Sometimes, Hermoine's dead-eyed stubbornness really gave Harry and Ron a headache, like the business of Wormtail. So many iron-clad facts were in front of them, but she was still as firm as a nail in her belief that Wormtail's death had nothing to do with Karkaroff. Even if she couldn't produce any evidence to prove Karkaroff's innocence or guilt.
"All right, let me see what other options there are..."
Harry gasped for breath, his eyes darting around in search of any help from the Gryffindor classmates, or perhaps some kind of object...
"Huh!" Suddenly, Harry's eyes lit up, "Phew...there's a way, Hermione, to make Malfoy's two little lackeys suffer!"
By this time, Hermione's face, already glistening with sweat, had turned pale. The exertion of magic and the rapid sharp turns Harry had made to avoid Crabbe and Goyle had left her head spinning. Upon hearing Harry suggest a way to deal with the two, she couldn't even manage a smile; she merely nodded weakly, barely holding back her nausea.
"Hey, you two!"
Having a plan in mind, Harry felt like he was back in the intense and thrilling Quidditch match. He kept adjusting his position, giving off misleading signals, as if restraining a dangerous Seeker, and succeeded in confusing Crabbe and Goyle. Finally, half a minute later, when the relative positions of the two boats on the agitated water surface were to Harry's satisfaction, he shouted loudly at Crabbe and Goyle who had run past again due to their excessive speed.
"Can't you two be a bit smarter?"
Harry jeered.
"Without Malfoy, you seem to have regressed into savage giants!"
"How dare you say that, Potter!" Crabbe roared, "I think you're the one who's useless!"
Immediately, Crabbe and Goyle really did behave like two small giants, their eyes only fixed on Harry's mocking smile, completely ignoring everything around them.
"Speed up, Hermione!"
Seeing the imposing duo approaching, Harry's heart raced a few extra beats. He gripped the boat's rudder tightly and ordered Hermione to channel all her magic into the small oak boat beneath them. Instantly, as if the vessel had just been hit by the gas pedal, it surged forward and collided head-on with a cloud of mist floating on the water's surface.
The familiar sound of wind whistled in his ears as Harry, who was racing the boat, surprisingly found a sense of joy, akin to soaring freely on his beloved Hippogriff, the Triwizard's Cup, in mid-air!
However, the distance between the two racing boats was still shrinking at an incredible speed. It looked like they were about to crash into each other in just a few seconds!
"Harry!"
Hermione, who was sprawled on the stern of the boat, called out in a tense voice as she watched the shadow gradually approaching from behind.
Whooosh!
"Hang on tight, Hermione!"
Suddenly, Harry crouched down and made a swift movement with the boat's tiller, causing the small boat to bounce up and down on the water's surface and in mid-air, like a pebble skimming on the water.
At first, Crabbe and Goyle did not pay much attention, assuming that Potter was just repeating his old tricks. However, when they also turned their boats around and found their wooden vessels drifting on the water's surface, they realized something was amiss. The direction the boat was careening towards was none other than the muddy pond where they had lost their minds before.
Whew!
A gale of evil wind scattered the odd-shaped smoke cloud instantly, revealing a whirlpool of mud about twenty feet in diameter, appearing abruptly in the startled eyes of Crabbe and Goyle. With them was also a Hinkypunk, as misty and changing as silk, and as small as a house-elf, startled along with them.
The Hinkypunk, holding the trembling "ghost fire," stared at the giant ship that appeared to be towering over it, before being directly hit and disappearing in a scream!
The whirlpool where the Hinkypunk dwells possesses tremendous suction due to the presence of a silver fish called Ramora, which is widespread in the Indian Ocean. This fish has powerful magical properties, and during the Middle Ages, traveling magicians used it as an anchor chain for their ships.
This was a tragic event, for Crabbe and Goyle.
The abrupt halt of the ship was a disaster for them with their massive inertia. A piercing scream pierced the air, and the two of them flew through the air in an arc, finally landing with a massive splash in the water, much like an underwater bomb.
The comical scene before Harry's eyes, as he struggled to come to a halt not far away, made him burst into laughter. Even Hermione, with her drooping eyelids and lack of spirit, couldn't help but lift an eyebrow.
But the tragic fate of Crabbe and Goyle wasn't over yet.
Just as Crabbe and Goyle, who were dazed from their fall, began to recover, a large group of Hippopotamus fish swam over from an unknown location. They circled around the two, spewing water arrows endlessly at them, causing Crabbe and Goyle to shriek in pain. This time, even Hermione couldn't feel any pity for them.
"Congratulations to everyone for successfully passing the first round of selection--"
A familiar voice suddenly echoed across the vast lake.
"Then, the remaining warriors will compete on the racecourse for the glory of victory!"
"It's Professor Brian's voice!"
Harry, helping Hermione up, immediately realized what Brian Professor's words meant. Before he could even think about it, the space around them boiled as if it were boiling water. And then, Harry felt as if he was speeding towards the sky, with the ground rapidly receding from his field of vision.
As soon as his vision became clear, Harry's face turned grim after scanning the undisguised space.
Three hundred feet away, Ron and Lavender, with bruised faces, were using their oak boats stuck upright in the mud as shields to avoid the water arrows from the Hippopotamus fish. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, both exhausted, were passively leaning against the boat's sides without moving. Many of Harry's Gryffindor classmates were in similar situations, but only Neville and Dean seemed to be in a condition similar to Harry and Hermione's.
As for the Slytherins, Harry harshly scanned them, observing that Malfoy and Parkinson's group was mocking the two Gryffindors who had been sent into the mud by them.
Mallory Bourgeau, who had a grudge with Hermione, glared coldly at them. Theo Nott, the boy behind her, looked silent and somewhat not very tired.
There was another group of Slytherins, including a girl who wasn't unattractive, Daphne Greengrass, and her teammate Brace Sabini. They were currently whispering to each other, and they too seemed full of energy.
It's undeniable that for a game with no prior information, those from Slytherin, with their more refined and cautious personalities, have an advantage over Gryffindors.
"Three against two. We're running out of magic more quickly!"
As an expert in Quidditch, Harry was also skilled at analyzing the game situation. After a few glances, he had already predicted what would happen next...
