Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Wizard

Chapter 69 A Lifeline Speeding Away!

The Black Lake is located south of Hogwarts Castle and is home to many magical creatures.

The main members are a group of ugly mermaids and a giant squid.

The mermaids here are ugly in appearance and have nothing to do with the legendary mermaids. They are rude and not gentle in nature, but they have a magical pact with Hogwarts and have lived in the Black Lake for generations, serving as Hogwarts' southern defense line. They will not harm Hogwarts students.

As for the giant squid, despite its large size, it is a friendly creature with a gentle temperament. If a young wizard falls into the lake, it will use its huge tentacles to rescue him and bring him back to shore.

Therefore, Malfoy's worries about jumping into the lake to bathe were actually a bit excessive.

But one thing Malfoy was right about.

That is, jumping into the lake to bathe will not solve their predicament.

Because Dudley's transfiguration magic cannot be removed by simply washing it with water.

"Dali, look behind us! They look like they're about to cause trouble again!"

On the chain of small boats that were sailing at the front, Hermione, who was on the stern, noticed something unusual behind her and quickly relayed the message to Dudley on the lead boat.

Dudley had already heard the rapid, chaotic paddling sounds behind him. He roughly guessed Malfoy's intentions, chuckled, and gave his companions a warning:

"Hold on tight to the side of the boat, sit tight! We're about to accelerate!"

After saying that, Dudley lightly patted the chained ships, releasing his magic.

The next instant, the chained boats carrying Dali and his five companions sped off like an arrow, accelerating rapidly and splashing high into the air as they raced toward their barely visible destination.

Leaving everyone else's boats far behind.

This also caught Hagrid, who was leading the charge, off guard.

He chuckled helplessly, took out his oak wand that no longer needed to be covered by an umbrella, waved it twice, and also sped up the other newborn boats.

However, to ensure safety, Hageti's speed was far slower than Dudley's speed for the chained ships, and he couldn't even touch the water splashed up by the chained ships.

The Malfoy trio, who had already rowed to the middle of the fleet, watched the chain of ships speeding away, their hearts sinking completely.

"Is Dudley Dursley really going to push things to the extreme?"

Malfoy said angrily, but then he remembered the outrageous things Dudley had said in the cubicle, and his resentment turned into a long sigh.

"Boss Malfoy, should we continue the pursuit?" Goyle asked in a low voice.

"Why are we chasing them! They're clearly trying to embarrass us! Even if we do catch them, we'll only be worse off!"

Malfoy was at his wits' end. Their only option now was to seek help from the Hogwarts professors, hoping that the professors who came to welcome the new students would respect their privacy and take them to a secluded place to help them break the curse.

Why did you stop paddling?

Malfoy suddenly asked a question, leaving Crabbe and Goyle completely bewildered.

Malfoy just said he wouldn't chase anymore, so the two of them stopped rowing and relied solely on Hagrid's spell to keep the ship moving at a constant speed.

"Boss, didn't you say you weren't going to pursue it anymore?"

Crabbe asked, puzzled.

"We're not going to chase after them, but we need to find the Hogwarts professors to break the spell first! You two idiots, hurry up and keep rowing!"

……

The Malfoy trio ultimately failed to gain the upper hand.

Because it's not just them who have hands; other freshmen do too.

Everyone was in high spirits, looking at the castle at night in the distance and anticipating the upcoming Sorting Ceremony.

Three smelly little mud men, who could have sped up the boats into the fleet, ruined everyone's mood.

Everyone used their own methods to increase the speed of their boats and race to the front, trying to leave the Malfoys trio's small boat far behind so they wouldn't have to smell the stench drifting in the wind.

However, this resulted in a tug-of-war with the Malfoy trio.

Everyone sped up, and the Malfoy trio, still injured, naturally couldn't rush to the front. They were able to keep up thanks to the fat on Crabbe and Goyle that provided them with strength.

After a thrilling rowing race.

The muddy clothes on Malfoy and his two companions, mixed with a lot of sweat, became even stickier and more mushy, and the stench became even stronger.

After reaching the shore, they were unsurprisingly met with a barrage of complaints, accusations, and insults from the birds and flowers.

I'm about to explode.

Dudley and his five friends reached the shore early, smiling and waiting for Hagrid to lead the other freshmen so they could show them the way.

When Malfoy saw this smiling face, his resentment only intensified.

But Dudley was helpless and could only continue to bury their heads in the sand with Crabbe and Goyle, no matter how harsh the insults were, they dared not retaliate, for fear of exposing their identities and ruining the family's reputation.

Hagrid had obviously noticed the three little mud figures in the group and was thinking of dealing with them, but when he saw Dudley's ambiguous smile, he instantly realized that the three of them had offended Dudley.

The kid who offended Dudley is definitely not a good kid; it's good that he suffers a little.

Thinking this way, Hagrid simply decided to leave it at that. He figured he'd just bring the person to the Great Hall and the great Headmaster Dumbledore would handle everything.

So Hagrid pretended not to see anything and led the group of new students to the gates of Hogwarts Castle.

The formation reverted to its familiar three-section arrangement, with Dudley and his group of five at the front, Malfoy and his group of three at the back, and the other freshmen in the middle.

The place where first-year students dock is the castle's underground dock, which is reached after passing through a dark tunnel.

There is a gravel road that goes uphill.

After walking along this path and passing through a rock tunnel carved into the mountainside, the group finally arrived at a wide-open meadow.

Not far ahead, after climbing some stone steps, lies the mysterious and magnificent gate of Hogwarts Castle.

Hagrid, holding a lantern, went up and knocked on the door.

The door opened automatically, revealing a tall, dark-haired witch wearing square glasses, a pointed wizard's hat, and a bright green wizard's robe. She was middle-aged or elderly, with pursed lips and sharp eyes, looking very serious.

It is none other than the current Executive Vice-Headmistress of Hogwarts, Ms. Minerva McGonagall.

Vice Principal McGonagall first nodded to Hagrid, asking if all the new students had arrived. After receiving an affirmative answer, she handed over the reins to Hagrid and led the new students into the castle.

Unexpectedly, when she casually glanced at the group of new students, she spotted three masked little mud-covered children standing alone at the back of the line.

"Oh my god! Merlin's beard! What happened? Are you three freshmen? Who changed your clothes like this?"

Professor McGonagall walked through the automatically separating group of freshmen, enduring the stench, and approached the Malfoy trio, asking them earnestly.

She didn't use the head-bubbling spell on herself to block the stench, feeling that doing so would further hurt her three children's self-esteem.

"Could you...could you take us somewhere else and break the curse on us?"

Malfoy, in a high-pitched voice, tried to change his tone of voice and humbly pleaded with Professor McGonagall in an extremely respectful and pitiful manner.

He was nothing like his usual arrogant and conceited self.

Professor McGonagall immediately understood Malfoy's desire to save face and offered to help them, but she needed to know who was responsible for all of this.

The upright Professor McGonagall would not tolerate such egregious bullying among the students.