The Second Match

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was time for the second match, and the castle was getting lively.

Ivan and Harry enjoyed breakfast together in the Great Hall on their day off.

Perhaps because he was too nervous, Harry didn't have much of an appetite, so he ate a little, clutching the bottle of Gorse in his hand for fear of forgetting it during the match.

Ivan, who was eating leisurely, naturally noticed Harry's odd behaviour and comforted him. "Relax, Harry, haven't you had a lot of practice these days?"

Harry nodded distractedly. He had been swimming in the Black Lake a few times over the past few days and had overcome the difficulty of not being able to swim, but this was similar to taking the final exam every year. No matter how much he revised before the exam, his legs would go weak when he entered the examination hall.

"What do you think they're going to make you spend so much time looking for at the bottom of the lake?" Ron asked, curious about what they were going to do.

"It's about the things we love most…" Harry hesitated, turning it over in his mind, then said uncertainly, "I think the merpeople are probably going to sneak the Firebolt into the lake while I'm gone!"

It was his most valuable possession, but Harry had no idea if the Firebolt was waterproof, so he hoped it would still be useful when he fished it up.

Ron nodded in agreement, thinking it likely.

"Where's Hermione, by the way? Isn't she up yet?" Harry looked around but didn't see his other best friend, which made him wonder why Hermione was up so early.

Ron shook his head and said, "I don't know, I haven't seen her since last night… I think Professor McGonagall is looking for her."

Ivan paused in his eating, unsurprised; he had guessed that Hermione would be placed in the Black Lake as a hostage, and had presumably been taken away by Professor McGonagall the night before.

However, to Ivan's surprise, Ron was sitting in the Great Hall eating, and it seemed that the people Harry needed to rescue during the match had changed from the original timeline.

With that in mind, Ivan scanned the Great Hall for Ginny, but she was nowhere to be found.

The previous Christmas dances were designed in large part to select the people who mattered most to the champions, as evidenced by Cedric and Krum in the original timeline.

Neither Harry nor Fleur had much interest in their temporary partners at the time, and the organizers had no choice but to make an alternative choice.

After breakfast, Ivan took Harry and Ron to the Quidditch pitch without further ado, as the official start of the game was approaching.

They walked all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. From a distance, Ivan could see a large observation deck set up on the shore of the lake.

Many of the students arrived earlier than them, and the rows of seats were already packed, so Ron gave them a few words of encouragement before hurrying over, hoping to find a good seat.

Ivan and Harry then headed towards the entrance of the arena, where Ludo Bagman, who had been waiting for them for a long time, welcomed them with a big smile on his face. "Ivan, Potter, you're just in time. Come on, the game is about to start, and you'll all have to go into the lake!"

Ivan exchanged pleasantries and was directed to the middle of the field by Bagman, which had been converted into a small pier with a long wooden plank extending from the shore into the Black Lake.

Fleur and Krum were clearly visible at the end of the hall, and they had obviously come prepared, as they were both wearing swimsuits, and Fleur's provocative figure was attracting the attention of the wizards in the audience.

Harry quickly took off his robe and threw it under a tree, revealing his waterproof T-shirt and leggings.

"Ivan, aren't you going to take it off?" Harry turned to look strangely at Ivan, who had not moved at all — he was still wearing his black wizard's robes, which were bound to be uncomfortable underwater.

"There's no need…" Ivan shook his head, not bothering to explain.

Harry couldn't read Ivan's mind, but he could see that he didn't need to worry about him, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he stood on the track and took out the bottle of Gillyweed.

Ivan turned his attention to the judges.

Bagman, the referee and announcer, was standing at the front of the stage. He cleared his throat and read out the rules for the second match. His expression became serious as he looked at Ivan and the others and then at the audience.

"Last night, we took the champions' most prized possession and placed it in the middle of the Black Lake this morning. Their task was to retrieve the treasure within the allotted time!"

"I need to remind you that you have only one hour! Once you exceed the time limit, the consequences will be severe and you may lose the treasure forever!"

Bagman's sonorous voice echoed around the lake, and the young wizards in the audience, curious as to what this treasure referred to, began discussing it heatedly.

Fleur, Krum, and Harry speculated that, despite having solved the mystery of the Golden egg, they still had no idea what they were looking for.

Bagman didn't want to keep him in suspense, so he turned to Dumbledore and continued, "As for the treasure we took… it will be revealed by Headmaster Dumbledore!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Dumbledore rose to his feet with a serious expression and waved his wand with his left hand, causing five fist-sized crystal balls to rise from the Black Lake.

Harry, Fleur, and Krum looked at the crystal balls in confusion. Were they supposed to be looking for these balls?

Ivan was the only one with a slight smirk on his face, as he was the one who had created and rented these crystal balls to Bagman. As for their uses…

At the judges' table, Dumbledore waved his wand again, and the crystal balls expanded rapidly, each reaching a size of around ten meters.

Only then did everyone see some images floating on the surface of the crystal ball.

The middle crystal ball, in particular, showed the bottom of the lake — a large merpeople's village surrounded by stone nooks and crannies.

In the middle of the picture stood a statue of a merman carved from a boulder, and tied to the tail of the statue were four people…