Nothing major happened in the rest of January, but there were constant minor problems.

After Professor Moody returned to class, he lived up to expectations and brought new controversy. In the mouths of some senior students, he seemed to have the shadow of "Lockhart" - asking them to look up information, read aloud in class, and vividly describe their own experiences.

His famous saying - "Always be vigilant" - appeared again in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

During this period, the young wizards had to go to the library every day to look up information about the war more than ten years ago. The originally deserted war records were turned out, including various newspapers more than ten years ago.

The young wizards looked at these things every day, and the psychological pressure increased dramatically. Coupled with the fifth and seventh grade wizard level exams, many students were originally in class, but suddenly cried hysterically and were on the verge of collapse.

Even Fred and George, the optimists, were not feeling well. When the Defense Against the Dark Arts course returned to "normal", they breathed a sigh of relief. One afternoon, Fred sniffed and said, "In the past, Mom and Dad seldom mentioned the war to us. If one of them did, the other would interrupt. Mom also seldom talked about the two uncles... But when we looked through the newspapers of those years, we knew what kind of life they lived..."

George said with lingering fear, "Every two or three days, I can see pictures of houses with Dark Marks. I am traumatized."

Harry didn't want to say more, because there was a trend recently. Since Professor Moody asked students to read the deeds of those who died in the war one by one in class, the descendants of some "war heroes" were looked at with awe.

Neville stammered more than once to explain that his parents had recovered, and showed his classmates the clippings and newspapers he collected, but there were still many people who came to comfort him. Harry was the same. He suddenly found that Parvati Patil's expression when looking at him became gentle again...

He didn't like this feeling, because every time someone looked at him in this way, it would remind him of the fact that his parents sacrificed. "No one becomes a hero just to let their son be worshipped." Harry thought angrily.

He, Hermione and Ron practiced spells in the abandoned classroom and gradually learned a lot of useful spells. They also broke a piece of ice on the Black Lake in a hidden corner and tried the warming spell and waterproofing spell that they were not proficient in. They came out of the lake trembling every time.

When the ice of the Black Lake melted and Krum practiced diving from the diving board of the black sailboat in a pair of shorts, they had already figured out how to maintain their combat effectiveness in the Black Lake.

"The effect of spells on land is greatly reduced in water, especially fire magic. At most, it can shoot out a stream of scorching water, but the effect on Grindylow is probably not as good as the extraction spell..." Hermione said nervously.

With the arrival of February, she became like this. When Ron suggested that they could kick these dangerous creatures away with their feet, Hermione glared at him fiercely, as if she was going to kick him.

"We may need some Transfiguration and Summoning spells." Hermione said.

"Are you going to let us summon a stick?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Don't be silly, I mean this--" Hermione said, pulling out her wand and shouting, "Flock of Birds!" Her wand made a loud noise, and a flock of birds flew out from the tip of the wand, fluttering their wings and surrounding the three of them.

"What does this do?" Harry asked, he had seen this spell before. Before the first task, Mr. Ollivander was invited to check the wands of the champions, and he used Krum's wand to cast this spell.

"They can peck people and block vision, but I like Professor Flitwick's way better," Hermione said, her face flushed as she struggled to maintain the magic, Harry and Ron had never seen her so hard when casting a spell.

It was as if she was fighting against some invisible resistance, and the wand drew a half circle, and the birds suddenly swelled up to the size of owls. Harry's eyes suddenly opened wide, he had seen this scene in his second year, Professor Flitwick demonstrated it in the dueling class.

After two years of close contact with this magic again, Harry looked at the long, sharp beaks of these birds with fear, which were as long as three inches!

With another "bang", the birds disappeared.

Hermione panted softly and shook her head, "I still can't do it well. In fact, I have always been good at controlling magic, especially after practicing with Billywig worms in the Magic Club..."

When they returned to the castle from the Black Lake, Ron whispered to Harry, "She just needs to hide behind the stone and chant spells in the future. These birds will help her solve all problems, and you can't do anything about her."

Harry thought about the scene just now and couldn't agree anymore.

"How is your Bubblehead Charm?" Harry asked in a low voice.

Ron's face fell, "It was simply a nightmare. I have written to my family and said that I don't need their help... But Fred and George blocked this way in advance. You know, Mom actually praised them in her reply..."

Harry felt sympathetic, especially every time he saw Ron practice the Bubblehead Charm, the first thing he did was to take a bath, leaving a lingering smell of dung bombs behind him.

His own progress in the Shield Charm was not going well. If he had a choice, he would definitely prefer to master the Shield Charm with protective ability rather than the more single-purpose Bubblehead Charm, but now he had to make a choice and consider which one was more cost-effective.

In the next few days, he kept running to Classroom 7, and even forgot about the brain block technique. So when he woke up from a nightmare one day, he could only blame himself for being lazy about it.

Harry told Professor Happ about this, hoping that the professor would tell Dumbledore, although he didn't remember much.

"I just know that he is very happy, something good has happened." He said after racking his brains.

Felix nodded, "Maybe he found another temporary body for himself. There is nothing we can do about it. They hid it too well." He also hoped that Voldemort would come to Rita Skeeter for trouble, and he could also try to catch Crouch Jr.

But Rita Skeeter, who got his promise, quietly moved and is currently hiding in Diagon Alley to sort out the information given to her by Sirius.

Harry went back with a heavy heart, and began to doubt the meaning of his participation in the tournament. Voldemort was about to be resurrected, and he could only practice the useless freezing spell in the Black Lake. Could he still expect it to freeze Voldemort's killing curse?

The person who supported him through this period of self-doubt was Sirius. If there was anyone in the world who was closest to him, it was his godfather, including in his attitude towards Voldemort.

But to Harry's surprise, Sirius found a temporary job for himself. When he saw the school emblem of Smeltings Middle School through the two-way mirror, he almost dropped his jaw.

"Why did you run to where Dudley went to school?" Harry shouted regardless of the consequences. A fifth-year student in the common room raised his head with a sad face and muttered in a low voice: "Another crazy one." Then he continued to work on the homework that seemed to never be finished.

Sirius in the mirror was quite cheerful. "Felix introduced me. Since I couldn't produce a diploma recognized by Muggles, I could only do odd jobs and the money was not much... But how should I put it? I did find some tricks to lead students."

Harry listened to Sirius introducing his new job and talking about his assistant work. "When no one is around, I will use my wand to handle the equipment. I can do it quickly and well..."

And the old teacher in his fifties who worked with him was out of breath every time he ran.

After Sirius learned how to use the whistle to send students who violated the rules off the field, he stood aside and slacked off. So Harry had the opportunity to see Dudley dragging his fat body around the field, especially when he stuck out his tongue and almost ran to the finish line, the pressure in Harry's heart disappeared at once.

Before the first Hogsmeade weekend in February, he learned the human-shaped Shield Charm. His Shield Charm also changed dramatically. The only regret was that he couldn't turn the Shield Charm into a cool golden or blood-red shield.

Ron also finished his special training. On the day he successfully learned the Bubblehead Charm, he walked around the common room with a huge transparent cover that looked like an inverted fish tank on his head, and joined in Fred and George's discussion, saying that he was willing to pay for one or two dung bombs.

Fred and George smiled and handed him a big gift bag of Bee Dukes candy.

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent a happy day in Hogsmeade, and then plunged into the intense preparations. Harry and Hermione, holding the Human Shield Charm, and Ron, holding the Bubblehead Charm, walked step by step into the depths of the Black Lake, and they saw a new world.

Harry was surprised that he was so unfamiliar with the Black Lake.

A few dozen feet above the surface of the Black Lake, they could still see the gray and strange water above. At their feet was a jungle of waving and tangled black water plants, and a wide and flat muddy sand scattered with shining pebbles.

In the distance were large patches of shadows, without a single light. They could only raise their wands and use the glowing spell to see a small area nearby. The deeper places were blocks of black with different shades. From time to time, something big passed by them. They couldn't be sure whether it was a piece of wood or some kind of creature. Maybe it was a giant squid!

Harry was worried again. What if the giant squid swallowed them in one bite? Although it would push the students who fell into the water back into the boat during the freshmen's enrollment, he couldn't guarantee that it would always be so gentle, especially Ron said during a breath that they had already invaded its territory.

As time passed, they went deeper and deeper into the Black Lake, and even tried to get close to the mermaid tribe in one adventure.

As they swam, Harry found that Hermione and Ron were gone. Something was pulling him, which made Harry very scared. It was not until a bright, milky white light appeared in the distance that he realized that it was a grindylow that was entangled with him.

"Relax!" Harry chanted through the human armor spell, and the hand of the light green creature with horns loosened as if it had a cramp. He swam towards Hermione - she was holding a bright ball of light in her hand and looking around in panic - she was surrounded by a group of mermaids.

In the end, they were driven out dejectedly. Judging from the rude gestures made by the leading mermaid, if they dared to invade the mermaid's territory again, they would probably have to wait for Dumbledore or Professor Hep to come and lead them.

Harry touched his head and came out of the water all wet. He didn't know how the other warriors solved this trouble, but he had just been hit twice by a tall and strong mermaid with a spear, and his mind was dizzy.

"Fred and George are lying. There is no way they can complete the task of mapping the Black Lake." Ron complained, "The eyesight of those mermaids in the water is much better than ours. They are completely adapted to the darkness."

Hermione was still blaming herself on the way back, "I shouldn't have used illumination, but I was too nervous. You disappeared in an instant. Something was entangled with me. Now I think it might be water plants... I really don't know what we should do during the official competition..."

After returning to the dormitory, Ron took off his clothes and showed Harry the bruises on his back, "It was caused by the mermaid. I kicked him, you know, I wanted to try it in advance... Then two or three mermaids rushed up and hit me hard twice."

Harry helped Ron apply medicine, and he hissed and groaned, "There is another one on my butt. I'll do it myself."

Two days before the start of the second project, a group of staff from the 'Future World' company came to the school and erected a huge projection screen on the shore of the Black Lake. Lupin and Penelope introduced the role of the projection screen to them, "They can show your heroic appearance during the competition."

"Oh, that's what we were hoping for," Ron muttered, "to embarrass ourselves in front of everyone."

The last day before the competition, their nerves were at their limit. Harry found that despite all their preparations, time was running out, and the unfinished items on Hermione's booklet were growing faster than the crossed-out items.

But anyway, they had the second task.