https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-438-Adventure-at-the-Bottom-of-the-Lake-Part-1-/13461170/
Chapter 437: The Second Task Begins
Chapter 437: The Second Task Begins
On February 24th, Felix had just finished breakfast when Professor Mcgonagall called him over.
"Isn't the competition still a while away?"
"Mr. Bagman is looking for you, regarding the arrangements for the champions... They're all waiting", Professor Mcgonagall said hurriedly.
They entered the room next to the Great Hall, the same room where the champions had waited for the Goblet of Fire to spit out the names a few months ago.
When they walked in, Ludo Bagman was pacing anxiously, looking troubled. Dumbledore was whispering to him, but it didn't seem to ease his worries.
Upon seeing Felix, Bagman's eyes lit up, and he strode over. "You're finally here, Felix. The Minister will be bringing a lot of guests this morning. You know about Barty, he... well, anyway, now it's all on me."
Felix looked at the six groups of champions seated in the room, their eyes filled with distrust as they glared at Ludo Bagman.
"Cough, cough! Let's get started. I've already collected their wands separately", Bagman said, wiping the sweat from his round face. He pointed to a table where a black velvet cloth lay with a dozen wands resting on it.
Felix had no objections, but he reminded Bagman, "You'd better stay back..."
"Oh, right, of course." Bagman scampered away, hiding near the door and peering in nervously.
Felix glanced at Dumbledore, who winked. "Felix, I'm quite curious about this magic."
"Alright." Felix turned to the champions, whose expressions grew more uneasy.
"Professor, what do we need to do?" Cedric asked. "Aren't we supposed to find something in the Black Lake?"
The other champions wore similar expressions. They had already deciphered the information from the Golden Egg and made the correct guess, but things seemed to be different from what they had anticipated.
"That's true", Felix smiled, forming a colorless, transparent Spherical Vortex in his hand, with blue magic swirling around it like bright rings. "But if it were just about finding something, it would be too simple. The Ministry of Magic has added some challenges..."
"Added what?" Nona Lebert asked, hugging her arms. She and her two teammates were the least dressed of all the champions, wearing light animal skins to reduce resistance in the lake.
Felix shrugged. "You'll find out."
A strong suction force emerged from the colorless, transparent Spherical Vortex, and the blue magic, resembling floating silk, suddenly expanded. The nearest champion, Cedric, was pulled uncontrollably toward the vortex. He was startled. "Professor—"
Felix nodded at him, and Cedric stopped struggling, diving into the vortex. His two teammates followed.
After a few exaggerated screams, only Felix and Dumbledore remained in the room.
Felix held the Spherical Vortex, and Dumbledore bent down to examine the dozen people inside it, his hawk-like nose almost touching the vortex. He marveled, "Fascinating magic. You used this to capture hundreds of Dementors? Pity I didn't see it myself..."
"Actually, it was to eliminate them, Headmaster Dumbledore", Felix clarified.
Dumbledore didn't comment, just smiled. He said cheerfully, "Next, we just need to place the champions randomly in the Black Lake. Oh, and their wands, of course."
"Hopefully, they won't be too surprised when they wake up."
...
"Thud—thud—"
Harry groggily got up from the ground, still feeling the lingering effects of Professor Hepp's magic. He was dizzy and disoriented, but he managed to stand up, leaning on a thin wooden stick. The surroundings were dimly lit, and he found the stick strangely familiar.
"Thud—"
Another thud made Harry realize it was the sound that had woken him. He turned sharply, his right hand reaching into his pocket for his wand, but it was empty. He had no time to worry about his missing wand; there was a more pressing matter at hand.
A massive monster with a spherical body was repeatedly ramming into a... protective shield? Harry found it bizarre. The space around him, about ten feet in diameter, was enclosed by an inverted bowl-like shield, not a drop of water seeping through. The light he saw was emitted by this shield, and the scene beyond it was all too familiar: the black rocks covered in dark green algae, characteristic of the Black Lake.
He didn't have time to think it through, stepping back a few paces and staring intently at the monster—it was at least ten feet long, with brown, round eyes that gleamed cruelly. In the dim light, he could barely make out the colorful patterns on its body and the long, flexible fins on either side of its belly.
Wait, are those fish fins?
Harry stared blankly as the creature propped itself up on its belly fins, took a few awkward steps back, then suddenly lunged forward, sending up a cloud of mud. It charged at the thin protective shield with a loud "thud."
Harry swallowed hard. No matter how he looked at it, this creature seemed familiar. If it were shrunk to a fraction of its size, it would resemble the Globe Fish he had seen in the Black Lake.
The Globe Fish was a spherical, patterned magical creature with two long legs ending in webbed feet. These legs allowed it to walk on the lake bottom and swim quickly through the water.
These magical creatures usually inhabited deep lakes, patrolling the bottom in search of food, particularly water snails.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had discovered these creatures in the Black Lake. Hermione told him that Globe Fish and mermaids did not get along. If discovered, mermaids would tie the Globe Fish's long, sturdy legs into knots and flick them away with their tails. The Globe Fish, bound by their own legs, would drift along until they managed to untangle themselves, a process that could take several hours.
Mermaid tribes kept these creatures away from their territories. Harry now had a rough idea of where he was.
"Did the professor enlarge the creatures in the Black Lake?" Harry muttered. Then, a sudden realization hit him, and he turned his head so quickly that he nearly strained his neck. Rubbing his sore neck, Harry stared unblinkingly at the wooden stick standing in the center of the protective shield. Part of it was buried in the mud, and the exposed portion was smooth, as if carefully polished. It had seemed familiar to him before...
But now he was certain: it wasn't a stick at all, but his wand. Harry's mind, which had been sluggish, took a while to grasp the truth. It wasn't that the Globe Fish had grown larger; it was that he had shrunk, reduced to a fraction of his original size.
The professor had used that peculiar spell that could suck people and Dementors into it! The events in the room adjacent to the Great Hall flashed through Harry's mind, leaving him disoriented. He stared at the few transparent snail shells near his wand, and he began to understand why the Globe Fish was relentlessly pursuing him.
...
On the temporary seats by the shore of the Black Lake, people watched the large, curved projection screen, divided into six columns and three rows, with each column representing a team and a total of eighteen squares. Each square displayed a clear image.
In the first square of the second column, the fierce attacks of the Globe Fish on the protective shield were visible to everyone.
Ludo Bagman, seated on the high platform, his head moving quickly to track the progress of the champions, provided commentary—
"Don't worry—the protective shield will last for an hour. Now that all the champions are awake, they must quickly figure out their situation and cast protective spells before the shield disappears. They have an hour to adapt to the disrupted magic, or they will become hostages, significantly increasing the difficulty for their teams to pass the challenge..."
The front rows, filled with invited guests, were amazed by the large screen and whispered among themselves, often mentioning the prominent 'Future World' company in recent times.
Behind them, a sea of students watched the screen excitedly, whispering to each other.
(End of Chapter)
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