A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts - Chapter 437: The Start of the Second Task

February 24th, just after Felix finished breakfast, Professor McGonagall summoned him.

“Isn’t there still some time before the tournament?” Felix asked.

“Mr. Bagman is looking for you regarding the champions’ arrangements… they’re all waiting,” hurriedly explained McGonagall.

They entered a room adjacent to the Great Hall where, months ago, the champions had awaited their fate after the Goblet of Fire spat out their names.

Upon entering, Ludo Bagman paced anxiously, his round face showing deep concern. Dumbledore whispered something to him, but it did little to ease his worry.

Upon spotting Felix, Bagman’s eyes brightened as he walked over. “You finally arrived, Felix. The Minister is bringing quite a few guests this morning, and with Barty’s situation… well, everything has fallen into my lap.”

Felix glanced at the six groups of champions seated in the room, all eyeing Ludo Bagman with suspicion.

“Ahem! Let’s get started. I’ve already gathered their wands separately,” Bagman wiped the sweat from his round face, gesturing to a table where a dozen wands lay quietly on black velvet cloth.

Felix cautioned, “You might want to stand back…”

“Oh, why’s that? Alright,” Bagman swiftly moved away, hiding by the room’s door and peeking cautiously.

Felix glanced at Dumbledore, who winked. “Felix, I’m curious about this magic.”

“Alright,” Felix replied, turning to the group, their expressions growing more uneasy.

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

The other champions wore similar expressions, having deciphered the golden egg’s message and made educated guesses, but things seemed slightly different from their expectations.

“That’s true,” Felix smiled. As he conjured a colorless, transparent spherical vortex in his hand, bright blue magic encircled it like sparkling stars. “But if it were just finding something, it would be too simple. The Ministry has added a bit of difficulty…”

“What kind of difficulty?” Nona Leberth asked, holding her shoulders. She and her teammates wore minimal clothing, donning lightweight fur coats to reduce water resistance in the lake.

Felix shrugged. “You’ll find out.”

A strong suction force erupted from the colorless vortex, pulling Cedric uncontrollably towards it. Startled, he exclaimed, “Professor—”

Felix nodded slightly, and Cedric stopped struggling, diving into the vortex. His two teammates followed suit.

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

Felix held the spherical vortex, while Dumbledore bent down, peering closely at the dozen or so people within the vortex. Almost touching the vortex with his hooked nose, he marveled, “Fascinating magic. You used this to capture over a hundred Inferi? Pity I didn’t witness it…”

“Eliminate, Headmaster Dumbledore,” Felix emphasized.

Dumbledore didn’t confirm or deny, smiling slightly. “Next, we simply need to randomly place the champions into the Black Lake, oh, and their wands too.”

“Let’s hope they won’t be too surprised when they wake up.”

…

Thunk, thunk… Harry groggily pulled himself up from the ground, still feeling the effects of Professor Snape’s magic. Dazed, he propped himself up using a slender stick, surrounded by a hazy light. He glanced at the erect sticks on the ground, feeling a strange familiarity.

Thunk…

Another impact. Harry suddenly realized that was what had jolted him awake. He swiftly reached for his wand in his pocket, only to find it missing. He didn’t have time to worry about its whereabouts; there was something more urgent to handle.

A massive creature with a spherical body relentlessly rammed against a… shield? Harry found it perplexing. The space of about a dozen feet around him seemed protected by an inverted bowl, keeping any water from seeping in. The light he saw was emitted by this shield, and further away, the scene was all too familiar—the black rocks covered in green algae in the Black Lake.

No time to think. Harry took a few steps back, eyes fixed on the creature—at least ten feet long, with round, brown eyes gleaming cruelly. Despite the hazy light, he could make out the colorful patterns on its body and the long fins on its sides that could bend at a huge angle…

Wait, were those fish fins?

Harry stared bewilderedly at this creature lifting its ventral fin, awkwardly stepping back, then suddenly lunging forward, kicking up sand. It charged like a sword, fiercely hitting the thin shield with a “thud.”

Swallowing hard, Harry felt like he’d seen this creature somewhere before. If it were shrunk down a dozen times, it would look a lot like the Grindylows he had seen in the Black Lake…

That was a magical creature resembling a patterned spherical fish. Its notable difference was that Grindylows had two long legs with webbed feet, enabling them to walk underwater and move swiftly within it.

These creatures usually dwelled in deep lakes, patrolling the lakebeds for food, particularly fond of water snails.

While roaming the Black Lake with Ron and Hermione, they’d encountered these creatures. Hermione mentioned that Grindylows and Merpeople didn’t get along; if discovered, the Merpeople would bind their long, sturdy legs, dragging them away. Bound by their own legs, the Grindylows had to drift until their bonds loosened, which could take hours.

The vicinity of the Merpeople’s tribe was devoid of these creatures. Harry had a rough idea of his location at least.

“Did the professor enlarge the creatures in the Black Lake?” Harry muttered. Then something struck him. He turned abruptly, almost wrenching his neck. Rubbing his sore neck, his eyes stayed fixed on the stick standing in the center of the shield. It was smoothly polished, with a part of it gleaming—something he found oddly familiar before…

Now he was certain. That wasn’t just any stick; it was his wand. Harry’s mind seemed rusty. It took him a while to realize a fact: it wasn’t the Grindylows that had grown larger—it was him, reduced by a dozen times.

The peculiar magic from the room adjacent to the Great Hall flashed in his mind, leaving Harry’s thoughts tangled. He focused on the transparent snail shells near the wand. Well, he almost understood why the Grindylows were relentlessly chasing him.

…

On the shore of the Black Lake, spectators fixated on the colossal curved screen. Divided into three rows and six columns, each column represented a team, with eighteen squares in total. Every square flashed with clear images.

The first square in the second row, the Grindylow fiercely battering the protective shield, held everyone’s attention.

Ludo Bagman sat atop a high podium, his mind racing to keep track of the champions’ progress, providing commentary:

“Don’t worry—the shield can hold for an hour. All champions are awake now. They must quickly understand their situation and cast protective spells before the shield disappears… They have an hour to adapt to the chaotic magic; otherwise, they’ll be turned into hostages, and the difficulty for the entire team to pass will increase significantly

…”

The front rows of seats were filled with invited guests, all astonished by the massive screen. Discussions among them frequently referred to the recent attention-grabbing “Future World” company.

Behind these guests, a group of students eagerly watched the screen, whispering excitedly to each other.

Apologies for any gaps in this part—I made some revisions. I’ll pause here, leaving you with this chapter for today. Tomorrow, the author will share the content for the second task.

>

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