The Return to Hogwarts

Neville looked anxiously at the long, narrow oak boat, and hesitantly raised his hand. "What if we fall into the water, Professor Blaine?"

“If you fall into the water,” Amosta looked at Neville with great regret, “then I’m sorry, Mr. Longbottom, you’ll probably have to stay at the school hospital for a couple of days.”

Upon hearing this, the young wizards who were peeking out from the embankment immediately turned their heads back.

At first, Amosta did not interfere with the young wizards choosing their own teammates. However, looking at the long, narrow boats floating on the water, all the young wizards hoped to team up with their thinner companions. After a long period of commotion, no definite result was reached. In the end, he had to take matters into his own hands.

Harry and Hermione teamed up, Seamus met Lavender, and Neville and Dean teamed up.

"professor!"

Pettier, who had inexplicably ended up on the same boat as Ron, stared in horror at Ron's red hair and protested loudly, "Can I ask to be changed teammates? Professor Trelawney told me to be careful of red-haired boys!"

“Those mystical things won’t work with me, Miss Petit.”

Amostella ruthlessly rejected Petil's request. Finally, he glanced at Malfoy, who was grinning mischievously as he spoke with a nearby Slytherin student, and smiled slightly.

"Just a heads up, ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to see you all attacking each other with your wands. Good luck!"

The moment the wand was waved, a thick white mist suddenly enveloped everyone, blurring their consciousness. When the mist cleared and Harry and Hermione came to their senses, they found that Professor Blaine and their classmates, who had been right beside them, had vanished, and their small boat was now motionless in the middle of the mirror-like surface of the water.

There was no wind on any side, but the wisps of smoke on both sides were slowly swirling into various bizarre shapes under the influence of a mysterious force, revealing terror and gloom in the stillness.

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, but after a few seconds, Hermione angrily looked away, fixing her gaze on the bow of the ship.

"Are you alright, Hermione?"

Harry scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed.

However, Hermione detected a hint of apology in Harry's somewhat awkward greeting. She shifted her shoulders, a subtle smile playing on her lips, and when she turned back, her tone was much gentler.

“We can talk about the blemishes later, Harry. What we should be thinking about now is how to get through this swamp.”

"Oh, that's it!"

Harry immediately breathed a sigh of relief and happily agreed. His gaze swept over this bizarre and fantastical world, wondering where Professor Blaine had seen such eerie and unsettling sights. Finally, he looked at the ship's helm at the bow, shrugged, and said...

"I thought this boat would move on its own, like the little boat that ferried us across Black Lake in first grade. Does Professor Blaine want us to row ourselves? But I don't see any oars."

"Don't talk nonsense, Harry."

Hermione said calmly, and she carefully adjusted the wheel-shaped rudder. The small boat beneath her feet immediately swayed a few times in the direction the rudder moved, and before she knew it, Hermione was almost thrown out of the cabin.

"Oh, watch out!"

Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and, with his excellent balance, managed to keep himself steady.

"It seems—"

Hermione, pale-faced, patted her chest and said, still shaken, "This ship can indeed move on its own, but it requires a special method."

The narrow, leaf-shaped boat is easily recognizable. Apart from the rudder at the bow, there are two wooden hemispherical objects at the stern where the gunwales meet, which look like decorations.

Harry blinked, took two laborious steps to the stern, and instinctively reached for the bulge on the right.

“Watch out, Harry—” Hermione warned anxiously.

“We can’t just stand here like idiots, Hermione,” Harry said casually, gesturing for Hermione to crouch down as he reached for the wooden ball again.

hum!

The moment his palms touched the wood, Harry frowned slightly, feeling a stinging sensation similar to a mosquito bite. Then, the slightly cold wooden ball emitted a faint glow and suddenly emitted a mysterious suction force.

"This thing—"

Harry withdrew his hand, and said blankly, "It seems to be absorbing my... magic?"

"Harry!"

Harry, who was staring in astonishment at his palm, suddenly heard Hermione's slightly tense voice. He looked up and caught a glimpse of a magical shield that enveloped the ship and emitted a shimmering white glow, which was rapidly fading away and completely disappearing into the air a second or two later.

Two minutes later, they finally figured out how the ship worked.

The rudder at the bow is obviously used to control direction; while the two hemispheres at the stern, the left one controls the oak boat to move forward, and the right one will activate a magical shield to protect the hull. However, both of these wooden spheres will absorb their magic power, which means that they must take turns controlling the boat as it moves.

Swallowing nervously, Hermione gripped the ship's rudder tightly and turned to give Harry a look.

After a slight hum, the small oak boat finally moved forward.

Chapter 201 The Game (Part Two)

Harry quickly made a discovery after mastering the trick.

The speed of the oak boat is related to the speed at which magic is poured into it. Normally, when magic is passively absorbed, the boat moves only as fast as a young wizard jogging. But if you relax your mind and actively cooperate by pouring magic into it, the boat can be as agile as an old-fashioned silver arrow broom. Of course, the price of doing so is huge. In just half a minute, Harry felt as tired as if he had played an intense Quidditch match.

They smashed through a cloud of dark yellow smoke, but everything before them remained desolate. The surrounding area was shrouded in mist, and they couldn't tell which direction to run or where their classmates were.

"Since it's a race, why not point out the direction?"

Harry exhaled the slightly fishy-smelling mist that he had accidentally inhaled, and muttered with some dissatisfaction.

"Perhaps it's to increase the difficulty, Harry—" Hermione analyzed rationally.

“Don’t you know Professor Blaine’s style, Harry? To create such a large swamp in the faculty quarters, I can’t even imagine how many complicated spells it would take. If it’s just to let us know about Hinkpunk, I don’t see the need for this.”

Harry moved his lips slightly. He had to admit that Hermione's opinions were mostly accurate and reasonable.

Harry withdrew his slightly stiff hand, and the small oak boat glided forward a short distance using its momentum. Looking at the strangely shaped, charred tree, his brow suddenly furrowed.

"Don't you think, Hermione,"

In the empty and silent environment, Harry's voice sounded particularly ethereal.

"That dead tree, we think we just passed by it a minute ago, Hermione, are we going in circles?"

Harry's guess made Hermione frown. Since none of this was recorded in the books or lessons, she couldn't give a definite answer.

Since Professor Blaine had not given any direction to go, and there were no decent landmarks in the swamp, the two young wizards, completely bewildered, randomly chose a direction and kept driving straight ahead. However, lacking outdoor experience, they did not realize that due to the constantly shifting clouds and poor visibility, it was easy for people to go in circles in such conditions.

Harry withdrew his hand from the wooden ball, still unsure of which way to go, and he couldn't afford to keep expending his magic like this.

It was time for that unpleasant brain-teasing part again. Harry was resting in the cabin, while Hermione sat opposite him with her legs together, muttering to herself.

"--Oh, I remember reading in some Muggle books that when you get lost in the wild, you can use the sun or stars to find your way."

Harry immediately looked up at the sky, then listlessly lowered his head again.

“That’s right, Hermione, but the problem is we’re in the professors’ lounge right now, and Professor Blaine is obviously not going to be so kind as to make us a sun or a star.”

“I knew there wouldn’t be this, Harry,”

Hermione said irritably, continuing to recall the Muggle books about travel, muttering to herself,

"The direction of the water flow can also help us."

Harry immediately stuck his head out of the ship's side. The swamp, which was only about half a meter deep, was as smooth as a silver mirror, and there was no trace of movement in the water. A little frustrated, Harry was about to turn his gaze back, but just as he was about to do so, a few strange silver lights in the calm water caught his attention not far away.

what is that?

Harry blinked, puzzled, but then the silver light beneath the water seemed to sense Harry's gaze and quickly approached the small boat. A few seconds later, the silver light was within thirty feet of the boat's side.

"Chirac fish?"

Hermione's slightly surprised voice caught Harry's attention.

"What are those?" Harry asked curiously, looking at the fish covered in fins and spines.

"A fish that lives in the Atlantic Ocean and has magical properties; it was briefly mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

Hermione's voice held an unsettling seriousness, "Be careful, Harry, they are aggressive. Oh!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

While Hermione was explaining things, a dozen or so slithering slugs that were circling the small boat suddenly leaped out of the water without warning, hovering in mid-air and spitting out sharp water jets at them. Caught off guard, Harry and Hermione were each hit by several jets, and their skin immediately turned purplish-blue.

Now, the two of them finally figured out why Professor Blaine had given the small boat a magical barrier, something that had been puzzling them.

"Quickly, take control of the helm, Hermione! We can't withstand that kind of force for long!"

After helping Hermione up when she fell, Harry yelled and scrambled to the stern. Without holding back his magic, he pressed his palms firmly onto the two wooden balls, creating a magical barrier that sent the stationary boat gliding rapidly into the distance.

"But where should we go, Harry!"

The speeding boat traced a large, graceful semicircle across the churning lake, but it still couldn't shake off the shimmering silver Heracles. They chased after the boat, spitting out water arrows that created ripples on the pristine white barrier, which clearly increased the magical energy required to maintain it.

"Just pick a direction,"

The howling wind made Harry's already messy hair even more disheveled, and he roared through gritted teeth.

"I'm afraid I can't maintain both the barrier and speed for long!"

"But--"

For Hermione, these vague instructions were the most dangerous thing. She anxiously looked around, navigating the small boat through the clouds, desperately hoping to see something that could point her in the right direction. Just then, an orange ball of light that suddenly appeared in the hazy clouds caught her attention.

In this moment of panic and anxiety, Hermione had no time to think. Instinctively, she turned the rudder and steered the small boat directly toward the swaying ball of light.

The appearance of the Chirac fish was like a signal; the previously quiet and oppressive faculty lounge was filled with screams of terror and cries of pain from all directions!

"Don't go there, Hermione!"

Harry, taking a moment to turn his head and glance at the direction the small boat was heading, shouted loudly.

"Can't you see, Hermione? Professor Blaine is trying to use this method to panic us, make us lose our composure, and thus be swayed by Hinkpunk!"