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0766 At Black Lake
🕑 Added 2025-07-04 11:12:20 +0000 UTCThe two boys maintained an eerie silence, but their occasionally twitching lips, suppressed grins and nervous laughter were more than enough to show that regarding Hermione's bold and somewhat audacious intention to transform herself into a "mermaid" for practice, they were hardly as calm and composed as they appeared on the surface.
Hesitating with each step, the three came to the rocky riverside. After cautiously looking around in all directions, checking every possible hiding spot to confirm no one was present in the area, Harry threw off the Invisibility Cloak from over their heads.
The endless, hypnotic sound of lapping waves echoed rhythmically in their ears. The cold, damp air rushing toward them from across the lake carried with it the earthy smell of wet rocks and aquatic plants, making all three shiver.
Over the years, sneaking around the castle corridors and hidden passages after lights-out had gradually become no longer a novel or particularly thrilling experience for them. They had even gone boldly into Forbidden Forest one night last spring with Hagrid, Sirius, and Snape to fight against savage werewolves.
However, despite all their nighttime adventures, they had indeed rarely ventured to the Black Lake's edge at the hour of midnight.
Tonight was moonless leaving only a sparse handful of dim, flickering stars scattered like diamonds across the night sky. Even straining their eyes, squinting and focusing with intensity, they could barely make out the ethereal starlight.
The Black Lake lived up to its name. Standing at the lakeside, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gazed with a mixture of awe and unease at the mysterious lake just a single step away from their feet.
All three shared the unsettling illusion that what rippled before them in the darkness was not ordinary water, but rather pitch-black ink that seemed to absorb light.
Harry looked intently at Hermione, whose lips were pressed tightly together in a thin line of determination mixed with nervousness. He hesitated for a moment, words forming and dissolving on his tongue, but ultimately decided to say nothing.
Ron, however, crouched down carefully on the shore and dipped his hand into the lake water. The moment his skin made contact with the liquid, he immediately began shuddering, his entire body was trembling as the piercing, almost painful cold shot up his arm like electric shocks, making his scalp tingle.
"This is absolutely insane," Ron said through chattering teeth, quickly pulling his hand back and wrinkling his nose as droplets of the freezing water fell from his fingers back into the lake. "Even if you don't drown in those depths, you'll definitely freeze to death before you can swim ten feet."
"You both saw it," Hermione said with forced calm, her voice coming slightly strained as she faced the abyss-like Black Lake while trying desperately to calm her racing heart and clattered nerves through controlled breathing.
She now understood why the tournament organizers had specifically chosen to set the second task in the Black Lake. This feeling of standing on the cliff of the unknown was indeed quite "thrilling"—hardly any less intimidating or terrifying than facing a fire-breathing dragon.
"Fleur and Krum both overcame their fear, they've already tested the waters, literally and figuratively. I can't lose to them! I can't allow my first time in the water to be on the actual day of the competition!"
By the end of her words, Hermione's tone had become absolutely resolute. "I must get used to it in advance."
The two boys exchanged glances and each let out a quiet sigh.
"Alright, as we agreed beforehand—" Harry said shaking his sleeve, but his wand didn't slide smoothly into his palm as he'd expected and practiced countless times. Instead, it got caught and tangled by his close-fitting shirt.
Concealing a wand in the sleeve was a technique that professional Aurors typically used during missions and covert operations, but Professor Watson and Dumbledore were also accustomed to performing this elegant maneuver.
Harry had seen them draw their wands this way many times during demonstrations and lessons. Recently, for some inexplicable reason, practicing this particular technique had become incredibly popular and fashionable in Physical Education class, and Harry had eagerly followed the trend, though he clearly wasn't quite proficient yet.
After struggling somewhat embarrassingly to pull his wand from his tangled sleeve, Harry finally freed the wand and waved it in a complex pattern through the air, many willow branches floating and swaying above their heads began to separate from the tree, intertwining and weaving together to form a rope.
One end was carefully tied around Hermione's wrist with a knot that wouldn't tighten dangerously, while the other end was held firmly by both Harry and Ron.
"If you start drowning or get into any kind of trouble down there," Ron said with a grin that didn't quite hide his genuine worry as he shook the willow branch rope to test its strength, "we'll pull you up before you actually drown or suffer any real harm."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, then she placed her wand between her teeth, and began removing her outer robes. This sudden action startled Harry and Ron, who immediately spun around and quickly covered their faces with their hands.
"Don't be nervous—" Hermione said with a smile, "I'm wearing my competition suit underneath. I came prepared for this."
'Competition suit?' The boys exchanged confused glances.
Harry and Ron slowly uncovered their eyes and turned back around with cautious curiosity. They discovered with surprise that beneath Hermione's robes was the same type of professional athletic wear that the champions had worn during the first task that looked simple in style but was very sharp and purposeful.
"I thought you'd be wearing traditional swimsuits," Ron said, raising an eyebrow with puzzlement as he watched Hermione expertly tying her unruly hair into a neat, practical ponytail. "Won't those clothes create drag and resistance when you're underwater? They seem awfully bulky for swimming."
"Professor Watson has already considered this problem," Hermione replied with confidence. "After entering the water, the clothes will automatically transform through their embedded enchantments. Just wait and see the magic work—"
As she spoke with growing excitement, Hermione had already removed her shoes and socks.
The ground was embedded with quite a few sharp pebbles and rotting twigs from the ancient trees that surrounded the lake, which was indeed uncomfortable and somewhat painful, but compared to the sensation of being hit by stinking Dungbombs or having a spear pierce through her body, it was nothing but just a minor inconvenience.
Under Harry and Ron's worried gazes, Hermione frowned slightly and carefully lifted her foot, testing the uneven ground.
Her toes gently touched the lake water a few times with tentative movements, like a cautious bird testing the temperature. After getting a rough sense of the shocking cold that waited for her, Hermione took a deep breath that filled her lungs completely, gritted her teeth with determination, and slowly crouched down.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Using the unique, rhythmic breathing technique she had developed through countless morning runs around the castle grounds, Hermione tried desperately to relax her tense body and ignore the uncomfortable, almost painful sensation the bone-chilling lake water brought to every nerve it touched.
When her feet finally sank into the soft silt at the bottom of the lake, Hermione let out a heavy breath and her breathing became lighter and more controlled as she adjusted to her new environment.
The temperature below the lake's surface was somewhat warmer than the water at the very top, and that slight warmth brought some color back to her pale face.
At this moment, as she stood waist-deep in the waters, Hermione once again thought gratefully of Professor Watson and his wise teachings—a good physique was indeed crucial for wizards, perhaps sometimes even more important than some spells.
"How does it feel?" Harry asked nervously, his voice filled with concern as he swallowed hard. "Are you alright? Do you need to come out?"
"Better than I imagined," Hermione replied honestly after taking her wand carefully out of her mouth. The sportswear on her body had already begun to change in fascinating ways.
The loose polyester material quietly became thin and lightweight, the cloth seem to merge with her skin as it shrank to fit against her body, perfectly outlining the figure of a witch in her youth while providing the functionality she would need for underwater movement.
To avoid any embarrassment for herself or her friends, Hermione sensibly hid everything below her neck underwater, only raising the hand holding her wand above the surface so they could see she was safe.
High above the lake, hidden in the darkness of the night sky, Bryan had been quietly watching and observing from mid-air. His eyes took in every detail as he observed Hermione completing her transformation, skillfully casting the complex Bubble-Head Charm on herself, and then diving underwater with growing confidence to adapt to the aquatic environment.
After overcoming her initial panic and the shock of the cold water, Hermione began to relax. This was, after all, an adventure she had never experienced before in her life, and despite the discomfort and fear, there was something undeniably thrilling about it.
Hermione was becoming excited as she swam back and forth along a safe section of the lakeshore several times. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron on the shore, determined to prevent anything dangerous from happening to their dear friend, could only hold tightly onto the rope and run themselves completely ragged following her movements along the rocky, uneven shore.
But the extremely cold lake water caused Hermione's core body temperature to drop quickly. Her swimming speed gradually slowed down as the cold sapped her strength and energy, but determined to ensure the stability of her transformed state and to fully test her endurance, she stubbornly stayed in the freezing lake for almost an hour before finally agreeing to come ashore.
When she finally came out, she was shivering and her lips had taken on a slight blue tinge that worried her friends.
Finally, with Harry and Ron's support around, she walked slowly back toward the castle with her teeth chattering.
"I have to say, Hermione—" Ron's voice could be heard faintly in the howling wind that had picked up across the lake, "Your tail looks really nice—I mean, very beautiful and graceful."
Then Ron's suppressed wail of pain immediately followed as Hermione's elbow found its target.
Confirming from his aerial vantage point that no accidents had occurred and that the three friends were safely making their way back to the castle, Bryan withdrew his gaze and shook his head with a smile.
Whether clever or foolish, Gryffindor students were generally quite straightforward in their approach to challenges, tackling them head-on rather than with careful planning.
If it had been him in Hermione's position, since he was already taking the risk of diving into the lake, he would definitely have taken the opportunity to scout the underwater environment in advance, mapping out the terrain and identifying potential hazards or advantages—and this strategic thinking was another reason why Bryan had been patiently waiting and watching all along.
If they had encountered each other at the lake bottom during his own work, it would have been somewhat awkward.
Wand held in his hand, Bryan traced a perfect semicircle through the air, and a complete, shimmering bubble enveloped his body. The next second, he released the magic that had been maintaining his flight, and plummeted gracefully from mid-air into the lake water below.
The lake bottom was incredibly dark—that went without saying, as no light from above could penetrate to such depths.
However, for a wizard like Bryan, who didn't view the world from just one limited perspective, darkness wasn't nearly enough to hinder his progress or perception. Through his magical perception, he locked onto a specific direction.
Then he waved his wand again within the protective bubble. The lake water behind him immediately began bubbling like boiling water, creating many fist-sized bubbles that rose toward the surface. The force generated by these bursting bubbles quickly propelled Bryan forward through the water.
Like a dolphin speeding through water, Bryan rapidly advanced toward the mermaid village located in the deeper, more mysterious areas of the lake, while some underwater creatures that were very sensitive to magical disturbances such as the ancient giant squid quickly became aware of his presence.
This massive creature restlessly waved its enormous tentacles in agitation stirring up the lake water and creating dangerous whirlpools and currents that even interfered with Bryan's smooth movement through the water.
"This is none of your business," Bryan said calmly.
When Bryan's voice penetrated the turbulent water waves and entered the giant squid's mind, the enormous creature's massive body immediately froze in place, its huge eyes showing human-like fear.
"By the way, has anyone informed you about the upcoming events?" Bryan's calm voice came again, "The school is holding a magical tournament. Stay in your nest quietly for the next few days—don't come out and cause trouble for anyone."
The giant squid's eight massive arms and head were all shaking visibly now, sending out vague mental fluctuations that clearly indicated it had indeed already been told about the tournament.
"Then go," Bryan said simply, his tone neither harsh nor kind.
Bryan watched as the giant squid fled in panic into a long, narrow trench at the lake bottom where it would remain hidden until the competition was over.
Bryan chuckled softly to himself, and his form flickered with magical energy. In the next moment, he appeared in the mermaid village.
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