Maka's action caused attrition in the International Alchemy Competition before it even started. The Indian delegation, which was determined to have plans to disrupt the event, was immediately deprived of the right to participate, as the current president of the International Confederation of Wizards, Mr. Babajide Akinbad, chaired the competition.
Although judging from the specific inquiry and investigation, this delegation seems to have signs of being controlled by magic. But this matter is related to the stability of world-class events. No one will bet on Nico Flamel’s alchemy legacy, so from the beginning to the end, no force has said anything good for them.
However, although such a bad thing happened before the game, it seemed to have some adverse effects on the game. But if you look at it from another perspective, Maka's behavior demonstrated Hogwarts' ability to maintain the normal conduct of the competition.
In fact, the cross-border arrest of the conspiracy group headed by the Indian delegation has been published with great fanfare in wizard newspapers in various countries, and the latest news about the opening of the International Alchemy Competition has been clearly listed in the international news headlines.
Yes, the International Alchemy Competition has finally begun!
"...I believe everyone knows that Hogwarts is my alma mater! To be honest, today, I feel really happy for my alma mater! Welcome everyone to come here and be with me, Hogwarts, and The whole world—witness the day when alchemy will shine again in today’s era!”
On the lawn in front of Hogwarts Castle, a peculiar building has already been built. Its shape is very much like a huge basin, but the edges are taller. If I had to give an example, this is a Muggle stadium with raised spectator seats.
At this moment, on the round platform built in the center of the stadium, a familiar man stood proudly and alone, using a sound amplification spell to convey his speech to every guest sitting in the audience.
That's Gilderoy Lockhart, Britain's most popular wizard in recent years... well, how should I put it? Most popular public figure
In short, Maka got him into this competition and took on the role of host.
It is now approaching evening, which is the time for the opening ceremony of the Alchemy Competition. After dinner, the competition will officially begin. The students at Hogwarts were still in class, and in order not to disturb them, Maka deliberately opened a magic barrier to block the sound.
At this time, under the auditorium on the east side of the competition venue, in the competition coordinator's office...
"Mr. McLean, all the twelve audience registration gates have just sent over the latest seat statistics. I took a look and found that some of the audiences who have reserved tickets will arrive after dinner time, so... "
"So there might not be enough seats for the audience, right?"
Most of the staff who coordinated the management of the event this time were dispatched from the International Federation of Wizards, and the assistant in front of Maka was naturally the same.
"The publicity for this game is very sufficient, and it is natural that there are not enough seats... Haven't I told you before that we can't prepare for it as another Quidditch World Cup." Maka waved her hand and said, "Don't worry. Come on! Let the audience enter the venue normally, I have already prepared for the auditorium... "
After Lockhart introduced the delegations from each country one by one and arranged a series of pre-game performances, the various food stalls outside the stadium were all in place.
This time, except for the interior of the castle, there were basically no major changes, and other places were used. Today's Hogwarts is indeed the busiest day since the school was founded. It would be an exaggeration to say that it is unprecedented.
As Lockhart announced the end of the opening ceremony, the audience poured out of the venue and went outside to taste the fresh food from all over the world. If anyone wants to stay in the stadium and continue to enjoy the pre-game entertainment, they only need to shake the magic bell next to the seat, and a house elf will immediately provide them with the best errand service.
"Oh—what's that?"
Suddenly, a French wizard couple sitting on the highest seat raised their heads in surprise—they were the first to notice a shadow floating above their heads.
Of course, being the first to notice it was actually only a second or two earlier than others. After all, if something so big suddenly floats in the sky, even a fool can spot it quickly.
"What's flying? Is it a new show?" "Oh, maybe it's a larger carriage or something... Is a delegation late?" "Except for the Indian delegation, I haven't heard of anyone missing. Yes, didn’t the host just say that..."
As the audience continued to discuss, the huge shadow crossed over the arena and floated steadily towards the opposite side. Not long after, when the thing was far away, the audience here realized that it looked like a floating auditorium.
At this moment, on a preparation field outside the competition venue, Maka was standing in the middle of the open space. Around him, a large group of elves raised their hands in unison and pointed far away above the arena.
"...Yes, go a little further and aim at the support there. Be careful. If you fall and hit someone, go back to the island and prepare to receive the punishment! Come down...and come down..."
It is not an easy task for a wizard to temporarily add so many seats, but it is not completely impossible.
Under Maka's command, the elves cooperated quite tacitly - at least he thought that the elves were much easier than humans when doing this kind of collective work.
"Okay, just keep it like this!" He said as he stretched out his staff and pointed straight ahead, "I can start transporting the next one after I reinforce it-"
…
Almost at the same time, it was finally time for school to end at Hogwarts. The little wizards who had been looking forward to it for a long time rushed out of the classroom, laughing and walking towards the colorful world outside the castle.
Although they do not have the right to participate in the competition, they can still enjoy the competition as spectators. Today at breakfast time, Professor McGonagall personally announced that everyone is free to go shopping at the food stalls outside after school and fill their stomachs.
"Hermione, do you think Maka will appear today? It's just alchemy. I bet he will also-"
Ron asked cheerfully in the foyer. Look at the pride on his face, as if he is not talking about Maka, but himself.
But Hermione, who was always rigorous about knowledge, shook her head hesitantly.
"I don't know either," she said hesitantly, "At least Maka probably hasn't been studied before. Anyway, I haven't seen any information on alchemy from him... But that was in the past. Now... "
"Hi! I heard that he fought for this game from beginning to end," Ron said excitedly, "I guess he must have studied it. Well, I'm really looking forward to it..."
Next to Ron, Alexander, who had been very close to them recently, looked troubled.
"Miss Granger, what exactly is alchemy? I looked through the books in the library a few days ago, but I still don't understand it at all..." he said gloomily, "What are the four elements and three elements... what is decomposition and transformation... still There’s that messy table of alchemical symbols…”
"As I said, just call me Hermione..." Hermione smiled and said, "Well, because there is no alchemy class at Hogwarts, I just read it in the book... The book said, Alchemy In fact, art is mainly divided into two general directions: material and spiritual. If you want to understand... "
"Hermione, Alexander, let's not talk about this now. Anyway, we will have a practical impression when the game starts..." Harry urged from the side with a grimace, "Let's go quickly! I'm almost hungry." …”
Obviously, everyone is looking forward to this grand event like a celebration, and everyone is expressing their joy in their own way.
However, when most of the students excitedly walked out of the castle, there were always one or two unsociable guys who just stayed in the castle and refused to move.
Enth Taron of Hufflepuff House is undoubtedly one of them.
"... Has the soundproofing magic been cancelled?" In the common room, Enns, who had just returned to his dormitory to put down his schoolbag, muttered dissatisfiedly, "It's really noisy... annoying!"
He paused for a moment, then touched the piece of paper in his pocket and the wand inserted inside his robe.
"Let's all get out! Let's all get out! Joining in the fun is the most stupid thing a fool should do..." Enns thought to himself, "It's best not to leave anyone in the castle, so that no one will disturb me from doing my work!"
After thinking about this, he checked what he was carrying again, and then strode towards the door of the common room.
Arriving at the underground corridor outside, it was unexpectedly deserted. The constant noise of people outside completely covered up his footsteps - this was an excellent opportunity to explore.
Enns walked all the way to the second floor of the main castle. In the middle of the corridor on the left was the third girls' bathroom mentioned in Helga Hufflepuff's letter. There was a "Under Repair" sign hanging on the bathroom door as usual, and there were still some water stains seeping out from the cracks at the lower edge of the door.
"This is it..." He stopped awkwardly in front of the door, and then carefully took out his wand, "The letter mentioned some kind of guardian... I heard from the senior that there is a female ghost in this bathroom. Could it be that the ghost possesses... What kind of strange ability can’t you achieve?”
In order to ensure that he was as prepared as possible, after translating the contents on the parchment, he collected a lot of relevant information on his own.
This includes the crying ghost in the bathroom, and of course, the legend of Harry and the others bravely breaking into the Chamber of Secrets.
"Click."
Enns stretched out his hand and gently turned the copper doorknob in front of him...