Chapter 150: Mermaid Square

There was no follow-up on the soul matter; only a few professors knew about it.

John also didn't intend to share it with anyone for the time being.

When he returned to the Great Hall, Hermione was gone; instead, Ron had come, and he was sitting next to Harry, chatting excitedly about something.

Seeing Hermione wasn't there, he was too lazy to go in and chat with two men.

He turned and walked toward the library; finding Hermione in the library, he could find her nine times out of ten.

Sure enough, Hermione was sitting in her usual spot by the window in the library, with books full of information about Black Lake creatures piled in front of her.

"You're back."

Hermione wasn't surprised to see John appear and smiled at him.

"Mm-hmm, was called by Professor Moody to ask about some things."

John said casually, then pulled over a chair and sat down, his gaze sweeping over the open pages in front of her.

"How is it? Are there any interesting things in the Black Lake?"

"Not interesting at all; it's all danger."

Hearing John's slightly novel tone, Hermione complained speechlessly.

"Although usually the creatures under the Black Lake won't attack Hogwarts students."

"But when the second challenge comes, with the school's authorization, they will definitely become extremely aggressive."

"Especially those Grindylows tamed by the merpeople will appear in groups and attack the contestants."

Hermione said while flipping through the book in her hand, telling John about the dangers existing under the Black Lake.

Grindylows are a group of small green water demons, less than a meter tall, with sharp teeth and claws, and their lower bodies are like octopuses; they like to hide in dark places overgrown with water plants, waiting for an opportunity to act.

If it's a single one, the threat isn't great, and even ordinary Muggles can handle it.

But the problem is that this thing is a gregarious creature that will appear in groups and drag people into deep water to drown.

"And there are merpeople; their intelligence is far beyond Grindylows, and they will launch organized attacks, but I don't know to what extent they will do it."

Hermione continued, and pushed over a book; the page depicted a mermaid holding a bone fork, with a fierce look in her eyes, and the background was the deep bottom of the Black Lake.

"Merpeople are really ugly."

As a result, John looked for a long time and only managed to squeeze out such a sentence.

Hermione rolled her eyes and didn't expect John to analyze any profound insights.

She closed the book and sighed: "The point is actually how to find the so-called treasure at the bottom of the Black Lake within an hour."

The water is full of dangers, and the terrain at the bottom of the water is even more complex than land, with extremely low visibility and difficult direction.

Regarding this point, John actually had some of his own insights.

"I actually think this shouldn't be a big problem."

"The range of the Black Lake is too large, and there are all kinds of nooks and crannies at the bottom of the water; the event organizers will definitely not hide the treasure in too remote a place, otherwise no one would be able to find it at all."

"And there is no clear indication of what the treasure the contestants need to find is, so it can be inferred."

"That treasure must be placed in some open area underwater, which can be discovered at a glance."

"And the treasures of the four warriors will be placed together, just like the golden egg; one person takes one, and they pass the level."

"And around the treasure, it might be similar to the first challenge, with creatures guarding the treasure, and the contestants need to pass the guards to obtain their own treasure."

After listening to John's analysis, Hermione also nodded; this analysis is very logical.

One hour, just swimming wouldn't go very far, and it's impossible to hide the treasure too deep.

Thinking this way, Hermione took out another book.

"This is a topographic map of the bottom of the Black Lake drawn by someone in the last century."

"Look, this whole area is the settlement area of the merpeople, and there is a huge square in the center."

"If you follow your inference, then the treasure is most likely in the square here."

The edge of the square is also marked with several stone pillar ruins, which may be the remains of ancient buildings, just right to serve as a reference point for the treasure hiding point.

"It just so happens to be the merpeople's lair, so the ones guarding there must be those merpeople."

"And the periphery of this area is almost surrounded by water plants, obviously an excellent habitat for Grindylows, and even a natural barrier for the merpeople settlement, which can effectively block outsiders from approaching easily."

Hermione compared a map while telling John about the action plan.

"But now we still don't know where the competition starts, so it's not easy to plan the route."

"The safest method is to swim directly from the water surface, avoid the depth where Grindylows are active, and then dive directly into the Mermaid Square."

This can save time and avoid being entangled by Grindylows halfway.

Just like paratroopers, go straight behind enemy lines.

So as long as you roughly determine the location of the Mermaid Square, you can locate the coordinates on the lake surface and dive quickly.

The two talked more and more excitedly, discussing various countermeasures and action plans.

Striving for a quick decision, after all, there are too many uncertain factors underwater.

"By the way, let's go find Hagrid; he must know the specific location of the Mermaid Square."

John said at this time, and Hermione also felt it made sense, so she brought the book with the map and walked toward Hagrid's hut together.

When they arrived at Hagrid's hut, Hagrid was sitting outside the house chopping wood.

The snow blew his face red, but he was still humming a little tune, his hand rising and the axe falling, wood chips splashing everywhere.

The two walked closer, and only then did he discover them.

"Yo, it's you two!"

"Did you have fun at the ball yesterday?"

As soon as Hagrid saw them, he raised his hand happily and smiled at them.

It would have been better if he hadn't said that; as soon as he did, Hermione's face instantly turned bright red, and John also lowered his head in embarrassment.

The scene of secretly kissing in the garden yesterday seemed to be still vivid in his mind.

Today, he finally managed to recover and tried to face each other in his usual state, but he was broken by Hagrid's sentence.

Hagrid was completely unaware, hugged the chopped wood, and greeted them with a smile to come into the house to warm up by the fire.

The fire in the house was burning brightly, Hagrid piled the wood into the fireplace, and the fire crackled.

Only then did Hagrid look at them and ask with a smile.

"Why are you free to come over today?"

"I thought you would be busy unwrapping Christmas presents."

Speaking of business, the two finally regained their senses.

"Hagrid, we want to ask, do you know the general location of the Mermaid Square in this Black Lake topographic map?"

Hermione spread out the book in her hand, revealing the page with the map.

Hagrid leaned close to the map, his thick brows frowned, and his beard trembled slightly.

"Mermaid Square?"

John also spoke.

"Yes, we want to know the location of the Mermaid Square, because we speculate that the second challenge is very likely to need to go to that place to find treasure."

Hearing John's words, Hagrid became serious.

"Of course I know, it's right in the center of the Black Lake."

"Facing the castle dock, about three hundred meters southeast."

"The water there is extremely deep, and there are many undercurrents; the merpeople surrounded a circle with stone pillars at the bottom of the lake, forming a flat stone platform square."

Hagrid hadn't finished looking at the map yet, and he clearly stated the orientation of the Mermaid Square from memory.

After finishing, he added another sentence.

"This map of yours is from the last century; the terrain underneath has long changed, and this place on the map is now an old site."

Saying this, Hagrid drew a line on the map with his rough fingers, pointing to a blank water area in the lower right.

"It's about here, but merpeople still appear near the old site; if you want to find something, you can also go and see it on the way, anyway, it's not far."

Hagrid said this as easily as going home and visiting a neighbor.

You don't even know if you can tell the direction at the bottom of the water, and you still want to go see it on the way... ===== CHAPTER 151 =====