Moral Character
Meanwhile, Eleanor and Lucida had also clashed. They exchanged blows, neither giving an inch. However, judging from the relaxed expression on Eleanor's face, she was clearly holding back. Lucida, on the other hand, was extremely serious, her expression grave, each move executed with complete focus, allowing herself almost no room for error.
Skylar appeared. He looked directly at Katarin, a mischievous smile on his face, and said, "I always give special treatment to beautiful women. Are you sure you want to fight me?"
Katarin knew she was doomed. Even if she could defeat Skylar, she couldn't possibly defeat the two brothers working together. Not to mention, once Eleanor dealt with Lucida, she wouldn't have a chance to escape.
She gave a wry smile. "If I admit defeat, what will you do to me?"
"Go away! I don't want to fight you." Skylar shook his head. "But forget about the hostages. You're out of this project!"
Skylar was indeed confident he could capture her, but he didn't want to reveal too much of his strength to Draco and Eleanor, especially since he was certain that Katarin, as the heiress of the first family in France, had some trump cards up her sleeve. After all, he was only there to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, and this battle wasn't part of his original plan.
Katarin glanced at Lucida, who was still struggling and resisting, gritted her teeth, flicked her tail, and quickly swam upwards.
At the same time, Eleanor let out a sharp cry and used a sealing spell to seal Lucida into a container resembling a crystal coffin.
Skylar swam towards Draco and Eleanor, and despite his suspicions, he asked, "Brother, do you have a way to get back to the surface by yourself?"
Seeing Draco nod, he used the Statue Transformation to turn Hector, Lucida, Irina, Miles, and Gallup into stone statues and put them into his Suitcase Space.
Then he said, "Eleanor, there's no time for small talk. We don't have much time left. Let's rescue the hostages first!" Eleanor nodded in agreement.
Skylar used Severing Curse to sever the ropes binding the hostage, then pulled Daphne into his arms. Daphne was still fast asleep, and no one knew what sweet dreams she was having. Even her lips still held a gentle and serene smile, like Sleeping Beauty in a fairy tale, making one want to protect her.
Then, Skylar embraced Daphne with one arm and untied the ropes binding the Beauxbatons student with the other. She was Katarin's hostage, supposedly a disciple of a subordinate family of the Moreau Family, with a status similar to Goyle, Crabbe, and Draco — Katarin's follower.
Skylar didn't act very gently, forcefully throwing her behind him. He reached back and wrapped his arms around her slender waist, hoisting her onto his back. The girl's face was quite pretty; while not as beautiful as most of the women Skylar knew, she wasn't inferior to the likes of Audrey or Tracey. However, her figure was outstanding. Skylar could feel two full, soft mounds pressed tightly against his back.
Eleanor pursed her lips, looking at the burly Poliakov, and couldn't help but complain about why the organizers had chosen this pig as their hostage. But she could only reluctantly support Poliakov's body with both hands and vigorously swing her fishtail.
After the two waved to Draco remained where he was, nodded, and only said to Skylar, "Come to my dorm room sometime," before waving for them to leave quickly.
The Merpeople village was quite a distance from the lake. Although Skylar was carrying two hostages, firstly, neither of the girls were particularly heavy, and secondly, Skylar's physique and stamina, along with the boost to his swimming skills in his dragon form, allowed him to swim much faster than Eleanor.
He swam back to shore first.
As soon Skylar surfaced, Daphne and the female student from Beauxbatons both opened their eyes; they were awake. The Beauxbatons student looked somewhat frightened and confused when she saw that it was Skylar who was holding her, not Katarin.
"I knew you'd save me." Daphne smiled gently when she saw Skylar, then frowned at the female student clinging tightly to Skylar's back, asking with a hint of hostility, "Who is she? Why is she in your arms?"
"She's Monroe's hostage. A lot happened down there; I'll explain to you later," Skylar said quickly.
The stands were buzzing with noise, shouting and yelling, and it seemed like everyone had stood up.
At this moment, Eleanor also surfaced, only about fifteen minutes later than Skylar. She had shed her Merpeople attire and reverted to her Bubble-Head Charm appearance from before she fell into the water. She struggled desperately to drag the burly Poliakov to the surface, finally managing to get him out. Poliakov yawned widely, as if just waking from a sweet dream, only to receive a sharp rap on the head from Eleanor.
They waded to the shore. The referees stood there watching. Dumbledore was squatting by the water's edge, having a close conversation with a Merpeople looked particularly rough and fierce.
Skylar guessed that this Merpeople's memories had probably been altered long ago.
Dumbledore emitted the shrill, piercing voice of Merpeople on the surface of the water; clearly, he could speak the Merpeople language. Finally, he straightened up, turned to the other judges, and said, "Let's have a meeting before we start scoring."
Madam Pomfrey greeted Skylar, Daphne, Eleanor, Poliakov, and the Beauxbatons students, giving each of them a thick blanket and a hot cup of Pepperup Potion.
Harry, Ron, and Katarin were already there, all three of them wrapped in blankets and sitting there. Harry and Ron were talking in hushed tones from time to time, their expressions quite excited, while Katarin sat there expressionless and silent.
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Just then, Bagman's voice, amplified by magic, suddenly rang in their ears, and the audience in the stands immediately fell silent.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally made a decision. Our Merpeople leader Murcus, has told us everything that happened beneath the lake. Therefore, we have decided to score each of you Champion out of a maximum of fifty points, as follows..."
"Despite demonstrating excellent use of the Whale-Lung Charm, Katarin Grindelwald - Monroe was attacked by Grindylow as she approached her target, failing to successfully rescue the hostage. We give her twenty-five points."
"Harry Potter consumed the Gillyweed and achieved amazing results. He was the first to return with the hostage, but he exceeded the allotted hour by one minute. Therefore, we award him forty-seven points."
"Eleanor von Hohenheim used the Bubble-Head Charm, which was very effective, but she was the last to return. According to the Merpeople, she was unfortunately entangled by Giant Squid underwater, which wasted a lot of time. We give her forty points."
"The last Champion — Skylar Malfoy —effectively entered the water using his unique Human Transfiguration," Bagman continued. "He was the second to return, but it took him well over the allotted one hour. However, the Merpeople leader told us that Mr. Malfoy could have returned much earlier; he didn't return on time because he wanted to ensure the safe return of all the hostages, not just his own."
"Most judges," Bagman said, glancing at Karkaroff with obvious displeasure, "Felt this Splinching high moral character. However... Mr. Malfoy's score is forty-two."
Skylar's lips curled slightly, and his gaze seemed to casually sweep over where Katarin was, but the latter seemed completely oblivious, remaining expressionless as she sat there.
Every word the Merpeople uttered was likely orchestrated by Katarin. Clearly, after this battle, Katarin had yielded—the entire Ghosts Society was wiped out, and a family of similar size and strength to Monroe had defected. She had lost all hope of turning the tide. Her gesture of goodwill was an attempt to gain more favor with Skylar, hoping that if Skylar ultimately won the Triwizard Tournament, he would spare her and stop relentlessly pursuing her.
As for Walpurgis, she needed to inform her family as soon as possible to prepare a response. She didn't know all about the hidden power Walpurgis possessed, but she knew that Walpurgis would probably not let her, a loser, off easily.
Since her birth, due to the two bloodline talents she possessed, she had always been the apple of her family's eye and the pride of the entire clan. The family had poured countless efforts and resources into her, allowing her to have a smooth and successful life, which gave her the illusion that everything was under their control.
This defeat shattered her illusions. The situation was clearly out of her control, and she felt utterly powerless. Regardless of whether the House of Malfoy retaliated or Walpurgis punished her, these two potential threats had become heavy burdens hanging over her heart.
Although Skylar ranked second in this project, he was still ranked first overall.
His total score across both projects was 92 points, while Harry and Eleanor tied for second place with 85 points each, and Katarin came in last with a mere 70 points.
Harry's heart leaped with joy. He gave Ron a triumphant high-five and burst into laughter. In the First Task, he had been at the bottom of the rankings, but this time he had overtaken him to second place. Now, who dared say he had no hope of victory?
Daphne stared at Skylar with a half-smile, and said softly, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "So you weren't taking advantage of a girl after all—you were just demonstrating moral virtue!"
"Uh..." Skylar didn't know how to answer. He wanted to defend his innocence righteously, but when he remembered the touching sensation he had just experienced from behind, he was speechless for a moment.
"The third and final project will take place on the evening of June 24th," Bagman continued. "The Champion will learn the details of the project a month in advance. Thank you all for your support of the Champion."
(1) The magic that modifies memories is not the Memory Charm often mentioned in other fanfictions, but a different spell. The original work does not mention the name of this spell, but this book sets it as the "Memory Manipulation Charm". This spell has been used by Voldemort, Slughorn and Hermione.
(2) Voldemort used Horcruxes on his uncle and the Sprite Hokey to deceive everyone in the Ministry of Magic at the time, including Dumbledore's Wizengamot. Even Dumbledore only realized the existence of the Horcrux many years later (after the Diary) and then discovered that something was wrong with the case. He then used Legilimency to extract the real memories again. According to him, this was an extremely difficult and technically demanding process.
(3) After Slughorn fabricated false memories for himself, Dumbledore was even unable to forcibly extract the real memories, and a "gap" phenomenon appeared after the false memories.
In summary: --Dumbledore could be fooled by the Memory Charm without specifically using Legilimency. Even if he intentionally used Legilimency investigate, he might be able to detect something amiss, but he wouldn't be able to extract the correct memories 100% of the time.