"A little girl?" Fleur didn't lower her guard upon seeing the small creature. "No, she has horns and a tail, she's not human."
She wore a light purple and white outfit with a skirt and black boots, with bluish sleeves around her ankles. Her long, cerulean hair split into two ponytails at the sides, with a lock sticking out on her left side, pointing upwards. Two whitish horns emerged from her forehead, their round tips turning a light blue, the same color as her hair. Her eyes were light blue, though the lower part of them had a yellow tint.
"Barnaby?" Tonks looked at her fiancé with obvious eyes.
"It's fine, I guess it doesn't matter anymore," Barnaby sighed as he introduced Fleur's opponent to Tonks. "She's a vidyadhara named Bailu, also known as the Healing Lady."
"So, she's some sort of doctor?"
"Well, you could call her that," Barnaby's eyes twitched slightly as he said that.
"What do you mean?"
"She tends to prescribe rather... unconventional treatments to her patients, like 'stay well-hydrated' and 'get better sleep at night,'" he explained, trying to sound serious. "Bailu can't stand seeing people suffer, so she keeps her eyes closed while she heals ailments."
"That's..." Tonks felt somewhat baffled.
Closing her eyes while healing because she couldn't bear to see suffering?
What kind of strange medical philosophy is this?!
"Despite how it sounds, she has a very recognized skill and experience in medicine," Barnaby assured her. "It's just that sometimes she confuses pumpkins because she's a bit absent-minded and ends up giving the wrong medicine—but that hardly ever happens!"
"I see."
If Tonks ever got sick, she had no intention of being treated by Bailu—that was for sure!
"Yes, it's time to play... I mean, to diagnose!" Bailu exclaimed as she looked Fleur up and down. "Don't worry, no matter how bad you end up, I can heal you!"
Pomfrey narrowed her eyes upon hearing that.
Someone was intruding on her territory!
"Diagnostic Kick!"
Fleur saw Bailu dart toward her like a flash, but no matter how she tried to avoid it, she wasn't as fast!
The kick connected, and several arcs of electricity shocked Fleur, making her scream underwater.
"Hisss, that looks pretty painful," Ron whispered as he watched the electricity occasionally reveal Fleur's skeleton in the flickering lights.
He had no doubt that if they were on land, Fleur would now be steaming from the shock.
"Huh? You're tougher than I expected," Bailu said when Fleur managed to put some distance between them by freezing a layer of water, forming an ice sheet like a wall. "Time for medicine then!"
She untied the traveler's gourd from her waist and began drinking several medicines.
"Chanting Among the Clouds!"
"Dragon Marsh Jump!"
"Elixir Gourd!"
"Qihuang's Analects!"
"Ichor Lines!"
"Water Blessing!"
Fleur had barely recovered from the dizziness when she felt Bailu's presence becoming increasingly dangerous as she drank her medicines. But this gave Fleur an idea, and with a quick wand movement, she managed to steal the last medicine and swallowed it, hoping to strengthen herself as well.
"Thief!" Bailu puffed her cheeks upon seeing that the last medicine had been snatched from her hands.
Hmm? Wait, that color doesn't seem right...
She checked the gourd and realized she had made a mistake with the last one—it wasn't a strengthening medicine, but rather...
"Wait, don't do it!" Bailu shouted, worried and more scared than she had ever been in her life.
Barnaby might scold her!
More importantly, she wouldn't get the promised sweets!
That would be an utter tragedy for the Healing Lady, a complete trauma!!
Who asked Barnaby to make such delicious sweets?
But Fleur seemed to misinterpret her attempt to save her and gulped down the medicine with a smug smile, expecting it to take effect, perhaps even helping her recover from the damage she'd taken.
"That medicine isn't even meant for humans..." Bailu crouched down in the water, holding her head, feeling like she was about to cry.
The spectators were stunned to see Fleur steal a medicine and drink it without hesitation, causing Maxime to stand up in concern.
Who in their right mind drinks an unknown medicine?
Even the other side had tried to stop her, genuinely worried!
It wasn't an act!
Fleur's expression quickly changed when a bubbling sound started coming from her stomach, causing her to clutch her abdomen in pain.
"Someone call a doctor!" Bailu cried as she began frantically circling around Fleur in a panic, her eyes spinning. "Oh, right, that's me!" she said, realizing.
There was only one thing she could do...
"Diagnostic Kick!" Bailu struck her again—this time with her eyes closed!
Fleur couldn't resist and was sent flying toward the temporary infirmary area, followed by Bailu, who jumped after her, checking how to heal her.
"Fleur Delacour is out in one minute and twenty-two seconds!" came the announcement over the loudspeaker, confirming that the second task had come to an end. "According to the scores, Viktor Krum remains in first place, Harry Potter moves up to second, Fleur Delacour takes third place, and Cedric Diggory is in last."
"The third task will take place around June," Dumbledore announced as he stood up. "Best of luck to all!"