The Beginning

A/N: Thank you to Miss E for being way too loud, and Lillian for some random reason. Also thanks to my beta, Modesty, for putting up with me. :) Please R & R for the sake of R & H! Wish I were in 15th century England! Bye peepz!

Hermione groaned and pushed her hair out of her eyes. The words on the page before her were blurring and her head was pounding. There must be something here! She raised her head and gazed with a pleading look at the thousands of dusty volumes that surrounded them. They wouldn't have made a Triwizard Task impossible...

It had been one steady nightmare from the moment Harry's name had come out of the Goblet. First Harry and Ron not speaking... all the anxiety of the First Task... the Krum disaster. She groaned softly just remembering. Ron, the prat...  …and now, an impossible Task. Of course if Harry was in Seventh Year, it would be easy to just transfigure into a fish or something... well easy for her anyway. But this was not a level playing field. She scowled darkly. Why Dumbledore had let him compete at all...

Beside her, Ron sighed and set down 777 Transfiguration Tips with a loud thump. He checked his watch with a groan, and glanced at the boy beside him, who, unlike the other two, was skimming through books with a kind of fevered energy.

"Harry, mate," Ron ventured, "Are you sure you got the Task right? Cause I don't see anything here about breathing under water. Maybe Diggory-"

"I know it's the lake!" Harry snapped, "Just keep looking! It must be here somewhere."

Ron felt his sleep-deprived temper rise.

"Look," he said loudly, "do you mind? Because I don't even have to be here and-"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry glared at him, "You're being all noble helping your best friend who's saved your neck more tim-"

"Oh shut it, you two!" Hermione snapped, feeling absolutely exasperated at the pair of them. How could they squabble at a time like this? "We've only 12 hours until the Task!"

They all glowered at each other for a minute and then went back to their books. Hermione bent over and squinted at the small text of Impossible: Accomplishing the Unbelievable. She passed her finger down a list of human Transfiguration potions and sighed. What would happen if they didn't find the right spell? She pushed aside the book and grabbed another from the enormous pile in front of her. Or what if they found a spell, but Harry wasn't able to fully master it, so it failed halfway down to the bottom of the Lake? She shivered.

She knew that someone would be very happy if that occurred. Someone within the walls of Hogwarts, even...the someone who had put Harry's name into the Goblet and plunged them all into this. She cursed them under her breath, for putting them all through this.

Ron raised his head and stared at her, a look of surprise etched upon his freckled face. She flushed slightly when she realized that he'd heard her. She usually made a point not to swear aloud - only in her head or when she was alone.

"Sorry," she muttered, and immediately blushed redder. What a stupid thing to say. What was wrong with her? She shook her head slightly as if trying to rid her ears of water and returned to her book, aware of Ron's amused gaze on her. He laughed very softly, as though trying to see how quietly he could do it, and looked back to his book.

Hermione's embarrassment faded as she stared blankly down at the book's pages, and a wave of hopelessness engulfed her. 12 hours. How were they going to find a solution in 12 hours when they hadn't been able to in four weeks? Ron apparently shared her feelings because a moment later, he voiced the thing that had been weighing down her thoughts.

"I don't reckon it can be done," Ron set down yet another book and stared across the table at Harry. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing..."

He continued to rant on at Harry. As much as Hermione agreed with him, she started to get annoyed. Shut up! She wanted to spit at him. Instead she assumed the loftiest expression she could and said coldly, "There must be something. They'd never have set a task that was impossible."

"They have!" Ron insisted, lunging forward to grab another book and hitting Harry in the face in the process. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow-"

"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione snapped, looking in disgust at the books around her who had betrayed her. "There just has to be."

Her voice shook on the last sentence and she quickly hid her face behind Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. Ron looked at her with concern, but Harry didn't seem to notice. He was now going on about Animagi and Ron returned his attention to the subject. Hermione took their conversation as an opportunity to wipe her eyes on the corner of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms. When she found her voice again, she reminded Harry about the process of becoming an Animagi at which he rolled his eyes and told her that he had been joking. For a moment they sat in silence, then Hermione snorted and flung down Weird Wizarding Dilemmas.

"Oh this is no use, who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," came a voice issuing from behind a row of bookshelves, "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

Looking up, Hermione saw Fred and George emerging from the vast dustiness of the library.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Ron in apparent surprise.

"Looking for you," said George, casually leaning against a nearby bookshelf. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."

"Why?" Hermione's brain sprung into action. Were they in trouble? What had they done?

"Dunno...she was looking a bit grim though," said Fred happily.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George.

They looked at each other, and Hermione was sure that the other two were experiencing her same sinking feeling.

"We'll meet you back at the common room." Hermione said steadily, avoiding Harry's gaze as she got up. "Bring as many of these books as you can carry." She looked at him, and saw the same worried look in his eyes.

"Right," he said nodding and looking around.

With a laden feeling in her stomach, Hermione followed the twins and Ron out of the library. While the twins strode ahead, Ron fell back to talk to her.

"D'ya reckon she's about to tell us off? For helping him, I mean?" Ron looked down at her anxiously.

Hermione didn't answer, just twisted her hands and glanced back over her shoulder.

"Harry needs us!" She was frustrated. How was he going to find the right spell, and practice it, without them?

“I know." Ron's expression softened. "But don't beat yourself up about him. He'll be fine. He's been through worse." He touched her hand.

Hermione gasped as her hand tingled and she reflexively pulled it away. Ron looked hurt and quickly drew away, now staring in the opposite direction as they walked, his ears turning red. What was wrong with her today? Hermione mentally shook herself and smiled at Ron. He smiled uncertainly back. Before Hermione could say anything, however, they had arrived at McGonagall's office door. Fred smirked slightly as he lifted the knocker, and, with a rush of embarrassment, Hermione realized that he had probably seen all that had transpired. Blushing crimson, she chanced a quick look at Ron, who was red too. He caught her eye and they both flushed deeper, determinedly looking in opposite directions.

The office door opened and Professor McGonagall looked out.

"Oh very good, the last two. Thank you Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley."

She nodded at Fred and George who turned around and walked back down the corridor, making kissy faces at Ron when they passed him.

"In here Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall beckoned them imperiously into the room. Hermione looked around in surprise.

In front of McGonagall's desk stood Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling at them from behind his half-moon glasses. Across the room, four chairs were positioned. In two of these sat Cho Chang and a very pretty girl with silvery hair who didn't look much older than eight. Cho smiled at Hermione in a confused sort of way as she and Ron were ushered into chairs. The little silver-haired girl looked frightened and confused. Ron and Hermione exchanged questioning glances. What was going on?

Dumbledore cleared his throat and they all looked at him.

"As you all presumably know," he surveyed them from behind his half-moon glasses; "The second task of the Triwizard Tournament takes place at 9:30 tomorrow morning. All of you sitting in front of me are, in some way, connected to one of the champions. As I am sure you do not know, tomorrow's task involves the four champions diving into our very own lake and retrieving something that has been taken from them from the merpeople within."

He looked very amused at Ron and Hermione's faces, as they tried to look as though this was news to them.

"Now you four-"

Suddenly, Hermione realized what he was going for.

"No," she breathed. Cho, Ron and the girl stared at her as she sank back into her chair, thinking of Harry's reaction. She looked up at Dumbledore who was beaming at her. But Harry needs us! She tried to tell him with her eyes. You can't let him do this on his own!

Dumbledore looked at her, and, so slightly she could have imagined it, winked. Immediately she felt better. Dumbledore knew that Harry could do it. He had faith in him.

"As Miss Granger seems to have guessed," he continued, smiling at her, "You four are of greatest importance to the champions. This means that you will be handed over to the merpeople as hostages, and the champions will have to retrieve you."

There was a pause as the other three stared at Dumbledore open-mouthed. Then the silver-haired girl spoke, and Hermione identified her immediately as Fleur's sister.

"And vat do you mean by zat?" She demanded, sitting up straight in her chair and staring at Dumbledore incredulously, "Ow are ve going to survive een zis lake with zees merpeople?"

"Aah," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "I was just getting to that. I shall put you all into an enchanted sleep from which you shall not awaken until you are on dry land. The merpeople, by the way, are not there to do you any harm, they are merely an obstacle to the champions. Any questions?"

Hermione looked at Ron and saw a look of horror on his face.

Harry is my sole hope of survival? He mouthed at her.

She fought back a laugh at his expression.

"What if our champion doesn’t find us?" Ron inquired in a choked voice.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "Do not worry," he said, his eyes twinkling again, "I am not going to let any of you die."

Ron looked abashed but defiantly relieved and grinned over at Hermione. Then, suddenly his eyes narrowed. He looked from Fleur's sister to Cho and back at Hermione, seemingly growing angrier by the second. Hermione herself was having a hard time believing it. I mean, he had asked her to the ball, but the thing he would miss most? She did not meet Ron's eye, looking instead at Cho who was nervously shifting in her chair.

"Oh and I have one more thing to tell you..."

The hostages looked up at their headmaster expectantly.

"Please bear in mind that the whole point of this Tournament is about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them."

Hermione grinned from ear to ear and glanced at Ron who was turning steadily red. Dumbledore winked at her.

"And now, Miss Delacour, if you please."

Dumbledore moved toward Fleur's sister. Hermione turned toward Ron. Before she could rub it in though, he turned toward her and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, not looking at her.

"Excuse me?” Hermione could not believe her ears.

"I'm sorry. I've been a prat and I'm sorry."

He looked at her, flushed, and turned away. Hermione fought back the wide smile that was creeping over her face. It was not nearly enough, of course. She would still hound him about it for years...but it was the beginning.