Dumbledore with a Headache

Ivan didn't know what to say to the kind Harry.

He saved Fleur's life on the way back, but Harry saved her life by volunteering to help his opponent.

No wonder they came so late…

"Even if you leave Krum alone, it won't be long before the Aurors come to his rescue!" Ivan warned.

"Is that so? Professor Dumbledore never said anything about that…" Harry was clearly embarrassed, having not thought about it at the time, and felt he could not leave Krum alone in the lake.

"By the way, what happened to Fleur? Was she attacked by merpeople too?" Harry's eyes soon returned to the Beauxbatons Warrior.

"She fell into a trap and fainted!"

Ivan gave a brief explanation, then exchanged information with Harry, before understanding what was happening on the other side.

Shortly after the start of the game, Harry and Krum were attacked by a large group of merpeople.

Due to his weaker strength, Harry only dared to wave his wand to defend and counter-attack, while Krum relied on his transformed strength to close the distance between him and the attackers, attempting to break through.

It went well at first, until Krum seriously injured several merpeople, and the creatures became agitated and attacked Krum with their harpoons.

"They left after they knocked Krum out, and I don't know why they let me go…" Harry said groggily. All he did was cast a few spells with his wand, and the merpeople surrounding him scattered in terror.

Ivan's eyes were full of pity as he looked at Krum's battered back.

Due to Dumbledore's orders, the creatures at the bottom of the lake would not dare to act too harshly unless the champions deliberately angered the merpeople.

Combined with the merpeople's own fear of magic, Ivan did not even consider them a threat.

Unfortunately, Krum apparently didn't know this, and was hoping to use his excellent Transfiguration to get a good beating.

Ivan suddenly felt as if he had overestimated Fleur and Krum's abilities and their ability to adapt on the spot.

He had previously gone to talk to the merpeople to increase the difficulty of the second match because he wanted to cause trouble for Krum and slow down the rescue of the hostages.

He did not expect this outcome…

Yvonne looked at the injured Harry, then at Fleur and Krum, who were both unconscious, and her mouth twitched. They were miserable…

"Ivan, what are we going to do?" Harry asked. He was exhausted from the battle and the long swim with Krum on his back.

"What else can we do? Take them and the hostages with us, of course. There should still be time…" Ivan began helplessly.

… .

Half an hour ago, in the sky above the Black Lake, five huge crystal balls were faithfully showing everyone what had happened at the bottom of the lake.

There were ugly-looking merpeople with pitchforks, Grindylows lurking in the aquatic forest, giant squids that were fifteen feet long… Every thrilling scene made the young wizards sweat for the brave.

Maxime was also fidgeting, her eyes fixed on one of the crystal balls, watching Fleur's every move.

When he first saw Fleur following Yvonne, intending to clear the level, Maxim was upset, believing that she would embarrass Beauxbatons.

However, when he saw that Fleur had been lured into a trap by Ivan and was being attacked by a large group of merpeople, Maxim could not care less. His expression became tense and he turned to question her.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, will this match be too dangerous for the champions? You did not tell me that the merpeople at the bottom of the lake would attack the champions!"

In the face of Maxim's questioning, Dumbledore was calm, taking his time to explain. "Rest assured, Madame Maxim … if you look carefully, you will see that the merpeople know their place and will not actually harm Miss Fleur …"

Maxim looked over his shoulder, half-believingly, and was slightly relieved to see that Fleur had managed to hold out against the onslaught of merpeople, suffering only minor abrasions.

Dumbledore was distracted by this scene, and found it strange. According to his agreement with the merpeople, there should not be any merpeople attacking the warriors.

Before Dumbledore could think better of it, Karkaroff jumped to his feet in exasperation, glaring at the images in one of the crystal balls.

"What the hell is going on? Dumbledore, you need to give us all an explanation. Those damned merpeople knocked Krum out cold! By statute, their job is to keep the hostages and champions safe!"

Several other referees turned to stare at Dumbledore, awaiting his reply — it had always been Dumbledore's job to communicate with the merpeople.

Dumbledore was troubled by this, as he had, of course, seen Krum knocked out in a hand-to-hand fight with the merpeople, and suspected that they might have misinterpreted his words.

However, in the face of Maxim and Karkaroff's questioning looks, Dumbledore refused to give them his information, and after a moment of silence, he replied with a calm expression.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think there's anything wrong with the rules for the second match! Just because the merpeople have kept their promise to me not to actively harm the champions doesn't mean they can't interfere with the champions' rescue efforts. It's part of the game!"

"But the problem is that they've knocked Krum out cold, so he can't play, and that's what you call merpeople not actively attacking the champions?" Karkaroff shouted irritably.

"Yes!" Dumbledore nodded, and continued before Karkaroff could curse. "We all know that it was Mr Krum who first angered the merpeople, don't we? They were forced to fight back."

"Besides, as you may have noticed, merpeople are extremely afraid of wizarding magic, and the champions can easily dispel it by raising their wands and casting a few deterrent charms. It's a good test, isn't it? I had hoped that all the champions would find out about it first!"