The Magical Food God of Hogwarts

Chapter 115 Who told you to teach mermaids to sing?

These rays of light converged, and for a moment Lucas felt as if the bottom of the lake was shimmering.

Just like his previous experiences, the light disappeared after entering Lucas's body. Only he could see it, while all the mermaids remained completely unresponsive.

Although he still didn't know what these things were or what was going on, Lucas suddenly noticed that the priestesses around Merkus were shining with light, but no light was shining from Merkus's body.

Thinking back to their first meeting, when light had already entered his body from Merkus, could it be that such light can only be generated once?

Lucas was deep in thought. The rousing music had stopped, but the merman warriors were still caught up in the surging passion. They raised their spears and shouted loudly. Merkus gently landed in front of Lucas and bowed to him.

"Thank you, Zenjae, for bringing us such a hymn. Your talent in songwriting is truly amazing, absolutely incredible."

"Can I know the name of this song?"

Lucas quickly sang in the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star": "This song is called 'The Lone Warrior,' it is actually—"

He was just about to say that it wasn't actually a song he wrote when he suddenly felt immense pressure. The lake that had been gently embracing him just moments before was now growing heavier and heavier, like a thousand-pound burden pressing down on him!

The webbed feet were fading, the gills on his neck were closing, and the feeling of suffocation was beginning to emerge. The lake water remaining in his body could no longer provide oxygen, but instead produced a strong, drowning-like irritation. It was time for the gill sac grass to grow!

Lucas gurgled out a bunch of bubbles and started flailing his arms and legs in a fluster. Merkus's expression changed, and he swung his hand hard!

Beside the Black Lake, a stern-faced Dumbledore stood with several heads of the house beside the churning waters. Many terrified young wizards peered out from the castle gates.

The professors looked grave as they gazed at the unprecedentedly huge waves.

"What on earth is going on?" Professor Flitwick exclaimed. "Even when the giant squid went berserk decades ago, it didn't cause this much of a commotion."

Snape frowned, gripping his wand without uttering a word.

Professor Sprout scattered the magical plant seeds he was holding onto the shore, saying incredulously, "With the Selchi tribe maintaining order at Black Lake, it's always been calm here. How could it be like this today? Could they have flooded the castle?!"

"There's a very strong magical reaction in the lake. I don't think any other creature besides the Black Lake Merfolk could cause such a huge wave," Professor McGonagall said quickly. "It's possible they're hunting some kind of dangerous creature. What do you think, Professor Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "It seems our neighbor in the lake is in trouble. Professors, please remain vigilant; I'm going down into the water to see what's going on."

He raised the elderwood wand in his hand, which was longer than a normal wand and had a series of nodular protrusions carved on its shaft.

In an instant, the lake water in front of him calmed down, about to crack open.

However, the huge waves on the lake suddenly subsided.

All the professors looked over in surprise.

The aftershocks of the surging waves still lingered, and the surface of Black Lake continued to tremble, the waves crashing against the shore with a loud splash. But the raging power within the lake had subsided; the giant waves had vanished without a trace, and the lake was rapidly calming down.

"What?" Professor Sprout stopped what he was doing.

"It seems the things at the bottom of the lake have calmed down," Dumbledore said. "But I still need to go and see."

His expression suddenly changed slightly: "Wait, something's coming up."

With a loud bang, a column of water rose from the center of the lake under the tense gaze of the professors!

At the top of the water column, there was a figure! The professors all raised their wands.

Wait a minute, this figure seems a bit familiar. As the mist dissipated and the sunlight shone, the figure became completely clear, but Professor Sprout felt a sudden darkness before his eyes.

"Lucas McGregor!"

Lucas, mostly naked except for a pair of shorts, was kneeling on top of a water column, with a golden, upright magic wand stuck in his shorts.

Even the most knowledgeable professors found this design unbearable to look at, and were speechless with astonishment.

Lucas coughed up several mouthfuls of saliva, looked up and saw the dumbfounded professors, as well as the growing crowd of onlookers gathering in the castle in the distance.

"Ahem—hello professors." Lucas looked completely innocent.

"Lucas!" Professor McGonagall shouted angrily, "What were you doing in the lake?!"

"Uh—" Lucas hesitated, "Teach mermaids to sing?"

All the professors were petrified.

Professor McGonagall's voice trembled, and she stammered, "Who told you to teach mermaids to sing?!"

Lucas tossed his wet, red hair: "Please forgive me, this is a very long story, professors—"

"I think Mr. McGregor is up to a very dangerous business at the bottom of the lake," Snape scoffed. "He's planning to blow up the whole Black Lake and flood the castle."

"Oh, Severus," Professor Sprout finally came to his senses. "Lucas is just a first-grader. He couldn't possibly have done something like this. He must have been involved in some dangerous incident again—"

Wait, why did I say "again"?

"I'm skeptical," Snape said. "Regardless, I think he should lose ten points. In broad daylight, naked, indecent exposure—"

"I think we should have Lucas explain in detail what happened at the bottom of the lake later," Dumbledore said calmly. "But for now, we should get the boy back to shore and get dressed."

As soon as he finished speaking, the water column that had been supporting Lucas gradually lowered, and a huge whirlpool opened up on the surface of the water, and Merkus and the mermaid priestesses rose up.

Mercus spoke something in Merfolk, which had returned to its shrill, wailing tone. Dumbledore was clearly taken aback and began to speak to her in Merfolk as well.

"Oh no!" Susan exclaimed anxiously from among the young wizards huddled together at the castle gate. "Lucas got into trouble in the Black Lake and got caught by a mermaid, who stripped him naked!"

Following their gaze, Lucas was kneeling half-naked beside Merkus, while Merkus and Dumbledore were arguing in extremely sharp language.

"Professor Dumbledore and the merman leader are arguing," Zacharias said definitively. "The merman leader wants to kill Lucas, and he's defending Lucas!"

Hannah let out a sudden sob, her face pale, and she gripped Susan's hand tightly.

No wonder I hadn't seen Lucas since early morning—I couldn't find him, so I went to play with Susan and the others, but Lucas somehow slipped into the Black Lake—

"Professor Dumbledore will definitely save him, won't he?" Hannah said anxiously. "Lucas said he became the cook for the Mermaid tribe, so why would the Mermaid tribe want to harm him?"

"It's very likely that Lucas wanted to experiment with some new dish, but like last time when he turned a potion into soup, the resulting dish was poisonous," Ernie offered a rational analysis. "So the merfolk thought Lucas had maliciously poisoned the food, and they arrested him!"

The young wizards all agreed; Ernie's words made perfect sense.

"What should we do now?" Hannah cried out in alarm, when suddenly she heard a voice beside her shout, "Charge! Let's go get Lucas back!"

It's Harry!

Behind him followed Neville, pale-faced and holding his wand upside down. Hermione anxiously called out, "Don't be impulsive! How can we possibly save someone with our abilities? If we anger the merman, things will only get worse. Trust the professors!"

The young wizards were making a ruckus at the entrance when suddenly they saw the enormous mermaid leader stuff something into Lucas's mouth, then lift him up like a chick and plunge him into the lake with a splash.

"It's over! The negotiations have failed!" Zacharias yelled. "Lucas's been taken into the water and drowned!"

The castle was in an uproar.

By the Black Lake, Dumbledore explained the situation: "It seems Lucas really did go to teach the mermaids to sing, and the mermaids really like his songs. He still has some things to finish, so Mercus will send him back later."

Professor Sprout breathed a sigh of relief and waved his wand to retrieve the unactivated magic seeds.

"Professor Dumbledore, I think Mr. McGregor should be penalized, or put in detention," Snape said coldly. "It's only the first week of school and he's already caused so much trouble. If we don't warn him soon, the castle will be blown to smithereens tomorrow, many of us will become ghosts, and this place will become Hogwarts Ghost School."

"Honestly, I can't think of a reason to deduct points from Lucas. He hasn't broken any school rules," Professor Sprout retorted decisively. "Is it his fault that he sings well? We should be more lenient with these children who don't yet understand the magical world."

"Tolerance? If we let him get away with this, I dare say he'll definitely trespass into the Forbidden Forest next time," Snape scoffed, "and then steal the centaurs' foals, attracting a whole pack of centaurs to hunt him down."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," Professor Flitwick laughed. "Why would Lucas lie to the pony?"

"Alright, friends," said Dumbledore, "we'll discuss the specifics when Lucas comes up; it should be soon."

Just then, a series of shouts and cries rang out, and a group of little wizards rushed out of the castle waving their wands.

"Charge! Save Lucas!"

Then Neville stepped on the hem of Harry's robe, and the two screamed as they bumped into more people. A bunch of young wizards tumbled down the lawn, and Harry fell flat on his face right in front of Snape, splattering a clump of mud onto Snape's face.

"Whoa!" Snape roared in fury. "Twenty points deducted from Gryffindor!"

Dumbledore was wrong this time. The professors waited and waited by the lake, but Lucas didn't come ashore until sunset.

Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall were tempted to go into the water to check on the situation several times, but Dumbledore stopped them each time.

He believed that Mercus would never harm Lucas, but judging by the time, Lucas had already consumed at least three gill sac herbs.

Mercus gave Lucas enough gill sac grass so he could return to the Black Lake and finish what he needed to do next.

The priestesses astutely pointed out that "The Lone Warrior" was only half a song, not complete, and Lucas immediately retorted that...

-

It wasn't their original work; they could only remember the climax. The mermaids could adapt it themselves.

Then, Lucas blew the stone whistle, summoning Grindelwald, who appeared to be badly injured but was actually fine, and pointed at it while singing a modified version of "Laugh It Off".

"It betrayed me, and then just laughed it off."

Upon realizing what had happened, Merkus flew into a rage. With a wave of his hand, the water surged and twisted the Greendylo head into a pretzel.

Then she gave the order to bring Lucas three Grindylos.

Firstly, it was as an apology, and secondly, as a thank-you gift for the song. With a three-fold compensation, Lucas didn't complain much.

Merkus pointed at the traitor lying dead in a pile and sternly warned the three new Grindylos that if they dared to cause trouble, they would be hunted down to the death by the mermaid tribe.

The three Grindylo heads huddled together, trembling, their whites almost turning black with fear. Hopefully they'll behave themselves now.

However, Lucas was already determined to be wary of these beasts; they did not deserve trust and were only meant to be exploited as slaves.

Then, Lucas sang his last song.

"A sumptuous meal is my love, sirens come from the vast Mediterranean~"

What kind of feast is the most magnificent? What kind of delicacies are the most anticipated?

As it turns out, as long as he wasn't embarrassed, neither were the mermaids. Lucas jumped and danced without any psychological pressure, showcasing his main purpose for coming to the Black Lake in the most dazzling ethnic style, and won unanimous praise from the mermaids.

The mermaids thought that the song "Lord Steward" sounded cheesy at first, but the more they listened, the more catchy and comfortable it became, making them unconsciously nod and wag their tails. The melody lingered in their minds for a long time and was hard to calm down.

Lord Zenzai is a genius when it comes to music!

Looking into those eyes filled with fervent emotion, Lucas felt that his reputation among the Serchi tribe must have risen to the level of reverence.

Merkus exclaimed in admiration as he told Lucas the latest news he had just received. The Sirens delegation's itinerary had changed, and their visit would be postponed to December.

What? So I made a wasted trip?

Mercus said, "How could we come for nothing? How would we know Lucas's exceptional talent in music if we didn't make this trip? And how could the Serchi tribe possibly get four excellent songs?"

And since we're already here, shouldn't we cook a meal before we leave?

Lucas thought it made a lot of sense; after all, the phrase "since we're already here" has a magical effect that no one can resist.

Mercus used water magic to create a hemispherical, waterless environment at the bottom of the lake, and Lucas used the large fish he had just caught to make sashimi for the mermaids once again.

The mermaids present were thoroughly enjoying their meal, their cheers echoing across the lake. Lucas felt his reputation for reverence rise by half a level once again.

As darkness fell, Lucas was finally brought ashore.

The professors, who had been waiting for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, he landed in the wrong spot, still quite a distance from where they were.

Lucas waved to them, only then noticing that the shore was covered with piles of seaweed, all of which had been washed ashore during the turbulence of Black Lake.

He had just stepped over a clump of water plants when suddenly a hand reached out from the clump and grabbed Lucas's ankle!

Another Grindylo!

What a nightmare! I've really messed up Grindelwald's place today!

But Lucas reacted extremely quickly, stepping back to dodge Grindelwald's palm while simultaneously flicking his wrist and waving his wand.

"Flames are raging!"

-

A blazing fireball shot out, engulfing Grindylow instantly. The terrifying heat ignited the entire pile of seaweed, and Grindylow was reduced to a charred corpse with only a scream!

This scene stunned the professors who were about to rush to the rescue, and Dumbledore lowered the elder wand he had already raised.

He said softly.

"That's amazing, it's truly incredible."

"In just two days, Lucas's magic power level has increased significantly again."

,