Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 578 The Underwater Melee Wizard

On the open ground by the lake, a long table covered with a golden tablecloth stood out—that was where the referee team was located.

However, only three referees—Dumbledore, Bagman, and Moody—are currently seated there.

Dumbledore was still wearing his royal blue robe, a gentle smile on his face, but a hint of seriousness was hidden in his eyes.

Bagman seemed somewhat excited, holding a silver whistle in his hand and blowing it every now and then.

Moody sat in the chair, his single magical lens constantly rotating as he vigilantly scanned his surroundings, not missing a single rustling sound.

Just as Sherlock and Harry reached the three referees, footsteps sounded in the distance.

Lady Maxim, dressed in a deep blue silk gown, was leading the warriors of Beauxbatons toward them.

Professor Karkaroff, dressed in a black robe, followed behind with a somber expression, accompanied by Durmstrang's contestants.

The two groups met at the lakeside, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

A match that concerns honor and life or death is about to begin.

"The match will officially begin in fifteen minutes."

Ludo Bagman glanced at the time and turned to Moody, "Alastor, shall I host again this time?"

Although he knew that Moody was probably not interested in this kind of thing, he still asked out of politeness and out of courtesy, just to give it a try.

“You can come, Ludo,” Moody said gruffly. “I just need to do the scoring.”

"Wonderful!"

Bagman whistled excitedly, then asked the six warriors from the three schools:
"I believe you all know what you need to do now, right?"

After receiving affirmative answers from everyone, Bagman smiled slightly and glanced at the six people one by one.

He lingered on Sherlock and Harry for a moment, giving them encouraging looks, before continuing:
"Then things are simple—at 9:30, you will go to the bottom of the lake and take back your most precious possessions that were stolen from you by the mermaids."

The time limit is one hour. Of course, whoever takes the least amount of time will get a higher score.

Hey, it's that simple!

Nobody asked what would happen if it went on for more than an hour.

It seemed like everyone was consciously avoiding the topic.

Soon, all the seats on the opposite side of the lake were filled.

Seeing this, Harry suddenly realized something.

He turned to Sherlock and asked in a low voice, "When we go down to the bottom of the lake, won't the audience be unable to see anything?"

“The organizers should have a way to let them see what we are doing at the bottom of the lake using special means, like setting up a camera underwater.”

Sherlock shook his head and said this.

"If they really just let the audience sit here for an hour, I can only say that they are a bunch of amateurs."

Sherlock added another sentence.

Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry couldn't help but nod.

Yes, this is the Triwizard Tournament, a competition jointly organized by the three largest magic schools in Europe. It shouldn't be this bad.

Next, Ludo Bagman came to the warriors and ordered them to line up in a row on the shore.

The warriors from each school were spaced ten feet apart.

Sherlock and Harry were at the back, right next to Durmstrang's two warriors.

Durmstrang's two warriors looked well-prepared; they were both wearing swimming trunks and carrying wands.

"Is everyone ready?"

Bagman spoke again, and after receiving affirmation from everyone, he returned to the referee's table.

Next, he pointed his wand at his throat, just like he did in the World Cup and the first event, and said:

"The sound is loud!"

Then his voice was like thunder, sweeping across the dark surface of the lake and reaching the stands.

"Listen up, everyone, our warriors are in position."

As soon as I whistle, the second project begins.

They had a full hour to get back what had been stolen from them.

I counted to three.

one two three!"

A sharp whistle echoed in the cold, still air.

A burst of cheers and applause erupted from the stands.

Almost simultaneously, the warriors of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons raised their wands and chanted spells.

"The Bubble Head Curse!"

When the warriors of Beauxbatons saw a bubble fish tank appear above their heads, some couldn't help but shout.

After successfully casting the head-bubbling spell, the man and woman immediately jumped into the water.

Next up is Durmstrang.

"Look, it's Transfiguration!"

"But it seems it didn't work."

Durmstrang's two warriors originally wanted to transform themselves into sharks.

However, this level of transformation is obviously very difficult for them.

The end result was that they did indeed transform themselves into enormous creatures, but with the heads of sharks and the bodies of people wearing swimming trunks.

Such an absurd and bizarre transformation inevitably makes people feel somewhat comical.

But at this moment, the two Durmstrang warriors obviously didn't care about anything else and jumped into the water with a "plop".

As Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's four warriors entered the water one after another, Sherlock and Harry remained unmoved, which made the audience a little impatient.

"What are they doing?"

"There's only been an hour, why haven't they made a move yet?"

"Could it be that they haven't unlocked the secret of the golden egg, and therefore don't know how to proceed?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"That's Sherlock Holmes! With him around, how could they possibly fail to unlock the secret of the golden egg?"

Ludo Bagman, sitting in the judges' seat, couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Just as Sherlock had predicted, he had placed a heavy bet on the Hogwarts' warriors.

They absolutely cannot let us down at this crucial moment!

Professor Karkaroff, however, seemed quite pleased, and he looked at Dumbledore with great excitement.

However, Dumbledore, playing on home soil, remained smiling and showed no sign of panic.

Professor Maxim frowned upon seeing this.

Moody's expression was the most complex, appearing both dissatisfied and happy.

But the next moment, as if by prior arrangement, Sherlock and Harry raised their wands at the same instant:

"Scuba diving is coming!"

Just like in the first project, two sets of diving equipment immediately flew towards them from the direction of the castle.

"Oh my god, it's another summoning spell!"
After successfully using the Summoning Charm in the first project, the two Hogwarts warriors succeeded again, using the Summoning Charm once more!
But what exactly is scuba diving?

"I knew it! They don't even know what scuba gear is!"

"From the stands," Ron shouted excitedly.

"Weasley, do you know?"

"Of course I know!"

Ron immediately began enthusiastically explaining things to the young wizards around him—he thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of everyone listening to him. Hermione watched Ron's boastful display and shook her head helplessly.

Just then, Qiu Zhang suddenly asked, "They've been practicing for a long time, haven't they?"

This time, Cho Chang and Luna didn't go to Ravenclaw's side, but instead chose to sit with Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and others.

“That’s right!” Hermione nodded firmly. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should be able to complete the mission within an hour.”

Hermione's words relieved both Cho Chang and Ginny, who was standing nearby.

Luna looked curiously at Sherlock and Harry, who were putting on scuba gear on the shore, and asked, "Can you breathe underwater just by wearing that thing?"

"Yes."

This time, it was Qiu Zhang who provided the answer.

As a half-blood wizard, she had some knowledge of aquatic life, so she quietly explained the function of aquatic life to Luna, who listened very attentively.

Sherlock and Harry performed very steadily, putting on their gear in less than five minutes, and then jumped into the Black Lake together.

Once underwater, Harry suddenly realized that scuba diving was much more convenient than the Bubble Head Charm.

If you use the head-soaking spell for a long time, the air you breathe in the water will inevitably become murky.

However, scuba diving doesn't have this problem; it's practically no different from being on land.

The only slight inconvenience is that moving around in the water is not as convenient as on land.

However, after practicing winter swimming for a month, this little trouble is easy to overcome.

The trouble Harry was experiencing was nothing to Sherlock.

Even without scuba gear, he has a certain ability to swim underwater.

Not to mention that it's fully equipped now.

As for finding Cedric, who was kidnapped by mermaids, underwater, that's even less of a problem.

However, they still encountered trouble.

Of course, the trouble still stemmed from Harry.

Not at all prepared.

Harry, who had been closely following Sherlock, suddenly felt a tightening around his ankle as if something was grabbing him.

Harry twisted and turned around, and immediately saw a Grindylow.

I've seen this thing in Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class; it was a water monster with horns on its head.

His favorite thing to do is to lie in ambush in the water and ambush passersby.

I never expected to run into you here.

At this moment, it poked its body out from the seaweed, its long nails gripping Harry's leg tightly, and its sharp teeth showing in its mouth.

Seeing this, Harry quickly reached into his robes and touched his wand.

But just as he grabbed the wand, two more Grindelwalds emerged from the seaweed, grabbed Harry's robes, and desperately pulled him down.

At the same time, Sherlock realized something from the change in the direction of the water flow near him.

Turning my head, I saw that my little brother was being held up by three Grindelwalds.

Without saying a word, Sherlock rushed toward Harry.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, three more Greendylo emerged from the nearby water plants, baring their teeth and claws as they pounced on him.

Clearly, they wanted to separate Sherlock and Harry to prevent him from rescuing his teammates.

The recent monster opened its fangs dripping with slime, and its withered claws dug straight into Sherlock's abdomen.

Sherlock snorted and sidestepped the attack, his right fist striking out like lightning and slamming heavily into Grindylow's jaw.

A muffled thud echoed underwater. The monster's head tilted to the side, its horned head slamming against the reef. It twitched twice and then remained still.

Two more Grindelhos attacked from the left and right, one trying to entangle his legs, and the other opening its mouth to bite his shoulder.

Sherlock swung his left leg out, using the force of the water to kick the monster on the left side hard in the waist and abdomen.

The Greendylo let out a silent wail, bubbles gushing from its mouth, kicked away like rags, and crashed into a clump of seaweed.

The monster on the right seized the opportunity to pounce, but Sherlock did not retreat but advanced, turning his right fist into a palm and striking its throat with it, followed by an elbow strike with his left hand.

With a crack, Greendillo's neck bones snapped, and he sank limply to the bottom of the lake.

The whole process took only a few seconds; Sherlock had cleanly and efficiently taken care of the three Grindylos.

He didn't even use a wand, relying solely on hand-to-hand combat skills.

The scuba tube swayed slightly with his movements, yet he moved with the same ease as if he were on land.

However, the crisis on Harry's side was becoming increasingly severe.

Three Greendylos held him tightly.

One of them used long fingernails to drag him deeper into the seaweed, while the other two grabbed the hem of his robe and gnawed at his calves with sharp teeth.

Harry wasn't entirely without a solution.

In his panic, he managed to pull out his wand and shouted, "Relax and release!"

Unfortunately, his movements were distorted by the water flow and the monster's pulling.

The scuba mask fogged up, and vision began to blur.

Fortunately, although his wand did not spew sparks at Grindelwald, it still shot out a jet of boiling water.

The closest Greendylo was hit by the jet of water, and his green skin instantly turned bright red.

This brief period of time was enough for Sherlock to arrive and provide support.

The moment he eliminated the threat to himself, Sherlock pushed off with both legs and charged towards Harry's location like a torpedo.

The resistance of the lake water seemed to have no effect on him. Without saying a word, he still didn't use his wand, but instead punched the monster who was focused on tearing Harry's robes on the head.

The monster cried out in pain and released its grip. Immediately afterward, Sherlock delivered a knee strike to its abdomen.

Greendylow curled up, and Sherlock seized the opportunity to grab its horn and slam it hard against the nearby rock.

The monster's eyes bulged out, and it sank unconscious.

The second one, Grindelwald, reacted a little faster, abandoning Harry and turning to pounce on Sherlock.

Sherlock sneered, dodged the claw attack to the side, and landed a precise right punch on the back of its head.

The monster froze, and Sherlock grabbed its arm with his left hand, slamming it into the muddy bottom of the lake with an over-the-shoulder throw.

Amidst the churning of bubbles, Grindelwald remained motionless.

Seeing his companions wiped out in an instant, Grindelwald, who had already been struck by Harry's spell, was stunned.

The creature, which was about to pounce, stopped, waved its fist defiantly at Sherlock, and disappeared into the seaweed.

Seeing that the crisis was over, Sherlock helped Harry up and quickly checked his injuries.

Harry had a few scratches and bite marks on his ankles and calves, but they weren't serious.

The minor injury was instantly healed as Sherlock waved his wand.

Sherlock then gestured for Harry to slow down, and then began to look around.

Harry couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

I never expected that I would need Sherlock's help so soon.

Just then, Sherlock pulled him up, gesturing for Harry to swim higher, and pointed in a certain direction.

Harry's eyes lit up immediately.

He knew that Sherlock had most likely already located the target.

They nodded emphatically, preparing to follow Sherlock onward, when suddenly a voice rang out beside them:

"How's your progress?"

When those words rang in his ears, Harry was even more shocked than when he had just been ambushed by Grindelwald.

(End of this chapter)