"The Black Storm over the Black Lake"
Above the Black Lake, Einar intensely watched the magical sphere that showed Harry underwater. The creatures surrounding him weren't as friendly as Dumbledore had described. Some looked at him with barely contained hostility, while others seemed to be holding them back for some invisible reason.
Without taking his eyes off the sphere, Einar placed an arrow on his bow and aimed toward the depths. Through the link with Harry's vital signs, he had him perfectly located. He didn't plan to shoot... unless a mermaid made the mistake of trying to hurt him.
The mere presence of his drawn bow, aimed at the water, was enough to send many of the lake's creatures fleeing in terror, as if they could feel death watching them from the surface.
At the judges' table, Dumbledore also watched the sphere showing Harry's progress. His gaze shifted briefly to Einar, who stood firm, ready to attack at the slightest hint of hostility.
"Potter had better not do anything the mermaids might consider a provocation..." the Headmaster thought. "I don't want to lose a group of valuable allies just to see them exterminated by Professor Einar."
Beside him, Professor McGonagall"who had known Dumbledore for decades"immediately understood what was going through his mind. But she, truthfully, didn't care what happened to the mermaids. Murderous beasts who had delighted in drowning sailors for centuries. She wondered what in Merlin's name Dumbledore had been thinking, trusting them with the role of hostage guardians. Even if he could communicate with them… that didn't make them trustworthy.
Deep in the lake, the mermaids had no idea of the deadly shadow looming over them. They continued watching Harry with cold eyes as he tried to figure out how to open the chest before him. It was firmly anchored to the ground, with a seemingly solid lock.
"Professor Einar said he'd teach us how to open locks without spells," Harry murmured mentally. "We all thought it was pointless"that's what Alohomora was for... and now I see how valuable that lesson was."
He tried the spell for the fifth time, but underwater, the distorted pronunciation made it come out all wrong. Shapeless sparks faded into the aquatic darkness.
At that moment, he felt movement above and looked up to see Cedric approaching rapidly. The older boy also spotted him and noticed his struggle with the chest. Cedric gestured with his hand and then closed his eyes in concentration. Though only bubbles escaped his mouth, the spell worked: the chest opened, and inside was an enchanted broom protected against water.
Cedric took it, signaled to Harry the remaining time, and pointed behind him, warning that Fleur and Krum were nearby. Then he swam to the surface.
Harry understood everything. He mentally recalled Einar's lessons on underwater magic. Since they couldn't use their voices, Einar had made them memorize a simple spell and repeat it mentally until they completely mastered it. Harry had chosen Aguamenti, which was why he could now cast it almost perfectly underwater"he was the only one who had trained with enough consistency.
Cedric, being a sixth-year, already had practice with nonverbal magic, which gave him a natural advantage. But Harry didn't give up. He closed his eyes, visualized the words in his mind, and focused the way Einar had taught him.
It was like a kind of self-hypnosis: he had to convince himself that even without saying a word, the spell would work.
Then Krum appeared, his head grotesquely transformed into that of a shark. He bit his own chest violently, tore it open, grabbed his broom, and swam quickly back the way he had come.
But Harry didn't get distracted. He kept his focus.
When he finally opened his eyes, he cast the spell.
A flash burst from his wand, and the chest opened without resistance. He smiled. He had done it.
He grabbed his broom and swam decisively toward the finish line, heart pounding, knowing that every move could be the difference between success... or death.
...
On the platform beside the Black Lake, Einar watched the floating orbs with a faint smile. Cedric and Harry had already retrieved their precious items. Even Krum, with his usual brutality, had managed to get his broom. All three were returning to the surface, safe and victorious.
But then his expression changed.
His gaze locked onto the orb showing Fleur. And within it"chaos.
The young witch was surrounded by a swarm of Grindylows, the lake's grotesque creatures. One after another, they pounced on her"scratching, biting, gripping her arms and legs. Although the magical breathing mask Einar had lent her gave her an advantage underwater, the growing number of enemies was beginning to overwhelm her.
Einar's eyes narrowed in fury. He cast a disdainful glance toward the Tournament organizers, who watched from the judges' table. He couldn't interfere yet. If he did so without justification, Fleur might be disqualified for receiving help before surrendering.
But the string of his bow was already drawn. A black arrow"dark as Skyrim steel"rested in his right hand. He held it so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. The aura of power around him was so dense that the air trembled. If he fired now, the arrow could pierce even dragon scales. The bowstring"crafted from wyvern tendons"creaked as if about to snap under the pressure.
In the orb, Fleur could no longer lift her arms. Her wand slipped from her fingers. Her face, now bathed in desperation, looked upward in search of help. She didn't scream. She couldn't. But her eyes… her eyes pleaded for salvation.
Einar loosed the arrow.
The air exploded.
A shockwave rippled through the entire lake, making the orbs tremble and the waters rise in swirling vortices. The sound of the shot shattered the sound barrier"it rang like a thunderclap. In that instant, the arrow multiplied. One. Two. Four. Eight. Hundreds. Thousands.
It was the Gemino Spell"but not as it was taught in books. While others used it to duplicate useless items, Einar had perfected it as a technique of extermination. The arrows replicated mid-flight, creating a black storm that plunged down upon the horde of Grindylows. For a moment, all light vanished. The lakebed was drowned in a dense, lethal shadow.
When the darkness lifted, the Grindylows were gone.
Not a trace of them remained.
Only an abyssal silence remained, and Fleur's silhouette"trembling, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She looked around, then at the chest, and finally toward the surface. She said nothing. She knew she had been saved.
But she also knew she couldn't go on.
She swam upward.
Einar, after confirming that all the competitors were safe, slowly lowered his bow and began walking toward the shore. With every step he took, the murmurs grew louder. Everyone had seen what he had done"the wave, the black rain, and the sudden disappearance of the lake monsters.
He headed toward the judges' table. The faces that looked at him were pale. No one dared utter a word. The contempt in Einar's eyes was as deep as the lake itself.
"So much for 'safe,' huh?" he said coldly as he passed by them, his tone like steel. No one replied.
He walked over to Hagrid, who was waiting in silence, his face grave, staring at the waters that were slowly settling again.
"I'm sorry, Hagrid," Einar said solemnly. "A species from the lake has just gone extinct.
I know how much you love all creatures. But I can't allow any to endanger the students."
Hagrid nodded slowly. His massive figure seemed even heavier, burdened by sorrow.
"I know, Einar. You did it for their safety. Still… it's a bit sad."
They both understood what that meant. Hagrid knew that, were it not for their friendship, Einar would've purged the Forbidden Forest long ago, eradicating the Acromantulas and other threats.
But he understood the logic. To Einar, protecting meant eliminating every threat.
However, in Hagrid's heart… creatures, no matter how dark or violent, deserved a chance. Just like he had been given one, being half-giant.
And in that silence, the two men"so different, yet united by their love for Hogwarts"shared a moment of mutual respect. One for life… and the other for the duty to protect it at any cost.
Einar stood off to the side of the stage, away from the crowd, silently observing as the judges revealed the final scores of the second task. His firm stance and calm expression contrasted with the tension that hung in the air.
"Fleur Delacour: 25 points.
Viktor Krum: 40 points.
Harry Potter: 45 points.
Cedric Diggory: 47 points."
A soft murmur ran through the audience. Harry and Cedric were leading this round. However, Einar narrowed his eyes upon hearing the detail behind young Potter's score. Though he had arrived a bit later than the others, Ludo Bagman had rushed to raise his points, citing a notable "improvement" during the task. Einar merely glanced at the judge, and though he said nothing, his expression alone was enough to freeze the nervous smile on Bagman's face.
Fleur, meanwhile, seemed lost in another world. Standing a few meters from Einar, she stared at the lake with an absent, melancholic gaze. She didn't even notice him walking by. But not everyone was oblivious to him.
Gabrielle, her eyes sparkling with joy, ran up to the northerner with a beaming smile.
"Mr. Elf! There you are!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Einar smiled warmly.
"Hello, Gabrielle."
"You can call me Gaby… like my sister does," she added quickly, blushing slightly.
"Of course, Gaby," he replied gently.
The little girl turned her head, glancing at her older sister, who was now being tended to by the nurse for the bites and scratches she'd suffered underwater.
"My sister is sad," she whispered quietly. "She lost the photo of Grandpa… it was the last one they took before he… died.
As a fairy, can't you do something?"
Her big, pleading eyes locked onto Einar's, who slowly knelt in front of her and gently ruffled her hair.
"Dren… bring it," he commanded, raising his voice slightly toward the air, as if speaking to the world itself.
No one in the stands noticed. As the crowd began leaving their seats, unaware of what was happening, the lake began to stir with a chilling unrest. The water trembled as if an invisible force was rising from the depths, and aquatic creatures of every kind began fleeing in terror. Some hid in dark crevices at the bottom, others scattered to the edges of the lake, driven by an ancient survival instinct.
The mermaids, who had once acted proud, scornful, even mocking toward the champions, were now paralyzed by a primal fear. Their faces turned pale, and their eyes, wide as plates, reflected a chilling truth: Death was swimming among them.
A dark, majestic, and ominous shadow emerged from the remains of the opened chests. It glided like a serpent of darkness, ignoring everything in its path until it reached the only intact chest.
It took it in absolute darkness… and vanished as if it had never been there.
The mermaid leader, who witnessed the scene, was the first to regain his voice, shouting urgent orders in his ancient tongue. The mermaids began scattering, gathering their belongings, their homes… everything. This wasn't just a warning.
It was a declaration of power.
They had to leave. Now.
On the shore, Gabrielle remained still next to Einar, swinging her legs impatiently.
"Is it coming?" she asked eagerly.
Before he could reply, a dark mist slowly emerged from the lake, crawling like smoky fingers until it deposited an ancient chest at the northerner's feet. Then, the fog dissipated into the air without a trace.
"Wow!" Gabrielle exclaimed in awe. Her innocence kept her from grasping the magnitude of what she had just witnessed.
Einar crouched down, placed a hand on the chest, and with a simple push of his overwhelming strength, lifted the damp wooden lid. Inside, untouched, lay a photograph wrapped in a blue cloth.
The image showed a young Fleur, so much like Gabrielle she could've been her reflection. She smiled as she hugged a kind-looking old man, who gently caressed her head with infinite tenderness. A moment frozen in time, full of love.
"Here," said Einar with a soft smile. "You can give it to her."
"Thank you! I'm sure my sister will be really happy!" said Gabrielle, carefully taking the photo as if it were a treasure.
She started to run but stopped a few meters ahead. She turned around, her eyes shining like stars.
"Don't forget you have to come have dinner with us someday!" she shouted cheerfully before running off again.
Einar didn't reply. He only smiled.
The little girl reminded him so much of Sofie and Lucia, the young ones he once protected in his native world. That moment of pure sweetness struck him in the chest with silent nostalgia.
He turned away, the wind brushing his cloak, and began walking back toward the castle.
Behind him, the dark lake remained in reverent silence.
As if nature itself understood that it had just stood before a god who could decide the life and death of every creature dwelling in its depths.