Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 356, First Project: Solutions

Dear Siren:
I've heard that you've been chosen to be a champion at Hogwarts.

Merlin's beard, that's just amazing! To be honest, I initially thought they'd made a mistake. That's an age limit set by Headmaster Dumbledore himself, and I dare say many established wizards can't cross it... Of course, they don't need to do that. I mean, they're definitely over seventeen.

Bill knows about it too. I wrote to him about it, and we both agreed that you are fully qualified to represent Hogwarts.

Oh, and one more thing. If all goes well, I might get to Hogwarts soon, and we can go have a drink together at the Three Broomsticks.

As for why I went to Hogwarts, I'm sorry, it's confidential and I can't say.

Good luck again.

Charlie Weasley.

……

With three brooms in hand, Xilun put down the parchment, his expression slightly strange.

"Who sent the letter? Was it from your friend?" Harry asked curiously, looking at him.

Not long after Hagrid and Moody left, about five minutes later, an owl flew in and dropped the letter in front of Siron.

Moreover, the messenger is a snowy owl, just like Hedwig, making it the most expensive messenger in the Owl Post Office. They are usually only chosen when mail needs to be delivered over long distances.

“He’s a friend, and you know him.” Celen handed them the parchment. “It’s Charlie Weasley.”

“Charlie, isn’t he Ron’s brother?” Harry said, glancing curiously at the parchment.

"I guess he must know you've become a warrior, so he wrote to congratulate you..."

Harry's expression grew increasingly strange as he read the letter, as did Hermione's next to him.

“Wait a minute…” He looked up. “If I remember correctly, Charlie should be working in the Dragon Sanctuary in Romania.”

“Yes, you’re not mistaken.” Xiren nodded.

Harry's expression became even stranger.

A dragon breeder from a dragon sanctuary in Romania suddenly wants to come to Hogwarts, and the reason must be kept secret.

Is there anything left to keep secret?

Why would a dragon breeder keep his secret trip to Hogwarts at this time, besides the Triwizard Tournament?
Charlie's letter was no longer a hint, but a direct message to Celen that the first competition would be the fire dragon.

"So, the first project, could it be a hit...?"

“What don’t I know?” Siron suddenly spoke, interrupting Harry.

At the same time, Hermione kicked Harry's shin.

"Charlie is here to watch the Triwizard Tournament. He hasn't said anything, so let's not speculate and cause him trouble."

“Of course, that’s right,” Harry said belatedly. “So, should we go back now?”

"Let's go back."

The three men stood up and left the three brooms.

On the way back to Hogwarts, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Hagrid asked you to go see him tonight, could it be because... Charlie and the others are coming?"

“That should be correct,” Xiren said.

He hadn't expected that Charlie would write a letter at this time.

No wonder everyone says that cheating is a unique hidden feature of the Triwizard Tournament; it's absolutely true.

……

Originally, Siren didn't plan to go to the cabin that night, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was Hagrid's good intention, so he borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak and quietly went downstairs through the common room at 11:30 p.m.

Actually, it would be more convenient to use Animagus, but Hagrid won't be the only one going to see the dragon this time; Karkaroff and Maxim will definitely be there too.

Although they were not Dumbledore and the chances of being seen through were slim, Sirius still chose to use a more cautious approach.

Hagrid did not disappoint Siren; before setting off, he went to Beauxbatons' carriage and invited Madam Maxim to join him on his journey into the Forbidden Forest.

“I think you’d love to come and see for yourself,” Hagrid said. “But don’t tell anyone I brought you here, okay? You shouldn’t know.”

“Of course I won’t say,” Ms. Maxim said.

Wearing an invisibility cloak, Xiren walked at the back, scoffing at Maxim's words... Only Hagrid would believe such a thing; he was completely out of his mind at that moment.

Once they reached the depths of the Forbidden Forest, Xilun finally saw a real, living fire dragon.

There were three in total: the Welsh Green Dragon, the Swedish Short-nosed Dragon, and... the Hungarian Wood Beetle.

To be honest, Xilun really didn't know what the person in charge of the first project was thinking. Why did they add a tree bee? This thing's combat power is not even in the same league as the first two types of fire dragons.

After identifying the type of fire dragon, Xilun did not stay any longer and turned to leave the Forbidden Forest.

By the time he returned to the castle, it was almost one o'clock in the morning.

The common room was almost empty, with only Hermione and Harry sitting in armchairs by the fireplace, their heads nodding as if they might fall asleep at any moment.

Upon hearing the noise, the two immediately stood up.

"How was it?" Hermione asked. "Did you see it?"

“Of course,” Xiren nodded. “And I already know what the first project is.”

"Great!" Harry exclaimed excitedly, then quickly covered his mouth and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

“Don’t hit the tree bee,” Siron said.

"Don't draw... what?" Harry blinked, a little confused.

"Is the first challenge going to be decided by drawing lots?" Hermione frowned. "Isn't that a bit too frivolous?"

“In a sense, that is indeed the case,” Xiren laughed.

Although he said that, Hermione and Harry obviously didn't believe him. When they woke up the next day, they started searching for all the books related to dragons in the library.

For an entire Sunday, they spent all their time in the library except for meals in the auditorium, showing even more dedication than Siron himself.

Despite Xilun's repeated insistence that they didn't need to do this, the two of them didn't care at all.

Hermione suggested she could learn some things about dragons while she was at it...maybe it would come in handy for the NEWT exam.

As for Harry, he simply wanted to keep himself occupied, because he found that only when he was busy could he stop thinking about the postponement of Sirius's public hearing.

“Using magic to trim claws… that’s definitely useless. Treatments for scale rot, how to clean teeth—no way, those are for weirdos like Hagrid who want a strong and powerful dragon.”

“Look at this… Ancient magic seeps into the dragon’s thick hide, and only the most powerful spells can penetrate it.” Harry pushed the book forward, then looked at Siron with a pitying gaze, as if he were about to be eaten by the dragon.

However, Siron didn't notice this; he was still amazed by the strange magic he had just read about in the book. Smelling pepper, hardening the tongue, drinking lemon juice... he had never heard of these spells before, and they certainly wouldn't be taught in Charms class.

It's hard to say what its effect will be. While it's probably not very useful against fire dragons, it's quite interesting.

I spent the whole day in the library, but didn't gain anything.

When Monday came and classes started at Hogwarts, they had no choice but to shift their attention from the mountains of books to the classroom.

The first lesson was on herbs, and Professor Sprout asked them to prune the flapping shrub, a plant that buzzes and trembles when threatened, much like flying insects flap their wings.

When get out of class ended, Celen deliberately stayed at the back and walked over to Professor Sprout, who was tidying up flower pots.

“Is there something you need, Mr. Ollivander?” Professor Sprout asked.

“I’d like to know if there are arrowhead plants in the greenhouse,” Siron said.

The whistling arrow plant, just like its name suggests, can produce a sharp, whistling sound. The whistles used by Hogwarts' flying professors and Quidditch referee Madam Hooch are made of whistling arrow plants.

“Of course, in the first greenhouse,” Professor Sprout said.

"Can I borrow one?" Xiren asked. "I might need it in the upcoming Triwizard Tournament."

Professor Sprout was initially hesitant, but after hearing this, he immediately nodded in agreement.

"No problem, I can make it into a whistle for you if you need it."

"That would be perfect."

Because he talked to Professor Sprout a few more times, Celen missed the bell for the second class and didn't come out of the greenhouse until five minutes after class started.

Fortunately, the next class was on protecting magical creatures, so Hagrid didn't care about his lateness at all.

“If you have any plans, go ahead and do them,” he said softly. “You can even leave now.”

“Speaking of which, I do have something that I might need your help with,” Celen said.

"Go ahead and say it," Hagrid said, patting his chest.

“I want to go to the Forbidden Forest,” Siron said.

In an instant, Hagrid's expression froze.

“Forbidden Forest?” He lowered his voice. “Impossible, Siron. There are dragon keepers guarding the fire dragon. There’s nothing you can do.”

“No, not that.” Xilun shook his head. “I’ve already figured out how to deal with the fire dragon.”

"That's great."

“But I definitely can’t do it alone,” Celen continued. “I need extra help.”

“But…” Hagrid was still hesitant, but at Siron’s insistence, he agreed to take him to the Forbidden Forest again that evening.

“Please don’t call me Ms. Maxim this time, okay?” Siren said.

“She…she won’t tell anyone else.” Hagrid’s face flushed red. “She promised me.”

“Alright, even so,” Xiren sighed, “but this is my secret weapon, just in case…”

Hagrid agreed.

This also relieved Xilun.

He was genuinely worried that Hagrid wanted to share everything with Ms. Maxim, and if that were the case, he would probably have to go into the Forbidden Forest by himself.

Although the place he was going to was deep in the Forbidden Forest, and there were dangers everywhere along the way, he should be fine if he turned into a cat.

Tom can also help lead the way; since third grade, he and Crookshanks have been running into the Forbidden Forest quite often and know it very well.

Because of this, Hermione often complained to him, saying that Tom had corrupted her lovely and well-behaved Crookshanks, who only knew how to go into the woods every day and then come back covered in dirt.

Siren has always remained silent on this matter.

Cute, well-behaved... Is this how Crookshanks is described?
When Xiren first heard these words, he seemed to see Hagrid praising the Norwegian dinosaur Norbert, using the same words.

The first period in the afternoon is a divination class.

Silen chose to escape and used the time to find Professor Flitwick.

"You mean you want to learn a spell that can summon magical creatures?" Professor Flitwick looked at Siron in front of him and frowned slightly. "As far as I know, there doesn't seem to be such a spell."

“It’s not summoning it out of thin air,” Siren said. “It’s just using magic to move it from one place to another.”

“In that case, there is one,” Professor Flitwick said after thinking for a moment. “Remember the Levitation Charm we learned? Someone mispronounced a word, and a bison fell from the sky.”

Xilun nodded.

He certainly remembered that Professor Flitwick had used this incident as an example many times to remind them to be clear when chanting spells.

"That's how it is. Based on this flawed spell, a wizard invented a completely new spell that can summon animals from a fixed location to your presence."

“This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” Xiren’s eyes lit up. “But how come I’ve never heard of such convenient magic before?”

“This is because this spell has many drawbacks,” Professor Flitwick continued. “First, it takes a long time. From the time the spell is recited to the time it takes effect, it takes several minutes. During this time, the summoned magical creature must stay within the area drawn with magic. Finally, the distance cannot be too far; it will not work if it exceeds two miles.”

Xilun suddenly realized. With so many restrictions, no wonder Professor Flitwick thought it was useless.

But none of this had much impact on his plans; he only cared about one thing...

“What if the magical creatures are larger?” Siron asked. “Larger magical creatures larger than the divine horses of Beauxbatons.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Professor Flitwick said. “Just make the corresponding magic drawing bigger, but make sure it doesn’t go out of bounds.”

"no problem!"

Professor Flitwick then spent an hour teaching the spell to Siron… mainly because it was so obscure, he spent half an hour just finding a book that recorded the spell.

After that, Siron went to the Room of Requirement and began a long period of practice. It wasn't until evening that he returned to the castle and went to the Forbidden Forest to find Hagrid as agreed.

At this point, he had almost completed his plan for the first project, with only one crucial issue remaining.

Draw lots.

Just like he told Hermione before, the lottery might not determine who comes in first place, but it can determine who comes in last place.

Nobody wanted to run into the Hungarian wood bee, including Siren, so he had to avoid it during the draw.

Fortunately, he had already come up with a solution, but he needed someone's help, so he could only wait until tomorrow.

……

(End of this chapter)