Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

Hermione glared at him, annoyed. "What kind of time is this to be saying such things? Hurry up and cheer for Harry!"

……

On the other side, Harry continued along the muddy path, cautiously observing his surroundings and dodging the small chiracles that occasionally darted out from the seaweed.

His movements became more and more agile, and he gradually adapted to the resistance of the lake water, which also increased his swimming speed.

Finally, at the end of the muddy path, Harry saw a transparent glass bottle—fixed to a flat rock, with a familiar wand sticking out of it, the very same one he had given to the Ministry of Magic staff!
"The song inside the golden egg says, 'We have hidden your treasure in something pure.' So 'something pure' refers to this transparent glass bottle!" Harry was thrilled and quickly swam over.

He carefully unscrewed the cap of the glass bottle and pulled out the wand inside.

The familiar wooden feel instantly relaxed Harry's tense nerves, and he couldn't help but smile: "Luckily, I listened to Dylan's reminder and didn't just follow the other staff members. Otherwise, I might have gotten someone else's wand, which would have been uncomfortable to use and would have affected the competition."

Just as Harry gripped his wand, a sudden ripple of water came from behind him—the giant ichthyracosaur had caught up again, its mouth agape, lunging at his back!

Harry reacted quickly, turning around immediately, gripping his wand tightly with both hands, and rapidly estimating the distance between himself and the Heracles.

Just as the Chirac was about to lunge at him, he clearly recited the incantation for the withdrawal spell: "Release the power!"

A jet of boiling, silvery-white water shot out from the tip of the wand. The jet was incredibly fast and carried a powerful impact as it flew straight toward the Heracles.

The Chirac fish had no time to react; its head slammed into the water column, and its body was instantly thrown back.

Its fin spines turned bright red instantly, clearly indicating that it had suffered a significant impact. It no longer had the courage to launch a second attack, and it swung its tail fin, quickly fleeing into the depths of the seaweed.

Seeing this, Ludobagman excitedly shouted into the microphone, "Fantastic! Harry Potter didn't disappoint us either! He encountered a giant heraclian patrolling the mud tunnel, and with his agility, he skillfully dodged the heraclian's attacks, finally finding and retrieving his wand!"

"Even more exciting is that Harry, after getting his wand back, immediately demonstrated outstanding magical control, using a precise Extraction Charm to repel the Chirac! Let's applaud his composure and courage! Now that Harry has retrieved his wand, what challenges will he face next? Let's stay tuned!"

After defeating the Heracles, Harry's tense body finally relaxed. He was about to let out a long sigh of relief, but before he could exhale, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a bright yellow light in the direction the Heracles had fled.

The faint light moved at an astonishing speed, like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, leaving a faint yellow afterimage that stood out starkly against the dim lake water.

Harry barely managed to catch a glimpse of the light, the afterimage still lingering on his retina, before it rushed right in front of him.

"Oh no!" Harry's heart tightened, and he instinctively raised his right hand, wanting to wave his wand to cast a defensive spell.

But just as his wand was about to touch the glimmer of light, the light suddenly nimbly veered off course, avoiding the wand's trajectory and flying straight toward his left wrist.

Harry quickly raised his left wrist to check and was surprised to find that a silver bracelet had appeared on his wrist sometime during the day. The bracelet was exquisitely designed, consisting of two parts: one part was a miniature hourglass filled with pale golden sand that was slowly flowing downwards; the other part was a transparent, arc-shaped tube, in which the faint yellow light from before was now quietly resting, emitting a soft glow.

He suddenly remembered the lyrics from the golden egg: "One hour to complete the 'masterpiece' as much as possible..."

Looking at the bracelet in front of him, Harry instantly understood its meaning: "So the hourglass is used for timing, and one hour is the time limit for the competition. And the so-called 'completing the masterpiece' must be collecting these yellow dots and filling the transparent tube!"

"But where did this light come from?" Harry frowned slightly, his gaze returning to the direction the Heracles had fled—that was where the light had appeared.

He quickly made a guess: "Could it be that we can obtain light points by dealing with those magical creatures?"

Thinking of this, he gripped his wand tightly, his eyes hardening. "This kind of test isn't bad. No need to rack my brains solving puzzles, I can just face magical creatures directly!"

Compared to the puzzles that required repeated contemplation, Harry preferred to deal with these tangible magical creatures—even if these creatures were as large as the pumpkins Hagrid had grown, several times larger than normal, and much more dangerous.

Harry's underwater monologue was clearly projected onto the "visual projection screen" of all the audience through the visible aquatic plants at the bottom of the lake.

In the stands, Sirius Black, watching Harry's image on the screen, laughed until tears welled in his eyes. He patted Lupin on the shoulder beside him and exclaimed, "This kid's reaction is exactly like James's back then! His eyes light up when he encounters a challenge he likes! But to be honest, if I were a champion, I would also prefer this kind of straightforward test, without having to struggle with those convoluted puzzles!"

"I have to say it!" Ludobagman on the referee's stand shouted excitedly, his voice amplified by the megaphone spell throughout the stands, "What Potter just said perfectly expressed my feelings! I also hate those complicated puzzle-solving parts the most, and I love this kind of direct challenge!"

As he spoke, he picked up the "visual projection screen" in his hand, rolled it into a long strip to use as a Quidditch bat, and swung it around, mimicking the swinging motion from back in the day. His tone was full of nostalgia: "That's why I chose to become a Quidditch hitter back then! There's no more satisfying decision than 'aim at the target and smash it,' simple and direct!"

After the joke, Ludobagman coughed twice, unfolded the curtain again, and his expression became serious. He then explained the core rules of the second project to the audience into the microphone: "Alright, let's get back to the point! Potter's conclusion was absolutely correct! Next, all the warriors need to actively search for these magnified magical creatures at the bottom of the lake and obtain yellow light points by defeating them!"

"Everyone, please pay attention to the transparent tube on the bracelet—when enough light spots are collected in the tube, the bracelet will automatically activate the teleportation magic, taking the warrior back to the shore to complete the competition. If the golden sand in the hourglass runs out completely, that is, when one hour is up and the warrior has not collected enough light spots, the bracelet will also activate forced teleportation to send them back to the shore. At that time, the score will be based on the number of light spots collected."

……

After explaining the rules, Ludobagman looked down at the screen in his hands, his fingers gently sliding along the edge of the screen to switch the viewing angle.

Soon, the scene on the screen shifted from the muddy passage where Harry was to Dylan's area. "Merlin's beard! Everyone, look at Hawkwood!" Ludo Bagman's voice suddenly rose, filled with anxiety and surprise. "He's surrounded by Chiracles! There are at least a dozen giant Chiracles surrounding him, and they look like they could attack at any moment! You know, normally these Chiracles only move in pairs, such a large school is extremely rare!"

Before he could finish speaking, the scene on the screen suddenly changed—Dylan remained completely calm in the face of the surging school of Chirac fish.

He calmly raised his wand, flicked his wrist, and aimed the tip of the wand at the center of the school of fish, quickly reciting a short spell.

The next second, a cold blue light shot out from the tip of the wand and landed in the middle of the school of Heracles.

Immediately afterwards, a crystal-clear ice crystal bloomed there, the pure white ice crystal spreading outward at an astonishing speed, like an ice flower suddenly blooming at the bottom of the lake, enveloping all the surrounding Chirac fish.

In just a few seconds, the entire school of fish was frozen into a giant ice sculpture, motionless in the lake, no longer displaying its previous ferocity.

The moment the ice crystals froze the school of Chirac fish, dozens of points of yellow light slowly diffused from the cracks in the ice sculpture.

These glimmers of light, as if drawn by an invisible force, circled in the air before fluttering towards Dylan and precisely entering the transparent bracelet on his wrist.

As the light points were injected, the transparent tube on the bracelet was gradually filled, and the originally soft light became brighter and brighter, eventually turning into a dazzling golden yellow, forming a striking halo on the dark lake bottom.

It all happened so fast, in just a few seconds.

Ludobagman on the referee's stand was still worried about Dylan being surrounded by the fish. By the time he realized what had happened, the "big trouble" he thought he was in had been easily resolved, and the Chirac fish had become "resources" that contributed points of light.

He opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words, and could only cough awkwardly a few times: "Well... cough cough cough... Hawkwood was just attacked by a school of Heracles! And then... he froze the entire school! Now... he has successfully obtained a large wave of light spots!"

This disjointed commentary caused the audience in the stands to burst into laughter.

Ravenclaw's Anthony Goldstein laughed and said to his classmate, "I really didn't expect that even the experienced Mr. Bagman would be at a loss for words when faced with Hawkwood's swift and decisive maneuver. It's so interesting!"

Terribt wiped away the tears of laughter and continued, "Actually, Bagman is right. Hawkwood's method of dealing with the fish is that simple—freeze them, then collect the light spots, and you're done in two steps. It's such a straightforward process that there's really nothing complicated to explain. Anyone trying to explain it would stumble over their own words."

Meanwhile, in Gryffindor, a group of people were laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Fred and George put their arms around Lee Jordan's shoulders, their tone full of teasing: "Lee! I think you should consider switching careers after graduation and becoming a professional sports commentator! You'd definitely be much better than Bagman is doing now!"

Li Qiaodan felt a little dizzy from being shaken by the two men.

"Take your hands off me!" Li Qiaodan irritably pushed away the two hands that were on his shoulders, straightened his wrinkled collar, and said, "Don't give me that! My commentary style is not like what you say. I accurately summarize the highlights of the game!"

……

At the bottom of the lake, Dylan watched the light gradually fill the bracelet and gently waved his wand.

A gentle current of water surged up beneath his feet, like an invisible conveyor belt, steadily propelling him deeper into the lake.

His gaze fell on the school of Hirac fish frozen into ice sculptures not far away. With a slight movement of his fingertips, he cast "Magic Eye"—a high-level spell that could observe magical fluctuations and the source of magical power.

“The enlarged school of Chirac fish still bears traces of both potions and spells,” Dylan murmured, making a judgment in his mind. “It must have been prepared with the help of the professors. It seems that the organizing committee has indeed put a lot of thought into making the second project more challenging, even adjusting the habits of magical creatures.”

With his deep knowledge of alchemy, Dylan quickly deciphered the structure of the bracelet on his wrist.

He could clearly sense that the main body of the bracelet was actually a door key that was not yet fully activated, and that collecting light spots or waiting for the hourglass to run out were two different ways to activate the door key.

"The makers must be wizards from Beauxbatons; they've always had a unique approach to door key design."

Dylan thought to himself, "Although the structure of this bracelet is very simple, this 'trigger-based' activation design is quite interesting, offering more flexibility than traditional door keys."

However, there was something even more interesting to him at that moment: the "consensus" magic that supported the "visible projection screen"—this magic, when combined with the "mirage spell," could achieve real-time transmission of underwater images, and its principle was far more complex than that of the bracelet.

The reason he chose to freeze the Heracles instead of defeating them was to use these magically influenced creatures to explore the magical changes in another world.

Dylan closed his eyes and focused his mind on sensing the fluctuations in the surrounding space.

Soon, he sensed the existence of another world—a space that overlapped with the bottom of the real lake, yet was completely different.

A peculiar energy fluctuation permeates this world. (End of Chapter)