Chapter 225: Leaked Questions

The second task will be held on February 24th, and the Hogwarts Express arrived at Beauxbatons as early as January 15th. When Harry stepped off the train and breathed the fresh air, Donna, who had been waiting on the lawn, told him a bittersweet piece of news: Cedric and Fleur had returned to school.

Cedric's return meant they had more time to strategize and study spells. But Fleur's return meant Elena could no longer continue playing with them—they would revert to a tense competitive relationship.

What made Harry's teeth ache, actually, was that Elena was Donald's person, so her natural fondness for Hogwarts was perfectly normal; whereas Fleur had been bribed by the Ministry of Magic to throw the match. These two could have allied with Hogwarts together, yet under Hermione's watchful outsider supervision, they concealed their true positions from each other, pretending to be independent.

Yet after Elena left, it became easier for Harry to talk to Zhang Qiu about the Dì Gāng Zhào Kǎo Lù.

"You really plan to use this?" Zhang Qiu's tone carried a hint of concern. "Didn't I tell you it consumes enormous energy?"

"But isn't the consumption issue solvable by extending the spell?" Harry asked.

"True, extending the spell can solve the magical energy drain—but I'm talking about sanity drain," Zhang Qiu mused. "This is the fourth secret incantation. Normally, it doesn't consume much sanity, but under normal circumstances, its effect is merely to trigger earthquakes and destroy buildings."

"You want to use this spell to drain an entire river? I can't imagine how much sanity it would cost—and you don't even know the incantation's master formula. Once your sanity is spent, it's nearly impossible to recover." Zhang Qiu said, "Here's what we'll do: tonight, I'll try it first—see if it's possible—but you must watch me. The moment I show signs of strain, you must interrupt the spell immediately."

That night, under cover of darkness, Harry and Zhang Qiu slipped quietly to the banks of the Meiledihe River, facing the large lake formed by the river's bend. She began chanting the incantation.

"You see the one with a human head and serpent body, the armless fish-scaled creature, the earth, wood, ox, and horse—do not be alarmed…"

As the incantation stirred, Harry felt the nearby land tremble; where the river flowed in, the ground began to rise, gradually forming a steep embankment far above the riverbank. But soon, he noticed Zhang Qiu's condition worsening—her speech grew halting, and the white mist around her thinned.

He hurried forward, shaking her shoulders, interrupting her casting.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"You're right," she mumbled, "but I think spaghetti with concrete No. 42 tastes better."

Harry supported her toward the train. Zhang Qiu's babbling shifted from half-English, half-Chinese to pure Chinese. By the time they reached the train door, she began reciting the master formula clearly and steadily.

Nearly half an hour later, Zhang Qiu finally returned to normal. She spoke with lingering dread: "No, this idea won't work. I couldn't even complete a quarter before collapsing."

"Alright, then I'll stick with Donald's method—just like we did with the Seven Sins," Harry said, dejected. "It's not shameful."

"But that quarter you did tonight," Ron asked, "it didn't fade, did it?"

Zhang Qiu's eyes lit up instantly. "Yes! We can do it slowly, bit by bit—like ants moving their nest."

"But you should rest tonight," Harry urged. "We'll do it tomorrow."

The next day, Zhang Qiu excitedly described how to design the entire underground river system: dig interconnected tunnels, leave enough reservoir space without collapsing the riverbed, so that with a single tremor, the water would drain away like a bathtub with its plug pulled.

But before considering how long it would take to drain a river, a new obstacle shattered all plans: the Durmstrang ship.

It was obvious that when the competition began, it would sail elsewhere. But for now, secretly casting spells to hollow out the underground riverbed without being seen by those on board was nearly impossible.

After the Dì Gāng Zhào Kǎo Lù proved unusable, Donald secretly sent another set of secret words: a series of simple terms—"flowers, trees, sky, breeze…" Harry accepted his arrangement and gave himself an excuse: "After all, I tried my own method—it just didn't work."

Cedric had no objections to Harry handling the underwater puzzle. After all, facing grindylows himself made him uneasy. Harry, however, had proven with the Seven Sins that he always had some extraordinary, beyond-student-level tricks up his sleeve. Cedric felt a touch of envy—but also deep reassurance.

During Beauxbatons' first week of term, Harry received a note in French class: Barty Jr. wanted him to meet him secretly in the French classroom office this Saturday. Harry wasn't surprised. If Donald merely wanted to help Harry, the Ministry of Magic had to find a way to give Harry an advantage—that was the foundation of their entire plan.

On Saturday, while everyone was drowsy after lunch, Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak and quietly entered Barty Crouch Jr.'s office.

"I need to ask—how prepared are you for the second task?" His eyes widened, hoping to hear an inspiring answer from Harry.

"I plan to start from the shore," Harry said. "I'll use a long but powerful spell."

"That sounds good—but have you considered starting underwater?" Barty asked. "Cedric might not solve the merpeople's riddle. If it were just merpeople posing questions, fine—but we—the official organizers—prepared a question bank for him. Each question is extremely difficult. Unless you're exceptionally brilliant, you won't solve any of them in an hour without paper or pen."

"Is it really that hard?" Harry blinked.

"Of course," Barty nodded slightly. "It's our little revenge for the Americans and Soviets inserting their people here. If their champions fail these logic puzzles, it not only highlights you but also makes them look foolish."

"Then why did you call me here?" Harry ventured, noticing Barty gathering exam papers from his desk.

"I'll give you the question bank in advance," he whispered. "Still, I recommend you start underwater."

"I have a reason I must do it otherwise," Harry said, bitter.

"Oh? Is it because you're attached to some marvelous spell you won't abandon?" Barty tilted his chin. "Or is Cedric eager to prove his intellect?"

"Both, I suppose," Harry mumbled. "I should go study these questions—they do look tough."

He said no more to Barty and hurriedly rolled up the parchment, leaving the French classroom office. A chill rose in Harry's chest. Though Barty acted like a regular Ministry insider, when Harry spotted a blank envelope on the desk, an offhand remark flashed through his mind.

"Barty has a Muggle wife—he calls her 'Dear Bazhu'…"

An absurdly strange name. Who would be named Bazhu? Unless it was two words run together: Badwolf.

After walking a long way, Harry's pounding heart gradually calmed. After all, a single misheard pronunciation meant nothing. Sean might have misread Barty's handwriting, or perhaps his wife really was named Bazhu—a North African, South Asian, or Latin American name, all of which can sound odd.

Harry exhaled deeply. He still remembered clearly the expression on Sean's face when he spoke of the Doctor's Plan—the righteousness, the noble idealism that moved one to tears. He found it hard to deny it was genuine. If so, first, Barty might not be the dangerous Soviet spy Sirius described; second, even if he were, he likely intended to cooperate with the plan and wouldn't harm Harry.

Once he accepted this, Harry finally suppressed his unease. Back in the carriage, he unrolled the parchment and glanced at it.

"There are twelve identical small balls. One has a slightly different weight (unknown whether heavier or lighter). How can you find it using a balance scale only three times?"

Harry froze. He'd expected something like Ravenclaw's riddle—a clever trick, a niche fact, or a word puzzle. He hadn't expected the first question to be this hard.

He didn't start solving immediately. He kept reading.

"A professor places three numbers on the foreheads of his three extremely clever students and tells them one number is the sum of the other two…"

"On an island live many blue-eyed and brown-eyed people. They have an unwritten rule: anyone who discovers they have blue eyes must immediately kill themselves…"

"The warden brings in a hundred prisoners and randomly places numbers one through one hundred into a hundred drawers. Each prisoner enters the room in turn…"

"Two champions challenge God. God reveals all his actions in advance to one man, while the other knows nothing. In each round, each man may play a black or white chess piece…"

After reading through these questions, Harry genuinely doubted whether Cedric could solve any of them.