In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 397: Go Ashore

Once completely submerged in the lake, he had no way to recite the incantation, and the bubble spell, a spell he had only mastered in the last few months, although he could cast it out normally, there was simply no way to do it silently yet.

Immediately Jon knew what choice he should make.

He had already completed his original goal of entering the Black Lake anyway, and the score or whatever it might be didn't matter at all to him who had already got first place in the first task, and now he could do nothing but go back and count it as a great success.

Because of that, he didn't stop for half a second, having made up his mind he pushed on and started swimming upward, while more and more rune snakes kept approaching him, and kept exploding in the area around him and diffusing a dark green liquid!

These snakes weren't just targeting Jon, in addition to the group that was specifically clinging to him who might have been the first group, more rune snakes were pouring out of the Slytherin common room towards the various parts of the Black Lake in all directions.

Jon tried to use the general counter-spell on his ring as he floated upwards, but it still did not affect the rune snakes.

Luckily, he was sufficiently well-versed in the shield charm and had no problem at all casting it silently, so he was able to keep reinforcing it even under the constant destruction of these rune snakes around him, giving him plenty of time to break out of the black lake.

Jon was fast, he had drowned in the water in his previous life, so of course he would not die in the water so simply in this life.

Once he saw the thick sheet of ice above him, he raised his wand with both hands once more.

A silent blasting curse instantly made the lake around him boil, and even the rune snakes that had been tangling around Jon broke into a dark green liquid under the blast.

But the dark green liquid soon reassembled itself into the form of a snake, but by that time Jon was already out of the water!

The lawn was filled with students from the castle, and many of them were already betting on who would be the first to emerge from the black lake.

Most people were betting on Draco, followed by Diane, then Emil, and finally Jon.

Many thought that Jon would still try to win the task just like he did in the Forbidden Forest, and would mainly focus on getting the points instead of completing the task quickly, so basically no one thought he would be the first to finish.

However, it was Draco who received the most pressure because everyone thought there was a good chance he would be the first to be eliminated.

However, when the ice on the shore exploded, no one was expecting it, and many students were caught off guard by the splash and screamed as they scrambled backwards.

Jon leapt up from the lake and climbed onto the ice, then gasped for breath.

He looked back behind him; the rune snakes hadn't gone wild enough to follow him ashore, but the lake, which had been dark, had turned dark green and didn't look like the commotion in it had ended with his departure.

None of the students had noticed that Jon had actually been chased out, so of course, the first thing on everyone's mind was why had he come back so quickly?

Had he found more than five pearls and determined his first position on the scoreboard?

The judges waiting by the lake had of course noticed the sight of Jon back on the shore, and they walked quickly over to him, where Jon looked up and locked eyes with Dumbledore while using a spell on his wet but not too cold robes that were protected by the soft shell of the Ashwinder snake.

There was no special glance, but everything clicked.

"So, are you concluding your task? Mr. Green." Matthew asked in a loud voice.

Jon was also blunt enough to pull the only pearl he had managed to get from Draco's hand out of his own pocket.

"I have already gone ashore, I certainly have no further chance of continuing the task, so of course it's over."

The scene fell somewhat quiet as everyone in the audience looked eerily at the pearl in Jon's hand, and soon those students on the shore responded by erupting into a rather loud cheer.

Although they all thought at first that if there were no surprises, Jon would probably still come first in this task, in the end, Jon and they weren't on the same page, and as long as they were enemies there would be no chance of any favourable treatment.

Now even though he had finished first, he had only got one pearl back, so the score would definitely not be higher, so wouldn't that mean that Draco and Emil and the others would have a high ranking?

In the face of their cheers, Jon was not bothered, because neither he nor Dumbledore had any intention of achieving much in the second task itself, it was enough for them as they got the victory in the last task, not to mention the fact that these students were happy a little too early.

While Snape still had the same emotionless face among the judges, making it impossible to tell what kind of mood he was in at the moment, Bonnesante couldn't hold back his inner glee, he didn't know if Jon was just careless or if he was doing it on purpose, but this time it was undoubtedly an opportunity for Emil.

With Jon scoring 10 points at the bottom of the table for the second task and 40 points for finishing first, this would only give him a total of 50 points, which would probably make him second or third in the overall ranking.

Emil, on the other hand, has the highest score if he finishes second. 70 plus 30 is 100, which is roughly the same score or a bit higher than Jon.

That means Jon's advantage in the first task is gone, and they are on the same starting line at the start of the third task!

This of course thrilled Bonnesante.

But soon the next thing Jon said to Matthew cooled his heart.

"There's a riot in the Black Lake for some reason, there are strange snakes that attacked me on sight and explode themselves, and they can't be killed, I suspect it's the castle side trying to cheat!"

Jon started by snapping back without saying a word.

Voldemort himself wasn't here anyway, so who would have known that there would be ancient runes like that in the Slytherin common room anyway?

Since no one knew and this Black Lake had previously been under the castle's jurisdiction, it was his turn to sling as much mud as he wanted.

His words silenced the scene again, and some students around the place heard it and were spreading the news privately.

Soon there were whispers on the lawn, many of whom didn't believe Jon's accusation at all and thought he was making excuses for his own blunder in the task.

But the truth is that Jon really didn't care how many points he would get in this task, because he would not be ranked lower no matter what in the overall ranking.

There was one thing that many people had forgotten, but he hadn't.

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