The water currents in the depths of the Black Lake wrapped around Harry's limbs with bone-chilling cold, like countless icy threads binding him tight.
He believed that given Sherlock's personality, he would never stand by and watch the other hostages tied to the stone pillars come to harm.
However, what surprised him was that after hearing the mermaid's words, Sherlock actually bent down directly.
His left hand firmly gripped Cedric's wrist, heavy and waterlogged, while his right hand supported the small of Cedric's back. With barely a moment's hesitation, he turned and began swimming upward toward the faint light of the lake's surface.
In the dimness, the merpeople's dark green scales flashed past the three of them, stirring up a string of tiny bubbles, making the action seem all the more abrupt.
"Is he really going to abandon them?"
Sherlock's action genuinely startled Harry.
But on second thought, Sherlock never did anything without reason. If he chose this path, there must be deeper considerations at play. So the doubt in his heart lasted only a moment before he followed Sherlock, helping to lift Cedric as they swam upward.
Once they saw that Sherlock and Harry were no longer concerned with the other hostages, the merpeople quieted down and stopped blocking their way.
On the return journey, they encountered people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang one after another.
The Beauxbatons pair, one man and one woman, had a huge bubble around their heads that made their features appear stretched and widened, looking rather comical.
When they saw Sherlock and Harry with Cedric, both looked extremely anxious.
"We got lost!" Philie Laverne mouthed. "Are the hostages up ahead?"
Harry nodded and pointed them in the right direction.
This gesture made a light flash in Loi Lefan and Philie Laverne's eyes, and their tense shoulders relaxed. They quickly looked in the direction Harry indicated, then gave him a grateful gesture before turning and swimming away at increased speed, the bubble leaving a trail of fine ripples in the water.
Soon, Durmstrang's Toby Tosen and Lucas Poliakov also appeared before them.
The kind-hearted Harry once again pointed the two in the right direction.
Now his heart could finally settle. All three champions had been rescued, and they wouldn't die...
He couldn't help but glance sideways at Sherlock beside him, growing ever more certain that Sherlock must have deduced early on that the warriors from the other schools would eventually find the hostages, which was why he had left with Cedric without hesitation.
Yes, it must be so!
Whether it was psychological or not, Harry felt that the return journey took much less time than diving to the bottom of the Black Lake. Especially when he saw the light above his head growing brighter and brighter, Harry couldn't help but speed up again.
At this moment, he felt grateful to Sherlock. If not for his special swimming training, he definitely wouldn't have been able to do this.
However, Sherlock still maintained his steady-as-a-rock demeanor. When he noticed Harry speeding up, he even patted his shoulder, signaling him to stay calm.
Harry immediately realized that in this condition, he was very prone to cramping. He nodded emphatically at Sherlock, took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing rhythm, and fell back in step with Sherlock.
As for Sherlock himself, he had never shown a trace of panic from beginning to end.
Or rather, from the moment he solved the golden egg's secret, the second task had ceased to be any real difficulty for him. Even though a small accident occurred at the final stage—the organizers had tied all three champions to the lake bottom—the situation remained entirely within his control.
When he saw sunlight again, Sherlock couldn't help but smile slightly.
The time was exactly fifty minutes.
The moment Sherlock and Harry surfaced with Cedric, the stands erupted with thunderous noise. Cheers and shouts mixed together as people stood up from their seats, standing on tiptoe to look toward the lake surface. Many young wizards waved scarves and flags in their hands.
Sherlock looked up, his gaze quickly sweeping across the stands, his brow furrowing slightly as he instantly deduced that the organizers had actually made the audience sit here for a full hour! Everything they had just experienced at the bottom of the lake was completely invisible to those in the stands.
This really was... Even someone as exceptional a detective as Sherlock found himself at a loss for words about this situation.
As soon as they reached the surface, Cedric coughed up a great mouthful of lake water and then opened his eyes. He blinked several times, as if readjusting to the bright light, before realizing what had happened.
"You rescued me?"
"Obviously, my friend," Sherlock said calmly.
Compared to Sherlock, Harry was much more excited. "Cedric, we're first, first!"
"That's brilliant, I knew you could do it!"
What surprised Sherlock somewhat was that Madam Pomfrey rushed forward at the first opportunity. Although Harry repeatedly emphasized that they weren't injured, Madam Pomfrey remained deaf to their protests and went her own way.
She examined Cedric with somewhat exaggerated concern, then demanded that Sherlock and Harry remove their breathing apparatus. Immediately after, she wrapped thick blankets around them all.
"Madam Pomfrey, I'm fine... really, I'm—"
Before Cedric could finish speaking, Madam Pomfrey forced an entire bottle of potion down his throat.
"Fine? You were underwater for so long, how could you possibly be fine!"
After saying this, she didn't spare Sherlock and Harry either, continuing to force a fiery-hot potion into their mouths. Soon, steam began pouring from all three of their ears.
Only then did Madam Pomfrey feel reassured and allow others to approach them.
Hermione, Ron, Cho Chang, Luna, Ginny, and others rushed toward them all at once.
"That's wonderful, I knew you could succeed!"
Hermione threw herself forward, hugging Sherlock tightly and kissing him on both cheeks. Though she said such things, heaven knows how nervous she had just been.
Compared to Hermione's intense emotional outburst, Cho Chang was much more reserved. However, though she didn't kiss Harry, she also hugged him tightly.
"You did it, Harry, you were the fastest!"
As they were speaking, a cheer suddenly came from the other side of the lake. Sherlock turned to look and saw that Beauxbatons' Loi Lefan and Philie Laverne had finally surfaced with Fleur.
Madame Maxime, sitting in the judges' stand, immediately stood up, her face showing a gratified smile. She smoothed her silk gown and walked quickly toward the lake's edge.
Meanwhile, Professor Karkaroff's face darkened considerably. He clenched his fists, staring at the lake surface with gloomy eyes, clearly displeased that Beauxbatons had returned before Durmstrang.
Madam Pomfrey rushed forward once again with the same familiar routine: examination, blankets, potions.
About five minutes later, Durmstrang's people also brought Krum back.
This time, Dumbledore, Bagman, and Madame Maxime all left the judges' table and walked toward them.
Dumbledore and Bagman were both smiling at Sherlock and Harry. Bagman smiled especially happily. Hogwarts had taken the lead in two consecutive tasks, which was simply wonderful for him.
Though Madame Maxime wasn't as happy as they were, compared to the stone-faced Professor Karkaroff, her expression was fairly normal.
Dumbledore crouched by the water's edge, speaking intently with the particularly rough and fierce-looking female mermaid who appeared to be the leader. He made the same shrill, harsh sounds that merpeople made above water—clearly, he could also speak Mermish.
Finally, he straightened up and turned to the other judges, saying, "Let's have a quick meeting before scoring."
So the judges gathered together once more.
"Hermione, I think you should let Sherlock go," Luna suddenly spoke up. "He's about to suffocate."
"Ah—!"
Hermione's face flushed red at these words, only now realizing she'd been holding on too tightly, and she quickly released her grip.
At the same time, Cho Chang also quickly let go of Harry.
Harry immediately felt a sense of loss. He unconsciously touched his shoulder, where Cho's warmth seemed to still linger.
Compared to Harry's awkwardness, Sherlock appeared quite calm. Even though Hermione had just kissed him several times on the face, even though Luna said he'd nearly suffocated, his expression remained unchanged.
Not only that, but when Hermione wanted to step back from him, he reached out and grasped her wrist.
"Don't move!"
Hermione froze completely. She looked up at Sherlock in confusion. What did this mean? Did he want to continue holding her? But with so many people here, and in broad daylight, how could she let Sherlock keep holding her?
Her cheeks grew redder and redder, and she could feel curious gazes from all around.
However, in the next moment, Sherlock released her wrist and reached toward her bushy brown hair.
"Hermione, there's a beetle in your hair."
Sherlock's fingers gently brushed through her hair and extracted a struggling beetle from it.
"Is... is there?"
Hermione watched as Sherlock's hand passed over the top of her head, not daring to move an inch.
However, when she saw that Sherlock didn't simply flick the beetle away but instead placed it in a glass jar he'd produced from somewhere, she couldn't help but freeze.
What was this about? Even if he wanted to take something from her as a keepsake, surely, he shouldn't choose this!
Just then, Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice suddenly rang in their ears, startling them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally reached a decision! The merperson chief, Murcus, has told us everything that happened at the bottom of the lake! We have decided, on the basis of a maximum of fifty points, to award the warriors scores as follows—"
All nine warriors who had just returned from the Black Lake, as well as all the spectators, fell silent at this moment.
"Durmstrang's Toby Tosen and Lucas Poliakov employed Transfiguration, though not complete, it was still effective. They were the third to return with their hostage, taking fifty-nine minutes, just one minute short of exceeding the allotted hour. We award them forty-five points!"
Cheers rang out. Though Karkaroff clapped particularly enthusiastically, his face showed no happiness at all. Clearly, they had come in last in the second task.
"Aren't they scoring one by one this time?" Harry, still wrapped in his blanket, asked Sherlock in surprise.
"I suppose they learned from the first task," Sherlock shook his head, then asked Hermione, "So you couldn't see anything we were doing at all?"
"That's right," Hermione had already recovered from her earlier shyness and said with some regret, "We could only watch the calm surface of the Black Lake, guessing what you might be doing..."
Sherlock couldn't help but snort coldly at this.
Harry also showed a look of surprise. He had discussed this issue with Sherlock before the competition, never expecting it would come true—this world really was one giant jerry-rigged operation.
"Beauxbatons' Loi Lefan and Philie Laverne demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm. They were the second to return with their hostage, taking a total of fifty-five minutes, so we award them forty-seven points!"
Even more enthusiastic cheers rang out.
Fleur Delacour leaned against Philie Laverne, her face showing a gratified smile. She glanced in Sherlock's direction, her eyes full of gratitude.
When she had previously asked Sherlock to tell her the golden egg's secret, she had hoped that Beauxbatons wouldn't come in last, and now that wish had finally been fulfilled.
Even Madame Maxime nodded almost imperceptibly toward Sherlock.
"Finally... Hogwarts' Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter used the Summoning Charm to amazing effect!" Bagman continued, clearly not quite understanding the purpose of the breathing apparatus, but this didn't affect his commentary. "They demonstrated excellent teamwork and coordination, returning first with their hostage, a full ten minutes ahead of the allotted hour, so..."
At this point, Bagman deliberately paused.
All the spectators couldn't help but hold their breath and look toward him.
Bagman first cast a very dissatisfied glance at Karkaroff—this was because Karkaroff had raised objections during the scoring discussion.
Then he took a deep breath and said loudly, "We unanimously agree that they should be awarded fifty points!"
Deafening cheers and applause rolled toward them like a tide.
Sherlock, Harry, and Cedric were instantly engulfed by the crowd—this time, even Madam Pomfrey had no way to stop the enthusiastic young wizards.
"The third and final task will take place on the evening of June 24th," Bagman continued amid the jubilant cheering. "The warriors will be informed of the specific content one month in advance—thank you all for your support of the Triwizard Tournament and the champions."
After letting the young wizards celebrate for a while, Madam Pomfrey finally began organizing people to escort the warriors and hostages back to the castle to change into dry clothes.
Thus ended the second task.
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