Harry soon discovered a trick after mastering the boat.
The speed of the oak boat depended on the amount of magic that was infused into it. Under normal passive magic absorption, the boat only moved as fast as a young wizard jogging. But if he relaxed his mind and actively cooperated with the infusing of magic power, the boat could be as agile as an old-fashioned flying broomstick. Of course, the price of doing so was huge. In just half a minute, Harry felt as exhausted as if he had played a fierce Quidditch match.
He smashed a dull yellow cloud of smoke, but everything in front of him was still desolate. With misty clouds everywhere, they couldn't figure out which direction to go, nor where their classmates were. The swamp was vast and gloomy, with no signs of life or landmarks. The only sounds were the splashes of the boat and the occasional croaks of frogs?
"Why didn't he point out a direction, since it's a race?"
Harry spat out the slightly fishy mist that he accidentally inhaled into his nose, and muttered a little dissatisfied. He felt like they were wasting time and energy in this pointless exercise.
"Maybe it's to increase the difficulty, Harry–" Hermione analyzed rationally,
"Don't you understand Professor Watson's style, Harry? To create such a large swamp in the staff Lounge, I can't imagine how many complex spells he had to cast. If it's just to let us understand the Hinkypunk, I don't see the need for this."
She sounded both impressed and annoyed by the professor's creativity and challenge.
Harry moved his lips, and had to admit that Hermione's opinions were very accurate and reasonable most of the time.
He withdrew his slightly stiff palm, and the oak boat slid forward by inertia for a distance. Harry looked at a strangely shaped charred tree, and his brows frowned suddenly. The tree was blackened and twisted, as if it had been struck by lightning. It stood out from the other green and brown trees in the swamp.
"Do you feel it, Hermione,"
He said in a very ethereal voice in the empty and silent environment,
"That dead tree, we seemed to have passed by it a minute ago. Hermione, are we going around in circles?"
Harry's guess made Hermione frown too. She quickly took out her wand and pointed to the ground to cast a spell. She looked at the wand and gasped.
"You're right, Harry, we are lost. The wand is spinning like crazy. There must be some kind of enchantment here that confuses our sense of direction." She said with a worried tone. She hated being lost and helpless.
Because Professor Watson didn't give a direction to go, and there was no reference in the swamp, the two confused young wizards just picked a direction at random and kept going straight ahead. But they didn't realize that, because of the constantly moving clouds and poor visibility here, people were prone to go around in circles in this situation.
Harry took his palm off the wooden ball. He couldn't figure out the direction of progress, and he couldn't afford to consume magic like this. He felt his forehead sweating and his stomach rumbling. He wondered how long they had been in the swamp, and how much longer they had to endure.
It was time for the unpleasant brainstorming session. Harry squatted in the cabin to rest, and Hermione sat opposite him with her legs together, muttering incessantly. She was trying to recall everything she had read or heard about swamps, spells, and navigation.
"–Oh, I remember, in some Muggle books, it said that when you lose your way in the wild, you can tell the direction by the sun or the stars." She said with a hopeful voice.
Harry immediately looked at the sky, and then lowered his head listlessly. The sky was covered with thick gray clouds, blocking any glimpse of the sun or the stars. He doubted that they even existed in this artificial swamp.
"That's right, Hermione, but the problem is that we are in the professor's lounge now. Professor Watson obviously won't be kind enough to give us a sun or a star."
Harry said sarcastically.
"I know there won't be that, Harry,"
Hermione said irritably. She continued to recall those Muggle books related to travel, and muttered,
"The direction of the water flow can also help us. It usually leads to a larger body of water, or a lower elevation."
Harry immediately stuck his head out of the boat, and in the swamp that was only half a meter deep, the water surface was smooth as a mirror, and he couldn't see any trace of flow. The water was stagnant and murky, with no signs of movement or life. Harry was a bit discouraged and prepared to take his sight back, but just as he was about to do so, not far away, under the calm water surface, a few unusual silver lights caught his attention. They looked like small stars in the dark water.
'What is that?'
Harry blinked his eyes and wondered, but then, the silver lights under the water seemed to sense Harry's gaze, and quickly approached the boat. A few seconds later, these silver lights came close to the range of thirty feet from the boat. Harry could see that they were actually the eyes of some strange fish. They had long and slender bodies, covered with fins and spines. They had sharp teeth and gills, and they looked like a cross between sharks and eels.
"Silverback?" Hermione's slightly surprised voice attracted Harry's attention.
"What is that?"
Looking at the fish covered with fins and spines, Harry asked curiously. He had never seen such fish before.
"A kind of fish that lives in the Atlantic Ocean, with magical characteristics. There is a small section about it in the book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'."
Hermione's voice was heavy with uneasiness. She had read about the Silverback in the book, and she knew that they were not that dangerous but were very unpredictable and aggressive.
"Be careful, Harry, they are aggressive. Oh!"
She gasped, as she saw the water surface erupt with silver flashes.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As Hermione was explaining, a dozen Silverback that were swimming around the boat leaped out of the water without any warning, and spat out sharp water arrows at them in mid-air.
The water arrows were like bullets, piercing through the air with a whistling sound.
Harry and Hermione were caught off guard and hit by a few, and their skin turned purple. They felt a burning sensation, as if they had been stung by nettles. They quickly covered their wounds with their hands, hoping to ease the pain. They finally realized why Professor Watson had given the boat a magic shield. It was not only to protect them from the water, but also from the attacks of the swamp creatures.
"Quick, control the rudder, Hermione, we can't take this kind of force for long!"
Harry screamed, and climbed to the stern with his hands and feet. He didn't skimp on his magic, and pressed his palms firmly on the two wooden balls. The wooden balls were the source of the boat's power, and they could be controlled by the user's magic. Harry felt his magic flow into the balls, and then into the boat.
While activating the magic shield, the boat glided quickly. The shield was like a transparent bubble, enveloping the boat and its passengers. It could deflect the water arrows, but it also consumed a lot of magic. Harry knew that he had to be careful, and not waste his magic.
"But where should we go, Harry!"
Hermione asked, as the speeding boat drew a huge and beautiful semicircle on the turbulent 'lake'. The lake was like a stormy sea, with waves crashing and splashing.
The boat cut through the water, leaving a trail of foam behind. But they still couldn't shake off those silver Silverback. They chased behind the boat, spitting out water arrows that rippled on the white shield, which also increased the magic consumption of maintaining the shield. The Silverback were relentless and cunning, and they seemed to enjoy the chase. They showed no signs of giving up, and they kept attacking from different angles.
"Just find a direction,"
Harry said, gritting his teeth and roaring. The howling wind made his messy hair even more chaotic. He felt his hair whipping his face, and his eyes watering.
"Maintain the shield and speed up at the same time, I'm afraid I can't hold on for long!"
He said, feeling his magic draining rapidly. He felt his palms getting cold, and his arms getting numb. He knew that he had to conserve his magic, and find a way out of the swamp.
"But–"
Hermione protested. This vague instruction was the most deadly for her. She liked to have a clear and logical plan, and she hated to act on impulse. She looked around anxiously, controlling the boat to dart in and out of the clouds, hoping to see something that could indicate the direction.
The clouds were thick and gray, and they obscured the view. They also moved constantly, and changed shape. They made it hard to tell where they were, and where they were going. And just then, in the misty clouds, a suddenly appearing orange light ball caught her attention.
The light ball was like a lantern, swinging and flickering. It looked warm and inviting, and it seemed to beckon them to follow it.
In this moment of panic and anxiety, Hermione didn't have time to think more. Instinctively, she turned the rudder, and controlled the boat to fly directly towards the swaying light ball.
The appearance of the Silverback was like a signal. The staff lounge that was filled with suppressed silence was suddenly filled with terrified screams and painful wails from all directions!
"Don't go there, Hermione!"
Harry shouted loudly, taking a quick look at the direction of the boat's head. He saw the orange light ball, and he felt a chill in his spine. He remembered what Professor Watson had told them about the Hinkypunk, the small one-legged creature that could lure travellers with its lantern.
"Can't you see, Hermione, Professor Watson wants to use this method to make us panic, lose our calm, and be bewitched by the Hinkypunk!"
He said, trying to warn Hermione.
"Oh, maybe you're right–"
Hermione said, turning the direction urgently. She turned the rudder, and controlled the boat to fly away from the light ball. But she was too late, She felt a sudden jolt, and then a sharp pain. She screamed, and grabbed Harry's hand. She almost threw herself and Harry out of the cabin, and into the water.
"Let me do it, Hermione, you're not good at this!"
Harry said, taking advantage of the cabin's drift by inertia. He climbed to the bow in three or two steps, and Hermione moved away.
"It looks like a flying broom on the water, I can handle this. Hold on, Hermione!"
It turned out that as the youngest Quidditch seeker in a century, Harry was not just so in a name. He had an outstanding talent in maneuvering fast-moving vehicles, whether they were flying brooms or floating boats. At the same speed, Hermione couldn't get rid of those Silverback, but Harry only relied on a few agile turns and the visual obstruction of the surrounding clouds. He didn't need much effort to make those magic fish dizzy and completely left behind. He made the boat swerve and spin, and disappear into the clouds.
But now, their oak boat was very close to the orange light ball that Hermione wanted to approach in the clouds. Guessing that there might be a Hinkypunk living there, Harry felt uneasy instinctively. He quickly turned the rudder, trying to get away from that area. And just then, in another direction, a much larger oak boat, suddenly broke through the clouds and appeared in front of Harry and Hermione.
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Author's Note: Shall I change the name of the fish or is it good? I was thinking of Silverback fish if the name shark-fish is not good. And I changed the previous chapter and upcoming chapters name to race.
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