Seeing Harry's actions, the other two champions, who were in the middle of stripping off their robes, froze in place.
They certainly hadn't expected that instead of entering the water, Harry would be casting such powerful magic into it. Mate, seriously? Are you blast fishing here? After casting a few spells, Harry stood there, making no further moves.
"What are you all looking at me for?" He glanced at Fleur and Viktor. "I'm just calling for someone. If you want to save your hostages, you'd better hurry up and get in."
"You didn't cast that strange magic just now, did you?" Fleur asked tentatively. The spectacular scene of the entire Black Lake nearly being blown sky-high just moments ago was truly a bit terrifying.
"Oh, how could I?" Harry smiled. "I was just summoning someone. You carry on—please, carry on."
Having received Harry's answer, Fleur and Viktor finally put their minds at ease. They got into position; Fleur cast a Bubble-Head Charm on herself, while Viktor transfigured his head into that of a shark. It was evident that sharks don't breathe particularly smoothly on land; Viktor clutched his neck, taking a long moment to remember that he should jump into the water.
Just then, Dumbledore walked over. "I know you wish to achieve victory through unique methods, but blast fishing..." Dumbledore glanced back at the unsettled surface of the lake and said to Harry, "...is not a very good choice. We must respect the rules of the tournament, don't you agree, Harry?"
Seeing Harry wanting to argue, Dumbledore stopped him. "However, the issue lies in the fact—and I must remind you—that the merpeople will not come out of the water to converse with you, Harry. That was my instruction."
"Fine then." Harry shrugged. With a flick of his wand, he walked toward the lake water.
The lake water was indeed bone-chillingly cold, but this meant nothing to Harry. The wonder of Ancient Magic lay in the fact that he could completely negate the water's effects on him; he felt not only no cold but not even a trace of dampness. Visibility in the Black Lake was poor; his range of vision was only about ten feet. The whole area was dark and foggy, and silence reigned in his ears; he couldn't hear the sounds of the crowd above the surface. Small fish darted past him like silver arrows. Once or twice, he thought he saw a large creature moving ahead, but upon swimming closer, he found it was merely a large, dark log or a dense tangle of water weeds.
He walked in the water for a long time but failed to find where the three hostages were hidden. So, he drew his wand.
"Oh, isn't this Harry?" Myrtle's voice rang in his ears. Harry followed the sound and saw the translucent Myrtle swimming about in the lake water, looking extremely at ease.
"Myrtle?" Harry greeted her in surprise. "How come you're here? Did someone flush you out of the bathroom again?"
Myrtle's face immediately turned quite ugly. "Oh my," she said, "I came to watch your competition. How could I have been flushed out? Do you really think poor Myrtle would be flushed down a toilet when she's on guard?"
"Oh, sorry," Harry apologized and raised his wand. "Revelio!"
Centered on the tip of his wand, a transparent curtain of light expanded rapidly in a sphere in all directions. Through the magic, Harry not only pinpointed the location of the three hostages but also saw several red outlines appearing right beneath his feet. They were Grindylows.
Just then, several Grindylows burrowed out of the weeds, seized Harry's robes, and desperately pulled him downward. The Grindylows were tugging enthusiastically when suddenly they felt their bodies shoot upward as if strapped to a rocket. Immediately, they burst out of the water like cannonballs, screaming as they flew into the sky, then crashed heavily onto the judges' table. If Dumbledore hadn't been quick of eye and hand to cast Arresto Momentum, they likely would have been smashed by the Grindylows.
Harry definitely did that on purpose, Dumbledore thought, because I didn't let him sit back and enjoy the fruits of victory from the shore. After dealing with the Grindylows, the remaining ones, seeing the fate of their companions, stopped in their tracks. No one wanted to be the bird that sticks its neck out, gets hit by this terrifying human's magic, and loses its life. Harry ignored them.
Just then, a song suddenly rang out. "An hour long you'll have to look, / And to recover what we took..."
Harry noticed the singing was coming from the location his spell had just locked onto. He walked in that direction, with Myrtle following closely behind. Before long, he saw a large rock appear in the murky water ahead; paintings of merpeople were on it, carrying spears and chasing things that looked like giant squids. Oh, Harry remembered. Once, he and Veratia had also arrived here and had a cordial and friendly conversation with the merpeople. If he remembered correctly, the merpeople village was just ahead.
He continued forward. Not far off, many rough stone dwellings appeared on all sides, stained with algae. Faces emerged from the windows of those dwellings... familiar yet strange. The merpeople had iron-grey skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore ropes of pebbles around their necks. As Harry swam past, they leered at him maliciously. One or two even ran out of their caves to get a better look, holding spears and slapping the water with their powerful silver tails.
Harry walked forward while looking around. It should be said that there wasn't much difference here compared to a hundred years ago; evidently, the social progress of merpeople was far slower than that of humans. Soon, the stone dwellings became more numerous; some had gardens around them, and others had a small Grindylow tied up in front of the door. Merpeople surged out from all directions, looking at him curiously, pointing, and whispering behind their hands.
Harry quickly turned a corner, and a very peculiar sight appeared before him. It seemed to be the square of the merpeople village. Houses were situated all around, and a large crowd of merpeople floated in front of them. In the center, a choir was singing, calling for the champions to come over. Behind them towered a rough statue: a giant merman carved from a boulder. Three people were tightly bound to the tail of the stone statue. Surrounding the hostages stood many merpeople holding spears.
Harry quickly locked eyes with the lead merman; he had a long green beard, wore a choker of shark teeth, and looked to be about seven feet tall.
"You may only take one, human!" the merman said.
"Oh, I didn't intend to take the others." Harry shrugged and said to the merman, "Untie that redhead for me and send him out of the Black Lake."
The merman looked as if he had heard a joke, clutching his stomach and laughing uproariously. The surrounding merpeople laughed as well. After laughing for a moment, the lead merman raised his head and said, "We will not help you, human child—you must find a way to take the person back yourself."
"So, there's no room for negotiation?" Harry drew his wand.
"You are the first wizard who dares to draw a wand underwater, human child." The lead merman straightened up and waved his hand. The other merpeople holding spears immediately surrounded him, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
"Not necessarily. Before me... oh, actually, it makes no difference. The last wizard who dared to pull a wand on you underwater was also me." As Harry spoke, he aimed his wand at the lead merman.
Just as the situation was on the verge of exploding, a white-haired, very old-looking merman swam out of a nearby hut. "Wait!" the old merman shouted. "We promised Dumbledore not to conflict with the champions, Cleo!"
"But clearly, it is the champion who wants to conflict with us now!" Cleo stared tightly at Harry. "Carmen, look... this is the first time I've seen such a bold wizard..."
Carmen? That name sounded quite familiar... Harry felt as if he had heard it somewhere before.
"Oh, he is not the first," Carmen said, stroking his beard. "A hundred years ago, two young wizards also came to the bottom of the lake and drew their wands on us..."
Oh... Harry remembered. This Carmen... He and Veratia had indeed conflicted with the merpeople in the Black Lake back then, but later they turned enemies into friends, thanks to the flexibility of the chieftain at the time, Vieri. As the old merman saying goes, the one who sees the situation clearly is the true hero. And that chieftain had a young son at the time named Carmen.
"Carmen?" Harry called out. "Is it really you, Carmen? I even held you when you were a child..."
Hearing Harry's presumptuous words, Cleo gripped his spear and was about to shout, but Carmen stopped him. The old merman swam over slowly, ignoring his kin's attempts to block him, and came to Harry's side to look closely.
"Mr. Potter?" he asked in pleasant surprise.
"It seems you still remember me, Carmen." Harry smiled and put away his wand. "A hundred years is a long time; I thought you would have forgotten me long ago."
"Even if I forgot everyone else, I would never forget you and Miss Grindelwald," Carmen said with a sigh. "By the way, why don't I see Miss Grindelwald?"
"She didn't enter the tournament." Harry shrugged.
Carmen breathed a sigh of relief that was hard to detect. Sigh, it's good she didn't enter... He couldn't imagine what would happen if Miss Grindelwald were competing and the hostage was Mr. Potter.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Carmen ordered Cleo: "Since he is an old friend, you all prepare to escort Mr. Potter's friend back to the shore... Hmm, don't worry, Dumbledore will understand."
"Alright." Cleo frowned, looking from Harry to Carmen. He couldn't figure out why Harry said "I held you when you were a child" to his grandfather, and why his usually short-tempered grandfather wasn't angry. Of course, he was someone who didn't like to talk too much, which was one of his few virtues.
"Thank you, Carmen," Harry said to him. "It's really good to see you here. Well then... I'll be heading back first. After all, if I return late, the judges will deduct points." As he spoke, he added, "Oh right, if the time is up and those two haven't come yet, please send the other two hostages back as well."
"Rest assured, Mr. Potter," Carmen promised with a smile. "We will not harm these two."
Cleo walked over to Ron, used a knife to cut the ropes binding him, and, together with two other merpeople, carried him toward the surface. Harry followed behind, strolling leisurely, showing no sign of tension whatsoever.
Just then, a man with a fish head swam over—human body below, wearing swimming trunks, with a shark head above... it was Viktor. Harry remembered his spell before entering the water; it was a not-quite-successful transfiguration, but it was still quite useful. The half-man, half-shark Viktor swam straight for his hostage, pulling and biting at the ropes. The problem was that Krum's new dental structure was odd; anything smaller than a dolphin was awkward for him to bite, and Harry was sure Krum wasn't being careful—he was practically going to tear the hostage in half.
"Let's go." Harry didn't care much what Viktor was doing; he just instructed Cleo and the others to head upward. Viktor looked back and saw the merpeople carrying Ron in front of Harry. A bizarre expression appeared on his shark face, as if he'd seen a ghost.
Harry and the others continued swimming upward. The sunlight grew brighter and brighter until they reached the surface. Harry leapt up, landing steadily on the lake's surface. Although he had been soaking in the lake for quite a long time, his clothes weren't wet, and his hair remained dry. It was just his glasses... his glasses had water on them. Seeing Harry's figure, the surrounding students erupted into enthusiastic cheers. They knew Harry must have succeeded; otherwise, he wouldn't have swum up at this time.
Immediately after, something even more bizarre happened. Following closely behind Harry were three merpeople, still carrying Ron as they trailed Harry.
"You can go," Harry said to the three merpeople. "Just put him on the shore. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Cleo said with an extremely odd expression. He was still thinking, If Grandfather hadn't spoken, I wouldn't have bothered bringing this person up for you.
Walking all the way to the shore, Harry noticed Dumbledore had also come down, looking very serious, as if waiting for someone. Sure enough, after they put Ron down, ignoring Ron as he coughed a couple of times and groggily came to, Dumbledore asked, "Cleo, what is the meaning of this?"
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