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The demigod sighed, looking out at the dark, choppy water of the Black Lake. "Yeah... maybe you're right, Krum," he conceded.
He then sighed again as he reached up and unlatched his familiar magical cloak, pushing it aside with a mental command.
It floated obediently in the air beside him, a silent, waiting shadow.
Percy then stretched his arms high above his head, then bent to touch his toes, feeling his muscles loosen and warm up. And suddenly, from the packed stands nearby, he heard someone let out a loud, very appreciative wolf whistle.
"Damn!" another voice cried out from the crowd, followed by a chorus of excited murmurs. Percy and Krum both turned to look at the spectators.
They saw cameras flashing rapidly from the press section, and a large portion of the female audience and some of the male audience too, if he was honest were blushing, some even standing up on their seats, trying to get a closer peek at Percy in his swimming trunks. He hadn't even thought about that.
Percy sighed, a little embarrassed. "Right," he muttered to himself. "Forgot about them. And the fact I'm, you know, half-naked."
Krum actually smiled, a rare, small, almost unnoticeable smile, as he looked Percy over with a critical, athletic eye. "You are a swimmer then? Your build suggests it."
Percy nodded, feeling a bit more confident on this topic. "Yup. Been swimming my whole life."
"Any good?" Krum asked, his expression still serious.
Percy grinned, a flash of his usual playful arrogance. "The best there is."
"Overconfidence can be your downfall in a challenge like this," Krum warned, his voice a low rumble.
Percy just shrugged, unfazed. "I'll take my chances. Water doesn't usually try to kill me."
Soon, Harry Potter arrived on the pier, looking pale and nervous, with only Ron Weasley in tow. He looked very scared, his eyes wide and darting around.
He quickly took off his own warm cloak and gave it to Ron, revealing a Gryffindor-red swimming shirt and a plain black set of trunks underneath. He walked up to Krum and Percy, nodding a quick, shaky greeting at them both.
Percy, noticing Harry's anxiety, spoke up first, trying to sound casual. "Okay, Harry, where's Hermione? Isn't she usually here to give you last-minute advice and wish you luck?"
Harry sighed, looking even more worried. "I don't know, Percy. I haven't seen her all morning. I looked everywhere."
"She is my hostage," Krum stated bluntly, his voice flat.
Harry and Percy both blinked, then stared at the Bulgarian Quidditch star in surprise. Percy let out a low whistle. "Damn, Krum. That serious with Hermione, huh? Taking her to the Yule Ball wasn't just a one-time thing then? Wait... is it actually serious between you two?"
Krum just raised one thick eyebrow, looking back at Percy. "Are you serious about the Veela girl, Jackson?" he countered.
Percy shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips as he thought of Fleur. "I have no reason not to be. She's amazing. And she seems to like me, even with all my weirdness. As far as I'm concerned, that's more than enough to be serious about."
Krum hummed thoughtfully but said nothing else, turning back to look out at the dark lake. Harry still looked incredibly nervous.
He kept touching his trunk pocket, and Percy saw the faint glint of a potion stopper. Harry had the Gillyweed potion Percy had brewed for him ready to go.
"So, did the potion work okay when you tested it?" Percy asked Harry quietly, trying to distract him.
Harry blinked in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Right, the Gillyweed! Yes, yeah, it worked perfectly, Percy. Thanks again. Though," he added, frowning slightly, "it actually lasted a bit longer than an hour when I tried it yesterday. I think maybe ten or fifteen minutes longer, actually."
Percy nodded, filing that information away. "Hmm, good to know. Maybe I need to reduce the amount of Gillyweed I add next time, or adjust the brewing time. Thanks, Harry, that's useful feedback."
"You're the one I should be thanking, Percy!" Harry said earnestly. "Without your help with this potion, and with the dragons… and Susan… oh Magic, Susan," Harry's breath started to pick up again, his face paling even more as he remembered his own hostage. "What if something happens to her down there?"
"Hey, hey, it's fine, Harry. Calm down," Percy assured him gently, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Nothing bad will happen to her, or any of them. Bagman told me they've all been put into a magical, bewitched sleep. They'll be perfectly fine. But just in case," Percy added, his voice dropping a little, a confident glint in his eye, "I'll make sure nothing happens to any of them while they're down there. I'll keep an eye out."
Harry blinked, looking a little hopeful. "How can you do that?"
Percy grinned. "I'm pretty good with water magic, remember? It'll be fine. Trust me. But," he added, winking, "I think Susan would be very disappointed if her brave Gryffindor prince charming didn't show up to save her himself."
Harry blushed a bright red at that and muttered something embarrassed under his breath that Percy couldn't quite catch, but he laughed anyway, glad to see some color returning to Harry's cheeks.
They waited on the pier for a bit longer, the crowd growing louder and more restless in the stands. Percy looked at his waterproof watch. It read 9:20 AM. Just ten more minutes until the task was supposed to start. And just as he was beginning to worry about Fleur not being there yet, the French Veela came running onto the pier, looking frantic.
Percy was shocked silent for a moment, his breath catching in his throat, as he saw her. She was wearing a stunning one-piece swimsuit.
It was a shimmery, silver material that clung to her amazing figure, with a striking deep blue chest piece that highlighted her curves.
Her long, toned legs seemed to go on for miles, the smooth material stretching taut around her hips. Percy honestly would have happily spent a good hour just staring at those incredible legs, but the terrified, tear-streaked look on Fleur's beautiful face stopped him from even trying. Something was very wrong.
"Percy! Oh, Percy! She's gone!" Fleur cried out, her voice choked with sobs as she practically jumped into his arms, clinging to him tightly.
"Whoa, hey, who's gone?" Percy asked gently, holding her steady as she cried. "Fleur, what happened? Calm down."
"Gabrielle! My little zizter, Gabrielle!" Fleur cried out, burying her face in his chest. "Mama and Papa zaid she was coming to see me compete today, to zupport me! But when I went to look for her just now, Mum zaid she was gone! Zhey took her, Percy! T'ey took my little Gabrielle! I t'ought t'ey would take Camille, or maybe Hugo from your 'ouze for me, but-but t'ey took Gabrielle!" Her small sister was her hostage.
Percy held her back by the shoulders and looked directly into her tear-filled, terrified blue eyes. "Then you go get her back, Fleur," he said, his own voice firm and full of conviction. "You go down there, and you bring your sister back. You can do this."
Fleur met his intense gaze, her tears still flowing, but slowly, a flicker of determination, of fierce Veela fire, began to burn in her eyes. She nodded, taking a shaky breath, and then turned to face the dark, ominous lake with a new look of fierce focus and steely resolve.
Percy and the other champions, Harry and Krum, quickly followed her lead, standing near the edge of the pier, facing the water. Krum and Harry stood to Fleur's left, while Percy stood to her right, a silent, supportive presence.
Ludo Bagman began to speak into his magically amplified microphone, his voice booming across the lake. He went on and on about the bravery of the champions, the dangers of the task, the honor of their schools, but Percy didn't particularly care about any of that.
He cracked his knuckles, a familiar pre-action habit. A detailed map of the Black Lake, every underwater cave, every patch of grindylows, every merpeople settlement, was already burned vividly into his memory.
He remembered every inch of that underwater landscape from all those hours he had spent with Nick the Giant Squid, just swimming around to relax and explore.
He turned to look at Fleur. She still looked scared, her knuckles white as she gripped her wand, but her eyes were focused, her jaw set. Nervous, maybe, but ready.
"Fleur, don't worry," Percy spoke up softly, his voice just for her. "You'll get her. You're strong, you're smart. You'll bring Gabrielle back safe."
Fleur nodded, managing a small, grateful smile. "T'ank you, Perzy."
"Don't mention it," Percy smiled back, trying to lighten her mood. "What are boyfriends for, anyway?" He was pleased to see a hint of a real smile creep up on Fleur's lips at that.
"By the way," he added, his eyes twinkling as he gave her swimsuit a quick, appreciative once-over, "you look incredibly hot in that swimsuit." That definitely made her smile, a genuine, if fleeting, one.
"CHAMPIONS! ARE YOU READY?!" Ludo Bagman asked in his booming, excited voice, cutting through their quiet moment.
They all nodded, their faces set with determination. The man smiled broadly and turned to the cheering crowd. "THEN LET THE SECOND TASK COMMENCE!"
There was a deafening cannon fire, a blast so loud it sent Percy's ears ringing, but he paid it no mind. He leaped forward, diving cleanly into the icy water. And the moment his feet passed through the cold surface of the lake, he took off like a human torpedo, disappearing from sight in a blur of speed.
Fleur, Krum, and Harry all blinked in utter wonder at the sheer, impossible speed at which Percy swam. There was no way that was natural human swimming.
The water itself seemed to move out of his way, parting before him, causing small, smooth waves in his path as he shot forward into the murky depths.
Fleur, remembering Percy's unique heritage, quickly snapped out of her surprise.
She cast the Bubble-Head Charm on herself, a shimmering sphere of air forming around her head, and then jumped bravely into the cold lake.
Harry, after a moment of stunned surprise, quickly uncorked his vial of Gillyweed potion and drank it down in one gulp.
Krum, with a grunt of effort, jumped in and, as he hit the water, began to transfigure his head into that of a sleek, powerful shark, his eyes becoming cold and predatory.
Percy swam like a man possessed, like a creature on a mission which, of course, he was.
The various magical creatures that inhabited the deeper parts of the lake spotted him coming, a dark shape moving at incredible speed, but they didn't even think of getting in his way or trying to stop him.
Percy had paid a little visit to the merpeople village the week before.
He had "politely" warned them that if anything, or anyone, tried to hinder him or the other champions during the task today, they wouldn't live long enough to regret it.
Needless to say, the merpeople, who had sensed his immense power over their domain, took him very seriously on his word.
Percy reached the underwater merpeople village in what felt like only five minutes.
He might have taken much longer if he didn't already know exactly where he needed to go, thanks to his earlier explorations, or if he didn't have the incredible, natural power of a demigod son of Poseidon on his side. But luckily for him, and for Juan, he had both.
Percy swam gracefully into the strange, underwater town, which was built from carved stone and glowing underwater plants.
Immediately, merpeople with green skin, long, flowing dark hair, and powerful fish tails came out of their stone homes, their yellow eyes wide with awe and a little fear as they watched him pass by, a powerful lord of the waters entering their domain.
The merpeople chief, an old merman with a long, flowing beard made of seaweed and a trident clutched in his hand, and his fiercest-looking followers quickly swam forward to meet him, bowing low before Percy in a gesture of deep respect.
"My lord," the chief spoke, his voice gurgling but understandable in the water. "It is a great honor to have you visit our humble village again."
"Thanks, chief," Percy replied, his voice clear and undistorted by the water around him. "But I can't really stay and chat right now. Friends to save and all that. You know how it is."
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If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters you could take a visit on my patreon Or check it out.
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