Raven's Claw at Hogwarts

On February 24th, the much-anticipated second round of the Triwizard Tournament finally arrived.

Since the notice had been issued a long time ago, almost everyone got up early on this day, hoping to get to the edge of the Black Lake early to occupy a good position to watch the game.

As a warrior in the competition, Mike was no exception. He got up early and started enjoying breakfast.

Breakfast was made by Penello last night before he was taken away by the competition team. Not only did he fully consider the nutrition required for high-intensity exercise, he even took the portions accurately to prevent Mike from becoming sleepy due to overeating during the competition. Arrived at Gram.

Benjamin and others were deeply afraid that someone would do something to prevent Mike from competing, so when Mike wanted to have breakfast, Benjamin and others stayed by Mike's side, never leaving.

Mike was quite speechless about this, but Benjamin insisted on it, so he had no choice but to accept their kindness.

"Mike, it's almost time." Benjamin glanced at his pocket watch, then handed a bottle of potion to Mike and said, "This is what you want. I calculated the time and it's just right to drink it now."

"Thank you."

Mike took the potion and drank it in one gulp.

As soon as the potion was introduced into the mouth, it transformed into a warm current that flowed down Mike's esophagus into his stomach, and then slowly spread throughout his body through his blood.

Mike felt that his whole body suddenly became extremely hot, and he felt much better until he took off his heavy winter school uniform robe.

"Oh, this feels really good." Mike stretched his body, stood up and walked towards the outside of the castle, "Let's go, it's our turn to appear."

A group of Ravenclaw students and mutual aid club members behind him shouted excitedly and surrounded Mike to the edge of the Black Lake.

At this time, the edge of the Black Lake was already dark and crowded with people. The weather today was quite good, but the temperature did not rise at all. The sun in the sky was like the light in the refrigerator, serving no other purpose than lighting. .

Everyone on the edge of the black lake folded their hands and stamped their feet, trying to resist the cold in this way.

Unfortunately, this method was obviously not effective enough, and each of them was still suffering from the cold, with their noses and ears red.

At this time, people also noticed Mike and his group who were walking towards this side. The crowd suddenly burst into deafening cheers. Mike even vaguely heard the singing. Judging from the intermittent lyrics, this It should be a song they wrote specifically for Mike.

Ludo Bagman also noticed Mike. He walked quickly through the snow and came to Mike, asking eagerly:

"Have you met Harry?"

"No, I came directly from the Ravenclaw lounge. What? Isn't he here yet?"

"Yes, that's right, he hasn't arrived yet! Merlin's beard! The game is about to begin! This kid is really annoying!" Bagman gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Mr. Townley, please go first Go in. I'll try my best to delay it for him, but if it doesn't work, I can only count him as giving up!"

After saying that, Bagman quickly ran back to the podium, forced a smile, and shouted with a loud voice:

"Everyone in the audience, the warrior of Hogwarts is coming to us now! Mike Townley! Let us welcome him with the warmest cheers!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the cheers on the field became even more enthusiastic. The volume was so loud that even the surface of the Black Lake was shaken with ripples.

Mike waved to everyone and was surrounded by people to the edge of the Black Lake, where Fleur and Krum were.

Krum was wearing a thin tights made of an unknown material, and his strong body stood upright in the cold wind.

His face was a little pale, and he gave Mike an ugly smile.

After nodding in greeting, Mike turned his attention to Fleur again.

Fleur looked very bad at this moment. She was wearing Klum's fur cloak, but her body was still shaking, and she didn't know whether it was because of nervousness or cold.

She seemed not to notice Mike's arrival, and still stood there tremblingly, looking at the black lake worriedly.

It was time for the game to start, but Harry still hadn't come.

Karkaroff on the referee's bench was almost laughing. Although Ms. Maxim's performance was not as exaggerated as Karkaroff, she couldn't hide the smile at the corner of her mouth.

Harry currently ranks second in points behind Mike.

And if he was really disqualified for being late, Fleur and Krum's rankings would automatically move up one spot.

This is a good thing for both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

Bagman glanced at the two people who were already overjoyed, and stood up with his wand.

"Our game is about to begin, but before that, let me tell you the rules again!" Bagman paused and continued, "Just last night, we took away the warriors' most precious treasures. , and hid them in the Black Lake! When the game starts, the warriors must enter the Black Lake and find their treasures within the one-hour time limit! If they exceed the time limit, then they will lose their most precious treasures forever. thing!"

Bagman roared excitedly, but the audience didn't really buy it.

They came here to watch a gorgeous and exciting game. Now the main venue of the game is in the Black Lake. They can't see the specific scenes inside at all, which is very boring to them.

But Bagman obviously didn't care about these things. He suppressed the smile on his lips and pretended to be sad and said:

"One more thing, our old friend, Mr. Barty Crouch, unfortunately missed this game due to physical reasons. This is really a particularly sad thing. However, in order to make up for Crouch's Unfortunately for Sir’s absence, we specially invited a more important guest! That is our beloved Minister of Magic! Minister Fudge!”

Cheers rang out again, and Fudge stood up from the referee's seat, waved in response to the enthusiasm of the crowd, raised his wand to his neck, cast the Loud Voice Charm, and began his speech.

The content of the speech was very unsatisfactory. As the speech continued, the crowd in the audience finally booed.

But Fudge completely ignored these irrelevant voices and continued to preach nonsense in a voice full of emotion.

On the referee's bench, Karkaroff's face was so gloomy that he could drip water. Fudge was obviously stalling for time to wait for Harry.

But even though he was very angry, he still didn't have the guts to interrupt the Minister of Magic's speech.

I don't know how long it took, but Harry finally arrived belatedly.

"Thank God! You're finally here!" Professor McGonagall shouted anxiously, clutching her chest, "Hurry over! Everyone is already waiting for you!"

Harry looked like he was still awake and in a daze as Professor McGonagall pushed and pulled him to Mike's side.

At this time, Fudge on the podium finally stopped his speech, winked at Mike and Harry, and said with a smile:

"Okay, now I declare that the competition officially begins..."

"Wait a moment!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the sound. Everyone wanted to know who had the courage to interrupt Mr. Minister's speech.

"Mr. Minister, I'm sorry for interrupting your speech, but I have one thing that I have to mention." Karkaroff's face turned red, and he stood up tremblingly and said, "It's now about 30 minutes until the scheduled start of the game. Ten minutes have passed and player Harry is undoubtedly late, so I suggest that he be disqualified!"

As soon as these words came out, Harry, who was still in a daze, immediately woke up.

His face turned pale, and despite the cold weather, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Harry was extremely nervous at this moment. It was hard for him to imagine what would happen to him if Professor McGonagall and his classmates knew that he was disqualified from the competition because he overslept.

Fudge narrowed his eyes and looked at Karkaroff with an unkind expression.

He really didn't expect that Novkarkarov, who had betrayed all his companions, would have the courage to say such a thing.

‘It seems that the lesson given to him was not enough. ’

Thinking of this, Fudge put on a warm smile and said:

"Personally, I am willing to give Porter a chance. Since we have different opinions, let's vote."

Karkaroff nodded hard, knowing that this was already a pretty good result.

"Okay, referees, if you are willing to give Harry a chance, please raise your hands."

Fudge raised his hand as he spoke, and Bagman next to him raised his hand before Fudge could finish speaking.

Everyone's eyes fell on Dumbledore. There were only five referees. If he raised his hand again, Harry could continue the game.

Karkaroff and Maxim both clenched their fists.

In the past, they all despised Dumbledore's rigid and absolutely impartial character.

But now they desperately hope that Dumbledore can continue to be rigid.

‘Don’t raise your hands! Dumbledore! You have to remember! You are the most just person in the world! ’

Karkaroff roared deep in his heart, but Dumbledore looked at Harry in the audience.

At this moment, Harry was also looking at Dumbledore with expectant eyes.

Their eyes met in mid-air, and Dumbledore seemed to understand the meaning in Harry's eyes.

He nodded slightly, and then slowly raised his hand.

"Oh! That's great!"

"Long live Dumbledore!"

…

The crowd roared, everyone was chanting Dumbledore's name and praising his wise decision.

Harry let out a deep breath and felt that his whole body was soaked with sweat.

Amidst the cheers, Karkaroff collapsed on the referee's chair with a gloomy look.

"Hahaha!" Fudge laughed upon seeing this, "In that case, I declare that the game has officially begun!"

As soon as these words came out, Krum was the first to take action.

I saw that he had taken off his shoes and socks at some point and was running quickly towards the Black Lake.

As he ran, he was still waving his wand, casting unknown magic.

Then an astonishing scene happened. With the waving of the wand, Krum's upper body began to deform. His handsome face and strong bronze muscles disappeared, replaced by rough and tough skin and ferocious sharks. head!

"Merlin! Human Transformation! Player Krum is actually using Human Transformation! This is really too dangerous. You must know that Human Transformation can cause irreversible damage. The last guy who used Human Transformation in front of me arrived. I haven’t recovered yet!”

Bagman explained excitedly, and Cedric's face turned dark when he heard this.

"No! Contestant Krum's human transformation technique was wrong! Only his upper body turned into a shark, while his lower body remained the same!" Bagman said regretfully, "It was too late to make amends. Contestant Krum had already arrived at the lake. , he jumped! Oh! Well, let’s wish him good luck.”

Many onlookers laughed out loud. The way Krum ran with his legs against a thick shark's body and finally dived was really funny.

The other three people on the field couldn't laugh.

Fleur and Harry were tugging at their socks and shoes, and Harry seemed to be too impatient to take off his socks.

But after just such a short delay, Fleur on the side took off her fur cloak, shoes and socks, put on a tights that showed off her devilish figure, cast a hair bubble spell on herself, and then jumped into the dark. Lake.

Seeing this, Harry became even more anxious. He desperately tore at the damn socks, but to no avail.

Harry now hated the socks that Dobby the house elf had given him as a Christmas gift. He could have sworn that Dobby had never studied the difference between the soles of human feet and the soles of house elf feet when making these socks.

At this moment, Harry found that the colorful socks on his feet suddenly turned into a pair of frogman flippers. He looked at the pair of flippers in confusion, but Mike's voice came from behind him at the right time.

"Why are you still standing there, run away!"

Turning his head numbly, Harry saw Mike, wearing a set of frogman equipment, yelling at him.

"Oh! Oh! Thank you! Mike!"

Harry thanked him instinctively and hurried towards the Black Lake.

The presence of flippers made his posture look very funny, and the crowd burst into laughter again, including Malfoy who even fell to the ground with laughter.

But Harry couldn't care about anything else at the moment. He came to the lake, stuffed a ball of green stuff into his mouth, and then plunged into the black lake.

"What did I see? Player Mike gave up the opportunity to enter the Black Lake first and chose to use the transformation spell to help player Harry solve the pair of socks that couldn't be taken off! This is really noble!"

Bagman explained passionately, while Mike on the field watched Harry enter the Black Lake, and then slowly walked towards the Black Lake. As he walked, he also put on a foam headband for himself. curse.

Under the nervous and expectant gaze of everyone, Mike finally slowly entered the Black Lake.