Another ten minutes passed, and Krum also surfaced. He had an incomplete shark head over his own, looking quite bedraggled.
He had rescued his companion.
Only a few minutes remained.
'Harry...' Hermione's voice was trembling.
Lia didn't speak, calming her heavy breathing and her violently beating heart.
She just stared intently at the lake, forcing herself to ignore the rich scents she was producing, her nose twitching constantly in the air.
The scents under the water were chaotic: the scent of Merpeople, the scent of Grindylows, and Harry's scent.
His scent hadn't weakened.
He was still okay.
At the very last moment before the judges were about to declare the competition over, the surface of the lake burst open with a'splash.'
It was Harry!
He was not only dragging Ron, but his other hand was also pulling a little girl with silver hair.
It was Gabrielle!
The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.
Ron and Gabrielle were wrapped in blankets by Madam Pomfrey and given hot drinks to swallow.
Harry was pulled aside by Dumbledore.
Once everyone was ashore, Dumbledore used his wand to amplify his voice.
'The winner is Mr. Diggory!' he announced loudly. 'He completed the task within the time limit using a skillful Bubble-Head Charm!'
The Hogwarts students cheered.
'However,' Dumbledore's voice rang out again, drowning out the cheers, 'the panel of judges has unanimously agreed that although Mr. Potter was the third to complete the task, he was delayed because he insisted on saving all the hostages.'
'Such noble character deserves reward. Therefore, we have decided that Mr. Potter is in second place!'
The Gryffindor stands went completely wild.
Listening to the excitement in the crowd, Malfoy on the Slytherin stands felt a wave of annoyance.
Potter was always like this, always managing to steal the spotlight with some stupid 'noble' act.
He curled his lip, lost interest in watching further, and turned to squeeze through the crowd to leave.
His father's letter was still in his pocket.
The content of the letter was brief, but the information it contained was massive.
The House of Malfoy was making a move; before that, he had to stay away from Harry Potter, as far away as possible.
Malfoy quickened his pace.
Supported by Hermione, Lia walked awkwardly toward the Castle with the dispersing crowd.
Hermione was satisfied and pleased, but Lia seemed a bit distracted, her legs still feeling weak.
The tip of her tail still held the tingling afterglow of being lightly rubbed by Hermione, making her walk somewhat uncomfortably.
A decaying scent, a mix of false lies and aged fear, settled not far away like invisible sludge.
She stopped in her tracks.
'What's wrong, Lia?' Hermione stopped as well.
Lia didn't answer; her gaze passed through the gaps in the crowd and landed on a large tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
A peg-legged, one-eyed man was standing there, his crazily spinning magical eye locked onto two people not far away.
It was Moody.
He was observing Harry and Barty Crouch, who were talking.
That false scent was precisely what was emanating from Moody.
It was even stronger than what she had smelled in the office before, and it was laced with a panic that was becoming hard to suppress.
Lia tugged at Hermione's arm.
'I want to go see his lies.'
Hermione followed her gaze and noticed the scene over there as well.
Mr. Crouch looked very wrong; his clothes were a bit disheveled, and his expression carried a nervous excitement.
And Moody... he was hiding behind the tree.
Hermione immediately understood what Lia meant.
The two exchanged a look and tacitly left the crowd, quietly approaching the large tree.
They hid behind a dense thicket of bushes.
They were just in time to hear Barty Crouch still praising Harry.
'Your parents would be proud of you, Harry.'
Just then, Moody leaned on his staff and limped out from behind the tree.
'Barty,' his gruff voice interrupted Crouch.
Harry looked relieved, seemingly glad to see a familiar Professor.
Moody bared his teeth in a twisted smile, his magical eye spinning wildly as he stared at Crouch.
'You aren't trying to lure our poor Potter into an internship at the Ministry over the summer, are you?'
His words sounded like a joke, but Lia smelled the heavy malice within them.
'I should remind you,' Moody continued, his speech slow and clear, 'the last student who went to intern at the Department of Mysteries... well, they never came back.'
He finished, watching Crouch's reaction with great interest.
The expression on Crouch's face vanished completely.
He didn't bother with Moody's provocation; instead, he stepped forward with a grim face, almost pressing himself into Moody's presence.
Frowning, he carefully scrutinized Moody's scarred face, inch by inch.
Moody's smile vanished instantly.
He froze, his expression becoming somewhat tense.
Behind the bushes, Hermione held her breath.
She felt the atmosphere was wrong.
Very wrong.
Just when Hermione thought Crouch would say something startling, he said nothing at all.
He simply withdrew his scrutiny and brushed past Moody, walking alone toward the depths of the Forbidden Forest with a thoughtful, dazed expression.
Moody stood in place, his back to them.
He muttered to Harry, feigning composure, 'People say I'm mad, see?'
But his slightly twitching face and his involuntarily trembling eyelid all spoke of his inner panic.
He quickly pulled that small hip flask from his coat and tilted his head back to take a large gulp.
Then, without saying another word to Harry, he leaned on his staff and left quickly, as if fleeing the scene.
Harry stood there confused, watching the two adults and their bizarre behavior.
Behind the bushes, Hermione was also completely baffled.
'What did that mean?' she asked in a hushed voice. 'Why did Mr. Crouch react like that? And why did Professor Moody...'
Before she could finish, Lia tugged at her sleeve and interrupted her.
'Let's talk about it when we get back,' Lia sighed. 'Right now, I need to go back to the dormitory first.'
Hermione was puzzled: 'But there's still...'
Before she could finish, Lia shot her a glare.
Feeling the gradually cooling sensation under her robes...
Lia suppressed the heat on her face and said in a fit of embarrassed rage:
'I need to go back and change my clothes!'
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