After Ron kicked open the castle gate, he didn't even bother to go to the hall to eat. He just took Harry and Hermione and ran away.
He ran to the teaching area with his two friends and found an abandoned empty classroom.
"Ron... Ron, what on earth did you think of?" Harry said breathlessly, leaning on a dusty desk in the empty classroom, "Why did you say we don't have to go to the library?"
"Yeah, Ron..." Hermione was so tired that she didn't care about the dust in the classroom at all. She just lay down on a desk and asked exhaustedly, "I finally got a note from Professor Dracula to borrow banned books. Why don't you use it?"
"No, we really don't need to go to the library." Ron was also breathing heavily, but his eyes were sparkling. "We have been going in the wrong direction before. In fact, we don't need to deal with the dragon head-on!"
"But... how can I finish the game without dealing with the dragon?" Harry hesitated.
"Harry, let me ask you, do you really think you will be allowed to defeat the dragon in the competition?" Ron stared at Harry with a wise and radiant face.
"Um... I don't think so. After all, professional dragon trainers like Charlie need seven or eight people to barely deal with a fire dragon." Harry hesitated, "I guess... maybe we can find a way to go around the fire dragon?"
"Right!" Ron slammed the table, startling Harry and Hermione. "That's the crux of the matter!"
"Think about it carefully. If you want to get past a dragon's defense, is it really necessary to learn magic that targets dragons? Harry just needs to be fast and agile enough!"
"Ron, what did you come up with?" Hermione's eyes also lit up.
"Harry, do what you're best at!" Ron shouted. "Didn't Filch just say that Quidditch was useless? Then prove it to him!"
Harry's eyes widened and he became agitated.
"I know, broom!" he shouted. "I can fly past dragons on a broom!"
But then he became disappointed again, "But the rules of the competition say that warriors cannot bring any supplies except wands... I can't bring a broom into the arena."
"No, Harry, you just need to bring your wand." At this time, Hermione stood up with a smile, her tone more relaxed than ever before, "There is a very simple spell that we have learned in the Charms class this semester!"
Harry looked into her eyes, and a very basic spell came to his mind -
"Flying Curse!"
…
At two o'clock in the morning, in the Gryffindor common room, Harry stood by the fireplace, surrounded by many things -
Books, quills, a few overturned chairs, an old wizard chess set, and Neville's toad, Rifle.
Just now, Harry finally mastered the Sling Charm.
"Much better, Harry. You've made great progress." Hermione lay tiredly on the sofa, but her face looked very happy.
"Huh—" Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Great, at least now I know what to do if I can't learn a spell next time..."
The Flying Spell was a spell that fourth-year students were officially required to master in the next semester. He had attended several spell classes but had not yet learned it. However, he had now completely mastered the spell in just one night.
Harry said, throwing a runic dictionary to Hermione so he could try the Summoning Charm again, "… just threaten me with a dragon, that's right!"
He raised his wand once more—
"Accio Diary!"
The heavy dictionary flew from Hermione's hands to the other side of the room, where Harry caught it.
"Harry, I think you really got it!" said Hermione happily.
"What? Did it work?" Ron looked up from a sofa in a daze, "How did I fall asleep? Why didn't you call me?"
"It's okay, Ron, you don't have to stay with me so late..." said Harry.
"What are you talking about? We are best brothers!" Ron jumped up from the sofa excitedly.
"Hopefully, it will work tomorrow," Harry nodded with a smile, "but the Firebolt is much farther than what's here. Tomorrow it will be in the castle, and I'll be outside in the grounds..."
"As long as you really concentrate and focus, the magic will succeed." Hermione comforted, "Harry, go back to your dormitory and get some sleep... You need to rest."
"Relax, Harry," Ron patted Harry's shoulder in a very relaxed manner, "I can secretly help you take the Firebolt outside the audience. If anyone asks, I'll say I'm going to play Quidditch after watching your game."
…
By the next morning, the atmosphere in Hogwarts became very tense and exciting.
After the morning classes were over, Professor McGonagall announced in the auditorium that classes would be suspended in the afternoon, giving all students time to go to the field below where the dragons were enclosed—of course, they had no idea that they would see such an amazing thing as a fire dragon there.
When Harry came out of the History of Magic classroom, the last class of the morning, in a daze and came to the hall to eat like sleepwalking, Professor McGonagall hurried towards him from the professor's seat.
Many people stopped eating and turned to look at them.
"Potter, now all the warriors have to go to the competition venue... You must be ready to complete the first task." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly and said to him.
"I see..." Harry said as he stood up, not realizing that he had dropped his fork with a loud clatter.
"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered to him, "You're going to succeed!"
"That's right, Harry, don't forget your Firebolt when the time comes," Ron whispered, "I'll take it outside the auditorium."
"Yeah, I'll do it," Harry said dazedly, his voice hardly sounding like his own.
He left the hall with Professor McGonagall and headed towards the forbidden forest northeast of the castle, where the five dragons were placed.
Professor McGonagall looked equally distraught.
In fact, she was as anxious as Harry, because she couldn't imagine how a fourth-year student like herself would deal with the extremely dangerous Final Four Tournament.
She walked Harry down the stone steps into the open air and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Okay, don't be nervous," she said, not knowing whether she was comforting Harry or herself, "Keep a cool head... Professor Dracula will be watching you next to the stadium as a security guard. If the situation is not good, he will step forward to control the situation..."
"Although you are the youngest warrior, as long as you give full play to your own abilities, no one will think that you are inferior to others... Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand, Professor," Harry heard himself say.
Professor McGonagall led him around the edge of the Forbidden Forest and towards where the dragon was.
As they approached the bushes that would have given them a clear view of the grounds, Harry saw that a tent had been erected there, shielding them from the dragons, with its entrance facing them.
"You must go in with the other warriors," Professor McGonagall's voice became a little trembling, "and you have to wait in the tent for a while, Potter. Mr. Bagman is also in there, he will tell you the steps one by one... I wish you good luck."
"Thanks… "
Harry thanked him in a monotonous, disembodied voice, then moved his legs and eased himself into the tent.
It wasn't just Harry, all the warriors present seemed very nervous.
Fleur Delacour sat on a low wooden stool in the corner of the tent. She was not as calm as usual, her face looked very pale and sick; Viktor Krum looked more gloomy than usual, and the veins on his forehead throbbed from time to time; Cedric kept pacing back and forth...
Only John Kowalski seemed relaxed, sitting in a chair with his eyes closed.
"Harry! Great!" Bagman seemed relieved to see the last warrior come in, as if he was afraid that Harry would run away. "Come in, come in, relax, just like you are at home!"
Bagman, dressed in his old Hornets uniform again, looked like a cartoon of a giant man standing among the pale warriors.
"Well, now that everyone is here - time to introduce you!" Bagman said cheerfully. "Once the audience is gathered, I'm going to pass this bag to each of you in turn."
He held up a purple silk bag and waved it at them.
"You need to pick out the miniatures of the things you will face! There are different types. Also, I have one more thing to tell you... Your task in this game is to pick up the golden eggs!"
…
On the other side, a huge platform has been built on the site.
This platform did not appear a few days ago. It was temporarily built with magic. Its purpose was to hide the content of the competition and give the audience and warriors a "surprise".
At this time, the stadium was already packed with people, and countless shouts came from the audience seats in all directions.
This kind of spectacular scene had only been seen at the Quidditch finals of each Hogwarts school year before, and this time, there were even more spectators around the stadium than during a Quidditch match.
This is because there are always people who are not interested in Quidditch games, but no one wants to miss this top four competition that has not been held in hundreds of years!
Dracula lazily lay on a broom, swaying in the air above the stadium, occasionally glancing at the enthusiastic students around the audience.
He saw many young wizards waving flags with the names of the warriors they supported, cheering them on loudly.
As the home ground of Hogwarts, there are naturally the most flags with the words "Support Cedric" written on them.
However, what surprised Dracula was that, looking around, the number of flags with Krum's name printed on them was not much less than that with Cedric's name, which showed the huge influence of this Quidditch star.
At the same time, there were quite a few students who supported Fleur. Most of them were boys who had become Fleur's fans in just one month. They shouted Fleur's name with red faces, and their fighting power was no less than that of Krum's loyal female fans.
In comparison, Harry and John have fewer supporters.
As a Yin Fa Morni warrior with no fan base and seemingly no advantages in appearance, John has no one to support him except a few students who came to Hogwarts with Yin Fa Morni.
Although Harry is a "local" of Hogwarts, his becoming a warrior is not recognized by many people. The Hufflepuff house with the largest number of people even thinks that he stole Cedric's honor.
This resulted in no one willing to cheer for him except for a few Gryffindor friends like Hermione.
In contrast, there were many people in Slytherin holding banners with Harry's name on them.
Of course, it says "Potter Stinky Shit"...
Dracula then turned his gaze away from the audience and looked beyond the entrance to the stadium.
There was a little red-haired wizard sneaking around with a broom, which he carefully hid behind a thick willow tree.
"They actually thought of using a flying broom to deal with the competition. They are amazing." Dracula watched Ron's sneaky actions from a distance, with a playful smile on his face.
Just then, a helpless call came from below.
Dracula turned his eyes away from Ron and frowned as he looked towards the place where the voice came from.
"Professor Dracula, could you please be more serious?" Ludo Bagman stood at the long table in the commentary booth with a helpless look on his face, shouting to Dracula, "Principal Karkaroff and Ms. Maxime have protested against you..."
"They felt you weren't vigilant enough and asked the tournament to replace the safety officer," he said.
"I'm so dedicated, why would they think I'm not vigilant?" Dracula lowered his broom and said innocently, "I'm already very serious, okay?"
Bagman watched Dracula lying leisurely on the broomstick and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Do you have any misunderstanding about the word "serious"
"I really don't understand why Hogwarts would hire such an irresponsible person as a safety officer." Ms. Maxime's stern voice rang out from the referee's seat next to him. "I seriously doubt that when an accident occurs during the game, he will not be able to save our warriors from the dragon in time!"
"I have my doubts too... Can you really control a broomstick in this position?" Karkaroff echoed, "If something happens to Krum, the consequences will be too much for Hogwarts to bear."
Dracula looked towards the referee's seat, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
"Tsk, there's really nothing I can do about you..." He chuckled, "You doubt that I can control the broomstick, right?"
Under the gaze of the referees, Dracula reached out and grasped the handle of the broom behind him.
The next moment, he suddenly threw the broom onto the referee's seat.
But his figure was still suspended in the air, swaying leisurely.
…
…