[HP] Comparative

Harry didn't sleep well all night.Although everything went well after he knew what the golden egg was talking about, maybe it was too smooth, causing him to toss and turn, staring at the top of the bed curtain in the dark, desperately thinking about what "the most beloved baby" could be .

If it's not the invisibility cloak, maybe it's the Firebolt|Arrow?If that's the case, he hoped they wouldn't forget to cast a waterproofing charm on his precious broom... Anyway, it's impossible to get Hedwig down, right?

Harry went through the items he liked one by one, but still had no clue, and finally fell into a light sleep drowsily amidst the complicated guesses.But it might be better to be awake than to fall asleep, because he was dreaming the whole time——

The mermaid on the window of the prefect's bathroom took his Firebolt | Arrow, giggling loudly, he couldn't get the broom; just as he was anxious, the Firebolt | Arrow suddenly disappeared, replaced by a deep A tall boy with sultry eyebrows; the other party didn't notice his existence at all, just hugged the mermaid's slender waist tightly, and was about to kiss him...

"Stay away from him!"

Harry couldn't help roaring, and then woke up.In a few seconds, he found out in embarrassment that the noise he made woke up everyone in the dormitory.

"...what's the matter with you?" The sleepy, disheveled Ron poked his head out from behind his crimson bed curtain, and the other three were almost as frightened as he was. "Why stay away?"

"It's okay, it's just a dream." Harry waved his hands hastily, hoping that they didn't hear clearly, "Sorry, you guys go on sleeping."

Ron looked relieved. "Don't be too nervous, Harry..." he muttered vaguely, his face disappearing behind the curtain.

Harry also breathed a sigh of relief seeing them fall back to the bed one by one.The morning light outside the window was still early, but he didn't want to dream anymore, so he got up lightly, changed his clothes and went downstairs.

A fire was lit in the common room fireplace, but no one was there.Harry took a seat closest to the fireplace, buried his head in his hands, and pulled a few handfuls of hair.

Obviously they haven't seen each other for almost a month, why does he still have such a dream... Does it mean that the memory of the prefect's bathroom last time is too deep, or he has never forgotten Tom?Or maybe both?

Even subconsciously treating the mermaid as a rival in love, even if it is described as a sense of crisis, it is too much...

Wouldn't it be better for him to give up if there was really no possibility at all?

The thought popped into Harry's mind suddenly.

He has never considered this direction before, because he has always been a person who goes all out for his goal, no matter how many difficulties he will encounter ahead.

But feelings are different from other things, he couldn’t help but think again, there is no good result in forcing others... He can like Tom, but there is no rule that Tom must like to come back... What if Tom just doesn’t like him, what if No matter how unrequitedly he falls in love, there is no hope...

It's only been a month, can your so-called liking not even stand the test of such a little time?

A voice condemned loudly in his head.

The point is not time, but that Tom doesn't give even a little room for thinking!

Another voice retorted aggrievedly and unfairly.

Recalling the feeling of emptying his arms for a second, Harry's breath paused.He knew he was being rash - perhaps too presumptuous - but he had to admit that Tom's reaction was one of refusal, the kind that left no room for fantasy.

Maybe it's a good thing he hasn't blocked Tom for an explanation so far, because it's probably saved him from humiliating himself...

Maybe he had some delusions when he was in the Forbidden Forest. After all, the other party is a good student in the eyes of the professor, and it is impossible to leave him alone in it...

Perhaps going forward, Tom's behavior towards him differently was because Tom wanted to observe their similarities, and in the final analysis it was because of the twin wands...

The more Harry thought about it, the more upset he was, and he could only force himself to stop before he really got into a corner.Today's focus is to win the second project, he desperately emphasized to himself, stop thinking about other irrelevant things!

After a sloppy breakfast, Harry and Ron walked out of the castle together in a hurry.Hermione didn't know where, but she couldn't have missed Harry's game, so they figured she might be ahead of them both.

The same seats as in the fire dragon competition have been set up by the lake, and many people are already there.And as soon as they saw them appear, Lily and James waved to them excitedly.

Ron immediately walked in that direction, looking around for something as he walked.As a warrior, Harry had to stay in front of the referee's seat, and could only respond by waving on the spot.He keenly noticed that Sirius was sitting a little further back, looking at him with confidence, and made a big cheering gesture.

Harry had been trying to keep his spirits up so his friends wouldn't see it, and now he felt he had to focus on the game anyway.If he loses because of his petty thinking, everyone will be very disappointed.And he'd already made up his mind to make Hagrid proud of him, hadn't he?

With this in mind, Harry barely paid attention to the process of the auditorium becoming full, nor did he pay much attention to Ludo Bagman's pre-match mobilization.Whatever it was, he'd just have to fish it up in an hour's time... He'd memorized the spells, wand and gills in pocket, no problem...

It wasn't until the resounding "The hostage is Tom Riddle" that Harry suddenly came back to his senses——

Wait, why did Bagman say Tom's name?

"...that's it," Bagman was still gushing, "and now we know who the favorite treasure of all warriors is!" For an hour there is no hope, it is gone and never to be seen again.' As the Mermaid's song goes, every warrior has a full hour to take back what has been taken from them! Now let us Let's see, are the warriors clear about their mission?"

Harry glanced at the other warriors in a daze, because he couldn't believe his guess at all.Krum pursed his lips tightly, frowned his thick eyebrows, and nodded very briefly.Cedric gripped his wand so hard his knuckles turned white.Fu Rong's face was extremely pale, and she looked like she wanted to jump into the water in the next second.Neither of them reacted to Bagman's words.

... The so-called "most beloved baby" is actually a human?

...and his baby is Tom?

All the pictures that can be seen, all the voices that can be heard, all convey this terrible news to Harry.His heart sank rapidly, and his hands and feet began to feel cold.How could it be Tom, no one should know...

Then, Harry remembered what he and Tom had done last time by the Black Lake, and the unknown witnesses at that time.He couldn't help taking a deep breath——

Obviously, whoever the witness was, he or she must have provided the organizing committee with information that they knew, so that Tom was selected...

Harry couldn't imagine how the Slytherins would react, putting Tom in danger for him.

"...Looks like our champions can't wait to get started!" Bagman's voice was still cheerful, and it sounded like he didn't mind that he didn't get enough responses. "Here, everyone! I'll count three two one The countdown starts! Three, two, one—”

Shrill whistles echoed in the cold, still air.Cheers and applause erupted from the stands.Harry took a step forward and waded into the water without anyone looking.He was so preoccupied with how he could get Tom back, the freezing cold water didn't make him blink—

Whether to give up or not can be discussed later, but he must not allow Tom to be hurt, let alone because of him!

Harry stuffed the gillsweed into his mouth, swallowed it without much chewing - the mustache was slippery and sticky, and it really didn't taste very good - and plunged headlong into the water.At the beginning, he swam forward holding his breath, his hands and feet were stiff due to the low temperature; but after a while, he felt fresh and sweet air flowing into his body along the side of his neck, and transparent growths grew between his fingers. The fins, the water temperature has become more pleasant.

This made Harry swim faster.The lake water is not very transparent, there are many floating objects in it, and the bottom looks dark.He walked around a long strip of driftwood, avoiding those water plants that were hard to entangle at first glance, and also repelled a few Grindylows who tried to pull his ankles——

Seriously, they were way below Tom's level; any spell would do the trick, and a little kick could go a long way.

Thinking of Tom's expression when he knew he was being compared with Grindylow, Harry couldn't help grinning, and a large silver bubble burst out.Recalling their chase and confrontation in the bath, he was convinced that Tom was better suited to the challenge than he was.It's just that Bagman also used the word "hostage"; generally speaking, a hostage is not free|free, and may even lose consciousness...

Harry didn't feel relieved for two seconds before becoming worried again.He looked around again, but everything looked the same.If we continue to reason in the direction of the hostages, who else should be guarding... The watchman in the lake is obviously only a mermaid, maybe he should seriously catch the source of the mermaid's voice...or look for their nests, if the mermaids really have a nest ...

After thinking for a moment, Harry kicked his legs vigorously and turned vertically in another direction.Facts have proved that swimming in circles is indeed less likely to miss the target.After another ten minutes or so, the bottom of the lake in front of him changed from a large expanse of black mud to layers of rocky caves, accompanied by the mermaid's unforgettable song——

"...don't delay any longer, half the time has passed,

Lest what you seek rot here..."

With a start, Harry glanced at his watch in the air, then quickly passed a large rock with rough petroglyphs, swimming faster.But after a while, he found that those stone dwellings surrounded a small square, and there was a large group of mermaids floating in front of the houses.They are completely different from the mermaids on the window: their yellow eyeballs are cloudy and dull, their teeth are sparse, their hair is tangled with dark green algae, and their skin is iron gray and very rough.

"I guess, the mermaid in the Black Lake is definitely not as good-looking as this one"...

Harry couldn't help but think of Tom's earlier evaluation, and thought to himself that they were not only ugly, they could be described as horrible.He went around to the front and found a huge mermaid sculpture in the middle of the square, with four hostages tied to their tails.Hermione, who was missing in the morning, is on the far left. She seems to be in a deep sleep, with her head drooping, and a small stream of bubbles coming out of her mouth from time to time.

It was obvious that she was Krum's hostage.There was also Qiu Zhang, and a little girl with cloudy silver hair, and her face was bloodless.Tom is on the far right, also with his eyes closed.

Harry swam across hurriedly, trying to untie the rope on the tall boy.But those ropes were made of very thick aquatic plants and tied so tightly that they couldn't be untied by hand.He glanced left and right, guessing that those mermaids who were not far away and kept looking at him were unlikely to lend him a spear, so he could only carefully cast the cutting spell on the part of the rope that was on the rock.

His mastery of the spell wasn't perfect, but it worked.Twenty seconds later, the rope broke.Tom's body lost its strength, and he fell forward lightly. Harry hurriedly hugged him.He wanted to take the tall boy away from the bottom of the lake immediately, but when he saw the three girls who were still tied up, he hesitated again.

According to what the mermaid sang, it's already half the time, why haven't the others arrived yet?

Harry looked at his watch again and saw that there were still a little over twenty minutes to the appointed time.This time is definitely not enough for him to take Tom up and come back to save others, what should I do?

As if to echo his thoughts, Cedric appeared from afar.His head was covered with a transparent object like a water tank, which made his facial features funny. It was obviously Lily's head-bubbling curse.After approaching, he lip-synced to Harry to get lost, then turned to Qiu, and quickly led her to swim back.

After another restless few minutes, Krum also appeared.He seemed to want to turn himself into a shark, but only the head succeeded, which looked nondescript.He also tried to use the shark's teeth against the rope, and Harry was terrified to see them knock Hermione, so he hurried to help find a sharp-edged rock.

Krum also successfully took Hermione away.But after a while, Furong didn't show up.Harry became more and more anxious, because his waterproof watch showed that there were only 10 minutes left before the end of the game, and it was going to be too late.After a final mental struggle, he swam to the little girl and tried to release her from the statue's tail.

The mermaids who were just onlookers rushed forward immediately, the tip of their spears shone with a frightening silver light, trying to stop him.Harry tried to reason with them, but only bubbles came out of his mouth, so he had to give up, and waved his wand in his subordinate's hand viciously instead.

This trick was very effective, and the mermaids all retreated to the side in fear. He was able to cut the rope on the little girl, and pulled Tom upstream together.

How slow he was going.He swung his webbed hands vigorously, but he could only push his body forward a little; he slapped his webbed feet desperately, but Tom and Fleur's sister were like two sacks full of potatoes, dragging him down. ...The surface of the water was still pitch black, and he knew that he must still be deep in the water...

The mermaid came up with him.He saw them swimming briskly around him, watched him struggle in the water...was it possible that they would pull him back to the bottom when the time came?Do they eat people?

Harry couldn't help looking at Tom.The tall boy still had his eyes closed, his black hair floating in the current.His face was thinner and paler in the cold lake water, and it looked completely different from the smoothness in the bath.

If only Tom was awake, he'd be able to get them all up easily...

Maybe not, considering that last time Tom almost suffocated him at the bottom of the pool...

If he wanted to fight back, now was his chance; if only he let go...

Harry woke up with stiff legs and shoulders aching from the excess weight.Realizing what he was thinking, he called off his dangerous wanderings almost in horror.

Not now... Let alone Tom is his task, and he can't let go at this time... There are many problems between him and Tom, but they can solve them after they go up... definitely not now, he can't take advantage of others ...he did think about giving up at dawn, but giving up is not the same as murder...Besides, he quite doubts whether he can really let go...

Harry raised his head again and swam as hard as he could, getting more and more out of breath.He felt an unbearable pain on the sides of his neck... the gills grass was probably going to wear off, he should have taken more... he was beginning to realize very clearly how wet and cold the lake water in his mouth was ...but the heavy blackness had faded...he could see the light of the sky above...

He kicked hard with his webbed feet, only to find that they were normal feet again...he was beginning to feel dizzy from the difficulty of breathing, but he knew the sun and air were ten feet above...he must To get there...must...

Harry kicked his legs so fast and with such force that his muscles seemed to scream in protest; Needing oxygen, he has to go, can't stop—

Suddenly, he felt his head pop out of the water; the wonderful, fresh, cool air brushed against his damp face, his ribs ached, and he gulped air like he'd never breathed properly in his life.Panting for breath, he pulled Tom and the little girl onward.Around him, many green-haired, shaggy heads rose out of the water with him, but they all smiled at him kindly.

There was a lot of voices in the stands, as if they thought they would not come back.Harry looked instinctively at Tom - not without pride - only to realize that the tall boy had opened his eyes at some point.It was full of calm and indifference as always, but there was something deeper surging behind it, which seemed to be gushing out at any time.

Harry froze.Not only because he didn't find a reaction of surprise, fear, or emotion in Tom, but also because he had seen a similar expression in Tom——

When he worried he couldn't handle the dragon, when he admitted that he told Cedric what the first project was about, when he couldn't do anything about the saw-like sound inside the golden egg...

Extremely angry, full of doubts, unbelievable...

There may be more than these emotions now: that kind of eyesight that hates iron and steel is extremely sharp, as if wishing to open his head, so as to see what he is thinking inside...

Realizing what this meant, Harry's heart, which was still hot just now, immediately cooled down.He turned his head and saw that the referee's bench was almost empty, and many people got up to meet them from the shore, including Dumbledore.

He took the mermaid's singing seriously, thinking that the hostage would really die; thinking about it now, he was obviously mistaken, and it was very wrong.Dumbledore must have taken adequate security precautions against possible accidents...Look at Cedric and Krum, they are not fooled...

Harry felt more and more how stupid he was.This is obvious, why didn't he think of it before?If he had grabbed Tom and left, he would be No.1 now!

Because he was so frustrated, Harry let many hands pull him up almost mechanically, and he didn't object to Madam Pomfrey forcing him to be wrapped in a blanket and given medicine.His eyes followed Tom only: the tall boy, who had already taken care of his soaked hair and clothes, was whispering to Professor Slughorn.

"Well done, Harry!" said Hermione, who was sitting next to him. "I'm sure we're all very proud of you!"

But the person he most hoped would impress him wasn't there... Harry still felt bad. "actually……"

"Her-my-ern," Krum on the other side interjected before he finished speaking, as if hoping Hermione's attention would be diverted to himself, "you have a water beetle on your head..."

Harry heard the words and looked over, and there was indeed a beetle lying in Hermione's brown hair.The pattern on its body seemed to have been seen somewhere, but before he could figure it out, he noticed a familiar figure approaching not far away - Lily, James and Sirius squeezed over.

Of course they wouldn't blame him, but if he came up in time, they wouldn't have to worry for long and would definitely be happier...

Harry thought heavily, raising his hand in greeting.But before that, someone pressed his shoulder tightly and hissed: "You saved her! Even though she is not your hostage, you still saved her!"

It is Hibiscus.There were a lot of weeds and leaves on her body, and her robe was torn a few times, but she refused to let Madam Pomfrey take care of her.

"Yeah," said Harry dryly, wishing he hadn't been meddling.

Fleur lowered her head and kissed Harry loudly twice on each cheek.Harry was taken aback, his cheeks burning so fast he could feel it. "I don't...no..."

Harry was aware of the compelling look before he could utter a complete sentence.He turned his head slightly, and found that Professor Slughorn had left not far away, and Tom was watching him with an inscrutable expression on his face.Seeing that Harry noticed him, he moved his lips soundlessly, only slightly, then turned his head and walked away.

Midnight, the Astronomy Tower?

Harry blinked, and blinked again.For a moment he couldn't believe what he saw.Is this a trap?Or was Tom really asking him out on a date after they hadn't seen or spoken for a month?Or, more likely, Harry had done something so stupid that Tom had to give Harry a good beating to get over it?

The author has something to say:

Seriously, the number of words has not been finished yet... I give up, and the next chapter will continue~

Note: The part about Harry swimming up from the bottom of the lake is quoted from the original work with some changes.

Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who voted for [Bazooka]: I, Tang Chenxin, who like this book very much;

Thanks to the little angel who cast [Grenade]: Peppermint Tea Grass, one of me who likes this book very much;

Thanks to the little angel who cast [mine]: tayaoku1;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:

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Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!