The Return to Hogwarts

Even if it's easy to deal with, it's still a fire dragon!

Why was Charlie the only one who led the fire dragon up on a chain?

Chapter 629 Dogish

2023-12-03

Charlie's wand tip was attached to an iron chain, and he alone slowly pulled the Chinese fireball into the newly renovated arena. He struggled to climb the slope, but suddenly lost his footing and slid down the steep ridge. The Weasley children were instantly terrified by this unexpected turn of events, and even Mr. Weasley, far away in Diagon Alley, fell from his comfortable chair.

Falling down is nothing to be afraid of, but Charlie was being followed by that Chinese fireball dragon!

Could it be that the first person to perish at the hands of the fire dragon today is about to appear? Just as everyone was feeling sorrow for the impending tragedy, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded—the Chinese fireball cleverly lowered its head. People thought it was going to swallow Charlie whole, but the fireball didn't open its mouth. Instead, it used its lion-like nose to press against the soles of Charlie's feet, successfully 'braking' him.

"Thanks--"

Charlie blurted out instinctively, but then he realized he was being watched by many people, so he quickly shut his mouth, picked up his wand from the ground, and continued climbing the hill with his head down.

"This fire dragon looks—"

Looking at the dragon that followed leisurely behind the dragon trainer, completely unlike the other three dragons which were restless and ferocious, Neville looked bewildered.

"They seem quite docile--"

"Charlie has been studying fire dragons in Romania since graduation. Perhaps he's quite familiar with this Chinese fireball; perhaps they're already friends—"

Ginny hesitated before offering a relatively reasonable guess.

Charlie led the Chinese fireball swiftly to the foot of the artificial hill. He used magic to nail the chains into the ground, then placed several bright red eggs in a nest of hay. Finally, after dropping the golden eggs that the warriors needed to seize, he turned and walked away, feeling as if he were about to be caught in a trap.

"Be careful not to crush those real eggs--"

As Charlie passed by the Chinese dragon, he lowered his voice and spoke quickly.

Now, the Chinese fire dragon completely dominated the big screen, and the chatter of people suddenly intensified. Listening to the buzzing from all directions, the Chinese fireball seemed a little lost. It circled around its tail, but accidentally tripped over the iron chain, and the whole thing—no, the whole dragon—stumbled a few steps, and with a bang, its head crashed into the artificial mountain.

Phew——

It was a rare sight to see a dragon with such a silly appearance, and many people couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Please, be more professional--"

The somewhat dizzy fire dragon was struggling to get up and shaking his head when he suddenly heard an dissatisfied voice.

What a joke!

Sirius suddenly felt an urge to curse. He wasn't a real fire dragon, and to suddenly transform into such a massive body, being able to stand and walk was already quite an achievement. Just now in the underground lair, Amostella suggested transforming him into Animagus form and then turning him from dog form into a fire dragon—even Sirius, who was always carefree, found Amostella's suggestion absurd.

However, Amosta managed to persuade him. After all, he was the only one among everyone in the burrow who had experience as an animal, and participating in the Triwizard Tournament in this way did sound quite interesting.

Ouch!

Regardless, now that he was on the field, Sirius was still worried that someone might notice something amiss. He carefully moved his awkward front and back paws around the dragon's nest and back away from the rock wall to avoid stepping on the dragon eggs inside. Then, standing by the nest, he imitated the Swedish Short-nosed Dragon and the Welsh Green Dragon and let out a howl into the air!

Not scary at all--

Moreover, why does this Chinese fireball's roar sound so dog-like?

Cough!

Seeing the puzzled looks from the referees, Amosta coughed heavily, then said expressionlessly,

"The dragon trainers told me that this dragon was having some trouble adjusting to Hogwarts; it wasn't quite adapting to the new environment, the food wasn't to its liking, and it was a bit afraid of people."

Dumbledore's lips twitched several times beneath his silvery beard; the composure cultivated over a hundred years of life almost failed him.

Mrs. Maxim's puzzled look turned to relief, while Karkaroff looked indignant. He didn't suspect there was anything wrong with it, but he was angry about the Hogwarts girl's good luck. First, she inexplicably won the title of champion, and then she drew the dragon that seemed the easiest to deal with.

However, after hearing Amosta's explanation, Ludo Bagman's nostrils flared with excitement. He turned to look at the arena and shouted in an uproarious tone,

"Ladies and gentlemen, the last dragon has arrived and is ready to meet us. Now, I, like you, am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Miss Hermione Granger. Oh, and please allow me a moment to introduce Miss Hermione Granger to you!"

Ludo pressed his wand against his throat.

"Miss Granger is the only young wizard in this Triwizard Tournament who has not yet reached adulthood. The reason she was specially selected is because she is an exceptionally talented young wizard. She attends Hogwarts Gryffindor House and is currently in her fourth year. Every professor who has taught her has been remarkably consistent in their evaluation of her, believing that Miss Hermione Granger is one of the most outstanding wizards in recent years!"

"how?"

The young wizards stared at Ludo Bagman in astonishment, while Fred exclaimed in surprise,

"Hermione secretly gave Ludo Bagman gold, did she? Why would he go to all the trouble of introducing Hermione?"

"I bet he's invested a fortune in Hermione—"

George said, frowning.

"That's incredibly stupid. He doesn't need to promote Hermione, right? Only upsets can make big money. If it were me, I'd do it secretly—"

"We all know Ludo has never been very bright—"

Fred added something, and was about to say something else when Angelina suddenly exclaimed,

"Look, she's here! Hermione's over there!"

As a result, the Gryffindor students who were familiar with Hermione stopped discussing Ludo's abnormal judgment and craned their necks to look towards the entrance passage.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Everything before her eyes was like a vividly colored dream. Hermione saw hundreds of blurry faces staring at her from the stands, their gazes carrying a tangible pressure, as if trying to crush her into the ground.

A strong smell of sulfur filled the air. Hermione, who had been silently chanting the word 'Summoning Charm', was momentarily stunned by the smell. Then, her brain automatically made a reasonable deduction: the smell was caused by the flames breathed by a dragon.

Hermione's slender body swayed slightly as her sharp mind automatically conjured up the devastating scene of the dragons unleashing their breath. The images her mind conjured made her feel suffocated, the world spinning before her eyes, and even standing became extremely difficult.

Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

All the mental preparation she had put into this moment seemed to have failed. Hermione thought in a daze, "Oh, summoning charm. That's the only word she seems to remember. But what does a summoning charm do?"

Every second that passed felt like a year. Hermione suddenly had an urge to turn around and run away. She wanted to leave this suffocating and painful place. However, just as she was about to act on this impulse, Hermione found that her feet were stuck to the ground. This was not the effect of magic, but rather another kind of obsession that was imprisoning her thoughts of escaping!

Many people worked hard to keep her alive, didn't they? How could she let them be disgraced?

She had always wanted to prove that even those of Muggle blood could become the best wizards, just like Professor Blaine, and now she finally had such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Gradually, a glimmer of light returned to Hermione's dazed eyes.

"Distract yourself, Hermione, you can do it, it's very easy for you!"

The chaotic colors before her eyes finally began to form a pattern, and she saw the fire dragon waiting for her at the foot of the artificial hill.

Hermione took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. The next second, witnessed by countless eyes, Hermione, pale but resolute, raised her wand towards the sky!

Chapter 630 A Failed Attempt

2023-12-03

The girl on the big screen was still pale, but her brown eyes shone with a resolute light. One could guess that this youngest warrior had gone through a complex mental struggle in the short time that had just passed. Without a doubt, she, like the three warriors who had taken the stage before her, had overcome her fear of the fire dragon.

"The invisibility cloak is flying in!"

The clear shout that rang out on the field seemed to carry a resolute will, piercing through the thin clouds and lingering under the azure sky.

"It's a summoning spell, oh, I just taught them that—"

Professor Flitwick stood on the table and said to his colleagues with delight that although no one from Ravenclaw had been selected for the tournament, the warriors' use of the wands he had taught them to fight against the dragons filled him with pride and honor.

"Invisibility Cloak, oh, I see, what a brilliant idea!" Ludo exclaimed excitedly to the European magical community. "Just as I emphasized, Miss Hermione Granger is incredibly wise; she has found a unique path!"

"But she fouled!"

Karkaroff stood up, glaring angrily at Dumbledore and Amostella.

"Apart from their wands, warriors are not allowed to bring any other magical items into the arena. This is a clear rule, and I think we all agree that this little girl should be judged a failure and disqualified from the next round."

"If you didn't forget to keep your eyes and mind on that ship when you came to watch the game today, Professor Karkaroff—"

Amosta leaned back in his chair, his hands tucked under the table, and calmly addressed Karkarov's questioning.

"Then you should have noticed that Miss Granger only brought her wand to the arena. In my opinion, she was just lucky to encounter the Chinese fireball that was not used to the environment, and she also happened to have an invisibility cloak that she could use. But in the end, it was Granger's mind that was quick enough to come up with a solution in such a short time."

"That's utter nonsense. It's obvious that this little girl already found out about today's competition events. This is a plan she prepared in advance," Karkarov thought indignantly.

However, he could never say those words aloud, unless he wanted to offend everyone.

During the brief exchange between the judges, Hermione maintained her gaze upwards and did not attempt the summoning spell a second time, as if she knew her summoning spell would succeed.

"The Invisibility Cloak is Harry's?" George looked astonished. "That's brilliant! Oh, I'm starting to admit Hermione's brain works better than ours, bro!"

"No—" Ron's sudden words puzzled those around him.

“What do you mean, ‘not’?” Ginny turned to Ron, frowning. “Explain yourself, Ron!”

Ron raised a finger to the sky, and a greyish-white object had just crossed the barrier and appeared in the sky above the arena. Ron looked quite surprised as well, his gaze following the greyish-white cloak that swiftly disappeared into Hermione's hand.

"That's not Harry's Invisibility Cloak. I've never seen that Invisibility Cloak!"

When Hermione shouted, "The Invisibility Cloak, come here!" Dumbledore, standing in the center of the judges' table, immediately frowned slightly. His frown only relaxed after he saw the Invisibility Cloak in Hermione's hand on the big screen.

"A traveling cloak woven from the feathers of an invisible beast... oh, the craftsmanship doesn't look very good. Hopefully, it'll work—"

Ludo said with concern.

Hermione held the Invisibility Cloak that had flown in, and her heart finally settled. This Invisibility Cloak had been hastily made after discussing it with Professor Moody; Hagrid had even made a special trip to the Forbidden Forest for it. It didn't actually need to go to such lengths, as Harry already had one. Hermione had been using it with Harry and Ron since their first year, and it was very reliable. But strangely, Harry's Invisibility Cloak wouldn't respond to summoning spells; no matter how she tried, she couldn't summon it to her side using magic.

Hermione consulted some materials and finally understood that some high-end invisibility cloaks are made with protective magic, and a long-lasting anti-interference spell is enough to render a summoning spell ineffective.