Rita's face suddenly changed.

This is extremely terrible news.

It was scarier than any news I had ever heard before.

She turned into a ladybug and flew away in panic, not daring to stay any longer in this horrible place. The Gryffindor common room was much scarier than Azkaban!

"She left so quickly." Ron sighed, a little regretful, and carefully placed the sleeping Crookshanks on the stool. "I wanted to tell her a more surprising news."

"Skeeter is already at his limit." Hermione shook her head, grabbed Crookshanks by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up roughly. "If you tell her about that again, you might end up with your head thrown into the fireplace."

"She has a very poor tolerance." Ron curled his lips, "I wasn't that panicked at the time."

"She's not third at Hogwarts." Harry patted his shoulder.

Ron was a little surprised: "Harry, are you praising me?"

Harry and Hermione were silent.

It seems that staying up late will lower people's IQ. I have to be more careful in the future.

They went back to their dormitories and went to sleep.

Until Friday night.

George and Fred got another batch of wine, saying it was to make up for Tuesday night, because they had classes the next day and didn't celebrate very happily.

The golden egg was brought out again.

They passed it around among the little lions.

"This thing... seems to be able to be opened?" When Fred handed it to him, he noticed the crack on the golden egg and hesitated.

Harry nodded. "A magical item."

Fred immediately ignored George's expectant look and handed it back: "Then Harry, open it quickly and let us see what's inside!"

"It's so heavy, maybe it's a piece of gold." Ron excitedly made a guess.

"It's a hint for the second level." Hermione said expressionlessly, puncturing the fantasies of Ron and many other young wizards who were looking forward to gold. "You heard Harry say that the other day."

Ron muttered, "Maybe the clue is made of gold?"

Harry took out his wand and tapped it lightly. The eggshell immediately split into two, but there was nothing inside. At the same time, a magical aura was brewing inside the empty eggshell.

An extremely piercing and sharp scream came out along with the breath, filling the entire lounge. It was dozens of times more miserable than the scream of the demon spirit.

He was quick to close it immediately.

The little wizards were still in shock and looked at the golden eggs in fear.

It looks so luxurious on the outside, but how come it contains such a strange and terrifying sound inside?

"What is that..." A first-year wizard was a little frightened, stunned and muttered to himself.

Seamus' eyes widened. "That sounded like a ghost girl's cry, Harry. Your next round of competition will definitely involve passing by ghost girls and snatching some treasure from under their guard!"

"No!" Neville turned pale. "That's a scream of torture. Harry, you might be tortured."

"That's ridiculous. Torturing the little wizard will hurt him." George immediately shook his head, pressed his shoulders, and said gently, "Think about it, the ghost girl might be right. That thing is not easy to deal with."

"But Harry knows the Patronus Charm." Fred shook his head. "That creature is not strong enough for a griffin."

The little lions laughed happily.

Hermione frowned and denied this statement: "That's not the cry of a female ghost. The cry of a female ghost is longer, gloomier, and more miserable..."

"Have you ever seen a female ghost?" a senior witch asked provocatively.

Just as Hermione was about to speak, Harry answered: "It's not a ghost, it's the cry of a mermaid."

Mermaid?

The little wizards were puzzled.

This creature was almost beyond their comprehension.

Although everyone knows that there is a group of mermaids living under the Black Lake.

"Yeah, I dealt with them a lot last year." Harry nodded.

Ron shook his head. "I've seen them too. It was during Sirius' Christmas. We went to the bottom of the Black Lake and dealt with mermaids. They can talk."

"That's when they're underwater," Harry explained more clearly. "When they're above water, they can't speak. They just make this high-pitched cry."

"It seems that mermaids can't leave the water?" George asked cautiously.

In all these years with Fred, he had rarely seen a mermaid bubbling out of the water. The only times when they were drunk had a mermaid emerge from the lake, but the memory of that time had long since become unclear.

Harry was silent and said nothing.

Under normal circumstances, mermaids will certainly not float to the surface.

But there are always special situations. When he is practicing magic, there are always some mermaids who are not very lucky.

"We haven't learned Mermaid language." Hermione was embarrassed and looked at the other little wizards, "Does anyone among you know Mermaid language?"

A second-year wizard raised his hand tremblingly.

"You can?" Hermione was a little surprised. Apart from them, the fourth grade, there were actually students in Gryffindor who loved learning so much?

"No." The young wizard shook his head. "But didn't Mr. Bagman say that warriors cannot accept help from outside..."

"As long as we don't get discovered." Before he finished speaking, Fred walked over and held his shoulders. "How did you get into Gryffindor? How could there be such a well-behaved student in our school?"

Li Jordan also walked over and grabbed his little face: "It seems that we have to teach you how to be a good Gryffindor."

Hermione sighed in disappointment, looking over the senior students.

George frowned, "Percy can, but he's graduated. Do you want me to write a letter for help?"

Harry shook his head: "Don't bother, it's very simple."

He waved his wand and an empty wine bottle twisted into a glass basin.

Clear water like a spring.

He chanted a spell, and a torrent of water gushed out, soon filling the basin. He waved his wand again, and the water turned into three earmuffs, connected to the basin, covering himself, Hermione and Ron. Harry put the golden egg in and opened it again.

A little wizard immediately covered his ears.

But this time there was no screaming, only a faint singing.

It's not clear what you hear outside the water.

Only Harry, Hermione and Ron, who were wearing water-flow earmuffs, could hear it clearly.

The mermaid's singing was not pleasant, and her accent was very strange, barely better than the Ghost Band. Fortunately, the song was not long and was quickly sung in a loop. As soon as the second round began, Harry immediately closed the golden egg and took out the basin of water.

With a flick of the wand, the basin and the water disappeared.

"What's the content?" Fred looked over eagerly and asked.

Ron had a strange look on his face and looked outside the castle.

Harry had no expression on his face and answered softly, "The second round requires me to dive into the Black Lake and take back the treasure that was stolen from me within an hour."

"Mermaids are very brave." Ron sighed, "They actually dare to steal your things."

The expressions of the little wizards became the same as Ron's.

It's really surprising.

Hermione shook her head, "It shouldn't be the mermaid, it should be the Ministry of Magic."

"Ahaha, even worse than the mermaid." George exclaimed, "And the Ministry of Magic should know Harry's strength better than the mermaid."

Fred rubbed the little wizard's face. The twelve-year-old's cheek was very soft, and he couldn't let go. "Even if the Aurors come, they can't take away Harry's things."

"Not even the entire Auror office." Seamus raised his head, looking proud.

Harry nodded, expressionless: "I am also looking forward to how they will snatch my baby away."

He did the math in his head.

The most precious things to him were the two swords, the potions, those magical materials, and the motorcycle that had been modified to the last minute, with the only thing missing being the Sorting Hat's thoughts transplanted into it.

The Ministry didn't know about the motorcycle.

And the rest of the stuff is in the Sorting Hat, so they're going to come and grab the Sorting Hat?

The hat lay on the table, shaking the tip of the hat, trying hard to learn the singing style of the fish man. It had an urge to perform this song at the opening ceremony of next year. It had been in that style for thousands of years. Maybe a change would make it more fresh?

It almost immediately noticed Harry's gaze, saw the thought in his eyes, and shook the tip of its hat even more excitedly: "Harry! You are looking at me, am I your most precious treasure?"

Hermione's expression didn't change, it was just a hat.

"All my possessions are in you." Harry shook his head. "They can only do this to you."

The Sorting Hat flicked its tip and said, "Now is the time for you to say something nice to please this old hat of mine."

"How can a boy not be able to say sweet words?"

"You're almost fifteen. If you don't master this skill, how will you be able to seduce girls in the future? Godric suffered the same fate..."

Hermione's eyes turned dangerous.

The hat paused, then shouted cheerfully, "Children, let me tell you the story of Godric's first love."

The little wizards rushed over excitedly.

Ron didn't go over. He was now more interested in food than in listening to love stories, and he was very melancholy: "I'm a little worried that the second round of the competition won't be held."

Obviously, there will be big problems in the process of snatching the Warriors' treasure.

Knowing about the second round of matches, Gryffindor was not worried about Harry. They were expecting the Ministry of Magic to suffer another loss at the hands of Harry, and it would be best if they could have a big fight.

But what they expected never happened.

The Ministry of Magic did not take action against Harry, and even Ludo was rarely seen in Hogwarts.

Time quickly came to December, entering deep winter. Hogwarts entered a period where it only snowed twice a month, one from the beginning to the middle of the month, and one from the middle to the end of the month.

On the dormitory calendar, Harry had drawn a red circle around the Thursday before Christmas.

The letter from the unknown prophet Dumbledore's old lover was always in his heart.

Before he could go find Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall took the lead in announcing a major news in her class.

She had a stern face, but she couldn't hide her smile.

"Christmas is coming, but this year's Christmas is a little different from previous years. Because of the Triwizard Tournament, we will hold a ball on Christmas Day - this is also a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, and it is also a good opportunity for our three schools to communicate with each other."

"However, the dance is only open to students in the fourth grade and above. If, I mean if, the person you like is in the third grade, you can invite him to attend with you."

"Of course, I don't really want to see a first-year wizard show up."

The little lions burst into laughter.

After saying this, she paused and looked at Hermione meaningfully: "And, Mr. Potter, the following words are spoken to you alone. As a warrior of Hogwarts and a warrior of Gryffindor, you need a partner."

Hermione blushed, realizing what McGonagall meant by that look just now.

Harry said expressionlessly, "Professor, I'm only fourteen, and I'll be fifteen in half a month. I'm far from the age to get married."

The little wizards laughed even louder.

"No, not that kind of partner." Mag smiled and shook his head, "It's a dance partner, a dance partner at the Christmas ball."

"I know you may not like it, but as a warrior, you need to dance the first dance at the Christmas dance with the warriors from the other two schools, so a dance partner is a must for you."

"There's still half a month left. You have to make your choice before then."

"Of course, if any of you feel you are suitable, you can also extend an invitation to Mr. Potter."