Chapter 470 Time and Hourglass

The last week of May, Professor McGonagall Kept them behind after Transfiguration class.

"Potter, Weasley, Granger, you'll need to be in the room next to the great hall at nine o'clock tonight," Professor McGonagall told them, "Mr. Bagman is going to be there to explain to the Champions about the third task."

Exiting the Transfiguration classroom, they stood in the hallway looking out in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, where a group of ministry staff are walking through the grounds.

"What are they going to do?" Harry asked in wonder, "It looks like they're heading towards the Quidditch pitch."

They lingered for a few minutes as the people made a turn in front of the Quidditch pitch and headed off in the direction of the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. The History of Magic class is going to start in ten minutes, so they hurried to the classroom.

When the bell rang, Professor Binns floated in through the wall and lectured in a monotonous voice, as he had for decades.

"Even the food in classroom seven can't save us." Ron said.

Harry looked vexed, he desperately wanted to know what the third task is going to be now, having prepared for so long he felt more confident than he had in the previous two tasks, but his focus had no doubt shifted elsewhere.

Whether should he ask Hermione where she got the information about Voldemort? He couldn't help but think about it, imagine if he knew about the source of the information, he can take advantage of the summer work to investigate. Surely Sirius wouldn't refuse such a request, he would provide a cover for him so that the Ministry of Magic wouldn't be able to determine if he is using magic outside of school ...

Harry looked at his watch, the watch had stopped, he turned his head to ask Ron about the time, Ron's face looked blank, as his head nodded. Harry did not want to disturb Ron's beauty sleep, so he took off his already broken watch and stuffed it into his pocket, his fingertips touched a hard object, and he took it out to find a gray hourglass.

It was exchanged to him by Valen, somehow stashed in the deepest part of his pocket, he has probably forgotten it.

Harry stared at the dark golden sand grit solidified in the hourglass, thinking alone.

He suddenly came up with an idea. Harry felt amazed by this idea, he looked around - no one was looking at him, so Harry quickly took out a parchment, wrote a line on it, and handed it to Hermione who concentrated on taking notes.

This is what made Harry feel impressed, although Hermione also found the history of magic class boring and uninteresting, but she always listened and used the knowledge at the right time. Hermione looked at the parchment that suddenly appeared on the History of Magic textbook, and she puffed out her cheeks in discontent.

Harry gestured with his eyes for her to read the words on it, and Hermione looked down and read the small words on it, " Did you have that discarded Time-turner with you?"

Hermione nodded her head in a small motion and hung her head lower, pulling a thin gold chain from her collar. Harry stared, watching as she placed a gold timepiece on the parchment and gently pushed it to him.

"Thanks." Harry mumbled in a small voice, impatiently picking up the golden timepiece. According to Hermione, an intact time-turner would glow, but the one in front of him looked very old. Its core is an hourglass that is spherical at both ends, with several rings of metal brackets around the outside, and adjustable knobs around the edges.

Harry took a deep breath, held it, and placed the gray hourglass and time-turner together, and was surprised to find that the two hourglasses are nearly identical in size. Exactly the same ... then can it be replaced? He forcefully wriggled the time-turner, trying to remove the hourglass on top, but the hourglass did not move at all.

He was forced to stop, he did not dare to pressure it further. Harry looked up sheepishly, only to meet Hermione's shocked eyes.

"How did you come up with that?"

Hermione asked impatiently as soon as class ended, at which point they had just come out of History of Magic class, and in the last half hour, Hermione had conveniently forgotten about Professor Binns at the podium - "Giants are brutal by nature, and they kill each other in greater numbers than all the other reasons put together ..."-and just kept one eye on the hourglass and broken time-turner in Harry's hand with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I don't know. Just ... a flash of insight?" Harry said with an innocent face, Ron looked at the two somewhat confused.

They finished their meal quickly and walked through the common room door where Fred and George are selling a new product with their good friend Lee Jordan, it is a hat-shaped thing, normally Harry would have padded over to look at it, as twins' products are usually interesting - as long as they don't use it on him.

But today they walked right past the crowd, ignoring the gasps around them, and went straight to the hidden corner. At the gesture of Hermione's eyes, Harry took out the hourglass and the golden time-turner, which he deliberately put together, especially the two different hourglasses.

"Hiss~" Ron sucked in a breath of air. "Shouldn't--"

"Yeah, we thought so too," Hermione said excitedly, "I totally missed it before! Even though they're about the same size ... but ... who would have thought to assemble them together? One from an ancient Greek dark wizard thousands of years ago, and one from the legendary alchemist Nicolas Flamel who just died."

Ron picked up the gray hourglass and shook it so hard that the dark golden substance inside solidified into a lump and stuck to the glass interior without moving, "Except for one thing," he said, "they're both broken. Hermione, you're wasting your time, you said so personally, that Professor Hap examined it."

"Oh, oh ..." Hermione said perfunctorily, "but Professor Hap shouldn't know that Valen had secretly taken the goblin's hourglass, under the impression that he had told Valen to give everything back. "

Harry's heart pounded, and he suddenly realized that if he could get the golden time-turner fixed, they would have a time-turner that wasn't restricted by the Ministry of Magic, even though he didn't know what he would use it for yet, and Hermione had said a bunch of restrictions before.

But if an accident does happen, like that time at the bridge, if Hermione did not have the time-turner in her hand to find Professor Hap in time that day, one or two of them would likely be dead, or at least Peter Pettigrew would most likely be escaped.

Harry showed extreme concern in this matter, "Let's give it a try! What if it works?"

"The problem is, how are we going to disassemble ... it," Hermione said with a frown.

"Also, we don't have the tools, does Hogsmeade have a store that sells pliers?" Harry asked.

"Don't be silly," Hermione said, "it's more sophisticated than anything you've ever seen, and by no means a pair of pliers or a screwdriver will do the trick ... Let me think," she repeatedly surveyed the broken gold Time-Turner, and muttered to herself for a while: "No ... this is not something we can ever deal with unless ..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless we can get our hands on the research data of the people who worked on this before us." Hermione said decisively.

"What do you mean-" Ron stared at her.

"This broken time-turner once belonged to Nicolas Flamel, and the Professor mentioned that Mr. Nicolas Flamel left quite a few things behind, and I think, well, if the Professor allowed Valen to give away the broken time-turner, then he shouldn't mind if we look through some of the information ..."

"Wouldn't it be better if we went directly to Professor Hap for help?" Ron asked in disbelief as he cautioned, "It's the fastest way."

"Sure," Hermione said with a straight face, "but we have to at least come up with some evidence, don't we?"

...

At 8:30 p.m., they exited the common room and headed downstairs to the great hall. On the way, Ron asked Harry about screwdrivers, and Harry explained first the purpose of screws, and then the different kinds of screwdrivers, "There's a toolbox with tools of all sizes, and they can also unscrew nuts-"

"What's that?" Ron asked in amazement, "Dad would love it, he's collected a chest of knobs and switches."

In the entrance hall, they met the Beauxbatons' Champions and Fleur greeted Harry warmly, leaning down to give him a kiss on each cheek. Ron's face showed a look of anticipation, Hermione grunted in displeasure, and both boys looked giddy.

When he came back to his senses, Harry found himself sitting on the sofa in the room next to the great hall, and the big guy from Uagadou smiled at him innocently, how strange, when did he sit down? He absolutely did not remember his experience of walking through the great hall.

"... My sister Gabrielle will be coming over next month, with mom and dad. A few days before the third task..." Fleur said cheerfully from the sidelines, Harry looked to his left and right, Ron is sitting with him, looking at Fleur with the same fascination, where is Hermione? The next second he saw Hermione, she and Collins sat together.

They waited until close to ten o'clock, when the lights in the castle would usually be out, and Bagman walked in.

He dressed in a pair of yellow strappy pants that looked like an oversized baby outfit, and he looked quite tired, with his short blond hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. He steeled himself to hold out his hands and looked at the champions in the room.

"Hello guys!" He said.

"First of all I would like to say good luck to all of you, yes, that's right, the tournament has finally reached the final stage successfully, and I think it is something to celebrate both for you and for me as well." Bagman wiped the sweat on his forehead, "Honestly, I've been exhausted lately, I just communicated with the staff today about the tournament venue, there were so many problems, luckily I had Hagrid to help out with ideas ..." Harry and Ron exchanged a look of horror.

"When the tournament is over, I'll be sure to request a holiday ... Ahem, let's get back to business, the third task-" he winked, "is a maze. The third task is very simple and clear. The trophy for the Tournament is placed at the very top of the maze, and whichever team manages to touch it first will get full points."

"The very top?" Krum asked in a deep voice.

"Yeah," Bagman smoothed his chest strap, "I never said there is only one level in the maze, did I?"

"So we just have to get through the maze?" Fleur asked for confirmation, "Find the right way?"

"Of course not, Miss Delacour," Bagman shook his head, his voice becoming cheerful, "Hagrid provided a whole bunch of creatures ... and some charms that had to be lifted... . Blah, blah, blah, it was a contest of speed. The champion team with the leading score enters the maze first. We'll post the scores of the first two tasks, rules, and order in the entrance hall; it's too late today, so we have to wait till tomorrow ..."

"In addition to this, there is one more thing you need to be reminded of. No attacks on each other will be allowed in the labyrinth - we will oversee the whole process - but trophy grabbing is allowed, of course, only if all members of the same team are not gathered." Bagman looked at the champions who staring straight at him, a smile appeared on his round face, "You will find that the trophy is the door key. When three people from one team touch it at the same time, it will function and take you out of the maze."

The room suddenly became very quiet. Bagman waited a few seconds and tiptoed uneasily, "That's it! Champions!"

...

"I can't believe it! They actually allowed the champions to fight!" Ron said incredulously. As soon as they came out of the room, he commented impatiently.

"It's not fighting, it's trophy grabbing." Harry corrected him without a second thought, he thought it sounded normal, and faintly he felt eager to try.

"But - if we don't attack each other, how do we get the trophy from them?" Ron asked.

Harry hesitated too, "I guess there will be restrictions, like no harmful spells allowed or something ... Bagman said the rules will be posted tomorrow."

"I still think we have to be careful." Ron said.

At this point, Harry noticed that Hermione stayed silent the whole time, so he asked her curiously, "Hermione, what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, uh," Hermione flustered and smoothed her hair, "remember what Bagman said, the parents of the champions would be invited to watch the tournament, and I haven't mentioned it to my family ... in fact, um. " She looked carefully at Harry and Ron, "I made up some lies. I said in my letter to them that ... there is only one champion from each school, and Hogwarts has two because of the accident ... of course, the other one is not me ... oh dear, I told them The second champion is Harry!"

Harry and Ron opened their mouths wide in surprise.

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