The Second Task

"Four male Champion, one female Champion... you can place bets until the end of the match, want to see, my dear little Ronnie?"

On the stands by the Black Lake, the Weasley Twins, who had been busy all morning, were trying to sell gambling to their younger brother, Ron, who had some spare change on him.

"Phoebe pays out ten times the price..."

"Harry is 1 to 8!"

Ron remained indifferent, unmoved, and even yawned. "Don't think I don't know that as soon as I place a bet, you'll steal my money and then threaten me by writing letters to my parents..."

"Wow, little Ron has become smarter!" George and Fred exclaimed in surprise.

Ron smugly hummed twice, raised his chin, and strode away.

Harry got up early to prepare for the game, and his other roommates also got up one after another to watch the game. Only he had a messy mind last night, as if dozens of Peeves were yelling in his ears, which caused him to stay awake until dawn before losing consciousness, so he woke up late.

Harry's darling is Ginny! It's infuriating! Just a few days ago, they were both condemning people who were dating, and now his best friend is dating his sister!

And Ginny, this was supposed to be his moment to shine...

Ron looked around, intending to find someone to give those two a good scolding.

The tower-like stands were set up on the water and had several levels. Loren and Hermione sat in a corner on the side, looking down at the water and whispering to each other, probably observing the movements underwater.

Neville was in the front row, while Seamus and Dean sat further back, with Creevey and his brother, taking pictures of the dark gray water.

Another die-hard Harry Potter fan.

After a moment's thought, Ron decided to go and confront Loren about Harry first.

Because he had pressed the little Witch's leg until it went numb, Loren was forced back to a normal sitting position, holding an empty bag of Chips, and staring blankly as the fish ate the Chips that had fallen into the water.

He poked the little Witch's thigh and complained, "It's all your fault! Couldn't you have just told me to come down and talked to me properly? You had to resort to violence, and now I've spilled all my Chips!"

"You're going to feed the fish anyway."

"Can you feed them all?" Loren poked at the food with a tense face. "I don't have anything to eat anymore."

"Here's your compensation." Hermione took a brand new, unopened bag of Chips from her pendant and handed it to her.

"Feed me!"

Hermione's face showed a hint of helplessness, but she still tore open the packaging bag, silently picked up the Chips, and fed them to him.

Ron, who was about to approach, paused for a moment upon seeing this.

Damn it, another couple in love!

He turned away in disgust, thinking that his good friend Neville was still the most reliable.

Suddenly, a girl appeared beside Neville; it was Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff. The two were very close as they spoke, their faces showing affectionate smiles.

"..."

Ron fell silent.

What's so great about dating? Can't we just focus on our studies?

Just then, Creevey, who was in charge of taking pictures, suddenly screamed, "Look! Someone's coming out!"

"[Stunning Spell] "

Harry aimed his wand at Grindylow, who was clinging tightly to his legs, and instead of sparks, it seemed to shoot a jet of boiling water at them. Where the water struck them, their green skin turned bright red, and the ugly, ferocious water monsters immediately drifted to the bottom of the water.

Harry freed his feet from Grindylow's grasp. Now his feet were completely different from normal human feet; his toes had grown longer and were webbed in the middle, making them look like duck feet.

I thought the challenge underwater would be swimming, but I didn't expect these water monsters to be the real problem.

Fortunately, the Gillyweed came in handy. Harry swam forward with his flippers, leaving Grindylow far behind, and occasionally blasting jets of hot water behind him.

Occasionally, Grindylow would grab his foot again; if there were only a few, he would kick them away forcefully, and if there were many, he would use a spell.

He didn't know how many Grindylow he had knocked out, but finally he felt his foot hit a horned head. Looking down, he saw more than a dozen Grindylow floating around him, knocked unconscious, their eyes glazed over as they drifted downstream. A few conscious Grindylow waved their fists at Harry and disappeared into the seaweed.

A smile appeared on Harry's face as he swam faster, using his flippers, towards the direction Moaning Myrtle had pointed.

Arriving at the Mermaid village and then at the somewhat familiar statue square, Harry saw the bass-baritone Mermaid again.

"Your project is to rescue your own friend..." the deep-voiced Mermaid said. He seemed to be the "kidnapper leader," with dozens of menacing Mermaid standing behind him, holding harpoons and glaring fiercely.

Harry's gaze passed over the group of Mermaid and landed on the tail of the Merman Statue, where five Champion treasures were firmly bound.

Ginny was chained between Cho Chang and Gabrielle, along with Bute from Ilvermorny and the tall girl from Durmstrang. All five of them looked to be fast asleep, their heads slumped limply on their shoulders, and tiny bubbles constantly rising from their mouths.

Just as he was assessing the situation, the Mermaid around him suddenly began to chatter excitedly, looking up at the top of his head.

Cedric swam toward them, a huge bubble around his head. The refraction of water against air made his features appear elongated and widened, making him look quite comical.

He saw Harry's gills, a slight smile appearing on his face, and mouthed, "Nice look."

Harry looked at his contorted features and smiled.

As he spoke, Cedric pulled a knife from his pocket, cut the rope, put one of Cho Chang's hands on his shoulder, and placed his right hand on Cho Chang's waist.

Harry's smile faded; although he was no longer infatuated with Cho Chang, he was still unhappy.

"Stop spacing out, Gravis and Krum are coming soon." Cedric put his arm around Cho Chang and swam upwards, disappearing from sight in no time.

Gravis and Krum... where's Phoebe?

A hint of doubt flashed through Harry's mind. With some kind of worry, he did not immediately take Ginny away, but stayed beside the hostage, slowly swimming around.

Five minutes later, the Mermaid suddenly screamed joyfully. Harry turned his head and saw a huge creature swimming towards them. It had a human body, was wearing swimming trunks, and had a shark head on top.

Harry observed him, unsure whether the appearance was intentionally designed by him or if the Transfiguration was unsuccessful and only half completed.

Krum, the half-human shark, swam straight towards the big girl and started biting and pulling at the ropes binding her. The problem was that his new teeth had a strange structure, and anything small would get stuck in the gaps between them, so biting for a long time was useless.

It certainly looked like a shark brain... Harry casually cast a Cutting Charm, severing his ropes.

Krum glanced at him, then turned and grabbed the girl, swimming upwards and quickly raising her to the surface.

Following closely behind was Gravis of Ilvermorny. He had no bubbles on his head, no fish fins or webs on his body, and his lips were tightly pressed together. He swam over in the appearance of an ordinary human.

His skin was red and his limbs were trembling; he looked extremely cold.

Gravis glanced at Harry, who was standing guard beside the hostage, his expression seemingly suspicious. He didn't speak, but instead cast Cutting Charm with trembling hands to sever the ropes. He then lifted Bute onto his shoulder and floated up a short distance before turning back to ask:

"Why aren't you leaving? What are you waiting for?"

A string of large silver bubbles emerged from between his lips. His accent and tone were strange, and Harry immediately understood what he had in his mouth, which sounded very similar to the way he spoke when he had Mandrake in his mouth.

Have you seen Phoebe?

Gravis pointed to the water, gurgling as he spoke, "Her Bubble-Head Charm broke, and she's already on land."

"What about Gabrielle?"

"Don't worry, everything will be fine!"

Harry didn't answer, but looked at the two remaining hostages. Gabrielle's head was resting on Ginny's shoulder, her silver hair was flowing in the water, and her face was pale.

Although he didn't think anything would happen, looking at the little girl's lifeless face, Harry clenched his wand.

He dared not gamble.

Gravis, still hovering above, looked at the youngest and smallest Champion with a puzzled expression.

"[Sectumsempra] "

With a single spell, Harry precisely sliced the two ropes, grabbed one of the men by the back of his collar, and vigorously swam upwards using his flippers.

Harry swam several times, but still felt no resistance from the water, and the scenery around him remained unchanged. He looked down and saw the water plants wrapped around his ankles, and fell silent.

Was my action just now particularly stupid?

Gravis grinned and exhaled a string of bubbles; if you could hear his question, you would definitely nod vigorously.

"Your project is to rescue your own friend, ignore everyone else," the deep-voiced Mermaid said expressionlessly.

"She's my friend too!" Harry shouted, pointing at Gabrielle.

The bass-baring Mermaid pointed the harpoon at him. "Your referee Crouch specifically instructed that each Champion can only take one hostage. That's the rule!"

The Mermaid around him stopped smiling and stared at Harry with their yellow eyes.

Harry heard Hermione's voice in his mind. After returning from the underwater trip, she had read a lot of information about Mermaid and kept talking about it while doing her homework. He also absorbed some useful information, such as that most Mermaid knew nothing about magic.

Harry swept Ginny up in his arms, his fingers gripping Gabrielle's collar, and used one hand to point his wand at the Mermaid.

He exhaled a string of bubbles. "I'll count to three!"

Before he could even begin counting, the Mermaid scattered and swarmed forward.

Mermaid were prying his fingers apart, pulling at the hostage and the wand in their hands; Mermaid were dragging him down; and Mermaid were covering his mouth...

He struggled to paddle with his webbed feet, but couldn't lift himself up at all. Ginny and Gabrielle were like two sacks full of potatoes, dragging him down... Harry swam with all his might until his legs were stiff and his shoulders ached terribly from being dragged down by Ginny and Gabrielle.

They swim so slowly.

Harry looked up and knew he was still very deep underwater; the surface was still pitch black.

"A rigid Britain gentleman..."

Gravis rolled his eyes, took Bute's hand, turned around, and pointed his wand at the surging Mermaid of mermaids below.

"[Expelliarmus] "

On the referee's stand, Principal Aegilbert Headmaster Fontana stared intently at the water with a grave expression. The one-hour deadline was fast approaching, and their Champion from Ilvermorny still hadn't emerged.

Madam Maxime's face darkened further. Phoebe Delacour was the first to come out, but that was because the Bubble-Head Charm broke, causing her to lose the match. Beauxbatons was destined to finish last in this round.

Commentator and referee Bagman glanced at Karkaroff discreetly and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Durmstrang's Champion were the second to complete the mission and emerge from the water. In the past, Karkaroff would have been making sarcastic and unrestrained jokes about the other schools at this point.

Surprisingly, it was quite quiet today!

"Both are Bubble-Head Charm, Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts is highly skilled. In comparison, Miss Delacour Phoebe Delacour hasn't fully mastered it yet. Headmaster Dumbledore's teaching has been very successful," Crouch said slowly.

Madam Maxime's face darkened further. "Don't forget, there's still a Champion down there from Hogwarts who might have drowned because of his recklessness!"

Dumbledore unmoved, his smile still gentle, "I believe in Harry."

"..."

Fontana, sitting in the middle, felt he should say something to break the awkward atmosphere, "Mr. Crouch, please tell us about the underwater situation. You and Mr. Bagman have done a lot of testing, so you should know a lot about it."

Bagman's expression froze, and he looked resentfully at Crouch beside him.

"It was just following the procedure in the plan to prevent any accidents," Crouch said unhurriedly. "Speaking of underwater, I'd like to ask Headmaster Fontana, how do the Champion of Ilvermorny breathe underwater? Your method seems to be different from everyone else's?"

"Well..." Fontana laughed, "It's the leaf of a strange magical plant, Ilvermorny, so I won't go into details."

A glint flashed in Crouch's eyes.

"They're out! They're all out!"

Cheers suddenly erupted from the stands, and the young wizards stood up noisily.

With magical support, Harry, Gravis, Bute, Ginny, and Gabrielle broke through the water's surface and crashed onto the shore.

The three hostages opened their eyes. They were unconscious underwater and unaware of what had happened; their expressions were terrified and confused.

Gravis spat out the chewed-up rotten leaf and gulped down the fresh, wonderful air. "You've ruined me, you brainless Britain gentleman."

"You too, kind-hearted America wizard."

Harry was panting but laughing heartily. His gills and webbed feet retracted into his flesh and disappeared, leaving only faint red marks.

He saw many green, disheveled heads emerging from the water, and a bass-baring Mermaid smiled kindly at him.

Outside the crowd, Loren shook the bag of Chips at him, with Hermione standing beside him.

Madam Pomfrey draped a thick blanket over them, and Ron nervously dried Ginny's hair with a towel, muttering complaints about wasting time.

Amidst the chaotic noise, Ginny let Ron shake her head back and forth, in a good mood, her eyes fixed on Harry without blinking.

Suddenly, she saw someone rush over and rub their lips against Harry's cheek, utterly shameless!

Phoebe thanked her excitedly, "You saved her, even though it wasn't your job! Thank you!"

Ginny lowered her head silently, feeling her fist harden.