Thursday, May 27th.
In Gryffindor, the morning class is Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class, while Slytherin students attend Professor Borgin's Alchemy class.
With just one month remaining until the final exams, the professors have shifted their focus to reviewing the semester's material rather than introducing new content.
In Transfiguration, the review revolves around the application of various transformation spells. Professor McGonagall drops a hint that mastering cross-species transformation would guarantee full marks, though she realistically only expects Hermione to achieve this feat in the class.
Harry and Ron deliver average performances, likely influenced by Hermione's assistance. However, Neville lags significantly behind, raising concerns about his ability to pass the Transfiguration OWL exam by the following year.
The semester's alchemy studies focus on basic alchemical runes, mostly centered around simple runes, such as those mentioned before the Yule Ball. These runes are often applied to clothing, offering features like lightness, increased wearability, comfort, and functions like automatic ironing, repair, and temperature control.
If Madam Malkin from Diagon Alley had been aware of these developments, she would likely have been displeased.
These runes proved too simplistic for Skyler, having successfully inscribed invisibility magic on the Supreme Wizard's robe, comparable to Death's invisibility cloak. The runes for self-ironing and self-repair seemed trivial in comparison.
After the Transfiguration lesson, Professor McGonagall singled out Harry for a special instruction.
"Potter, head down to the Quidditch pitch at nine o'clock tonight," Professor McGonagall instructed, "Mr. Bagman will reveal the details of the third event there."
The same scenario and dialogue played out for Skyler. "You too, Mr. Malfoy. If you don't mind, go accompany Potter with you."
In the afternoon, Gryffindor and Slytherin shared the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
This class held a special place in Hermione's heart, being her favorite throughout the week.
For some mysterious reason, Professor Moody seemed particularly inclined to pair her with Skyler. Since the end of March, when she was initially scheduled to learn Security Guarding but instead delved into the Iron Armor Charm, Hermione and Skyler consistently partnered in every Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Even though Gryffindor and Slytherin shared three classes – Potions, Magical Creatures, and Defense Against the Dark Arts – it was only in the latter that Skyler had the most interactions with Hermione. Despite Skyler limiting their discussions strictly to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hermione found solace in the fact that during this period, Skyler's time belonged to her alone.
Skyler's generous guidance, irrespective of house differences, propelled her Defense Against the Dark Arts skills to new heights, contributing to her fondness for the subject.
While her peers grappled with mastering the Shield Charm, Hermione, and Skyler had already delved into practicing "protection from all evil" and "invulnerability to all evil" privately. Hermione was profoundly astonished to learn that Skyler had not only mastered the derivative spells but had also crafted his protective magic from them.
Witnessing Skyler's protective magic during the Triwizard Tournament's first event, Hermione initially assumed it was a secret inheritance exclusive to pure-blood families.
She never imagined that Skyler's mastery of magic had reached a level where he could create his own spells. This ever-widening gap between them once again made her feel that he was beyond reach, yet it fueled her determination to become stronger.
At half-past eight in the evening, Skyler bid farewell to Daphne and Astoria, encountering Harry in the hall as he descended the stairs.
"What do you think it will be?" Harry inquired as they walked down the stone steps into the cloudy night. "Ron keeps talking about the underground tunnels. He thinks we are looking for treasure."
"According to the historical practice of the Triwizard Tournament, the first two events vary each session, but the last one has never changed –"Skyler, with a smile, seemed to recall something and continued, "If you asked Granger this question, she would probably tell you that she had seen information on this in a report..."
"True," Harry scratched his head, "You and Hermione are the same type of character; you know so much."
"It's not that we know much, Harry," Skyler looked at Harry with gray pupils and said, "It's that you don't pay enough attention to knowledge. Here's a piece of advice for you: You are the Boy Who Lived, and the mark on your forehead has destined you to never be ordinary in your life. If you continue to have this muddled mentality, you will have big problems in the future."
Harry frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable. He asked, "What do you mean by this?"
"If you really want to know," Skyler said lightly, "Ask Dumbledore. He is the one who should explain this to you."
Skyler offered a kind reminder out of affection for the original protagonist. Whether Harry listened or not was not Skyler's concern. Skyler knew that he had rewritten the fate of the world, which meant that Harry's halo as the protagonist had been weakened by half. If Harry was not careful –
He would die.
Truly, Harry is no longer the protagonist in fairy tales who is protected by fate and will never die, no matter how hard he tries.
It can even be said that with his fame and status, the probability of his Death is far greater than that of any other character in the original work.
Harry snorted to express his dissatisfaction, obviously not taking Skyler's words seriously. Harry was born into a family that could be considered semi-abusive to him, which created his character of contempt for authority and distrust of elders and adults.
In the original work, he showed this character more vividly. He never obeyed Dumbledore, McGonagall, and the Ministry of Magic's persuasion and orders, always acting according to his own wishes.
He dared not even listen to what Dumbledore said, let alone what Skyler, a student of his own class, preached. He was so disgusted by it that he even forgot to ask what the third item was.
They walked along the dark lawn toward the Quidditch pitch and entered through a gap between the stands.
"What are they doing here?" Harry stopped suddenly and asked angrily. The Quidditch pitch is no longer smooth and flat. It seems as if someone has built countless long, low walls here. These low walls are intricate and winding in all directions.
"It's a shrubbery!" Skyler said, looking down at the short wall closest to him. This is a wall made of a very special kind of plant. Skyler gently picked off a leaf on it, and soon, a new leaf grew on the bare branch. It took less than 10 seconds. Five seconds.
"Interesting. Is this to prevent players from using blasting spells or cutting spells to break through the wall?" Skyler thought to himself. Even with his extensive knowledge, he couldn't name the plant. It seems that establishing this, Walled Hagrid's abilities were also greatly underestimated in the original work.
"Hello!" shouted a cheerful voice.
Ludovic Bagman stood in the middle of the court, and beside him stood Eleanor and Caterina. The two of them stepped over the low walls and walked towards them.
"What do you think?" Bagman asked cheerfully. "It's going well, isn't it? In another month, Hagrid will make them twenty feet tall. Don't worry," he said as he saw Harry and Cedric. With an unhappy expression on his face, he continued with a smile, "As soon as the competition is over, your Quidditch pitch will be restored to its original state! Okay, I think you can probably guess what we are going to do here, right?"
Looking at it, Bagman winked, and Skyler smiled and said, "It's a maze, right? It looks really interesting."
"That's right!" Bagman said, "It's a maze. The third one is that the project is very simple and clear. The Triwizard Cup is placed in the center of the maze, and whichever champion touches it first will get full points."
"We just need to pass the maze?" Eleanor asked.
Although she comes from a powerful, pure-blood family, her family is obsessed with alchemy and does not know much about various common things in the world—a typical elite house with royal families having no business with the outside world whatsoever.
"There'll be a lot of obstacles," said Bagman cheerfully, hopping up and down on tiptoe. "Hagrid has provided a whole bunch of animals...and some spells that have to be lifted...and that sort of thing, you know. Also, yes, the champion with the leading score will enter the maze first, and that will be you, Mr. Malfoy," Bagman said enthusiastically to Skyler, "then Mr. Potter and Miss Hohenheim, and finally, it is Miss Monroe's turn. But. You all have to work hard to succeed, which depends on your ability to overcome obstacles."
After the meeting, Skyler suddenly had an idea and patted Harry on the shoulder.
"Harry, can I have a word with you in the woods? Don't worry, it's just about some personal issues, and it won't take up too much of your time."
"Okay, no problem," Harry said, slightly surprised.
The two walked side by side towards the dark Forbidden Forest. Harry's face became more and more solemn, and Skyler even noticed that his hand had tightly grasped the wand in his pocket.
"Don't be nervous. I don't mean any harm," Skyler laughed dumbly. It seemed that Harry was quite wary of him, but he seemed to be thinking too much. Under Dumbledore's nose, even the little man with a slightly crazy personality, Barty, didn't dare do anything to Harry, let alone Skyler.
They finally came to a quiet clearing, still some distance away from the stables of the Beauxbatons horses. Skyler stopped under the tree and turned to look at Harry.
"Okay, what did you want to say when you called me here?" Harry said in a somewhat impatient tone.
"It's about Cho—" Skyler paused, observing Harry's livid expression, and then continued: "Do you like her?"
"It's none of your business!" Harry said angrily. It seemed to him that Skyler was simply entertaining him. Well, it cannot be denied that although Skyler had other purposes for doing these things, using this as a topic did have the intention of entertaining Harry.
"Of course, it's none of my business. You know, Cho is the core member of my fan club and my most hardcore fan. Is it okay if I care about her?" Skyler showed a mean look with a smile, "I think Cho likes me a little bit, but... alas, I already have a girlfriend…"
Harry was disgusted by Skyler. He didn't want to continue this topic, so he turned around and asked to leave.
Suddenly, there was unusual movement in the trees.
A man suddenly stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree. It was Mr. Crouch. He looked like he had been wandering outside for many days. His robe was in tatters, his body was covered in blood, his face was covered with scars, his beard was unkempt, and his face was gray and haggard.
His neat hair and beard needed washing and trimming. His appearance was certainly strange, but the strangest thing was his behavior –
He seemed to be talking to someone, and this person was only visible to him. He kept muttering to a tree and making gestures. Harry couldn't understand what he was saying but seemed to hear the name "Weatherby." He could only guess that he was mentally disturbed. Think of a tree as Percy.
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