A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Ron's face fell. "It was a nightmare. I wrote home saying I didn't need their help... but Fred and George blocked that path beforehand. You know what, Mom actually praised them in her reply..."

Harry felt a pang of sympathy, especially seeing Ron's first action after practicing the Bubble Head Charm was to take a bath, leaving behind a lingering smell of a dung bomb.

His own progress with the Humanoid Armor Charm was also not going well. If he had a choice, he would certainly prefer to master the Humanoid Armor Charm, which has protective capabilities, rather than the more versatile Bubble Head Charm. But now he had to make a trade-off and consider which option was more worthwhile.

For the next few days, he kept going to classroom number seven, completely forgetting about the brain surgery. So when he was awakened by a nightmare one day, he could only blame himself for slacking off on that.

Harry told Professor Hyp about it, hoping the professor could pass it on to Dumbledore, even though he didn't remember much.

"All I know is that he's very happy; something good must have happened," he said, racking his brains for a clue.

Felix nodded. "Maybe he's found himself another temporary body. There's nothing we can do about it; they're hiding too well." He also hoped that Voldemort would come knocking on Rita Skeeter's door, and that he could try to capture Crouch Jr.

But having received his promise, Rita Skeeter quietly moved and is currently hiding in Diagon Alley organizing the materials Sirius gave her.

Harry returned home heavy-hearted, beginning to question the point of his participation in the Contest of Champions—Voldemort was already preparing to be resurrected, and all he could do was practice the useless Freezing Charm in the Black Lake. Could he really expect it to freeze Voldemort's Killing Curse?

The person who supported him through this period of self-doubt was Sirius Black. If there was anyone in the world who was closest to him emotionally, it would be his godfather, including in his attitude towards Voldemort.

To Harry's surprise, Sirius found himself a temporary job. When he saw the Smetine High School crest through the two-way mirror, he was nearly speechless.

"What are you doing at Dudley's school?" Harry yelled, ignoring everyone. A fifth-year student in the common room looked up with a gloomy expression and muttered, "Another one gone mad." Then he went back to working on his seemingly endless homework.

Sirius in the mirror was quite cheerful. "Felix introduced me because I don't have a diploma that Muggles recognize, so I can only do odd jobs and don't earn much money... But how should I put it? I did find some tricks for mentoring students."

Harry listened as Sirius Black described his new job, his role as a teaching assistant: "When no one's around, I use my wand to handle the equipment, and I do it quickly and well..."

There was also his partner, an elderly teacher in his fifties, who would get out of breath every time he ran.

After Sirius learned how to use the whistle to send off students who committed fouls, he stood on the sidelines and slacked off. So Harry had the good fortune to see Dudley dragging his fat body around the field, especially when he was practically shuffling across the finish line with his tongue sticking out. Harry's pressure vanished instantly.

Before the first Hogsmeade weekend in February, he learned the Armor Charm. His Armor Charm also underwent a dramatic transformation; the only regret was that he still couldn't transform it into a cool gold or blood-red shield.

Ron also finished his special training. On the day he successfully learned the Bubble Head Spell, he walked around the lounge with a huge, transparent dome that looked like an upside-down fish tank on his head, and even joined Fred and George's discussion, saying that he was willing to pay for one or two dung bombs.

Fred and George handed him a Bee Duke candy gift bag with smiles.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a wonderful day at Hogsmeade before throwing themselves into intense preparations. Harry and Hermione, clad in their humanoid armor charms, and Ron, sporting the bubble-head charm, ventured deeper into the Black Lake, where they discovered a wondrous new world.

Harry was puzzled that he was so unfamiliar with the Black Lake.

Dozens of feet above the surface of Black Lake, they could still see the gray, eerie water. At their feet lay a undulating jungle of black aquatic plants, and a wide, flat expanse of mud and sand scattered with glittering pebbles.

In the distance, vast stretches of shadow stretched out, devoid of any light. They could only see a small area nearby by holding up their wands and using the Luminescent Charm; deeper within were patches of varying shades of black. Every now and then, large objects would pass by them, and they couldn't tell whether it was a piece of wood or some kind of creature—perhaps a giant squid!

Harry was worried again: what if the giant squid swallowed them whole? Although it would push students who fell into the water back into the boat when new students enrolled, he couldn't guarantee it would always be so gentle, especially since Ron had said during a breather that they had already invaded its territory.

As time went by, they ventured deeper into the Black Lake, even attempting to approach the mermaid tribe on one adventure.

As Harry swam, he realized that Hermione and Ron were gone, and something was tugging at him, which terrified him. It wasn't until a bright, milky-white light appeared in the distance that he realized what was entangled him was a Grindylow.

"Release the power!" Harry chanted the spell through the humanoid armor. The horned, pale green creature's hand loosened as if it had cramped up, and he swam toward Hermione—who was holding a bright orb of light in her hand and looking around in a panic—she was surrounded by a group of mermaids.

Finally, they were driven out dejectedly. Judging from the rude gestures of the leading mermaid, if they dared to invade the mermaids' territory again, they would probably have to wait for Dumbledore or Professor Hyp to come and get them.

Harry touched his head, emerging from the water soaking wet. He didn't know how the other warriors had dealt with the problem, but he was still groggy from being hit twice with a spear by a tall, strong merman.

“Fred and George are lying. They couldn’t possibly have completed the task of mapping the Black Lake,” Ron complained. “Those merfolk have much better eyesight in the water than we do; they’re completely adapted to the dark.”

On the way back, Hermione was still blaming herself, "I shouldn't have used the Light spell, but I was too nervous. You all disappeared in an instant. Something was clinging to me; now that I think about it, it might have been seaweed... I really don't know what we're going to do during the actual competition..."

Back in the dormitory, Ron took off his clothes and showed Harry the bruises on his back: "It was from a merman. I kicked him, you know, just wanted to test it out beforehand... and then two or three mermen rushed up and punched me twice."

Harry helped Ron apply the medicine, and Ron groaned, "There's another spot on my butt, I'll do it myself."

Two days before the start of the second project, a group of staff from 'Future World' came to the school and erected a huge projection screen on the shore of Black Lake. Lupin and Penelope explained the purpose of the projection screen to them: "They can display your heroic posture during the competition."

“Oh, that’s exactly what we wanted,” Ron muttered, “to embarrass ourselves in front of everyone.”

On the last day before the competition, their nerves were stretched to the limit. Harry discovered that despite all their preparations, time was still running out, and the unfinished items in Hermione's notebook were growing faster than the crossed-out ones.

But regardless, they still got a second project.

Chapter 435 The Second Project Begins

On February 24, Felix had just finished breakfast when Professor McGonagall called him over.

"Isn't there still some time before the competition?"

"Mr. Bagman wants to see you about the Warriors' arrangements... They're all waiting," Professor McGonagall said hurriedly.

They went to the room next to the auditorium, the same room where the warriors had waited months earlier on the night the Goblet of Fire revealed its list.

When Dumbledore entered the room, Ludo Bagman was pacing anxiously, looking very agitated. Dumbledore whispered something to him, but it didn't seem to alleviate his anxiety.

Bagman's eyes lit up when he saw Felix, and he strode over. "You've finally arrived, Felix. The minister will be bringing quite a few guests this morning. You know about Barty's situation, he... well, anyway, now everything has fallen on my shoulders."

Felix looked at the six groups of warriors sitting in the room, who were staring at Ludo Bagman with distrust in their eyes.

"Ahem! Let's begin. I've already collected their wands individually." Bagman wiped the sweat from his round face and urged, pointing to a table where a dozen wands lay quietly on a black velvet cloth.

Felix had no objection, but advised, "You'd better stay away..."

"Oh, what? Okay." Bagman dashed off and hid by the doorway, peeking out cautiously.

Felix looked at Dumbledore, and the old man blinked. "Felix, I'm very curious about this magic."

“Alright,” Felix said, turning to the group whose expressions grew increasingly uneasy.

“Professor, what do we need to do?” Cedric asked. “Aren’t we looking for something in the Black Lake?”

The other warriors wore the same expression. They had already deciphered the information on the golden egg and made the correct guess, but things seemed to be going differently than they had expected.

“That’s true,” Felix smiled, conjuring a colorless, transparent spherical vortex in his hand, surrounded by a bright ring of blue magic. “But if it’s just about finding something, it would be far too easy. The Ministry of Magic has added some difficulty…”

“What’s been added?” Nona Ripper asked, arms crossed. She and her two teammates were the least dressed of all the warriors, having changed into light animal skin clothing to reduce water resistance.

Felix shrugged. "You'll find out."

A powerful suction force emanated from the colorless, transparent spherical vortex, and the blue magic, like floating silk, suddenly expanded. Cedric, who was closest, was uncontrollably drawn into the vortex. He was startled, "Professor—"

Felix nodded slightly to him, and Cedric stopped struggling and plunged into the whirlpool. His two teammates followed.

After a few exaggerated screams, only Felix and Dumbledore remained in the room.

Felix held up the spherical vortex, while Dumbledore bent down to examine the dozen or so people inside. He said with admiration, "How interesting! You used this magic to capture hundreds of Dementors? It's a pity I didn't see it with my own eyes..."

“It is to eliminate, Headmaster Dumbledore,” Felix emphasized.

Dumbledore remained noncommittal, but smiled slightly. He said cheerfully, "Next, all we need to do is randomly place the warriors into the Black Lake, oh, and their wands too."

"Hopefully they won't be too surprised when they wake up."

……

"Boom-thump-"

Harry groggily got up from the ground. The effects of Professor Hyp's magic still lingered, making him feel dizzy for a moment. He groggily grabbed a thin wooden stick to stand up. The surrounding light was dim. He looked at the wooden stick standing on the ground and felt that it looked vaguely familiar.

"Boom-"

Another thud. Harry suddenly realized that this was the sound that had woken him. He turned around sharply and reached into his pocket with his right hand to grab his wand, but he missed. He didn't have time to worry about where his wand was; there were more pressing matters to deal with.

A gigantic monster with a spherical body kept crashing into the... protective shield in front of him? Harry found it unbelievable. The space within a radius of several feet seemed to be protected by an overturned bowl, with not a single drop of water seeping in. The light he saw was emitted by this protective shield, and the scene further away was also very familiar to him: black rocks covered with eerie green algae, unique to the Black Lake.

He didn't have time to think. He took a few steps back, his eyes fixed on the monster—it looked at least ten feet long, its round brown eyes gleaming with a cruel light (?). In the dim light, he could barely make out the colorful patterns on its body, as well as the long fins on its sides that could bend at huge angles…

Wait, is that a fish fin?

Harry stared blankly as the creature in front of him raised its ventral fins, took a few steps back with comical gait, then suddenly kicked off, kicking up a large cloud of mud and sand. Then it charged forward like a sharp sword, crashing head-on into the thin protective shield with a loud "thud".

Harry swallowed hard. No matter how he looked at it, he felt like he'd seen this creature somewhere before. If it were shrunk to a size of ten or more, it would look a lot like the colorful ball fish he'd seen in the Black Lake…

It is a magical spherical fish with patterns on its body. Its biggest difference is that the colorful ball fish has two long legs with webbed feet, which can both walk on the bottom of the water and move quickly in the water.

This amazing animal typically inhabits deep lakes, roaming the lakebed in search of food, with its favorite food being water snails.

He, Ron, and Hermione had encountered these creatures while wandering the Black Lake. Hermione told him that the Rainbow Fish and Mermaids didn't get along. Once discovered, the Mermaids would tie their long, slender legs into knots and pull them away with their tails. These Rainbow Fish, bound by their own legs, had to drift with the current until they could untie the knots and return, a process that could take several hours.

These creatures are not seen near the mermaid tribe. Harry at least had a rough idea of ​​his location.

"Did the professor use magic to enlarge the creatures in the Black Lake?" Harry muttered, then suddenly realized something and whirled around, nearly twisting his neck in the process. Rubbing his throbbing neck, Harry stared unblinkingly at the wooden stick standing in the center of the protective shield. A small portion of it was embedded in the mud, the exposed surface remarkably smooth, as if meticulously polished. Harry had felt it looked vaguely familiar…

But now he was absolutely certain that it wasn't a stick, but his own wand. Harry's mind seemed to have rusted; it took him a while to realize that it wasn't the rainbow fish that had grown bigger, but rather that he himself had shrunk, shrunk by more than ten times.

The professor used that weird magic that could suck people and Dementors in! The events that had happened in the room next to the Great Hall flashed through Harry's mind, making him feel uneasy. He stared at the few transparent snail shells near his wand. Well, he more or less understood why the rainbowfish was chasing him so relentlessly.

……

On the shore of Black Lake, people sat in makeshift seats, staring at a huge, curved projection screen. The screen was divided into three rows and six columns, with each column representing the same team, resulting in a total of eighteen squares. Each square displayed a clear image.

In the first cell of the second column, the ferocious sight of the colorful fish relentlessly attacking the protective shield was being watched by everyone.

Ludo Bagman sat high on the platform, his mind racing as he tracked the warriors' progress and provided commentary—

"Don't worry—the protective shield will last for an hour. Now that all the warriors are awake, they need to figure out the situation as quickly as possible. They have an hour to adapt to the chaotic magic and successfully cast spells to protect themselves in the Black Lake, otherwise they will be turned into hostages, and the difficulty for the entire team to pass the level will increase dramatically..."

The rows of seats closest to the stage were filled with invited guests. They were quite surprised by the large screen in front of them and couldn't help but whisper among themselves, repeatedly mentioning the recently prominent 'Future World' company.

Behind these people was a large group of students, excitedly watching the screen and whispering to each other.

Chapter 436 Adventure at the Bottom of the Lake (Part 1)

"Oh, look, the two ladies were the first to spot the wands, which probably has something to do with how distinctive their wands are—I see the pattern, yes, that's right, hopefully they'll find the watches on their wrists soon..."

A gasp of amazement rippled through the audience. When Collins woke up, she was undisturbed by the colorful fish or the crab. Her first thought was of the fir wand in front of her, which was the same height as her—as her hand brushed across its surface, a spark or two flew from the tip of the wand, and Collins gasped sharply.

“Harry is progressing much slower; he still hasn’t found the wand,” Seamus said anxiously.

“Anyone who wakes up and sees a monster fish that can eat them would be dumbfounded,” Dean said, then suddenly laughed. “Look at his expression, he figured it out!”

……

Harry raised his arm and stared at the extra watch on his wrist. He guessed that the professors must have worn it while they were asleep. The watch face didn't show the time; instead, it was a lifeless, dull gold.

Despite the seriousness of the occasion, an image kept flashing through his mind: Professor Hyp strolling across the Black Lake, a basket slung over his shoulder, looking around with interest. He then walked to a sandy patch, picked through the basket, and gently placed half-foot-tall Harry (his head lolling to one side, unconscious) on the ground, planting him and his wand in the dirt. With a flick of his wrist, a protective shield appeared…

Harry shook his head, dismissing unrealistic fantasies. Just then, a voice suddenly appeared in his mind, telling him that various "trials" were scattered throughout the Black Lake. The purple trials required him to fight, and victory would grant him the ability to survive in the Black Lake. The blue trials required him to use his brain, and success would yield various useful information.

As for the gold, it actually represents a gem that can break the "curse" on him, freeing him from his current height (Harry is already wondering what would happen if he collected more gems), and allowing him to grow. Furthermore, only when he is fully restored to his original size can the watch's function be activated, allowing him to see the other two companions in the same group.

Harry, combining the clues provided by the golden egg, suddenly realized that the previously vague information had become clear.

"Hurry, for danger lurks everywhere; weigh your options carefully, for choices are inevitable." Harry repeated softly, these two sentences offering only general advice without pointing to any specific information, something Hermione had struggled with repeatedly.