HP: For a better world

The mermaids in the Black Lake are far less beautiful than their counterparts in warm waters. They have iron-gray skin and hold various iron fork weapons. Some of the mermaids float on the lake, tied with several wet wizard students.

Their leader, along with several guards, came ashore and communicated with Dumbledore using gestures.

"They demand that you compensate them for their losses, otherwise they will not release the hostages," Dumbledore relayed.

On each tower, a group of people were watching.

"Ah, by the way," said Dumbledore, "it appears that you violated the Statute of Secrecy when you arrived here. The Ministry may want to speak to you, Professor Karkaroff."

"...This surprises me a little." Karkaroff said, "Please tell these...mermans to let these unskilled students make up for their losses and then release them." He raised his voice and cast a cold glance at the tied Durmstrang students.

The students who were tied up all had sad faces.

Viktor Krum looked a little bit unacceptable.

Dumbledore quickly conveyed the message. Although the mermaids looked angry, they still chose to believe Dumbledore's guarantee. The mermaid leader shouted towards the sunken ship, and the mermaids who had been disrupting the Durmstrang students' pulling of the boat suddenly stopped attacking, jumped into the bottom of the lake, and swam to the shore.

(Guardian...trapped...unreachable)

The mermaid leader told Dumbledore with gestures and an anxious expression.

(The Black Lake...continues to roll, there is no way back, women and children...are still down there)

Dumbledore repeatedly and seriously stated that he would deal with the matter as soon as possible and return their peaceful home to them.

The mermaid leader then led his people back into the lake.

Durmstrang's boat was towed to shore, and students gathered around in dejection, trying to salvage the flooded supplies.

"Well, you have seen it all, my dear Dumbledore. The ship we brought has become like this. It cannot be repaired for a while. I believe you don't mind if I stay in Hogwarts for a while? As for the issue of the students I brought——"

"We will warmly welcome guests from afar, provided that we are friendly to each other." Professor McGonagall said with a straight face.

"Of course! In friendship," Karkaroff clasped his hands together, shook them for a moment, then loosened them and raised them to his shoulders. "I look forward to communicating with you. I promise that the losses suffered by your school will be compensated when I return to Durmstrang."

Dumbledore kept smiling. "Then I believe your assurance, Professor Karkaroff." He said in a slightly brisk tone, "After standing outside for so long, your students must be longing for the warm fire. Now is breakfast time, and Hogwarts has prepared a rich feast for everyone. It's time to introduce the postponed Goblet of Fire to everyone."

"I can't wait." Karkaroff said with a smile, and entered the castle with Viktor Krum in his arms. The professors also invited him into the castle with a contradictory attitude.

----

"Have you heard?" Luo and Winster said as they passed by the castle while holding the quilts that were soaked by water and drying them.

The afternoon sunshine is rare and good.

"What did you hear?" asked Winster.

"The people from Durmstrang didn't actually want to participate in this Triwizard Tournament. The accident they encountered was caused by an opposing student who secretly took away the key parts."

"Where did you hear that?" Winster asked in surprise, directing everyone to turn over their quilts.

Loial coughed awkwardly. Mike curled his lips and interrupted, "This news is spreading like wildfire among the professors." He held the back of his head with both hands, standing at the end of the line of people drying quilts. He had nothing in his hands. He had already thrown all the quilts to the house-elves and had no interest in drying them. "Of course, he heard it when he took his broken spells to ask Professor Flitwick for advice. I'm not saying, Loial, when will you learn how to fight? You can't even beat Colum."

Mike looked disgusted.

Colen, who always had a weak sense of existence, raised his head from the sun-softened quilt and yawned: "...What do you mean even me?"

Carl held his forehead and explained to Colen.

"I'm a brainiac!" Loial shouted angrily, "You're a reckless man. You don't understand my value at all!"

Mike was speechless for a while: "But your head is not enough for Colen's book to hit..."

"Then you count the money?" Loou said unconvincedly, counting the expenses of the club. "Last week, you and Winster destroyed the bookshelf next to the duel stage, causing damage to the "Wizard Duel Etiquette" and "Simple Household Spells" borrowed from the library... and the cost of buying herbs to treat injured club members... We have more and more people, and we can't always go to the hospital wing to enjoy free treatment - each club has to be responsible for its own profits and losses. There are also snacks in the club, the wear and tear of the crucible during the process of brewing potions, and the weather carpet that is about to be purchased..." Loou talked endlessly when talking about the things in the club, with deep resentment.

Mike decisively pretended to be dead, not wanting to be dragged into calculating the money system that was giving the wizard a headache. "I can't hear you -"

"Don't play dead. You have to come and help settle the score today—" Luo Ou said angrily.

"Please spare me, I will never say you are a weakling again. Good Luo, don't make me calculate those troublesome numbers - I used to learn decimal system!" Mike begged for mercy and ran away, stepping on the gaps between the quilts and spinning a few circles to escape Luo who was anxiously trying to chase him.

Luo Ou was afraid that he would step on the quilt and lose his grip on him.

Winster suppressed his laughter: "Okay, stop arguing." He reached out and grabbed Luo, saving him from stepping on his own quilt. "Do we have so many accounts to settle?"

Loial snorted and barely paused. "Of course not. It's all over. I was just trying to scare him - I knew he would bring up my loss to Colen yesterday. I've made a lot of progress compared to before."

"Hey!" Mike shouted in protest.

"But... we have reached our limit after exploring on our own. We need a teacher to teach us." Luo said to Winster, "Is Professor Snape still busy recently?"

Winster shook his head. "Obviously not. Don't count on him. He has to be busy patrolling, making medicine for the medical wing, teaching classes to various grades during the day, and now he has to repair our lounge. Who knows why he took on several night patrols in a row-"

Winster looked resentful for a moment.

Most of the low-level potions were now made by Winster. Snape was still there to guide the brewing of the more advanced ones. Snape was trying his best to squeeze out his rest time, as if to prevent him from looking for Harry Potter.

"Speaking of which, where are we going to sleep tonight? There's still water in the common room, and the glass needs to be reinforced... The others are also still in shock from what happened this morning. Otherwise, we can go to other colleges with the people from Durmstrang. There are still vacancies in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw... Hufflepuff's place was also affected by the water. They have the most people, so there's no room left."

"How about..." Luo Ou suggested, "Let's sleep in the club. Jenny has prepared sleeping bags for the six of us. If other people want to come, we can use Transfiguration to support them for a while."

"Okay, it also makes it convenient for us to secretly see if anyone goes to play the Goblet of Fire at night." Winster said without hesitation.

"Any of you wanna try it? We could play some games tonight and see what happens," he asked.

"Let's wait and see. You said before that this game was very dangerous..." Luo Ou muttered, and suddenly closed his mouth before he finished speaking.

Winster looked at him strangely. He did say this. When Dumbledore introduced the Triwizard Tournament, the accidents in past competitions had turned from stories into various rumors that were heard by everyone who was interested in it. Everyone knew the danger of the Triwizard Tournament, and they also knew that Dumbledore had ensured that they had taken perfect measures for this competition.

But Luo suddenly shut up, with drops of cold sweat oozing out of his forehead, as if he had said something wrong, which was strange.

Luo avoided Winster's sight as if fleeing.

"...I'll go get some candles. What do you want to play tonight? Don't play anything that will make a mess of the classroom." Luo Ou smiled unnaturally.

"But what if I just want to play Gobstones," Mike said honestly.

"Then don't play." Loial retorted. Mike made a "huh" sound.

"I want to play wizard chess." "Recommend books..." Carl and Colen echoed.

Luo Ou agreed and said he would prepare it, then he rolled up the quilt he had dried in the sun and left.

-

The same night Durmstrang arrived.

Dumbledore announced the rules of the Goblet of Fire selection at dinner, and said that the Goblet of Fire would be placed in the foyer next to the Great Hall for the next three nights until all the warriors were selected, and only students who met the age limit could participate.

The auditions begin tonight, Saturday, Halloween, and end on Tuesday.

Luo Ou seemed to heave a sigh of relief, and the taste of the soup he had been tasting absentmindedly suddenly returned.

"This soup!" Luo's eyes lit up, "It's delicious, Winster, try it!" He motioned to Winster to try the French cream soup first.

Winster focused most of his attention on Dumbledore, noticing his changes out of the corner of his eye.

Luo was a friend left behind by White. The story of their encounter was told so beautifully that the details were blurred... He smelled something was being concealed.

"Let me try it..." Winster took a sip of the French soup in front of him, his eyes narrowed unconsciously: "It smells so good."

Luo Ou smiled complacently. "I think so! Jenny! Kelun, you guys should try it too, otherwise it will be snatched away soon." He lowered his voice and whispered.

Jenny stuffed a grape into his mouth, forcing him to shut it.

The headmaster was still speaking when Snape's gaze shot over like lightning.

Luo's expression twisted with sourness.

Winster held back his laughter and handed him a handkerchief.

Luo's depression was so real that Winster didn't think he was pretending.

Loial spat out with a "wow".

"You can't eat this grape. It's sour."

He said depressedly.

"Finally, I'll say it again,

—Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Dumbledore announced with a smile on his face, and the audience applauded loudly. The students cheered and began to grab the food.