A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

A gasp rippled through the stands; he was about to fall to the ground—

But at the last moment, he quickly transformed in mid-air, flapping his wings and pulling himself up by the edge, drawing an arc in mid-air as he turned his head to observe the results of the battle.

The effect was minimal!

The eggshell howled in pain, flames spewing out wildly. Cedric's group kept their distance and happily left with the dragon egg.

On the other side of Vagado, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with the speed of the Firebolt, the blinding effect of the Illumination spell, and the Golden Firebird's selfless sacrifice, annoyed the Hungarian Horned Bee to no end. It took a few steps forward, one foot leaving the dragon's lair.

Harry seized the opportunity and Apparated—they were already inside the Forbidden Forest, unaffected by the school—his figure suddenly appeared at the Hungarian Horned Bee's feet, grabbed the dragon egg, and was about to fly away with his broomstick.

But a spiked tail swept over. Harry gritted his teeth, gripping the Firebolt in one hand and the dragon egg in the other, and used Apparition for the second time. When he reappeared, he was already standing next to Ron and Hermione.

Ron was struggling to control the beam of light in his hand, shining it into the eyes of the Hungarian Hornet. Hermione's face was covered in sweat, and she could barely open her eyes. "We have to get out of here!" Harry shouted. He noticed a cut on his shoulder, and he couldn't remember if it was from the stinger on the Hungarian Hornet's tail or from Apparition. He just kept urging him on.

The three retreated, but a blue flame flew from the side. Ron lunged forward, and they fell into a deep pit. Looking at the blue flame that swept overhead with lingering fear, Ron said, "Just a little bit more."

After waiting quietly for a while, Harry tried to look up. "No!" Ron stopped him. "The dragon up there is crazy. Let's go underground!" So they began to cast the Digging Charm on the ground and dug a hole. The three of them were quite fast and soon dug a tunnel.

"That's about right," Ron estimated.

They raised their wands, and a large hole opened in the ground. Looking up, they saw Dumbledore's smiling face peeking out from the judges' table.

Harry crawled out somewhat sheepishly, covered in dust and feeling a little ashamed. They might have been the first warriors to dig a tunnel.

“You’ve done very well,” Dumbledore said. “You’re the second successful one.”

"But Vargadu..."

“Ah, they’ve run into a little trouble,” said Dumbledore.

On the field, the warriors of Waggadu did indeed encounter trouble. The transformed African elephant was firmly gripped by the protein eye, and what was even more terrifying was that it had broken free of its head and was now pointing it at its prey.

The scorching flames, like lava, clung to the magic surrounding the warrior, emitting a chilling hissing sound. The other two warriors were completely helpless. They waved their hands frantically and chanted spells, but the fire dragon shook its head, and the spells hit its circular scales like mosquito bites, having no effect whatsoever.

The Australian pufferfish opened its mouth, flames poised to erupt. This time, the flames within were even more vibrant in color, and they seemed to hear the sound of flowing lava—

"Swoosh!" A blazing red light descended from the sky and struck it squarely on the head.

"It was the safety officer who intervened. He judged that the warriors of Vagado were in danger of death, and he stopped the dragon. This may affect their score. Vagado is the second team to get the dragon egg, second only to Hogwarts! But this mistake may affect their ranking!" Bagman announced loudly.

The others on the field quickly approached. The red light dissipated, and the Australian with the white eye had already fainted. Along with the elephant, it was slowly reverting to human form. Much of its skin was burned, making it look quite terrifying.

“Be very careful. Besides fire, the power of a fire dragon is also astonishing, and few magical creatures can compare to it,” Bagman said belatedly.

"That sounds nice," Ron snorted discontentedly from near the stands.

Three teams remained on the field: Beauxbatons, Ifamoni, and Durmstrang. A few minutes later, the situation became clear—

Of the three warriors from Beauxbatons, Fleur was clearly the main force. Their strategy was to rely on her magic to hypnotize the green dragon, then one would protect it while the other secretly retrieved the dragon egg. The problem was that these three teams were close together, and the other two were both affected by Iphamoni in the middle.

Durmstrang was in slightly better shape; Krum seized the opportunity and struck the dragon's eyes twice in succession, driving it completely berserk. Their problem was how to retrieve the crushed dragon egg fragments from under the enraged dragon's feet.

They weren't sure whether to continue, but their mission was to retrieve the dragon egg and escape the dragon safely. Now that the egg was broken, they figured they should at least get one or two larger pieces.

But in addition to dodging the raging fire dragon, they also had to be wary of the ever-expanding black flame whirlwind—Iphamoni's warriors seemed to be losing control of the magic, but they were still holding on.

“Byles, don’t stop me!” Victor Grevis shouted with difficulty. “If you can’t get the dragon egg, then stop someone else from getting it.”

Byers blushed and remained silent, silently vying with Grevis for control of the magic.

Iphamoni's biggest problem was that they lacked a way to get close to the fire dragon, and their magical power was insufficient to completely defeat the black dragon of the Hebdiri Islands. The black dragon seemed to have realized this as well, merely breathing fire from afar, its bright purple eyes gleaming as it watched them.

It occasionally flaunts a row of shallow but razor-sharp ridges on its back, which, of course, signify a threat in nature.

The whirlwind, now mixed with the black dragon's flames, became even more difficult to control, leaving them in a predicament.

He had originally intended to intimidate his opponent with the power of strong magic, but to his surprise, the opponent wasn't buying it. Grevis was forced to come up with a crooked idea: to disrupt the other teams.

He couldn't reach the three teams directly opposite him, and could only deal with the two closest to him, so Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were out of luck.

Karkaroff and Mrs. Maxim jumped up and down in a panic, staring wide-eyed at Principal Ivamoni, whose face was stern and remained so for a full ten minutes, until Ivamoni's team completely lost control of their magic and a rain of black flames fell from the sky.

Dragon trainers and Ministry of Magic staff rushed to protect her, but Durmstrang and Beauxbatons' warriors refused. Fleur managed to extinguish the flames on her body and seized the opportunity to cast her hypnotic spell again.

Meanwhile, Durmstrang's Krum finally managed to snatch two fragments of the dragon egg amidst the chaos and stumbled out.

Only Beauxbatons' warriors remained on the scene.

The other fire dragons that had lost their eggs roared, making the arena even noisier. After several attempts, the green dragon in front of Hibiscus's eyes drooped, but it was not completely asleep. If it were any other time, she would definitely continue to try.

But now only their group remained on the field, and as the captain, she was extremely anxious. She winked at her other two teammates, but they were already afraid of the fire dragon, especially the Welsh green dragon, which was sneezing loudly and spewing out long, narrow flames, making them even more hesitant to approach.

With no other option, Furong had to go herself. She approached cautiously, while the Hebrides Black Dragon and the Hungarian Hornet on either side tilted their heads to look at her. Everyone else was sweating bullets for Furong.

The stands were eerily silent. Harry couldn't help but admire the witch's courage, even though she usually seemed arrogant and had called him a little boy...

Felix descended from high above, and when the Hungarian bee saw him, it lowered its head, which had been quite interested in the hibiscus, and lay down obediently on the ground. Felix scratched his head, wondering if he had interfered with the game... but he hadn't expected this situation either. With only one team left, it was reasonable for him to focus his attention here.

Finally, Fleur got the dragon egg and hurriedly ran back. The magic quickly wore off, and the Welsh green dragon sneezed loudly. Its eyes were half-open, and a small flame clung to its clothes. It quickly chanted an extinguishing spell.

On her way back, a wall of fire blocked her path—the Black Dragon of the Hebrides. This fire dragon was quite intelligent; it only managed to stop Fleur, while the Welsh Green Dragon finally broke free from the spell, staring at Fleur with its enormous eyes, its flames poised to erupt.

Hibiscus threw the dragon egg away, shouting, "Take it and go!" as she activated her Iron Armor Spell.

The magical barrier melted away like snow, and she smelled the burning of her hair. Then a cold sensation spread throughout her body, and she saw a blood-red shield blocking her way. Looking up, she saw Felix calmly extend his wand.

The dragon trainers stepped forward and chanted the extinguishing spell in unison, and the flames burning on the field were quickly extinguished.

"Alright, the last team has finished the match! Although it's a bit of a shame, there's no doubt they got the dragon egg, and this warrior's sacrifice might offset the points deducted for the safety officer's intervention... She looks a little injured, please have the staff take her to the tent for treatment, the judges need to discuss it before scoring."

Chapter 398 Projection Technology

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed to watch the entire match, only after they begged, because Professor McGonagall kept urging them to go to the makeshift tent for treatment.

“I’m fine, Professor McGonagall,” Harry said, taking the white styrax from Hermione and applying it to his wound, which quickly stopped the bleeding.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and stared at him for a while. Taking advantage of this time, Harry quickly lowered his head and cast a healing spell on himself—one of the spells he had learned. Professor Hyp had hinted that some spells would be used as the criteria for admission to the new school year. He felt a tickle in his wound and couldn't help but reach out to touch it. Professor McGonagall's stern gaze came over again, and he had to put his hand down. Ron, who was standing next to him, laughed.

“Alright, after the match, you…you need to go to Madam Pomfrey’s for a checkup,” Professor McGonagall said, glancing at Ron and Hermione. Apart from being dirty and dusty, they didn’t look injured at all.

Harry reassured her repeatedly before Professor McGonagall left, at which point Harry noticed that his wound had tightened.

“I’ve never discovered such a useful spell,” Harry said in amazement.

“Oh, this spell can only heal minor wounds. If you plan to become a healer, you’ll find there’s so much to learn,” Hermione said, stuffing the small bottle of white cinnamon essence into her pocket.

“Who would want to be a healer?” Ron muttered, noticing that Ron and Hermione were looking at him. “I mean, you have to deal with a lot of weird cases every day… I should tell you, Bill had a pen pal from Brazil when he was in school, and because he couldn’t afford to travel, the pen pal sent him a cursed hat… Anyway, his ears were more wrinkled than a house-elf’s, and his mother had to take him to the hospital… I was only five or six years old then, but St. Mungo’s made a deep impression on me.”

He frowned, his face contorted with disgust.

"...A wizard with an extra arm on his chest, a witch who thinks she's a kangaroo and can only hop around—it's strange, there are no kangaroos in England! I also remember that unfortunate fellow whose chest was pierced by some animal, the wound kept bleeding, and the smell was awful when the healer cleaned it..."

Harry and Hermione both felt somewhat uncomfortable listening to this.

When the match ended, Professor McGonagall's stern gaze immediately fell upon them. Before the three could react, she appeared beside them as if she had used Apparition, and they immediately and obediently headed towards the temporary tent.

“Potter,” Harry turned and heard Professor McGonagall say to them, “and Weasley, Granger…you did a wonderful job!” She pursed her lips and said in an unusually gentle voice, “Go to the tent, Madam Pomfrey is waiting for you…maybe you can be back before the judges score.”

As they passed the stands, the crowd enthusiastically called out their names. A huge arm dangled from the platform—it was Hagrid, who exclaimed excitedly, "You did it! Fantastic! You faced the most ferocious Hungarian hornets—"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled and took turns high-fiving Hagrid. Ron, feeling light on his feet, said, "Oh...it wasn't that hard..."

At the makeshift wooden gate, Sirius excitedly rushed over and hugged them tightly.

"You guys are the best group I've ever seen!"

……

Meanwhile, a heated discussion was taking place on the judges' panel on the platform, with the seven judges exchanging opinions on the performance of the six teams.

"Isn't the Swedish short-nosed dragon a bit too weak?" Karkaroff questioned.

“No, that’s not it—” Bagman retorted. “You saw it! Its flames melted the special chains made for the dragon farm. It’s the strongest of all the fire dragons… Felix, you’re the safety officer, you saw it most clearly from up there, so you tell me!”

He looked at Felix, who, as the last line of defense, was brought over even though he didn't have the authority to score, ostensibly to "provide details that others couldn't see."

“Actually, apart from the Hungarian Horned Beetle, the other five fire dragons are pretty much the same,” Felix said, scratching his chin. “If we have to compare them, the Swedish Short-nosed Dragon is relatively strong, at least its flames are extremely hot… What I saw was that everyone in the team completed their respective tasks excellently.”

"Cedric Diggory's weather magic made the fire dragon irritable and irrational, as evidenced by its initial choice to disperse the rain clouds rather than attack the warriors after breaking free... Roger Davis's timing was also clever. His Disillusionment Charm wasn't particularly outstanding, and he didn't make many moves initially to avoid being discovered, but its role in the team was crucial—"

Felix smiled and said, "He's the one who comes to the rescue and launches the final assault."

"If the fire dragon went berserk and attacked Diggory, Davis had to step up and stop it decisively, and what actually happened was commendable. He activated Blackthorn just as the fire dragon took off from the ground... an excellent growth spell... As for Collins Foley, she didn't do much, but you should be able to see the patience, courage, and trust in her teammates she showed throughout the match. She crouched under that Swedish short-nosed dragon's feet for at least two minutes, and if there had been a slight mishap, she probably wouldn't have been able to get out."

The judges present were all discerning; Felix was simply stating the facts.

They quickly finished their discussion and prepared to score the wizards when Felix suddenly spoke up: "The purpose of the competition is to select the best young wizards from different schools, to let them compete and hone their skills, and to hope that they will demonstrate the courage that wizards value in challenging tasks... Judges, I suggest that each judge should offer a few comments when giving specific scores, so that the warriors can understand their strengths and weaknesses..."

The judges looked at each other.

"Wouldn't this take too long?" Bagman said somewhat bewildered. "We didn't have this procedure in mind... but it's not impossible..."

“As the headmaster, I certainly hope to see the warriors achieve something this year,” Dumbledore said with a smile.

Fudge looked at the other judges hesitantly: "What are your thoughts?"

“This is a great idea,” Mrs. Maxim said, adding that she saw nothing wrong with it and welcomed it wholeheartedly.

“I also agree with this suggestion. The students of Vagado should know their own shortcomings and not make the same mistake twice,” said Principal Vagado, the gaunt witch, who sat cross-legged on a flying carpet as if she had stepped out of a comic book.

In fact, the British Ministry of Magic had already banned the creation and sale of flying carpets, but she was only using them herself, and being a foreigner, Fudge pretended not to see it.

“Your remarks are very insightful, Ms. Najib.” Felix bowed slightly.

The judges agreed one after another, and they returned to their seats to score. Felix stepped down from the platform and smiled at Karkaroff—who didn't look too happy.

"Ahem! Silence—" Bagman said loudly, and the crowd in the stands gradually quieted down. "Next is the judges' scoring. In order to ensure that the warriors do not only remember one score, each judge will give some fair comments."

"However, please allow me to review the entire competition first. Many people may not have had time to see the whole picture, after all, there were too many exciting scenes to keep up with... I will describe it in the order in which the dragon eggs were obtained."

"The first team I want to mention is the champions from Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory, Roger Davis and Collins Foley. They retrieved the dragon egg in the shortest time and defeated the dragon without sustaining any injuries."

The second team to obtain the dragon egg was the warriors of Vagado. Nona Ribert used a spectacular cheetah transformation to bring the egg out. However, their strategy was somewhat aggressive, resulting in one team member being trapped by the fire dragon and the safety officer intervening in the match, which might be a drawback. Nevertheless, they still delivered a thrilling match for us.

The third team to obtain the dragon egg also came from Hogwarts. They were the youngest, still in their fourth year, but they performed exceptionally well. They were the only two teams to obtain the dragon egg and successfully escape from the dragon.

The fourth team to obtain the dragon egg was Durmstrang, although they only managed to snatch some fragments;

The fifth team to obtain the dragon egg was Beauxbatons. Miss Delacour was incredibly brave, throwing the dragon egg to her teammates at the last moment, but she herself got into trouble and had to rely on the safety officer for protection.

The last team was Iphamoni. Well, although they didn't get the dragon egg, that was a matter of strategy; their composite magic was still very eye-catching..."

Bagman gave a brief overview of the six teams' performances, allowing the audience to relive the experience in their minds, which sparked lively discussion. At this point, the warriors gradually returned to the audience. After a short wait, he announced loudly, "Now, judges, please score the first team!"

Harry squinted at the judges' table. The first judge, Madam Maxim, raised her wand, and a long, ribbon-like thing emerged from the tip, twisting to form the number "10".