The roar of the magical cannons still echoed over the lake.
Immense pressure and biting cold enveloped the three Champions in an instant, an embrace utterly unlike air, full of malice and resistance.
The lake water was no longer its usual tranquil blue, but a fathomless darkness mingling deep green and black.
Sunlight barely penetrated the surface, dissolving below into countless drifting, ghostly patches of light.
Yet all three battle-tested Champions immediately adapted perfectly to their surroundings using their own magic.
Pheobe's silver membrane breathed gently like a living thing, keeping out the cold and pressure and allowing her to retain her grace on land even underwater;
Krum's shark head granted him unmatched propulsion and underwater vision, and the water's resistance was nothing before his powerful muscles;
Cedric's Bubble-Head Charm, meanwhile, was like an utterly dependable mobile fortress, supplying him with the steadiest, purest oxygen.
The enormous Water Vapor Screen suspended over the lake faithfully displayed these three very different figures before thousands of spectators.
The screen was divided into four sections, with three smaller windows each tracking one of the Champions.
The largest main screen was switched at will by that pair of clownish commentators, the Weasley Twins.
More astonishingly still, the corner of the screen displayed live readings of their heart rates, magical power consumption curves, and remaining oxygen.
These cold figures held every spectator's attention firmly in their grip.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen!"
Fred's voice brimmed with excitement.
"Our three Champions have successfully entered the water! Look at them, like three different varieties of... er, ornamental fish, released into the giant aquarium Hogwarts has so carefully prepared!"
"Mr. Krum has chosen the most direct, most savage route!"
George's voice followed close behind.
"He's charging ahead like a hungry shark! Let's hear it for Durmstrang's strength!"
Amid