Hogwarts' Golden Glory

He held up the golden egg in his hand and waved it towards the referee's table.

There was a three-second silence in the audience.

Then the Slytherin area exploded. Pansy's scream echoed throughout the entire area.

Draco jumped up from his seat, pounding on the railing until his voice was hoarse.

The people in the Gryffindor area were also shouting, Seamus jumped onto a chair, and Dean threw a Gryffindor scarf into the air.

The Hufflepuffs clapped. The Ravenclaws whistled.

The people of Beauxbatons stood up, and Mrs. Maxim was the first to stand up and applaud.

The Durmstrangers were silent for a moment, then began to applaud, with an expression that said, "We have to admit it."

Bagman jumped up from the judges' table, the microphone nearly flying from his hand: "Kane Malfoy—has successfully retrieved the golden egg! Time—one minute and forty-seven seconds! Now, judges—please—please wait a moment—let me catch my breath—"

He took a deep breath and then roared, "Now, judges, please score!"

Mrs. Maxim immediately raised her sign without hesitation: "Ten out of ten!"

Bagman also held up a sign: "Ten out of ten!"

Karkaroff looked down at the score sheet, his fingers gripping the quill pen, and tapped the paper three times with the tip.

Then he looked up and held up the sign: "Ten points."

The entire room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone knows that Karkaroff gave the Hogwarts students a perfect score of 10. This was even more shocking than Kane winning the game.

Finally, there's Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stood up, his blue eyes fixed on Kane in the center of the field.

Then he held up the sign. 10/10.

Kane scored a total of 40 points.

Full marks.

First place in the first project.

The wind began to blow again. The grass began to sway again. The canvas of the dragon trainer's tent in the distance began to flutter again.

The Hungarian wood bee continued to retreat, all the way to the edge of the dragon's nest, not daring to look up at the audience.

Kane stood in the center of the field, holding the golden egg in his hand, while Igor landed back on his shoulder.

Sunlight filtered through the clouds and fell on his shoulders, as if gilding him with a layer of gold.

He glanced at the referee's table, then at the stands. He didn't laugh, he didn't wave.

This dragon, this battle, and this thirteen-year-old child will become a story that Hogwarts will remember for a very long time.

Kane entered the tent. The curtain fell behind him. The Hungarian wood bees were still retreating.

The tent flap fell behind Kane.

The noise outside seemed to be blocked by an invisible membrane, turning into a muffled hum. Inside the emergency tent, it was quiet, with only the soft rustling of Mrs. Pomfrey arranging medicine bottles.

Hibiscus sat in the innermost folding chair, her arm wrapped in a brand-new bandage, her long, silvery-white hair cascading over her shoulders.

She saw Kane come in, her lips curved slightly, but she didn't say anything.

Cedric sat in the chair next to him, his left shoulder wrapped up tightly, the golden egg resting on the ground at his feet. He saw the golden egg in Kane's hand, then looked at the "I didn't do anything" expression on Kane's face, and chuckled.

Do you know what you just did?

Kane glanced at him. "He took the golden egg."

Cedric's smile widened. "You trapped it in front of everyone with a massive magic circle, and then extinguished the dragonfire with some kind of thing I don't know. You call that 'taking the golden egg'?"

Kane placed the golden egg on the table beside him. "What else should we call it?"

Cedric opened his mouth, then shook his head and laughed. "Fine. You decide."

Fleur stood up from her chair and walked over to Kane.

Then they hugged each other tightly.

Outside the tent, the noise from the audience continued.

The Slytherin district has gone completely mad.

Draco stood on his seat, his silver-green scarf held high above his head, waving it vigorously.

Pansy grabbed his arm and screamed so loudly it could shatter glass.

Crabbe and Gore were clapping, their hands turning red from the clapping.

Bress leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, watching the Hungarian hornet still retreating in the center of the field. He smiled and slowly shook his head.

"Thirteen years old," he said softly. "He's thirteen."

Someone nearby chimed in, "He defeated the basilisk when he was in second grade."

"He just took down a dragon."

Blaise turned to look at the speaker—a Ravenclaw girl who rarely spoke in public, but now her eyes were shining.

"He alone, with a large magic circle and other methods we don't know about. I don't know what to call him now, but he's definitely more than just 'the eldest son of the Malfoy family'."

Someone nearby overheard this.

"What should we call it then?"

"I have no idea."

The girl said, "But no one in the entire Hogwarts could have done what he just did."

There was a moment of silence. Then someone spoke up: "Then let's call him King."

The speaker was a Hufflepuff student, usually unremarkable, but now, standing in his seat, his voice carried clearly across the surrounding rows. "The King of Hogwarts. He deserves it."

Several people around him turned to look at him.

He didn't back down. "Look at that dragon, it's still backing away. It's terrified. A dragon, terrified by a third-grade student. Has anyone ever seen anything like that?"

No one answered.

He repeated it again: "The King of Hogwarts."

The word was like a pebble thrown into a lake. Ripples spread outwards.

The whispers started in the Slytherin area, then in the Ravenclaws, then in the Hufflepuffs, and finally in the Gryffindors. The murmurs carried like the wind across the entire audience, over every student, and into every mouth.

"The King of Hogwarts..." "Did you hear what they were saying?"

"Kane Malfoy - King of Hogwarts"

In the Gryffindor area, Seymour sat in his seat, his mouth agape as he watched the Hungarian hornet retreating in the center of the arena.

Dean shook his head beside him. "I'm impressed. I'm really impressed. When he dealt with the basilisk in his second year, I thought it was luck, but was that luck just now? That was all skill."

Ron sat on the edge of the bench, his hands clasped on his knees. He didn't clap, he didn't cheer, he didn't speak.

But he noticed Hermione's reaction.

Hermione sat in the seat in front of Ron, her shoulders trembling slightly as if she had taken a deep breath.

Ginny glanced at her. "Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione did not answer.

She just kept looking in that direction, as if trying to etch that figure into her mind.

Harry was not sitting in the audience.

He stood in the shadows outside the emergency tent, leaning against the tent frame.

Kane won. He saw the whole thing.

He looked down at the golden egg in his hand, then looked up at the canvas inside the tent, illuminated by the light. He felt that his "egg retrieval" had been incredibly easy; he hadn't done anything at all.

And Kane did everything.