"It seems that Albert was right."
In the room, Yanila, who was playing wizard chess with Furong, turned her head to look at the tall figure outside the window and whispered to the person in front of her: "Mrs. Maxime will really try her best to help you figure out what the first project is about."
"You don't sleep at night and come to play wizard chess with me just to say these nonsense to me?" Fleur frowned deeply, her eyes fell on Madame Maxime who was dressed up. She was very puzzled about what was so attractive about the Hogwarts game keeper to their headmaster. Was it because of her that Madame Maxime agreed to the invitation
"Of course not. I just came to ask you for some information."
"What information?"
"Information about Albert?" After meeting Isobel in Hogsmeade, Yanila suddenly realized that she knew very little about Albert.
"I don't know him any more than you do. I really don't understand why you like him. Is it just because he is handsome?" Furong really couldn't understand Yanila's obsession with Albert.
She admitted that Albert was handsome, talented and famous, but Yanila was actually no less capable than Albert and was even better off.
"You have such a poor eye for people," Yanila said sarcastically.
"No matter how ordinary it is, it's better than you staring at other people's men." Furong retorted.
Furong was a little depressed, but she had to admit that Yanila's family had good vision, but some of their ways of doing things were really criticized.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Yanila asked.
"I haven't thought about it yet. I'll talk about it later. But I don't think you can catch up with him." Furong did not hide her gloating and began to recall: "I remember the first time I knew his name, it was in my father's letter. He said that he met a very interesting friend in the UK and asked me if I wanted to get to know him. We could try to become pen pals and keep in touch through letters."
At that time, Furong was really surprised. After all, her father's friend was actually of similar age to her, and he actually said he wanted to introduce him to her, which made her very confused.
"Later, I met him for the first time after the International Wizard Chess Tournament. At that time, Albert Anderson had just won the international championship. I learned that the friend named Anderson that my father mentioned was about the same age as me.
"However, my cousin Louise knows him and likes him. It is said that they are pen pals and often communicate through letters. As for how they met, maybe my uncle introduced them to each other. Who knows?"
"Then, not long ago, I saw him again at a relative's wedding. At that time, Anderson brought the woman named Isobel to the wedding." Furong thought for a moment and added, "At the wedding, he was hanging out with a group of very famous wizards. They seemed to know each other and had a good relationship with each other."
"Oh, by the way, I met him again last summer. He was with his girlfriend at that time, and I heard they were engaged." Furong's face was full of gloating that could not be concealed: "At that time, they were wearing engagement rings, and cousin Louise was sad for a long time because of it."
"Engaged?" Yanila's expression froze, and she asked in disbelief, "He just came of age this year, right?"
"I'm sure they are engaged. There is no need for them to lie." Furong looked at the wonderful expression on Yanila's face and was quite satisfied with the hurt that this big news had caused Yanila.
"So, you have no hope. Maybe there are a dozen girls like you who are secretly in love with him and are coveting him ahead of you." Furong did not hide her sarcasm at all, and intended to use this to attack Yanila.
Yanila took a moment to come back to her senses. After noticing the mockery on Furong's face, she said calmly, "I'm not competing for his position as wife."
"Yes, you just want to be his lover." Furong sneered, "I really don't understand what's going on in your family's mind."
"This is not something you should consider. Madame Maxime should be back soon. I think she will tell you what the first task is. Think carefully about how to pass the first task of the Triwizard Tournament." Yanila moved the chess piece and ruthlessly killed Furong, ending the game that lasted for half an hour.
Not long after Yanila got up and went back to rest, Madame Maxime came back and came to talk to Furong about the first project.
"Please take a seat," Madame Maxime said straight to the point, "I just figured out the first task of the Triwizard Tournament."
At this moment, Fleur felt very upset. She once thought that Madame Maxime would not help her cheat, but Albert was obviously right. Cheating was completely normal in the Triwizard Tournament.
Fleur waited quietly for Madame Maxime to say what the first item was.
"The warriors need to face the fire dragons. I just saw a group of dragon trainers carrying four fire dragons in the woods." Madame Maxime directly pointed out to Fleur the danger she needed to face.
"Warriors need to fight dragons?"
Furong stared at Madame Maxime blankly, and once again remembered how she had been dismissive of Albert's words in the bar, thinking that the other party could not possibly subdue a fire dragon.
However, can he defeat a fire dragon
Obviously not.
"Of course not. You need to pass by the fire dragon and get the golden egg placed in the dragon's nest by the organizer. Only the warrior who gets the golden egg can be considered to have passed the first task." Madam Maxime comforted her softly, "Don't worry, you don't need to defeat the fire dragon, you just need to find an opportunity to steal the golden egg. Moreover, I will help you find a way."
“It’s not easy.”
Furong had never felt so nervous and anxious as she did now. She even suspected that she would be burned to ashes by the dragon's flames before she got close to the fire dragon's lair.
"The fire dragon has a weakness. If we target that weakness..."
"You mean the eyes? But I don't think it's a good idea to provoke a dragon." Fleur remembered Albert talking about the weaknesses of fire dragons, and immediately realized what Madame Maxime wanted to say, but she didn't want to use the eye spell. Even if she succeeded, she would still have to face an angry fire dragon.
"No, I'm not talking about the Eye Curse. That's quite reckless." Madame Maxime had been thinking about how to deal with the dragon. "I think you should play to your strengths."
“Play to my strengths?”
"You're pretty good at charm magic, aren't you?" Madame Maxime said.
"But, will charm magic work on a fire dragon?" Furong expressed her doubt.
"No, I mean hypnosis. I know a very powerful hypnotic magic. Your talent and wand are very suitable for this magic. As long as you use it, you can definitely put the fire dragon into a hypnotic state. Then you can steal the golden egg quietly while the fire dragon is drowsy. It is quite stupid to confront the fire dragon head-on. As everyone knows, it takes at least eight dragon tamers to subdue a dragon." Madame Maxime knew very well that the key to the first project was how to obtain the golden egg, not how to subdue a fire dragon. This would test the courage and wisdom of the warriors.
In fact, in the past, it was really possible to become a subdued fire dragon. There is a reason why the Triwizard Tournament is criticized for being extremely dangerous.
"We will start training tonight. As for the Eye-Fasting Curse you mentioned, let's keep it as a backup plan. To be honest, we don't have much advantage. Karkaroff should sneak off to check the content of the first project tonight. I suspect he will let his warriors use the Eye-Fasting Curse against the dragon." Madame Maxime did not have any expectations of Karkaroff's integrity. "As for Harry Potter and Albert Anderson, they should also know the content of the first project. They both have a good relationship with Hagrid. I think Hagrid will definitely tell them about the dragon."
Furong was silent again, because she remembered what Albert said in the bar: all the contestants were cheating, and the whole game was a joke.
Isn't this exactly the situation now
Madame Maxime misunderstood Hagrid. Hagrid really hadn't told Albert and Harry about the dragon. In fact, Hagrid did think about doing that, but Madame Maxime's romantic date and the excitement of seeing the dragon made Hagrid forget everything else.
There was no way. Without Barty's instigation and instructions, the excited Hagrid would easily forget about others. Maybe, when he remembered it tomorrow, he would tell Harry and Albert, but who knew what would happen tomorrow
As for Barty Jr., he had completely given up on helping Harry win the championship, so naturally he didn't have that much time to deal with Harry's stupidity, especially after Dumbledore had some doubts about him, any action would be unwise. Moreover, with the help of Black and Lupin, Harry shouldn't die easily. If Harry really died in the Triwizard Tournament, it might be a good thing for the Dark Lord, at least it means that the so-called savior is not qualified to stand in front of the Dark Lord.
Harry Potter naturally had no idea about this. Because of Albert, he had already known about the dragon in advance and had made all the necessary preparations. He could be said to be the warrior who had the most confidence in himself besides Albert.
However, something happened the next day that made Albert feel extremely strange. Someone actually came to tell him that the first project required someone to face a fire dragon.
"It seems you already knew it?"
Yanila noticed Albert's calm expression and knew that Albert must know about the fire dragon, but Yanila still came to tell Albert that he had to do things to improve his favorability. As for how he knew it, it was naturally Furong who told her. Anyway, Albert knew it.
"Aren't you worried that the students at Beauxbatons will regard you as a traitor?" Albert asked with a strange expression.
He naturally knew where the news about Beauxbatons came from, but hearing a Beauxbatons student tell him this in person still made him feel inexplicably strange.
I think the gamekeeper called Hagrid would probably tell you that you guys have a very good relationship, don't you
"Then why are you telling me this?" Albert asked with a smile.
"I just feel that the guy is unreliable. Maybe he was too excited about his date with Madame Maxime and forgot about it."
Albert was silent, because Hagrid really hadn't told them about the dragon so far. At least Yanila was right about one thing, Hagrid was so excited about his date with Madame Maxime that he forgot about it.
Of course, it could also be that he was too excited to see the fire dragon.
Who knows
I guess I forgot.
Anyway, in Albert's impression, Hagrid has never been very reliable.
If there was one thing that made Albert most dissatisfied, it was that the task of "finding out the content of the first project of the Triwizard Tournament" might fail.
However, the most embarrassing thing about this matter was not Albert, but that shortly after Yanila left, Albert told the news to Hermione, and Hermione told the news to Harry. Harry never thought that the news about the dragon came from a student of Beauxbatons.
Although they had already learned the news about the fire dragon from Albert, the three were confused by Hagrid's act of surrendering to the enemy.
"I think Hagrid is bewitched by Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons," Hermione finally concluded.
Perhaps, once Hagrid had recovered from his great excitement, he would tell them about the dragon.
"Maybe he has to wait until the 24th to remember it." Ron also felt that this matter was inexplicably ironic.
"I suddenly found that Albert's words were both sharp and correct," Harry actually didn't care much about the game now. It was just like what Albert said: everyone was cheating, the whole game was like a joke, the glory of the warriors, it was a complete joke.
"It turns out that, apart from Dumbledore, no one else has such noble character. Look at what happened on the Quidditch Cup field this year." Ron sneered bluntly. He now felt that the outcome of the Triwizard Tournament was no longer important. What was important was Harry's safety.
As for the dragon, after they consolidated their foundation again with the help of Sirius and Remus, they met Hagrid on the way back to school. It should be said that Hagrid seemed to be waiting for them on purpose.
"Harry, I have something important to tell you." Hagrid said mysteriously.
"We already know about the dragon," Hermione comforted.
"You already knew that." Hagrid was surprised.
"Albert told us. Just this morning, a student from Beauxbatons told Albert the news, and Albert told Harry."
All three of them noticed the embarrassed expression on Hagrid's face, because the news about Albert and Harry was not told to them by him personally or in a letter, but he got the news from Beauxbatons.
"You don't have to worry about Hagrid." Hermione consoled him, "You forgot one thing. Albert can do divination. He knew about dragons a long time ago, so Harry has been training against them."
"Oh, come on Harry. As for Albert, I never felt the need for anyone to worry too much," Hagrid said awkwardly.
"You shouldn't have said that just now." Ron looked at Hermione reproachfully after they walked away. "He even forgot about Harry and Albert."
"He didn't mean it. You probably don't understand that feeling!"
"I don't understand, but what do you think would happen if Harry faced the dragon without knowing anything?" Ron now understood a little why cheating had become a tradition in the Triwizard Tournament.
If they only knew they had to face the fire dragon on the day of the competition, Albert would probably be the only one who could face it calmly. It would be great if the others could not be stage frightened, let alone come up with a way to deal with the dangerous fire dragon in a short period of time.
This test of a warrior's magical talent, advantage, courage, theory, reasoning ability and ability to overcome danger is all bullshit. Even if a thirty-year-old wizard is thrown in front of a fire dragon, it would be great if he didn't get scared to the point of shaking legs and losing his life.