Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 285 I used to hold you when you were little.

Seeing Harry's actions, the other two warriors who were taking off their clothes froze on the spot.

They certainly didn't expect that Harry would not only not go into the water, but would instead use such powerful magic to throw it into the water.

No, pigeons?
Are you frying fish here?

After throwing a few spells, Harry stood still and didn't move.

"Why are you all looking at me?" He glanced at Fleur and Viktor. "I'm just calling for help. If you want to save people, hurry up and go down."

"You didn't cast that weird spell, did you?" Fleur asked tentatively.

The spectacular scene of the entire Black Lake almost collapsing was truly terrifying.

“Oh, no, that’s not true.” Harry chuckled. “I was just calling someone. You guys continue—you guys continue.”

After receiving Harry's answer, Fleur and Viktor were finally relieved.

They struck a pose, and Fleur cast a bubble head spell on herself, while Viktor transformed his head into a shark's head.

It was clear that the shark wasn't breathing easily on the shore. Viktor clutched his neck for a moment before remembering he should jump into the water.

Just then, Dumbledore walked over.

“I know you really want to win using special methods, but frying fish…”

Dumbledore glanced back at the restless lake and said to Harry, "It's not a very good choice. We must respect the rules of the game. What do you think, Harry?"

Seeing that Harry wanted to say something more, Dumbledore stopped him from arguing.

"But the problem is, I need to remind you, mermaids can't come out of the water to talk to you, Harry—that's my order."

“Fine.” Harry shrugged, flicked his wand, and walked into the lake.

The lake water was indeed icy cold, but that didn't bother Harry.

The wonder of ancient magic lies in the fact that he can completely avoid the effects of water on him; he can feel not only the coldness, but also not even a trace of dampness.

Visibility in Black Lake was low; he could only see about ten feet in the water. The entire area was dark and foggy, and there was complete silence. He couldn't hear what the people above the lake were making.

The little fish swam nimbly past him, like silver darts.

On one or two occasions, he seemed to see a big thing moving in front of him, but when he swam closer, he found that it was just a big, dark log or a clump of dense, tangled water plants.

He walked in the water for a long time but still couldn't find where the three hostages were hiding.

So he pulled out his wand.

"Oh, isn't this Harry?"

Myrtle's voice rang in his ears. Harry looked in the direction of the voice and saw the translucent Myrtle swimming around in the lake, looking extremely content.

"Myrtle?" Harry greeted her in surprise. "What are you doing here? Did someone flush you out of the bathroom again?"

Myrtle's face immediately turned very ugly.

“Oh dear,” she said, “I came to watch your match, how did I end up being flushed down the toilet? Do you really think poor Myrtle would be flushed away when she was on guard?”

“Oh, sorry,” Harry said apologetically, raising his wand.

"Revelio!"

Centered on the tip of the wand, a transparent light curtain rapidly expanded in all directions in a spherical shape.

Through magic, Harry not only located the three hostages, but also saw several red outlines appearing under his feet.

It's Grindelwald.

Just then, several Greendylows emerged from the seaweed, grabbed Harry's robes, and desperately pulled him down.

The Grindylows, who were pulling with great enthusiasm, suddenly felt as if their bodies were riding a rocket, rising rapidly upwards.

Immediately, they shot out of the water like cannonballs, screaming as they flew into the air, before crashing heavily back down in the main guest seats.

If Dumbledore hadn't reacted quickly and used a shock absorber to stop their speed, they probably would have been hit squarely by Grindelwald.

Harry did it on purpose, Dumbledore thought, because I didn't let him sit on the shore and reap the benefits.

After dealing with Grindelow, seeing the fate of his companions, the remaining Grindelow stopped in their tracks and stood still.

No one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out and get hit by this terrifying human's magic, losing their life in the process.

Harry ignored them, and just then, the singing suddenly started.

"There's only one hour left."

We must find and reclaim the items we took..."

Harry noticed that the singing was coming from the same direction as the location where the spell had just been applied.

He walked in that direction, with Myrtle following closely behind. Soon, he saw a large rock appear in the murky lake ahead, painted with many mermaids holding spears and chasing something that looked like a giant squid.

Oh, Harry remembers.

He and Vivi had also been here before, and had a friendly and cordial conversation with the mermaids here.

If I remember correctly, this is the mermaid village.

He continued walking forward, and before he had gone far, he suddenly saw many rough stone dwellings all around, covered with spots of algae.

Faces emerged from the windows of those cramped apartments, looking... both familiar and strange.

Mermaids have iron-gray skin and long, messy, dark green hair. Their eyes are yellow, as are their broken teeth, and they wear pebbles strung together with thick ropes around their necks.

As Harry swam by, they smiled at him maliciously.

In order to see more clearly, one or two people ran out of the cave, spears in their hands, and slapped the lake with their thick and powerful silver tails.

Harry walked forward, glancing around as he went.

It should be said that the difference between here and a hundred years ago is not that great. It is clear that the social progress of mermaids is still far behind that of humans.

Soon, more and more stone dwellings appeared, some even surrounded by gardens, and some even had a small Greenlodi tied to the door.

Mermaids emerged from all directions, staring at him curiously, pointing at him, and whispering among themselves while covering their mouths.

Harry quickly turned a corner, and a very peculiar sight appeared before him.

The place seemed to be the square of a mermaid village, surrounded by some houses, with a large group of mermaids floating in front of the houses.

Some mermaids were singing in unison, calling on the warriors to come over.

Behind them stood a crude statue: a giant mermaid carved from a massive stone. Three people were tightly bound to the mermaid's tail.

Surrounding the hostages stood many mermaids holding spears.

Harry quickly identified the leader of the mermen, who had a long green beard, wore a short necklace made of shark teeth, and looked to be about seven feet tall.

“You can only take one human with you!” the mermaid said.

“Oh, I didn’t intend to take anyone else with me.” Harry shrugged and said to the mermaid, “Help me untie that redhead and get him out of the Black Lake.”

The mermaid seemed to have heard a joke, and she clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she almost fell over.

The surrounding mermaids laughed as well. The lead mermaid laughed for a while, then raised her head and said, "We will not help you, human cub—you will have to find a way to take the person back yourself."

"So, there's no room for negotiation?" Harry drew his wand.

"You are the first wizard to dare to take out a wand underwater, human child." The leading mermaid straightened up and waved.

The other mermaids, each wielding a spear, immediately surrounded them, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

"Not necessarily. Before me... Oh, come to think of it, the last wizard who dared to pull out a wand at you underwater was me."

As Harry spoke, he pointed his wand at the merman who was in the lead.

Just as the two sides were on the verge of exchanging blows, a mermaid with gray hair and an extremely old appearance swam out from a small house not far away.

"Wait!" the old merman shouted. "We promised Dumbledore we wouldn't clash with the warriors, Cleo!"

“But it’s clear that the warriors want to clash with us!” Cleo stared intently at Harry. “Carmen, look at this—I’ve never seen such a brave wizard before…”

Carmen?

This name sounds familiar...

Harry felt like he'd heard that name somewhere before.

“Oh, he wasn’t the first,” Carmen said, stroking his beard. “A hundred years ago, two young wizards also came to the bottom of the lake and offered us their wands…”

Oh……

Harry remembered.

This Carmen...

He and Vivi did have a conflict with the merfolk in the Black Lake, but they later became friends, thanks to the flexibility of the then-chief Vieri.

As the old saying goes among mermaids, those who can see the situation clearly are the true heroes.

The clan chief had a young son named Carmen.

“Carmen?” Harry greeted him. “You really are Carmen? I used to hold you when you were little…”

Hearing Harry's outrageous words, Cleo gripped his spear tightly, about to rebuke him, but Carmen stopped him.

The old merman swam slowly over, ignoring the tribesmen's attempts to stop him, and came to Harry's side to take a closer look.

“Mr. Potter?” he asked in surprise.

“Looks like you still remember me, Carmen.” Harry chuckled as he put away his wand. “A hundred years is a long time; I thought you’d forgotten me long ago.”

“Even if I forget someone, I will never forget you and Miss Grindelwald,” Carmen said with a sigh. “By the way, where is Miss Grindelwald?”

“She didn’t participate in the competition,” Harry replied with a shrug.

Carmen breathed a sigh of relief almost imperceptibly.

Well, it's good that I didn't participate in the competition...

He couldn't imagine what would happen if Miss Grindelwald participated in the competition and Mr. Potter was the hostage.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Carmen instructed Cleo, "Since they are old friends, then you should make preparations to send Mr. Potter's friend back to shore... Well, don't worry, Dumbledore will understand."

“Okay.” Cleo frowned, looking at Harry and then at Carmen, unable to understand why Harry told his grandfather, “I used to hold you when you were little,” and his usually short-tempered grandfather wasn’t angry.

Of course, he has never been one to talk too much, which is one of his few good qualities.

“Thank you, Carmen,” Harry said to him. “It was really nice to see you here. Well… I’ll head back now, since the judges will deduct points if I get back late.”

Then he added, "Oh, by the way, if those two haven't arrived by the time it's time, send the other two hostages back."

“Don’t worry, Mr. Potter,” Carmen assured him with a smile, “we won’t harm either of them.”

Cleo walked over to Ron, cut the ropes binding him with his knife, and together with the two mermaids, lifted him up to the surface.

Harry followed behind, strolling leisurely, showing no sign of nervousness whatsoever.

Just then, a fish-headed man swam over—he had a human body, wore swimming trunks, and had a shark's head on top… It was Viktor.

Harry remembered the spell he cast before entering the water—a not-so-successful transfiguration, but one that was still quite effective.

The half-human, half-shark Viktor swam straight toward his hostage, tearing and biting at the ropes binding her. The problem was that Krum's new teeth had a strange structure, making it awkward for him to bite anything smaller than a dolphin. Moreover, Harry was certain that Krum's movements were not careful; he was practically tearing the hostage in two.

“Let’s go.” Harry didn’t care much about what Viktor was doing; he simply told Cleo and the others to head upstairs.

Viktor turned around and saw the merfolk carrying Ron in front of Harry. His shark-like face showed a strange expression, as if he had seen a ghost.

Harry and his friends continued swimming upwards, the sunlight growing brighter and brighter, until they reached the surface of the water. Harry leaped up and stood firmly on the lake.

Although he had been in the lake for quite a while, his clothes were not wet and his hair was still dry.

It's my glasses... my glasses got wet.

Upon seeing Harry, the surrounding students erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

They knew that Harry must have succeeded, otherwise he wouldn't have swum up at this time.

Then, something even stranger happened.

Following closely behind Harry were three mermaids, who were carrying Ron in their arms.

“Let’s go,” Harry said to the three mermaids. “Just leave him on the shore, thank you so much.”

"You're welcome," Cleo said with an extremely strange expression.

He was thinking to himself, "If Grandpa hadn't spoken up, I wouldn't have bothered bringing him up here."

As Harry walked to the shore, he saw Dumbledore also coming down, his face very serious, as if he were waiting for someone.

Sure enough, after they put Ron down, and before Ron could even wake up with a couple of coughs, Dumbledore asked, "Cleo, what happened?"

(End of this chapter)