First Day of Getting Skunked, Not My Fault
The Black Lake was frozen solid, like a mirror.
Legend has it that a friendly Giant Squid lives below and will use its long tentacles to lift the little wizard ashore when he falls into the water.
There is also an entire Mermaid tribe in the Black Lake. Mermaid, as intelligent humanoid Magical Creatures with a long history, rule over the aquatic animals beneath the lake.
Loren crossed the snow-covered lawn and came to the edge of the Black Lake, gazing at the lake with delight.
I tried to break through the snow on the lake surface with my feet and kicked it twice, but there was no sound at all.
Alright, this ice must be a meter thick, and it's covered in snow. We're sure to be able to catch fish here.
If the ice is thick and covered with snow, the fish underneath may lack oxygen. If you make a hole in the ice, the fish will gather in that direction, and you're guaranteed to get a bite.
Loren felt they should go further in, as it was difficult to open ice eyes on the shore.
Using the Transfiguration to add some anti-slip teeth to the soles of his shoes, Loren trudged deeper and deeper into the ice. The ice was incredibly thick and solid, so there was no need to worry about it cracking and him falling in and getting stuck.
Loren began selecting suitable fishing spots on the ice. He had a plan in mind, generally choosing sunny spots on the north bank. He inferred the underwater conditions by observing the color of the ice. Deeper water was azure blue, while areas with abundant aquatic plants had a bluish-brown tinge. These were generally places with more fish.
After searching and looking around for half an hour, I finally chose a place.
"[Piercing Bolt] "
For some reason, Loren always felt an urge to cast spells on the lake.
Bang!
A hole the size of a disc burst open in the lake, and lake water gushed out from below, washing away the blackness near the hole.
He looked at the hole and nodded in satisfaction. With the ice hole dug, the water would be oxygenated, and the fish would gather here. He was sure to have a great harvest today.
Take some carrots, bread, and chicken thigh meat out of the food box, tear them into small pieces, knead them, and sprinkle them into the ice cave.
With oxygen attracting fish and food baiting the area, a combination of meat and vegetables, Loren could hardly believe how amazing today's catch would be.
Use the Accio to summon pebbles by the lake, conjuring up a deck chair, windshield, fishing rod, fish bucket... fully equipped, thread a chicken leg onto the hook, and easily start your first cast.
Loren sighed, "Transfiguration is truly a blessing for fishermen."
Lying on the deck chair, covered with a warm fur blanket, Loren stared at the buoy on the ice cave, waiting for a good start to the day.
As noon approached, the sun shone through the clouds, casting a warm glow on people's skin, which felt very comfortable.
Loren squinted, carefully sensing the warm sunshine and calm wind—perfect weather for fishing.
The warm sunlight shone on him, and Loren unconsciously became lazy. In this kind of weather, sleeping would be nice too. The float in Loren's eyes gradually blurred.
"Loren! Loren!"
Ron's voice came from behind.
Loren suddenly woke up, ignoring Ron behind him, and hurriedly picked up his fishing rod to check the situation. The bait on the hook had disappeared.
It's heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking. I accidentally fell asleep and missed the first shot.
Behind him, Ron, accompanied by a Hufflepuff boy, stumbled across the ice and walked to Loren's side.
"Loren, what are you doing here?" Ron asked curiously, staring at the fishing rod in front of Loren's chair.
"Fishing."
As Loren spoke, he re-hooked the fish, determined to succeed this time. "What do you need me for?"
"Fishing?" The Hufflepuff boy next to him looked at the fishing rod curiously, quickly understood how it worked, and asked, "Why not use Pulling Charm?"
The Pulling Charm can fire a retractable magical light rope from the tip of the spell, pulling distant objects to the location designated by the caster.
"You're still young, you don't understand that not everything requires magic." Loren's tone was relaxed. It was good that the fish had taken the bait; they wouldn't be empty-handed today.
"What do you want from me?"
Ron picked up the conversation, "This is Rolf Scamander from Hufflepuff. He's asking you about Frozen Pear."
This is normal; several Hufflepuff students have asked me how to do this in the past few days.
Loren looked at the little boy with naturally curly, dark blond hair beside him. "Rolf, it's a pleasure to meet you."
The group quickly started chatting. Rolf and Ron were also interested in fishing, so Loren conjured up two more deck chairs to entertain them.
And so, the three of them lay on the ice, chatting as they waited for Loren's fish to take the bait.
Rolf Scamander knew a lot about Fantastic Beasts and mentioned that in addition to ordinary fish, the Black Lake also contained dark Magical Creatures like Grindylow.
At this point, Rolf suddenly stopped, as if he had remembered something, and looked at Loren with a strange expression, as if he had something to say but couldn't say it.
"How long have you been fishing here?" Rolf asked tentatively.
"It's been a whole morning. I fell asleep just now, and I didn't reel in the fish when it took the bait. It's okay, there will be fish soon." Loren was very confident. In this environment and with this equipment, it was impossible to fail.
"Your bait may have been eaten by Grindylow," Rolf finally told Loren this painful news.
Grindylow are mindless, ferocious dark Magical Creatures that merfolk tame as pets. These creatures are green with green teeth, horns on their heads, and most importantly, Grindylow extremely long fingers.
The bait was probably taken off and eaten by Grindylow's hand, so Loren will never catch a fish.
"No way." Loren's face turned pale upon hearing this. He quickly pulled up the fishing hook to check, and sure enough, the bait on the hook was gone.
Loren closed his eyes in despair, unable to bear watching any longer.
I had everything going for me, but the fish in Black Lake were being uncooperative, taking the bait with my hands. How could I possibly fish like that?
"Hehe, hahahahaha!"
Ron tried to hold back at first, but the more he tried, the more he wanted to laugh, until he burst into unrestrained laughter. "You might as well play chess with me in the Castle."
"What do you know? This is the fish's problem, not mine."
"The local fish are so unruly. I bait the hook and they bite. Isn't that just their right?"
"Fishing is a form of leisure; whether you catch anything or not is not important."
Loren's eyes were glazed over, and he was babbling incoherently.
Then came something like, "The Air Force is impossible, we're already here..."
Loren's eyes began to dart around the Black Lake; he was determined to take something with him.
"I can help you prepare fish food, the kind that Grindylow hates but ordinary fish will eat."
Rolf's words calmed Loren's mind.
Loren stared at Rolf, and even in the sunlight, he could still see the little curly hair on the Hufflepuff's head shining.
The atmosphere became harmonious again, and Loren stopped fishing, planning to pack up his blanket and plates and head home.
I'll leave the pebble here as a marker; this is a great fishing spot. I'll come back tomorrow after preparing the bait.
On their way back to the Castle, they learned during their conversation that Rolf was Newt Scamander's grandson, and that Newt was the author of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" on the first-grade reading list.
The Scamander Family has a long tradition of scholarship, Rolf is very interested in this area, so he understands the characteristics of Grindylow and is able to help Loren prepare fish food.
[P. S.: Rolf Scamander was born in 1980. He was Harry's classmate. This is not my own creation. It's possible that Rowling didn't write the Fantastic Beasts story until later, and he wasn't mentioned in the original Harry Potter books.]
Also, the Pulling Charm" sounds fake, but it's not my creation; it's a real spell in official documentation.
Finally, why didn't I include this in the author's remarks section? Because I wanted to pad the word count a bit, hehehe.