From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 328 Tradition is Cheating

"Let me go! You rude guys!" said a cold voice.

Then the voices of other dragon researchers came from that direction: "Professor Victor's magic is really effective. Who would have thought that we had just arrived at Hogwarts and someone would come to secretly invade?"

"He might be an egg thief! All dragon eggs are Class A contraband and can be sold for a good price on the black market!"

"I'm not an egg thief!" The cold voice was filled with shame and anger. "I've already told you, you'd better let me go!"

"Professor Karkaroff?" Hagrid asked in surprise. "What's the matter with you?"

"Professor?" The dragon researchers quickly let go of their hands, and Karkaroff fell to the ground in the Forbidden Forest that was completely covered with rotten leaves. "There are professors from Hogwarts coming, why didn't you tell us in advance?"

"He's not actually a professor at Hogwarts..." Hagrid was halfway through his explanation when he let out a short, surprised cry. "Ah! You want to know what the first project is? Right? Great! Durmstrang is blatantly cheating!"

"Stop talking nonsense, you big, stupid guy!" Karkaroff jumped up from the ground and brushed off the tiny leaves stuck to his goatee. "I can see the headmaster of Beauxbatons! You guys are working together to keep Durmstrang in the dark, right?"

"Ah!" Hagrid's face turned red at an alarming speed. "How dare you? Olympe is a noble person. She would never--"

Hagrid could no longer defend himself, because even he had secretly asked Harry to put on the invisibility cloak and follow him to experience the test of the first task.

"Ha! You can't go on, right? I've known for a long time that you were up to some ulterior motive and secretly colluding!" Karkaroff accused complacently, completely being the first to complain.

"This is a very serious accusation. Do you have any evidence, Professor Karkaroff?" Ivy asked.

Karkaroff turned to look at Ivy after hearing the voice, and asked after a long while: "Who are you? I have never seen you before!"

"I asked Professor Victor to provide a little help in the Triwizard Tournament." A smiling voice answered Karkaroff's question.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Charlie exclaimed in surprise, "It turns out that Professor Victor's magic can really summon you! Great, now we can rest assured!"

"Oh, Charlie, please put more effort into the dragon and let an old man like me enjoy my time in bed!" Dumbledore replied with a smile.

"Dumbledore!" Karkaroff's face turned pale. Before, he just said that Hogwarts and Beauxbatons were colluding with each other just to throw mud, but now Dumbledore actually showed up, which meant that what he suspected might become true.

"Professor Dumbledore..." Hagrid seemed to want to hide his blushing cheeks, but his height was so high that he was still very conspicuous even if he lowered his head.

"Dumbledore," Madame Maxime finally stopped circling the dragon's lair and joined the conversation, "Professor Hagrid is a passionate person. Everything that happened tonight was just an accident."

"A wonderful surprise." Dumbledore did not seem to be angry at all, but added with a smile, "I like the artichoke on Hagrid's chest very much. It's so beautiful, isn't it?"

Madame Maxime smiled and glanced at the flower Hagrid had pinned on his buttonhole, and agreed, "It's really beautiful."

Hagrid was cheerful again. "It's a rose, actually! I managed to cast a Swelling Charm on it, otherwise it would have been too small for me! It fits the occasion, doesn't it?"

Dumbledore looked at Karkaroff, whose face was uncertain, and said kindly, "I believe that Professor Karkaroff just wanted to go to the Forbidden Forest to relax because he couldn't sleep. He didn't mean to break into Professor Victor's magic shield."

Karkaroff did not respond immediately. Instead, he looked at Hagrid, Madame Maxime, Dumbledore, and Ivy. After a long while, he nodded and said stiffly, "I'm sleepy. I'm going back to bed."

When Karkaroff's figure disappeared within the range of the magic shield, ripples were stirred up again, and Dumbledore's beard and eyebrows jumped along with the ripples.

"You always open my eyes, Professor Victor." Dumbledore shook his head and said to Ivy with a wry smile.

"That's because you don't have enough experience, Mr. Principal." Ivy raised his eyebrows and commented sharply.

"Just let him go like that, Professor Dumbledore?" Charlie still couldn't understand Dumbledore's actions. "Well, although I have always known that you are a man of high moral character, this is..."

Then Charlie turned to Hagrid, "You told Harry about the dragon, didn't you? Ever since she found out that Harry became the fourth champion, Mom has been worried to death. To say she's upset is an understatement! But Dad was pretty calm. He said Hogwarts is the safest place in the world and that Harry will never have any accidents."

Hagrid did not answer Charlie's question directly, but was evasive and vague.

Seeing him make this expression, Charlie seemed much more relaxed. "What about the other champion of Hogwarts? Harry's friend? Ivy Doom, who gave our family VIP box tickets during the summer vacation?"

"I don't think you need to worry about Ivy, Charlie." Dumbledore glanced at Ivy. "A dragon won't pose any threat to him. In fact, he is mainly responsible for feeding Norbeta. I dare say that since you graduated, he has become the wizard who knows the most about dragons in Hogwarts."

"Great!" Charlie exclaimed, and rubbed his stomach that kept making strange noises. "To some extent, this is fair, right? I think we can eat now. You don't know how much I miss the food at Hogwarts! In fact, the food in the Dragon Sanctuary is also very special. We made some sour cream with dragon milk. The flavor is very unique. Would you like to try it?"

"For an old man, the amount of activity today is really too much. I must go back to bed immediately." Dumbledore rejected Charlie's invitation.

"Hagrid? Madame Maxime?" Charlie looked at the two high walls around him again.

When Hagrid heard about dragon milk sour cream, his eyes couldn't stop lighting up, so Madame Maxime had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The dragons in the wizarding world are such strange creatures. Although all dragons are hatched from dragon eggs, they actually need to be breastfed by their mother dragons. They are no different from the platypus in the Muggle world.

Ivy first learned this fact in the first grade, when Norbeta had just hatched, and Hagrid used brandy and chicken blood to simulate the milk of a female Norwegian ridgeback dragon, and fed it every half an hour. This also caused Norbeta to swell up quickly like a balloon, and once made Hermione have the illusion that it would crush Hagrid's cabin within a few months.

As far as Ivy knows, the real dragons in the DND world do not have such concerns. The first meal of the dragon chicks after hatching is usually their eggshells, and the food of these dragon chicks will vary depending on their habitat.

Those living in the jungle eat poisonous insects and small birds, and those near the sea go to the water to catch fish. In short, they will not ask their mothers for milk. In fact, most young dragons rarely see their biological mothers, especially the five-colored dragons of the evil camp. Even the metal dragons of the good camp tend to find foster parents for their children.

When Professor Victor disappeared from Hogwarts again, the day of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament was getting closer and closer. Excited discussions could be heard everywhere in the castle, and people pinned the symbols of the warriors they supported on their chests or waists, swaggering around in various places, or gathered in groups to imagine the heroic appearance of the warriors.

In the school library, Harry was sitting with his two good friends, looking through the materials in the restricted area to find a way to restrain the fire dragon.

"Aren't you able to use the Eye-Scarring Charm? Sirius's spell will definitely work!" Ron flipped open a book called "The Man Who Dotes on Dragons" and nudged Harry beside him with his elbow, "Why are we still looking at books about dragons here?"

"No preparation will be in vain!" Hermione glared at him fiercely. Ever since she learned that Harry's opponent in the first task was a dragon, Hermione had fallen into a crazy hysteria, which was very similar to Mrs. White's symptoms.

Now Mrs. White can't even attend classes normally, especially the fourth-year Potions class. Harry and his classmates' Potions class and Defense Against the Dark Arts class are taught by Snape alone, so he looks much more haggard.

"You should really think about Mrs. White! She brewed potion after potion, and then sadly found that the only thing Harry was allowed to bring to the court was his wand. How desperate she must be!" Hermione panted, trying her best to suppress the idea of blasting Ron's head with "Basic Spells for Dealing with Hyperactive and Irritable Animals". The last time she did this, Madam Pince kicked all three of them out of the library. "Even warriors are not allowed to make loud noises in my library!" Her original words were like this.

So that afternoon, Hermione and Ron spent the whole afternoon practicing the Eye-Shock Charm with Harry in an empty classroom.

"Stop talking, Hermione." Harry's face was full of regret. "I shouldn't have told Mrs. White about the dragon."

There were many people in the library, not to mention many girls who supported Krum hiding behind the bookshelves and whispering. Harry couldn't call his mother openly.

"I always feel that the Eye-Sickness Curse is not very safe," Harry whispered to Ron. "What if this fails to temporarily blind the dragon and angers it instead? Not only do I have to pass this project, I also have to try to get a high score, otherwise Ivy's grades will also be affected."

Although he got the spell targeting the dragon's weak spot, Harry was not thinking about completing the competition himself, but winning a high score for Hogwarts.

"Trimming overlong dragon claws, treating festering scales... This book is for those who want to make their dragons fatter and stronger..." Ron threw the book "The Man Who Dotes on Dragons" aside, slumped in his chair and muttered to himself, "Maybe we should go find Ivy. He must have a way to deal with dragons."

"Can't he just stay away from us? Or go back to that damn ghost ship?" Hermione stared angrily at Krum as he passed by them with a pile of books in his arms, her eyes full of bloodshot.

The girls with Bulgarian scarves on their waists quickly got wind of the situation and started poking their heads behind the bookshelves.

"Okay, Hermione." Harry sighed, "Let's go find Ivy. It's not good to always avoid him."

Harry hadn't seen Ivy in public since the last wand test, when the four warriors took a photo with the members of the judging panel.

He knew that he was avoiding him, because even when choosing the route to go downstairs, Harry tried his best to avoid places where Slytherins might be, because those students in green robes with silver edges had become his guards and would take the initiative to stop anyone from discussing his strength.

This made Harry, who didn't like to attract attention, very sad, not to mention that he couldn't refuse such "kindness".

When Harry thought of Ivy, he couldn't help but think of what happened during the photo shoot that day. Madame Maxime had to sit down to fit in the photo without blocking other people, and Fleur wanted to stick to Ivy, so Krum and him became dispensable background boards.

"Now guess where Ivy will be?" Ron helped them pile up all the books in front of them. "I bet a chocolate frog that it's in the dragon area!"

Hermione gave him a questioning look.

Ron quickly explained, "If the other three warriors knew that the first task was the dragon, then there's no reason why Ivy wouldn't know. He's always been the most informed person in Hogwarts! And he's been raising that bad-tempered Norwegian Ridgeback since first grade. He must know more about how to deal with a dragon than all the books in the library! If he plans to make some preparations, he will definitely stay with the dragon that likes to gnaw on other people's fingers."

"The Dragon Zone!" Hermione whispered. "Professor Grubbly-Plank never lets us go there! What if Ivy isn't there?"

"I remember that the Forbidden Forest and the corridor on the fourth floor were also places that the school forbade us to go to..." Ron said meaningfully.

"I know who to look for." Harry didn't intend to keep the secret, "Cassandra. Ivy has said more than once that she is his bondmaster. Although I don't understand what 'Warlock' means, they have a very close relationship, and everyone in the school knows it."

Cassandra, who was also a fourth-year student, was much easier to find than Ivy. Harry got Cassandra's location by just asking two volunteer Slytherins.

In the second greenhouse, Cassandra was transplanting new plants of bubble pods from small pots into other pots. After seeing Harry and the others, she did not stop what she was doing.

"I'm listening, Potter?"

"Uh..." Harry was speechless for a moment as he watched Cassandra neatly plant the bubble pod plants, carefully cover them with soil and water them, and finally sprinkle some dry dragon dung as fertilizer.

"I need a wooden pole to support the main stem of the bubble pod. It's in the pot against the wall." Cassandra was not at all shy and even began to order the three Gryffindors to help her.

"What?" Ron looked in the flowerpot at his feet, but saw nothing except a suspicious black object.

"Here." Hermione handed Cassandra what she needed. "I need to talk to Ivy about the Triwizard Tournament."

Cassandra stared at Harry for a few seconds before taking the wooden pole from Hermione and firmly inserting it into the flowerpot. She then wrapped the stem of the bubble pod around it. "I thought you were going to take down a dragon on your own."

Hearing the word "fire dragon", Harry breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Ivy had indeed known about the existence of fire dragons for a long time.

"So, he's really in the Dragon District?" Harry asked.

Cassandra took off her gloves, brushed off the dirt on her robe, closed her eyes and observed from Norberta's perspective, then said, "He is enjoying afternoon tea. If you leave now, you might even get two egg custard biscuits."

"You're not coming with us?" Ron asked curiously.

"You didn't think we were friends, did you, Weasley?" Cassandra gave him a haughty look.

Ron was a little angry, but thinking that they were the ones who needed help, he could only smile awkwardly.

"My current condition is not suitable for approaching Norberta, but... it's time to face it." Cassandra thought for a moment and decided to set off with the Gryffindor trio. After a few days of familiarization, Cassandra can now switch between the human perspective and the dragon perspective relatively smoothly.

But getting close to Norbeta was something she had not tried in the past few days. Ivy had given her a week off, allowing her not to go to the dragon area to feed the dragons. But since the Gryffindor trio had come to her, she decided to face the dragon that shared the chain of magic with her.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot. Come with me." Cassandra put all the things in the second greenhouse back in place and walked into the cold autumn wind first.

There are only a few days left in November, and the air in the Scottish Highlands is getting colder and colder. Even creatures like Nobeta, which can breathe fire to keep themselves warm, are becoming reluctant to move.

The cold wind not only did not make Cassandra shiver after she left the greenhouse, but instead made her a little sleepy, because on such days, fire dragons with sufficient food were unwilling to engage in outdoor activities, at least not in windy conditions.

Even Harry and the other two who were following behind her noticed something strange about Cassandra.

"Is she wearing... a summer school uniform? I don't see any fur on the cloak..." Hermione tightened her collar and stared suspiciously at Cassandra's cloak fluttering in the wind.

"Maybe Ivy taught her some magic to keep warm," Ron shrugged. "She was able to create such a big ball of fire without a wand that day!"

　yooooooo!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)