Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

Chapter 399 The Chirac Fish!

Harry and Cedric always trusted Dylan implicitly. Upon hearing the warning, they immediately focused their attention and carefully observed the staff member as he approached. The staff member who took Harry's wand wore a dark blue uniform with a minor scratch on the cuff, had light brown hair, and a small mole on his left cheek. The staff member who took Cedric's wand, on the other hand, had a short buzz cut, a silver badge on his uniform collar, and noticeable calluses on his knuckles.

Just as everyone was handing over their wands, the Beauxbatons warrior suddenly asked, "Mr. Bagman, don't we need to choose a specific challenger or mission area first? The first project had a clear objective, why isn't this one?"

Ludobagman grinned and winked mysteriously: "There are no fixed restrictions on the competition this time, so you don't have to stick to one method. We've made many different arrangements at the bottom of the lake, and all sorts of challenges await you. I believe that once you're underwater, you'll naturally understand what you need to do. Finally, just like the song in the golden egg says, I hope everyone can successfully complete the mission and return with a full load!"

……

About ten minutes later, the Ministry of Magic staff who had left returned to the tent.

This time, their movements were no longer hurried; instead, they walked slowly towards the group of warriors, looking at everyone calmly.

Dylan's gaze swept quickly across the crowd, and he lowered his voice again to remind Harry and Cedric, "Quick, find the guy who took your wands, and follow him in a bit."

"They're back!" Ludobagman rubbed his hands together, announcing excitedly, "Next, these staff members will lead you to the entrance at the bottom of the lake to officially begin your second project! Good luck!"

With Dylan's earlier reminder and Ludobagman's words, Harry and Cedric instantly realized that their wands had been taken by a specific staff member, and the most direct way to retrieve them from the bottom of the lake as quickly as possible was to follow the staff member who had taken them.

No wonder Dylan specifically reminded them to remember what the staff looked like; it was a crucial clue early in the game!

Not far away, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons saw Dylan, Harry, and Cedric walk straight toward a few specific employees, and a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

“Dylan and the others didn’t choose the nearest staff member, but instead specifically looked for several people…” She frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly grabbed the hands of her two companions and asked urgently, “Do you remember what those staff members who took our wands looked like? The color of their clothes, whether they were wearing any accessories, and their hairstyles, do you remember them?”

Claudia Laroche and Adele Lefebvre exchanged a glance, then nodded in agreement: "I remember, the person who took my wand had a hole in his uniform, at the left elbow."

“My guy, he was wearing a pair of black leather gloves, and his fingers were exceptionally long.”

“Great! Let’s go find them now!” Fleur Delacour said firmly. “Do you remember what Ludobagman said earlier? ‘The test has begun from this moment.’ Now it seems that the test is for us to find the people who took our wands!”

"So this is what the initial test for the second project is like?" Claudia Laroche suddenly realized, and couldn't help but sigh. Then he immediately ran quickly toward the employee with the hole in his elbow that he remembered.

……

"Here we are."

The Ministry of Magic official leading Harry only uttered these three brief words, offering no further hints.

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure slowly disappeared into the lake with a burst of fine bubbles, leaving Harry alone in the spot.

The icy lake water instantly enveloped his entire body, and the biting cold seeped into his skin through the gaps in his robes, causing Harry to shiver involuntarily.

He instinctively hugged his arms to ward off the cold, while looking up at his surroundings. Although the light at the bottom of the lake was dim, he could see a hazy light in the distance, like a lighthouse guiding the way.

Harry steadied himself, stretched out his arm toward the light, and his fingertips touched the slippery stone surface. He carefully pried along the edge of the stone and slowly crawled out through a narrow crack.

After regaining his footing, Harry looked back at the spot where he had just been and realized that it was a pile of huge stones. The gaps in the middle of the pile were just big enough for a person to pass through. If it weren't for the light guiding the way, it would have been hard to find that this was the entrance to the bottom of the lake.

At this moment, warriors from other schools also emerged one after another from different gaps in the pile of stones.

Some, like Harry, were still rubbing their arms to warm up to the cold lake water; others were already cautiously observing their surroundings, their eyes full of vigilance—clearly, everyone understood that the real challenge of the second project had only just begun from the moment they emerged from the pile of rocks.

Dylan was no exception. After emerging from the pile of stones, he did not rush to explore his surroundings. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused his mind on sensing the magical fluctuations around him.

A few seconds later, he tried raising his right hand, palm down, lips slightly moving. Instead of using his wand, he cast the simplest summoning spell—he knew that to quickly gain the upper hand at the bottom of the lake, the first thing he needed to do was retrieve his wand.

……

With the last warrior following the Ministry of Magic staff to the bottom of the lake, only Ludobagman remained in the preparation tent on the shore.

Ludobagman was one of the first people at Hogwarts to come into contact with the "visual projection screen".

A week before the start of the second project, he proactively applied for a screen and spent time every day familiarizing himself with how to use it, so that he could better explain the underwater situation to the audience during the competition.

At that moment, Ludobagman strode onto the referee's platform and fully unfolded the "visual projection screen" in his hand.

He stood before the screen, recalling the appearances of each warrior in his mind—a technique he had figured out; as long as he silently thought of or recalled the target character, the screen would automatically switch to the corresponding image. Sure enough, as he recalled, the images on the screen began to flash rapidly, eventually stabilizing to show all the warriors in real-time at the bottom of the lake.

Being able to serve as a commentator for the Quidditch World Cup is enough to prove that Ludobagman's commentary skills are outstanding.

He cleared his throat, about to begin describing the environment at the bottom of the lake, when he noticed that the scene on the screen was quite uniform—all the warriors were cautiously exploring outwards near the pile of rocks, no one was casting any magic, and their movements appeared extremely careful.

Directly behind the referee's platform was the lakeside grandstand, where the spectators were also watching this scene through their screens. A murmur of confusion arose, with many wondering, "Why aren't the warriors using magic? Don't they want to complete the mission as quickly as possible?"

"Is there some special restriction at the bottom of the lake that prevents the use of magic?"

Upon hearing the audience's questions, Ludobagman immediately spoke loudly into the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, please be patient! The second challenge is far more difficult than you imagine! Before the warriors entered the lake, they had already handed over their wands to the Ministry of Magic staff for safekeeping, as per the competition rules—meaning that the warriors are now exploring without their wands!"

"So the caution that everyone sees is actually the Warriors' reasonable assessment of the environment! At least until they get their wands back, they must proceed with caution, because there are many 'surprises' waiting for them at the bottom of the lake, and any mistake could affect the outcome of the game!"

As Ludobagman continued his commentary, a series of exclamations suddenly erupted from the stands, all pointing in the same direction—everyone's eyes were focused on Dylan's figure on their respective screens.

Ludobagman's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately spoke into the microphone: "It seems there's a new situation at the bottom of the lake! Let's first check on Dylan Hawkwood's condition and see what he's encountered!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the screen in his hand automatically switched to a close-up of Dylan—in the picture, Dylan was standing on a flat rock, holding a familiar wand in his right hand, gently waving it, as if testing the wand's condition.

"Huh?" Ludobagman blinked, wondering if he was seeing things. He quickly lowered his head and leaned closer to the curtain to examine it carefully, confirming that Dylan was indeed holding his own wand.

"What...what's going on?" He was momentarily bewildered and turned to Headmaster Dumbledore and Barty Crouch for help. "Headmasters, did you notice Dylan's actions just now? How did he get the wand so quickly?"

Headmaster Dumbledore, with a gentle smile, said slowly, "It must be wandless spellcasting. When he was standing there, he was actually casting a summoning spell without a wand, locating his wand through magical fluctuations, and then summoning it over. It seems that when we were storing the wand, we forgot to cast a desummoning spell at the storage location, which gave him the opportunity."

Ludobagman opened his mouth, unsure how to respond—was this really a problem with the anti-summoning spell?
It's important to understand that casting a summoning spell without a wand is no simple matter. Even among adult wizards, very few can accurately locate and successfully summon an item, let alone in a complex magical environment like the bottom of a lake.

Clearly, this trial involving the "magic wand" was no challenge for Dylan at all.

He quickly composed himself and spoke loudly into the microphone again: "Ladies and gentlemen! We have just witnessed a rather unexpected development! Dylan Hawkwood of Hogwarts actually managed to retrieve his wand using the Wandless Summoning Charm without having one!"

"I think everyone knows that casting spells without a wand is extremely difficult, especially for spells like summoning charms that require precise control! Now, let's turn our attention to the other contestants and see how they will find their wands without one. Will they display amazing magical talent like Dylan, or will they choose a more cautious exploration strategy? Let's wait and see!"

After Harry regained his footing, his gaze swept across the lakebed before him—the two sides of the pile of stones not far away were covered with dark green aquatic plants, their slender leaves swaying gently in the water, like green barriers; while the area in the very center of the pile of stones was bare, covered only with a layer of dark silt, forming a narrow passage, a stark contrast to the aquatic plants on either side.

"This must be a road."

Harry immediately made a judgment in his mind; he guessed that this muddy passage was the clue that led him to find the wand.

He suddenly remembered what Dylan had told him before the game: "Don't be bound by the rules during the game. Treat any situation as a free exploration, just like when you're chasing the Golden Snitch as the Seeker. Just follow your intuition and judgment."

With that thought in mind, Harry no longer hesitated. He gently pushed off the ground with his feet and slowly swam forward along the muddy path in the middle.

The resistance of the lake water was greater than he had imagined, and it took a lot of effort to move forward even one meter.

Just as he had swum about twenty meters, the lake water in front of him suddenly rippled, and a large dark shadow slowly emerged from the depths of the water plants, approaching him.

Harry immediately stopped what he was doing, straining his eyes to try and make out the shape of the dark figure.

As the shadowy figure drew closer, he finally saw it clearly—it was an unusually large fish, its body covered with sharp fin spines, and its mouth so big it could swallow a football whole. It was the Chirac fish he had seen in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"!
"A Chirac?" Harry couldn't help but exclaim in his mind, feeling a sense of surprise at the same time. According to the book, Chirac were usually only the size of two palms, but the one in front of him was as big as a hound of an adult wizard. In addition, its body was covered with dense fin spines that gleamed coldly in the dim lake water, making it look terrifying.

……

The spectators on the lakeside stands, who witnessed this scene through the "visual projection screen," also exclaimed in amazement.

Many wizards familiar with the Heracles showed expressions of disbelief—they had never seen such a huge Heracles before, clearly an "enhanced" test specially prepared by the competition organizers.

"My God, it's a Chirac! And it's so big!" Ron sat on the edge of the stands, leaning forward, his eyes glued to the screen. When he saw the Chirac rushing towards Harry, he couldn't help but swallow hard and shudder. "If you got pricked by one of those fins, it'd probably go right through you!"

He turned to Hermione beside him, his tone teasing yet filled with concern: "Do you think if Harry drinks pumpkin juice when we celebrate tonight, it might leak out of his wound?"

(End of this chapter)