The Selection Begins

Hogwarts, September 15th, after lunch 

In the Great Hall, the house tables were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were many small round tables with four chairs around each of them. Many of them were filled with students. At the High table, some professors were sitting. What surprised most of the students was the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore himself was also here. Apart from him, four Heads of Houses—Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape; Professor Kettleburn, who taught the Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid; and the star of today's gathering, Professor Elding, were also with them.

After a few moments, Professor Elding stood up and came forward. The doors closed by themselves.

"Welcome, young survivalists, to the selection of the first ever Survival Club in the history of Hogwarts. Let's leave flowery words for the winners and directly proceed to the task explanation.

The classification of different years in the Duelling Club applies to the Survival Club too. Meaning, first and second years have the same task, 3-5th have the same, and 6-7th years too have the same task. There is no limit to the number of winners. Even all teams can pass the test.

Some of you might argue that it's not fair for a 3rd-year student and a 5th year student to have the same task. Don't worry about it. Although the task is similar, there will be differences in the difficulty of the task.

All tasks are designed to be finished in 8 hours. You can finish early, but the task will be terminated after 8 hours. I will explain your objectives and other things that might result in the termination of the task after you enter the illusion.

Now, let the selection begin!"

At his words, a cloud of fog appeared from his trench coat and spread to the Great Hall. Their vision was blocked. After a few moments, the clouds thinned away and their eyesight was restored.

They were standing on grassland. The sun was shining in the sky. In one direction was a forest, and opposite the forest seemed to be a village. Harry noticed his clothes were strange, like those in the movies about King Arthur. A few feet from them stood the professor.

"Come forward a bit. Let me explain your task.

You can see the village in the distance. There is a girl accused of witchcraft. They want to burn her. In the next 8 hours, you should rescue her and cross the forest. When you pass the forest, you will find a town there. In that town, there is a witch. Find her and convince her to be the teacher of the witch girl. That's all. When the girl thanks you for it, your task will be cleared, and you'll become permanent members of the survival club.

After every hour, the illusion of the timer will appear high in the air and stay visible for five minutes. That's all for explanation. Your timer starts now. Good luck."

Finishing his explanation, the professor's figure disappeared.

"I thought this was going to be some type of exploration or survival-type task. A rescuing task was never an option, but what can we do?" Padma started the discussion.

"Let's deal with it. The first task at hand is finding where she is."

"And how do we do that? Any ideas?" I asked Harry, looking at all of them.

Everyone was silent for some time. Then Seraphina broke the silence with her hesitant voice:

"Should we sneak into the village and look for her?"

Harry nodded at her solution.

"I think it might be feasible. The question is, "

"It's too risky," interrupted Draco.

" The professor said they are already prepared to burn her. They might be in a vigilant state. If suspicious-looking kids sneak into the village and get caught, I doubt they'll listen to our explanation. With our skills, not to mention an extra girl, even defending ourselves against the people will be hard."

The spell list the professor handed to us has nearly no direct attack spell. Most combat spells are focused on defense and hindering the enemy. That means there are other ways to free the girl."

Once again, they became quiet. Harry thought, or tried to think. Just no other idea came to him apart from entering the village sneakily. They couldn't wait until the night. Their time was limited.

As he was distracted, Harry looked around. Something grabbed his attention. Near the village was a wheat field. As something started to formulate, Draco shouted out.

"I've got an idea! How about we start a fire in the wheat field? Surely everyone from the village comes to extinguish it. Then we can seize the opportunity and rescue the girl."

"It's such a cunning, yet the best idea we could ever come up with." Padma said.

"I have no objection either. What do you think, Seraphina?"

"I agree."

"Then it's settled. How about we divide the team into two?

One team will be responsible for distracting the enemy; another team sneaks into the village and rescues the girl." Padma suggested.

"Okay, then, me and Seraphina will be the first team. We'll start the fire and hide nearby. After making sure the fire is big enough and many villagers come, we'll go hide in the woods.

You, Padma, and Draco will sneak into the village and find her. When you are done, run for the forest. The moment you enter it, cast the Periculum spell to release red sparks into the air, and we'll find you. If there is any problem during the mission, cast the spell, and we'll go into the village." Harry made a rough plan for their actions and told them.

They nodded and went into action.

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"Let's just demand they give the witch to us and threaten to kill them if they don't agree."

"Daphne, how can we do that? They're just ordinary people!"

"Don't forget that we are in illusion, Hermione. They're not real. Even if it were, I would do that to rescue a person who can use magic from the hands of the muggles in any way I can."

"I would do my best to do that too, but there should be a way with no serious consequences." Hermione furrowed her brows.

'Why did the member who should have been the calmest among us suggested such a risky idea?'

"Actually, Daphne's idea might be plausible. Listen to me first, Hermione," spoke another girl.

"We are not going to kill or harm anyone; we'll just threaten them. The combined Incendio might come in handy at this moment. We'll proclaim that we are great witches seeking an apprentice for ourselves. If they give her to us willingly, there will be no harm to them. Otherwise, we'll burn their village down. Then we'll display the combined Incendio in the air. I'm sure they'll be too frightened to act against us."

Lisa didn't mention they would just kill them all with it if they tried to harm them or the witch girl in the village.

"It's feasible," said Daphne.

Hermione stayed silent for some time. Her face changed from worry to confusion, and then her eyes narrowed with a focused gaze.

"Let's do it! Susan, are you with us?"

"Always!"

The tense atmosphere instantly relaxed as girls laughed out at her solemn reply.

"Is this the start of some kind of movement?" Lisa asked playfully. Seeing Susan's face blush with embarrassment, she continued teasing her.

"How about we find a name for our organisation? Witch Hunters? It sounds wrong. How about Witch Guardians?"

"Lisa, stop it! I said, stop…"

Hermione noticed a smile on Daphne's face.

"Witch Guardians sounds good…"

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"Michael, your plan might work, but we should change the roles."

"What do you mean by that, Neville?" Michael said it condescendingly. Neville didn't back away, though.

"You should be the one who gets caught. You are the best among us at Blasting Charm and Incendio. It's better for you to be there than Ernie. When we create distraction, you can blast the door open and rescue her. If there is any problem, you can defend yourself and the witch. Ernie is not strong at attack and defence spells. He better stay with us."

"Neville is right, Corner. Why don't you be the main one in this plan?" said Tracy.

'You slimy snake, I won't be fooled by these smart words.'

"But I hurt my legs yesterday. It started acting up. I can't run fast."

"Does it really hurt in the illusion too?" Ernie asked innocently.

"Of course it does! Weren't you there when Professor Elding explained the rules of the illusion? All physical conditions are perfectly copied. Everything you have in real life is reflected in it."

Everyone was sceptical of his words, but no one pointed it out.

'Even if we manage to send him, can he really run away from the village with the girl?' thought Neville. 'It's better if I go there instead.'

"Then I will go. You three will create a distraction."

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"Let's go straight to them and demand that they hand her over. If not, we'll have a head-on battle with them."

"Weasley, I have to give you this: you are dull, but this plan of yours is the best at this moment." Blaise gave Ron a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm not dull! It's just that I didn't have many opportunities to show my intelligence!" Ron shouted indignantly. Blaise just laughed it off.

"Come on, even if we have no plan, we should at least talk about formation, who will be the main attacker, and so on." Anthony said, trying to make the atmosphere more serious.

'These guys are going to get me killed. Just how careless they are?'

-----------------

Similar conversations were taking place in all groups. All of them appeared like a movie on the screen in front of the professors.

Prior to this day, he refused to tell them the concepts of the tasks but gave them some general information and told them they wouldn't pose any danger to students in any way. He told them they could watch what was happening together. The professors who were sitting in the Great Hall this afternoon were those who showed interest in it.

Hundreds of illusory mirrors floated in front of the High Table. The professors were also in illusion. They appeared separately in a black room with no visible light source, but it was bright. They could think of a student or several of them, and a corresponding mirror will appear in their field of vision. They could also choose to stay with any professor together.

Stille was standing next to Dumbledore in a room. Their room had the largest number of mirrors. Dumbledore was looking at them all at the same time.

"What do you think about my methods, Headmaster?" Stille asked curiously.

"They are marvellous, my boy, I must admit. But is it worth it for an imaginary cause?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play the fool, Stille. I know you want them to prepare for the future. A future you see is filled with wars."

"You are right, Headmaster. But I just want them to prepare."

"Once again," interrupted Dumbledore, "is it worth sacrificing their childhood and their innocence for something that might or might not happen? Do we have the right to take away the happiness and simple life they could have?"

"Dumbledore, I think you have the wrong idea of a happy childhood. Wizards and witches have very different standards when it comes to it. I think you can see for yourself this week. They need a purpose; they need rivalry.

The house point system is also an attempt at this, but it isn't working anymore. The students are working so hard in my lesson for what? to get personal advice. But professors have office hours where any student can come and get their help. Then why are they so enthusiastic about me?

That's because I gave them a purpose. If they study well and fully understand my advice in that one-on-one session, they believe they can fully enjoy the adventure after that and show off to their partner.

With these competitions, their lives are livelier, more adventurous, and more satisfactory.

Now, tell me, Headmaster. Am I stripping them of a happy childhood, or am I giving them a happier one?"

Dumbledore became silent. After a few moments, he closed his eyes tiredly. A long sigh escaped from him.

"Let's see where it goes."