"Another race's language?" Hermione frowned, quickly racking her brain for any race whose language sounded like screaming, but came up with nothing.
Penelope chuckled, covering her mouth, then shook her head. "It's normal not to know; this race is rarely written about in books. I only found out after seeing them by the Black Lake."
At this, Penelope glanced at the Junior Lin Yue present and patiently explained, "There's a magical creature in the Black Lake called a Merperson. Their voices sound like beautiful music underwater, but on land, they sound like screams."
"Very unique creatures." Hermione's eyes lit up, evidently intrigued by these creatures that differ so greatly between water and land.
Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore also looked enlightened, while Amanda nodded in agreement.
"When I see Harry again, I'll tell him to try putting the golden egg in the water," Hermione said excitedly.
"But Senior Penelope, how did you encounter Merpeople?"
Penelope paused, then smiled a little sheepishly. "When I was in third year, after my exams, I went to play by the Black Lake and accidentally fell asleep."
"When I woke up, I saw Headmaster Dumbledore squatting by the Black Lake, communicating with a Merperson, and the sounds they made were like screams."
"I couldn't see the Merperson very clearly from afar," she paused here, her face reddening slightly before she continued, "So after Headmaster Dumbledore and the Merperson left, I poked my head into the water, wanting to see it clearly, but only managed to catch a glimpse of its tail."
"But I did hear its voice, like a song."
"Wow." Hermione exclaimed and nodded, her mind couldn't help but fantasize about what kind of beautiful creature it must be.
Merpeople! The most famous one is definitely the fairy tale, The Little Mermaid.
She turned her head to look at Amanda sitting beside her. Hermione privately thought that while they might not be as beautiful as Amanda, they should be similar to the descriptions in fairy tales.
Noticing Hermione's gaze, Amanda slowly and mechanically turned her head. Seeing the expectant and curious look on Hermione's face, in an instant, she understood what Hermione was thinking without even needing to analyze it.
Thinking back to when she was at Hermione's house...
"Hermione, Merpeople in the Wizarding World are not like those in Muggle fairy tales."
She stated the fact plainly. Merpeople were indeed rarely written about in books because they actively avoided humans and, like Centaurs, were quite resistant to them.
However, Amanda had seen pictures of Merpeople in a book in the Restricted Section, and their appearance... could only be described as not quite fitting her aesthetic.
"Not like in fairy tales?" Hermione looked at Amanda, still not quite understanding what she meant.
"Yes," Amanda nodded. "Merpeople in the Wizarding World are not as good-looking as those in Muggle World fairy tales."
"Oh, I see." Hermione responded vaguely, at this moment, she had not yet realized.
What kind of appearance Amanda's "not as good-looking" truly implied.
Meanwhile, outside Hogwarts, at the headquarters of the gossip magazine, Rita Skeeter was celebrating the great success of this issue with the editor-in-chief.
The editor-in-chief raised his wine glass to Rita. "Miss Skeeter's articles are indeed brilliant. Our magazine has reaped a rich harvest this time."
Rita clinked glasses with the editor-in-chief, smiling, and took a sip of wine. "This is the value of fabricating stories and deliberate slander. I don't know what's wrong with The Daily Prophet; they have such a huge buzz but they let it go."
Her words stunned the magazine editor-in-chief. It was one thing to write reports like that, but for Rita Skeeter to say it outright was definitely problematic!
Rita seemed to have just realized what she said. She covered her mouth in a panic, then smiled, trying to smooth things over.
"Oh dear, my mouth just accidentally spoke the truth..."
She abruptly shut her mouth, and at the same time, a violent pain began to spread through her body. This pain was bone-deep, yet completely untraceable to its source.
Seeing Rita's suddenly pained expression, the magazine editor-in-chief retreated two steps in horror.
What's wrong with this Rita? What's going on? He didn't do this!
However, before he could react further, the door to his magazine office was knocked upon.
A Ravenclaw graduate stood smiling at the door, holding up a notice for the employee who opened it.
"Your investors have collectively decided to withdraw their capital. Additionally, the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement is demanding accountability for your magazine's defamation, slander, and damage to others' reputations."
"From today onwards, your magazine office is officially sealed."
Before the employee could say anything, this Little Eagle shoved the notice into his hand, and the Aurors behind him swarmed in, rushing into the magazine office to make arrests.
This Little Eagle watched the magazine's employees being controlled by the Aurors, their faces filled with inexplicable terror, and stood on tiptoe, shouting, "Don't be afraid, ordinary employees! As long as you're not involved in this matter and you cooperate by telling us about your editor-in-chief."
"I guarantee you can leave the Ministry of Magic this afternoon. If you cooperate well, you can start working at the Wizarding World Gazette tomorrow morning!"
"Our target is only the culprits, your editor-in-chief and Rita Skeeter. Everyone else can turn over a new leaf."
After speaking, he stepped into the magazine office. It was better for him to be present for the arrest of the two culprits.
The magazine was published in the morning, and it wasn't even noon yet, but the Ministry of Magic had already completed the filing, sealing, and arrests.
Facing the slander involving Hermione, all The Ravenclaws in the Ministry of Magic worked together, which led to the matter being completely resolved in the shortest possible time.
As for the withdrawal of funds, it goes without saying. With Amanda, the largest existing capital provider in the British Wizarding World, standing there, which investor would dare to invest in a magazine office that had provoked her?
Even if Amanda hadn't said a word, they would still have to quickly withdraw their funds, fearing that their actions were too slow.
The various "bosses" who had invested in this magazine office now wished they could use a time-turner to go back in time and slap themselves twice.
Why couldn't they have stayed away from this magazine office!
In the entire affair, the only two who truly didn't understand how reckless and foolish their actions were were probably the editor-in-chief and Rita Skeeter, whose wands had already been confiscated by the Aurors with Expelliarmus.
"Good morning, you two," the Ravenclaw Little Eagle walked into the editor-in-chief's office, his gaze lingering for a moment on the wine bottle and two glasses on the table, then he smiled at the two bewildered people standing opposite him. "Celebrating the great success of your slanderous news?"
"You, you have no right to arrest us!" The editor-in-chief took a deep breath and shouted, outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, "We have freedom of the press!"
"Of course, of course, you do."
The Ravenclaw graduate, Ono, waved his hand. "We don't deny that at all, if you report truthfully."
To be honest, as long as all the magazines and newspapers reported truthfully, no matter what they said, the Little Eagles wouldn't get angry, at least they wouldn't directly push the Ministry of Magic's processes to accelerate and then make arrests.
Of course, in the eyes of the Ravenclaw Eagles, if everyone reported truthfully, they could only praise Amanda and Miss Granger, as both of them had only strengths and no weaknesses.
This was something all Ravenclaw Eagles, both graduated and ungraduated, firmly believed.
Rita knew her current situation was bad and could only bite her lip tightly, preventing herself from uttering a single word. By this point, she was so weak from pain that she was almost collapsing, drenched in sweat, her back bent like a shrimp.
Seeing Rita's state, one of the Aurors gestured to Ono, "Deputy Head, look at her..."
Ono frowned, seeing Rita's pale face, trembling body, and profuse sweat. He drew his wand and waved it at her.
Several diagnostic spells were cast, all indicating that Rita's body had no issues.
Immediately, an answer appeared in his mind: to teach Rita a lesson, cause her immense pain, and yet make it undetectable to others.
This must be Junior Lin Yue's doing. He could only think of Amanda as the one who had a conflict with Rita and possessed such means.
Waving his hand, Ono signaled the Aurors not to worry. "It's fine, this fellow is perfectly alright, she's just faking it. Don't let her fool you, take her away quickly."
"Alright."
The Aurors responded and escorted Rita and the editor-in-chief out of the office.
Outside the office, the magazine's employees were being led away one by one. Many of them, even before reaching the Ministry of Magic, had already begun to tell the Aurors about the magazine's editor-in-chief.
From his acceptance of Rita's article to publishing it without even verifying, seeing that it could increase popularity, saying whatever came to mind, the editor-in-chief and Rita's faces immediately darkened.
Ono glanced at the two of them, a slight smirk on his lips. Darkened faces already? This is just the beginning.
Their Ravenclaw House graduates haven't even really started yet.
After their discussion in the Room of Requirement, Hermione took a moment during lunch to return to the Gryffindor Table and tell him about needing to submerge the golden egg in water to hear it.
Harry thought for a moment, then decided to take the golden egg directly to the Black Lake. There was plenty of water in the Black Lake anyway; he would just put the golden egg in, open it, and then stick his head in.
"Hermione, can you all accompany me to the Black Lake this afternoon to listen to the golden egg?"
Harry blinked, looking at Hermione expectantly. He was now experiencing the benefits of having a think tank to rely on.
So he was eager to bring Hermione and the others along.
"Maybe," Hermione nodded uncertainly. "But it depends on whether Senior Cho Chang, Senior Marietta, and Senior Penelope have time."
As she spoke, she narrowed her eyes slightly and poked Harry's forehead. "Also, don't rely on us too much; you need to use your own brain too."
"Cough cough, with five people smarter than me, why would I need to use my brain...?"
Harry mumbled softly. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"
"Huh?" Harry shuddered, quickly waving his hands. "Nothing, nothing."
"Alright." Hermione eyed him suspiciously, then got up and returned to the Ravenclaw Table to relay Harry's request.
"Sure, I don't have anything planned for this afternoon." Penelope nodded, indicating she was fine with it.
"Us too, and it'd be nice to catch some breeze by the Black Lake and enjoy the scenery."
Cho Chang also agreed with a smile, spearing a sausage for Marietta Eckmore beside her.
Hermione pretended not to see, turning around with a cheerful grin to poke Amanda's cheek as she drank pumpkin juice.
"I won't even ask you; you definitely have time."
"Hmm," Amanda put down her cup, swallowed her pumpkin juice, and nodded. "I can go to the Black Lake to read."
"Sigh..." Hermione sighed helplessly. "Even when you're a little better, you can never forget about reading and studying."
She now truly understood her parents' worries and feelings about her constant reading and studying.
After lunch, Amanda followed Hermione and the three seniors to the Black Lake. They had been sitting for only a few minutes when Harry and Ron also came running over, holding the golden egg.
"Harry, Ron, good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, everyone."
After greeting Harry and Ron, Amanda glanced at the water in the Black Lake, then considered the current temperature. Without hesitation, she drew her wand and cast a Warming Charm on Harry's head.
"Thank you." Harry smiled gratefully, then pressed the golden egg into the Black Lake. He took a deep breath and plunged his head in.
He twisted open the golden egg, and sure enough, a beautiful, song-like sound came to his ears.
After listening for about twenty seconds, Harry pulled his head out of the Black Lake again and wiped his face.
"It really is the Merperson's song; once underwater, you can hear it clearly."
Amanda nodded, then lightly tapped her wand again to cast a Drying Charm on him.
"So what did the Merperson say?" Hermione hugged Amanda's arm, sitting close to her.
"The Merperson's song said they would take my most precious thing, and I would need to find it, otherwise it would disappear when the time came."
"Meaning you have to go into the Black Lake, then." Cho Chang understood instantly, glancing at the Black Lake before them.
Seeing that Harry had completely figured out the content of the second task, Amanda no longer remained silent.
"So now there's only one problem to solve. Merpeople usually live at the bottom of the water, and the Merpeople in the Black Lake are no exception. Harry, you are clearly human, a land creature. You need to think about how you can get to the bottom of the Black Lake alive."
"Uh," Harry hesitated slightly, then stated the first solution that came to his mind, "With a scuba tank?"
Amanda shook her head with a poker face, denying it. "Although the rules don't explicitly forbid the use of Muggle tools for assistance, scuba gear isn't that easy to learn to use, and you don't have enough time."
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.