Just before Harry fell into coma, he seemed to hear a broad, whistling sound in his ears.
“Woo—”
The cry was getting closer and closer, and it seemed that a horse-shaped water monster with broad-leaved cattails as its mane broke through the waves in the lake, came under Harry in an instant, and carried him to the top of the lake.
It might have been minutes, or it might have been only a moment, when Harry suddenly felt his head emerging from the water and the wonderful, fresh, cool air brushed against his damp face.
He suddenly woke up, swallowing air in big gulps, feeling like he had never breathed properly in his life.
The Kelpie used its head to support Harry's back, and used its body to hold Ginny and Gabrielle, and swam to the shore.
Then, it swung its tail, threw them onto the shore with a snap, turned around without looking back, and disappeared into the lake.
Harry gasped heavily as he managed to stand up on the sandy shore and immediately went to check on Ginny and Gabrielle. He was worried that if he stayed for more than an hour, something might happen to the hostages held by the two mermaids.
Just then, cheers rang out from the stands.
The audience was filled with noise, the little wizards were shouting and yelling, and they all seemed to stand up one by one.
Harry didn't know what they were cheering for, and guessed that they probably thought Ginny and the silver-haired girl were dead... Fortunately, no, Ginny and Gabrielle both opened their eyes.
Gabrielle opened her eyes and saw a strange face. She looked frightened and confused. Ginny smoothed her fiery red hair and blinked at Harry a few times in the bright sunlight.
"You did it, didn't you?" Then she saw Furong's sister, her smile faded a little, and she puffed her lips, "Why did you bring her up here too?"
"I can't leave her down there without Fleur," Harry gasped. "What if no one saves her and she dies just like the mermaid sings?"
"You're stupid!" Ginny said angrily and amusedly, "How could the professors allow such a thing to happen? After more than a hundred years, the Four Finals Tournament was finally held. The Ministry of Magic would not want any accidents to happen."
"But just in case..." Harry lowered his head and said in a mosquito-like voice.
"That song is just to get you back within the stipulated time!" Ginny stressed, "I hope you didn't waste time trying to be a hero down there and affect your ranking."
Originally Ginny was a little angry at Harry for saving others, but when she saw Harry's deflated expression, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay, I know you're a good person." Ginny smiled, "At least you successfully completed the game. I knew you could do it."
"Actually..." Harry hesitated, wanting to tell the truth that he had been helped by Cedric and then John Kowalski.
However, at this moment, Madam Pomfrey and several nurses from the school infirmary came over in a fuss. Krum, Fleur, Cedric, Qiu Zhang and all the people who had been in the water came over, most of them wrapped in thick blankets.
Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman came down from the stands and looked over at them with smiles.
Percy's face turned pale, as if he was showing concern for them for a rare moment. He looked a little more pleasing than his usual stern look, and he rushed over to greet them impatiently.
Meanwhile, Madame Maxime was trying to hold Fleur Delacour back - Fleur was so worried about her sister that she was struggling to get into the water.
"Gabriel! Gabriel! Is she alive? Is she hurt?" she kept asking.
"She's fine..." Harry wanted to yell to her, but he was too tired to even form a coherent sentence, let alone shout it loud enough for Fleur to hear.
Percy held Ginny and pulled her to the shore. Ginny seemed reluctant to leave and didn't want to be separated from Harry... But Harry was immediately caught by Madam Pomfrey and wrapped in the same thick blanket as the other warriors.
Then she forced a fiery potion into Harry's mouth, and immediately, streams of hot air came out of his ears.
The head nurse's stimulant was as effective as ever, and it made Harry, who was originally so tired that he almost fainted, feel much better. At least it was enough to support him to walk to the medical tent.
Of course, before completely passing out, Harry wanted to hear his score again.
The judges gathered together again and decided to give the final score after discussion.
The warriors and their companions were placed in the medical tent, under the care of Madam Pomfrey.
"You saved her!" As soon as she entered the tent, Fleur walked quickly to Harry's side, almost breathless with excitement, "You saved my sister, Gabrielle, even though she is not your partner!"
"Yeah..." Harry said in a somewhat depressed mood.
He now really wished that he had not been such a hero and had just let them be tied to the stone statue... If so, perhaps he could have gotten a better ranking.
But the next moment, Fleur suddenly lowered her head and kissed Harry twice on each cheek.
Harry's face turned red instantly.
Ginny's face also turned red, but it was red from anger.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded angrily.
"This is just a common etiquette in France, little girl." Fleur turned sideways and looked at Ginny and Harry with a meaningful look. "If you think it's okay, you can give Ali a kiss as a reward for saving you!"
Ginny's face turned even redder and she turned away, deciding not to pay any more attention to this shameless woman.
"Ahem... Well, my name is Harry, not Ali." Harry felt a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say, so he had to change the subject by using the pronunciation of his name.
"Oh, I forgot, the letter 'h' here has to be pronounced." Furong nodded in understanding, "English is such a troublesome language..."
Harry thought for a moment and said he disagreed.
He always felt that the French habit of not pronouncing the consonant "h" and pronouncing "r" like the English "h" was more troublesome...
Before they could start a debate about their respective language habits, Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice suddenly rang in their ears, startling them and causing the audience in the stands to fall silent.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally reached a decision—"
Bagman said loudly, "Based on Professor Dracula's real-time broadcast of the situation on the surface of the Black Lake, and the mermaid leader Mercus' retelling of what happened underwater, we decided to give each warrior the following score based on a full score of 60..."
"Although Fleur Delacour demonstrated excellent use of the Bubblehead Charm, she was attacked by Glenrody as she approached her target and failed to rescue the hostages - we give her 32 points."
There was sparse applause from the stands, most of whom probably applauded because of Furong's beauty.
"I should have gotten zero points." Fleur shook her pretty cheeks and said hoarsely.
"Cedric Diggory also used the Bubblehead Charm, but he also added some human body transformation." Bagman continued, "In addition, he was the second one to return with the hostages, and he was also one of the only two warriors to complete the competition within the one-hour time limit."
"So we give him 54 points!"
The Hufflepuff students in the crowd cheered loudly, the sound was deafening.
Harry saw that not far from him, Qiu Zhang looked at Cedric with a fiery look.
Then, Harry suddenly looked at the silent Krum and realized something.
If what Bagman said was true, Cedric and John were the only ones among the five warriors who finished the race within the allotted time, then he must have exceeded the time limit long ago.
In other words, his cheek grass was strong enough to allow his transformation to last for more than an hour.
"Viktor Krum used Transfiguration. Although it was incomplete, it was still effective," Bagman continued confidently. "He was the third one to return with the hostages. Although he exceeded the time limit by two minutes, it was fast enough... We give him 50 points."
Karkaroff clapped his hands particularly vigorously, looking very proud, as if Krum's defeat in the first game had lowered his goals a lot.
"Finally, there are two warriors whose scores are highly controversial. One of them is John Kowalski..." Bagman continued, "He used a tamed Kelpie to help him finish the race first."
"However! Some judges believed that he relied on tools outside the competition and his personal abilities could not be reflected, so they gave him a low score... Mr. Kowalski's final score was 50 points."
There was an uproar in the audience, and Bagman in the commentary booth glanced at Karkaroff inconspicuously.
In fact, Karkaroff simply ignored the opinions of other judges and gave John zero points, so that he immediately lost the opportunity to become the first place in this event.
It can be seen that Professor Hicks's face was not looking good, and many of Yin Famoni's students also protested loudly.
Anyone who encounters this kind of thing would not look very happy. Professor Hicks had already graded Krum fairly and impartially, and then Karkaroff, who had promised to do well, suddenly stabbed her in the back and gave John zero points...
Now, two completely unequal warriors got the same score.
Professor Hicks clenched his wand, as if waiting for the game to be over at any moment, intending to teach Karkaroff a lesson he would never forget.
"Harry Potter used Gillyweed with amazing results," Bagman continued. "He was the last to return, well beyond the one hour allotted time... However, Mr. Potter was the second to find the hostages."
"He didn't return in time because he wanted to make sure all the hostages returned safely, not just his own partners... This is an extremely noble character, and for me personally, I admire his behavior very much."
Bagman smiled smugly, not trying to hide the fact that he had just given Harry a perfect score of ten.
"If everyone is like Bagman, there might still be hope." Ginny looked at Harry with half regret and half sympathy and said to him.
"In fact, most of the judges," Bagman glanced at Karkaroff with disapproval, "felt that this was a high moral character exercise. However... Mr. Potter's score was 49."
However, Harry was very content, his heart leaped with joy - at least this time he was not much behind Cedric and Krum, almost a tie.
Ginny stared at Harry blankly, then relaxed and laughed heartily, clapping wildly with the rest of the audience.
"You're great, Harry!" Ginny shouted above the uproar. "So you're not being a hero - you're being moral!"
Fleur was also clapping her hands vigorously, but Krum didn't seem very happy. He hardly said a word to his teammates, but just looked at Hermione and Ron standing in the stands.
But Hermione was so busy cheering for Harry that she didn't notice him at all.
Harry thought for a moment, then stood up and walked over to John Kowalski.
John turned to look at him, a friendly smile on his face, "What's wrong, Harry?"
"During that last period... you were the one who asked the Kelpie to pick me up, right?" Harry asked in a low voice.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" John smiled. "In fact, Professor Dracula was going to save you, but it suddenly occurred to me that if the security guard took action, then even if you had used your chance to ask for help, you would be judged to have failed the game..."
"You were not far from the shore at that time. It would be a big loss if you were judged to have failed in that situation. So I helped you a little."
"But didn't you already repay the favor before? Why are you still helping me..." Harry asked confusedly.
John stood up and moved closer to Harry, patting him on the shoulder.
"I admire you for risking your life to save people who have nothing to do with you." He said softly, "Maybe... I also want to have a sense of participation in this noble act, right?"
At this time, the second event of the semi-finals was gradually coming to an end.
"The third and final event will take place on the evening of June 24," Bagman announced the start time of the final event. "The warriors will be informed of the specific content of the event one month in advance. Thank you for your support!"
it is finally over.
There are still a few months until June 24th, and they have enough time to rest and don’t have to worry about anything in the short term...
Harry thought so, and stood up dazedly, and followed Madam Pomfrey back to the castle with the other warriors and hostages to change into dry clothes.
As he walked along the road, Harry caught a glimpse of Dracula's tall figure standing on the top of the highest column in the stands. In the reflection of the setting sun, it merged with the Hogwarts Castle like a beautiful silhouette.
He seemed to glance over here, then suddenly disappeared.
No one knew where he went.
…
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