Author's note: Guys, please… if you can spare some power stones, I'd really appreciate it.
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"Are you out of your bloody mind, Viktor? Luring a whole swarm of those things here… what if they attack the people unconscious down there?"
Harry, seeing that his spell had worked and the group of grindylows were all but unconscious, finally turned and yelled at the shark-head angrily.
But Krum didn't respond, or rather he couldn't. Verbally at least. His face was that of a deep sea predator, and he only responded with a wide grin, which, though no words were spoken, was an obvious gesture telling them he didn't care in the slightest.
"A thank you would be nice."
"Forget it, Cedric." Harry muttered with a tsk when Krum flashed those shark teeth of his and turned swiming toward his teammates to free them. "I've never wanted to punch a shark in the face this much."
They watched Krum, who did not even bother using the wand in his hand and instead relied on his shark teeth like some barbarian, bite through the lake plants binding the duo before clutching them both together under one arm.
"That weird transformation magic must have turned his brain into a fish brain as well, I bet."
"I second that," Harry agreed with a smirk, nodding at Cedric's remark. Taking another glance at his wrist, he then added, "Let's head to the surface. There isn't much time left."
And just as Cedric and Harry were about to swim up, their fins paused because another figure, no, two, entered their line of sight, swimming fast in their direction.
"Ms Delacour..."
"Salut, Cedric... Harry… so you two are already here?"
Fleur arrived with the other Beauxbatons champion, and it seemed that, like Harry and Cedric, they had also come to a cooperative agreement.
At the Christmas Ball at the end of last year, Cedric's dance partner had been Fleur herself, so it could be said that the two of them were quite familiar with each other. However, that did not change the fact that this was a competition, and once the brief greetings were over, Fleur and her friend immediately swam toward their teammates to free them from their shackles.
"So only that guy... what's his name… from Durmstrang hasn't made it yet?" Harry glanced again to the gadget on his wrist and chuckled when he saw there were still a little over eight minutes left. That was plenty of time to reach the surface, and seeing Cedric lingering and waiting for Fleur, he decided to wait as well.
It did not take long. A few graceful hexes later, their four teammates were free as well, but they didn't hold theirs, one so gently on the back and the other like a carry on bag, like Harry and Cedric did, and simply wrapped them both in their arms. What was left was only to carry them to the surface, or so they thought.
Because when the four of them raised their heads and were about to push toward the surface, they found their path had been inexplicably blocked. It wasn't a grindylow, nor a merman, nor a shark, but their counterpart, Krum, who had supposedly swum ahead just moments ago.
And not only that…
Protego!
Protego!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom Boom!
From above, a barrage of hexes tore through the water the moment they turned, forcing them to conjure shields as the impacts slammed them back toward the lake bed.
The girls had both arms full with their teammates and could not react in time, but Harry and Cedric stepped in and shielded them as well.
"Have you gone mad, Viktor? What's the bloody meaning of this?"
Harry shouted as he brushed the sand away from his face with one hand. He was really angry now. This half fish bastard, whom he had assumed had already swum ahead of them, had suddenly fired a barrage of hexes at them out of nowhere, for reasons he did not even know.
"Are you so desperate to get disqualified, you barbaric brute?" Fleur also lost her cool, let go of one of her friends, and pointed her wand at him.
However, Boom!
What she received was instead a bolt of magic from Krum's wand. But this time she reacted, with one arm pushing her teammates behind and blocking with a shield charm of her own, albeit barely managing it in the nick of time, and the impact drove her even farther downward until her fins struck the seabed.
"Mais tu es fou !"
Krum did not stop there. Still grinning, he fired another string of hexes in the same breath, first at Elodie, then at Cedric and Harry, forcing each of them to raise their wands to block. It was difficult enough to defend against a sudden attack, and even more so while carrying two people.
Meanwhile Krum, with his strange half shark physique, held the high ground, while his own two teammates were clutched mercilessly under one arm like a pair of dead fish.
Amid the murky, sandy waters, the four of them, dragging their unconscious teammates, managed to duck behind the massive merman statues near them.
"I don't know if you're stupid or just brave, Viktor. There are four of us and only one of you!" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs, poking his head out, but the aftermath had left the water swirling with sand, so all he saw was white.
Boom! Boom!
"We have to hit him back!" Cedric yelled from the side.
Boom! Boom Boom!
"He's got the high ground," Harry snapped.
"Isn't this against the rules? Shouldn't the professors be intervening?" Fleur shouted, holding her two unconscious teammates tightly.
Boom Boom Boom Boom!
Like trapped prey, the four of them could only take cover while Krum continued firing hex after hex from above, turning the mermaid village square, which had been clear just moments ago, into murky water choked with swirling sand.
One would expect the mermen to retaliate. After all, it was their village that was being vandalized. However, for some reason they did nothing and only watched from afar.
Perhaps Hogwarts had some prior agreement with them, or they had long expected something like this might happen and had been told beforehand not to interfere. In any case, for wizards, restoring any damage as good as new was not particularly difficult.
"I don't think so," Cedric shouted replying to Fleur's doubt. "It was never said we couldn't interfere with, or even take out, other champions in this round. I guess that's exactly what he's thinking."
Boom Boom Boom Boom!
The water had become so clouded with sand that they could hardly see a few feet in any direction now, while above them, Krum rained spells down like a relentless gatling hammer, leaving the four of them pinned behind the statues. Thankfully, the bases of the statues were sturdy enough to hold.
"We don't have much time. There's only five minutes left!" Harry shouted, his voice sharp with annoyance, frustration, and rising anger.
"If we're trapped, then so is he, right? Or is he planning on all of us failing?" Elodie said, hugging tightly to her teammates behind the statue base, afraid they might get caught in the crossfire.
Of course, she wasn't afraid they would get hit. None of them were, and they all knew the security team would interfere if any of their lives were in danger. But she especially couldn't have them in any danger because she only had two turns left before her allowed chances of rescuing them were over.
And just as she finished speaking, it was as if Krum had heard it, and the booming tremors suddenly came to a stop. Sand and debris churned everywhere, and beyond the thin bubbles of magic around their faces, all four of them could see nothing but clouds of white sand.
"Has he left?"
"Of course he's left. Damn it. And we only have three minutes!" Harry glanced at his wrist and cursed under his breath, then his eyes hardened with resolve. "I'm going after him! I'll at least make sure to drag him down if I can't make it in time."
With that, and without another word, he kicked hard, grabbing Ron tightly while Hermione remained firmly tied to his back, and bolted toward the surface. The other three had the same thought and followed after him, and after a dozen or so meters of flapping their fins, the murky water began to clear.
In Harry's sight, Krum's figure was already nothing more than a small dot. "Damn guy…" he gritted through his teeth and forced more power into his fins while pushing his wand hand forward.
Before, even swimming at full speed down to the seabed had taken him over a minute, and now he was heading upward with two passengers. He did not dare think about it more and only kicked faster. Worse still, only two minutes were left.
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Author's Note:
🔥 Drop those Power Stones! 🔥
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