Cold...
Damn cold!
As he walked into the ice-cold lake water, Harry's body started shivering uncontrollably, but it didn't last long. He fished a Copper Knut out of his pocket and gently pressed it against the skin on his chest. The next moment, a warm sensation began to spread, and he could feel his limbs again.
"...Harry, how do you feel?"
Once Harry fully adjusted to the slightly blurred vision from the Bubble-Head Charm, he finally heard a voice by his ear. He turned his head to see that the once 'vast' group of Champions had already dispersed. He even caught a glimpse of Fleur disappearing into the darkness in her swimsuit—she was the only one among the Champions with such white legs.
Now, the only one left beside Harry was Cedric, whose head was wrapped in a transparent air bubble. Through the layers of distorted air and water, Cedric's mismatched eyes looked somewhat comical.
They could still talk to each other, thanks to the glowing Copper Knut on their chests.
Hermione's creation was really reliable, Harry couldn't help but think.
He and Cedric had already decided to team up because the rules didn't prohibit cooperation between Champions.
Originally, having two Champions from Hogwarts might have been a target of criticism, so naturally, cooperation was the way to go. Although this might draw complaints from other houses, compared to the event results and their lives, those concerns were insignificant.
"Let's go."
Harry heard his own voice echoing in his ears as he flipped over and dove towards the depths of the lake.
The two swam in the odd, dark, blurry scenery. Apart from occasional small talk, there was silence all around.
They could only see within a ten-foot radius, so with each stroke in the water, a new scene would suddenly emerge from the darkness ahead—
The undulating, tangled black seaweed formed a dark forest, with shiny pebbles and wide, flat sandy soil scattered on the ground. They swam deeper and deeper, always moving forward. Harry kept his eyes wide open, peering through the eerie, greyish-bright lake water, staring at the dark silhouette in the distance, where the water was dim and murky.
"So, do you have any ideas?"
Continuing to swim aimlessly, Harry turned to look at Cedric. The hint given by Bagman just now was virtually useless, aside from the word 'treasures.'
"Follow the song, follow the light... but no one's singing here."
Cedric was also puzzled. They were now walking on the lake bed. The Bubble-Head Charm provided them with enough air, so to be safe, they chose to walk—neither of them practiced swimming, and their dog-paddling style didn't improve their speed much, even tiring them out more.
Schools of fish swam by briskly like silver darts. Occasionally, large shadows appeared over the riverbed, but they were just big, dark logs or tangles of dense seaweed. The underwater scenery was limited, and once they passed most of it, all that was left was monotony.
Harry stared unblinking ahead, trying hard to identify the shapes slowly emerging in the shadows... and then, without any warning, something grabbed his neck, and slimy tentacles crawled all over his back, making him instantly break out in goosebumps—
"Relashio!"
Harry heard Cedric shout, and then he felt a burst of heat by his ear—a jet of boiling water grazed past the boy's ear, followed by a low wailing sound. Harry felt those slimy tentacles seemed to lose much of their strength, so he quickly struggled, pulled out his Magic Wand, and turned around—
"Impedimenta!"
No matter what was behind him, pushing it away was definitely the right move—and as it turned out, Harry was absolutely right. Somehow, four or five Grindylows had appeared behind him.
These were green creatures with pointy horns that made one feel disgusted just by looking at them. Their lower abdomens had six slender arms like an octopus, covered with suckers.
Harry remembered that Professor Lupin had taken one out during their third-year course. Their weakness was those fragile arms.
And now, dozens of Grindylows emerged from the seaweed, baring their teeth and swimming up and down. Harry and Cedric exchanged a glance, and they coordinated seamlessly, standing back to back as offensive spells flew around, driving the Grindylows back—
After all, though this creature was aggressive, they were only rated as XX-level creatures by the Ministry of Magic, meaning they were quite frail.
Watching the Grindylows retreat back into the seaweed, the two let out a slight sigh of relief, but the next moment, Harry noticed a clump of seaweed swaying at the edge of his vision, along with a green silhouette seemingly hidden inside. He decisively waved his Magic Wand, and the Stunner didn't change at all due to being underwater—
The next moment, that green silhouette fell out from the seaweed.
"...Uh, is that the Champion from Castelobruxo?"
Cedric turned his head, silent for a moment, and asked incredulously.
"I thought he was a straggler!"
Harry gave a French salute, trying to prove he wasn't doing it on purpose.
"What do we do now? We can't just bring him—"
Cedric's face just showed a troubled expression when another figure flickered into view from the waterplants. He stopped Harry, who instinctively wanted to act again, and waited while staring at the swaying waterplants. Finally, a merperson emerged.
It had a head of dark green, seaweed-like tangled hair, iron-gray skin, and murky yellow eyes. The merperson wore a bright yellow short-sleeved shirt with English letters printed on it—[I'm a staff member, don't hit me!!]
The words "don't hit me" were specifically bolded, seemingly worried they won't notice them.
The merperson held a steel fork in its hand, with a face full of spots, grabbed the unconscious Piero with the other hand, ignored the bewildered looks from Cedric and Harry, and swam upwards swinging its tail—
"...Well, seems like we don't need to worry anymore."
Cedric shrugged, thinking the problem was solved.
"Why does this merperson look so ugly?"
Harry blinked and couldn't help but ask, the appearance of that merperson just now was really not flattering—he recalled the merperson picture on the Prefect's bathroom wall, where the merperson had golden scales and a pretty face.
"The difference between warm-water merpeople and cold-water merpeople—"
Cedric wrinkled his nose, "The pretty merpeople are mostly near Greece, which is where the earliest merpeople were found, whereas around here we only have these cold-water merpeople called Selkies, who look ugly and really hate humans—I just thought there'd be another fight, but it seems the Merpeople Tribe might have been recruited?"
The two continued chatting as they left the area, heading towards the center of the lake.
Just as they disappeared from sight, a half-human, half-fish shadow slowly emerged from the dark waterplants, watched their departing silhouettes, and couldn't help revealing two rows of sharp teeth, seemingly emotionless in those murky eyes.
...
The two swam for at least twenty more minutes, unable to walk on the ground now, with large swathes of black mud on the lake bed, so they feared there might be traps like quicksand. Finally, amidst the silence, they heard the unforgettable singing from the merpeople like in the Golden Egg.
Following the song, following the light...
They swam faster, when through the murky lake water appeared a large rock, decorated with images of many merpeople holding spears, chasing what seemed like Giant Squid. They bypassed the rock and continued pursuing the song heard in their ears.
Pass through obstacles, bring me back to the surface—
Suddenly, many rough-looking stone huts appeared, speckled with deep green algae; Harry could see faces through the dark windows, resembling the merperson with a speckled face they saw earlier. He also noticed several cameras above those huts.
...
"—Great, our fourth and fifth champions have also found Merpeople Square, just awaiting the last champion not yet eliminated to arrive, then they can start the next trial. Hopefully, Mr. Krum hurries up! Whether he arrives at the square, or gets eliminated midway."
Ludo Bagman's voice echoed over the grounds, drawing many angry glares, naturally from the other three champions who were already eliminated.
Piero Hamilton still lay on the chair by the shore, the boy in a green bathing suit sleeping peacefully; whereas compared to him, Fleur Delacour looked quite miserable, her long white legs covered in scratches and blood marks. She apparently also encountered a group of Grindylow and clearly lacked a reliable companion to watch her back—
Daniel Stephens was not present, having been sent to the infirmary, very unlucky, as he was swimming and got smacked back to the starting point by a Giant Squid.
The merperson photographer following him wanted to save him but couldn't catch up—
The cameras are not only fixed in place for content at all times; each champion was assigned a merperson photographer by William.
At this point, everyone's focus was back on the large screen overhead, where more and more stone huts appeared beside Harry and Cedric.