Chapter 621: Each Champion Shows Their Tricks

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There is an old saying—passed down by those who understand true elegance—that you may crack, you may bleed, and you may even be one step away from collapse... but your aura must never fall. Not your posture, not your expression, not a single strand of your hair.

For a girl who cares about her appearance, this is not a rule, but a doctrine: suffer if you must, endure if you must, but remain flawless as you break. Simply, a lady may suffer, but her appearance must never

So the moment Daphne and the others realized this round would take place underwater, they all, without exception, went straight to Tom for help.

Breathing underwater? That was easy. The real problem was how to keep their clothes from getting soaked and their hair from turning into a mess.

And so, when they finally entered the water, the audience was stunned. Despite wearing heavy wizard robes, the girls moved as if nothing was wrong. A faint blue glow shimmered over their clothes and skin, forming a barrier that kept every drop of lake water at bay.

Of course, that spell only kept them dry and presentable. If they wanted to breathe underwater, they still needed other magic.

...

Each champion pulled out their own tricks, doing whatever it took to survive and move freely beneath the surface.

The most eye-catching of the bunch was Quinta. The druidic transformation magic from Castelobruxo was impressive as always. The athletic girl had turned into a bizarre-looking fish. It seemed to be a partial transformation—she’d kept her arms and legs, making it easier to steer and use her wand. She wasn’t the fastest swimmer, but she held her own.

Then there was Fleur. She pressed her legs together, and in a flash, they transformed into a shimmering silver tail. She looked like a mermaid straight out of a fairy tale. Tom’s eyes lit up, and he quietly made a note to ask Fleur to do that again later... purely for personal "research," of course.

Wizards really did have all kinds of tricks.

Tom’s gaze then shifted to his little fox, Kamio.

No Bubble-Head Charm, no transformation—Kamio looked exactly the same as usual. And yet she moved through the water with effortless ease, as if she were part of the Black Lake itself, drifting along with the currents at a surprisingly good speed.

Among the others, Nassim from Uagadou had gone with Harry’s old approach in the original story—somehow he’d gotten his hands on Gillyweed and sprouted a pair of gills.

Daphne, Jauncey, and Ariana all used the standard Bubble-Head Charm, though each had their own way of getting around.

Jauncey strapped on a pair of flippers and swam the old-fashioned way, relying entirely on muscle.

Daphne treated her wand like an oar, firing spells to propel herself forward through recoil.

Ariana, on the other hand, released a portion of her Obscurus. It behaved like a set of nimble shadowy tentacles, pushing her along while also clearing away any weeds that got in her path.

Watching this, Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction, unable to hide his smile.

From Ariana’s smooth control, it was clear she had fully mastered her Obscurus. That was good news... but he still couldn’t relax.

It might look like she had it under control, but that thing was a ticking time bomb. No one knew if, someday, it might suddenly explode and swallow her whole—leaving him to lose his sister all over again.

But what good was worrying? Every time he brought it up, Ariana reacted strongly. There was no room for discussion.

The thought made Dumbledore sigh.

Grindelwald glanced at him from the side. "What’s on your mind this time? Can’t you take it easy for once? Always frowning and sighing... it’s exhausting just looking at you."

Dumbledore replied without thinking, "I’m worried about Ariana. The Obscurus..."

"Alright, spare me." Grindelwald shook his head and raised a hand to cut him off. "If you can’t talk it out, then don’t. I’m not helping you with this. You should respect her choice."

In Grindelwald’s eyes, Dumbledore could change a lot of things... except this habit of worrying about everyone. That was baked into him for life.

"Th-that’s a huge fish!"

A startled shout suddenly rang out across the Quidditch pitch, shattering the silence between them. Both men looked up at the screen.

Their expressions quickly turned strange. Grindelwald shot Dumbledore a sideways glance.

"Your Black Lake has fish that big?"

Dumbledore shook his head blankly, then something clicked. His eyelids began to twitch.

"Yesterday... Tom went to the Black Lake."

As headmaster, Dumbledore knew the lake’s ecosystem well. Beneath its calm surface lived all sorts of magical creatures. The largest faction was the merpeople. There were also plenty of Grindylows, Selkies, rainbow bubble jellyfish, kappas, and other common magical beings.

But the enormous balloon-like fish currently on the screen?

That thing had no business being in the Black Lake.

Actually, forget that. What kind of magical creature even looked like that? This was obviously someone’s Engorgement Charm at work.

"..."

Down in the lake, Quinta was completely dumbfounded. Even after transforming into a fish, she was still over 1.6 meters long. But next to that giant balloon fish, she looked like a tiny bean.

What... what even is that thing?

Unfortunately... Before she could figure it out, the creature drifted closer.

It resembled a pufferfish, except its scales had evolved into sharp, protruding spikes. Some species could even release toxins through those spikes.

The good news: the balloon fish in the Black Lake wasn’t poisonous.

The bad news: it was huge. Which meant the spikes were huge too... and a lot harder.

Quinta reacted a split second too late. As she turned to flee, one of the spikes scraped her, and she almost yelped in pain. The only reason she didn’t was because fish heads don’t exactly let you scream underwater.

She bolted, swimming like mad. Still, she didn’t forget she was a witch. Without even looking back, she raised her wand behind her.

"Relashio!"

A large bubble burst from her mouth as a stream of boiling water shot toward the balloon fish. The spot it hit turned red against the creature’s yellow skin, but it did no real damage. If anything, it only made the fish chase her faster.

Clearly, Revulsion Jinx wasn’t the right spell for this situation.

Luckily, fortune hadn’t completely abandoned Quinta. As she fled, she ran into another contestant—Nassim, who was still wandering around in confusion, searching for his target.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Quinta veered straight toward him, dragging the balloon fish along in her wake.

Blub, glug, blub!

Nassim quickly realized what was happening. His eyes went wide in horror. His mouth opened and closed, releasing a string of bubbles.

Even though no sound carried through the water, Quinta could read it clearly in his expression—

’Stay away, you crazy bitch!’

.

. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

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