Old Blood at Hogwarts

Time has arrived on February 2th in a blink of an eye, and the second project will start at 24:9 this morning.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Aaron walked out of the castle after breakfast and walked across the grass to the lake.I saw that the seats that surrounded the dragon field last November were now lined up on the other side of the lake.Some little wizards who had finished their breakfast were already sitting there.Aaron walked around the shore of the lake and found that the judges were already sitting at another table by the water covered with a golden tablecloth.Fleur and Krum stood at the referee's table, watching Aaron walk towards them.

"I'm not late, am I?" Aaron asked.

"No." Ludo Bagman said, "There is still half an hour until the competition starts."

Aaron looked towards the referee's box and saw Percy Weasley sitting at the referee's table. Mr. Crouch was not there again.Seeing Aaron looking towards him, Percy waved to him and said hello.

Aaron stood by the referee's box, waiting for the game to start.As time went by, the audience arrived one after another, and the seats were quickly filled.

Soon, 20 minutes passed and there were only 10 minutes left before the start of the game.The game is about to begin, but the last warrior in the competition, Harry Potter, has not yet qualified.

The audience and referees obviously noticed that there was another warrior who was not here, and they started talking about it.

"He hasn't solved the mystery of the golden egg yet, has he?" Mrs. Maxim said with some gloating.

"Probably not." Ludo Bagman said, "I met Harry in Hogsmeade more than a month ago. At that time, he said that he was about to solve the mystery of the golden egg."

"Maybe he was scared by the content of the project and didn't dare to come." Karkaroff said sinisterly, "This time is different from last time. The broomstick can't help him."

"I don't think Mr. Potter would shy away from a challenge," Dumbledore retorted.

"Look, Harry is coming." Percy said, pointing to the castle on the other side of the lake.

Everyone looked in the direction Percy was pointing and saw Harry rushing out of the castle gate and running towards this side at full speed.

"I...I'm coming..." Harry said out of breath. He slipped in the mud and stopped, accidentally staining Fleur's robe.

"Where have you been?" Percy said dissatisfiedly, "The competition is about to start!"

"Okay, okay, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, "let him breathe!"

Dumbledore smiled at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime seemed unhappy to see him.

Harry bent over, put his hands on his knees, and gasped for air.Ludo Bagman had arrived among the warriors and ordered them to line up on the shore, spaced ten feet apart.Fleur was first in line, next to Aaron, next was Krum, and Harry was last.Fleur, Aaron and Krum all had their wands out, while Harry was still massaging his ribs.Remarkably, Krum took off his robe and stood in line in just a pair of swimming trunks.

Bagman returned to the referee's table, pointed his wand at his throat, just like he did in the World Cup, and said: "Resonant!" Then his voice was like thunder, passing through the dark black The surface of the lake reached the stands.

"Listen, everyone, our warriors are in place. As soon as I whistle, the second project begins. They have a full hour to take back what was stolen from them. I count to three. One...two ……three!"

High-pitched whistles echoed in the cold, still air.There was a burst of cheers and applause from the stands.

Aaron didn't wait and see what the other warriors were doing. He came to the lake, took off his shoes and socks in a few seconds, and then waded into the lake.

It's so cold!

Aaron felt that the skin on his legs burned, as if it was on fire.The further he walked, the deeper the lake became, and his soaked robe fell heavily.The water in the lake was now up to his knees, and his feet, which were quickly numb, were slipping on the sand and smooth, sticky stones.Soon, his lower body was immersed in the biting cold lake water, and a biting cold wind blew his hair mercilessly, making him tremble violently.He stopped in waist-deep water and cast a Soaking Charm on himself.

Immediately, a huge bubble enveloped his head.Aaron dove into the water. The water was isolated from the bubbles, allowing him to breathe normally.But the icy lake water still made him feel bitingly cold.He had to act quickly if he didn't want to freeze.

Aaron stuffed his wand into his pocket, turned over, and plunged deeper into the lake.He swam up and down in a strange, dark, hazy landscape, and there was silence in his ears.He could only see within a ten-foot radius, so with every stroke he made in the water, a new view suddenly emerged from the darkness ahead: a jungle of undulating, tangled black waterweeds, scattered with sparkling water. A wide stretch of flat sand with bright pebbles.

He swam deeper and deeper, heading toward the center of the lake.His eyes were wide open, looking through the gray and strange lake water, looking at the black shadow in the distance, where the lake water was dark and hazy.The little fish swam past him lightly, like silver darts.Once or twice, he seemed to see a big thing moving in front of him, but when he looked closer, he realized that it was just a big black log or a dense and tangled aquatic plant.

Aaron looked hard into the distance. In front of him was a piece of green water grass, two feet deep, really like a very dense lawn.Aaron stared straight ahead, trying to make out the shapes in the shadows.At this moment, without any precaution, something grabbed his ankle.

Aaron twisted and turned around, and saw a Grindylow (a kind of water monster with horns on its head) leaning out from the water plants, holding on to his legs with its long nails, and a pointed tongue sticking out of its mouth. Long tooth.Aaron quickly reached into his robes and touched his wand.But as soon as he grabbed the wand, two more grindylows emerged from the water plants, grabbed his robe, and pulled him down desperately.

"Relax!" Aaron shouted, drawing his wand.

A boiling water column shot from the end of the wand towards the Grindylows, and their green skin suddenly turned red where the water column hit them.Aaron freed his feet from Grindylow's entanglement and swam forward with all his strength, occasionally releasing some hot water jets behind him.Occasionally he felt a Grindylow take hold of his foot again and kicked it away violently.Finally, he felt his feet touch a horned head. When he looked down, he saw a kicked unconscious Grindylow, his eyes wide open, floating along the water. Its companion waved his fist at Aaron and disappeared into the water plants. Got hit.

Aaron slowed down, tucked his wand back into his robes, looked around, and listened.He turned 360 degrees in the water and felt the silence oppressing his eardrums.He knew that he must be at the bottom of a very deep lake, but there was nothing moving around except water plants.In the end, he had no choice but to choose a direction at random and set off again.This time he paid attention to swimming higher and away from the water plants to avoid being plotted by Grindylow.

He swam for at least another 10 minutes.Now there are large swaths of black mud at the bottom of the water, and the lake water has formed dark eddies due to his stirring.After a long time, he finally heard the unforgettable singing of the mermaid.

"We only have one hour to find and recapture the items we took..."

Aaron swam faster, and after a while, he saw a large rock appearing in the turbid lake water in front of him. There were many mermaids painted on it. They were holding spears and chasing what looked like giant squids. .Aaron swam past the rocks, following the mermaid's song.

"...Don't delay any longer, the time is already half gone, lest what you seek rots here..."

Suddenly, many rough stone dwellings appeared all around, speckled with algae.Harry saw faces in the darkened windows.Their skin is iron gray, and their dark green hair is long and unkempt.Their eyes are yellow, their incomplete teeth are also yellow, and they wear pebbles strung with thick ropes around their necks.

They smiled maliciously at Aaron as he swam by.In order to see more clearly, one or two ran out of the cave, holding spears in their hands and slapping the lake water with their thick and powerful silver fish tails.

Aaron swam forward quickly while looking around. Soon, there were more and more stone dwellings, some of which were surrounded by gardens.He saw a little Greenlody chained in front of a door.Mermaids appeared from all directions, looking at him curiously, pointing at his webbed hands and gill sacs, covering their mouths with their hands and whispering.Aaron turned a corner quickly, and a very strange sight appeared in front of him.

The place seemed to be the square of a small mermaid village, surrounded by some houses, and a large group of mermaids floating in front of the houses.In the middle, some mermaids were singing in unison, calling for the warriors to come over.Behind them stood a crude statue, a giant mermaid carved from boulder.On the tail of the mermaid stone statue, three people were firmly tied - Hermione, Colin and a little girl who was at most eight years old.That little girl had cloud-like silver hair, and she should be Fleur Delacour's sister.All three of them seemed to be sleeping deeply, their heads hanging limply on their shoulders, and a string of thin blisters popping out of their mouths.

In addition, Harry had arrived here before Aaron and seemed to be thinking of ways to save the three people tied to the statue, while several mermaids were pulling his arms to stop him.Next to Harry, Ron was floating deliriously a few inches above the bottom of the lake, bobbing in the waves.It seemed that Ron had been tied to the statue before, and Harry had just rescued him.

Aaron understood at a glance that the so-called "most beloved treasures" refer to the relatives and friends of the warriors.

Four warriors, each with a related person tied here.The warriors need to rescue their related person and take him back to the shore.

Among the four hostages, the little silver-haired girl is obviously Fleur's related person, Ron is Harry's related person, Hermione should be Krum's related person, and Aaron's related person is obviously Colin.In other words, Aaron needs to take Colin back from the mermaid.