Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 392 The Second Project
After getting up every day, Jon routinely pointed his wand at his heart and cast an Animagus transformation spell.
He did this almost every day for the past six months and never stopped. After doing all this, he would get up, wash up and have breakfast.
When he arrived at the restaurant, Lee, George and Hermione were already sitting there.
"I read the Daily Prophet. He was the only one who was still insisting on the ball. He was convinced that we had stolen something precious from the castle. It was only because of the Dark Lord's generosity that he did not pursue us and continued with today's game. Oh, by the way, they also published photos of the portraits and armor fragments that you destroyed, Hermione."
George said proudly, holding a glass of pumpkin juice.
"Looks like Fred and I got great results with our Weasleyball!"
The alchemical ball that Hermione used to successfully blow up the armor in the headmaster's office was, of course, the successful research of the Weasley twins that was discovered by John during the summer vacation.
The most perfect thing they have made so far is this small bomb, which has stable triggering and decent power. When the first game just ended, George showed Dumbledore their finished product without reservation and shared all the refining techniques and materials with him in the hope that it could reduce some casualties among wizards on the Wizarding Horizon.
Just like what the twins and Jon said during the summer vacation, they would not keep their research results secret from Dumbledore. With the funding from Durmstrang, they no longer have to worry about their experiments, and they can also provide blood transfusions to the wizarding world free of charge.
But they wanted to give it away for free, and Dumbledore certainly saw the value in these things.
The Weasley twins had a very clever idea and were extremely talented in alchemy. It was not that no wizard in the past had thought of embedding the blasting spell in a sphere and mass-producing this advanced black magic, but the biggest difficulty with this technology was the instability of the blasting spell. When the finished product would explode and under what circumstances it would explode was unknown even to the person who made it.
However, the Weasley twins overcame this difficulty. John didn't know how did it, but it seemed that they used a certain magic rune passed down in the Weasley family. After the technology of the alchemy ball was fully mature, they gave all their research away for free. Of course, Grindelwald paid for it, and they also got such technology.
After learning about the research results of the Weasley twins, Dumbledore did not accept their gift. Instead, after careful consideration, he proposed to patent George and his team's invention, and then reward them by giving them a share .
But the twins rejected such reward. They still insisted on their original idea and did not take any money for the gift.
In the end, Dumbledore did not insist any more. He just left a trophy with the name of the Weasley twins in the trophy display room that had been kept on the carriage. At the same time, he gave the Weasleys a generous bonus in the wizarding world, on the grounds that George and Fred had an absolutely outstanding performance, and therefore rewarded their parents.
After George and the others learned about this, they no longer refused. Although Arthur and Molly didn't know what they had done specifically, they were happy and proud of it.
The Weasley ball that Hermione used in the headmaster's office this time was the one given to her by Dumbledore and was made by the Wizarding World using the technology provided by the Weasley twins.
Now, it has achieved remarkable results in its first actual combat use.
"It's very useful and powerful." Hermione affirmed.
Although they were the ones who actually sneaked into Hogwarts Castle on the day of the ball, the outside public opinion had no effect on John and the others.
It can even be said that apart from the Daily Prophet which was still reporting on this matter, other magic newspapers had long stopped mentioning it and instead began focusing on the second event of today's Triwizard Tournament.
In fact, Jon already knew what the second project was after the first project was completed.
The three events of the Triwizard Tournament were proposed by Voldemort and Dumbledore respectively, and the final event was decided by Matthew and his team.
The competition event proposed by Voldemort was to snatch the Golden Snitch from the Forbidden Forest. The second event was naturally chosen by Dumbledore and his team, so John, Daisy and Draco had a lot of advantages.
Of course, such an advantage is allowed by the rules, just like Draco and Emil knew about it in advance before the first competition started.
So since the first competition ended, Jon has been staying by the Black Lake to prepare for the second event.
That’s right, the venue for the second event is in the Black Lake.
The only difference from the competition in the original book is that this time Jon and his friends don't need to go under the lake to rescue anyone from the obstruction of mermaids, but they need to search for pearls from the bottom of the lake.
Unlike the first game, there are only ten pearls in total, and the scope of the Black Lake and the time the students can stay underwater will not be as long as the time they stay in the Forbidden Forest.
According to Jon's estimation, the game would be over in as little as one morning.
The most critical issue that the contestants have to face is not just how to move underwater. The key point is that it is only January 1st, and the ice on the surface of the Black Lake has not melted yet and is still the thickest. Just breaking through this layer of ice and entering the lake is a problem. Secondly, how to continue to move in the cold water is also a difficulty.
Compared to these two, finding pearls is an easy problem to solve.
It is not without reason that Dumbledore specifically proposed to hold the competition in the Black Lake. Jon has been fishing by the lake every day recently in order to be fully prepared for entering the lake.
As for how to get into the water, he and Daisy certainly had sufficient plans for this.
After breakfast, Dumbledore and Rosier led the team to the Black Lake, where many students from Hogwarts Castle had already gathered.
The Christmas holiday has not yet ended, and because no one has gone home for the Christmas ball, these students are in the most boring state in the castle without classes.
There were no restrictions on them in this competition, and the competition venue was on the Black Lake, so they could naturally come as spectators.
In addition to the students, Matthew and two other referees were also waiting here. Snape and Beauxbatons' Vice-Principal Bulstrode were also at the lake with Draco and Emile.
Jon and his group were the last to arrive, but there was still half an hour before the game officially started at nine o'clock.
When they arrived here, Jon clearly saw that Emil and Draco were holding something unusual in their hands. It looked like some kind of herb, which made him and Daisy look at each other.
Daisy obviously also saw what they were holding in their hands and mouthed something to Jon.
"Gillweed."
This is an herb that allows the person who takes it to breathe underwater for up to an hour.
What really caused Jon to feel problematic was not the herb itself, but the fact that Draco and Emil had made such advance preparations.
Who told them the rules of the game in advance?
When Jon thought of this problem, he subconsciously looked up at Matthew, but then he realized that it was not just this American wizard. In fact, compared to him, the other two federation referees were more suspicious, especially the Asian wizard who had already shown some problems in the first event.
After everyone arrived, Matthew read out the rules of the second event in public.
"After passing the woods, your challenge will turn into underwater. This Black Lake is the venue for the next event. Even though I'm an American, I've heard of this legend. When the four great wizards chose this place to build Hogwarts Castle a thousand years ago, they also rowed across this lake."
"So in this competition that determines the ownership of the castle and the name of Hogwarts, of course you will need to walk the path that the founders of this school have walked again. We have hidden ten pearls in the Black Lake in advance. What you have to do today is to collect these pearls from the water as quickly as possible. The final score will be judged similarly to the first game. The rankings will be 70, 50, 30 and 10 points based on the number of pearls obtained, and 40, 30, 20 and 10 points based on the time of return. There is no time limit for this game. As long as you have enough ability, you can stay in the lake as long as you want. But similarly, if someone fails to come back for a long time, we will send someone to check underwater to see if they still have life signs."
"You also need to pay attention to one thing, everyone. Because of the special environment underwater, no matter what you experience, we cannot know it in time. So once you enter the lake, I can't guarantee your safety. It is precisely because of this that I want to tell you these words in advance so that you can be mentally prepared."
Matthew looked seriously at all the warriors present. Of course, he just glanced at Jon and only paid special attention to Daisy, Draco and Emil.
Daisy certainly had no hesitation. She had made all the preparations when she signed up at Durmstrang and chose to put her name into the Goblet of Fire.
Of course, Emil's expression would not change at all. It's not that he was not afraid, but the moment Voldemort found their family to replace Bella and her husband in the Lestrange family, it was already doomed. He could only move forward and not retreat.
Draco was also very calm, but if someone kept staring at him, they would find that his calves were actually trembling slightly.
For him, it was only from the second event that he truly participated in the Triwizard Tournament. Thanks to John, he avoided the fire dragon crisis in the first round and did not suffer much contempt and scolding.
But now, no matter how panicked he was inside, he couldn't show it on the surface.
In fact, before the start of this game, John had contacted Lucius privately and asked him if he wanted to have the same scenario as the first game again. He would eliminate Draco at the beginning and he didn't have to inform Draco himself. As long as Lucius agreed, he could find an opportunity to take action at the beginning of the game. This way, Draco's reaction would appear more realistic. Anyway, the Malfoys didn't care much about the results.
Well, maybe Draco would care a little, but even if he cared a lot it would be useless.
Lucius obviously thought deeply about this and finally declined John's offer.
He obviously still took into consideration his son's future study and life in the castle and had to save some face. It was okay if he was eliminated directly by Jon the first time, after all, Jon's strength was obvious to all. But if two consecutive games were solved by Jon in the same way.
Then Draco would really have no face to stay in Hogwarts Castle anymore, and even Lucius himself might be doubted of his ability by other Death Eaters.
So no matter what, Draco has to participate in the competition by himself this time.
After seeing that no questions were raised, Matthew glanced at the time on his pocket watch and without further delay, he officially began the inspection work before the start of the game.
Like before, they checked the wands and belongings of John and the other three in turn. It is worth mentioning that the gillweed in the hands of Draco and Emil were allowed to be kept, and the fragments of the fire ash snake eggshell characteristics worn by John and Diane were also allowed to be retained.
The second event is different from the first one. The contestants can use magic props within an appropriate range, and this appropriateness can only be achieved with the permission of the referee team.
After making sure there were no other problems, at nine o'clock in the morning, Matthew announced in front of all the students, professors and reporters around him that Jon and the others could begin their pre-match preparations.
Jon soon figured out what this so-called pre-match preparation was. This was a period of time specifically reserved for them to find a way to break the ice on the Black Lake.
During this period, the four participating warriors cannot attack each other.
Such rules are in a disguised way restricting Jon, because if the game were to be announced to start directly, it would definitely turn into a huge melee on the ice of Black Lake.
Regardless of whether you can get the pearl or not, just eliminate everyone else directly, and the person who wins in the end will be the first in this project.
In order to avoid such things from happening, there is a period of time for pre-match preparation. The competition only .
