African elephant made a sharp trumpet and collapsed on the ground, its broad and burly back tumped a little from the impact as it caused seven or eight people to stumble down, some of them were too tired, so they simply slid down as if they were on a slide, and their bodies rolled twice on the platform, gasping for breath.
The champions both physically and mentally have been exhausted and reached their limits.
Harry realized that he can hardly even move at the moment, from head to toe every muscle hurts badly, he tried to lift his head, but his neck seems like broken, so he can only slant his eyes to look at people in the afterglow.
He looked at Ron and Hermione, all three of them breathed like leaky old bellows, at that moment, Ron burst into exaggerated laughter, he fell on his face, his fist thumped the white marble floor, and even tears came out of his eyes.
"Look ... at the elephant's trunk ... haha ... looks like a snot bubble... ..."
Harry and Hermione barely looked over, the African elephant is crouched on the floor, slowly regained its human form, but you can still see, the elephant's long trunk with a bubble hanging at the end ... Harry guessed it is a Bubble-Head Charm, but ... a snot bubble?
His shoulders suddenly shook, as he tried his best not to laugh out loud, and Hermione also seemed to be holding it back very hard.
Cedric, Collins, and Roger limped next to them, without caring about their image, they sat on the ground, gasping for air, Cedric originally looked very white, and now after being in the water for a long time, he looks even paler like a vampire. Collins seemed to have caught a cold, her nose making a broken whistle with each breath, and as for Roger, he laid straight down on his back and performed a duet with the Uagadou champion who is slumped on the ground, snoring loudly.
"He's exhausted ...," Cedric said wearily, pointing to Roger Davies. "Thanks, your Patronus was a big help."
" It was not much of a help," Harry said awkwardly. He wasn't very comfortable with the atmosphere, so he busied himself by looking up and around - his neck started to hurt again, the skin on the back of his neck stiff like an old tire leather, "Is everyone here?" He asked, out of breath with a grin on his face.
Then he saw a pale-looking Fleur talking to a girl, and Krum grimacing, his strength surprisingly good as he walked around in circles, occasionally raising his head to stare at the approaching merpeople guards in the distance. Graves, whose face mirrored Krum's, glared at a champion who had his face buried in his knees.
"He shouldn't have gotten out of his protective shield in the first place, so I guess he'll get a lot of points off," Cedric said, following his gaze, "Everyone's here, but you guys, weren't got caught?"
Harry and the team shook their heads and Cedric's mouth curled with a smile, "Then you're lucky."
"Merpeople are difficult?" Harry asked, trying to keep the smugness out of his voice as he inclined his head and looked beyond the high platform, which is surrounded by hundreds of merpeople, but the sense of crisis didn't exactly rise in him.
"The water is the merpeople's home turf, and they have developed a cooperative system." Cedric explained, "They can weave thick slippery ropes, lassos, and large nets with aquatic plants ... Every one of them is good at sneaking in-"
Harry stared at the merpeople's iron-gray skin, long dark green aquatic grass hair, and cloudy yellow eyes, and had to admit that there is some truth to this statement; he and Hermione had been sneaked upon as well, but like Cedric said, they were lucky enough to together at the time.
"- and those Grindylows, followed us like hunting dogs, when merpeople command them they acted completely different from when they are alone, these Grindylows could follow simple commands, like holding a rope in their mouths or something ... and The more time passed, the more tired we are, even magic is almost impossible to use." Cedric said, shaking his head.
At that moment, a silvery light broke the surface of the water, descended straight down from above the black lake, "Ta-da", and landed gently on the platform.
Felix looked around, the silver cloak behind him slowly turned into crystalline dots of light, he calmly announced to the crowd: "the tournament is over, all champions stand in a circle, and I will take you back to shore."
He waved his wand, the platform beneath their feet suddenly trembled, the stone and sand at the outermost rim trembled and parted, and soon the white marble platform slowly rose upward, and they got enveloped in a translucent glowing shield, if they had to describe it, it was like an enlarged protective shield.
Harry cast his eyes around and looked above, he was in an extraordinarily calm mood, A swimming fishes passed quickly like tiny darts, he even saw a patterned globe fish, and wondered if it is the one that he had come across.
Hopefully, it will not be found by the merpeople, Harry thought to himself.
Merpeople guards with pikes and pitchforks formed two lines, escorting them left and right, and followed them for some distance before parting ways with them. Immediately after, they saw the waves of light constantly beating overhead, and with a "boing" sound, they rushed out of the black lake.
The world above the water is dazzling and brilliant; Harry's eyes hurt sharply, tears involuntarily leaked out, and the dazzling white light blinded them.
He heard a clamour, the buzzing sound of voices coming closer and closer, getting louder and louder. It took him a while to realize it is the sound of cheers and applause from the crowd.
Ludo Bagman's voice chimed in just in time -
"All champions returned safely, let's cheer them to their hearts' content, they were underwater for over four hours! Ah, I see Madam Pomfrey is already over-"
His voice seemed hazy and muffled, as if it had been separated by something.
At that moment, Felix reached out his hand towards the hemispherical membrane of light and flicked it, and the spot where his finger touched quickly burned up and turned into nothing. Immediately after a fresh, cool air rushed in, Felix took a deep breath, smiled at the champions who also breathed heavily, and said, " Champions, we have arrived above, be prepared to receive the cheers."
His words got drowned out by the sudden deafening noise of screams, Harry had never felt breathing is such a pleasant thing before, and the distant sounds became real, Madam Pomfrey is waiting anxiously on the shore, and she rushed up as soon as the marble platform docked.
"Is anyone hurt?" She inquired of Felix.
"There may be some scrapes or bruises, nothing serious, their problem is that they are too tired." Felix said, while looking at the sprawling group of champions, a few snored loudly, the enthusiastic cheering around them not affecting the quality of their sleep at all.
"Uh ... well," Madam Pomfrey said, taking a thin-mouthed vial from her potion case and pouring potions into the champions' mouths one by one. The Uagadou champion who had slept the most dazedly gulped it down, then rolled over and went back to sleep.
Madame Pomfrey stared at him and froze for a few seconds before turning to the next man.
"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey." Harry said, swallowing the fiery liquid in his mouth, neither he nor Ron or Hermione showing any expression of protest, simply to divert Madam Pomfrey's attention away from them.
"A Pepperup Potion, maybe with something else in it, I can taste the mint." Ron smacked his lips and said, a stream of white vapour rushing out of his ears and nostrils.
The shore is chaotic, Percy strides over and clutched Ron with a death grip, "I'm going to be choked to death by you - Percy!" Ron struggled, and Harry also saw Sirius and Lupin walking over from the crowd.
Hermione looked a little down, she hadn't told her parents yet, but maybe for the third task, she should just call her mom and dad. A blanket covered her head, and she looked at Professor McGonagall in surprise.
"I think you need a hug." Professor McGonagall said.
"Oh ... uh, I guess so." Hermione pursed her lips as she said, and hugged Professor McGonagall lightly, and in the afterglow, she saw Professor Hap and Dumbledore crouched at the water's edge, talking to the merpeople chief.
Felix keenly noticed her gaze, and smiled at her, flashing her a thumbs up.
Then he withdrew his attention and watched with great surprise as a string of piercing sounds emanated from Dumbledore's mouth, and the merpeople chief spoke the same language, which made him mutter darkly, didn't this merman speak English?
Finally, Dumbledore stood up straight, "Felix, let's go over and join up with the rest of the judges for a meet-up." The Headmasters reassembled, Fudge and Bagman also rushed over to discuss the matter quietly.
Dumbledore relayed the information that the Merpeople Chief had told him - unlike the footage which they watched through the wristwatches of the champions, the Merpeople could provide a more three-dimensional and neutral evaluation.
Fudge put himself in an objective perspective and said, "This tournament is pretty complex, and no team performed badly, so we can start by saying what's notable ..."
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