam by with looks of eager anticipation on their faces. As they neared the center of the town, she could see many more merpeople; these were moving their mouths and even through the silence surrounding her, Fleur could feel they were singing.

Then she saw them; the hostages. The four young people floated in the center of the village tied to some structure by ropes made of weed. At the end was the small stature she saw what she was most desperate to see, the blonde hair of her sister, Gabrielle.

A sense of relief flooded Fleur's mind at the sight. With extra strong kicks she propelled herself to her sister's side and start examining her for injuries. Gabrielle's eyes were closed and she appeared calm as if she was only sleeping.

"Good," Fleur thought as she verified her sister was uninjured. Surrounded by more light and the merpeople, she realized that Gabrielle had never really been in any danger. With the danger lifted from her mind, Fleur's attention returned to the competition and getting her sister free from the ropes.

She first ran her fingers over the knots but found they were too tight to work loose. Fleur then pulled out her wand and tried a cutting spell, but again the power was inadequate and the ropes remained intact.

"Why didn't I bring a knife?" She thought in frustration but at that moment movement caught her eye and she looked in that direction.

She could see Harry appeared to be arguing with a merman holding a spear. When it was obvious Harry wasn't getting the spear, she watched him as he looked around for a way to release his hostage as well. Fleur watched, hoping he'd find the answer. It was only a second later that Harry dove to the bottom and grabbed a flat sharp rock and quickly returned to the red-haired boy and started hacking at the ropes.

"Yes, that will work," Fleur thought and found a rock as well. Though the idea was good, it was very slow going since her rock wasn't very sharp.

She'd been struggling for a minute or two when she found that warmth touching her again as fingers gently grabbed her wrist. In surprise she started but as she turned she found those emerald eyes looking at her. Harry had freed his hostage and now held up his own rock, offering to help her. Not understanding and not knowing what else to do, she nodded.

With a smile, he grabbed the weeds binding Gabrielle and made short work of freeing her. When Gabrielle floated free, Fleur smiled at her rescuer, her protector and then she grabbed her sister and started pulling her toward the surface.

She'd only swam a short distance when she realized Harry wasn't there, wasn't beside her, and for some reason she felt like something was missing. She looked back and saw that he was trying to free the other two hostages as well.

"What is he doing?" Fleur asked herself. She knew the time must be running out; for her bubblehead charm and his gillyweed only lasted an hour.

"We have to hurry," She tried to force her thoughts to the black-haired young man who was still waiting for something.

She then realized what he was doing, just as he wouldn't leave her, he would not leave any hostages behind. Again she started to kick up toward the surface only to find that she couldn't, or more truthfully, she wouldn't. She glanced back toward the village and without a second thought turned and kicked her way back until she was next to Harry.

When Harry saw she had returned, he motioned that she should go, but Fleur shook her head in response. For a couple of seconds they stared at each other. Green eyes upon blue. A disturbance brought their attention back to what was around them as Cedric swam into view.

He barely even noticed Harry and Fleur as he cut the black-haired girl loose and quickly disappeared into the murky waters. They'd hardly turned their attention back to the remaining hostage when Krum appeared.

He'd partially transformed himself into a shark. His powerful jaws made short work on the weed rope that held his hostage. When she was free, Krum snagged the loose end of the rope and quickly swam out of sight, dragging the limp brown-haired girl behind him.

Harry shrugged at Fleur and smiled. He motioned that she should lead the way back to the surface. Fleur nodded and grabbed her sister; with a kick she propelled herself upward. She knew though without even looking, Harry was right behind her. She did glance back and proved herself right, as before he could have easily out distanced her, but he was there rising at the same speed she was.

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