I had already done a lot for Fleur and Harry, and I hadn't even met Kram, so I didn't really care about him. I'd seen that Victor was smart, intelligent, able to hide his interest, and very good at charm. Unfortunately, that was all I learned, but in the movie, Victor was not a "main" character at all, and they somehow kept quiet about how he met my employee, Hermione Granger.
In that world, he was clearly interested in that girl, I even saw Krum watching her cautiously a couple of times, as well as the moment when we both witnessed the girl being invited to the ball by her dance partner. I didn't detect any particular tragedy in the guy's emotions: a slight disappointment, that's all. In general, it is strange and unclear what to expect from him, so on this tour I sent some weak spirits of the water element to watch him. As for my bride-to-be, she and I have agreed to compete fairly and only help in emergencies.
This, of course, only applies to her, and Fleur understood it perfectly, because for me, diving in places with a strong background of natural magic, as well as where the elements are particularly strong (underwater world, deep caves, mountain tops, volcanoes) will only give strength because of the ease of summoning spirits.
The Black Lake has its own natural magical source, separate from the one on which the castle stands, and magic literally permeates these dark waters.
This is why it is home to one of the largest colonies of mermaids, nesting giant octopuses (thanks to the outfall to the sea, the octopuses enter the lake as juveniles, grow to a certain size, and are saturated with magic before returning to the ocean), and is home to many rare algae and aquatic plants and animals.
Fleur probably doesn't know all these details about me yet, and I haven't revealed the full details of my power to any of the humans, but it's enough for me to know that I can do a lot in these waters.
When I was about halfway through the algae fields, I felt the activation of some magic, quite strong and with a complex structure of the prevailing water element, which is why it would not be felt on land. As far as I could understand, this magic spread out in a wide ring, covering all the fields, and then compressed sharply into a point somewhere ahead.
And almost immediately I was "beaten" by the spirits sent to watch over Kram, but now was not the time for that — it was clear to me that he had created the spell, and it was also clear to me against whom he had done it, because I remembered the movie, though not so well. Anyway, first we have to deal with what's more important, and that's Fleur.
Unfortunately, underwater apparatus or "jumping" is impossible without special training, and I don't know any special magic for fast movement under water, so now everything depended on my legs. With my arms pressed to my sides along my torso, I worked hard and rhythmically with my fins, listening to what was happening in front of me. I couldn't hear much because of Kram's strange spell, which created a strange "white noise" in the magical background, but it was a fact that all the animals from these fields were gathered in one place.
And I don't care if it was just fish, but grindylows in such numbers are very dangerous, very dangerous, because they are small, very agile underwater, they have sharp claws, and they are very tenacious — if they cling to clothes or hair, you can't get them out. Although the wetsuits are quite strong, it is not so difficult to tear them with the claws. Already a hundred meters away from the girl, I could see the creatures swimming towards her, and there were more and more of them.
As I have said many times, and I will probably say it many times again, but in the movie a lot of things were not shown or simply kept silent. The situation here was much more dangerous than Potter's encounter with the mermaids. At a distance of fifty meters, I couldn't see anything behind the swarming shadows, or rare flashes of light and balls of boiling water, capturing at most — five grindilow, but they are not even dozens — hundreds, so the girl's efforts frankly looked weak.
Hanging in the water, I pulled out my wand, which literally sang in its native element, my fingers even began to shake — the anticipation of the wand. I couldn't hide my smile as I covered my eyes and listened to what those dark waters were whispering. The spirits had gathered around Luna, and here I wouldn't hurt any of them, I wouldn't catch anyone... I wouldn't upset anyone.
Turning my attention to Veila, I see that she can still hold out for a while without my help, so I send a soft pulse through the spirit plane: if there are any permanent spells or charms around, they'll ring softly. But they weren't here, so no one was watching us, except for those who had special amulets that could show what was going on through my eyes (just the physical world), but the others had no such amulets and were sitting in the cold for some unknown reason.
Without words, the tip of my wand began to unwind the spiral, and I spared no magic, concentrating fully on the crystal clear image of what I wanted. For about a minute, silently and with my eyes closed, slowly at first, but accelerating my movements, I spun the vortex, the center of which would be the tip of my wand, which, by the way, I never gave to Ollivander during the "weighing", having signed a letter that I wouldn't make any claims in case the wand failed during the tests.
In principle, it was stupid again, because the "weighing" was done only once — before the test with dragons, where the probability of not only damaging, but even breaking the wand was far from zero. But nobody cared, and nobody cares. Beautiful people, caring!
I did not stop, and after a minute or so, a very real and quite powerful vortex formed in the water, in which ice floes formed at my request. A new portion of force, a mental order and a smooth movement of the hand (in water sharp movements are less useful than smooth), and "reinforcement" grindilow numbering several dozen individuals, as if a vacuum cleaner draws into the maelstrom, constantly growing and gaining power.
The squeals of dying creatures could not be heard above the general noise, and I, having successfully tested my improvisation, smoothly led him to the place of the greatest concentration of these rather dangerous underwater creatures. One by one, dozen by dozen, the murky tangle of grindilow diminished, and my whirlpool was no longer gray with air bubbles, but dark with carcasses ground almost to mincemeat.
I was so engrossed in the vacuum cleaner that I only came to my senses when I was flooded with Fleur's emotions, literally frozen and staring at me with huge eyes. Well, it's time to get used to the fact that wizards and mages are supposed to create miracles by default, and just create, and not live by instructions and ready-made templates.
I didn't kill all of the creatures, but instead redirected the vortex to the side and let it dissipate on its own. I swam over to the girl and checked the suit for damage, but there was none, thank the spirits. Then he swung his wand, destroying the enchanted seaweed wrapped around Fleur's leg, and moved towards his target, not hiding a smile as he felt Fleur's emotions very vividly. Veila was literally burning with power, so her emotions were very vivid.
If someone weak to Veil Magic had been here, he would have been turned into an idiot by the pressure. A few seconds later, I felt a weak tickling spell being thrown at me, which turned into something like a weak "expulso" or repulsion underwater. I slowed down a bit, though I wasn't in a hurry, realizing that as soon as the shock wore off, it would turn into an assertive stream of questions.
They caught up with me in about two minutes, and when Fleur got close enough, I heard a series of quality curses, but not at me, and that was good, because I wasn't going to take any insults, not even from my future bride and spouse... especially not from her. I have a long-standing opinion on the matter.
— What was that? — the girl asked after appearing at a distance of less than half a meter (water muffles sounds, well, it does, in case anyone forgot that fact).
— Magic?
— That's what I'm asking you! And stop, finally! — I did not stop, I continued to swim forward, the more the first underwater houses of mermaids appeared. — Hey, I'm telling you! — Fleur was extremely indignant.
— Have you changed your mind about joining us? — Slowing down a bit, I replied, moving forward again. I can sense Krum in his incomplete form somewhere behind me, and next to him I can sense some creatures larger than Grindylows. Fleur, working hard with her adorable and rather strong legs, quickly catches up with me.
— What are you talking about? — her blond eyebrows furrowed in a stern frown.
-We haven't passed the second test yet, just standing still is giving in to the competition.
The girl turned away, but it was clear from her emotions, so I didn't cling to her. And I wasn't interested in such things, especially since we were close enough to hear the mermaids' songs, which were clearly something more powerful than simple melodies. And the closer we got, the clearer it became. Fleur even became nervous, but observing my calmness, she kept swimming forward.
And in front of us, everything blossomed into a blaze of light and multicolored flashes, which the test program had clearly not provided for. I'm afraid poor Kram won't reach her destination today, because it's not worth showing our blonde wonder to a suspicious mage who's not averse to unleashing packs of dangerous creatures on a girl, and it's not worth showing outsiders what she's done this time.
Hovering in one place, I turn to my spirit spies and relay the request, generously sharing the magic on the bond of our temporary pact. Confident that everything would be as it should be, I moved forward, Fleur following behind me.