At dusk, Harry felt the heavy weight of the Golden Egg in his pocket as he and Ron walked down to the edge of the Black Lake. It had taken him quite a bit of effort to find a secluded enough spot so no one would see him jumping into the lake in the middle of winter, looking like a complete idiot.
—The Prefects' bathroom must be nice and warm.
Harry thought sourly.
But then he remembered Cedric and Cho Chang walking up and down the corridors with their arms linked, and decided he'd rather freeze himself to death than go to Cedric's Prefects' bathroom to listen to the clue in the Golden Egg.
"Seriously, mate, are you really going to jump into the lake?"
Ron was clutching a thick wool blanket, and he cast a worried glance at the pitch-black water. "There's a Giant Squid in there, you know! And the water's got to be bloody freezing right now!"
"I know, but the Giant Squid never hurts students. It even rescues people who fall in!"
Harry tried hard to make his expression look relaxed. He said, "Don't worry, I'll get out as soon as I've heard the clue—it'll only be a few minutes at most!"
He gritted his teeth, worried that if he hesitated any longer he'd lose the courage to go in at all, and briskly started undressing. The moment he took his jumper off, a gust of cold wind hit him, making every hair on his body stand on end; Harry almost regretted it instantly.
Regretting it all the while, he stripped off the rest of his clothes even faster, handed them to Ron, then clenched his jaw and waded into the lake.
It was so cold.
The water was so cold that it burned his legs, the skin stinging as if it were on fire. He was shivering all over; when the water reached his waist, Harry took a deep breath, held it, ducked down and submerged himself, then opened the Golden Egg as fast as he could.
[Come now, come and seek us… the Heart of Steel sleeps in the dark… when the three become one, you will know where to go… only wisdom and courage may pass…]
After listening to it once and confirming it was exactly the same as what Vid had written down, Harry shot toward the surface and stuck his head out of the water, only to realize he'd somehow drifted quite a distance out. He hurriedly swam back toward the shore.
"Careful, Harry, behind you!"
Ron suddenly screamed in terror from the bank.
Harry whipped around and saw several ripples racing toward him. He ducked under the water and looked back, just in time to see a group of Merpeople surging up from the lakebed, heading straight for him!
Harry thrashed his arms and legs in panic, swimming frantically for the shore, but compared to the Merpeople he felt as slow as a snail.
They're going to catch me!
He heard the water break behind him and could practically feel the sharpness of their nails at the back of his head. Just then, a sudden surge of water exploded outward in the lake, forcing back the Merpeople that were closing in.
"Come on, Harry!"
Ron, having successfully cast the Spell, grabbed Harry by the collar and dragged him stumbling toward the bank. With both their legs still in the water, every step was an effort, splashing loudly as they went.
As Harry coughed and spluttered, he heard a Merperson say angrily, in halting English:
"No come again! Human! Time we agreed not yet!"
"Whoosh—"
Ron gave a hard yank, and Harry was completely out of the water; he could feel stiff grass roots poking into his back.
"Cough—cough—cough—cough…"
He lay on the ground, hacking so hard it sounded like the sky was falling.
Ron thumped him on the back and cast a nervous glance at the now-calm surface of the lake.
"That was bloody mental! Why did they attack you?"
"Maybe… they thought I was trying to cheat?" Harry panted. "This is where the second task is going to be held… the sound in the Golden Egg is the Merpeople's song, and it must've called them all here…"
Ron swallowed hard and asked in disbelief, "So… you have to go down into the Black Lake for the second task? Right under the noses of those monsters? Has the Ministry of Magic gone mad? Are they trying to get you killed?"
He'd been really jealous before, and secretly a bit resentful, that Harry had been chosen as the Champion representing their school, but at this moment Ron was extremely relieved that he hadn't been picked by the Goblet of Fire.
"There'll be some way… Vid knows where the task is too, and he's not worried at all…" Harry said, shivering so hard his teeth chattered.
Ron shivered as well. "Let's just get back, quick. Bloody hell, I'm soaked through!"
Harry nodded, too cold to speak, and hurriedly snatched his clothes up off the ground and pulled them on in a jumble.
"Warm breeze, warm breeze… achoo!" Ron rubbed his nose and muttered, "How did that Spell Vid used go again?"
Harry dragged him away. "Forget it! I just want to get to a fireplace as fast as possible!"
…
After that little episode, both of them, unsurprisingly, came down with colds and were each dosed with a bottle of Magic Potion by Madam Pomfrey. When Harry went to the Umbrella House with his homework, his ears were still steaming.
When he'd come bursting out of the water his heart had almost leapt out of his throat, but looking back on it afterward he only felt the thrill and excitement.
Harry described his experience to the others in detail. When he finished, everyone glanced at one another, their expressions a bit odd.
"I seem to recall—" Padma said slowly, "the Black Family is in Hogsmeade. Why didn't you just take the Golden Egg and soak in his bathtub to listen to the clue?"
Harry: "…"
—You can do that?!
Then Padma appeared to have figured out the reason. "Is it because there hasn't been a Hogsmeade weekend yet, and you couldn't wait?"
Fred propped up his chin. "But I remember I told you about loads of secret passages! Did you forget all of them?"
Harry: "…"
Thanks, please stop reminding me how thick I am.
"Actually, I happened to hear that the professors all have bathtubs in their quarters, so you wouldn't even have to break any rules to…"
Hermione said carefully, her expression cautious, "Of course, the rules say the professors at school aren't allowed to help the Champions, but I don't think just borrowing a bathroom really counts as help."
Harry's face was expressionless. He didn't want to say anything.
Vid laughed. "Harry's little adventure might've been reckless, but it was worthwhile. At least he picked up some intel on the Merpeople."
Harry was grateful to Vid for helping him salvage a bit of dignity, but when he thought about it carefully—what intel had he actually gathered?
That Merpeople swam very fast?
That was common knowledge.
Harry had originally been planning to ask Vid how to survive underwater with no air. But now, for some reason, he didn't feel like asking anymore.
When Hermione brought it up, Harry forced himself to say, "I have a few ideas… I just need to sort them out a bit more."
Hermione believed him and was really pleased.
Behind her back, Harry spent several days frantically scouring books, but he came up empty-handed. He secretly wrote to Sirius, and his ever-reliable godfather did indeed come up with a solution—
"That's easy. All you need is a Spell, and you'll be able to breathe normally underwater!"
"Come to Hogsmeade tomorrow, then. I'm free, so I can teach you the Bubble Head Charm."