Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 359 The Golden Egg, Deciphering the Game

"Ah, I should have thought of that earlier."

Fred and George remained remarkably calm about Karkaroff giving Silen only five points, as if they had known all along that this would happen.

“He gave Beausbarton’s Warriors a three-pointer half an hour ago,” George said.

“The headmaster Maxim’s face was terribly grim,” Harry said, glancing at the platform.

Dumbledore remained calm in the face of Karkaroff's blatant favoritism, at least outwardly showing no displeasure.

“We just didn’t expect him to treat you the same way,” Fred said angrily. “That nasty, biased guy, he and Snape must get along very well.”

Severus Snape, the Potions professor at Hogwarts and head of Slytherin House, like Karkaroff, had an obvious bias towards Slytherin.

“Don’t say that,” Siron shook his head and said, “Actually, I should thank Professor Snape.”

"Huh? What?" Fred rubbed his ears vigorously.

"Who are you?!" George sprang to his feet and shouted angrily, "I'm warning you, you'd better release Siron quickly, or you'll be imprisoned in Azkaban for using the Imperius Curse!"

"Headmaster Dumbledore is right there, you can't escape!"

“Alright, no one used the Imperius Curse on me,” Siron said. “Remember the dragonfire from earlier?”

"of course I remember."

"We were really startled at the time."

"Luckily you're okay."

“It wasn’t a stroke of luck; it was because I drank the Fire Condensation Potion beforehand,” Xiren said.

"Ah, I remember now." Harley slammed his fist down. "We did learn this a while ago, in Potions class."

"Wait a minute, I'm a little confused." Fred frowned and looked at George. "Will they learn about Fire Condensation Potions in fourth grade?"

"No way, I remember that was fifth grade material," George said. "Could I be mistaken?"

“No, you’re not mistaken,” Hermione said. “Professor Snape moved the content forward.”

“I bet he was trying to make things difficult for us with a more complicated potion,” Harry said with a laugh, his voice full of mockery of Snape. “He certainly didn’t expect that potion would play such an important role at this moment.”

"Is it possible that he did it on purpose?" Hermione said thoughtfully. "Perhaps Snape knew about the first project beforehand, so..."

"Absolutely impossible!"

Before she could finish speaking, Harry interrupted her.

"Do you think Snape would help Shiron, help a Gryffindor?" he asked.

Hermione pondered for a moment, then shook her head vigorously.

Based on Snape's behavior over the past few years, the probability that he would voluntarily help Gryffindor is almost zero.

Okay, it seems it really is a coincidence.

While the group was chatting, the score for West Ham was also tallied up.

Exactly forty points, no more, no less...

To be honest, many people think this score is a bit too low. Ludo Bagman's explanation is that Xiren was hit by the dragon's flames in the end. Although he was not injured, it was not a perfect outcome.

However, Xilun didn't care.

In his view, the results of the first two competitions were not that important; the last competition was the real highlight.

And these scores now... it doesn't matter if it's 10 or 5 points, as long as he has the highest score among the three warriors.

According to the information I just received from Fred, the first player to appear, Fleur, has a total score of thirty-five points, which is significantly lower than his. Now it remains to be seen whether Krum can surpass that number.

Five minutes later, the whistle blew, and Krum walked into the field from outside, once again igniting a deafening cheer.

Five minutes later... his results came out.

5、6、8、2、9。

As the only Warriors player to be carried off the court after falling unconscious, Krum's score was naturally not high, and finishing last was to be expected.

He used the Eye Strike Curse on the fire dragon, which was the right idea, but unfortunately he forgot that his opponent was the Hungarian Hornet.

Other fire dragons struggle when they are in pain, but the tree bee increases its rage before unleashing it.

Normally, a fire dragon can breathe fire from a distance of about twenty feet when it is standing on the ground.

But just now, the Hungarian wood wasp that was hit in the eye spewed out flames nearly fifty feet long.

If Dumbledore hadn't reacted quickly enough to pull Krum, who was about to steal the golden egg, out of the arena... he probably wouldn't have even had the chance to be carried out of the arena.

"How terrifying!" Harry shuddered involuntarily as he watched the dragon keepers swarm the Hungarian Hornbees, using Extinguishing and Stunning Charms on them.

He finally understood why Hermione always said the Triwizard Tournament had the highest mortality rate; Krum was the best example of that.

Fortunately, he wasn't a warrior and didn't have to face that kind of monster.

Afterwards, except for Siron, the others set off to return to the castle at the professor's request.

The Warriors need to stay, and the referees still have some things to say.

Speaking of referees, Xiren suddenly remembered something: Krum's score earlier.

In fact, when Krum first encountered the golden egg, Dumbledore used magic to pull him off the field, so according to the rules, he hadn't actually completed the first task.

And then there's the score he received. Dumbledore and Crouch's scores were both quite normal, and it's understandable that Ms. Maxime would give him a 2 in return for Karkaroff's actions.

The remaining two scores are unusually high... Karkarov's 9 points and Ludosilenbagman's 8 points.

Especially Ludo Bagman.

I hadn't thought about it carefully before, but now I realize that the defeated Krum actually got the same score as him, 8 points, from Ludo Bagman.

When did their relationship become so good?

Silen remembers that when Krum drew the Hungarian Wood Bee, Ludo Bagman could hardly hide his schadenfreude.

But why did he give Krum such a high score now?
Silen raised an eyebrow as he watched the former legendary hitter jog over from a distance.

It's worth noting that even Furong, who successfully obtained the golden egg, only received seven points from him.

That's interesting. It can't be that the Eye Disease Curse was so amazing that it got extra points, right?

If it were Animagus magic, this reason wouldn't be a problem, but the Eye Disease Curse is a bit far-fetched. Strictly speaking, this curse still falls under the category of black magic, and specifically, common black magic.

To put it simply, if all black magic, from simple to complex, were put into one book, the Eye Curse would only appear on the first three pages at most.

Therefore, Ludo Bagman's score of 8 is quite unusual.

Before Xilun could think any further, the referees had already entered the tent.

Hibiscus and Krum, who had just woken up, also came along, but Krum looked rather pale, clearly not yet fully recovered from the shock.

“You… all did a good job,” Ludo Bagman said, his tone sounding somewhat strained, but he quickly regained his previous cheerful demeanor.

“The second project will begin next February,” he said. “You can take a long break and think about how to crack this golden egg… The clues to your second project are hidden inside.”

"Well, good luck to you."

"Oh, by the way, Krum, stay behind for a moment, I have something else to tell you."

As Xilun left the tent, he casually glanced back.

Bagman was whispering something to Krum. Just then, Karkaroff arrived, seemingly ignoring the two of them, and walked straight into the tent, nearly knocking Fleur over in the process.

Hibiscus frowned and muttered something in French under her breath. Siron didn't understand, but it certainly wasn't anything nice.

The tent flap was lowered, and Xilun withdrew his gaze and continued walking towards the castle.

While passing by the Forbidden Forest, he also stopped by Hagrid's cabin.

Hagrid was already waiting for him in the open space in front of the house.

"How was it? Nothing went wrong, right?" As soon as Xiren approached, he asked impatiently, "By the time I got over from the Forbidden Forest, the match was already over. I only saw Dumbledore and the others scoring you."

“Not a single mistake.” Celen gave a thumbs up. “Thanks to you for the first project, Hagrid.”

"I didn't do anything, I just had Louie stand in the designated spot," Hagrid said, scratching his head sheepishly.

“This is the most crucial point,” Xiren said. “Let’s go take another look.”

The two entered the forbidden forest, crossed a path, and arrived at an open area on the outskirts.

This used to be Professor Kettleburn's residence, but Hagrid later added a fence around it and turned it into one of the classrooms.

However, there were no students here now; on the empty ground, there was only a huge pattern drawn with magic. Even in the dim forest, this pattern was particularly conspicuous.

This is the magic that Siren learned from Professor Flitwick.

Before the match, he blew his whistle, and Hagrid, upon hearing the sound, brought Lou Williams into the pattern and then watched over him to prevent him from leaving.

This allowed Celen to successfully summon Lou Williams onto the field.

Xiren waved his wand, and a powerful whirlwind swept through, instantly erasing all traces, including the pattern.

"How could you destroy it?" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise. "Aren't you going to use it for the second project?"

“We probably won’t need it,” Xilun said.

If he could, he would certainly like to use Cerberus to crush everything in his path, but that's not realistic.

First, the second project is at the bottom of the lake, so Cerberus is useless there. Second, Maxim and Karkaroff are unlikely to let him continue using Lou Williams as a cheat.

Oh, and maybe we should add Ludo Bagman to that list.

"What a pity," Hagrid sighed.

"Oh, right." He suddenly remembered something and asked excitedly, "Ms. Maxim, what does she think of Louie? Is she particularly agitated?"

“I don’t think so.” Xiren carefully recalled Maxim’s expression at the time.

Although I hadn't paid special attention, I knew for sure that the other party couldn't possibly like it. After all, with Cerberus, Xiren surpassed Furong in points, so how could she be happy?
“Hagrid, if you want to introduce Louie to Ms. Maxim, you’d better wait,” Celen said sincerely. “I don’t think she’d really like to see Cerberus right now.”

……

As dusk fell, Siron left the Forbidden Forest, and when he returned to the Gryffindor common room, cheers erupted once again.

Fred and George seemed to have moved the kitchen over; the tables and chairs were piled high with cakes, cookies, steaks, roast chicken, and other food, along with jugs of pumpkin juice and butterbeer.

It seems they even took the time to go to Hogsmeade through the secret passage.

As soon as Xiren stepped through the passage, several hard-to-pull fireworks exploded above his head, showering him with countless stars and sparks.

"Congratulations, Siron!" Ron stepped forward, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry... I mean, you're right, the Triwizard Tournament is simply not something we can participate in. If it were me, I probably would have given up when I saw the dragon." He seemed to be trying to tell a joke to ease the tension, but it didn't work very well, and only Harry chuckled twice to appease him.

“Yes, we’re better off as spectators.” Dean Thomas also came over, carrying several banners.

He drew them all himself. The first one shows Siron standing on the back of a giant three-headed dog, directing it to fight a fire dragon.

It looks really good, exuding an aura of power... but it's a bit unrealistic.

He never stood on Lou Williams' back. To be honest, getting up to twenty feet is quite difficult and you'd easily become a target.

Of course, art always requires some embellishment.

"Thank you," said Xi Lun.

Just as he was about to accept the banners, two hands reached out from the side and took them away before he could.

"This is really good..."

"Perfect timing, we can still use it in the next game."

"It only needs a slight modification."

"It would be best to write a few more words."

"Be more imposing and domineering..."

"Sirlen, how about the only warrior?"

Listening to Fred and George talking nonsense that made people's toes clench, Celen suddenly didn't want to participate in the second project anymore. He really wasn't sure how much hatred these two people could bring upon him.

He tried to persuade the two to give up the idea, but was pushed by the crowd to another table.

The aroma of the food kept stimulating Celen's brain, and he no longer cared about Fred and George's whimsical ideas, so he immediately started eating.

At this moment, someone noticed the golden egg that Xilun had placed on the table.

"What's in here?" Fred asked.

"Just open it and you'll know." Celen took a big gulp of butterbeer.

“That makes sense,” Fred said, casually handing the golden egg to Siron. “Here, open it.”

Siren originally wanted Fred to open it directly, but Fred refused, believing it was Siren's honor.

But what he didn't know was that, if he could, Xiren actually didn't want this so-called "glory" at all.

But there was nothing he could do; everyone thought Fred was right… So Siren took a deep breath and pried open the golden egg.

In an instant, an extremely terrifying, shrill, and piercing sound filled the entire common room.

"Turn it off now!" someone shouted.

Without his prompting, Xilun had already closed the golden egg.

"what is that?"

"It sounds like a female ghost's scream!"

"But what clues could there be? To tell you to walk past the female ghost?"

“I don’t know,” Xiren said, “but I’m going to leave it here.”

He stood up and placed the golden egg on the most conspicuous shelf in the common room.

"How about we play a game?" Xilun said, looking around.

"What game?" Fred and George immediately looked eager to try it out.

“The puzzle of the golden egg,” Siron said.

“That sounds interesting,” George said. “I’ll do it!”

“Don’t rush,” Xiren continued, “Since it’s a game, there must be a reward… Let me think, how about one hundred Galleons?”

……

(End of this chapter)