Hogwarts' Golden Glory

Everyone thought Kane was still underwater.

Harry sat on a rock on the shore, wringing out the water from his robes.

Qiu Zhang sat next to him wrapped in a blanket, her hair still dripping wet.

Harry turned his head and glanced across the lake shore. He saw Fleur, Cedric, and Krum. He looked again, and on the third time, he finally confirmed that Kane was not on the shore.

"Did you see Kane come up?" Harry asked Ron, who was standing next to him.

Ron, who had just been called down to help, was wiping his hands with a towel when he heard the question, and paused for a moment: "Wasn't he supposed to go down to rescue Draco? Why hasn't he come back up yet?"

At this moment, almost everyone was looking for Kane's location. Everyone knew that the person Kane had saved was Draco, so everyone scanned the crowd.

"Draco's over there!"

Someone in the crowd shouted.

The group spotted Draco under a tree some distance from the lake shore.

He was sitting on a dry rock, looking down and adjusting his cuffs. His hair was half-dry, and his robe was dry too.

He didn't look like someone who had just come out of the water; it was more like he had been sitting there for a while.

Harry stood up and walked toward Draco.

Ron followed behind him, asking as they walked, "When did you get up here?"

Draco looked up, his expression complex, as if he were trying to maintain a calm "I knew this would happen" demeanor, but beneath that calmness seemed to lie other emotions: "I've been here for a while."

"What about Kane?"

"My brother seems to have something to do; he went downstairs again."

More and more people on the shore began to notice this.

Bagman stood next to the referee's table, holding a notebook, looking as if he was deep in thought.

He turned his head and whispered a few words to the referee next to him, as if to confirm whether the situation was within the scope of the rules.

Karkarov leaned back in his chair, his gaze lingering on the lake for a moment, as if considering whether he should say something.

Mrs. Maxim was also looking at the lake.

Only Dumbledore didn't look at the lake.

He knew perfectly well what had happened. Kane had bribed the mermaids and offered them terms, so that the mermaids would send Draco ashore when the match began.

He was going to do something, and he said there would be some big commotion, so he planned to evacuate the crowd.

His gaze fell on the tree where Draco had just been sitting, then he picked up his wand and stood up.

His voice rang out steadily, making sure everyone could hear: "Ladies and gentlemen, the competition is over. Please maintain order and stay away from the lake. Be careful, the mermaids in the lake might become agitated and pull you in. The results will be announced later."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was very clear, as if he had precisely controlled the volume so that everyone in every location could hear it.

Several students who had already reached the lake stopped and went back after hearing this.

Hearing this, the students also prepared to leave, though they had questions: Why weren't the results announced now? Why hadn't Kane shown up yet? Why was only Draco up here?

There was still no movement on the lake.

Several small ripples were spreading outward from the center of the lake, then slowly returning. No one knew what was happening at the bottom of the lake.

Then the area beneath the lake surface lit up.

It wasn't the kind of light that shines through the water's surface; it was a uniform, colored light that appeared directly inside the lake.

The beams of light had no fixed direction or color; they moved through the water like ribbons of color slowly churning underwater, spreading out layer by layer. Tiny specks of light began to appear on the surface of the water, like a thin veil being gently laid out and illuminated.

People were whispering, "What's that? What was he doing down there?"

Someone in the crowd called his name: "Kane—have you come out—" but there was no response on the water.

Then Kane surfaced, appearing at the center of the light just as it began to dim, moving very lightly, as if he had used a force from underwater to push himself up.

The edges of his robe shone with the afterglow of those lights, flowing down the hem and gradually fading away, like a shell slowly peeling away.

He stood in the water, which just reached his waist. His hair was wet, but his expression was calm.

He glanced around at the people on the shore, as if to confirm they were still in their original positions. His gaze met Dumbledore's for a fleeting moment, then he looked away, as if they had completed their final confirmation.

Wasn't the plan to evacuate the crowd? Why are there still so many people up there?

Dumbledore stood on the referee's bench and blinked very slightly. It was so quick that anyone looking at his shoulder wouldn't even notice it.

Dumbledore hadn't expected Kane's matter to be resolved so quickly, considering these warriors had only just arrived.

Kane was walking toward the shore, his robes dripping wet, then magic surged through him, and his clothes and hair dried quickly.

There was a few seconds of silence in the crowd, and then someone started clapping, as if they had finally waited for a moment to applaud.

The students nearby were still discussing what had just happened, and someone asked Kane what he had been doing down there.

Kane didn't answer, only saying that he had something to do and left.

Meanwhile, the results were announced. Since the competition was about who could rescue their beloved treasure first, and as everyone saw, Draco was the first to come up, so Kane rightfully took first place.

Some students initially questioned the result because they hadn't seen Kane come up at the beginning.

However, none of the participants said anything, so they could only keep their mouths shut.

Kane's gains were very fruitful; his wand's effects were enhanced once again, and he learned more about the mysteries of this world.

Then they will face the third challenge.

The weather was so good on the day the third project started that it didn't seem like anything bad was going to happen.

Sunlight streamed down the hedges of the maze, casting even shadows on the crisscrossing green walls. The stands were packed with people, flags hanging silently in the calm morning air, as if they too were waiting for the same thing to happen.

Kane stood at the entrance to the maze, holding nothing in his hands. Igor wasn't on his shoulder; he had left it outside.

He turned his head to check the others' positions—Harry was a few steps to his left, checking his wand; Cedric stood next to Harry, his expression calm; Fleur was on the other side, adjusting her cuffs; Krum stood at the very edge, his gaze fixed on the shadows of the maze entrance, seemingly looking at something.