Harry's tracking charm had ended as soon as he cast another spell, a major flaw with the spell as far as he was concerned, so he recast the spell and restarted his journey towards Daphne. His violent encounter with the squid had taken less than two minutes, but he was still unhappy with the set back. After few uneventful minutes Harry swam over the edge of an underwater valley and spotted his target. Daphne, along with the other three people taken from the other champions, was tied to the lake floor and surrounded by merpeople. Unsure whether or not they would try and attack him, Harry disabled his disillusionment charm and approached cautiously. As he got closer the merpeople spotted him but made no movement to attack him or stop him, although he found that they were holding spears or tridents.
Once he reached Daphne he saw that she appeared to be unconscious. She did not seem to be breathing and when he put his hand over her heart he could not feel it beating. Knowing that he had reached her well under the hour he had been given, he assumed that she had been placed in some kind of magical stasis. Using a cutting charm he removed the ropes tying Daphne and wrapped one arm around her in order to carry her. He began to swim towards Hermione but a group of the merpeople jumped in his way and began threatening him with their weapons. Harry frowned and guessed that the champions would only be allowed to take one hostage. Harry knew that the other champions still had over fifty minutes to rescue the people that had been taken from them so it was not imperative for him to take them yet. First he needed to get Daphne to safety.
Harry sank to the lake floor and picked up a rock as the merpeople watched on curiously. "Celario rock." he said softly as he cast the first part of the tracking charm on the rock which he then dropped back where he found it. He was fairly certain he could find this spot again without it if he needed to, but having the charm there to help reassured him. He then pulled Daphne close towards him and began to swim towards the surface. Harry was relieved to see that the merpeople seemed happy to let him go. Harry swam up and out of the valley and began to head back towards the viewing platform. He had not gotten very far when he suddenly stopped and began looking around. He had been by this part of the lake before, but this time it seemed different somehow. He didn't have to look for very long before he found what had changed.
About two dozen grindylows had hidden themselves behind plants, under rocks, in the mud on the lake floor, and in various other places in order to set up an ambush. They had clearly seen him approaching but had not yet made their move, choosing to wait until Harry was a little bit closer and it would be harder for him to escape. The creatures were vicious and quite dangerous when they hunted in packs but they did have several weaknesses. One of them was their speed. Harry could easily out swim them when using gillyweed, however that would be much more difficult to do while carrying an unconscious person. He did however have one trick up his sleeve that they would not be expecting. In his preparations Harry had wondered how muggle underwater vessels moved. Most of them used propellers to force the water in one direction and push the ship in the other. Others used jets that did something similar. It seemed obvious to him that if he could find a spell that would do that he could propel himself underwater much faster than he would be able to swim. At first he had considered conjuring or transfiguring something into a propeller but realized actually holding and using it would be difficult. Finally the perfect spell to use had come to him and he was a little shocked by its simplicity.
"Aguamenti!" Harry said, grasping his wand tightly and pointing it behind him. Immediately a strong jet of water began pouring out of his wand, but since it was already underwater the force propelled Harry forwards. That, combined with his fin-like legs that were still kicking as strong as he could, enabled Harry to swim much faster than the grindylows even though he was carrying Daphne. Seeing that their ambush had failed, the grindylows began chasing after him but it soon became clear they were too late. Harry was simply too fast for them. Eventually they returned to their hiding spots and angrily waited for the next opportunity to come around.
It did not take long after that for Harry to reach the surface. As first his head then Daphne's rose out of the water the waiting fans began to clap and cheer loudly. Harry began swimming towards the viewing platform and felt the effects of the gillyweed beginning to wear off. If he had stayed underwater the gillyweed would still be working fine, but the transformation rapidly begins to reverse once the person begins breathing air again. Harry reached the platform just as his body finished transforming back to its normal state.
"And at just over thirteen minutes, our first champion to complete the task is Harry Potter!" Ludo Bagman announced to the excitement of the crowd. Harry was still trying to get Daphne safely on the platform when her eyes opened and she started coughing. Once she was finally on the platform he magically dried and warmed her and pulled her into a hug. She leaned heavily on him, still weak from the effects of the spell that had been used to keep her unconscious.
"It's ok Daphne, I've got you." Harry said, trying to comfort her. "You're safe now." Daphne nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. A member of the tournament crew approached them with a large towel which Harry gratefully took and covered them with.
"What about the others? Hermione is down there." Daphne asked.
"I know. They're still down there. There is still about fourty minutes left so hopefully they will be able to make it too." Harry answered.
"You're going back down there, aren't you?"
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