It was not known whether it was because Albert did not ask the three to keep it a secret, or if other students saw them diving in the lake at the time.
In short, the news that Albert went diving in the lake quickly spread throughout Hogwarts Castle.
When everyone was speculating that this matter was related to the second project, the secret of the golden egg was secretly leaked by someone and became known to everyone. The mermaid song was no longer a secret. Now everyone was most curious about who the warriors' treasure would be
Someone in the black market at Hogwarts opened a bet because of this, and it was said that if all the guesses were correct, the payout would be ten times the odds.
The second event of the Triwizard Tournament has unknowingly been presented to everyone. Many students suddenly realized why they often saw Krum swimming in the Black Lake. It turned out that this warrior of Durmstrang had been preparing for the next game.
As for Albert, he was undoubtedly prepared and even found the mermaid village directly.
In fact, the students of Hogwarts didn’t even know that there were mermaids living under the Black Lake. After learning this news, many rumors about mermaids appeared in the school.
According to the information leaked by Fred and George, the mermaid village was well hidden by aquatic plants, and it was not easy to find. The warriors needed to pass through the area with lush aquatic plants, and there were often Grindylows in the aquatic plants who would sneak attack passers-by.
The Weasley twins have used their own experiences to tell other warriors that if they are not prepared, they can easily be surrounded by a large group of Grindylows, and may even be dragged into the lake and drowned if they are not careful.
Many people are now worried about Harry Potter's safety, fearing that he will drown in the second task, because if they put themselves in his shoes, they don't think they can accomplish the feat of saving people, especially after hearing that Krum spent more than a month trying to find the specific location of the mermaid village, they are even more certain of this possibility. Let alone saving people, whether they dare to go into the water to save people in such horrible weather is still a big question. It's good enough if they don't need to be rescued.
Draco Malfoy from Slytherin College even openly made bets with others, claiming that Harry Potter would need someone to rescue him as soon as he went into the water, and mocked that Harry would be frozen to death or drowned if he could stay underwater for five minutes.
To this end, Ron "borrowed a large sum of money" from Harry, expressing his intention to make a huge gamble with Malfoy, betting on whether Harry would be drowned in the second project, and whether he could successfully rescue the hostages and complete the mission.
Malfoy was not stupid, so he naturally refused to bet with Ron, but he still insisted that if Ron dared to bet that Harry would get first place in the second project, he would bet with him a large sum of money. He also used this incident to mock the Weasley family for being a bunch of poor people.
However, to Malfoy's surprise, poor Weasley somehow generously said that he could bet with Malfoy that Harry would get first place in the second event, but Malfoy needed to give five times the odds and sign a magic contract, and he would take out one thousand Galleons as the bet.
Malfoy naturally refused to give in and started to argue with Ron. However, when Ron said that he could sign the magic contract in person, no matter how stupid Malfoy was, he realized that this matter was not simple. He quickly shut up and ran away in shame, saying "I need to go back and think about it."
Ever since that incident, every time Ron met Malfoy on the road, he would always ask: What have you thought about it
Malfoy was so angry that his cheeks were distorted, and he almost fought with Ron. In the end, he was stopped by Moody who passed by.
Ron took this opportunity to mock and disgust Malfoy, and at the same time, he also vented a lot of anger and maintained a good mood for several days.
To be honest, Ron was actually very curious about what kind of confidence Albert had that allowed Harry to easily win first place in the second event
Why Albert and not the Weasley brothers
Because the Weasley twins don't have a thousand Galleons, even if they were sold, they couldn't raise that much money.
"What a pity!" Ron sighed.
It would be great if Malfoy agreed. If he won the bet, he would definitely get a lot of Galleons, and Harry's second project would be easily completed.
It's a pity that Draco Malfoy didn't agree on impulse. It's such a pity.
"Although Malfoy is a bastard, he is not stupid. Anyone with eyes can see that there is something wrong with this matter." Hermione was a little worried about whether Harry could successfully complete the second project. The current situation was not optimistic. She learned from Albert and the Weasley twins that the water in the Black Lake was very cold, the temperature was very low, and it was very deep. Even swimming would take a long time, not to mention that Harry was not good at swimming. Although he had been practicing swimming recently, the situation was not much better. The most likely reason was that after the air of the Bubble Head Curse was exhausted, Harry still could not find the mermaid village.
Everyone's concerns are not without reason.
"How about asking Sirius? Maybe Sirius will have some good ideas?" Ron said to Harry who was silently copying the Divination homework.
"Sirius is not in England. He seems to have gone to Holland." Harry actually wanted Sirius to help him, but when he thought of the contents of the letter he received a while ago, he sighed helplessly.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other and asked in confusion, "What is Sirius doing in Holland?"
"I heard that Peter Pettigrew was in the Netherlands, so he went to hunt down Peter Pettigrew." Harry couldn't help but worry about Sirius's situation. Although he hated Peter and wanted to kill Peter, Harry was more concerned about Sirius's safety.
Harry didn't want Sirius to be distracted by his own affairs, so he hadn't written to his godfather recently.
However, Harry didn't know that with the help of Albert, Sirius had become an enhanced version of Sirius Black. The one who should be worried now should be Peter, not Sirius.
"Hermione, do you have any good ideas?" Ron asked Hermione who was flipping through a book.
"No, I've been studying Albert's warming spell recently, and Harry should be able to use it." Hermione didn't know how Albert found the mermaid hut so quickly, but she was sure that the group of Grindylows should be the obstacle left by the organizers for the students.
"Grindylows aren't that hard to deal with, but a large group of them in the water can be a problem."
Ron put down the book in his hand and said to Harry, "Many spells don't work well in water. Why don't we try the barrier spell recommended by Fred and George?"
"Lupin will come to Hogwarts this weekend and accompany me to the Black Lake to look for the mermaid village and see what kind of trouble we might encounter." Harry said suddenly.
"You're not going to Hogsmeade?" Ron asked, a little surprised.
"I think completing the second project is more important than going to Hogsmeade." Hermione glared at Ron. "We have to be prepared. I'm worried that Harry won't be able to find the mermaid village and rescue you, my dear. Be careful not to drown in the lake."
"Dumbledore will definitely not let anything happen to the hostages." Ron shrugged, but he still thought that Harry should give it a try before participating in the second task. Although he was reluctant to admit it, Albert often did things that made sense.
"Harry, make sure you are well prepared before you go diving in the lake," Hermione warned seriously.
"I see." Harry was a little annoyed. He found that the preparations he had made earlier did not seem to be enough for him to pass the second task smoothly.
"Actually, there's nothing to be ashamed of even if we fail," Ron consoled him, "After all, Krum spent more than a month trying to find the mermaid village."
To be honest, Ron didn't think Harry could win the championship unless Harry was really lucky enough that someone would take the initiative to deliver the championship trophy to Harry.
"If there is really no other way, you can go and ask Albert. I'm sure he will be willing to help you." Hermione's expectation for Harry was also to complete all the competition events safely.
"Yeah."
Harry responded noncommittally. If it were in the past, he would probably choose to complete the task alone, but now Harry didn't have the courage to say that he could complete the task alone.
After all, Sirius had helped him a lot on the first project, and the idea of using the broom had come from Albert.
Time was slowly approaching the second task, and if there was any good news recently, it was probably that the weather was starting to warm up. The weather wasn't as cold as before, but the water in the Black Lake was still bone-chilling, so Harry had no intention of going into the lake at all.
To be honest, Harry was a little worried that he would freeze to death after diving into the lake.
I'm not kidding. After I put my hand into the lake for a while, the skin on my arm started to feel burning, as if it was on fire.
He felt that he needed a warming charm to prevent himself from freezing to death after diving into the lake.
When Harry went to find Albert somewhat awkwardly, Fred told him that Albert had gone somewhere last night and did not come to the Apparition class today.
"That guy must have gone out on a date again."
"Dating?"
Hermione was in a trance, remembering that Krum had asked her to go to Hogsmeade a few days ago.
Hermione refused because of Harry's matter.
Of course, Hermione actually had a pretty good impression of Krum.
"Doesn't that guy need to practice Apparition?" Ron couldn't help but ask.
One class costs one Galleon.
That guy is such a waste.
"Of course not. Albert mastered Apparition a long time ago." Fred's matter-of-fact tone choked Ron.
"Oh, Harry, are you also going down to the lake to find the mermaid village?" George asked.
"Yes, I think we should prepare in advance. The second task is more difficult than expected." Harry said dryly, "I heard that Albert can use the insulation spell. I want to ask him for advice."
"You mean the heat preservation spell? This spell seems to be invented by Albert himself." George guessed the purpose of the three people looking for Albert, so he introduced it, "This spell seems to be a variation of the drying spell. If you want to learn it, I can teach you."
"He invented it himself?"
"Isn't it strange? I remember Albert invented quite a few spells." Lee Jordan, who had been holding it in until now, finally found a chance to interrupt.
"There is a trick to the Warming Spell, which is that it must be cast on clothes." George introduced to the three people, "If you are wearing a lot of clothes, the effect of this spell will not be very obvious if you cast it directly. I think you have encountered this problem."
"Yes." Hermione nodded.
"You need to change your clothes and use a warming spell on them. If you want to wear more clothes, you can use this spell on your underwear. Of course, if you want to go diving in the lake, it's best not to wear too much. It's also best to find someone to help watch you to prevent yourself from accidentally drowning or getting into danger."
After a brief discussion with Fred and George, Harry and Hermione quickly mastered the correct use of the warming spell.
"Albert actually has a way to help Harry pass the competition easily, right?" Ron suddenly asked.
Fred, George and Lee Jordan looked at each other, shrugged and said, "We don't really know about this kind of thing. You have to ask Albert yourself."
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan would not reveal the information about the underwater breathing agent without Albert's consent.
"Ron!" Hermione frowned, thinking that Ron's words were really rude.
On the way back to the castle, Ron said to Harry and Hermione: "Albert must have a way to make it easy for Harry to pass the second task, otherwise he would never gamble with Malfoy with his character. That guy never does anything without confidence."
"Pass the second task easily?" Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They thought this was a little unbelievable, but the possibility should not be low.
What will it be
Harry racked his brains but couldn't come up with an answer, of course he wanted to win the game easily.
However, there are some things that you just can't imagine.
Harry wouldn't go out of his way to ask.
At noon the next day, when the temperature was the highest in the day, Harry and Lupin met at the edge of the Black Lake. After getting ready, they went diving in the lake together.
They were underwater for about twenty minutes and nearly caught a cold.
"How's it going?" Ron asked.
"Not so good. It's very cold at the bottom of the lake. It's not suitable for swimming in this outfit, and the swimming speed is also very slow." Harry went diving into the lake without taking off his clothes. The robe became very heavy after absorbing water, and his hands and feet that were not protected by the warming spell were frozen cold. That feeling was really uncomfortable.
"The situation is not good." Lupin frowned, realizing that he could not help at all. He drew out his wand, removed the coldness from his body, and then helped Harry remove the lake water and coldness from his body.
"I feel like I'm about to lose feeling in my hands and feet. Maybe I need to prepare some gloves for myself. It's best not to expose my skin to the water, which should help keep me warm." Harry felt that he might need some Muggle diving equipment. The scuba gear could be replaced by the Bubblehead Charm, but the diving suit should be able to solve the problem of the clothes absorbing heavy water and feeling cold when in contact with the lake water. He should also be able to swim faster.
To be honest, swimming at the bottom of the lake was really slow and difficult, and he might need some assistance.
Harry told Lupin his idea, and Lupin thought Harry's idea was correct. He said he would help Harry get a Muggle diving suit before next week.
As for competing for the title of the Triwizard Tournament
Harry just wanted to complete the task now, that's all.