Once reaching the shore, Kael flipped off the horse’s back, causing another burst of cheers from the spectators, who were both excited and curious as they eyed the Kelpie, discussing among themselves.
"Oh, he’s really impressive, isn’t he?" Ron said enviously, "Riding a horse that can run in water, just like a knight. If it were ..."
"Don’t talk nonsense, Ron, you don’t think that’s so gentle herbivore, do you?" Hermione interrupted his imaginary scenario, "The Kelpie is a dangerous carnivorous Fantastic Beast that even Adult Wizards can’t handle without expertise."
"What? It eats at?" Ron picked up the Panoramic Telescope hanging around his neck and looked at the Kelpie floating on the water, only to notice the saw-like teeth inside its mouth.
"I take back what I said." Ron frowned, "No way am I ever riding that creature."
On the other side, Kael had already helped Conna and Gabrielle down. He took out his wand and waved it, instantly drying their wet clothes.
"Wait."
Suddenly, Conna rembered sothing, "You brought Gabrielle out, what about Fleur?"
"The rpeople will tell her."
Kael said, "In fact, by the ti the Champion reaches the tribe, the second task is already complete. The so-called treasure rescue is just a formality, and the rpeople won’t initiate an attack.
So by the ti she cos out of the water, she’s successful."
"But what if the judges dock her points for that?" Conna was still a bit worried.
"They won’t." Kael shook his head, "After all, I’m the one who broke the rules, any points deducted will only be taken from mine... Moreover, Ms. Maxi won’t let that happen."
Kael and Conna simultaneously looked in the judges’ direction, where five people were discussing sothing, then saw Ms. Maxi show a satisfied expression.
"See, I wasn’t wrong." Kael whispered, "They certainly won’t let their school suffer."
As they spoke, Madam Pomfrey bustled over from the crowd.
Even though their clothes were already dry, she wrapped each of them in a thick blanket and made them drink a fiery potion.
Kael felt a warm flow surge through his body, followed by steam coming out of his ears.
"Nicely done, Kael, I’m glad you weren’t misled."
Professor McGonagall also approached, speaking quietly from the side, "As a Wizard, the wand in our hand is what we should trust most."
"All right, co over here." she said, "You’ll need to wait a bit until all the Champions are out before the scoring begins."
"Oh, okay."
Kael followed Professor McGonagall to where the judges were.
Just upon climbing the stairs, Kael saw Dumbledore smiling as he walked over.
"Excellent judgnt and decisive actions." he smiled and said, "Although the scoring hasn’t started yet, I can disclose sothing ahead of ti... perhaps it will help you sit here with peace of mind waiting for the other two Champions.
Just as you ca up, an hour had precisely passed, so without a doubt, you scored the highest in this task as well."
"Congratulations, child," Ludo Bagman said as he walked over.
But Kael could tell his smile was sowhat forced... the sa went for Karkaroff and Maxi.
Next, Kael was arranged to sit in the front row of the teachers’ section. Originally, Conna was with him, but before she could sit down, Snape ca over to drag her away, and gave Kael a murderous look.
Kael was a bit speechless; he hadn’t been the one who let Conna go underwater. That was arranged by Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore. If Snape had complaints, he should take them up with them; why pick on the soft spot?
Of course, he only thought this in his head and didn’t dare say it out loud.
As for Gabrielle, she was taken away by Ms. Maxi.
"You’re the first to co out."
After Kael sat down, Sirius couldn’t help but say, "I knew you could do it."
"How about them?" Kael asked quietly, "How did the other two Champions fare?"
"They were after you." Sirius said, "The girl from Beauxbatons was fine, just ten minutes behind you, but the one from Durmstrang only ca out of the Forbidden Forest five minutes ago."
Kael nodded.
From this, it seed the second task was nearing its end.
Next, Kael sat in the stands for twenty minutes.
There was nothing to see from here, only to sit idly... Whoever designed this project must be a genius.
Luckily, with Sirius nearby, chatting killed ti reasonably well.
Finally, after half an hour, there was movent on the calm lake surface again.
Everyone’s eyes followed.
This ti it was Fleur erging... but unlike Kael, she was brought to the shore by a group of rpeople and was already unconscious when she arrived.
The judges hurried over, and Maxi took out a wand... at least twenty inches long, pointing it at Fleur’s body.
The unconscious Fleur imdiately coughed out a few mouthfuls of lake water, then slowly opened her eyes.
"Ms. Maxi.... Gabrielle...." Seeing Ms. Maxi and the people around, she urgently said, "My Bubble-Head Charm was torn by a Grindylow, quickly, Gabrielle.... she’s still..."
"Sister, I’m fine." The little girl quickly stepped out.
Fleur was montarily stunned, then tightly hugged her, "Gabrielle.... Thank God, I thought... I thought..."
A few more minutes passed, and Krum also erged.
He used a Transfiguration technique on himself, turning the upper half of his body into a shark’s head, roughly biting the clothes of that Durmstrang boy underwater and tossing him to the shore.
From his movent, it seed as though he was throwing a Quaffle rather than treating it as a treasure.
However, the audience still gave him warm applause.
Dumbledore approached the water, communicating sothing with the rpeople, emitting a sharp sound, clearly speaking the rpeople’s language thodically.
Finally, he stood upright, facing the other judges, "Let’s hold a eting first."
Several judges gathered to discuss.
Fleur took advantage while Madam Pomfrey was treating Krum’s wounds to run straight to Kael in the stands.
"I’ve heard everything Gabrielle said..." she was so excited she could barely breathe, "You saved her again, that’s the second ti."
"Not really." Kael smiled, "Professor Dumbledore certainly wouldn’t let her be endangered; even without , the rpeople would’ve brought her up."
"Thanks, she must’ve been scared..."
Perhaps too excited, Fleur seed not to have heard what he said, instinctively leaning her head closer.
In an instant, Kael felt his head buzz, as if setting off so alarm, the hair on his neck standing.
He instinctively leaned back slightly, blurting out: "It’s nothing, I was just worried you might not get there, so I brought her along."
Fleur halted abruptly.
She stared at Kael and asked word by word: "What do you an... that I might not get there..."
"Just in case." Kael replied calmly, "Weren’t you brought up by the rpeople just now? Which proves my guess was right, doesn’t it?"
Fleur’s eye twitched.
"So you thought from the start I likely couldn’t complete the second task, did you?"
"Hmm... not exactly." Kael considered, "Just in case."
Fleur inhaled sharply, then turned and left without saying anything, her long silver hair brushing past Kael’s nose.
"Hey, you should be more gentlemanly." Sirius frowned, almost with a sense of iron not bending, "Is that how you talk to girls, especially such a lovely girl... This guy seed smart, how is he an idiot."
"You don’t understand." Kael shook his head.
Though he wasn’t sure whether Fleur intended to express thanks with a cheek-kiss gesture or not, he couldn’t bet on it.
Kael glanced back, seeing Conna chatting with Snape, and breathed a sigh of relief.
But Sirius wasn’t happy.
"I don’t understand?" He seed to think he was underestimated, raised a brow and said: "You don’t know, back when I was at Hogwarts, just how popular I was..."
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