Krum, who had left, did not notice that a milky white thing was floating quickly over the weed.
He was looking for the two other champions in the turbid lake.
Fleur was looking in the wrong direction and was swimming in the opposite direction of the Merpeople village. He didn’t have to bother about her; Cedric had already passed this patch of weed…
He was moving fast and just missed Krum.
Cedric was about to arrive at the Merpeople Village, and might be the first to leave with the Ravenclaw girl.
That did not affect the plan. Cedric was very strong, and it was not as easy to get rid of him as Ron.
Three hours ago, Evan, Harry, Cho and Poliakoff had been tied to the tail of the Merperson’s statue.
They all appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.
Evan was between Cho Chang and Harry, and he was still ‘Gabrielle’, with clouds of silvery hair floating in the icy lake.
The next second, he suddenly opened his eyes.
The magic Dumbledore had cast on him was not as powerful as the one cast on the others, and he woke up early.
But Evan was still able to breathe underwater as though he had eaten Gillyweed. That was a very difficult compound magic with different withdrawal points, and Evan had to admire Dumbledore’s casting ability.
The wand hidden in his sleeve slipped down to his hand and the rope loosened automatically. He moved and looked around. Harry and Cho were still asleep.
There was no sound around, and the Merpeople were a little lazy and didn’t bother to guard the four of them. There was not even a shadow in the small square. They should be crouched in the crude stone dwellings.
Evan didn’t do much. After drinking a mouthful of Polyjuice Potion, he tied himself back.
Counting the time, the game was about to start. Moody’s magical eye could penetrate the lake and he could not let him see anything abnormal.
But Evan tied himself to Harry this time. The black rope made of weed was enchanted by him. It was thick, slippery and very strong. It was hard to be untied or damaged, so Harry would not leave his side.
Evan counted the time, and every hour, he swallowed a sip of the Polyjuice potion to maintain the deformation.
Meanwhile, the Merpeople emerged from all directions and looked curiously at the four of them, and the memorable Mersong began to be heard around them. It was not the kind of ritual song Evan had heard before, and the tune was more cheerful.
“An hour long you’ll have to look,
And recover what we took…”
“Your time’s half gone, so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot…”
That was the song in the Golden Egg. The Merpeople were guiding the champions to rescue their most important people.
Evan opened his eyes quietly, and saw in the dark lake two Merpeople holding spears and guarding them.
Not far away, many Merpeople formed a circle. They were singing, dancing and bustling.
The Merpeople were all dressed up. A Mermaid was wearing thick ropes of pebbles around her neck. She was holding a pet Grindylow, and her dark green, long, shaggy hair was adorned with the ornaments Evan had sold her last time.
Most mermaids were dressed up like that, and the most valuable ornaments on them were the ones that Evan had brought before.
When disregarding their grayish skin, yellow eyes, and yellow broken teeth, the whole image was rather beautiful.
But now, they looked more like a bunch of demons reveling.
More than thirty minutes had passed, and there was no sign of the champions. Why were they dawdling?!!
Just as Evan swallowed the last sip of the Polyjuice potion, Cedric Diggory appeared on the edge of the Merpeople village.
There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. It was very funny.
Cedric landed, splashing a large tract of black mud, and the lake was swirled with black water because of his agitation.
He looked around blankly, surprised to see the Merpeople.
Then he saw the four hostages tied to the tail of the statue. Cho’s head was on the shoulder of the small silver-haired girl, and she looked fine, but the girl from Beauxbatons was ghostly green and pale.
She was Fleur’s younger sister, and she usually seemed to be with Evan.
Cedric also saw Harry on Gabrielle’s other side, and he was asleep.
“Leave with your own hostage!” A Merman swam over to him and said with an unpleasant smile on his face.
Cedric hesitated and pulled a knife out of his pocket. He swam over to cut Cho free and he pulled her upward.
But soon, he stopped, worried.
It was so weird that he didn’t see the three other champions along the way.
Those Mermen looked all fierce, as though they could kill the hostages at any time.
He couldn’t leave them alone, Cedric was going to wait here for a while, and when the next champion came, he would leave.
More than ten minutes later, the Merpeople around started screeching animatedly.
Cedric looked up and saw Krum, a shark swimming over. Ron and Fleur should be behind. He nodded to him, pulled Cho upward, and soon disappeared.
Krum, a half-human and half-shark, was close to the hostages, but soon a dispute arose.
He didn’t care of his hostage Poliakoff, but wanted to take Harry away, and the Merpeople wouldn’t let him do it.
“Your task is to retrieve your own friend … leave the others!”
Krum didn’t answer. He waved his wand, and a boiling water column hit the Merman closest to him.
Where the spell hit him, the Merman’s green skin quickly turned red, and then he fainted.
The Merpeople around stopped laughing, and pairs of yellow eyes were fixed upon Krum’s wand, and they looked very scared.
Despite their large number, in the face of Krum alone, the Merpeople were afraid of magic.
Krum’s shark head opened his mouth, and the Merpeople scattered and fled, and soon disappeared without a trace.
“It was him!” Evan could feel what was happening around him. Was Krum under Moody’s control?!!
He half opened his eyes, and he saw Krum swim over, and he began snapping and biting at his and Harry’s ropes.
Krum’s action was so big that it seemed like he was going to rip them apart, but it didn’t work…
He waved his wand again and still could not untie the rope between Evan and Harry.
He shook his shark’s head, destroyed the statue, and took Evan and Harry away from the Merpeople village, swimming deeper into the lake.
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