The Merchieftainess seemed uncertain about Jon's words.
"You may only take one!" she croaked, stroking her long green beard as she stepped back a few paces...
Watching Jon raise his wand, the merpeople leader assumed he intended to use magic to cut the ropes binding the hostage he wanted to rescue.
To Magical Creatures like merpeople, wands were objects of deep fear... for they had no natural grasp of magic at all.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Jon lifted his wand, aimed it directly at the Merchieftainess, and shouted without hesitation, bubbles spilling from his mouth.
A boiling jet of water struck the unsuspecting leader. Within seconds, its arms snapped stiff against its sides, its tail straightened, and it froze in place. Its body locked rigid, swaying for a moment before toppling with a heavy crash against the back of a merpeople statue, as stiff as a board.
The other merpeople hadn't even reacted yet—
Inside the bubble, Jon's Panda Patronus suddenly shifted its expression and unleashed a resonant magical howl:
"Ah-woo..."
Its furious howl nearly drained all its strength, its form dimming to a weakened hue. The cry pierced through the bubble, through the lake, and echoed across the entire merpeople village.
Almost every merperson bowed their head, clutching their ears, their faces twisted in pain. The overwhelming pressure of a high-level Magical Creature was more than they could bear.
...
Taking advantage of their distraction, Jon cast an Engorgement Charm, striking the Ashwinder egg floating in the lake nearby.
The fiery red egg encased in ice began to swell rapidly... First it grew to the size of a soccer ball, then to the height of a grown man. Within seconds, it had swelled to the size of a small hill.
Deprived of the Patronus' restraint, the egg began to sink quickly—directly toward the merpeople village.
Cracks spread across the ice encasing it, and through the fractures, the Ashwinder egg glowed with a blinding crimson light, radiating intense heat!
Some of the more experienced merpeople instantly recognized what it was.
Ashwinders were strange Magical Creatures born of lingering, unextinguished magical fire. Their sole instinct was to find a dark corner, lay their eggs, and then vanish within minutes.
But once Ashwinder eggs went out of control—especially when struck with an Engorgement Charm—they produced terrifying levels of heat...
Every creature of the sea feared fire and heat. Merpeople were no exception.
The moment they saw this blazing "fireball" about to burst, their first thought was to flee. But with their village directly below, escape was impossible. Many cursed the gilled wizard with webbed hands—and his strange glowing bear.
From every direction, hundreds of merpeople swarmed in. They surrounded the swollen egg, now the size of a hill, and used their harpoons to hold it up from below, preventing it from falling into the village.
Adult merpeople could endure the heat radiating from the egg, but if it dropped into the village, their young would suffer terrible burns.
...
Jon wasn't idle either.
While the merpeople were occupied with the egg, he raised his wand toward the four girls:
"Incarcerous!"
A thick rope shot from the tip of his wand, binding the four girls together.
Then he turned his wand on the massive stone behind them:
"Reducto!"
The tail of the merpeople statue shattered under the spell. The four girls drifted free, and Jon seized the rope he had conjured.
All four seemed lost in a deep sleep, their heads drooping limply against their shoulders, faint bubbles escaping their mouths... Even the commotion around them failed to wake them.
Clutching the rope, Jon kicked hard with his webbed feet, swimming upward toward the surface. At the same time, he conjured a large bubble around the four girls.
The buoyancy made pulling them upward far easier. Jon didn't bother steering. He cared only about reaching the surface!
The Patronus slipped beneath Gabrielle Delacour, lifting them upward.
Fierce cries echoed all around. The merpeople seemed to have shifted the Ashwinder egg away from immediate danger.
Now their ferocious eyes turned on Jon.
Nearly a hundred merpeople, armed with harpoons, surged toward him.
"Ah-woo..." The Patronus howled again.
But this time, the effect was far weaker. It slowed the merpeople only briefly before they pressed on, closing in from all sides.
...
At that moment, on the shore of Black Lake—
Madame Maxime held Fleur Delacour tightly, trying to calm her.
Fleur was hysterical, thrashing to throw herself into the water. Her face and arms were covered with scratches, her robe torn to shreds.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle..." Fleur cried desperately. "I have to save her..."
But breaking free from Madame Maxime's grip was no easy feat.
"Miss Delacour, you have been eliminated. You are not permitted to re-enter the lake," Percy Weasley blocked her path, reminding her firmly.
Only five minutes earlier, Fleur had been ambushed underwater by a swarm of Grindylows. She managed to stun one, but two others seized her from behind. Their fingers dug into her, bursting the air bubble around her head...
If Dumbledore hadn't saved her, given Grindylows' nature, a mutilated body might have surfaced in Black Lake hours later.
But her rescue also cost her the chance to finish the task.
Suddenly, a surge of bubbles erupted in the lake's center.
At the same time, a small whirlpool formed... as though something were rising from below.
"What's happening?" Both spectators and judges fixed their eyes on the disturbance at the surface.
"Is it a giant squid?" a first-year cried excitedly. "Don't they usually stay deeper down?"
Every gaze locked on the rippling surface.
All except Dumbledore's.
Albus Dumbledore's eyes turned toward the castle.
They were filled with astonishment.