The door to the staff lounge slowly opened with a creaking sound. The little wizards who were still a little restless at this moment all kept eerily quiet. They tensed their cheeks and looked at the drastically changed appearance. room, silently exchanging uneasy glances.
Just like last time, this is another house whose space has been expanded by Professor Blaine using magic, but this time, he went even further.
Unlike the outside of the castle where the storm was raging, there was only a misty drizzle floating in the lounge, which had turned into an endless swamp. The sky was a drowsy yellow, gloomy sky. In the space, there are clouds that look like ghosts or skulls floating around.
It’s still a familiar recipe, and it’s still a familiar taste!
With a creak, when the wooden door closed, in addition to the faint, eerie and mysterious rustling and shrieking sounds coming from the swamp, the little wizards who could only hear their own heartbeats and breathing suddenly came up with this idea in their minds.
"Professor Brain--"
The little wizards huddled on the only small piece of solid ground at the door. In the middle of the crowd, the beauty of Gryffindor House, an Indian girl with long black hair - Parvati Patil raised her hand tremblingly. ,
"What do we all need to do?"
"first--"
Amosta cleared her throat and smiled cheerfully.
"Can anyone tell me what kind of magical animal Hinkpunk is?"
"Hinkpunks are monsters with only one leg and are weakly aggressive. They like to hide in puddles or swamps in remote areas, emitting misleading light to lure hikers into traps!"
As Hermione raised her hand, a string of answers came out of her mouth.
"It doesn't sound very dangerous?"
Ron murmured quietly, and Harry, who had thought carefully about it, nodded hesitantly.
"Excellent as always, Miss Granger, I would like to give Gryffindor five points!" Waiting for the energetic Hermione to retract her hand, Amosta pointed to the invisible smoke in front of her, and the sparsely burnt ground. Mu Deshuang said with a smile,
"Then it's obvious what we're going to do, Miss Patil—"
Amosta waved his magic wand, and rows of exquisite oak boats suddenly appeared on the embankment in front of everyone.
"As always, teams from the same college, two in pairs, take a boat through the swamp. This is a competition between colleges. The one who reaches the other side first will win fifty points for his college, and the one who fails will win 50 points for his college. One party will be very selfless and donate their precious rest time to clean the owl ottoman for us!"
In an inter-college competition, the losing side cleans up owl poop? !
Oops!
In an instant, the atmosphere in the room became anxious. No one needed to organize it. The little wizards from Slytherin and Gryffindor were clearly divided into two groups, competing with each other for momentum!
"Say hello to those flat-haired beasts for me, Potter!" Malfoy instantly became possessed by the God of War, bared his teeth and turned on the taunting mode, "I think you must be very good at these menial tasks, right!"
"It's you who should be worried, Malfoy!" Harry replied to Malfoy without any sign of weakness, "You can't find a house elf to clean you up at Hogwarts!"
"But!"
Amidst the fierce commotion, Hermione raised her hand again,
"What does this have to do with our classes, Professor Blaine?"
"A very good question, Miss Granger," Amosta looked at her appreciatively, and after quieting the little wizards with a light cough, he continued,
"I have arranged some whirlpools in this swamp. They are obstacles on your way forward. There will be a hinkpunk in each quagmire. You must be careful of the tempting light they emit. Once you fall into it, Being in a quagmire means that you are automatically disqualified from the competition.”
"if..."
Neville looked at the long and narrow oak boat uneasily and raised his hands tremblingly, "What if we fall into the water, Professor Brain?"
"If you fall into the water..." Amosta looked at Neville with great regret, "Then I can only say sorry, Mr. Longbottom, you will probably only be able to stay in the school hospital for two days."
As soon as these words came out, the few little wizards who were standing on the embankment suddenly pulled their heads back.
At first, Amosta did not interfere with the little wizards choosing their own teammates. However, looking at the long and narrow boats floating on the water, all the little wizards wanted to team up with their thinner companions, and they made a fuss for a while. , there was no confirmed result, and in the end, he had to take action himself.
Harry and Hermione formed a team, Seamus met Lavender, and Neville and Dean got together.
"professor!"
Patil, who inexplicably got on a boat with Ron, stared at Ron's red hair in horror and protested loudly, "Can I ask for a different teammate... Professor Trelawney asked me to be careful of boys with red hair?" !”
"All that nonsense doesn't work here, Miss Patil."
Amosta ruthlessly rejected Patil's request. Finally, he glanced at Malfoy, who was explaining something to a nearby Slytherin student with a wicked smile on his face, and smiled slightly.
"Just a reminder, everyone, I don't want to see you attacking each other with your wands... Well, gentlemen and ladies, I wish you good luck!"
.............................
The moment the wand was waved, a thick white mist suddenly enveloped everyone, and their consciousness became hazy. After waiting for the smoke to dissipate, Harry and Hermione suddenly came to their senses and discovered that Professor Blaine and his classmates were beside them. They had all disappeared, and their boat was parked in the middle of the mirror-flat water, motionless.
There was no wind on all sides, but the thread-like smoke on the left and right sides slowly rolled into various grotesque shapes under the influence of mysterious power, indicating terror and gloominess in the silence.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, but after a few seconds, Hermione angrily looked away and pointed her gaze in the direction of the bow of the ship.
"Are you okay, Hermione?"
Harry scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed.
However, Hermione heard a hint of apology in Harry's slightly clumsy greeting. Her shoulders moved, and a subtle arc appeared at the corner of her mouth. When she turned around again, her tone was much calmer,
"We'll talk about Spotted Land later, Harry. What we should consider now is how to get through this swamp."
"Oh, that's it!"
Harry immediately breathed a sigh of relief and happily agreed. His eyes wandered around this bizarre world, wondering where Professor Blaine had seen such eerie scenes. Finally, he looked at the bow of the ship. the rudder of the ship, shrugged his shoulders and said
"I thought this boat would be like the boat that ferried us across the Black Lake in the first grade. It would move on its own. Could it be that Professor Blaine asked us to row our own boats, but I didn't see the oars?"
"Don't be silly, Harry."
Hermione said calmly, she carefully fiddled with the wheel-shaped rudder, and the stationary boat under her feet immediately swayed a few times in the direction of the rudder's swing. Unprepared, Hermione was almost thrown out of the cabin.
"Oh, look out!"
Harry held Hermione's arm and stabilized his body with his excellent balance.
"It looks like--"
Hermione, whose face turned pale, patted her chest and said in shock, "This ship can indeed move on its own, but it just needs a special method."
The boat is as long and narrow as a leaf. Apart from the rudder at the bow, there are only two wooden hemispheres at the stern where the sides of the boat meet. They look like decorations.
Harry blinked and took two difficult steps to the stern of the boat, his hand instinctively reaching for the bulge on the right.
"Careful, Harry -" Hermione warned worriedly.
"We can't just stand around, Hermione." Harry said nonchalantly. He motioned for Hermione to squat down and reach for the wooden ball again.
Buzz!
The moment his palms came into contact, Harry felt a stinging sensation similar to a mosquito bite, which made Harry frown slightly. Then, the slightly cold wooden ball fluoresced faintly, and a mysterious suction suddenly came from it.
"This thing--"
Harry withdrew his hand and said blankly, "It seems to be absorbing my... um, magic power?"
"Harry!"
Harry, who was staring at his palm in astonishment, suddenly heard Hermione's tense voice. He suddenly raised his head and caught a glimpse of a magic shield covering the hull of the ship, emitting a bright white halo, which was quickly fading away. Seconds later, it completely dissipated into the air.
Two minutes later, they finally figured out how the ship worked.
The rudder at the bow is obviously used to control the direction; the two hemispheres at the stern, the left one, control the oak boat to move forward, and the right one will activate a magic shield to protect the hull. However, this Both wooden balls will absorb their magic power, which means that they must rotate as the boat moves.
Swallowing nervously, Hermione firmly grasped both sides of the rudder and turned her head to give Harry a look.
After a slight buzz, the oak boat finally moved forward...
Reading Pavilion
