When Hedwig returned a few days later with the big batch of gillyweed, Harry and Hermione had both become used to casting spells underwater and were confident they could both defend themselves as well as perform an 'emergency escape,' which was the modified bubblehead charm and the featherweight charm nonverbally, underwater. At the side of the Black Lake, they warded a little private area for their exploration trips. Standing at the edge of the water with a few extra layers of robes, Harry turned to Hermione and asked, "Are you ready?"
She nodded in response. Casting warming charms on themselves, they shrugged off the robes and popped a dose of gillyweed in their mouths. It was springy and rubbery, and as they chewed it, it squirted some of its juices out. Thankfully, it didn't taste that bad. They wouldn't have to gag while keeping it in their mouths. As soon as breathing air began to feel uncomfortable, they jumped into the water. It only took a few seconds for the transformation to complete. Their hands became webbed as their feet grew larger and flatter. Slits opened up at their ribcages as water passed straight through their lungs. It was an odd feeling for Harry to get used to. The first thing they noticed about the lake was that the water was salty, but that it also tasted right. They gulped down their first few breaths of water. The next was that the water was a bit too warm- cancelling their warming charms, it felt much more comfortable.
He looked over to Hermione, who signalled to him that she was fine. They began swimming slowly away from the shore. Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and quill, charmed to be waterproof, and began making sketches. Harry did the same. While neither of them had any proper cartography tools or training, they only needed the maps to be accurate enough for Harry to recognize some underwater landmarks.
The shallowest regions of the lake seemed rather ordinary. They only saw a few fish that darted away before they came anywhere nearby. They had to move deeper to see anything useful for navigation. Below them was a thick kelp forest. Neither of them could see the bottom, and they were both wary of the dangers that could be lurking in there. They swam over it, trying to keep track of how far they were moving as they sketched out their maps.
Suddenly, Harry noticed movement just below him. He whipped out his wand just in time to throw a bludgeoner at a grindylow that darted out from the kelp. Hermione, who was still sketching, was caught off guard as another grindylow went for her and wrapped its long fingers around her leg. Harry blasted it off with a bludgeoner while Hermione released her wand from her holster. They were quickly firing bludgeoning hexes all around them as a pack of grindylows swarmed towards them from below. They both swam upwards so they were a good three meters above the kelp again, easily picking off the few foolish grindylows that still tried to attack them. The rest retreated back to the safety of the kelp. Hermione quickly added a note to her map: "Grindylow packs!" she scribbled.
Harry knew that, on the day of the tournament, he could be doing all that again, except without Hermione as backup. They continued along the path they were on before, except higher above the kelp. Harry kept his wand out while Hermione continued mapping. The kelp ended at a cliff, where the lake rapidly got deeper. Harry couldn't see the bottom. Nodding to each other, they both swam down. Harry lit his wand with lumos, which gave them a few meters of visibility. They could see the lake bed, which Harry guessed was about fifteen meters from the surface. He could barely see the sunlight from this depth.
They continued along the bottom, taking note of anything peculiar. They passed by an old, rotting shipwreck. How did such a huge ship get here? wondered Harry. Then again, how did the Durmstrang ship get here? There were a few small caves and alcoves in the rockier parts of the lake, a few of which had creatures lurking inside. They even passed by the giant squid at some point. Harry had no idea how to defend himself against such a monstrous creature, but thankfully, he didn't have to. It swam past without any hostility. Harry could swear it even waved a tentacle at them as it left. They continued on, enjoying the sights that the lake had to offer, but ever cautious of another attack. They stopped cold, quite literally, when they reached the jellice breeding grounds. They were especially active at this time of year, and they could both feel the drop in temperature as the saw a giant ice structure anchored to the rocks with the creatures swarming over it. Individually, they would have been invisible, but the huge mass of semi-transparent blobs was hard to miss. They decided to cut their exploration short here, as the Gillyweed was due to wear off soon anyway.
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