At noon on Sunday, the weather was clear and the sun was high, which was a good time to go to the lake to check out the sights.
After Albert was ready, he took Fred, George and Lee Jordan out of the castle, walked across the wet grounds, and headed towards the Black Lake.
The few of them avoided the place where Durmstrang's large ship was anchored and came to the place where they had chosen to go down the lake.
According to the original plan, Albert intended to go deep into Black Lake for reconnaissance today and test the plan prepared a while ago to prevent unnecessary accidents during the second project.
A cold wind blew in from the lake, causing the four people who had just arrived at the lake to shiver.
"Are you really planning to go to the lake to check out the weather in this awful state?" Lee Jordan stiffly turned his head to Albert who was beginning to take off his robe and said, "Or, forget it this time and wait until the temperature warms up before going to the lake again."
"I have to go to the lake anyway. I can't escape." Albert stared at the Black Lake ahead. He knew Lee Jordan didn't want to go, so he didn't force him. "It's a good thing to be able to scout ahead of time. I can also test my preparations to avoid being in a hurry if something unexpected happens during the competition."
Albert turned to Lee Jordan and said, "If you don't want to go down, stay on the shore and help look after things. We will definitely need someone to take care of us when we come back."
"Okay, I'll prepare some hot drinks for you." Lee Jordan seemed to be waiting for these words, looking as if he had been pardoned, causing Fred and George beside him to look at him with contempt.
This guy finally gave in.
Isn’t it just that you can’t swim
Do you still need to worry about swimming if you have a bubble head curse
“It’s really cold.”
Albert took off his robe and left only his underwear. This piece of clothing was very similar to a Muggle diving suit and had a good warming effect, but in this kind of weather, it still felt unreliable.
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan whistled together, stretched out their hands to pinch Albert's shoulders and said, "If a girl saw you like this, she would scream in fascination. You have an enviable figure."
Albert's body is indeed well-proportioned and he looks very strong, which is related to his previous training.
"If you work out well, you won't have to envy me." Albert began to stretch his body to avoid cramps after entering the water.
"I feel silly running like that," muttered Fred.
"So, you can only envy me." Albert shrugged and brought the question back to the point. "You guys go get ready too. I'll go down and test whether the first plan is feasible. If not, we can only use the backup plan."
"Why not just use the second plan?" Lee Jordan felt that using underwater breathing agents was more reliable.
"Most warriors use the first option. I think we need to test the feasibility of this option first." Albert waved his wand and cast a spell to keep himself warm. This is a variation of the drying spell. It can keep clothes warm and dry. Combined with the water and fire immunity spell, it can have a very good thermal insulation effect.
After putting a bubble spell on himself, Albert walked directly into the lake on the mud and smooth, sticky stones. The skin that touched the lake water felt a chill that penetrated his heart, even though he had cast a warming spell.
It’s terrible. The temperature of the lake water is so low.
Albert now admired Krum so much. That guy actually jumped into the lake to swim in just swimming trunks, and in January, the coldest month of winter.
What a warrior!
To be honest, Albert was very curious about how the other warriors, except for Harry Potter who used Gillyweed, could withstand the coldness of the lake water
This low temperature is no joke.
Perhaps, the magical healing effect of magic allows wizards to have a much higher endurance limit in some aspects than Muggles, but it does not mean that wizards' physical fitness and various physical data are better than Muggles.
Albert shook off other thoughts and dived into the bottom of the lake. He was not in a hurry to move forward into the lake, but opened his eyes wide and looked around, beginning to look for the whereabouts of Moaning Myrtle. They agreed to meet here.
"Are you looking for me?"
Moaning Myrtle appeared in front of Albert at some point, and looked at Albert's somewhat funny outfit with a smile.
"I'll ask you to lead the way from now on."
Albert emerged from the lake and said to Weeping Myrtle with a smile, but his smile looked very funny because of the Bubble Head Curse.
"Are we leaving now?" Moaning Myrtle came over.
"You stay here for a while, I'll go call them down and change the cannon head spell!" Albert swam back to the shore, lifted the cannon head spell and said to them, "I found Myrtle, you guys should get ready to come down too!"
Fred and George have changed into the same clothes and put a special pill in their mouths. It contains underwater breathing agent. As long as they bite it and swallow the agent inside, they can gain the ability to breathe underwater for a short period of time. This is a safety guarantee that Albert has prepared for everyone.
After casting the same magic spell as Albert, they threw the simple underwater booster to Albert by the lake.
This thing is a crude toy designed by Albert himself. It can be easily obtained through the transformation spell. It mainly generates thrust through the magical rotating fan blades. The underwater speed should not be fast, but it is very suitable for providing auxiliary power.
As for whether it is practical or not, you need to use it to know.
"Remember to prepare hot drinks for us."
Fred and George said hello to Lee Jordan and followed Albert into the water. They soon enjoyed the same cold lake water as Albert and couldn't help but gasp.
"Okay, lead the way," Albert said to Moaning Myrtle.
"What is this?"
Moaning Myrtle looked curiously at the toy in Albert's hand.
"Underwater propeller. Wizards are destined to swim slowly in the lake, so using this thing can help them move faster." Albert picked up the rope, picked up the wand at the other end of the rope, and gently tapped the underwater propeller, causing the two blades to begin to rotate at a constant speed.
"Let's go!"
With the help of underwater thrusters, the three of them moved towards the center of the lake.
They didn't need to swim at all. They just needed to slightly adjust the direction of the underwater thrusters and they could easily follow the team towards the bottom of the lake.
After going deep into the lake, the surrounding vision became a little bad.
However, Albert was well prepared. There was a flashlight-like device in front of the underwater propeller. There was a blue flame burning inside, which could dispel the darkness ahead and provide partial vision.
The dim light of the fire gathered a group of small fish, and Fred was curiously reaching out to tease them.
"Stop messing around, hurry up and follow me."
George reached out and patted Fred on the shoulder, motioning him to hurry up and catch up, so as not to be left alone.
"The lake isn't actually that big, but it's easy to get lost." Moaning Myrtle surrounded Albert and introduced enthusiastically, "If you go deeper, you'll encounter a jungle of water plants ahead, and there will be some unfriendly guys in it. If you go in directly, you'll not only be easily attacked, but also easily get lost. I suggest going around it. Although it may be a long way, it will definitely be much faster than entering the water plant jungle."
"We plan to find the mermaid's village."
Albert waved his wand, conjured up words and made them make sounds to communicate with Moaning Myrtle.
Fred and George were both surprised by Albert's methods. They didn't expect that he could do this. So how did he do it
Albert didn't pay attention to the surprised looks of the Weasley brothers, but was thinking about how to accurately locate the mermaid village so that he could find the specific location more easily during the second project.
To be honest, Albert suspected that the mermaid village was hidden in some aquatic forest.
With the speed of the underwater booster, it is not difficult to find the mermaid village if we spend more time. However, everyone's swimming speed is not fast, so we must put a lot of effort in this matter to swim to the mermaid village. It can be found in at least half an hour, and the distance must not be too far, probably about 1,500 feet.
"Come with me."
Moaning Myrtle led the three to the bottom of the lake, away from the jungle composed of tangled black aquatic plants, and during the trip they also discovered a figure that looked like a giant squid.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally came to a place that looked like a mermaid village. Within their field of vision were many stone houses made of rough stones covered with large patches of algae.
"We are here. This is the mermaid village."
Moaning Myrtle looked around, as if she was afraid of something, and shrank directly behind Albert.
"It seems that we are lucky and time is faster than expected." Albert murmured. He narrowed his eyes slightly and noticed something swimming around.
The arrival of three people and one ghost obviously disturbed the peace of this small mermaid village, and the mermaids obviously noticed these uninvited guests.
Albert motioned Fred and George to come closer to him, because several mermaids with spears surrounded them. One of them even took out a conch horn and blew it. The low sound spread in the small village and soon received a large response.
"We don't seem to be welcome." Fred looked at the iron-gray mermaid holding a spear and couldn't help but tighten his wand. He felt that it was definitely not a good idea to have a conflict here, as the water was the mermaid's home turf.
"I think we'd better leave here." George looked at more and more mermaids pouring out of the village, and reached out to touch Albert uneasily, wanting him to leave.
"They don't like strangers approaching their village." Moaning Myrtle poked her head out from behind Albert and said, "I approached them accidentally last time and they chased me away with spears."
Fortunately, the mermaids did not attack the three people. Instead, they pointed at them and seemed to be discussing their appearance and dress. No one knew what they were whispering about.
"They should have no ill intentions, otherwise they would have thrown spears at us." Albert looked at the group of mermaids in front of him and went forward to try to negotiate with them. He knew that mermaids could understand human language and could speak human language in the water.
"I am a warrior of Hogwarts, and the golden egg guided me here." Albert waved his wand, forming a piece of text and making it make a sound.
The mermaids were briefly confused, probably because they were curious about how these people could talk in the water.
"We have no ill will towards you. We will leave here immediately."
The mermen must have known about the Triwizard Tournament, or at least Dumbledore would have mentioned it to them. After all, the mermen under the Black Lake were part of the second task, and the golden egg used by the warriors was made with the help of the mermen.
"Leave here, warriors of Hogwarts, the second task has not yet begun." A mermaid with a green beard, green hair, and a short necklace made of shark teeth swam out from the crowd of mermaids and said in a hoarse and low voice, "We won't hurt you, come with me, I will take you away from here."
Yes, Albert could feel that the mermaids had no ill will towards them, and that so many mermaids surrounded them more out of curiosity.
The three of them were surrounded and watched, like monkeys in a zoo, being pointed at and criticized by a group of mermen who had rarely had the opportunity to see a wizard.
After the merman stood up, the mermaids made way for them to leave.
"I thought they would warmly invite us in as guests." Fred muttered. He never expected to be driven away as soon as he found the mermaid village.
"That's how they are. They are very hostile to outsiders, just like the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest." Albert waved his wand and a line of words appeared.
"The mermaids are actually raising Green Roddy." George reached out and touched Albert, pointing to a little Green Roddy tied to a door not far away.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt any Hogwarts student at will. This is an ancient agreement." The merman saw that Albert and the others didn't move, and said, "But it's really surprising. I didn't expect that a warrior would come here in advance. Dumbledore never mentioned this to me."
"I'm just checking out the area first."
Albert asked everyone else to leave, and before leaving he did not forget to guard against the mermaid's sneak attack. Although they felt that the mermaid would not attack him, it was always better to be cautious.
The merman led the group through the village square, where a crude statue stood: a giant mermaid carved from a huge rock.
Behind the few people followed a large group of mermaids, as if the entire village was sending them away together. The scene was quite scary.
They left in the direction of the water grass jungle, not knowing whether it was the mermaid's malicious intention or whether that was the entrance to the village.
Well, actually Albert was not wrong in his guess, that was indeed the entrance to the mermaid village, and Weeping Myrtle brought Albert over from behind the mermaid village.
Staying at the bottom of the Black Lake, the mermaids basically had no natural enemies, but they were suddenly sneaked into the village by three wizards, which really scared them. That’s why the mermaid blew the conch horn.
Albert suspected that the water plants in front of him were planted by the fishermen to cultivate seedlings or as food. In any case, this large area of water plants was too lush, so lush that it blocked their vision and trapped them.
He had no doubt that Greenlodi was hiding here.
To be honest, Albert didn't want to go through this patch of water grass and forest at all, so after they were brought out of the mermaid village, they moved straight to the lake.
As for the specific location of the mermaid village, Albert had thrown away a specially made locator before leaving. It was a magical stone that could lock the location through tracking magic. In order to ensure the accuracy of the location, he threw three of these things near the mermaid village.
As for cheating
Could this be considered cheating
No, this is the invisible benefit given after unlocking the golden egg.
When they were about to leave the aquatic forest ahead, a large group of Greenlodi rushed out from the aquatic plants and chased after the three people and the ghost who were about to leave, as if they wanted to drag them to the bottom of the lake.
The mermaids who had just watched them leave witnessed this scene, but had no intention of helping to warn them. It was obvious that they wanted to see the few people get humiliated.