Chapter 228

If you realize that Barty is not Barty, things suddenly become clear. Barty Sr. should have reached a cooperation with the Soviets, otherwise it would not be so easy to change Barty out. Perhaps, the content of his cooperation with the Soviets at the beginning was just to save his son, but what the Soviets gave him was no longer his original son.

If the original Barty was a fanatical and stupid Death Eater, then the current Barty, no matter what his true purpose is, at least he is on Harry's side. Nine times out of ten, he is a Metamorphmagus, disguised as Barty, lurking beside Barty Sr., and with the help of Barty Sr.'s political means, successfully entered the Doctor plan.

Then, if the core of this Doctor plan is the Soviets, Harry of course can't help but suspect, is the entire plan of the Ministry of Magic the plan of the Ministry of Magic, or the plan of the Kremlin?

In any case, Harry still agrees with this plan. He feels that there is no problem with the plan, perhaps the Soviets are also preparing to deal with Voldemort.

And, after thinking of this point, his leaking questions and Renata's methods suddenly no longer seem mysterious. As a Soviet Renata, of course she knows Barty's secret identity in the Ministry of Magic; and as a Soviet agent, the fake Barty, of course he also knows that Renata can get his information.

Thus, the fake Barty deliberately leaked questions to himself, and then instructed Renata to trade with himself. This not only cooperates with the Ministry of Magic's plan and helps Harry, but also happens to help his own people and squeeze out the contestants of Ilvermorny.

Moreover, if it weren't for Sirius reminding Harry several times, if it weren't for him inviting Tonks to explain the characteristics of Metamorphmagus to himself, if it weren't for him saying the decisive clue of Badwolf, Harry would definitely not have guessed Barty's hidden identity, and would only think that he had turned over a new leaf and was working hard to redeem himself.

On the way back, Harry kept telling himself that there was no benefit in revealing things at this stage. Just treat Barty as Barty, the Barty who turned over a new leaf. Moreover, there is no evidence that things are not like this, right?

The tense life continued for several days, and finally, even the most difficult intelligence questions were overcome with collective efforts. Fleur and Alina left with satisfaction, while Luo En was a bit lost.

"Hermione suggested I read a book," Luo En said after they left, trying to make conversation. "Magical Aquatic Plants of the Mediterranean and Their Characteristics, I guess there might be clues about Fleur and Alina's strategy for the next level in it."

"I've read that book." Cedric said. "It introduces a plant called Gillyweed, which allows you to breathe underwater after taking it."

"But I think it's not as good as the Bubble-Head Charm." Cedric evaluated objectively: "After taking Gillyweed, you can't breathe on the shore, you must go into the water immediately, and you can't return to the water surface before it expires. More importantly, its duration is very difficult to estimate. The freshness of the grass and personal physique will affect the duration of the effect."

"But the disadvantage of the Bubble-Head Charm is that you can't talk to merpeople." Zhang Qiu said. "Sound transmission from one medium to another will have a great loss. Even if you hear a little bit, it is severely distorted."

"Why don't you try Transfiguration?" Luo En suggested. "Transfigure a long straw and extend it to the water surface to breathe. When you talk to merpeople, you can take the straw away."

Harry pondered. Although he can use Tang Tang Nade's help to part the sea, Cedric must enter the water in advance to solve the riddle. If he uses Gillyweed, then once he clears a piece of open space, he will immediately have difficulty breathing; and if Cedric uses the Bubble-Head Charm, he will also be unable to answer the merpeople's questions underwater.

Perhaps, when Tang Tang Nade studied the plan, he only considered how to make Harry look handsome, and didn't think about providing help for Cedric.

"Whether it's a straw or a scuba tank," Zhang Qiu shook her head. "You can't empty the air in your throat. As long as the vocal cords are still in contact with the air, you can't talk to merpeople."

"Perhaps the competition official considered this point." Cedric touched his chin. "The riddle might be answered in writing."

"But I think being able to talk to merpeople should be a big advantage," Harry remembered the werewolves, who would often find a few real werewolves mixed in the crowd the day after the full moon. "Human Transfiguration, can you do Human Transfiguration? Like an Animagus, if you are not skilled, just transform the upper body, or just transform a head."

"With the help of Professor McGonagall, I did try Animagus." Cedric shook his head. "But first of all, the professor told me that transforming only half is more difficult and dangerous; secondly, even if I transform the whole body, I haven't mastered it skillfully yet; finally, even if I can transform, what I transform into should be some kind of bird."

"Actually, I have seen Human Transfiguration." Zhang Qiu suddenly said. "You must not guess what happened."

"Do you remember when you took Polyjuice Potion to investigate Malfoy in the second year?" She said. "Hermione also drank it at the time, but she didn't find anything, right?"

Harry just wanted to admit it, but saw Cedric's suspicious eyes, so he hurriedly denied it. "No, no, there is no such thing at all, Zhang Qiu, you must have taken the wrong divination seriously."

"Fine, you guys talk about those whimsical imaginations and wrong divinations." Cedric said unhappily. "I'll just treat them as things that really happened, but I won't tell the professor these false things."

"Ah ah, yes." She smoothed her hair awkwardly. "I saw from the wrong divination that Hermione accidentally added cat hair to the potion instead of hair, causing her to grow a cat face. Later I asked her, during that short while she had a cat head, she could actually understand some simple meows."

"But I clearly remember she was fine that day." Harry recalled that time in the second year.

"Because she found Madam Pomfrey in time. Although the hair took two or three days to fade, the effect of the Polyjuice Potion had passed, and it didn't hinder her from drinking a little more of her own Polyjuice Potion." Zhang Qiu said. "I gave her a little help in the third year."

Perhaps the truth is that Hermione didn't get the hair and cat hair wrong at all. It was Zhang Qiu in the third year who quietly swapped the hair she prepared in order to fulfill the divination, and then in order to make up for it, provided her with more potions added with Hermione's own hair.

However, Harry didn't say this guess, which would only make Luo En unhappy.

"So, do you want to try using Polyjuice Potion?" Zhang Qiu scratched her head. "Add a little animal hair to briefly gain their abilities?"

"This problem is the same as Gillyweed." Cedric shook his head. "It's even more unreliable."

"But what if you find an amphibian?" Luo En suggested. "Tang Tang Nade told me there is a magical animal called a fish-man, which usually lives in groups on the west coast of America—"

"Stop." Cedric rejected these proposals. "I think doing this is very dangerous, and now there is less than a month before the competition starts, it's too late to brew Polyjuice Potion. I'll just use the Bubble-Head Charm, at most use a writing board to communicate with merpeople."

Harry nodded in agreement. Sure enough, this is Cedric. If the Polyjuice Potion is not brewed by himself, he will feel it is unfair and not use it.

The discussion of the Hogwarts champions stopped here. The plan they set was for Cedric to use the Bubble-Head Charm to start from underwater, while Harry prepared his "powerful spell" on the shore. Although he didn't elaborate, Cedric already knew that the effect of this spell was similar to Moses parting the sea, and Luo En and Zhang Qiu also knew that this spell came from Tang Tang Nade.

After two weeks of slight expectation and slight leisure, the second project was finally held by the Meiledihe River. Harry and Cedric walked into the enclosure from the champion passage, and they noticed that the upper and lower reaches of the river were blocked by huge metal plates, leaving only the middle section shaped like a large lake.

"Now, I will announce the rules of the competition." Madame Maxime said loudly to the champions. "Each group needs to act separately, one starts from the water, and the other goes to the underwater position in advance. When you meet, you need to go to the center of the bottom of the lake and open the treasure chest there. That counts as completing the second project."

"Now, the champions preparing to start from underwater can come with me, and there will be merpeople to guide you to the starting point." Madame Maxime continued to explain. "The distance from your starting point to the center of the lake is exactly the same, and your partner will start from the shore farthest from you."

Cedric squeezed Harry's shoulder, then strode to Madame Maxime's side. Harry noticed that Renata chose to start from underwater. Perhaps she felt that Krum's IQ was not enough to remember the answers to the questions, or perhaps she didn't trust Krum, so she didn't tell him the questions at all.

Alina couldn't wait to take off her robes, revealing the swimsuit underneath. The blue and white checkered swim trunks had ruffles, and there was a very ostentatious sunflower on it. She proudly straightened her full chest under the swimsuit, and looked at Renata with a provocative look.

Harry felt that this behavior was very bad, and Fleur also frowned. But in the end, they didn't say anything, letting Madame Maxime lead them away.

"Champions starting from the shore, you can rest for half an hour first. After half an hour, Madame Maxime will come back to lead you to your positions." Prince Mountbatten said. "I'll tell you half of the password, which is also the location where the third project will be held—Trenzalore."