Chapter 469 May ( 2 in 1)

After the Easter holiday, the weather became more and more pleasant with each passing day, and the view of the Forbidden Forest from the castle's high point showed a very pleasant green landscape, and the Black Lake regained its vibrancy; at weekends, students gathered in the grass and green willows by the lake to enjoy the warm sunshine.

Of course, this kind of relaxation only belongs to students who have finished their assignments.

"I've had enough! We're only in fourth grade, why do we have to do so many assignments?" Seamus complained loudly, "Professor McGonagall mistaken us for an upper grade, didn't she?"

"No," Dean said glumly, "She also mentioned in her last class that she should have moved the fifth-grade Careers Advice to fourth grade, so we'd be more motivated to study."

"Oh ..." Seamus let out a strangled cry, "Give me a break." He said disgruntled, "We still have three full years to graduate."

"It, uh, actually the professor is doing this for our own good," said Neville, swallowing hard, "Don't forget from next year the school is going to implement new assessments for fifth and seventh grade, fifth grade will have to master Side-Along Apparition and seventh grade will have to master Apparition-- -"

"What if we can't pass?" Seamus asked uneasily.

"Naturally, we'll need to work through the Christmas holidays, the Easter holidays, and the period after the annual exams." Dean counted on his fingers, and Seamus' face changed, but Dean kept on adding, "Also, the professors are still debating about adding the Disarming Charm and Shield Charm in other grades, but it's not confirmed yet."

Seamus breathed a sigh of relief as he had mastered these two spells. He thought for a moment and asked, "Harry hasn't organized a dueling self-study group for a while, right?"

"Yeah," Dean said, "There's no choice, they're preparing for a third task. Honestly, they've already widened the gap between us, and Ron even mastered Apparition."

...

While the sun shone brightly and the water glistened at Black Lake, Classroom Seven is a different story.

The sound of sharp blades sliding through the shrubs rang out in the deep forbidden forest, and Ron walked cautiously forward, occasionally tripping over the twisted roots of trees on the ground. The touch of the leaves beneath his feet is so real that he had long forgotten that it is all an illusion, and his nerves tightened to the breaking point.

A rustling sound sounded behind him - Ron turned around keenly, "Impedimenta!" He shouted, and the spell pinned the unexpected Acromantula in place as Ron turned and scurried away.

"You should have used the Arania Exumai." Felix's memory body floated in midair and said, at that moment, Ron is hiding behind a large tree, cautiously looking around, so he ended up surprised.

"I know," Ron muttered, "you might as well tell me where Harry and Hermione are."

"Oh, you mean that, they're in the other direction." Felix's memory body pointed him in a direction.

Ron gave a suspicious expression, "You're not trying to trick me, right?"

"I'm a professor." The memory body chuckled snidely as he hugged his shoulders.

"Just a memory body," Ron muttered in a small voice, "Okay, I will trust you once more."

Ten minutes later.

"Ahhhhhhhh-"

Ron stumbled out of the mist, followed by a group of giant Acromantula the size of a wagon, and he kept casting Arania Exumai behind him, shouting in aggravation as he ran, "You lied to me!"

"I didn't, look ahead." The memory body said with a smile.

Ron looked up in the middle of his busy journey and saw a hazy light in front of him, his heart rose with hope, the "click-click-click" sound behind him was not terrifying anymore, and a surge of strength emerged from his body, supporting him to run through the last stretch of the path, he finally saw Harry -

Harry is leaning against a tree, standing on a raised black rock, constantly chanting spells in all directions, a white flame - it is a bright rune fire-making spell - forming a circular ring of flame around Harry to help him ward off the approaching Acromantula.

"Yes." Ron slapped his head as the Bright Rune and Fire-Making Spell combined in his hand to form a wave of flames, as he shouted, "Harry, I'm here--" Harry looked back and chanted a spell in his direction, and the Arania Exumai spell knocked away the Acromantula that followed him.

Ron rolled and crawled up on the black rock.

"You did find a good place." Ron said as he calmed down and began to help Harry check out the gaps using the Arania Exumai spell.

"The best place is up there." Harry said sullenly.

"Hey, Ron." Hermione's voice sounded above their heads, and Ron looked up to see Hermione sitting in the branches of the large tree behind them with a cheeky smile on her face. It dawned on him - the white flames are under Hermione's control.

"Why did you climb the tree, it is not conducive to escape." Ron said.

"Oh, I've managed to practice Banishing Charm pretty well, so it's just right timing to practice the spell you guys discovered-" Hermione said, standing high up with her hand on her forehead as she gazed far away, "I seem to see Collins and the group, taking on a big guy. Let's get a grip!"

She cancelled the spell, and the tip of her wand deftly released a red light, Harry and Ron also followed suit to use the stunning spell, and soon the big spiders stacked on top of each other.

Hermione used a shock absorption spell and landed smoothly. Then they went in the direction Hermione just pointed out, encountering a variety of magical creatures along the way, "Wow!" After using a Freezing Charm to freeze a bunch of pixies, Ron marvelled, "I'm liking this place more and more."

Harry grinned, that is true, if it is just a boring magic practice session, he absolutely will not be able to bear that. The time he made the most progress - besides Professor Hap's high-intensity training and Sirius's dueling games - is when he is in classroom seven.

As they made their way forward, midway through the journey, they saw a leisurely strolling Erumpent, a large rhinoceros-like beast with a thick gray hide that could defend against common spells, and their horns are not only sharp, they can also inject a liquid that explodes; the trio immediately hid behind a rock.

" Oops, need to go away." Ron whispered, while staring at the small fellow next to the large Erumpent - it should be a cub, far more lively than the adult Erumpent, it is constantly kicking and stomping a sales stand.

After a few minutes of staring, the mother Erumpent walked away with the young one, then they came out from behind the rock and picked a refreshment each at the unmanned sales stand.

"I love the whole idea of this setup." Ron said, slipping two extra butterbeer into his pocket.

"It's fake." Harry reminded him, "It's just a memory that will disappear when we leave the place. And the original intent is to supply the ghosts in the school so the kitchen no longer needs to stock the rotten food."

"I know," Ron shrugged, "but you can't ask for much more than this in classroom seven. I mean, even though Professor Flitwick's memory offers uniquely flavoured fruit punch and fudge after a duel, - well, you'll wonder, are you really a fool who can only swing a stick? After coming out of there every time."

"It's a baboon brandishing a stick." Hermione pursed her lips and smiled.

It took a while, but they managed to find Cedric's team using the Four-Point Spell to locate the direction.

"Need some help?" Harry shouted from a distance.

"That couldn't be better." A voice heard beside their feet, startling them. Harry stared at the grey-green thing in front of him - it is Roger Davies, who is collapsed on the ground. "What happened to you?"

"Apparently, I was poisoned by the manticore's tail hook." Roger Davies said as he slumped on the ground, encircled by a gray-green mist.

Harry and the group looked at each other. Cedric and Collins struggled, the manticore's hide can repel almost all known spells, Cedric constantly used the transfiguration to create chains, trying to entangle its legs, while also avoiding the "swoosh" tail hooks slicing through the air.

Collins released a cloud of black mist, combined with the Conjunctivitis Curse and Slippery Jinx, in an attempt to restrain this extremely dangerous beast.

Harry shot out a powerful Disarming Charm, and a blinding red light struck the manticore, he didn't know if it worked, but he liked this spell, and recently he had been attempting to incorporate runes into it, but it just never worked yet. The manticore took two steps back, then flicked its tail hook and the spell flew past Cedric's hair.

"Nice way to say hello." Cedric said, Harry grinned, and used the Runic Aguamenti Charm on the manticore, "It has little effect-" Cedric was halfway through the sentence when Hermione coordinated it with a Freezing Spell, and the manticore's body quickly froze.

"Are you okay?" Ron just ran over, supporting the wobbly Collins, Collins shook her head and was just about to say something when her eyes suddenly widened.

"Watch out!"

A cold glinting tail hook penetrated through Ron's chest, Ron blinked incredulously, he felt no pain, but the tail hook did penetrate his chest, Harry and Hermione shouted, watching Ron slowly fall ...

Two minutes later, Ron sat on the ground with a steady gray-green mist emanating from his chest - similar to Roger's look earlier - and said bitterly to Collins, "Thanks for the company."

Collins rolled her eyes at him, and she didn't refuse the butterbeer Ron handed her, then they looked together at Cedric, Harry, and Hermione, who are still fighting in the distance.

Hermione used the ancient magic, the golden flame transformed into a burning phoenix, as it swooped down to peck the manticore with its sharp beak, the manticore let out a palpitating grunt from its abdomen and kept yanking away the chains under its feet, its tail hook swinging wildly. But with the cooperation of the three - Harry used an excellent Fogging Spell - the manticore's range of vision lessened even more.

The balance tilted toward victory, and Roger Davies in the distance crawled over to watch the action up close, ready to cheer upon victory, when another manticore emerged from the depths of the forbidden forest, accompanied by a young manticore.

The next scene was disastrous, first Harry was trampled to death by the rampaging mother manticore, then Hermione, and a short minute later, six people sat on the ground in a gray-green mist, watching the swaggering manticore family walking away with their heads held high.

"It's not our blame," Ron reassured them, "that is not a creature we can deal with in the first place, it is classified 5x by the Ministry of Magic and is far more dangerous than the Acromantula colony as a whole."

"I hope the Ministry of Magic judges thinks so too." Roger Davies said. "But, uh, I've heard this thing lives in the Forbidden Forest, deep inside ..."

"That's true," Hermione said, "Hagrid bred the Firetrail Snail out of a manticore."

Cedric and Roger Davies looked crestfallen.

"Don't worry, I don't think the Ministry of Magic will let us face an uncontrolled manticore," Hermione said with certainty, "it's too dangerous, the book says it can kill you with a single sting, without giving you time to heal. The Ministry of Magic will certainly learn from the lessons of previous competitions, such as the one in 1792 ..."

"Is she always like this?" Collins asked Ron in a whisper.

"Oh, uh." Ron shrugged and said with a stiff tongue, "Sounds pretty logical, no?"

No one but Hermione thought so, even though what she said did happen in real history. They took a break and waited until the mist cleared from their bodies and separated; Cedric intending to approach Professor McGonagall's memory to ask about Transfiguration, and Collins more interested in discussing spell coordination with Professor Flitwick's memory.

Harry and the gang stayed in Classroom Seven until late afternoon, when a group of ghosts walked past them.

"Hello, Nick." Harry greeted the Gryffindor ghost, 'Nearly Headless Nick'. "Is it time for dinner?"

The ghost paused, "Yeah, you'd better hurry, or the food will be gone." He said to himself, looking at the tail end of the ghost team, "I need to hurry up too."

"Let's hurry up and head out." Ron said immediately, as he moved ahead in the lead. At that moment, the Nearly Headless Nick pulled him back - through his arm, to be exact - and Ron straightened up and shivered.

"Oh, sorry, we'd better duck and wait for her to pass ...," Nearly Headless Nick said.

"Wait for who--" Ron was about to ask, when Harry and Hermione pulled him from left and right, to hide in the mists. After a couple of seconds, a short, chubby ghost passed them, wearing a pair of thick, peach-coloured glasses that Harry suspected existed to hide the pimples on her face - while she was still alive.

"It's Myrtle!"

"Shh--" Nearly Headless Nick shushed them nervously, holding his transparent finger over his lips, and from Harry's point of view, both Nick in front of him and Myrtle in the distance looked spooky.

Myrtle is a poor ghost, although his few brief moments together were not pleasant, still Harry felt sorry for her.

It is Voldemort's fault again. He stared at Myrtle's distant figure and thought, 'This is the first murder committed by Voldemort, only it was through the eyes of the basilisk.'

Harry's expression dropped heavily, throughout May he tried not to think about whether Voldemort is alive or dead, and fully focused on preparing for the third task, but when he was alone, he could not help but think back about the information about Voldemort. He accidentally saw Hermione's notes, which mentioned Voldemort's childhood - he did not know where Hermione learned it from, and he did not want to ask, probably from Professor Hap.

If Hermione knew that he is interested in these things, she would advise him not to think too much.

But Harry couldn't forget the notes: demonstrated outstanding magical talent before even being enrolled in school; feared by his peers; aloof and cold; and ... one day in 1937, he met a young Dumbledore and was allowed to enter Hogwarts to study.

How Dumbledore did not see through Voldemort's pretence? Harry thought indignantly, if only he just stayed in the orphanage, so many things would be avoided. Wool's Orphanage - that's the name, right? Harry tried his best to remember, thanks to Uncle Vernon who threatened him more than once that he would send him to an orphanage, he is no stranger to the name of the orphanage in Surrey.

But then he thought, Voldemort probably didn't have lived in Surrey, which made him deflated.

At that moment, he suddenly felt like he has fallen into the ice hole - it was Nick who had pulled him back in a hurry, and he backed away quickly as he moved away from the ghost's outstretched arm, "What's wrong?"

"You were almost spotted." Nearly Headless Nick said with an apologetic face as they hid in the fog and listened to his explanation, "Listen to me, the appearance of classroom seven is a boon for all the ghosts, we can taste food again, although it can't be compared to being alive, after all, the taste is limited ... but ... it is already very good ..."

"What does this have to do with Myrtle?" Ron asked in disbelief, quickly poking his head out of the fog, "She's gone."

"You know, as a ghost, she doesn't participate much in group activities ... she's too introverted and hung up on her own death ..." Nearly Headless Nick said, "We had a meeting and the fat friar suggested that we should avoid her when she comes to classroom seven, so she doesn't get too down and stop coming."

"That's very thoughtful of you guys." Ron said with an uncertain tone, he was once scared by Myrtle in his second year and fell straight into the entrance of the chamber, but of course, his story afterward suggested that he had jumped off his own accord.

"Thanks." Nearly Headless Nick said happily, waving goodbye to them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed out the door, still discussing the incident along the way.

"They did the right thing, I mean, classroom seven belongs to Hogwarts and all the ghosts do have the right to go there, don't they?" Hermione said.

"I just think he was wrong about Myrtle's personality," Ron said, "Introvert? She's gutsy in some ways ..." He looked over at Harry, who immediately understood what he meant.

It is rumoured that one of Myrtle's hobbies is to sneak into the Head Boy's washroom and peek at the Head Boy's shower, and Ron had asked Cedric and Roger Davies about this with great interest, and, well, it turned out to be true.

They walked out of Classroom Seven and into the great hall, lucky enough to make it in time for the last bit of the meal when Roger Davies waved at them from across the Hufflepuff table, and Ron suddenly let out a "poof" of laughter, "Ouch - I-i thought of Myrtle--" Harry also laughed, feeling much better.

Hermione looked at them wonderingly. At that moment, a group of owl couriers flew in, and the brown owl landed in front of Hermione with the Sunday Prophet newspaper, which Hermione flipped open and quickly browsed.

"What's the news?" Harry asked.

"Oh, let's see ..." Hermione said with her head down, "I'd actually prefer to see news about the 'future world', but given the previous bad news, no news is the best ... there is it! Rita Skeeter's new book is on sale, it's a biography about Regulus," she said looking up to Harry, "I should get a copy and see what it says."

"When did you become so concerned about her?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Oh, well, how can I put it," Hermione smiled brightly, "I found out that she made some research about what she writes, maybe one-tenth of the truth? You need to pick out the useful stuff."

Harry had to admit that there is some truth in this because the 'Future World' company suddenly was investigated by the Ministry of Magic under the guise of "Misuse of Muggle Artefacts" and "Illegal Modification of Muggle Artefacts", as well as "the potential risk involving exposure of the wizarding world".

They were so desperate that they kept writing to Ron's father, Percy, Remus, and Sirius to ask about the situation, but within a few days the matter disappeared, and instead, Fudge was exposed to have accepted large bribes from several pureblood families.

During that time, news of Fudge clarifying false information and new evidence being broken could often be seen in the same newspaper, and after that, the news about the 'Future World' company became less and less.

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