The Second Task Begins!

"Hermione, this is the Prefect's Lavatory..."

A luxurious chandelier with lit candles cast a warm, soft light into the room. Everything was made of snow-white marble, including the central sunken bathtub, which resembled a rectangular swimming pool. Around a hundred gilded faucets lined the tub, each with a handle inlaid with a different colored gemstone. There was also a diving board. Snow-white linen curtains hung in the windows; a large pile of soft white towels lay in a corner, and only one painting hung on the wall, framed in a gilded frame. The painting depicted a Merpeople, fast asleep on a rock, her long, flowing hair cascading over her face, trembling slightly with each breath.

Daisy knelt beside the bathtub, looking around curiously as she spoke to Hermione.

Wrapped in a bath towel, Hermione turned on several faucets nearby. Daisy was surprised to find that they sprayed out all sorts of bubble bath liquids mixed with hot water, but they were completely different from any bubble bath she had ever experienced before. One faucet sprayed out pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another sprayed out crystal clear, dense and thick foam— Daisy thought that if she were willing to try it, these bubbles would surely hold her up on the surface of the water and prevent her from sinking; the third faucet sprayed out a richly scented purple mist that permeated the surface of the water.

"It's so beautiful," she exclaimed sincerely.

Hermione stretched out her fair legs and dangled them on the edge of the not-yet-full bathtub. "This is probably the most valuable part of the Prefect."

Daisy blinked. "You didn't scold me when you brought me to the Prefect's Lavatory —you've changed, Hermione!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her, annoyed. "Does it make any difference whether I bring you or not? Even if I pointed my finger at you and said that as the best friend of two Prefect, you shouldn't be breaking school rules so often, wouldn't you just ask Harry for the Invisibility Cloak and sneak out? Besides, this is about the Second Task of the Four-School Tournament— "

"You're still the best to me after all—" Daisy giggled and hugged Hermione's arm. "But how did Sean find out? I haven't seen him do any research on it..."

Hermione frowned. "I don't know him. He's so secretive. He could have just told you directly, but he insisted on making you try it yourselves..."

"Damn the rituals," Daisy said definitively.

Just as the two were talking, footsteps approached.

Stephanie walked in wrapped in a bath towel and holding Golden Egg. Her long, silver-white hair was tied up high, and the bun on top was almost the size of her head.

Hermione glanced at Stephanie but didn't seem particularly enthusiastic; Daisy, on the other hand, greeted her with great delight.

Little White Flower didn't really know what was going on. On the day of the Christmas Ball, she originally thought that Hermione and Stephanie had suddenly become allies on the same side—but after the Christmas Ball ended, the two returned to their usual lukewarm attitude.

Sean and Daisy had always wanted to know what kind of conversation the two had had, but neither of them dared to ask, whether it was Hermione or Stephanie.

Moreover, as Sean's dance partner at the Christmas Ball, Daisy always felt a sense of guilt.

After a brief greeting, the bathtub was already filled with hot water and bubbles, and three bath towels were tossed aside amidst the rising steam.

"Phew—" Daisy soaked in the hot water and let out a comfortable sigh.

Looking at the rise and fall of the Little White Flower, Hermione and Stephanie couldn't help but glance at it first, then looked at their own chests.

The two of them moved a little further away from the Little White Flower without prior arrangement.

The two even had the same thought pop into their minds—Does Sean ...like big ones?

Daisy looked to both sides, somewhat puzzled, wondering why the two people were so far away from her...

The trio is quite interesting – Stephanie is the oldest of the three girls, but apart from her male attire at the Christmas Ball, she is only 1.5 meters tall, which is her normal height – Stephanie never told Sean that she had "grown" three centimeters after they met.

Hermione is the second tallest at her age, currently standing at 1.63 meters. She estimates she can grow another two or three centimeters—maybe.

Daisy, the youngest of the three girls and who has suffered a lot since childhood, is actually the tallest. She compared herself to Hermione, and at this time last year she was two centimeters shorter than Hermione, but now she is one centimeter taller.

Another reason to keep Stephanie and Hermione away from the Little White Flower in the bath was size.

Stephanie wasn't exactly steel-plated, but she wasn't far off either; Hermione was happy with her height, but not so much with her size—especially when compared to Daisy.

Perhaps it's related to her appetite, but the size of Little White Flower's villa completely overshadows the two of them. To be precise, most people her age would also be overshadowed by her.

However, what Hermione envied and Envy of was that the Little White Flower ate a lot, but she was fat in the right places and thin in the right places.

The water was steaming, and suddenly only the sound of the faucet running could be heard in the bathtub.

Taking a bath isn't scary, but being small is embarrassing—this applies to both men and women.

Of course, if Sean were here, he would definitely say: I don't care about this, and size doesn't matter. They each have their own advantages and various troubles.

The clueless Little White Flower couldn't understand why Stephanie and Hermione had suddenly fallen silent. She blinked in confusion and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Stephanie sank herself a little deeper into the pool, then picked up the Golden Egg and said softly, "Sean said, just put it in the water?"

Once we got back to the main topic, the other two girls also gathered around.

Hermione stared suspiciously at the Golden Egg: "Terry Boot opened it again in the Common Room last time—and the people in the Portraits all protested."

Daisy, on the other hand, trusted Sean completely. "Since Sean said so, he must have tried it."

The three girls exchanged a glance, and then Stephanie submerged the Golden Egg in the water and pressed it down.

This time there was no ear-piercing howl. Instead, a misty golden light emanated from the Golden Egg in the water, and a gurgling song drifted out, but the lyrics were indistinct.

"Should we go underwater to listen?" Hermione asked.

The three of them submerged their heads in the water.

The singing traveled along the water in a clever way to their ears.

Look for us, where our voices can be heard.

We cannot sing on the ground.

When you search, please think carefully:

We stole your most beloved treasure.

You only have one hour.

To find and reclaim the items we took,

After an hour, all hope was lost.

It has vanished completely and will never reappear.

The three girls floated up, each shaking their heads to get their long hair off their eyes.

Hermione frowned and said, "This is the second challenge..."

Stephanie remained calm. "Singing is impossible on land, and this kind of singing—for the second challenge, we'll be facing... Merpeople..."

Blonde Mermaid in a gilded frame on the wall flaunts her fins.

Daisy gave an "Oh," and said rather reluctantly, "But I've seen pictures of Merpeople, and they're not as beautiful as in the Portraits."

"Now is not the time to worry about what the second challenge looks like," Hermione said, frowning. "The only place in Hogwarts with Merpeople is the Black Lake, which means you'll need to go down into the Black Lake ... We need to prepare a way to move freely underwater..."

"The solution isn't the problem," Stephanie said. "I'm more concerned about the content of the competition. Literally, the contestant's beloved possession will be taken away, and if it cannot be retrieved within an hour, it will disappear—speed, method, and completion rate should be the scoring criteria."

The Little White Flower mimicked the two of them, pondering, "My beloved things... the professors wouldn't take all the desserts from my room, would they?!"

Hermione was speechless for a moment. She patted her forehead and said irritably, "How could it be that simple! Besides, if the professor takes your dessert, I'll definitely support him."

"Hermione— " Daisy pouted, looking aggrieved.

Stephanie was half-lying on the edge of the bathtub, her snow-white back exposed, and she murmured to herself, "Besides, each team has three people, so it's impossible for their favorite things to be the same. Of course, it could just be a way of describing it, but we failed to grasp the real meaning..."

"Possibly," Hermione nodded. "Perhaps the biggest use of this clue is to tell the contestants that the second challenge will take place underwater—wizards' fighting power drops drastically when they enter the water, and contestants who haven't found the clue and aren't prepared will face a huge disadvantage."

"I think the key may lie in the cooperation among the participants."

"That's right. This Triwizard Tournament is different from the one hundreds of years ago. With more participants, cooperation will likely become a challenge..."

"Also, pay attention to the time; this time might represent something..."

Listening to the discussion between the two highly intelligent individuals, Little White Flower blinked.

Indeed, it's best to let others think about it...

"Underwater activities are not a problem," Sean said in the Room of Requirement.

They are discussing how to deal with the second challenge.

"Underwater Breathing Potion should be banned, but we can use other methods, such as the Bubble-Head Charm, Transfiguration, or Gillyweed. Of course, if you stay by my side, I can use other methods to allow you to move freely underwater."

Hermione had been thinking, and after hearing Sean finish speaking, she added, "Sean's underwater combat abilities should be far superior to everyone else's, so perhaps we should consider..."

Sean turned around in surprise, then snapped his fingers, "You've gone astray, but you're on the same page as me—I can hold off the Champion from other schools."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Don't forget, there are other creatures in the Black Lake."

"I have Basilisk and Selma Lake Monster..."

"... They must not be released!"

Stephanie, who had been silent until now, said, "But Sean can certainly take on the others. Daisy and I will finish the competition, but just in case, Daisy and I will have a plan for individual underwater activities."

The group continued to discuss the details for a while, Sean decided to give each person a portion of Gillyweed —there was no need to steal this from Snape's storeroom, he had already prepared to buy plenty from the black market, and of course, Snape would definitely give it to Daisy if Daisy asked.

Snape was overjoyed for days after receiving Daisy's Christmas gift—of course, you couldn't tell just by looking at Snape's expression, but you could tell by the pile of Potions he gave Daisy ...

Having made all the preparations carefully, Sean breathed a sigh of relief, "No problem, we'll choose one of the prepared plans based on the specific challenges."

The others nodded.

However, the only thing that puzzled Sean was what exactly his beloved possession was. Did all three of them have to go and rescue Hermione, just like in the original book?

But isn't this a bit too simple?

However, Sean's doubts were soon answered.

A few days later, under the watchful eyes of countless spectators, the Champion stood on the Black Lake.

Sean was surrounded by Reinhardt Nott, Phoebe, Hugo, and Cedric.

Daisy and Stephanie were not at the lake.

At that moment, Ludo Bagman was loudly announcing the rules.

"As you can see, your teammates have already gone to the other two sides of Black Lake. You will all be acting alone. Do you see what you are holding?"

Sean raised his hand; he was holding a lens.

"The clue to the competition has been placed inside the Golden Egg. As for the specific events..." Mr. Bagman pressed his wand against his throat, his Sonorus Charm, "That's where our Champion will need to think!"

"Your teammates are each holding something, so you know what you should do first, right?!"

Sean stood by the lake, still wearing his winter sportswear and not even changing out of his swim trunks, looking somewhat out of place among the swimsuit-clad Champion around him.

"Separating the three of them would be a bit difficult... but Daisy and Stephanie don't need to worry..." Sean muttered to himself as he stretched.

Obviously, the contestants need to reunite with their teammates first. However, in an environment like the Black Lake, reuniting is not an easy task. If they rashly use their wands to send signals, they will be discovered by many Magical Creatures in the Black Lake, which would cause trouble.

The key to the next step should lie in the items each of the three people possess; combining the three items should provide clues pointing to that "beloved item."

But Sean still couldn't figure out what his beloved thing was. His friends were waving happily in the stands, and Hermione, wearing a thick cotton coat, was shouting something at Sean.

She seemed to be informing Sean of Stephanie and Daisy's location— Snape, standing in the professor's stand beside her, made no attempt to stop her. In the past, the Batman would have definitely deducted twenty points from the Prefect for openly violating the rules.

Unfortunately, the referees had already planned ahead, and the audience couldn't hear anything from the lakeside.

Mr. Bagman patted Sean on the shoulder, and then his voice, like thunder, swept across the dark lake and reached the stands.

"Listen up, everyone! Our Champion are in position. I'll blow my whistle, and the Second Task will begin. They have a full hour to reclaim what was stolen from them. I'll count to three. One... two... three!"

"The match begins!"

Thanks to boss [Niaraeth] for the many rewards, thanks to the boss of [Waiting for the Wind] for the rewards, thanks to [O Ouroboros O], [Wen Feng Ming Feng], [Sugar Roasted Chestnuts], [Fu Shu], [Intentionally Clear], [Monster_I], [Book Friends 20200] 707055035652] Wait, wait, wait, thank the bosses for their support and reward, thank [Remicia], [Five Virtues Always], [Yiyue] and other bosses for their monthly votes, thank the leader of the alliance [Zhonglie Gong] for his continued support... Dear Yanzu Yifei, please forgive me if there are any omissions.

Thank you everyone~ヽ(°▽°)ノ

By the way, the comment section was closed recently. I'll post some pictures in the chapter descriptions after it reopens, including rough character designs for characters like Stephanie and Daisy...