Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

The three of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say next.

Afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would inevitably voice her worries and affect Dylan's mindset, she could only stand silently to the side, her eyes full of entanglement.

Just then, Ludobagman's voice, amplified by a megaphone spell, entered the tent, instantly drawing everyone's attention: "Ladies and gentlemen! Next up are the warriors of Durmstrang School of Magic! According to the draw, they will be facing a dragon duo: the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon and the Hebrides Black Dragon!"

Harry and his two friends immediately gathered around the curtain and peered through the gap into the room.

Ludo's voice continued: "Everyone should be familiar with these two fire dragons! I wonder if the warriors of Durmstrang can demonstrate outstanding tactics and strength when facing these two behemoths?"

He changed the subject, his tone becoming somewhat expectant: "There's one more thing I must mention—Viktor Krum of Durmstrang is a famous Seeker in the International Quidditch League! With his flying skills, he'll probably summon his flying broomstick this time to launch an attack from the air, bringing us a spectacular aerial duel! Oh!"

Ludo paused abruptly, clearly having witnessed an unexpected scene: "Looks like I was wrong! Krum seems to have other plans! Instead of summoning his flying broom, he stayed on the ground with his two teammates, preparing to directly engage the fire dragon! This is truly an unexpected choice!"

Inside the tent, Harry kept a close eye on Durmstrang and his two companions' movements.

When he saw Krum raise his wand, a pale blue light flashing at the tip, he suddenly realized, "I see! They're going to use the Eye-Blink Charm! This spell can temporarily interfere with the target's vision, making the dragon unable to see its surroundings, thus avoiding the dragon's breath attack!"

“An eye-disrupting spell?” Draco frowned, turning to Harry with a troubled expression. “Then our previous plan involved using a similar visual interference spell, right? Now Durmstrang has used this approach first. If we use it later, Durmstrang’s people will definitely accuse us of plagiarism, and who knows what trouble that will cause.”

Cedric nodded, clearly agreeing with Draco's concerns: "And the judging panel might also feel that we lack innovation, which could affect the final score."

"It now seems that we may need to temporarily adjust our tactics and avoid repeating the same ideas as Durmstrang."

Dylan didn't speak immediately, but continued to observe Durmstrang's movements on the court.

Krum's two teammates were moving toward the two fire dragons, waving their wands as if preparing other auxiliary spells.

Krum himself remained in the middle, intently staring into the eyes of the Norwegian Ridgeback, clearly searching for the best moment to cast a spell.

It seems that Durmstrang's tactics are far more sophisticated than they appear on the surface.

Actually, Harry had already learned the Eye Disease Charm during the preparation stage.

This kind of visually disruptive spell is not difficult to perform, but its effect is very practical.

After learning it, he immediately shared the spellcasting techniques and key points of magic control with Draco and Cedric.

The three of them even found an empty classroom to practice several times until they could perform it skillfully.

It was precisely because they had mastered the Eye Disease Curse that they were able to develop a second set of countermeasures.

The "plan" that Draco mentioned earlier was the first strategy they initially discussed.

By summoning rapidly growing magical plants, such as thorny vines with barbs and highly resilient root-binding grass, the entanglement force of the plants can be used to restrict the dragon's limbs and wings, thus creating an opportunity to seize the golden egg.

However, this solution is not cheap.

The seeds of the magical plants had to be ordered from the flower shop in Diagon Alley, and the special potion that stimulated their growth also required a large amount of rare materials. So after learning the Eye Disease Charm, they immediately adjusted the priority of the two plans and decided to give priority to the Eye Disease Charm plan, which was easier to operate and had a lower cost.

“There’s no need to rush to make adjustments now. Let’s see the specific effects of Durmstrang’s Eye Strike first.” Cedric looked at the arena and analyzed calmly. “I’ve heard Stebbins say before that among Durmstrang’s students, only Viktor Krum is good at flying, while the others are mostly better at ground combat. Now it seems that this is true—they didn’t consider an aerial attack at all.”

He turned to Harry and Draco and continued, "And the three of us are all Seekers for our respective houses' Quidditch teams, and our flying skills are far superior to theirs."

"As long as we can complete the test faster than them when we go on stage, even if we use a similar Eye Disease Curse strategy, they won't have the nerve to say anything—after all, the effect and speed are there for all to see."

“Let’s see how it goes.” Draco shrugged and tapped his pocket with his fingers. “Anyway, I’ve already packed spare magical plant seeds and growth-stimulating potions in my backpack. I can summon them anytime. If necessary, I can combine the two plans.”

Just as the three were discussing, Ludobagman's voice of admiration came through the megaphone spell: "Ladies and gentlemen! The warriors of Durmstrang have truly given us a pleasant surprise! Look at the coordination between the three of them, it's absolutely perfect! Whether dodging attacks or launching counterattacks, their movements are almost synchronized! Perhaps it is because of this advantage of ground coordination that Krum gave up summoning his flying broom—after all, it's difficult to maintain such precise teamwork in the air!"

All four people inside the tent looked towards the field.

The three warriors of Durmstrang moved swiftly across the arena, always managing to dodge in the same direction as the fire dragon spewed its breath.

When they launch their attack, they can simultaneously raise their wands and accurately strike the fire dragon's eyes with three pale blue eye-cursing spells.

This highly synchronized movement gradually caused the originally ferocious fire dragon to become chaotic, and its breath attacks began to lose accuracy.

"I have to say, their coordination on the ground is indeed better than what we practiced before," Cedric said with a hint of helplessness as he watched the scene.

During their previous practice, although they could coordinate their actions, they always needed to communicate through eye contact or simple verbal commands, which was far from the unspoken understanding that Durmstrang had.

“And why do I feel like their strategy is becoming more and more like what we originally discussed?” Harry scratched his head, his tone full of doubt. “The only difference is that we plan to use flying brooms to provide support from the air, while they will stay on the ground to fight.”

“This must be related to the different ways the two schools teach magic,” Dylan explained, his gaze fixed on the casting movements of the Durmstrang trio. “Do you remember war magic? That’s Durmstrang’s specialty course, and also their area of ​​expertise in magic—the core of this magic is teamwork, emphasizing the amplification of magical effects through synchronized casting in battle.”

“Oh right! I almost forgot about that!” Harry exclaimed, clapping his hands. “Ron told me before that Durmstrang’s war magic is very powerful, but because it involves too much offensive content, many countries don’t encourage it.” He paused, then thought of another question: “But… I remember someone saying that Durmstrang has hidden a lot of its war magic due to external pressure and rarely teaches it publicly anymore.”

“Hidden doesn’t mean unusable,” Draco chimed in, his tone laced with sarcasm. “Like the Unforgivable Curse, which punishes the user with imprisonment in Azkaban, yet those dark wizards still use it, don’t they? These things are meant to be ‘secret’ – the course details are nominally kept secret, but in reality, they are still taught to the students, since it’s their core strength.”

Harry looked at Draco with some surprise: "You know about war magic? I thought you only cared about pure-blood families."

"Ah."

"Even you can find out from other people, so is it strange that I know about this?" Draco raised his eyebrows, his tone laced with disdain, clearly displeased by Harry's surprise.

He paused, then changed the subject, a hint of understanding in his eyes: "But speaking of which, this does answer a question I had before—no wonder Durmstrang rarely won the final championship in the previous three-way competition. Now I understand, the previous competitions were all individual contestants, while the core of war magic is teamwork, and a single person simply cannot bring out the true effect of this magic."

Looking at the scene of Durmstrang and the other two casting spells in unison, he continued, "This time the situation is different. Three warriors have appeared at once, which is just enough to meet the basic coordination requirements of war magic, allowing them to fully unleash the advantages of this magic."

This is not surprising.

As a long-established pure-blood family, the Malfoy family's library contains a wealth of information about the unique magic of various countries.

It's not surprising that Draco knows war magic.

Dylan also had a general understanding of these matters.

In fact, most of the books on war magic were confiscated and destroyed due to the Ministry of Magic's policy requirements.

The remaining unprocessed materials, like most of the information circulating in the market, simply describe the name "war magic" and its core characteristic of "emphasizing teamwork," without providing specific casting techniques, spell combinations, or other key information, and thus have no practical reference value.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Pay attention! Durmstrang's magic!" Ludobagman's exclamation suddenly broke the discussion in the tent. "The three of them cast spells at the same time, and three beams of light struck the black dragon of the Hebrides Islands with incredible accuracy! The hit rate is astonishing!"

His voice was filled with excitement, and his speech became faster: "Even more fortunately, they immediately turned their attack on the Norwegian Ridgeback and actually hit the target's eyes! This is definitely magic specifically designed for the eyes! It's incredible! You know, the scales on a dragon's body are thick enough to withstand most spells, so the eyes are indeed the best place to attack if you want magic to work—they have no scales to protect them and can directly interfere with the dragon's movements!"

As Ludo provided commentary, the situation in the stadium changed noticeably.

Under the influence of the Eye Disease Curse, both fire dragons let out painful roars, their voices filled with anxiety and anger.

They began to twist their bodies wildly in place, swung their huge tails forcefully, and occasionally launched attacks in the direction where there was no one, clearly unable to see their surroundings.

Even more dangerous is that they can also spew dragon breath unpredictably.

Orange-red and dark blue flames alternately spewed from its mouth, landing on the ground and instantly scorching the soil black. The once hard ground became soft and continued to emit thick white smoke.

The intense heat from the dragon's breath distorted the surrounding air, and the vegetation at the edge of the arena was completely scorched by the flames.

The once-visible green vegetation was instantly reduced to charred ashes, leaving the entire arena in a state of utter devastation.

The students in the stands held their breath, their eyes fixed on the field.

Although the fire dragon had lost its target, this indiscriminate attack was even more dangerous, and no one knew how the warriors of Durmstrang would manage to seize the golden egg amidst the chaos.

Inside the tent, Harry and the other three watched with exceptional focus, especially Harry and Draco, who were quietly discussing Durmstrang's possible next move and adjusting their own tactical strategies.

The two blind fire dragons vented their rage in the arena, and their attack range extended far beyond the ground.

Every now and then, they would open their gaping maws toward the circular stands, unleashing orange-red and dark blue dragon breath towards the audience without warning.

The students in the stands could even clearly see the sparks dancing in the flames and feel the scorching heat rushing towards them. Many of them instinctively curled up, gripping the railings tightly with both hands, their hearts leaping into their throats.

Fortunately, Old Deng's prior arrangements came in handy.

Whenever the dragon's breath approaches the stands, a transparent barrier automatically appears, firmly keeping the flames out.

The dragon's breath struck the barrier, making a hissing sound, before dissipating into wisps of white smoke.

Although the audience was not actually harmed, the oppressive feeling of "death being just around the corner" still made everyone hold their breath and their palms sweat.

In the center of the arena, Viktor Krum was intently dodging the fire dragon's attacks.

When a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon unleashed a breath of fire in his direction, he reacted swiftly, lunging to the side and rolling twice on the ground to narrowly avoid the flames.

The hem of his robe was still scorched by the sparks, leaving a charred mark.

Krum quickly stood up, dusted himself off, and then raised his wand to the sky.

Ludobagman had been watching his movements intently. Seeing this, he immediately looked up, and when he saw a black shadow flying from afar, gradually revealing the outline of a flying broom, he couldn't help but laugh, slamming his hand heavily on the commentary table in front of him. (End of Chapter)