"Sherlock, is it really necessary for us to go this far?" Harry looked at the Black Lake's surface glinting with a cold light and couldn't help but shiver.
Standing by the lakeside, Sherlock's tone was flat as his gaze swept over Harry and Cedric beside him. "I've already told you—unless you don't want to win, then it doesn't matter what you do."
"Alright, I'm with you—Harry, come join us!" Cedric patted Harry's shoulder, his voice was carrying a hint of eagerness to try. "It's only difficult at first. Once you get used to it, it'll be fine."
Harry thought to himself with resignation that while Cedric's words made sense, there was something odd about the way he said them.
After returning from Hogsmeade, Sherlock had gathered Harry and Cedric together to prepare intensive swimming training for the two of them.
Cedric hadn't quite understood at first. After all, he already had some ideas about how to move freely at the bottom of the Black Lake.
Once his research succeeded, he'd be able to maintain the same state underwater as on land. However, Sherlock had easily convinced him with just one sentence: knowing how to swim would expand their lead.
The Black Lake at the end of January was bitingly cold, with some areas even covered by a thin layer of ice. But after witnessing Krum's impressive form in person, though Harry and Cedric didn't say anything aloud, they both felt a sense of competitive pride stirring within them. If the Durmstrang students could do it, they could do it too.
However, once they entered the water, both immediately discovered that this was far more difficult than they'd imagined. The icy lake water felt like countless fine needles pricking their skin painfully, the cold penetrating through their pores straight into their bones.
Cedric reacted fastest, immediately raising his wand to cast a Warming Charm on himself without a word. His body instantly glowed with a faint red light, and his complexion improved considerably. But just as he was about to cast the same spell on Sherlock and Harry, Sherlock stopped him.
"What, we can't use that spell?" Cedric was taken aback. He hadn't heard of any rule in the Triwizard Tournament prohibiting Warming Charms.
"No, of course you can," Sherlock replied. At that moment, all three of them were floating on the lake's surface. Sherlock gestured for Harry to take out his wand. "But we need to cast the spell on ourselves, that's also part of the training."
Once Sherlock explained it this way, Harry and Cedric felt it made perfect sense.
The Warming Charm was quite simple. Sherlock had already learned it in his first year. Though Harry didn't know it yet, after Cedric told him the incantation, he succeeded on his first try. After casting it, he immediately felt much warmer and couldn't help but let out a comfortable groan.
However, since the three of them remained in the icy lake water the entire time, they needed to recast the Warming Charm periodically to maintain its effect. During the intervals when the Warming Charm was active, Sherlock guided the two in learning swimming techniques.
Compared to Harry, Cedric had a much better foundation. Swimming itself posed no problem for him, he merely needed to adapt to the frigid lake water at this time of year. Harry's foundation was weaker, which made things more troublesome. So Sherlock focused his main attention on Harry.
Fortunately, Harry had good comprehension, and before long he'd mastered the essential movements. By the time today's training ended, Harry had gained quite a lot.
"Today is just the beginning," Sherlock told Harry and Cedric after the training session concluded. "In the coming days, I'll gradually increase the training difficulty. One month is enough time to consolidate our lead. Cedric, how's your research going on the magic for staying underwater for extended periods?"
"No problem!" Upon hearing Sherlock's question, Cedric replied with full confidence. "Harry discovered the intelligence for the first task, Sherlock devised the tactics. The secret of the golden egg for the second task was also solved by Sherlock. I've got to contribute something as captain."
"Good, then we're counting on you." Sherlock had great faith in Cedric. His execution ability was strong, and he also possessed a certain degree of initiative. For Sherlock, such a teammate was undoubtedly very satisfactory.
So in the following days, the school's students and staff noticed something strange. The Hogwarts champions seemed to be at odds with the Durmstrang champions.
Not many people had known about Krum's winter swimming habit. But when Sherlock, Harry, and Cedric all started winter swimming too, the situation became different. Krum himself didn't think much of it—you do your thing, I'll do mine. As long as they didn't interfere with him, he didn't care.
But the problem was that the other two Durmstrang champions saw the Hogwarts trio "bullying" their captain and immediately wouldn't stand for it. They decisively joined the winter swimming group as well. With all six of them winter swimming simultaneously, there was suddenly a competitive atmosphere developing.
As time went on, an absurd rumor began circulating among Hogwarts students and staff.
Hogwarts captain Cedric and Durmstrang captain Krum had both fallen for Beauxbatons captain Fleur Delacour. The two captains had engaged in fierce competition, even calling on their teammates for a winter swimming duel to compete for her affections, with the loser having to voluntarily give up their pursuit.
Once one side lost, they would have to voluntarily abandon their pursuit of Fleur.
The rumor was so absurd that it actually sounded believable.
"Apart from Cedric dancing one dance with Delacour at the Christmas Ball, I really can't see even a hint of truth in this!" Though his invitation for Fleur Delacour to be his partner had been silently refused, Ron still constantly paid attention to her every move.
So, when this rumor spread, he was the angriest among Sherlock's friends.
"How can they slander you like this!" Ron's face was as red as his fiery hair. "Is Sherlock that kind of person? Is Harry that kind of person? Even if Diggory and Krum really wanted to do this, you wouldn't agree, would you?!"
"It doesn't matter," Sherlock sat to one side, putting a piece of toast into his mouth. "From the rumor and my observations, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons haven't solved the golden egg's secret yet. And on our side, it's enough that Harry can master the swimming essentials before the second task."
"It's all thanks to your guidance," Harry said happily. From someone who only knew a little about swimming to now being able to swim freely in the Black Lake, Harry himself was amazed by his own progress.
Hermione glanced at Ron, knowing in her heart that he wasn't simply defending their school's champions out of loyalty. However, she couldn't be bothered to expose his little thoughts and simply silently passed a cup of hot milk to Sherlock.
Just then, Watson and Hedwig jointly carried a package to their table, dropping it with a thud onto the table in front of Sherlock.
"What's this?" Ron picked it up curiously and hefted it, discovering it was quite heavy. He looked at Sherlock in surprise.
"We'll talk about it when we get back to the dormitory." Once Sherlock said this, Hermione and Ron knew this matter shouldn't be discussed in public.
The two immediately dropped the topic.
Though they were extremely curious, their attention soon turned to other matters. Because next was Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class.
Speaking of which, when Hagrid returned to teaching, the students gave him a warm welcome and it was genuinely heartfelt. Not because everyone liked him so much.
His "most popular teacher" nickname was already a thing of the past. What made everyone happy was that after he came back to teach, he surprisingly didn't bring the Blast-Ended Skrewts anymore.
Not only that, he also announced that future lessons would no longer involve Blast-Ended Skrewts at all. This made everyone, including Harry, breathe a long sigh of relief. As long as you don't mess with Blast-Ended Skrewts, you're our good friend!
"He must be trying to make up for his mistakes with the Blast-Ended Skrewts!" Sherlock's roommate Dean Thomas said with certainty.
As someone who had once been injured by a Blast-Ended Skrewt in Hagrid's class, Dean felt he had a right to speak on this matter.
"Not at all—I think Professor Hagrid wants to prove that what Professor Grubbly-Plank can do, he can do just as well," said Dean's best friend Seamus Finnigan. "Don't let his honest appearance fool you. He's actually quite competitive—right, Sherlock?"
"There are only two Blast-Ended Skrewts left," Sherlock said with one sentence, directly ending the discussion.
Everyone showed expressions of sudden realization. So that's how it was!
Regardless of why Hagrid had given up on the Blast-Ended Skrewts, his decision earned everyone's wholehearted support. And his first lesson after his comeback truly didn't disappoint. He'd actually managed to obtain a unicorn, just like Professor Grubbly-Plank had done.
Its snow-white mane gleamed in the sunlight as it stood docilely on the grass.
Not only that, but his performance in class also demonstrated that his understanding of unicorns was no less than his understanding of trolls and no less than Professor Grubbly-Plank's understanding of unicorns.
Even the most critical Hermione couldn't help but give him such an assessment. And you had to remember, she was a Virgo.
Now that several weeks had passed, everyone suddenly felt that having Hagrid teach this way was actually quite nice. Before today's class, everyone discussed Hagrid's changes over this period as usual.
"Actually, I always feel like Hagrid considers it disappointing that unicorns don't have fangs," Neville couldn't help muttering softly. After saying this, he found everyone looking at him with surprised expressions.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked somewhat worriedly.
"Right! Absolutely right!"
"I knew there was something odd about the way Hagrid looks at unicorns, but I couldn't put my finger on what."
"Neville, you've really hit the nail on the head!"
This was the second time Neville had received collective praise from everyone, and he couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed, scratching the back of his head with a silly smile.
Incidentally, the first time was when he role-played in Gilderoy Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, single-handedly earning Gryffindor stable house points in every lesson.
Just as everyone was discussing enthusiastically, some girls suddenly cried out in surprise. "Oh, my goodness, look!"
"What's that?"
"They're pure gold!"
To everyone's complete surprise, Hagrid had brought them a huge surprise this time. Using some unknown method, he'd actually caught two baby unicorns. Just as those girls had exclaimed, the foals were different from adult unicorns—they were pure gold in color, so adorable they couldn't look away.
Upon seeing them, the girls from both Gryffindor and Slytherin went absolutely wild with delight. Even Pansy Parkinson diverted some of her attention from Malfoy. That showed just how much she loved them.
"Unicorn foals are easier to spot than adults," Hagrid said to the entire class, though he seemed rather uninterested in these beautiful and sacred creatures.
He spoke lazily. "They turn silver around age two, and grow their horn at about four years old. They don't become pure white until they're fully grown, which is around seven years old.
When they're young, they're more trusting... ahem, I mean, at this age they don't particularly dislike boys... Come closer, boys, if you're willing, you can pat them too... Give them some of these sugar cubes to eat..."
Once Hagrid said this, even the boys became excited.
You had to know that in Professor Grubbly-Plank's class, the boys had only been able to admire the unicorns from a distance without getting close. They hadn't expected that after Hagrid returned, he would give them the opportunity to get up close as well.
If Hagrid could maintain this teaching style, they'd be the first to object if anyone tried to drive him away again!
While everyone was gathering around the baby unicorns, Hagrid quietly stepped aside and asked Sherlock and Harry, who hadn't gone forward yet, in a low voice, "You've figured out the golden egg's clue, haven't you?"
"Yes," Harry nodded. "We've solved it."
"I knew it!" Hagrid clapped Harry on the shoulder, saying with raised eyebrows and animated expression, "With Sherlock around, that thing's nothing at all!" He didn't realize how strong his hand was, and the result was that Harry's knees buckled. Harry even felt like he'd sunk two inches into the soft mud.
"To be honest, before you dealt with dragons, I was worried about you," Hagrid said, not noticing that Harry had suddenly become two inches shorter than Sherlock standing beside him.
"After all, you're several years younger than the others—but now I know that age isn't a problem for you at all! But what's this business about you helping Diggory pursue that Beauxbatons witch lately?"
"That's pure nonsense!" Harry said irritably. "We'd never do something like that!"
"That's good..." Hagrid's expression suddenly became somewhat awkward. "I mean, a girl with Veela blood isn't someone just anyone can handle..."
"Madame Maxime came to see you, didn't she?" Sherlock suddenly asked, startling both Harry and Hagrid.
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