Giant Washing Machine

"Another mermaid?" Tonks tilted her head as she looked at the creature revealed. "No, it looks similar, but this one seems pretty strange. Why does it have its tail behind its head? And why does it have legs?"

"It's better if Mipha doesn't hear you say that," Barnaby nudged her lightly with his elbow to stop her from saying more. "She's a Zora and quite sensitive about that."

Mipha was the easiest to convince. After all, despite her reserved personality, she has a brave heart, willing to help her friends and family.

And it's not like he was asking her to hurt the champions; it was more like an endurance contest.

Barnaby didn't doubt that Mipha would have done this for free, but he insisted on at least giving her some pearls as symbolic payment since she was doing him a favor.

"Pleased to meet you, challenger," Mipha greeted Harry in the water sphere, waving her hand with a friendly smile. "I wish you the best of luck! Prepare yourself!" She raised her silver trident with a reddish hue and assumed a battle stance.

Harry cast Protego as a precaution, not wanting to end up like Cedric.

The spectators in the stands watched as Mipha threw her trident forcefully at Harry. Judging by its trajectory, it seemed to be aimed at his legs.

The trident struck the shield, creating a sound similar to a bell, causing Harry to wince from the unexpected power of something so small.

His shield barely held!

Tearing his gaze away from the trident, Harry looked back at Mipha and discovered she was already gone.

The trident beside him suddenly moved backward, and following its path, Harry saw Mipha swimming swiftly in circles around him, beginning a routine of throwing and retrieving the trident.

This went on for a full minute before some sharp-eyed spectators in the stands realized something was wrong.

Why was the water so agitated?

"Is she generating centrifugal force?!" Hermione shouted, surprised that a non-human creature knew what that was.

"What's that?" A second-year magical student turned to ask her in confusion.

Hermione had no choice but to explain what centrifugal force was, though it only left the young witches and wizards from non-Muggle backgrounds even more confused.

And while that explanation was happening, Harry also started to feel something was wrong. He was suspended at a fixed point within the water sphere, barely holding up his shield, but even so, it felt like the shield was moving around like a bubble inside a washing machine.

With him inside!

Mipha stopped throwing the trident and, with a competitive smile, doubled her swimming speed, spinning even faster in the water, making Harry feel like throwing up.

When his sense of balance went haywire, he no longer knew which way was up or down, causing him to lose the focus needed to maintain the magical shield. At that exact moment, a dynamic entry kick slammed into his chest as the shield vanished.

"Harry Potter is out in one minute and forty-nine seconds!" blared the loudspeaker once the champion was expelled from the water as well.

"He was so close!" Ginny lamented, seeing that Harry had barely failed to surpass Krum by just a few seconds.

"If that Delacour doesn't get a good result, Krum will hold the top spot, and the trophy will practically be ours!" Karkaroff thought with satisfaction, maintaining a stoic face as if this advantage was perfectly normal for Durmstrang.

"Harry!" McGonagall hurried down to tend to her lion cub, just as Sprout did for her badger.

"It was fun," Mipha laughed once she saw that Harry was only unconscious from the blow, which, by her estimate, had only broken two ribs—no big deal.

The level of damage Barnaby had told her was acceptable, just an afternoon in Pomfrey's infirmary.

Before leaving, she swirled in the opposite direction of the turbulent water long enough to calm the sphere back to its normal state, and with an elegant jump and flip, she returned to her box.

"Are they really going to wait for the end of the trial in there?" Tonks asked, noticing that it seemed rather uncomfortable.

"No, the boxes are connected to different places," Barnaby explained as he affectionately rubbed Tonks' shoulder. "When they go back inside, they're actually just leaving. So even though it looks like they're in the boxes they came out of, the chosen boxes are actually empty."

"So now we just have to see who will come out of box number two to face the Beauxbatons champion," Tonks nodded. "Can you tell me who it is?"

"Actually, I can't. The magical contract, remember?"

"But I won't tell anyone!"

"I know," Barnaby appeased her by giving her a kiss on the forehead. "But you just need to wait one minute, and you'll see her."

Not to mention, there were a few Beauxbatons students nearby with their ears far too tuned into their conversation. He wasn't about to say anything they might relay to Fleur at the last moment.

Besides, Fleur's match could be either easy or even harder than Jinbe's depending on how that little one decided to act...

"Since only one box remains, Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour is asked to prepare and enter the water in one minute!" came the announcement over the speakers.

Fleur took a deep breath, slapping her cheeks with her hands to psych herself up, staying as alert as possible. Like Krum, Fleur opted for a partial transformation, but instead of her head, she altered her hands and legs, giving her better maneuverability once she entered the water.

For breathing, she drank a potion that had an effect similar to the gillyweed Harry had eaten, but it also caused some scales to appear all over her skin, a possible temporary side effect.

Box number two opened, and the creature fell into the water.