decided i REALLY needed to have some reference for amanda’s colors, and so i quickly colored in the sketch i drew the other day

amanda has a rare genetic mutation that’s much more common in royal families, which makes the proteins that produce color fold incorrectly, turning them either green or yellow. it affects all of her coloration, which is why her mouth and salt organ are a kind of grey-green instead of the near-universal grey-purple of other merfolk.

if amanda didn’t have said mutation, she probably would have turned out a silver or blue-ish color like laudanda, the king, or even bellanda.

it also changes her eye color and makes them look like moldy oranges:

Undeserved

(Reggie Kray x Reader)

A Reggie Kray One Shot

Warnings: Swearing

Anon Request: “Heyy! Can i request a Reggie Kray x reader! I tought reader is the daughter of a enemy they having a lot of trouble. Ron and Teddy decides to kidnap his daughter because of that but didnt ask Reggie and when he found out it was so late to give her back so he treats nice and kimd to her. She likes him a lot and Reggie likes her to and he try and find the exuces to give her back. You share so much Reggie to today, that posts gave me idea. 😂😘❤️ ”

Author’s Note: Dear Anon, thank you once again and hope you like this. Been a while since i wrote about Reggie Kray. So it was fun to get back into it. Enjoy!

“What the BLOODY hell did you both do?”

Reggie Kray was definitely not in his best mood. And it clearly showed when he stood with his hands on his waist, facing his twin brother Ronnie Kray, and his accomplice Teddy Smith.

“Aww! Come on Reggie…” Teddy cried out,  his tone seeping from excitement “You have to admit this is a great idea”

“You!” Reggie pointed at Teddy with a menacing glare, “Stay out of this!”

“No, Teddy is right…” Ron remarked, his deep voice resonating in the living room, “...this is the best way we can back at Milton… for what he did to the Firm” he said while Teddy merely shrugged his shoulders, before walking over to the couch. Covering his face with his palm, Reggie looked back up.

“Kidnapping his daughter for intruding Esmeralda’s Barn...won’t send a fucking message!”

“Of course it won’t! We will just have to do something far worse-”

“Ahem!”

Suddenly the twins were quietened, forcing them to look over to their side.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m right here…” you said, with a stern tone. Sitting with your legs crossed, you tried your hardest to sit upright on the couch.

Turning to your right, you shot Teddy a look of disbelief, to which he raised an eyebrow.

“What?” He asked with annoyance.

“I don’t get it…” you hissed softly, “Why are you here? A lad like you shouldn’t be involved in things like this”

Teddy appeared to look even more confused, “Things like what?”

“Well…kidnapping for starters” you replied with furrowed eyebrows. Ronnie looked at you sharply.

“Well your dear old daddy isn’t exactly the living saint now,  isn’t he?” He roared, making sure he was heard from every corner of the room. You looked at him with a look equally sharp as his.

“I don’t know what you talking about-”

“Oh Come on now! Don’t even be thinking about lying to us”

Sighing, you realized you didn’t have any other option.

“You’re right... He is not” you said, with a disappointed expression, “But that doesn’t mean I have anything to do with him”

“Really? And why is that?” Teddy jumped in smugly, comfortable by the atmosphere laid out by Ron. Looking at the young man, you shook your head slowly, looking right back at the twins.

“Be- Because…” you paused, “I barely knew him. He left me and me mum when I was little, and all that we knew about him was cozying up with all his mistresses, making trouble and-” you scoffed with a sudden realization, “Why am I even explaining myself to you?”

“No wonder it was hard to track her down…” Teddy said, his tone growing serious , “she went by Y/L/N…not Milton”

“And…” you began, “as much as I appreciated your consideration with these…” you said, showing your wrists that had been tied up tightly with muslin cloth, “I would really prefer my hands to be...untied. I won’t escape, I’m not that stupid. I know what I'm up against”

Your eyes wandered involuntarily towards Reggie Kray, scanning his frame as he stood there, watching you with curiosity.

“Oh really?” Ronnie asked, taking a step towards you, “And how are we to fucking believe that?”

“Yeah exactly” Teddy added, standing up.

“Lads!” Reggie finally spoke out once again, calmness entering his tone, “Come on, let’s not get rilled up. You know maybe she…I’m sorry, what’s your name love?”

“Uh…Y/N” you blurted out in surprise.

“Yeah…Maybe Y/N won’t be doing anything rash” he continued, “She seems like a smart girl…”

You felt relief washing over you. Finally, you finally realized how nice it felt to have someone take your side even for the smallest matter, to trust you. This man certainly appeared to be the more rational one  among the three.

The sudden knock on the door, announced the arrival of a thin, tall man. He looked at you with confusion, especially when you gave him a flat smile out of politeness.

“Boss…” he said, “We got a problem”

“What is it Albie?” Reggie asked.

Looking at you, Albert Donoghue quickly walked over to the twins. Hushed tones filled the room as Teddy quickly joined their conversation.

“The fuck did you do Ron?” Reggie cried out loud enough, “ You know Jack ain’t reliable…”

Grunting, Ronnie frowned at his brother. Albert leaned towards Reggie. “What do we do, Reg?” He said, allowing Ron to look over at Reggie. With wide eyes, Reggie extended his arms with a scoff.

“Well don’t look at me, I’m definitely not going to clean up your fuckin mess mate” Reggie said, looking directly at his brother.

“FINE!” Ron said, “Ted…you stay put and keep an eye on her-”

“No no Ted…” Reggie interrupted, placing his hand on Teddy’s shoulder, “You should go with him, keep him sane, yeah? I can handle this…Go!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Closing the door on them, Reggie returned to the living room. And you just realized, how it was just the two of you now. Just the two of you.

Suddenly, you strangely missed the chaotic sounds of arguments that had been filling your ears earlier. For now it was just uncomfortable silence. When you could even hear the ticking of the clock, you did not know what to do.

“Right...” Reggie said, setting you at ease, “Well first things first...” he said, as he walked over to you in his swagger. For some reason it frightened you, for you had no clue what he had planned. A sigh of relief left your lips when you found  him gingerly taking your wrists to undo the wrist bindings. You were surprised just how gentle he was. Given the fact many knots were done, it took some time to set your hands free.

“Ah...thats better” you said , a soft smile adorning your lips as the bindings loosened up. Looking up, you realized he was looking directly at you, therefore enabling you to observe him with clarity at such close proximity. He was handsome, very handsome in fact. Much more handsome than his brother. Not that Ron Kray was ugly, but Reggie certainly appeared to be classier when it came to handsomeness. And those lips, they were not to be underestimated, for they appeared to look irresistible.

So you were not at fault when you blushed a little as a result. Clearing his throat, he stood up.

“Thank you...by the way” you said, rubbing your now-marked wrists, “You obviously seem much nicer than the rest , I...” you paused, “I appreciate your faith in me. I know what happens to people who don’t use their brain in situations like this”

“Oh yeah?” Reggie asked, looking amused, “What?”

“Oh...Simple” you replied, uncrossing your legs, “Their brains will just get blown up”

A soft chuckle erupted from Reggie Kray, which was definitely what you didn’t expect. Chuckling back, you felt strange to indulge yourself in humor at a time like this.

“Is this your house?” You found yourself ask.

“No...” Reggie replied softly, “ it’s actually mum’s...”

“Oh!” You were surprised, looking around “is she...”

“She’s on holiday...”

“Oh...” you nodded. An urge to make more conversation came over you.

“So...uh…” Reggie started, rubbing his hands together, “Would you er…like some-”

“Tea?”

“Tea?”

Amused by the coincidence, you both laughed together. “Yes...” you nodded with a smile, “Tea is good. I-I can make tea” you were surprised just how forward you were shocked of your response just now.

“Oh...Lovely” Reggie said, in a pleased yet nonchalant tone. Getting up, you rubbed your hands on your sides as you began to slowly walk forward. You felt nervous peeking into the kitchen.

“Um…”you hesitated, “Mr.Kray?”

“Reggie…call me Reggie, love ” he said, getting up as well. You nodded.

“Alright…uh…this is stupid but...” you began, “this is not my kitchen so…would you mind awfully to show me around?”

“Oh right! Right...”

“I don’t want to be rude and misuse anything...”

“No no ...Don't worry! here, let me help” Reggie assures you, guiding you into the kitchen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

The sound of Reggie Kray sipping his cup of Earl Gray complimented nicely with the sound of the little spoon you stirred your tea with as both of you sat together.

“Now that’s a fine cup of tea” he said. You smiled involuntarily, unable to cope with your heart warming up.“Thank you, I’m glad” you said, proceeding to sip your own cup. As the tea refreshed your tongue, you couldn’t help but chuckle, which made Reggie look at you. He may not have had words, but his curious expression was inquiring you enough.

“Having tea...with Reggie Kray, after taken hostage…” you said , “...definitely not something you’d hear everyday” you added, taking another sip, “...suppose I should be privileged” you said teasingly.

“Well you should be…” Reggie winked. Your heart skipped a beat instantly. Pressing your lips together, you didn’t know why you felt that way.

“So love, what do you do for living? Reggie asked. Love, hearing him always call you that, you found it unexpectedly pleasing.

Placing your cup on the table, you crossed your legs.

“I’m a school teacher” you said with confidence.

“Really?” He asked with fascination, “What you in charge of? shaping the young minds?”

“No...Homework and scolding” you quickly responded, inciting more laughter and inviting more cheer into the room.

Constantly, you had to remind yourself  of where you were. For it was turning out to be dangerously easy to forgot you were taken hostage and not a party guest.  

Looking around the house, you smiled, “Do come here often? To see your mum?”

He nodded, “I do actually, so does Ron”

“You both love your mum very much I see?”

“Yeah, quite” you heard him say, “very much actually”

Nodding in acknowledgement, you kept smiling for you couldn’t stop, “...that’s really nice” And you meant it with all sincerity. Reggie put his cup down.

“What about your mum? You’re living with her?” He asked.

“Uh…” you hesitated , “No…” you replied, shaking your head, smoothening your dress.

“You visit her often?”

“No..” You answer was quick that you gulped later on. Looking at his confused face, you went:

“Cause she’s dead”

Confusion turned to realization. Shaking his head, Reggie sighed heavily,  “Y/N, love, I’m so sorry” you could hear the guilt in his tone.

“It’s alright…” you shrugged your shoulders, “It was a long time ago” you inhaled deeply,“Ever since dad left, it was just me and mum. So it definitely wasn’t easy for her” you continued, “She did so much, sacrificed so much...for me” you said, “But sometimes...it was so hard on her. And she wasn’t exactly the strongest person around. It was...too much on her I guess. I didn’t know much, I was too young. One day…” your voice broke slightly, “One day...when I came home after school, I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t in the kitchen, nor the bedroom”

Leaning forward, you enveloped your fingers together, “I....uh...” you began, clenching your jaw, “...finally found her in the bathroom…pills in hand” you forced yourself to smile with your lips pressed tightly, “... I was too late”

By a slight movement, you felt Reggie inch closer to you. But you did not look. You didn’t have the heart to.

“Dad didn’t even come to the funeral…bloody bastard” your voice broke once again. Clearing your throat, you continued, “He really didn’t care about us at all...” you laughed ironically, “...and yet, we are still being punished for ever knowing him. My mum…she...” your breathing was hurried and short, “She didn’t deserve it…oh..god!”

Frustrated, you bent your head down, covering your face with your hands, haunted by the memories you couldn’t escape from. You were so close to tears.

“Oh love...” Reggie cooed, “Come here”. Pulling you over to him, he wrapped his arm around you. Suddenly resting your head on his chest, you couldn’t help but feel comforted. You didn’t mean to open up, yet he made it alright enough for you to be. It had been a while since a man made you feel this way.

Turning your head upward, you glanced at his face. He looked gentle, and his concern was sincere. Why must he be this way? You wondered. And why, were his lips so capable of saying the sweetest things?

The moment he looked down at you, you pushed your hand against his thigh, finding enough balance to stay straight, as your lips touched his own.

A few seconds later, you retracted, worried of his reaction. But the moment he pulled you by the arm to kiss you back, you were more than relieved.

A part of you wanted to shout to the whole of East London that Reggie Kray was an excellent Kisser. But another part of you was selfish to share him with the world. That part wanted to indulge this particular piece of information all by oneself.

The kisses started out gentle, comforting. His lips assured he recognized you, assured he acknowledged and understood you. But as your hand grabbed on to his tie to pull him closer, the kisses deepened, and the comfort progressed towards a hidden desire you both had developed. That attraction which fueled a need you never dared to mention at the beginning. And it clearly showed when tongues came into play, impatient to entwine with one another.

Suddenly pulling away, Reggie sighed as he placed his forehead against yours. In complete disbelief,  you looked at him while panting. Disbelief of how much you longed for this man, that you wished Ronnie Kray and company would never return.

Another sigh. Heavier than before. This time, Reggie proceeded to look into your eyes.

“Right...” he breathed, “I’m taking you back home”

Suddenly your heart was beating fast, and it was definitely not out of excitement.

“Reggie...” you whispered, “ I don’t want to make trouble for you” for some reason, you found yourself rambling in desperation, “You’re not keeping me here by force...” your voice grew softer, “... not anymore”.

Your lips were in struggle of attaching to his like a magnet. Holding your face, Reggie allowed his thumb to graze over your bottom lip. Your eyes didn’t fail to flutter by the mere touch of his hand.

“No...” he said, “You need to go home, where it’s safe”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Truthfully, you should be happy. You should be relieved all was well and you were safe once again. But the fact you had to part with him somehow scared you. As if empathy, compassion, respect and attraction began to form in your heart in the shape of Reggie Kray. And you knew it happened the moment he spoke to you, the moment he turned his attention to you. He made it easier for you to endure an otherwise horrible experience, which also could have caused more impact than expected.

The engine stopped as the car was parked right in-front of your house. With his hands on the wheel, Reggie kept staring ahead. Sitting on the opposite seat, you did the same, sharing silence.

You took a deep breath which was loud enough for him to notice.

“You don’t have to do this...I don’t need to go. Your brother...everyone...won’t they be angry? ”you asked softly. He shook his head.

“Best that you go on in now love, come on” he said, with a restricted yet soft smile. He wasn’t exactly happy and you knew it.

“I know I should be grateful but...” you paused, “You are taking a risk here, are you sure?”

“Honestly love...” he began, “...keeping you hostage won’t really do us any good. And Ronnie..he...he should have known that. But his fucking pride...it got in the way”

You nodded, trying so hard to empathize. But still, you were helpless. You were enslaved to concern and attachment.

Reggie chuckled, seeing your worried look.

“Its alright...” he said, lightly stroking your cheek, “You can trust me. Now go on”

Your breath grew shaky by his touch,“I just need to do one more thing”

“What is i-”

Your desperate kiss shushed him so quickly. It was desperate yes, and very emotional.As if it were to be your last. When you felt him cup your face in response, you moaned in frustration. For you knew it was about to end.

“Is it awful of me to want to defile this car with you right now?” Eyes closed, you breathed into his lips. Chuckling low, he kissed you again. And for a few seconds it felt like heaven once more.

“Heh! Didn’t  know you had such a mouth in you” he replied, brushing his lips against yours. You smiled,  “Clearly you don’t know me well enough…”

“Yeah? Well maybe I will…some other time”

Your smile suddenly vanished with surprise. Suddenly, there was a silver lining.

“ You better...” Pulling away, you gave him a warm smile , “Thank you Reggie Kray”

“You’re very welcome Y/N !” He replied, as he watched you slide off the car.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“What the BLOODY hell did you do?”

Roaring the moment he entered the house, Ronnie was definitely not pleased with what happened.

“Heh...didn’t think you’d turn that around, mate”

Reggie said, while blowing out puffs of smoke from his cigarette. Ronnie’s anger was justified, especially when he found his brother sitting comfortably in the armchair. With no hostage.

“It’s not fucking funny Reg!” His brother yelled,“Wha-”

“Consider it a favor...” Reggie said coolly, as he got up, “...me cleaning up your fucking mess which could have ruined ...everything” he added, continuing to smoke.

Unable to answer, Ronnie glared at him, breathing heavily. Getting up, Reggie sighed as he patted his brother’s shoulder.

“You can never stay mad at me...I know”

___________________________________________

Check my MASTERLIST for more :)

do talon squad headcanons !!!

okay warning its a lil long

spending time with widow and sombra has made gabriel hate overwatch more and more with each passing day. widow is a sharp, bright reminder of overwatchs incompetency-- what happened to her should have never happened. she should have been under better protection, they should have kept her longer, she just. shouldn’t have happened. same with sombra; she might not directly tell him her past, but he can track her hackings and the messages she leaves to pick up the clues of her upbringing. to him, in every sense of the phrase, overwatch was nothing but a failure and he regrets ever having been a part of it vehemently. he means it when he calls overwatch a “sad story”

widowmaker is less of a “shell” of a woman and more like someone took out all of the stuffing in a doll and replaced it with rocks. she feels malice, anger, annoyance, confusion, hatred, self destruction. she’s capable of other emotions, but they’re buried far underneath, and they usually bring on the confusion. being a weapon is easy; being alive is not.

out of the three of them, sombra is the only one with 100% autonomy and the only one who’s where she is because she chose to be there; unlike reaper or widow, she CHOSE her augmentations. she chose to become sombra and not seek a normal life, she chose to have her abilities. she’s aware of the difference between her and her teammates and it solidifies her choices, for her. 

sombra is terrified of not being free. of existing like widowmaker or with the physical or emotional load that gabriel carries. losing her autonomy, being weak, vulnerable, its what scares her the most, because she threw all of that away when she became sombra. sombra is a god; sombra is a god code in a human being, sombra is a shadow and a legend and a ghost. she’s untouchable and she’ll do anything to stay that way. always one step ahead. 

widowsombra hc: sombras limbs are actually made of code and can take on a human appearance and match her skin tone, but they arent like... actual flesh and bone. widowmaker has decreased temperature sensitivity and can hardly feel sombras hands when she touches her. 

fun fact this is also a metaphor for the intimacy and vulnerability that sombra threw away for her augmentations-- shes trading her humanity for her enhancements. 

sombra has been to widowmakers grave as well as gabriels grave. neither of them know this. the people who cared about her back home still know shes alive, so she’s never needed one, but she kind of wants one anyways. 

gabriel and sombra cant stop widow from doing whatever she wants to do. like, if its mission related thats kinda different, but otherwise, neither of them really have the resolution to take widowmakers choices from her if she actually mutters up the autonomy to do it.

this has, in sombras case, included enabling widowmaker to kill someone she recognized from her past. they were out on a mission; widow aimed for someone who wasnt the target. sombra didnt say anything and she certainly didnt ask.

widowmaker gnaws on ice sometimes, just to feel it. like she says that she can’t feel the cold but she can feel that and its like... a little shock. its like eating pop rocks lmao

widow struggles if she doesn’t have a purpose. if she ever went awol, she’d need to have something to do; she can’t just exist idly. she becomes restless and frustrated. talon knows this as well, and they send her out on missions ofc for their own gain but also because she begins to break down if she goes too long without believing she has a purpose. 

widow is of the express belief that you need a purpose to exist. she’s eerily insistent about it. 

sombra has a very small room at a talon hq that she sometimes hangs out in, has some tech in there, for when she has to be at a base for longer than a day. she always locks the door and she can get REALLY into her hacking and more than once gabe has smoked under the door because she wasn’t responding and he was worried.

either she’s just caught up in her work or she has ridiculously loud headphones on or she’s sleeping. she only sleeps like 3 hrs a day average so when she does sleep shes fucking dead to the world.

another thing. gabe is a worrier. a worrier and a planner. he has a plan a-z at any given moment for absolutely anything they do. he stresses himself out with that sorta stuff but literally whos gonna stop him?

sombra. sombra calls him out regularly. he hates her being spontaneous because, you guessed it, it worries him but its also really useful that she’s such a quick thinker. 

sombra reminds him too much of jesse. sombra knows this.

gabe literally cant sleep ?? like he’s physically incapable of it so for rest sometimes he just kinda. sits down and exists in pain. he’s always in pain. widowmaker suggests him teas that will help him clear his head and he tries everything she tells him. 

widow and gabe are the most civil towards each other and generally if widow has a question or feels like she needs “””advice””” she asks him. unofficially, she feels as if he would be her best friend, if she could theoretically have one.

sombra goes to get her nails done professionally, widow and gabe do theirs on their own and every once in awhile with each other. widow is very dedicated to her femininity

 she recognizes him, somewhat. anyone she meets from her past, she tears into, but gabe is always the exception. she doesn’t tell him that she remembers him.

sombra and widow are both SUPER arrogant and they like wildly enable each other. widow likes to pretend that she doesnt but she definitely eggs sombra on at times and sombra LIVES for it. sombra also likes to try and goad emotions out of widow-- she likes to poke and prod and see whats underneath. 

gabe thinks that if sombra and widow both went awol and had a goal that they could both agree on, even he would be hard pressed to stop them. it’s because they’re both so malicious and determined, its almost scary.

when gabe gets upset, smoke starts to come out of his mouth and nose and its like... literally his body starting to unwind. he cant get a grip on his corporal self and he starts to lose shape. this has never happened around widow, but has happened around sombra once. 

sombra would never abandon her goal for widow or gabe but she’s thought about it before and if they asked her, she would do everything she could to get them out of talon that doesn’t compromise her own mission. she’d take them with her when she leaves if she could.

list of most to least willing to murder: widow, sombra, gabe. widow is the one whos most willing to actually do it but 9/10 its gonna be sombras idea first and foremost. it goes the opposite way if its personal, gabe is most likely to pull out a shotgun on someone he used to know lmao

as for how they work as a squad, they actually do.. really well. widow will just follow orders with the occasional -_- face thrown in, but they rlly do have a good synergy and its why they 3 get sent on so many missions together

widow and sombra are the best momentum wise-- once they get rolling its hard to make them stop and gabe has once or twice had an issue with keeping up with them. theyre both super fast paced and gabe is too but gotdam if he isnt getting older 

widowmaker doesn’t ever really feel happy, just like... smug. she gets extremely smug. so its usually at  the cost of someone else’s misery.

sombra has never met jack but just from hearing gabe make passing comments about him a few times she’s pretty much decided that she wants to either blackmail or murder him 

gabe sometimes has the unfortunate habit of underestimating sombra, which is mostly out of concern, but its the quickest way to piss her off and pretty much the only way she gets put off with him. she cant stand being pitied or looked down upon.

widow saw gabriels face because he, at a time, decided to willingly show her. sombra saw gabriels face because she offered seeing it as the trade for some information he needed.

sombra sees the truth as a weapon and will trade personal information for something you want. sometimes its harmless, sometimes it bites you in the ass again later. hard. 

gabe doesnt know how to be happy. sombra doesnt know how to be satisfied. widow is really just doin how she do. 

thats really enough for now just ask if u want sum more 

Motorola Moto X Pure Version (Unlocked) Testimonial.

Editors' details: Listed below is just one of our favorite tales from the stores along with a practical recommendation for Wiser Living. It carries forward the metallic body and finger print viewers that made the Le Number ones stick out, along with the Le Environment material as well as membership which offered the Le Ones Eco its identity. A Jobs Directory for the USA, Canada, UK and Australia and also New Zealand and also the EU are featured in Work At House Jobs app. However move the back of the 2016 PS4 Slim and you'll discover a committed door for opening the console, enabling a consumer to personally install a much larger hard drive in a far more handy method in comparison to the initial PS4 carried out. It is actually certainly not almost showing up at a job as well as undergoing the motions, however entering the job you were suggested to do. Things that fits you, packs your dreams and your needs. In the beginning glimpse, the included thickness is apparent, but after using it for time you promptly acquire adapted to that. Something else worth pointing out is actually that when this scenario is actually added, slim cases will certainly no more suit on the unit; something to become cautious from. The 5GHz modems are actually even more pricey in comparison to the 2.4 GHz modems, thus you need to opt for the 2.4 GHz ones, unless obstruction is actually a true issue with your network. Work might feature its very own benefits but also for the employee working for another person this is actually still a method to a side. In craft, Nina Paley captured on film archaeological artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum from Art and also cartoon them to illustrate her aspect: All ingenuity builds on one thing that existed before and every work of art is practically an acquired work. Secret from Mana is a computer game regarding amnesiac woods sprites as well as huge hens as well as superpowered falchions. Ferensic, that functions out from a workplace in Jacksonville, Fla, says that the claims teleworkers are 10 to 20 percent a lot more efficient compared to their in-office counterparts and generate comparable premium. If you want to preserve harmony, you're going to must call on your primary and other smaller maintaining muscles. That's practically identical to the Toshiba Canvio Slim II (1TB) as well as a lot slimmer in comparison to the Seagate Backup Plus Prompt. Given that my hubby operates crazy long hours, that somebody will be actually ... me. How some folks do that, I have no idea. This low-frills budget plan device syncs along with your banking company and credit card accounts to quickly display just how much amount of money you can manage to invest today, this week, as well as this month.have a peek here ='float:left;margin-right:10px;' src="https://i.forbesimg.com/images/channels/csf_channel_2section_404_streamtopfeatures_panel1_0_5661b2147f7ea_csf-1449243156.png" width="254" alt="moneygram"/> We tend to seek loan and electrical power in our pursuit from effectiveness (as well as who does not would like to be successful, besides?), but it might be actually hampering from the things that definitely concern: Joy and happiness as well as affection. Today, I intend to discuss exactly how I utilize this technique as well as how you can administer it to your own lifestyle to enhance your wellness and also your job. I accumulated one favored dish from each of the ladies in both my as well as my spouse's families and also assembled them utilizing Ad's software application, which I located simple and user-friendly. The checklist goes on and on, I did have resentment for that and no I didnt inform him just how wonderful he was actually everyday, yet I offered him a blessing when he required that and I.d. set funds aside to ensure that our experts could possess family opportunity on the weekend breaks as well as do exciting things. Just in case you can't partner every thing up immediately, you can easily still make YouTube work. Yet, despite the recognition of Kunoichi, that is actually indisputable that family helpful SFM job that riffs off well-known Shutoff personalities is even more common generally-- an endless lot of pants entailing only Group Fortress 2 characters may be discovered on YouTube alone. A guy does certainly not regulate his resources from bodily stamina until he possesses thus experienced and built his body system that each part supplements each component as well as bears the tension with equivalent energy of resistance. She specifies that she fits along with exactly how her body searches in both photos as well as worries to her fans that they shouldn't contrast themselves to other people. Supper layers or even plastic bags focus on a carpeted floor, while towels deal with wood or ceramic tile. Pakistan spends lower than 2 percent of its own gdp on education, which equates into a shortage of skill-sets with the younger population, driving them over the street searching for job. Recognize the pitfalls that can easily test ladies workers which are also moms and dads, yet recognize that all employees need to preserve a healthy and balanced harmony between job and also lifestyle, despite their sex. Originally I was actually getting up to ₤ 600 a full week yet when they fell the rates it practically cut in half - you had to perform 80 hours, for the same amount of loan. When your physical body is actually utilizing glycogen or sugar as its major energy resource, your body will certainly not have to melt fat. The link between right-minded residing as well as audio work is a physiological and emotional necessity. Readied Foods: Entire Foods Market chefs do work in the in-house kitchen, developing handcrafted pizza, entire or by the slice (including stout-crust pizza!), tailor-made sushi, in-house chips, tailor-made sandwiches and also meals-on-the-go. Work has actually emancipated, taught, established, and also deciphered the individual character; this has actually made man accustomed with herself; that has established him attuned to nature; and also that has actually made that irreversible funds from pressure, self-constraint, personality, ethical energy, and also educational influence which our team call civilisation. When diabetes is actually unattended, it is actually achievable to experience exactly what is actually referred to as diabetic person ketoacidosis Without adequate insulin, the body system begins to break down fat for gas, which triggers a develop of ketones in the body. The rice is actually best along with a sauce and the noodles function well in oriental inspired foods, yet I discover if I prefer pasta, i REALLY want spaghetti. I don't leave this about that pad overnight, however at work when that reaches ONE HUNDRED% this maintains the phone there. Yet he would not allow our company to possess a shared checking account, therefore all his loan was kept distinct. There's a conventional network of apps and also widgets available for you to establish exactly how you like, along with as numerous web pages as you desire in whatever purchase you choose. Yet I likewise recognize produced guys that perform lawn treatment on the side to make a couple of additional bucks if you want to spend their debt or even increase their cost savings.

Along with 4TB from area, the Back-up And Portable Ride's cost works out to an excellent $0.038 each gigabyte, which is a bit majority that from the 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Swift ($ 0.06 every gigabyte) as well as 2TB Western Digital My Key Ultra ($ 0.065 each gigabyte). As component of cleaning agreement arrangements between the urban area as well as its own biggest police union, the city is giving a 1 percent salary rise to those police officers demanded to use body cams, baseding upon The Nyc Message. I had to consider my physical body, I had to examine my curves, I must take a look at where I had been actually holding life for nine months, and also this looked so various compared to any sort of physical body I had ever understood-- focused!" she carried on. In this variation on traditional side-lying leg assists, the leading lower leg functions as protection when raising all-time low lower leg, says Nicole Nichols, publisher as well as fitness pro for You'll work the interior thighs from each legs while also targeting the outer upper legs and also obliques, she includes. However I extremely typically utilize my phone while I am actually charging it & this definitely does not work with a cordless charging pad.

15 Quick Facts About CBD Oil

15 Quick Facts About CBD Oil (including 1 you certainly didn't know)

      Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last 3 years, you've most definitely heard about all of the excitement surrounding CBD.  Cannabidiol, the hugely popular hemp extract, is produced from cannabis plants. Unlike THC, it is not psychoactive and will not cause you to get high or freak out.   The scientific community is buzzing with results from the latest research papers investigating various applications of cannabidiol, and they have only just begun to scratch the surface.   A quick look at Google search trends also shows us that interest in CBD amongst the general population is skyrocketing. So if you're interested in learning more about CBD but don't feel like wading through research papers or reading a book, we've put together a few interesting facts to start you off.

    Cannabidiol is only one of more than 110 active cannabinoids which are present in cannabis plants.

You probably already know that cannabidiol is extracted from cannabis plants and seeds but it's only one of the constituents found in the plants.   There are over 110 known cannabinoids present in cannabis, the main one being THC. THC is a psychoactive cannabinoid and is being studied for various medical applications although the main thrust of scientific research is now focused on CBD.  CBD is popular for research as it is legal in most countries and does not require a government license for research purposes. It has the added benefit of not being psychoactive and is also non-toxic which enables it to be tested on humans without concern.

    CBD oil Is usually extracted from cannabis plants(hemp).

CBD is usually extracted from hemp which is another name for cannabis.  CBD can be extracted from the leaves, flowers, stalks and seeds. Cannabidiol is normally extracted from plants which are high in CBD and low in THC. There is some confusion regarding different types of cannabis although it is now widely accepted that cannabis plants with a THC concentration of less than 0.3% can be referred to as industrial hemp.   Industrial hemp is the main source of CBD.

      The first recorded use of medicinal hemp was around 5000 years ago.

CBD is not a new thing, it's always been present in hemp and hemp has been used for over 10000 years. It’s been used for various applications including food, medicine, building, clothing, paper, and ropes.  Hemp seeds and oils were traditionally used as food and medicine, with the first recorded use of hemp medicine being approximately 5000 years ago.

    CBD oil works with the endocannabinoid system.

Cannabidiol and other cannabinoids appear to work naturally with the endocannabinoid system present in mammals. The endocannabinoid system includes cannabinoid receptor sites which exist mainly in the brain and the central nervous system.

    CBD also interacts with other mammalian receptors.

Current scientific research has revealed that CBD also engages with other receptor sites present in mammals.   Research has shown that CBD engages either directly or indirectly with vanilloid receptors, adenosine receptors, and serotonin receptors.

    Relax, CBD doesn't get you high.

CBD won't get you high.  People get stoned from THC ( tetrahydrocannabinol). CBD purchased in the UK, the EU and most other countries around the world contains less than 0.3% THC.

    CBD can reduce the high caused by THC.

CBD and THC are like yin and yang.  Traditionally, cannabis plants grown in the wild contained a balance of cannabidiol and THC.  It was only fairly recently that plants were specially bred to contain higher and higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol. THC is known to cause paranoia anxiety and may cause mild psychosis in some people if they are predisposed to the condition. Research has shown that CBD can balance the effects of THC.

    Even pets are using CBD oil.

Even pets are getting in on the act by alerting their owners to the availability of a huge range of cannabidiol pet treats.  We interviewed several pets to find out why CBD is so attractive to our furry friends. Unfortunately, due to government advertising restrictions, we are unable to reveal what they said.

    It is extremely difficult to overdose when using CBD.

Several research projects have been undertaken during which subjects were given very large doses of CBD for long periods of time with zero toxic effects.  There have been no known deaths caused by cannabidiol.

    You can take CBD in more than one way.

CBD oil can be taken orally, added to food or other edibles, or vaporized. You can also vape CBD and you can rub it into your skin. You can also use it whilst cooking or dissolve it under your tongue. You can now even get CBD suppositories. You can also purchase cannabidiol beer,  CBD gummies, and a vast array of other CBD products.

    Queen Victoria liked CBD.

Queen Victoria used hemp medicine containing CBD.  She was not cool enough to vape it, she instead ate it, to help with her menstrual cramps.

    CBD is classed as a medicine in the UK.

CBD oil has been available in the UK for a long time.   it was traditionally sold as a nutritional supplement but was recently reclassified by the UK government as a medicine. This has led to restrictions regarding the sale and marketing of CBD  as well as leading some people to believe that the UK government may at some time attempt to outlaw sales. The reclassification of CBD as a medicine has led to some confusion as the UK government also holds the view that hemp has zero medicinal uses.   CBD is extracted from hemp.

    CBD oil is becoming THE thing to add to beauty products.

Dozens of beauty product companies are jumping on the CBD bandwagon by offering a wide range of beauty products containing cannabidiol. You can now purchase CBD beauty products ranging from skin creams and lip balms to foot baths and shampoo.

    CBD oil made from industrial hemp is 100% legal in the UK.

Industrial hemp by definition contains less than 0.3% THC.  All CBD oils and CBD products made from industrial hemp oils are 100% legal in the UK.

  from CBD Globe Distributors Ltd: Blog http://uk.ma-time.com/15-quick-facts-about-cbd-oil-including-1-you-certainly-didnt-know

So I’ve never RP’d without my friends and I tried tonight and my character was accosted... I’m Tieve FYI.

Desstis Cloudfarer: You there...

Tieve Saer the raen was contemplating ordering another drink when the man approached her, "Hmm? Can I help you?"

Desstis Cloudfarer: Of course you can help me! Bestow upon me the grace of gold, lest your ears be ripped from your head!

Tieve Saer looks from side to side, "Are... are you robbing me?"

Naissenne Asumiere senses something amiss with Desstis Cloudfarer.

Naissenne Asumiere points at Desstis Cloudfarer.

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "On top of threatening to tear something from your head which you don't have, Miss."

Desstis Cloudfarer: Some call it daylight robbery, others call it shameless begging. You know what I call it? I call it... a command!

Desstis Cloudfarer: Obey, or face the consequences of a lancer enraged!

Naissenne Asumiere furrows her brows, putting a hand on the man's shoulder, "Hold on there, you. The hells are yeh tryin' to do, eh?"

Drifting Copper: "... The Seven Hells is that moron doing?

Desstis Cloudfarer glanced back to the woman, "How about you mind your own business, you large woman! See yourself out!"

Lolocepu Jajacepu bursts out laughing at Desstis Cloudfarer.

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Oh honestly."

Drifting Copper: "Especially for the moron's."

Tieve Saer eyes wide she looks to either side unsure of how to handle the situation.

Mamamo Mamo: "I'm going to go for a brief walk- have fun beating this guy up."

Drifting Copper: "Take care, Mamo."

Naissenne Asumiere scoffs and screws up her proper tongue. "Yer askin' for a beatin', friend. I think it's yeh who should take a leave. The tavern's turnin' on yeh quickly."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Definitely. Not looking good, ser."

Desstis Cloudfarer reaches up with a hand, feigning a casual swipe at the woman's ear. "Pay up!" he ejaculated, before batting away the onlookers. "As for you lot, leave me alone -- I've got bills to pay, you know!"

Tieve Saer flinches at the swipe, but concern crosses her face. "I can spare a little if it would help you reconsider your methods in the future."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Oh come on, you *know* you should've been smarter about the where and who for billpaying, really. This is just a farce now-- Oh don't."

Naissenne Asumiere looks at the Roegadyns surrounding the man, nodding to them as it seemed like all three were there to help in unison. "Last chance, mister."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "You're just enabling him and he'll swagger up to someone else next time."

Drifting Copper: "A bill won't be anything to worry about when it'll be bail you'll need to free yourself from a cell. Drop this now, while you have the opportunity to realize your mistake."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Such a nice, white dress really oughtn't be sullied."

Desstis Cloudfarer: Listen, just give me a few moments! I've almost got this cat... in the bag! Heh!

Desstis Cloudfarer upturns a palm, and smirks at the woman. "Go on, then!"

Lolocepu Jajacepu slips on his gloves and turns in his stool. "So, who's knockin' em out?"

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "I'm still unsure of whether someone's just hired him to give us all a giggle."

Naissenne Asumiere raises a fist, "Hells, I'm doin' it!" Naissenne winds up... and takes a swing at Desstis, aiming for that cheek!

Desstis Cloudfarer attempts to duck back, and dodge the fist. He succeeds, but stumbles back into the giant man's breastplate behind him. "Ow!" he ejaculates, turning around. "Watch where you're standing, big guy!"

Naissenne Asumiere is still in boxing mode, "Huff!"

Terpsichora Ostornwyn duly gets her fat ass in the road. It's what she's best at.

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "He didn't slug your horns one before, did he? I can't imagine how that would feel."

Drifting Copper arches his brow, glaring low at Desstis. "I'll watch where I'm standing when you watch who you're threatening for gil. How's that for a deal?"

Lolocepu Jajacepu bursts out laughing at Desstis Cloudfarer.

Lolocepu Jajacepu: "Pathetic."

Naissenne Asumiere: "Give'em the one-two! Right in the kidney!"

Tieve Saer: "Well uh, no, he didnt." *she looks around at the others* "I'm glad you all were around but I'm sorry for the trouble..."

Finn Murray stomps over to Desstis and grabs him by the arm. "Quit causing trouble! I'm sick of having to bail you out of these situations! What nonsense are you getting up to now? I swear it's like babysitting a child!" She begins tugging him away for the exit.

Desstis Cloudfarer was blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. "How about you--" he avoided the woman throwing punches by backing out of her range. "How about you pay me, big old dumb-looking, pig-snouted barbarian!"

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "No trouble at all! Especially for me, considering I just stood here."

Desstis Cloudfarer was tugged away, "Finnie!? What are you doing here?"

Lolocepu Jajacepu bursts out laughing at Desstis Cloudfarer.

Naissenne Asumiere: "We can't just let yeh get robbed, what kind of loiterin' tavern patrons would we be?"

Desstis Cloudfarer: Listen! This isn't over!

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "I suppose that explains a lot, doesn't it."

Finn Murray: Shut up and come on!

Desstis Cloudfarer: I'll be back!

Finn Murray: No, he won't.

Desstis Cloudfarer: Cunts!

Drifting Copper: "I'd pay you, all right. A fist to your face. But it looks like your owner's here for you. Be good, whelp."

Tieve Saer: "Well... that... happened."

Lolocepu Jajacepu: "That was a great show, huh?"

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Well, at least I didn't have to try out my marksmanship. I'm far too rusty with my fists these days."

Naissenne Asumiere coughs into her fist, "Phew. You think you know people..."

Lolocepu Jajacepu: "I'm sorry you had to deal with some arse like that. If I see him in the streets I'll give em a good shock with my gloves, aye."

Desstis Cloudfarer: ((Hey guys, thanks for the rp! What's the fastest way to get to Gridania?))

Tieve Saer: "The one time I go to a bar. Clearly a mistake... Thank you all again, truly."

Naissenne Asumiere: (Np! Out the gate of Nald!)

Tieve Saer: ((lol that certainly was interesting :P Good luck!))

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: godspeed to tree land, dude!))

Naissenne Asumiere: (You'll hit Blackbrush, then Drybone to the east and keep heading up north, just follow the map!)

Drifting Copper: ((*salutes!*))

Desstis Cloudfarer: ((OK, thanks a lot! Later!))

Naissenne Asumiere gently pats you.

Drifting Copper: "Strength in numbers. I'm only glad he wasn't allowed to have his way."

Naissenne Asumiere: "Oi -- ahem -- I mean, do you need help getting to where... you aught to go? Perhaps one of us can assist, should you need it."

Lolocepu Jajacepu: "I'm sure y'd never let that happen, big man."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Certainly. Though...I mean, a lance? In here, right in front of Momodi? Daft, really."

Lolocepu Jajacepu agrees wholeheartedly with Drifting Copper.

Naissenne Asumiere bumps fists with Drifting Copper.

Lolocepu Jajacepu: "Not the worst I've seen. I'm surprised Momodi lets me back in after I had to beat a guy down tryna touch some lass."

Drifting Copper: "The fellow wasn't the brightest aetheryte crystal, for certain."

Tieve Saer shakes her head, "No, no that's alright. I'll just head to the atheryte quickly and make sure I don't come alone next time... Thank you all again."

Naissenne Asumiere nods to you.

Terpsichora Ostornwyn snorts softly. "I think deserved violence warrants being allowed in, in most cases."

Drifting Copper: "Have a pleasant evening. May Llymlaen guide your sails."

Terpsichora Ostornwyn: "Mm, do take care!"

Lolocepu Jajacepu nods to you.

Tieve Saer she smiles and makes her way out of the establishment, walking QUITE quickly.

Naissenne Asumiere gives Tieve a two finger salute, "Take care lass."

horizon zero dawn Can Be Fun For Anyone

Just Checking out the world is really a joy. Usually you’ll stumble across parts overrun with corrupted robots that must be cleared, or settlements overtaken by murderous bandits. That wasn’t my which means. I meant which i by no means required the game to end, for the reason that I savored currently being in Horizon’s entire world a great deal. Thanks for the history lesson although. Still tbh nioh that he also reviewed is apparently must have recreation Nearly. Undertale was an assessment i agreed with… tlou was a review i didnt agree with Aloy’s curiosity on this planet that arrived in advance of is piqued from a young age. At horizon zero dawn wiki , she stumbles on to a derelict cavern underneath floor and discovers an electronic earpiece named a Focus. I like this activity, conveniently a GOTY contender. I actually hated the identify “Aloy” After i initially read it and believed it was wanting to be cute, but she is a nasty-ass and hope to discover far more of her which great environment before long. The system connected to Aloy’s confront is for more than just exhibit – it enables her to scan for weaknesses, also. You might have observed this mechanic in games like Batman: Arkham Asylum or maybe the dozen-or-so motion sport clones that have appear out through the years, but the main difference right here is that using the Focus helps prevent Aloy from executing the rest. All thes people bitching and whining, indicating the game’s bland and it has no Tale ect, certainly have not played the sport. It's ample story and excellent battle with aspect quests that aren’t repetetive like most open up planet games in recent times. Acquiring now started to Perform the game, I am able to see far more how Improper you will be. You must truly be careful about repeating the agenda of someone else, a couple of matter you have got tiny to no 1st-hand experience with. It’s NOT called the Matriarchy, just the Superior Matriarchs. It gets incredibly frustrating over the more crucial encounters, and no matter how conscious you might be of the trouble, the act of spinning plates is a lot of at times. Even Connect with of Duty’s major respiratory or blood spatter could be extra insightful. could simply be written off as spinoff, but it’s how through which these disparate ideas are introduced alongside one another being a cohesive, lovingly crafted entire which makes it definitely Exclusive. These tribes eke out primitive existences although steering clear of the wrath on the devices – constructs that behave like peculiar animals and display little in excess of hostility toward natural existence. In a very lush, publish-apocalyptic world where by character has reclaimed the ruins of a neglected civilization, pockets of humanity survive in primitive hunter-gatherer tribes. Their dominion more than The brand new wilderness continues to be usurped with the Machines – fearsome mechanical creatures of mysterious origin. Across an unlimited and beautiful open up entire world, Horizon Zero Dawn juggles lots of going areas with polish and finesse. Its most important activity - combat - is amazingly gratifying because of the different style and design and behaviors of machine-creatures that roam its lands, Each and every of which has to be taken down with thorough thought. She can master new abilities and improve her gear since she has entry to Innovative engineering. She explores every single nook of the earth all over her mainly because you will discover mysteries buried very pretty much within just every single mountain.

The Second Task

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly. "Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "I just need to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?" He, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today - the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room. Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Flitwick, for instance. "Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody...." This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour. "Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). "What...d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?" "Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," said Harry, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something...." "What?" said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry...maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!" "Oh Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head sceptically, "we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?" She Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at. Harry looked at Hermione, thinking...it was true that Snape had saved his life once, but the odd thing was, Snape definitely loathed him, just as he'd loathed Harry's father when they had been at school together. Snape loved taking points from Harry, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments, or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school. "I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -" "- evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?" "Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "Its a bit funny, isn't it, that he cant manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?" "You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky," said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window. "You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box. "I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," said Harry grimly, and his cushion, to his very great surprise, flew straight across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's. Obedient to Sirius's wish of hearing about anything odd at Hogwarts, Harry sent him a letter by brown owl that night, explaining all about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Moody and Snape's conversation. Then Harry turned his attention in earnest to the most urgent problem facing him: how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February. Ron quite liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again - Harry had explained about Aqua-Lungs, and Ron couldn't see why Harry shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Hermione squashed this plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that Harry managed to learn how to operate an Aqua-Lung within the set limit of an hour, he was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy - it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an Aqua-Lung zooming across the countryside to Hogwarts. "Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing...." "Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," said Harry. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me...." "I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," said Hermione seriously. "No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm." So Harry, thinking that he would soon have had enough of the library to last him a lifetime, buried himself once more among the dusty volumes, looking for any spell that might enable a human to survive without oxygen. However, though he, Ron, and Hermione searched through their lunchtimes, evenings, and whole weekends - though Harry asked Professor McGonagall for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asked the irritable, vulture-like librarian. Madam Pince, for help - they found nothing whatsoever that would enable Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale. Familiar flutterings of panic were starting to disturb Harry now, and he was finding it difficult to concentrate in class again. The lake, which Harry had always taken for granted as just another feature of the grounds, drew his eyes whenever he was near a classroom window, a great, iron-gray mass of chilly water, whose dark and icy depths were starting to seem as distant as the moon. Just as it had before he faced the Horntail, time was slipping away as though somebody had bewitched the clocks to go extra-fast. There was a week to go before February the twenty-fourth (there was still time)...there were five days to go (he was bound to find something soon)...three days to go (please let me find something...please)... With two days left. Harry started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl he had sent to Sirius. He pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him. Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl. Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank. "Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Harry's shoulder. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away." Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. What had he expected? Advice on how to survive underwater? He had been so intent on telling Sirius all about Snape and Moody he had completely forgotten to mention the egg's clue. "What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron. "Dunno," said Harry dully. The momentary happiness that had flared inside him at the sight of the owl had died. "Come on...Care of Magical Creatures." Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could. Harry didnt know, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing. Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them. "Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies...don' mind boys so much....C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want...give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps.... "You okay. Harry?" Hagrid muttered, moving aside slightly, while most of the others swarmed around the baby unicorns. "Yeah," said Harry. "Jus' nervous, eh?" said Hagrid. "Bit," said Harry. "Harry," said Hagrid, clapping a massive hand on his shoulder, so that Harry's knees buckled under its weight, "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha Horntail, but I know now yeh can do anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?" Harry nodded, but even as he did so, an insane urge to confess that he didn't have any idea how to survive at the bottom of the lake for an hour came over him. He looked up at Hagrid - perhaps he had to go into the lake sometimes, to deal with the creatures in it? He looked after everything else on the grounds, after all - "Yeh're goin' ter win," Hagrid growled, patting Harry's shoulder again, so that Harry actually felt himself sink a couple of inches into the soft ground. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win, Harry." Harry just couldn't bring himself to wipe the happy, confident smile off Hagrid's face. Pretending he was interested in the young unicorns, he forced a smile in return, and moved forward to pat them with the others. By the evening before the second task. Harry felt as though he were trapped in a nightmare. He was fully aware that even if, by some miracle, he managed to find a suitable spell, he'd have a real job mastering it overnight. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he got to work on the egg's clue sooner? Why had he ever let his mind wander in class - what if a teacher had once mentioned how to breathe underwater? He sat with Hermione and Ron in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from one another by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them. Harry's heart gave a huge leap every time he saw the word "water" on a page, but more often than not it was merely "Take two pints of water, half a pound of shredded mandrake leaves, and a newt..." "I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake." "There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable." "They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate." "There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!" She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before. "I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, face-down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius." An Animagus was a wizard who could transform into an animal. "Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron. "Or a frog," yawned Harry. He was exhausted. "It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember...you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office...what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it..." "...Hermione, I was joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning...." "Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?" "I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves. "What're you two doing here?" Ron asked. "Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione." "Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised. "Dunno...she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred. "We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George. Ron and Hermione stared at Harry, who felt his stomach drop. Was Professor McGonagall about to tell Ron and Hermione off? Perhaps she'd noticed how much they were helping him, when he ought to be working out how to do the task alone? "We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as she got up to go with Ron - both of them looked very anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?" "Right," said Harry uneasily. By eight o'clock. Madam Pince had extinguished all the lamps and came to chivvy Harry out of the library. Staggering under the weight of as many books as he could carry, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room, pulled a table into a corner, and continued to search. There was nothing in Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks...nothing in A Guide to Medieval Sorcery...not one mention of underwater exploits in An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms, or in Dreadful Denizens of the Deep, or Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do with Them Now You've Wised Up. Crookshanks crawled into Harry's lap and curled up, purring deeply. The common room emptied slowly around Harry. People kept wishing him luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices like Hagrid's, all of them apparently convinced that he was about to pull off another stunning performance like the one he had managed in the first task. Harry couldn't answer them, he just nodded, feeling as though there were a golfball stuck in his throat. By ten to midnight, he was alone in the room with Crookshanks. He had searched all the remaining books, and Ron and Hermione had not come back. It's over, he told himself. You can't do it. You'll just have to go down to the lake in the morning and tell the judges.... He imagined himself explaining that he couldn't do the task. He pictured Bagman's look of round-eyed surprise, Karkaroffs satisfied, yellow-toothed smile. He could almost hear Fleur Delacour saying "I knew it...'e is too young, 'e is only a little boy." He saw Malfoy flashing his POTTER STINKS badge at the front of the crowd, saw Hagrid's crestfallen, disbelieving face.... Forgetting that Crookshanks was on his lap. Harry stood up very suddenly; Crookshanks hissed angrily as he landed on the floor, gave Harry a disgusted look, and stalked away with his bottlebrush tail in the air, but Harry was already hurrying up the spiral staircase to his dormitory....He would grab the Invisibility Cloak and go back to the library, he'd stay there all night if he had to.... "Lumos," Harry whispered fifteen minutes later as he opened the library door. Wand tip alight, he crept along the bookshelves, pulling down more books - books of hexes and charms, books on merpeople and water monsters, books on famous witches and wizards, on magical inventions, on anything at all that might include one passing reference to underwater survival. He carried them over to a table, then set to work, searching them by the narrow beam of his wand, occasionally checking his watch.... One in the morning...two in the morning...the only way he could keep going was to tell himself, over and over again, next book...in the next one...the next one... The mermaid in the painting in the prefects' bathroom was laughing. Harry was bobbing like a cork in bubbly water next to her rock, while she held his Firebolt over his head. "Come and get it!" she giggled maliciously. "Come on, jump!" "I can't," Harry panted, snatching at the Firebolt, and struggling not to sink. "Give it to me!" But she just poked him painfully in the side with the end of the broomstick, laughing at him. "That hurts - get off - ouch -" "Harry Potter must wake up, sir!" "Stop poking me -" "Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!" Harry opened his eyes. He was still in the library; the Invisibility Cloak had slipped off his head as he'd slept, and the side of his face was stuck to the pages of Where There's a Wand, There's a Way. He sat up, straightening his glasses, blinking in the bright daylight. "Harry Potter needs to hurry!" squeaked Dobby. "The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter -" "Ten minutes?" Harry croaked. "Ten - ten minutes?" He looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Harry's chest into his stomach. "Hurry, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry's sleeve. "You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!" "It's too late, Dobby," Harry said hopelessly. "I'm not doing the task, I don't know how -" "Harry Potter will do the task!" squeaked the elf. "Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!" "What?" said Harry. "But you don't know what the second task is -" "Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Wheezy -" "Find my what?" "- and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!" "What's a Wheezy?" "Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy-Wheezy who is giving Dobby his sweater!" Dobby plucked at the shrunken maroon sweater he was now wearing over his shorts. "What?" Harry gasped. "They've got...they've got Ron?" "The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!" squeaked Dobby. "'But past an hour-'" "- 'the prospect's black,'" Harry recited, staring, horror-struck, at the elf. "'Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby - what've I got to do?" "You has to eat this, sir!" squeaked the elf, and he put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, grayish-green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, sir - gillyweed!" "What's it do?" said Harry, staring at the gillyweed. "It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!" "Dobby," said Harry frantically, "listen - are you sure about this?" He couldn't quite forget that the last time Dobby had tried to "help" him, he had ended up with no bones in his right arm. "Dobby is quite sure, sir!" said the elf earnestly. "Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next task....Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his Wheezy!" Harry's doubts vanished. Jumping to his feet he pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into his bag, grabbed the gillyweed, and put it into his pocket, then tore out of the library with Dobby at his heels. "Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!" Dobby squealed as they burst into the corridor. "Dobby will be missed - good luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!" "See you later, Dobby!" Harry shouted, and he sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time. The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as Harry flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as he leapt down the stone steps and out onto the bright, chilly grounds. As he pounded down the lawn he saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as Harry ran flat-out around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges' table, watching Harry sprint toward them. "I'm...here..." Harry panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes. "Where have you been?" said a bossy, disapproving voice. "The task's about to start!" Harry looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges' table - Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again. "Now, now, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see Harry. "Let him catch his breath!" Dumbledore smiled at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see him....It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up. Harry bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath; he had a stitch in his side that felt as though he had a knife between his ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it; Ludo Bagman was now moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at intervals of ten feet. Harry was on the very end of the line, next to Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready. "All right. Harry?" Bagman whispered as he moved Harry a few feet farther away from Krum. "Know what you're going to do?" "Yeah," Harry panted, massaging his ribs. Bagman gave Harry's shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to the judges' table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One...two...three!" The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake. It was so cold he felt the skin on his legs searing as though this were fire, not icy water. His sodden robes weighed him down as he walked in deeper; now the water was over his knees, and his rapidly numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. He was chewing the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it felt unpleasantly slimy and rubbery, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the freezing water he stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to happen. He could hear laughter in the crowd and knew he must look stupid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goose pimples; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting his hair, Harry started to shiver violently. He avoided looking at the stands; the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeering from the Slytherins.... Then, quite suddenly, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had been pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck - Harry clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping in the cold air....He had gills. Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense - he flung himself forward into the water. The first gulp of icy lake water felt like the breath of life. His head had stopped spinning; he took another great gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through his gills, sending oxygen back to his brain. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet - they had become elongated and the toes were webbed too: It looked as though he had sprouted flippers. The water didn't feel icy anymore either...on the contrary, he felt pleasantly cool and very light....Harry struck out once more, marveling at how far and fast his flipper-like feet propelled him through the vater, and noticing how clearly he could see, and how he no longer seemed to need to blink. He had soon swum so far into the lake that he could no longer see the bottom. He flipped over and dived into its depths. Silence pressed upon his ears as he soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. He could only see ten feet around him, so that as he sped throuugh the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the incoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. He swam deeper and deeper, out toward the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily gray-lit water around him to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. Small fish flickered past him like silver darts. Once or twice he thought he saw something larger moving ahead of him, but when he got nearer, he discovered it to be nothing but a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron - nor, thankfully, the giant squid. Light green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom...and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle. Harry twisted his body around and saw a grindylow, a small, horned water demon, poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Harry's leg, its pointed fangs bared - Harry stuck his webbed hand quickly inside his robes and fumbled for his wand. By the time he had grasped it, two more grindylows had risen out of the weed, had seized handfuls of Harry's robes, and were attempting to drag him down. "Relashio!" Harry shouted, except that no sound came out....A large bubble issued from his mouth, and his wand, instead of sending sparks at the grindylows, pelted them with what seemed to be a jet of boiling water, for where it struck them, angry red patches appeared on their green skin. Harry pulled his ankle out of the grindylows grip and swam, as fast as he could, occasionally sending more jets of hot water over his shoulder at random; every now and then he felt one of the grindylows snatch at his foot again, and he kicked out, hard; finally, he felt his foot connect with a horned skull, and looking back, saw the dazed grindylow floating away, cross-eyed, while its fellows shook their fists at Harry and sank back into the weed. Harry slowed down a little, slipped his wand back inside his robes, and looked around, listening again. He turned full circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against his eardrums. He knew he must be even deeper in the lake now, but nothing was moving but the rippling weed. "How are you getting on?" Harry thought he was having a heart attack. He whipped around and saw Moaning Myrtle floating hazily in front of him, gazing at him through her thick, pearly glasses. "Myrtle!" Harry tried to shout - but once again, nothing came out of his mouth but a very large bubble. Moaning Myrtle actually giggled. "You want to try over there!" she said, pointing. "I won't come with you....I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close...." Harry gave her the thumbs-up to show his thanks and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more grindylows that might be lurking there. He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mersong. "An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took..." Harry swam faster and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid. Harry swam on past the rock, following the mersong. "...your time's half gone, so tarry not Lest what you seek stays here to rot...." A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces...faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects' bathroom.... The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands. Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to one another. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes. A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson. Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made Harry feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister. All four of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths. Harry sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. For a fleeting second he thought of the knife Sirius had bought him for Christmas - locked in his trunk in the castle a quarter of a mile away, no use to him whatsoever. He looked around. Many of the merpeople surrounding them were carrying spears. He swam swiftly toward a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. "We do not help," he said in a harsh, croaky voice. "Come ON!" Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp...anything... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of the water. Harry looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock, and began to hack at her bindings too - At once, several pairs of strong gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads, and laughing. "You take your own hostage," one of them said to him. "Leave the others..." "No way!" said Harry furiously - but only two large bubbles came out. Your task is to retrieve your own friend...leave the others..." She's my friend too!" Harry yelled, gesturing toward Hermione, an enormous silver bubble emerging soundlessly from his lips. "And I don't want them to die either!" Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. Harry looked wildly around. Where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Ron to the surface and come back down for Hermione and the others? Would he be able to find them again? He looked down at his watch to see how much time was left - it had stopped working. But then the merpeople around him pointed excitedly over his head. Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. "Got lost!" he mouthed, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!" Feeling enormously relieved, Harry watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and cut Cho free. He pulled her upward and out of sight. Harry looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, and according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour.... The merpeople started screeching animatedly. Those holding Harry loosened their grip, staring behind them. Harry turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water toward them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark....It was Krum. He appeared to have transfigured himself - but badly. The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller than a dolphin, and Harry was quite sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he was going to rip Hermione in half. Darting forward. Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist, and without a backward glance, began to rise rapidly with her toward the surface. Now what? Harry thought desperately. If he could be sure that Fleur was coming....But still no sign. There was nothing to be done except... He snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Ron and the little girl, shaking their heads at him. Harry pulled out his wand. "Get out of the way!" Only bubbles flew out of his mouth, but he had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood him, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon Harry's wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of him, but Harry could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did. "You've got until three!" Harry shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from him, but he held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. "One..." (he put down a finger) "two..."(he put down a second one) - They scattered. Harry darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the small girl to the statue, and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forward; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down....He fixed his eyes skyward, though he knew he must still be very deep, the water above him was so dark.... Merpeople were rising with him. He could see them swirling around him with ease, watching him struggle through the water....Would they pull him back down to the depths when the time was up? Did they perhaps eat humans? Harry's legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; his shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Ron and the girl... He was drawing breath with extreme difficulty. He could feel pain on the sides of his neck again...he was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in his mouth...yet the darkness was definitely thinning now...he could see daylight above him.... He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet...water was flooding through his mouth into his lungs...he was starting to feel dizzy, but he knew light and air were only ten feet above him...he had to get there...he had to... Harry kicked his legs so hard and fast it felt as though his muscles were screaming in protest; his very brain felt waterlogged, he couldn't breathe, he needed oxygen, he had to keep going, he could not stop - And then he felt his head break the surface of the lake; wonderful, cold, clear air was making his wet face sting; he gulped it down, feeling as though he had never breathed properly before, and, panting, pulled Ron and the little girl up with him. All around him, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water with him, but they were smiling at him. The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet; Harry had the impression they thought that Ron and the little girl might be dead, but they were wrong...both of them had opened their eyes; the girl looked scared and confused, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" Then he spotted Fleur's sister. "What did you bring her for?" "Fleur didn't turn up, I couldn't leave her," Harry panted. "Harry, you prat," said Ron, "you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!" "The song said -" "It was only to make sure you got back inside the time limit!" said Ron. "I hope you didn't waste time down there acting the hero!" Harry felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very well for Ron; he'd been asleep, he hadn't felt how eerie it was down in the lake, surrounded by spear-carrying merpeople who'd looked more than capable of murder. "C'mon," Harry said shortly, "help me with her, I don't think she can swim very well." They pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back toward the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honor, singing their horrible screechy songs. Harry could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Harry and Ron from the bank as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. Meanwhile Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water. "Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?" "She's fine!" Harry tried to tell her, but he was so exhausted he could hardly talk, let alone shout. Percy seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank ("Gerroff, Percy, I'm all right!"); Dumbledore and Bagman were pulling Harry upright; Fleur had broken free of Madame Maxime and was hugging her sister. "It was ze grindylows...zey attacked me...oh Gabrielle, I thought...I thought..." "Come here, you," said Madam Pomfrey. She seized Harry and pulled him over to Hermione and the others, wrapped him so tightly in a blanket that he felt as though he were in a straitjacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down his throat. Steam gushed out of his ears. "Harry, well done!" Hermione cried. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!" "Well -" said Harry. He would have told her about Dobby, but he had just noticed Karkaroff watching him. He was the only judge who had not left the table; the only judge not showing signs of pleasure and relief that Harry, Ron, and Fleur's sister had got back safely. "Yeah, that's right," said Harry, raising his voice slightly so that Karkaroff could hear him. "You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," said Krum. Harry had the impression that Krum was drawing her attention back onto himself; perhaps to remind her that he had just rescued her from the lake, but Hermione brushed away the beetle impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit, though, Harry....Did it take you ages to find us?" "No...I found you okay...." Harry's feeling of stupidity was growing. Now he was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledores safety precautions wouldn't have permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn't turned up. Why hadn't he just grabbed Ron and gone? He would have been first back....Cedric and Krum hadn't wasted time worrying about anyone else; they hadn't taken the mersong seriously.... Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think." The judges went into a huddle. Madam Pomfrey had gone to rescue Ron from Percy's clutches; she led him over to Harry and the others, gave him a blanket and some Pepperup Potion, then went to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them. "Look after Gabrielle," she told her, and then she turned to Harry. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage." "Yeah," said Harry, who was now heartily wishing he'd left all three girls tied to the statue. Fleur bent down, kissed Harry twice on each cheek (he felt his face burn and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of his ears again), then said to Ron, "And you too-you 'elped -" "Yeah," said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit -" Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Hermione looked simply furious, but just then, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows.... "Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points." Applause from the stands. "I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head. "Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; Harry saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look. "We therefore award him forty-seven points." Harry's heart sank. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, he most certainly had been. "Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points." Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior. "Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own." Ron and Hermione both gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. "Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However...Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points." Harry's stomach leapt - he was now tying for first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione, caught by surprise, stared at Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd. "There you go. Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fiber!" Fleur was clapping very hard too, but Krum didn't look happy at all. He attempted to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen. "The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions." It was over. Harry thought dazedly, as Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes...it was over, he had got through...he didn't have to worry about anything now until June the twenty-fourth.... Next time he was in Hogsmeade, Harry decided as he walked back up the stone steps into the castle, he was going to buy Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.