Chapter 436: Pre-Competition
Chapter 436: Pre-Competition
The rest of January passed without any major events, but minor issues continued to crop up.
Professor Mad-Eye Moody returned to the classroom, predictably bringing new controversies. In the eyes of some older students, he seemed to have taken on a bit of Lockhart's shadow—making them research and read aloud in class, and vividly recount his own experiences.
His famous quote, "Constant vigilance", once again echoed in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
During this time, young wizards had to visit the Library daily to research the war that took place over a decade ago. The previously neglected war records were now being scrutinized, including old newspapers from those years.
The young wizards found themselves mentally exhausted from reading these materials every day. Combined with the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams for fifth and seventh years, many students suddenly broke down in class, crying and screaming, and were sent to the Hospital Wing by their professors.
Even the cheerful Fred and George Weasley found it tough. When the Defense Against the Dark Arts class returned to "normal", they both heaved a sigh of relief. One afternoon, Fred sniffled, "Dad and Mum rarely talked about the war. If someone brought it up, the other would interrupt, and Mum hardly mentioned our uncles... But when we started reading those old newspapers, we realized what they went through..."
George added, with a lingering sense of fear, "We saw pictures of houses marked with the Dark Mark every few days. It gave me nightmares."
Harry didn't want to dwell on it. Recently, a trend had emerged at Hogwarts. Since Professor Moody had students read aloud the stories of those who died in the war, the descendants of "war heroes" were now being looked at with awe and reverence.
Neville had to explain multiple times that his parents had recovered, showing his classmates the clippings and newspapers he had collected. Despite this, the number of people offering him comfort only increased. Harry felt the same; he noticed that Parvati Patil's gaze had softened whenever she looked at him.
He didn't like this feeling. Every time someone looked at him with such eyes, it reminded him of his parents' sacrifice. 'No one becomes a hero to have their son worship them,' Harry thought irritably.
He and Hermione and Ron practiced spells in an abandoned classroom, learning several useful ones. They also found a secluded corner where they chipped a small hole in the ice of the Black Lake to test their warming and waterproof charms, shivering each time they emerged from the lake.
By the time the ice on the Black Lake melted, Krum was practicing his diving in a pair of shorts from the Black Ship's gangplank. They were already figuring out how to maintain their combat effectiveness in the lake.
"Land-based spells are much less effective underwater, especially fire magic. At most, you can shoot a stream of hot water, and it probably won't be as effective against Grindylows as a disarming charm", Hermione said, her voice tense.
As February approached, she had become increasingly anxious. When Ron suggested they could kick the dangerous creatures away, Hermione glared at him fiercely, looking like she might kick him herself.
"We might need some Transfiguration and Summoning Charms", Hermione said.
"Are you planning to summon a stick?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Stop being silly. I mean this—" Hermione said, drawing her wand and shouting, "Flock of Birds!" Her wand made a loud noise, and a flock of birds flew out from the tip, flapping their wings and circling around the three of them.
"What's the point of this?" Harry asked. He had seen this spell before. Before the first task, Mr. Ollivander was invited to inspect the Champions' wands and used Krum's wand to cast this spell.
"They can peck at people and obscure vision, but I prefer Professor Flitwick's approach", Hermione said, struggling to maintain the spell. Her face was flushed, and Harry and Ron had never seen her struggle so much with a spell.
She seemed to be fighting against some invisible resistance. Her wand traced a half-circle, and the birds suddenly grew to the size of owls. Harry's eyes widened in recognition; he remembered this from his second year, when Professor Flitwick demonstrated it in the Duelling Class.
It had been two years since Harry had last come into close contact with this magic. He watched the small birds with their long, sharp beaks, which were about three inches long, with a mix of fear and awe!
With another "bang", the birds vanished.
Hermione let out a soft breath and shook her head. "I still can't get it right. I usually have pretty good control over magic, especially after practicing with Billywig in the Rune Club..."
As they returned to the castle from the Black Lake, Ron whispered to Harry, "She could just hide behind a rock and cast spells. These birds will take care of all her problems, and you won't stand a chance."
Harry thought back to the scene and couldn't agree more.
"How's your Bubble-Head Charm coming along?" Harry asked quietly.
Ron's face fell. "It's a nightmare. I've already written to my family to say I don't need their help... but Fred and George Weasley have already blocked that route. You know, Mum actually praised them in her reply..."
Harry felt a pang of sympathy, especially when he saw Ron's first action after practicing the Bubble-Head Charm was to take a shower, leaving behind a lingering, unpleasant smell.
His own progress with the human-form armoring charm was also slow. If he had a choice, he would definitely prefer to master a protective human-form armoring charm rather than the single-use Bubble-Head Charm. But he had to make a decision on which one was more practical.
In the following days, he kept running to Classroom 7, even forgetting about Occlumency. So when he was woken by a nightmare one night, he could only blame himself for slacking off.
Harry told Professor Hup about the incident, hoping the professor could pass the message to Headmaster Dumbledore, even though he couldn't remember much.
"All I know is that Voldemort is happy, something good has happened", Harry said, wracking his brain.
Felix nodded. "It's possible he's found another temporary body. They hide too well." He also hoped Voldemort would come after Rita Skeeter, so he could try to capture Barty Crouch Jr.
But Rita Skeeter, who had his promise, had quietly moved and was currently hiding in Diagon Alley, sorting through the information Sirius Black had given her.
Harry returned with a heavy heart, beginning to doubt the purpose of his participation in the tournament—Voldemort was preparing to return, and all he could do was practice a relatively useless freezing charm in the Black Lake. Could he really expect it to stop Voldemort's Killing Curse?
The person who supported him through these days of self-doubt was Sirius Black. If there was anyone in the world who understood him the most, it was his godfather, including their shared attitude toward Voldemort.
What surprised Harry, however, was that Sirius Black had found a temporary job. When he saw the emblem of Smything Academy through the two-way mirror, he almost dropped his jaw.
"Why are you at Dudley's school?" Harry shouted, disregarding the fifth-year student in the common room who looked up with a frown and muttered, "Another one's gone mad", before returning to his seemingly endless homework.
Sirius Black, however, seemed quite cheerful in the mirror. "Felix introduced me to it. Since I don't have a Muggle-recognized degree, I can only do odd jobs, and the pay isn't great... but you know, I've found some tricks to working with students."
Harry listened as Sirius described his job as a Teaching Assistant. "When no one's around, I use my wand to handle the equipment, and it gets done quickly and well..."
And there was his partner, a teacher in his fifties who always panted when running.
After Sirius learned how to use a whistle to penalize misbehaving students, he just stood aside and let the other teacher do the hard work. So Harry got to see Dudley dragging his fat body around the field, tongue out, almost crawling to the finish line. The sight made Harry's stress vanish instantly.
Before the first Hogsmeade weekend in February, he mastered the human-form armoring charm. His Shield Charm had also undergone a dramatic transformation, the only regret being that he couldn't turn it into a cool golden or blood-red shield.
Ron also completed his special training. On the day he successfully learned the Bubble-Head Charm, he walked around the common room with a huge, transparent dome that looked like an inverted fish tank on his head. He even joined Fred and George Weasley's discussion, expressing his willingness to buy a couple of Dungbombs.
Fred and George Weasley cheerfully handed him a box of Honeydukes' sweets.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a fantastic day in Hogsmeade and then returned to their intense preparations. Harry and Hermione, protected by the Human Shield Charm, and Ron, with the Bubble-Head Charm, gradually made their way into the depths of the Black Lake, where they discovered a new and wondrous world.
Harry was surprised at how unfamiliar he had been with the Black Lake.
A few dozen feet below the surface, they could still see the gray, eerie waters above. At their feet, a jungle of undulating, entangled black seaweed spread out, with a wide, flat expanse of muddy sand dotted with shimmering pebbles.
In the distance, vast areas of shadow stretched out, with no light at all. They could only see a small area nearby by holding their wands and using the Lumos spell. Deeper down, the darkness varied in intensity, and occasionally, large objects would pass by them. They couldn't tell if it was a piece of wood or some kind of creature, perhaps even a giant squid!
Harry began to worry. What if the giant squid swallowed them whole? Although it had pushed drowning first-year students back into the boats during their arrival, he couldn't be sure it would always be so gentle, especially after Ron mentioned during a breath that they were already invading its territory.
As time passed, they ventured deeper into the Black Lake and even attempted to approach the Mermaid Village.
While swimming, Harry realized that Hermione and Ron had disappeared. Something was pulling him, causing him great alarm until a bright, milky light appeared in the distance. He then discovered that a Grindylow had grabbed him.
"Relashio!" Harry cast the spell through the Human Shield Charm, and the long-horned, pale green creature's hand spasmed and released him. He swam toward Hermione, who was holding a bright light orb and looking around in panic—she was surrounded by mermaids.
In the end, they were chased out, dejected. The rude gestures of the leading mermaid indicated that if they dared to invade the mermaid territory again, they would have to wait for Dumbledore or Professor Hup to come and retrieve them.
Harry rubbed his head, drenched and shivering as he emerged from the water. He had no idea how the other Champions had dealt with the problem, but he had just been hit twice by a tall, muscular mermaid with a spear, leaving his head throbbing.
"Fred and George Weasley are lying; they couldn't possibly have completed the task of mapping the Black Lake", Ron grumbled. "The mermaids have much better vision in the water and are completely adapted to the darkness."
Hermione was still blaming herself on the way back, "I shouldn't have used Lumos. I was too nervous, and you both disappeared. Something was entangled around me; it was probably seaweed... I don't know what we'll do during the actual competition..."
Back in the dormitory, Ron took off his clothes to show Harry the bruises on his back. "The mermaids hit me. I kicked one, you know, to test the effect... and then two or three more mermaids rushed over and gave me a couple of hard hits."
Harry helped Ron apply the ointment, but Ron winced and groaned, "There's another one on my buttocks; I'll do it myself."
Two days before the second task, a group of Futureworld staff arrived at the school and set up huge projection screens on the shore of the Black Lake. Lupin and Penelope explained the purpose of the screens, "They will display your heroic performances during the competition."
"Oh, that's exactly what we wanted", Ron muttered, "to make fools of ourselves in front of everyone."
On the day before the competition, their nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Harry realized that despite all their preparations, time was still not enough. The list of unfinished tasks in Hermione's booklet was growing faster than the completed ones.
But regardless, they faced the second task.
(End of Chapter)
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