Title: Swim Little Fish, Swim
The second task was upon them much sooner than any of them expected. Time sure does fly when you're stressed as fuck and have no clue what to do about someone sneaking into what was supposed to be the most protected wizarding building in all of the magical lands. (Steph wasn't sure who exactly thought that was true, seeing as in the last 4 years, multiple people have been able to infiltrate the castle & attack its students, not to mention the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Honestly, the history book authors were such liars and she doesn't want to know how much they were paid to lie about the safety of the castle.)
Anyway...
Steph was currently looking for Tim, Jason, & Damian, who seemed to have disappeared into thin air, which really wasn't all that surprising. Those three loved to meddle where they really shouldn't when they were by themselves. Put them together and you definitely had an uncontrollable team of teens with little to no preservation skills. And finding secret passageways in Hogwarts was right up their alley.
She doesn't get paid enough for this.
...
Tim was in a dark hallway, using his wand to light the path in front of him, and illuminate the map in Jason's hands.
"Okay, it says that it opens up in front of us." Jason whispered, peering down at the map with squinted eyes. "Damn, I need glasses."
Damian tt'd from behind him, rolling his eyes. "Nonsense, Todd. You are not a cat, nor a bat. Humans were not made to see in the dark. You are fine... Idiot."
Tim snickered at Jason's indignant huff, smiling softly at Damian's... weird way of complimenting their older brother.
Tim narrowed his eyes as he saw the dead end in front of him. "Either the map is wrong..."
"Or there's a false door." Jason finished, reaching out a hand to knock against the stone.
Damian sighed, shoving his older brothers aside, and crouching, running his fingers across the seam. "Turn off the light."
Tim did so, plunging them into darkness.
Well, darkness with a small, almost unnoticeable if you weren't a bat stream of light coming from the bottom of the wall.
"Bingpot." Tim whispered, as Damian dug his fingers under the slit to slowly open the doorway.
They were sent into stunned silence.
"Huh." Jason finally whispered.
They stepped out of the tree and into the surrounding forest. They had found themselves deep in the Forbidden Forest.
"Well." Jason said, breaking the silence. "That's not good."
Tim sighed. "Nope. Definitely not."
...
That evening, all of them were sharing plans in their secret language, confusing everyone around them but not caring one bit.
That's just how they do things, I guess.
Dick whispered that he already had a plan for tomorrow that would definitely work (he was very confident) and Jason told the rest of them about the passageway that they would need to put sensors in, that would warn them when someone entered or left.
Tim and Barbara had told everyone that they were working on camera prototypes that were supposed to work even though they were surrounded by magic, and that this would be the perfect way to test and see if they work.
That night, they went to bed with hearts full of apprehension for the next day.
None of them noticed that one of their own didn't crawl into their bed that night.
...
The next morning, Dick was standing on the pier, staring down at the murky water, mind going a mile a minute as he collected the details of it and his competitors.
Harry Potter was not yet here.
The water was deep, and he couldn't imagine what exactly it could be hiding that was so important he couldn't live without it.
Victor Krum was hiding his wand like it was a lifeline.
Fluer Delacour looked very nervous, fiddling with her fingers anxiously. It was quite a turn from her usual confidence.
Harry finally arrived, just before he would have been disqualified, and the Task began.
The bell went off, and Dick jumped into the water, shoving the rebreather into his mouth.
God Bless Bruce for making the rest of them so paranoid & prepared that he had brought a rebreather with him to Hogwarts.
It certainly does come in handy.
He swam down the lake, his powerful arms pushing him deeper into the water, ignoring the chaos that was the many plants and animals surrounding him.
He wasn't sure where the rest of the competitors were, but he was certain that this task wasn't as simple as just swimming around in the bottom of the lake.
He was proven right when seconds later he was attacked by weird, gross looking creatures with big teeth.
Honestly, he thought he'd seen it all and then these things show up.
Gross.
He jolted away from their gilled arms, whipping out his wand and poking one of them in the eye.
Who says wands can only be used for magic casting?
Anything can be a weapon if you use it the right way.
He continued fighting off the... gross things kicking, poking, and casting random spells to fight them off.
Eventually, he scared them off, and he continued on his way.
It was then he saw the four giant poles at the bottom, just a few yards to his left.
It looked kind of... cultish.
Swimming closer, he saw Harry trying to hack away at the seaweed that was holding up...
People?
Well that is certainly... archaic.
Dick wasn't really surprised, but it did leave a feeling of deep anger to see his littlest brother hanging limp from the pole.
He knew already that this would leave him with nightmares at the possibilities that could have happened.
He's going to kill Dumbledore.
He swam forward quickly, taking a Batarang discreetly out of his pocket.
He was able to cut Damian down quickly enough, and he hoisted his body over his shoulder, lifting him effortlessly despite the fact that he was carrying deadweight.
He glanced over at Harry, who seemed to be silently arguing with the Mermaids about saving everyone.
That kid had more guts than Dick had thought. He nodded at the young Gryffindor, silently asking if he wanted his help. Harry simply shook his head, nodding him away.
Dick felt weird about leaving the rest of them (he recognized Ron and Hermione, though the little blonde girl was a stranger to him) at the bottom, but he could see Krum and his shark head coming closer in the murky water, so he went on his way.
Breaching the top of the lake, he tore the rebreather off his face and shoved it into his pocket (his swimsuit had very deep pockets, something the girls were very upset about. Dick found it hilarious.) and adjusted Damian to give him more access to the air.
Damian suddenly bolted up, surprising Dick as his little brother took gasping breaths, squinting his eyes against the bright light of the sun.
"You okay, Dami?" Dick whispered, ignoring the cheers of the roaring crowd. Damian nodded, clutching Dick's shoulders as he tried to start moving his numb limbs.
They reached the ladder of the deck and found Jason and Cass waiting there with fluffy, warm towels, looking pale with hidden anger.
Yeah, Dumbledore better watch himself. Dick doesn't see the older man getting away with all the shit he's pulled so far.
They were wrapped in the warm towels and were congratulated for being the first to reach the surface. Fluer was a few feet away, tears staining her cheeks as she looked down at the water with desperation.
"Her sister is down there." Duke whispered, noticing Dick's stare. "She was attacked by Grindylows and couldn't make it to the bottom. She's absolutely distraught over it."
Dick frowned, not even being able to imagine how he'd feel if he wasn't able to get to Damian.
Dumbledore was certainly going to pay for this.
Soon, Victor had joined them, bringing Hermione with him.
They all waited with bated breaths as the timer ticked down, Harry still at the bottom.
The timer went off, and seconds later, a familiar red head appeared, helping Fluer's baby sister swim to land.
Fluer was beside herself with relief, rushing over to kiss her sister's face repeatedly, and then kissing Ron, too, causing the 14 year old to turn red.
Harry then launched out of the water, landing on the dock with a shuddered breath.
"What an entrance." Steph whispered, giggling as Tim elbowed her, despite the amused smile he couldn't quite hide.
...
After arguing with the judges, they finally decided that Harry was given a well deserved second place. Dick had tried to convince them to let Harry have first, since he was the first to reach the kidnapped kids, as well as rescuing 2, but it was a no go.
Fluer was last and Dick got first, leaving Krum with third.
The second task was officially finished, and in a few short weeks, they'd be competing in the third one.
.............................
I don't know if you could tell, but I really hate Dumbledore. Like... really, really, really hate him.