Chapter 272 Black Lake

"Isn't Harry here yet?"

On the field of the Final Four, Bagman looked at his watch and asked worriedly.

"There is only the last minute left before the start of the game. Dumbledore, the warriors in your school don't seem to be very willing to abide by the game time." Karkaroff said coldly.

"Don't worry, Professor Karkaroff, hasn't the game officially started yet?" Dumbledore responded calmly.

"But the other warriors have been ready for a long time, and now everyone is waiting for him alone!" Karkaroff said reluctantly.

At this moment, Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed over from the direction of the castle, panting.

Ron and Hermione ran towards the audience seats, while Harry ran straight to the shore of the lake where the other warriors were, holding his knees with both hands and breathing heavily.

"I...I'm not late, am I?" Harry asked hoarsely.

"Where have you been?" A domineering voice suddenly rang, "The competition is about to start!"

Harry turned his head while panting, and saw Percy Weiss sitting at the referee's table, Mr. Crouch's seat - Mr. Crouch was not able to come to the scene to participate in the competition, so Percy, a young The assistant made an exception and became a judge in the semifinals competition.

Although Percy's voice and tone sounded a bit domineering and dissatisfied, it also interrupted Karkaroff's next attack on Harry.

"Okay, okay, Percy!" Ludo Bagman waved his hand and called to Percy, "Let him take a breath!"

When he saw Harry, a stone in his heart seemed to fall to the ground. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth at first, but then he became a little worried.

He was worried that Harry rushing to the scene in such a hurry might be because he was unprepared or didn't pay enough attention to the game...

In fact, the three Harrys took this game very seriously.

Yesterday, they specifically asked Fred and George for help, arranging a fireworks show for Snape that looked particularly logical. They also used a big dung egg to baptize the Slytherin student lounge, successfully attracting Snape's attention. Nep's attention even led him from the underground to the height of the eighth floor.

However, Snape has been fighting against students for so many years, and his nickname of "Grade Crusher" is not for nothing.

Although Snape did not catch Fred and George on the eighth floor of the castle, he quickly understood his plan and realized that the two troublemakers had other motives for suddenly making such a big move today.

So he rushed down from the eighth floor and returned to his office at an extremely fast speed.

Fortunately, Harry, Ron and Hermione had found the gillweed before he rushed down and left the potion storage room in time.

They thought that Snape wouldn't find it so easily if they just took a gillweed from the potion collection.

However, Snape didn't know why he was crazy that day. After he walked out of the potion storage room angrily, he rushed up to block the door of the Gryffindor common room and muttered something. Incomprehensible words:

"Lacewings, African tree snake skin, two-horned animal feet... I knew someone had been entering my storeroom all this time, and that person was definitely making Polyjuice Potion... It had to be you, Potter... "

The matter concerned his potion ingredients, and Snape was surprisingly patient and waited outside the Gryffindor common room until dawn.

As a warrior, Harry never dared to return to his lounge. He could only wear the invisibility cloak and accompany Snape outside the door to endure the cold and hunger, but he could not go back to the dormitory to get his own preparation supplies.

Because of this, Harry didn't arrive at the venue until less than a minute before the start of the game.

…

On the referee's bench, Dumbledore and Professor Hicks smiled at Harry. Although Percy looked a little dissatisfied, the expression in his eyes was also relaxed at Harry's arrival. But Karkaroff and Ms. Maxim seemed unhappy to see him... From the looks on their faces, they obviously thought he wouldn't show up.

As if it was no longer convenient to pick on a fourteen-year-old child, Ms. Maxim turned to target Dracula——

"Mr. Safety Officer, I think you should have understood that since today's game is held in the water." She said, "We can't see the specific content of the game at all, and it is difficult for the warriors to send a distress signal... …So I’m thinking, how can you find the right opportunity to save the warriors from danger?”

Dracula was suddenly mentioned, and he glanced at Ms. Maxim in surprise.

Then, he said casually, "Actually, it's not that I can't see it, it's just that I'm not ready yet."

"Prepare?"

"Indeed, why should it be so complicated when something can be solved with just a little preparation?" Dracula said casually, "Look -"

I saw an old piece of parchment flying out of Dracula's pocket. Dracula waved his hand and let the parchment go towards the Black Lake.

From the perspective of Dracula's flowing light, countless magic nodes gathered together and continued to extend to the bottom of the black lake.

The Hogwarts land title was suddenly rendered with patches of spooky colors, which were fragments of light in the depths of the Black Lake.

The parchment suddenly swelled and became larger, gradually filling the entire arena under the shocked and astonished eyes of the audience.

Then, Dracula waved his magic palm and placed the parchment on the side of the arena where all spectators could easily see it, forming it into a huge projection that broadcast what was happening below the Black Lake in real time.

"Do you still want to question me now, Ms. Maxim?" Dracula looked at her with a half-smile and said.

Madam Maxim and Karkaroff sighed deeply at the same time.

They feel that their chances of taking down Hogwarts are getting slimmer and slimmer.

…

On the playing field, Ludo Bagman had already arrived among the warriors and ordered them to line up on the shore, with ten feet between each person.

Harry was last in line, next to Krum. Krum, wearing a pair of swimming trunks and shirtless, had his wand out and was ready.

"How are you, Harry?" Bagman led Harry a few steps forward, avoiding Krum, and asked in a low voice, "Do you know what you are going to do?"

"I know," Harry gasped, clutching the gillweed in his pocket.

This is his lifeline.

"Very well, I wish you success, Harry." Bagman squeezed Harry's shoulder hard and returned to the referee's table.

He pointed his wand at his throat, just like he did at the Quidditch World Cup final, and said: "Loud!" Then his voice was like thunder, passing over the dark black lake and reaching the stands.

"Listen up, everyone, our warriors are already in place. As soon as I blow the whistle, the second project begins. They have a full hour to get back what was taken from them. I count to three. One...two ……three!"

A shrill whistle echoed in the cold, still air. The stands erupted in cheers and applause.

Krum first used a rough human deformation to turn his head into a big shark, and then took the lead in wearing swimming trunks and jumped into the black lake in February, before spring had fully arrived.

"Oh? Quite ingenious human deformation. I didn't expect that Mr. Krum's deformation level is not inferior to his flying ability!" Bagman said with appreciation, "I heard that Durmstrang's students are very resistant. He can swim in the water even in the winter, so there is no problem with his choice of jumping directly into the cold water.”

Furong cast a Bubble Charm on herself, and then gracefully fell into the lake with her graceful figure.

Harry glanced at Cedric, who was helping him with this project, and found that he had also chosen the Bubble Charm, but he also used part of the human body deformation to make his hands and feet more suitable. swim.

Harry didn't have time to wait and see what the other warriors were doing. He just took off his shoes and socks three times, took out the gillyweed from his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and then waded into the lake.

The lake in February had just melted, and it was bitingly cold. I felt that the skin on my legs was burning, as if it was on fire.

The further he walked, the deeper the lake became, and his soaked robe fell heavily. The water in the lake was now up to his knees, and his two rapidly numb feet kept slipping on the sand and slippery, sticky stones of the lake.

He chewed the gilly grass quickly and hard. It didn't feel good. It was tough and greasy, like the tentacles of an octopus. He stopped in waist-deep water, swallowed the gillyweed, and waited for a miracle to happen.

Then, very suddenly, Harry felt as if an invisible pillow was pressing down on his mouth and nose. As soon as he took a breath, he felt like his mind was spinning. His lungs were empty, and there was a sudden sharp pain like a knife on both sides of his neck——

Harry quickly grabbed his throat with both hands and felt that there were two long narrow slits under his ears. They opened and closed in the cold air... He had gills!

Without hesitation, he took the only reasonable action - dove into the water.

Taking your first breath of cold lake water is like getting the oxygen you need for life.

His head stopped spinning, so he took another deep breath of lake water, feeling the water flowing smoothly through his gills and delivering oxygen to his brain.

He stretched out his hands in front of him and looked at them carefully. They looked a little green under the water and looked very weird, and there were webs connecting the fingers and the toes, as if his feet suddenly turned into duck webs.

At the same time, the water was no longer freezing cold... On the contrary, he felt very cool and comfortable, and his body became very light.

Harry continued to paddle forward, and he was surprised to find that the two webbed feet allowed him to move faster in the water than on land. He also found that he seemed to be able to see clearly without blinking at all.

Soon, he swam far away and then plunged deeper into the lake.

There seemed to be a burst of cheers from the distant auditorium, and Harry raised the corners of his mouth in the water with joy.

…

In fact, those loud cheers and screams were not for Harry.

Apart from Harry, Krum, Fleur and Cedric, John, who is also a warrior, seemed particularly unhurried.

He just stood lightly on the shore, picked up a green leaf in his hand, and gently put it to his mouth.

"Woo-"

A strange and melodious sound came from John's mouth.

The next moment, the water in the Black Lake seemed to be boiling, countless bubbles emerged from the water, and a large number of ripples appeared on the originally calm lake surface.

"Wow!"

There was a loud sound of water.

Along with the water splashing all over the sky, a large water monster that looked like a horse and had broad-leaf cattail grass as a mane suddenly emerged from the lake water and landed in front of John, shaking quietly.

"That's... that's..." Bagman, the commentator, was so surprised that he couldn't speak clearly. "That seems to be a horse-shaped water monster!"

Seeing John grabbing the "mane" of the horse-shaped water monster and stepping on its back, as if he was preparing to ride such a powerful magical animal into the lake, the referee could not sit still.

"This is a 4X-level magical animal. There is no way that warriors will ride such a balance-breaking monster to participate in the competition!" Karkaroff suddenly jumped up and protested loudly.

Ms. Maxim also stood up angrily.

"Isn't this blatant borrowing of foreign objects?" She said loudly, "I don't agree with him participating in the competition in this way!"

"John can tame magical animals on the playing field. Doesn't this count as his own strength?"

Professor Hicks also stood up and confronted the two principals of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

…

Harry had no idea what was going on at the referee's table.

Reflected on the land deeds of Hogwarts, the audience saw that Harry had begun to swim around in a dark, hazy and strange scenery.

There was silence in Harry's ears. He could only see within a ten-foot radius, so with every stroke he made in the water, a new vista suddenly emerged from the darkness ahead: a jungle of undulating, tangled black weeds, scattered with glittering A wide stretch of pebbles and flat sand. He swam deeper and deeper, heading toward the center of the lake. His eyes were wide open, looking through the gray and strange lake water, looking at the black shadow in the distance, where the lake water was dark and hazy.

He looked hard into the distance. In front of him was a piece of green water grass, two feet deep, really like a very dense lawn. Harry stared straight ahead without blinking, trying to identify the shapes in the shadows... At this moment, without warning, something grabbed his ankle.

Harry twisted around and saw a Grindylow - a water monster with horns on its head.

Grindylow leaned out of the water plants, gripping Harry's legs with his long nails, and pointed long teeth exposed in his mouth.

The water monster was followed closely by an ugly mermaid with brown skin... It was this mermaid that drove the water monster like Grindylow to attack Harry.

Harry quickly put his webbed hand into his robes and touched his wand.

But as soon as he grabbed the wand, two more Grindylows emerged from the water plants, grabbed Harry's robes, and pulled him down with all their strength.

"Relashio!"

…

…