Among the four warriors, Miss Fleur Delacour was the least prepared. Due to the harsh winter at Hogwarts and the extremely cold lake water, after she solved the secret of the golden egg, she did not dive into the lake to collect intelligence like the other warriors did. This caused Fleur to seriously underestimate the difficulty of the second task.
Although the Bubble Head Charm can indeed solve the problem of breathing underwater, Fleur encountered big trouble as soon as she entered the lake. The freezing cold lake water made her hands and feet become unsteady. What's worse is that she didn't know where the mermaid took Gabrielle, let alone the existence of a mermaid village.
However, Fleur's beloved sister Gabrielle was still at the bottom of the lake, and even if she regretted not making more preparations, it was too late.
Fleur knew she had to get Gabrielle back from the mermaid.
Enduring the discomfort brought by the freezing cold water, Furong used her hands and feet to swim desperately towards the bottom of the lake.
Soon she was overtaken by a guy with a shark head. It was Krum. Fleur recognized his swimming trunks.
Of course, it was also because Harry and Albert both wore very recognizable clothes.
Harry Potter was also swimming quickly, following Krum towards the bottom of the lake.
There!
Keep up with them.
They must know where the merman took the hostages.
After all, Krum was a frequent swimmer in cold weather, so he certainly wouldn't be completely ignorant.
Fleur seemed to grasp the last straw and swam desperately towards the two people. However, even if she swam with all her might, the gap between the two sides continued to widen, and finally Potter and Krum disappeared from sight.
Fleur encountered all the difficulties that Dumbledore had told several temporary referees about the warriors' possible encounters in the second event. The lake water was really cold, and she was almost numb from the freezing cold in her hands and feet. The resistance in the lake was also very great, and it took a lot of effort to swim a certain distance. What was worse was that the deeper you went into the bottom of the lake, the worse the visibility around you became. You even felt like you were groping in the dark, so Fleur had to use her wand frequently for lighting, but the light from the wand could not penetrate the darkness at the bottom of the lake, causing her great suffering.
If Gabrielle hadn't been at the bottom of the lake, Fleur might have simply given up, because she knew very well that the possibility of her completing the second project was extremely low.
And Madame Maxime repeatedly assured her of Gabrielle's safety.
What's more, with the existence of a guy like Albert Anderson, the possibility of Beauxbatons winning the Triwizard Tournament is almost zero.
She really wanted to give up.
But when he thought about his sister Gabrielle who was still waiting for him to save her and he gave up, how desperate Gabrielle must be.
So, Fleur still gritted her teeth and held on, slowly swinging her arms and swimming in the direction where Krum and Harry Potter left.
The cold lake water and her worries about Gabrielle completely distracted Fleur from thinking, otherwise she would have realized that she might be heading in the wrong direction.
Because she didn't see Albert. As the guy most likely to win the championship among the four warriors, Albert must have a way to find the hostages, but she only saw Krum and Potter, which was obviously a problem.
Fortunately, Furong had not yet realized that the direction she was swimming was not the way to the mermaid village, otherwise she might have collapsed on the spot after being overwhelmed by despair.
When Furong was about to reach her limit, she suddenly felt something swimming nearby. She stopped and looked around vigilantly. There was a black shadow swimming flexibly towards the distance. Furong was sure that it was definitely a mermaid.
This is actually the organizer deliberately giving the Warriors some slack.
Mermaids will often appear around the warriors, helping to keep an eye on their safety and pointing them in the right direction of the mermaid village. As for whether they can seize the opportunity, that depends on the warriors themselves.
Furong followed happily. Although the direction the mermaid left was different from the direction she had just swam, she still followed it using her hands and feet. As long as she found the mermaid, she would definitely be able to find Gabrielle's whereabouts.
When Fleur was trying to cross a dense forest of aquatic plants, she ran into trouble. A Grindylow poked its head out from the aquatic plants, grabbed Fleur's legs tightly with its long and powerful fingers, and bit her legs with its sharp long teeth. The pain made Fleur's dizzy head immediately sober up. She had just used her magic wand to knock down the Grindylow that attacked her, when several more Grindylows came out from the aquatic plants, grabbed her legs again, and tried hard to pull Fleur into the aquatic plants, even entangled her arms, trying to drown the prey at the bottom of the lake.
Furong's strenuous counterattack failed to scare away the group of Grindylows. Instead, it aroused their ferocity. More Grindylows pounced on Furong and overwhelmed this beautiful warrior.
In the chaotic struggle, Fleur accidentally lost her wand and fell into despair. When she was awakened, she was lying on the shore, and Madame Maxime was looking at her with a worried look on her face.
"Gabrielle!" Fleur struggled to get up from the ground, "A group of Grindylows attacked me."
"Don't worry Fleur, Gabrielle will be fine. We won't allow anything to happen to the hostages. Your sister will be sent up after the game, and you need treatment now." Madame Maxime put her hand on Fleur's shoulder and took her to a nearby medical tent to receive treatment from Madame Pomfrey. Fleur looked a little miserable, with scars left by Grindylow on her face and arms.
In the stands, Sirius looked unhappy. He originally saw Albert rescue the hostages easily and thought the second task was simple. However, after seeing Fleur fail and be sent ashore, he realized that the second task might not be as simple as he thought.
"How's Harry getting ready?" Sirius asked Lupin.
"We haven't found the mermaid village yet, but we have made all other preparations, so it should be fine," Lupin explained.
"You didn't look for Albert?"
"Harry said he couldn't make that thing. In fact, even I don't think I can do it." Lupin couldn't help but smile bitterly. It was too exaggerated to make something out of nothing but a stone.
"Stupid, even if you don't know how, can't you use the Flying Spell? Ask Albert to get one in advance. He will definitely not mind making one for you. At most you can spend some Galleons to buy one." Sirius really didn't understand why he didn't ask Albert. There was a ready-made answer right there. Even if he copied the answer, what would be wrong? They were not competing for the final championship anyway.
"Sometimes, Harry would rather do it on his own."
Lupin was a little helpless, he actually wanted to do that, but Harry obviously preferred to complete the task relying on his own abilities, so he didn't go directly to Albert in the end.
"Complete the task on your own?" Sirius was silent. He knew that was Harry's pride.
But does Harry really have that ability
He didn't!
Whether it was the clothes or the warming spell, they were all copied from Albert, and even the head-bubbling spell was something they reminded him of.
But Harry seemed to have forgotten.
Sirius could understand why Lupin didn't do that, they were both carefully protecting Harry's fragile dignity.
Maybe, all teenagers are like this!
Sirius sighed as he recalled what he and James did when they were young.
With Furong's departure, she no longer had to endure the torture of the cold lake water, but two warriors were still struggling at the bottom of the lake.
The half-human, half-shark form did not bring much advantage to Krum. Although he successfully solved the problem of breathing underwater, swimming was still a big problem.
In fact, Krum's situation was not much better than Fleur's, but he still had his own advantages. Among the four warriors, Krum had the best resistance to the cold, and because he had been trying winter swimming and diving some time ago, Krum's situation was much better than Fleur's. He was also guided by the mermaid to change the direction of advance, but the vision deep at the bottom of the lake was not good, and Krum still got lost. What's worse, he was in big trouble.
The group of Grindylows that were swept away by Albert happened to be lurking in the water grass that Krum passed by, which resulted in Krum being attacked by a large number of Grindylows as soon as he tried to pass through the water grass.
The fighting ability of this wizard from Durmstrang School was much stronger than Fleur, and he immediately started a fierce battle with the sneak attack from Grindylow.
If Harry Potter hadn't given Krum a hand when he passed by, perhaps Krum's game would have ended here.
Even though he finally defeated those annoying Grindylows, Krum's body was still covered with scars and he looked extremely miserable.
"You go first!"
Krum thanked Harry Potter for his help, and rejected his kindness, letting Harry go first.
Krum was probably about to give up.
Although one competitor was reduced, Harry couldn't be happy.
Because he had also been very depressed since the start of the competition, and the trip to the bottom of the lake was not smooth.
Harry was not a good swimmer, and just traveling took up a lot of his energy. The muscles in his hands and feet were screaming in protest, but he still had to keep moving in a certain direction.
To be honest, Harry didn't dare to get close to the water plants again, for fear that he would follow in Krum's footsteps, but he heard Hermione mention that the mermaid village was hidden in the water plants jungle.
Just as Harry was rushing towards the mermaid village in an unknown direction, he suddenly felt something swimming by on the right. Frightened, he stopped immediately, raised his wand and looked around alertly.
The light at the bottom of the lake was very dim and visibility was very low. Even though Harry's wand emitted a faint light underwater, it was still meaningless.
Yes, there was no point, Harry was lost again.
Or rather, lost from the beginning.
But he still swam aimlessly, looking for the mermaids' village.
Harry regretted not bringing a flame like Hermione's that would not go out in water. At least he didn't have to worry about the problem of poor lighting underwater.
Harry, who was unable to take Gillyweed like in the novel, truly experienced the difficulty of the second task. He had to struggle under the lake like the other warriors. The only thing that made Harry feel relieved was that even if he failed, the hostages would be fine.
Albert must have a way to accomplish this task easily!
As for Fleur, Harry was not optimistic about the girl.
As for Krum, he looked seriously injured and would probably give up.
Harry tried to distract himself with other things and forget how long he had been swimming like this. Just when he was almost numb, he felt something seemed to be swimming around him. This time Harry saw clearly what was swimming past him. It was a mermaid. The merman looked back at Harry and swam away into the distance.
"What does this mean? Is it guiding me?"
Harry felt that the mermaid might be leading him or misleading him, but he had no choice. Otherwise, with visibility so poor at the bottom of the lake, he doubted how he would find the mermaid's village.
Even the last time Harry went diving with Lupin, he couldn't find the mermaid village.
Harry swam in the direction where the mermaid was swimming. After an unknown amount of time, he finally heard the mermaid's unforgettable singing coming from a large patch of water grass. But Harry hesitated in front of the water grass because if he was ambushed after entering the water grass, his situation would definitely not be much better than Krum's, not to mention that he was almost exhausted.
After hesitating for a long time, Harry gritted his teeth and followed the direction of the sound. To his surprise, no Grindylows appeared in the aquatic jungle. It seemed that the group of Grindylows had disappeared collectively.
Following the mermaids' singing, Harry finally found the mermaid village.
The mermaids in front of him were completely different from the mermaids in the painting in the prefect's bathroom. Their skin was iron gray, and their hair was dark green. The mermaids holding spears looked like experienced killers. He was worried that they would suddenly pounce on him and stab him into a sieve with their spears.
Harry was relieved when the merman didn't attack him.
After entering the mermaid village, Harry quickly found the hostages under the mermaid statue. As expected, there were only three left: Ron, Hermione, and a little silver-haired girl.
"Albert has indeed completed the task."
Harry went over to check on Ron and Hermione, and breathed a sigh of relief again when he found that they were just asleep.
He raised his wand and carefully used the Disintegrating Charm to help Ron break the water plants that were tied to his body.
But Harry did not return with Ron immediately. Instead, he stayed for a while and waited for the other warriors to arrive.
However, Harry soon realized a serious problem. His breathing became increasingly difficult and the Bubble Head Curse was clearly at its limit. If he didn't float up quickly, he might not be able to float up.
Just as Harry was hesitating, the wounded Krum finally hurried over. This Durmstrang warrior was obviously tougher than he had imagined. He was still holding on. Watching Krum rescue Hermione, Harry finally didn't have to worry about not being able to leave with the three hostages.
Regardless of the mermaid's obstruction, Harry waved his wand to drive away the mermaid who tried to stop him from rescuing people. He reached out and picked up the little girl by the waist, grabbed Ron's robe collar, kicked off with his feet, and took the two of them away from the bottom of the lake.
However, Harry seemed to overestimate his abilities a bit.
He was moving forward very slowly. Even though he flapped his flippers desperately, Ron and Fleur's sister were like two sacks full of potatoes, dragging him to the bottom of the lake. Looking up at the water above his head, it was still pitch black. His brain had lost the ability to think due to lack of oxygen. Leaving the hostages behind and struggling to float up might have been the best option, but Harry did not do that in the end. He sank to the bottom of the lake with the two hostages.
The next moment, Harry felt a push carrying him up. The mermaids helped him and took him and the two hostages out of the water.
After surfacing, Harry immediately lifted the Bubble Head Charm and took a deep breath of fresh air. He had never felt that the air was so wonderful.
Around him, many heads with messy green hair emerged from the water with him. Ron and the little silver-haired girl were also brought up.
He failed.
Harry knew it, but he never regretted it.
After arriving at the mermaid village, I actually didn't have much strength left.
Harry didn't consider that he might not be able to float to the surface if he took the little girl with him. He just knew that he couldn't leave the little girl at the bottom of the eerie lake.