Chapter 507: Technical adjustments (Edited)

After searching in vain in the mermaids' village, Fish, who was already sure of winning, became a little impatient.

The easiest thing to do would be to ask Kanaloa, the absolute king of the Black Lake, who would know exactly what was going on here.

But even though he was probably going to lose, Fish didn't want to cheat.

So after thinking about it for a while, Fish decided to try using [Beast Tracking]. Although it was a bit awkward to use this spell, his ability to see, hear, and smell had been greatly reduced after entering the water.

"Nya!"

?(=`Д′=)?

With the tracking spell activated, Fish unconsciously clutched his head, which felt swollen from the amount of information pouring into his mind.

Amidst the mass of confused vibrations, Fish quickly picked up Hermione's location, then the cat quickly turned off the spell, rubbed his head and swam in the right direction towards Hermione's location.

As Fish got closer, he soon heard the mermaids singing in front of him, with the same melody as in the golden egg, but with the lyrics slightly changed.

Fish didn't have time to pay attention to their song, nor was he in the mood to greet Harry, who had just passed him, as he made his way as quickly as possible across the long grass toward Hermione, who was surrounded by the sirens.

The fact that Hermione was the only one left tied to the column was a little disconcerting, but he was more concerned about Hermione, who now appeared to be unconscious.

Without further ado from the mermaids, Fish cut the rope around Hermione with a paw and patted her cheek.

"Hermione? Are you okay?"

But Hermione didn't respond.

Fish cast another rejuvenation spell on her, but the green light circled twice and quickly went out.

Just as the cat pulled out her wand to try the revive spell again, Mercus, the lead mermaid, swam over....

"Bring her to the surface and she'll wake up." He warned gently, "If you don't hurry, you'll run out of time."

"Oh!" Fish hurried to put his wand away, then put his hands under Hermione's armpits and swam up as fast as he could, while shouting to Mercus and the others, "When it gets warmer, Fish will be back to play with you nya!".

Fish was a fast swimmer and soon saw the light coming down from above and Harry and Ron who were very close to the surface....

"Whoa!" "Whoa!"

With two almost simultaneous splashes, Harry and Fish emerged from the water, one after the other, with their rescued hostage.

"Nya!"

(=≥△≤=)

Fish sulked as he realized he was the last one, if only he hadn't wasted his time fishing.

"Fish? Did we win?"

Hermione asked, wiping water from her face as she came to her senses.

"Awwww..." the cat was even more embarrassed.

"Fish lost..." replied Fish with a dejected look on his face as he swam with Hermione towards the shore, "Fish lost a lot of time fishing, and Mercus and the others weren't in town...and we came in last...sorry, Hermione."

(._.)

Hermione was stunned for a moment, then stroked Fish's damp head and said softly, "It's okay, you came in first in the first trial, it's okay to come in last this time, you just have to win the third trial. Don't be sad."

Fish looked at Hermione, still depressed.

Winning was never the most important thing to Fish, but the reason he was sad was that when he saw Hermione tied up, he suddenly realized that he had gone fishing instead of saving Hermione.

Although he knew that Hermione was unlikely to be in danger, when he saw her, Fish suddenly became worried,

He felt guilty for not taking it seriously.

Quietly, he climbed ashore with Hermione, and Professor McGonagall, who had been waiting for his, quickly threw a blanket over them. Madam Pomfrey also came over and handed them each a vial of the burning potion.

"Nya!"

(=`Д′=)

Fish, who had been depressed, jumped up from the floor and started running with his mouth open after receiving the potion.

"Nya ow ow ow ow-!!!!"

(`Д′′≡`Д′)

Fish howled and lunged, splashing water everywhere.

After all this, Fish had regained some of his energy and, although he was still in a bad mood, he wasn't as wilted as before.

By then, Harry and Ron had finally swum to shore, and after the same thick blankets and potions, the four champions and their rescued hostages were all together.

"Are you the last one? What the hell happened?"

Fleur asked Fish curiously, and Gabrielle looked at him with wide eyes.

(?ω?)

Fish, who had regained his human form, reluctantly replied, "Fish went fishing... By the way! Where are Fish's fish?!"

∑(?ΦДΦ?)

Suddenly he came to and screamed.

It was bad enough that he was sorry for Hermione's condition and had lost the match, but if he lost his fish, Fish would be furious.

"Your fish was sent to the kitchen by Dumbledore!"

Professor McGonagall, who hadn't gone far because she was worried about Fish, came over and slapped him on the side of the head with a grimace.

"You always said you could win, didn't you? Hmm?"

"Fish said I could win in the end! It doesn't matter if I lose the second test nya!".

?(?`ω′?)?

Fish said in a not so loud voice.

"Hehe." Professor McGonagall laughed, but said nothing.

This infuriated Fish, but this time he had lost and didn't have the strength to argue with Professor McGonagall, so Fish had to puff up his face and sulk.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally come to a decision. Chief Mermaid Mercus has told us all about what happened under the lake, and we have decided to award the champions the following score of zero to fifty points..."

Just then, Ludo Bagman's thunderous voice rang out, as the judges, after a meeting, scored the four warriors.

"Victor Krum used a Transfiguration Charm, incomplete but effective, and was the first to take a hostage and return in time. So we give him fifty points."

Cheers and applause can be heard for Krum, and Karkaroff clapped louder, satisfied.

"Fleur Delacour has demonstrated excellent use of the bubble head spell and also brought back the hostage within the time limit, but since she was the second to return, we give her forty-eight points."

Madame Maxime's face wore a smirk.

"Harry Potter also used the bubblehead spell, and was the third to return. Therefore, we give him forty-five points."

The Gryffindor students let out cheers throughout the day, as Ron laughed and patted Harry on the back.

"Fish McGonagall..." Bagman shot a complicated look at Fish, lowering his tone slightly, "While he actually spent the least time rescuing the hostage of the four champions, for reasons that are well known, he was also the last to bring the hostage back...so, according to the rules, we can only give him forty points."

The audience burst out laughing, the result was acceptable, Fish hadn't really lost anyway and for them it was refreshing to see a defeated Fish.

"The third and final event will take place on the evening of June 24," Bagman continued, "And the champions will be informed of the details of it a month in advance. Thank you all for your support of the Champions."

With Bagman's words, the second event was officially over, and a group of girls milled around to console Fish, who seemed upset about losing the competition.

But Fish shooed them all away and then dragged Hermione into the Forbidden Forest.