Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts

by Little Merger

Three years after graduating from Hogwarts, Felix enters the school again. What will happen when Muggle wisdom, innovation and magic come together?

12. 353

Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts #Chapter 353: Rune Card - Read Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts Chapter 353: Rune Card Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Felix flipped through the Daily Prophet as he ate breakfast in the school great hall, Rita Skeeter reviewed Alastor Moody's mess yesterday with a biting and undiluted touch, she also mocked Mr. Weasley in an article.

In that article, Moody is presented as a difficult man who "can't tell the difference between an ordinary handshake and an attempted murder," while Mr. Weasley is mistakenly called as " Arnold Weasley" and an old reference also made about the flying car from two years ago.

Felix reread the article, and he has to say that this woman is very good at reporting the facts in a half-arsed way - Taking just the part of the facts she needs and then adding her own distorted understanding to reach an absurd conclusion.

But overall, some useful information can still be discerned, such as a reference to a female official who disappeared for many months, most likely referring to Bertha Jorkins.

...

Felix walked into the Ancient Runes classroom ten minutes early, and there were already a few students seated sporadically in the seats.

"Hello, Felix." Luna looked up from her magazine and greeted him cheerfully, as if she were not in the classroom but some other place where she met him by chance, like the empty spot in the forbidden forest.

Felix smiled, "Hello, Luna. You're a third-year now?"

"Yeah." She stared blankly for a moment, but Ginny next to her know her enough to pull the magazine towards her, they had just been playing a magazine quiz with prizes for correct guesses.

Luna stared at Felix with big misty eyes and said, "One more thing, I like your Christmas present, did I tell you that?"

"Oh, uh, yes, I remember it was mentioned before ..." Felix drifted into a rare trance, the question was something he didn't expect, "Nine months ago."

Two rows away, a gray-haired boy suddenly raised his hand and looked at him with an expectant expression.

"Hello?"

Felix felt a little surprised as he drew out a long piece of parchment and looked carefully at the red pattern on the boy's wizard robes for a couple of moments, then he lowered his head to look for the boy's name in the Gryffindor House column.

"Hay, Professor Hap, my name is Colin, Harry Potter recommended me for this class, and I love golems!" He spoke with his arm still raised high in the air.

Felix ran through the list on the parchment and nodded at him, "Creevey, class has yet to start, we're just talking."

"So, will we be able to get the golem today? Can I pick one myself?" Colin asked excitedly.

Ads by Pubfuture

"Of course, I will also give all of you access to the 'Answer Space' for the Ancient Runes class, and many of your assignments for this school year will be accomplished in it ..." Felix said.

The classroom gradually filled up with students.

Luna and Ginny clutched the Quibbler magazine and tried to guess the puzzle on it, Luna lifted the page with the puzzle on it and looked at the shadows on it through the light, "I think it's an origami hat."

"How come I don't see anything?" Ginny said, "By the way - why are you calling the professor by his name?"

"Because we're friends." Luna said jovially, taking out a quill and sketching out the shape of the origami hat.

Ginny pondered over the riddle: "A thing with an empty belly that favoured the wise; not seen when used, seen when it is not used." She tossed her fiery red hair and snapped to attention, "Yes, what else could it be?"

She grabbed Luna's pen and wrote the word "hat" in the blank space for the answer, and then the page in the magazine fluttered off and folded itself into a hat, which Ginny placed it on Luna's head.

"Well--" Felix stood at the podium, looking at the packed classroom, and said, "Welcome, students! I'm glad to see a few more people signed up for the Ancient Runes class this year."

He finished the roll call and swept his eyes over the young wizards in the room, who looked at Felix warily.

"While the new school year just started and your minds are still clear, let's talk about something worth thinking about." Felix spoke, his voice not as uplifting as it had been at the beginning, but much calmer, and the students underneath quickly got into the flow.

"I certainly want you to excel in this class, but first I want to clarify one fact -

If you want to stand out or make some difference in this field... whether you want to become a purely academic, or want to merge runes and alchemy to recreate ancient artefacts; or if you want to follow the footsteps of ancient wizards and experience the wonderful feeling of powerful and brutal ancient magic taking shape and unleashed from your hands. I can teach you all those knowledges, provided that you meet my requirements.

Given the increasing abundance of teaching aids for this class and the decreasing difficulty of learning, I will raise my expectations for you accordingly. The benefits are obvious - you will gain more than previous years' students, and this time, I will lead you to look into more interesting, and more mysterious domains."

He raised his hand and dozens of cards flew out of his robes, landing precisely in front of each of the young wizards.

"Rune cards." Felix said briefly, "I debated over and over between the Rune Carving Knife and the Rune Cards, but in the end, I decided that the Rune Cards are more suitable for beginners who know nothing."

"And the Rune carving knife is actually suitable for carving rune circuits, and you guys are still far from that step."

The young wizards listened attentively, a little confused by these unfamiliar concepts for a while, but Felix didn't intend to expand on them in detail, but simply made the distinction and pushed the class progress to the next step.

He held the card in his backhand and showed the front to the students. As he injected magic into the card, the original traces on the card were gradually lit up, and he introduced it at the same time, "The reason why it is suitable for beginners is that the only thing it requires from you is to infuse stable magic power, and since you have already had two years of magic practice, this step is not considered as an impenetrable obstacle."

Ads by Pubfuture

When he finished speaking, the lines on the card had been completely lit up, and a bright egg-sized sphere of light was projected from the card, consisting of countless tiny dots of light, clouded and bright, looking from afar, it looked like a bright, fluffy orb.

"This is the rune that signifies light, you only need to know it, for now, look, does it look like a small glowing ball of fluff?"

"It corresponds to the rune symbol on the card, kind of like a torch, and the real appearance is this-"

An invisible hand appeared in the air, outlining a golden symbol, and the young wizards compared the symbol with the pattern on the card, and it really looked exactly the same.

Felix smiled and grabbed the golden rune, "In later lessons, you will understand the meaning of this rune, and then you will be able to translate it using the image you see in the projection, that is its rune symbol. Like this-"

His closed palm spread out and displayed in front of the students, the golden rune turned into a small glowing ball of light, then Felix released the bindings, and it completely turned into a fluff of bright white light.

"Alright, let's start practicing."

Felix announced. The young wizards held their cards in unison, their brows furrowed as they tried to inject magic into them, and before long, Felix saw small, suffocating faces, their mouths tightly closed, so serious that one would think they were about to run into a duel that could kill them at any moment.

He shuttled between the students and reminded, "Think about how you felt when you transfigured the goblet in the Transfiguration class, let the magic flow evenly and steadily ... learn to relax, deliberately forcing it will only make your magic disconnected, it's just a game... ..."

Under the power of speech, the young wizards calmed down, and their progress began to accelerate.

Felix muttered in a small voice, "I'm so glad we didn't employ the Weasley twins' prank cards, or the classroom would have been overflowing with rats."

Surprisingly, but justifiably, Luna was the first to succeed. Perhaps she is the only one in the entire classroom who actually treated it as a game, "Look at that, just like Puffy." She said.

For the first time in a long time, Felix heard a creature he knew from her.

Puffskein is a very popular pet for wizarding children, they have a spherical body covered with soft creamy fur, which does resemble somewhat like the ball of light projected by the rune card, and, the key is - this creature is not made up, it really exists.

"Plus ten points for Ravenclaw, and besides," Felix displayed a stack of cards in front of her, "pick another one, Miss Lovegood."

Luna stared, fascinated, as she asked, "Is there a rune that represents a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"

"... No."

Felix handed her a rune card that represents frost, he thought both of them needed to calm down ...

--

#Mihael Medved, Thanks for your support.

There are 392 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Ads by Pubfuture

Report chapter Comments

After class, the young third-year wizards walked out of the classroom in a stream, a half-foot tall golem in each of their hands, as they gleefully discussed what they had learned in their first class.

Felix stayed behind, ticking off a table as he jotted down the number 17 next to the name 'Luna Lovegood', which represented the number of cards she had finished during the class.

The process of injecting stable magic into the cards actually became more and more proficient the further the young wizards got into the class. As far as Felix is concerned, today was really just an interest-led class. Especially when viewed in contrast to the sixth-grade class that followed -

"Sixth Grade is a crucial year ..."

"Come on, Professor." Fred and George shouted accusingly from the classroom, "We've only just finished our O.W.Ls previous year!" The other students also voiced their agreement in a low voice.

They had heard similar things for an entire year in fifth grade, even still they had a nightmare about it, and a few timid students seemed to recall those difficult days with a wince as if they had felt some kind of after-effect.

The students were so distraught that they didn't know who was making the dry heaving noises, and the students looked around for the source of the noise, even their emotions were incoherent.

Felix smiled with amusement as he paced around the classroom. "The reason for this is that in this year, you don't have to worry about certificates and your knowledge accumulation has reached a peak. That means-"

He paused deliberately for a few seconds to reveal the mystery: "We have more time for practice, along with those things that are worth exploring."

Without waiting for the students to come to their senses, he turned around and walked back to the podium, and simply took out the rune cards, then he clapped his hands: "My requirement is simple: through these cards, master at least seven ancient runes-"

"They happen to form a rune circuit, and I will cover this part in the last half hour of the class."

"But I hope, all more than anything, that you will be able to discover the fun of it by exploring it yourselves. Let's begin, students, the first one to finish will be rewarded with twenty points."

Soon, in the sixth-grade Ancient Runes class, students from the four houses took the rune cards and projected a rune symbol - a piece of cake for the sixth graders who had been through the purgatory of fifth grade.

But the key point is how to go through the cards and master the runes on it.

"Right." Felix seemed to thought of something and picked up the roll call, "It's difficult to complete this step alone, so I will group you ... Miss Campbell King, don't look around, I will divide every three people into a group according to the order on the roll call."

With that, the four houses were jumbled up in order, and Felix thoughtfully morphed a small circular table, each with three chairs. The Weasley twins, taking advantage of their last name, were divided into a group, and they stared blankly at the Ravenclaw girl opposite to them.

"Wow, it's beautiful." The girl surveyed the small bright green bud projected on the card, her eyes flashed with fascination, and then she looked back down at the textbook that is filled with notes.

"According to past experience, in order to master a rune, you must first master its symbolic shape and meaning ... which is the most important, and we can precisely get it from the card, the rest just needs - you guys are looking at me For what?"

"No, nothing." George muttered, he took a card from Fred and injected magic, while whispering, "Why do you think the professor did that?"

Fred said, "I guess it's to give us the ability to teach ourselves ancient runes."

"Are you serious?"

"I heard from someone in 'Future World', well, it's actually Penelope," he grinned, "She said that Professor Hap considered rune cards as an Enlightenment toy."

"Toys!" George said with a glare.

"Yes, the same as children's comic books, but Professor Hap is more interested in promoting practical runes. Penelope said that the professor provided a scenario where the father and a mother will hold their child's hand to trace a pattern from the card, and when the child is a little older, he or she will naturally be close to the runes."

George thought about it very carefully, and he let out a long breath, "If it weren't for the 'Future World' procurement of a batch of Muggle toys, I wouldn't have known how little entertainment we had ... It gave us much more inspiration! Magic blocks, little soldiers characters, coloured bubble guns, prank cards, and the spin-off wizard duels cards ..."

The Ravenclaw girl interjected, "Why aren't there any dolls?"

"Uh, excuse me, what did you say?"

"Dolls," the girl said with a straight face, "I loved them the most as a child, spent my annual allowance on that, and collected a whole set over the years!"

The twins looked at each other, Fred slowly asked, "George, what do you think?"

George said in the same tone, "Man, I think - we should take advantage of the last two years in school to find some partners ..."

"Makes sense." Fred nodded as he turned his head and looked at the girl, "Terri, would you like to join?"

Terri looked at them in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Join the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Currently, there is nothing, but in the future, it will be the world's largest supplier of prank items, as well as a manufacturer of wizards' children's toys."

"You're - well - a bit out of your league -" Terri stated, at a loss for words, "This isn't another one of your pranks, is it?"

"Of course not. Do you have any plans for the future? Like, join the Ministry of Magic?" Fred and George asked, looking at each other. Initially, it was a spur of the moment, but now they really have plans to recruit people.

" I don't have any plans for that ..., I'm from a Muggle family, and I haven't thought about which side I'll stay on after graduation."

"Then just give it a try." Fred and George compelled desperately.

Terri found herself inexplicably being positioned as a partner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and her hand shook hard as she squeezed the card. A blue waterfall projected by the card flickered up and then disappeared.

...

In the last half hour, Felix explained a part of the knowledge and assigned the homework.

"Today's essay is about how to learn ancient runes efficiently using the rune cards, and I need you to summarize a proven learning program by combining your experiences in class."

After class, Felix heard the Weasley twins muttering as they passed by -

"What do you think of Cedric?"

"He's got a thing for golems ..."

" Isn't that just about right?"

"Also ... Aubrey is good, as well as Shelton and Pardis."

Felix rubbed his chin and looked at the backs of the two. They mentioned all the people from the Magic Rune Club, was there anything here that he didn't know?

After the afternoon session, Felix walked towards the great hall, with a Niffler on his shoulder, attracting many curious eyes along the way. Just as he arrived into the entrance hall, he saw Harry and Draco arguing from a distance.

Harry said something in annoyance, pulling Ron to turn away, Draco Malfoy turned red, he dropped the newspaper in his hand, exasperated, and pulled out his wand from behind his back, pointing it viciously at Harry.

"Bang!"

Harry nimbly jumped aside, a fiery spell brushed against his hair, he turned around and swung his hand violently - Draco looked like something hit him, his wand shot out of his hand, and then he stumbled backward, as he caught by Crabbe's hand before falling down.

A few screams belatedly followed.

"Merlin's beard, what's that!"

" Silent and wandless spell casting, Potter is too good, it's a shame, he's only a fourth-year ..."

"Do you think if there is no age limit, he will be able to become a champion?"

"It's hard to say, everyone has made quite a lot of progress in the past two years."

Ron looked at Harry with a shocked face, "How did you do that?"

Harry looked somewhat bewildered at the extra wand in his hand that belonged to Malfoy. Harry himself did not know what was going on, he was just indignant at the sudden attack he received, and subconsciously made a counterattack, just as he was about to say something, he heard another loud thud.

Bang! Then a roar echoed through the entrance hall.

"You're not allowed to do that, boy!"

Moody limped forward, his wand pointed at a snowy white ferret, which shivered on the stone-paved floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

In the silence, Moody asked, "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Harry said, "the spell missed."

"Stay away from him!" Moody yelled.

"Stay away from - what?" Harry asked inexplicably.

"Not you - him!" Moody yelled again, raising his thumb and pointing over his shoulder at Crabbe, who was about to pick up the ferret, but got too frightened to move from his place.

Moody began to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which yelped in terror and ducked, running in the opposite direction.

"I don't believe you can escape!" Moody yelled, pointing his wand at the ferret again - when a man stepped in front of the ferret, "Oh, Professor Moody, I can't let you do that."

Felix smiled and flicked the spell away.

The ferret shrank at his feet, and Niffler Valen was looking at it curiously from his shoulder.

As for Felix himself, his eyes had dropped to the floor where he had stepped on a few, dirty Daily Prophet papers, which, coincidentally, were the headlines he had read this morning.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 394 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"Professor Hap, I advise you to mind your own business." Moody said calmly, "He needs some lessons. Attacking people behind their backs is the dirtiest, meanest ... behaviour."

"Good point." Felix nodded slightly: "But Hogwarts has long stopped corporal punishment of any sort, and I suggest sending him to Professor Snape for detention."

"Snape?" Moody showed a dismissive expression, "Yeah, Snape ... I bet he doesn't want to see me ... but I'm looking forward to having a good chat with him, what a great opportunity!"

But he still pointed his wand at the ferret, and Felix stepped forward, "Oh, I think it would be better to leave it to me--"

Bang!

A scorching spell slammed into the golden magic barrier, sputtering with golden and red sparks, and Moody's wand lit up brightly, the red light shining on the half of his face that kept twitching.

"Professor Moody," Felix stated mildly, "that's a Stunning Spell you're using."

"Try your best, boy!" Moody growled, the spell condensing into a beam of light, "Dumbledore speaks highly of you, but people like me will always believe that seeing is believing."

"That's rather an uncommon approach" Felix said with a frown, and the power of the Shield Charm in front of him increased accordingly. He had a pretty good impression of Moody; it is better to have a righteous person at school than a Foolish Con Man, or a Dark Wizard, and Moody is also a close supporter and friend of Dumbledore.

But--

He became quite mad, as Severus advised him not to get into trouble, but trouble came anyway.

The students took a few steps back, but more people gathered around, and they watched the scene with shocked faces. Last year Snape and Lupin broke the office into pieces, but no one else knew about it, but now it is different, two professors openly fighting!

"Call someone over here! Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Snape ... whoever it is!" Hermione shouted in a panic.

As soon as a student saw the situation went bad they went to call for help, a Slytherin Prefect went straight down the entrance hall to the underground. "I'll go get Professor Snape!" He shouted hurriedly.

"You are not going to do anything like this! Boy!" Moody seemed to regain his composure and had the leisure to shout at those around him as he yelled, "Back off now! A rare opportunity to show you how real wizards fight-"

"Sorry, Professor Moody. I am not as ... unconcerned about consequences as you are." Felix said.

He actually preferred to use the word "crazy", but at this time, it is not good to stimulate Moody. Who knows if Moody will suddenly become serious in the fight? Felix would never admit defeat on purpose in any case.

The young wizards gathered around noticed that Professor Hap's spell is getting darker and more ghastly, not like a normal shield charm, but like a rusty iron plate, or rather, an ancient shield plundered from who knows where, it may be buried deep for years, nevertheless no one would doubt that it was soaked in blood.

It had the colour of dark red and iron-gray intertwined, and its shape twisted, with a brass sheen at the joints of the fold.

"What kind of magic is this!" The young wizards drew in a deep breath, dumbstruck. Professor Hap's magic looked a bit evil, ah ... but it is also really powerful.

They thought that the only way to stop this sudden dispute is for other professors to rush over here, but the situation on the scene instantly changed. Felix does not intend to continue the stalemate, a spell collision can be described as sparring, if someone jumps up and down mockingly in front of your face, and if you can't show him his place, Then what are you?! A wimpy clown?

He twirled his wand, and the dark red and iron-gray shield charm softened rapidly, gurgling on the surface like blood. A small tip protruded from the shield like a small snake, which then wrapped itself around Moody's powerful Stunning Spell.

Moody's intact eye widened, and the other magic eye bounced around, what is this thing? He felt a twinge of discomfort and tried to cut the spell, but the connection is no longer something he can break off.

Felix had silently invaded his magic, and the two wands were now forcibly linked together.

The laser-like blazing beam of light is little by little invaded with iron-gray and dark red colours, mottled like a child stained with paint, scratching randomly on a beautiful railing.

Right now, the mark is getting closer and closer to Moody.

All this happened in just a short span of time, and the students could still hear the messy footsteps of the Prefect running toward the underground, but anyone could see that he probably didn't need to call anyone.

Even the Niffler Valen, who had covered her eyes, now blatantly looked across at Moody, grunting and flaring her teeth and claws.

"Professor Moody, I'm just trying to end a pointless dispute."

"You're joking right!" Moody gritted his teeth, "Let me go!"

"Okay, at once ..." Felix mildly agreed with him, but he didn't let go, instead, he accelerated the speed of invasion.

Moody's face became more and more ugly, half of the face twitched harder. The magic eyes in the eye sockets turned wildly like an owl locked in a cage, but immediately, he showed an inconspicuous smile. Someone is coming -

"Felix! Professor Moody! What are you doing ..." McGonagall's surprised voice rang out as she scattered the books she was clutching and hurried over, drawing her wand but not knowing what to do and standing on the sidelines in frustration.

"Let go, Professor Hap, I recognize your strength." Moody said calmly, no longer had a trace of madness in his eyes.

Felix shrugged, with Professor McGonagall around, this shouldn't be a fight anymore, he flicked his wand and the strong magical fluctuations subsided. Moody withdrew his wand and took two steps back.

Everyone stared blankly at the long-lasting beam of light in midair. After losing the magic from both sides, the beam rusted away and turned into flying ash, peeling off little by little with a kind of chilling beauty.

McGonagall's eyes stared at the traces of magic left in the air, half speechless. She looked at the two of them and said, "Can anyone tell us what's going on? Two professors fighting in broad daylight, something this outrageous, has never happened at Hogwarts before!"

Neither of them spoke first, Moody hadn't thought of an excuse, and Felix didn't want to say that the new professor deserved to be an iron-blooded Auror, who would fight at the drop of a hat.

McGonagall's eyes grew dangerous, her lips pursed into a slit, her chest puffed up like a balloon.

Harry felt obliged to explain the situation, after all, the cause of the dispute began between him, Ron, and Malfoy, but he suddenly saw Professor Hap's Niffler which sitting on Professor Hap's shoulder reaching out her tiny finger to point at the ferret below.

McGonagall was actually quite concerned about Felix keeping a Niffler, but there were no rumours of a missing item in the castle yet, so she intended to wait and see.

Then her eyes fell on the ferret, feeling a little unsure, the little thing is quite beautiful, covered in snow-white fur, but it looks very timid, with two front paws clinging to Felix's pant legs, and in the fierce magic battle just now, it did not flee away.

If Niffler Valen is Felix's pet, then there is a close relationship, then this ferret, what is the situation.

Harry somewhat awkwardly reminded from the sidelines, "It's Malfoy."

"What?"

" That ferret, he's Draco Malfoy." Harry repeated.

"Oh my god!" McGonagall looked at the ferret in disbelief as Felix waved his wand, and with a loud pop, Draco Malfoy recovered again.

As he said somewhat apologetically, " I forgot about you."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 394 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Draco didn't speak, he slumped on the floor, his face sweaty, his pale-blonde hair sticking on his forehead, shivering. He stumbled a few times without being able to get up, when Crabbe and Goyle came over, looked at Moody who had little reaction, as they pulled Draco to his feet.

McGonagall's suspicious eyes darted between Felix and Moody, quickly confirming the target as she frowned and said, "Professor Moody, you used a Transfiguration spell on Malfoy?"

"Yeah, to teach him a lesson, gotta leave a lasting impression on him, save him from attacking people behind their backs in the future." Moody said.

Professor McGonagall looked at Felix enquiringly, Felix lightly nodded, and McGonagall said breathlessly, "Even so, we will only detain them instead of punishing students with Transfiguration, prolonged human transfiguration is harmful and has long been abolished - Dumbledore should have told you this, right?"

"Probably said it?" Moody scratched his chin carelessly, he grinned and said gruffly, "It's not that serious, Professor McGonagall!"

"I couldn't stand the sight of him attacking someone from behind, so I scared him off, and this Professor Hap showed up out of nowhere, probably thinking I wasn't doing it quite right! There was a bit of a skirmish, and I also happened to hear a lot about him from Dumbledore before ... just wanted to try out his level."

Moody limped around, waving his big, rough hand, mumbling, "I know why I'm here, Dumbledore hired me not for me to be the good old man!"

"Danger never comes out brightly, letting you prepare for it in advance. That's what I'm here for - to cut off some people's tails and sharpen them. I did overreact a bit, but in my experience, it's better to overreact than to be defenseless!"

"Constant Vigilance!" He yelled, and a first-year student sat down on the floor in fear.

Moody's magic eye saw it, and with a grin, he dragged his wooden prosthetic leg over to the freshman, pulled him up by the hand, pointed his nose, which lacked a piece of flesh, and the one intact eye at him, as he said with a wide grin, "Boy! You will find that appearances are the least thing to fear. Excuse me, make way for--"

The crowd moved out of the way and looked at him with awe.

"That's right!" Moody paused and turned to look at Felix, "How about we better pick some champion seedlings and train them in advance, during the first dueling class?"

"Sure." Felix said with a slight smile.

Moody stared at him for a few seconds and took a big stride to leave.

"Oh my God, he looks cool!" A student said as he looked at Moody's back.

"He's a real warrior, the most knowledgeable kind, and has seen a lot ... of things, you'll understand when the time comes." Another student had great respect for Moody, as he had just taken Moody's class this afternoon.

Professor McGonagall looked at the students who remained in place and said seriously, "All disperse, Disperse! Go ahead and eat, don't block the way." She walked next to Draco Malfoy, but her eyes looked hesitantly at Felix.

"So - Mr. Malfoy -"

"I'll hand him over to Severus." Felix said.

"All right then." Relieved, Professor McGonagall glanced at Crabbe and Goyle next to Draco, and at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were looking at them from a short distance away, and shouted in annoyance, "Do you want to tag along!"

They hurriedly fled.

At the table, Ron's eyes closed, his fork raised in midair, he said contentedly with a sigh, "I must raise a ferret in the future ... as soon as I see it, I will recall Malfoy from today, will it also clutch my pant leg without letting go?"

Harry and Hermione laughed, then Harry asked, "But is human transfiguration really dangerous? Professor McGonagall's face looked like she was serious."

Hermione lifted her fork and said thoughtfully, "Imagine that you were turned into an owl - initially you remembered who you are, but soon, animal instincts took over, and you forgot your identity ..."

Harry frowned, "So, if you don't undo the magic in time, Malfoy will completely think he's a ferret?"

Hermione said seriously, "I'm just giving you an example to make you aware of the dangers that exist. Some transfigurations will dissolve overtime on their own, however, for those wizards who are highly skilled in magic, their transfigurations can last for a long time, and even some human transfigurations with malicious intent can last forever, like a curse."

Ron thought of something, laughed out loud, he said under his breath, "Well, that's ... nice ... isn't it?"

Hermione glanced at him, "Although the possibility is small, in case Malfoy ran away in a panic and got lost while hiding in the forbidden forest, he might have been eaten by the creatures in the forest before he was found ..."

As Ron imagined, the food in front of him suddenly didn't look that appetizing anymore and Harry also had little appetite. Hermione, however, finished her dinner quickly without being affected and packed up her book bag.

"You're going to the library, aren't you?" Harry asked her.

"Of course I am," Hermione said, "there's a lot of stuff to catch up on. Not school homework--" Seeing that Harry was about to ask, she said in advance, lifting her book bag and leaving in a hurry.

On the other hand, Felix and Draco Malfoy walked down the gloomy underground corridor, Draco's eyes tearing up, the torches on the walls shining on his pale face and allowing Felix to see the resentful gaze he flashed occasionally.

"You hate Professor Moody?" Felix asked, looking at him.

Draco clenched his fists, his face red from shame, and muttered, "I'm going to tell my dad ..."

"Hmm." Felix didn't say anything more, and they continued their walk for a while. Only then did he suddenly said, "What you mentioned is also a solution, but it may not be of much use."

"Why! Just because he's a good friend of Dumbledore's?" Draco gritted his teeth.

"It's Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix corrected him, but looking at Draco Malfoy's expression of unconcern, he guessed that even the headmaster bore a piece of the blame.

"I do wonder about the origin of this conflict ..."

"I was the one who humiliated Weasley's dad," Draco said coldly, "Is that what you're asking? Do I deserve it?"

"No," Felix laughed softly, "I'm just wondering what kind of mindset you had to initiate the provocation; after all, even without Professor Moody, the three of you - you plus Crabbe and Goyle - were no match for Potter alone."

"Or in your opinion, Potter will not hurt you, so you are not afraid? Or do you not mind being beaten by Potter - for what it's worth, Miss Granger is also not that easy to deal with."

Draco Malfoy's face grew hot as he stammered, "I, I wasn't thinking about it that much."

"Well," Felix nodded and turned inquiring, "remember the first time we talked in more depth? The time you brought that diary to my office?"

Draco looked at him slowly, not quite understanding his intention in bringing it up suddenly.

"I told you once that everyone is responsible for their own actions-" Felix paused, "It seems you don't remember much."

He said with a smirk, "I wish you could have seen the scene back then, when you were a tad a bit like you are now, trembling and quivering, but of course, it was with a high-minded act of self-defence, self-interest, and with a bit of determination before, and now with some dark thoughts in mind ..."

Draco stared at him, not too comfortable in his heart, but also with a faint pride.

"That's normal, anyone who is humiliated will have a strong desire for destruction." Felix said light-heartedly, and they turned a corner, Snape's office is in sight.

"You've had those thoughts too?" Draco asked, but he suddenly realized he had asked a lousy question, Professor Hap hadn't been at peace when he was in school, he would have only experienced more.

Felix smiled, "I guess everyone at one time or another has harboured some similar dark thoughts, but it's not exactly easy to put them into action." He knocked on the door of Snape's office, and there is no movement for a long time.

"Well, perhaps not in ..." he said regretfully: " will have to find another day, go on, Mr. Malfoy. Go back to sleep, I'd like to see how long this thoughts of yours will last."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 396 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Draco Malfoy's somewhat sharp face became startled, and he looked up eagerly, eyeing Felix as if trying to read the real meaning in the professor's calm face.

"Adequate sleep gives satisfaction, this is something I won't normally tell somebody." Felix said, "The one thing that can compete with that is a great meal, but only on Halloween we can get it when there are a lot of exotic cuisines..."

After he left, Draco remained where he was. The light gray eyes kept flickering, not quite sure if he had got away with it.

Professor Hap is a person who is afraid of hassle, this is a point that is recognized by the students and faculty of the whole school to a certain extent.

For example, he would leave many of his assignments on 'answer space' because it would greatly save time in correction. Similarly, although he gave no fewer tests in class than any other professor, he is the only one who would request students to answer questions in a fixed format.

There are gossips that it's because this will allow a very special kind of advanced golem to correct the test papers.

Besides, there are other supporting evidence. Professor Hap rarely detain students, even the number of points deductions are rare, more than one Hufflepuff student met the professor in the kitchen, and they will discuss the experience of eating seafood together, also he modified a Deboning spell (Ossio Dispersimus) into 'Fish Deboning spell' which once became popular in the school.

But if a student asked him about it in class or if they asked him about some food spell in class, they would find their assignments immediately went up a notch, and the trend then slowly subsided.

And now Draco Malfoy is considering the issue - Professor Hap has taken over this task from Professor McGonagall, and if the latter does not bring it up, might he have got away with it?

He spent the next two days on the edge, being careful in his Ancient Runes and Potions classes, not daring to meet the two professors' eyes. He didn't even participate in the hilarious moment when Neville Longbottom burned the crucible to a crisp - a very rare sight now - he wondered when that Longbottom's grades had got better and better.

Care of Magical Creatures Class was also difficult, have to put up with the mocking eyes of stupid Gryffindor students, especially that Weasley, laughing at the sight of him, and often slapping his pants leg in a pretentious manner, making him secretly want to hex him, if he could only make Weasley vomit slugs once more! But unfortunately, he did not find that spell in the library.

Hagrid, the big guy, was making them watch over the Flailtail Snail in class as usual, and the students were reluctant. It looked like a slimy gray worm, sort of like a large lobster with its shell removed, messy with many legs, with hundreds of them crammed into a single box, squeezing together and crawling around, oozing what looked like snot-like mucus.

Despite his dislike of Gryffindor, when the girl named "Lavender Brown" squealed, "Gross!" He felt good while feeding these six-inch worms some lettuce. But Crabbe, the brainless one, overturned the box, and the Flailtail Snails fled in all directions with sparks spewing from their tails, filling the open space with the stench of rotting fish and shrimp, making them vomit so hard that they couldn't stand up ...

Thursday was a special day, and he saw Moody again.

Moody was as crazy as ever, blatantly demonstrating the Unforgivable Curses in class. While talking about the Killing Curse, Moody remarked with a wide grin, "The Killing Curse requires a very powerful magic power as a foundation - you can all get your wands out, point them at me, and chant the spell - I expect I'll get a nosebleed at best."

For a moment he felt a tug in his heart, as Professor Hap mentioned a dark thought appeared in his mind, and then he realized with dismay that he simply could not muster the courage to point his wand at that ugly nose.

On Friday, he saw Professor Hap again and was surprised to find the classroom of the Ancient Runes class greatly changed, with soft light illuminating the room perfectly, and he looked up, along with the other students, to see the Magic Lamp made up of the Four House animals which symbolizing the Four Houses.

"Professor Hap, will the rest of the classrooms at Hogwarts also switch to magic lamps?" A girl raised her hand to ask a question.

"Your question is not relevant to the classroom, Miss Parvati. Nevertheless, What I can reveal is that someone from 'Future World' will come to school in a couple of days to discuss this part of the matter."

Felix smiled and said, "Personally, I think the magic lamp is quite a lot better than the Torch or the magic flame, at least you don't have to worry about hurting your eyes when you read in the classroom and library."

Below the podium, Harry and Ron muttered -

"Isn't 'Future World' Professor Hap's?" Ron asked, in confusion.

"Maybe not so convenient since he still holds a teaching position at the school," Harry said, with some anticipation, "Maybe we'll get to meet Professor Lupin."

"And Penelope." Ron said, without thinking, revealing a piece of information. "Percy brought her over to the house before school started, and mother talked about getting married, which scared her off."

Felix cleared his throat and swept his gaze around the room as the young wizards off the podium quieted down.

He clapped his hands, "Okay, class, today we'll be translating a manuscript that you were exposed to in third grade with its excerpts ..."

For the remaining twenty minutes, Felix arranged for students to self-study, and Hermione finished her homework on the 'answer space' in only ten minutes, while Harry and Ron were still chewing on their quills as they struggled to think.

"How did you do that?" Ron asked her.

"It's mostly from my memory, and it doesn't involve much effort on my part, it's a lot easier than making up some unlucky story to fool Trelawney as you guys did." Hermione said as she looked at the professor sitting in the corner of the podium, holding a half illusory book, occasionally tossing a few runes into it.

"The Book of Runes ..." she muttered longingly.

"What?" Harry asked, he had just finished the last part with only a few minutes left before the end of class, he heard Hermione's whisper just when he looked up from the parchment.

"The Book of Runes," Hermione repeated, "I wish I could do that too." On the podium, Felix turned another page. She blinked and seemed to see a flash of black lightning.

Ron whispered to Harry in a mutter, "I'll settle for anything as long as we don't talk about 'Spew'."

Harry wanted to laugh a little, Hermione these days spent most of her time in the library looking through information about house-elf, being indignant at the injustice they had suffered for centuries, and she had created a non-profit organization, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, with the acronym identical to 'Spew ' word.

Hermione said emotionally: "You are not supposed to speak like that, you are the Treasurer of the organization -"

"Yeah," Ron said, "Harry is a secretary, does that mean he should write down everything you say right now? But we're busy, and we've got Champion training on the weekend ..."

"That's for sixth and seventh years." Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him with a scowl.

"But the bulletin board doesn't say that only sixth and seventh years are allowed to go, why can't we just go and look at it." Ron muttered, looking towards Harry for support, who had nodded vigorously beside him.

Hermione was about to say something else when the bell rang, so Ron and Harry immediately ran out and stood at the door, glancing into the distance. Hermione took a while to come out from inside and looked at them with a look of confidence when they met again.

"Enquired about it with Professor Hap! The way to get to the kitchen, all you need to do is to find a portrait of a fruit bowl and tickle a pear in it." Hermione said gleefully, "It seems that the professor also supports me."

"He agrees!?" Ron asked incredulously, "He agreed to wear the 'Spew' badge on his robe? What position did you put him in?"

"Oh, no." Hermione's face fell, "The professor said he wanted to consider it carefully, but-"

"The professor suggested that I should visit the Kitchen first, then have a chat with the house elfs and write a report about the actual situation of the Hogwarts Kitchen House elfs."

Ron quietly voiced his thoughts, "I guess Professor Hap just couldn't shrug it off, so he gave her something to do."

Harry thought about Professor Hap's reaction after being asked to join a strange organization, and he strongly agreed with Ron's guess - it might be the truth.

He is secretly angry with himself, why he did not think of this approach?

If he had known, he would not have needed to hold any meetings, discuss the organization's founding declaration, rules regulations.

...

On Saturday morning, the sky looked a bit gloomy and students appeared in classroom seven in groups, with much more people showing up than expected. Many first and second-year students were carrying sweets and snacks with an attitude of watching the show.

Harry was deeply impressed with this place, during Magic Rune Club members' selection time, he and Ron followed Hermione to work around, receiving students who came to sign up, let them fill out some forms and notes.

He also defeated Malfoy here to obtain the third-year dueling championship, with the reward of a chance to learn Apparition three years earlier.

But after a summer holiday, this place was somewhat abandoned, and from afar you could see the white wall that served as the boundary of the room, with half a ceiling that showed the blue clear sky.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 396 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Felix, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, and Moody stood together, with Moody holding a long crutch and talking loudly with Flitwick.

"It's a shame Professor McGonagall didn't come, she's the only one missing out of the four heads." Flitwick said.

"That's not essential, Professor Flitwick." Moody's low voice sounded, "We all discussed in advance before coming here today so she should've come, I simply came here to have a good laugh. I also want to see how these students will perform ..."

"Minerva is going to preside over a meeting. Lupin is coming over today, and someone from behalf of the school board will be there too, so there has to be someone significant from faculty needs to be present there." Felix understood the reason behind this and answered crisply.

"Is it about that magic lamp?" Moody said, as his magic eye darted towards Felix, "I've heard much about Future World Corporation, and The Daily Prophet has interviewed almost everyone they could in Diagon Alley to ask them what they think about the building that has suddenly appeared."

Sprout said, "There was also that light show at the Quidditch World Cup, but that unexpected raid seems to have robbed it of its attention, so I wonder if they suffered any impact from that?"

"Not much of an impact actually, Remus even complained to me about the sheer number of orders he had to do and had to recruit some more people urgently." Felix said, with a smile, he felt satisfied with the development of Future World Corporation.

The professors talked with each other, while Snape was silent, looking far more reserved than usual, wearing a black robe and clasping his arms in front of him.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the crowd gathered together in darkness, some sitting far away on the slope, spreading out a blanket and taking out various kinds of food, as if they are here for a picnic, and leisurely surveying the surroundings.

Felix looked at the professors, "It's about time to get it started? How about--"

"We came to see the fun," Flitwick pointed out, "Dumbledore assigned you to be in charge of the champion's training, your thinking stone basin is the perfect tool for the job. You know I wanted to leave all my youthful memories in it, but I'm nowhere near as good as Dumbledore, so instead, I just decided to leave my memory when I won the Dueling Championships back then ..."

In the faculty common room, Professor McGonagall organized several meetings dedicated to the selection and training of champion candidates, and for the sake of justifying Dumbledore's act of assigning Felix, McGonagall brought out the Thinking Stone Basin to convince the professors, but she remembered the headmaster's admonition and simply explained its usefulness. Later it was Flitwick who took the initiative to approach Felix and inquired about the details of it and then agreed with relish that he would also provide some part of his memory.

And apart from Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Felix himself, none of the other professors decided to do so, which actually shows that everyone takes their memories very seriously, and Dumbledore's previous concern was justified.

Felix slightly yawned and walked to the front, pointing his wand at himself, then his voice carried far away as if he is speaking into the ears of his students.

"You should have read the bulletin board, today we are not going to select champion candidates, that is the task of the Goblet of Fire, what we are going to do is select a group of people with potential for special training. Most likely, our school final champions will emerge from these people. Even if they aren't, they will still serve as student representatives, hosting students professors from the four competing schools and will also participate in exchange events."

Felix twirled his wand carelessly, "What would be considered as a champion?"

"A Sorting Hat would sort students into the four houses based on a person's most prominent trait, and you might be thinking if only there is a 'champion hat' ..."

The students below laughed under their breath.

"... You may also be thinking, I would pick the best students. This will require you to have a messy fight, or at the very least, let you show off your best magic. But I must remind you that the duration of the tournament is extremely long, which means that the latecomers can catch up, and the forerunners can fall behind at any time.

Strength is not the only criterion needed to be measured, otherwise, there would be no point in doing what we are doing today."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, they had speculated about it when they arrived here, about whether they will compete with each other to see whose spell is stronger, but there is no uniform standard for that. Harry is the best at disarming charm, but even he knows that the professors will not consider only this one spell.

But the professors' words were very different from what they thought, and professors didn't seem to care about what they were capable of at all, which made Harry a little disappointed.

" We professors have gone through a lot of information and analysed about the past tournaments and have come to some conclusions. One of them can be shared with you, that is, the champions often have to face the most tricky difficulties, even trials goes beyond their capabilities, in that situation, a slight difference in strength does not really matter."

"It is not always the strongest who wins the championship. You will find that there are more unseen obstacles in the way of your path to victory ... So, I made a small suggestion, starting from the definition of a champion itself." Felix stopped for some time, with his eyes twinkling keenly, "We are back to the question we started with, what counts as a champion?"

He stood straight and looked at the crowd with a sense of oppression, and the students felt their hearts sink as Felix asked the question again.

"Champions do not represent individuals, not a particular house, but a uniform name given to candidates by - Public. Over the summer, I went to Egypt and met a local witch, and I didn't bother to ask her which house she is from, because in my eyes, she is the witch from Uagadou."

The young wizards' expressions couldn't help but become serious as they straightened their chests, and the candy that one of the freshmen brought to his lips remained halfway in the air, then he looked around, and put it down. Luna clapped her hands and shook the hat in her hand vigorously.

"Since our Champions represent Hogwarts on the march towards glory, I thought that they should have some unifying characteristics -"

"Brave and fearless, with great courage;"

"Knowledgeable, intelligent with great wisdom;"

"Honest, loyal, resilient and integrity;"

"Firm and determined with their goals, as well as being calm with enough self-control."

Felix smiled gently, "Of course, all the above are just good wishes, it would be lucky if we could have one or two traits from it." Unknowingly, he is holding a suspicious black mist in his hand.

He pointed his wand at the black mist and made it rise quickly, soaring high into the air near the ceiling, and then a cloud of black mist slammed right down like a cannonball, dragging a long black smoke, smashing on the ground, and spreading out. The young wizards hurriedly avoided it, but found that the black mist did not stretch indefinitely, and stopped expanding when it swelled to a dozen feet and distorted into a large fading door, suspended in midair, six or seven feet above the ground, shrouded with black mist.

Underneath the black door, seven steps extended, their surfaces sleek like pitch-black mirrors, connecting one step by one step to the ground

"Walk in, come back out, if you get your invitation card, you're in." Felix said calmly, he looked at Moody, who is leaning on crutches, and the professors next to him, with a smile, "Let's just leave this to the students, we can have a cup of tea together, and discuss the subsequent training in the meantime."

None of them had any opinion, today they came over here to get together and express their importance to the school. The selection criteria had already been determined in the previous discussion, which is why Professor McGonagall felt comfortable with not showing up to deal with more important matters.

As they took a few steps out, "By the way," Felix stopped and said thoughtfully, "I seem to have forgotten to add an age limit; there's no need for students in other grades to actually ..."

"No need to bother with that! Professor Hap," Moody said hoarsely, gripping the cane in his hand, "the more it's forbidden, the more people will try it, that's what I've learned from experience this week!"

His one fake eye-rolled and retracted back into its socket, and he raised his thumb and pointed backward, where the Weasley twins were probing the black door, peering towards it, with only a few steps away, and one of them seemed to want to touch the top step.

The other Weasley twin noticed the professor's looking back and hurriedly pulled him back, with both of them giving them an identical smile in unison.

"It's a good idea that you want to test the students' minds. But instead of making restrictions that will dissuade them, it's better to let them try one by one, and recognize how much they are capable of."

He tapped his wand hard and said in a strong tone, "Not everyone can be a champion."

Felix looked at Moody, his eyes pausing briefly on him, and said without much thought, "You're not wrong, Professor Moody."

They left in a group and the students looked at them, watching as they opened the door of Classroom 7, as they walked out one by one, and with a bang, the door closed.

After a few seconds of silence, the students exploded into a frenzy, their eyes burning as they stared at the black door hanging in midair, shrouded with black mist, the seven steps stretching fluidly upward seeming to have a strange charm, attracting their full attention.

"Gulp!"

Harry swallowed down a mouthful of saliva.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 398 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"Together?" Fred asked as he looked back at George beside him, his tone relaxed as if he were asking if he wanted to join him for breakfast or something like that.

" This is the first step towards being a champion." George said smugly.

The Weasley twins stood at the bottom of the steps, with their eyes fixed on the black hovering door. The pair smiled at each other and stepped upon the black seemingly mirror-like steps -

"I thought it is going to be slippery, unexpectedly I can stand steadily, A good start George." Fred said loudly and braggingly, deliberately for the people nearby to hear.

They walked the seven steps and stood in front of the big black door, slightly stumped for a moment.

"How are we going to get in?"

"Push it open by hand?"

"Oh, that's so un-magical." George said, but Fred had already reached out his hand and pushed hard against the center of the black door, surrounded by a black mist.

"No reaction--" Fred said, but his eyes suddenly widened as his whole body faded like a phantom, and George immediately grabbed him by the shoulders, and both got sucked in together.

The people gathered around held their breath and waited in silence -

"Did they succeed?" Ron asked hesitantly, somewhat unsure.

" They simply just went in, and have to face the unknown test." Hermione said, and she asked thoughtfully, "Are they both together now, or did they got separated?"

"Is there a difference?" Dean asked nervously, "I do wish we can be together, don't you, Seamus?"

"Yeah." Seamus grumbled, and pulled an Irish Quidditch team badge out of his pocket, which he wore on himself, "It's my lucky charm."

Harry glanced at the clover badge, knowing that Seamus and his mother were die-hard Irish fans and that the team's victory in the Quidditch World Cup finals over the summer had delighted them to no end. In fact, he and Ron had bought the same badges, and it can shout out the name of every player on the Irish team, but now that the magic had diminished, and the sound had become feeble, so Harry tucked it into his sock.

Neville's little round face tightened, and he clutched his wand in one hand with a death grip.

After half a minute--

There was movement in the quiet black door, and the twisting black mist boiled up, like a boiling cauldron, gushing out a large amount of black mist. Like a gaping maw, it covered the entire gate. And two shadows were thrown out with a great force, they are Weasley twins, they tumbled, made a crooked, not quite regular, curved arc, and so on, in the moment of landing, where they got held up by an invisible force, removing part of the force from falling.

"Ouch!" George pressed on top of Fred, and the two rolled on the ground twice, covered with dirt and grasses.

The young wizards first froze, then burst into laughter.

"That was wonderful! Thanks for bringing us the entertainment Fred and George, but unfortunately it wasn't exactly the great opening-" a voice suddenly interjected the laughter, so loud that it rumbled through the ears of those around him. The crowd instantly vacated a circle, revealing a male wizard with long locks of lurid hair.

He is Lee Jordan, one of the Weasley twins' lossy friend, who served as a Quidditch commentator after losing the selection process for a certain position on the Gryffindor team in the early years. Lee Jordan has a cheeky personality and likes to talk big. His most recent out-of-the-ordinary comment was publicly stating in the common room that he would use his skin colour as an advantage to sneak inside the Uagadou group and spy on secrets of their Champion for Hogwarts.

"It would be nice to learn a trick or two of novel magic." He said, at the time, with great longing.

...

At this moment, Lee Jordan stepped out with his wand against his throat while casting a "Sonorus" to speak. Then he shouted, "Next, I, Lee Jordan, the Quidditch commentator who will be out of work for a whole year, will give you a wonderful commentary!"

The other students were a little dumbfounded, but the Gryffindor students did give him a few slaps on the back.

"Ahem! Thank you, thank you! You guys are just too enthusiastic ..." he pretended to bow around, "Let's interview the two people concerned first and get some first-hand information, you should want to know a bit of the inside story too, right?" Lee Jordan asked.

The students quieted down, and a few dumb seniors paused for a moment to hear some useful information.

Fred and George got up from the ground, their faces were frozen with horror, then they heard Lee Jordan's words, so they showed a wicked smile as they looked at each other.

"Oops, it's not okay to reveal much--"

"Especially the difficulty!"

"Does it require fighting?" Lee Jordan interjected and asked.

"Uh ..."

"Yes, it was a tough fight."

"But you guys look so clean, the dust on your robes is from when you got thrown out." Lee Jordan gave a sceptical look, but of course, it could have been faked, he and the twins had always worked well together.

"How so," Fred sighed, "that's Professor Hap's magic, from a Master of Memory magic - think about the Professor's stone basin ..."

"Oh, I get it!" Lee Jordan said, "You are fighting in the world of thinking!"

The two held their breath, "You're right!"

"So what did you guys encounter?" Lee Jordan asked with great interest, "I think the others would like to know it as well." The young wizards listened more attentively, secretly wondering what dangers they might have encountered, so they could refer it for themselves.

"We, uh, ran into a snake!"

"A snake?" Lee Jordan asked.

"Yeah, a particularly large snake that could reach up to the ceiling ... George, you tell them!"

"Well, I think ... it had three heads and stripes."

In the crowd, Hermione muttered, "Three heads and with stripes, A Runespoor? But they are generally only six or seven feet long, and their descriptions don't match well."

Other students echoed the same sentiment, always feeling that Fred and George's descriptions were ambiguous and incorrect.

"Maybe they've been altered by Professor Hap in private." Ron speculated, and Harry and Hermione nodded thoughtfully, "It's certainly possible."

On the other hand, Lee Jordan sent Fred and George away cheerfully, they withdrew their magic and lowered their voices to discuss.

"What do you think about the Professor's test?" Fred said.

"Hitting people where it will hurt and seeing how we respond." George said without thinking.

"I think so, or we would not have gone bankrupt seventeen times in a row ..." Fred shivered, "that feeling is so terrible and very real, completely got immersed in it, did not even realize that there is a problem. "

"Wait, you said seventeen times? But I only failed fifteen times!" George's eyes widened.

Fred looked at him hesitantly, "Did you count it wrong?"

"Definitely not, it's like a vivid memory!" George said heartily, "I suspect I'm going to have nightmares tonight."

"So, we're experiencing different visions?"

"I suppose so."

"Good," Fred nodded, "let's exchange the reasons for our respective business failures, so when we head back we can write them down in a notebook! These are lessons."

A seventh-grader walked up the steps, reached out and touched the black door, and was sucked in.

Lee Jordan narrated, "A third person went in! After knowing, he was about to face a big snake with three heads - oh, off-site information tells me it might have been a mutated Runespoor, thank you - he still stepped up! Amazing courage! One more question, is he a Gryffindor senior?"

The Hufflepuff students clamoured, and Lee Jordan said in a panic, "Uh, it doesn't look like ..." He hastily changed the subject, "A third volunteer has gone in, and let's speculate on how long he'll last -Oh, my God!"

A figure was thrown out immediately afterward, after rolling a few times in midair, he landed lightly on the ground. The seventh-grader slumped to the ground with a horrified look on his face, his empty right arm waving wildly abruptly behind him as if he was waving a wand, and chanted, "Protego! Protego!" Even Lee Jordan, who came over, received a punch on the face, and half of his face immediately swelled up.

"Hiss~ Calm down, calm down! My God, come on, a few people come here and pull him away!" Lee Jordan shouted, covering his face.

It took a while before the somewhat hysterical student got taken away by his friends, with a dispirited look on his face. Lee Jordan couldn't able to ask him what he had gone through, but everyone had their own ideas.

"Probably eaten by that big snake." Ernest Macmillan, a student from Hufflepuff, said to his best friend Justin finch-fletchley.

"Don't listen to him," said an aside Susan Bones, "He also said last year that Sirius Black turned himself into an orange and got purchased by Filch ..."

"I just said that casually!" Ernest Macmillan a tall athletic-looking man said "Besides I was inspired by Hannah, who said that Blake could turn into a flowering bush!"

Hannah Abbott furrowed her brow and looked at him with an unkind eye.

"... also, you said the year before that Harry Potter was the heir to the Chamber of Secrets." Susan Bones continued uncaringly.

Ernest yelled under his breath, "I've apologized to Harry! Apologized in public!" Justin tugged at him, his sleeves nearly rolled up, revealing a pair of short, chubby hands.

Ernest muttered disgruntledly, "Isn't it just an aunt who is a Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement ..."

Susan Bones glared at him, but they didn't get into a fight, as the seventh-grade Hufflepuff student returned, with legs as limp as spaghetti. His friend inquired him, "What the hell did you go through?"

"Like, like a Runespoor snake!" He said with chattering teeth, "It was even scarier than what those Weasley twins said! It kept chasing me, followed by other creatures, and I didn't see it clearly, I just ran and threw Impediment Jinx behind me, and ..." he gulped and gasped, "I saw a mouth."

"Whose mouth?"

"No, I don't know, I went straight into its mouth, I just remember a mouth full of fishy yellow teeth, tightly closed, and then, then I came out." He shivered as he finished his encounter.

The young wizard of Hufflepuff grimaced a little, and at that moment Cedric Diggory took a deep breath and said "I'll try!"

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 398 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"Ced," Cho Chang asked softly, "Can't you wait a little longer?"

"No, I'm afraid it's won't get any better even if we wait," Cedric said with a smile, "Professor Hap wouldn't set a hurdle that couldn't be passed, he's selecting a champion candidate, not a powerful wizard, the secret lies in what he said before."

Cho Chang looked at him and said thoughtfully, "Courage, Wisdom, Resilience, and Calmness?"

Cedric nodded and strode forward, Lee Jordan is encouraging people to go forward, the previous example has made the young wizards somewhat timid, with the intention of waiting for a little longer, waiting for the first person with the invitation card to appear.

Harry couldn't help himself, he moved a few steps forward, and in the afterglow saw Cedric approaching.

"Anyone else wants to try?" Lee Jordan continued to persuade, "The professors might come back after a cup of tea and will see three zeroes, what will they think? Oh, there's a fourth volunteer! Let's cheer him on, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff House!"

Cedric took one step up the smooth, black steps, then touched the black door, and got sucked inside in the blink of an eye.

The students couldn't help but breathe slower, worried that he would be thrown out the next second, but ten seconds passed, thirty seconds passed, one minute, two minutes, until at five minutes, the hanging black door opened silently and Cedric walked down the steps holding a golden card high in the air.

"Look! Cedric made it! He's got the invitation card! He's the first one!" Lee Jordan shouted excitedly as a huge wave of cheers erupted from the students of Hufflepuff House.

Lee Jordan wrapped his arms around Cedric, "Man, you're good! Is there anything you want to say to us?"

Cedric smiled coyly, and the whole person had a kind of indescribable calmness: "I only have four words to say - courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness, that's enough. Oh yeah," he thought for a moment, "Professor Hap enchanted the card with a spell, and I think that's the biggest reward I got today."

He returned to the Hufflepuff crowd and got surrounded by a cluster of people.

"Cedric, how did you get through?"

"Yeah, how'd you get past the mouth of the Runespoor Snake?"

"What about that thing with the big mouth, is it a giant?"

Cedric shook his head, "I didn't encounter any of those things, not a single one, I don't think Professor Hap is testing us to find out how we would defeat them, I already told you the secret."

He found Cho Chang, "Cho, I suggest you give it a try."

"Because of that magic on the card?" Cho Chang asked.

"That's also the reason, uh, but it's mainly because I want you to join me in the training." Cedric said as he scratched his head.

...

With success and key tips, some more daring people tried it, and even a long line formed. Lee Jordan reminded them. " The test can be done at the same time, that's what Fred and George did-"

One by one, the young wizards walked in, but more were thrown out at a faster pace, slumping on the ground.

Harry followed behind Ron and Hermione, "You don't have to accompany me, you can wait ..."

"Do not say silly words, I want to try it myself." Hermione said impatiently.

"Yeah, who doesn't want to get an invitation card?" Ron said with a smirk, but Harry could clearly see the fear in his eyes, even the tone of his voice was different from usual.

Harry took a deep breath, walked up the steps, touched the pattern on the door, and the next second, the pattern on the door moved, spinning and forming a shallow vortex that sucked him in.

'Let me see what's inside!' Harry said to himself.

His feet were on the solid ground, and before he could look around, a dazzling green light flooded his entire field of vision, accompanied by a hoarse, ghastly voice, as bitter as the cold wind -

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry's heart almost stopped beating, his eyes went black, his whole body felt like he jumped straight down from the sky, falling helplessly, and the next second, his body tightened -

"Harry! Harry!"

"Harry, what's wrong with you?"

Ron and Hermione looked at him with concern, and Harry realized that he's not dead but just had been thrown out of the black door, and they caught him.

'What kind of test is this, not even giving me time to react?' Harry felt baffled.

Ron looked at the pale Harry and counselled him, "It's okay to fail, just the right time to see a good show." Harry followed his line of sight and there already lay a row of students on the floor, and he saw quite a few familiar faces from Gryffindor.

Angelina Johnson got up with a grimace, and when she looked up to find Harry staring at her, she smiled bitterly, "I thought, since there's no Quidditch tournament this year, I might as well find something for myself to do, being our school champion would be nice, but the fact that I couldn't even make it in the school try-outs means I'm not that material... ..."

She shook her head in defeat and prepared to leave.

"No, you can do it!" Harry said.

"What?"

"You can-" Harry struggled to get up, "I'll prove it to you."

At her puzzled look, Harry walked up the steps again, and even the commentator, Lee Jordan, froze and muttered, "Looks like Potter wants to try it for a second time, this ... I don't know if it will work ... "

Harry did not care what the others thought, with his hand pressed against the black door, he prayed inwardly.

A slight sense of weightlessness reappeared, making him pleased, it really works, he knew the professor would not instantly send people to their deaths, everyone can try again!

Hermione looked at his back worriedly, "Harry is too impulsive, I can guess that the professor used a technique similar to the thinking room, and perhaps added the ability similar to the Boggart and Dementor, making everyone confront their worst fears. And in the process, we will show all kinds of champion traits ..."

She shook her head, "But every failure would not be without significant impact, just look at those people." Speaking of which, she froze slightly, gazed at the black door, and suddenly laughed heartily.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Oops," Hermione managed to hold back her laughter, only to be followed by a violent shaking of her shoulders, "Look at the ... gate, the handprints left by Harry ... Harry! "

Ron and Angelina stared at the gate and vaguely saw a messy handprint, that was undoubtedly left by Harry. Previously it was the first attempt for everyone, only Harry repeated the challenge, even the mud on his hands was not wiped clean.

Angelina broke into a light smile and tried to say something when Harry got thrown out of the black door for the second time.

His face is even whiter than the first time, but his eyes are exceptionally bright, without waiting for them to question, Harry hurriedly left after leaving a sentence, "I found a little trick!" And then he dashed back likes a whirlwind, climbing up the steps in three steps, slamming on the black door, leaving a fresh mud handprint again.

Lee Jordan came over, lowering his wand, and asked in a whisper, "Is he a maniac?"

"I don't think so." Angelina said, "That's the Harry Potter I know, stubborn and single-minded, just like he was during his training."

Hermione stood up and yanked Ron up by the hand.

"What do you want?" Ron asked as he was surveying the handprints on the black door and commented, "The second handprint is much clearer, Harry's hands must be aching!"

But Hermione pulled him stiffly up the steps and said in a forceful tone, "It's our turn."

"I knew I couldn't dodge it," Ron muttered. Looking left and right, then he put his hand on the muddy handprint left by Harry.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 399 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

A little time passed, when Ernest Macmillan and Justin returned together, and they both undoubtedly failed.

The two remained silent for a while, when Ernest asked him, "Do you want to try again?" Justin shook his head as he casually found an empty spot and sat down: "Give me a break." He said, somewhat incredulously, "How did Potter do that?"

When they looked back towards Potter, they saw him disappear again, and a wave of admiration rose up in their hearts. When he failed twice or three times, there were still Slytherin's booing, and even Gryffindor's students felt a bit ashamed, but when he failed for the ninth or tenth time, no one laughed at him anymore.

Harry's two friends - Hermione and Ron also tried once, now they slumped at one side.

Justin asked him after some hesitation, "Ernest, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?" Ernest asked him casually.

"It's not about the selection, it's about an antique vase someone gave my parents during the summer ... holiday, which I always felt a bit odd ..."

Ernie muttered, "It can't be cursed, right?"

"Is that possible?" Justin asked him nervously.

"How would I know, I've never even seen one." Ernest rolled his eyes, "But I do know who you can ask for help."

"Who?"

"Professor Hap, of course, he's the best at these magical artefacts."

"Yeah," Justin immediately agreed, "Ernest, you're right, then I'll have Mom and Dad send that stuff over-"

"That thing is just on display at your house?" Ernest's eyes widened, which made him look like a bulldog.

"Uh, yeah." Justin said with embarrassment, and seeing Ernest's eyes widen again, he hurriedly added, "But that antique is in a cabinet, and no one usually touches it."

Ernest thought for a moment, "In that case, I suggest you don't send a letter home. Come on, let's go find Professor Hap."

"Now?" Justin asked in surprise.

"Of course! What are you waiting for? What if there's a curse on it?" Ernest couldn't help but shout at him, his face turning red from agitation.

With that, Justin couldn't sit still either, "Let's go find Professor Hap at once!"

When Justin and Ernest Macmillan hurriedly passed through a small group of Slytherin students, they inadvertently stepped on Pansy Parkinson's foot, who was talking to a sullen Draco Malfoy.

"Ouch!" Pansy yelped in pain.

"Ah! Sorry-" Justin said apologetically, Pansy glared at him and was just about to make a sarcastic remark when Justin got pulled away by Ernest, "Come on, the professors left for a while."

Pansy pointed at them and shouted, "Draco, look at them - the Macmillan family has degenerated and become as uncultured as those muggles - I should have persuaded my father to write to his family to keep him away from those stinking... ..."

"Sister, do you think she looks like a crazy fox?" A little girl with delicate features asked.

"Don't talk nonsense, Astoria." Daphne took her sister by the hand and squeezed her hand hard, but a small smile spread in the corner of her eyes. She nudged her eyebrows toward Pansy's side, signalling that she would overhear.

Pansy really didn't hear her, as she was repeating her grandfather's words, "Hufflepuff's students are a dull and goofy bunch, so most of them don't have much of a good life." Draco listened with little patience as he turned his head and looked in Astoria's direction.

Astoria looked startled and whispered somewhat sheepishly in Daphne's ear, "He... probably... heard... it. " She stared nervously at Draco Malfoy for some time, and then realized that he didn't seem to have any intention of telling the fox face, and finally felt relieved.

It didn't take long for her to get restless again -

"Can I release my baby Snake now?"

" No" her sister replied with a blank stare.

Outside classroom seven.

Professors gathered in the faculty common room, Felix took out tea, Flitwick retrieved some teacups from an old cabinet, Professor Sprout took out some black flower petals and added them to the tea, as they sipped the tea and chatted cheerfully.

But Snape left early, with the excuse that another batch of potions needed to be processed. Although Moody stayed, he politely declined to join them for a cup of tea.

"Felix, what are you planning to do?" Flitwick asked.

"I currently have the memories of a few professors, so I can work with them to design some dangerous scenarios in which students can exercise their reflexes, their ability to face crises, and how to fight, etc. The memories ... will be used to give pointers based on the student's characteristics individually. So far, I just came up with these."

"That's all you can do now." Flitwick said with a nod, "Who knows what the competition events are, and what the specific rules are."

Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with his words. He knew that the first event is likely to be a dragon, but he is not clear about the exact rules. It could be persisting under the attack of the dragon for a period of time, or it could be taking something from the dragon. Judging from Charlie's earlier remark that the Ministry of Magic picked all the female dragons that were hatching eggs, this possibility is the greatest.

Moody said gruffly: "I'm not really good at memory magic and stuff like that, but if you ask me, real skills can only be honed in real situations, fake is fake, why not lead these students to a Real Dangerous place!"

Flitwick said uneasily, "Alastor, that's not appropriate. We can't bring students out of school ..."

"What's inappropriate! This generation has never experienced war and has been pampered, how can we expect them to react calmly when facing a competition event?" Moody spat disdainfully, "If they are my Auror team, I will definitely train them hard and take them to catch dark wizards a few times. It doesn't take much time, three to five times on the line, they'll be transformed."

Flitwick said pointedly, "They're just students! Not your Auror team."

"But the tournament they face is more dangerous than the average Auror's situation!" Moody growled.

"No, absolutely not ... Minerva wouldn't agree to that, and neither Dumbledore would ...," Flitwick muttered.

Felix poured himself a cup of tea, leaned back in his chair, gazed at the amber tea in the cup, and said slowly: "Taking students out of school is probably impossible, not to mention it's still a deliberate attempt to venture into a dangerous place. Professor Moody, your teaching style proved very controversial right now..."

"Unforgivable Curse?" Moody grinned, sneering, which made his magic fake eye constantly rotate: "They should be glad that the first time they saw this spell, it was in my classroom."

And not on the battlefield ...

This is the unfinished meaning of his words, which the other three professors present understood.

Moody had been using the old style of teaching and wanted to teach the students with brutalism. In his plan, he also intended to cast a spell on the students, so that they could experience the effects of each vicious curses, which, naturally, included the three unforgivable curses.

Of course, he picked the Imperius Curse. The other two were too dangerous, that even Moody didn't dare to use them on the students.

Such an outrageous teaching plan drew Flitwick and Sprout's collective opposition, the tea party also dispersed, Flitwick went in the direction of the headmaster's office hurriedly, as if to let Dumbledore properly persuade his best friend.

When only Felix and Moody were left alone, Felix looked at the time, and then asked him: "Want to go and have a look? I reckon there should be a few students who have got their invitation cards, provided that they realize they can try multiple times."

Moody thought about it, "Forget it! I'll skip the drama. Didn't you say at the meeting that the selection will last through the weekend? Just give me a list by Monday and let me know who's participating in the training!"

With some effort, he shifted his cloak to one side to make room for his wooden leg to land on, then grabbed his cane with his scarred, rough hand and propped himself up with a firm grip.

"Albus said you had a lot of nerve, and I thought you'd understand what I am doing." Moody said lightly.

He limped away.

Felix sat alone in the faculty common room, quietly thinking. I don't know how long it took, but a knock suddenly sounded on the door and a tall, lean figure of Ernest Macmillan rushed in.

"Mr. Macmillan, what can I do for you?" Felix asked calmly.

"Professor Moody told me you were here. Oh, uh ..." Ernest's momentum wilted as he fished Justin out from behind him, "Professor Hap, it's Justin, he has something important to discuss with you ... "

After a few minutes, Felix caught on, "So - an antique has appeared in your home that you suspect of being cursed, or specifically, that there may be some sort of curse on it?"

"That's right, Professor." Justin nodded hastily.

"Is that so ..." Felix fell into contemplation as he asked him, "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, please give me your hand."

"What? Oh--" Justin watched as the professor held out his hand, puzzled, but nevertheless he complied.

The two clasped their hands together.

"Picture that thing." Felix stated.

Justin began to recall, he had a deep impression of the antique, as he fiddled with it for a long time out of suspicion, so he recalled it very easily at the moment.

Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, in the air a vase with a blue and silver body outlined, which resembled a combination of a goblet and a thin-mouthed vase with a layer of blue with champlevé. Adorned with lapis lazuli, the vase featured two harp-shaped arched handles at the top, from which a silver chain leads to a strap that dangles near a smooth, clean silver base.

"A silver artefact. Probably a goblin-wrought silver craft?" Felix chuckled softly, "Can it repel common dust?"

Justin's eyes lit up, "That's what the gift giver told my dad, I heard it was made using some old and special craftsmanship that is unique ..."

Ernest Macmillan couldn't help but shout at him, "That's clearly a characteristic of goblin wares! Before you didn't tell me about it, or I would have figured it out a long ago!"

"But I don't know much about it either." Justin argued.

"Justin," Felix interrupted their conversation, "do you have anyone at home right now?"

"They're usually very busy and don't get back until late." Justin added, "Weekends' too."

"Well, then, I'll go with you tonight to visit your parents." Felix said, standing up and flicking his wand, making the tea disappear into thin air, the cups cleaned up and floated back to the cupboard.

"Let's go back and see, I wonder how many people got their invitation cards?"

Justin said in a rush, "There are three before I came out, Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, Roger Davies from Ravenclaw, and Collins Foley from Slytherin."

...

" To hell with it," said Ron, blushing as if he had a serious illness, "you just can't imagine what it's like to be flooded by those nail-sized swarms of spiders, a million legs wriggling all over you, digging into your mouth, ears, nose... ... Damn, I now find Hagrid's Aragog is much more appealing in its cage."

Hermione hugged her knees and sat silent as she gradually regained her senses, and after a long moment of hesitation, she whispered, "I found a shortcut that might get me an invitation card, but I don't know if it's considered cheating ..."

"What do you mean?" Ron stared at her.

Then the Hovering Black Door slowly opened and Harry stepped out of it, holding a golden card.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 399 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"Harry went to the hospital wing?"

When Felix returned to classroom seven, it was still some time before noon and quite a few people had not left yet, so he asked the commentator, Lee Jordan, who had combed his hair into locks.

He heard his passionate commentary as soon as he came in, and he certainly had much to do with the fiery atmosphere on the field. However, his voice was a little hoarse after a long time of commentary.

"Yes, Professor Hap." Lee Jordan said, "He got the invitation card, but his face didn't look that bright, his friend Granger took him to the hospital wing, along with Fred and George's brother Ron."

As he spoke, a figure got tossed out by the black hovering gate, and Felix waved his wand lightly to keep her safely land on the ground.

"Oh, thanks, Professor Hap." Angelina Johnson said with gratitude.

Felix nodded and looked at the black door, which was covered with handprints of all sizes, and he saw a student deliberately half-squatting and pressing her dirty hands on the edge of the door. "It's a symbol of courage." Lee Jordan said, and Felix smiled blankly.

He raised his wand and gestured toward the black steps nearby, where the earth bulged up into a small mound, the center soil began to slide down in all directions, the grass on the ground was turned upside down, and as the crowd watched, a pointed monolith broke through the earth. The monolith towered about six or seven feet high, and on its smooth stone surface, four names glittered and shone like stars as the crowd gathered and stared -

Cedric Diggory.

Roger Davies.

Collins Foley.

Harry Potter.

The young wizards gazed at the four names, their hearts welling up with endless envy; it would be great to have their names on there as well.

When Felix heard Angelina mention what Cedric said about the secret, he smiled slightly and with another wave of his hand, those four words appeared at the top of the monolith: courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness.

"You should have realized that all of you can try multiple times." Felix spoke calmly, sending his voice out far enough for everyone to hear, "Here are a few more words of advice--"

"Each failure will put a great mental burden on you, and it is best to rest for half an hour to an hour before trying again unless you have an extremely tough and strong mental disposition."

The young wizards were talking, and words like "Potter", "Amazing", "Awesome" came out of their mouths, even the words Harry encouraged Angelina with "I'll prove it to you" was brought up, and Draco Malfoy mouthed in disgust: "Saviour Potter!"

Felix smiled faintly -

"As for the test, I think many of you have already guessed it: confronting your fears. Of course, if your fear is something funny, such as a mountain of garbage, a smelly boot, then you will meet some interesting and bizarre creatures that I have specially prepared for you, even Headmaster Dumbledore full of praise for it.

It's not just my credit either, I took some special reference from the Muggle movies and the creatures that the previous Tournament contestants had faced."

Those young wizards who participated in the selection glared indignantly at him, their eyes spitting fire. This morning, they had been chased by monsters, wrapped by snakes, squashed by giants, knocked around by trolls, and treated like a ball by a "clacking " transformed car ...

Their encounters are so bizarre that they could be compiled into a book of hunting stories.

"I can see that you can't wait to continue the challenge," Felix said with a smile: "Well, one last thing, the whole selection will continue until next Monday, I will return to confirm the final list then."

"Don't even think about being smart and casting a spell on the monolith to put your name on it ..."

--

Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey handed Harry a glass of potion in annoyance as she personally supervised him chugging it down. Harry drank that disgusting fluid, which smelled like poor quality vegetable juice, and wiped his mouth vigorously, thanking God that he didn't have to listen to Madam Pomfrey's nagging at last.

Ron sat beside Harry's feet and fiddled with the invitation card, he stroked the delicate patterns on the golden card over and over with a look of envy, "It's beautiful."

"How did you do that Harry, any tips?" He couldn't resist asking.

"My trick probably won't work for you guys, I don't think anyone will cast a killing curse at you ...," Harry said with a big yawn, Madam Pomfrey's potions always work fast, so before he steeled his nerves to drink it.

"You've to deal with the killing curse?" Ron's body shook, the card slipped from his hand, and he caught it with his leg.

Hermione covered her mouth, "Is it that curse? The one demonstrated in Professor Moody's class?"

"Yeah, the green light came at you from all sorts of angles, and every time I thought I was going to die." Harry said lazily, "The only way to get out of that state of mind is to get out ..."

"That's bizarre! I tried a few times halfway through, telling myself it was all fake, only to go in and forget all about it."

"So did we," Ron said, "Hermione and me. I tried twice and saw a dozen kinds of spiders, and surprisingly, they are different every time, can you believe it?" He said incredulously, "There was an orb spider that you just had to poke it and pus would come out of its stomach, and when my spell hit-" He paused briefly, remembering some bad memory, his face scrunched up intensely.

"I faced all sorts of academic blows, failing exams, being called in to talk with professors, being kicked out of school for not being able to use my magic, or having magical accidents ..." Hermione sighed, "and like you, I completely forgot that It's just a bizarre test in a creepy place, I felt like I've suddenly got lost in thought and can't remember why I'm there."

"Maybe that was the professor's point."

"But how can we pass if we don't remember and think it's real every time?" Ron said.

Harry said thoughtfully, "We should not only consider what happened inside the black door, the professor did not emphasize the importance of power, but the emphasis on growth? Don't forget, we will only forget that we are in the trial in the black door, but when we go out, we will remember everything. And suddenly you will discover the gap between the two trials, which is the key for us to overcome our fear and to grow."

"So the test is actually a way to verify that you have reflected and grown?" Hermione said perceptively.

"No, ha ah - yes." Harry's eyelids drooped, with sleepiness.

He tapped his head, "There's something else I need to tell you. There's an enchantment on the invitation card, supposedly done by Professor Hap, that's very, very interesting, and I highly recommend you guys, you ... try it!"

Before Harry could finish his sentence, he fell asleep on his pillow crookedly. He was too tired today.

"What kind of enchantment is that, anyway?" Ron stared at the golden card, flipping it over and over, and handed it to Hermione, "I didn't find anything."

Hermione took it and pulled out her wand and pointed, "Revelio! Aparecium!" After a while, she said hesitantly, "It should be a one-time enchantment, only the first person who gets the card will be rewarded with it."

Ron said regretfully, "I wish I could shake Harry awake and ask him about it."

After lunch, the two returned to classroom seven again, before that they had asked for a large no. of potions from Madam Pomfrey to soothe their spirits. Hermione begged and pleaded for some time before Madam Pomfrey reluctantly gave it to her.

At this point, Lee Jordan has disappeared, a full morning commentary was a great burden on his voice, according to Neville, he intended to urgently order a box of Ice Mice with owls, to lower the pain in the throat.

Hermione shot a glance at the extra black monolith and gave a slight hum.

In the afternoon near dinner, Harry came back, he was first excited to read through the names on the monolith from the beginning then when he saw "Angelina Johnson", Harry was sincerely happy for her. He also saw the name of Cho Chang, he did not know whether to be happy or sad - he already knew that Cho Chang agreed to become Cedric's girlfriend.

Before he had time to think more, Angelina rushed over to him and gave him a warm hug, "Thank you, Harry." Spinning him around, she pulled him into the Gryffindor crowd.

"Oh, there's our champion Potter!" The twins said cheerfully. Fred bowed in a pretentious manner, "A million honours, we are in need of your tutelage."

"Don't, I'm not-" Harry waved his hands in embarrassment, "I'm not that old."

The twins wrapped their arms around his shoulders left and right, "The Ageing Potion will have your share," he nudged towards Lee Jordan, "Lee got the access, but we need to buy at least an ounce before we can get it, and we want someone to split it ... "

"Don't you guys get a cut?" Ron asked.

"That's true, George, we've been a little lavish lately and forgot we had a debt we hadn't collected." Fred said.

"Makes sense, we've only just started this month, and we've already spent thirty galleons." George said.

"Thirty galleons!" Ron glared, annoyed, "And you won't even buy a new dress for your brother!"

The twins looked at each other.

"That's pretty much how we roll with it," Fred shrugged, "And with all the money exchanged for materials, we could only afford to loan you some feathers to make your own dress by gluing it on."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 401 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Ron left them angrily, "Ron -" Harry reached out for his back, not knowing what to say.

While unpacking his daily things on the first night they arrived at school, he saw the dress Mrs. Weasley had prepared for Ron. To his eye, it looked more like a long, velvet dress in a saucy purple colour, with a neckline trimmed with what looked like mouldy lace and matching lace on the sleeves.

Harry would not be brave enough to wear them out, from the look on Ron's face at the time, he knows that Ron too could not wait to keep this dress in the bottom of the box, and never use it once in his life.

After ten seconds, Ron shot out of the door.

Harry and Hermione caught him, Ron sat on the ground, his face looked pale, he said in a low voice: "I've had enough of poor days. Harry, can you lend me some money, I promise to pay you back!"

Harry hesitated for two seconds, he knew what Ron planned to do - buy an Ageing Potion, "No problem." He said.

"Ron! You shouldn't- Dumbledore would not have considered less than-" Hermione advised.

"Don't concern yourself with it." Ron buried his head, "I thought you had a way to get an invitation card, otherwise, you won't be talking big, no?"

Hermione stared at him incredulously, but Ron only showed her the back of his head, Hermione gave him a condescending look and stomped heavily up to the steps.

Her figure disappeared in front of the black hovering gate, and after only ten seconds or so, the black mist fluctuated violently.

Ron looked incredulously at the black monolith, a golden name appeared robotically - Hermione Granger. The black door opened soundlessly, a wave of rolling air poured out from inside, and a golden fire faded behind her.

...

Eight o'clock in the evening.

Felix took Justin Finch-Fletchley using Apparition and appeared in a London alley, then they got into a cab and went to the villa area according to the address Justin provided.

"Mom, it's me, Justin!" Justin rang the doorbell in front of the gate and said through the microphone above, "I'm with a professor from school."

"Oh, my God! Honey, Mommy will be over here."

There came a sound of heavy clinking from across the microphone, as if someone had broken glass.

Justin opened his mouth, a little embarrassed, and Felix observed the pattern carved into the pillar in silence until an exquisitely dressed woman walked out quickly, straightening her hat in a panic as she did so.

"Hello, you are, uh ..."

She froze as she looked at Justin and then at Felix over the gate.

"You're the professor of ...?" She asked cautiously, too young, all the professors she had seen were blessed with a blossoming belly and thinning hair, without an exception.

Even if magic can cure hair loss, it can't make people younger, right? The professor whose last name is "McGonagall" that visited their home before did not have that ability.

"Oh, Mom, open the gate. He's my ancient runes' professor, I've talked about him before!" Justine said from the outside.

The woman reached out a hand over the gate and flicked him in the forehead.

"Ouch!"

The woman then fumbled her pocket with satisfaction and then said with an apologetic look on her face, "Are you Professor Hap? The boy did mention you and said you are very young, but I thought, how can I ... Oh, sorry, I forgot my keys, I changed my clothes when I came home in the evening ... I'll be right back." She left in a hurry.

Justin wondered, "Professor Hap? Can we use the unlocking charm ..."

"There's no need for that," Felix said, "It won't hurt to wait."

Justin scratched his curly hair, hardly able to understand, "Professor, what kind of magic did you just use? A Portkey?"

Felix laughed, "Where did you hear that word?"

"Ernest told me, he said that during the summer Quidditch World Cup, the Ministry of Magic prepared Two hundred Portkeys by which people from all over the world came to England!"

"Two hundred is just the number within England." Felix said, "The magic of the Portkey needs a certain item to rely on, and I used an Apparition."

"Apparition?"

"Yes, it is more convenient than the Portkey, and you have seen the effect, you will learn about it in the sixth year."

"But why haven't I seen anyone else using it?"

"Oh, because there is a spell put on the school that forbids Apparition and, of course, Portkeys too."

At that moment, Justine's mom appeared with a jog and greeted both of them.

Mr. Finch-Fletchley, who had the same curly hair as Justin, brought two cups of coffee, "I heard from Justin that you also drink coffee, just this week a friend of mine gifted me some Geisha coffee, please give it a try."

He put down the coffee, scrubbed his hands with a napkin, then shook his hands with Felix.

Felix made his intentions clear, and the Mr. Finch-Fletchley, got taken aback, and immediately led him to the study, where Mr. Finch-Fletchley introduced it as he walked, "It was originally in the living room, but Justin boy was playing with it all the time, and his mother was afraid it would break, so she put it in the study."

Justin stared at his mother, who promptly messed up his hair.

In the study, Felix carefully examined the antique vase, looking at it seriously for half a while, he certainly was not looking at the pattern of enamelwork, but rather at the magic glow hidden from the ordinary people -

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Finch-Fletchley asked a little nervously.

"Oh, no," Felix said, "no matter how many times you look at it, you will be amazed by the goblins' craftsmanship, and some of their crafts can rival the top quality alchemy ... Also, please rest assured, there are no curses."

"That's good, that's good." Mr. Finch-Fletchley felt relieved, he was concerned about some kind of radiation or something - forgive him for not understanding magic, but that's what he imagined the curse would be.

Afterward, Mr. Finch-Fletchley invited him to spend a weekend together. Felix knew that it is Justin they wanted to keep.

He said implicitly, "Hogwarts students are all residents, and professors have an unshrinkable responsibility regarding the safety of young wizards ..." He saw their disappointed expressions and added, "At best, we can stay until tomorrow morning, and please prepare a guest room for me, preferably a quiet one."

"That's only natural, rest assured, Professor Hap." Mrs. Finch-Fletchley hastily agreed, fearing that he would renege. She patted Justine on the back of the head and said seriously, "Where are your manners?"

Justin said sullenly, "Thank you, Professor."

...

Hogwarts, after lights out.

Harry went to bed early, he was exhausted from a long day, Ron and Hermione fell out and ignored each other, but Hermione had got her invitation card, so Harry certainly hoped Ron would get it too, so he and Ron stayed in the classroom seven all afternoon.

But what he could do was really limited, he just tried to analyse the situation after Ron's failure, but it was not something he is good at. Luckily, Hermione left Madam Pomfrey's potion, which was able to relieve mental exhaustion and shorten their rest time by a lot.

Ron laid on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, with a heavy heart.

He stared out the window at the pale light and could barely see one corner of the moon.

Harry had made it, Hermione also made it, and even ... he glanced at Neville who is snoring loudly, yeah, even Neville had managed to get an invitation card.

He knew he could never beat Harry and Hermione, but he at least didn't want to be left too far behind.

He sat up, fuming for a while, and finally, he tiptoed out of bed and grabbed the half-bottle of potion that still remained from the table. Walking out of his dorm room, he pushed the common room door open.

Ron walked fearfully through the dark corridor, not even daring enough to use Lumos, lest he encounters Filch or Mrs. Norris.

Finally, half an hour later, he arrived near classroom seven, secretly thanking his good luck.

Ron gripped his wand, not daring to make a sound, and groped his hands along the wall. Classroom seven was not locked, and the way to enter is by outlining a rune on the door. It just so happened that Professor Hap talked about it in the Magic Rune Club.

Right now, all he had to do is find the right spot, then quickly outline the rune, and sneak into the classroom, so he could outlast everyone else by one night.

Ron touched something bulging, cool, but warmer than the walls and door, and his spirits soared, he had found it! But the next second, a suppressed scream rang out in his ears, sending chills down his spine.

A ghost? Peeves? No, a living person ...

"Who!"

"Who!" Ron's voice distorted with fright, his vocal pitch was twisted so much that even he didn't know what he was saying.

In the darkness, an unknown being is less than a foot away from him. Ron gulped, took two steps back, raised his wand, and whispered, "Lumos."

A hazy glow lit up from the tip of the wand, illuminating the face opposite to him within an arm's reach -

"Draco Malfoy!"

"Ron Weasley!"

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 401 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Ron and Draco stared wide-eyed and fell into an eerie silence.

"I can't believe you're on a night out, Malfoy!" Ron said before Draco could accuse him.

"Aren't you talking about yourself, Weasley?" Draco said absently.

There was a short silence and then Draco spoke up, a gleam creeping through his eyes, "Don't pretend, Weasley. We're both here for the same reason, no one says anything to anyone, to avoid getting into trouble, I guess?"

Ron touched the potion bottle in his arms and didn't utter a word.

" Meow ~"

A cat appeared at some point, squatting on the windowsill, bathing in the moonlight as she stared at them with yellow eyes.

"Go away - go away, you stupid cat!" Ron instantly became anxious, and he chased the cat away in a hushed tone, waving his hand over and over at it.

However, Mrs. Norris glanced at him proudly, its soft, smooth gray fur glowed silver in the moonlight, and its eyes glanced past Ron and saw Draco Malfoy behind him.

A wand poked out, its tip glowing red.

Ron pushed Draco out of the way as he deflected his wand, as the spell hit the wall--

"What are you doing?" Ron said angrily.

"I just wanted to put it to sleep for a while, do you want it to bring Filch here?" Draco said calmly, "It's YOU - STUPID WEASLEY - who let it get away."

"You're the one who's stupid!" Ron cursed under his breath and looked back at the window, which seemed deserted. He looked down the corridor again and could barely distinguish a silvery grey shadow disappearing around the corner in the dark corridor.

Ron panicked, the half bottle of potion he carried in his arms wobbled vigorously, and sweat immediately broke out.

"What to do?" He groaned, as he felt deep regret, if only he had brought Harry's invisibility cloak with him tonight, he would have been able to pretend like a ghost and scare Malfoy, or at least he should have brought the Marauder's Map, both of these things were at the bottom of the box that belonged to Harry.

Now it is too late to think about that.

"What else can we do!" Draco glared at Ron and said coldly: "Of course, we should run away quickly, or are you going to wait till you get caught? Are you really a masochist, as rumour says? I warn you, if you get caught, don't rat me out-"

"Go ahead!" Ron said.

"What?"

"You should leave," Ron repeated in a low voice, waving his hand at Draco in boredom just like how he had been chasing away Mrs. Norris, his other hand clutching the vial tightly with a death grip, "Hurry up, what are you waiting for!"

Draco had taken a few steps away, but for a moment he stopped and looked at him with a very curious look, his gray eyes flickered, and a strange thought came to his mind.

"You want to stay," he glanced at the door of classroom seven behind them, then looked back, as if weighing something in his mind, then he said slowly, "you want to stay and hide in classroom seven, where that old fool Filch can't open the door."

"You're overthinking it, I'm leaving." Ron said, but his feet didn't move a bit.

Draco sneered, took a few steps over, leaned against the edge of the window where Mrs. Norris had just been standing, and said slowly, "So how about we simply wait until Filch comes over?"

Ron looked at him in exasperation.

"What are you looking at, Weasley? Do you want me to give you a hex?" Draco said.

"You wouldn't dare, Malfoy." Ron said, glancing nervously at the dark corridor, which remained silent, but he knew that Filch would appear in three minutes at most, or perhaps he had been woken up by now and making his way over, panting heavily as he carried a kerosene lamp with a grimace on his face.

How much time had passed, ten seconds, or thirty?

He had to make a decision -

"Damn you ferret!" He said angrily, turning and stomping towards the door of classroom seven, with Draco behind him, smiling smugly, speaking in a long, drawn-out voice with a condescending tone, "Come on, Weasley! You don't think you're in Potions class, do you?"

Ron shuddered with anger, wishing he could ignore everything and shot a hex in Malfoy's face, but he held back, his wand tracing the air in an attempt to outline a rune. But he simply can not keep calm at this point and failed twice in a row.

After waiting for a while, Draco couldn't sit still and came over to urge him on, "What are you playing at, waiting for Filch or the professor on night patrol to take us both away?"

"Leave me alone, you're messing with my head!" Ron said with a frown, as he failed to outline once again, half of the rune flickered and disappeared.

Draco impatiently stood guard, occasionally glancing around and listening with one ear.

After almost two minutes, the sound of climbing stairs was heard in the distance, and someone spoke in a tone that trembled with excitement: " Are we finally there, my sweet? They won't be able to run away easily, I assure you-"

The expression on Draco's face turned into panic, and he couldn't help but take two steps back and hide in the shadow. The voice got closer, as he looked over the corridor, and then at Ron, who's still concentrating on outlining the rune, pondering if he should slip away alone -

"Wes--"

"It's done!" Ron shouted excitedly, scribing a shiny rune on the door, which opened noiselessly and a slit of light could be seen pouring out from inside. He turned his head and said angrily, "Malfoy, if you ever speak to me in a commanding tone again, I'll-"

Draco kicked Ron in the ass, knocking him through the door before he hastily slammed the door shut behind him.

The bright light inside classroom seven briefly blinded him a bit, while he placed his ear against the cold door and strained to hear the movements outside. He did not know if it was due to the enchantment that he could not hear a sound from outside right now.

On the other hand, Ron carefully placed the potion in his arms on the floor and lunged towards Draco.

"Damn Malfoy! How dare you kick me, I've put up with you for a long time!"

Draco looked back contemptuously and took a punch right in the face, "You're insane!?" He shouted, raising his wand, but Ron aimed for it and brought him to the ground with a punch that made Draco's eyes glaze over. Ron took the opportunity to swing two more punches at his hateful face, and Draco screamed in pain and kicked Ron away.

" It's Malfoy's comeback!" He said viciously.

Ron shook his head and charged again, and the two wrestled. The wands in their hands fell out.

Soon Ron had the upper hand based on his size, both arms locked around Draco's neck, their faces equally red, except Draco was holding his breath. Ron bellowed: "Malfoy, I tell you, I have a temper too!"

Draco rolled his eyes and struggled desperately, "I didn't mean to ... But Filch was there ..."

"Filch?" Ron froze for a moment, the strength in his hands unconsciously weakened, and Draco took the opportunity to break free from his restraints and breathe heavily.

A few minutes later-

The two separated far apart, warily pointing their wands at each other, their faces both bruised and battered. Ron laughed loudly as he saw that both of Malfoy's eyes were bruised, his carefully combed hair looked dishevelled, and his magnificent robes were torn with several long rips and holes.

Although he also looked terrible, he is now in an extraordinarily soothing mood.

"According to the rules in the club, you can't fight when we're working together."

"You wait for me, Weasley!"

Draco glared at Ron with hatred, and walked up the black steps, with several deep breaths, he reached out and touched the black hovering door, and the next second, his figure disappeared.

Ron burst out laughing, and in a delightful voice he said, "This robe goes really well with you, Malfoy."

...

Inside the black hovering door.

Ron spat out a mouthful of green slimy liquid, brushed aside the spider legs which hooked over his shoulder, and muttered under his breath, "The seventeenth batch ... I'd like to see how many more ... times ... why there are spiders with twelve legs ... I bet Professor Hap failed his Care of Magical Creatures class ..."

Two more spider waves, but Ron has been able to accurately judge the placement, so he stepped on a raised boulder and chose the optimal route to leave early before the spiders can climb up.

"I wonder if there's a chicken leg for breakfast? I don't want to drink any gruel ..."

He thought out of tune and finally crossed this rocky beach. On a platform, a golden circle of light glowed.

Ron looked at the golden glow on the platform with fascination, and there seemed to be something inside. He couldn't help but reach out his hand, and the moment he touched the card, his whole body became frozen and blank -

His vision infinitely elevated, as if he had become a ghost, he first saw the black hovering door, then Malfoy, and finally saw the whole spacious seventh classroom. But this is not the end, he saw the castle corridors, and then he went through layers of walls, rising, and soon, the entire Hogwarts castle in his eyes became a matchbox.

And he was already in the black night sky, and kept ascending, surrounded by the bitterly cold wind and clouds.

Hogwarts has become as big as a fingernail, even the black lake is very small, as if he could drink it all in one gulp, a stretch of black mountains came into view and filled his vision.

He saw the ever-smaller village of Hogsmeade, sporadically lit by a few points of light, perhaps using Professor Hap's magic lamp? Ron thought, but they immediately disappeared, he continued to ascend, the world below turned into large patches of colours, he struggled to distinguish, the dark green ones were forests, the dark brown were hills, and the blue ... were oceans!

He actually saw the ocean, Ron gasped, feeling like he is dreaming, but this dream is so vivid that you can't forget it. He also saw the brightly lit settlement and speculated in his mind whether it is the city of the Muggles, from what Harry said, in a big city like London, even at night, there are many lights on ...

"Is this England?"

Ron frowned and saw a very small piece of land, or rather - island, across a wide land, what seems to be a huge expanse of land. He felt some kind of thought tug him, but he had no idea what it was. Then he just continued to ascend -

After a long time, he could only see the ocean and the land.

Then he passed through a thick layer of clouds, fearing he would freeze to death. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of golden sunlight shining on the clean white cluster of clouds, reflecting a golden haze. Is this the sunrise?

Ron looked at the world beneath his feet for the first time, examining ... a standard sphere dominated by blue, a small half of it hidden in the shadows, which should be dark, and the other half very bright, so that he could see the land, the ocean, and the light clouds, it is a day there. He reached out and tried to grab something, but he just kept moving away.

That blue sphere turned into dots and more globes appeared, "Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter ... O Merlin's beard!" Ron opened his mouth wide, he saw the complete solar system, like a model of the Star chart sold in Diagon Alley, he felt that he would never forget their position in his life.

After that, he saw the stars. He had never understood the names of the constellations before, thinking that names like "Canis Major" were nonsense, but he really saw a big dog in the deep sky of the universe, made up of countless stars, and he even saw the brightest one in Canis Major - Sirius.

And then after that, the sight was beyond his comprehension, he saw a bright vortex, a dense web of points of light ... then he fell, much faster than he had come, everything he had seen before was going back, vortexes, nebulae, constellations, blue planet, lands and oceans, the sight kept drawing closer and closer until he fell headlong plunged into the ancient castle of Hogwarts.

"Ah--"

Ron screamed out, panting, holding a golden card in his hand.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 403 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

The next morning.

Harry woke up from bed with a yawn, first he reached for his alarm clock and looked at the time - eleven in the morning. Startled, he jumped up from the bed and fumbled for his glasses, "Ron, don't sleep! We have to go to classroom seven for the selection, and today is the last day-"

Ron seemed like a dead pig slumped in bed, with one arm showing as he snored loudly.

Harry lifted Ron's covers and looked at him with surprise, Ron is wearing a tattered and dusty robe, his face is bruised and battered like he was hung up and beaten by a whomping willow for half an hour.

Even when they were in the study group, and practicing the Incarcerous Spell, Ron had never looked this miserable.

A thief broke into the dorm?

Someone broke in and beat Ron up violently?

Harry desperately shook Ron awake and asked especially seriously, "Did you see who it was?"

"What?" Ron opened his drowsy eyes and mumbled vaguely.

"Who hit you!" Harry shouted.

"Who else could it be, Malfoy ..." Ron said with his eyes closed, Harry became furious and immediately wanted to rush into the Slytherin common room to settle the score with Malfoy, only to hear Ron follow up with, " He looked even worse than me, I choked his neck and made him kneel down and beg for mercy on his knees ..."

In his sleep, Ron grinned broadly and gleefully as he muttered a few words that no one could hear and continued to fall back to sleep.

Harry froze for a moment, a little unable to grasp what is the situation, he walked out of the dormitory with a head full of confusion and found Hermione in the common room as he told her about it.

"He's not dreaming about fighting with Malfoy and getting himself all bruised up, is he?" Hermione asked in a cold tone.

"Hermione, that's not possible." Harry said, "He had his robes all torn up ..."

"That means he went out at night and got into a fight with someone. But I do doubt that he has the courage!" Hermione stood up, "I'll go ask the fat lady, she must know if anyone has been out at night."

She stomped off, leaving Harry behind on the couch, slightly annoyed. Could it be Ron had gone out in the middle of the night, and what was he doing out there?

He looked at the table, Hermione's seat left with a stack of parchment, he wondered - her homework is not finished? He took it over and looked at it, and it's surprisingly a piece of information gathered from the experience of people who have passed the selection process. More comprehensive than what he and Ron inquired about, obviously she spent a lot of effort.

Not long after, Hermione came back with a surprised face and said, "He really went out last night, the fat lady was impressed with him and said that she would compose an opera about him."

"But where did Ron go?" Harry pondered: "He was with me all afternoon yesterday and came back to bed early, there was no time to meet Malfoy alone, so how could he make an appointment ..."

"Or maybe they went to the same place." Hermione analysed.

Harry nodded, the same place ... he jerked his head up and looked at Hermione, who also looked at him with a shocked expression.

"Classroom seven!"

...

At noon, Harry returned to his dorm room as if nothing had happened, Ron had got up and had changed his clothes.

Seeing Harry entering, Ron said with a look of excitement, "Harry, you can't believe it, seriously! I fought off seventeen waves of big spiders, and by the time I reached the end, I felt like I was not afraid of them anymore, even with all those hairy legs and stinky green liquid spewing around ... I did it, Harry! And the magic on the card you told me about, it was so cool!"

Harry looked at him oddly, "When did this happen, I remember, when we came back yesterday, you said you couldn't see any hope. And I didn't mention what magic was on the card ..."

"Uh," Ron jammed, he blinked, "you didn't say that?"

"I didn't say that. Oh, right." Harry pulled out a stack of parchment, "Here's some information I found, we can work on it together."

"That would be great!" Ron took it happily, looking at the familiar handwriting on it, and became uncomfortable, "Oh ... yeah, it is wonderful ..."

"Do you have anything to say?" Harry asked.

Ron hesitated for a moment, staring at the stack of parchment, and slowly pulled a golden card out of his pocket.

On the other side--

The Finch-Fletchley couple had prepared a sophisticated menu, and they had put off their work commitments for a while to stay at home.

At lunchtime, someone rang the doorbell, and Mr. Finch-Fletchley went out for a while before returning. When it became time to part, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley took out the two large bags she had prepared.

"Mom-" Justin rolled his eyes and said helplessly, "There's too much stuff for me to carry."

"I'll do it." Felix said, beckoning toward the packages and putting them into the ring in his left hand. Watching this Finch-Fletchley couple tsked in amazement.

"Is this magic artefact, it's incredible ... I wonder if we can buy it?"

Felix shook his head, "This kind of artefact will be strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic, it's okay for wizards, but if it appears in the hands of muggles - that is, non-magical people - it will attract the pursuit of law enforcers."

"It's not like that goblin-built antique vase that you can keep at home and appreciate without others' knowledge, with little chance of being discovered. But this ring has a risk of being found. As long as you use it, there is a danger of getting detected."

Mrs. Finch-Fletchley said regretfully, "We also got some magical artefacts at home, some trinkets we bought in Diagon Alley, which we hide all in one room and never let outsiders know about it."

"Yes, Mom collected a whole set of Lockhart's books." Justin said.

Mrs. Finch-Fletchley glared at him.

Before leaving, Mr. Finch-Fletchley handed Felix a business card, which Felix accepted, then he felt a faint trace of magic on it, and asked curiously, "This?"

"A friend sent it over. He is a collector, and he keeps in touch with many people who have connections. This card came from a mysterious seller who has offered a lot of antiquities over the years." Mr. Finch-Fletchley said cautiously, "Including that vase ..."

Felix's mind became clear, the business card only wrote a series of phone numbers, not even a name, indeed mysterious enough.

"They contacted you via this telephone?"

"It's not easy to determine." Mr. Finch-Fletchley said, "The mysterious seller asked my friend to call the number above, but every time he called, no one answered. But after waiting a day or two, he will show up and visit your home on his own initiative."

Felix smiled, "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, thank you for your trust in me. I can assure you that no trouble will involve your family."

"That's best." Mr. Finch-Fletchley breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought about it for a long time last night, but he still felt that he should let the professor at Hogwarts know about it, otherwise, it would always be uncomfortable to have a wizard who is hiding his tail around.

Back at school, Felix played with the card, "Interesting, who could be behind you?"

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 403 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"I can't believe it! I can't believe you kept this from us!" Hermione said disgruntled, by now they had walked out of the castle, turned a corner in front of Hagrid's hut, and headed towards the Forbidden Forest, but she still remained a little indignant about that issue.

"Hermione, you were having a falling out - but, Ron, you didn't even tell me, we could have cloaked ourselves in an invisibility cloak." Harry couldn't help but speak in a grumbling tone.

"I thought ... if I failed, I'd just pretend like nothing had happened." Ron stammered, his eyes unnaturally glancing somewhere else, "I guess Malfoy was thinking the same ... Hermione, thanks for the Dittany."

The lump on his face didn't look noticeable anymore.

"That's meant for Harry when he practices Apparition!" Hermione hmphed through her nose.

"I'm surprised Malfoy made it though," Ron said, "I always thought he'd just be crying for his mom or be a hopping ferret ..."

Hermione did think it is normal.

"He's always got good grades, one of the top scores on the 'answer space', you just never paid attention."

"Yeah," Ron smacked his lips, "I didn't know that you paid attention to people who ranked lower than you, that's a long list of names ..."

Harry couldn't help but grin.

They walked into the forbidden forest, the light suddenly dimmed, as if it was evening, and their ears heard all kinds of rustling and tiny sounds in the forest. They had to find a place nearby to practice apparition, and according to Harry, he could already appear out of the "house" from inside using apparition.

Ron plucked a purple berry and asked, "Can I eat this thing?"

"Yes," Hermione glanced at it, "except it's a bit--"

"Yuck!" Ron already took a bite, then revealed a bitter look, "It's bitter!"

"... bitter taste, it seems you already know that." Hermione said with a smile, and Harry hastily retracted his hand that was poking at the branch.

They soon found a familiar path and trekked to a vacant spot -

" This place looks familiar to me." Harry surveyed the vicinity, his eyes skimming over the scattered rocks several times.

"Yeah," Hermione pointed to a large tree, "remember? We spied on Professor Hap behind that tree when he was practicing Apparition ... I asked Hagrid privately, there is no dangerous creature's lair near this piece of forest. However, we still need to take some precautions-"

She took her wand and walked around, mumbling some words under her breath.

"Protego totalum... Salvio hexia ... Repello Muggletum ... Stealth Sensoring Spell(incantation unknown) ... Caterwauling Charm(incantation unknown) ... Transfigured Guards(incantation unknown) ... Hey guys! if you don't mind, help me out a bit!"

"We only know the first three spells." Harry and Ron looked at each other as they too got busy, "That was taught by Professor Belby, in the Wilderness Safety theme ... What about the rest?"

"Oh," Hermione patted her forehead, "the Stealth Sensoring Spell can detect magical disguise, Caterwauling Charm is a kind of alarm spell, when someone breaks in it will make an ear-piercing sound ... As for the Transfigured Guard. "She paused and smiled, "Don't you guys think they're cute?"

Harry and Ron crouched down and looked at the things that looked like peanuts - their bodies were made of two small stones pieced together - supposedly using transfiguration - with no legs, as they bounced around.

Ron reached out and flicked one of the transfigured guards two feet away.

"Kind of like a LEGO Figure without limbs." Harry commented, looking up and down as he asked, "What can they do?"

"More sensitive to magic and can detect things we can't see in advance." Hermione said, "One more thing to add, this is Professor Hap's magic."

"Well prepared," Ron whispered, "I finally know why she didn't stop us from breaking the school rules, if I had learned this much novel magic as well, I would certainly look for an opportunity to use it, otherwise it would be a shame, wouldn't it?"

Late afternoon.

Felix was working on a sneakoscope in his office, tiny parts scattered across his workbench.

He carefully extracted a strand of magic from a business card, which Mr. Finch-Fletchley had handed him. Then he picked up a fingernail-sized gemstone and incorporated the magic power wrapped around his finger into it.

"The most important step is completed, then - Valen, I haven't heard the sound of reading for a while."

He said without looking up, as a Niffler Valen dozing off on a big literacy book used by muggles with various illustrations under her butt.

Hearing Felix's words, Valen grunted in discontent and walked up to him with great gusto, her small pink finger poking his arm over and over again.

She couldn't stand it, no more! Why are you teaching a Niffler how to read and write?

She had never heard of such a ridiculous thing.

For her own sake, and for the sake of any potential victims in the future, she would like to protest against the Great Demon King on behalf of all the Nifflers!...no! On behalf of all Magical Creatures!

"Kuh-kih! Gee gee gee! Chik Kik ki ki ki!"

Then a Golden Galleon was placed in front of her. Niffler Valen froze a bit as she instinctively stuffed it into her pocket.

"When you receive money, you have to do something, as we agreed." Felix nudged her with his finger.

"Gabba-"

Niffler Valen opened her beak wide, like a duck, pink beak opening and closing breathlessly.

She walked back with her head down, then she flipped the next page with her nimble pink fingers and sat down dejectedly as she stared at a picture of a motorcycle, and within a minute, her eyelids drooped ...

Hermione's presence rescued her. When she came in, Niffler leaped off the workbench with a comical stride and jumped into Hermione's arms.

"Oh ... Valen? What happened to you? You're too enthusiastic ..." She looked at Niffler somewhat overwhelmed, as Valen looked like she had been wronged, pointing to the sky and the ground, without forgetting to point at the professor and a literacy book on the table.

"Are you learning to read?" Hermione's heart welled up with a nostalgic feeling, "I read a similar book when I was three years old."

"Kiki! Keeee!"

Niffler pointed at Felix and grunted once again.

"Uh ..."

" She says she has never met a human as cunning as me, and she is running away from home to follow you instead." Felix said with his head down, putting the remaining parts of the sneakoscope together.

Hermione blinked and looked down at Niffler.

Niffler nodded her head in exasperation. That's right!

She wanted to break into a new world and gather a big hidden treasure. Sooner or later, she will make the fifth house at Hogwarts.

"Well, it's done." Felix stood up with a walnut-sized sneakoscope in his hand, and before Hermione could see it, he had raised his ebony wand and from the tip, a silver Rain Swallow Patronus flew out.

The rain swallow is as big as an owl, hovering silently in midair, Felix threw the sneakoscope in his hand which got swallowed by its open beak.

"Go on, find that man. Don't let him notice someone looking for him." Felix said calmly.

Hermione watched curiously as Rainbird disappeared from the window and into the blackness of the night, mentally guessing what kind of person the professor wanted to find.

...

"So, you're worried that you got the invitation card by cheating?"

Hermione nodded, at this point, they sat on the couch, she held a box of Eggnog cookies in her hand, feeding Niffler, while looking worriedly across the table at Professor Hap.

This matter has always bothered her, especially after Ron got the invitation card in a "normal" way.

Felix dismissed it, "Why do you call it cheating?"

"I went against the test's intent," Hermione said sadly, "I simply could not face my own fears, perhaps I am the worst of these champion candidates."

Felix laughed softly, "Granger, you, as well as the students below the sixth year, are not considered as champions to be trained, not considered as champion candidates. But because of the younger age, you are considered more talented, so we decided to let you participate in the upcoming training"

Hermione looked at him with some confusion.

"Put it this way, Miss Granger." Felix said, "Headmaster Dumbledore and I, as well as other professors, thought that it would be a waste to exclude the younger students from the training, but we couldn't really let you participate in the tournament either, so we came up with this compromise to increase your involvement."

"Increase our involvement?" Hermione repeated, "So that's why you don't mind if I cheat?"

"You misunderstand me. I never said there's only one way to cope up with your fear, did you read the words on the monolith? Courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness, which means ... there are at least four ways."

Felix said gently, leaning his body on the back of the couch and looking at her thoughtfully.

"You did at least two things, which would have been an act I did not anticipate - first, you vaguely saw through the illusion, which may be related to your frequent exposure to thinking room related magic, so you didn't become bewitched easily; second, you took advantage of this capability, and borrowed the power of the fantasy to cast the ancient magic Golden Flame that I taught you, which is not something that ordinary people can do."

"I've discussed this with Dumbledore before."

"How do you know-" Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"If you had actually used the golden flame, you might have destroyed that place." Felix smiled, "Anyway, what it shows was, that your understanding of this magic is at a passable level, and you can already try to use it in reality."

"Now?" Hermione asked with a leap of faith.

Felix looked at her with an expectant gaze.

"Oh, uh ... well." Hermione sat up straight, cleared her throat, and recited a string of ancient incantations under her breath, then a cloud of light bloomed from her fingertips, and one by one the magic runes appeared in the air, piecing together as a whole.

"Scoff!"

A golden flame appeared out of thin air, burning quietly and appearing serene and undisturbed.

"You can take your hands off." Felix said, and Hermione did as she was told, the flame still hovered in midair, the air around it trembling gently. Under her control, the flames got morphed into various shapes, and by accident, a goblet got penetrated with a searing hole.

"You need to improve your control, Granger. You've always been good at it, but not good enough. You have to make the flames move the way you want them to, just like this."

Felix said, passing his palm through the golden flames, a small wisp of golden ember glued to the tip of his index finger.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Is it amazing? Not at all, actually; you haven't discovered the true properties of this magic. It's not particularly explosive magic, or I wouldn't have taught you ..."

...

The new week became hectic for Felix.

After the afternoon class, he took the time to go to Classroom 7 and recorded the names on the monolith, and gave them to Professor McGonagall.

When she saw the list of candidates, McGonagall got taken aback: "There's a second-year student?"

"Yeah, I didn't expect that either." Felix said, "Unless she has a very deep and positive understanding of her fear itself ..."

"What are you going to do about it, Felix?"

Felix had a bit of a headache, "I'll discuss it with Severus, after all, she's a student in Slytherin House, and it seems she has a sister in the same house ..."

"I'll go and talk to Severus." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and said seriously, "No matter what, I will not agree to let a second-year student get involved in this, we have discussed the training program, and frankly, I think it is too extreme, even for those fourth-year students ..."

"Minerva, fourth years are not that young, they are generally 14 or 15 years old, just when they are most craving for credit. If we discourage them, they will try various methods to sneak in or will send us a group Howler to vent." Felix joked.

"... Well, since you and Professor Moody both say so, and Albus doesn't object."

Professor McGonagall didn't insist any further, these issues had been discussed more than once before in the meeting, and she had actually agreed to it, now she was just complaining a few times. So she changed the topic to something else -

"Congratulations, Felix, Remus got a big order."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 405 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

After the conversation with Professor McGonagall, Felix simply assigned an assignment on a topic similar to the essay Harry and Hermione had written - what are the things that can help you get through a crisis when you are in danger?

"Whether it's character, knowledge, mastery of a spell, something to carry with you, you can write about it." The new prefects' of the male and female student bodies passed those words on to the selected students.

Over the next week, numerous professors combined their efforts to complete a large project, while he spent most of his free time in the Room of Requirement - mapping out the magic and magical channels on it - and now only the final step remained.

Dumbledore and Felix stood in the empty room, where there is no longer any morphed out slopes and greenery, nor any trace of the different arenas from the dueling tournament, even the black hovering door that was used to select candidates a week ago, has disappeared.

All that remained in the room was the Undetectable Extension Charm that Felix had placed in it, making the interior space comparable to ten Quidditch courts. Hogwarts would have been perfectly fine with people from other schools living here if they hadn't considered what the other four schools had in mind.

With heavy reinforcement and protection magic applied by the professors, every inch of this old room had been infused with powerful magic. They added some extra defensive measures on top of that.

Right now, there are only two of them in the classroom, engaged in a serious conversation -

"What do you think?" Felix inquired.

"It's worth a try." Dumbledore said relaxedly.

"I never thought that I would be able to integrate my magic into the defense system of Hogwarts that existed for a thousand years and millennia from now ..." Felix went into a momentary trance in his mind, and when he looked back, Dumbledore is looking at him with a smile.

"Let's get started, Albus, I'm afraid the students outside can't wait any longer." Felix said as he tightened his grip on his wand.

Dumbledore obeyed, he raised his wand, waved his arm like a conductor in an orchestra, and communicated with the old castle in a way that Felix could not understand.

"Buzz~"

He did not know if it was an illusion, Felix felt the castle under his feet come to life. Like a slumbering dragon turned slightly on the side, which made the small creatures that nested and burrowed in its body as they parasitized on the scales, found that the whole world shifting.

Clusters of magic power turned solid, purple, blue, yellow, blue, bronze, green, gray ... converged and quickly separated from each other, forming a flower of magic power.

"Felix--" Dumbledore said in a deep voice.

Felix understood by heart that he needed to get these magical powers fixed and form a solid link - just like the Room of Requirement.

A small fluffy silver ball appeared in his hand, like the fluffy puffskein, and a collection of clustered neural networks emerged from the fluffy ball, with occasional flashes of light blue electricity, it slowly floated into midair, then quickly expanded into a three-dimensional structure, occupying the entire spacious room.

Felix recited a complex incantation, allowing these nodes and core links to be integrated into this space, like synapses, which drew on the magical power of the castle and stabilized their magic nodes.

After that, everything disappeared. Magic, nodes, core links... they totally integrated with the room.

Felix switched his perspective, to locate those nodes and concealed them one by one, making it difficult for even powerful wizards to discover them. Dumbledore did the same thing, he also laid out a stable magic channel from the authority that no one can know and belongs only to the Headmaster.

As long as Hogwarts exists, as long as it is still enrolling students, this place will never disappear, just like the Room of Requirement.

Dumbledore finished all this and found four more stone basins of thoughts' in front of Felix.

"Is this ...?" He asked curiously, with a certain guess in mind.

"It's the memories of Professors." Felix said briefly.

He took a deep breath, everything before was to create a suitable environment, the next step is the main part, although this step is not much difficult, he could not help but be nervous.

Felix controlled the four stone basins of thought with each flew towards four different directions, making it look as if the room had been divided into four zones, with a stone basin suspended in the center of each area.

"What's the point of doing this?" Dumbledore asked with interest, even for him, this is a rare large-scale practical magic project, a rare fusion of alchemy with memory magic and transfiguration in the magical world.

"Adding a bit of ritual." Felix smiled and said, then his tone became serious, "So - the first administrator, seventeen-year-old Albus Dumbledore."

The stone basin to the left of the two exploded and countless dense silver clouds poured out from it, followed by a tall, thin young student with reddish-brown hair stepping out.

His long, slender fingers held a wand, as he lightly swiped to the left and right side respectively, the fog split in two. The young Dumbledore had gleaming blue eyes, with a twinkle of kindness and mischief behind it.

"Old pal, you did not give me much knowledge, my head is empty, how will I face those troublesome students?" The young Albus said so, although it seems that he was complaining, but he did not seem to be bothered, instead, he smiled and nodded towards Felix.

Dumbledore looked at him, his eyes moistened, as he murmured: "This is when I just graduated, young with vigor and ambition, thinking that I have a bright future ..." He shook his long silver beard and smiled. "Oh, I don't know if I had mentioned it before, I was very fond of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans when I was young."

The young Albus Dumbledore was waving his wand, setting off a wild silver ripple, a fog like a condensed wave, settled in midair, then they morphed, forming an open-air square platform, with numerous red and gold adornments dotted around.

Felix and Dumbledore watched for a moment, then turned to the other side, and Felix whispered, "The second person who selflessly provided her memories - Minerva McGonagall."

The second stone basin of thought exploded into powder. A beautiful young lady appeared in that spot, with thick black hair, about thirty years old, she had green glowing eyes. This is the young Minerva McGonagall, in which you can see more of the shadow that belongs to the Hogwarts Transfiguration Professor, with a serious expression, her hair pulled up high into a bun, as she's wearing a pair of square-frame glasses.

"That's interesting ..." she looked around, her lips pursed iconically, "Let me think about what I need to do, Minerva left me with a list of tasks."

With that, she didn't move a muscle.

The third person to appear is a younger Filius Flitwick, who is also considerably younger than the current Hogwarts Charms class professor, without his gold-rimmed round glasses and with a lot fewer wrinkles, he is dressed in a dignified, rigorous suit.

According to himself, it was the suit he had worn when he had won the wizard dueling championship.

"Oh, Felix, Albus ...," the young Flitwick bowed slightly and waved the wand in his hand gracefully, "Welcome, I don't think you are in the mood for a duel at the moment, but I will be right here, awaiting you at all times."

The last stone basin blew open, and a young Felix stepped out, he looked exactly the same as he did now, only with a somewhat more flippant expression, he looked at Felix and reached out to point at him, "I need to talk to you, you're putting too many restrictions on me."

"Oh, you don't need to." Felix muttered, letting a silvery cloud cover him up.

...

Felix said to Dumbledore, "They will not be around often, but as administrators of this secret domain. Their task is to make this place more active as well as manage and control those adventure sites. Of course, I'm talking about after the training."

Dumbledore nodded slightly: "You've talked to me about all this, I have no problem with it."

They walked out of the room together, a dozen students anxiously waited outside, as a little girl shouted loudly: "Why am I not on the list? Why?"

Professor McGonagall is comforting her by saying, "Greengrass, you're too young for this. ..."

"I'm the champion! A champion!" Astoria shouted.

Professor McGonagall looked at her with a headache, when Dumbledore came over and said gently, "You are little Astoria? Your father sent me a letter, let's check it out together, and by the way, I can recommend a few new sweets ..."

"Really?"

"Professor McGonagall can vouch for me ..."

On the side, McGonagall rolled her eyes, but the issue is finally solved. Turning to Felix, she said, "I'll leave these students to you, Felix, I think-"

She thought for a moment and didn't say anything further. As she turned around and left.

Felix looked at the youthful faces, "All right, students, take your essays and follow me in."

He took a few steps forward, and halted, looking at the half-open door of the room, drew his wand and outlined it in the air, and a line of gold-stamped letters appeared above the door - "Classroom Seven."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and Harry shrugged, "Now that's a name."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 405 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

The young wizards walked into the classroom in a row, and after that, the door of classroom seven closed automatically behind them.

In front of them there appeared a narrow corridor, with a thick fog curling up on both sides, and in the fog, vague shadows could be seen.

" You guys - what kind of monster is hiding in there?" Said Roger Davies of Ravenclaw, a tall, handsome-looking man with dark brown hair that had been combed to the back of his head, which made his face look more elegant.

Right now, although he was speaking to the crowd, his eyes focused on a pretty girl not far from him.

"Where does he think he is, prom?" Ron, who is walking behind, grumbled, causing Harry and Hermione to laugh. The male wizard, whose surname is Davis, is wearing a high-necked robe with blue and bronze embroidered inlays on the cuffs, and he's trying to hold his hair back as he is speaking.

A soft laugh came from the fog as they spoke, causing Harry to freeze. He jerked back to look at the fog, and he understood very clearly that the owner of the voice is near him. When he touched the cloud of fog in front of him it drifted away and dispersed, there is nothing there. His heartbeat speed up, so he hastened his steps as he heard Ron saying, "... But who's that girl, she's so pretty!"

In Harry's eyes, the girl Davis staring at is indeed beautiful, with a Petite figure, to the point of being a little thin. She has a pale-white complexion, delicate features, and short dark hair. The downside is that her eyebrows are too thick, and her face does not match very well with them. Oh, there's one more thing - she's a Slytherin.

"Do you know who is she?" Ron tugged Hermione.

"How would I know?" Hermione said impatiently.

"You know at least half the students in the school, so you will know, a girl ... beautiful as she is," Ron tried to find an appropriate word to portray, but couldn't come up with one.

"I only know students who have taken Ancient Runes Class!" Hermione stated pointedly.

They had been walking for ten minutes when Felix, the one leading the group, finally stopped. Only then did the group realize that they were in the middle of a junction, with two long crossways dividing the place into four sections, each zone obscured by fog.

"I want to see your essays first." Felix said to the crowd, "You can wander around ... this place is not considered perfect yet, but ..." as he showed a smile, "I believe there will be surprises waiting for you."

As he spoke, he morphed out a comfortable armchair for himself and sat down.

The students looked at each other, a bit confused about what the professor meant.

The girl with short dark hair asked calmly, "Are we going to encounter the same stuff?"

Felix thought for a moment and said, "It has to do with the zone you chose."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Depends on how you define it, but don't forget why you're here."

The short-haired girl nodded slightly, drawing her wand, then she turned and walked into the nearest dense fog, which automatically parted away, and when she entered, the parted fog quietly closed again.

After a few seconds, those left behind did not hear any movement.

"Let's pick one as well." Hermione said decisively, Harry and Ron looked at Davis who had already run after into the zone where the short-haired girl had entered, and they decided to choose a different way.

"Let's go this way!" Harry said as he pointed to the right, where he had initially heard a soft laugh, so particularly wanted to go in and take a look.

Ron and Hermione made no comment, "Neville, what about you?" Harry asked as Neville scratched his head, "I'd better join you guys, I'm a bit worried about being alone."

Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and two other Slytherin students entered another new zone. While Cedric, Susan Bones, Cho Chang, Angelina, and the rest chose the last zone.

Everyone who remained went with them and chose that direction. Only Felix was left in that junction, as he was seated in the center of the intersection, looking quickly through essays.

...

The students went through their own adventures.

Cedric found himself lost, as Cho Chang who had been walking behind him for a while isn't there anymore. After walking for a while, he saw a construction vaguely visible in the clouds, a tall, spacious arena. It looked somewhat like the gilded ring in the dueling class, but it is significantly grander.

"Professor Flitwick?" Cedric's mouth opened wide in surprise when he saw the person standing in the arena.

He was expecting to encounter some strange-looking monsters. Professor Hap's eccentric taste had been gradually being circulated and passed around with great fanfare, because of this, some young wizards from Muggle families had especially summarized some monsters that often appeared in films.

A crazy spooky film nerd witch provided a rich source of material, and when Cho Chang showed it to him, he looked light-hearted on the surface, but in fact, he was flustered inside.

The young Flitwick smiled as he said, "It's not good to wander off here, perhaps you're waiting for your companion to arrive?" He asked as he pointed to the side.

Cedric then realized that Cho Chang is cautiously walking out from the other direction, followed by Susan Bones, the Weasley twins, and Angelina Johnson next to her.

"Yo!, Cedric, you got here first." Fred greeted.

"We waited outside and sure enough, we managed to bag a few more." George said with a smile.

"All those who choose this way are here, so, what's your call?" Flitwick said as he raised his wand, "One by one, or together?"

On the other side, the second zone -

Harry met a young student with reddish-brown hair, he felt his face looked somewhat familiar, especially his hooked nose, which he seemed to have seen somewhere, and this suspicion was only verified when he opened his mouth to introduce himself.

"Your Headmaster Dumbledore?" Harry gasped.

"Headmaster?" The young Albus Dumbledore smiled, "I only have memories from when I was a Head Boy - want me to share them with you, Harry?"

Harry felt a little alienation from the scene in front of him, he met the young Dumbledore, and Dumbledore wanted to discuss the topic about being a Head Boy with him, he could not figure out if this was a ruse, so he asked probingly, "Professor Dumbledore, I entered here listening to Professor Hap, we ... uh, are we going to fight?"

"A fight?" The young Dumbledore looked at him with a smirk, "Of course."

Ten seconds later.

Harry struggled desperately on the ground, his clothes seemed to have turned into a sort of cuff, keeping him completely restrained within. He couldn't even lift a hand now.

"You're too close to me and didn't even notice the fluctuation of the spell casting, I guess, you haven't learned how to cast spells wandless, right?" The Dumbledore with the reddish-brown hair said, waving his hand and dispelling the spell, "Well, let's try again ..."

The third zone.

The young Felix yawned, "Just the two of you? It's a little boring with so few people."

Collins Foley gritted her teeth and waved her wand in succession, releasing one Non-verbal spell after another. "Bang Bang Bang!" The spells got flicked away by one hand, but Roger Davies couldn't relax a bit, the spells that Felix seemingly casually flicked away all headed towards him, he intended to ask Collins to stop, but he couldn't spare any more effort at all, as he jumped up and down to dodge the spells.

The young Felix said lazily, "The Humanoid Shield Charm, want to learn it?"

The fourth zone.

Draco Malfoy cornered, a full ten feet Manticore looked down at him, the scorpion barb glinted with a metallic sheen, he leaned his body back as far as he could to keep himself away from that thing.

"Mr. Malfoy, I've told you three times, don't always run ..." Professor McGonagall said as she adjusted her square glasses and looked at him sternly, as a row of humanoid golems emerged.

...

After almost half an hour, Felix finally finished flipping through the essays.

"Tch! I wonder what they've come across." He stood up, walked into the fog, then went around all the zones inside, and led the students out.

The students followed behind him with their heads down, looking completely different from when they first arrived here, with a look of great devastation.

"So, each of you has met at least one of the administrators of the Secret Zone, who come from the memories of the four professors when they were young, and also myself. Oh, of course, so you might have felt that some of them have slightly different personalities from the reality, yes, slightly different ..."

Felix said somewhat sheepishly, "This is all very normal, you have to learn to make the distinction." His own copy of the memory is a bit too lively and playful. When Felix went over there in person, he found that his memory was playing catch with magic spells with his eyes closed, and the girl named Collins was pissed to death ...

Although he has certainly thought about playing games like that while fighting, but he only thought about it, and never put it into practice. Because he would never joke with his own life and safety.

Felix sighed, both his portrait and the young memory being in Classroom Seven were more Playful and Vibrant than his own personality, probably because he hadn't given them those dark, hidden memories.

This gave him a not-so-good premonition and speculation: if he hadn't gone through those experiences during school, would he have grown up to be a bit of an eccentric guy, like his memory being?

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 407 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Felix looked away from the Slytherin witch who was staring dead at him, then cleared his throat and continued, "The professors and I have analysed that your shortcomings are mainly two, one is that you do not master enough spells to deal with various complex situations. For example, magic flames-"

He paused and didn't go on.

"And the second shortcoming is lack of practical experience or real combat; Not that sort of dueling game in dueling class where you draw your wands against each other according to the set of prearranged rules and regulations, what I mean is unforeseen danger, which is related to your own experience."

"There was a time when it was a tradition for Hogwarts students to travel for a year after graduation. Probably something like, a few close friends travelling together in a group to see the different customs of magical people from different parts of the world ..."

"But because of the Wizard Wars, the Ministry of Magic has tightened its policies in recent years. Now if you want to travel to a different country, you have to report in advance and get permission from the local Ministry of Magic, so it's not very popular anymore."

Felix narrated this history to give them a general impression.

"Over the next month or so, as Classroom Seven became more developed and comprehensive, you will be exposed to various simulated dangerous scenarios to increase your experience. Not just me, but other professors will also be present to guide you."

"Of course," Felix said thoughtfully, "Professor Moody might have other arrangements, as he prefers to test how you deal with danger in real scenarios. You should have some idea about his character ..."

More than one student grimaced, Professor Moody's brutal personality and his reputation in the classroom together with his degree of audacity, Hogwarts students have suffered a lot, which one of them have not been had a wand pointed at their heads, and received a couple of vicious curses in the name of experience?

But according to a certain student who wishes to remain anonymous, although it would feel bad if Professor Moody points his wand at him/her as he cast dark magic, but if the person at the receiving end are not them, he/she would gain a strange sense of pleasure as they watch their peers suffer...

"As a champion candidate," Felix raised his voice, bringing the students back to their senses. "Or students that have been chosen to participate in exchanges and showcase the fruits of Hogwarts' teaching, you will gain access to many high-level spells, and as one of the most convenient ways to do that, the Restricted Section of the library will be made available to you."

"You only need to register properly, and you will be able to see all kinds of high-level spell books."

The students discussed in low voices with great interest, Felix even heard someone mention " Dark Magic ", so he raised his eyebrow.

"I should remind you that dark magic has been banned in previous tournaments, for this year," he explained with uncertainty, " The Ministry of Magic is still negotiating intensely ..."

"So that means there's a chance we'll be dealing with dark magic?" Harry asked in surprise.

"No, not exactly." Felix explained, "It is the bottom line of the Ministry of Magic that no champion is allowed to use dark magic against another champion. But Durmstrang suggested that it is 'Reasonable' to use Dark Magic against non-human creatures - for example, those powerful and deadly magical creatures - during most events you will confront magical creatures. "

"Uagadou and Ilvermorny both agreed. The dispute now is over which dark magic can be used, and the Ministry of Magic staff is compiling a list."

"So, we can use dark magic too?" Collins trailed off, "As long as it's on that list of whatever?"

"Perhaps if the rules allows it, but for a Hogwarts student, there won't be any professors who will give you pointers on that." Felix said calmly. "I know that some of you, might be no strangers to dark magic, but after all, there are implications to consider - If you use it publicly, it will draw the attention of the Ministry of Magic and outsiders who will question Hogwarts' educational philosophy."

He shrugged, "The war passed just a decade ago, and the majority of the British wizarding public, still deeply detest dark magic."

Collins looked at him provocatively, "So, it's okay as long as you're not seen?"

Felix gazed at her and smiled slightly, "You're right, Miss Foley, whether you use dark magic or not doesn't affect the judges' scoring. But if you ask me, it's not really essential, and it's not necessarily worth the cost."

He looked at the crowd: "Many of you, especially the younger students, do not yet realize what special treatment you will enjoy for the next few months - the Hogwarts library is open to you, and all the professors will answer all your questions about knowledge beyond the textbooks, including all kinds of advanced magical spells and theories."

"If I were you guys, I definitely wouldn't miss such a great opportunity. It will be very good for all your future."

"But what are we doing by learning so many advanced things that we won't be able to use after graduation?" One student questioned.

Felix looked at the rest, who also had an expression of mixed recognition. He shook his head, "It does appear to be a genuine concern, so let me expand the question that probably emerged while we were all in school-"

"If you can get by with just a few years of rudimentary study, why push yourself and continue to delve deeper into those advanced, obscure spells and theories?"

"That's actually a very interesting question, is there anyone who can answer it?"

A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand playfully, "Professor, I know! I just love magic! Having fun playing with it."

Felix smiled at her, "That's a good mindset to have."

"Studying advanced magic will allow us to gain a significant profile and get into a better company, the Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic!" Roger Davies said.

"Well, that's very inspiring. Besides that?"

"People will fear you, be in awe of you, and be afraid to mess with you." Collins Foley said coldly.

"That makes sense ... Any more?"

"You can do what you like." Hermione said.

"That's very close compared to my own answer." Felix said with a smile.

He scanned the circle, his eyes passing over each of their eyes, "I can't provide you with the right answer, because there is no right and unique answer for this question inherently. All I can do is state my understanding."

"What is the use of studying magic in greater depth, including diving into the obscure theories of magic?"

"The way I see it, it allows you to go farther than others on the path of magic, while also naturally giving you more options."

"You want to study magic? Sure, then be a scholar in peace and enjoy exploring the mysteries of magic as well as areas no one has ever touched."

"You want to occupy a high-level position and gain authority? In addition to having a sharp and resourceful mind, the power of magic is indispensable as magic will be your tool to help you gain fame and prestige;"

"Or ... money? It is not impossible, but it is recommended that you choose the right branch of magic, alchemy, and ancient runes also have great potential, if any of you are interested, you can consider joining the 'future world' company after graduation."

Felix winked and smiled at them.

"There's a lot more that can be said; Altering your appearance? Transfiguration can do that; Extending life? Potions can do that; Travelling through the world? Seeking excitement? Exploring mysteries and treasure hunting ... or simply to become an ordinary happy person without any worries."

"Of course, you could also dream big-" Felix lowered his eyes, "let the world revolve around your will, as you change it a little by little."

The students fell silent.

Felix fiddled with his wand and said softly, "Yes, for some, like - Headmaster Dumbledore, it is never a question of what he can do, but it's a matter of what he chooses to do."

"Being a Minister of Magic ... versus which candy to buy from Hogsmeade ... Perhaps the latter consumes his mind more."

"That's where choice matters - the most visual example is that every year there are students who get more than one letter of recommendation from their professors, and it's clear that those people have a naturally more choice."

"Let's get back to the point and get down to the business."

Felix raised his volume and said, "According to the latest information received by the Headmaster, this competition is different from before, it will be held in a group format, and of course, the difficulty will be adjusted accordingly."

"Three people from each school will be selected to form a team. After the three events, the school with the highest score will win the trophy of the Tournament."

He looked at the group and said, "Sixth and seventh graders, for the upcoming training, you will form teams randomly, using this chance to develop a tacit understanding, as you may not be sure who will become your teammates during the Tournament. As for the fourth and fifth-year students, you're free to form a team as you please, no requirements."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately started to stand together unconsciously.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 407 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

After the students left, Felix sat alone in his armchair and fell into deep thought. Several pieces of parchment floated in front of him, and lines of letters appeared sequentially, as if an invisible quill writing words on them.

The dense white fog was dispersed as if illuminated by daylight, with an unobstructed platform, the Competition Arena resembling a Wizard's Dueling Championship Arena with ring-shaped enclosures, and mazes disappeared as if they had never existed.

The place turned into a dazzling white room, the floor and walls were as smooth as mirrors, and there is nothing to be found around.

The memory entities of professors appeared, they looked like real human beings, but ultimately they were just a memory. All their emotions and ties reside in the past, and the 'here and now' would not bother them.

"It's still too cold here." Young Albus Dumbledore said, as he conjured up a sculptured bench for himself and sat down: "I like the lively atmosphere better."

Felix smiled as he removed the hand resting on his chin and gathered several sheets of parchment together, "Then persuade your 'self', I can see Headmaster has some ideas, which is what I am hoping for, perhaps he is the only one who can convince Mr. Scamander."

"If it's about magical creatures, it's not that difficult ... Newt is a very kind man, unless," the young Albus Dumbledore looked at him playfully, his reddish-brown hair slightly curled, "you want much MORE."

"That's right," Felix admitted, "I want him to leave a part of his memory, after all, the knowledge that he was able to write down in books is only a very small part of his precious mind."

The young Felix Hap scowled, "Talking in such a roundabout way." He hit the nail on the head, "The practical knowledge can help the student, but some irrelevant ones can help him."

Professors in the room erupted with laughter.

The young Minerva McGonagall didn't laugh, as she looked at them with bright eyes and grunted under her breath, "Gentlemen, we should get to work."

"That's right," said young Flitwick, turning his legs into a cloud of mist as he floated in midair, looking like a Genie of the Magic Lamp from a certain Muggle Fairytale, "Today, Let's just test our skills and limitations, I have a lot of interesting scenarios in my head, like the goblin tribe. "

The young Albus Dumbledore shook his head, "My school memories are a bit boring, I think. But I did use the holiday to visit some interesting people, some of whom I still maintain correspondence with. I also spent a considerable amount of time observing giants, centaurs, and troll tribes in order to write my thesis ..."

The young Felix Hap grunted in a small voice: "Compared to them, I'm like a blank sheet of paper." He glanced at his original self, "How about a worldwide black markets trade fair where students can practice disguises to infiltrate and detect people with ulterior motives? I'll need your help, though."

Felix said, somewhat sullenly, "What black market? That's just part of the foreign magical world's customs, I was just curious for a moment ..."

But his words were ignored, as each professor went to work on their separate tasks.

High mountains, gullies, caves, taverns ... goblins, giants, centaurs, gargoyles ... various kinds of sights were layered with each other, even though they had appeared for only a few minutes, they had already been remembered by this space, and could be called up at will by them when necessary as administrators.

...

Harry got busy these days, so he politely declined an invitation from Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. Later He learned that they hosted a party and invited all the ghosts, but midway through the party, Peeves appeared and stole a certain precious Exhibit.

Hermione is also very busy, she seems to be living in the library. Except in Classroom Seven and other classrooms, you can't find her anywhere else. From her roommate's gossip, she hadn't gone to the kitchen to chat with the house-elf for days. Even during the occasional glimpse in the common room, she hid herself behind a large, thick stack of books, and all he could see was just the top of her brown head.

As soon as class was over, she would pull out little slips of notes from her pockets, from her book bag, from the pages of the textbooks, and would ask each and every professor various questions one by one.

He also wanted to ask questions, but the point is, he didn't know what to ask. So He grabbed one of Hermione's borrowed books to read, and later he became drowsy in the second paragraph. Then both he and Ron wandered aimlessly through the restricted section of the library, glancing at the knowledge that did not fit them. The only books he could focus on were those with the words "Duel", "Power", and "Spell Book" on their title, and Ron was also only interested in a book of curses that bounded with chains. On the cover of the book, there's a male wizard howling in pain as he tried to push his head out of the book.

But Harry thinks Ron simply thought the cover is cool, or probably because the howling wizard's pointy chin and light-colored hair kind of resembled Malfoy, which might have piqued his interest, because Ron soon lost his interest in it.

...

Felix noticed that Hogwarts Faculty meetings had become more frequent this year. Sometimes just as he finished a class or was answering a question from one of the students, Professor McGonagall's Cat Patronus would suddenly jump in front of him, bringing a message from Professor McGonagall.

"Ilvermorny's delegation is coming."

He and the rest of the professors sat in the faculty common room, bathed in the glow of the bright, soft glow of the Magic Lamp, as they listened to Professor McGonagall speaking. Dumbledore crossed his arms and leaned his body against the back of his seat, a faint smile drifted at the corners of his lips with an expression of confidence.

But Felix reckoned that he was thinking about something else. As he also knew this skill, as he had deliberately mastered it.

Nevertheless, he paid more attention to Professor McGonagall's speech, as Professor Sprout already asked what confused him most: "So early? Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will not arrive until two weeks from now."

Professor McGonagall explained, "Ilvermorny's delegation wanted to come early to familiarize themselves with the environment and to understand Hogwarts ... This concerns everyone here, as Dumbledore approved Ilvermorny's request of allowing their students the opportunity to attend sixth and seventh-year courses."

The professors looked at Dumbledore, who smiled slightly and nodded, as his beard fluttered.

Trelawney, who seemed lost and confused, looked up and said pointedly, "I won't accept just any student, I want students with enough spirituality, Dumbledore. I am making it clear in advance that if they don't have enough spirituality - they aren't going to learn any more than a troll."

Snape got choked up, he just wanted to speak, but Trelawney jumped ahead of him. He could only go along with her words as he said coldly, "That's what I thought, Headmaster. Some students can be accepted, if they showed enough talent in the field of potions, otherwise, I will be forced to place them in lower grades, like fifth and fourth grades ..."

Professor McGonagall looked at them hesitantly. Dumbledore smiled and said, "Don't worry, Severus, as far as I know, Ilvermorny also has Potions classes, or rather, the founders of Ilvermorny were heavily influenced by Hogwarts, so in terms of similarity of curriculum, they are more closely connected with us than any other schools."

"Ilvermorny also has four houses - the Horned Serpent, the Wampus, the Thunderbird, and the Pukwudgie, of course, not the Pukwudgie that we remember cooped up in the garden, this interesting error comes from the difference in translation, they are actually native to North America and related to the goblins on the European side. According to my speculation, it may be a distant branch of goblins that have lost their distinctive culture and hidden themselves in the dense forests, though they did learn to use bow and arrows quenched with poison."

"These four houses, each represents the wizard's mind, body, heart, and soul - A unique perspective of division, which allows Ilvermorny's students to show noticeable cross-House traits from our view, such as the Horned Serpent House, is a combination of parts of Ravenclaw and Slytherin traits."

" The differences in this similarity, and the clash of ideas they bring, are the most valuable things."

"They may want to understand us by peeking into our lives, but it is a mutual understanding, so we should welcome them." Dumbledore addressed the professors.

After the meeting, Professor Pomona Sprout approached Felix.

She is a professor of Herbology class at Hogwarts and also the head of Hufflepuff House. She is optimistic and compassionate by nature, and also has a deep knowledge of magical herbs and plants.

"Do you also want to leave your memory and need my help with that?" Felix asked with interest, "Of course, no problem."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 409 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Classroom Seven, A dimly lit Chamber.

Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, and Collins Foley formed a three-man team to fight a dark green, fifty-plus feet long Basilisk.

"Collins! On your way!" Cedric shouted.

Collins immediately closed her eyes, and the next second she sensed an icy gaze directed at her. Her body began to stiffen, and the magic inside her seemed to solidify a little as if to freeze her whole body into stone, but she knew it was the effect of a Supersensory Charm.

"I'm not a Squib!"

She staggered back, panting. "Whoosh!" A piercing sound rang out, and a palm-sized stone grazed her forehead, drawing a bit of blood with its sharp edges.

Without a word, she lowered her body and quietly waited for her chance.

"Roger! It's heading towards you!"

When she heard Cedric's voice again, her eyes snapped open and her long-prepared "Conjunctivitis Curse" instantly shot out towards the basilisk, without confirming the result of the attack, she retreated far back and placed a few broken stones in front of her.

"Only left eye left!" Davis's voice warned.

A few minutes later, the basilisk fell down with wounds all over its body; it is still breathing, but with wounds all over its body and a blind eye. Under normal circumstances, it is already close to death.

They emerged from different places as they silently observed the basilisk disperse into countless green dots of light, and a sense of satisfaction welled up in their hearts.

Roger Davies slumped on the ground in exhaustion, not caring about his image, anyway, they had seen much worse. This is their fifth time against the Basilisk, with the previous four all resulting in a group massacre.

"A remarkable victory!" Flitwick announced as he appeared, his two legs turned into hazy smoke, trailing a long trajectory as he suddenly appeared in front of them.

Cedric grinned. It is the second time that he saw this Genie-like Professor Flitwick, he got startled as he used the Protego charm when he saw Genie-like Professor Flitwick in darkness for the first time.

The four administrators so far showed a distinct and striking personality difference-

Professor of Charms Class, Ravenclaw Head Flitwick is always brimming with enthusiasm and has no qualms about praising any bit of students' progress, he even would act as if he was surprised; Professor of Transfiguration, Gryffindor Head McGonagall displayed a serious and attentive character, she would appear at the beginning and would give them a few useful pieces of advice; while the young Headmaster Dumbledore loved to chat with students, and the keen perception and insight he displayed made the students ashamed.

The Ancient Runes Professor Hap is the most peculiar. He would often appear while they were trying to break through the levels, staring hard at them and pointing out their mistakes in a not-so-pleasant manner at the appropriate moments. Moreover, he was happy to show them the method to pass the level personally - using their own method - after they failed.

"... You should be aware that the gaze of a basilisk's eyes can cause death 100% ... which is actually a sort of misinformation. Killing a wizard is not an easy task, and without magic at play, you will find that their eyes are not very different from those of ordinary snakes."

Flitwick as usual provided his summary about this level while evaluating their actions.

"But Professor, the basilisk in the chamber the year before caused the petrification of a student and a cat." Cedric asked in disbelief.

"That doesn't indicate much. The basilisk was in its state of aggression, and any creature that appeared in front of it would have been attacked; Do you think it can maintain an enormous amount of magic on its eyes when it is alone?"

Collins calmly analysed, "Professor Flitwick, can I assume that the basilisk's gaze is similar to our magic, an active power?"

Flitwick nodded and praised him, "That's right, from the results of Severus' dissection of the basilisk, it is!"

"Any other examples to back that up, Professor?" Cedric inquired.

"Of course! Take Demiguise as an example ..." Flitwick elaborated.

Cedric and his team dragged their tired bodies out of the chamber, the dark, damp, rugged, and narrow chamber slowly disappeared behind them, and they were now standing on the white, smooth floor, in a vast space where three buildings of different sizes and styles were strangely aligned next to each other.

Professors Felix and Sprout approached them head-on, and they immediately narrowed their eyes to stare at the clothes of the two professors. This is a trick all of them have gradually mastered over the past month - the clothes of the administrators of Classroom Seven will emit a faint, silvery light.

This is one of the ways to distinguish the real from the fake.

As for the two ... in front of them, they were both real.

"Professor Sprout, Professor Hap!" The Three greeted. Felix and Sprout responded with gentle nods as they walked further into the room.

"Cedric, what do you think they're here for?" Davis asked.

Cedric's eyes paused on the backs of the two professors with a sudden look of realization, his gray eyes looked eager, "Maybe we're going to have a new administrator soon ..."

The always composed Collins Foley looked slightly crestfallen: " No! Absolutely not!"

"Why?" Cedric stared at her; Ms. Sprout is his house Head.

"Think about which class she teaches," Collins closed her eyes, "I dropped my Herbology class in sixth grade because I didn't want to take care of the twisted and ugly herbs that were becoming more and more perverse ..."

Her lips quivered as she said, "Wriggling and twisting Snargaluff, Fanged Geranium, Stinksap, Mimbulus mimbletonia ... Take Bubotuber, for example, in second grade we just had to watch them from afar, but in fourth grade, we are required to squeeze the puss out of them, what was in sixth grade? "

She craned her head to look at Cedric.

Cedric said bitterly, "Slicing Venomous Tentacula and pollinating other plants."

...

In the depths of classroom seven, the two professors stood in silence.

A silver, dwarf figure appeared before them, becoming clearer and clearer. Felix felt he met a pair of twins, both with flowing gray hair and a heavily patched hat.

Sprout's memory form hummed, cheerfully creating a magical plant from the empty air, with a dozen whomping willows growing around each corner of the room on their own. With nimble steps, she sprinkled a black seed, and in no time, a cluster of blackthorns grew as tall as five or six feet.

Professor Sprout looked enviously at the sight in front of her, while Felix watched the blackthorns twist around each other to form a towering wall.

"I once suggested this to Dumbledore, that we should grow a fence around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but the workload was so great that we eventually had to give up."

"Umm, I think the students will have some headaches ..."

Meanwhile, the Weasley twins were whining in the common room, lamenting how they seemed to have forgotten how to fly. Harry, who was busy catching up on his homework, suddenly realized to his surprise that he hadn't touched his flying broom in ages.

So later that evening, he dragged Ron along with Hermione, who seemed to be drowning herself in a sea of books, to the Quidditch Pitch for a quick flight.

The southeast corner of the Quidditch Pitch is now become a construction site, with a dozen houses linked together to form a circle, together arching around the tallest building in the center - which is only short of a pointed dome.

Some workers were busying themselves with the last part of the work.

They watched from afar for a while, and then sat on their brooms to enjoy the cool October breeze. Hermione sat on her broom sideways, allowing it to rise three feet off the ground, as she circled the pitch slowly, while Harry operated the firebolt, constantly speeding up, accelerating, and turning into a scarlet shadow. He flew higher and higher, getting farther and farther away, and from hundreds of feet, he saw Hagrid carrying a log measuring at least thirty feet in length.

"Hagrid, do you need help?" He dived down as he circled around Hagrid twice and hovered in front of him.

Hagrid looked at him with a suspicious look on his face.

Harry, without saying much, pulled out his wand and recited the incantation: "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Hagrid flipped the log over his shoulder and said gruffly, "It's kind of useful ..." Together they returned to the pitch, and a reddish-faced male wizard in a sunhat shouted from the site, "This way... ... Hagrid! Keep up the pace, we'll be done today."

Hagrid carried the log and erected it without much effort, and Harry, who was standing nearby, could see that it is one of the support pillars of the building.

The red-faced male wizard who shouted chanted a spell to anchor the pillar, while the two guys beside him continued to survey the drawings, and one of them said in a grumbling tone, "Are they planning to relocate the school here? Finn ... leave some room for the statue, we have to reserve a space for it."

"Statue? What statue?!" The wizard named Finn shouted.

"They will bring it with them, but we need to reserve a space for it, got it? The place where you are standing is going to bear a huge thunderbird statue in the future."

Harry approached Hagrid and inquired, "This is ...?"

" Quarters of the Ilvermorny School." Hagrid said briefly, as he looked at Hermione and Ron, who were excitedly shouting as they went back and forth in circles above the Quidditch goalposts.

Hagrid said thoughtfully, "Looks like you guys can't be restrained for a while, you can stop by my place for tea sometime, Luna and Ginny will often stop by there, oh, Firenze too..."

"Luna and Ginny?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I've learned quite a lot from them, and Ginny tried to borrow Aragog from me to try and see if Ron really wasn't afraid of spiders anymore. You know - she's always been curious ..."

"Aragog is it still ... uh, is it alright?" Harry asked, he actually wanted to ask if that old spider is still alive, but it didn't seem polite.

"Getting by." Hagrid muttered, "To be honest, not exactly doing well. It's been trying to get back to the Forbidden Forest, but there's no longer a place for it in the Acromantula colony, and it can't see anymore... Felix will visit us monthly - to shrink it with his spell - so I will regularly let it out to skulk around instead of always being locked in its cage ... It's good to get some sun and eat some frog eggs ..."

He rambled on, to Harry's great surprise, he seemed to have missed quite a few things.

When they returned from the pitch, Hermione was complaining that she had missed fifty pages of reading, but her face bore a smile, which both Harry and Ron had grown accustomed to, then Ron mentioned that he still hadn't finished his Divination class homework.

"You don't seem to be in any sort of hurry?" Hermione looked at him suspiciously.

"Thanks to all this time I've been hanging around the restricted section with Harry, a lot of new ideas have popped up," Ron said, "which helps us maintain a good grade."

"Yeah, getting high marks by making up your own shitty stories," Hermione said, "are you sure Trelawney won't know about the effects of the spells in the restricted section?"

Ron's expression is no longer that confident, as he hesitantly looked at Harry.

At this point, they walked into the entrance hall, where a notice had been posted on the large bulletin board, with a group of students huddled at the bottom.

'The Tournament of champions: Ilvermorny's representatives will be here on Sunday, October 16, at 10:00 am. Please be prepared in advance -'

"I knew it!" Ron said aloud, looking like he had discovered some kind of truth: "No wonder, for the past two days the professors have been reminding us about manners over and over again!"

Harry didn't say anything, his mind had already travelled to two days later, what kind of school Ilvermorny's... what their students would be like?

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 409 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

The notice in the entrance hall made a noticeable impact on the school - it informed the entire student population that the tournament is no longer just something they talked about, but it is really going to happen soon.

In the late minutes of Friday night and the approaching Saturday morning, Felix woke up from his bed in his pyjamas and pushed open the door of his office.

The hallway is dark, with little light to be seen. With the help of the hazy moonlight, several short figures standing on top of each other, forming crooked, eerie shadows - they are the castle's house-elves.

"Do you need some help?" Felix asked, approaching them silently, less than two feet from them.

"Ah-"

A suppressed scream stifled out of their throats, three house elves who were stacked on top of each other, looked like they were about to fall over, and Felix quickly reached out to support them. It was an odd scene -

That topmost house-elf greeted him respectfully, with various cleaning tools in hand: "Hello, Mr. Hap!"

"Good day to you, too, Cloudbur." Felix replied.

The middle house-elf covered the bottom elf's mouth to keep him from shouting, while trying to salute, Cloudbur hurriedly patted his head and jumped down from the top, the middle elf followed suit, and finally, the three of them saluted together.

"I heard some movement ... what are you guys doing - are you cleaning up the portraits?"

Felix looked at the rags and brushes in Cloudbur's hands, and a large bottle piled up in the corner, the writing on it shining in the darkness, it was "Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover".

"And the armour in the castle ... sir! We're going to clean them up and make our guests enjoy Hogwarts! Mr. Hap!" Cloudbur said.

"Well," Felix nodded, and asked curiously, "I didn't see you carrying lamps, so how are you guys working in the dark?"

"We're used to it, sir!" The elf called Cloudbur replied, full of pride, "We have good eyesight, and we can see with a little light."

"Is that so?" Felix did not know, the description of the house-elf in the books didn't mention these things. "But it's will be more convenient if you use magic lamps, I remember that the school purchased a large number of ..."

"Yes, the kitchen switched to the latest, very, very big magic lamp, even bigger than Cloudbur!" Cloudbur opened his slender hand as hard as he could to describe the lamp in the kitchen, "The other guys are interested, and Dobby--"

The elf next to him touched Cloudbur with his arm, then Cloudbur opened his mouth and did not speak.

"What's wrong? Dobby is also considered my employee, is there anything that I don't know?" Felix asked, Dobby would come over at the beginning of each month to report to him about the company's progress.

The elf in the middle said respectfully, "No, sir. Dobby he ... is very nice, and gave us some palm-sized small magic lamps, very convenient ..."

Felix smiled and said, "Surely that's not what you wanted to say, we can chat about it."

"Sir, Kaka is not a talkative elf, ten years ago the master died, the master has no descendants, so he offered Kaka to Hogwarts in his will ... Kaka has always served the master's family ..." The elf called "Kaka" replied with a deep bow.

Felix listened quietly, he knew there must be a back story.

"Kaka is proud to serve his master's family and Hogwarts ... to the best of his ability, but, but ..." Kaka's eyes widened. "Dobby! He is spreading dangerous ideas, some less firm-willed already got little interested, this is not a good sign, he will bring doom to the entire community of elves ..."

"What did he do?" Felix asked.

Kaka bowed his head, but Cloudbur interjected: " Dobby didn't do anything, he just introduced his new life, he ..." the elf stammered: "He put himself on an equal footing with the wizard, saying that he met someone today ... will meet someone tomorrow, the key thing is, he has some elves working under him, all under his charge ..."

"What's wrong with that? It was I who ordered him to do it."

"Sir, Mr. Hap!" The elf named Kaka said, "That is not a grace, it is rather a beginning of bad luck, he holds the power that does not belong to him, and this power continues to expand ..."

Felix gave Cloudbur a look because the tacit understanding cultivated by frequent trips to the kitchen for snacks made Cloudbur understand, so he dragged Kaka away, saying pointedly, "We'll go first, sir, there's work to be done! It must be done in time before dawn!"

Felix returned to his office and remained seated for a moment before a knock sounded at the door and Cloudbur peeked through the gap.

"Please sit down, Cloudbur."

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Hap!" Cloudbur said excitedly, as he sat down on the edge of the sofa close to him.

A cup of tea with a tea tray flew towards him, and even though the same scene had happened more than once, he acted uncomfortable as the teacup and tray made a clattering sound.

Felix smiled and said, "You know, Cloudbur, I need a neutral perspective, and you're the perfect person for it."

"Yes, sir," replied Cloudbur, thinking hard for a moment before he said respectfully, "Kaka and Dobby, they are very different ... Kaka is an old-fashioned elf who has only served his master in the past, but That wizard had no children or heirs, and in his will, he donated all his possessions to Hogwarts, and that's how Kaka got here... he's always proud of who he was."

Felix nodded.

"Kaka is traditional, even among the hundred or so house-elves in the kitchen, he's considered one of the old-fashioned bunch, while Dobby is just the opposite, some of his views ... are new ..."

"Is it about the salary or his freedom?"

Cloudbur's body shook a little, as he said tremblingly, "Both, sir, both ... He once said bad things about his former master, not really bad things, it all really happened ... but Kaka thought he is disloyal, and they quarrelled a lot ..."

Felix nodded slightly, "And then what?"

"After that ... Dobby didn't mention much about the past, he liked the present, every time he came over, he would bring some gifts, some elf took them, but Kaka insisted not to! Like him, there are quite a few elves, all older ..."

" Dobby introduced the life outside, about his job, work things, he also said he found some wild, wandering elves, to provide them with work, they are also like him, are free."

When mentioning freedom, Cloudbur shivered hard.

Felix smiled: "I did ask him to find some elves, and he accomplished the task well."

Cloudbur looked at him carefully and asked cautiously, "Sir, what do you think?"

"Me?" Felix smiled, "Go with the flow, you always need some time to observe while dealing with something new, maybe it will make you uncomfortable, but in a few decades, it will probably become a central force of the 'Future World' company."

Cloudbur looked at him a little confused.

Felix said, "Do you know Ilvermorny? Its founder, Isolt Sayre, formed a deep friendship with a Pukwudgie called William, and to this day there are still many Pukwudgies working at the school, isn't that a bit like the house-elves at Hogwarts? The difference is that the Isolt Sayre family and William's Pukwudgie family had a more of an equal relationship, and there is even a protection agreement in place - the Pukwudgie will protect the students and vice versa."

"Mind you, this is quite a rare thing; Pukwudgie are not very fond of humans; on the contrary, they enjoy playing tricks on people and are extremely capable of being hunting alone and pranking... This is a history that is enjoyed by many."

"When the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was weak, it was William and his Pukwudgie family who protected the students at the school, and now, hundreds of years later, the situation is reversed, and it is Ilvermorny who is protecting this Pukwudgie family from outside disturbances ... and the Pukwudgie of Ilvermorny, despite their complaints, and insisting that they are merely fulfilling an ancient pact, but they are still frequenting the school in secret ..."

...

The next day, the students woke up surprised to find the castle brand new, the portraits scrubbed clean, and the armours looked shiny, as Ron focused on these novel changes, he inadvertently stepped into a trap in the grand staircase and got one leg stuck in a crack.

The armour next to him huffed and puffed as it mocked him, and Ron punched it, resulting in the armour spitting out a few blue bubbles.

"Yuck!" Ron said, "The smell of detergent!"

In the afternoon, Hermione went to the library again, and as a last resort, Harry and Ron pulled in Neville for a dungeon adventure in classroom seven, with a young Felix Hap in tow the entire time.

When Harry questioned how there could be a tavern in the dungeon, a group of Aurors suddenly rushed in and started fighting with the dark wizards in the tavern, while the three of them fled all the way to the underground.

"This is the black market in disguise, and the coded message on the door is evidence of that." Felix Hap's memory said as he followed.

They fled to a secret room which is filled with violent golden snitches, which pounced on them without them having to catch them, each one of them being enchanted with an Incendio and it specifically targeting their exposed skin.

The three braced themselves using the shield charm and moved step by step out of the room, grimacing from the heat. The only consolation was that Felix Hap's memory had taught them the "humanoid shield charm" ...

In the evening, all the selected students were called to the Deputy Headmistress's office, where Professor McGonagall spent two hours giving them training about manners. Harry could still hear Ron's sleepy words as he lay on his bed -

"Damn golden snitches, stay away from me ..."

The following Sunday morning, the students ate breakfast and wandered around the castle as if sleepwalking, until a special bell rang, and they hurriedly assembled at the entrance hall beside the castle great hall from all directions -

"Line up! As per your HOUSE ..." shouted Filch at the top of his voice, wearing a musty suit, as he suddenly grabbed a young wizard and said viciously, "You! Where is your school uniform!"

The young wizard, became a little hysterical with fear, as he ran away screaming.

The students formed a long line according to their grades and were led out of the castle by their respective head boys and girls, then everyone excitedly surveyed the empty field.

" There they are!"

A sharp-eyed student called out. The students and professors squinted as the air suddenly burned violently and a cluster of bright flames appeared, drawing out slender tongues of flame to form a flower with four petals, each one branded with a magical creature.

"Ahem! Is there anyone over there?" A voice came from the flames.

"Agilbert," Dumbledore, who is standing in the front row, said gently, "the school has temporarily released the restrictions, you can come over."

"That's good ... I am afraid of arriving in the wrong place ...," the voice trailed off.

The students stared, and after a while, a hand suddenly poked out, carrying a box, soon revealing a round, somewhat naive face, wearing a robe that mixed with blue and cranberry, with a golden knot tied intricately on his chest.

Startled at the sight of the black mass of Hogwarts students and professors, he scratched his head, "Uh, hi guys, my name is Byers."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 411 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Byers stepped aside, then a second and third Ilvermorny student stepped out of the flames, wearing their standardized uniforms with the emblem of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry embroidered on their left chests and suitcases.

The Ilvermorny students soon formed a line, and behind them, three adult wizards stepped out.

Felix's eyes skimmed past the middle-aged male wizard and lingered on a blonde witch and a dark-haired male wizard, both looked young but not dressed in the student's uniform.

That is not the most important thing, the pair has an abstract sail embroidered on the right side of their chests, with three wavy lines underneath.

This emblem is the very symbol of the American Revolutionary Society, which has grown rapidly in the last year or so. Even from thousands of miles away, Felix could occasionally see the organization's name in the newspapers.

The students murmured in the background -

Out of the flames a row of short, gray-skinned goblin-like Pukwudgie with long ears, dressed like forest fighters stepped out, their clothes adorned with leaves, with a pocket bow on their backs and a small quiver of arrows pinned on their waists.

The Hogwarts students murmured.

Professor McGonagall sternly swept her head around, and they immediately quieted down, swallowing all their questions and curiosity.

A dozen Ilvermorny students focused their attention on the last male wizard who walked out, bringing him into focus; he looked a bit like Barty Crouch, a similarity that emerged from temperament. They both seem to have a magical ability - when they dressed in muggle clothes, they could always pretend to be a government official to discuss some issues about automobile emissions, without showing any sense of violation.

Agilbert Fontaine swirled his wand behind him, churning the flaming insignia into a vortex. With that, he strides over and shakes Dumbledore's hand.

"Professor Fontaine, welcome," Dumbledore said.

"Oh, Professor Dumbledore, you don't look a bit different." Fontaine said, his eyes shining. He wore a dark brown robe, and his hair, which is as black as ink, was meticulously combed, and even when he shook hands vigorously, it did not loose a bit.

And Dumbledore's long silver beard just blew in a lovely arc by the gentle autumn breeze of October.

"Allow me to introduce - Cormac Wilkinson, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the two teaching assistants at the school, Jura Edmund and Bethany Bach, who insisted on coming. And of course, this year's protagonists, my students!"

Dumbledore smiled as he led them in, followed by the students of Ilvermorny, the student named "Byers" from the moment he appeared, his eyes kept drifting, and when he spotted Felix, he moved a little to stand next to the female assistant teacher with blonde hair.

"Sister, it's Mr. Hap." He said in a whisper, but because it is so quiet, the students next to him heard it.

They looked over at the Hogwarts professors.

"Which one?" Someone asked.

"The youngest one!" Byers replied.

Bethany hit her brother covertly and whispered, "Brother Jura and I both saw you corresponded for one year, now! Behave properly, the students of Hogwarts are looking over!"

She said with a decent smile as she followed behind the Headmaster and Professor Wilkinson, though Byers couldn't resist making a gesture toward Felix as they passed the line of Hogwarts professors as if lifting a mask.

The boy next to him burst out laughing and said teasingly, "Is he the one you've been longing for all year?"

"Shut up, Graves." Byers whispered.

They didn't quiet down until Jura looked over.

The delegation from Ilvermorny walked into the great hall, followed by the professors of Hogwarts, and finally the Heads of the four Houses and the students.

On the walls of the great hall hung huge silk banners, each representing one of the Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor with a golden lion on a red background, Ravenclaw with a bronze eagle on a blue background, Hufflepuff with a black badger on a yellow background, and Slytherin with a silver snake on a green background.

Behind the faculty table hung the largest banner with the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake joined together around a big letter H.

"I don't know what we're going to do at this hour." Ron said, "It's ten in the morning, and we've only just finished eating ..."

But soon he knew what to do when the Hogwarts students took their seats in the great hall and the Ilvermorny students who kept standing in the center all sang their school song in unison -

" We stand as one united,

Against the Puritan.

We draw our inspiration

From good witch Morrigan.

For she was persecuted

By common wandless men.

So she fled from distant Ireland,

And so our school began.

Oh! Ilvermorny-Massachusetts!

We choo-choose it!

We choo-choose it!

The wizard school supreme.

Your castle walls, they kept us safe.

The days with you, a dream

You taught us all our magic

And now one thing's quite clear

Where'er we roam

Where'er we roam

Our one true home

Our one and own

Is Ilvermorny dear!~"

The students of Ilvermorny then raised their wands, the tips exploded, and a firework in the shape of Four Creatures sparkled in the great hall. The students of Hogwarts looked at the Horned Serpent with glowing crystals embedded in its forehead, a Wampus running gracefully, a Thunderbird with its vibrant wings flying, and a Pukwudgie with its bow raised, then they all applauded.

"What's that thing with the stingers?" Harry asked as he clapped his hands.

"It's a Pukwudgie, Professor McGonagall taught us during the training that its magical ability allows it to disguise itself as a porcupine." Hermione said, tilting her head to look at the four creatures, meanwhile, the lion, eagle, badger, and snake on the great hall banner also wandered around, as she whispered, "The professor said that Ilvermorny and Hogwarts have a deep connection, and now look, it's true ..."

Harry stared at the goblin-like fireworks in midair, with their porcupine-like spines, and then down at the forest fighters standing behind the Ilvermorny students, looking idle or even with a somewhat discontent expression on their faces - they looked like Gringotts goblins with their suits off.

"What a difference." Harry said with a look of admiration.

Ron clapped his hands in confusion and said, "Why don't we have a unified school song in a single tune?"

"We do," Hermione said, "It's introduced in Hogwarts: A History of the School, except I think Professor Dumbledore probably thought that singing heartfelt songs is better than repeating the same tune year after year."

Her eyes swept over the professor's chair, and she asked in wonder, "Have you seen Professor Hap?"

Harry and Ron also looked around and didn't notice him.

"Strange, the Professors are all seated, where did he go, leaving an empty seat behind?"

At that moment, Dumbledore stood up, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - especially - honored guests," he smiled and looked at the students of Ilvermorny. "I welcome you all to Hogwarts with great joy."

"You will all be spending quite a bit of time at Hogwarts, not only because of the tournament but also because of Professor Fontaine's suggestion, as you get a closer look at the ancient traditions of Hogwarts and the magical curriculum that nurtured generations of outstanding wizards."

"And that, couldn't be separated from where it all began - the Sorting Ceremony!"

He looked to the corner of the great hall where Felix approached with a smile holding a Sorting Hat.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 411 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Hogwarts students who are witnessing a sorting ceremony felt strange.

"I know this year is abnormal, I mean ... we cancelled Quidditch and got a professor who uses curses against us, but ... this is just too weird." Seamus muttered.

He looked at the grown-up Ilvermorny students, lining up and getting ready to be sorted one by one on the little stool, by the dirty sorting hat.

His buddy Dean Thomas shrugged and said, " It's only going to get weirder, there are still three more schools yet to come!"

"Good point." Seamus nodded approvingly.

At the front of the great hall, Felix spoke mildly, attracting a crowd of curious stares. "All you need to do is walk over, put this hat on, and wait quietly for a while ... But I suggest you to state your names so that everyone else can get to know you."

Byers, who is standing at the front of the line, glances at him and asked, "Mr. Hap, can I call you Professor?"

"Of course," Felix said, "Feel free to pick my class."

Byers walked over to the small stool, and when he looked at the sorting hat, he flinched a little and looked back incredulously at Felix, who nodded at him: yes, that's what you think.

Byers said in a loud voice: "Byers Bach, from Ilvermorny, Thunderbird House." With that, he closed his eyes in resignation, curled himself up on a small stool, and put on the sorting hat.

"Look!" An Ilvermorny girl gestured to the Sorting Hat.

The greyish hat suddenly split open a slit from the bottom, and at the same time, a voice rang out in Byers' head.

"Never seen this kind of sorting ceremony, little one?"

Byers opened his eyes and asked in a whisper, "You're a hat spirit?"

"... Think as you like. How do you guys sort your houses? Oh, so that's how ... standing in front of four statues, waiting to be selected ... Hogwarts doesn't have that much hassle, I can do it all alone ..."

"You can see my memories?" Byers gasped.

"Just as you're currently thinking, don't interrupt! You are a student of Thunderbird House? Kind-hearted, but also adventurous ... suited for both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor - you can pick one ..."

" Which House Professor Hap was?" Byers made his small calculations.

"Slytherin ... don't think about it, you can't ... you're not even close to that cunning boy ..."

"No, I want to give it a try!" Byers insisted.

His thoughts are simple, when the competition begins, they won't have time to attend classes, for now, he just wants to choose the house according to his preference.

But the sorting hat disagreed, it does not want to go against its principles and sort students into a completely inappropriate house. Finally, after five minutes of patience, Byers got impatient and shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Loud applause erupted from the Gryffindor seats.

Byers, felt somewhat lost, as he took off the hat, he heard Felix addressing him, "Go ahead, pick a seat, you'll make new friends."

Byers walked over to the long table which belonged to the Gryffindor, and as he sat down, he saw a face that looked almost as round as his.

"Uh, hello?" He offered his greeting, "I'm Byers Bach."

"Hi, I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom." The round-faced boy replied.

"Did you take Mr. Hap's class?" Byers asked.

"Oh, of course ...," Neville's attitude visibly warmed up as he began to introduce the Ancient runes course, and then mentioned the Magic Runes Club and the dueling class.

Next, the pace of the sorting quietly picked up -

"Steward Emberton, from Ilvermorny, Wampus House."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Victor Percival Graves, from Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent House."

"Slytherin!"

"Francis Hunter, from Ilvermorny, Pukwudgie House."

"Ravenclaw!"

Ten minutes later, the Sorting Hat ended the short sorting ceremony.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and said to the crowd: "Next, I would like to request the prefects of each house to lead your new students to enjoy a leisurely weekend, and at dinner, we will gather back here for a lovely feast, and then the students of Ilvermorny will follow your professors back to your temporary quarters. At that time, Professor McGonagall will distribute your class schedules according to the corresponding houses, and you can choose as many classes as you like during the first week."

"Is there anything you don't understand?"

He swept through the room and said cheerfully, "Then let's get moving, I think you can't wait!" He turned to the headmaster of Ilvermorny with a slight bow and said, "Professor Fontaine, I have some new tea in my office ...my latest collection of this year."

"Of course." The Headmaster of Ilvermorny returned the salute with a meticulous smile.

Dumbledore led him away, leaving behind a somewhat distressed Professor McGonagall.

Logically, Professor Wilkinson and Professor Moody were teaching the same subject and should have a lot in common, but McGonagall really didn't feel comfortable leaving the two of them alone, as she didn't want to read in the Daily Prophet the next day that Ilvermorny's professor had been attacked at Hogwarts.

So she went along with them together with Flitwick. As she prepared to talk about some light-hearted topics, she also prepared to stop Professor Moody in time if he planned to talk a lot about his experience of casting curses against his students ...

Before leaving, Professor McGonagall passed a look to Felix. She left with confidence because she could see that the other two young assistant professors and Felix knew each other, and she felt very comfortable with Felix.

Sure enough, Jura and Bethany approached Felix.

Before he could say anything, Bethany ran over and hugged him enthusiastically as she said excitedly, "Mr. Hap, this is a belated thank you ... for saving my life!"

When she let go, Felix smiled and said, "I just happened to have the ability to do that, and regardless of who was there, I would never have been indifferent."

Not wanting to dwell on the issue, he changed the subject somewhat stiffly and said, "Miss Bach, Mr. Edmund, would you like to try out the sorting hat?"

It really wasn't a proper subject to be discussed, and the Sorting Hat looked feeble in his hands.

But Jura and Bethany were really interested, they had just spent quite a long time watching it from the professor's table, and now they naturally wouldn't refuse the chance to try it. And the result of the sorting was that Jura was assigned to Slytherin and Bethany to Ravenclaw.

...

"I really did not expect that you guys would become professors. But it looks like you guys didn't quit the Revolutionary Society?"

Outside the castle, Felix led the two to stroll along the Black Lake, the Hogwarts students all ran off to see the Ilvermorny students, and the surrounding area became empty, with few people visible. A gentle breeze blew, and the large squid in the black lake lazily basked in the sun.

His eyes swept over the sail wave emblem on the right side of the two of their chests as he asked in a gentle tone.

"It's more than that! Brother Jura is now regarded as the backbone of the Revolutionary Society, many people joined only because of his name, even the emblem of the organization is designed by his own hands."

Bethany said emotionally, "Actually, Headmaster Fontaine is sheltering us, he hired Brother Jura and I followed along as an assistant professor before the Magical Congress made a formal decision."

Felix nodded, that made sense. Jura Edmund was the leader of the students in the Paris incident, even if the MACUSA did not pursue it at that time, they would inevitably find trouble afterward. But after becoming an assistant professor at the Ilvermorny School, many problems would be solved.

"But they still broke Jura's wand." Bethany said with hatred.

Every time she thinks about it, she will feel angry.

Jura said indifferently: "They just restricted me in these insignificant aspects."

Bethany said pointedly, "How can it be irrelevant? It's very inconvenient without a wand!"

Jura shook his head slightly as he looked at Felix: "Mr. Hap, which class do you think I am teaching?"

Felix thought for a moment: "I can only think of a few classes, the Herbology class ... no," he saw Bethany trying to interject and realized he had guessed wrong, his mind quickly spun, no wand needed, and he could relate to him... ... He asked in an affirmative tone, "Is it muggle studies?"

Bethany looked at him in surprise.

"That's right, but we call the course No-Maj Studies there - No-Maj stands for non-magical people." Jura explained, "I struggled for a while after losing my wand, but soon realized that it affected me much less than I expected ... I can cast spells perfectly well without my wand for some basic magic."

"On the contrary, I had more time to think. In the library, I came across your books, which immediately opened a door for me ... Headmaster Fontaine sheltered me, but he didn't expect me to teach students either; it was my own choice to pursue in this line of study."

He said solemnly, "So when I found out that the school would participate in the competition, I immediately requested the Headmaster to add my name among the delegation ... I hoped to consult you in person!"

...

After they separated, Felix looked at Jura's back with some emotion, although only a year or so had passed, he had obviously grown a lot and become more disciplined in his work.

"Well, maybe I should suggest to Remus to prioritize opening branches in America."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 412 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

By the time the dinner started, Byers had become friends with Neville to the point that, in turn, he had mingled with Harry and his group.

"Yes, very different," at the moment, he is introducing the Gryffindor students about the Ilvermorny's sorting ceremony, "I was shocked when I first saw it, the main entrance of the castle has two founders marble statues on either side - Isolt Sayre and James Steward. Through the main entrance is a circular room where we conduct the sorting ..."

He drew a circle on the table to indicate the shape of the room, then dotted four small dots.

"See," Byers said, pointing to the dots, "those are statues of creatures representing the four houses, and the new students will stand against the wall, waiting for their names to be called. I was standing on Gordian Knot, panicked, surrounded by faces as nervous as mine, and when I looked up, I could see the older students and professors on the second level terrace-"

"What is the Gordian Knot?" Seamus asked, intrigued.

Byers showed him the golden knot on his robe: "It's this, the thing that's used to fasten the school robe. It's complicated, but it's a tradition at our school, and everyone is required to know it."

"Where was I? Oh, standing on the Gordian Knot and then just waiting to see which statue would respond... I was feeling like a year had passed, and luckily the Thunderbird statue responded." He thankfully said.

Harry empathized, when he was a first-year, his sorting took a long time, it was because the sorting hat strongly recommended that he should go to Slytherin, and he insisted that he would not accept, and eventually got sorted into Gryffindor House.

He couldn't help but ask, " Did any freshman ever encounter a situation where two statues responded to him at the same time?"

"There should be." Byers recalled: "But I have not encountered it, this kind of situation is very rare ... The most famous one is Lady Seraphina Picquery. When all four houses tried to recruit her, and it proved - she was worth it, she later became the president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

"She did a great job while in office, but she is more often remembered for standing up to pressure without banning Gigglewater ... than for creating a protective act for magical creatures."

Hermione said pointedly, "For the love of Deliverance Dane, what was that?"

Byers looked at her in surprise.

"Did I say something wrong?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Byers said, "I think you read that name from a book? Deliverance Dane?"

Hermione nodded and spoke cautiously, "The book stated that Drievrens Dane was one of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials in the seventeenth century and that her name was later used as a colloquialism to express surprise."

Byers stifled a laugh and said, "You're right, but that is a term my grandmother's generation loved to use, the book you read must be old ..."

Hermione's face turned bright red.

The Gryffindor young wizards started to laugh, it is rare to see Miss Know-it-all getting embarrassed.

After the laughter, Ron asked curiously, "So ... what exactly is Gigglewater?"

...

"Want some? Gigglewater, it's as old as the Magical Congress, and there is a taste of history in every sip." Cormac Wilkinson, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts of Ilvermorny, asked, shaking a large, rugged flask with the rousing sound of the liquor inside.

Felix shook his head lightly, "I can't stand booze that's too strong."

"Young people don't know good ...," Wilkinson muttered, turning his head, "And you, Professor Moody, would you like some? Just one sip, and you'll be cracking up."

Moody patted the curved flask at his waist and said gruffly, "I only drink my own."

Professor Wilkinson's eyes lit up, and he moved over to ask, "What's that good stuff?"

"Inferior liquor, got used to it, when I am Auror I used to sneak a sip," Moody tapped his cane on the floor: "Professor Wilkinson, what do you think about my proposal?"

Two seats away, McGonagall looked away, unable to keep a straight face. She still couldn't defend herself, as she let Professor Moody's "special teaching concept of Defense Against the Dark Arts" be exposed on the first day, without even an additional day of buffer time.

"Oh, uh, this ..." Wilkinson's tone slurred, "I did not expect Hogwarts' teaching style to be so aggressive, I heard some rumours before, but now it seems there should be some misunderstanding ..."

He gulped a large mouthful of Gigglewater and burst into a burst of wild laughter, his face flushed. Then he began to loudly recount the glory of his ancestors, "Charity Wilkinson! One of the twelve Original American Aurors! She is my great-great-great-grandmother, the one of the two ... who have survived till their old age."

At the end of the dinner, he was brought out of the castle on the shoulders of four Pukwudgie and followed the Ilvermorny delegation towards the temporary quarter in the Quidditch pitch.

Occasionally, the Hogwarts students could still hear his drunken voice drifting through the dark sky - "To Charity Wilkinson!" "To Theodard Fontaine!" and "To the Twelve Aurors!"

"He looks pissed off, that Ilvermorny Headmaster." Felix said teasingly.

The Headmaster of Ilvermorny is a very rule-following person, but Professor Wilkinson's performance today is somewhat embarrassing, perhaps what is more embarrassing is that this professor is dragged away senselessly by the cold-faced Pukwudgie, which is so contrary to the subjects he teaches ...

Professor McGonagall, whose expression all along has been very serious, smiled.

But immediately she looked up again and said sadly, "I'm worried that Professor Moody will cause a mess ..."

Her fears became a reality.

In the new week, Moody showed no qualms about the feelings of the new Ilvermorny students and used a malicious Switching Spell in the seventh-grade classroom, in which the students' noses had been switched between plants, bottles, books, and all sorts of bizarre things.

He growled gruffly, "Some of you were selected and passed the test of fear ... Yeah, you think it's great ... but as far as I'm concerned, it's all an illusion! Small stuff! We'll need to try the real thing, right?"

His fake eye darted around and fixed on the few students in the classroom, including the Ilvermorny students.

Collins Foley covered her face up, her eyes tearing up, as she waved her wand desperately, and after a few moments-

"Bang!"

The effect of the spell disappeared, and Collins covered her intact nose, the stone in her heart finally fell to the ground.

"Well done!" Moody limped over, "Look, this is the effect I want. You're supposed to learn to deflect vicious spells and learn how to break them. Ten points for Slytherin!"

In the afternoon, Felix flipped through the roll call in the Ancient Runes classroom.

"Why are two people missing?"

He looked at Byers, who stammered, "They, they're not feeling well and resting in the quarters..."

Felix's mind became clear, maybe they were scared by Moody's malicious spells? But there is no need to skip his class.

"All right, class," he scanned the room, "let's move on to the lesson. Given all the eye-catching events that will be happening this year, your minds are doomed to be distracted ... Let's work harder to get through this school year's lessons before the first event begins."

The young wizards below the podium responded weakly; they had always been ahead of their learning schedule. This 'ahead of schedule' is in comparison to the assessment standards of the Ministry of Magic's Wizard Examinations Authority, the department responsible for organizing the students' O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts level examinations.

Since Professor Hap joined the school, the young wizards' ancient runes scores have skyrocketed upward. The batch of students who graduated at the end of June this year, except for one who received only a good (E), all the rest got the highest grade of excellence (O).

According to the professor, "The Ministry of Magic is too sluggish to respond to it yet, but you can't keep expecting them to turn a blind eye, after all, a large string of 'Outstanding' is still very conspicuous ..."

"Maybe one day they'll think about it and will come to Hogwarts and re-rate the class difficulty and assessment criteria."

...

The students of Ilvermorny looked around in amazement, and the Hogwarts students seemed to have no objection to this Professor Hap's words. This made them wonder if they had heard it wrong, did he really intend to finish teaching a whole year's worth of content in three months?

"Professor, do you know the competition time of the first event?" A student raised his hand and asked.

"It should be between late November and early December," Felix said, "One is to leave enough time for the champions to prepare, and two, it's best not to delay the Yule Ball, and the time frame I just mentioned is pretty much satisfied that requirement."

He tapped on the table and pulled the students into the thinking room.

The space is no longer restricted and expanded to its fullest, a cluster of fluffy flowers and tall yew trees rise from the ground, and the students of Ilvermorny and Byers opened their mouths wide with shocked faces as they caught the magical handbook floating down in midair.

When their fingertips touched the handbook that emitted an ancient aura, dots of golden light flashed, and a large amount of ancient runes' knowledge appeared in their minds, and Byers felt as if he is in a dream world.

This is what true magic should be ...

"I'll assign the task." Felix said, "Read through the textbook again, you will discover that the contents inside are quite interesting ..."

...

Time passed without notice by a week, and the students of Ilvermorny blended into the ocean like a drop of water, even if there were occasional waves, they didn't set off any turmoil.

At a meeting of faculty on Friday evening, Professor McGonagall dropped two bombshells.

"First thing, the list of dark magic agreed upon by the Ministry of Magic that can be 'reasonably' used at the Tournament of Champions was arrived." As she spoke, a sheet of Parchments floated towards all the professors present.

Felix looked at the long list of spells written out in black ink and fell into contemplation.

"Secondly, the delegation from Ilvermorny asked us whether we could allow the preparatory champions of the two schools to practice against each other, including familiarizing and defending themselves against the dark magic above."

She said with an expressionless face, "Let's discuss it."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 412 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

When Professor McGonagall stopped talking, Felix noticed Snape's expression suddenly became strange, as he tried his best to display a careless attitude and said lightly, "We have to take them seriously, with all those dark magic ..."

He loosened his grip and let the parchment slip from his fingertips.

"Magic that needs constant hidden dangerous emotions, are eternal, elusive, unpredictable, ever-changing and will surpass everyone's expectations ... If the students of Hogwarts are unprepared for this, when the need arises, they will act like a bunch of headless flies."

"When the need arises!" Moody repeated loudly, pointing his nose that is missing a piece of flesh at Snape, "Need to face, or need to use? What do you think I've been doing for the last two months?"

Snape and Moody stared at each other.

After a moment of silence, Flitwick interjected uncomfortably, "I think we all agree on one thing, and that is that we would never teach dark magic to students--"

Snape glanced at him.

"You're right."

"Exactly," said Flitwick as if he had received some kind of encouragement, somewhat cheered up: "But we can't let the students pretend that it is invisible either; Dark magic is quite a vast category of magic, and at certain times, in certain scenarios, they are even more superior."

Professor McGonagall said impatiently, "You're confusing me, Filius, do you agree with Ilvermorny's suggestion or not?"

Felix suddenly said, "Professor Flitwick should be thinking what I'm thinking - that we should accept Ilvermorny's proposal. They have only two intentions, one is to test the ability of Hogwarts' reserve champions before the other three schools arrive."

"It's not just them, all five schools will do the same thing. By referring to the information from previous matches, you will find that there were many instances where two weaker sides were united against the stronger ones. What's more, now that there are five schools and the number of champions has increased to three, the situation has become more complex and volatile. Therefore, each school would like to know where they stand and make it easier to develop a strategy."

The professors nodded their heads in agreement to his words.

"What about Ilvermorny's second intention?"

"Of course, it's to practice Dark Magic using this opportunity." Felix said, "Ilvermorny is not as repulsive to dark magic as we are, but I would like to remind you all that the name of the course they teach is still Defense Against the Dark Arts, not Dark Magic!"

"That means their students probably won't know most of the Dark Magic on this list."

"What you mean, Felix, do you mean that we can find out which Dark Magic Ilvermorny has chosen through the sparring between students?" Professor McGonagall asked. Moody's fake eyes kept rolling, looking as if he had been thinking rapidly.

"That's right," Felix glanced at the parchment in his hand, "there are about fifty dark magics here, with a wide variety and focus. Students from schools other than Durmstrang won't possibly have mastered them all, and the best strategy now would be to select the useful ones from it, while a Traditional school like Beauxbatons might even refuse to use dark magic, just like Hogwarts."

McGonagall frowned and pondered: "Of the five schools, Beauxbatons's attitude towards dark magic is indeed similar to Hogwarts's system, and the possibility of what you mentioned exists. As for the remaining three ... Durmstrang needless to say, their students must have mastered at least half of the dark magic on the list, Ilvermorny will be selective, the only uncertainty is Uagadou ..."

"Do you have any opinion regarding Uagadou?"

Felix shook his head lightly, "I don't know much about them, some of the information I got is based on hearsay and can't be relied upon."

McGonagall glanced up at the other professors before making her decision. "Then I will agree with Ilvermorny's request, Filius, Felix, Professor Moody," she looked at the crowd, "Can we find alternative spells to replace some effects of the dark magic in this list."

"Sure." Flitwick said pointedly, "For example, the corrosive type of dark magics in here can be replaced with a Softening Charm that can soften the scaled carapace of magical creatures, or hard stones."

" It can be." Moody said gruffly.

"I have no problem with that either," Felix said, "Also, we can switch our thinking - it doesn't have to be an imitation, we can also find ways to prevent it, like 'blood trace', if the students have a way to prevent tracing, they can completely avoid this layer of danger in advance."

...

After the meeting, the professors dispersed.

Felix dragged Snape, to Flitwick's office as a guest. Flitwick brought some cookies and tea, then they ate and sipped as they analysed a large part of the dark magic on the list.

Of the three, Flitwick is the master of spells, very knowledgeable, the spells he mastered are not restricted by dark magic and other categories, while for Snape it is just simply his favourite, this point was vaguely reflected in his previous speech at the meeting, which showed his inclination towards dark magic.

As for Felix, he also had spent some time mastering dark magic back then, but in terms of quantity, it could not beat the other two in any way.

In fact, his philosophy was very similar to Ilvermorny's - pick only the right ones.

The Fiendfyre Curse is a standard potent dark magic, nevertheless, it is still one of his best spells. Its power had reached a certain limit, except for the shield charm, which could hopefully surpass that level, the others were at most comparable to it.

The following weekend, the Hogwarts prep champions gathered in a vacant field between the Quidditch Pitch and the Forbidden Forest, which had been temporarily established as a practice ground. Students from both schools would be sparring and practicing their magic here.

But this had little to do with Harry and the rest.

Professor McGonagall forbade them from participating; she just assembled a dozen candidates from the sixth and seventh years, without paying any attention to them.

"Why we weren't called!" Ron said grumblingly.

"Because we're not considered as Preparatory Champions to begin with, and we have no experience in dealing with dark magic other than what Professor Moody has taught us.!" Hermione said loudly, reminding the group of dumb students around her.

"Who cares," Ron muttered, "just find Professor Hap's memory in classroom seven and choose Black Market level - where you'll meet a room full of dark wizards - and it will always end with a messy fight every time. "

Harry and Ron were not the only two who were upset.

Neville, the Weasley twins, Susan Bones, and Eddie Carmichael all showed up, hiding in the bushes because they aren't old enough to be able to do more than watching the upperclassmen sparring with Ilvermorny's preparatory champions, and there are also professors from both schools available as a coach for champions.

"You guys look like little abandoned Chiwawa." A long-drawn-out voice emerged from behind them.

Harry, with a pang of weariness in his heart, turned his head to glare at Draco Malfoy and got surprised. Not by seeing him accompanied by his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle. But there are two other people together with Malfoy, they are the Greengrass sisters.

In a way, Astoria is more famous as a little sister, especially when her hobby is strolling around the Black Lake on a big snake mount.

Harry didn't talk to them, but Hermione did. Amazingly, she barely counted as a friend, or rather, a rival of Daphne Greengrass? Anyway, Harry couldn't figure it out, because when the two met, they would quarrel, but they never really would fight.

And Hermione's opinion of Astoria is, a little girl spoiled by her family, childish at heart. The only thing that could be called a plus is that she has no prejudice against wizards of muggle origin.

"Granger, I'm going to represent my sister and duel you!" Astoria pointed at Hermione and shouted at the top of her voice.

But her anger was immediately subdued when Daphne patted her head.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry said with a scowl.

"Don't treat me like I am here for the same reason as you," Draco taunted, "If I wanted to see it, I'd go and see it openly, without hiding here like a bunch of aggrieved babies ..."

But he stopped talking as everyone's eyes spewed anger, with a few already drawing their wands and looking at him unkindly.

"Let's go," said Draco Malfoy, "To greet my Ilvermorny friends!" He led the Slytherin students towards the vacant land with a swagger.

" I have a good relationship with Victor, and the Graves family is well established in the American magical community ..." His smug voice drifted far away and drilled into their ears, tickling their hearts.

The rest of them looked at each other, and Fred suddenly said, "We know Ilvermorny students, too."

"That's right." Harry immediately echoed.

"So ..." Ron looked at the crowd eagerly.

"Let's go and see?" Fred said tentatively.

"Good idea." George replied without thinking.

After a moment of silence, their group walked with a measured step toward the practice ground.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 414 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

Two dozen students were gathered around the makeshift vacant ground, with two or three in a group as they sat on the grass in scattered clusters, totally they would barely reach thirty in No. counting the Professors.

They stared at the two silhouettes constantly moving across each other in the center, shooting spells at each other as they went back and forth.

"Cedric, come on!" Roger Davies shouted.

"Victor, come on!"

Cedric dodged a spell, "Protego!" He put up a magical barrier and took a breath as the spell flew over like a sword, thumping the barrier.

The boy with the name "Graves" had short, fine black hair and his spells were terribly powerful. He grinned, seemingly sure of his victory.

"Watch your step, Victor!"

Victor Graves flinched in alarm when he realized two thin streams of water slithering their way over the grass and mud in the direction of his feet.

He raised his wand and tried to do something about it. That's when Cedric lunged forward, and a red light flew from the tip of his wand. Graves turned back in a hurry to defend himself, but the spell never reached him.

The water on the ground suddenly exploded, and the grass fumed up a large boiling water mist, which swept Cedric and Graves into it, their figures became hidden.

"Supersensory Charm(*Unknown Incantation*)!"

It seemed like a long time before the sound of Cedric reciting the incantation reached the ears of those around him.

In the mist, Cedric murmured and enchanted himself with a supersensory charm, heightening his five senses and trying his best to catch the hazy silhouette.

The people around held their breath, even the Draco group who had just approached had stopped seven or eight feet away, staring at the mist with unblinking eyes.

Fast!

It was too fast!

Everything happened in seven or eight seconds, many people failed to react.

Flitwick praised in a sharp voice: "Amazing, Cedric laid a trap well."

Felix nodded: "He looked well-prepared."

"That's right, he asked me a few spells ... I already figured out what he would do next." Flitwick said with anticipation.

The water mist became thicker. Not just a water mist, large clouds of white smoke quickly filled the space, blocking off a 30 to a 40-foot radius, like a goblet turned upside down to conceal everything inside.

Then a spell arced like lightning, abruptly illuminating a cloud of fog, and the onlooking students backed away.

"It seems that Cedric intends to use the fog as a battlefield, he should be prepared it for some large-sized creatures, whether for fighting or withdrawing, it is very convenient ... did not expect it to work well for wizards."

Felix thought about it, "He actually needs to strengthen two additional features - cut off his opponents' vision as much as possible and turn them blind. As well as increasing his means of detection as much as possible, and it would be nice to be able to ignore the haze."

" He has a good knack for using different spells constantly." Moody said.

As he spoke, the clouds churned violently, and a layer of black colour spread out from one of the locations. It looked like unsightly mould growing on clean white fungus, which quickly spread out, accompanied by a pungent smell of petrol.

"Did Cedric do that?"

"No, that's dark magic."

Flitwick waved his wand in front of his eyes, and the fog automatically cleared in his vision.

Half a minute later, two figures rushed out in separate directions, coughing violently, tears flowing from the corners of their eyes, and their eyes were red from that smoke.

"Contra Fumos." (*made up spell*)

Felix pointed to Cedric, and his expression immediately soothed.

The student on the opposite side also quieted down, and the two went forward to shake hands, with red eyes.

Professor Wilkinson of Ilvermorny said in a loud voice, "Well done, boys, you've all done well ... Wait, where did these students come from?"

Felix and Flitwick had long since spotted Harry and the group, but neither of them said a word. Moody, who had been standing nearby, said in a quiet voice, "I already mentioned them to you, Professor Wilkinson, they're the ones who aren't old enough ..."

In the crowd, Byers glanced at Neville in surprise, there are quite a few people here who are the friends he made in Gryffindor, he asked about their grades, except for the twins, the rest are basically fourth-year students.

Wilkinson looked at Harry and the group with suspicion, and Harry did his best to straighten his body to make himself look taller. "What about that little girl?" He asked, pointing at Astoria, "She passed your selection as well?"

"Surprising, yes, but ..." Felix said with a shrug, "She's only a second year, too young to be part of the training, while the rest of them received the same treatment at Hogwarts as the sixth and seventh year Preparatory Champions."

"Okay, as long as they don't scream at the top of their lungs." Wilkinson reluctantly accepted and had no further objections. The group breathed a sigh of relief.

"The luckiest thing is Professor McGonagall isn't here, she left halfway through." Fred said, squeezing his eyes.

George gave a thumbs up.

For the next few minutes, a group of professors critiqued the battle that had just taken place, especially the dark magic part. When it is Felix's turn, he reminds the Hogwarts students, "Don't forget that some of you know illumination which can break through magical mists ..."

Collins stared at him, she did not choose the ancient runes class, so naturally, she is not a member of the Magic Rune Club. In this subject, she is not as good as Astoria, because, in order to appease the little girl, Dumbledore agreed to her request of entering the Magic Rune Club very generously.

Next, the students took turns, and each duel ended quickly.

Not the kind of fast as the one Harry encountered in the dueling class, he thought for a while before coming up with a reliable word.

Rhythm.

The rhythm from both sides of the offence was very fluid, a fluidity that he had not previously experienced in dueling classes, nor had he ever had a similar experience with Sirius, or in classroom seven.

As for the second year summer special training, and the several sparring sessions with Professor Hap, he was beaten throughout and did not have a pleasant experience at all.

After an hour, every upperclassman had their turn.

Felix looked at Harry and the group as they stared daggers at him, smiled slightly, and said to Wilkinson, "Professor Wilkinson, why don't you let these underclassmen try out on the stage?"

"No problem."

Wilkinson nodded in agreement, he did not find it a problem, while the professors at Hogwarts were not stingy in their accolades for these students, he thought it was an exaggeration. They were several years younger than the real champion candidates, and the age gap isn't that easy to break.

Besides, he specifically asked, the majority of the group here didn't pass the OWLs.

Ilvermorny also has similar exams, and he naturally knows what kind of metamorphosis happens to students who have gone through such exam years.

"You guys go forward and have some fun! Don't use dark magic." Professor Wilkinson said to the Ilvermorny students, and then he lazily sat down on the grass, pulled a flask of alcohol out of his cloak, and took a sip.

Jura and Bethany looked at each other helplessly, and Jura said, "Byers, you go ahead."

Byers nodded his head in agreement.

He stood in the center and beamed a stupid grin that made Harry and the group giggle.

"Neville, let's have a go." Byers initiated the invitation.

Neville froze, walked to the center of the field, and whispered, "I'm not that good."

"It's okay." Byers said with a smile, it is just a friendly match anyway, just the right way to change the mood.

However, the fact took him by surprise. Neville is skilled in various basic spells, especially in Stunning Spell and Shield Charm, he cast both quickly without uttering a word.

Nonverbal spell!

Neville's pace was somewhat sluggish, with just a relatively few moves back and forth. Byers adapted after a while and then found a pattern, but this dull pace seemed to be tried and tested a thousand times, and he felt like he was up against a reef.

Neville did not take much initiative to attack, usually, he will let Byers attack first, while Neville will cast a Shield Charm, and then a few steps aside, always staying face to face with Byers, in between Byers chanting spells, Neville took the time to shoot a few Stunning spells, sometimes Shield Charm, and Disarming Charm.

His face was strained and taut, looking very similar to his dueling style.

Flitwick murmured, "This kind of pace is not in the scope of what is taught in school dueling classes, it looks simple but requires a lot of practice, and every tiny movement has a unique intent."

Moody gripped his cane and said in a deep voice, "This style I seem to have seen it somewhere, I have an impression."

"I think it was taught by Frank Longbottom." Felix said.

"So that's how it is ..." Flitwick said admiringly, "His father was an outstanding Auror, and he should have tailored this pace for Neville, to match his own nature. "

"Well, a very resilient pace." Felix commented.

On the field, Byers became a little impatient. Although they might be friends, he also is a champion candidate, so he increased the output of magic power, and the spell lit up a bright arc of light.

Still, Neville kept resisting his attacks like a stubborn stone. His mouth continued to chant something silently, "Steady as a tenacious stone, light as a fluttering feather, still as a pool of water, moving like spring lightning ..." He suddenly jumped out boldly, shook out a red light, and then re-hid himself.

The magic barrier in front of him shattered half a dozen times, but each time he pulled himself back up.

Jura went into deep thought, and Wilkinson's liquor seemed to lose its appeal. Bethany anxiously watched her brother fall into a bitter battle while asking in disbelief, "What's going on? Why can't Byers break through the boy's defense?"

"Byers didn't use any lethal spell, that's one reason. There is also ..." Wilkinson said hesitantly, "That kid has a good pace, very impressive. And then there's the fact that shield charm was used really well, and all his tactics were based around that one spell. I could also see at least thirteen or fourteen tricks, each one focused on a specific issue." He took a sip of his liquor, as he laughed "haha" twice, and then watched with rapt attention.

"It's a test for Byers, too. He should learn to use his head."

After ten minutes of stalemate, Byers finally found the key to break the game, from the tip of his wand flew out a cluster of bright flames, condensed into a large fuzzy bird, which rushed towards Neville.

As the crowd stared in amazement, Neville urgently laid a second layer of shield charm over himself, blocking the flames firmly.

"Wow!" Ron looked at Neville in surprise, his impression of Neville seemed to have been reshaped.

The big flaming bird broke through the first barrier and then crashed solidly into the second shield charm, nearly breaking it apart. But Byers waved his wand repeatedly, and the big flaming bird regathered, this time bypassing the front and flying in a roundabout way from the side.

Neville dryly conceded defeat.

"You can still hold on for a while." Byers came over and shook hands with him solemnly.

Neville shook his head, "You've found a breakthrough," he said, rubbing his head nervously, "Actually, Dad has developed this Tactic for me, I just can't use it well right now."

"Well, it looks like you have a good father." Byers said breathlessly.

Next, the Ilvermorny students got serious. They suddenly realized that these students, who were on average two or three years younger than them, were not that easy to deal with. They took turns on the field and took the initiative to pick their opponents. All the while following Professor Wilkinson's orders and Byers' approach of not using dark magic or powerful spells. But with a cut above the magic power and spell casting skills, they soon made Susan Bones, Carmichael, and Zabini lose one after another, which made the students of Ilvermorny breathe a sigh of relief that it seemed these people were not all masters like Neville.

Draco also performed quite well, fighting back and forth with one of Ilvermorny's witches, and the powerful spell he had used in the third-year dueling tournament came close to success, but the serious Ilvermorny students lived up to their reputation as carefully selected preparatory champions, as any one of them can stand a chance against a novice Auror.

Even if they change positions and let these Hogwarts students attack actively, the Ilvermorny students can still wear their magic out until they run out of steam.

...

As the surrounding companions were picked off one by one, Harry got a little anxious. Why did no one pick him?

Just because he is shorter? Did he look weak?

He stared at Astoria, the little girl also puffed up - no one even looked at her, obviously she had worked very hard to stand in the front.

Harry suddenly felt some sadness.

Even Hermione went on the field. Her opponent is the male wizard surnamed "Graves", Graves said with a smile: "Heard your name quite a few times these days, Miss Know-it-all?"

Hermione furrowed her brow, his tone of voice was anything but kind.

"May we begin?"

"Of course." Graves grinned.

"Whoosh!"

A silent disarming charm flew out swiftly, Graves hurriedly jumped aside and looked at her in surprise, "Is that your best spell?"

Hermione said with a scowl, "You'll see." She waved her wand continuously, and several spells flew out, surprisingly suppressing the opposite side in a short time, forcing Graves to hold up a magic barrier in the shape of a circle, completely wrapping himself up.

Flitwick asked in surprise: "When did Granger master Nonverbal casting? Moreover, she can actually apply it over multiple spells, it's not as if she just mastered it."

Moody's that magic eye turned frantically, as he stared at her movements silently while calculating something in his heart.

Felix explained, "Her control of magic has always been outstanding, and when I asked her to write a paper on the dueling system, she put the Nonverbal spell at the top of her list."

"Why?"

"Her spell ..." Felix thought for a moment and said, choosing his words carefully, "is more moderate, often can surprise people in some details which reflect her control ability, but the power of her spell is not as good as it should be. "

Flitwick immediately understood what he meant, "This is actually nothing, Granger's spell casting is very stable, this is her greatest advantage. When she reaches adulthood, she will be able to fully exploit her advantages and can choose compound spells ... Oh, my!"

In the vacant field, Graves broke the previous stalemate.

Black flames expanded wide and spread into a dozen clusters, which hovered in the air, and as his wand slashed down like a sharp sword, those flames dropped violently from high above.

Hermione put up a magic barrier, then felt the blazing temperature, her hair smelled a little burnt, she rushed away, panicked to see the magic barrier being burned by the black flames as a large hole produced.

"What is this?"

"Fiendfyre, I told you guys - no dark magic," Wilkinson said in a deep voice: "Graves is a little out of control, he cares too much about the honour ... we need to be prepared to separate them at any time. "

Professors approached in unison, and Flitwick said pointedly, "We should stop this bout, it's beyond a sparring match."

Felix said calmly, "My feelings are the same as yours Filius, but I trust Miss Granger."

A dozen black flames slammed into the ground, scorching the grass away, looking like a devil's footprint falling from the sky. Hermione's eyes went wide, dodging in a wretched manner while wielding a shield charm to resist.

Harry and Ron, worried, could not wait to rush up, but with Professor present, they barely restrained themselves and watched as the black flames smashed into the ground and transformed into long, twisted snakes, curled their bodies, and then rushed towards her.

"What are the professors waiting for?" Harry asked in disbelief, drawing his wand, its tip glinting. What spell should I use at this point? Disarming charm, Stunning spell, Shield charm, or Patronus?

None of them seemed to work ... he simply pointed his wand at the "Graves" and wondered whether to hex him.

Hermione didn't panic anymore, she still has her last card. She glanced at Felix, and Felix nodded at her. So she stopped in her tracks and let the black flames envelop her, her fingertips flickering with golden light.

Wilkinson had raised his wand, and Bethany handed her own to Jura, "Quick!" Immediately after, they heard an unfamiliar incantation, coming from the girl's mouth.

Golden flames poured down from Hermione's palm. Compared to the small fire shown in the ancient runes' office more than a month ago, it has now grown into a behemoth. Golden flames like a flood of water gushed around, and the black flames that lunged towards her collided, with the black flames collapsing at the touch and being churned into pieces.

Graves' expression froze on his face.

The golden flames kept shrinking and finally turned into a huge burning bird, like a phoenix, much more exquisite than the magic Byers had outlined before. It let out a long, high-pitched cry, and in just a split second, the golden firebird appeared in front of the dumbfounded Graves, a foot away from him, his hair frizzled into ashes, his pupils mirrored a lengthy, golden beak.

"That's what I want to see." Amidst the silence, Felix nodded, with contentment.

...

Graves got pulled away, his expression somewhat dazed, a lingering fear remained in his eyes as he left.

Professor Wilkinson came over with a slight silence and apologized to the Hogwarts professors: "Graves he ... took this Tournament of Champions too seriously, he carried the hopes of many people and wanted to bring his family back to glory... ..."

"Graves?" Flitwick repeated, "That family name sounds familiar."

"A descendant of the Original Twelve Aurors, like me, which made me empathize with him and loosen my grip on him." Wilkinson said, "More than seventy years ago, there was a scandal in the American magical community. The Head of Law Enforcement of the Magical Congress - Percival Graves - was impersonated," he explained sullenly, "causing a huge mess and nearly exposing the entire American magical community."

"Impersonated?" Professors looked over.

"The matter is very secretive," Wilkinson whispered, "and relatively few people in the outside world know about it."

"Who impersonated him?" Felix asked with interest.

"Grindelwald." Wilkinson only said the family name, but everyone present knew who he was referring to.

"I can't believe it's related to Grindelwald!" Flitwick said in surprise, "Then that kid just now ..."

"Victor Percival Graves." Wilkinson said, "Percival Graves is his grandfather, and that's why he's mentally disturbed, and I can guarantee that if he gets into trouble again, I'll send him back."

The professors didn't say anything else. It was an accident made by one student, no one else could be blamed. Besides, the Hogwarts students didn't suffer, but on the contrary, that Graves probably has a lot of psychological shadows.

Not only him, but other Ilvermorny students were also shaken, staring at Hermione with great interest. In their hearts, this witch with messy hair has become one of the students who must not be messed with.

Even Professor Wilkinson, before leaving, deliberately asked: "That little girl ... you do not intend to allow her to become a champion, right?"

"No, she's not old enough." Felix said.

Wilkinson learned about Dumbledore's Age Line from Flitwick's mouth, which he praised, "I think it's necessary ... yes, it's necessary. Champions bore a great deal of psychological pressure, it is best not to allow students too young to participate ..."

--

Note:

This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there will be only one chapter Tomorrow.

Thanks for all your support.

There are 414 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

A new week dawned, the last week of October, and the professors unanimously accelerated their pace to make time for the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

Moody's class is still full of terrors. "I can smell cowards." He said in class. At this time he is planning to use the Imperius Curse on students, in turn. Moody looked at them eerily with his intact eye and said in a low voice: "You will find that the more you run away, the more danger will approach you ... Yes, it is always exceptionally fond of cowards."

As he raised his wand, the young wizards shivered in unison.

Only Harry showed resistance to the Imperius Curse in the whole grade, "Potter, you have the potential to be an Auror! Show everyone what a wizard is capable of, Potter!" Moody yelled as he cast the Imperius Curse on Harry four times in a row until Harry was able to completely break free from the effects of the Imperius Curse before he turned his attention to the next person.

At the end of class, Ron and Neville walked out of the classroom holding each other up, with both being treated similarly. Under Moody's control, Ron did a passionate dance, and Neville performed a series of very impressive gymnastic moves.

"Who - does - he thinks he is, that paranoid ...," Ron said indignantly, rubbing his thighs as he did so.

As they passed a group of young second-year wizards, these little wizards stared straight at Hermione, not shying away from talking about Hermione's appalling performance in the vacant field last weekend.

"That flaming phoenix ... burned all his hair ... off."

Hermione's face showed a mixture of amusement and embarrassment, "Don't they have anything else to do?" Even when she was catching up on her homework in the library, she couldn't escape the various scorching stares. When she refused the third group of students who asked for autographs, the young wizard gave a disgruntled "Che", "What are you smug about?"

Hermione looked incredulous as she asked, "Do I look smug?"

"You look like you've been under a Cheering Charm," Ron said jealously, "all happy and smiley."

" It's scary ..." Hermione froze, sighed half-heartedly, and said to Harry seriously, "I kind of admire you, Harry."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"I just ... felt a bit emotional." Hermione said, "Think about it, I've just recently gained a little fame, and I'm already feeling fluttery, but you've spent three years with such a gaze without showing any difference."

Harry stammered, "That's because I don't think there is anything good about fame ... Well, I'll be honest, sometimes it doesn't feel that bad."

"And that includes when you're misunderstood?" Hermione asked as she gave him a deep look. These days, she kind of knew the bad side of sudden fame, and only when she became the center of attention among the crowd did she know what it would feel like.

She suddenly remembered that in their second year, Harry was suspected by many of their classmates of being the heir of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets due to the exposure of his Parseltongue, and everyone avoided Harry for a long time, as they gossiped behind his back.

" Well, you guys are there for me." Harry said.

Ron shrugged his shoulders, "What kind of weird conversation are you guys having, come on, let's go find Fred and George, I saw them go to the owl shack, maybe the Ageing Potion has arrived."

Harry wanted to go to see Hedwig, Hermione also felt it would be better to get some air, so they packed their things and left the library.

Passing the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they saw two Pukwudgie coming out of the forest. Carrying a boar jointly on their shoulders, they are heading towards the Ilvermorny quarters, and when they see Harry and the team, the two Pukwudgie muttered under their breath in a strange language.

"Guess what they said?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, probably simple curiosity." Harry said as he looked in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. Standing where he is, all he could see is the roof of a tall building with four sculptures of creatures standing at the four corners of the building's edge, and the one facing them is a Thunderbird bird with its wings up, looking a bit like Ravenclaw's bronze eagle.

"Do you guys think there will be a thunderbird in this year's Tournament of Champions event?" Ron asked curiously.

"Thunderbirds are not easy to deal with, they are the darling of the storm, excluding their magical abilities, the mere fact that they can fly is beyond the reach of the Champions." Hermione is less optimistic about it.

The owl shack is a round stone room, standing on high ground. While they were enduring the "whistling" wind and the smell of owl droppings in the tower, climbing up a staircase, they heard the twins' footsteps coming down the stairs.

"He can't hide from us forever, that's not a small amount of money!"

"Yeah, I don't know if sending a letter will work, maybe we should just throw it in his hands, he is bound to show up, isn't he ..." Turning a corner, George stopped talking as he looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione in surprise.

"What are you guys doing here?" Fred asked, wide-eyed.

Ron didn't answer as he stared at the twins, "Who wants to hide from you guys?"

"We wish our stupid brother would hide from us." Fred said unhappily.

Ron wanted to ask more, but Fred and George grabbed him from left to right, "We thought that you will want an Ageing potion, it arrived yesterday, we will bring it to you when we get back." Saying that they left one by one.

"They definitely have something to hide from the family." Ron looked at their backs and said with certainty. " The way it looks to me is that someone owes them a fortune." He quickly put the matter behind him and said hopefully, "I wonder how the Ageing Potion tastes? I really hope it's better than the Polyjuice Potion ..."

Hermione said coldly, "You haven't given up on that yet, have you?"

"Yeah, are you going to turn on us, Hermione?" Ron said with a playful smile, " Well, it's more or less just a try ... I heard from Professor McGonagall that the Champions can skip the final year exam, which means no more muddling through assignments and no worries about getting a low grade ... It's a whole year of peaceful days!"

Hermione looked at him with annoyance, "So you want to become a Champion because you don't want to do your assignments?"

" Of course, there's still that big reward."

They returned to the common room and Ron slumped over the table and groaned, "There have been so many assignments this year, Professor McGonagall has left an essay on Hedgehog Transfiguration; Trelawney asked us to predict next month's astrology signs; Snape is forcing us to work on an antidote, and he was even hinted about poisoning us! Professor Binns's assignments have always been plentiful, Goblin Rebellion ... who cares about what happened hundreds of years ago?! And Professor Flitwick prepared three reference books about curses; Even Hagrid suggested we should observe Firetrail Snails every other day, did you hear that, he actually asked us to observe the thing that fires up its ass, he sounded like he was talking about a bunch of cute dogs ..."

"Think about it, just become a champion, and you can get away from all this." He said with a longing look on his face as he looked up.

Hermione and Harry did not pay much attention to him, anyway, just like usual, he would be fine after a while of self-pity. Hermione took out a pamphlet and read it aloud while Harry held the two-way mirror and made a family phone call with Sirius.

"I'm fine ... and the scars no longer hurts, maybe it's psychological ... Well, the other three schools are coming, I wish you could see them... Hello. Kreacher, what? Uh, sure, the locket matches your bald head ... Happy Halloween in advance ..."

From the other side of the mirror came Sirius' grumpy voice: "Damn it, Felix won't let me use the fireplace in his office! I have never seen anyone like him who destroys a bridge after crossing a river!"

In the evening, Neville brought back a new announcement - Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's people are about to arrive.

...

The delegations from the two schools arrived on the same day as if they had made an appointment, with less than an hour difference between them.

With the experience of welcoming the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogwarts appeared to be at ease from top to bottom, even Filch's eyes didn't bulge out as much, or maybe because there were no little wizards to repeat the cheap mistake.

The weather had turned cooler at the end of October, and the students gathered on the steps outside the entrance hall and waited for twenty minutes before the Beauxbatons delegation finally arrived with a huge fancy-blue carriage flying towards them. The carriage measured as big as a house, and twelve winged, silver-maned horses pulled it through as it sailed through the air.

The students tilted their heads and let out a gasp. With a tooth-aching thud, the carriage landed with a bang, "Cool! Hard landing!" Seamus said before he took a sharp breath as Madame Maxime stepped out of the carriage and stepped down the golden steps to the crowd.

"My God, she's so tall!"

Dumbledore and the professors lead the applause, after which Dumbledore kissed the back of Madame Maxime's hand, and after some pleasantries - "Hasn't Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He's a little later than expected." Dumbledore said with a smile.

Maxime "snorted" and muttered in a small voice. The professors and nearby students standing in front of her heard her clearly, as she said, " Posturing."

"Would you prefer to wait here to greet him, or would you like to go in and warm up?" Dumbledore asked like a gentle breeze as if he hadn't overheard her.

"I'll go in and warm up first," she said with a slight bow, "those horses of mine are very feisty - they need to be cared for by someone with a lot of strength, and they only drink pure malt whiskey."

"Please do not worry, our Care of Magical Creatures class Professor will take care of them." Dumbledore said.

Madam Maxime smiled gracefully and nodded toward the professors, her smile became a lot sincerer when she saw Felix, and then she said majestically to the Beauxbatons students, " Follow me inside."

The Hogwarts students Parted a way out and looked behind her as she led twelve or thirteen students up the steps into the castle, as they murmured. These Beauxbatons students were all wearing fine blue silk uniforms, and a few exceptionally slender girls had their faces covered.

Dumbledore turned his head and whispered, "Felix ..."

"Leave it to me." Felix said, looking toward the carriage, his eyes clouded with a silvery-white light, the pack of horses as big as elephants stared at him with their fiery red eyes and then they abruptly became motionless. A moment later, they lifted their hoofs the size of dishes in unison and headed in the direction of Hagrid's hut.

"By the way, there is pure malt whiskey." Dumbledore said, he lifted his hand to pull a note from the thin air, the note fluttered and stuck on the head of the silver-maned horse in the lead.

The note looked extraordinarily strange as it bent backward against the wind and made a loud chirping sound. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and her expression gradually grew stern.

"Ah ~ it's a bit boring to wait," Dumbledore said: "Felix, have you made any new products for your 'Future World' company? I read in the newspaper that you recently signed a contract with the Weird Sisters group ..."

"That's for the Magic Gramophone, in which they will collaborate to add the first batch of records. I suggested to Remus to make the product as small as possible, preferably with the possibility of projecting enchanted images. But a few minor problems were encountered, and I urgently need some valuable advice."

The two of them discussed while professors and students who were bored idly on the sidelines pricked up their ears to listen, and later the professors joined in the discussion as time passed little by little.

After another half an hour, even the students in cloaks could not bear it any longer, shivering under the cold wind.

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

Draco Malfoy said with dissatisfaction, he quietly drew his wand, cast an Engorgement Charm on a beetle in the ground, and then kicked the beetle as big as a mouse away. It didn't take long for a shriek to come from not far away.

He grinned and suddenly stared at the black lake in the distance, where a whirlpool had appeared.

At that moment, Lee Jordan shouted, "Look at that lake!"

Draco made a "Che " sound, squinting his eyes to observe carefully, the original calm black lake began to tumble in the middle with a huge splash of water, like a boiling caldron, after which, a huge ship appeared from the whirlpool.

It is a very strange-looking ship, it looked like the wreckage of a ship that had been soaking in the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years, and one day it was finally salvaged - the hull is littered with leaky holes, and the windows are emitting a hazy phosphorescent glow. When the ship docked on the shore, a row of people wearing heavy fur coats came out, and the man leading the group draped in a special silver-white fur.

He had a bushy goatee, and his whole body looked tall and thin, with slim cheeks, deep sunken eye sockets, prominent cheekbones, and a bit of a bushy eyebrow, giving the impression of a scheming man.

"Dumbledore!" The man shouted enthusiastically as he walked up the ramp, "My dear old friend, how are you?"

"Excellent, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore replied.

Dumbledore leads the crowd to the great hall, where a sumptuous dinner had been prepared by the house elves of the kitchen.

This dinner party brought the four schools together, and when he heard that the people of Uagadou are still wandering around in some deep mountain, the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Karkaroff, immediately grunted in dissatisfaction.

"They're really good at posturing! Making everyone wait for them! You know, Krum had a bit of cold before we left, and I said to him, "Hang in there, you will be able to get accustomed to it after a while ..."

"They will be here before Halloween at the latest." Dumbledore said gently, "Professor Karkaroff, If your student is not feeling well, the Hogwarts Hospital Wing is available for assistance and Madam Pomfrey is very professional."

...

At night, the dark azure sky which is sprinkled with stars is shrouded by dark clouds, and the moon is also obscured by a thick veil of clouds. Thunder rumbled as a bright flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, and cold rain drizzled through.

In the ancient runes' office, Felix is draped in a wool cloak, watching a film with Niffler Valen on the couch. Niffler is staring at the projected screen, not even noticing when Felix quietly pulled out a golden galleon from her hand.

When the film is over, Niffler climbed into her comfy velvet basket bed and laid down comfortably on it.

"Good night."

"Kiki!"

Meanwhile, a few mountains away, a group of figures stood at the top of the mountain, looking over the lofty Hogwarts castle.

" Come on! This little storm is nothing, we'll get there before dawn."

A high-pitched voice said. He suddenly jumped down from the top of the mountain and turned into a large, towering bird with iron-green feathers as he swept across the sharp walls and circled the ravine.

"Whoo-hoo!"

Another figure jumped forward with a quick flip around and transformed into a leopard. Within a few moments of jumping and falling, the figure ran a distance of hundreds of feet.

Immediately afterward, with its long trunk raised high, an African elephant with broad ears and long silver-white tusks walked with nimble strides down the dark brown steep slope, the sharp stone surface seemed like flat ground to it.

"The little ones are in good spirits, and the effect of the training seems to be very obvious." An old, worn-out voice rang out as the thin witch sat on her flying carpet, beaming from ear to ear.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 415 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

The next day, Felix opened his eyes from the bed and yawned broadly.

The air outside the window is damp with the smell of earth. After finishing the washing up, he checked the time and prepared to go to the great hall for breakfast.

"Valen, come on, let's go and eat." He called out.

On the bassinet bed, the fluffy velvet blanket twitched slightly and then fell still.

"Valen?"

A small hand stretched out from the blanket and waved at him twice impatiently.

"Kiki!" She got tired from watching the film last night and didn't want to get up at all.

"... Well, there are cookies and cakes in the office."

Felix walked out of the room and made his way to the great hall. To his surprise, he noticed an extra school emblem in the great hall, as he glanced at it - the shield symbol of Hogwarts, the flower petal symbol of Ilvermorny, the crossed wands symbol of Beauxbatons, the two-headed eagle symbol of Durmstrang, and the last one -

A conical peak is hidden in the clouds, and upon closer inspection, a magnificent building stands halfway up the conical peak.

Mountains of the Moon, Uagadou.

"Has Uagadou arrived too? Could it be last night or early this morning?" Felix glanced at the great hall and didn't find any unfamiliar faces, but he saw Durmstrang's star student, Krum.

It was only yesterday that he had learned that the talented Seeker, who had twice toyed with the Irish national team's Seeker in the Quidditch World Cup final and ultimately caught the Golden Snitch at the end of the game, is still attending Durmstrang.

Had to say that his Quidditch training would have been too hard with the storm all day, right?

At the long Slytherin table, Krum sat alone instead of being with his teammates, preferring a solitary meal. A dozen pairs of adoring gazes constantly peeked at him, but he seemed to have long got used to it and ate his breakfast in silence.

When he finished eating, he got up and left. Unlike his posture on the flying broom, he is now rather silent, with two eyebrows furrowed habitually, as if he is in deep thought all the time.

At the breakfast, Felix finally met Uagadou's students.

They all had dark skin, and their precise behaviour differed. And there is one student whose skin is as dark as the bottom of a kettle, looking like a walking block of pure darkness. If he wasn't wearing brown leather clothes, it would be hard to differentiate the different parts of his body. The rest of the Uagadou students were much more normal-also dark-skinned, but at least you could distinguish their eyes and noses.

While passing the Ravenclaw House table, he heard a young girl mutter in a small voice: "Coffee, brown, dark brown, chocolate, dark ..."

He smiled and sat next to Madame Maxime at the faculty table, and on the other side of the table from her is Ilvermorny's Headmaster with his eyes closed.

After a couple of moments of conversation, Felix detected a heavy gaze and looked back to find Hagrid in the corner. He got startled, Hagrid's dress is much different from the past, he wondered where he rummaged out a handmade suit, his beard and hair carefully groomed, at least for the first time Felix could be able to distinguish the difference between the two.

At the moment, Hagrid is looking at him blankly, no, looking at Madame Maxime next to him.

"Is he the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class Dumbledore mentioned?" Madame Maxime asked softly.

"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, the Care of Magical Creatures class professor, born in 1928, passionate about Raising and Taming all kinds of magical creatures, was once expelled from Hogwarts for raising dangerous magical creatures and murder charge, but later proved to be an innocent and got his name cleared last year. He is the first Magizoologist to successfully tame thestrals, and most of the magical creatures in the forbidden forest have a close relationship with him. A warm and sincere person with a straightforward personality ..."

Madame Maxime rolled her eyes, stretching out her large fan-like hand to pat Felix, Felix hurried to put on a layer of humanoid shield charm on himself, "Bang!" His body jolted.

The eyes of Hagrid, who is seven or eight seats away, went wide.

Today's great hall is particularly crowded, probably because four foreign school students are scattered among them, the sight is dazzling.

Hogwarts students were asked to change into their standard uniforms even during relatively informal occasions.

Hence, in the middle of a group of black wizard robes, there were touches of blue and cranberry of Ilvermorny, the light blue of Beauxbatons, the scarlet of Durmstrang, and the brown of Uagadou.

Dumbledore is flanked by four headmasters sitting around the table. Felix glanced twice at the short witch, who immediately looked back at him, Felix smiled lightly, and the witch scrutinized him twice before turning her head to speak to Dumbledore.

She used an odd language, fast and rapid, Felix could only understand a few sounds, but Dumbledore listened carefully and then responded in the same language.

Karkaroff, who is next to the witch, doesn't look very happy as he kept fiddling with a golden goblet, deliberately making a lot of noise.

The faculty table is nearly occupied, with only the last two empty seats left, and after another seven or eight minutes, a short, chubby, red-faced male wizard appeared from the main entrance of the great hall, his face brimming with an enthusiastic smile.

"Dumbledore, I'm late, Barty is temporarily occupied, I'm the only one ..." Bagman said quickly, looking around him, "Ah, you're all here, great, I've been worried that the Uagadou team would probably be late."

The short witch said in a hoarse voice, "Mr. Bagman, we won't drag our feet on the major event."

"Ah, of course ..." said Bagman, wiping the sweat from his face as he glanced at the only two empty seats left and finally sat down next to Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore stood up, and the great hall gradually quieted down as everyone focused on him.

"Welcome! Students from all five schools of magic are gathered together like never before in a thousand years." He said cheerfully, "On this solemn occasion, I would like to say thanks to the house-elves in the kitchen; who have gone to great lengths to satisfy the different tastes ..."

"So, enjoy the food, it's the most important thing tonight."

He sat down, and the empty plates in front of them were suddenly piled high with all kinds of food. In addition to the French dishes that had appeared last night, today there were some more strange and exotic dishes laid out in front of them in a diverse assortment.

At the Gryffindor table, Ron's eyes swept over the French-style mishmash of fish soup, yellow egg cheese, and white mozzarella, when he saw a pile of slimy stuff, and he reached out his spoon-

"Don't!" Hermione called out.

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going to like it." Hermione said holding her breath, her face turned with an unnatural paleness, "I didn't think they'd add this dish to the menu."

"What is it?" Harry asked, he didn't smell anything weird.

"Camel fat." Hermione said, she made a dry heave and immediately turned her head, "Trust me, you guys are not going to like it."

Ron pushed that plate far away with his fork and Seamus smoothly plunged a slice of bread into it, "Is this some kind of jam?" He stuffed it into his mouth, and Harry and the others stared at him unblinkingly.

"Uh, why are you looking at me ..." Visible to the naked eye, Seamus's face turned into a pig's liver colour as he swallowed it whole, then he snatched Dean's pumpkin juice and downed it in one gulp.

His eyes turned red, and he frantically glanced around as Neville shuddered as he handed him his pumpkin juice.

"What the hell is this stuff?!" Seamus said in exasperation after he chugged Neville's pumpkin juice as well, "It's almost more stomach-churning than the mucus from a Firetrail Snail."

Ron happily stuck up a greasy sausage and ate it merrily.

As the golden plates were cleared, Dumbledore stood up again. An excited and nervous mood filled the air of the great hall.

"The moment has finally arrived," Dumbledore said, "the tournament is about to begin. Mr. Filch, please bring the box in, and in the meantime, I would like to explain a few things--"

"First, I would like to introduce you to our important guests today, starting with the Headmasters."

"The Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madame Olympe Maxime;"

"The Headmaster of Durmstrang, Professor Igor Karkaroff;"

"The Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine;"

"The Headmistress of Uagadou, Lady Hariya Mignot Nagy;"

Dumbledore paused, and winked as he smiled, "And of course, myself, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

Everyone, including the students from the other four schools, stared at him in disbelief.

"Hasn't anyone noticed that this is actually a subtle joke," Dumbledore said regretfully, "I'm going in order of the length of the names ..."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat very hard.

"Well, in addition to the five headmasters, there are two others who must be mentioned, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, two gentlemen who have worked tirelessly and diligently over the past few months, and unfortunately, Mr. Crouch is not present today, but we can see him on Halloween - thank you, Mr. Filch, just put it right here."

Dumbledore smiled at Filch - who at the moment is placing a large wooden box on the table in front of him, and he tapped his wand on the lid three times, as the lid slowly creaked open.

Dumbledore reached in and pulled out a large, roughly carved wooden goblet.

The cup itself is not impressive, but it contains a blue white dancing flame.

Everyone looked at the goblet of fire with fascination.

"As you should have known by now, in the next twenty-four hours, that is, by the end of the Halloween dinner; the goblet will choose the names of the three students it thinks would be best to represent their corresponding schools.

Tonight, the Goblet of Fire will be placed in the entrance hall, and all students who wish to participate in the competition should drop their names in."

He waited quietly for a moment until everyone had heard him before he continued, "There are two things to note; first, for Hogwarts students, there will be an Age Line placed by me -"

The murmur buzzed, and he had to raise his volume.

"Secondly, and this is a sincere piece of advice," Dumbledore's expression turned extra serious, "I must remind everyone here that the Tournament of Champions is not a child's play, it is a magical, Unbreakable Vow. Once a champion has been chosen by the Goblet of Fire, he is obliged to fight to the end. Therefore, please think twice about it."

"Have a good night, everyone."

As he sat down, the great hall exploded with excitement.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 416 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"All right, students, please exit in an orderly manner-"

Professor McGonagall stood up to maintain order, and after a crackling commotion, the young wizards strode out of the great hall, arguing with each other.

At the Faculty's table, Felix pulled the chair back for Madame Maxime, "Oh, thank you." She rose gracefully and whispered, "Don't forget you are a school board member of the Beauxbatons... You are always welcome to be a guest to our carriage."

"As you wish, ma'am." Felix said with a smile.

He watched as Madame Maxime left with her students as the crowd automatically parted the way for them, at which point Hagrid approached him.

"Can you bring me with you?"

"Pardon?"

"When you visit them as a guest, can ... you please bring me with you?" Hagrid asked shakily as he watched the tall figure disappear from the great hall doorway with an expression of fascination, "I mean, if it's ok, those Abraxans will probably need my attention... I need to check them directly."

Felix looked at him with strange eyes.

Hagrid immediately smoothed his hair and collar, "What's wrong, is something wrong?"

"No," Felix said softly, "I'm worried about those horses." Who knew if Hagrid would actually let something 'happen' to them in order to make his lame excuse more real.

At that moment, an angry voice came from the entrance -

"Yes, that's Harry Potter. Have you seen enough?"

Felix looked over at the voice and saw the image of Moody and Headmaster Durmstrang confronting each other. The fake eye of Moody seemed too appalling, causing Karkaroff's face to turn frosty white even with a few students around him.

But Karkaroff's reaction is clearly beyond the bounds of normal - a mixture of anger and biting fear. Felix is no stranger to this expression, having had many people look at him with the same look, now that Karkaroff would next-

"Back off?" Felix said playfully.

Sure enough, Karkaroff didn't dwell on it much, waving his hand as if he was avoiding the plague, and walking away with his students.

The students who were blocked in the back clamoured as they tiptoed to look over the shoulders of the others to watch the back of the departing Durmstrang delegation.

"This night is not going to be quiet." Felix said.

"Yeah, I guess some students will choose to register during the night ..." Hagrid echoed dreamily, "By the way, do you have any recommendations about good perfumes?"

...

"You think Karkaroff and Professor Moody know each other?" Harry asked while following the crowd up the grand staircase.

"That's right," Ron affirmed, "Look at their faces, it is obvious, I guess they both have an old grudge against each other for sure."

They returned to the dormitory, Dean was guarding the door and seemed to be holding back a laugh, "Harry, I think you need to come over here for a moment, there's a guest waiting for you ..."

Harry walked over curiously, to see a Niffler Valen sitting on his bedside table with a pile of exquisite little things in front of her - Galleons, a gold necklace, a thermostatic pendant, a grey hourglass ...

Ron looked at the stacked-up Golden Galleons, and his eyes were unable to move away from them.

"Merlin's beard ah ..."

Harry seemed to think of something, he crouched in front of Niffler Valen and asked tentatively, "You want to exchange with me, is it about that Muggle coin?"

Niffler nodded vigorously.

Ron laughed so hard that he shivered, "Ouch!" He held onto Neville's four-poster bed, nearly ripping the curtain off: "It, it can remember well, from the day school started, a full two months have passed since then, and it still does not give up ..."

Harry hesitated for a moment, the muggle coin is a testimony to his thousand times of Apparition practice, he kept it as a memento, but since he has learned magic, he does not really value it, not to mention that this thing was given to him by Uncle Vernon.

He rummaged through the box and handed the coin to Valen, "It's yours."

Niffler immediately took the coin, her two little black eyes glowed, and her little hand kept caressing the angular coin. After a while, she seemed to have made up her mind and she looked over a bit, pointing at the trinkets in front of Harry, gesturing for him to pick one.

"No." Harry refused.

But Niffler insisted that he must pick one thing, otherwise the Great Demon King would know about it and would nag her to death.

"Kiki!"

She patted her chest, indicating that she is here to make a deal.

Harry mulled it over for a while, before moving his fingers around, feeling indecisive. Niffler nervously stared at his finger, watching him intently, and eventually, that hand-picked up the inconspicuous hourglass, and "phew~" Niffler breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

When Niffler gathered her treasure and nimbly disappeared from their sight, Ron couldn't hold his tongue anymore: "Even if you don't want Galleon, that locket is still good, I've heard about it from Fred and George, that little locket can keep the temperature constant at the optimum range, so you don't have to wear a cloak in winter."

Harry shook his head, "This is also good." He fiddled with the dusty hourglass a few times and casually placed it on the table.

"Yeah well," Ron muttered, "I doubt it's worth two sickles unless it's an antique ..."

The next morning.

The students gathered around in disarray when an extra thin circle of gold lines appeared on the floor in the center of the entrance hall, and the Goblet of Fire is placed on the sorting stool, in the middle of the gold lines.

"They are too bold." Hermione said with a shocked look on her face, in front of her, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan jumped to their feet, holding a small bottle with a shallow layer of clear liquid in it.

She looked beyond the crowd - Professor Hap had been standing just a short distance away, leaning against the wall and watching them with a grin on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Just one drop," Fred gulped down the Ageing Potion enthusiastically, "and we're all just a few months short."

"That's right, let's make an example for you guys." George said to Harry and Ron as he followed suit and drank the potion.

Hermione immediately glared at Harry and Ron.

The two looked away sheepishly, each with a vial of Ageing Potion tucked into their pockets, and Ron stammered, "We prepared your share, Hermione, do you need it ..."

Hermione looked exasperated and turned her head away from them.

Harry did not say anything, the moment arrived, he hesitated about it, he could not help but ask himself: if Fred and George really succeeded by putting their names in, what would he do?

The twins walked into the Age Line and waved at Felix, who stood aside with a smile.

"We love you to death, Professor." Fred said.

For a moment, Hermione thought they had succeeded, but the next thing she heard was a sizzling sound, and the twins were thrown outside the golden circle, with Lee Jordan pulling his outstretched leg back in horror.

The twins rose from the ground crying " Ouch, Ouch, Ouch ", and the people around them laughed - they had long white beards growing out of their chins. Even the twins, themselves, can not suppress their laughter.

Felix came over from the wall, carefully looked at them, and said teasingly, "I heard this morning that Miss S. Fawcett from Ravenclaw and Mr. Summers from Hufflepuff were brought to the hospital wing, and I thought that there must be some more distrustful little wizards. So I'm purposely waiting here to see ..."

Fred and George looked at him mournfully, the beard on their chins fluttered, not to mention how comical it looked.

"I warned you." Dumbledore appeared in the entrance hall and said in a low, amused tone. He came closer, examining the twins' bright, shiny white beards as he said, " Any luck, Felix?"

"No one made it, a little second-year wizard threw a paper ball in there, and it was spat out by the Goblet of Fire ..."

Perhaps the demonstration effect of the Weasley twins was so obvious that after the morning interlude, there were no more young wizards who tried to cross the age line without being old enough.

The Hogwarts students watched with rapt attention as the preparatory champions from the other four schools lined up to throw their names into the Goblet of Fire, the blue-white flames on the cup licked their fingers and blazed intensely as they turned red and sputtered a little spark.

"Where are our people?" A young wizard asked eagerly.

"Coming!"

Another young wizard said excitedly as Cedric, Roger Davies, Collins Foley, and Angelina approached in pairs, followed by the chosen students.

One by one, they tossed their slips of paper into the Goblet of Fire, their faces filled with anticipation.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 416 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

At Halloween dinner, Hermione's appetite increased, as she said with a gasp, "Ohhhh, is it true? Valen ran into your dorm room and traded an hourglass for that coin? I bet she was heartbroken ..."

She joyfully clamped a large pork chop for herself.

"That makes you happy." Ron quipped. Neither he nor Harry had used their Ageing Potion.

"Of course I'm happy," Hermione put down her knife and fork and looked at the two of them with a straight face, "You heard this afternoon, Hagrid was able to lift his head out of a bucket of slippery fabric softener and told us how much he was looking forward to the first event ... You should know just how dangerous the competition really is!"

The fork in Ron's hand twitched as he felt somewhat persuaded by the argument, " So what was the very last thing that made Hagrid happy?"

"Firetrail Snails." Seamus said unhappily from the sidelines.

At the Faculty table, Felix finished the last sip of seafood soup in his bowl and paused, his eyes swiped over the hundreds of pumpkin lamps in the corner and the bats that kept fluttering on the ceiling, and fell on the restless little wizards.

He could totally sense the agitation that permeated through the great hall, one of the tricks he had learned from the Dementors.

"It's kind of choking." He muttered.

Flitwick gave him a curious look, his outstretched hand retracted, losing interest in the pot of seafood soup in front of Felix.

There's one more person is present today at the faculty table than yesterday - Mr. Barty Crouch Sr, with a sickly look on his face, he leaned back in his chair after a few hasty bites of mashed potato meatloaf, he looked distracted, in contrast to the beaming Ludo Bagman next to him.

"... When I played for the Wimbourne Wasps, I received a bunch of flowers after every game, and also foreign fans ... Which country? I don't know ... don't recognize them, anyway those are notes with many names and address, I guess it's from female fans, as those notes smelled like perfume ... If only Barty was there, he could have translated them for me, right?"

Bagman turned his head to look at Mr. Crouch, and grunted with a stern face.

"Oh, Barty, you don't look that good shape, maybe you should take a break to recuperate ..."

"I'll think about it." Mr. Crouch said with interest, even with his pale face, he still managed to keep himself well-dressed without a single crease in his clothes, looking very similar to Headmaster Ilvermorny's style.

Most of the students had finished their meals, and amidst the crowds' eager gazes, Dumbledore stood up.

He waved his wand, making the great hall completely dark, the Goblet of Fire had been moved to the front of the faculty table, at this moment it glowed brightly, and the flame ran high, the blue-white flame turned into a dazzling red, sparks were flying.

A half charred parchment flew out.

"The first champion from Durmstrang," he said in a clear, strong voice, "is Viktor Krum."

The great hall thundered with applause as Krum rose from his seat and, guided by Professor McGonagall, as he walked into the room next to the great hall.

"There's still hope, there are still two spots left!" The Durmstrang student near the table cheered himself on.

After a long time, another piece of parchment flew out.

"Durmstrang, Aurus Poliakov." Dumbledore read.

The boy who had just spoken cried out in joy, and he lost his composure and shouted, "I knew it!" He stood up and swung his fist so hard that he nearly tripped over the table, and the Durmstrang Headmaster grunted.

Next came the third Durmstrang champion -

"Durmstrang, Adam Bewick."

Dumbledore wiped the corners of his eyes and said with emotion, "How touching! Three courageous young men will unite together and fight for the honour of the school ..."

In the next not-so-short period of time, the Goblet of Fire spits out a note with the signature of the selected champions of the four remaining schools.

"Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour -

Jacqueline Bourgeois -

Francois La Fontaine."

The three champions from Beauxbatons walked in turn to the room next to the great hall to wait, but the students' minds were in turmoil, as if time remained frozen at the moment when the girl who looked like Veela stood up.

The girl named Fleur elegantly tossed her bright silver hair and stepped lightly between the two dining tables like a fairy ...

It can be expected that this image will be branded in the hearts of many students and will not be forgotten for the rest of their lives.

"Followed by the champions of Ilvermorny, Victor Percival Graves -

Anne Lunn -

And the third warrior, Byers Bach."

Byers stood up joyfully and walked into the small room next to the great hall amidst a cheering crowd of Gryffindor students.

"Next it is the turn for the champions of Uagadou, Rashawn Eliphendy--

Nona Leibert-

Panagiotta Blanzigor."

The Champions of Uagadou stepped forward, and instead of walking individually one by one, as was the previous process, they waited until all three had been chosen before leaving together.

The Hogwarts students looked at their backs - of the two male wizards, one stood tall and lanky, looking like a walking wall, he towered at least a foot above Cedric, mind you, Cedric is considered tall among the Hogwarts students; the other combed his hair like an eagle, and he is not small either, but when standing together next to that guy he looked like a little dwarf.

The only girl in the trio stood tall as Fleur, but her body is filled with a sense of power, clad in a thin leopard-skin dress in the not-so-warm weather.

"And finally, the Champions from Hogwarts." Dumbledore said cheerfully, reading out the name on the note that had been tossed from the Goblet of Fire: "Cedric Diggory-"

"Oh no!" Ron said aloud, and luckily, no one heard it but Harry and Hermione, the cheers from the next table were going to take the roof off, Dumbledore had to wait for a while with the second note, and in between waiting, the third note came out of a flaming tongue.

"The second and third Champions, are Roger Davies and Collins Foley! Let's cheer them on." He read out the names of the remaining two in one breath.

There is another deafening applause, and the Gryffindor students clap along, somewhat unhappily; none of the three Champions are Gryffindors, so they are completely upset.

When the noise subsided, Dumbledore said with a smile: "Well, I would like to invite the last three champions to take a short break in the room next to the great hall... And I am happy to announce that the Goblet of Fire has been successfully fulfilled its task, and I believe that everyone will support their school's champions and contribute to this event, so-- -"

He suddenly stopped talking as the Goblet of Fire, which should have been extinguished, became dazzling once again, the blazing glow of the fire painting his face red.

A slip of paper flew out, he subconsciously caught it, glanced down at it, and after a brief silence, he cleared his throat and read aloud--

"Harry Potter."

There are no cheers, the great hall went quiet. Gradually, the buzz rose and everyone looked at Harry, including the classmate sitting next to Harry, who looked at him with incredulous eyes.

"I didn't put my name in." Harry said blankly, looking over to Ron and Hermione, "You know I didn't, I've been with you guys."

Hermione's mouth hung open, and her eyes glazed over as Ron forced a smile, "Yeah, we've been together. Congratulations, Harry."

"It's not a matter of congratulations!" Harry shouted, his voice echoing through the great hall.

On the other side, Professor McGonagall rose from the faculty table in a panic and nearly tripped as she passed by Felix, "Careful, Minerva." He said. But McGonagall did not pay attention at all, she hurriedly walked next to Dumbledore, saying something strongly.

Dumbledore said seriously, "I know, Minerva, but ..." he raised his voice and held up the half-burned note in his hand, "Harry Potter, go next door to the great hall first."

Harry stood up stumbling, looking at the stunned faces, he felt like he didn't belong here, he walked over to Dumbledore who nodded at him and pointed him in a direction, he took a few steps forward and heard another loud audible gasp behind him.

He jerked back - as incredulously as the others - and looked at the Goblet of Fire, which had turned red again, after the first blunder, a second immediately followed.

It must be broken, Harry thought, the broken wooden cup is out of order, and maybe a third unlucky person will be called out in a moment.

Dumbledore nimbly fished up the slip of paper and read the name on it in a deep voice, "Hermione Granger."

A gasp rang out from the Gryffindor table, and Hermione covered her mouth, unable to believe her ears. But at this moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the Goblet of Fire, with an inexplicable anticipation welling up in their hearts.

Even Dumbledore did the same, silently gazing at the Goblet of Fire, with his deep, bottomless blue eyes behind the half-moon-shaped lens.

Harry stayed where he was, the blue-white flames made him dizzy, but he forced himself to look at it, as if he wanted to see the innermost part of the wooden cup, to see the last note that is about to shoot out.

Finally--

Dumbledore grabbed the high-flying note and read calmly in the deep voice, in the dark, silent great hall, "Ronald Weasley."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 417 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"Ronald Weasley." Dumbledore shouted again.

Ron stared blankly. He couldn't help but wonder if there is another freshman named "Ronald" in the school, but he is the only one with the family name Weasley.

Soon, he stood up excitedly, I'm a champion, I'm a champion now!

He pulled along a frozen Hermione, with a happy smile on his face, and went next to Harry, as he whispered in his ear: "You're something, mate! I thought you left me behind, how did you do it, using the invisibility cloak at night? Honestly, you should have called me up, I never looked at ..."

"I didn't throw any of the notes in it!" Harry exclaimed with annoyance. He couldn't help but be angry, how Ron couldn't tell that he hadn't done anything?

"All right ... you three, go to that Room." Dumbledore said, with no smile on his face.

Murmurs raged through the great hall, causing Harry's mind to rumble, and he just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, to a quiet corner to think things over. He did not wait a moment to walk away as if he wanted to leave his worries behind, Hermione followed after him, and a nervous Ron walked at the end, he deliberately slowed his pace, straightened his chest, like the big shot he imagined walking in his mind, the only regret is that there is little to no applause in the great hall.

Harry pushed open the door, he had previously stretched his neck from his seat to look inside, but now he finally got a good look. It is a small room with portraits of wizards on both walls, and as they enter, a frowning witch left her frame and whispered to the wizard in the next portrait. Below the portraits, were half a dozen spacious couches that reminded him of the Magic Rune Club, with a fire burning in the fireplace directly across the room.

Harry realized something is wrong, this is obviously not a place for thinking, fifteen pairs of eyes looked over in unison, for a moment, their gaze gave Harry a feeling of suffocation. Ron pushed him from behind and laughed as he stuck his head out, "What are you waiting for, Harry? Do you want them to take one more look at the youngest champions?"

"Shut up!" Harry yelled out, but it was too late. Just a few steps away on the couch, a girl who looked like Veela, with the name "Fleur", raised her delicate face and looked at them in surprise, "You're all champions?"

"I'm ..."

Without waiting for Harry to answer, she turned her head, her silver hair fluttered, as Harry smelled a pleasant fragrance, he choked on the words he was going to say when he heard Fleur speaking towards a certain direction: "Cedric, your underclassmen are funny ..."

Harry only then realized that across from Fleur, there were three champions from Hogwarts seated. Cedric smiled at him, "What can I do for you? We can't quite hear you from there. It's chaotic outside."

Harry found that he suddenly lost his ability to speak, especially in the presence of the three Hogwarts champions, it felt like Snape had cast a Langlock jinx on him secretly.

At that moment there came a rush of footsteps behind them and Ludo Bagman approached them with a run, "Why are they all blocking the door?" He said cheerfully while squeezing all three of them - Harry, Ron, and Hermione - into the room, where the heat of the room hit them.

"This is so bizarre!" Bagman squeezed Harry's arm hard and dragged him to the center of the room, looking around as if he had been reading a classic theatre line, "Absolutely bizarre! Ladies and gentlemen ..., allow me to announce this, as ridiculous as it may seem, this is the sixth group of champions of the Tournament of Champions!"

He didn't seem to realize that everyone is staring at him, as he beckoned at Hermione and Ron, who were still standing in the doorway, "Come here, what a strange incident! Your seniors are here, you two should acquaint yourselves with them."

Ron pulled Hermione, but she shook him off, so he walked over alone and straightened up his body, he is now giddy, with the great joy that filled every corner of his body. He suddenly wanted to raise his wand and recite the Patronus spell, he felt certain that he would succeed, he is a champion! This is a spectacle he had never seen even in the Mirror of Erised when he was in his first year.

But Fleur's words poured cold water on him

"Sorry, Mr. Bagman," said Fleur, "is there something wrong, they can't compete, they are just two young little boys, plus a little girl."

Harry looked around with an unfocused gaze, while his brain muddled with a mixture of complex emotions he saw Cedric's confused expression, Krum frowning beside the fireplace with a gloomy expression, Byers' wide-open mouth, three Uagadou champions gawking at him, but when he heard Fleur's words, he still felt a flash of anger sweep through his heart.

Little boy?

At that moment, a large group of footsteps approached, the door slammed open with a "bang", the tall and large body of Madame Maxime came in, followed by a row of Headmasters and a sickly-looking Barty Crouch Sr.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Dumbledore?" She said angrily, her head almost touching the floral chandelier hanging down from the ceiling which contained magical lights, and when she stood up straight, she blocked a large part of the light and the room instantly went dark.

"I'm wondering about that too, Dumbledore," Karkaroff said, a cold smile plastered on his face and his eyes dripping with a chill.

The other Headmasters were also filled with anger, ready to lash out.

The great hall is another story.

Felix half-crouched down, as he carefully examined the extinguished Goblet of Fire, which looked like a crappy carpenter's handiwork, and the tool used was still an incompetent axe, not even a complete Chisel.

But nonetheless, he looked at it very carefully, with a constant gleam in his eyes.

" Did you notice anything, Felix?" Flitwick asked with a whisper, "Something wrong with the Goblet of Fire?"

"It's easy to come to that conclusion, the question is, by whom, and how." Felix said quietly, "That's not what worries me the most, a unique set of two champions ... is not necessarily a good thing."

Flitwick looked at him hesitantly, "Dumbledore will work that out, won't he?"

At this point, the great hall is chaotic and turbulent, many professors have taken it upon themselves to maintain order, "Prefect and Heads, take responsibility." Professor Sprout said in a loud voice, "The Headmasters will negotiate it through, we just have to wait."

"Let's not wait!" A grumpy voice said.

Professor Sprout looked back at the man limping over in dismay, "Professor Moody ...?"

Moody also stayed in the great hall.

He passed over Professor Sprout, his magic eye spinning wildly in its sockets, staring at the chaotic students in the great hall.

"Quiet!" He shouted, "Now listen to me," he paced through the crowd, his wooden cane making the dull sound of "Duk Duk", "there was an accident, your headmasters has more important things to deal with, and there are some things I need to inquire on his behalf. Clear!"

He raised his head, with both eyes swept through the crowd, and said calmly, "I know that some of you, who either did not take the usual path or are curious about things ... Anyway, you chose to walk around during the night. ... And you thought you were alone, but there was some sneaky figure hidden in the darkness, and I am absolutely sure that one of you saw him ... things that you thought were unusual, different from ordinary... Eerie shadows, uncharacteristic reflections, think about it and tell me."

In a restless turmoil, the young wizards looked left and right, while in the middle of the crowd, a small Hufflepuff wizard raised his hand shakily.

" Yes! You? It's you! What did you see, boy?"

Moody walked over and put his arm around the little wizard as he asked with his head lowered. The little wizard looked scared and tried his best to keep his eyes away from Moody's fake eyes.

"Professor Moody, you seem to be scaring him." Felix said, standing next to Moody at some point, sizing him up without a trace.

"You're right, Professor Hap." Moody smacked his lips and wore a smile on his scarred face that looked even more terrifying.

But he stepped a few steps back and gave up his place.

Felix rescued the young wizard from Moody's grasp and asked gently, "What's your name? What year are you in?"

"O, Owen Caldwell, sir." The young wizard stammered, "I'm in the first year."

Felix smiled, "You may call me Professor Hap, so, Mr. Caldwell, you were out on your night stroll last night? You've got a lot of nerve for a freshman, tell me what you saw?"

"It wasn't a night stroll, Professor Hap," Owen emphasized, seeing Moody's head lowered again, the ghastly face getting closer to him, he hastily closed his eyes, "I wanted to go to the kitchen to get something to eat, Eleanor told me, she, she's a friend of mine . . But on the way back, I thought about the Goblet of Fire is in the entrance hall, I just wanted to check it out ... Professor, I didn't think about breaking school rules."

"Well, I know, what did you see?" Felix asked the key point.

"I, I saw ... saw ...," he stammered, his eyes suddenly widening, "the Headmaster of Durmstrang! "

The great hall became so quiet that even a needle sound could be heard.

" That was impossible! He's lying!" One of Durmstrang's students said with righteous indignation.

"I'm not!" The young wizard named Owen turned red and shouted, "I saw his beard, a beard like a goat! Sneaking out of the entrance hall!"

"Good job, kid." Moody grinned with a terrible leer and tugged Owen toward the room next to the great hall, "I need your testimony to see what else he has to say!"

Felix followed behind them, mulling over the situation, he is not as optimistic as Moody, there is probably already a lot of squabbling that must be going on inside.

Sure enough, as soon as they pushed the door open, they heard Karkaroff's voice

" By-laws? Unfair by-laws! I insist that my students should re-register, and of course, there are other schools, in short, Hogwarts should be excluded this time!"

"But Karkaroff, I'm afraid that won't work," Bagman said restlessly, "the Goblet of Fire just went out and won't be rekindled until the next tournament of champions"

"The next tournament, Durmstrang will never participate in it!" Karkaroff fumed, walking around the cramped room, his silver and white fur cloak making a loud windy sound, " Then I propose that the restraints on Durmstrang students should be released, the dark magic part ..."

"Karkaroff, we negotiated."

"You are bringing up the negotiation with me? Haven't we had enough meetings before, and what did we get in return? Shameful cheating! I'd like to leave right now!"

"You're a thief crying out to catch a thief, Karkaroff!" Moody snarled, "All champions are obliged to participate in the tournament, just as Dumbledore said, it is bound by a magical contract unless you want to subject your students to harsh punishment."

Karkaroff gasped and stared at him, his eyes glowing red, but he never mentioned leaving again, he turned his head to the other three headmasters, "Say something for once, am I the only one here who has an objection?"

The short witch, the Headmistress of Uagadou spoke up, her whole body plopped down on a couch by the fireplace, the three Uagadou champions stood behind her, the student with the broad shoulders shielded the light from the fireplace.

"I've long heard that the Tournament of Champions has always had a tradition of cheating." She said with a wide grin, looking like a strange-looking voodoo woman: "But I've admired Headmaster Dumbledore, and since he said there was no cheating, there must have been another person who tampered with it"

"That's what I'm here for." Moody said gruffly, "Albus, I've brought a piece of evidence." He nudged the young wizard, who warily repeated what he had just said in the great hall, and then closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttered continuously.

Harry looked at him from afar, as if he saw himself once again.

At this moment, things seemed to take a turn for the worse, and everyone, including the three Champions of Durmstrang, turned their heads to look at Karkaroff, the Headmaster who had always been unpopular in the school.

"I... You... You're making a false accusation!" Karkaroff said in a panic.

"Then tell us why you were in the entrance hall in the middle of the night?" Moody said gruffly, "Don't try to deny it, I'm watching you with these eyes."

Standing on the sidelines, looking exasperated, Karkaroff turned his head to the other three headmasters, "What do you think?"

"Don't try to change the subject! Clear your suspicions first before talking to anyone else!" Moody yelled.

"What do you think I'll do?" Karkaroff shouted, "I'm just cautious by nature and checked it out of habit ... Even if I wanted to cheat, I wouldn't have brought Hogwarts an inexplicable second set of champions!"

These words are somewhat reasonable, other headmasters nodded slightly, all of them wanted their champions to win, so how will they ever contribute to their rival school and provide them with a special advantage.

But Moody remained persistent, "Maybe someone's aim is not to win ... right," his voice carried a hint of a growl: "Maybe someone wants Potter to die from this, yeah, some of you won't understand What's the big deal about an ordinary little boy ... but you understand his value, don't you, Karkaroff?"

His one magic eye rolled around, taking in the expressions of everyone in the room, the only intact eye fixed dead on Karkaroff, with his spittle flying.

"Don't forget who you were once before, some scum will remain scum all their lives, and you are the…"

"Alastor!" Dumbledore looked at him sternly, and Moody smacked his lips and stopped talking.

Karkaroff, like a wounded small animal, suddenly lost all his strength and leaned against the wall involuntarily. "You're ... threatening! I will tell you, it is not me ... I have no reason to ..."

Madame Maxime grunted loudly, she occupied a couch alone and spoke out, "I must remind you that it has now gone off-topic, I do not know what your old grudge is, but, our focus now is what to do with the extra second group of champions from Hogwarts."

"These are all minor issues." Felix suddenly spoke up.

"What a minor issue? A Minor Issue?!" Madame Maxime repeated his words with vexation.

"That's right, minor issues ... One moment, please, ma'am." Felix said as he looked at Dumbledore, "Albus?"

Dumbledore looked up and met his gaze

In a flash, light and shadow distorted and the world reversed.

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 417 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

In the Thinking Room, Felix passed him a cup of tea.

"It's getting real here," Dumbledore said curiously, taking a light sip of the amber liquid, "What kind of tea is this, I don't think I've ever had it before."

"Ordinary tea, you and I will taste it differently." Felix said as he sat opposite of Dumbledore, and at that moment, they are here all alone.

"How much time do we have?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"Two and a half minutes," Felix rubbed his head, "five minutes at most if you really need it."

"That's at least a quarter of an hour." Dumbledore said with a slight nod.

Felix stared at him and rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs and said slowly, "Two things, one to appease the four schools and one to track down the man behind the curtain."

Dumbledore's long fingers interlocked in front of him, "Do you have any insight?"

"The first matter is pretty much solved, it mainly depends on your opinion."

"My opinion?" Dumbledore said with a smile.

"The Goblet of Fire contract can not be broken, this one will pressure them, but it will create a problem, Hogwarts's reputation will plummet, and we will lose our honour abroad -"

"This is the scenario that I do not want to see." Dumbledore said decisively, "We need to make certain compromises."

"There are two ways, one is to strengthen the opponent, the second is to weaken ourselves. The former is not desirable, after all, each school has different demands." Felix said calmly.

"Then we have to choose the latter, let's talk about the second thing, which is the key point." Dumbledore said, "Who do you think they are targeting?"

"It could only be Harry, that's the most likely possibility." Felix suddenly thought of a point: "Sirius mentioned to me during the World Cup, Harry's scars ..."

"I know about it, and Sirius wrote to me." Dumbledore brought up the subject, he said in a quiet voice: "Back to the Goblet of Fire, I had suspected that Harry used some means to bypass the restrictions of the Goblet of Fire, but when Miss Granger appeared, I knew it is impossible."

"Is that possible, bypassing the restrictions? I always thought there is a powerful confusion spell for that. ..."

Dumbledore laughed: " The person who made the rules of the Goblet of Fire is a human being, a human being would leave loopholes, and frankly, I'm a little disappointed with the people in the shadows, the tactics are too obvious."

Felix nodded, that's true, it might be more mind-boggling if they were able to find loopholes in the rules. But for now, everyone knew the Goblet of Fire had been artificially tampered with.

The difference is that the other four schools think it was Hogwarts that tampered with it, and even if it wasn't, Hogwarts still took advantage of it.

"So, it is Voldemort?"

" Well, it is, Voldemort." Dumbledore said softly, "From what I know of him, although, it was unlikely that he did it personally."

"He must have some helpers, the one who attacked Harry with Peter Pettigrew, and maybe more." Felix followed the headmasters' train of thought: "He once ruled over a small part of England, it should not be difficult."

Speaking of which, his mind wandered. The deadline he had left for Lucius Malfoy is before Christmas, but now that the situation has changed, he can't possibly afford to wait any longer. Besides, according to the feedback from the Rain Swallow Patronus, the mysterious antique seller also seems to be inextricably linked to Malfoy Manor ...

"No, Felix, you don't know him, Voldemort uses power as the foundation for domination. Losing his power, he lost the restraint he had on his men." Dumbledore said with a sigh, "I visited his peers and staff at the orphanage one by one over the summer, and the more I got to know, the more I became aware of his nature."

Felix thought about it: "So he has been hiding in the Albanian forest all these years, also related to this? He didn't trust anyone after he lost his power... No, I should say the batch he trusted were all locked up in Azkaban ... until Peter Pettigrew found him!"

"You hit the nail on the head." Dumbledore agreed with him.

Felix, however, frowned, "Can we be sure who tampered with it? Theoretically, all four headmasters and the professors they brought with them have a chance, even those in Hogwarts ..."

The scope of this would be too large.

"Igor Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater." Dumbledore said calmly, "That's why I had to stop Alastor."

"Could it be him?" Felix is not quite convinced, Karkaroff's reaction is too real, even if he wanted to clear his name of suspicion, there is no need to react so hard, with the other three schools' feelings being mutual in this.

On the contrary, Moody ... past scenes flashed quickly, some suspicions are more plausible than not, but he could not produce any evidence.

"Karkaroff's unlikely, he betrayed his former master after the war, by offering a list of Death Eaters." Dumbledore said: "I personally think for now Voldemort will not bother to find him."

"What about the Imperius Curse? Polyjuice Potion?" Felix asked probingly, he did not think about saying anything about that guy but wanted to see Dumbledore's attitude.

"You don't understand what I mean yet, Felix. If it is Voldemort, he will not show his weak side to his betrayer who once was kneeled before him; he will be more willing to announce his name after his resurrection and let the traitor live in fear day and night until he dies quietly in a shadowy corner."

Felix nodded, is this the pride of the Dark Lord? As he said lightly, "As far as I know, Professor Moody claimed to have been attacked before he was enrolled ..."

Dumbledore's eyes sharpened as he looked over.

"... I also noticed that he carries a curved flask with him, but I haven't seen him open it once, is he being a bit paranoid that he would be thirsty?"

Dumbledore watched him, and after ten seconds or so, he said calmly: "It is only your speculation, Alastor's nerves are more sensitive, and he never touched any suspicious food, this is a matter of general knowledge. I've known him for more than half a century, even before the time of Voldemort; I know him well enough, and yet I don't find anything suspicious about him."

"We can't do anything to a man out of speculation."

"It's 'you' who won't make a move on someone out of speculation." Felix said with deliberate emphasis.

Dumbledore fell silent.

"Dumbledore," Felix said, "We should not let potential threats stay around," his tone lowered, "or at least test things out."

A moment of silence followed -

"What are you going to do?"

"Imperius Curse, Polyjuice Potion, and memory modification are the three ways I can think of, but the third method cannot be verified for now without immobilizing Professor Moody." Felix said, and he brought others into the picture to make it seem like he wasn't targeting Moody that much: "Of course, it works for others as well."

"Assuming that they are not willing to become Voldemort's lackeys." Dumbledore added.

"That's right, if it is willing, my means are very limited, the dark wizard who dares to do plot in front of your eyes, will certainly be on guard against the Legilimency," Felix also felt the difficulties, " Is it possible for me to search everyone's memory a little by little, it is no different from stripping a person naked, right? "

If he made a mistake, he would only be creating deadly enemies for himself.

Why do wizards value their memories? Because their fears are justified, wizards literally have the means to modify, falsify and erase other people's memories.

"I'll handle this, Felix, I'll talk to Alastor." Dumbledore said in a calm voice, "Imperius Curse, Polyjuice Potion, I will check both of them, but probing memories, I disagree, that would be the greatest humiliation to Alastor."

"But ..."

"I am not okay with using any overkill methods without more obvious evidence." He said without question, "Other than that, if he's okay with it, I intend to have him keep an eye out for suspicious people around him ..."

Felix shrugged, "I'll wait for your answer." He snapped his fingers, dispersing the magic, and the two returned to reality.

In the room, Madame Maxime is staring at him, she looks exasperated, her black silk satin-clad bust heaving dramatically, as if she will throw a fist at him in the next second, but she probably thought of the fact that he also is a school board member, which barely holds her back.

She remained silent, and Karkaroff finally relaxed from Moody's shadow at this moment and said impatiently, "What is the minor issue? What is the solution, you guys have been staring at each other for half a minute without saying anything, don't think you can muddle through like this. If there is no good solution, then let go of Durmstrang's restraints and allow them to use any means-"

"Headmaster Karkaroff," Felix said, looking at him, "your students are not as restricted as one might think-"

"What do you mean?" Karkaroff stared.

"I have a question, is Durmstrang a school that produces dark wizards?"

"That's slander! Mr. Crouch, did you hear that?"

"Hear me out," Felix stared at him, "it's true that Durmstrang is most open-minded in its approach to dark magic. But it doesn't mean that Durmstrang is a school that 'exclusively' teaches dark magic, which only takes up a very small part of the content of the curriculum, or at least I don't see much of it in your textbooks ..."

" Dark magic is most widely used in the field of dueling, but aren't you guys also teaching them the basic spells like disarming charm? Stunning spell? Shield charm?"

Felix said slowly: "Dark magic is only an effective add-on, but it will never be the mainstream of a magic school with open enrolment, even if you like dark magic more, you should've nevertheless beware of this point!"

Karkaroff could not speak.

If he admitted that Durmstrang used dark magic as the main teaching content, then tomorrow the reputation of the school would be completely infamous. As a headmaster, he had to stand up for his and his school's reputation.

Karkaroff said with a red face, "Dark magic is only a part of the Durmstrang curriculum - we also have the ability to solve its side effects, and there are special professors in the school who will evaluate the student's learning progress and selectively teach them dark magic."

That's what has been said, but privately many professors turn a blind eye and don't pursue it too far, which is why Durmstrang's reputation for promoting dark magic is so well known.

The reason why Durmstrang has not become a concentration camp for dark wizards has to do with the school's system. They do follow certain vetting standards, and the advantage of this practice is that even if there are students who practice dark magic privately, they don't practice much because they don't dare to use it publicly, and its impact on their minds is not that serious.

"Then what about the extra set of Champions from Hogwarts?" Karkaroff changed the subject very stiffly.

"It's simple, since you all see it as an advantage to Hogwarts, let's make it a disadvantage," Felix lightly swept a glance at the Champions and Headmasters present, who were not concerned with whether there were dark wizards secretly coveting Harry or teaching issues of Durmstrang, they just wanted to know how to reasonably weaken Hogwarts before the tournament starts.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman, I suggest that Hogwarts' score be calculated according to the average value."

--

Thanks for all your support.

There are 419 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments

"By average value?" Bagman asked uncertainly.

"That's right, the average value. Hogwarts now has two groups of champions, the first group of champions is from three different houses, while the second group of champions is totally from Gryffindor, obviously, this is not beneficial to the relationship between the students of the four houses. So, it is better to simply tie them together ..."

"For example, five schools, plus two judges, for the time being, let's calculate the full score of a single task as seventy points. If one group of Hogwarts scores seventy points and another group scores zero, the final score of the Hogwarts will be thirty-five points."

"But when it comes to the rank order in the tasks, it's best to calculate them separately." He then added another sentence.

Everyone's eyes lit up, and they couldn't help but nod their heads.

Madame Maxime frowned, "If I understand correctly, Hogwarts must occupy first and second place if they want to win the competition, so the disadvantage is too big ..."

Bagman wiped his round face with a handkerchief, looking very anxious, "Finally someone made a fair point, I also think the same, in case one group performs too poorly, won't they drag down the other group that has hopes of winning the title?"

Karkaroff laughed, "I rather think this method is fair."

Bagman said with annoyance, "In case one group dies! Uh, sorry, I mean ... in case one group of champions loses the ability to compete, such as suffering an unhealable injury, then their score will be very low!"

"That's the penalty of Hogwarts for cheating, isn't it?" Karkaroff said sleekly.

"Anyone with a bit of brain wouldn't believe that this was done by Hogwarts, and I do think that a thorough investigation should be conducted with everyone's presence. Besides," Moody said impatiently, " You still haven't cleared your name yet, Karkaroff!"

Moody's Magic Eye darted around, as he peered at Karkaroff with contempt.

Dumbledore spoke up, with his usual calm tone, "If you have no objections, let's proceed with the tournament in this way, the students of the four houses of Hogwarts are essentially one, and I value their gains in this tournament more than the glory from the tournament."

Harry's heart filled with guilt to the core, he opened his mouth to say something, when Hermione pulled him aside and shook her head firmly.

After a long silence, no one offered any further disagreement, and everyone acquiesced to the fact that there would be two sets of champions at Hogwarts, along with their unique scoring method, which frankly exceeded their initial expectations.

At this point, most people were actually convinced that the anomaly in the Goblet of Fire was not Hogwarts' handiwork, but this speculation inevitably cast a shadow over their hearts.

Everyone's heart became heavy with concern.

"Well," Dumbledore looked at the others with a smile - Harry couldn't believe how he could still smile - " Next, I'd like to ask Barty Crouch Sr to provide guidelines for the champions. Barty?"

Mr. Crouch looked as if he had just abruptly snapped out of deep thought.

"Yes," he said, "Guidelines, yes ... the first task..." In the bright light, he looked extraordinarily haggard, with two thick bags under his eyes, and deep wrinkles that looked as if they had been scratched out with a pocket knife.

"This year's competition is different from the previous ones, completely different ... apart from the first-ever five schools with six teams, there is also the fact that the competition tasks are carried out in a group format, and we have to ensure that the champions are safe enough while increasing the difficulty. Please rest assured, the Ministry of Magic has arranged professional staff to protect everyone, in addition, Dumbledore also promised that he would choose a wizard with high magic power to oversee the whole game ... Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore nodded and said cheerfully, "I already have a suitable candidate."

"Very well, let's get back to business." Mr. Crouch said: "The first task is very difficult and rushed, on the 24th of this month ... Therefore, we have prepared three keywords to provide a direction for the champions to prepare, but will not explicitly tell you what you are going to face... So more or less use your brains ..."

"The first keyword, courage - measures your guts and willingness to face the unknown - in case you are too stupid to guess. Nevertheless, the ministry believes that after knowing what you have to face, if you still choose to face it bravely, then this quality is even more significant;"

"The second keyword, cooperation, I don't need to say anything more, every participating team - three people must be able to work together, one person will never be able to complete the task;"

"The third keyword, fire," when Crouch said the word, Ilvermorny's Graves quickly glanced at Hermione, his face paled a bit, but no one noticed it, as Crouch continued: "This point will not be expanded, it is considered as a secret, and it also will be a test for your wisdom ..."

He paused, leaving room for people to chew on the three words, courage, cooperation, and fire, with the third word being the most important. Many realized that the champions are likely to face dangerous magical flames, possibly the environment, traps, or some kind of magical creature that can manipulate the fire.

Barty Crouch Sr retreated into the shadows, while Ludo Bagman said cheerfully, "Barty has given you all hints, and with careful preparation, I'm sure you can handle those-"

"Dragons!" A voice suddenly said.

"Wh, what?" Bagman almost bit his tongue as he jerked his head around and stared at the unassuming student who had made the statement.

Ron shivered and said, "I guessed it, something that breathes fire, all I can think of is Dragon, when I was a first-year-"

Harry stomped on his foot, "Uh, I mean," Ron desperately opened his mind not to expose Hagrid, "I have someone in my family who works at the dragon sanctuary, I went to see it in my first year and got impressed by ... "

Bagman's tense face relaxed, "Really, ah, so that's it ... but you misheard Barty, he said Fire, not fire-breathing ..." he repeated nervously, "Not fire-breathing." His body restlessly swayed, his movements were all seen by someone with an eye to see.

Felix looked away, quite speechless, why don't you suggest it more clearly?

"So it's not a Dragon?" One of Uagadou's champions asked.

Everyone stared at him as if they were looking at a troll, or something similar. Bagman pretended not to hear him and turned his head to Dumbledore, "Our mission is almost complete, I would like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, is that okay?"

"Of course," said Dumbledore, "Barty, why don't you stay too, you look awfully exhausted."

"No, I must go back to the Ministry, at present it is a very busy, extremely tight schedule ... I have left young Weatherby as a temporary in charge ...," he rambled and left before everyone.

After that, people left one by one, and when the remainder in the room had dispersed - "Alastor." Dumbledore stayed behind with Moody.

Then the door slammed heavily behind them.

Felix stood a short distance away, waiting quietly, motionless like a statue, a little away from the door.

Do not know how long it took, the door opened again, and Moody came out, he limped away with his crutches.

A few moments later, Dumbledore came out and looked at Felix, who stood in the corner and shook his head slightly.

Moody turned out to be genuine? From the information available so far, he is the most suspicious, if not him, who would it be?

Felix's heart sank, and Dumbledore left, leaving him alone to think in silence, in the thinking room, one by one figures appeared alternately, some clear, some a little blurry.

Even Karkaroff's goatee kept wavering in his mind.

"Heh, this is getting interesting," Felix said to himself, " Maybe it's time to bring out my Ver. of Marauder's Map ..."

On his way back to the office, where he turned into a corner, a group of people came rushing out with a huff.

"Professor, we're willing to forfeit the competition ..."

"Yes, Professor Hap."

"Can you talk with Headmaster Dumbledore again-"

Felix raised his hand, stopping the chattering Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with another group of champions standing a few steps behind them.

"Do you want to be Squib?"

"What?" Harry questioned in shock, he didn't know how this topic had been brought up, of course, he knew about the Squib, Filch is a Squib, he knew about it since he was a second year.

Hermione's eyes widened with fear, and Harry looked at her face blankly, such a look is something he had never seen before.

"That's the price for forfeiting, that's why I'm asking you guys, do you want to be Squibs?"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Harry shouted out, his body trembled for a moment, unable to say whether it was from fear or anger. He dared not imagine the consequences of becoming a Squib, Hogwarts is the first place he recognized from his heart, his first home ... how can he ever possibly allow himself to leave this side of world?

Even Cedric and the rest of them froze, despite how Headmaster Dumbledore repeatedly stressed that the contract could not be broken, they never thought that abandoning the game would result in this kind of punishment.

Squib, the loss of magic power ... In fact, there is a thin layer of magic power present in the squibs, which allows them to see things invisible to ordinary people, able to use potions, and enjoy a fraction of the convenience of magic, but most of them, for the rest of their lives, will not be able to cast a single spell successfully and completely.

"Then there's no need to speak about this thing."

Felix spoke quickly, "Next is second topic, why are the two groups of champions from Hogwarts bound together, that's your concern too, right?"

The six people - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cedric, Roger Davies, and Collins Foley nodded in unison.

Felix explained, "On the one hand, it's a necessary compromise, and you don't want four internationally renowned wizarding schools to be hostile to Hogwarts for decades to come, do you?"

There was a uniform head shaking.

"On the other hand, this is also my own wish." Felix looked at the frozen six faces and finally revealed a smile, "Yes, the situation in front of me is exactly the result I want to achieve."

"For, why?" Harry stammered and asked.

"When the second set of champions appeared from Hogwarts, I immediately realized the risk - No, it wasn't about someone tampering with the Goblet of Fire rules, that thought followed afterward," Felix added when he saw Harry trying to interject.

"Hogwarts has two sets of champions, which is more than just an honour, but also the first signs of a split between the four houses. Even though my attempt at the Magic Rune Club slightly broke down the strong wall between the four houses, I suddenly realized that if I didn't do something about it now, this tournament may ruin all my previous efforts."

"I certainly wouldn't allow that to happen." Felix said, "So after consulting with Dumbledore, I proposed new scoring rules."

Harry and the others stared at him in disbelief.

"But, Professor Hap," Ron said suddenly, "this will only cost the school the Tournament of Champions trophy, Hogwarts will lose for sure, and it will lead to a huge disaster."

"Why do you say that?" Felix asked politely.

"Because, because ..." Ron held up one of his hands, which trembled uncontrollably, "because I ... when I knew the first task is a dragon, it's always been like that. I'm not exactly a champion material, and if I'm involved, not only will I not be able to help, but I'll be dragging their feet."

"Just hearing the name I'm scared to death, and if I truly confront a Dragon, I will absolutely die, and will also drag Harry and Hermione, when I think of such a scenario, I feel," he said with a pale, daunting face: "Why not kick me out and choose another one up, Squib, in fact, also ..."

"Ron ...," Hermione said sadly.

"I know I'm no match for all of you, even in the bottom of the batch of all those students selected--"

"Not a batch." Felix interjected.

"What?" Ron looked at him with some amazement.

"Not a batch, I mean, you're the worst one." Felix said. "Of the selected students even if you count Neville, you're the worst one."

"But Neville ...," Ron said indignantly, glaring at him.

"The number of spells mastered by Neville is not as much as yours, but he far surpasses you with the shield charm and the stunning spell, and most crucially, he has initially formed a dueling style that suits him, and as time lengthens, the gap between both of you will become more and more obvious."

Ron froze there, his brain blank, his whole face looked like a dolt.

"Professor Hap--" Harry looked at Ron anxiously, and then at Felix, not understanding why he said that.

"... However, I am very optimistic about your potential."

Ron's eyes rolled, with a little more life on his blazed white face, as he repeated blankly, "Potential?"

"Yes, potential. In fact, your talent is not bad, even with you being playful, you can be ranked in the middle of your grade, and if we talk about practical ability alone, you can be ranked in front of your age ..."

Ron looked at him, "But I can't match--"

"You lack sufficient motivation." Felix scratched his nose, "An interesting phenomenon is that no matter in dueling classes, or ancient rune classes, or magic rune club, your performance is always average, just the type that is average to below average and the type that you definitely can't notice at first glance."

Ron's face scrunched up.

" The thing is, there are only three types in my rating." Felix said.

"That's precisely why I think you lack sufficient motivation," Felix stated, "Originally it was your personal choice and I wouldn't get overly involved, but things are different now - for whatever reason, you've become one of the Hogwarts Champions."

"In a sense, you're still the most important one, you should know what I mean."

Harry had never seen Ron's body shake so evenly, from head to toe, even the muscles in his face were shaking in turmoil.

"I would determine whether Hogwarts would end up with the trophy?" Ron said slowly.

"You can understand it this way, if you compare the tournament of champions to a Quidditch game, you are now a seeker." Felix said, "In the past, you didn't have a reason to get stronger, but now there is-"

"On a smaller scale, you're one of the Champions and have a chance to earn glory for the school by working hard; on a larger scale, every ounce of effort you make now is protecting the lives of your two best friends, Potter and Granger."

"I look forward to your performance on the first task."

He took a few steps forward and turned his head to look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "The next few days may be difficult for you, after all, with an extra set of Champions, especially when the scoring rules are announced."

"Only when the first task is over, your situation might improve ..."

"Professor Hap!" Cedric said, "I'll step up and explain to the others, I've heard it all, Harry and the group are victims too."

"I'll also speak to the Ravenclaw students, I'm a Head Boy." Roger Davies said.

"Me too, Professor Hap." Collins said, glaring at Ron, "I'll get the trophy, and I'll be watching you to death."

Felix's lips curled up, and he waved as he turned to leave.

--

#Octavia and #Hubert Budny, Thanks for your support.

There are 419 chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Report chapter Comments