The Return to Hogwarts

Let's talk about it another time.

Amosta's offer did indeed tempt Charlie, but he still declined.

"We need to help the dragon adapt to the environment as quickly as possible. We'll be staying in tents here until the competition starts. I've already written to Hagrid, and he'll be responsible for providing us with supplies. To be honest—"

Charlie glanced a few times at the darkening woods, then said to Amosta...

“I originally thought he would be the first one to appear. You know, Hagrid has a great interest in dragons. He even asked me to take care of a poor, homeless little guy before—”

"Oh, Hagrid certainly won't be absent--"

Amosta turned around, smiled in one direction, and said...

"Actually, he had been there for a while."

Splash--

The dense, lush bushes trembled, and a huge, dark shadow peeked out from behind them.

“You’ve already discovered it, Professor Blaine—”

Hagrid grinned sheepishly as he emerged from behind the bushes, with Dom beside him.

“Long time no see, Hagrid—” Charlie said in surprise, “Why did you hide yourself, and—”

Charlie glanced at Amostella, then frowned as he looked at the house-elf who was trembling with fear from the fire dragon.

"Is this house-elf from Hogwarts, Hagrid? By the rules, you shouldn't have let it over here; information about the competition events is top secret."

"It's just a little sprite, Charlie, nothing special. It wanted to come with me and see what it's like, and I couldn't refuse; it's helped me a lot. Besides, who wouldn't want to see something? This is a fire dragon—"

Hagrid completely ignored Charlie's words. He approached the fence, staring intently at the dragons in the enclosure, and whispered...

"So beautiful--"

Charlie clearly knew Hagrid well; he shook his head helplessly.

"Did no one else come with you?"

Upon hearing this question, Hagrid's massive body shifted uneasily. His gaze remained fixed on the fire dragons, but his tone was somewhat unnatural.

"Of course not, Charlie, I've been very careful the whole way."

Yes, they are indeed very cautious.

Amosta's lips twitched.

There were still two people crouching behind the bushes where Hagrid had just been hiding. Amosta was really worried for Mrs. Maxim. Given that she was even 'taller' than Hagrid, hiding behind the not-so-tall bushes must have been quite an effort.

Of course, Hermione, even with the Invisibility Cloak, wasn't much better off than Mrs. Maxim. From thirty feet away, Amostella could almost hear the girl's heart pounding. Amostella's powerful mental strength allowed him to sense that Hermione was probably on the verge of collapse.

Needless to say, Igor Karkarov, who was even further away, climbed a tree to get a clearer view of the situation inside.

The principals of both schools went to great lengths for their respective warriors, and Hagrid certainly deserves much credit for his efforts.

"I'm going back now—"

Charlie was reminding Hagrid to prepare plenty of food for the dragons tomorrow, since they had spent most of their time sleeping on the journey.

Amosta knew that his presence would put many people in a difficult position, so he took his leave.

Behind the bushes, knowing Hagrid as she did, Hermione figured he probably wouldn't want to leave those 'lovable' dragons all night. Still remembering Harry was waiting for her in the common room, she took one last, desperate look at the massive creatures in the enclosure, then quietly retreated without disturbing the focused Mrs. Maxim.

Chapter 609 Coping Strategies

2023-11-22

Since being chosen as Hogwarts' second champion after Halloween, Hermione's pent-up fear, anxiety, and trepidation reached their peak the moment she saw the dragon. Hiding behind the bushes, she glared at the restless 'beast.' If Madam Maxim hadn't been just a few steps away, she might have screamed herself unconscious.

After Professor Blaine left, Hermione also left quickly.

To avoid the awkward situation of bumping into Professor Blaine in the foyer, Hermione ran as fast as she could. She hurried back along the path Hagrid had led her there, and the stamina and agility she had developed in gym class made the vines and potholes along the way no obstacle for her. Time moved on in a very strange way, and it seemed as if in the blink of an eye, she was back at the castle.

As Hermione rushed out of the Forbidden Forest and the edge of the school grounds, she put on her Invisibility Cloak again. Then, she realized that her robes were mostly soaked with dew during her journey through the Forbidden Forest. After leaving the Forbidden Forest, the sound of the wind became real, and Hermione felt as if countless small knives were slicing through her body, cold and painful.

Drying clothes is an incredibly simple thing to do; she could do it effortlessly back in second grade. But Hermione chose to leave her clothes damp, putting herself through the discomfort.

She didn't know why she did it; perhaps the pain made it feel real.

The closer Hermione got to the castle, the clearer her consciousness became. Unlike when she first saw the dragon and was walking through the forest, when it felt as if a balloon had enveloped her, and everything around her was hazy, dreamlike, and unreal.

As Hermione stepped onto the moving staircase from the side of the foyer, she inexplicably thought of Hagrid. After getting up close to an adult dragon, Hermione found it even more incredible that Hagrid could raise such a coveted creature. However, she had to admit that she was especially grateful to Hagrid for taking the risk to show her.

If she hadn't found out on the day of the first project that she was going to deal with a fifty-foot-tall fire dragon covered in scales and spikes, she might have fainted on the spot.

"nonsense!"

Hermione's voice was strained and she was panting as she told the Fat Lady that the Fat Lady was snoring inside the portrait frame at the entrance to the portrait hole.

Since you put it that way—

The fat lady mumbled half-asleep, without even opening her eyes, and opened the portrait to let him through. Hermione climbed in, looked around, and then—

"Here--"

Harry jumped up from the sofa in front of the fireplace and waved at her.

The saying "pain makes you real" is so true. When Hermione got closer to the fireplace with its small fire, she realized she was freezing. She touched her face and felt that she could hardly control her expression anymore. Moreover, her long eyelashes were covered with frost.

Harry quickly grabbed a bundle of pine wood from the side and stuffed it all into the fireplace, which severely damaged the small flame inside. So Harry took out his wand and created a fire. Once the fireplace was burning brightly, Harry turned around and Hermione had already dried herself off with her wand.

"Tell me, Hermione, what did you see?!"

Harry asked nervously, "Hagrid took the opportunity yesterday to tell them that he would take them to see the world tonight and asked them to bring their invisibility cloaks. But considering that it would be more convenient for one person to move around while wearing an invisibility cloak, Harry voluntarily gave up the opportunity."

Judging from Hermione's expression, he could roughly guess that the first project they would be dealing with wouldn't be something like Hagrid's Blasttail, which was only good for disgusting people. He asked eagerly.

So Hermione recounted everything she had seen that evening. She told Harry that Hagrid had not only taken her along, but he had also given Mrs. Maxime a ride. Together they had crossed the Forbidden Forest to a place far from the castle, where she had met Professor Blaine and Charlie, and—

"Fire Dragon."

Hermione shivered slightly. Even though the fireplace was releasing wave after wave of warmth, her fingertips remained pale and trembling.

"There are four in total: a Welsh Green Dragon, a Swiss Short-nosed Dragon, a Chinese Fireball, and a Hungarian Wood Beetle," I heard Charlie say when Hagrid asked.

Harry was stunned, and a suffocating silence suddenly descended.

Ever since Krum reminded them in the library that they could find inspiration from the competitions of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry and Hermione have been poring over a lot of materials in the library. In private, they have also had many discussions about what kind of dangerous magical creatures and dark creatures might appear.

Hermione, in particular, had interrupted all her accelerated studies during this period, focusing all her energy on researching. She could clearly remember mentioning dragons in at least three books; after all, these creatures weren't particularly mysterious, and dragon-skin protective gloves were nothing unusual among young wizards.

But

Harry and Hermione stared at each other on the sofa by the fireplace, the atmosphere heavy with tension.

“They…” Harry’s throat tightened, and his head was buzzing, so it wasn’t hard for him to guess what Hermione was feeling. “What do they plan to have the warriors do? Fight the dragon, and then either tear the dragon to pieces or be torn to pieces by the dragon?”

Harry wanted to tell Hermione a joke to relax her, but his joke was undoubtedly terrible because Hermione was one of the people who were about to be torn to pieces.

"Hagrid asked Charlie the same question—"

Perhaps she caught a cold from the cold, but Hermione is now experiencing a severe headache, making her mind less sharp than usual.

"Charlie doesn't know either. The Ministry of Magic might not announce it until the competition begins, but Charlie said that all the dragons sent are brooding mothers incubating their eggs—"

Harry pursed his lips tightly, his face flushed red, looking as if he were suffocating.

Do I need to guess?

Stealing these dragon eggs from the mother dragon is the most likely thing the warriors will do!

Harry had never seen what a dragon incubating its eggs looked like. Dragons were despair-inducing enough, but when Harry was at the Dursleys' house, he had seen what it was like when Dudley's good friend Peel's dog gave birth. Dudley ignored the warnings and insisted on provoking it, and then he was bitten hard by that usually obedient dog, and Dudley had to get several injections as a result.

Things have come to this point, there's no turning back, they have no choice but to face it.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, several days have passed. During these days, Hermione and Harry have been working tirelessly to find a way to deal with the dragon. Every night, they would stay in the library until the lights went out, and then return to the common room with a stack of books borrowed from the library to continue searching for a way to save Hermione's life from the dragon's torment.

Wednesday night

"The treatment of using magic to trim the festering scales of claws. It's useless; that's for weirdos like Hagrid who want a strong, powerful dragon—"

Harry tossed aside the book "The Man Who Loves Dragons," rubbed his eyes hard with his fingers, and then grabbed another book from the sofa, "One Hundred Spells for Dealing with Crises."

"I've already read that one, it's useless, Harry—"

Hermione flipped through the pages of her book, making a rustling sound. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the book Harry was picking up, muttered something, and then began to mutter anxiously.

"Oh, right, and the Conversion Charm. But what's the point of conversion? Unless you can turn its fangs into something like gummies to make it less dangerous. The problem is, like that book says, not much can penetrate a dragon's skin. Or you could shapeshift it? But you definitely wouldn't succeed at shapeshifting such a behemoth. I doubt even Professor McGonagall could. Of course, if you had Professor Blaine or Professor Dumbledore's magic... don't even dream about it, you couldn't do it, Hermione!"

Tonight was more tiring than the previous few nights, not only because of accumulated fatigue, but also because Professor Blaine disciplined them as usual during gym class. Moreover, perhaps because of their recent progress, Professor Blaine's methods became increasingly ruthless; he showed absolutely no mercy. Tonight, Harry was pierced through the shoulder blade by a stone spear conjured by Professor Blaine. Perhaps because he had a higher pain tolerance, he didn't faint from the pain, but Professor Blaine immediately followed up with a Stunning Spell.

I wonder if Professor Blaine's spear can pierce through the dragon's skin.

Harry sat on the floor, looking up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a nonsensical thought popping into his head, and then—

"what!"

Harry sprang to his feet with a somersault, panting heavily, his emerald eyes gleaming with excitement as he stared intently at Hermione, who was stunned by his bizarre behavior.

“Remember, Hermione, Professor Blaine told me that!”

Harry said, barely suppressing his excitement.

"what?"

Hermione was still completely confused.