Chapter 276 - 276 The second project ended
Chapter 276: Chapter 276 The second project ended
The cry was getting closer and closer, and it seemed that a horse-shaped water monster with broad-leaved cattails as mane broke through the waves in the lake, and in an instant came under Harry, carrying him to the top of the lake.
Maybe a few minutes passed, or maybe just a moment passed, Harry suddenly felt his head out of the water, and the wonderful, fresh, cool air brushed across his wet face.
He suddenly woke up, swallowing the air in big gulps, feeling that he had never breathed well in his life.
The horse-shaped water monster used its head to support Harry's back, and used its body to support Ginny and Gabrielle, and swam to the shore.
Then, it swung its tail, threw them on the shore, and turned around without looking back and disappeared into the lake.
Harry panted heavily and managed to stand up on the sand on the shore. He immediately went to check on Ginny and Gabrielle. He was worried that if he stayed for more than an hour, something might happen to the hostages captured by the two mermaids.
Just then, a cheer came from the stands.
The audience was full of people, and the little wizards were shouting and yelling, and they all seemed to stand up.
Harry didn't know what they were cheering for, and guessed that they probably thought Ginny and the silver-haired girl were dead... Fortunately, they weren't. Ginny and Gabrielle both opened their eyes.
Gabrielle opened her eyes and saw a strange face, looking terrified and confused, while Ginny smoothed her long red hair and blinked at Harry a few times in the bright sunlight.
"You did it, didn't you?" Then she saw Fleur's sister, her smile faded a little, and she puffed her lips, "Why did you bring her up?"
"Fleur didn't show up, I couldn't leave her down there." Harry panted and answered, "What if no one rescued her, and she would lose her life like the mermaid sang?"
"You're stupid!" Ginny said angrily and amusedly, "How could the professors allow such a thing to happen? After more than a hundred years, the Four Finals Tournament was finally held, and the Ministry of Magic would not want any accidents to happen."
"But just in case..." Harry lowered his head and said in a mosquito-like voice.
"That song is just to get you back within the specified time!" Ginny emphasized, "I hope you didn't waste time trying to be a hero down there, affecting your ranking."
Originally, Ginny was a little angry at Harry for saving others, but when she saw Harry's discouraged expression, she couldn't help laughing.
"Okay, I know you're a good person." Ginny smiled, "At least you succeeded in this game, I know you can do it."
"Actually..." Harry hesitated for a moment, wanting to tell the truth that he was helped by Cedric and John Kowalski.
However, at this moment, Madam Pomfrey and several nurses from the school infirmary came over in a fuss. Krum, Fleur, Cedric and Qiu Zhang, all the people who had been in the water, came over, most of them wrapped in thick blankets.
Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman walked down from the stands and looked at them with a smile.
Percy's face was pale, as if he rarely showed concern for them. He looked a little more pleasing than his usual stern image, and rushed over to greet them impatiently.
At the same time, Madame Maxime was trying hard to hold Fleur Delacour - Fleur was too worried about her sister and struggled desperately to jump into the water.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she still alive? Is she injured?" She kept asking.
"She's fine..." Harry wanted to tell her loudly, but he was so tired that he could hardly say a coherent sentence, let alone shout loudly for Fleur to hear.
Percy supported Ginny and pulled her to the shore. Ginny seemed reluctant to leave Harry... But Harry was immediately caught by Madam Pomfrey and wrapped in a thick blanket like the other warriors.
Then she forced a hot potion into Harry's mouth, and suddenly, streams of hot air came out of his ears.
The head nurse's stimulant was as effective as ever, making Harry's condition, which was originally so tired that he almost fainted on the spot, much better, at least enough to support him to walk to the medical tent.
Of course, before he completely fainted, Harry wanted to hear his score again.
The judges gathered together again and decided to give the final score after discussion.
The warriors and their companions were arranged in the medical tent and cared for by Madam Pomfrey.
"You saved her!" Fleur walked quickly to Harry's side as soon as they entered the tent, almost breathless with excitement, "You saved my sister, Gabrielle, even though she is not your partner!"
"Yeah..." Harry said in a somewhat depressed mood.
He really wished that he had not been a hero at the time, and just let them be tied to the stone statue... If so, maybe he could get a better ranking.
However, the next moment, Fleur suddenly lowered her head and kissed Harry on each cheek twice.
Harry's face instantly turned red.
Ginny's face also turned red, and it was red with anger.
"What are you doing?!" She asked angrily.
"This is just a common etiquette in our France, little girl." Fleur turned sideways and looked at Ginny and Harry with an intriguing look, "If you think there is a problem, you can also kiss twice as a reward for Ali saving you!"
Ginny's face turned even redder, turned around, and decided not to pay attention to this shameless woman.
"Ahem... Well, my name is Harry, not Ali." Harry felt a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say, so he had to change the subject by using the pronunciation of his name.
"Oh, I forgot that the letter 'h' here has to be pronounced." Fleur nodded in understanding, "English is such a troublesome language..."
Harry thought for a moment and said he didn't agree.
He always felt that the French habit of not pronouncing the consonant letter "h" but pronouncing the English "h" with the letter "r" was more troublesome...
Just before they had time to debate their respective language habits, Ludo Bagman's voice, amplified by magic, suddenly rang in their ears, startling them and causing the audience in the stands to suddenly quiet down.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally made a decision--"
Bagman said loudly, "Based on the real-time broadcast of the Black Lake by Professor Dracula and the retelling of what happened underwater by Merkus, the mermaid leader, we have decided to give the warriors the following scores based on a full score of 60..."
"Although Fleur Delacour showed excellent use of the Bubblehead Curse, she was attacked by Greenlodi when approaching the target and failed to successfully rescue the hostages-we give her 32 points."
There was a sparse applause from the stands, most of which should be applauded because of Fleur's beauty.
"I should have scored zero points." Fleur shook her pretty cheeks and said hoarsely.
"Cedric Diggory also used the Bubblehead Charm, but he also added some human body transformation." Bagman continued, "In addition, he was the second to return with hostages, and he was also the only two warriors to complete the competition within the stipulated time of one hour."
"Therefore, we give him 54 points!"
The Hufflepuff students in the crowd cheered enthusiastically, the sound was deafening.
Harry saw that not far from him, Cho Zhang looked at Cedric with a fiery look.
Then, Harry suddenly looked at the silent Krum and realized something in his heart.
If according to Bagman, among the five warriors, only Cedric and John completed the competition within the stipulated time, then he must have exceeded the time limit long ago.
That is to say, his cheekbone grass was good enough to make his transformation last for more than an hour.
"Viktor Krum used Transfiguration, which was incomplete but still effective," Bagman continued confidently, "He was the third to return with the hostages. Although he was two minutes overtime, it was fast enough... We give him 50 points."
Karkaroff clapped his hands very vigorously, looking very proud, as if Krum's defeat in the first game had lowered his goal a lot.
"Finally, there are two warriors whose scores are quite controversial. One of them is John Kowalski..." Bagman continued, "He used a tamed kelpie to help him finish the game first."
"But! Some judges believed that he used tools outside the game and his personal ability could not be reflected, so they gave him a low score... Mr. Kowalski's final score is 50 points."
There was an uproar in the audience, and Bagman in the commentary booth glanced at Karkaroff inconspicuously.
In fact, Karkaroff ignored the opinions of other judges and gave John zero points, so that he lost the chance to become the first place in this project.
It can be seen that Professor Hicks's face was not good, and many students of Yin Famo Ni also protested loudly.
No one would look very good in such a situation. Professor Hicks had already scored Krum fairly and impartially, and then Karkaroff, who had promised to do well, suddenly stabbed her in the back and gave John zero points...
Now, two completely unequal warriors got the same score.
Professor Hicks clenched his wand, as if waiting for the game to end completely at any time, and planned to teach Karkaroff a lesson that he would never forget.
"Harry Potter used Gillyweed and achieved amazing results." Bagman continued to read, "He was the last one to return, far exceeding the one-hour stipulated time... However, Mr. Potter was the second to find the hostages."
"He failed to return in time because he wanted to ensure that all the hostages returned safely, rather than just caring about his own companions... This is an extremely noble character. For me personally, I quite appreciate his behavior."
Bagman smiled triumphantly, not hiding the fact that he had just given Harry a perfect score of ten.
"If everyone is like Bagman, there may still be hope." Ginny looked at Harry with half regret and half sympathy, and said to him.
"In fact, most of the judges," Bagman glanced at Karkaroff with great dissatisfaction at this point, "they all think that this fully reflects the noble moral character. However... Mr. Potter's score is 49 points."
However, Harry was very satisfied, and his heart jumped for joy - at least this time he was not much behind Cedric and Krum, almost a tie.
Ginny stared at Harry blankly, then relaxed, laughed happily, and clapped hard with the other spectators.
"You are awesome, Harry!" Ginny shouted in the noise, "So you are not being a hero - you are being moral!"
Fleur was also clapping hard, but Krum didn't seem very happy, and hardly said a word to his teammates, just looking at Hermione and Ron standing in the stands.
But Hermione was so busy cheering for Harry that she didn't notice him at all.
Harry thought for a moment, stood up and walked to John Kowalski's side.
John turned his head to look at him, with a friendly smile on his face, "What's wrong, Harry?"
"During that last period...you asked the Kelpie to pick me up, right?" Harry asked in a low voice.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" John smiled. "In fact, Professor Dracula was going to save you, but I suddenly thought that if the safety officer took action, you would have used up your chance to ask for help and would be judged as a failure..."
"You were not far from the shore at that time. It would be a big loss if the game was judged as a failure in that situation. So I helped you a little."
"But didn't you repay the favor before? Why did you help me..." Harry asked in confusion.
John stood up and walked to Harry and patted his shoulder.
"I admire you for saving other people who have nothing to do with you regardless of danger." He said softly, "Maybe... I also want to make myself feel a little involved in this noble behavior?"
At this time, the second project of the semi-finals was gradually coming to an end.
"The third - and last project will be held in the evening of June 24," Bagman announced the start time of the last project, "The warriors will know the specific content of the project one month in advance. Thank you for your support to the warriors!"
It's finally over.
There are still a few months until June 24th, and they have enough time to rest. They don't have to worry about anything in the short term...
Thinking this way, Harry stood up in a daze, and followed Madam Pomfrey back to the castle with other warriors and hostages to change into dry clothes.
Walking on the road, Harry caught a glimpse of Dracula's tall figure standing on the top of the column at the highest point of the stand, intersecting with Hogwarts Castle under the reflection of the setting sun, like a beautiful silhouette.
He seemed to look over here, and then suddenly disappeared.
No one knew where he went.