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?

14. 417

Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts #Chapter 417: Thrilling Cold Night (2 in 1) - Read Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts Chapter 417: Thrilling Cold Night (2 in 1) Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

"Harry! Harry! What happened?"

Harry huffed and puffed when he heard a familiar voice in his ear, he opened his eyes forcefully and saw two blurry, concerned faces, Ron and Neville. They looked freaked out, as they both held his hands from each side of him without knowing what to do, and then Harry realized he had somehow fallen out of bed and been lying on the cold floor.

"I'm fine, Ron, an-nd Neville - Thanks." Harry said, as he also saw Seamus and Dean look up from their beds in a daze, "I'm fine ..." he said emphatically.

"You don't look like you're fine." Ron said.

"I ... oh, my scars were just aching ... like before." Harry stammered as he got up from the floor, Ron then handed him his glasses, Harry put them on as the room became clear.

Neville carried a magic lamp, the light is not blinding, but it still caused Harry to feel dizziness, it is like he went back to the middle of that real dream, he was sitting in a seat, talking to someone ... but then again the person was not him, he was not so fragile that he needed someone to feed him potion ... ...

He tried his best to immerse himself in it again, the feeling was too real that he still remembers it, the sticky potion felt like ice, sliding down his throat and into his digestive system, then churning in his stomach ...

"Are you sick, Harry?" Seamus looked at him with alarm, "I think you need to stop by the hospital wing."

The dreamscape seemed to be far away from him, no, it shouldn't stop like this ... Harry thought as he made an excuse in his defense, "I'm going to the lavatory ... Don't worry, I'm fine... ..." and he stumbled out in his pyjamas.

"I'll go and check on Harry, you guys sleep." Ron said thoughtfully as Neville handed Ron his little lion magic lamp, "Oh, thanks, Neville. Harry should have nightmares, he will be fine after washing his face in cold water ... "

After an explanation, Ron left the dormitory after Harry.

When he went out, he didn't see anyone in the direction of the door, he scanned the common room and unsurprisingly saw Harry in that familiar spot in the corner of the room, sitting in a gold and red armchair, with his head leaned back, one hand rubbing his forehead, while the other covered his chest, his brow furrowed.

Harry desperately tried to remember, presuming he is still in that dimly lit room, and trying his best to remember the smell of that slimy potion, that stuff was disgusting, more revolting than a pot of overcooked Toadstool soup ... He was angry, what a mishap, he mentioned someone's son, and that person was right next to him, without saying a word Served him, how disgusting ... No, it wasn't him, it was presumably Voldemort, Sirius analysed it for him, he thought the reason for the scar on his head, as Dumbledore had explained it in the first year ...

Voldemort was frail and needed to drink potions constantly, Harry sincerely hoped that potion had better be even more awful to drink ... But Voldemort had a body; A piece of good news... Voldemort was attacked, but he reacted quickly and blocked the ... black lightning? That's familiar ... It's Professor Hap! How did he appear? Could he have gotten a clue about Voldemort from one of his many dance partners?

Harry put this unlikely notion aside, he must recall more details ... after a couple of chats, Voldemort asked someone to go first, who was it? The one who got scolded? Harry couldn't remember the name, but he knew it was pronounced in three syllables ... Professor Hap used powerful flame magic, not like Hermione's one, it was eerie white flames ... They continued their conversation and Harry shook his head, he couldn't quite remember it, his own brain was like a sink with the plug pulled, and details of the dream kept leaking down ...

Did they mention Professor Dumbledore, hypocrisy? A wave of anger welled up in Harry, but he quickly became nervous, he knew what happened next, it was so impressive, in the dream he almost thought he was dead ... Professor Hap condensed a flaming longsword and penetrated it through his chest, he wailed desperately... ... No, he got it wrong again! It was Voldemort, not him.

Harry thought carefully; Professor Hap began to attack, countless brilliant magic flashed ... Voldemort floating in midair, laughing at Professor Hap for doing futile things ... but Harry experiences heart-devouring hatred, Voldemort's malice is too strong, he certainly does not feel as relaxed as he showed ... Harry seemed to have brought into the perspective of Voldemort, not a dream this moment, what is happening now!

Did I get inside Voldemort's head again? Harry thought with excitement and fear; He closed his eyes tightly, he seemed to be floating in the clouds, flying forward, the darkness made everything around him blurred, after which a dazzling silver light illuminated as it flew close to him, it was a silver phoenix, just like Fawkes, and he found himself gnashing his teeth and exclaiming, "Dumbledore! "

He then plunged headlong into the ground, weaving through the black dirt and brown rocks, he had to race against time, there is something very important to do, he broke into a cellar, and possessed an unlucky rat, the rat "squeaked " a few times, and when it opened its eyes, it had turned blood-red. It climbed on a table, then it triggered some kind of mechanism, the air exploded with a brilliant purple light, the rat bounced a dozen feet and hit the wall, twitching a few times, and then did not move.

Then the shadow of Voldemort floated out of the rat's corpse, he stood there quietly, without making any sound, but Harry still felt a heavy depression ...

Harry opened his eyes, Ron sat across from him and looked at him with a complicated expression, "You dreamed about that man again, didn't you?"

Harry took a deep breath and said with certainty, "Voldemort informed his spies at the school."

"What?" Ron looked at him in surprise, "Mate, do you know what you're talking about?"

"I know!" Harry made his tone as calm as possible, "I know, of course, I know ..." he suddenly stood up and kept circling the common room, "Voldemort is short of men, so he can't lose his servant in the castle ... Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore launched a surprise attack - well done!" He clapped his hands.

Ron looked at him with a worried face.

"But Voldemort had a way to get in touch with that spy in the castle, the guy who ... tossed our names into the Goblet of Fire!" Harry mused, his thoughts becoming clearer, "He's lost his physical body again, and if he loses his only servant now, all his previous plans will be ruined, so he activated the emergency contact ..."

Harry paused abruptly, his eyes searingly looking at Ron, as he said excitedly, "Do you know what we have to do now?"

"Tel-ll... Inform the professor?" Ron stammered.

"That's half right, give me my wand!" He asked Ron, who had come out with his and Harry's wands.

Ron handed Harry his wand reluctantly.

Harry held up his wand and pointed it in the direction of the dormitory, "Accio Marauder's Map! Accio Invisibility cloak!" Then they heard the sound of the box suddenly popping open, a shriek from Neville, followed by a few seconds of silence and waiting--

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two whizzing sounds were heard, and Harry nimbly grabbed the map and the invisibility cloak.

Ron pursed his lips and gulped as he watched Harry spread out the Marauder's Map, as his eyes constantly searched: "Will show up soon ... has to be now; if I'm right ..." Harry said.

" W-who are you looking for?" Ron leaned over the table and stared at the dense list of names.

"Never mind the names that are not moving, it has to be the ones that are moving! At this point in time, it's either a professor on patrol or a spy who got the message and is trying to escape!"

Ron hurriedly lowered his head to help him look.

"The ones that move, the ones that move ... there! Look, there's someone named Eleanor Branstone!" Ron shouted, and Harry looked over excitedly, then he heard Ron saying in frustration, "Oh ... probably not, she's heading towards the kitchen."

"Then add one more point, running out of the castle, focus on some people who are moving fast but still stopping at the corner of the stairs." Harry said, envisioning the spy's escape route along his own lines.

"Good idea." Ron said as he watched for a while longer, "Peeves is running! Do you think someone could have stolen his name, like name magic or something? Peter Pettigrew knows about the Marauder's Map, he could have told the spy about it, so maybe that person is on guard."

Harry was having a hard time with this, they had found a dozen moving names, professors and students, living people and ghosts, and Filch's cat!

He had never realized that the castle could be so lively at night.

"Wait!" Harry said, his eyes lit up, "That's him!"

"Who is it?" Ron looked over to get a better look, but Harry already pulled him and pushed open the door to the common room. The fat lady got woken up and was just about to complain twice when Harry and Ron ran away like a gust of wind.

"Reckless young men! Don't expect me to open the door for you!" She shouted towards their backs.

Harry and Ron quickly made their way downstairs, their footsteps made a " click " sound on the stairs, waking up the countless portraits hanging on the walls. But they ignored it and jumped three or four steps at a time.

"Who the hell is that?" Ron asked as he gazed at the steps beneath his feet.

"Barty Crouch!"

"The judge of the Tournament of the Champions?" Ron's jaw dropped in shock as he subconsciously followed as Harry made a turn across a staircase.

"Makes sense, doesn't it? He's the judge, and the Ministry of Magic official who organized the tournament, and he has access to the Goblet of Fire! Besides, after the accident, he was the one who insisted that those whose names were called out must take part in the tournament, and he took a long leave of absence afterward... so he could have used this chance to sneak into Hogwarts!"

"But why? He can come openly and honestly, ah?" Ron asked, almost stepping into the trap on the stairs because he was so absorbed.

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"Then he could only show up during the tournament when there would be a thousand eyes on him." Harry said under his breath while staring at the Marauder's Map, and it took them less than a minute before they made their way to the second floor with one swoop.

"Strange, Crouch is walking very slowly and there shouldn't be a path there." Harry looked at the map and said suspiciously, "That direction should be Professor Moody's office ..."

Ron panted as he caught up, " Oh - yes, anyway ... we caught up, didn't we? Quickly put on the invisibility cloak, let's wait for him to come out, so we can follow him from behind and take the opportunity to sneak up on or alert a passing professor."

Harry did not speak, just stared at the Marauder's Map, his mind kept on analysing. Crouch does not seem to be running away now, what the hell is he thinking? He was bold enough to go undercover at Hogwarts, so he should be loyal to Voldemort, and when he heard Voldemort's call, he must have to leave immediately.

But why ...

Harry really can't figure it out. They have reached the vicinity of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, only seven or eight steps away from the office door, Ron spread the invisibility cloak, covering both of them.

They stared at the Marauder's Map, the name Barty Crouch and the location of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office overlapped. The two looked at each other in shock, "He's going to sneak up on Professor Moody? Why?" Ron asked in disbelief.

Harry held his breath, the name that belonged to Professor Moody was still motionless, should be sleeping in bed. Ron also realized this, and he muttered anxiously, "Get up, you're the greatest Auror, who is crazy enough to cast Imperius Curse on us."

Harry tugged Ron forward a few steps, and pressed his head against the door, they heard a "click-click-click" sound, like the sound of an old rusty armour moving forcibly without grease.

The name on the map belonging to Moody still didn't move.

"What to do?"

Ron asked, holding up his wand as the Marauder's Map showed Barty Crouch passing through the office and standing in the doorway of the bedroom, no doubt he is trying to do something to Professor Moody, no matter how it appeared.

"Don't leave the cloak yet!" Harry said to Ron.

"What?"

Harry suddenly lifted his invisibility cloak, raised his wand, and read aloud, "Bombarda!" The door to the office suddenly exploded with a loud bang, startling those inside, and Barty Crouch Jr. looked back in alarm.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry chanted furiously, and what looked like a laser beam collided with Barty Crouch Jr.'s protection shield, with sparks flying everywhere.

"It's YOU? It's you! Potter, you're just here in time!" Barty Crouch Jr. shouted.

Harry was a little confused for a moment, who is this person? Why does he have the name of Mr. Barty Crouch? But he had no time to think about it, he struggled to maintain the spell, but Barty Crouch Jr. is not weak at all, his shield charm easily blocked the potent disarming charm, as he approached step by step against Harry's magic.

Through the blurred shield, Barty Crouch Jr. stared at Harry, with a greedy gaze, "Potter, no, Harry, I'm Professor Moody, I taught you, have you forgotten? Come with me, I'll take you to the Dark Lord ..."

"You're not Professor Moody!" Harry retorted loudly.

"There were two Moody you met, and one of them was me," grinned Barty Crouch Jr. "That punk Peter Pettigrew was more or less useless, but he still knew and also told me about the secret of the Marauder's Map, which was the only good thing he did other than finding Master; I certainly know how dangerous the day when the list of champions was announced, in case Dumbledore suspected me, what can I do? I am the Dark Lord's only hope now, the only hope of resurrection! So I had to be cautious and vigilant enough at all times ... That's a good thing, the Dark Lord possessed my body - I was happy about that - and modified Moody's memories, very successful! Wasn't it? Hahaha!"

Harry gritted his teeth, unable to believe what he heard. "You're the Death Eater who ran away that day?"

"That's right, it was me. Don't struggle, Harry, I only need half a minute--"

"Whoosh!"

"Incarcerous!"

Ron suddenly poked his head out of his invisibility cloak and chanted a spell in the direction of Barty Crouch Jr, and a magic rope swept almost to the ground and wrapped around his calf. Harry took the opportunity to increase the output of magic, Barty Crouch Jr then stumbled backward, tripped over a large box, and fell into the box as he disappeared.

Harry's spell hit a pile of glassware in the office with a clear shattering sound, and he caught a glimpse of a glass-made sneakoscope smashed to pieces.

"Stupefy!" "Stupefy!"

Harry and Ron seized this opportunity, and successive cast a powerful barrage of spells, but the spell only hit the large box, making a dull sound. Harry was about to rush forward recklessly, that's when he saw Barty Crouch Jr stumbled to the ground again, not from the spell, but stumbled out of the box.

He had to take his chance ...

At that moment, the rope on Barty Crouch Jr turned into a big snake, which blocked the Severing Charm that Barty shot towards him without his notice, then he hurriedly looked around, and his eyes fell on a mirror-like thing hanging on the wall of the office - two dark blurry figures swayed around within it, but at the moment, the people in the mirror were getting Clearer and clearer, that it is possible to see their clear outline. It is two people, one with a long beard, and the other one looked very young ...

"Hiss~"

Barty Crouch Jr's whole face twisted, as he fell into that big box with a sudden roll, and Harry was about to go after him, when half a wand poked out of the box, the tip of which shone with a dazzling red light.

"Boom!"

A huge explosion exploded in his ears, Harry got swept away by a huge shockwave, and together with Ron, he crashed hard against the wall in the corridor. Harry felt like all the bones in his body got broken, and Ron also looked gruesome, he was hit by a big stone on his leg and moaning in pain.

Harry looked over at the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, where half the wall had collapsed, a large hole had broken in the ceiling, and dust clouded everywhere.

"Cough cough cough!" Harry choked as he coughed, he looked at Ron, Ron's face looked ashen, as he groaned faintly, which forced Harry to sit up, as he leaned against the wall, raising his wand feebly: "Epis--cough cough cough! Epi--"

"Vulnera Sanctum." A voice said.

Harry looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "Professor Dumbledore!" In the smoke and dust, he looked exactly as he had seen in that mirror before, and he looked to the side, and another figure appeared in the mirror, "Professor Hap!"

"Well," Felix nodded at him, throwing out a few healing spells, his head tilted to the side as he surveyed the ruins in front of him, "The Defense Against the Dark Arts office always suffers some disaster ..."

First-year he wasn't sure, but since he had joined, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts never had a good time, even in their own office. Second-year Lockhart and Rita Skeeter had a fight in that office in the basement, leaving Lockhart under an Obliviate and muddled for weeks; in the third year, Lupin and Snape fought and completely destroyed the whole office, which had to be moved to the second floor. Unexpectedly, in the fourth year, the new office also failed to survive.

But the good thing is, it should be just a simple Exploding Charm, not as difficult to deal with as dark magic, Felix waved his wand, let a piece of stone float up and fly to the original location, restoring everything as before.

Meanwhile, under the treatment of Dumbledore's spell, Ron's expression also became milder.

" Emergency complete, when things are over, you have to visit the hospital wing." Dumbledore said.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly thought of another person in the office, "Professor, Professor Moody is still in there ... he should be under a spell! And the spy, the one who dropped our names into the Goblet of Fire, he's a young man, but his name showed up as Barty Crouch ..." His expression looked both confused and puzzled.

"That man is the son of Barty Crouch, Crouch Jr. the same name." Felix explained simply. As he took Harry's Marauder's Map, he glanced at it and said with disappointment, "His name disappeared, and he got away."

As he spoke, the office had been restored to its original state - except for the items with magical powers, which were outside the scope of the spell's restoration.

Dumbledore walked forward and entered the office, taking two quick glances, and made his way to the bedroom. It is still some distance from the center of the explosion, coupled with the defensive magic of Hogwarts Castle, the impact is minimal, and when he opened the door with the unlocking charm, he could see Moody lying peacefully in bed, sleeping very soundly.

He is sleeping normally under these abnormal circumstances.

"So much noise did not wake him ...," Ron whispered to Harry.

Dumbledore leaned down to check the condition of Moody, Harry took the opportunity to tell them what had happened earlier, when they heard that Harry could still see Voldemort's movements after waking up, Dumbledore's face turned grave, "How did you see it, Harry? Was it like standing high up in the sky looking down on the scene, or ..."

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"I am him," Harry said. When the words came out, he realized with a jolt what he had said, and his voice became hoarse as he explained, "I, I got inside Voldemort's head and looked at the outside world through his eyes and felt his anger."

There was one thing he didn't say. Now when he looked at Dumbledore and Professor Hap, he felt peculiar emotions, because he had previously been filled with Voldemort's emotions, he felt a surprising hatred for these two people.

The air was uncomfortably silent. Harry noticed Professor Hap's eyes darting over him, and for a moment he thought the professor would say something, but nothing, nor Headmaster Dumbledore did.

Dumbledore suddenly straightened up and said to those present, "Alastor is physically unharmed, but as for his memory ... Felix, your help may be needed."

"No problem, Albus." Felix said calmly.

Dumbledore nodded slightly, "So, we now need to resolve the last question, how Barty Crouch Jr managed to hide in the castle, as far as I know - Felix, have you ever observed Moody?"

"Occasionally observed him, not just him, but a few people I thought were suspicious." Felix scratched his chin, "It was weird when I found nothing in the end."

" Weird indeed ..." Dumbledore stared at the large box that was already closed, "I detect no trace of Extension Charm unless he dug a passage, but he can't do that unless the Headmaster gave authority for this amount of work."

"Albus, your comment about the Extension Charm reminds me that we've forgotten that Voldemort is standing behind Crouch Jr." Felix said as an afterthought.

Dumbledore gazed at him and said lightly, "What do you mean, the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Let's have a look," Felix said, "We only found the one entrance from the girls' lavatory before, but it's likely that Slytherin built more than one passage. And it's possible that Voldemort could have pointed Crouch Jr the nearest pipe to him ..."

They opened the large box, which looked dark and stretched downwards, and Felix threw a ball of light below and saw a wet pipe at the end.

Dumbledore sighed, "Even I can't possibly figure out all the secrets of the castle. Let's go down and see if Crouch Jr has left yet or if there is a surprise."

Harry gave Ron a meaningful look, and they silently followed the two professors down the long ladder, before stopping at a wet pipe. Felix gestured at Harry to look at a small, dark snake symbol on the wall, and Harry suddenly understood that this is the entrance.

He made a familiar "hissing" sound and spoke in a Parseltongue, "Open." At that moment, a green light shone from the wet pipe under their feet, and then a sense of weightlessness came over them.

Felix quickly waved his hand, applying a levitation spell on them, along with a layer of humanoid shield charm, as they floated lightly to the ground.

Harry curiously touched his face, feeling a thin but tough barrier over his face, he knew the spell, Professor Hap's memory body in classroom seven taught them, but he never used it quite correctly.

The pipe is abnormally big, but still too small compared to a person, they had to crouch low, especially Dumbledore and Felix, who walked with a lot of effort.

Felix moved forward slowly, with a strong urge to blow this pipe, but when he saw even an old man like Dumbledore moving forward like a cat, he didn't complain.

They moved along the pipe, and along the way, they saw a long trail that some guy had crawled on the ground while grazing his way out. Felix could well imagine how flustered Crouch Jr had been, completely disregarding any image and crawling to escape.

A short distance along the way down the pipe, they came to the place where the pipes converge, with a thick pipe heading right to the bottom, they are very familiar with this path, after all, they came through it two years ago.

Underneath is the Slytherin Chamber. And the chamber is not within the range of the Marauder's Map.

"That guy ... called Little Crouch or something has been under our feet for the last few months?" Ron asked with surprise.

"Not always, according to what Harry said previously, he kinda likes to teach, only after the night of the Goblet of Fire, he decided to be discreet, of course, do not rule out that he is bored. So he went to the Three Broomsticks for a drink or two ..."

By now, they had entered the Chamber of Secrets and saw the familiar giant statue of Salazar Slytherin, with very obvious signs of life at the foot of the huge statue.

Felix picked up a newspaper and scanned it. "A week ago, his news is not closed. The previous speculation is likely possible, or at least he should have visited his immobile master occasionally."

Harry and Ron gaped, the Chamber of Secrets looked horrible, perhaps it had been fine when it was first built, but after a thousand years of abandonment, it had become part of the sewer circulation system and so the air quality also is so bad.

Dumbledore did not speak, he looked up at the top of his head, where the mouth of Salazar Slytherin opened, revealing a pitch-black hole with a glowing fluorescent light at the edges, the place where the basilisk had been hibernated before.

"Let's go inside." Dumbledore said.

Here indeed discovered something new, when professor Hap lifted their humanoid shield charm, the stench of the snake was pungent inside, Harry and Ron showed a repulsive expression as they made a dry heave.

Felix smiled, "You two should learn some necessary spells, humanoid shield charm, and Bubble-Head Charm are very useful. You're Champions, so don't forget to improve yourselves while you're studying that golden egg."

Harry and Ron once again got covered with a humanoid shield charm, and they thanked the professor numbly.

At that moment, they found Dumbledore examining a large cauldron, so Harry came over to look inside, which looked empty, but the welcoming heat told him that perhaps just half an hour ago, some kind of potion was being brewed in the cauldron.

"Polyjuice Potion?" He asked, and that was all he could think of as a possibility.

"I don't think so." Dumbledore said, his long fingers scraping a layer of the potion smoothly from the inside of the cauldron, and then he brought it up to his nose for a sniff when Harry noticed that the Headmaster's somewhat crooked hawk nose wrinkled up.

Felix picked up a scorched half piece of parchment from the ground, magic swirled around his fingertips, trying to piece together the complete content, then the blue glow flickered twice, before completely dimming, and the parchment in his hand completely turned into flying ash.

"All of them are very diabolical materials, I honestly can't figure out what potion is it; With so many highly toxic materials mixed together, what else would it be except a pot of poison." Felix said, "Maybe we should ask Severus or Damocles."

"I will." Dumbledore said calmly.

They checked again and found no other traces, so they returned to the surface, where Professor Moody was still sleeping quietly, and Professor McGonagall standing off at the side with a tense, uneasy expression, with the Phoenix Patronus standing beside her.

"Albus, What the hell is going on? I heard a loud bang and got worried that something was wrong and some students were also woken up ... After that, I met your Patronus, and it told me to keep watch over Professor Moody, was he under a Stunning Spell?" Professor McGonagall asked anxiously.

"Minerva, it's over, we uncovered the spy in the castle, but unfortunately he escaped, but ... thanks to Potter and Weasley, our professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts's life was saved."

Dumbledore said with a smile, the expression on his face which had been gloomy before disappeared.

Professor McGonagall stared at him expressionlessly as she looked at Moody on the bed and then at Dumbledore, her eyes darted over both of them, the lines around her mouth pursed into a thin line. Her chest rose and fell dramatically as her stern gaze fell on Harry and Ron, who were dressed only in their pyjamas.

"So," she said in exasperation as she kept inhaling, "Potter. Weasley. You've been acting on your own again?"

Harry and Ron's jaws dropped as they shivered in the cold wind while wearing their thin pyjamas.

--

TL Note: ( just a rant)

This chapter has 4871 words excluding this Note ( It took me 3 chapters amount of time to prepare it, so I thought about dividing it, But then I felt - Nah, it will take away your enjoyment),

So I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

--

Note:

This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there'll be only one chapter today.

#Nameless742 and #Fréderic Van Audenhove, Thanks for your love and support.

There are 477 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

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Many of the students were awakened by the explosion and got dazed and confused, but the professors played their part, so they went back to their beds despite being a little unsatisfied.

A few of the young wizards swore before they closed their eyes that they would get up early tomorrow to find out the truth about the night. The noise in the castle died down, and only the hospital wing remained brightly lit.

"You must drink your potion and stay in bed for a night in peace, and if you are alright in the morning, I will allow you to leave." Madam Pomfrey held a shiny cup of potion in one hand and stood between the two beds with a hawk-like gaze.

Harry and Ron drank the potion with trepidation, and as the liquid in the glass slid down their throats - although it felt completely different - it still reminded Harry of the memory from his dream, and he fought back the feeling of nausea as he " gulp" a mouthful to finish.

Madam Pomfrey left satisfied.

She walked out of the ward and closed the door, next she had to go to the intensive care unit, there are two patients waiting for her. Barty Crouch's both body and mind are severely traumatized, she only hoped that his body can be repaired, Alastor Moody's physical state is a little better, but his mental damage should not be taken lightly.

She walked while still thinking about mental issues, and debated whether to learn something from Felix. As time fermented, Felix Hap's other identity, the memory master's reputation grew, and many speculated that he would certainly be included in the first batch of chocolate frog card slots in this upcoming century.

Around the corner of the corridor, Madam Pomfrey spotted Dumbledore, Felix, and McGonagall standing in the doorway of the intensive care ward.

"Poppy, you're just in time," Dumbledore said with a smile, apparently in a good mood, "Felix has just diagnosed Barty and Alastor, and dealt with the toughest problems, though it will take them a considerable amount of time to recuperate."

Madam Pomfrey subconsciously looked at Felix, in her heart, this person is the expert.

Felix nodded slightly and explained, "Mr. Crouch has been under the control of the Imperius Curse for a long time, as well as the impacts from the Confundus Charm and the Cruciatus Curse, which has caused his mind to be somewhat muddled, although it is troublesome, but not irreversible. I would suggest transferring him to St. Mungo's after a while to receive more systematic rehabilitation."

"As for Professor Moody ...," he said uncertainly after a moment's thought, "I don't know if his state is considered good, his memory has been carefully modified and numerous hints have been placed on him, such as not checking his room, overlooking certain abnormalities, as well as the inevitable deep sleep until dawn when lying in bed ... which is the reason why Barty Crouch Jr. had no qualms about sneaking into his room through the secret passage."

"He would lose part of his memory, as for which, I'm not sure, I think with his character he would dislike that."

Felix looked inquiringly at Dumbledore, seeking his opinion. Dumbledore shook his head slightly, he knew what his old friend's character is, the fact that someone had tampered with his memory would be enough to drive him mad.

Madam Pomfrey said she understood, and after a moment's hesitation, she asked, "Felix, can I observe while you treat them for the next few days?"

"No problem, ma'am." Felix agreed quickly.

Madam Pomfrey thanked him, and then she pushed open the door of the intensive care ward and walked in. The other three people present could see Barty Crouch and Alastor Moody lying quietly in bed, and Professor McGonagall's lips quivered twice.

"Minerva?" Dumbledore looked at her.

"I, I'm not doubting ... but don't we need to take some precautions? In case they're still under the influence of the dark magic of that man ..."

"No need to worry, Minerva," Felix interjected as he smiled, "I have confidence in my memory magic, and their wands are now in the hands of the Headmaster."

Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief. They went downstairs together and after a few moments of silence, she couldn't help but ask, "Albus, you shouldn't have stopped me from giving Potter and Weasley deductions, or at least detention ..."

Dumbledore blinked and looked at her with a smile.

"They were too reckless and might have lost their little lives." Professor McGonagall finished her sentence.

"Minerva, there's no need to be so strict, that boy just has a high sense of responsibility that goes far beyond the norm." Dumbledore said softly, "Take this time, it was quite a surprise that they could think of using the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak, and they had been decisive enough; if they had delayed a few minutes and spent their precious time looking for the Professor, perhaps we would have been presented with a different scenario."

At least, Moody certainly would not have survived.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, her furrowed brow relaxed, "You're right."

...

Felix returned to his office, he stood in front of the window, thinking back over what Dumbledore had just said to him in private.

"Felix, I want to ask you something." Dumbledore said in a deep voice.

"What is it?" Felix asked, with some inkling of what would follow.

They were standing at the castle's high point, the north wind was blowing hard, and the window frames creaked. Dumbledore was silent for a long time as if he was making up his mind, and he finally said, "Can you teach Harry Occlumency?"

"No problem." Felix said promptly. After waiting a moment, he asked softly, "And besides that?"

There was another silence -

"... Don't hurt him."

...

Felix retracted his eyes; it is now late at night, and the sky is lit up with a pale gray-green colour.

"I'm growing sentimental, and that's not like me."

"Kiki!"

He looked down and saw Niffler Valen standing in the bedroom doorway, rubbing her eyes with one hand, staggering over, as she pulled his pant leg twice without climbing up.

Felix laughed silently and motioned his fingertips to let Valen float up to him.

"I can't believe you didn't sleep yet? Valen, what a surprise ..."

"Kiki!"

Valen waved her small hand, tracing the air, and Felix gazed at her, she seemed to be writing, and he tried to discern that somewhat distorted letters-

"A gift?"

Valen nodded once.

Felix asked tentatively, "Are you asking how Granger felt about receiving your gift?"

Niffler nodded, her small dark eyes looking at him expectantly.

"She was overjoyed." Felix said.

Valen looked satisfied, it was one of her most cherished treasures, and even now the thought that she had given it away made her heart bleed, then she yawned and opened her hand for a hug.

Felix carried Valen and put her on the basket bed.

As he changed into his pyjamas and laid down on the bed, his mood unknowingly changed for the better.

--

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The clock ticked to the next morning, although both Harry and Ron were thinking about leaving the hospital wing as soon as possible, but they are too tired and injured from last night, Madam Pomfrey told them that Ron's leg is still swollen, and Harry has at least six broken ribs.

"The healing spell can only heal minor injuries, like a twisted nose or something like that, and it only serves for emergencies." Madam Pomfrey said at the time, but both of them suspected for a moment that it was just her way of tricking them into drinking the potion.

After drinking the potion, their minds immediately became groggy, like a mechanical alarm clock that had been unwinded, spinning more and more slowly. Harry and Ron did not talk to each other even a few words, as they have fallen asleep. This sleep was so deep that Hermione did not wake them up when she came to visit them.

Harry recounted the events of last night, and deliberately stressed that "I was in too much of a hurry to call you," Hermione shrugged, "unless you stand outside the girls' dormitory and shout, you can not get in, and I may not have heard... ..."

Ron coughed heavily, which sounded like "prom", and Hermione's face turned red.

The two of them had gotten into a slight argument last night--

Ron accused her of going to the ball with their opponents during the drinks break after the opening dance, and Hermione simply explained that the point of the tournament is to " promote communication ", and when Ron shouted that Krum was not really interested in her and only wanted to pry into the secret about the golden egg, Hermione got mad.

"He's never asked me a word about the Golden Egg, not once!"

Ron then changed the line at the speed of light.

"Then he must have wanted you to help him figure out the secret of the Golden Egg!"

"I never helped him with the Golden Egg!" Hermione was absolutely furious, "In fact, he invited me in the library at the very beginning, but I was hesitant because of some ridiculous our champions and stuff, and guess what? Roger Davies immediately invited Collins, and two of my stupid companions just complained that all the pretty girls had been picked!"

Harry's expression turned rather innocent.

It was true that he hadn't thought of inviting Hermione, but that was because he had been harbouring an ulterior motive, something like maybe Cedric and Cho Chang would quarrel ... Well, he knew it was unlikely to happen, but that conclusion made him even more frustrated and made him less interested in the rest of the ball.

Anyway, after that Harry and the unhappy Ron went to the courtyard for some air and accidentally overheard the conversation between Hagrid and Madame Maxime, as they learned that they are both half-blood giants, while Hermione (according to her own words) stayed in the great hall and sulked alone.

Harry is skeptical about the sulking part because when they returned, they saw Hermione dancing with Professor Hap with glee ...

After the ball, Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were not speaking with each other again, after that they returned to their dormitory and went to bed with their stomachs full until he was awakened by a nightmare and chased the spy inside the castle with Ron ... When he saw Hermione again this morning, Ron and Hermione both spoke politely, as if yesterday's quarrel had not happened at all.

And when Hermione heard about Hagrid's half-blood giant status, she didn't think it is a big deal.

"In fact, I've always believed that he must be a giant." She said, shrugging her shoulders, "I knew he couldn't be a pure blood giant because they're all about twenty feet tall. No need to get that worked up ... it's bigotry, just like how people treat werewolves ... and add house elves to the list ... even though both prejudices aren't the same! "

Ron obviously did not agree with this view, so he simply repeated the same thing he had said to Harry last night as politely as possible, and pretended as if he was describing it to Harry for the first time:

"Hagrid shouldn't go around telling it, although it may be the first time he's met his own kind and got overly excited ... I know he's not dangerous, everyone who knows him knows that, but it would be a problem if outsiders heard it, people are squeamish about that." He grunted twice from his nose and said darkly, "Even if it is just a prejudice, it is a collective prejudice, and in case there is no way we can change it, concealment is the best way."

He saw Hermione open her mouth to retort, so he immediately sped up his speech and said to Harry: "In the public perception, giants are brutal, although I have heard the love story between giants and dwarfs when I was a child, which was told to me by Fred and George ..., but I have not believed their bollocks since I was six years old!"

Harry suppressed his laughter, as he equally pretended like he is hearing it for the first time, and nodded solemnly.

"My father said that they sided with the Dark Lord in the war, foolishly believing that he would give them more room to survive ... As a result, they were naturally liquidated after the war, a large number of giants were killed by the Aurors, and perhaps Professor Moody was also part of it, and that's probably when he got his leg injured ...," Ron speculated irrationally.

"... After that, only a small tribe of giants that didn't do much evil remained, and they were also driven out of England - now I don't know which big mountain they're hiding in."

Harry didn't think it is appropriate to continue discussing the topic of 'are giants brutal by nature' because Hermione's eyebrows perked up oddly, and he decided to take the initiative to change the topic, "Well ... Hermione, it's like this, Ron and I saw you were late, but you disappeared a few hours early in the afternoon yesterday, it wouldn't take that long even to fix your hair, right?"

He felt he was talking gibberish, because at the moment Hermione's hair had returned to its messy state, and he thought - despite not really understanding - that no one would refuse to make themselves look better if they could maintain it.

Sure enough, Hermione gave him a blank look.

"If a girl wants to dress up, no amount of time is enough ... but I really wasn't delayed because of that, it was Valen, she gave me a Christmas present, and I, uh ... " she bit her lip, not knowing how to say it.

"We know," Ron said, "I mean ... we heard a little about the gift she gave you that made you get all fussed up and lose track of time, it couldn't be a ton of golden galleons, right? One of my great-grandmother said that the only thing that could beat time would be those little golden cuties."

Harry and Hermione looked at him at the same time, as Ron shrugged, "She had died of old age and left a will saying that she would exchange all her possessions for golden galleons to bury her with, but I'm not sure her descendants did as ..."

"Of course not, it's a broken Time-Turner." Hermione said lightly.

"Valen gave you the Time-Turner?!" Ron exclaimed sharply, his eyes widened.

"No need to fuss about it, it's just a broken one." Hermione said, using the same word 'fuss' back at him, but Ron totally ignored it.

" Hermione, Take it out quickly! I've never seen a Time-Turner before!" Ron said.

Harry also looked at her expectantly, "Did you bring it?"

Hermione's eyebrows curled up, "Of course," she lifted a golden chain from her chest, it is a small disc-shaped timer, the outside is a ring made of a golden frame, and at the innermost layer, there is a small hourglass, with everything moulded with great precision.

"This is the Time-Turner? It looks really beautiful ... are you sure it's broken?"

Hermione did not speak, as she waved it in front of them twice and re-stuffed it into her dress.

"There's nothing to see, we might as well spend our time cracking the secret of the golden egg," she said with gusto, "I've finalized a plan with some certainty that it won't break its structure ... "

Harry and Ron stared at the golden egg she had brought over with a hesitant expression, which is currently placed on a table beside the cabinet. Harry looked at the pyjamas he is wearing, if it screamed ceaselessly in the process of deciphering the golden egg, they could not even run outside.

He did not want to be seen running around the castle corridors in the daytime wearing pyjamas.

But Hermione had already made up her mind.

She stood up and took the golden egg in her arms, then pulled Harry's pillow over and put it under the golden egg. Harry and Ron watched with trepidation, as they mumbled some ideas.

"We can try the Visibility Potion--"

"I tried that." Hermione said.

"Revealing Charm, Analytical spells -"

"None of them are very useful." Hermione fiddled with the golden egg as she drew her wand.

"How about trying the Adrian Deconstruction method, he brags about it quite a bit in the book-"

"Well," Hermione put down her wand and glared at the two, "frankly, I did use some of the techniques he mentioned, mostly because I noticed he liked to figure out those shortcuts ... that's one of the reasons later generations didn't think much of him now."

Ron shot Harry a look, that means, I told you so.

While this was happening, Hermione put her wand on the golden egg, tapping it, occasionally stopping to listen with her ear or reciting a few Latin incantations; about some of her techniques, Harry and Ron read part of it, after all, they are all reading the same books - just at different levels of progress and assimilation.

"She's using the Delamination method." Harry whispered to Ron.

This method is commonly used in alchemy, the principle is to remove all the redundant parts that can be removed, such as protection spells, decorations, and some minor features, then go straight to the core of the item, and it is suitable for novice alchemists in particular.

From time to time, Hermione took out vials and containers from the small beaded pouch, as she used a small brush coated with a potion to coat the golden egg, and then removed a piece of eggshell amidst the shocked expressions of the two.

"Her- Her...mione, you, you tore it apart?!"

"Because it's not important." Hermione said with a stern face, and as she spoke, she took off another piece.

Harry felt very helpless as if he had gone back to a few years ago when he was living with the Dursleys, where he lived in the cupboard at the bottom of the stairs and had to wait every evening with anxiety for Dudley to go upstairs - when he would deliberately step on the steps with great force and shake down the dust.

And now he felt the same way. He wasn't sure how many pieces of the golden egg would be removed before it suddenly would burst forth, shrieking creepily and startling everyone.

When only half of the golden egg was left, and Harry's inner turmoil got stronger, and he debated whether to remind Hermione that not far from here there is a sick Professor Moody staying, and if he heard it, he might storm in grumpily and would cast a curse on them, and then he would force them to put their ears against the golden egg ...

"It's done!" Hermione said happily.

Harry and Ron went over to see it, now all that remained in her hand is a palm-sized fragment of the golden egg, but it is quiet and calm now, similar to the other fragments.

"Are you sure you made it, Hermione? If it fails, we won't laugh at you." Ron said generously.

He remembered that Collins Foley had reminded him about something at Yule Ball, although he didn't know why and hadn't managed to hear a word of it, but he felt sure that since there had been a first time, she wouldn't mind telling him a second time.

Hermione snorted twice, her eyes narrowed and curved into a crescent, then her wand lightly tapped on it.

"Click."

A subtle shattering sound, the last shard in her hand splitting in half as a low, piercing scream rang out.

"What's the difference, other than it's a little less audible?" Harry asked, the only consolation being that he didn't have to cast a Quietening Charm.

"Oh, it lacks a necessary environment," Hermione smiled brightly, "I kept its core function, storing and transmitting sound, as long as I put it in--"

"In the water!" Ron suddenly slapped his head and said.

Hermione looked at him with an unfriendly look.

--

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"How do you know that?" Harry asked that question for Hermione.

"Er... it's like this," Ron said, wincing as if he'd been stung by a Billywig insect, "I think Collins mentioned it to me at the Ball-- -"

"You think?" Hermione and Harry blurted out in unison.

"I--I wasn't listening, it was too loud," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to lighten the serious mood, "It just came to me all of a sudden when Hermione said something about putting the piece in something. "

Hermione looked furious, and Harry couldn't help but look at Ron sympathetically. Well, at that moment, the door of the ward was pushed open from outside.

Neville walked in. "Hi Harry, Ron, how are you, oh, Hermione you're here too ... I heard some rumours from the Prefect, the rumours are particularly bad ... but when you guys didn't come back last night, I knew it must have something to do with you, and I thought you should need this ..."

He held up two sets of clothes bulge in his hands as he walked closer, then his eyes went wide with astonishment when he stared at a shattered golden egg in his sight, unable to speak.

"Thanks, you arrived at the perfect time, we needed an outfit to wear." Harry said thankfully, as he walked up and picked up the dress, "Er - make yourself comfortable, Neville, don't crush the golden egg pieces, we're not sure if we need to put them back together again."

Hermione's mouth puffed out, and she pulled the only useful shard away, "I'll see you in the library." As she dashed out of the ward in a flash.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron took off their pyjamas and began to get dressed. Neville sat nervously on Ron's bed, his eyes fixed straight on the shards, which looked like they had been treated very roughly, "So, it's true?"

" What true?" Harry asked, pulling a jumper over his head.

"I heard from Lee Jordan that Professor Moody was actually a dark wizard who disguised himself in order to steal your golden egg, so you and Ron fought him off last night ..."

Harry and Ron paused and looked at each other. Harry, one sleeve still hanging down as he said firmly, "It's all bollocks except the first one, which is true."

Ron finished dressing, and patted Neville's shoulder as he said, "Mate, the real Professor Moody is in the intensive care ward not far from here, so you can ask him, maybe he is aware of something!" Upon seeing Neville's impressed expression, he immediately stammered, "I'm just kidding, don't ask ..."

Neville shook his head, "I won't ask. But I want to visit him, he has treated me quite well, remember? He gave me that book, 'Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties'."

"What if it was from that Death Eater?" Ron guessed, "Listen to me, Neville. Moody fell victim to the dark lord this time, he and that Death Eater took turns giving us lessons, which is why the professors didn't even discover a thing. Now no one is sure which class was given to us by the real Moody--" With that, he suddenly clapped his hands heavily and yelled, "Damn it! I told you right, in what world professor would dare to cast an unforgivable curse on us?"

Neville looked stunned, not expecting this to involve the Dark Lord and Death Eaters in any way.

After Ron vented and quieted down, he said with an expectant tone, "Hopefully Professor Moody will be nicer to us in the new term, but it's hard to say ... he won't necessarily be back."

Then he can join, Harry's heart suddenly thumped, if Professor Moody can not give them classes next semester, then the school will have to find them a new teacher, even if it is temporary, like Professor Belby in the second year.

But then he thought about the curse that Ron had mentioned to him. But Professor Belby is still fine,... he tried to convince himself, but what if? He dreaded to think what would happen if Sirius had an accident, although for the first thirteen years of his life he hadn't known he had a godfather, hadn't even heard of him, but he found he couldn't live without him anymore.

Harry couldn't decide for a moment whether to tell Sirius. There was something he actually wanted to tell him, his godfather was so bored, besides practicing magic and playing chess with the elder members of the muggle community, the rest of his entire mind is on him, Sirius should have a life of his own, like getting a job, or starting a family or something ...

"Harry, Harry!" Ron shouted in his ear.

"Oh - what?" Harry looked up as both Ron and Neville looked at him.

Ron shrugged, "Help me persuade Neville, he still wants to visit that bomb ... What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Harry said quickly, "I mean - of course, I agree."

"You agree?" Ron's eyes widened.

"Yeah, we should visit Professor Moody, he doesn't seem to have any relatives." Harry said in mock relief, deciding to put the matter off and make an impromptu call if Sirius asked.

...

At the entrance of the castle's great hall, Draco Malfoy leaned against the oak door in boredom, holding a green gift-wrapping ribbon in his hand. Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy gathered around him.

"Didn't you sign up for the stay-at-school application?"

Draco's nose wrinkled, "I'm not sure, Dad asked for it out of the blue, and spoke to Professor Snape in advance." He glanced occasionally in the direction of the great hall looking back at his father who had come over to pick him up this morning and met Professor Hap on the way, after which he had been excused to the side.

He waved the ribbon in his hand - which had been pulled from the gift box - he always had the feeling that his father had looked at him with a mixed look of anger when he came over, but he hadn't done anything big lately, so he should have been misreading it.

"... Yes, the mark was particularly strong that night ... and dimmed after that, just like a dozen years ago." Lucius Malfoy whispered, taking the opportunity to swap his cane, as his two gray eyes glanced around without being obvious.

"I see." Felix said.

Lucius nodded slightly, took two steps back, and raised his voice: "You should mind your own business." He turned to leave, with an icy smile on his face, as he walked over to Draco, his son looked at him with a worried look on his face.

"Dad, what's wrong, you guys-"

"Didn't I tell you not to touch what you shouldn't touch?" Lucius became angry at the sight of his son, but some things cannot be said explicitly, especially when it comes to the two things, the diary of the Dark Lord and the agreement with Hap, so he could only find fault with other things.

"There are three champions at your age, why not you?"

Draco felt wronged, "Dad, that's because they used some method to cheat!"

Lucius gave him an angled look, exchanged his cane to his right hand, and pulled Draco away with his left hand.

Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy who were left behind watched their backs, when Pansy hesitantly asked, "Uncle Malfoy looks angry, and Draco hasn't gotten into any trouble lately, right?"

She looked at Crabbe and Goyle with suspicion, "Did you get into trouble?"

The two shook their heads in a hurry.

At that moment, Felix came over with a newspaper, so the three greeted him and left in a hurry. Felix walked out of the castle and stood on the marble steps. At the end of his sight, he could still see the Malfoy father and son, Lucius saying something to Draco, who seemed very unconvinced.

Welcoming the winter sun, Felix flipped the newspaper in his hand, the headline featuring the animated Dark Mark very conspicuously. The headline on the paper, written in the blood-red text -

Death Eaters still on the loose? Or Dark Lord making a comeback?

'It is reported that Barty Crouch, who is the director of the Department of International Magical Co-operation and recently been in charge of two major international events (Quidditch World Cup and Tournament of Champions), was attacked by unknown people at his own house last night, and the site was left with an utter mess, Crouch went missing and his old house was reduced to rubble.

The most shocking thing was that the dark mark was displayed high in midair at the site. All the Ministry of Magic staff who arrived at the scene were rendered speechless, and a rough-looking, stern-faced female official sat on the floor in fear; when a reporter went up to interview the hysterical official, no useful information was obtained, instead, we were subjected to unwarranted insults. The reporter later learned that the female official had been demoted for not doing her job well and trying to dispatch dementors to cover up a scandal at the Ministry of Magic, a matter which involved the older brother of a dark hero who had silently resisted the Dark Lord during the war, details of which can be found in Chapter 7 of Rita Skeeter's new book "Against the Black Terror" a special correspondent of this newspaper ... ...

No one who lived through the horrors of that war will ever forget what the Dark Mark represents, but now, fourteen years after the death of the Dark Lord and the end of the war; we have won the Quidditch World Cup for the first time in almost thirty years, and have managed to successfully commence a tournament out of history and give it new life, to the delight of the people; now once again we are forced to reflect: are we really free from the shadow of war? Or perhaps this is just a call for another war?

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic has not performed as well as it should have in this emergency, the Ministry of Magic has been ignorant or careless about the old followers of a certain wizard Who Must Not Be Named, and devoted much of its energy to the insignificant cooperation regarding potions, and has become complacent - I can almost assert that the Ministry of Magic Ministry would certainly suffer great despair.

As of this publication, the latest information available to our reporter is that Barty Crouch Sr. has survived and is being treated in secret, and the young official representing the Ministry of Magic refuses to say anything more than how the Minister is occupied with a huge workload and is replacing Mr. Crouch to finish a huge backlog of business.

For a detailed history of Barty Crouch's tenure, see page four of this newspaper, which contains a detailed description. Finally, if you want to know more about a certain man - Who Must Not Be Named - and his evil gang, check out our reporter Rita Skeeter's new book, " Against the Black Terror," which will be available for signing on January 1 at Flourish and Blotts Bookshop, you can also order it via owl mail at ...'

"That's it, the rest is all rubbish." Hermione said as she looked up from the paper.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and froze for quite a while, Ron suddenly gasped as he burst out laughing, "She, she doesn't know that man is still alive, does she? Otherwise, she would never be that bold to write about the You-Know-Who ..."

Harry and Hermione also laughed, they both knew what kind of person Rita Skeeter is.

At the moment, they are sitting at a table by the window in the library, with two large stacks of books placed near the aisle, as a way of blocking the sharp eyes of Mrs. Pince, the librarian, as Harry also used a not-so-skilled Quietening Charm to keep their voices from getting too loud.

Ron laughed so hard he stumbled, slumped over the table, and slammed his fist on it. "Ouch ... against the black terror ... I think she's playing with fire." After he had laughed enough, he said in a serious tone, "Shall we write an anonymous letter to remind her."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "We can't reveal ... you know, we promised Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Well," Ron said regretfully, "I guess she won't believe it, instead she will treat us as rumour-mongers and throw the letter in the trash ... Maybe Dumbledore has already told Fudge about it. "

"It's possible." Hermione nodded, agreeing with him.

Harry took the paper and turned to page four, and sure enough, he saw the brief history of Mr. Barty Crouch, which is very detailed and even included his family, making it even more convenient for Harry.

"Look here, guys," he said, pointing at a small line: " Barty Crouch originally had a promising future and was the closest person to the post of Minister of Magic, but because of the emergence of a Death Eater in his family, his reputation plummeted, and he was transferred to the Department of International Magical Co-operation as the head of the Department, and within a few years later, not only did his son died in Azkaban, even the wife who has been in poor health also passed away not long after ..."

Ron and Hermione looked at him in surprise and Harry said, "Yeah, we all know who Voldemort's spy is, the problem is ... he's dead in the official records."

"This could, this could be incredible, could it be Barty Crouch ...," Ron looked at the two meaningfully.

"You're saying he's using his power for personal gain?" Hermione said pointedly.

Thinking carefully for a moment, they could not think of any other possibility, the most crucial thing is what Ron said, "That's his son." In the end, they had to think that Barty Crouch had pulled some kind of trick to deceive Azkaban and change the official records.

They had mixed feelings about Barty Crouch, who is lying in the hospital wing. On one hand, he is a victim, but on the other hand, he might have trampled the law at the back and let go of a criminal Death Eater who used him as his biggest backer to plot for his former master's comeback.

Hermione saw the atmosphere become serious, so she pulled out a piece of parchment from the book "The Fifth Element Controversy" and handed it to Harry and Ron.

Harry looked at what looked like a poem in his hand and read the first line: "Come seek us, where our voices sound - what is this?"

"A Clue from the Golden Egg." Hermione said briefly.

Harry and Ron's eyes widened, and they put their heads together to read the following from it.

'Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching remember this;

Purple for strength.

Blue for wisdom.

Gold for growth.

Seize the moment, the crisis is everywhere.

Weigh them carefully, the choice is inevitable.

When gold overflows.

You will see each other.

Return rich and full.'

Harry and Ron took a deep breath and stared at the contents blankly.

"My gut tells me that the second task will be difficult." Ron said pessimistically.

Harry felt the same way, so he tried to decipher what is written on it: "Well - look for them, at the place where their voice sounds, it is impossible to sing on the ground. So, the second task is in the water? The Black Lake?"

Hermione nodded cheerfully, "That's what I thought. Go on, let's compare our ideas."

"Uh, and then the next sentence, apparently it's for us to find something, I think it's three things or three kinds of things?" Harry looked at Hermione hesitantly, but Hermione pursed her lips and smiled, not giving anything away.

"Well, whatever it is, they're distinct anyway, divided into strength, wisdom, and ... growth? I guess it's some sort of test. The two sentences after that are just a reminder to be careful, and it involves a choice, it's weird ... the gold overflows at the end, and we'll see each other, which means we have to separate? Only if we meet this condition, we can see each other again?"

Harry's eyes widened as he deduced this clue, and the three pairs of eyes looked at each other.

Ron let out a whine.

At that moment, a silver, tiny rainbird passed through the library window and landed lightly in front of them, the Patronus opened its mouth and from it, Professor Hap's voice heard -

"Harry, tonight at eight o'clock, come to my office - just you."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 480 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

At eight o'clock at night, Harry pushed open the door of the Ancient Rune's office on time.

"Take a seat anywhere you like." Felix said, as he sat in a recliner behind his desk, and began to read the newspaper. Harry looked around when Niffler Valen pointed to an armchair on Harry's left.

Harry mouthed a thank you to Valen, moved the chair over to sit across from the professor, and waited quietly. After two or three minutes, Felix put down the paper in his hand and smiled: "You may be curious about the purpose for why I called you here, it's actually quite simple, I was entrusted by Headmaster Dumbledore to teach you Occlumency."

Then he briefly introduced it: "This is a kind of spell that prevents your mind from being invaded by outsiders."

"Why do I have to learn the Occ- learn this thing?" Harry froze, and the next second his heart began to pound as he thought of the reason behind it, so he asked him with difficulty, "Because of that dream I had?"

"As far as I know, this is not the first time it happened to you, right?" Felix inquired gently.

"I, uh - yes, there was another time during the summer." Harry had to admit it. "But-"

He looked at Felix eagerly, "Sirius said it might have something to do with my scar, and in my first year, Headmaster Dumbledore also said that Voldemort's unsuccessful killing curse tied me with him."

Felix shook his head and said in a low voice, "That's barely accurate."

"From the looks of it, for now, it's just you peering into Voldemort's mind one-sidedly, which is possible because he's not strong enough and didn't notice your little stunt, but ..." he paused and looked at Harry.

With a long acquaintance, Harry followed Felix's train of thought to think further, and a terrible notion was derived, so he couldn't help but gulp, "You are thinking that Voldemort might pry into my thoughts in turn? This, this is really-"

Doesn't seem like a big deal, Harry thought dumbly. He is just a student, worrying about completing different subject assignments every year, and if Voldemort did see these thoughts, he would probably become rather impatient.

"Do not underestimate your position in Voldemort's mind, Harry." Felix said calmly: "You ruined his reign of darkness with your own hands, if there is someone he hates the most and whom he fails to understand, that person is most likely you, otherwise he would not have arranged for his most trusted servant to infiltrate Hogwarts and risk putting your name into the Goblet of Fire ... "

Speaking of which, he looked at Harry thoughtfully.

It reminds him that Voldemort is severely understaffed, and his first priority should be arranging his resurrection, not exposing his presence by causing trouble at Hogwarts - even if Voldemort desperately wants Harry to participate in his rebirth party.

Unless, Harry's role is more important than one might think, and even directly determines the success or failure of Voldemort's resurrection ...

"Professor? Professor Hap?"

"Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. In addition to what I just said, you also know a lot of information that is valuable to Voldemort, such as the movement of Headmaster Dumbledore, some people close to you, or ... Horcruxes. You don't want to expose these, do you?"

Harry's expression became quite torn. On the one hand, he wanted to enter Voldemort's mind once again, especially since Voldemort now has a powerful henchman, it is the key moment when he will plan to resurrect; on the other hand, he certainly knows the risks involved.

"Then will you teach me the mind, the Occ--" Harry said, Felix glanced at him, " It is Occlumency." Harry hurriedly said, "That's right, Occlumency, are you trying to get me to sever the connection with him? To prevent leakage of information from our side?"

Felix looked impassive.

"So your opinion is-"

"My opinion?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Do you agree to learn the Occlumency?"

"Can I refuse?" Harry asked in a whisper as he looked at him.

"Of course, I respect your choice, it's never advisable to force this sort of thing."

Harry smiled, "It's good to learn more, Professor." He felt particularly like Hermione with that comment.

Felix knocked on the table, his perspective silently changed, all the decorations colour in the office all turned gray, only some items with magic bloomed with a magic glow, he stared at Harry, making Harry uncomfortable.

"Since you have decided," he straightened up, "then we will start now."

Harry stood up after he said that, unconsciously searching for a spot, hoping from the bottom of his heart that he would find a cushion or something on the floor. Then he noticed Professor Hap looking at himself oddly, "What are you thinking?"

"Uh ... Professor, don't we need to put up a cushion?" Harry gestured, " We need it for our dueling practice sessions ..."

Felix looked at him and let out a gentle Sigh, "It seems you don't know much about this subject." He beckoned, parchment and quill on the table automatically flew up, the blue quill reached into the ink bottle, dipping into the ink, "swish swish swish" and wrote down a string of book titles, Harry watched from the sidelines with trepidation.

When the list of books floated to him, he took it with a trance and stared at it for a few seconds before he read the first title, "Occlumency," followed by a long list. Harry felt so frustrated like he had scored a zero on the second task.

"This is the reference book you need to read when you go back," Felix said: "I will briefly introduce this aspect of knowledge."

"Speaking of Occlumency, we have to mention the Legilimency and Obliviate, the Thinking Room, and a series of other magics," Felix gestured for Harry to sit on the couch as he sat opposite to him and pulled out his wand, and with just a flick of the wand, the fire in the fireplace blazed up.

"They are all classified as memory magic, but in fact, they greatly differ, of which - Occlumency and Legilimency are the most closely related, yet opposed to each other."

"Professor, what is Legilimency?"

"In a way that you can understand, it is something akin to mind reading art that is widely spoken among the general population, a kind of magic that is used to invade other person's minds to read emotions and memories. Of course - I must emphasize the point that there is a big difference between Legilimency and mind-reading, and I want you to read the book to understand the specific concept and write about it as an essay - you must explain the difference between the two."

Harry felt some bitterness in the corners of his mouth.

But he suddenly realized something and asked, "Professor, are you planning to read my mind and then let me use Occlumency to defend myself?" He didn't feel very comfortable about it, and if the professor saw some private memories, he would definitely be vexed and ashamed.

"That's just one of the methods." Felix commented, "An efficient method - to speed up your mastery of the Occlumency through offensive and defensive real-life warfare at the mental plane. But frankly, we have plenty of time, at least until Voldemort is resurrected, we have no major concern, of course, if you're in a hurry to learn ..." Felix looked at him mischievously.

"I'm not in a hurry." Harry hastily said, "I like to choose other methods."

--

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"Choose wisely, you will feel quite comfortable." Felix slashed his wand across the room and a golden path paved between them, like snowflakes swept up by the wind, with golden pellets of fine powder sprinkled down.

"Let's do a test first." He leaned his body against the back of the couch and looked at the golden rain curtain.

Harry also looked up, as he involuntarily fell into a misty dream state, his mind fell into a state of great relaxation, light as if he has been surrounded by warm sunshine. He felt like gold dust fluttering in midair as he became a part of them, forgetting any worries ... Harry subconsciously chased after this feeling, but a voice inside faintly told him that this scene seemed familiar.

What exactly is it? If he had ever had this wonderful feeling before, he certainly would be able to remember it vividly, Harry thought drunkenly, his mind felt like a rusty old clock, and the thoughts in his head paused to rest for a while with every beat until Professor Moody's ugly face flashed in front of his eyes. It was so sickening ... that it sobered Harry, who was immersed in a sea of glee, for a moment.

How could he have thought of him? Is it because he was tortured emotionally in his class? Wait, Moody's class? The Imperius Curse?

Harry's heart instantly splashed with cold water, no, is directly submerged into the bottom of the black lake in December. He jolted out of this state, the gold dust that floated in front of him, piled up like a conical heap of golden glitter on the ground, which looked very beautiful.

But Harry now does not think this is something good, in addition to what he just experienced, another visual evidence is that as Professor Hap holding Valen, that little girl reached her small hand out from the gap in the professor's arm, reaching in the direction of the gold dust.

Harry leaned his body back fearfully and felt a little sense of security when his back touched the soft couch.

"Three minutes."

Felix picked up a pocket watch and looked at it, as he said, "That was faster than I expected, remarkable."

Harry stammered, "I, I thought of Professor Moody ..."

"I understand," said Felix, "He does look intimidating."

"No, it's not Professor," Harry said, "I didn't think of Professor Moody simply because of his appearance ..." He blinked and explained in a whisper. "He used to cast an Imperius Curse on us in class."

"That makes sense," Felix nodded slightly, "so you should have performed well in that class?"

Harry nodded hesitantly.

"What was that, Professor?" He watched as Professor Hap waved his wand as the ocean of gold dust and the handful of golden powder on the table disappeared at the same time.

"Some pleasant memories I've collected." Felix smiled, "A number of them are from creatures in the Forbidden Forest, little creatures that can gain happiness easily - perhaps it didn't fit your definition of happiness?"

"No, I think it's perfect, it's pure joy." Harry said, with some fondness, he felt shaken by some of his own notions, and he had to remind himself that he had a brilliant memory master in front of him.

Felix said slowly: "This is my inspiration from the dementors, since the dementors can draw those happy memories, so I naturally thought, why I can not draw memories and emotions from others?"

"When you suck out the joy, you're left with only negative pessimistic feelings, and when you suck out the arrogance and ego, you're naturally left with only humility and humbleness... You'll find that emotions can easily go from one extreme to the other. Worth studying, but I have to say - it's not very useful to me, and it's prone to criticism. "

Harry felt that this assessment was too light, and it ought to be described as evil or creepy to be appropriate. He stole a glance at Felix, most of the time Professor Hap was gentle and friendly enough to speak like a spring, not to mention that after the Yule Ball, many girls spoke even more highly of him. But when it comes to the attitude toward some magic, the professor's standards are simply frighteningly low.

For example, if he hadn't had a dream the other night, he probably never would have known that Professor Hap could use Fiendfyre so skilfully ...

"This will help me to learn Occlumency?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Of course, it will help, you will notice the resilience of will is particularly important in the introductory stages of your learning."

He handed Harry a book.

"Every page on it has been enchanted by me, and in addition to what you have just seen, there are other things that will mobilize your emotions and memories, and you will need to read it while ignoring the effects of the magic attached to it. This book is somewhat dangerous, so I can't let you take it with you. I have a schedule for this special training, you need to come over every two days during the Christmas break, and when school starts it's every week. When you can read from the first page to the last page in one breath without any effort, it indicates that you are fully ready for the training. So that's when we will move on to the next stage."

Harry nodded his head to show that he understood. He took the book, which didn't look that thick, with a plain cover that didn't even have a title, but he would never consider it more harmless than Hagrid's carefully selected "The Monster Book of Monsters".

He opened the first page with anxiety, and at first glance, it looked plain, with an unfamiliar symbol drawn on it, the outer frame of which consisted of a circle of purple arc-like patterns. But when he tried to identify it, the symbol produced a strong attraction.

He examined the design, as his expression became one of the obsession as if that little symbol contains the ultimate answer to all unknown mysteries.

Felix loosened his hold, and with that Valen leaped out of his arms, running over to Harry's couch, looking curiously at the motionless Harry, and glancing at the pattern on the book. First glance, nothing, second glance, eh? Quite good-looking, then look again ...

Her eyes were getting more and more intense when Felix came over and picked her up, Valen blinked her eyes, remembering what had just happened, she yelled twice with palpitations in her heart.

"That book is not for you, someday I will create you a 'Valen's Wonderful Adventure'." Felix said teasingly. Valen patted her small heart, avoiding Harry and the book in his lap by a distance, as she ran to the workbench, retrieving a gold coin from her pocket and stacking it on the table to build a castle to play with.

Valen felt that the way of building a castle with exploding cards was too dangerous, and it would be better to use gold galleons - both beautiful and safe, and after completion, the sense of accomplishment is also abundant.

Felix and Niffler both of them glanced in Harry's direction occasionally, while a layer of sweat unknowingly seeped out of Harry's forehead, a sign of rapid mental exertion, and Felix's frown became deeper and deeper.

Still cannot detect any abnormalities ...

Is it hidden too deeply? The realm of the soul is really full of mystery.

Time passed little by little, and the sweat on Harry's forehead evaporated, but he still did not turn the second page, he became totally lost. Felix looked at the time, it is close to lights out, so he stood up to interrupt Harry.

It is at that moment he stopped in his tracks. In his magical perspective, he could see deep darkness poking out its tentacles and appearing very abruptly in his field of vision, coiling on Harry's forehead, as if it had always been there, only hidden by layers of mist.

Felix could not hide the shock in his heart, his and Dumbledore's speculation became reality, although the exact process is not known, but there is no doubt that Harry is hiding a piece of Voldemort's soul.

...

"Harry, this is the Draught of Peace, drink it and go back to sleep now." Felix said gently.

"Yes, Professor." Harry yawned greatly, he felt sleepy as hell, and all he wanted to do now is go back to bed and get a good night's sleep.

When he returned to the common room, there were not many people left inside, Hermione and Ron were waiting for him, Hermione chirped and asked, " Why Professor Hap was looking for you?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore asked the professor to teach me Occlumency." Harry said tiredly.

"Occlumency?"

"What's that?"

Hermione and Ron asked simultaneously, but seeing that Harry is too sleepy to keep his eyes open, Hermione quickly closed her book and said decisively, "Well, we'll talk tomorrow, I finished a draft plan while you were away, and although some details are still unclear, we have a general idea of what the second task is going to be. The preparations need to be on the agenda."

"It's your call, Hermioneee." Harry yawned again, Professor Hap's potion worked, he did not feel that bad anymore, just exceptionally sleepy, he went into his dorm room, changed into his pyjamas, and fell back to sleep.

--

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Headmaster's Office--

"Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked in a deep voice.

Felix nodded solemnly.

"Leave the rest to me, Felix." Dumbledore took the responsibility.

"You have a solution?" Felix asked in surprise, "Albus, there's never been a precedent for this, and that snake is dead. At least I can't make any sense of it at present, but if you give me enough time, the future is not without hope ..."

Dumbledore just calmly said: "I know." Felix heard the meaning of 'this is the end' so he took the initiative to say goodbye, he felt that Dumbledore's thoughts and his are not in the same boat, it may be because of the lack of information available. But as he said before, he has no intention of giving up, for him soul is an important subject of magic to study upon.

It is just his accumulation in this area is near zero, so the hope of success in this area of research is very slim for a short period of time.

Felix stood in front of the seventh-floor window of the castle, pondering quietly: 'Instead of considering about the soul, I should put my focus on Voldemort, because there are at least three clear ways to deal with him, each of which is worth trying - destroying the soul; destroying the remnant souls; finally capturing the resurrected Voldemort alive. "

He stood on the highest spot of the castle, overlooking the faint lights flickering at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, without knowing that just at this moment, an interesting episode is going to take place in the Beauxbatons carriage -

The carriage lights were almost out, leaving only the dim tiny nightlight still on, when Fleur pushed open her room door, and carefully looked at either side, then she slipped out of her room with a light step.

With a golden egg in her hand, she tiptoed toward Madame Maxime's private bathroom, and as she passed by one of the bedrooms, the door creaked open. Jacqueline Bourgeois stepped out of that room in her nightgown.

" Fleur? What are you--" Jacqueline was stunned, as she looked at Fleur who is holding a golden egg in her hand, and cautiously moving forward against the wall.

Fleur said, "Oh, no," and hurriedly covered Jacqueline's mouth, "Keep your voice down! Don't wake up Madame Maxime ..."

Jacqueline blinked obediently.

When Fleur loosened her hand, she curiously sized up Fleur, her eyes paused for a few seconds at her bare feet.

"You don't even have your shoes on?"

"I don't need them, it's carpeted all the way, and I walked along the wall without stepping on anything ..." Fleur tilted her head proudly, and Jacqueline looked at her with an increasingly odd expression.

" I will take you to a good place." Fleur decisively changed the subject.

In fact, after the first task, she did not talk much with the other two champions, thinking they were too timid, while the other two also felt they had performed poorly and hung their heads in shame all day.

They walked to the end of the carpeted path to the huge innermost part of the carriage, where an enormous dark brown oak door stood more than ten feet tall.

" Is it not Madame Maxime's-"

"Gee, I know." Fleur said, approaching the door cautiously and whispering the password, the door opened noiselessly with a gap as she darted in, which caused Jacqueline beside her to freeze.

She is too familiar with this ...

Before she could react, a hand stretched out from inside, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her into the room as well.

A luxurious bathroom appeared before them, the entire floor and walls tiled with silver tiles, and a huge chandelier dangled in the ceiling, sprinkling a soft light. In addition to the usual bathing facilities, the innermost part of the place has a huge bathtub that is isolated. Fleur handed the golden egg to Jacqueline as she stood in front of the glass door in front of the bathtub, her eyes sparkling with stars.

"Fleur, even if you want to have a bath, there's no need to sneakily use Madame Maxime's bathroom." Jacqueline said with a worried face, if they got caught, they would both suffer.

"Don't worry, I've been here more than once." Fleur tossed her silver shiny hair with a bright smile. "I'll show you the luxury of this bath."

She pushed open the door, and the interior filled with mist, with the faint fragrance of the aroma that Madame Maxime favoured. A huge pool-like bath took up most of the space, a gold-encrusted mirror stood in one aisle, and two white towels the size of a bedsheet hung on the metal hooks on the wall, "I've been looking forward to the end of the day." Fleur said cheerfully.

She quickly removed her nightgown to reveal a one-piece bathing suit, she looked well-prepared. Fleur warmed up a few times before she leaped into the water like a swimming fish, as she swam a dozen meters around the bath in one breath, before peeking her head out of the water, revealing her flowing, beautiful hair.

"Come here, Jacqueline." She said invitingly, her voice echoing nicely as it resounded between the empty walls.

Jacqueline shook her head and stepped aside with the golden egg in her arms, her eyes glancing in the direction of the door every few seconds, fearing that Madame Maxime would come in at this hour, even though, by common sense, she would have fallen asleep by now.

She stood by for a while, watching Fleur's graceful swimming posture, like a beautiful mermaid, her long silver hair and graceful nape visible in the mist, Fleur's natural charm radiated in a way that made her very envious of her.

Jacqueline held the golden egg, her arm got a little sore, she looked around and found a beautiful recliner - a recliner that shared a common feature with the other furnishings in the room, that is, it is huge. She placed the golden egg in the middle of the seat and laid herself back with it.

"Huh?"

This move made her discover something different, she propped herself up a little as she stroked the surrounding seat, her fingertips touched a soft and tough layer of air, she felt like she is lying in the softest cloud of cotton, yet she didn't have to worry about sinking in.

"Madame Maxime knows how to enjoy herself well." Jacqueline couldn't help but wonder why the students' baths didn't have these things.

She positioned her body fully on the recliner, resting on a circular log-shaped cushion that she had expected to be hard, but it turned out to be similar to the layer of air beneath her, supporting her head in a soothing way that her ears seemed to hear the sound of lullaby as her tense nerves relaxed automatically.

It is as if she is on a cloud, so comfortable that she is about to fall asleep, without knowing how long has passed -

"How is it, this is a very comfortable seat, right?" A voice seemed to come from beyond the sky, Jacqueline looked a little confused for a moment, who was talking? She opened her eyes and found Fleur draped in a large towel, her big eyes staring at her.

"Fu, Fleur, you're done bathing, we'd better leave--" She hurriedly tried to get up, but she was pinned back by Fleur's hand as she pressed her head.

Fleur slumped down next to her in the process and let out a pleasant sigh.

"This is so comfortable, I'd love to sleep on it all the time, but unfortunately it's not available on the market." She said complainingly, "I've been waiting for almost a month, and there's still no news from Future World Company."

"This is a product of the 'Future World' company?" Jacqueline asked softly since she had heard of the company's name, as it had opened a branch in the busiest magic street in France, named Future World 3.

"That's right," Fleur said lazily, closing her eyes, "Future World is owned by Mr. Felix Hap, you've met him, he's an ancient rune professor at Hogwarts and a school board member of Beauxbatons."

Jacqueline's eyes widened.

After lying comfortably for a while, Fleur picked up the golden egg as she looked at it from left to right, "Did you solve the mystery of the golden egg?" Jacqueline asked. The golden egg had always been placed next to Fleur, and the other two champions rarely could touch it.

"Not yet." Fleur said, she was originally very anxious, but every time she sat in this " Cloud Chair ", the feeling of all worries will disappear, then she talked unhurriedly, with a lazy French accent.

"I heard François (another champion) say that Madame Maxime plans to interfere ..."

"I know," said Fleur, her delicate nose wrinkling as she held the golden egg close to her body, "she talked to me about it long ago, but I refused; I wanted to solve the mystery myself."

Jacqueline looked at Fleur enviously, perhaps in Madame Maxime's opinion, Fleur is the only one who is qualified to be a champion.

"Click."

A clear, crisp sound reached their ears.

"What's that sound?" Fleur asked warily.

Jacqueline shook her head as she straightened up and looked in the direction of the bathroom door like a frightened deer, not even the seat beneath her could reassure her at the moment, and she said with a little tremor, "Could it be Madame Maxime ...?"

"It can't be." Fleur's expression is one of hesitant, but she also got a little jittery, raising her slender neck and listening sideways for a while, "Don't worry, there is no problem, I have been here several times, Madame Maxime's very disciplined about her routine."

Jacqueline could only lie down reluctantly again.

"It's nice~"

"Yeah." Jacqueline echoed, whether it is the feeling of lying in the recliner or the fact that her relationship with Fleur is showing signs of easing up, it is good for her.

They laid in silence for a while, and in a daze, a sound was heard again-

"Click."

"I heard it again." Jacqueline said.

"Maybe it's an auditory hallucination." Fleur said with one hand touching her golden egg with her eyes closed.

A deep, calm voice suddenly sounded from above their heads with a tone of annoyance and amusement, "It's not a hallucination, I'm pretty sure that's the sound my recliner made."

"Well ..." Fleur smacked her lips, "I don't think so."

"Madame Maxime! What brings you here?" Jacqueline's frightened cry sounded in her ears.

Fleur looked a little confused, who was Jacqueline talking to? Madame Maxime? Who is Madame Maxime?

Fleur suddenly opened her eyes and met a tall, imposing figure with a sharp gaze. She let out a shriek and sat up violently, "Yes, It's me, I'm sorry, Madame Maxime, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have sneaked in and secretly used your recliner..."

However, Madame Maxime didn't hear Fleur's apology as the bathroom is dominated by another sharp, piercing shriek as the golden egg dropped on the floor when Fleur suddenly sat up, hitting the cushion and bouncing off on its own.

The golden egg let out a seeping scream while rolling, under the eyes of three pairs of eyes, flexibly turned around in an arc trajectory, and with a " poof " fell into the water.

Fleur froze for a moment, stood up obediently, and said seriously: " Madame Maxime, I'm going to get the golden egg." After saying that, she did not even dare to look at Madame Maxime's reaction as she jumped directly into the vast bath.

On the surface of the bath, Madame Maxime, with a stern face, asked Jacqueline, "Did Fleur drag you here?"

"No, no, it was we who decided to come together." Jacqueline said warily, "It's our first time over here -"

Madame Maxime grunted, "It may have been your first time, but not necessarily Fleur's, and I could see for a while that she coveted this chair of mine." She looked a little annoyed, but not at Fleur, but at Hagrid.

She didn't know what he had been up to lately, but every time he came to feed the Abraxan horse these days, he would ask her in a roundabout way if the Cloud Chair is broken, and he exclaimed that he is skilled at fixing things, so if it is broken, he can be called for help.

Madame Maxime felt annoyed that Hagrid thought she weighs too much, or else how could he suggest repeatedly that she would break the chair?

Tonight she couldn't sleep in bed, apart from the fact that Fleur was too stubborn and insisted on cracking the secret of the golden egg by herself, Hagrid was part of the reason, and in an irritable mood, she thought of taking a moment in the bathroom.

As a result, unexpectedly, there was an unexpected reward.

Seeing Fleur poking her head out of the bath and looking at her curtly, Madame Maxime smiled coldly, she definitely would take this opportunity to convince Fleur today, and there is nothing to be ashamed about, anyway, she did not think that the Karkaroff would act as promised to guarantee fairness.

After the first task ended, whoever believed any more of Karkaroff's words would be a complete fool.

One thing is quite true - cheating has always been a tradition in the Triwizard Tournament. But when to cheat? Right now is the best time to do so. "Madame Maxime! I, I have uncovered the mystery of the golden egg!" Fleur's excited shout jolted her awake, and she looked at Fleur suspiciously.

"It is true, I will sing it to you - Come seek us, where our voices sound~ We cannot sing above the ground; And while you're searching~ Remember this; Purple for strength; Blue for wisdom; Gold for, for-"

Fleur sang, her voice moving with grace and a mesmerizing charm. Both Madame Maxime and Jacqueline could not help but quietly listen, but halfway through the song, Fleur suddenly got stuck, "Uh, sorry, I forgot the rest of it. Why don't you all come down together?"

Half a minute later -

The three ladies looked up from the bath in unison and tossed their hair, Madame Maxime fell into contemplation, "So that's it, I know it would be according to the four elements where the golden egg represents life and life refers to fire ..."

She sat down on a chair and pondered the clues provided by the golden egg, and soon, she also thought of the only place at Hogwarts that qualified - the Black Lake.

"The Black Lake is said to be home for quite a few creatures, Merpeople, Giant Squid, Grindylows ...," Fleur said softly while pressing Madame Maxime's shoulder.

"But would these three creatures represent wisdom, strength, and growth?" Madame Maxime said disapprovingly, "There must be something else, these are just hindrances for champions, you need to consider underwater survival, and underwater spell casting for combat, as for wisdom and growth ... this is not something that can be speculated."

"You said it so wisely, why I did not think of it." Fleur smiled very charmingly.

Madame Maxime gave her a blank look, but at least the mystery of the golden egg was cracked, so she didn't intend to pursue it, "A little to the left." She instructed, and Fleur laughed happily again.

"Click - click - click - click -"

The chair beneath Madame Maxime suddenly emitted a series of dense rattling sounds, and the layer of air beneath her flickered twice and suddenly disappeared.

Three people stared wide-eyed, Madame Maxime's expression is the one that looked most astonished.

This chair really got broken by her?

--

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The next morning, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the great hall they saw Cedric's group also dining, then they looked at each other and sat opposite to them tacitly.

"Uh ... hi guys." Harry said, to which Cedric put down his fork and smiled at them.

Harry momentarily lost of words, not knowing what he should say, especially since the man in front of him had danced at least seven times with Cho Chang at the Yule Ball, preventing him from taking any chances.

He mumbled something so vaguely that Cedric didn't hear it properly, so he looked at Harry questioningly.

"I, ahem - I mean, Ron has something he wanted to say to Collins."

This time, it is Ron's turn to stammer. "What--me? Oh, it's me ..." He glared at Harry, when Collins placed down her fork knife and looked towards them, her very imposing gaze shifting between Harry and Ron.

Ron looked at Collins, and his face turned red, Collins' two thick eyebrows and short brown hair matched together exceptionally well, then he remembered his poor performance in front of Fleur again, and muttered in a low voice, "Thanks ..."

"Are you having trouble figuring out what to say?" Collins asked him.

"I mean - thanks for the tip, you know, at the ball ... you came up to me in your blue dress and told me the clue, although I didn't really hear it, but I felt the need to, ahem, the need to say thank you ..." Ron said under his breath, to which Harry chimed in, "Yeah, that's right."

When Collins and the group left, Ron's ears still remained red.

"Aren't you only supposed to be allergic to Fleur?" Harry asked, trying to muffle Hermione's laughter and bring the conversation in a serious direction.

"I don't know ... when her black eyes stared at me, my mind went blank." Ron said pessimistically, "First Fleur, now Collins, something isn't wrong with me, is it?"

"Yeah, and you're ill beyond comprehension, although it only kicks in when you're in front of those pretty girls." Hermione pointed out sharply.

Feeling that Ron was about to make a fool of himself, Harry moved his plate towards him - Ron was about to nearly spill the beef and pumpkin pie filling on the table - as he whispered to them about what had happened in the Ancient Rune Office last night.

After waking up from his sleep, his memories all became vivid, and Harry highlighted the enchanted book that had served a bizarre purpose.

"Sounds like a book that should stay honestly in the restricted area ...," Ron commented, dropping the pie on his plate.

"No, the professor said he got the inspiration from the Dementors for it, and frankly, I think the professor's field of study is bizarre." Harry spoke his mind.

"Any field of study that has been studied to a high degree will look strange to the layman." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Harry thought hard about it, but he didn't know much about the other professors' lives outside the classroom. In his imagination, Professor Flitwick probably had a hobby that involved opera and afternoon tea, when he would use charms to make those little teacups and teapots to move, and might even make them say a cheeky comment or two (like those enchanted servants he saw in the film); Professor McGonagall probably would spend all her free time handling the heavy workload of the school; Snape probably would spend his free time gutting Horned Toad; Trelawney would hold a crystal ball first thing in the morning to decide which dress to wear ...

Professor Hap may be, in addition to reading and studying runes, will Play cards with Valen? As for Professor Moody, Harry used to imagine him removing his wooden leg and rubbing oil on it, just like how Harry cares for his Firebolt in his free time, but now Harry is left with nothing but sympathy - maybe for the past few months, Professor Moody would hop on to his bed like a puppet every time he came back to his office, and then Barty Crouch Jr. would sneak in and go through his memories while he was sleeping.

The fact that he could fool Dumbledore at least means that Barty Crouch Jr. is very skilled in disguise and possibly in the art of Occlumency as well.

Harry heard a familiar voice, which he thought might be a hallucination until he and Ron looked over and saw Lee Jordan waving at the three Uagadou's champions, and the Weasley twins sneakily handing a stack of parchments to the one with the last name "Blanzigor" --His hair is shaved on both sides, leaving a ghastly spiky haircut in the middle.

Harry remembered him well because he could turn into a hawk, and in the first task his tangle with that Antipodean Opaleye was very exciting.

"How did they get along this well?" Ron asked incredulously.

"It looks like Lee Jordan acted as a middleman," Harry looked over thoughtfully, where Lee Jordan is patting his chest, his distinctive voice drifting far over, "... Don't worry, it's absolutely reliable... ..."

"Fred and George won't play their game with the Uagadou's champions, right? It might land them into a mess if they caused international strife ...," Hermione said worriedly.

"Fred and George know what is limit in their heart, and at best they will sell their new products or something ... they know, right?" Ron's tone became uncertain as well.

Soon, Fred and George took their leave, as Lee Jordan continued to joke with the Uagadou's team. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurriedly got up and intercepted the twins in the entrance hall.

"Oh, hello guys, we didn't expect you." Fred was taken aback.

"What were you guys doing?" Ron asked directly.

"Nothing, meeting Lee's new friends." George replied evasively, inclining his head back in the direction of the great hall.

"I saw that." Ron said, "You handed them something, not a prank product, but a stack of parchment, probably some kind of information ..."

Fred and George looked at each other.

"If you guys revealed any secret that would cause Hogwarts to lose the game ...," Ron said with deliberate seriousness, watching with satisfaction as his two brothers' expressions grew solemn.

"You are very concerned, it seems that the whole thing of becoming a champion has given you a lot of confidence." Fred said.

"Are you preparing for next year, little Ronnie, you want to become a prefect?" George teased.

Ron's face reddened, and he said irritably, "I don't want to be a prefect-"

"But our little brother has some point this time." Fred said.

"Probably just a blind shot in the dark."

Ron's face is turning about as red as his hair when Harry interrupted, "So what did you guys have in mind back then?"

Fred and George looked at each other, "Look, it's simple, Lee Jordan made friends with a student of Uagadou, you know, he's got the looks ..." Harry couldn't help but laugh a little as Fred added: " Uagadou School of Magic is different from us in many ways, they specialize in Self-Transfiguration, Alchemy, Astronomy, and gesture casting ..."

"Yes, they have all kinds of alchemical gadgets that are not hard to get hold of, like amulets of various types. ... As Dumbledore said, it's all about exchange." George shrugged and said.

"They approached us two days ago, just before Christmas, saying they wanted to learn about the Black Lake ... It's not exactly information that needs to be kept secret, I bet there are at least a hundred books in the library that mention it, but of course, it will require some time to find." Fred said.

George added with a wink, "Unless they're too foolish not to think about asking Mrs. Pince, whose presence is actually quite strong, stronger than the rope that will pull people's attention in front of the restricted book section."

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other.

"So," Ron asked hopefully, "you guys just found some random stuff from the library and brought it to fool them?"

Fred said with a stern face: " To your disappointment, we are very credible. But we have limited knowledge of the Black Lake, like if we dive too deep we'll be chased out by merpeople with pitchforks, and their tamed pets aren't friendly either-"

"That's Grindylow." George looked at Harry's puzzled expression and explained.

"There are Creatures that live at the edge of the lake and also on Bowtruckle Island ... but we didn't dare to go too deep for fear of being getting tied and beaten by Selkies. But sooner or later we'll draw a map of the Black Lake, it's part of our plan to finish before graduation." Fred said.

George looked at him strangely, "When did we have this plan?"

"Just as we were talking. Wanna join?" Fred asked.

"Doesn't sound that bad," George said with a grin, looking at the dumbfounded trio, "But there's no point in doing it all over again when Harry's father and his gang have done it all, so why not find another way, anyway we're just in our sixth year, so we definitely have some time to leave behind our legacy. "

Then the twins left, and before leaving, George reminded them, "By the way, Harry, if you go to the hospital wing now, there will be a surprise waiting for you."

The trio stared at their backs, deep in thought.

"We should have requested a copy of the map, a scrap will do." Ron suddenly said, "It certainly would have saved a lot of trouble."

"We can make our own." Harry said without thinking, it is still very far from February.

Hermione then counted on her fingers, "Besides us, counting Cedric's group, plus Uagadou, half of the team already knows about the second task, and it's hard to say about the other three schools--"

" Maybe you should count Durmstrang as well." Ron said gloomily.

Hermione's eyebrows raised.

"Sorry, that wasn't clear - I meant that Karkaroff would definitely find a way to cheat." Ron rephrased it, "I have faith in him."

Harry could not contain his smile.

" We should better stop by the hospital wing and check out the surprise Fred mentioned ..." he suggested. As they arrived at the hospital wing and turned the corner, they vaguely heard more than one familiar voice.

"Professor Hap?"

"Sirius?" Harry said in surprise.

They quickened their pace to see the door of the intensive care ward wide open, and Sirius standing in front of a table, peering inside as he fiddled with the wand in his hand, his eyes staring menacingly in one direction.

Then, from inside, came Moody's gruff voice, "If you want a fight, you'd better go outside! I don't have a wand in my hand, and I'm missing an eye ..."

"Your eye is soaking in the potion, Professor Moody. Who complained that it wasn't working well as soon as he woke up." Felix's voice stated gently.

"I'm telling the truth! And my wooden leg, it is almost half an inch shorter, it must be that scumbag's doing!" Moody said very grumpily, which had something to do with the fact that he had just been treated by Felix.

Felix sighed, the check-up just now did not go well, because the patient subconsciously resisted it. So he just tried the techniques he learned from the dementors, which caused Moody to become quite frustrated after the treatment was over, and the way he showed his 'frustration' is by disliking people indiscriminately.

Felix looked up at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who are standing in the doorway, and waved at them.

They walked into the room and were surprised to find it lively inside. On the opposite end of the room across from Sirius, Snape stood near the wall in his black robes, like a jet-black bloodsucking plant, indifferently looking at Sirius with contempt in his eyes.

Snape's hand is hidden in his sleeve, Harry guessed from his posture that he should be holding his wand.

This also solved the confusion: Harry did not think that Sirius would clash with Professor Hap, if he remembered correctly, in the Hagrid hut in the third year, Sirius had revealed his secret personally that he had been easily caught by the professor, he looked rather reluctant at that time.

Besides these people, there are two other people in the room, one is Madam Pomfrey, and the other is turned out to be Neville.

Neville was shrinking into a chair by himself as best he could, which wasn't easy, since he had grown at least half a foot from last year and stood comparable to Ron. When Harry walked over to him, he cried and said in a voice close to a whisper of resignation, "I just wanted to come over and send a bouquet of flowers, like yesterday ... only to find that Professor Moody had woken up, and after that Madam Pomfrey called Professor Hap, and not long after that, Mr. Black suddenly appeared, saying that there is something important that he wants to talk about, and halfway through the conversation, Professor Snape dropped by."

Excellent, Harry thought, Neville accurately retold the sequence of order the people in the room came in, and he could imagine the general course of events.

He looked around, Professor Hap is wearing a rare white coat, is this an imitation of a Muggle doctor? Madam Pomfrey is standing not far from him, she is holding a clipboard in her hand, taking notes quickly. Harry continued to look over, and then his eyes seemed to be stung when he glanced over at the very conspicuous large glass on the side of the patient bed - Moody's magic eye is submerged in the blue liquid, every now and then it turned around in a circle.

Ron made a sound of disgust.

"Harry." Sirius came over and gave him a firm hug. Then he said quietly, "I got word from Hagrid that Moody's injured right now, so I came over to give it a try--"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked in a whisper.

Sirius scowled disdainfully in Snape's direction, and Snape said slowly as if he hadn't seen it, "I got permission from the Headmaster, so if Mr. Alastor Moody still wishes to finish teaching this year, I' ... will substitute for a few classes temporarily, for the sake of my colleague until he recovers from his injury."

Sirius immediately looked over at Moody and said solemnly, "Alastor, I suggest you should better hide for a while ..."

He suddenly realized that he had touched the taboo of the "Mad-Eye" Moody, who looked like a volcano that is about to erupt in wrath, so he hurriedly stopped, but it was too late.

Harry swore he had never seen Moody's face contorted this much, every cut on his face miraculously enlarged and shaking disgustingly as Moody roared, "Ha! Do you think I'm afraid of meeting people? After months of being manipulated like a puppet by Voldemort and a Death Eater? What did you think I am going to do? Hide and cry like a wuss? I'm telling you, dream on!"

Sirius's face suddenly turned as pale as paper.

Moody's only eye glared at Sirius, and Harry felt that Moody's eye looked even more terrifying than the fake eye in the glass, as even his empty eye sockets looked like naught compared to the rage that burst out of his eye.

He pointed to the empty bed next to him, "You know what Barty did first when he woke up? Go to the Ministry of Magic and turn himself in! He's going to tell everything and atone for all those mistakes he made!"

He pointed to his mangled nose again, with spittle flying, and growled, "I'll do what I promised Dumbledore, and not only that, guess what?!" He looked at the bewildered Sirius, "I have to tell everyone what happened to me, just students can not be enough ..."

He grimaced and said, "I have to tell everyone that Voldemort is still alive, or at least not dead to the bone."

Dumbledore's heavy voice heard from the door, "Alastor ..."

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Dumbledore looked around, taking in the expressions of everyone. He looked a little tired, but still smiled and said, "Alastor, there are two Aurors from the Ministry of Magic that need some information, and I brought them in."

A tall man dashed in, and Felix glanced at the stern-faced Kingsley, who was followed by Tonks, she changed her short hair red today and a handful of strands stood up in a haphazard fashion, looking rather conspicuous. When Felix looked over, she waved at him enthusiastically.

From the mouth of Tonks' open shirt pocket, a thin blue glass tube half-revealed, it should be the new super bubble solution from 'Future World' ...

Moody grinned oozingly at his two uninvited guests, "Scrimgeour sent you here?"

"Mrs. Bones asked me to say hello to you, Alastor; We all care about you, and by the way, I'm an official Auror now!" Tonks said with a jubilant smile.

Sirius' eyes rolled as Moody said dully, "I hope they didn't slacked on your infiltration and trailing classes."

Tonks grunted softly, " It's just you are the only one who's being too strict."

At that moment, the dark-skinned Kingsley opened his briefcase, and with a flick of his wand, a piece of parchment flew out of it, with dense writing appeared on it and several handwritten signatures already in the bottom column.

" We can catch up later on, Alastor." Kingsley said in his characteristic low and slow voice, "We're here with a mission, the senior officials in the Ministry are busy, so I'm here to question you on behalf of the Minister of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Wizengamot and the Auror office about what happened to you over the past few months, they've prepared some questions ... Headmaster Dumbledore?"

Kingsley glanced cautiously at Dumbledore.

"Ah, Everyone let's go out first, Kingsley and Alastor are old acquaintances, they won't fight." Dumbledore said to the crowd with a smile, followed by calling Snape, the first one who was ready to leave, "Please wait, Severus, I have a couple of minor questions about the potion analysis report you handed me."

The crowd walked out of the ward, and when Madam Pomfrey closed the door Felix caught a glimpse of Kingsley and Moody on the bed hugging each other through the last gap, "Bang!" Then the door closed tightly.

Sirius whispered, "Headmaster Dumbledore, my substitute ..."

"Sirius," Dumbledore's tone got a little more serious, "I didn't deny your application, but it's obvious that you're not exactly cut out to be a professor right now--"

"But I've got good grades!" Sirius said in annoyance, glaring at Snape, who had a mocking expression on his face and wanted to smash his fist in his face.

"I'm not referring to your grades, you should know that," Dumbledore said.

Sirius' face fell again, and Harry was tempted to put in a few good words for his godfather, but Professor Hap opposite to him shook his head slightly, so he had to hold back a bellyful of good words.

"Albus, Professor Moody's appointment is only supposed to be limited to one year, right?" Felix asked mildly.

Dumbledore gave him a knowing smile, "Yeah, Alastor's retired, so it's not nice of me to work him too hard, and the circumstances are exceptional and unique this year ... It's quite a headache to think that I'll have to write a new job ad for every six-month period."

In the outer corridor of the hospital wing, Dumbledore and Snape headed upstairs, it looks like their destination should be the Headmaster's Office. Felix figured out what it's for when Dumbledore mentioned the potion analysis report earlier, it should be about the residual potion they found in the Chamber of Secrets, which probably was used by Voldemort to keep his body from breaking down.

But right now it is not the best place to ask detailed questions, he turned around and looked at Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville - group, and asked them: "I'm going to go to Hagrid's place, you guys ..."

"Us too." Harry said immediately. Ron and Hermione nodded like a chicken peck, and Neville looked around for a second, rubbing his head.

"Then let's go together, maybe you guys can help out a little." Felix said cheerfully, seeing Harry's puzzled expression, he explained: "Hagrid's Firetrail Snails grow too fast, the scary thing is, they do not need to hibernate but still have plenty of energy. Hagrid asked me to build a few chains to prevent the aggressive actions of these creatures as they fight within the group and kill themselves or escape and turn into food for forbidden forest creatures..."

The young wizards, who are no strangers to Firetrail Snails, turned pale.

They walked out of the castle, stepping through the deep snow, the biting wind penetrated their thick clothes, the young wizards shivered from the cold, Sirius, although his face looked pale, he looked much better compared to the rest.

Felix waved his wand, "Warmth spell (*made-up spell*) - one of the most practical magic in winter if you have not purchased a thermostatic locket yet."

They immediately warmed up, their pace slowed down, and stepping on the snow became a winter treat. Harry tsked, while Hermione asked in amazement, "Professor, what is the incantation for this magic?"

"RECALFACIO sicut fornax."

"Is it easy to learn? If I learn it, is it possible to achieve the same effect as a thermostatic locket?" Ron asked.

"Your two brothers asked me the same question," Felix said with a smile, "but unfortunately, it only works in winter."

Ron pouted, "Now it finally makes sense why they are invincible in snowball fights."

"Professor, who is Mrs. Bones?" Harry thought of the name Tonks had mentioned, the family name sounded familiar.

"Amelia Bones, the current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has quite a well-deserved reputation." Felix said simply.

"Susan Bones' aunt." Hermione whispered, and it suddenly dawned on Harry.

"Sirius, do you know her?" Harry asked his godfather, thinking that Sirius should know her from the way he had behaved earlier.

Sirius thought about it and smacked his lips before saying, "A bit of an impression ... when I was at school she was four years senior to me, a very smart and serious witch," he muttered in a small voice, "I seem to have made her cry. "

"What happened?" Hermione asked with interest.

"Oh, it's a long time ago ..." he said helplessly when he saw that Harry was also looking at him with interest: "You should know that you can't do magic in the school corridors... ..."

Harry and the group nodded their heads.

"When I first enrolled in school, I showed off the Wand-Lighting Charm in the corridor, of course, I made some sort of adjustment ... Amelia happened to see it and jumped at the chance to give me a point deduction, she was the Prefect at that time ... "

"I believe Prefect shouldn't have the power to deduct points." Ron muttered, remembering his second year when he got his points deducted by Percy.

Sirius smiled understandingly, "Remus was also a Prefect, and I happen to know some insider knowledge that Prefects can't just deduct points at will, they have to write notes for every deduction they make, and there are other restrictions ... like Amelia only deducting two points that time. "

"That doesn't sound like much." Harry said.

"Yeah," Sirius said emotionally, "but I was very unconvinced, so I ran under her eyes and continued to use the Wand-Lighting Charm, the colourful light flashed on her lenses ... she was naturally very displeased and gave me a point deduction again, but I kept on chanting the spell, we were at a standstill for a long time, and finally she deducted approximately two hundred or so points I think?"

Harry and the group stared with wide eyes.

Sirius smiled cheekily: "Actually, it's because the school has just started not long ago, and the points of each house were not that high, and I remember there were only a few rubies in the Gryffindor House hourglass left after that?"

"You just got away with it?" Harry asked incredulously.

"It wasn't that simple, I was detained for a week," Sirius said carelessly, "but Amelia didn't fare well either, I heard she finished writing those reports in tears."

Harry thought it would be wise to keep this from Susan Bones, who adored her aunt so much, but Ron had the opposite idea.

"Why don't we have a dueling study group, Harry? It was ages ago when we had an event last time." Ron leaped to his feet and said, "We could get Sirius to be our guide."

Sirius looked a little tempted, but declined, "I can't enter Hogwarts at will, it was Hagrid who helped me this time."

They came in front of Hagrid's hut, Hagrid is working in the pumpkin patch behind the hut, and there are only about a dozen Firetrail Snails left, but they have grown a LOT more, even in the winter snow, they are still full of energy.

"You guys are here?" Hagrid gasped for breath as he yelled, and then he suddenly lunged forward at a Firetrail Snail that had broken free, and when he got up from the snow, the crowd saw that the Firetrail Snail he was holding down under his body no longer moved.

"Is it dead?" Felix asked.

"Not yet," Hagrid said gruffly, "probably passed out." He flipped the Firetrail Snail over and picked up a thick rope next to it which he tied around the middle of its body, Felix guessed that should be the waist of the Firetrail Snail? If the creature even had that body structure.

He came closer and gently poked the sunken thick shell of the Firetrail Snail with his wand, and a few of its legs weakly stirred twice, proving it is still alive.

Felix quickly cast a spell to conjure chains, as he told Hagrid, "I left some gaps, but if they continue to grow, they may need to be expanded subsequently."

"I see," Hagrid said gruffly, "that's fine."

When they sat on the blanket in Hagrid's hut, Hagrid continued to lament about creatures like the Firetrail Snail: "They are quite docile, they don't hurt people much ... but they like to fight internally, I'm not sure which side is influencing them, probably the manticore, as they have always lived alone. "

Harry who is holding the hot tea in his hand felt the tea was no longer flavourful.

Felix said, "It's best not to set them free for now, Severus is studying the medicinal value of such creatures--"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Neville suddenly coughed violently, "Oh, I'm sorry ..." he said with a horrified expression.

"What's wrong with him?" Hagrid asked in disbelief, reaching over and patting Neville, who dropped to the floor at once.

Ron said with great understanding, "He probably thought of the material he would have to deal with later after blowing up another cauldron ..." When he said that, Harry also suddenly felt psychological discomfort, Snape always had the habit of punishing students by making them handle disgusting potion materials, especially the materials which are not very valuable and that could be purchased easily in bulk.

Whether it is the shell of the Firetrail Snail or their sticky body or the slime-like thing, if Snape found a good use for it, it will become a nightmare for the students.

And Harry could guarantee that they would be the first students to be victimized.

Hagrid passed him a towel, Neville took it, and it immediately moved on its own, wiping a few times indiscriminately on his face, under his chin, and on his collar, "Oh, sorry, that's an automatic cleaning rag!" Hagrid snatched it away with an apologetic look on his face.

"No, it's okay." Neville said with a pale face.

Hagrid looked at him hesitantly and brought over a plate of hard cookies from the inner room, "You can try this." Neville politely picked up a piece and immediately put it down when he noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione shook their heads firmly and slowly.

It's a good thing Hagrid didn't notice this, as he was talking to Felix: "The Firetrail Snail molted some shells, and I didn't know if it would be of any use to you, so I saved some for you."

Felix nodded, "This is a type of new material, no one has deeply researched it before, but I think that it will have the characteristics of both the Sphinx and the Manticore - perhaps even fire crab too, it's just hard to say which one it is more inclined to. If it's the former, it's very valuable."

"Mr. Scamander did not talk to me much about this, we just discussed some insights about breeding magical creatures," Hagrid said gruffly: "We didn't exactly align ... in the same direction, but some of his suggestions are very helpful. "

Harry knew that Hagrid was referring about the one in classroom seven, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "I heard that many ghosts prefer that place?"

"Yes, I did see quite a few." Hagrid said, "I heard they are planning to ask Headmaster Dumbledore to find a memory of a person who loves to eat and cook, quite unreliable ... but, they are much more active than in previous decades."

"Do they have anyone in mind?" Ron asked, as usual, he got intrigued by these oddities.

"There is one," Hagrid muttered, "Horace Slughorn, the Fat Friar, was impressed with him, saying that he would sneak into the kitchens for a snack every night when he was at school without fail."

Harry knew the Fat Friar, the ghost of Hufflepuff House, but who this Slughorn is he didn't know.

"Is he that Potions Master?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"You know him?" Hagrid gave her a look: "Quite an interesting man, he was here when I was at school, he was the head of Slytherin House, Sirius must know him."

They looked over towards Sirius, who is sitting on the couch cuddling with Fang in his arms, as he scratched Fang's chin with one hand, making him grunt with comfort. Then he said slowly, "Of course, I know him, an old man who likes to enjoy himself, he formed the famous Slug Club, which brought a bunch of Death Eaters together-"

"What?!" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, don't worry, he's got nothing to do with Death Eaters." Sirius said, and then he noticed that the expression on Harry's face remained very stiffly frozen, so he continued to explain, "He's just an old man who loves mead, candied pineapple, and triple padded couches ..." He glanced at Felix and said, "I bet he's got his eye on your company's product, I saw a chair when I went to see Remus, that's what he loves."

Speaking of chairs, Hagrid's expression rose abnormally, his eyes wandering as he glanced at a toolbox in the corner, a red umbrella placed next to the toolbox.

"... he has a common Slytherin disease; like to pull connections everywhere, love of vanity, do not have much regard for people without potential... Of course, he is much better than the current Slytherin Head."

Felix gave him a reproachful look.

Sirius spread his hands, "I'm being honest here, well, let's ignore a certain unpleasant Bat spirit," he continued, "Besides the fact that he likes to enjoy material things, he has a magical knack for always noticing students who have great potential, and he has created a platform for these people to communicate with each other, with the expectation of being rewarded sometime in the future, and he likes that feeling for sure."

"And the Death Eaters-" Harry pressed.

"As I said, besides their aptitude, he also values their origins, and you should know what most of Slytherin is all about." Sirius said, "Not many people can truly enter the club with their abilities alone, but Harry, your mother was considered as an exception to that rule."

"My mom?" Harry looked shocked again, he didn't know why he was in a hurry to retort, but he did, "But, but she's a Gryffindor!"

"She got in based on her ability." Sirius said, "Lily's talent for potions was very high, and the potions she brewed saved a lot of people during the war days, especially when we were being hunted by Voldemort, when all of us had to hide in our safe house because of our injuries, she alone remained active as she brewed potions even with the injury."

His tone lowered, "If she and James had survived, Lily definitely would have become the most dazzling master of potions. What is Snape ..."

Sirius grunted twice, with contempt overflowing in his voice.

"What about you guys?" Harry asked, desperate for more information, not about that Professor Slughorn, but about Sirius and his own parents.

"Me and James?"

"And Professor Lupin." Harry said, "I mean, Remus."

Sirius smiled, "I was, well ... more rebellious," he winked at Harry, "I couldn't stand the way he was treating people, especially when Regulus joined that club later on, I wanted nothing to do with them, James was more or less in the same situation as I was, but he hated it more because there were too many Slytherin there, and he was very hostile to Slytherin ..."

"As for Remus, he was good at his studies, but you know, his identity is a big problem."

"But I heard that his identity was kept secret and not many people found out he was a werewolf during the school year." Harry asked in disbelief.

" Then I can state the obvious," Felix said, "You just couldn't hope to hide something like this from a wizard with great magical powers, especially when he also happens to be a Potions Master."

...

The next week flew by, and after the holidays granted to employees of ''Future World'' ended, Felix moved to Diagon Alley to spend his last few days working on new product improvements, and before he knew it, the new semester at Hogwarts had begun.

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The day before school started, the festive atmosphere of the Christmas season had yet to dissipate, and Diagon Alley looked completely silvery throughout.

This year's Diagon Alley looked much different from the past, the vast majority of stores had Christmas lights hung in front of them - a friendly gift from the 'Future World' company, and during this period of time, as soon as the evening arrived, even before the last rays of sunshine disappeared from the sky - these magic lights had lit up, illuminating a small open space in front of the stores.

Eric and Clammy stepped out of the vertical castle, wearing a single set of normal summer clothing, without being affected by the cold, bitter wind.

Clammy adjusted the dial of the thermostatic locket and stuffed it into her pocket, looking at the wizards of both genders on the street contentedly, she said rather emotionally, "It's not even six months, but Diagon Alley has changed a lot."

Eric empathetically replied, "Indeed ... remember the book signing event at the Flourish and Blotts Bookshop on New Year's Eve? Rita Skeeter purchased two magic gramophones and kept the projection of the Weird Sisters group afloat in front of the bookshop until the event was over. It was like watching a live show ..."

Clammy blinked, remembering the scene again. That reporter had had the audacity to include members of the ancient Black family in the book, but what is even more overblown is that she also mentioned the Dark Lord.

Some descriptions in the book make her blush a little when she thought of it now:

'... That devil-like man possessed a transcendent charm that is not limited to either of the genders, a charm that even the descendants of ancient and pure-blooded families could hardly resist, as they have willingly swooned at his feet and kissed them reverently. Even if there is just a hint of hope - to be able to dine with this cold dark lord, or to be able to secure the gift of kissing the back of his hand - they fought to obtain it. The young man in our story was also willing to go through hell ...

The young pure-blooded descendant will never forget that night when the dark lord summoned his loyal servant personally. The Dark Lord's slender fingertips brushed his cheek as if they were hot charcoal, murmuring a gentle whisper that could not be refused: "My faithful one, I need you ... need you to do a thing for me ..."

Although she did not directly mention their names in the book, but anyone with a few brain cells and general knowledge can guess who the two main characters in the story are based on.

"What's wrong with you?" Eric asked her as he looked at the abruptly blushing Clammy, curiously sizing her up.

"N-no... it's nothing," Clammy blushed and stammered.

...

On a busy street in the heart of London, two strange men stood in front of a very well-decorated store.

The store stood next door to a stationery store, and the owner of the stationery store looked at the two strangers, not half suspecting their antics, as she herself found the store that opened next to hers rather odd -

She had lived in London for decades, but she had just heard the name of the company 'Future World' for the first time a few months ago.

'How strange, why would a jewellery store be named like that?' The owner wondered cynically, 'Isn't the retro style trending now, is it a new trend from Paris?'

There is another unreasonable thing. The signboard of this store, in the lower right corner, read - 'Shop No. 7' in gold-stamped letters, which seemed absurd, and even though the clerk there said that other branches of the store were located abroad, she still remained unconvinced.

She thought while blatantly sizing up the two men at the entrance through the glass window, one looked very young yet had a serene expression and seemed to be a very well-read rich teenager? The middle-aged man next to him seemed to have a story written all over his face, and if she could, she would gladly invite him to have a small glass of brandy, to listen to some heartbreaking story ...

At that moment, Felix and Lupin did not even realize that they had become the object of judgment, as an impromptu exchange between them came to an end -

"She's scared to death now, she just finished her book signing, and suddenly the next day the Ministry of Magic published a wanted notice for Barty Crouch Jr., Despite Fudge's hard work in not acknowledging Voldemort's existence, just the words 'Vicious hardcore follower of the dark lord, ' is enough to keep her from sleeping! -- and Sirius had tried to stop her at the start, but she did not believe his words."

Felix grimaced, he had flipped through Rita Skeeter's new book, after that had he left with a feeling of being tainted, and now he felt that she deserved a few more days of fear.

So he said to Lupin, "Don't bother with her for now."

Lupin gave him a precise look of puzzlement, " Are you going to make her wait close to two months? She certainly would become crazy." That's the time when the second task of the tournament will begin and when the gates of Hogwarts will be opened for spectators and journalists.

Felix smiled playfully: "Don't forget that our journalist friends have a special skill."

Lupin's heart suddenly shuddered as he asked, "Animagus?"

Felix nodded slightly.

Rita Skeeter used to be an illegal Animagus, the reason why the word 'used to' is used because she had closed the hole and registered at the Ministry of Magic, but she was also exposed because of that and became rather a notorious figure.

According to a reliable source, the beetle dispelling potion was sold out of stock during that time.

"You want her to work for you?" Lupin asked in a hushed voice, as his heart squirmed deeply, although he did not like to deal with someone like Rita Skeeter who talked hogwash as easily as drinking and breathing, but he could not bring himself to watch her step into the death door.

Felix glanced at Lupin, seeing through his thoughts without much effort. After all, Sirius had mentioned that he and James were attracted to Lupin because of his inner kindness - no one would refuse to have a friend like that.

Felix reminded, "You seem to be caught in some sort of moral dilemma, but the truth is, we don't have to do anything."

"Yeah," Lupin whispered with a sigh, "it's because we didn't do anything ..."

They walked into this most unusual store number seven, the interior of which is a long aisle with delicate glass counters on the left and right rows, in which wide array of exquisitely shaped gold and silver ornaments, with all kinds of jewellery and gems placed in red, black, and purple velvet cushion.

From the customers to the clerks are all ordinary people.

A young female clerk spotted Felix and Lupin, and her big eyes flickered twice over the former before she spotted Lupin. Lupin nodded at her, and they walked straight through the long aisle toward the back, where there stood a small, unassuming door.

A customer inquired the store clerk, "Is this a George IV-era Cigar case?"

"Ma'am, it's just a replica, you can see our logo on it." The clerk said with a pleasant smile, probably trying to impress the boss, as her tone became extraordinarily patient and gentle.

"Each of our silver wares strictly complies with the sterling silver hallmark system, in addition to that, we also have a handbook for our customers to check the silver content, origin, date, etc., as well as the certification of the official identification agency ..."

Felix and Lupin pushed open the small door, the interior is a narrow cubicle, in which a workbench occupied a third of the space, and some common crafting tools were laid out on the workbench.

"Will we be using these?" Felix asked, holding up a pair of tweezers, he didn't really understand how they use this, anyway, he could use magic to shape metals easily, especially since he could cheat with his thinking room magic.

"Occasionally it is used, some guests will request some minor adjustments." Lupin said, "In order to facilitate secrecy, we also acquire silver wares from normal channels, and have a special staff in charge of this matter." He smiled and said, "In fact, this store is no different from other gold and silver jewellery stores in the way they operate, except for the occasional few goblin-made pieces."

"Felix, I must remind you that the number of employees in the company is already over one hundred and twenty."

Felix looked into Lupin's eyes and considered for a second, "That's exactly what I expected, as you would have realized recently, that only after reaching a certain threshold, it is possible to divide a clear division of labour, and gather collective wisdom to form a large-scale impact. Moreover, with more people, we can concentrate more effort on one thing to produce results quickly. Like the research on the projection screen this time."

Felix smiled, "I like this feeling, watching them go from unfamiliar to familiar with each other, through some simple tasks to get through the bonding phase, only then, when we really have a big task, we won't be overwhelmed."

Lupin showed a helpless expression, "Don't let the people in the company hear these words, they don't think they are completing a 'simple' task."

"Oh, I was wrong," Felix said perfunctorily, "it is very difficult task."

When they emerged from Shop No. 07, the sky darkened as Felix and Lupin parted. Felix was satisfied with everything so far, especially since his book of runes is nearly finished, which put him in a very good mood.

He took a rare stroll through the streets of London, which were crowded with people walking in a hurry, and before he knew it, he veered into an out-of-the-way street, where a figure wobbled in the dim light.

That is a dark-haired man, with a stump-like figure, sunken cheeks and eye sockets, with messy hair.

'A homeless man? A crackhead?'

Felix moved away a little, not expecting the man to walk towards him head-on. A strong sense of absurdity welled up in Felix's heart, 'It can't be that I've met a mugger.' This thought made him choose against leaving, as he remained where he was, curiously sizing up the other party.

The man is so thin and frail that he seems like he would be blown over by a gust of wind. He reached into his pocket with one hand, so Felix inclined his head and put on a humanoid shield charm on himself, "Do you need me to call a doctor for you?" He asked him slowly.

"I do need some 'medicine'." The man said as he licked his yellowing teeth.

He pulled out a folded flyer and handed it to Felix with an odd smile on his face. He then left to find his next target.

Felix looked at the contents on the flyer and for a moment he found it baffling -

'Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in mystery? There are uncharted territories in this world, a world that is very different from science. If you feel like you are often dizzy, giddy, and waking up not knowing where you are (this paragraph is highlighted) ... friend, you are probably destined to be part of this hidden world.

Feel free to join us, we will provide attentive guidance and fulfil your wish - for example, you desperately need to turn your bad luck around and desperately want to see your true perspective - or you are suffering from an incurable disease and feel that your life is hopeless ... '

--

#Timothy Seaboch, Thanks for your love and support.

There are 486 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

It was followed by a long list of 'for example'.

Felix reckoned that anyone in their right mind would be tempted by one or two of the contents mentioned on it, provided it actually worked out.

At the bottom of the flyer, there is a crude map.

Felix's curiosity got heavier. The person who handed him the flyer was obviously an ordinary person but was it a mere coincidence that he got approached straight away? He thought it is probably some dark wizards who fishing for a suitable target - like occult nerds - in the name of magic. And to find out what exactly they are doing, he decided to visit them.

Felix followed the directions on the flyer through the out-of-the-way streets. The hand-drawn map featured a lot of cryptic signposts drawn on the corners of each street, which required a bit of thought.

Felix stood in front of a wall, staring at the graffiti on it, gauging it for a while with the help of dim street lights, and then he turned to the left, following the directions of the large rat holding a vertical sign on the graffiti.

There are no more lights here, the stores on both sides of the street are dilapidated, there is lots of discarded rubbish piled up on the corner, the only light left on kept flickering, combined with the whimpering cold wind, it felt like a horror film shooting spot.

But if Felix wanted to, he could construct the most realistic horror there is or the opposite of that as well.

'Along the way, there were three people sizing me up in the shadows, no signs of magic, and the malice in their emotions wasn't really strong ... just figuring out my worth?' Felix walked slowly, since it had nothing to do with magic, nor a certain dark wizard fishing, his interest at the end of the path quickly diminished, so he occasionally paused to admire the graffiti on the walls along the way.

If he had to describe it, he would say that this place is a dead part of the City of London, forgotten by the City Hall, ignored during several city planning cycles, and finally become a paradise for feral cats and dogs, as well as a favourite place for those 'rebellious teenagers'.

A few minutes later.

Felix pushed open a dilapidated door and walked in with confidence, the rudimentary map on the flyer had long since lost its usefulness, the reason why he could find this place, one because of the movement of people here, and the second because of the entrance is painted with a magic array that looks quite exquisite.

Looking at the windows and the mottled signboard at the entrance, this should have been a clothing store before. But the signboard with graffiti-style font reads 'House of Magic'.

Felix was 99% convinced that no wizard group would do this kind of thing, this place looked more like a place that was created based on some occult enthusiasts' imagination of how a hidden wizard society would look like.

No wonder he was tricked ...

At that moment, two sturdy, burly men approached him, and at a glance, he was sure that they were the type of men who are more adept at communicating with their fists. Felix sighed, and a silver glint flashed in his eyes then followed, "Bang!" "Bang!" Two sounds, they fell to the ground without saying a word.

After a few minutes, the few people who had rushed over to help also failed to get away.

Felix searched the abandoned shack, and the thick layer of dust that had accumulated inside indicated that the original owner had left the premises for quite a while. His expression turned into one of disappointment.

"A robbery gang ... Oh, Kidnapping and Blackmail to boot?"

This was the information Felix had gotten from the minds of these men, and it was a double blow, especially when he learned that the flyers had come from a nearby dumpster.

The truth of the situation goes off the rails -

This had been the secret base for a society of occult enthusiasts, and probably due to the approaching winter, or other reasons they had disbanded, the leaflets were casually thrown into a nearby dumpster, which happened to be utilized by these passing mugging mobs: they found familiar words on the leaflets (faint, giddy, waking up not knowing where they were... ...) and agreed that the description fit the effects of a certain 'good stuff', so they highlighted the phrase as an unspoken code word on the street to attract people in need.

This includes the hint that Felix got when he talked to the crackhead. Unfortunately, Felix wasn't someone that got attracted to 'good stuff', instead he just got drawn by the word 'magic' on the flyer, so the gang ran out of luck.

"Thanks to this, and the two occult symbols at the door, I got a little excited for a moment." Felix said with discontent, feeling like he had wasted his time completely when he should have been in the warmth of his office at Hogwarts right now.

"What's the emergency alert number again ...999?"

Felix suddenly heard footsteps appear from a distance, which stopped just outside the door.

"Is someone here?" A young voice asked.

Felix blinked, as he pulled the door open a little, and lowered his head, as he met a pair of gray eyes. The owner of the eyes stared at him blankly, holding a flyer in one hand and a wooden cane in the other.

Judging simply by his clothes, Felix reckoned that this man is not part of the gang from before - and probably he is the one who looks scarier to the other side, as evidenced by the constantly shaking hand.

"Is something wrong?" Felix grunted from the back of his throat.

He wanted to get rid of the man in front of him as soon as possible and make an anonymous police call ... Well, maybe he could put it off until tomorrow morning, he heard that sleeping on the floor is good for your back.

"Hello, is this the House of Magic?" The visitor asked cautiously, the trembling hand raised the leaflet in his hand, and when Felix shifted his eyes from the leaflet to the wooden cane, the hand holding the cane immediately disappeared in front of him, and unless Felix poked his head out, it certainly would not be visible through the wall.

The visitor smiled awkwardly.

"What's your problem?" Felix asked again with a sour look on his face as he raised his volume.

"I, uh ... I came across the flyer that said you will be able to grant my wish ..."

Felix froze, looked back at the ruins of the house and the outlaws who were sleeping like dead pigs on the floor, and said back sincerely, "You're lucky."

"So, it's true?" The voice asked excitedly

Felix saw a pair of hopeful eyes, so he smacked his lips and his attitude became slightly more serious: "So? I suggest you finish your sentence all at once ..."

A trembling hand was held in front of him. "I ... I am Pianist-- was a, because of the accident my hand was injured, I wish I could play the piano again."

Felix sized up the uninvited guest in front of him, In this era, this is sentenced as impossible by science, so he sought the help of, or hoped that the occult could help?

Honestly, he didn't think it would be a smart thing to do. Most wizards consciously abide by the Statute of Secrecy and seldom deal with ordinary people. The few exceptions won't have any scruples, as dark wizards accounted for the majority of them.

But this sudden visitor in front of him made things intriguing, and perhaps it would become a memorable day. Felix thought.

So he said, "Your wish isn't impossible ... but this magic stuff, as you can guess, is expensive ..." he said in a deliberately overtly mercenary tone.

"I brought money," the man said hastily, adding cautiously to avoid making himself look like an easy target, "I only brought a third of it, and if you really can fulfil my ... wish, I'll pay you the rest ."

"Money is useless to me, for wizards, there are many things you have worth more than money--" Felix said in a low voice.

"You want my eyes!?"

Felix rolled his eyes, "I hate these kinds of horror plots, full of unwarranted assumptions ... I have my own, with one more than you." He grinned abruptly while pointing toward his forehead, a blue light bloomed from the middle of his forehead, and in the layer of blue light, an eye slowly opened.

"Ah...!"

To Felix's surprise, after screaming, the uninvited guest's eyes widened, and instead of fleeing halfway, he excitedly kept asking: "What price do I have to pay, soul? Health? Looks? Life expectancy?"

"I'm not acquainted with demons." Felix muttered, and after a moment's hesitation he said, "Come in."

When he turned around, an eerie silver glow silently covered the entire room. The ruins of the room, piles of outlaws disappeared before his eyes, the dusty floor turned new with a red carpet, broken stones and glass shards flew to the ceiling and turned into small orange chandeliers, the outlaws turned into green potted plants and got dumped in the corner.

The tattered chairs turned new, the backs of the chairs kept lengthening and raising, two pieces of clothes quickly wrapped around the chairs, turning them into two armrests, and several clothes hangers propped together to create a semicircular, dark-coloured item...

When the strange visitor came in, he saw a small recital hall with a piano standing in the center. On the opposite side of the piano is an audience space with only one seat, occupying the best position.

"Is this, uh, a wizard who also likes to listen to music?"

"Haha!" Felix laughed and sat down in that chair - a black cloak abruptly draped over him, the room lit up, but his face remained elusive, with only two silver glows emanating from his hood, as Felix said in a low, raspy voice: "Ready to make a deal with a wizard? "

"What do you need, Mr. Wizard?"

"A memory, your best, fondest memory."

The man froze and said hesitantly, "I don't even know what my best memory myself is, it's nothing but pain for the past six months ..."

"It's okay, your heart will tell me the answer. So ... The deal is made?" Felix asked, he inwardly felt he should have prepared a pair of bat wings and arrow-shaped tail in advance for this kind of situation.

But when he thought of the wings ...

Felix's mind wandered off abruptly, and he thought of a great idea, maybe he could create a whole new flight-type runic artefact, in the form of flying wings. He always felt a little silly about sitting on a broom, well, no need to rush for now, let's go back and think about it before sharing it with Remus.

"... Mr. Wizard? Do I need to sign something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Some kind of contract or something, the kind that demons ... I mean, wizards and ordinary people sign."

"No need, do you think I need to worry about you reneging?" Felix leaned back in his chair and said carelessly.

...

A crystal clear piano sound resounded, the first few notes were somewhat raw, an effect of the injured hand, but soon the tune became coherent and melodious, and Felix half-squinted his eyes, tapping the beat gently. It didn't take him long to frown, the style of the tune in front of him changed completely at once, the song which felt like a calm and lonely moonlight suddenly became a high-pitched and rousing battle tune, after just listening to two lines, the next second it became a surging stream, a low and solemn cry...

This is no longer music, but noise.

Then the 'client' began to play some happy tunes, especially after realizing what his happiest memory is, he has begun to put his whole heart and soul into the music because after tonight this happiness will be lost forever ...

Felix felt a pure radiant joy, from the ability he learned from the dementor, he could easily detect and distinguish these emotions, a golden vortex seems to have formed in the room, constantly expanding outward. Felix drew his wand out, twirling it gently, to collect the overflowing emotions in the room.

As the magic mixed with this precious emotion, a drop of golden liquid was formed.

His fingertips pulsed to the beat of the keys until the moon was covered by clouds and the whistling wind interrupted the sound of the instrument.

"Have a cup of tea, your hands are starting to shake from the cold." Felix said as a cup floated slowly to the piano, the liquid in it formed a golden ripple.

"It's not shaking due to cold, it was because of ... What kind of tea is this? It tastes strange..."

Felix stood up and straightened his back, "Your music is unforgettable, I hope to have the opportunity to listen to your official performance. So ... the House of Magic is going to say goodbye to you, have a good day." He waved his hand, and the person opposite to him flew out of the room as if he had no weight.

"Bang", the door closed tightly.

"Oh, Mr. Wizard, you know that's not possible ... Mr. Wizard? You haven't cured me yet, where can I find you ... Oh my God, the shop is gone! Did you do it, Mr. Wizard ..."

Early in the next morning.

The shack, which had been full of miracles at night, got mobbed by water, as the two policemen led a group of outlaws, who had been floating on the cold water throughout the night, their faces looked sickly.

In the crowd, a figure kept bouncing to look inside.

"What's going on there? Did he get arrested, is that wizard in the front - Huh? Who are they!"

A person who came early said, "It is said to be a very cunning group of outlaws, previously they have been roaming around Surrey committing crimes, and I heard that they were spotted by a young man who came to graffiti early in the morning, so he secretly reported it to the police."

"Is that so ..." the man remained silent for a moment, then he abruptly raised his hand and constantly showed it off to that man, "Uncle, look at my hand, is it shaking or not?"

"Are you making fun of me!?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm just too happy!"

...

In Hogwarts, the ancient runes' office, Felix is talking with Lupin through the communication mirror.

"Just these two things, one is the flying wings; Flying wings or name it however you want, I will make a prototype in the near future, you guys need to find out how to improve and simplify it."

"The second thing is the study of secularization of potions, this is not urgent, just compile a list of potions that you think is possible for the time being."

"Secularization?"

"It is about making magical potions that can be used even by ordinary people."

--

#Timothy Seaboch, Thanks for your love and support.

There are 486 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

"Effective and potent potions require the involvement of a wand; not those silly, constant waving of the wand, just a gentle flick at a crucial time is enough to bring a marvellous change in the ingredients within the crucible ..."

"Therefore, Muggles are unable to appreciate this wonderful process, and so are the Squibs." Snape said slowly.

On the weekend after the first week of school, Professor Flitwick hosted an afternoon tea party under the pretext of celebrating Professor Moody's recovery, although it seemed like something that the tough-minded former Auror didn't need as far as Felix could see.

Moody ate his own food that he had brought, without touching the fine delicacies on the table.

When he showed up, it marked the end of Snape's short week of substitution, so he looked cold when Felix asked about the potions.

Snape sat on a soft couch and spoke slowly about what he had just said: "We can't rule out the following: some simple potions can produce spontaneous effects even without the involvement of a wand or the delicate manipulation of magic, but that's something closer to stimulating the properties that the potion material originally possessed, and in the eyes of someone who really knows about potions, it's merely a simple half-finished product."

Felix understood, he gifted Filch a pet supplement potion recipe, it is exactly the case - no wand needed, the main material is dragon blood, as for those auxiliary ingredients, they are merely functioning as a stimulus and moderating the properties of dragon blood.

For wizards, the effect of some potions is similar to spells, so they will choose which one to use based on their preferences. In other words, they will choose what they feel is the most effective or easiest option based on their needs.

Perhaps money is also an important consideration.

For example, the Cheering Charm and the Elixir to Induce Euphoria are often substituted with each other. The Cheering Charm is taught in the third grade, while the Elixir to Induce Euphoria is only taught in the sixth grade in the Advanced Potions class, but if you ignore this seemingly insignificant lesson in school, it's not easy to learn the Cheering Charm on your own, especially since a lousy Cheering Charm can produce things like hysterics and uncontrollable laughter as a side effect.

In this case, most wizards would choose to buy an Elixir to Induce Euphoria from the apothecary.

Flitwick waved his wand, causing an enamelled teapot to bend over and fill the cup in front of him, "I've heard that some wizards choose to use magical rituals instead of wands when brewing potions, is that correct, Severus?"

"And there's also constant duplication with spells ...," Snape said, " This usually happened in medieval times, when some superficial wizards couldn't harness their own magic, they naturally couldn't channel and manipulate it finely -- They're not much different from Squibs, so they choose this path."

Felix muttered, "I think I've read something like that somewhere."

" I guess, it's a fairy tale from muggles? There were indeed some wizards who weren't discreet enough, then they got caught and burned to death at the stake." Snape glanced at him and said.

"That happened quite a long time ago, and I think it would be best if we talked about something else," Professor McGonagall said uneasily, as she turned to the side, "Professor Moody, are you going to resume your classes next Monday?"

"It's dragged on long enough," Moody said as he tore off a bland-looking piece of chicken, "I planned to sort out all my troubles over the holidays and start my classes like usual, but Professor Hap insisted on a final round of inspections ... "

"Hasn't your memory been restored already?" Professor McGonagall asked him, but her eyes went to Felix.

"Voldemort's methods are rough, and Professor Moody has lost more memories than I initially predicted, probably because Voldemort's soul is tainted with dark magic to the core?" Felix said softly.

"At least I haven't turned into an idiot, have I?" Moody said gruffly, letting out a short, and loud laughter, as he reached out his oily hand for the cup on the table, and paused as if electrocuted the moment his fingertips touched the cup.

Then silently he took off the flask at his waist and gulped it down. After drinking, he said in a rough breath, "I lost the original one, this one is brand new, from Albus ... he is very considerate in these matters."

'Actually, there are still some influences,' Felix thought to himself, 'not only the memory problem but also his reaction will become slower and his combat power will be greatly reduced.'

What he did during this time was to eliminate as many adverse effects as possible.

Moody gritted his teeth and tore off a piece of chicken and chewed it up while saying carelessly, "Compared to old Barty, This is already considered good for me, his body is deteriorating over the span, and he probably won't last a few years in Azkaban."

" Barty Crouch is locked up?" Flitwick asked pointedly.

Several eyes looked over and Moody said gruffly, "That's right, Kingsley told me, he insisted, he and Fudge talked alone before he was taken to jail-" Seeing the strange looks from the others, he waved his hand rudely, almost punching Flitwick's nose. "Oh - sorry, Professor Flitwick - don't ask me, I don't know what they were talking about. Maybe it had something to do with Voldemort?"

"As for whether Fudge will believe it or not, no one knows." He took another big gulp and said, "The man looks very indecisive, in fact, he is quite paranoid, with wishful thinking. But anyway, he seems to not want to cause too much panic, so he suppressed Barty's incident, now many people think he's retired!"

He grinned, sarcastically.

"I certainly won't support his decision. It's better to give people a heads-up about certain things than let them be ignorant when it can happen any time-"

"Professor Moody," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, "you, uh, you're not trying to do something to the little wizard, are you? Some previous practices ..." she hurriedly cleared her throat, looking embarrassed.

"Are you trying to say what I did before? Some lessons weren't mine, but they certainly suited my taste--" Moody gave a short laugh and said with a grim smile, "He did a pretty good imitation, I have taught him before for some time, so I am certain that is partially why."

The others stared at Moody blankly.

Moody smiled broadly and said, "Old Barty wanted to train his son to be an Auror, and he trained along with all those Auror candidates since fourth grade, longer than the average Auror, and by the time he graduated, he was way ahead of the pack."

"I remember he obtained twelve certificates," Flitwick said. "Since I've been teaching, only a handful of people have got that honour."

"I'm not talking about those paper grades, it's about the collective assessment of the Aurors, and I taught him for a while - the part about scouting and setting up traps, back then everyone believed young Crouch would grow up to be a great Auror and take over his old man's position!"

Everyone felt slightly uncomfortable. The better Barty Crouch Jr. did during his school years, the more it contrasted sharply with his later performance; he chose to become a Death Eater instead of an Auror.

Flitwick changed the subject and said, "Felix, you gave me a great gift, I have read it, and I have to say, some African gesture casting is very good and can be used as an auxiliary means, I am already prepared to add it as part of the bright side of the lesson."

Felix smiled and said, "I've asked a few friends to recommend a list of books to me ..."

Professor McGonagall frowned and said, "Uagadou's teaching style is very different from Hogwarts, they will determine the direction of study very early on, so they are able to divide and separate many advanced contents and integrate them into the lower grades, but Hogwarts is different, only a small percentage of students will truly choose Transfiguration in the sixth year. "

"What about the Self-Transfiguration part? Maybe it could be incorporated into your Transfiguration Club for those who have prior knowledge?" Felix suggested.

"That would indeed be a good way to start," Professor McGonagall said, "My club only takes in sixth and seventh-year students who have gone through the OWLs and acquired many techniques already, like the 'prior knowledge' you mentioned '?"

She then uttered an argumentative statement, "But the knowledge of transfiguration that circulated in Uagadou is not exactly widespread out here; Also if you are interested in African elephant transfiguration, which is common there, you probably will just turn into a malnourished, skinny elephant if your precondition is not adequate. Considering from this point of view, it is not as good as Animagus."

Felix also stated with an approving look, "Animagus has a certain randomness after all, which is related to the psychological state of each wizard, so if you turn into a snail, you might as well choose an African elephant."

Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly: "Felix, you didn't learn Animagus in secret, did you?"

"How is it possible," Felix bristled, "If you are a wizard who is interested in mastering shapeshifting, you can still experience the mystery of shapeshifting in transfiguration, for example, to me ... Transfiguration magic is cost-effective. "

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 488 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

After exiting Flitwick's office, Felix found an opportunity to be alone with Snape.

"So ... Barty Crouch Jr. wasn't planning to secretly poison and kill us all back then?" Felix asked, he actually wanted to know what kind of potion Barty Crouch Jr. was making in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Then he would have had to be careful enough to avoid the hundreds of eyes in the kitchen." Snape narrowed his eyes and said, "It is a potion that is used in case of emergencies to keep dying people alive, I identified unicorn blood and a variety of highly poisonous ingredients, as well as a snake venom of unknown species."

"Sounds like some kind of cursed thing?"

"Almost, it would be extremely agonizing after taking it, but the effect is obvious, isn't it?" Snape said, opening the door to his office. His office hadn't changed much; it is still dimly lit, and the shelves against the wall are filled with specimen glass jars of all sizes.

Felix thought of the moans he heard in the old Crouch mansion from Voldemort and pretty much understood the statement. He looked around and said with discontent, "I remember I sent you a magic lamp ..."

"A qualified Potions master will not easily change his lifestyle," Snape said calmly, his eyes skimming over the row of jars, both large and small, that lined up against the wall, "And there's a line you didn't include in the product description, the light emitted by the magic lamp can affect some dark creatures."

Felix thought about it, it's really true, the principle of the magic lamp is to solidify illumination magic, and then slowly release it; while the illumination magic has the effect of dispelling the mist and driving away the dark creatures.

But this additional effect is not considered strong enough to harm even the lowest level of Inferi.

"But Remus is fine though." Felix said.

Snape "tsk", and slowly said: "Unlike werewolves - Potion materials are very delicate, and they require special spells for preservation against the loss of magic power, I remember I have taught all these things in class? "

"A person's energy is limited, and I happen to know you and Belby, so naturally I have no intention of spending too much energy on potions; For me, it's enough if I know some of the essential knowledge, such as how to detoxify the poison." Felix said in a roundabout way: "Why don't we talk about ancient runes?"

Snape glared at him, "I placed the magic lamp in the bedroom."

Felix shrugged and found half a bucket of gray mucus in a suspicious corner of the office, sealed with a transparent cover, he leaned down and looked at it: " Is this collected from the Firetrail Snails?"

"Slightly corrosive, I have not yet found a good way to eliminate those properties." Snape said lightly.

Felix blinked, "How about an illumination magic?"

Snape stared, as he remained standing in the same place for a good while before saying in a dry voice, "It's ... not impossible ... worth a try ... "

Soon, he took a few drops of mucus out of the bucket. When he raised the lid, the strong stench of rotten fish and shrimp instantly filled the whole room, Felix immediately covered himself with a layer of humanoid shield charm, he used this magic instead of the Bubble-Head Charm.

"Do you need some help?" He asked in a muffled voice through the magic, Snape's face looked pale, but his fingers remained exceptionally steady.

"No," Snape squeezed a word out of his throat, catching a whiff of smelly warm air from the surrounding, his face turned even paler, and he couldn't stop a lump from squirming in his throat. Then he closed the cover quickly and resealed it with his magic, then Felix cooperated by creating a whirlwind out of thin air, hurling the turbid hot air from the office into the corridor.

Hopefully, there would be no little wizards who had just eaten passing by.

Snape held his breath. As he swiftly transferred the soggy mucus into a small glass jar and quickly corked it, after finishing all this, he took a deep breath.

On the other hand, a ping-pong size ball of light has been held in the palm of Felix's hand, in addition to a light layer of white light on the surface, it did not give off any bright light, it looked like a glowing glass ball.

Snape guided the small glass jar to float over, while Felix controlled the ball of light to approach it, the ball of light effortlessly entered the jar, then he quickly cast a spell on the outer surface of the glass jar, so that the ball of light couldn't scatter.

Losing Felix's restraint, the ball of light swelled up completely, filling up the entire interior space of the small jar -

"It doesn't seem to have much effect." After a long while, Snape said uncertainly.

"What effect do you want, Zizi sound? That's too crude. The illumination's light is so gentle that even if it's released against your face, it will at most cause some dazzling and blinding sensation without damaging your eyes." Felix explained.

He then settled on the couch comfortably, as he leisurely grabbed a book and flipped through it casually: "Let be patient, the process of infusing the material with magic alone can last for a few months at a time."

Then Snape stared at the small glass jar in his hand for half a day, his eyes sparkled all of a sudden.

Felix looked startled and thought he might be about to say something smart and mean, when Snape said something impatiently, "Let's try it a few more times! Using different conditions and have them act as a comparison against each other."

"Oh ..." Felix trailed off, he didn't want to see that gooey thing again. "Hold on a second." He muttered, as he took out a Ring of the Ouroboros Snake from his space ring, under Snape's weird gaze, a dozen or so small balls emitting a hazy white light appeared in front of him in no time.

Then, the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake in his hand suddenly moved, the body of the little snake twisted, and with each mouthful, a ball of light was swallowed; After that the little snake returned, circling Felix's fingers, and turning into a ring again.

Felix then handed the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake to Snape, "It can store ancient runes- and of course, it can do that essentially because it is made of materials that can isolate magic very well and drastically reduce the overflow of magic itself ... so it can also be used to store illumination magic."

Snape took it from him and gave it a slight glance, "Basilisk's scale?"

Felix nodded.

...

When Felix returned to the office, Niffler Valen immediately pounced on him, grabbing his clothes to climb up, but then her movement stopped abruptly.

She withdrew her two little stubby hands immediately as her nose twitched a little. Her little face immediately wrinkled up, the little round black eyes filled with accusations as she looked at him.

Felix froze for a moment as he sniffed his own clothes, "Smelly?"

Valen nodded vigorously and made a dry heaving gesture.

"Probably smell of the Firetrail Snail's mucus," Felix guessed, "you have a good nose, I am covered with humanoid shield charm, and you can still catch the smell clearly ..."

Valen looked at him smugly.

Felix cast a few clean-up spells on himself, then Valen stepped closer to him and tried to take a sniff to make sure there was no unpleasant smell before jumping into his arms.

Meanwhile, Felix while cuddling Valen, pondered on, Niffler's sensitive nose can not be wasted, should he need to add some 'extracurricular practice' in the normal literacy?

At least learning to recognize the smell of some poisons certainly won't hurt.

In the evening, Harry came over to learn the Occlumency.

Taking advantage of the Christmas holidays, Felix explained to him some techniques about Occlumency, but Harry looked confused and baffled when he heard it. In the end, Felix was compelled to let him continue reading that enchanted book.

Harry came over every two days, and occasionally he will encounter Hermione here, but after the fourth year, Hermione doesn't come by every day of the week, as her attainment in the ancient runes surpassed everyone except Felix in the Hogwarts.

With her current level, even if she no longer progresses, she has more than enough knowledge to be considered a professor. So Felix will simply assign assignments and answer questions of his assistant occasionally.

Harry turned the fifth page of the book, and stared at the portrait of the male wizard on it with a repulsive face, he was no stranger to this picture - he had seen it when he was flipping through the materials in the restricted section, and this male wizard had been on the cover of a restricted book, which Ron thought at the time that he looked particularly like Draco Malfoy.

But this time the feeling is completely different. In a trance, Harry found that the male wizard's face seemed to have turned into his own, and he is being tortured in place of the male wizard ... This is an illusion, his ragged breath puffed on the male wizard in the book, and then he felt like his skin had been hit by a hurricane.

Harry held his breath and his face turned red as he kept reminding himself that this is all the effect of Professor Hap's magic, and he can be really brilliant at it ...

Harry knew full well that his body was not half hurt, but his mind got filled with the exact opposite emotion.

I can't go on any longer ... I have to stop this feeling or I will definitely go crazy ... Let me think about what is the most basic thing of Occlumency is, calm my mind, and let it be blank ... ...phew ... phew ... It is too difficult; Harry feels as if he has been thrown into a den of Firetrail Snails, with a dense mass of Firetrail Snail larvae crawling all over his body, with sparks shooting from their tails, making him feel itchy and sore ...

I need to make my brain blank ... blank ...completely blank

But why in the bloody hell! Harry thought irritably, and a sudden surge of intense anger washed over him, which broke through the restraints of magic, and he looked around him - he had somehow managed to stand up, and the enchanted book had fallen at his feet, while he gasped for breath.

Professor Hap's voice resounded from the chair behind his desk.

"Anger can be good if you can use it well, but obviously, anger is not an emotion that can be maintained for a long time, and people are not a barrel of gunpowder, so it is impossible to be angry all the time, but ... well done, this time it is counted as you passed."

Harry did not get much comfort from this statement, as he asked somewhat dejectedly, "Do I suck?"

Felix looked at him with great understanding: "Occlumency is an extremely difficult magic, many wizards are unable to get started in their whole life, and the best way to learn is to let your mind experience the feeling of being 'invaded' again and again, of course, the extent of which is difficult to grasp, and I happen to have some experience! ..."

Harry, of course, did not know that the professor's 'experience' pointed at how he invaded other people's minds, this experience came from Felix's year of travel alone, with the ' help' of many dark wizards, he mastered the prototype of thinking room magic with some difficulty.

And now it seems that all the effort was worth it, the magic has changed beyond recognition.

Harry could only take Felix's words as fact. He sat down to think about it and decided to play a hand of cards with Valen to ease his tightened emotions, but his mood got worse when he found out that he had actually lost to Valen.

This led him to return to the common room with a look of frustration that remained on his face.

"Is that book really that scary?" Ron asked quietly, while secretly handing Harry a jug of butterbeer. " It is the stock from when Fred and George last time went to Hogsmeade, and they actually asked me five Sickles for it!"

"Yeah, you can get it for two Sickles at Three broomsticks." Harry said woodenly, he was in such a bad state that it was hard to feel sympathy for Ron. He took a sip of his butterbeer, the thick foam lifted his spirits and made him feel alive from the inside out.

"Harry, Tell me more about that book." Ron prodded, staring into his eyes.

"Well ... you have to deal with a lot of scary emotions and have to do everything you can to prevent them from affecting you ... in short it's just scary, and the professor said that if I could read it all in one go it would mean that I am beginning to learn the art of Occlumency, and- And that's quite an accomplishment." Harry said intermittently, taking the opportunity to drink up the butterbeer in his hand.

He looked at the empty jug with some regret and wondered if he should look for Fred and George, he guessed it wouldn't be so hard if he could have a hot jug of butterbeer after every practice?

"The professor is right," Hermione said from the sidelines, looking up from her big book, "I've read the theory about it, and even those who have mastered the Occlumency can't always explain how they learned it, they usually just learn it passively."

"Passive learning?" Ron looked at her in disbelief.

"Invaded." Harry stated paraphrasing what the professor had said to him to Ron, "The best way to learn is to let your mind experience the feeling of being 'invaded' over and over again." He thought for a moment and added, "I guess it's about getting your mind sharp enough."

Ron's enthusiasm visibly waned.

"You want to learn this?" Harry asked, not really understanding such an idea. Ron laughed dryly twice and stammered, "I thought - you said this magic is difficult, so I thought if I learn it ..."

"It would be very proud to say it out loud." Hermione helped him to finish adding the unfinished meaning of the words.

"In fact, there is an easy way, the professor mentioned to me ... remember that dementor doll of mine? The professor said that thing is equivalent to a simplified enchanted book. If you want to try it, I can lend it to you." Harry offered, the thing is now locked under his trunk.

Ron looked rather tempted, but he gave up after a while of thinking about it and slumped down on the table as he muttered, "I'd better study the magic I'm going to use in the second task. What spell do you guys think I should learn first - the Bubble-Head Charm or the Revulsion Jinx?"

"The Bubble-Head Charm is an advanced spell." Hermione reminded him.

"But the humanoid shield charm isn't easy either, and I haven't even met the entry requirements." Ron groaned, "I think I'm going to drown, Harry, I'll be the first champion to be eliminated."

"Don't assume that," Fred's voice suddenly surfaced, he said with a grin as he placed his bum next to Ron, "Think positively, maybe Ilvermorny will be in the bottom again this time."

"I suggest you guys better practice your swimming, otherwise it will be too embarrassing to run out of steam halfway through the swim." George grinned.

"You reminded me at the right time," Hermione said, "I was only focused on the magic part." She took a small book out of her bag to jot down George's words, and Harry knew it is filled with Hermione's plans for dealing with the second task, so far a half-full book was completed, but he and Ron hadn't been brave enough to go through exactly what is written on it.

At that moment, Ron suddenly looked up, as if he thought of something, and stared blankly at Fred and George.

"You guys know the Bubble-Head Charm?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Oh ... of course, this is the magic that must be mastered for pranks, and we have suffered some losses in the past ..." Fred said with a look of deep emotion.

"Teach me." Ron said.

"What?" Fred and George looked at each other.

"Teach me the Bubble-Head Charm." Ron repeated.

Fred and George looked at each other, and Fred said, "Look, we're busy, with a dozen or so products on our hands waiting to be perfected-"

"Okay," Ron said briskly, then muttered in a voice that everyone could hear, "I haven't written home for what seems like ages, Mom must be worried about me, and she might know the Bubble-Head Charm enough to give me some pointers ... "

Fred and George stared at Ron as if they had reacquainted with him for the first time.

The two men exchanged quick glances, and after a while - Fred said with exasperation, "All right, you win, little Ronnie."

Ron flashed a triumphant smile.

When they both left, Ron, who still recovering from his triumph, said excitedly, "I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"You mean ...?" Harry asked slowly, with a bad feeling in his heart.

"Win them once!" Ron said loudly.

Harry fell silent, he didn't think it is a good idea to use coercion to get someone to help with the training. Regarding this point, he knew it well as he once had received a special training - Professor Hap had always been friendly enough, but he still found some days particularly difficult, and if Snape had taught him instead, he could not imagine what would happen to him.

He had expected that Fred and George would come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to screw Ron, and the key point is that it was Ron who delivered himself to their front door wrapped in gift ribbon.

But looking at Ron's satisfied expression, Harry decided to tell him about his concerns later.

Late at night, as Harry lay tossing and turning in bed, his ears were filled with the sound of Ron and Neville snoring one after another; Now he again thought it would be good to let Ron try their special training first, while he will use that time to think about some comforting words in advance ...

--

Note:

This is 2 in 1 chapter, so there'll be only 1 chappy tomorrow.

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The next morning, Harry woke up groggy and moved around in a sleepwalking state. When he sobered up, he found himself sitting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

The classroom is noisy, and people are arriving one after another. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown walked in arm-in-arm, and when Parvati saw Harry, she gave him a stern look and said in a loud voice, "The next weekend I've got a date with Aiden, to Hogsmeade."

Lavender asked with interest, "Is that the Beauxbatons boy you danced with at the ball?"

"That's right." Parvati said very loudly, glancing proudly at Harry as she passed them by.

She had been cold to Harry ever since the ball, turning her head away very hard whenever she saw him, with only the back of her head visible to him, and Harry was tempted to ask Ron if the same thing had happened to him, but when he thought that the Padma wasn't in the same house as them, he decided to leave it at that.

"You should have cared more about her at the ball, now look ... here comes the retribution." Hermione said sullenly, as she used a thick book to shield her face.

"But she had a good time too." Harry said with a stiff smile.

He quietly glanced back, Parvati and Lavender were sitting in the seat two rows before the back, talking and laughing, he couldn't tell any difference at all when Lavender pulled a thick book out of her book bag and held it mysteriously in front of Parvati.

"I ordered it by mail through Owl, it's particularly lovely ..."

In the last few minutes before class, a spirited voice came from outside the door:

"It's called by that name-the Magic Gramophone, which was placed in our living room the day after it was released - you can see the Weird Sisters group hovering above your head as you listen to the music. Honestly, my mom doesn't like them, it's too noisy ... but it can't be helped, it's all that's available at the moment."

Draco Malfoy said regretfully, walking into the classroom flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he looked around and gave a deliberate look of surprise when he saw Harry: " Oh hello, Potter! Did you not sleep well last night? Or did you wear smoky makeup?"

His two followers giggled and gestured at the dark circles under Harry's eyes.

Harry clenched his fist, and Ron pulled him back, "Don't be impulsive, Harry, he's dying for you to do it! All you have to do is touch him with your pinky, and he'll have an excuse to have a flare-up ..."

"You're getting a little less bold," Draco's voice trailed off as he came over and looked down at Harry, whispering in a very small voice, "I have learned a few more spells during this holiday, Potter ... It's not just a joke, I found a book in my grandfather's mansion. Maybe we can give it a try somewhere else..."

"What are you trying to say?" Harry asked while suppressing his anger.

"Oh, I forgot," Draco said wistfully, "your old family estate was blown to ruins, so there's no legacy left to inherit, maybe you could ask Weasley beside you? If his family wasn't poor enough to sell all that stuff for a good ... meal"

"Do you want to duel, Malfoy?" Harry asked him angrily, "Or are you going to call Filch under the guise of a duel, as you did in your first year? You are good at this kind of thing, aren't you? Can't you show some courage!"

Draco's pale face flushed.

"I'll meet you at the dueling club, Potter." He dropped a sentence and left in a huff.

Harry looked at his back, trembling with anger. "Ignore him, Harry," Hermione said calmly, looking up from her thick book, "counting this one, he's provoked you three times in a row recently, and do you know why."

"He must have learned some dark magic Harry, you need to be careful." Ron also looked furious.

Harry's anger instantly doused, of course, he knew the reason, those two classes last week were both substituted by Snape, if there was a conflict, even if you think with your knees you will know who Snape will favour, which caused Draco's temper to become more and more arrogant.

Especially during the first class last week, Draco quietly showed him a badge with a regretful face and told Harry that if not for the other badges being confiscated, he would have given one to every Slytherin student to show his support for the real champion team of Hogwarts.

If Neville had not maintained his usual sensitivity to Snape's aura and given an early warning about the danger, he might have gotten a detention and points deduction.

The bell rang, and the students sat down obediently, waiting for a floppy black robe to come in. At that moment, they heard the very distinctive "duk duk" of wood hitting the floor, and many of the young wizards (mostly Gryffindors) stared in delight.

"I never thought I'd look forward to seeing Professor Moody's face as much as I do now." Ron muttered, and Harry agreed implicitly.

Moody appeared in the doorway, looking as frighteningly intimidating as usual, but a number of students issued low cheers. As he stood in the doorway, he scanned the room, the blue magic eyes in his eye sockets rolled.

The classroom quickly quieted down.

Moody trudged to the podium on his crutch, then he placed his crutch on the podium along with a stack of parchments that were folded in between his arms. After that, he drew his wand (the students' expressions flinched), and with a flick, a roll call flew out of the podium drawer.

"As you should have been aware, I was controlled during the last semester, and a scumbag disguised as me to teach your classes," Moody said in a hoarse voice, and the classroom fell silent; they had more or less heard about it, but no one was sure.

"They confused my mind, made me think everything was normal, and I was just muddled through the semester until Christmas night, when the Death Eater who was hiding in the school scheming got exposed, with that he decided to finish me off before leaving ... I was sleeping in my bed, with no difference from a corpse, not reacting to any sound in the room; however, thanks to two students who delayed him, I am now alive, otherwise I would have died in my sleep - died worthlessly... "Moody said softly, as he gazed at Harry and Ron, Harry felt that his face is not that frightening anymore.

"To cure me, your Professor Hap has tried a lot of things, but ... some of my memories are still lost, so I've decided to get to know you all over again."

He shook his head, shaking his long, white hair away from his twisted, scarred face, and began to roll call.

The classroom was surrounded by a solemn atmosphere, and as Moody called the roll, one by one, the students whose names were read raised their hands in response, and the Moody at the podium looked at them as if he was seeing them for the first time, those fake eyes fixed on each of them for a while.

After the roll call, Moody picked up his cane from the podium and limped around the classroom, speaking in a hoarse voice.

"In the next few classes, I will tell you all about my experiences over the past six months, which is considered a great lesson. You all might think that a dark wizard is too far away from you, but, as it turns out, you spent a little over half a year with an evil dark wizard who disguised himself as a withdrawn, out-of-touch retired old man - smart move! I'll cover all this later, and I'll tell you those details I remember without reservation."

"There is only one thing for you to do, go back and think about it, what is the reason you are still alive now?"

" Profes-ssor, what did you say?" Lavender Brown asked with horror.

"I said," Moody waved his large rough hand, those magical eyes fixed on her with a deadly stare, "take a moment to ask yourselves the question - how a powerful dark wizard, at any moment in the last six months, could have drawn his wand and pointed it at your noses and recited the Killing Curse. And the fact is, you are still safe and sound, aren't you, Miss Lavender?"

--

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Lavender Brown muttered something.

"What did you say, I didn't hear you?" Moody said gruffly, and he took a few steps closer.

Lavender jolted, as she subconsciously leaned her body back as the book on her lap fell, hitting the floor with a thud, which she hurriedly picked up and put it on her desk.

"I, uh, I just said that it was probably because he wasn't targeting me." She said with a red face.

A low chuckle sounded in the classroom.

Moody didn't laugh, nor did the few people in the front seats - Harry, Ron, and Hermione - who knew the answer ahead of time.

"You guys think that's a brilliant answer, don't you?" Moody said softly, "What if you guys happen to get in the way of his plans ... What will happen next?"

The air in the classroom seemed to freeze. Moody dragged his wooden leg a few steps forward and moved closer to Lavender, whose body trembled abruptly.

Next to her, Parvati gathered her courage and said, "Professor Moody, I think ... the dark wizard must have his own goal for sneaking into the school, isn't it? We encountered a similar situation in the first year when a dark wizard tried to get the ... er, magic stone that was hidden in the school?"

"It's Philosopher's Stone." Hermione corrected her quietly while staring at the back row with the rest of the class.

Moody's one intact eye looked over at Parvati, the magic eye still fixed on Lavender Brown.

"Miss Patil, you're right, dark wizards have their own goals for infiltrating the school, and they will inevitably act with caution until their goals are achieved. But this is based on the assumption that everything goes well ..."

"But what if it doesn't goes well?" His mangled nose twitched, "Like now, I noticed you because of a book, if 'I' am the dark wizard, and if 'I' happen to want to divert others' attention ..."

Moody suddenly drew his wand and from its tip flew a blinding ball of fire, the classroom windows suddenly exploded and a series of screams resounded through the room.

He calmly waved his wand, then the shattered glass and window prisms recovered automatically.

"In the eyes of a dark wizard, that window is no different from human life. If he feels at some point that one or two insignificant people should die in the school, ... Why should it not be you that dies? What's more, he wasn't just any dark wizard, but a more dangerous Death Eater, who was obsessed with the Dark Lord, a person who single-mindedly planning the resurrection of his lord-"

"Professor, You-Know-Who is already dead!" A student said with dread, looking at Moody with an expression saying are you finally gone mad.

"Is that so?" Moody grinned, "During the war, the Dark Lord would occasionally disappear for a while, and some people thought he was dead, but he always announced his presence with a bloodbath, so maybe he enjoyed this kind of drama."

He held his rough hand out, "Miss Brown?"

"Wh, what?"

"The book." Moody said calmly.

Lavender stood up, shivering, as she handed him the newly purchased issue of Against the Black Terror.

Moody flipped through two pages and showed an expression of disgust as he handed the book back to her. He limped back to the podium, as he rummaged through the stack of parchment, "Before I officially begin my story, there is one thing that must be addressed - I suddenly realized a problem: you are all not ready for the war, as your minds don't even have such a notion... ..."

"As it happens, I spent my leave working on compiling some information." Moody pointed to his head and said, "Professor Hap suggested that I should write down everything I could remember from the past six months, compiling a list, and perhaps I could retrieve some lost memories ..."

"I refused to write it down on paper, but I still spent a short time reviewing my past experiences and remembering things from further back in passing, and I think some of them are still valuable enough to be used in teaching ... Miss Brown, will you read it for me?"

He pointed his wand at the podium and several parchments floated over, Lavender Brown took a look at them twice and her face turned white in a flash.

"Miss Brown?" Moody stared at her viciously.

"Oh, I ... well." Lavender's expression looked like she was about to cry as she faltered and read the contents.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater who has tortured untold numbers of Muggles and non-supporters of the Dark Lord during the Wizarding War; she extremely prefers the Cruciatus Curse. She was involved in at least 137 acts of torture, with the known definite victims consisting of 206 muggles and 29 wizards, the list of those who were killed by her: Polk Keane, who died under the Cruciatus Curse, along with his wife Winnie, and their five-year-old son Johnny; Salisbury Joshur, who was burned to death under the Fiendfyre ... Bellatrix Lestrange was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment."

"Rodolphus Lestrange, Death Eater, involved in the vast majority of the deeds committed by his wife Bellatrix Lestrange and brother Rabastan Lestrange ... sentenced to life imprisonment."

"An- Antonin Dolohov, Death Eater, participated in the brutal murder of Fabian and Gideon Prewett who dared to resist the rule of the Dark Lord ... the list of murdered ... sentenced to life imprisonment. "

"Evan Rosier ... was killed by Auror while trying to resist arrest after the Dark Lord lost his power."

"Mulciber I, Death Eater ... died during the war years."

"Wilkes, Death Eater ... died during the war years."

"Mulciber II, Accused of using an Imperius Curse on multiple people, forcing them to do horrible things and causing constant chaos and terror ... sentenced to life imprisonment."

"Fenrir Greyback, werewolf and werewolf community leader, notorious for his savagery and preference for attacking children. He strived to infect as many people as possible with lycanthropy, hoping to build a powerful army to fight against wizards ... Followed the Dark Lord during the war, and the Ministry of Magic issued a wanted notice, but he is still on the loose ..."

Till the bell rang, Lavender didn't finish reading it, she looked pale like she had a serious illness.

Moody calmly retrieved the parchment, "We'll continue it in the next class, I think this class is very meaningful. Today's assignment is to find out the names of the Death Eaters you can and list what they did ... I've given you a sample, haven't I?"

"I will reveal the content of the next lesson now - it's something I just thought of - those who died during the war because they fought against the rule of the Dark Lord, you can look up the information in advance and preview it. "

Moody dragged his crippled leg and left.

The students gathered their things quietly, not in the mood to talk. Lavender let out a dry heave and ran out of the classroom, crying, with Parvati chasing after her, carrying both of their things.

Ron stared at them and said uneasily, "She's had a hell of class, I thought we'd have a better class environment in the new semester ..."

Harry looked pale as he sat on the edge of his seat.

"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Ron looked at Harry as Hermione shook her head at him, and it suddenly occurred to him that Harry's parents had died during the war. He patted Harry's shoulder.

"Fenrir Greyback." Harry abruptly said.

"What?" Ron and Hermione looked at him in confusion.

"Fenrir Greyback," Harry gulped, "Sirius told me that Remus was bitten by a werewolf named 'Fenrir Greyback' when he was a child, and I thought that werewolf had been put in Azkaban, I didn't expect that he would escape the punishment!"

Ron was first taken aback and then showed a dazed expression. Then he said comfortingly, "Don't worry, he won't end up well, big deal, we'll catch him later when we encounter him."

He sounded as if he had heard that there is a little mad cat roaming around, and all he had to do is kick it away when he came across it.

Harry, however, smiled. But Hermione said, "We'd better learn some kind of heating spells first, when the ice on the Black Lake melts, we have to spend time on swimming practice!"

"Swimming during the January and February weather?" Ron opened his mouth wide and seemed to have considered this question for the first time.

"I have prepared a list of necessary spells, Impervius Charm, Hot Air Charm, Revulsion Jinx, Bubble-Head Charm or Humanoid Shield Charm, and some standard spells ..." Hermione ignored Ron and continued: "We'd better finish these before the end of January! Leaving sufficient time for unexpected developments--"

" Have you made an appointment with Fred and George yet?" She turned her head to look at Ron.

Ron immediately stammered, "No, No-t yet."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Hermione crossed her arms and said in an overbearing manner, causing Harry and Ron to cower.

The last few people in the classroom also left, as Draco Malfoy looked preoccupied, his face didn't look much better than Lavenders'.

Ron said pointedly, " Probably he will get excellent in this assignment, he just needs to write a letter home and ask his dad and those Death Eater friends what they did back in those days ..."

Harry saw Malfoy's footsteps pause and guessed he should have heard it, but strangely enough, this time he didn't give a mocking sneer, as he walked away without looking back.

Harry looked back and saw Hermione picking up a book from a table in the back row.

"Oh, Lavender left it behind, I think she might not be in the mood to tidy it up ... I'll bring it to her," Hermione said, her eyes paused on the author's name on the cover as she hesitated for a moment, "or we can give it a read before that. "

...

In the evening, Ancient Rune office.

A beetle slithered in through the window and slowly reverted to human form on the floor. Rita Skeeter panted, she had always been averse of meeting Felix alone, but she had no choice, she was about to go crazy.

In her new home - there were signs of a break-in the day before yesterday, and she wondered if it had been done by that crazy Death Eater. But she just couldn't imagine that the fugitive named 'Barty Crouch Jr.' would risk it by showing up near her house when the wanted posters were already plastered all over the streets.

'Maybe it's just an aggressive fan ...'

But she couldn't convince herself with just that, and besides that, that Black was also trying hard to find her. Dammit, she didn't even mention the family name ' Black ' in her new book. At best, there are some slight innuendos in the book title and character background ...

The lights in the room suddenly switched on.

Rita Skeeter was startled and opened her eyes wide, barely able to see the person sitting on the sofa, she could not help but shudder inside.

"Rita, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Felix said softly, holding Valen in his arms, and the Niffler in question is staring at her with a curious gaze.

"Kiki (the bug turned into a Homan)?"

--

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Rita Skeeter lowered her head down deeply, not daring to speak aloud. She felt like she couldn't breathe, but this time she is pretty sure she isn't under the influence of magic, but just the fact that it is nothing to do with magic made her more terrified.

She knew she had to make her decision soon. Likewise, she is very well aware that this man in front of her didn't care whether she lived or died, the last time he had visited her house with the sole purpose of making her learn to shut up, and when she had done so, there had been no further disturbances from him in that regard. But equally, if she wanted to ask for help, she had to pay some price.

And she had the confidence that the name Rita Skeeter carried value itself.

"Dear Mr. Hap," she said sincerely, "I would like some advice regarding a case where I made a fatal mistake." At the same time, she couldn't help but grumble about the other man who lived high up in the castle, Dumbledore.

In her new book, although she avoided mentioning names, but she alluded a lot about the traditional gallant, good camp thingy, and under the gimmick of " Dark Lord and his loyal Death Eaters entanglement ", she added a lot of such details.

On the Regulus part of the information, she has not found much insider information - her reputation among wizards is notorious, and turning into a beetle is not very helpful, ordinary people will not talk about a dead person anytime and anywhere. She only found some public information and stitched together the characteristics of a few dozen famous Black family ancestors.

So in the book, the "pure and noble bloodline" pure-blood family heir is sometimes elegant and tolerant, and other times cautious and sharp-tongued, a bit like the man in front of her ...

However, it is different when it comes to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, this is her elaborate drama, in order to challenge the honour of "the best-selling book of the twentieth century", the wording used to promote this book abroad is "the secret past of the second Dark Lord", which she personally implied to the foreign publisher to subtly mention The Dark Lord and the powerful figures who are now imprisoned together, and she has always been well versed in these little tricks.

Her long experience of voyeurism had taught her one thing: despite what people say, there is a noisy little devil living within everyone, which wants to see the unattainable famous figures to be normal or be kicked off their throne.

And she - Rita Skeeter - always helped them fulfil those wants and wishes.

With this in mind, she filled the book with real truthful details, for which she had traced the dark lord's past, especially his childhood experiences; she had worked like a hard-working beetle. It was a dangerous endeavour, in which she had carefully selected her breakthroughs, and after learning about several famous families, she decided to focus on the dark lord's childhood - his life in an orphanage.

And coincidentally, she ran into Dumbledore, who was also interested in the dark lord's childhood, and they met at the house of an orphanage director, when Dumbledore did not say a word about the deadly danger she would encounter, but still, he politely advised her that "it is not advisable to do so ... "

This bumblebee! Rita Skeeter used the Dumbledore name's archaic word sarcastically in her mind.

How old is he again?

Rita Skeeter thought with hidden mean thoughts, to think that he would be able to live longer than her with his high magic power, but quickly she ended that train of thought. She might have criticized his school management style in the newspaper or described him as a crazy old loony, but she would never risk digging up the real hidden secrets while he remained alive.

A scrutinizing gaze swept over her, causing her to draw a cold breath as her body jolted. The blazing fireplace didn't bring her much warmth, and all those complicated thoughts she had were doused at once.

"You seek advice from me?"

"Frankly, I don't see any remorse in you ... Perhaps you are enjoying the experience?" Felix said softly, "That would make sense, you made a choice and accepted all the consequences that choice brought you."

"No, not like that." Rita Skeeter hurriedly said, "I know you have some influence over some people, like the last Black ... just need to say hello-"

"Say hello?" Felix interrupted her, "If I understand you correctly, you're asking me to sacrifice a friendship to help a person - with all due respect - who doesn't have much to offer?"

Skeeter's breath suddenly choked.

"Kiki (that's exactly right)!" Valen shouted indignantly in his embrace.

Rita Skeeter's posture lowered even more as she told the whole story of her experiences over the past few days, and as she played it out, she seemed to have slipped into that state of mind, the usual pair of eyes that lacked empathy welled up with tears.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you." Felix listened and responded simply, "But don't say you're innocent, everything was a decision you made in your sober state."

"I know ...," Rita Skeeter said slyly, "I brought some 'sincerity'." She held up her hands and showed him her long, bright red nails, which then clicked and detached from her hands.

Ten nails that looked like small daggers floated in front of Felix, Niffler tried to reach out for them, but he stopped her, he watched for a moment as it moved through the air and then turned his head.

"I have three suggestions, and it's your choice whether you want to heed them, or not, and you can even choose to heed more than one suggestion. You're smart, Rita, so you can judge them by yourself."

"First, downplay the impact of that book, and how far you do that depends on how determined you are. I need to remind you, though, that Dumbledore won't have any interest in a dead man's childhood ..."

"Second, I will contact Sirius and will claim that you agreed to write a biography for Regulus, he doesn't care about his reputation, but he can't tolerate his brother being tarnished by bystanders. So, Rita, bring out your most brilliant writing skills."

"Finally ..."

Felix's slender fingers flicked slightly, and a Ring of the ouroboros Snake suddenly appeared, transforming into a small inky snake, which rushed in front of her with a "whoosh" and swam onto her bare finger before she could react.

Rita Skeeter was lost in thought, staring at the ring, and the small, dark green eyes of the small, moving snake.

"If there ever something threatens your life, just rub this ring. Believe me, you will be able to send a distress message in a perfect time - if those people ever strike because of your 'offensive actions', they won't let you die easily."

Rita Skeeter let out a deep breath and looked a lot more solemn as she took two steps back with her head bowed and said respectfully, "I can do all three of these things, Mr. Hap." Then she turned back into a chubby beetle again as she flew out of the castle.

Felix looked down with contemplation, then he pulled out a piece of parchment, and wrote a short letter.

"Sirius, knowing that you're bothered by that annoying book, I just wanted to tell you this.

I was just approached by Rita Skeeter, and the book will not be reprinted again, but the thousands of copies that already have been distributed most probably won't be recovered, so I arranged for Remus to acquire those stocks on the market two days ago in an effort to minimize the impact.

In addition, she also agreed to write a biography for Regulus, every word on the biography will need to be approved by you, you can use your strictest standards to demand her. I believe that you and Kreacher can provide enough details to flesh out the characters in the book beautifully, but I would advise you to either omit the name of the Horcrux or delay the publication of that part ...

So, you better stop hanging around Rita Skeeter's doorstep, she's become a scaredy-cat and I don't want to hear about you being sent to Azkaban in the paper while I am having breakfast.

Also, if you want to enter Hogwarts next year as a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, you better do some preparation in advance, I have a friend in the Muggle world who can arrange for you to be a teaching assistant for a while.

If interested, please contact Mr. Zacharyas Clifford at ..."

After writing the letter, the flame in the fireplace suddenly turned a bright turquoise, and Felix tossed the parchment into the flame as it swirled and disappeared.

When he looked back, Valen still stared at the bright red nails in midair and ogled at it, "Oh, you can't have that one." Felix said, putting away the nails that kept track of countless hidden secrets.

He positioned the thing in such a way that it might never be used, or maybe he would use it tomorrow.

Then he twirled his wand, and a silvery glowing thing flew out from the tip of the wand, these glows looked like silvery silk, which wrapped around Valen's body and gradually became solid, and Valen wiggled her body constantly, watching this in amazement, it seemed as if there are countless invisible flower fairies weaving clothes behind her, and finally, they created a silvery cloak.

"Kiki?"

"One of the results of recent research, reshaping the Patronus into a new entity." Felix smiled, "You can try it."

Valen blinked at the glowing cloak behind her and put the hood over her head, which only revealed half of her pink beak.

"Kiki! Kiki?"

She found herself floating up, and Valen looked in surprise at Felix, who neither drew his wand nor extended his finger, but simply smiled at her.

Valen twisted her body, and the silver cloak behind her fluttered with it, and then she flew off to the side of the office--

"Whaaaaaaaaaa!"

It didn't take long for Valen to master the cloak behind her - with a slight turn, the cloak could quickly alter its position.

Niffler was having fun, flying all over the room, squealing in surprise.

Felix kept mulling it over in his mind, this magic is probably something only he can do for now, nevertheless, he has actually mastered a new type of flight magic, there are some side effects though, and generally, he won't need it very often.

As for the principle of 'flying wings' and prototypes, he had already given them both to Lupin.

--

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The rest of January passed without any major events, but minor ones continued.

Professor Moody after his return had lived up to his reputation for bringing new controversy, and in the mouth of some of the upperclassmen, he seems to have a touch of the 'Lockhart' in him - asking them to look up information, make them read it aloud in class, and vividly narrating the stories that happened during his career.

His famous phrase - "Constant vigilance" - once again surfaced in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

During this period, the young wizards went to the library every day to look up information about the war that happened more than ten years ago, and the records of the war which were originally quite cold were rummaged out, including various newspapers from a decade ago.

The psychological pressure increased dramatically as the young wizards viewed these things every day. Coupled with the fifth and seventh grade wizard-level exams, many students who had been attending classes suddenly cried hysterically and were on the verge of collapse.

Even Fred and George, the happy-go-lucky pair, didn't take it well, and they breathed a huge sigh of relief when the Defense Against the Dark Arts course returned to 'normal'. One afternoon Fred sniffled and said, "Mum and Dad rarely used to mention the war to us, and if one did, the other would interrupt, Mom also rarely talked about our two uncles ... but when we went through the newspapers of those years, we realized what kind of life they had ..."

George said heartily, "With every two or three days gap we can see the pictures with the dark mark on the house in the old newspaper, now I got some shadow about it."

Harry did not want to talk much about it, because recently a trend has risen, since Professor Moody asked the students in the class to read the deeds of those who died in the war one by one, some of the descendants of 'war heroes' were looked at with awe.

Neville stammered more than once, explaining that his parents had recovered, and showed the newspaper clippings and papers he had collected to his classmates, but there were still plenty of people who came forward to comfort him. Harry was no different, and he suddenly noticed that Parvati Patil had been looking at him with a gentle expression again ...

He didn't like this feeling, because every time someone looked at him with such a gaze, it reminded him of the fact that his parents sacrificed their lives. 'No one wants such a worship, that they receive due to their parent's death.' Harry thought with irritation.

He, Hermione, and Ron practiced magic spells in an abandoned classroom, and one by one they learned a number of useful spells. They also cracked a piece of ice on the black lake in a hidden corner, to test their not-so-skilled warming and Impervius Charms, which made them shiver every time they emerged out of the lake.

By the time the ice of the black lake melted away and Krum started his diving practice - in a pair of shorts from the diving board of the black sailboat - they had already started working on how to retain their fighting strength in the black lake.

"Spells used on land are much less effective in water, especially flame-based magic, which at best shoots a scorching stream of water, but that probably won't be as effective as the Revulsion Jinx against Grindylow ...," Hermione said nervously.

With the arrival of February, she became like this, and when Ron suggested that they could use their legs to kick those dangerous creatures out of the way, Hermione glared at him viciously, looking as if she wanted to give him a kick in the balls.

"We might need some transfiguration and summoning charms." Hermione said.

"Are you going to let us summon a club?" Ron asked with surprise.

"Don't be silly, I meant this-" Hermione said, as she drew her wand and shouted, "Avis!" Her wand made a loud noise and from the tip of it, a flock of small birds flew, fluttering their wings and circling the three of them around.

"What does that do?" Harry asked as he had already seen this spell before. Before the first task started, Mr. Ollivander was invited to review the champions' wands, when he used Krum's wand to cast this charm.

"They can peck and obscure vision, but I prefer what Professor Flitwick did." Hermione said, with her face flushed red as she struggled to maintain the spell, Harry and Ron had never seen her struggle so much when using a spell.

It was as if she was fighting some kind of invisible resistance, her wand made a semicircle arc, and the birds suddenly swelled up to the size of owls, which made Harry's eyes widen dramatically, this was something he had seen in his second year, Professor Flitwick had demonstrated it in dueling class.

After two years of close encounters with this magic, Harry once again watched with awe at the long, sharp beaks of these birds, growing to three inches long!

Then there was a "bang" and the birds disappeared.

Hermione gasped softly, and shook her head, "still can't get it right, in fact, I've always been good at manipulating magic, especially after practicing with the Billywig insects in the Magic Rune Club ..."

When they returned to the castle from the Black Lake, Ron whispered to Harry: "She will just have to hide behind a rock and cast this spell later, then these little birds will help her solve all the troubles, without any of our help she still can handle the task."

Harry thought about the scene just now, and he could not agree more.

"How's your Bubble-Head Charm working out?" Harry asked in a whisper.

Ron's face crumpled, "It was a nightmare, I've written home saying I don't need their help ... but Fred and George blocked it in advance, and you know what, Mum actually complimented them in her reply... ..."

Harry felt a sense of concern, especially after practicing the Bubble-Head Charm, the first thing Ron did was rush to the shower whenever he saw him, leaving a long-lasting smell of Dungbomb behind him.

His own progress with the humanoid shield charm was not going very well either. Given the choice - he had preferred to master the humanoid shield charm with its protective capabilities rather than the more single-purpose Bubble-Head Charm, but he now wished to make a trade-off and consider the more time-effective alternative.

For the next few days, he kept running to classroom seven, leaving even the matter of the Occlumency behind him. So when he was awakened by a nightmare one day, he could only blame himself for being lazy about it.

Harry told Professor Hap about it, hoping the professor would pass it on to Dumbledore, even though he didn't remember much of it.

"All I know is that he was happy that something joyful had happened to him." He said searchingly.

Felix nodded, "Probably because he got himself another temporary body, it can't be helped, they hide so well." He was hoping that Voldemort would knock on Rita Skeeter's door, so he might as well be able to try and catch Crouch Jr.

But Rita Skeeter, who had gotten his promise, had quietly relocated and is currently holed up in Diagon Alley sorting out the information Sirius had given her.

Harry went back with a heavy heart and began to wonder what exactly his participation in the tournament had meant - Voldemort is already preparing to resurrect, and he could only practice the freezing spell in the Black Lake which has little use, can he count on it to freeze Voldemort's Killing Curse?

The person who supported him through this period of self-doubt was Sirius, and if there is anyone in the world who is most connected to his feelings, it would only be his own godfather, including in his attitude toward Voldemort.

But to Harry's pleasant surprise, Sirius found a temporary job for himself. When he looked at the logo of Smeltings Academy in the Two-way mirror, his jaw was almost dislocated from shock.

"How did you end up at Dudley's school?" Harry shouted in disbelief as a fifth year in the common room looked up sadly and muttered in a low voice, "Another crazy one." Then he went back to work on his seemingly never-ending homework.

Sirius in the mirror looked rather cheerful, "It was Felix who referred me, because I couldn't get a diploma recognized by the muggles, I could only do some odd jobs for little money ... but how can I put it? I did find some tricks to guide students."

Harry listened to Sirius introduce his new job, about his teaching assistant work, "When no one is around I will use my wand to make the material's light, to do a fast and efficient work ..."

There was also the fifty-something-year-old teacher he teamed up with, who was out of breath as he would run along with him every time.

After Sirius learned how to use the whistle to send the fouling student off the field, he would just stand at the side and slacked off. So Harry had the pleasure of seeing Dudley dragging his fat body around the field and running laps, especially as he spat his tongue out and almost rolled his way to the finish line, the stress in Harry's heart disappeared.

Before the first Hogsmeade weekend in February, he learned the humanoid shield charm. And his shield charm also changed beyond recognition. The only regret was that he could not transform it into a cool gold or blood-red shield yet.

Ron also finished his special training. On the day he successfully learned the Bubble-Head Charm, he walked around the common room with a huge transparent cover that looked like an upside-down fish tank, and joined in Fred and George's discussion, saying he was willing to pay for a Dungbomb or two.

Fred and George smilingly handed him a Fizzing Whizzbees.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished their day happily in Hogsmeade and then dived back into intense preparations. Harry and Hermione were braced in their humanoid shield charm, while Ron's head was topped with a Bubble-Head Charm as they gradually emerged into the depths of the Black Lake, where they saw a new and strange world.

Harry was surprised at how unfamiliar the Black Lake looked to him.

A few dozen feet near the surface of the Black Lake, they could still see the gray, shiny, eerie water above. Besides their feet is a bush of fluctuating, tangled black water grass, a wide, flat muddy sand scattered with small, shiny stones.

In the distance, there was a large expanse of shadow - without a trace of light. Then they held their wands up, and with the help of Lumos spell they were able to see a small area nearby, which had a deeper shade of black colour, and occasionally something big passed them, they could not determine whether it was a piece of wood or some kind of creature, perhaps it was a giant squid!

Harry then developed a fear, what if the giant squid swallowed them in one gulp? Although it would help the new students when they fell into the water by pushing them back into the boat, he could not guarantee that it would always be so gentle, especially since Ron said during one of his breathing breaks that they were already sort of trespassing on its territory.

As the days passed, they went deeper and deeper into the Black Lake, even trying to get closer to the Merpeople in one of their adventures.

As they swam, Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were missing and there was something dragging him, which made Harry greatly alarmed until a bright, milky light lit up in the distance, and he realized that it was a Grindylow that was entangling him.

"Relashio!" Harry chanted the spell through the humanoid shield charm, and the hand of the pale green creature with horns loosened as if it had a cramp, and then he swam towards Hermione - who looked around in a panic with a bright ball of light in her hand - and Ron who was surrounded by a group of Merpeople.

Finally, they hung their heads in despair as they were driven out. From the rude gestures of the chief of the Merpeople, they judged that if they dare to invade the territory of the Merpeople again, it is estimated that they have to wait for Dumbledore or Professor Hap to claim them.

Harry shook his head, which was damp as he emerged out of the water, he did not know how the other champions solved this trouble, but his brain got dizzy after he was just knocked twice with a pitchfork by a tall and sturdy Merman.

"Fred and George are lying, there's no way they could have completed the task of marking the map of the Black Lake." Ron said grumblingly, " The Merpeople can see much better in the water than we can, they're completely adapted to the dark."

Hermione is still blaming herself on the way back, "I shouldn't have used illumination, but I was too nervous, you guys disappeared all of a sudden and something was entangling me, now that I think about it, it might be aquatic weeds ... I really don't know what we're going to do during the official tournament... ..."

When they got back to the dormitory, Ron took off his clothes and showed Harry the bruises on his back: "It was from the smashing of a Merpeople, I kicked one, you know, wanted to give it an early try ... then instantly two or three Merpeople rushed up and gave me two harsh hits."

Harry assisted him with applying medicine, as Ron hissed and groaned, "There's another spot on my butt, I'll do it myself."

Two days before the start of the second task, a group of 'Future World' company staff arrived at the school and erected huge projection screens on the shores of Black Lake, Lupin and Penelope introduced them the function of the projection screens, "They will bring out your heroic performance in the tournament. "

"Oh, that's exactly what we were hoping for," Ron muttered, "to get embarrassed in front of everyone."

On the last day before the tournament, their nerves were stretched to the extreme. Harry found that despite all their preparations, there wasn't enough time, and the unfinished things in Hermione's notebook were increasing faster than the crossed-out sections.

But no matter what, they still had to welcome the second task.

--

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On February 24, when Felix just had his breakfast, he was called over by Professor McGonagall.

"Isn't there still sometime before the tournament?"

"Mr. Bagman wants to see you about the Champions' arrangement ... they are waiting." Professor McGonagall said hurriedly.

They went to the room next door to the great hall, where the Champions are waiting, the same place where they stayed the night the Goblet of Fire spat out the list a few months ago.

When they entered the room, Ludo Bagman was anxiously circled the room, looking distracted. Dumbledore whispered something to him, but it did not seem to have eased his worries.

When he saw Felix, Bagman's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over to him. "You're finally here, Felix, the minister will be bringing quite a few guests this morning, and you know about Barty, he ... alas, in short, things have fallen into my lap now."

Felix looked at the six groups of champions who are seated in the room, and they are looking at Ludo Bagman with distrust in their eyes.

"Ahem! Let's get started, I've collected their wands individually." Bagman wiped the sweat off his round face and urged, pointing at a table where a dozen wands laid serenely on a black velvet cloth.

Felix didn't look bothered, as he just cautioned him, "You'd better stay away ..."

"Oh, what? Okay." Bagman ran away in a flash and hid in the doorway of the room, staring back with probing eyes.

Felix looked at Dumbledore, when that old man nodded, "Felix, I'm curious about this magic as well."

"All right." Felix said, as he turned to the crowd, whose expressions grew more and more restless.

"Professor, what do we need to do?" Cedric asked, "Aren't we looking for something in the Black Lake?"

The other Champions had the same expression on their faces, they had long ago decoded the clue from the golden egg and made a sound guess, but things seemed to be a little different from what they had expected.

"That's true," Felix smiled, while a colorless and transparent spherical vortex coalesced in his hand, with blue magic like bright stars circled around it, "but it would be too easy if it's just about finding something, so the Ministry of Magic has added some difficulty ..."

" Added what?" Nona Leibert asked, clasping her shoulders. She and her two teammates were the least dressed of all the champions, as they had all changed into thin, light animal skin clothing to reduce the resistance from the water.

Felix shrugged, "You'll see."

From the colorless transparent spherical vortex a strong suction came out, as a floating silk-like blue magic expanded wildly, the nearest Cedric rushed towards the vortex uncontrollably, he was taken aback, "Professor-"

Felix nodded slightly at him, thus Cedric stopped struggling and dove headfirst into the vortex. His two teammates also dived in.

After a few exaggerated screams, only Felix and Dumbledore remained in the room.

Felix held the spherical vortex up, Dumbledore bent close to survey the dozen people in the vortex, and with a look of admiration, he said: "How interesting, you used this magic to catch hundreds of dementors? Too bad I didn't see it with my own eyes ..."

"It was extermination, Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix said emphatically.

Dumbledore looked unconcerned and smiled slightly as he said cheerfully, "The next step is nothing more than randomly placing the champions into the Black Lake, oh yes, and their wands."

"I hope they're not too surprised when they wake up."

...

"Thud - thud -"

Harry drowsily rose from the ground, the effects of Professor Hap's magic still lingered, he felt a little dizzy for a while, and he stood up in a daze. In the dim light, he looked twice at the wooden stick erected on the ground and inexplicably felt a little familiar.

"Thud--"

Another sound of impact, Harry suddenly realized that he was awakened by this sound, he jerked back, while his right hand went into his pocket to retrieve his wand, but it was empty, he did not have time to worry about the whereabouts of his wand, there are more urgent issues to deal with.

A huge monster with a spherical body kept hitting the ... protective shield in front of him? Harry found it mind-boggling, a dozen feet of space around him seemed to have been protected by an upside-down bowl, not a drop of water seeped in, the light he saw was emitted by this protective shield, and the more distant scene, he was by no means unfamiliar with it, it was green algae black rocks which are unique to the Black Lake.

He did not have time to think about it, as he took a few steps back, his eyes fixed on the monster - it looked at least ten feet tall, with round brown eyes gleaming with cruel light (?) He could barely make out something through the hazy bright light, the colourful pattern on its body, and the long fins that grew on either side of its body which curved out with sharp edges...

Wait, are these fins?

Harry watched in bewilderment as the creature raised its fins, and moved a few steps back with a comical step, then stomped violently, which caused a large amount of muddy sand to rise, and then it rushed forward as if like an arrow, and slammed head-on into the thin protective shield with an aggressive "thud".

Harry swallowed a mouthful of saliva, no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to him that he had seen this creature somewhere, if it shrunk a dozen times, it looked very much like the patterned globe fish he had seen in the Black Lake ...

That is a kind of patterned globe-shaped aquatic magical creature, the biggest difference between normal fish and the patterned globe fish is that the body of the latter has two long legs with webbed feet, which can help them walk underwater as well as move quickly in the water.

This magical creature generally inhabits in deepwater lakes, roaming the bottom of the lake in search of food, its favourite is water snails.

He, Ron, and Hermione found this creature when they wandered the Black Lake, Hermione told him that the merpeople don't like this patterned globe fish that much, once they are spotted, the merpeople will tie their thin, strong legs into a knot, after that they will flick them away with their tail. These patterned globe fish that were bound by their own legs had to go with the flow of water until the knot was untied on their own, and this process could last for hours.

The creatures are not seen in the vicinity of the merpeople. Harry had at least a rough guess of where he was.

"Did the professor cast a spell to make the creatures in the Black Lake bigger?" Harry muttered, then he suddenly thought of something and jerked back, so fast he almost twisted his neck. Harry rubbed the painful neck, but his eyes stared unblinkingly at the wooden stick erected in the center of the protective shield, it was half stuck in the muddy sand, the only part which revealed looked polished and smooth, which looked a bit familiar to Harry until now ...

But now he is quite sure that it is not any wooden stick, but his own wand. Harry's brain seems to have rusted, and it took a while to realize the fact that it was not the patterned globe fish that had gotten bigger, but he himself had shrunk down, by more than a dozen times.

The professor had used that weird magic of his that can suck people and dementors in! Everything that happened in the next room of the great hall came back to his mind, leaving Harry's mind in turmoil. He stared at several transparent snail shells near his wand once again, and well, he almost understood why the patterned globe fish was pouncing on him.

...

On the shore of the Black Lake, in the makeshift booths that had been constructed, people stared at the huge curved projection screen, which had been divided into three rows and six columns, each vertical column representing a single team; altogether there are 18 squares. A clear image flashed on each square.

On the first grid of the second column, the ferocious appearance of the patterned globe fish that constantly charged the protective shield is being watched by all.

Ludo Bagman sat on the high platform, his head darting, capturing the progress of the champions as he made his commentary -

"Don't worry - the protective shield will last for an hour. Now that all the champions are awake, they must figure out the situation as soon as possible; they have an hour to adapt to the turbulent magic and to successfully cast a spell to protect themselves in the black lake, or they will be transformed into hostages which will increase the difficulty of the entire team for passing the task dramatically ..."

The booth that is closest to the platform is 75% filled with invited guests, who are very surprised by the large screen in front of them, and they can't help but whisper in their discussions, the word 'Future World' company repeated in it, a company that has been very conspicuous in recent times.

Behind these people is a group of students in black, who are excitedly watching the screen and chatting with each other.

--

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"Oh look there, those two girls spotted the wand first, it might have something to do with their wands being distinctive enough - I see the pattern, yes that's right, I hope they can also spot the wristwatch soon ... "

There is an audible gasp echoed from the audience. Collins woke up without being disturbed by a patterned globe fish or a crab, and the first thing she did was pinpoint the fir wood wand in front of her that stood equal to her height - her hand brushed across its surface and a spark or two erupted from the tip of the wand, which made Collins inhaled sharply.

"Harry's slowing down quite a bit, and he still has yet to discover his wand." Seamus said anxiously.

"Anyone who wakes up and sees a monster fish that can eat them at first glance will be dumbfounded." Dean said, and then he suddenly smiled, "Look at the expression on his face, he found it!"

...

Harry raised his arm and stared at the extra watch on his wrist, he guessed it would have been worn by the professors while they were asleep, the dial instead of showing the time on it, it showed a dull dark golden colour.

Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn't help but picture something in his mind: Professor Hap strolling through the black lake, with a vegetable basket in his hand, looking around with interest; He then walked to a sandy area, as he picked a half-foot tall Harry (his head tilted to one side, unconscious) from the vegetable basket and placed him on the ground, sticking his wand in the dirt along with him, followed by a flick of the professor's hand a protective shield appeared ...

Harry shook his head and threw away the impractical fantasy. At this point, in his mind a voice popped up, telling him that the black lake is dotted with various "tests", the purple level requires him to fight, after victory he will gain something that will help him survive in the black lake, the blue level requires him to use his brain to think, after success, he will obtain a variety of useful information.

As for the gold, it represents a gem that can break his "curse", which will help him grow from his current height (Harry began to wonder what would happen if he collected a few more pieces). And only when he is fully restored to his original form, he can activate the main function of the watch, which can lead him to his other two companions in the same team.

Harry combined this with the clues provided by the golden egg, then a realization dawned on him, and the various vague information provided earlier became clear.

"Seize the moment, the crisis is everywhere; Weigh them carefully, the choice is inevitable." Harry repeated it softly, only these two sentences did not point to any specific information, it is rather a piece of broad advice, Hermione had repeatedly dwelled on it.

She thought they would have to solve some sort of riddle or make a choice that would suit them, "Maybe everyone will face a different problem." She said worriedly, Ron speculated that it would be similar to the giant wizard chess game they had broken in the first year, "Maybe one or two people would need to be sacrificed at that time ...," he said suggestively.

Now it seems that Hermione's guess is closer to the truth, Harry thought.

In the case of limited time, the most valuable time undoubtedly needed to be spent on finding the golden gem, because it will determine whether you can finally pass, and the other two, are a means to ensure the survival of the champions in the dangerous Black Lake, especially at the beginning of the game, when they are very weak.

Harry already learned that the protective shield in front of him can only last for an hour, so he must seize the time.

He desperately started to think, wand, wand ... He stared irritably at the wand, which stood half a head taller than him, how the heck is he going to move with this thing?

Harry came closer, thankful that he did not wake up in the cold water of the lake, he put his palm on the wand, and a heartfelt feeling came to mind, " Fortunately, you still know me." Harry thought excitedly, "I hope the rest goes well too."

He took a deep breath, turning a blind eye to the patterned globe fish that kept crashing against the outer layer of the protective shield, though the frequency of its attacks had decreased significantly. Harry struggled to mobilize the magic in his body.

He felt his magic sluggish to the extreme, there is a force that continues to affect him, he knew from the hint it is that "curse" Harry grunted: "What curse ... I guess it is an influence of the Professor's magic. "

He adjusted his state, after studying Occlumency, even though the other effects aren't still visible yet, but at least - if he wants to stay calm, it's an easy thing to do.

"Protego." He quietly recited the incantation, and the tip of the huge holly wood wand flickered with a faint bright light, pulsing twice before disappearing.

With almost no effect, Harry started a second attempt, "Protego -- oh, no -- Protego -- Protego --Protego--" After a dozen times in a row, he finally succeeded, and a transparent magic barrier appeared in front of him.

"Next, I need to morph it." Harry said to himself, under his control, the shield charm attached to his body, he looked like he had crashed head-on into an invisible wall, with his nose and eyes pressed firmly against it, to the extent of flattening his nose.

The projection screen on the shore faithfully showed this scene -

Ludo Bagman's voice said with some embarrassment: "Our youngest champion has managed to use the shield charm, which is quite a remarkable achievement - although I'm not quite sure of his intention of sticking his face on it ... but he is the third champion who managed to communicate his wand, and according to our safety officer, champions in this state can only barely use their best spells."

"Look! Uagadou's champions seized the head start in this competition. Their gesture casting is quite brilliant! Is it some kind of animal transfiguration? I'm not sure - they do not appear to have changed much, except for the two extra gills on their cheeks ... Oh my, what did I see? Two Uagadou's champions just gave up their wands, is that a violation? Please discuss with the other judges - the other Uagadou champion carried his wand, this weight is nothing to him. They have already started searching the Black Lake, and they are the team with the fastest progress, meanwhile, Potter is still fiddling with his deformed shield charm, is he planning to suffocate himself?"

There was a roar of laughter echoed through the audience, Harry's performance was clearly more enjoyable, or entertaining. After watching for a while, they almost understood Harry's intention, "He seems to be trying to wrap himself in the shield charm." Bagman said as an afterthought.

"That's a humanoid shield charm, one of the advanced variations of the shield charm, but it looks like Potter is not as skilled at this magic as Granger is." From the audience, a member of the Magic Rune Club said insightfully, "She's out of her protective shield."

In the black lake, Hermione gasped. She didn't dare to stray too far from her wand, and with the protective shield in place, it was the equivalent of having a coordinate and safe house she could locate. She struggled quite a bit to cast a humanoid shield charm, then she tried to explore around the perimeter of the shield, eventually spotting a bright blue light beneath a patch of black algae - hidden in the middle of a group of shells.

A burst of intense joy rushed through her heart, she swam quickly in the black lake, shivering from cold - because of the "curse" on her body, she struggled to use magic, originally she believed that she had mastered the warm charm and Impervius Charm, but both are unusable for now. She estimated that at least one or two golden gems needed to be obtained before her situation could be improved.

Hermione swam in the deep lake, her fluffy hair trailed behind her head, and every now and then she had to look back at the distant hazy light, that is the location of the protective shield, where her wand is hidden. In case she gets lost, she can't do anything about it, she doesn't want to be a hostage waiting to be rescued.

When she got closer, the algae looked like black ribbons, each spread under the action of the current, each one is three or four feet long, like a huge jungle in the water, Hermione hid behind a pebble, peeking out, and then her face glowed with joy, In addition to a small blue, shell-like house, a golden jewel quietly laid on the empty space not far from the house.

"So lucky!" Hermione thought gleefully when a black shadow silently approached, and Hermione got knocked out and smashed on the sand, luckily she had been protected by the humanoid shield charm, so she was merely affected by the aftershocks of the impact -

Hermione blinked and looked at the black salmon wagging its tail away, it also seemed to be attracted to the small blue shell-like house, trying to get closer and closer, but it could not get in.

She desperately tried to brainstorm and quickly made up her mind, Hermione advanced along the shadow of the rocks at the bottom of the lake, halfway through, she also picked up a piece of broken algae for cover, as she moved closer and closer, the salmon rushed toward her as she watched.

Hermione narrowly dodged it, after rolling twice in the water, the humanoid shield charm completed its responsibility very well, but she wondered if the protective layer on her body would be torn if she took a few more hits.

The black salmon tail swung nimbly, and once again rammed aggressively over, when at some point a pale layer of white light condensed on Hermione's hand, as a rune appeared.

She opened her eyes wide and tried to read the salmon's movements, the white light on her hand became even brighter, as she nervously mumbled: "I have an advantage over everyone else, even if I can't use ancient magic, I still mastered quite a few individual runes, that's like few simple magics ..."

"Bang!"

The glowing fist smashed hard on the salmon's head, and the fish maw immediately churned out as it got knocked out by Hermione's Wild bull Rune - Uruz - with a single punch.

"Great." Hermione said excitedly, she had thought it would take a few more attempts to succeed.

She didn't bother to look at the salmon that was floating in the water, and quickly swam behind the little blue sea-shell-like house and stared at the golden gem, which looked as big as her head; when she touched it with the hand that had the watch on it, the dull golden dial lit up, as the golden gem on the ground merged into the watch as if it had melted, and the dull golden dial lit up a bit.

"Huh? Is there a progress reminder? It's a bit like the coin Harry used when he was practicing Apparition, oh, it belongs to Valen now." Hermione thought pleasantly and started to walk into the small blue house to receive her test.

--

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On the shore, Ludo Bagman shouted excitedly in a loud voice, "Look, Miss Granger has managed to bash the salmon, and that salmon is at least two feet! Is this some kind of rare talent?"

Fred and George smiled playfully and said, "Hermione probably won't be happy to hear that."

"Oh, Professor McGonagall reminded me," Ludo Bagman continued, "that's the power of ancient runes, a subject I honestly don't know much about, isn't that just a translation study ... and about the Uagadou champion's previous behaviour of giving up their wands, the results of the judges' discussion concluded that since the rules did not explicitly state that they could not give up their wands, they were within the scope of permitted action, although it would pose a challenge when it came to repossession."

"Now, let's get back to the task, the champion of Ilvermorny has successfully challenged the purple level, and now he is faced with a choice: an amulet, an ice bomb, or - lo - behold, he has chosen the second one, which can freeze a lake on a small scale."

"Durmstrang's Krum is approaching the area where Grindylow exists, his not-so-successful shark transfiguration has only added two gills and a mouthful of shark teeth, and frankly, I don't expect those thin rows of fangs in his mouth will ever come in handy - back to the point, Krum lives up to his reputation as a Quidditch international star; His excellent physique allows him to swim forward with his wand in his mouth, not to mention his accidental discovery of a golden gem midway through the game, allowing him to grow to two feet ..."

"Oh, crap! He got surrounded, dozen of Grindylows found him, if he was in his normal state, these little things simply can't hurt him, but it's different now, can he still be dexterous enough to cast spells? Yes, he wisely chose to avoid and give up that blue level ..."

In the black lake, Hermione is facing a choice.

After she succeeded in solving the puzzle, a hollow voice told her she could earn a reward, and the options included: Any one question within the rules; The Topography of a small area around her; A ten-second message to her teammates.

Hermione was tempted by every option, and after some weighing, she picked the one she needed most at the moment - the topography of a small area around her.

The hollow voice repeated her options, and after a few seconds of silence, a map appeared in the air, and Hermione's eyes lit up, firmly remembering the gold and purple dots of light that appeared on the map.

Meanwhile, Harry finally managed to complete the humanoid shield charm a few minutes ago - he pretty much repeated the entire process of this charm's development. Fortunately, he went to Classroom 7 a few days ago, and Professor Hap's memory body who had nothing better to do talked about it in more detail.

His humanoid shield charm looked like a monstrous Bubble-Head Charm, except it covered his entire body, which caused his movements to become quite a bit slower than his normal speed would have, but in any case, he barely gained the ability to get out of his protective shield.

Thinking for a few seconds, he put a hand out of the protective shield, touching the cold water, the patterned globe fish finally got tired, he wondered where it ran to rest, Harry took a deep breath, his whole body stepped into the water, he looked like a squeezed deformed bubble, the bubble closed tightly around the limbs, and bulging in the head, chest and abdomen area, if he sprawled on the ground, he would look no different from a toad.

Maybe it would be easier that way, Harry thought bitterly.

He swam a little further, as he often did in Quidditch - moving up high and searching for the golden snitch from above - only this time he is searching for a target in the water.

A dark, hazy, strange landscape unfolded before his eyes, a vast expanse of black and shadowy green intertwined with each other, soft algae bobbing like strips of cloth, and small shiny rocks mixed in with the dark mud, which is not what he is looking for.

He first found the blue light that shone like a star, the wisdom hurdle ... Well, Harry remembered that location and decided to look for it later, this time he found the bright purple light, which is the hurdle that needs to be fought.

Harry hesitated a bit, but still, he decided to challenge the purple level. He smoothly reached the small purple house, the process of entering the atmosphere from the lake gave his body a layer of goosebumps, followed by a sudden feeling of something swept across his mind, the effect of practicing Occlumency showed up, and he immediately resisted the invasion of this unknown force.

"Phew ..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked into the small purple house, rummaged around inside, and found nothing. He froze, what is going on ... what about the test? Harry puzzled until he suddenly thought of a possibility ... just that invasive presence, it can not be the test, right?

Harry relaxed his consciousness and waited quietly for a few seconds, then there was a flash before his eyes and he found himself in a spacious square arena. Where a kneeling Hippogriff stood up and looked at him menacingly with wide-spread wings.

Harry grinned. It's a Hippogriff, although a bit odd-looking one, but Harry has a friend named Buckbeak who is also a Hippogriff, and he's quite accustomed to them; he also likes their natural transitional fur: From dark grey, bronze, red and white, to luminous maroon, and finally jet black

Bow, don't blink, don't evade ... time seems to go back to the school year, Harry swiftly became friends with it. As a result, it insisted on taking Harry on a ride to fly around; while Harry was worried about how to pass the hurdle, he heard the offer, so accepted it. After a ride when the Hippogriff landed smoothly on the ground, the sound of passing the hurdle also appeared.

"Passed the level smoothly, please make a choice: amulet, which will protect your freedom of movement underwater for half an hour; squid juice, which will obscure vision; false wand, which will release three shield charms."

Harry blinked and stared at the Hippogriff that is standing aside, and he suddenly came up with a great idea.

"I want the amulet." He replied.

A few minutes later, he returned to the location of the protective shield, while picking up a golden gem without any hassle, and grew a little taller. He felt his magic power is considerably more active, and he can use some simple magic now.

"I am more confident now." Harry thought as he placed the amulet on himself, while cancelling the immature humanoid shield charm.

He grabbed his wand in one hand, and a Quaffle Ball-sized water snail clutched under another arm as he looked deeply through the shimmering bright protective shield, then he entered the black lake water; His body first felt chilly, then became warm, the amulet worked surprisingly well. Harry freely stretched his body in the water, it only felt very cool and comfortable, and his body became very lightweight.

Harry used his wand to measure, his holly wood phoenix feather wand is eleven inches, under the calculation of this he is now almost one foot seven or eight inches tall. After spending some time, he managed to find the patterned globe fish that was lingering near the protective shield, it looked tired, maybe it was an illusion, but Harry always felt that it had a small bulge on its head ...

"Come on!" Harry shouted, and the patterned globe fish immediately looked over. Its eyes almost bulged out, compared to the patterned globe fish's one foot, Harry is more advantageous at the moment.

Harry laughed happily when he saw the fish rushing towards him with its long legs.

Half a minute later, the two legs of the patterned globe fish is tied with a knot, Harry was also looked out of breath, but he looked quite satisfied with his results, the water snail was thrown next to the patterned globe fish, and it stopped struggling, looked twice at Harry, before lowering its head to enjoy the food, the next ten minutes, Harry used the water plants to weave a simple knot and placed it on the body of the patterned globe fish.

At this moment, twenty minutes had passed since he woke up.

Then he carried his wand, to untie the knotted legs of the patterned globe fish, "You carry me for a while and I will not pursue the matter of you pestering me." Harry came close to it and said.

He didn't know if his words played a role, or if it was a credit of the meat and greet, or if it simply just wanted to escape, but the patterned globe fish did move, and Harry hurriedly grabbed the reins woven of aquatic weeds and his wand, and the next second, he got pulled along as it waded ahead.

"Whoa!"

Harry moved rapidly in the black lake, while using his wand to poke the head of the patterned globe fish to control the direction, his goal is those golden gems, although he delayed sometime earlier, but he believed that his pace would be greatly accelerated next.

...

In the center of the Black Lake, below the deep and steep cliffs, is a sunken grove of rocks, which is the deepest part of the entire Black Lake, where a small tribe of Merpeople lives.

They have a unique culture and language, as well as the ability to tame the Grindylows. This tribe of Merpeople obtained the right to inhabit the Black Lake, and successive headmasters all promised that they would not invade the place at will.

But in any case, the Black Lake is also a part of Hogwarts, and for this tournament, Dumbledore and the chief of the Merpeople reached an agreement that they would be part of the second task.

Felix is currently sitting in a small square plaza, which is surrounded by some strange-looking small houses, with many Merpeople looking at him from afar.

The Merpeople chief is enjoying the gift that was given to him - a waterproof magic gramophone.

The Merpeople chief stood ten feet tall, wearing a necklace of shark teeth on his head, accompanied by some Merpeople guards with pitchforks, whose eyes glanced at this place from time to time.

"I'm satisfied." The Merpeople chief said in a low, and hoarse voice.

--

#Gavin pape, Thanks for your love and support.

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Felix smiled, as he waved his wand, a golden mist coalesced into a screen in the water, very similar to the projection screen on the shore, only much smaller, even Ludo Bagman's voice heard clearly.

"Twenty minutes short of an hour, at this moment there are still six champions who have not adapted to their chaotic magic, but they all bravely stepped out of their protective shields and explored using the most primitive method - holding breath, a strategy that is certainly correct considering the fact at least one golden gem is located around each of them ... "

"One hour is almost up! Finally, there are only two champions remains, they respectively belong to Durmstrang and Ilvermorny, these two champions will be turned into hostages. Now, let's request the security officer to resettle them safely."

Felix stood up and bid farewell to the Merpeople Chief, a silver cloak condensed behind him, the back hem spread out in the dark lake, and the next second he rushed forward like a gust of wind.

The cloak seems to have some kind of psychic ability, as it quickly parted the lake water ahead, and in just a minute, he managed to locate his first target.

Felix glanced at the half-foot-tall student and leaned down, the cloak behind him flapping freely: "Adam Bewick?"

"Yes, it's me." The male wizard said as he shivered, he looked very wretched, after an hour, he still can't communicate with his wand, so he could only hold his breath and swim underwater to find something, but without any sort of magical protection, the lake in February isn't pleasant.

"Next, according to the rules, you will become a hostage." Felix said softly, looking at the terrified expression on the male wizard's face, he reassured him: "If your teammates saves you, you can rejoin the tournament and, well, make some contributions ..."

Then they appeared in front of a crowd of merpeople quickly...

Then Felix pointed his wand at the male wizard, magic converging at the tip, and the male wizard begged, "Sir, I ..." Before he could finish his sentence, he fell into a deep sleep once again.

"Well, next is the second one." Felix straightened up and looked in the direction of the second person.

On the shore, the audience watched in awe, there were just too many wonderful scenes to see all together, and in the cold winter wind, Ludo Bagman's face steamed up as he narrated in a loud voice--

"Our security officer has managed to pick up the first hostage, although shoving him into his pocket seems a bit rough, but don't worry about them choking ... two hostages will be tied to the stone statue in the Merpeople Square, awaiting their rescue."

"I'll do a quick recap:"

"Hogwarts' two teams of champions, the first team explored methodically, collecting an average of three golden gems each and restored their basic spellcasting capabilities; Cedric Diggory used an ice bomb and extended the freezing range with his magical assistance, thus successfully freezing a dozen Grindylows; Collins Foley's black mist was also quite impressive ..."

"The second team also doing very well, Harry Potter's approach of controlling the patterned globe fish is amazing, and he is the fastest one among all the champions to collect golden gems, with a total of five gems collected, of course, the poor patterned globe fish can no longer hold him up, but Potter has managed to cast an advanced variation of Shield Charm; Hermione Granger didn't think of using the patterned globe fish, and I think it's hard for normal people to think ... her progress is not slow, with five blue levels she cleared, she selected a map of the surrounding area as her reward, which has allowed her to reap a fortune over time, with four golden gems so far

The last champion, Ron Weasley, was stalled at the beginning, but he managed to find a golden gem on his fourth attempt on entering the water by holding his breath, after that he managed to escape back to the protective shield under the pursuit of a Grindylow ... One more point to make, his strategy of making a face was quite useful, the Grindylow seemed to be frightened ... He cast the Bubble-Head Charm as he crawled through the muddy sand, but his direction seems to be a little off, and now he is heading towards the merpeople village, let's bless him ..."

"The third team is from Uagadou, they have cleared quite a few levels, but their luck is not that good, as they only have obtained an average of two golden gems so far, but to my eyes, the champion with the last name Eliphandy is already ahead of Potter, who is currently making the fastest progress."

"The fourth team is from Durmstrang, Krum is making good progress, not encountering any danger along the way, of course, he has to break into the merpeople village to rescue his teammate, I don't know if he can do it ..."

"The fifth team from Beauxbatons, the captain Fleur Delacour's initial progress went very well, but after encountering Grindylow's sneak attack, she had to drop the squid juice and ice bombs to protect herself, after which she became cautious in her exploration ... Her other two teammates did not encounter any problems so far, except that they seemed overly cautious and progressing way behind the rest, but in this circumstance, as long as they don't make mistakes, they can get a good score."

"The sixth team is from Ilvermorny, a quick plug here, they have changed their captain this time, the round-faced male wizard named Byers Bach; both he and the former captain have performed very well, clearing seven and nine levels respectively, the fastest progress, but their speed in collecting golden gems did not match their performance, let's wait and see ..."

...

Ron travelled deep at the bottom of the lake with an irregular bubble-head charm over his head, which he had to recast every two minutes. He didn't find any checkpoints along the way, but he picked up two golden gems very smoothly, which added up to three.

As he explored the bushes, he had accidentally encountered a large squid, which chased him for three or four minutes, breaking two of his bubble-head charms, and in the most dangerous instance, he became strangled by its two long tentacles and was unable to breathe, so in his desperation he smashed its head with his wand, causing it to release a stream of foul-smelling ink, and then he managed to escape using the Revulsion Jinx against the large squid before shoving it into a narrow gap in the Rock.

However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another huge squid swept overhead, its huge glassy eyes gazed at him; as Ron shivered and hid behind a rock, he recognized this guy, it is a famous giant squid in the Black Lake, maybe the one he just knocked down is its offspring?

Hope it did not see ...

The giant squid slowly paddled across the lake, moving far away from him, Ron looked around and found himself completely lost. Although he did not find a familiar route before, he reckoned it had something to do with his change in perspective. Of course, he really did not want to expose himself in the darkness, only human eyes are the worst throughout the Black Lake, and the thought of countless pairs of eyes staring at him in the darkness, made him feel a chill down his spine.

Ron pulled off the water snail that was stuck on his neck, and identified a direction to move forward; when he got tired of walking, he swam close to the ground, and before he knew it, a steep cliff appeared before him, under the cliff he saw a fuzzy Stone Statues, and on the two Statue there seemed to be people tied ...

Ron opened his mouth wide, lying on his stomach, and observed for a while, then he finally concluded that he didn't know any of the two people, so he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he made a decision in his heart, that is, he must not be found by the merpeople.

Time passed, he finally got anxious, he only got three golden gems so far, and it is far from enough to " grow up ".

Then he saw a silver light, it seemed to be Professor Hap, he almost thought it was Harry's Patronus, and followed it quite a bit.

He missed Harry and Hermione a lot now; A familiar voice entered his mind:

"Listen ... I only have ten seconds: I do not know how many golden gems you have obtained, but I have discovered a secret, the purple level, the blue level, and the golden gems are distributed in groups in each location, if you find one, you can certainly find the other two nearby, I have tried it six times --"

The transmission came to an abrupt end.

Ron froze, "Hermione?" She's talking to me? Where is she? How was she even able to talk to me?

After thinking about what Hermione had just mentioned, he finally decided to head back, and at the moment he couldn't help but be glad that he had travelled all the way here on foot, leaving a fairly obvious trail, and when he made his way to the rock crevice where he had been sneaked up on by the large squid, that large squid already had disappeared, so he hurriedly picked up his pace.

After returning to the spot where the golden gem was found, he did find a small blue house behind a patch of aquatic weeds, "blue ... test of wisdom ..." Ron's heart shuddered, but nevertheless, he walked in.

In the next second, he got pulled into a library with an ancient structure.

There was no one inside, then a hollow voice echoed in the room, "Champion detected, the test begins." A golden spinning wheel appeared in midair, and Ron noticed a few options such as "Potion", "General Knowledge of Magic", "Rune" that's when the wheel began to spin rapidly.

He felt apprehensive as he muttered, "Don't be a potion, don't be a potion ..."

Finally, the wheel stopped and the pointer pointed in the direction of "Muggle Studies".

Ron breathed a sigh of relief as the voice continued to ask, "Please choose: open book or closed--"

"Open book!" Ron immediately shouted.

A golden parchment appeared on the table, and the dark shelves of the library began to move, followed by a shelf full of books that appeared in front of him.

The hollow voice said, "All the answers are in the book, answer time is ten minutes of outside time, time ratio: 1:5."

Ron's eyes widened, why did he find this level very familiar?

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

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On the shore, it is already afternoon, the students are hungry, and Ludo Bagman's commentary is becoming strained, but no one chooses to leave. The tournament is drawing to a close, and most of the champions (except those caught by the merpeople) have gained enough golden gems that they just need to reach the last stop and gather together to finish the tournament successfully.

"By the third hour of the tournament, the champions are physically exhausted, and with the first champion managing to gather all the golden gems, the entire merpeople tribe is mobilized to patrol the Black Lake, which puts the champions in even more danger." Bagman said in a hoarse voice.

Felix stood at the edge of the lake, rubbing his nose, wondering if the merpeople chief had misunderstood the meaning of him sending a magic gramophone and became extra diligent. From an hour and a half ago, the merpeople guards led the tamed Grindylows around the black lake and caught one exhausted champion after another.

Those who were not caught before, at this moment also hid without daring to show themselves.

...

Ron breathed a long sigh of relief, finally passed, he did not know if this counts as a loophole he found, but he found that if he failed once, he could continue a second and third time ... and he also found a second secret, only when the wheel turned to the Muggle Studies, History of Magic, he could choose the option between open and closed books test.

Knowing this secret, he found the best method for him to pass - constantly choosing blue levels, and when he by chance encounters these two subjects, he will select the open book option, then he will turn the book to find the answer, he may fail two or three times in the middle, but he will definitely pass in the end.

After passing the level, he will select the nearby topography map to find the location of the golden gem.

As he yawned, Ron felt like he had returned to the classroom, instead of being in a dangerous tournament of champions, and was very glad he had flipped through The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard several times, so much he knew ...

The blue level and the purple level both come with their own protective shield, a rare safe area. Ron took a deep breath and prepared to find the seventh golden gem, with one foot just stepping out, he noticed a tall, sturdy figure swimming past him.

It was Uagadou's Champion, and Ron turned his gaze in the direction he had come from. Noticing a group of merpeople aggressively pursuing from there, Ron retracted his foot with a grin.

Unfortunately, merpeople spotted him. This tall merman blew a whistle on his chest, and three of them stayed behind, encircling him. Despite the general ugliness of the merpeople, Ron recognized the leader by his clothing and bone decoration.

Ron gulped, he is the one he had kicked once.

The merman also obviously recognized Ron, showing a mouth full of fangs and a happy grin. At that moment, the light of multiple spells illuminated the waters.

The two merpeople instantly fell to the ground, their hair fluttering like braids, and Ron also held up his wand and recited a stunning spell.

The stunning spell went through the water, slowing down significantly, but still with this close, the spell hit the leading merman of the merpeople who looked at Ron in disbelief, as he froze, and fell in the mud.

Harry and Hermione came out of the corner.

"How did you guys run into each other?" Ron asked through the bubble-head charm.

"After collecting the seven golden gems, the watch can show the location of the companion, and there were three small red dots, I assumed some kind of tracking spell must have been applied ... I found Harry first and was going to come over to you immediately, but we bumped into a large crowd of merpeople moving out... . They are too flexible in the water, Harry used the light of the Patronus to deter them, then we took that opportunity to escape ..."

Hermione explained, then looked at Ron, "By the way, how many golden gems are you short of?"

"The last one, and I already know the location." Ron rushed to say.

"Then let's hurry up," Hermione said with a pale face, "it's been too long, I don't know if we're the last group."

"Definitely not," Ron said, "I just saw an Uagadou champion, and he's being chased by a group of merpeople."

"Oh, I guess he can't get away unless--" Hermione said pessimistically, suddenly staring wide-eyed as a loud bang came from not far away as a cloud of sand flew.

"Hermione, you and Ron go find the gem, I'll check out the situation." Harry said.

They quickly separated, and a few minutes later Ron and Hermione found the gem without incident, but the noise grew louder and louder, screaming heard distantly in the water everywhere.

After a while, Harry returned.

"Go!" He shouted, his expression looked panicky. "What's wrong?" Ron asked in wonder.

"Run and talk!" Harry said decisively as they hurried toward the final location, the sound of rushing getting closer behind them, as if a thousand horses are chasing after them, a tall tornado of water carrying a mass of mud and sand formed a yellow-brown whirlpool.

" A few teams of champions have reached an agreement, they stormed into the merpeople square, rescued all the hostages, I saw Durmstrang, Ilvermorny, Cedric, and the rest!" Harry said as he braced the humanoid shield charm.

"And Uagadou." Ron said with a pale face.

"How do you know?" Harry asked casually as they got closer to their goal.

"I saw that elephant guy ..." Ron said with a blank look in his eyes.

Harry and Hermione could not help but look back, a few hundred feet behind them, bright light illuminated the bottom of the lake (Harry guessed that Cedric used illumination), an elephant shook out its trunk and charged forward, muddy sand spread out, thoroughly churning the bottom of the lake out. On the body of the elephant sat a dozen people whom he saw before, including Cedric, Collins, Roger, Krum, Fleur, and two other Uagadou champions.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Less than two hundred feet from them, a high platform stood at the bottom of the lake, and a flicker caught their eye.

"You guys go first." Harry said.

"There's no need to be a hero, they'll be fine ..."

"No," Harry hesitated, "I know they'll be fine, I just want to use a spell. You guys leave, I'll be there soon, we'll be number one this time!"

"Then use it, we'll wait!" Hermione said impatiently.

Harry took a deep breath and raised his wand horizontally, he is now completely recovered his normal magic power, can exert his full power, and the key thing is, he happened to thought of something when he saw Professor Hap rushing in a silver cloak before ...

This made him see more possibilities for this charm.

"ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num... "

A huge silver light burst out and a silver solid Patronus stampeded through the silver waves and rushed in the direction of the elephant, which got surrounded by hundreds of merpeople, even more grindylows, and a few sharks that formed a huge encirclement.

After he recited the incantation, Ron pulled him and rushed towards the high platform. The other side -

"What now?" Collins asked.

"Does anyone have any more ice bombs?" Cedric asked.

"They're all used up." Byers replied.

"Let's charge through them hard!" Graves shouted, his face looked white as paper, or, of course, it could have been from a long time soaking in the water.

"Look over there--"

A large silver stag rushed over, the lake had no effect on it, it quickly swept past the crowd, and stood between them and the merpeople, emitting a ring of silver ripples. The merpeople had never seen a Patronus before, and for a moment they didn't dare to approach, looking warily at the big thing that had suddenly appeared.

"Let's get out of here! Let's use transfiguration to buy time!" Cedric was the first to come to his senses, as he recognized the Patronus.

The elephant galloped up again, and the rocks and aquatic plants behind them transformed into hounds, shields, and ropes under the effect of Transfiguration, as they made their way to the high platform.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat on the high platform, exhausted.

--

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African elephant made a sharp trumpet and collapsed on the ground, its broad and burly back tumped a little from the impact as it caused seven or eight people to stumble down, some of them were too tired, so they simply slid down as if they were on a slide, and their bodies rolled twice on the platform, gasping for breath.

The champions both physically and mentally have been exhausted and reached their limits.

Harry realized that he can hardly even move at the moment, from head to toe every muscle hurts badly, he tried to lift his head, but his neck seems like broken, so he can only slant his eyes to look at people in the afterglow.

He looked at Ron and Hermione, all three of them breathed like leaky old bellows, at that moment, Ron burst into exaggerated laughter, he fell on his face, his fist thumped the white marble floor, and even tears came out of his eyes.

"Look ... at the elephant's trunk ... haha ... looks like a snot bubble... ..."

Harry and Hermione barely looked over, the African elephant is crouched on the floor, slowly regained its human form, but you can still see, the elephant's long trunk with a bubble hanging at the end ... Harry guessed it is a Bubble-Head Charm, but ... a snot bubble?

His shoulders suddenly shook, as he tried his best not to laugh out loud, and Hermione also seemed to be holding it back very hard.

Cedric, Collins, and Roger limped next to them, without caring about their image, they sat on the ground, gasping for air, Cedric originally looked very white, and now after being in the water for a long time, he looks even paler like a vampire. Collins seemed to have caught a cold, her nose making a broken whistle with each breath, and as for Roger, he laid straight down on his back and performed a duet with the Uagadou champion who is slumped on the ground, snoring loudly.

"He's exhausted ...," Cedric said wearily, pointing to Roger Davies. "Thanks, your Patronus was a big help."

" It was not much of a help," Harry said awkwardly. He wasn't very comfortable with the atmosphere, so he busied himself by looking up and around - his neck started to hurt again, the skin on the back of his neck stiff like an old tire leather, "Is everyone here?" He asked, out of breath with a grin on his face.

Then he saw a pale-looking Fleur talking to a girl, and Krum grimacing, his strength surprisingly good as he walked around in circles, occasionally raising his head to stare at the approaching merpeople guards in the distance. Graves, whose face mirrored Krum's, glared at a champion who had his face buried in his knees.

"He shouldn't have gotten out of his protective shield in the first place, so I guess he'll get a lot of points off," Cedric said, following his gaze, "Everyone's here, but you guys, weren't got caught?"

Harry and the team shook their heads and Cedric's mouth curled with a smile, "Then you're lucky."

"Merpeople are difficult?" Harry asked, trying to keep the smugness out of his voice as he inclined his head and looked beyond the high platform, which is surrounded by hundreds of merpeople, but the sense of crisis didn't exactly rise in him.

"The water is the merpeople's home turf, and they have developed a cooperative system." Cedric explained, "They can weave thick slippery ropes, lassos, and large nets with aquatic plants ... Every one of them is good at sneaking in-"

Harry stared at the merpeople's iron-gray skin, long dark green aquatic grass hair, and cloudy yellow eyes, and had to admit that there is some truth to this statement; he and Hermione had been sneaked upon as well, but like Cedric said, they were lucky enough to together at the time.

"- and those Grindylows, followed us like hunting dogs, when merpeople command them they acted completely different from when they are alone, these Grindylows could follow simple commands, like holding a rope in their mouths or something ... and The more time passed, the more tired we are, even magic is almost impossible to use." Cedric said, shaking his head.

At that moment, a silvery light broke the surface of the water, descended straight down from above the black lake, "Ta-da", and landed gently on the platform.

Felix looked around, the silver cloak behind him slowly turned into crystalline dots of light, he calmly announced to the crowd: "the tournament is over, all champions stand in a circle, and I will take you back to shore."

He waved his wand, the platform beneath their feet suddenly trembled, the stone and sand at the outermost rim trembled and parted, and soon the white marble platform slowly rose upward, and they got enveloped in a translucent glowing shield, if they had to describe it, it was like an enlarged protective shield.

Harry cast his eyes around and looked above, he was in an extraordinarily calm mood, A swimming fishes passed quickly like tiny darts, he even saw a patterned globe fish, and wondered if it is the one that he had come across.

Hopefully, it will not be found by the merpeople, Harry thought to himself.

Merpeople guards with pikes and pitchforks formed two lines, escorting them left and right, and followed them for some distance before parting ways with them. Immediately after, they saw the waves of light constantly beating overhead, and with a "boing" sound, they rushed out of the black lake.

The world above the water is dazzling and brilliant; Harry's eyes hurt sharply, tears involuntarily leaked out, and the dazzling white light blinded them.

He heard a clamour, the buzzing sound of voices coming closer and closer, getting louder and louder. It took him a while to realize it is the sound of cheers and applause from the crowd.

Ludo Bagman's voice chimed in just in time -

"All champions returned safely, let's cheer them to their hearts' content, they were underwater for over four hours! Ah, I see Madam Pomfrey is already over-"

His voice seemed hazy and muffled, as if it had been separated by something.

At that moment, Felix reached out his hand towards the hemispherical membrane of light and flicked it, and the spot where his finger touched quickly burned up and turned into nothing. Immediately after a fresh, cool air rushed in, Felix took a deep breath, smiled at the champions who also breathed heavily, and said, " Champions, we have arrived above, be prepared to receive the cheers."

His words got drowned out by the sudden deafening noise of screams, Harry had never felt breathing is such a pleasant thing before, and the distant sounds became real, Madam Pomfrey is waiting anxiously on the shore, and she rushed up as soon as the marble platform docked.

"Is anyone hurt?" She inquired of Felix.

"There may be some scrapes or bruises, nothing serious, their problem is that they are too tired." Felix said, while looking at the sprawling group of champions, a few snored loudly, the enthusiastic cheering around them not affecting the quality of their sleep at all.

"Uh ... well," Madam Pomfrey said, taking a thin-mouthed vial from her potion case and pouring potions into the champions' mouths one by one. The Uagadou champion who had slept the most dazedly gulped it down, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Madame Pomfrey stared at him and froze for a few seconds before turning to the next man.

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey." Harry said, swallowing the fiery liquid in his mouth, neither he nor Ron or Hermione showing any expression of protest, simply to divert Madam Pomfrey's attention away from them.

"A Pepperup Potion, maybe with something else in it, I can taste the mint." Ron smacked his lips and said, a stream of white vapour rushing out of his ears and nostrils.

The shore is chaotic, Percy strides over and clutched Ron with a death grip, "I'm going to be choked to death by you - Percy!" Ron struggled, and Harry also saw Sirius and Lupin walking over from the crowd.

Hermione looked a little down, she hadn't told her parents yet, but maybe for the third task, she should just call her mom and dad. A blanket covered her head, and she looked at Professor McGonagall in surprise.

"I think you need a hug." Professor McGonagall said.

"Oh ... uh, I guess so." Hermione pursed her lips as she said, and hugged Professor McGonagall lightly, and in the afterglow, she saw Professor Hap and Dumbledore crouched at the water's edge, talking to the merpeople chief.

Felix keenly noticed her gaze, and smiled at her, flashing her a thumbs up.

Then he withdrew his attention and watched with great surprise as a string of piercing sounds emanated from Dumbledore's mouth, and the merpeople chief spoke the same language, which made him mutter darkly, didn't this merman speak English?

Finally, Dumbledore stood up straight, "Felix, let's go over and join up with the rest of the judges for a meet-up." The Headmasters reassembled, Fudge and Bagman also rushed over to discuss the matter quietly.

Dumbledore relayed the information that the Merpeople Chief had told him - unlike the footage which they watched through the wristwatches of the champions, the Merpeople could provide a more three-dimensional and neutral evaluation.

Fudge put himself in an objective perspective and said, "This tournament is pretty complex, and no team performed badly, so we can start by saying what's notable ..."

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"Krum's shark transfiguration, and he's also the one who proposed to start a collaboration with other schools-" Karkaroff said eagerly.

"I should remind you, Karkaroff," Bagman said pointedly, " It was two people who proposed the collaboration, Krum from Durmstrang contacted Ilvermorny, and Diggory from Hogwarts contacted Beauxbatons and Uagadou."

"But Krum was the one who thought of it first, wasn't he?" Karkaroff said tactfully.

"That's true, but both of his teammates were captured by Merpeople, and he was alone, so what else can he do if he doesn't cooperate ..."

Dumbledore nodded slightly and said calmly: "At least we can confirm one thing, both champions negotiated the cooperation, which is an act we advocate. They deserve bonus points."

"Good thinking on Potter's part about taming the patterned globe fish ..."

"It was indeed entertaining to watch, but it shouldn't be counted as a plus."

"Why doesn't it count?"

"Gentlemen, our competition is not about who performs better spectacle, but about the valuable qualities they show in the process."

"Isn't thinking out-of-the-box worth encouraging?"

Seeing that there is going to be another argument, the judges put the issue down for the moment, when Felix asked, "Who was the first one that collected enough Golden Gems? I was underwater and failed to catch it."

Bagman immediately said, "It was Potter, he had a big advantage up front, he found five when others had only collected two or three. He and Krum are both pretty good seekers with amazing dynamic vision, Krum just fell short, because he swam and walked on his own ..."

"Granger came in second, almost close to Potter's time, because Miss Granger discovered the secret of the level layout and was very efficient."

"It's worth questioning, maybe someone cheated." Karkaroff stated.

"Zip it," Bagman said irritably, "she cracked the blue level faster than everyone, that's what she's good at, you can't deny that!"

"Let's move on." Dumbledore reminded pleasantly, "By the way, Miss Granger is indeed very smart and her accomplishment in some subjects is not inferior to the graduates."

The judges continued their discussion -

"Ilvermorny got most alchemical artefacts, and also worked together to create a water tornado spell that bought enough time -"

"That Potter's Patronus was also crucial."

"Uagadou's gesture casting was distinctive, and the final Animagus-like transformation helped everyone to rush out of the Merpeople Village."

"Yeah, it also broke two Statues and caused the Merpeople to storm out."

"But undeniably, the effect was very obvious ..."

"Everyone, you forget one thing," Madame Maxime pursed her lips and said, "only two teams of champions didn't get captured by Merpeople throughout the whole course, and one of them was Beauxbatons, and as the captain of the team, Fleur resolutely accepted the invitation to rescue other people, her spirit is commendable. "

" Madame Maxime," said Karkaroff solemnly: " Miss Delacour's spirit is indeed commendable, but the reason why the other two champions were not captured was because they advanced slowly ... only a little faster than the dead last, which was why they both eluded the merpeople."

"What do you mean?" Madame Maxime asked coldly, "At least Jacqueline and Francois both collected seven gems, but someone in Durmstrang didn't even walk out of the protective shield."

"Bewick is not qualified to be a champion at all, I would have liked to have him replaced." Karkaroff said with a disgusted face, all headmasters looked at him in shock, then he said with a stern face, "I was just kidding, is it possible to really change someone?"

"That's hard to say."

Felix looked up at the sky and muttered, "Anything can happen." The sky is unusually blue today, as if washed by water, Karkaroff glared at him viciously, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

Perhaps even Karkaroff himself thought that he wouldn't mind changing people if the rules really allowed it.

Felix began to mull over his Book of Runes, which had become more and more perfect as it continued to fill and expand, and is undergoing some sort of wonderful change as if it has a will of its own.

It stores vast amounts of runes and magic power within it, like a real-world of runes, with hundreds of changes occurring every second, these changes allowed the Book of Runes to move towards a more and more stable path, constantly improving itself.

He had to slow down, and before he could figure out every single change, he now no longer dared to put the book directly in the thinking room, in case it blew up, the magic power accumulated inside is no joke.

Besides, he had gained a lot of inspiration from it, and every once in a while, a new rune would spontaneously be born in his mind.

"Felix?" Dumbledore called him softly, standing next to him at some point, looking at the clear sky with Felix.

"Don't you need to join the discussion?"

Dumbledore smiled slightly, "Bagman works more actively than I do, and, I have to say, both teams of Hogwarts champions performed well enough that they couldn't pretend they couldn't see ..."

It took quite a while for the judges to reach just a final common ground. Fudge looked at the time and spoke out, "There's no point in arguing any further, let's start scoring."

No one objected. Bagman added: "Based on the scoring process last time, we have added a new scoring rule: if a judge gives a score that is wildly contradictory and cannot convince the audience, we can remove the controversial score."

Karkaroff glanced at him coldly, but he did not speak out against it. Some bargains can only be taken once.

Half an hour later, Ludo Bagman's amplified voice rang out again, and the audience gradually quieted down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have combined various factors and decided to consider - the number of people who came out of the protective shield, the number of golden gems obtained, whether they were taken as hostages - these three points as the main evaluation points, combined with a few additional points for the best behaviours. We will score each team of champions on the basis of a seventy-point scale."

"The First Team Champions from Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory, Collins Foley, Roger Davies. A total of three people came out of the protective shield, two of them collected seven golden gems, and one was attacked by Merpeople guards and taken hostage after collecting five gems. Some of the highlights of the game include: making full use of the ice bomb and assisting in casting spells to increase its range; finding the Merpeople Village accurately and taking the initiative to contact other schools to start cooperation. After a comprehensive assessment, we gave them 59 points."

A round of applause emanated from the audience, and Collins dropped her head in silence as Cedric and Roger comforted her in a low voice.

"I should have tried to be more careful." She said sullenly.

"The Second Team Champions from Hogwarts: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. A total of three people came out of the protective shield, all collected seven golden gems, and none of them became hostages, the first to finish the game. Highlights include: taming the patterned globe fish; discovering the pattern of level distribution, discovering the pattern of level structure, and assisting other teams even though no one became a hostage. We gave them 67 points."

"Excellent!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione exclaimed, Hermione still draped in that blanket of hers, as deafening applause and whistles surrounded her, as she jabbed Harry and Ron in the ribs, gesturing for them to look over at Collins.

"It's not really a big deal, she's just become dead weight," Ron muttered, "I mean, if you're unlucky and run into an army of Merpeople out in the open, there's nothing you can do about it ... "

"The Third Team Champions from Uagadou: Nona Leibert, Rashawn Eliphandy, and Panagiotta Blanzigor. Three people came out of the protective shield, two of them collect all golden gems, and one collected five gems before he encountered merpeople and became a hostage. Highlights include: demonstrating amazing silent and wandless spell casting, defeating a large number of Grindylow hordes, storming into the Merpeople Village with superb Self-Transfiguration, and successfully escaping with the cooperation of the others. We gave them 60 points."

"Just one point short, they performed pretty much the same as Cedric's team." Ron said, "But that African elephant is really quite eye-catching, Collins should use transfiguration more often, in case ..." He suddenly jerked a bit, because Collins is glaring and looking at him inexplicably.

"You should just shut it." Hermione stomped on him uncomfortably.

"But I'm speaking for her. ..." Ron said with indignation.

"The Fourth Team Champions from Durmstrang: Viktor Krum, Aurus Poliakov, and Adam Bewick. Two came out of the protective shield, one failed and became a hostage; of the remaining two, one managed to collect seven gems, and one was captured by Merpeople after collecting four gems. Highlights include: Captain Krum collected seven gems in third place and negotiated the collaboration with Ilvermorny's champions after the first failed rescue of his teammates, disturbing the merpeople's control over Grindylow using wide-range sonic magic. We gave them 50 points."

Krum and his two teammates receive applause with expressionless faces.

"The Fifth Team Champions from Beauxbatons: Fleur Delacour, Jacqueline Bourgeois, and Francois La Fontaine. Three people came out of the protective shield, three people collected seven golden gems, and no one became a hostage. Highlights include: clever use of level props for escaping Grindylow ambush, using bewitching magic to mislead the behaviour of the ten Merpeople when the Merpeople went out, taking the initiative to join the rescue party, and causing chaos in the Merpeople Village. We gave them 62 points."

Fleur and her teammates hugged each other as they currently ranked 2nd with an amazing score.

"The Last Team Champions from Ilvermorny: Byers Bach, Victor Percival Graves, Anne Lunn. Two came out of the protective shield, one failed and became a hostage; two collected seven gems. Highlights include: breaking through the most number of purple levels and gaining a large number of temporary props; creating disorder in the Merpeople Village; and after escaping from the Merpeople Village, the three champions cast a water tornado and blocked the Merpeople Guards from pursuing them for a while. We gave them 50 points."

"The third and final task will take place on June 24 evening," Bagman continued, "and the champions will be informed of the specifics of the task about a month in advance. Thank you all for your support for the Champions. As well as thanks to the 'Future World' company for their support in this second task."

The audience froze for a moment and continued to applaud enthusiastically as Ron yelled at the top of his lungs in the warm breeze, "I bet Bagman received advertisement money from Professor Hap!"

Harry couldn't agree more, he clapped hard and followed the crowd in cheering, it is over ... he thought, three long months of preparation, the third task is in four months, he has enough time ... then he immediately filled with a wave of ecstasy, he, Ron and Hermione got the first place, it is simply unbelievable, but there is no doubt that they have the highest score among the six teams ...

Maybe there is some conversion needed, Harry thought about the special rule for the Hogwarts teams, his mind got dizzy and didn't want to think about it a bit, Hermione would tell him in the end anyway ... all he had to do now was ...

"Carnival! Carnival!"

The students shouted, waving their arms widely, venting the turbulent emotions in their hearts.

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The way back to the castle from the Black Lake was filled with laughter. Felix reckoned that they would occupy the great hall for a celebration, just like last time. The only difference would be that the champions from other schools also followed the crowd in the direction of the castle.

"We've achieved our goal, haven't we?" Bagman said as he stood next to him, "To get the students to cooperate in a competition."

"That doesn't sound like something that would come out of your mouth." Felix chuckled slightly.

"Oh, well ... it's actually Barty's statement that I ripped out of his office." Bagman explained in a whisper, "I'm not very good at this, but if we need to liven things up ... let's get back to business." He suddenly became restless.

"It's about that ... what do you call it, the magic projector?" He stammered and looked away as the students walked down the marble steps into the castle in a queue, with occasional "crackling" explosions, or red sparks shooting from the tip of someone's wand.

The projection screen on the shore of the Black Lake remained in place, and several Future World staff members circled around it. These projection screens will be dismantled and put into temporary storage until the next time they are used.

"That's right." Felix said, in fact, the magic gramophone and magic projector are not very different, the magic used in both are similar, but Felix hoped that the projector can project ordinary films.

He looked at Bagman, who wiped the sweat on his forehead, "I know that the 'Future World' company obtained the authorization to sell the footage of the second task to the public ..."

Felix nodded slightly and said calmly, "There is indeed a plan for that, the Tournament of Champions will bring no less talk than the Quidditch World Cup, and there is no worry about sales, the only problem is that Remus is trying to make the projector more refined. In Clammy's words, more magical ..."

"I can convince the Ministry of Magic to promote that footage," Bagman said, his head soaked with a dense layer of sweat that looked shiny in the sunlight. " We can convince Fudge easily... he's having a hard time lately, he's miscalculated things, no one seems to care whether the Ministry of Magic has secured another international collaboration on potions under his leadership, as people want more exciting and eye-catching information, such as a tournament of champions. One of my colleagues told me that other countries republished a lot of stories from our side."

"I'm not going to change the contract-"

"Oh, of course not, it won't affect you, I'm just making a suggestion which Fudge will agree to, he wants to divert the public's attention." Bagman said slowly, "You know, there's been a rumour going around the Ministry lately ... Dark Mark ... that old Barty was arrested, and Scrimgeour has a strong opinion... ..."

...

"Don't be a spoilsport, Hermione, we're definitely going to have some fun after a painful while." Ron said cheerfully.

Fleur and her companion had just left, and she had come over to thank Harry. She gave Harry a couple of kisses on the cheek, much to Ron's envy. The Uagadou champions then parted the crowd and praised Harry for that wonderful Patronus Charm.

Captain Nona Leibert also presented an amulet to Harry that looked like some sort of hollow knot woven from leaves and twigs.

"It will bless you." Nona said with confidence.

The other two Uagadou champions stood next to her like guards, and for the first time, Harry stood so close to them that he suddenly realized how tall all three of them are.

Harry took the knot and mumbled, "Thanks." Then he hooked it on his shirt.

"That looks nice." Nona said with a smile, and they turned to leave.

The trio was overwhelmed by what happened after that, as one champion after another looked for a chance to be alone with them just to have a few words. Even the gloomy and shrewd-looking Graves came forward to talk to them, Harry hadn't felt too comfortable with him before because he had tried to attack Hermione with a powerful spell, but to his surprise, he took the initiative to talk to them.

"Which direction sun rised?" Ron asked blankly.

"It should be a credit to Harry's Patronus." Hermione thought for a moment and answered.

"But, I just used one spell." Harry said with wide eyes, "They look at me like I've done something amazing ..."

"Oh, well, it was different Harry." Hermione said with half admiration and half regret in her eyes as she looked at him.

Harry looked back with some uncertainty.

"By the end of the tournament, everyone was exhausted, and if it weren't for your Patronus, they might have been caught back by the Merpeople in one fell swoop, and that's a very big difference - the difference between success and failure in evaluation," Hermione said, "I think that's why they are grateful to you."

"So," Ron was taken aback, "we had a chance to be even well ahead of everyone in the second task?"

"Just a possibility." Hermione said with a stern face, "I guess if that happened, maybe the other teams would have scored half of what they are now, but that's all speculation, after all, Harry had already made his choice."

Harry scratched his head before he didn't consider that much, he just felt that on that occasion he had to do something, not to mention Cedric and the group were also involved as well. Hermione's words made him blush a little, luckily at that moment the Weasley twins passed in front of them, so he winked at them as he followed the pair.

"Hello, Mr. Bagman ... can we buy you a drink?" Fred and George said with smiles as they stepped forward.

"Oh, uh, boys ... well, let's go talk over there ..." Bagman said, leading Fred and George out in a hurry, narrowly avoiding colliding with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were following them, they tacitly slowed their pace, while keeping their ears open to listen.

"I'll get the payment soon, when? It's today. So don't worry, boys!" Bagman said in a raised voice, and then he disappeared into the great hall with the twins.

"Guess what they-Oh, Professor." Hermione said as she looked at Felix.

Harry and Ron also greeted him. Felix nodded at them and smiled, "Congratulations." He said meaningfully, "You guys are going to be famous for this game."

"Is it in the newspaper?" Ron asked with interest, "I saw quite a few journalists showing up, but they only turned around when we came out of the black lake, and then they focused their cameras on the distinguished guests again." He added pointedly.

"Probably much more than that." Felix chuckled, "Maybe you'll get your own fan mail ... in a month or two, I reckon?"

It left the trio puzzled.

Near the end of the evening, Sirius knocked on the office door hurriedly, "Felix, I need to borrow your fireplace. I almost forgot, I promised to go back to school to organize the equipment, old Verner alone can not handle ..."

"How was school life?" Felix asked him, sitting behind a table.

"Just the same," Sirius said vaguely, while hastily grabbing a puff of Floo powder and sprinkling it in the fireplace, "those unruly students ... are everywhere, sometimes I really want to hit them on the head with my wand. "

"Maybe that's what worries Dumbledore," Felix said.

Sirius stared at him, froze for a moment, and shouted, "You mean he's worried about me beating up students? I'm not always so much-"

"I didn't say any of that," Felix said in a teasing tone as he looked at him with a smirk, "but surely you can no longer see yourself as a student, perhaps you like the title The King of Children? Want to be the head of Gryffindor House?"

Sirius gestured a rude gesture and disappeared into the rising turquoise flames.

Felix withdrew his attention and stared at the Book of Runes on the table.

It lay there quietly, flickering every few seconds as if it is breathing rhythmically. Whether it is breathing or not he is not sure, but he knows one thing, the book is indeed evolving.

In the beginning, he just wanted to organize the runes he had learned, then he chose the shape of the book for convenience, and also because of habit. At first, the book of runes was completely illusory, without a bit of solidity, and then there was the first page, the second page.

Felix said softly: "In fact, I should have thought of it long ago, the number is meaningless, my understanding of ancient runes forms the core of the book, when one after another filled in, these runes will spontaneously find the optimal alignment ... Finally, it's time to harvest. "

His index finger gently brushed the spine of the book, and the book of runes opened in a flash.

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The pages of the book shimmered with a hazy light that illuminated the surrounding area perfectly, even in the darkest places, it could be read.

Felix casually outlined a "light" Rune on it, and the book of runes "clattered" and flipped around to one area, then more runes appeared, like fish that had caught the bait, connecting with the initial rune, from three to five, then ten to twenty.

These are a combination of undeveloped runic circuits or runic sequences.

He randomly grabbed the runes drawn from the book, which were just shadows of gray, but when Felix injected his own magic power, it became completely different, no different from when he would outline the rune in the air.

Felix's mind wandered as he refocused his attention on the Book of Runes, and with his thoughts, a complete sequence of runes jumped out from the Book of Runes, and as his magic wrapped around it, it immediately turned into a soft, milky white ball of light.

Illumination.

Felix kept trying as if he had found a new toy, and the Book of Runes seemed to be programmed to arrange the runic sequence as he wished to assemble it.

At that moment, a thought came to his mind, tickling his heart.

He glanced out of the window, it had already gotten dark by now, but it is totally worth a try. He stepped out of his office and out of the castle, his silver cloak splashed down a stream of light as he glided silently through the grounds, and soon he appeared in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest.

The forbidden forest at night is pitch-black, except for the sound of the blowing breeze, it is quiet. And it is in this silence, from time to time, there will be one or two eerie sounds heard, apparently, a sound made by living creatures.

Felix slightly waved his hand, and the book of runes appeared, floating in front of his body.

His finger tapped on it, and a whisper came out of his mouth: "Black Lightning ... can be launched first; well, let's start with two." As soon as the words left his mouth, two illusory shadows flew out from the Book of Runes and hovered in front of him.

Felix stared at them for a moment and continued, "Golden flames aren't bad either." Another illusory shadow flew out, and like the black lightning, it shifted between the runic sequence and concrete illusory magic image.

"A little light is better."

"And a little protection."

"What about visual disruption?"

Felix draped in his silver cloak named a dozen of satisfying names in one breath as if he were ordering in a restaurant, and by the time he closed the book, there are a dozen more blurred shadows in front of him. In the late cold night, it looked like he was surrounded by a dozen will o' the wisp of different colours.

"This state is really marvellous ... obviously just illusory runes, but in a moment it can become real and rain down bolts of thunder." Felix murmured, he could not help but stretch out his hand and pour magic power towards the two dark shadows.

The blurry shadows quickly turned from virtual to real, condensing into two black lightning, "crackling" exploding in the surrounding air, when Felix tried to control it, the black lightning immediately became docile, like flowing water.

"So, the limit depends on how many spells I can control?" Felix mused, waving his hand to disperse the magic. He almost got some idea, and the various tactics could be refined accordingly, except-

"What's going on here?" Felix frowned and stared at his hand. His index finger is fused with ancient runes that are shining brightly a bit ...

He repeatedly confirmed twice that the runes weren't burrowing into his nail cap, but into his skin, as if the skin on his finger had undergone a unique mutation and could absorb the runes.

He stood in the cold wind, thinking cautiously as if he had become one with the surrounding environment.

Half an hour later, he let out a long breath, his brow furrowed deeper, he had repeatedly confirmed that only a small piece of skin on his right index finger changed like this, completely invisible on the outside, but Felix knew there is a difference.

He could only think of one similar example - Dumbledore had shown him a demonstration of flicking off a spell with his bare hands. It was akin to what Lady Ravenclaw had told him about "magical creatures".

"Am I getting close to that state?" Felix thought in amazement, "Close to the four founders of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, and all those people?" He could not accurately distinguish who was stronger and who was weaker, after all, they were too far apart from each other, but one thing is certain, these people's understanding of magic is certainly above his.

Is the change brought by the Book of Runes? Felix couldn't help but guess, he had chosen the Runes as his path and stepping stone to realize magic, and in his office at Hogwarts Castle, he was once confused when he first saw the manuscript of Salazar Slytherin, yet he strengthened his confidence; later on, he even perfected the Book of Runes by chance.

Is this an indication that he has gone far enough on this path?

"A sign of a Metamorphosis?"

Felix believed that this is a manifestation of his own increased affinity for Runes, and probably various resistances based on it will also increase accordingly, only he didn't know how far this change would eventually reach, and how long the whole process would last.

"Magical creature? Or Rune Being?"

Felix pondered the difference between these two terms and smiled slightly, the many phantoms behind him disappeared in unison, he is looking forward to the arrival of that day.

The next day is the weekend, and the young wizards have not yet gotten over yesterday's match, and the topic of discussion cannot be separated from those wonderful performances. Harry and the group had planned to spend the weekend catching up on their homework or figuring out what the third task would be (Hermione's idea), but there were so many people in the common room, and they were enthusiastic enough that they would occasionally walk by where they were sitting in the corner, and tap them on the shoulder to say, "Good job!"

Or suddenly sit next to them and ask them for more details with a look of awe.

"Can you hear sound in the black lake?"

"I can hear a little." Harry mumbled.

"Didn't your hand hurt when you smashed the salmon with your fist?"

"It's protected by magic." Hermione said dully.

As the morning passed, Harry finally couldn't resist giving Ron and Hermione a wink as they catwalked out of the common room and ran to an abandoned classroom, a place they frequented to practice magic as well as the place for dueling study group.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind talking about it, but they know more about what I did than I do about it." Ron said with a torn expression. He felt that one of the downsides of the projection screen is that it took away his ability to flex his muscles.

Think about it, when he described in graphic detail to the onlookers how scary the big squid was, "It's a lot bigger than me!" Immediately, someone next to him said the wand used as a spear was too weird.

Or when he tried to make a joke - "Guess what I saw?" A serious answer appeared, "A Merpeople Village." Others said "red hair" or "the shroud of the bubble-head charm", and finally the audience left him the main character behind, and argued among themselves which answer is more accurate ...

Ron yawned, tears coming out of his eyes, "Ah - maybe I should go back and catch up on my sleep, I slept too late last night."

"I want to see Hagrid." Harry said.

"Then I'll meet you in the library, it's definitely less crowded today." Hermione said conclusively.

Hermione ran off to the library alone. Her two roommates last night asked her about the magic that could "knock out a salmon with one punch", she rolled her eyes as she took out a rune card and handed it to them.

Parvati and Lavender stared in amazement at the card, which illustrated a Wild OX Rune.

"Could Hermione's temper have been related to this ...," Lavender whispered.

Parvati tugged on her sleeve and passed her a look, and the two looked over as Hermione was sticking a furry head out of the bedsheet and looked at them with annoyance.

Lavender immediately smiled and offered, "How about ... I lend you that book for two more days?"

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In the evening, Harry knocked on the door of the Ancient Runes office and saw Professor Hap holding a book and reading it with great interest.

"Professor Hap?"

Felix looked up, the book in his hand silently disappeared, which caused Harry's eyelids to jump.

But he had grown accustomed to this kind of strange sight, so he sat down with the professor on the other side of the couch. And with a wave of the professor's finger, an enchanted book flew down from the shelf and landed precisely in his hand.

"Professor, I want to ask you a question." Harry didn't rush to open the book.

"About what?"

Harry told Felix about his unintentional blocking of information from the hurdle during the second task, and finally asked with an expectant tone, "Is this an entry-level of Occlumency?"

Felix thought about it, "This can only mean that we are on the right path ... entry-level of occlumency does not simply mean that you are aware or can resist external invasion with good preparation, as it is more about improving your sensitivity and self-protection, allowing the mind to spontaneously shield your mind from external influences, including in your sleep. Besides that, it can also effectively strengthen your mind ..."

"I see, Professor."

Harry proceeded to read the book he had, although the professor did not acknowledge his entry-level occlumency, but that was probably because he was expecting too much, Harry thought, I fought off at least one invasion ... maybe more than once, he hadn't had a nightmare in a long time.

He flipped to a new page, and the page featured a fluffy, orange orb that looked pretty cute. But the next second, he felt itchy all over, more so than when he had eaten Fred and George's canary cookies and faded his feathers, next he couldn't resist reaching out to scratch--

"Ahem!" Felix coughed, flipping over a page of the book in front of Harry, and then he continued to read that disappeared book again that he didn't notice appearing again.

Harry withdrew his hand, flushed, and fought the sensation, but the "itch" felt worse than the "torture", at least he knew the feeling now is fake, because he is comfortably sitting on the professor's couch, but he can't help but suspect that the professor had secretly cast a Tickling Charm ...

Fortunately, the remaining reason kept Harry from asking, and he tried to empty his mind, but it didn't always work, and when he got up to leave as he walked down the castle corridor, he could still feel the "phantom tickle" on his body.

Maybe it is the residual effects of the enchanted book, he thought, it is best not to take a hot bath today.

Harry took a deep breath, and the irritation in his mind got suppressed, this is a trick he figured out, when he encounters negative emotions he can try to use the Occlumency to block that emotion and then divert his attention.

Only he is not skilled yet, and often can't remember to use it ... in stressful situations

The weather became a little sunnier in March, but it was closely followed by windy weather. During the first week of March, at least five days were passed with howling winds, and Felix could see the flags on the Quidditch pitch whistling as he watched Beauxbatons' carriage and Ilvermorny's school statues through his window.

Felix and Valen huddled on the couch, looking idle.

He was too lazy to be interested in anything these days, apart from spending most of his time reading the Book of Runes; he even only went to dueling class - which had become an elective - when it was his turn.

From time to time, he could hear some interesting news. Professor Moody liked to arrange people who disliked each other as opponents, "It will inspire your courage and wisdom!" he proclaimed.

The effect is obvious. At the end of each dueling class, the students looked most miserable in appearance.

The transformation of the right index finger is slower than he expected, as it has only just passed one more finger in the past two weeks. He tried to speed it up, but nothing affected it, good or bad, as if everything was an illusion, but he knew the reason he didn't succeed was because he hadn't thought about the possibility of integrating the runes into his body before ...

But this type of possibility naturally never existed in the past.

Felix is certain that he is undergoing a healthy, beneficial transformation, as evidenced by his lazy behaviour of late - his mind and magic are not giving him any sense of alarm.

At that moment, the communication mirror on the shelf rang out, and he couldn't help but get a headache at the sound of the distinctive voice. "Valen, fetch it for me." Felix yawned and said, Valen who was examining a gold butterfly-shaped brooch (from Future World Shop 7), could not help but look at him when she heard the words, "Kiki?"

"I don't want to move ... just to train your sense of smell." Felix said wilfully.

"Kiki (what do you want)?"

" Andys's communication mirror, that unkempt uncle." Felix casually described him, and Niffler immediately thought of the fool who performed coin magic in front of her and as she recalled his smell.

Valen huffed and moved her fluffy body to jump off the couch and found the communication mirror from the shelf. Then she slipped back into the couch as she found a comfortable position again to lie in the fold of Felix's arm, and continued to gawk as she raised the butterfly brooch in her hand.

Felix picked up the mirror, he looked through the messages on it, most of them were the sales statistics of " The Strange Adventures of Little Wizard Mick", he read it a few times and did not care. The latter were various variations of inquiring about his plans for the new book.

Uh ...

Felix scratched his head, he did consider publishing a small booklet about runes, but the style of the book is not meant to be in line with the comic book. However, it is possible to consider an extra comic book to accompany the booklet, telling the story of young wizard Mick when he started to go to school.

While he had nothing to do, he thought about it in his head.

"The plot of the comic is relatively simple, that is, the story of Mick's third grade when he came into contact with the ancient runes and followed the professor to learn, which is considered as a short story."

"As for the booklet, I want it to have more science and communication attributes, well, first, an introduction to the history of runes, this part does not need to be too much, just a few hundred words ... After flipping a page, you will see a series of dynamic pictures of ancient magic... ... To be fair, add a picture of an old scholar translating the manuscript ...

The second part is the development and evolution of the runic language, which also needs to be simplified, no one wants to read a long-winded essay ...

The next part is the main part, need to explain the division between runes and ancient magic clearly ... uh, I'd better find simple ancient magic as an example to dissect, preferably one that is easy to get into practice," Felix's expression perked up a bit when he thought about it and said. "Just illumination magic."

Felix lay on the sofa and mulled it over while looking at the time, there is a dueling class this evening, he hasn't been there for almost a month, and he wondered what surprises these little wizards would bring him?

--

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The great hall bustled with noise.

The young wizards looked around on their toes, waiting for the arrival of today's dueling class professor.

"Don't let it be Professor Moody, he's awful." A Ravenclaw girl said, "Especially when he rushes over to correct you, it's like he's going to hex you ..."

"That's why he's paired with Professor Flitwick." Her friend next to her commented.

At that moment, Felix appeared from the entrance hall and walked into the great hall, when he stepped into the gilded ring, he unexpectedly spotted students from other schools.

"We seem to have some new guests today, welcome." Felix said softly while taking out his wand and shooting out a few clusters of sparks from the tip, "Normally we mostly only see other school students during meals or in the library; Now this is a rare opportunity for you to learn about the magical arts of different schools."

"Professor, are we gonna engage in a duel?"

"Not entirely," Felix said gently, " I would prefer you all to use this opportunity with the main aim of exchanging different views, would any of the champions like to give it a try? Introducing your school magic to us?"

After a moment of silence, a tall champion stepped onto the stage, Nona Leibert as she smoothed her hair, she revealed her long, chocolate-coloured neck and feral eyes.

"Nona Leibert," she gestured, "from Uagadou, specialized in Astronomy and Self-Transfiguration, and of course, after coming here, I discovered I'm also specialized in gesture casting."

Nona waved her hand, and something more akin to a club than a wand flew over to her, and she caught it in her hand, which she waved twice, making a haunting "swoosh" sound, and several students who were close backed away, fearing that they might be hit.

"The wand is certainly not dispensable to us, as it allows us to cast spells more fluidly," Nona said, "and of course, in addition to the wand, we also stick to learning separate hand gestures to cast spells that are convenient, quick and stealthy."

She raised her head, "If you want to dislocate someone's jaw, all you need to do is wave your hand ... provided you're skilled enough."

"Very well, Miss Leibert, would you like to have an exhibition match next, or--"

"No, I've heard that you can ask the professor for guidance, is that true?" She said with burning eyes, "I'm interested in dueling, especially with someone better than me ... I've challenged every upperclassman on Mountains of the Moon, including young professors."

"Sure." Felix nodded as he nudged Niffler Valen's head and motioned for her to find a more secure place.

"Over here--"

"Look over here! Valen-"

More than one student shouted this, and Valen appeared to be quite popular, but she still bounded over to Hermione, who is looking at the ring on tiptoe, and scooped her up in her arms, "Gee, we should take a closer look, maybe it will be helpful in the third task..."

"I don't want to go up against a student of Uagadou or Ilvermorny." Ron muttered, "Whether it's Self-Transfiguration or Combo Magic, both are tricky and from what Byers said, they all trained according to Aurors standard when they took Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

"That's an advanced course only for upper years, considered an Auror reserve." Hermione reminded.

On the field, Felix and Nona Leibert bowed slightly, followed by a swift wave of Nona's hand, and a trail of sparks erupted at Felix's jaw as he used the humanoid shield charm right after bowing.

Felix's voice also followed: "The hand gesture casting is quick enough, if you can not be sure, the first choice should be protecting yourself ... you can use the shield charm, or you can prepare an amulet for yourselves."

Nona waved her hand repeatedly, her fingertips flicked rhythmically, and soon the floor of the ring became broken, Felix gently flicked the spell away, so far, Nona did not demonstrate enough strength.

At that moment, the shattered floor planks twisted and turned into six African spiny-haired mouse, Felix stabbed his wand firmly, as six magic ropes flew out from the tip of the wand, which looked like a big six-headed snake, the ropes swiftly wrapped around the spiny-haired mouse which made the transfiguration forcibly broken.

The spiny-haired mouse suddenly erupted into a puff of thick smoke, at which point, Nona's figure suddenly disappeared.

Felix, with his magical perspective firmly locked on her trail, then he turned slightly from the center of the ring and watched as she elongated her body and transformed into an agile panther, and approached him quietly with the help of a thick smoke cover. She turned nimbly in midair like a big cat, ready to pounce, and the magic ropes on the ground that had previously been scattered by the blast suddenly sprang up and turned into layers of snake shadows encircling her.

"Hiss~Hiss~Hiss~"

Nona saw three snakes staring at her at the same time, and a hissing sound came from behind her, so she decisively chose to admit defeat.

After the smoke cleared, she returned to her original form. And with a calm expression, Nona asked Felix, "In what area do you think I need to improve?"

"I can see that you have your own tactics," Felix said thoughtfully, "but your intention to attack is too obvious, and the lack of defense when performing Self-Transfiguration ... such an oversight should not exist, no? "

"It's not an oversight." Nona laughed, "We've been working on coordination lately, so instead of Nona Leibert, you're facing a 1/3 team of Uagadou's Champion, and under normal circumstances, when I turn into a panther, my body will be covered with various protective magic."

"So that's how it is." Felix nodded slightly, and he roughly simulated in his mind. Uagadou's Self-Transfiguration tactics may really be promising, even with just the three animal forms they have shown so far - Green Eagles, Leopards, and Elephants - although each of them is not considered overly powerful, it's different if they have teammates around to apply protection magic.

They just need to use their respective strengths as fully as possible and display them explosively - using the green eagle to observe and discover weaknesses; using the leopard to assault and seize important positions; then using the elephant to rampage and break through the traps to open the way. This combination posed little challenge to even an average dark wizard, who is well versed in fighting slyly.

Then a champion from the Durmstrang school came forward, and the crowd looked at him curiously, knowing very little about this champion, who has even less of a presence than the one named "Bewick".

At least that Bewick offered a highlight - Professor Hap descending from high above Black Lake, grabbing him and pocketing him, causing an area of the projection screen to go black for a few minutes.

"Uh, hi guys," the man stammered, "My name is Aurus Poliakov, and I'm very fond of Hogwarts booze ..."

A burst of laughter rang out in the great hall.

Poliakov's face turned even redder, and he looked lost for words. When the laughter subsided, he continued, "I, uh ... I'd like to introduce the dark arts ..."

The sound in the great hall died down at once.

"I, I've heard rumours over the past few months that Durmstrang teaches students dark magic without any scruples ... I feel the need to state, ahem! The rumours are not quite true ...," Poliakov said, "... it is necessary to give an introduction about my school, otherwise the misunderstanding will only get bigger."

"Durmstrang has been very focused on dueling and war magic since the time of the second Headmaster. Today, over six hundred years later, we are carrying our legacy to the extreme. Yes, Durmstrang does teach dark magic, but each one of them is carefully selected to ensure that nothing goes wrong ... otherwise Durmstrang wouldn't be on par with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons... ..."

There is a lot of chatter from the young wizards offstage.

"What do you think, Harry?" Ron asked.

"It seems to make some sense," Harry said thoughtfully, "but I just don't like Karkaroff." He happened to learn that Karkaroff had given Durmstrang's Champion Team ten points again in the second task, while the other teams were merely hovering around seven or eight points.

That was the result of a warning to Karkaroff, who otherwise would have given others even lower scores.

"Nobody likes Karkaroff," Ron muttered while looking up at Poliakov in the ring, who was introducing some of Durmstrang's school rules to demonstrate Durmstrang's strict approach to dark magic.

Sparse applause rang out in the great hall.

"Our school rules also prohibit night trips, trespassing into forbidden forests, and trading in Dungbomb!" Ron said briskly.

Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"Next, I'm going to show you a few dark arts," Poliakov said enthusiastically, pumped up by the applause, "It's not as evil as you might think, you just have to use it in the right place and invoke the negative emotions wisely ... "

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"People are agitated, scared, and excited at the same time." A girl said while bobbing her head.

"Oh, well, you are absolutely right, Luna ..." Ginny agreed with her from the sidelines and tiptoed along with the crowd to get a better look.

In the ring, Felix addressed the crowd, "There's nothing wrong with getting a little exposure. Mr. Poliakov, I'll watch over your demonstration." He waved his wand and the shattered wooden planks transformed into a human-shaped target.

Poliakov drew his wand, and raised it over his shoulder, as he recited the incantation under his breath, "Turbine nigro Pluma!" A black whirlwind gushed out from the tip of the wand and flew swiftly toward the human-shaped target. The young wizards could clearly see the black wind mixed with even deeper black feathers, which swirled just as fast.

After a tooth-aching sound, the human-shaped target was battered and scraped. When both the black wind and the black feathers disappeared, all that remained were gashes that looked like the jaws of a fish.

There was an audible intake of breath from offstage, and many students jumped up and down on tiptoe to get a better look.

"If this hits a person ...," said Neville, wincing at the wounds on the target, "I still think the stunning spell works best."

Seamus patted him on the shoulder, "The others don't think so ..." Neville's eyes trailed across the room, and he saw Draco and several Slytherin students applauding enthusiastically, then he looked left and right, there were quite a lot of excited people.

"This is the Black Feather spell - creating a whirlwind to quickly approach the enemy, but the main focus is those black feathers, they work like tiny knives, and they are exceptionally swift and corrosive ..." Poliakov introduced the spell.

Felix and the others listened quietly, at which point the location of the human-sized target's wound began to turn black, seemingly verifying that his words were true.

" So can the general healing spell heal this wound?" Felix asked softly.

"Uh, it's best to use a counter-spell, because the effects of other spells are rather poor ... but it more or less works." Poliakov said, "That's why the professor suggested that we should only use it when we are surrounded by dangerous creatures in the wild, like wolves."

"And I practiced this magic all the time imagining myself surrounded by a pack of vicious creatures and having to fight back ..." he began to tell the story of his mindset when learning this dark magic.

Felix saw the young wizards' thoughtful and eager expressions, so he had to speak up and remind them, "This method may have some effect, but it is not suitable for Hogwarts students, since it is built according to the well-established system of Durmstrang, perhaps I should convey your interest to Professor Moody, he must be very interested."

The young wizards moved their heads away nervously.

Felix could understand their thoughts, after all, he also had been restless when he was at school. Who doesn't want to master powerful and eye-catching magic? But when he became a professor, he underwent a certain change of heart. For the Hogwarts students, did they really need dark magic?

He had thought deeply about this question and came to the conclusion that the answer is negative. Hogwarts is not a military school, it is a place where young wizards are trained to use their magic wisely, with a degree of targeted mentorship based on what each person is good at. As for protecting oneself, the class Defense Against the Dark Arts is enough to deal with common dangers in general, especially since the quality of teaching in the past few years is actually not that bad, and the number of people who chose to apply for Auror has increased a lot over previous years.

Felix did envision exposing upperclassmen to some dark magic, but concentrating on dark magic for a short period of time could easily breed darkness in one's heart, so he might as well not do it.

"If we can avoid the side effects, why don't we try to learn one or two?" Ron asked in a low voice.

"Because you won't know if you're affected or not, as you might be changing implicitly," Hermione said pointedly, " For high-level wizards, there are plenty of ways for them to self-assess and rectify those changes."

"Maybe you're right, but I'm sure normal dark magic doesn't work like that." Ron spoke with great conviction.

The exchange continued -

Cedric demonstrated an application of ancient runes and - to Felix's surprise - he chose a route he had once abandoned - incorporating runes into modern magic.

Cedric smiled coyly, " I thought of it during a practice of the 'Flow of Water' Rune, its magical image resembled a spring, and I immediately thought of the Aguamenti Charm, and wondered if I could fuse the two, it took me a long time to succeed."

Felix smiled, it seems everyone has grown, he only wondered how far Cedric's research would go.

At that moment, Cedric held his wand in his right hand and quickly outlined a Rune in midair. The Rune flickered twice and then turned into a shadow that looked like a waterfall or a spring, dimly shining down with a glow.

Cedric nervously reached out his wand, the tip of which poked into the illusion created by the rune.

"Aguamenti!" He grasped the opportunity to shout, his wand glowed, and the spell, with a flash, it seemed to absorb the rune's virtual reflection and became three flowing streams of water that swirled around the tip of the wand.

"The next step is throwing them out--" Cedric said carefully, then he forcefully pointed his wand forward, the water stream darted towards the previous human-sized target and made a dull thud, which sent the target far away against the wall.

The young wizards stared blankly at the target at the corner, and if the one who had been hit by the spell was a living human being, they could already imagine the sight of him groaning on the ground while covering his stomach in pain.

"Why do I get the feeling that his spell can knock people out ..? What kind of magic is this?" Ron asked in amazement.

"It should be a Water-Making Spell, I saw it in my sixth-year charms textbook when I went through it, Cedric happens to be in the sixth year too, but ..." Hermione's expression tangled, "From what I read in the spell description it's not this powerful, could it be, as he said, the use of the rune?"

Her fingertips flashed with a bright rune that flew around.

Many seniors were talking and exchanging opinions. They knew what kind of spell Water-Making Spell is, the effect is not that potent at all, but after Cedric's improvement, the power seems to be no worse than some attack spells.

Next, a few more champions came forward one after another to show their abilities. It's hard to say whether these young wizards on the sidelines learned something, or were just simply watching, but at least it opened up their horizons.

And Felix obviously felt a change in the mindset of the champions, perhaps they are still rivals at the moment, but they also didn't mind being a little more honest, or rather, both enemies and friends, gained empathy for each other?

Felix pondered in his mind whether he should organize another exchange - there had been no similar event since the last failed exchange with the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After the exchange, the young wizards were very curious about the skills shown by the different schools, but they could only manage to reach Cedric alone, so he had to demonstrate them a few times in public.

"Timing is important, and I still haven't figured out some principles behind this part, so I'm going to ask Professor Hap for advice." Cedric said.

At the Magic Rune Club assembly, Felix revealed the mystery of this part of knowledge.

"I did discover this phenomenon as well, just like Mr. Diggory mentioned. It was just a hypothesis I had first-" Felix sat by the warm fireplace and glanced around at everyone.

"Is it possible for ancient magic and modern magic to merge?"

The members of the club froze, most of them were unfamiliar with the history, they just knew that ancient wizards used ancient magic, and they use modern magic, not many of them were clear about how the transition was made in between.

"Of course, there is so much thinking involved that if I wanted to explain it in detail, it might require more than one book-length, so I will briefly summarize it by expressing that after a lot of thinking and experimenting, I have made a breakthrough in the direction of whether ancient runes and modern magic can be integrated."

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"Although I eventually abandoned this line of thought because my spell's power is advancing very rapidly, it became less desirable to use runes to increase magic's power now, and there are also many drawbacks with it, such as the need to use two thoughts simultaneously ... but now I realized that perhaps it is more suitable for you at this stage."

Felix said softly: "The way Mr. Diggory came up with the idea of combining the 'Flow of Water' Rune and the Water-Making Spell is unique, and I advise you all to continue to experiment with it when you have time, such as- " He paused, leaving the crowd some time to think.

" 'Flame' Rune and Fire-Making Spell," Hermione replied excitedly, "and 'Glow' Rune and Lumos spell. "

Felix smiled at her, "It seems that Miss Granger already started, let's study the runes and spells that can be combined and complement each other in a group. ... It happens that your magic control has improved a lot recently."

The magic rune club members grimaced as they were reminded of their gut-wrenching experience of facing the Billywig insects again.

Felix rose from his soft couch, and with a flick of his wand, a shallow stone basin flew over from the shelf, and the students looked at each other, a bit psychologically apprehensive about what they would go through, even though it wasn't their first time.

"We'll go first!" Fred and George said in unison. Both of them poked their fingers into the silvery substance contained in the stone basin at the same time, and the next second, they were sucked in by the stone basin.

"Wow~hohohoho~" the two men's excited shouts became muffled as if it was emanating from a well.

A row of young wizards gathered around to watch, and after waiting quietly for a few seconds, they heard a very clear "Pop!" "Pop!" sound.

"Landed safely." Ron said with a wide grin.

"Yeah! Just waiting for you guys!" Fred shouted from the space inside the stone basin, creating a mixture of sounds that sounded like echoes.

"So that's what they had in mind ... Ron muttered, " No one will see their faces smashed to the ground if they're the first to go in." He poked his whole face into the silvery substance, and his body disappeared from sight.

One by one, the young wizards got inside the stone basin, but this time it wasn't like when they learned illumination, where they would have their own professor waiting for them. Felix just created a spacious and suitable place for them to cast their spells.

Felix's voice rumbled like thunder from high up above the stone basin, "You're still in the same grouping as last time."

In the stone basin space, Harry could not help but suck in a breath, Ron also grimaced, then they coincidentally looked at Draco Malfoy, who also had a rather uncomfortable expression on his face.

At the last Magic Rune Club assembly, Professor Hap suggested that they should work together to control the Billywig's activity space - in a group of three, then Hermione was pulled to instruct Luna and Ginny, and by the time they reacted, Draco Malfoy was already standing in front of them unwillingly.

"I applied some potion on the way here, Billywig insects hate that smell ...," Draco said slowly, his eyes shined brightly.

"And you learned this over Christmas break?" Harry asked peevishly.

"Oh, of course not, didn't you experience my Full Body-Bind Curse?" Draco said with a satisfied look on his face, and from looking at his expression, Harry couldn't help but remember the scene where he and Malfoy battled in the dueling class that Professor Moody was in charge of.

"My Full Body-Bind Curse was also good enough, wasn't it?" Harry said with a grin.

Draco's pale face turned red, and he stammered, "I was careless, and you broke the rules ..."

"Yeah well, but Professor Moody thought otherwise, and he was very upset that you made the first move before the command, Malfoy," Ron stated with interest as he looked at him, "You almost achieved an achievement of turning into a small animal two times at the hand of Professor Moody... ..." he said with a look of reminiscence, ignoring the increasingly dangerous glare from Draco, "We might have seen that scene if Professor Flitwick was not present."

That assembly was the one where Ron got stung the hardest, and incidentally, it affected Harry - the fish who was also in the same pond.

...

The three stood facing each other in a small circle, looking very cautious as they regrouped. Harry's eyes kept darting, looking left at Ron and right at Draco, as the other two did the same.

"Weasley, Potter, my mom is planning on getting our own custom record soon, not something made by the Weird Sisters ... They are completely out of line with the aesthetics of people with noble status ..."

"What are you trying to say?" Ron asked irritably, itching to give Malfoy a hex.

"Oh," Draco paused, a small smile appeared on his pale face, "What was I saying, magic gramophone? Yeah, that's right; Weasley, surely you have one at home, right?"

" We don't need anything like that in my house!" Ron said with a red face.

"Yeah well ..." Draco raised his head in satisfaction, "L.C.A. publishers also recently released a comic book limited edition and I got a set in my collection."

Ron was so angry that he could not even outline a rune, as the tip of his wand sparked continuously.

"That's nothing." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Draco's eyes went straight to Harry.

"All that ... expensive stuff you're talking about, comic books and stuff, you can buy them if you have money." Harry said, "I can't see your part in it, it's all your family's money, nothing to do with you personally, no?"

Draco looked at him gloomily and spoke slowly, "Malfoy has been doing that for generations."

" Is that so?" Harry grinned, "Sounds inspiring, but we value something that money can't buy, and although you bought the rare edition of the comic book, the content is exactly the same, and Ron has read it at least five times-"

"It's the sixth time," Ron said calmly, "and I know some lines in the book by heart. That's why I did so well in the second task... Didn't Professor put these books on a separate shelf in the library?"

"We can compete to see who has memorized the most of it?" He looked at Draco provocatively.

Draco scoffed at that, "I'm not interested, maybe you are preparing to succeed your father? After you graduate, will you join the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office?"

"You're full of crap." Ron said through clenched teeth, gasping for air. Harry pointed a short distance away, Ginny along with Hermione looked over, and Luna seemed to have the intention of coming closer to watch the fun.

For a span of time, none of the three said a word -

"You guys know what we need to do." Harry said.

"Exactly." Ron echoed.

"Sorry, I still have some questions ...," Draco trailed off.

"Yeah, well, guess what?" Ron finally pressed his anger and threatened in an angry whisper, "Either be honest or we'll hold you down and cast a Tickling Charm on your nose!"

Draco: "... You wouldn't dare do that."

"The professor didn't follow us down, maybe he's sleeping on the couch up there." Ron speculated irrationally, but the comment clearly made Draco's expression dark and uncertain.

All went well for the rest of the day, except for the occasional murmur -

"Weasley, sheesh! How did you come up with the idea of combining a 'Flow of Water' Rune and a Fire-Making Spell? Do you intend to get a cloud of steam? How do you plan to control it?"

"Potter! Let me do it, I'm more skilled in the Smashing spell, and I suggest combining the 'Light' Rune with it ..."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" x2

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In the Potions class professor's office, Felix and Snape are playing a wizard chess game.

Felix opened with a white King's Pawn, and Snape opened with a black Sicilian Defense. The set reached the mid-game, and they exchanged pieces back and forth, but neither of them had their minds on the board.

"How's the mucus from the Firetrail Snails working out?"

"Not bad, there seems to be some kind of unknown change, I personally think it's beneficial ..." Snape commanded his black pawn to move up, while whispering: "It seems to be a good idea, using magic with different properties to process the material in order to 'kill' certain unnecessary but stubborn traits of the material."

"Doesn't the same thing apply in potions, where the ingredients neutralize each other? Oh ... I see." Felix said while commanding his queen to advance two squares, sweeping the black pawn off the board at once.

Snape dispatched the bishop unhurriedly, "Most mediocre wizards are unable to distinguish the subtle differences which are important factors in determining his success in the path of potions ..."

Felix's white knight trembled under the threat of the black bishop and kept shouting at Felix, "Come and save me! Come and save me!"

Felix coldly gave the command, and his white queen moved forward three squares diagonally without expression, her eyes moving back and forth between the two black pawns diagonally and vertically. Snape stared and thought for a few seconds and gave up on the vertical black pawn.

It was then that Felix moved the white knight deeper into Black's territory. "Charge!" The chess piece shouted enthusiastically.

"That's right." Felix said, to respond to Snape. "But it's also important to take into account the lack of basic common sense of newly enrolled muggle wizards."

"It has been taken into account, and the potion ratios for the first year are extremely simple, leaving them plenty of time to adjust." Snape said slowly, "Unless they can't read or don't have the slightest grasp of logical thinking."

Felix thought back for a moment, it is indeed so, the entire first-year potions textbook contains only a few recipes, most of them are the introduction of common magic potion ingredients, as well as the notes on brewing potions and a summary of the characteristics of common potions and other elements. Even for the only remaining dozen potion recipes, the handling procedures are described in great detail - How many times to stir, and the subsequent reaction is detailed, there are also common mistakes and corrective measures attached to the back of the page.

At this point, Snape's Black Knight approached the center of the board and attacked the central position, Felix mobilized the fortress move to meet the challenge. While the smell of gunpowder on the board was getting stronger, the two men sitting outside the board chatted unhurriedly -

"Recently, many students are discussing the use of ancient runes to increase modern magic potency, and some of them have already developed quite a few things." Snape said softly.

"I know ..." Felix stared at the board and felt that the central pawn formation is wrong, after a moment of contemplation he keenly spotted a hidden trap, he gave Snape a look, trying to distract me by talking?

He decisively told the white knight to fall back. The black pawn immediately followed, the white bishop stepped forward and swept away the black pawn, the black knight counterattacked and captured the white bishop, then the white queen suddenly attacked and captured the black knight, the black queen followed and confronted her, and finally, Felix captured the black queen with the only white pawn left.

After a fierce exchange, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief.

"In fact, the fusion of ancient rune and modern magic is a dead end."

"Dead end?" Snape looked at him in disbelief, ignoring the chess piece in his hand.

"Well," Felix thought seriously, "it would be more accurate to say ... a fork in the road, like a river dividing into different streams, which, in the end, still have to merge into one."

"I've never heard this kind of claim." Snape said slowly, twirling a black knight who kept struggling in his hand.

Felix smiled as he explained more specifically, "Take the 'Flow of Water' Rune and the water making spell for example, part of their magical concepts overlap, therefore this rune has a reinforcing effect on the spell, but you will find that this type of reinforcement cannot be suitable for all spells, and, I suspect the exact effect will vary from person to person ..."

"Varies from person to person?" Snape mulled over the word.

"Exactly. For example, the degree of mastery of the runes, and a deep understanding of the runes is the most basic requirement. This can be compensated with shortcuts, though someone has to be willing to teach it ... and the selection of the right spell is important. The students are now working very hard because of the enthusiasm, so they need to be able to achieve some results before their enthusiasm runs out... ...and the casting time, launch timing, etc. These are all problems."

Felix continued: "This is just a fusion of a single rune and modern magic, and after that? The integration of two or three runes? Runic circuits, runic sequences, ancient magic? You'll find that the further you go, the greater the burden of ancient runes can be so that it didn't make much sense."

"Then why did you--" Snape took a breath.

"I've gotten sidetracked in the past," Felix said calmly, "I was determined to climb up and discover the higher mysteries, so naturally some routes that obviously didn't fit were discarded, like this line of thought in which I knew the follow-up and the endpoint -- -transforming modern magic into ancient magic, breaking through all kinds of tangible and intangible restrictions. But it became obvious that this was not what I wanted."

Especially with the Book of Runes. Felix thought to himself.

Snape remained silent for a moment, " So then you think it would be more fruitful if you brought it to the table now?"

"It was Diggory who reminded me of it, and I went along with it." Felix shook his head slightly, staring at the chessboard for a moment, then moving his eyes away and said, "Of course, when you think about it, it indeed has a great benefit for me when it comes to promoting ancient runes ..."

The situation on the board entered the stalemate stage, and the field began to settle down. The contest on the board had taken a lot of thought, especially since he didn't intend to cheat with the Thinking Room or Thought Acceleration magic.

Felix leaned lazily on the back of the sofa, as he watched Snape contemplate intently, and then he resumed what he had just said: "Although I didn't need it, Diggory's unexpected discovery also reminded me of one thing: the ancient runes may have started to blossom because of me, but I'd rather have a thousand flowers blossom behind me, so I encouraged them to submit their ideas to the magazine."

Snape jerked his head up and looked at him in surprise.

"Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of combining ancient runes and modern magic, as well as some decent case studies ... I devised a structure for the thesis, and they were able to get it published in the magazine by following that and a bit of luck." Felix explained. "Of course, I'm talking about the members of the Magic Runes Club." He added. While commanding his white knight to advance, the white knight drew his scimitar in an exaggeratedly intimidating manner to intimidate the opposing knight. "I also suggested the students to send out two copies, one designated to the Ancient Rune Society."

Snape showed an expression of understanding.

The relationship between his student and the ancient rune society has never been good, those old scholars who have studied the character and meaning of the runes for a lifetime find it difficult to accept Felix's theory, their common view is: ancient rune is a language, except it borrowed some of the "shape" from old practical runes.

Now, it is not impossible to form a "New Ancient Rune Society" when these students grow up. Or rather, it is virtually inevitable. More than half of this year's Hogwarts graduates have taken Ancient Rune Class, and more than a fifth of the entire class has taken Advanced Class in Ancient Rune, and their knowledge and experience with Ancient Rune are what Felix had hoped for.

A frightening fact is that, Felix has only been in this job for less than three years, in other words, the students who graduated in these two years did not learn from him from the beginning of the course, and if we go by this benchmark, only the current fifth grade - those who are preparing for the O.W.Ls exams - are the first to receive Felix's ancient rune class from their third-year education.

The only thing those old scholars can do is to express their voices in the margins of some newspapers to rebuke such behaviours, or to consider dividing those 'practical' ancient runes apart by not recognizing their existence and splitting them in two, which is not that great part of the ancient runes anyway... ...

This should be the best way. Snape thought to himself, like how a gecko severs its tail to survive, although it is humiliating, at least they can save themselves.

Felix fiddled with a chess piece and said with a smile: "I have recently made another discovery, some of the runes that we previously considered as mere translatable runes, might have been a simplification and mutation of some practical runes, well, perhaps to a greater extent ..."

This is also an insight brought to him by the Book of Runes.

Snape was speechless.

Even the last step is blocked, besides obediently conceding defeat, does the Ancient Rune Society have any way out?

...

The headquarters of the Ancient Rune Society.

Compared to the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, St. Mungo's Magical Medical Society, and other large organizations, the Ancient Rune Society's headquarters looked extraordinarily shabby, with only three dozen members in total, which is still the result of the Society's repeated relaxation of requirements and accumulation of decades of effort.

"Did you see that? It's not unusual to produce a valuable article in the field of ancient Rune every few years, but in the last half month, half a dozen extremely groundbreaking thesis have been sent to me ..."

"Does the stuff they're researching concern us?" A cranky old man slapped the table.

"Old Vera, don't bring in your personal emotions, your granddaughter went to work for 'Future World' company, no matter what, you can't affect the impartiality of our association."

The old man looked at his buddy in frustration.

"Think about it, these theses have been published in the Daily Prophet and the Witch Weekly, they even attracted the attention of the Ministry of Magic-"

"What's wrong with that?" The old man asked with wide eyes.

"Ha! This matter involves at least three departments, the Committee on Experimental Charms, the Wizarding Examinations Authority, and the Auror's Office." The man said slowly, "I heard that they are also planning to assemble a booklet on ancient runes under Felix Hap, so there is also the possibility of attracting the attention of the publishers ..."

"The people from the Wizarding Examinations Authority are also involved in this?" The old man asked.

"Originally, Griselda was quite patient and intended to see the results of this year before talking about it ... but things are changing so fast that she can't sit still either, it's almost a subversion of modern spells!"

" Is it that exaggerated?" The old man looked unconvinced.

"At least it's an add-on, I've taken a step back, you can't refute this!" The man said, blowing his beard and staring.

"Well," the old man smacked his lips, without moving for a while, "you know Professor Marchbanks right? Ask her to bring me along!"

--

#giser, #michele daluiso, and #alex, Thanks for your love and support.

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