The Return to Hogwarts

“A dragon!” Harry grinned. “Professor Blaine taught us how to deal with dragons, during gym class. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but you definitely do, right?”

Suddenly, Hermione's bewildered and defeated eyes lit up.

Dealing with the fire dragon

The boy hiding behind the wall on the spiral staircase over there heard the word, and his gloomy face, which had been hidden in the shadows, finally showed fear.

You already know everything from Chapter 610?

2023-11-22

"Supportive spells cannot be used for direct attacks, but they can create obstacles for the opponent and help oneself escape predicaments in a duel, having a surprise effect. For example, if you are facing a ferocious fire dragon, you obviously cannot defeat it, but you can use the Anti-Flying Charm to prevent the fire dragon from flying, use the Extinguishing Charm to silence the fire dragon, and then blind it, making things much easier for you."

Hermione, just like Harry, jumped up excitedly. Her body trembled slightly with excitement. Just as Harry had expected, Hermione had memorized everything Professor Blaine had said in class, reciting it word for word!

"This is Professor Blaine's reminder to all the warriors. He said long ago that the warriors are very likely to emerge from among the students in physical education class!"

Harry hadn't been this excited in a long time since Hermione was chosen as a champion.

"Anti-flying charm, fire-extinguishing charm to blind the dragon... what do we do, Hermione!"

"There's a spell called the Eye Disease Spell!"

Hermione's cheeks were flushed red in the firelight, and her eyes glistened with tears, like a prisoner sentenced to death who had found redemption before death.

“I know all those spells!” Hermes’ eyes welled up with tears. “Professor Blaine is such a good person!”

"I thought he would choose to stand by and do nothing, but I didn't expect that!"

Harry smiled happily.

"So, all you have to do is review before the competition to make sure you don't forget any spells, right?"

Hermione vaguely sensed that some problems still existed, but at this moment, like a drowning person finally grabbing a straw, she clung to it tightly and refused to let go, unwilling to delve into the issues.

After the initial excitement, exhaustion followed.

These days, they have been under immense pressure, yet they have been unable to rest, constantly searching for a way to ensure Hermione's escape from the dragon's fangs. Now, they finally see a glimmer of hope, and they are so tired they can barely keep their eyes open.

A last shred of reason compelled the two to gather the scattered books into their bags instead of kicking them into the fireplace to burn. Then, they staggered back to their dormitories to rest.

Then Harry went upstairs, stood in front of his dormitory door but didn't go in.

The dormitory was already dark, and Harry could hear Neville snoring from outside the door. Neville had been very unhappy in his team during physical education class these days. He seemed to have completely lost the agility he had when practicing Dobby the Dung, and had become as clumsy as in other classes.

The problem isn't hard to guess: Neville's talent in spells is rather lacking, which has affected his original advantage. But that's not what Harry is thinking about.

The dormitory door was open, and the wind from the corridor was howling into the dormitory, continuously sending in a chill.

Did he forget to close the door, or... did someone else just leave the four-poster bed like him?

Filled with doubt, Harry quietly went inside.

Everyone was in their own beds, including the person in the dorm who no longer spoke to him. Harry sighed, not knowing why he felt disappointed.

With mixed feelings, Harry went to bed without washing up.

If Ron knew all about the competition, knew that Hermione and the other three warriors were competing to see who could survive the dragon's jaws the longest, what would he say? Was he still thinking about making a name for himself?

The next day was Thursday, and the morning was herbalism class with Hufflepuff.

After half a month, Hufflepuff's students seemed to finally realize that Hermione's participation in the dueling competition as a champion in place of Hogwarts was a foregone conclusion. This change in perception made them less inclined to make a scene in class. Among them, those who participated in Professor Blaine's dueling lessons, such as Hannah, Finley, and Macmillan, unexpectedly found some sense of honor in Hermione.

Hermione felt a weight lifted from her mind as she realized this change, but she couldn't understand why, when she squeezed the pus from the new batch of Babo tubers that Professor Sprout had grown, she could always feel Ron watching her from several people away.

After that conflict, Harry and Hermione followed Hagrid's advice and decided to calm down for the time being and avoid touching on their sensitive relationship. Ron, on the other hand, maintained a high degree of tacit understanding with them and generally wouldn't make eye contact with them. Could it be that...?

Hermione stopped what she was doing, looked at Ron with a hint of expectation in her eyes, hoping that Ron would take the initiative to say something to Harry or her.

However, Ron seemed to notice Hermione watching him, and he didn't look up again, focusing on dealing with the rather large tuber with Seamus.

"hiss--"

Hermione felt a pang of disappointment and didn't notice a drop of highly concentrated yellowish-green pus sliding down her protective glove into her wrist. The corrosive nature of the pus immediately turned Hermione pale.

"Did you hurt yourself, darling?"

Professor Sprout remained highly vigilant and immediately ran over to check on the situation, while Harry nervously turned his head towards her.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I just—" Hermione gasped, "I was careless—"

Having dealt with the Baphomet tuber for so long, dozens of students have experienced the devastating effects of its pus, yet Professor Sprout still showed her unusual concern. Hermione guessed that this might be because Professor Sprout was well aware of Hufflepuff's unfriendly attitude when she first became a champion, including her own somewhat cold attitude in the first few days. She might feel a little apologetic, which is why she offered to personally treat her injury.

After the class ended, the students left one by one. In the greenhouse, only Harry was waiting for Professor Sprout to treat the burn marks on Hermione's wrist with a potion.

However, at that moment, Ron, who had already left, suddenly returned to the greenhouse.

"cough--"

Perhaps because Harry and Hermione's surprised looks were too obvious, Ron seemed a little embarrassed, but no matter what, he still walked over despite the pressure. When he got close, he quickly glanced at Hermione's wrist and his lips moved.

"what?"

Harry didn't hear what Ron said clearly, and he asked in surprise.

“Krum—”

Ron took a deep breath, turned to the side, and pointed to the door.

“Krum is outside. He wants to see you—” Ron gestured to Hermione, his expression slightly uneasy. “I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn’t say. He said he just wants to talk to you alone—”

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, both understanding that they were not the only ones surprised by Krum.

"Then, that's settled--"

Although equally confused and uneasy about Krum approaching Hermione, it seemed that Ron had exhausted all his courage after saying those words. He slowly backed away, then quickly turned around at a certain distance and ran out of the greenhouse.

"It's done--"

Professor Sprout spoke up at the opportune moment, tossing the cotton swab she had used to treat Hermione's wound into the trash can, without any indication that she wanted to inquire about the start of the match or that Durmstrang's Champions wanted to see one of Hogwarts' Champions for something important to discuss.

When Harry and Hermione stepped out of the shed, they immediately saw Krum standing there alone, while some Durmstrang students were waiting for him further away. They were supposed to be having Hagrid's class with Ravenclaw today.

"Be careful, Hermione—"

After encountering Snape and Karkaroff during their spy encounter, Harry regained his wariness of Krum, and he said in a low voice,

"Perhaps Karkaroff didn't get any useful information from Snape, so he sent Krum to you to test the waters."

This speculation isn't impossible, but regardless, Hermione has to go and see what's going on.

Harry thought they would talk for a long time, but just two minutes later, Krum ran off to find his classmate, while Hermione returned with a strange look on her face.

"What happened?" Harry immediately went up to him and asked nervously, "Did he want to ask you about the competition events? You didn't tell him, did you?"

Hermione's face was full of confusion. She met Harry's gaze and remained silent for a full half minute before speaking.

"Quite the opposite, Harry—"

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Durmstrang and his group who were heading towards the Great Hall.

"He came to remind me that our first task is to deal with a fire dragon. But how did he know that? That night, only Hagrid and Principal Beauxbatons were with him."

"But why would he remind you?"

After a moment of silence, Harry, whose mouth had been agape for a long time, pointed out another intriguing question!

Chapter 611 I've found you a new job

2023-11-23

In the end, neither Harry nor Hermione understood why Krum had revealed the first event of the Triwizard Tournament to Hermione. This was no ordinary secret; whoever possessed this information would gain an advantage in the competition and even win the championship.

Even Hermione herself never thought of telling the other three warriors about the battle against the dragon.

That said, did Krum tell everyone, or only Hermione? How did he find out this top-secret information?

When Hagrid went to the Forbidden Forest that night, he only took her and Mrs. Maxime with him. Professor Karkaroff didn't discuss the matter with Harry and Hermione for a long time. The only possibility that could be thought of was that Snape, through his relationship with Professor Blaine, helped Karkaroff find out about it.

This speculation directly led to Harry's feelings towards Snape plummeting to a new level. During Potions class on Friday morning, Harry stared at Snape with hatred, and Snape undoubtedly sensed Harry's disgust.

In just one hour, Gryffindor's score hourglass suffered a major disaster. Snape tried every means to deduct points from Harry's score, and Gryffindor lost nearly forty points in just one class period.

"I'm going to find Professor Moody!"

When the class ended, Harry kicked over his chair and ran out of the professor's room before Snape could deduct points from his grade again. When he met Hermione in the hallway, he angrily said…

"Tell him that Durmstrang's warriors have been spying on the competition, so he'll have clear evidence to expel Snape from the school!"

"No, please, Harry!"

Hermione said nervously,

"If Snape is expelled from Hogwarts for this, then Hagrid will also be punished!"

Harry caught his breath, then hurried upstairs with his head down.

The last period of the morning was Professor Blaine's physical education class, which originally belonged to Snape but was taken by Professor Blaine from him. Because it was a class that had been arranged by time coordination, the students were not all present; by the time Harry and the others arrived at the classroom, only about half of the students were there.

Now that the young wizards are experienced with the course, before the formal class begins, they throw all their backpacks, robes and such into the corner, and then warm up their stiff bodies in the spacious classroom so that they can be more agile when dodging later. Harry and Hermione quickly joined the team.

While he was at it, Amosta was still busy writing back to those who had applied to watch the game; he had to finalize the spectator list by today.

People may only expect the warriors to perform bravely in the competition, but for someone like Amosta who is preparing for the competition, it is not so simple. It is like a grand banquet, a rare platform for exchange and communication in the European magical community.