Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

Hermione took one final, lingering look at Krum, who appeared increasingly frazzled and desperate under the harassment of the persistent Kappa. His shark-like transformation made his expressions difficult to read, but his body language spoke about his rising frustration and exhaustion.

After observing this troubling scene for several more seconds, Hermione made her decision and turned away, swimming into the darker depths of the lake.

She had originally felt deeply grateful to Krum for his crucial help during that night of the Quidditch World Cup final the last year, when chaos had erupted. However, ever since he had maliciously slandered Professor Watson as a follower of the dark wizard Grindelwald, her once favorable impression of him had diminished greatly.

Moreover, from the strict perspective of the competition rules, she understood that she shouldn't meddle in others' affairs or allow herself to become distracted from her primary mission. Finding Harry and Ron, bringing them safely back to the surface, and ensuring Hogwarts' success in this dangerous task that was what mattered most.

But despite these rational considerations, Hermione found herself frowning deeply and remaining frozen in place for nearly a full minute. Finally, after a moral wrestling, she let out a heavy, resigned sigh and slowly turned her head back around to face the ongoing battle.

She would consider it proper repayment for the help Krum had provided during that chaotic night at the Quidditch World Cup final—Hermione told herself this with firm determination as she raised her wand.

"Oh, I wouldn't meddle if I were you," came a sudden, unexpected voice.

The unexpected interruption made Hermione almost think she was experiencing hallucinations brought on by the stress and isolation of the underwater environment.

Her whole body gave a violent shudder and she suddenly turned her head around to look toward a cluster of coral formations not far to her side. There, on the colorful branches that swayed gently in the current, sat a blurry, translucent figure who appeared to be watching the show.

"Myrtle!" Hermione wanted to shout with excitement and relief, but then she quickly realized she'd better not make any sudden or loud noises, lest she startle both Krum and the Kappa who were still entangled in their struggle nearby.

The last thing she wanted was to accidentally escalate the situation or draw unwanted attention to her hidden position. So instead, she crouched lower behind the reef, desperately waving her arms at Myrtle in an attempt to get the ghost's attention while maintaining her concealment.

In such a dark, oppressive, and psychologically challenging environment, seeing an 'old friend' even one as unpredictable as Myrtle was undoubtedly comforting and reassuring.

Hermione suppressed her excitement and relief, keeping her voice like a whisper as she spoke to Myrtle, who was now lazily floating over.

"How did you end up all the way down here, Myrtle?"

"Oh, some particularly annoying first-year student barged into my bathroom without any respect for privacy and flushed me down the drain—this sort of inconsiderate behavior happens from time to time, I'm afraid!" Myrtle replied with melancholy, cupping her translucent face in her ghostly hands in a gesture of despair.

But in the next moment, as was typical of her unpredictable nature, she became enthusiastic and lively again, her attention was drawn to the ongoing conflict as she looked at the Kappa with interest and said.

"Sometimes, you know, ghosts can see things that the living cannot perceive or understand. That Kappa over there, it is... oh, but I can't say, I really shouldn't reveal such information. I should learn to keep secrets better, shouldn't I? Besides, it's clearly trying to help Hogwarts."

"What are you talking about, Myrtle?" Hermione asked with a deepening frown.

But Myrtle, in her typically frustrating manner, didn't respond to her question. Instead, she let out an ethereal sigh.

"If you want to find those two silly boys of yours, perhaps you could try searching over there," She said, gesturing vaguely toward a distant part of the lake with one hand. "I won't accompany you on this particular adventure... I don't much like those merpeople. Every time I get close to their territory, they come chasing after me with their spears and hostile attitudes, and it's quite unpleasant."

With that abrupt dismissal, Myrtle tossed her ghostly head with an air of disdain and disappeared from Hermione's sight in a flash of silvery light.

"How bizarre!" Hermione muttered somewhat irritably, but she still made careful mental note of the direction Myrtle had indicated before her sudden departure.

On the other side of the underwater battlefield, Krum was already showing clear of exhaustion from the Kappa's harassment. He was no longer making any attempts to break through the creature's defensive border, but instead remained in place, opening his terrible yet somewhat comical shark mouth to gasp desperately for breath.

His yellow eyes showed growing despair and resignation, as if he had already accepted his fate and given up hope of completing his mission.

Hermione pressed her lips together in determination, her gaze directed toward the uneven, rocky ground of the lake bottom. After a brief moment of concentration and an inconspicuous glimmer of magical energy, a porous stone lying among the debris became transformed into a green cucumber.

"Hey!" Hermione called out boldly.

When Hermione suddenly jumped out from behind the reef, holding the magically conjured cucumber, both Krum and the Kappa were stunned—they hadn't expected another champion to be so close by.

After the initial shock wore off, Krum fell into a state of pure ecstasy and overwhelming relief. He instinctively wanted to swim directly toward Hermione, but after taking just a couple of desperate strokes, Krum realized that this impulsive action might very well pass his dangerous predicament directly on to Hermione.

With his current shark head transformation, Krum found himself completely unable to speak or communicate verbally. Instead, he blew out a long string of silvery bubbles that rose toward the surface, frantically waving his arms at Hermione in desperate gestures to signal her to leave quickly and not risk her own safety for his sake.

"Try this!" Hermione shouted as loudly as she could manage, though the protective bubble around her head and the heavy, dense lake water made her voice sound muffled and distorted. "Write your name clearly on the cucumber and throw it directly to that Kappa—maybe it'll stop pestering you!"

As she spoke these urgent instructions, Hermione skillfully used a precise levitation charm to control the stone-turned-cucumber, sending it gliding smoothly through the water to land precisely in Krum's hands.

Looking down at the green cucumber now resting in his palms, Krum stared blankly for several long seconds. Then, suddenly understanding the reason, he kicked his feet in frustration at his own stupidity and forgetfulness.

When encountering harassment from Kappa-type creatures, this was indeed the 'standard method' to get rid of them—basic magical creature defense content that should have been covered in third year classes.

Due to the passage of time, the stress of competition, and his current transformed state, he had completely forgotten this basic piece of knowledge!

"Hey, look at this, you ugly creature!" Krum shouted in his mind.

He used all his remaining strength to hurl the cucumber, hastily inscribed with his name using his wand tip, directly at the Kappa with as much force as he could muster. Only when the tumbling vegetable struck the Kappa on its hollow forehead did the Kappa snap back to attention, withdrawing its intense gaze from Hermione and focusing on this new development.

The Kappa instinctively picked up the cucumber with its hands, stared at it blankly for a long moment as if trying to decipher some text, then glanced back and forth between the two young wizards who were watching it with high alert and nervous anticipation.

In its bright black eyes, very human-like emotions appeared—surprise, confusion, and perhaps even a touch of embarrassment.

Gurgle!

A large bubble emerged from the Kappa's nose with a sound. After giving Hermione a rather helpless glare, the Kappa moved its long, webbed limbs and shot away, stirring up white foam and sediment as it quickly disappeared into the darker depths of the lake bottom, clutching its cucumber.

When the monster's figure finally vanished from sight, Krum went completely limp with exhaustion and relief. He allowed his body to fall freely through the water column to the lake bottom, settling cross-legged on the rough rocks with a heavy thud, gasping heavily as his shark gills worked overtime to process the water.

"I know you're tired," Hermione said with concern as she hurried to Krum's side, reaching out to support his arm. "But I'm afraid we don't have much time to waste on recovery. There's less than half an hour left in the competition."

Hermione's long, curly hair swayed gently with the flowing water currents, creating an almost ethereal halo effect around her head.

"You go first!" But Krum quickly broke free from Hermione's potentially 'fatal allure,'.

He looked at her with immensely grateful eyes gesturing with his hands to indicate his meaning: "I need to rest and recover my strength."

The latter part of his message was complex and difficult to convey through simple gestures alone. After struggling to understand his meaning through his increasingly frustrated hand movements, Hermione hesitated for a moment.

But ultimately, she chose to grab Krum's arm firmly and pull him up from the rocky ground with determination.

"Burden!" The anxious Krum even managed to make a muffled, distorted sound with his shark mouth.

He broke free from Hermione's support, "I, can't keep up, you, go first, Time!"

Seeing Krum's resolute attitude and understanding the concern behind his words, Hermione pressed her lips together in acceptance. She knew there really wasn't time to delay here any longer.

"Leave this area as soon as possible—that Kappa might very well come back!"

After dropping this urgent warning, Hermione looked at Krum with concern and worry, then flicked her powerful tail fin with determination and quickly departed in the direction Myrtle had indicated.

Unable to judge time accurately in the disorienting underwater environment, Hermione felt she had swum for at least another twenty minutes through increasingly challenging terrain. Now, based on her internal calculations, she was probably only about ten minutes away from the competition's time limit.

The water area she was navigating now had vast stretches of black, silky silt below that created an almost alien landscape. The lake water stirred up dark, swirling whirlpools from her movements. But then, cutting through the oppressive silence, the faint, ethereal singing that finally reached her ears provided some much-needed comfort to her anxious heart that felt ready to explode from the rising pressure.

A group of Grindylows appeared lurking in the dense water plants at the boundary between the silty bottom and the rocky formations. But from their listless, defeated state, they had obviously already been dealt with by someone who had passed this way before her.

So, when they made half-hearted attempts to attack Hermione as she passed overhead, they were easily overwhelmed by a sudden flurry of bubbles and turbulence created by Hermione's suddenly accelerated tail movements. By the time they managed to free themselves from the disorienting bubble cloud, the determined girl was already far away.

Hermione desperately wanted to stop and properly admire the magnificent merperson village that gradually appeared in her view, it was such a rare and wondrous sight to see.

However, her head seemed to contain a persistent internal clock that kept chiming nonstop, creating an almost unbearable pressure, and only by swimming faster and more determinedly could she somewhat reduce that annoying persistent sound.

So, when she finally discovered the four wooden posts surrounded by a large group of merpeople who watched her approach with curious but non-threatening expressions, a deep weariness rising from her soul nearly made her want to fall asleep right there.

The emotional and physical exhaustion of the long underwater journey, combined with the constant stress and pressure, had taken its toll on her. But she knew she couldn't afford to rest—she still had the crucial task of bringing Harry and Ron back to the surface safely, and time was running out.

Those fierce-looking merpeople with their gleaming spears and intimidating presence didn't attack her as she approached the posts, which made Hermione breathe a large sigh of relief.

However, when she saw that Cho Chang was missing from the four posts, her heart sank.

Cedric had succeeded—he had already taken Cho Chang to safety!

Realizing this development, Hermione felt a complex mixture of emotions: genuine happiness that Hogwarts had taken the lead again in the competition, but also some worry that she might have fallen too far behind in the rankings to achieve a respectable finish.

But Hermione quickly forced these distracting thoughts from her mind with determination. She swam vigorously, rapidly approaching those two faces that were now tinged with a disturbing, deathly pallor that made her heart race with concern.

The moment her fingertips made contact with their cold skin, a bright emerald light suddenly erupted from an unknown source, the intense brightness overwhelmed Hermione's stunned vision and filled her entire world with intense green glow.

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