The Return to Hogwarts

For the first fifty feet, everyone displayed a level of agility that Ron and his fellow young wizards, who had long since given up on the course, could hardly believe. The six of them dodged the dung balls one after another with their own unique style of dodging. In no time, the field was filled with figures flying about, and all sorts of thrilling and exciting dodging maneuvers were constantly emerging.

To be fair, Malfoy did put a lot of effort into this course.

Having grown accustomed to the rhythm of the dung bomb attacks, he seized the gaps between each wave of attacks and ran forward desperately, his precise dodges forcing Harry to admit that Malfoy had once again become his formidable rival in this class.

"Oh, look at Longbottom and Lovegood!"

To Harry's dismay, Hermione didn't perform at her usual level. Before reaching the 50-foot line, she was the only one to take a dung ball to the shoulder. If things continued like this, Hermione would definitely lose the match.

Harry's attention was focused on Malfoy and Hermione until Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff exclaimed, at which point he quickly turned his gaze to observe the performance of Hermione's two teammates. After a few glances, Harry was immediately shocked.

Is that still Neville?! And what's going on with Luna?!

Before fifty feet, everyone's progress was about the same, but after crossing the first standard line of physical exhaustion, while the others slowed down significantly, Neville suddenly let out a low growl, and his suddenly accelerated figure was like a cub pouncing on its prey!

Neville once again displayed astonishing agility!

As everyone slowed down, he suddenly accelerated and overtook them all. A dung ball flew towards Neville's chin at a tricky angle. Just as the afterimage was about five feet away from Neville, Neville suddenly shifted his position, reached out and swept it through the air, and the next second, he threw the dung ball in another direction!

Snapped!

Two large dung balls collided violently in mid-air, splashing nauseating stench everywhere!

"Longbotton!"

Shabini roared in anger, but caught off guard by the scene, he was splashed in the eyes by the stinking liquid that exploded in front of him, and had no choice but to stop and cover his eyes as he howled in pain.

"foul!"

Pansy Parkinson, sitting in the audience, screamed with a ferocious expression.

"Longbotton should be disqualified; he committed a despicable sneak attack!"

It's hard to say whether it was an accident or Neville's intention, but apart from Slytherin, no one could help but be moved by Neville's beautiful gesture!

When the distance exceeded 150 feet, most of them were visibly struggling, with one exception: Luna!

Chapter 407 Another Competition (End)

2023-08-07

When Harry turned his gaze to Luna, he discovered a shocking truth.

By the time they reached that distance line, Malfoy, Nott, Neville, and Hermione had all taken a few dung balls, more or less. Hermione, in particular, was not as athletic as Cho Chang, and girls are generally not as physically strong as boys. In the past, Hermione would have collapsed by the time they reached the 150-foot line during training. But tonight, with determination and perseverance, Hermione performed better than usual.

However, as Professor Blaine once said, willpower can indeed ignite a person's determination to pursue power, but it cannot help you communicate with vast forces in an instant.

Hermione's increasingly erratic footsteps showed that she was nearing her limit.

But what about Luna?

"She actually dodged all the dung balls?"

Ginny voiced Harry's question in a surprised tone.

Luna had never stood out before; her performance in this class was unremarkable, neither at the bottom nor at the top. But this time, her performance surprised everyone.

"Could it be that she's been hiding her true strength all along?"

Petil was also muttering to himself.

As Ginny said, Luna was the only one in the entire competition who didn't get hit by a dung beetle.

Luna didn't demonstrate a level of speed far superior to the others, whether it was her forward speed or her dodging speed. However, none of the dung balls that rushed towards her managed to even touch the hem of her clothes!

"That girl is cheating!"

"She definitely used her position as a teaching assistant to tamper with the armor!" Pansy Parkinson said angrily.

“If you can’t produce concrete evidence, Parkinson,” Harry said coldly, “then shut your mouth!”

Harry's cold rebuke made Parkinson's face flush red, but in truth, Harry himself was also filled with the same confusion.

Luna is making it too easy!

Her bouncy, skipping manner reminded Harry of the hopscotch game that was all the rage at his Muggle school for a time.

Based on Harry's own experience in this training, he mainly relied on two methods to dodge the incoming dung balls. First, for those within his field of vision, there's not much to say; if he was in good physical condition, he could simply dodge them. But for those outside his field of vision, such as those coming from the side or behind, he mainly relied on his hearing. When they got close enough, he could hear the whistling sound of the dung balls.

Harry was certain that Neville, who had been behaving unexpectedly well today, had also used this method to evade, but Luna seemed to be doing something completely different.

Harry noticed several times that Luna would suddenly perform a jump-dodge when there were no dung balls around, and only after she changed position would the dung balls attack the spot where she had been standing!

This is incredible!

Could it be that she can see the future?

Ha looked at Luna, the shortest of the group, with a slightly bewildered expression, full of confusion.

Malfoy, who was already struggling to move, suddenly heard a tuneless, cheerful humming in his ear. Before he could react, the little girl from Ravenclaw, whom he didn't take seriously, nimbly darted past him, inexplicably dodging an attack with a few sidesteps.

Draco himself wasn't so lucky.

In a moment of distraction, Malfoy, already exhausted, lost his chance to dodge. One after another, large dung balls struck his back and stomach, places that were already excruciatingly painful after an impact. Coupled with the stench of the dung balls, Malfoy could no longer bear it.

Losing his balance, Malfoy vomited and rolled several times on the ground, now only a few steps away from the 200-foot line.

Regardless, Draco couldn't accept the humiliation of not even finishing the race.

He covered the back of his neck with one hand and crawled forward, but just as his fingertips were about to reach the finish line, a sudden gust of wind from behind him made Draco despair.

At least three dung balls are coming at the same time!

After training for so long, everyone was well aware of the power of the dung ball's impact. With his stamina depleted to this extent, Draco knew he absolutely couldn't withstand this wave of attacks!

Just then, a dark shadow suddenly blocked the torchlight, and Draco suddenly felt a gust of wind howling overhead.

Pop, pop, pop!

Malfoy's long, pale golden hair was splattered with foul-smelling liquid, but he had no time to care. He slowly sat up and stared blankly at Neville, who was slowly retracting his whip kick and reaching out his hand to him. For a moment, he was at a loss.

"You've lost, Malfoy."

Neville pulled Malfoy up, staring directly into Malfoy's wide gray eyes. For the first time, he felt that his heart was no longer tormented by panic.

"It is foolish to question the decisions made by people who are wiser than you."

Luna, standing beside Neville, tilted her head and repeated the words spoken before the match began in a light voice. Draco was astonished to find that, apart from a few beads of sweat on her forehead, the girl's breathing was not erratic at all.

Nott collapsed ten feet from the 200-foot mark, groaning weakly, which was about the same as his usual performance. Draco opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything more.

However, when his gaze fell on Hermione, who was still persisting a few steps behind Nott, a sentence uncontrollably slipped out of his mouth.

“At least I beat Granger. According to the rules, she has to resign from her teaching assistant position like Professor Blaine.”

This is indeed an indisputable fact, and Neville and Luna did not refute it.

Seeing Hermione covered in sticky, smelly liquid, yet still gritting her teeth and staggering to avoid the dung balls, a surge of anger welled up in his heart, making his eyes burn.

"It's not worth it, Hermione—"

Ginny covered her mouth, and Harry could hear the sob in her murmured voice.

Time seemed to stand still, everything before her eyes was blurry, and the unbearable swelling and pain all over her body made Hermione want to cry out loud. In a daze, Hermione suddenly wondered why she had participated in Professor Blaine's physical education class in the first place.

The initial reason was simply curiosity.

This is almost the reason why all the young wizards are willing to continue after experiencing this boring course.

After joining Hogwarts, Professor Blaine demonstrated his erudition and power over a long period of time, and every young wizard hoped to learn cool magic from Professor Blaine's courses.

Hermione also hoped to glimpse Professor Blaine's wisdom in this course. After her initial hesitation, she was certain that Professor Blaine's course was definitely not simple, and she would surely regret it if she gave up easily. Although pure physical training was not her forte, she was better at finding the truth in the ocean of magical knowledge.

"Give up, Granger, you've already lost!"

Hermione heard Malfoy grit his teeth, but she paid no attention to it, and she didn't realize that she had stumbled and broken the record set by Cedric, the best young wizard in the class.

Although she had always been at the top of her class, even Harry and Ron couldn't comprehend the fear in her heart.

This fear stemmed from her Muggle origins. Although Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's leadership, did not discriminate against Muggle-born wizards, Hermione's sensitive nature prevented her from completely escaping the pervasive belief in bloodline superiority in the wizarding world—one of the reasons why she insisted on taking the course. Professor Blaine was a Slytherin graduate, but he was of Muggle blood, and his achievements and recognition from the entire wizarding world were remarkable.

Hermione hopes to one day become as good as Professor Blaine. She wants to prove that Muggle-born wizards can also achieve remarkable results through hard work.

Well!

A sharp pain shot through her shoulder blade, and the powerful impact caused Hermione to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

The stench of the dung ball almost replaced the sweat flowing down her pretty little face, but Hermione's unwavering determination, hidden in her slender back as she stumbled forward, moved most of the young wizards in the classroom!

Gradually, Hermione felt the pain in her body recede. She felt no pain, no resentment, only a burning belief in her heart supporting her to continue forward.

Yes, she kept Professor Blaine's words in mind.

Love and hate are both strong emotions that can give people the determination to pursue their dreams, but they cannot help you instantly transcend the power of communication.

Hermione knew she couldn't suddenly excel in this class, and she knew she wouldn't reach Cedric's record faster than the Slytherin wizards participating in the competition. Therefore, her only goal from the beginning was—

Reach the finish line!

It was such a long journey, longer than the walk from the foyer to the Sorting Hat on her first night at Hogwarts, it seemed endless.

Hermione, her mind hazy, thought she heard Harry shouting something, and she thought she heard Ginny crying, but she no longer had the energy to care about any of that; she just wanted to move forward!

Looking at the girl who was trying her best to climb a little further, Draco didn't realize that the shame and anger on his face had quietly disappeared, replaced by confusion.

He couldn't understand why that Mudblood girl would go to such lengths.