A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

She believed they had to solve some kind of puzzle or make a choice that suited them, "Maybe everyone faces different problems," she said worriedly. Ron guessed it would be similar to the giant wizard chess puzzle they had overcome in their first year, "Maybe one or two people will have to be sacrificed then..." he said meaningfully.

Now it seems Hermione's guess is closer to the truth, Harry thought.

With limited time, spending time searching for the golden gem is undoubtedly the most valuable, as it directly determines whether you can pass the level. The other two are means to ensure the warrior's survival in the dangerous Black Lake, especially at the beginning of the game when they are all very weak.

Harry already knew that the protective shield in front of him would only last for an hour, so he had to hurry.

He racked his brains, wand, wand... He stared irritably at the wand that was half a head taller than him. How was he supposed to move with that thing on his back?

Harry moved closer, thankful he hadn't woken up in the icy lake. He placed his hand on his wand, a feeling of connection washing over him. "Thank goodness you still recognize me," Harry thought excitedly. "Hopefully, things will go smoothly from here on out."

He took a deep breath, ignoring the colorful fish that kept ramming against the protective shield, even though its attack frequency had noticeably decreased. Harry struggled to muster the magic within his body.

He felt his magic sluggish to the extreme, and a force was constantly affecting him. He knew that was the "curse" mentioned in the hint. Harry muttered, "What curse... I guess it's the professor's influence."

He adjusted his state of mind and studied the effects of the brain surgery. Other effects were not yet visible, but at least—if he wanted to remain calm, it was already a very easy thing.

"Armor for protection." He whispered the incantation, and the tip of the huge holly wand flashed faintly, then flickered twice and disappeared.

Harry was hardly affected and began his second attempt, "Protect yourself—oh no—Protect yourself—Protect yourself—Protect yourself—Protect yourself—" After more than ten attempts, he finally succeeded, and a transparent magical barrier appeared in front of him.

“Next, I need to transform it,” Harry told himself. Under his control, the Ironclad Charm stuck to his body, as if he had crashed into an invisible wall. His nose and eyes were pressed tightly against it, even flattening his nose.

The projection screen on the shore faithfully recorded this scene—

Ludo Bagman said somewhat awkwardly, “Our youngest warrior successfully used the Ironclad Charm, which is quite an achievement—although I’m not entirely sure why he pressed his face against it… However, he is the third warrior to successfully communicate with his wand, and according to our security personnel, warriors in this state can only barely use their best spells.”

"Look! The Valgardus warriors have gained the upper hand in this competition. Their hand gestures are quite impressive! Is it some kind of animal transformation? I'm not sure—they don't look much different, except for two extra gills on their cheeks… Oh my god, what am I seeing? Two Valgardus warriors have abandoned their wands altogether, is that a violation? Please have the other judges discuss this—the other Valgardus warrior is carrying his own wand, this weight is nothing to him. They've already started searching the Black Lake, they're the fastest group, while Potter is still fiddling with his deformed Ironclad Charm, is he trying to suffocate himself?"

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience; Harry's performance was clearly more entertaining, or rather, more visually appealing. After watching for a while, they roughly understood Harry's intention. "He seems to be trying to wrap himself in the Ironclad Charm," Bagman belatedly remarked.

“That’s the Humanoid Armor Charm, one of the advanced variations of the Armor Charm. However, it seems that Potter’s mastery of this spell is not as proficient as Granger’s,” a knowledgeable member of the Rune Club in the audience said. “She has already stepped out of the protective shield.”

In the Black Lake, Hermione was panting heavily. She dared not stray too far from her wand, and with the protective shield in place, it was as if she had a coordinate and a safe haven. With considerable effort, she activated the Humanoid Armor Charm and tentatively explored the area around the shield. Finally, beneath a patch of black seaweed, she saw a blue light—hidden in the center of a group of seashells.

A surge of intense joy welled up inside her, and she swam swiftly in the Black Lake, shivering from the cold—because of the "curse" she carried, she had great difficulty using magic. The warming spell and waterproofing spell that she thought she had mastered were immediately unusable. She estimated that she would need to obtain at least one or two gold gems before things would improve.

Hermione swam through the deep lake, her tousled hair trailing behind her. Every now and then, she would glance back at the faint light in the distance—the location of the protective shield, inside which her wand was hidden. If she got lost, she wouldn't be able to find her way; she didn't want to become a hostage waiting to be rescued.

As they got closer, the seaweed stretched out like black ribbons under the influence of the water, each three or four feet long, like a giant underwater jungle. Hermione hid behind a pebble, peeking out cautiously. Then her face lit up with joy. Besides seeing a small blue house that looked like a conch shell, a golden gem lay quietly in an open space not far from it.

"How lucky!" Hermione thought happily. Just then, a black shadow silently approached, and Hermione was knocked away, crashing onto the sand. Fortunately, she was protected by the Human Armor Charm, and only suffered some of the aftershocks of the impact, but—

Hermione blinked, watching the black salmon wag its tail and sail away. It seemed to be attracted by the little house that looked like a blue conch shell, and kept trying to get closer, but it couldn't get in no matter what it did.

She racked her brains and quickly made up her mind. Hermione moved along the shadow of the rocks at the bottom of the lake. Halfway there, she picked up a piece of broken seaweed for cover. She got closer and closer, and then watched helplessly as the salmon rushed toward her.

Hermione barely managed to dodge, rolling twice in the water. The Humanoid Armor Charm had done its job well, but she wasn't sure if her protective layer would be torn apart if she took a few more hits.

With a nimble flick of its black salmon tail, it charged forward again with overwhelming force. At that moment, a faint white light appeared on Hermione's hand, with magical symbols faintly visible.

She opened her eyes wide, trying to make out the salmon's movements. The white light on her hand grew even brighter. She nervously muttered, "I have an advantage over others. Even if I can't use ancient magic, I've mastered quite a few individual runes, which are like simple spells..."

"boom!"

The glowing fist slammed into the salmon's head, its belly immediately turning white as it floated on the lake water—it had been stunned by Hermione's Bison Power rune.

"Great!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, having thought she would have to try several times to succeed.

She ignored the salmon bobbing in the water and quickly swam behind the small blue conch-shaped house, staring at the golden gem, which was as big as her head. She touched it with the hand that wore the watch, and the dull golden dial lit up. Then, the golden gem on the ground seemed to melt and merge into the watch, and the dull golden dial also lit up slightly.

"Huh? There's a progress notification? It's kind of like the coin Harry used when he practiced Apparition. Oh, it belongs to Varen now." Hermione thought happily, turning and walking into the little blue house to face the challenge.

Chapter 437 Adventure at the Bottom of the Lake (Part Two)

On the shore, Ludo Bagman shouted excitedly in his loud voice, "Look! Miss Granger has successfully stunned a salmon that's at least two feet long! What a rare talent!"

Fred and George chuckled and said, "Hermione probably won't be happy to hear that."

“Oh, Professor McGonagall reminded me,” Ludo Bagman continued, “that’s the power of ancient runes. To be honest, I don’t know much about that subject. Isn’t it a translation discipline? ... And regarding the Valgardus warriors’ decision to abandon their wands, the judges concluded that since the rules didn’t explicitly state that wands couldn’t be abandoned, it was permissible, even though it would cause difficulties in retrieving them.”

"Let's get back to the game. Ifamoni's warrior has successfully challenged the purple level. Next, he will face a choice: a talisman, an ice bomb, or—look, he chose the second one, which can freeze a small area of ​​the lake."

"Krum of Durmstrang is nearing the area where Grindelwald exists. His less-than-successful shark transformation has only added two gills and a mouthful of shark teeth. To be honest, I don't expect those tiny fangs in his mouth to ever come in handy—but back to the point, Krum truly lives up to his reputation as an international Quidditch star. His excellent physique allows him to swim forward with a wand in his mouth, not to mention that he accidentally discovered a golden gem along the way, which made him grow to two feet tall..."

"Oh no! He's surrounded. A dozen Grindylows have spotted him. Under normal circumstances, these little things wouldn't be a problem for him, but things are different now. Can he still cast spells flexibly? That's right, he wisely chose to evade and abandon that blue checkpoint..."

In the Black Lake, Hermione is facing a difficult choice.

After she successfully solved the puzzle, a hollow voice told her that she could receive a reward, with options including: any question within the rules; the terrain of a small area around her; or passing a message to her teammates for ten seconds.

Hermione was tempted by every option, but after weighing them, she chose the one she needed most at the moment—the terrain of a small area around her.

The hollow voice repeated her choice, and after a few seconds of silence, a map appeared in the air. Hermione's eyes lit up, and she memorized the gold and purple dots that appeared on the map.

On the other side, Harry had completed the Humanoid Armor Charm a few minutes earlier—he had almost repeated the entire development process of the spell. Fortunately, he had been going to Room 7 frequently in the past few days, and Professor Hyp's memory hadn't had much to do, so he explained it in more detail.

His humanoid armored curse looked like a deformed bubble-head curse, only covering his entire body, which made his movements appear much slower than normal, but in any case, he barely gained the ability to step out of the protective shield.

After thinking for a few seconds, he reached one hand out of the protective shield and touched the cold lake water. The colorful fish was finally tired and had gone off to rest somewhere. Harry took a deep breath and stepped into the water. He looked like a deformed bubble that had been squeezed. His limbs were still relatively close to his body, but his head and chest were bulging. If he lay on the ground, he would look no different from a toad.

Perhaps this would save more effort, Harry thought with a wry smile.

He swam a short distance, just as he often did in Quidditch—to occupy a high vantage point and search for the Golden Snitch from above—except this time he was searching for his target in the water.

Before him lay a strange, dark, and hazy landscape, with large swaths of black and eerie green intertwined, soft algae swaying like strips of cloth, and shiny pebbles mixed in with the dark soil—but that wasn't what he was looking for.

He first spotted a blue light twinkling like stars—a smart level… Hmm, Harry remembered the location and decided to look again. This time, he spotted a purple light—a level that required combat.

Harry hesitated for a moment, but decided to challenge the purple level anyway. He successfully entered the purple house. The process of going from the lake water to the air gave him goosebumps. Then he suddenly felt something sweep across his brain. The effects of practicing Occlumency were showing. He immediately resisted the invasion of this unknown force.

"Phew..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, at least he wasn't ambushed.

He went into the little purple house and searched it thoroughly, but found nothing. He was stunned. What was going on...? The test? Harry was completely baffled until a possibility suddenly occurred to him... Could that intrusive force from before have been the test?

Harry relaxed his mind, waited quietly for a few seconds, and then, in a flash, he found himself in a spacious square. A hippogriff that had been kneeling on the ground stood up, spread its wings, and looked at him menacingly.

Harry grinned. It was a half-horse, half-bird creature, and it looked rather strange, but Harry was already used to it since he was friends with a hippogriff named Buckbeak, and he quite liked their naturally transitioning fur: from dark gray, bronze, and red and white, to shiny chestnut, and finally jet black.

Bow, don't blink, don't flinch... Time seemed to rewind to the school year, and Harry quickly became friends with it. But it insisted that Harry ride it around in a circle. Harry was worried about how to get through the obstacle, but after hearing this suggestion, he tried to do so. When the hippogriff landed smoothly, the sound of passing the obstacle came.

"To pass peacefully, please make a choice: Amulet, which will protect you and allow you to move freely underwater for half an hour; Squid Ink, which will obscure your vision; or Fake Wand, which will cast the Armor Charm three times."

Harry blinked, staring at the hippogriff standing to the side, when he suddenly had a brilliant idea.

“I need a talisman,” he said.

A few minutes later, he returned to the protective shield and successfully retrieved a golden gem. He had also grown taller. He felt his magic power had increased significantly, and he was able to use some simple spells.

"Now I feel much more confident," Harry thought, putting on the amulet and canceling the immature Humanoid Armor Charm.

He gripped his wand, a water snail the size of a Quake ball tucked under one arm, glanced deeply at the shimmering protective shield, and stepped into the black lake. His body felt a chill at first, then warmed up; the amulet had worked. Its effect was surprisingly good. Harry stretched freely in the water, feeling cool, comfortable, and incredibly light.

Harry measured his wand; his holly phoenix feather wand was eleven inches, which made him about one foot seven or eight inches tall. After some time, he finally found the rainbow fish lingering near the protective shield. It looked exhausted, or perhaps it was just his imagination, but Harry had a feeling it had a small bump on its head…

“Come on!” Harry shouted, and the rainbowfish immediately looked over. Its eyes almost popped out, and Harry had the upper hand at this moment compared to the rainbowfish, which was only a foot long.

Harry smiled happily when he saw the rainbow fish charging towards him with its long legs.

Half a minute later, the two legs of the rainbow fish were tied in a knot. Harry was panting, but he was quite satisfied with his work. He threw the water snail that he had put aside next to the rainbow fish. It stopped struggling, glanced at Harry, and lowered its head to enjoy its food. Over the next ten minutes, Harry used water plants to weave a simple knot and put it around the rainbow fish.

Twenty minutes had passed since he woke up.

Then, carrying his wand, he untied the knotted leg of the rainbow fish. "If you swim with me for a while, I won't hold you accountable for bothering me," Harry said, leaning closer to him.

He didn't know if it was his words that worked, or the gift that made the encounter, or if it simply wanted to escape, but the rainbow fish did move. Harry quickly grabbed the seaweed-woven reins and his wand, and the next second, he was pulled forward.

"Wow!"

Harry moved swiftly across the Black Lake, using his wand to nudge the head of the rainbow fish to control his direction. His target was the golden gems. Although he had lost some time earlier, he was confident that he would be able to increase his speed significantly from here on out.

……

In the heart of Black Lake, beneath deep, steep cliffs, lies a recessed rocky forest—the deepest part of the entire lake—where a small tribe of mermaids lives.

They possess a unique culture and language, as well as the ability to tame Grindylows. This group of mermaids has been granted the right to inhabit the Black Lake, and successive headmasters have promised not to invade it without permission.

Regardless, Black Lake is part of Hogwarts, and during this tournament, Dumbledore and the Mermaid Master reached an agreement that they would become part of the second project.

Felix was sitting in a small square, surrounded by some strange-looking little houses, with many merfolk watching him from afar.

The mermaid leader was enjoying the gift that had been delivered—a waterproof magic phonograph.

The mermaid leader was a full ten feet tall, wearing a necklace of shark teeth on his head, surrounded by mermaid guards holding forks, whose eyes would occasionally glance in their direction.

“I am very satisfied,” the mermaid leader said in a low, hoarse voice.

Chapter 438 Adventure at the Bottom of the Lake (Part 3)

Felix smiled and waved his wand. A golden mist condensed in the water to form a screen, very similar to the projection screen on the shore, only much smaller. Even Ludo Bagman's voice could be heard clearly.

"With twenty minutes left in the hour, six warriors are still struggling to adapt to the chaotic magic, but they have all bravely stepped out of the protective barrier, using the most primitive method of holding their breath to explore. This strategy is undoubtedly correct, because each of them has at least one golden gem around them..."

"One hour is almost up! Only two warriors remain, belonging to Durmstrang and Ifamoni respectively. These two warriors will be taken hostage. Please have the security personnel make proper arrangements for them."

Felix stood up, bid farewell to the mermaid leader, and a silver cloak materialized behind him, its hem unfurling in the dark lake water. The next second, he dashed out like a gust of wind.

The cloak seemed to possess a spirit, quickly parting the lake water in front of him, and in just one minute, he found his first target.

Felix glanced at the student who was half a foot tall, then leaned down, his cloak billowing wildly behind him: "Adim Bwick?"

"Yes, it's me," the wizard stammered. He looked quite disheveled. An hour had passed, and he still couldn't communicate with his wand. He could only hold his breath and dive into the water to search. Without any magical protection, the lake water in February was not a pleasant experience.

“Next, according to the rules, you will be a hostage,” Felix said softly. Seeing the terrified look on the wizard's face, he reassured him, “If your teammates rescue you, you can rejoin the game, and, well, you'll have a chance to contribute…”

Breaking free from the encirclement of a group of mermaids...

He pointed his wand at the wizard, magic gathering at the tip. The wizard pleaded, "Sir, I..." Before he could finish, he fell asleep again.

“Hmm, the second one is next.” Felix straightened up and looked in the direction of the second one.

On the shore, the audience was overwhelmed by the sheer number of captivating scenes. There were simply too many to take in. Despite the winter chill, Ludo Bagman's face was flushed with sweat as he loudly provided commentary—

"Our security personnel have successfully taken the first hostage away. Although stuffing the hostage into a pocket may seem a bit rough, there's no need to worry about them choking on water... The two hostages will be tied to the stone pillars in Mermaid Square and await rescue."

Let me quickly summarize:

"The two groups of Hogwarts' champions, the first group of five, are exploring methodically, with each member collecting an average of three gold gems and initially regaining their spellcasting abilities. Cedric Diggory used an ice bomb and used magic to expand the freezing range, successfully freezing more than a dozen Grindylows; Collins Foley's black mist was also quite impressive..."

"The second team also went smoothly. Harry Potter's control of the Rainbow Fish was amazing. He was the fastest among all the warriors to collect the gold gems, collecting a total of five. Of course, the poor Rainbow Fish could no longer carry him, but Potter successfully cast the advanced transformation of the Ironclad Charm. Hermione Granger didn't think of using the Rainbow Fish, which I think is hard for a normal person to think of... Her progress was also not slow. She solved five blue levels. Every time she chose the reward, she got the surrounding map, which allowed her to gain something every time. She has already obtained four gems."

The last warrior, Ron Weasley, had wasted quite a bit of time earlier, but on his fourth breath-holding dive, he successfully discovered a golden gem and escaped back to the protective shield despite being chased by a Grindylow… As an aside, his grimacing strategy was quite effective; the Grindylow seemed to be frightened… He cast the Bubble Head Charm, struggling through the mud and sand, but his direction seemed to be off; he was heading towards the mermaid camp. Let us bless him…”

"The third team is from Vargadu. They've cleared quite a few levels, but their luck hasn't been great. So far, they've only managed to get an average of two gold gems. But in my opinion, that warrior named Elifendy is already taller than Porter, who's currently the fastest progressing player."