The Return to Hogwarts

However, Hermione's performance was somewhat more impressive than before.

To help her resist the curse, he and Dumbledore's magic remained in Hermione's body for a period of time. Of course, it's impossible for a wizard to easily absorb another wizard's magic under such circumstances, but his and Dumbledore's magic was so powerful that some of the weak magic inevitably 'corroded' her body.

Moreover, because she was in a state of extreme magical depletion for a long time, this stimulated Hermione's body to absorb more magical energy to nourish her 'depleted' physique.

Hermione's magic is now significantly more powerful than before, and the life-or-death situations she has faced have made her nerves more resilient, which has made up for some of her lack of talent in the ancient and timeless art of dueling.

As for Dumbledore, he clearly had some suspicions after his conversation with Frank and Alice in the Hall of Souls.

However, this conjecture was simply too incredible, and Amosta himself said at the time that those claims were merely his speculations. Dumbledore could never be sure whether it was just his imagination. In the days since he returned, Amosta could sense that Dumbledore was always restraining himself from getting to the bottom of things when he was with him, after all, it was more mysterious than any magic.

There were still fifteen minutes until nine o'clock in the evening, and a while before the school's deadline for students to return to their dormitories. However, there were not many young wizards wandering around the castle floors anymore. Most of them were fifth-year students who would be facing the OWLS-level wizard exam in June.

In his office, Amosta closed the letter in his hand and stared blankly at the small flames flickering in the fireplace.

Remus wrote to me, saying he would be at Hogwarts to watch the second game the day after tomorrow, and that he hoped to talk to me about their plans to expand their alchemy workshop business in America.

But Amostella believes that Remus might have had more to do with that. Perhaps he received some hints from Sirius, or perhaps he himself sensed something. This is not impossible, as Remus is a meticulous wizard with a keen sense of smell.

But this is fine too, because he happens to have something he can trouble him with. He originally planned to ask Sirius, who had already confirmed that he would come to watch the game, for help, but Remus is undoubtedly more suitable.

He hastily wrote back, instructing Remus to arrive at Hogwarts by 9 p.m. the next day and to enter through the secret passage that the 'Big Four' had frequently used during their student days, without being discovered by anyone.

After sealing the letter, Amosta left his office and walked down the third-floor corridor toward the stairs.

He paused for a few seconds in front of Moody's office door, glancing sideways at the closed door.

The walls couldn't block Amosta's view; he saw a humanoid magical silhouette sitting motionless in a chair behind the desk, its magic exuding a deathly aura.

For those inside the office, the walls also cannot block the view of that wondrous magical eye.

Separated by two walls, the two men exchanged a glance. Then, Moody looked away as if burned, while Amosta resumed his steps and walked expressionlessly toward the stairs.

Seemingly sensing Professor Blaine's bad mood, the young wizards they encountered along the way all stepped aside, heads down, not daring to even greet him.

Even the mischievous Peeves, after encountering him on the stairs, quickly slipped into an empty classroom in the fourth-floor corridor, hid behind the door, and stuck out his tongue and made faces in the direction Professor Blaine had left.

The fierce wind at the top of the tower made Amos Tower's robes rustle as he silently faced the flowing darkness, having already sent the letter. But he remained unmoved, standing silently opposite the imposing mountains in the endless darkness, until the castle lights went out one by one, until only the small tower where Dumbledore was still lit.

A gray owl in the shed saw Amosta still standing in the corridor outside, flapped its wings and flew into the air, circling above his head and curiously observing him.

The rustling sound of wings striking the strong wind startled Amosta awake. He smiled at the owl.

"Actually, I can fly too."

Amosta smiled and said that the next second, to the 'shocked' gaze of the Grey Owl, he jumped onto the protective wall and then leaped into the abyss.

The sudden feeling of weightlessness made Amosta squint, but as the speed rapidly increased, a sense of 'freedom' filled his heart. In a daze, he seemed to experience something that Dumbledore had once told him about: the freedom of the soul to exist in the material world apart from the body.

But before Amosta could fully savor this captivating feeling, the earth rapidly magnified in his vision. Amosta instantly became ethereal, tracing a crescent-shaped path in mid-air, his figure sweeping over the green grass that had been bent over by the strong wind, and in the blink of an eye, he was hovering above the shore of Black Lake.

"What was that noise just now?"

The three people under the Invisibility Cloak stopped in their tracks. Harry grabbed the edge of the Invisibility Cloak to prevent it from being blown off by the gust of wind that had just swept through. He looked up, puzzled, at the boundless night sky.

"Maybe it's an owl."

Hermione noticed the commotion too, and she guessed...

“Owls are nocturnal, they might be out catching mice, Crookshanks do that too. Don’t waste time, Harry, I can’t waste the whole night here, I have to go back and finish Professor Flitwick’s paper later.”

"Then you'll at least have to get out of the lake alive."

The chill of early spring, coupled with the cold wind of the late night, made Ron shiver. He tugged at Harry and Hermione's robes and continued walking, trembling as he spoke.

"I think you must be crazy, Hermione. Why can't you try it during the day? Why do you have to do it at night?"

"Oh--"

Hermione's cheeks flushed in the darkness.

“I can’t be seen by anyone. You understand, Ron? My original plan was to transform into a fish or an otter or something, but I didn’t have enough time. My understanding of advanced shapeshifting isn’t thorough enough. I could only barely grow a tail.”

There was a few seconds of silence by the lake, and then the two boys under the invisibility cloak burst out laughing at the same time.

“You mean,” Harry said, barely suppressing a laugh, “you’ll become a mermaid?”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Harry was struck hard in the ribs by an elbow, the pain nearly suffocating him.

"Not a mermaid!"

Hermione said she was clearly very annoyed that Harry treated her like some kind of sallow-skinned, ugly creature.

"I couldn't grow gills myself; that involves more complex transformations. In fact, I found another way, the Bubble Head Charm, which gives me air underwater. It's a spell I only learned in sixth grade. When I was learning advanced transfiguration, I realized that maybe the spellbooks for older students had a solution to my problem, so I flipped through them."

"Since the 'bubble head curse' is like this,"

Harry's ordeal made Ron barely suppress his laughter, and he said in a serious tone,

"Since this spell allows you to breathe underwater, why bother growing a fish tail?"

"Oh, that's because--"

Hermione said in a sullen, unhappy tone,

“You know I’m not a very good swimmer, Ron, this will help me swim faster underwater.”

Chapter 834 Practice

2024-03-31

The two boys remained eerily silent, but their twitching lips suggested that they were not as calm as they appeared about Hermione's plan to turn them into 'mermaids'.

Hesitantly, the three of them arrived at the riverbank. After cautiously looking around to make sure no one was there, Harry suddenly pulled off the Invisibility Cloak on his head.

The endless roar of the waves echoed in the ears of the three, and the cold, damp air that rushed towards them made them all shiver.

Over the years, wandering around the school after lights out has become commonplace. They even sneaked into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, Sirius, and Snape in the middle of last night to fight werewolves. However, they rarely ventured to the Black Lake at night.

There is no moon tonight. Only a few dim stars are scattered across the boundless night sky. Even with the strongest eyesight, only faint starlight can be seen.

The Black Lake truly lived up to its name. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, standing on the lakeshore, gazed at the lake just a step away and all had the illusion that what was rippling in front of them was not water, but pitch-black ink.

Harry glanced at Hermione, whose lips were tightly pressed together, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing. Ron, on the other hand, squatted down, dipped his hand into the lake water, and suddenly shivered. The chilling cold made his scalp tingle.

"crazy."

Ron pulled his hand back, wrinkled his nose, and said, "Even if we don't drown, we'll definitely freeze to death."

“You all saw it,”

Facing the abyss-like Black Lake, Hermione tried to calm her nerves by breathing. She now understood why the tournament organizers had chosen the Black Lake for the second match; it was indeed very 'exciting,' no less so than facing a dragon.

"Furong and Krum have both overcome their fears; they've already tested it. I can't lose to them. I can't let my first time in the water be on the day of the competition!"

Finally, Hermione's tone became firm, "I need to get used to it beforehand."

The two boys exchanged a glance and each sighed softly.

"Okay, as agreed beforehand--"

Harry shook his sleeves, but the wand did not slip from his palm as he expected; instead, it was held in place by his close-fitting shirt.

Concealing a wand in the side of the arm is a common technique used by Aurors, but Professor Blaine and Dumbledore are also used to doing it. Harry has seen them take out their wands this way many times. Recently, for some reason, practicing this technique has become a popular activity in physical education class, and Harry has also 'followed' the trend, although he is not very proficient yet.

After struggling to pull his wand from his sleeve, Harry waved it, and many willow branches that had been swaying above their heads detached from the tree and intertwined to form a rope. One end of the rope was tied to Hermione's wrist, while the other end was held by Harry and Ron.

"If you drown, we will pull you out before you drown."

Ron shook the willow branch and said with a grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, then put her wand in her mouth and began to take off her robes, which startled Harry and Ron. The two boys quickly turned around and covered their eyes.

“Don’t be nervous—” Hermione said with a smile, “I’m wearing my racing suit.”

Racing uniform?

Harry and Ron removed their hands from their eyes and turned around. They then discovered that under Hermione's tightly covered robes were the same sportswear the champions had worn in the first match—simple in style but very sharp.

I thought you would wear swimsuits.

Ron raised an eyebrow, watching Hermione tie her hair into a ponytail.

"Won't these clothes get in your way when you go wet?"

"Professor Blaine has already considered this; the clothes will automatically change shape after entering the water. Just wait and see—"

As she spoke, Hermione had already taken off her shoes and socks, her fair and delicate feet stepping on the wet mud.

The mud, studded with pebbles and rotten forks, was indeed unpleasant, but compared to the feeling of being hit by dung balls or having spears pierce her body, it was nothing. Under the worried gazes of Harry and Ron, Hermione frowned and carefully lifted her foot.

After gently touching the lake water with her toes a few times to get a general idea of ​​the temperature, Hermione took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and slowly squatted down.

Huh. Huh. Huh.

Using a unique breathing rhythm she had gleaned from running exercises, Hermione tried to relax her body and ignore the discomfort caused by the icy lake water.

Hermione exhaled heavily after her feet sank into the soft mud at the bottom of the lake, her breathing becoming lighter.

The temperature at the bottom of the lake was slightly higher than that at the top, and that slight warmth brought some color back to her pale face.

At this moment, Hermione thought of Professor Blaine again. A good physique is indeed crucial for a wizard.

"how do you feel?"

Harry swallowed hard and asked nervously.