Sometimes, Hermione's obstinacy truly drives Harry and Ron crazy, just like the case with Barty Crouch Jr. So much evidence was right before them, but she was still stubborn in believing that Barty's death had nothing to do with the Hogwarts grounds, even though she couldn't come up with any evidence to prove the puce of Crouch's skin.
"Okay, let me see if there's any other way--"
Harry was gasping for breath, his eyes darting around, hoping to help his two Gryffindor classmates or perhaps, find something...
"Ugh!" Suddenly, Harry's eyes lit up. "Huff... There's a way, Hermione! We can give Malfoy's two lackeys a taste of their own medicine!"
By this time, Hermione's cheeks, damp with sweat, had taken on a pale hue. The magic she had expended and Harry's quick maneuvering of the boat had left her dizzy. At the mention of an idea to get rid of Crabbe and Goyle, she couldn't even muster a smile of relief. She could only nod weakly, trying to fight off the urge to vomit.
"Hey, you two!"
With the plan in mind, Harry felt as if he had returned to the exciting and thrilling Quidditch match. He constantly adjusted his position, sending out false signals, as if restraining a dangerous Seeker, and finally restrained Crabbe and Goyle. And finally, half a minute later, when the two small boats on the agitated water surface were in relative positions that Harry was satisfied with, he shouted loudly at Crabbe and Goyle who were running ahead too quickly again.
"Can't you be a bit more clever?"
Harry mocked and laughed derisively.
"No Malfoy, you two seem to have regressed into barbaric giants!"
"You dare to say that, Potter!" Crabbe roared, "I think you're the one who's useless!"
Immediately, Crabbe and Goyle really did behave like two small giants, fixated only on Harry's mocking smile and completely ignoring everything around them.
"Accelerate, Hermione!"
Seeing the approaching Crabbe and Goyle, Harry's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. He gripped the boat's tiller tightly and instructed Hermione to channel all her magical energy into the oak boat beneath them. Instantly, the boat sped forward as if it had hit the gas pedal, directly plowing into a cloud of mist floating on the water's surface.
The familiar sound of wind howled in his ears, and Harry, who was speeding through the boat race, surprisingly found himself experiencing a sense of freedom and exhilaration, as if he were soaring through the air on his beloved broomstick, the Ford Anglia 2000.
However, the distance between the two racing boats was still shrinking at an incredible speed. In just a few seconds, they would be about to collide heavily!
"Harry!"
Hermione, who was crouching at the stern, warned nervously as the dark shadow approaching from behind grew closer.
Shua!
"Hold on, Hermione!"
Suddenly, Harry crouched down and gave a sudden hard pull on the boat's tiller, causing the entire boat to bounce up and down on the water's surface and in mid-air, like a stone skipping across the water.
At first, Crabbe and Goyle didn't care much about it, thinking that Potter was just playing his old tricks again. But when they turned their direction and their boat began to drift on the water like before, they realized something was wrong because the out-of-control direction of the boat was exactly towards the same muck where they had previously lost control and encountered that inkpot!
Huff!
The raging wind instantly scattered the bizarre mist cloud, and a mud vortex with a diameter of about twenty feet suddenly appeared in front of Crabbe and Goyle's terrified eyes. Alongside them, there was also an inkpot, which was almost invisible as if made of mist and changed its shape constantly, resembling a house-elf in size.
The 'floating ghost'-like inkpot stared stupefied at the gigantic ship, which seemed huge to it, before being directly hit and dispelled!
The inkpot's mud vortex was so strong due to the presence of the lamora, a silverfish widely found in the Indian Ocean. This fish possesses strong magic and in medieval times, far-traveling mages used them as anchors for their ships.
This was a tragic thing for Crabbe and Goyle.
The sudden halt of the ship was a disaster for the pair who possessed considerable inertia, as a piercing screech broke their ears. They soared through the air in an arc before plummeting into the water like a deep-water bomb.
In front of Harry's comical scene, which was difficult to stop at a distance, Crabbe and Goyle screamed in pain. Even Hermione, who looked sluggish, couldn't help but lift her lips up.
But Crabbe and Goyle's misfortune was far from over.
As Crabbe and Goyle came to their senses, disoriented and dazed, a large school of Illythe fish appeared out of nowhere, swirling around them and continually shooting them with jets of water. The pain was so intense that Crabbe and Goyle howled in agony. This time, even Hermione couldn't feel any compassion for them.
"Congratulations, everyone, on successfully passing the first round of selection!"
A familiar voice suddenly echoed across the vast lake.
"Then, the remaining warriors will compete on the course for the glory of victory!"
"It's Professor Bran's voice!"
Harry, who was supporting Hermione up, immediately reacted. Before he could ponder the meaning of Professor Bran's words, the space around them suddenly boiled like water, followed by a sensation of being rapidly propelled upwards as the ground receded rapidly from his view.
As soon as his vision became clear, scanning the space that had lost its disguise, Harry's face darkened instantly.
Three hundred feet away, Ron and Parvati, with blackened eyes and swelling faces, were using their oak boats, which were stuck upright in the mud, as shields to dodge the water arrows from the Illythe fish. Lavender and Seamus, whose energy was depleted, were passively leaning against the boat's side without moving. Many of Harry's fellow Gryffindors were in roughly the same situation as these two, only Neville and Dean seemed to be in a similar condition to Harry and Hermione.
While looking at the Slytherins, Harry harshly scanned them, noting that Malfoy and Parkinson's group were mocking the two Gryffindors who had been sent into the mud by them.
Hermione's rival, the tall and stout Millicent Burshtey, was coldly glaring at them. Theo Norst, standing behind her, appeared silent and had not seemed to exert much effort.
There was also another group of Slytherins, including a fairly attractive girl, Daphne Greenbright, and her teammate, Brace Shabbitini. They were currently whispering to each other and seemed just as energetic.
It must be said that, for a game with no prior information, the Slytherins have an advantage over the Gryffindors due to their more refined and cautious personalities.
"Three to two, and we're expending even more magic!"
As a skilled Quidditch player, Harry was also adept at analyzing the game's situation. After a few glances, he had already foreseen what would happen next...
...
Reading Pavilion
