A little time passed, when Ernest Macmillan and Justin returned together, and they both undoubtedly failed.
The two remained silent for a while, when Ernest asked him, “Do you want to try again?” Justin shook his head as he casually found an empty spot and sat down: “Give me a break.” He said, somewhat incredulously, “How did Potter do that?”
When they looked back towards Potter, they saw him disappear again, and a wave of admiration rose up in their hearts. When he failed twice or three times, there were still Slytherin’s booing, and even Gryffindor’s students felt a bit ashamed, but when he failed for the ninth or tenth time, no one laughed at him anymore.
Harry’s two friends – Hermione and Ron also tried once, now they slumped at one side.
Justin asked him after some hesitation, “Ernest, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?” Ernest asked him casually.
“It’s not about the selection, it’s about an antique vase someone gave my parents during the summer … holiday, which I always felt a bit odd …”
Ernie muttered, “It can’t be cursed, right?”
“Is that possible?” Justin asked him nervously.
“How would I know, I’ve never even seen one.” Ernest rolled his eyes, “But I do know who you can ask for help.”
“Who?”
“Professor Hap, of course, he’s the best at these magical artefacts.”
“Yeah,” Justin immediately agreed, “Ernest, you’re right, then I’ll have Mom and Dad send that stuff over-”
“That thing is just on display at your house?” Ernest’s eyes widened, which made him look like a bulldog.
“Uh, yeah.” Justin said with embarrassment, and seeing Ernest’s eyes widen again, he hurriedly added, “But that antique is in a cabinet, and no one usually touches it.”
Ernest thought for a moment, “In that case, I suggest you don’t send a letter home. Come on, let’s go find Professor Hap.”
“Now?” Justin asked in surprise.
“Of course! What are you waiting for? What if there’s a curse on it?” Ernest couldn’t help but shout at him, his face turning red from agitation.
With that, Justin couldn’t sit still either, “Let’s go find Professor Hap at once!”
When Justin and Ernest Macmillan hurriedly passed through a small group of Slytherin students, they inadvertently stepped on Pansy Parkinson’s foot, who was talking to a sullen Draco Malfoy.
“Ouch!” Pansy yelped in pain.
“Ah! Sorry-” Justin said apologetically, Pansy glared at him and was just about to make a sarcastic remark when Justin got pulled away by Ernest, “Come on, the professors left for a while.”
Pansy pointed at them and shouted, “Draco, look at them – the Macmillan family has degenerated and become as uncultured as those muggles – I should have persuaded my father to write to his family to keep him away from those stinking… …”
“Sister, do you think she looks like a crazy fox?” A little girl with delicate features asked.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Astoria.” Daphne took her sister by the hand and squeezed her hand hard, but a small smile spread in the corner of her eyes. She nudged her eyebrows toward Pansy’s side, signalling that she would overhear.
Pansy really didn’t hear her, as she was repeating her grandfather’s words, “Hufflepuff’s students are a dull and goofy bunch, so most of them don’t have much of a good life.” Draco listened with little patience as he turned his head and looked in Astoria’s direction.
Astoria looked startled and whispered somewhat sheepishly in Daphne’s ear, “He… probably… heard… it. ” She stared nervously at Draco Malfoy for some time, and then realized that he didn’t seem to have any intention of telling the fox face, and finally felt relieved.
It didn’t take long for her to get restless again –
“Can I release my baby Snake now?”
” No” her sister replied with a blank stare.
Outside classroom seven.
Professors gathered in the faculty common room, Felix took out tea, Flitwick retrieved some teacups from an old cabinet, Professor Sprout took out some black flower petals and added them to the tea, as they sipped the tea and chatted cheerfully.
But Snape left early, with the excuse that another batch of potions needed to be processed. Although Moody stayed, he politely declined to join them for a cup of tea.
“Felix, what are you planning to do?” Flitwick asked.
“I currently have the memories of a few professors, so I can work with them to design some dangerous scenarios in which students can exercise their reflexes, their ability to face crises, and how to fight, etc. The memories … will be used to give pointers based on the student’s characteristics individually. So far, I just came up with these.”
“That’s all you can do now.” Flitwick said with a nod, “Who knows what the competition events are, and what the specific rules are.”
Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with his words. He knew that the first event is likely to be a dragon, but he is not clear about the exact rules. It could be persisting under the attack of the dragon for a period of time, or it could be taking something from the dragon. Judging from Charlie’s earlier remark that the Ministry of Magic picked all the female dragons that were hatching eggs, this possibility is the greatest.
Moody said gruffly: “I’m not really good at memory magic and stuff like that, but if you ask me, real skills can only be honed in real situations, fake is fake, why not lead these students to a Real Dangerous place!”
Flitwick said uneasily, “Alastor, that’s not appropriate. We can’t bring students out of school …”
“What’s inappropriate! This generation has never experienced war and has been pampered, how can we expect them to react calmly when facing a competition event?” Moody spat disdainfully, “If they are my Auror team, I will definitely train them hard and take them to catch dark wizards a few times. It doesn’t take much time, three to five times on the line, they’ll be transformed.”
Flitwick said pointedly, “They’re just students! Not your Auror team.”
“But the tournament they face is more dangerous than the average Auror’s situation!” Moody growled.
“No, absolutely not … Minerva wouldn’t agree to that, and neither Dumbledore would …,” Flitwick muttered.
Felix poured himself a cup of tea, leaned back in his chair, gazed at the amber tea in the cup, and said slowly: “Taking students out of school is probably impossible, not to mention it’s still a deliberate attempt to venture into a dangerous place. Professor Moody, your teaching style proved very controversial right now…”
“Unforgivable Curse?” Moody grinned, sneering, which made his magic fake eye constantly rotate: “They should be glad that the first time they saw this spell, it was in my classroom.”
And not on the battlefield …
This is the unfinished meaning of his words, which the other three professors present understood.
Moody had been using the old style of teaching and wanted to teach the students with brutalism. In his plan, he also intended to cast a spell on the students, so that they could experience the effects of each vicious curses, which, naturally, included the three unforgivable curses.
Of course, he picked the Imperius Curse. The other two were too dangerous, that even Moody didn’t dare to use them on the students.
Such an outrageous teaching plan drew Flitwick and Sprout’s collective opposition, the tea party also dispersed, Flitwick went in the direction of the headmaster’s office hurriedly, as if to let Dumbledore properly persuade his best friend.
When only Felix and Moody were left alone, Felix looked at the time, and then asked him: “Want to go and have a look? I reckon there should be a few students who have got their invitation cards, provided that they realize they can try multiple times.”
Moody thought about it, “Forget it! I’ll skip the drama. Didn’t you say at the meeting that the selection will last through the weekend? Just give me a list by Monday and let me know who’s participating in the training!”
With some effort, he shifted his cloak to one side to make room for his wooden leg to land on, then grabbed his cane with his scarred, rough hand and propped himself up with a firm grip.
“Albus said you had a lot of nerve, and I thought you’d understand what I am doing.” Moody said lightly.
He limped away.
Felix sat alone in the faculty common room, quietly thinking. I don’t know how long it took, but a knock suddenly sounded on the door and a tall, lean figure of Ernest Macmillan rushed in.
“Mr. Macmillan, what can I do for you?” Felix asked calmly.
“Professor Moody told me you were here. Oh, uh …” Ernest’s momentum wilted as he fished Justin out from behind him, “Professor Hap, it’s Justin, he has something important to discuss with you … ”
After a few minutes, Felix caught on, “So – an antique has appeared in your home that you suspect of being cursed, or specifically, that there may be some sort of curse on it?”
“That’s right, Professor.” Justin nodded hastily.
“Is that so …” Felix fell into contemplation as he asked him, “Mr. Finch-Fletchley, please give me your hand.”
“What? Oh–” Justin watched as the professor held out his hand, puzzled, but nevertheless he complied.
The two clasped their hands together.
“Picture that thing.” Felix stated.
Justin began to recall, he had a deep impression of the antique, as he fiddled with it for a long time out of suspicion, so he recalled it very easily at the moment.
Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, in the air a vase with a blue and silver body outlined, which resembled a combination of a goblet and a thin-mouthed vase with a layer of blue with champlevé. Adorned with lapis lazuli, the vase featured two harp-shaped arched handles at the top, from which a silver chain leads to a strap that dangles near a smooth, clean silver base.
“A silver artefact. Probably a goblin-wrought silver craft?” Felix chuckled softly, “Can it repel common dust?”
Justin’s eyes lit up, “That’s what the gift giver told my dad, I heard it was made using some old and special craftsmanship that is unique …”
Ernest Macmillan couldn’t help but shout at him, “That’s clearly a characteristic of goblin wares! Before you didn’t tell me about it, or I would have figured it out a long ago!”
“But I don’t know much about it either.” Justin argued.
“Justin,” Felix interrupted their conversation, “do you have anyone at home right now?”
“They’re usually very busy and don’t get back until late.” Justin added, “Weekends’ too.”
“Well, then, I’ll go with you tonight to visit your parents.” Felix said, standing up and flicking his wand, making the tea disappear into thin air, the cups cleaned up and floated back to the cupboard.
“Let’s go back and see, I wonder how many people got their invitation cards?”
Justin said in a rush, “There are three before I came out, Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, Roger Davies from Ravenclaw, and Collins Foley from Slytherin.”
…
” To hell with it,” said Ron, blushing as if he had a serious illness, “you just can’t imagine what it’s like to be flooded by those nail-sized swarms of spiders, a million legs wriggling all over you, digging into your mouth, ears, nose… … Damn, I now find Hagrid’s Aragog is much more appealing in its cage.”
Hermione hugged her knees and sat silent as she gradually regained her senses, and after a long moment of hesitation, she whispered, “I found a shortcut that might get me an invitation card, but I don’t know if it’s considered cheating …”
“What do you mean?” Ron stared at her.
Then the Hovering Black Door slowly opened and Harry stepped out of it, holding a golden card.
———–
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