With a word and a flick of her holly wand, a glob of water at Heri's feet sprang out of the lake like a breaching dolphin and was transformed by the mahogany wand into a slab of stone as it landed. Stepping onto the platform she had made for herself, Heri created another slab with two more flicks.
Toss — transform — toss — transform —
Heri did not falter in her steps as her path literally rose to meet her as she quickly strode out toward where she knew the merfolk village was. She had activated her raptor vision as the other champions had jumped in the water and she could now see far enough down to discern the hazy outline of the underwater settlement.
The Watching Eye zoomed out away from her, taking in a wider image of her at work.
When she was directly above the village, Heri bent down to tap on the stone and turned it into glass, letting her see deeper into the murky depths. The visibility was as poor as one would expect when hearing the name 'Black Lake', but the light-magnifying effect of the glass made it possible for Heri to get a good look at the hostages. There was Cho Chang, the girl Cedric really did end up asking to the Yule Ball; a little blonde girl that looked a lot like Delacour; Volkov, Viktor's friend; and none other than Sirius Black himself. All four of them appeared to be under a sleeping or stasis spell with they way they didn't react at all to being tied up underwater.
Considering she was the only one with a connection to Sirius, Heri was pretty sure that he was her hostage.
Now here was the tricky part. She had to get Sirius up, preferably without having to go down herself.
With her wands pointed down, she placed the back of her hands together in front of her. She then sharply moved them apart and began twirling her wrists in an inward motion. The thick sheet of glass beneath her shuddered as a hole formed in the middle, growing bigger the longer Heri swirled her wands.
She stepped back onto the remaining stone when there was more hole than glass platform. The hole was now big enough to fit two Siriuses. Heri considered dropping a weighted hook and reeling him up like a fish, but then Auntie Andromeda would probably scold her for not giving the Head of the House of Black the proper amount of respect in public.
Wands once again at the ready, Heri directed the rim of the hole to surge downward, her lips mouthing incantations to turn the water that the glass cut through into more glass, fortifying the integrity of the present glass and giving Heri more to work with. The marine creatures darted back from the burrowing glass, leaving empty water to occupy the space in the middle of the circle.
By the time the cylinder of glass reached just above the heads of the hostages, Heri was panting as if she had just run a marathon. For all her natural talent and skill in the art, she was no Transfiguration Master just yet. She paused to catch her breath and survey the area.
Cedric and Viktor were about half of the way back, not making nearly as good of time as Heri was since they had no idea where the merfolk village was and were being restricted by the poor visibility. She couldn't spot Delacour, so the blonde was likely somewhere under Heri's stone walkway.
Breathing stabilised, Heri got back to work. She tossed up bigger blob of water than before, but this time, instead of turning it to stone, she had it arch around the platform she was standing on and the glass cylinder, making a glass dome. She fortified it with two more globs before she made it airtight.
Now effectively a bowl of air upturned on water, Heri detached her impromptu submarine from her stone walkway and directed it to sink, shortening the glass cylinder as she went so she didn't drive glass into any of the hostages. For the sake of speed, she didn't allow herself to admire the scenery; there was a limited supply of air, and while it wouldn't run out for a good twenty more minutes even with two people, she didn't want to run the risk.
Heri absently noted that the Watching Eye was peering in from the outside of the glass, diving in deeper beside her.
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Heri saw faces. The merfolk had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken-looking teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Heri as she came dropping down; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch her better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.
There were gardens of weed around some of them, and she even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merfolk were emerging on all sides now, watching her eagerly, pointing at the strange sight she must have made.
Now just inches above Sirius, Heri removed her gloves and rolled up her sleeves. She tucked the mahogany wand back into its place for a moment before she plunged her holly wand into the water, aiming a cutting hex at the ropes binding Sirius. When he was free from the ropes, Heri heaved him up to sprawl beside her.
At once, they were shooting back up.
Sirius came to life and expelled a great spout of water. He turned to Harry with a watery grin. He said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" before he blinked in bewilderment at Heri's fabulous air pocket.
"Merlin's beard," Sirius breathed, watching in awe as they blurred past fish and other creatures. "You don't do things by half, do you?"
He then noted the Watching Eye and threw up a cheeky peace sign, blowing a raspberry as well.
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