Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 486 The Hogwarts Destruction Plan is Initiated!

"So where did Rice go?"

Before the start of the Global Young Wizards Championship finals, Daphne and Astoria were having a quiet conversation in the contestants' waiting area.

"I don't know, but it's definitely not the ridiculous and absurd idea that Professor Dumbledore described—going to St. Mungo's Hospital for treatment," Astoria replied with absolute certainty.

She asked around and found out that St. Mungo's Hospital hadn't accepted any students named "Leigh Lint" these days!

Astoria wrote a letter to her father, asking him to investigate Rice's whereabouts, but instead received a scolding from him.

In his letter, Mr. Henry explicitly warned Astoria that she was strictly forbidden from continuing her investigation into the matter.

It's no wonder Mr. Henry was so surprised, mainly because he knew Les Lint's true identity. That esteemed gentleman had left Hogwarts without even leaving a note; he must have something extremely important to do.

This is something my two silly girls shouldn't be involved in.

After being warned by her father, Astoria became much more restrained and vaguely sensed the seriousness of the matter. Therefore, she limited her investigation to Hogwarts. Specifically, she and her sister went to harass Professor White.

"Anyway, he probably has something important to do. Sister, haven't you noticed? He hasn't been very focused on the championship this year. I think we should focus on the final stage of the competition first—" Astoria tried to distract her sister and get her to concentrate on the upcoming match.

To outsiders, Rice was a Hogwarts "seed player" who was unfortunately eliminated in the second round. Daphne and Astoria both understood that Rice's elimination could only be because he felt there was no need to continue the competition.

As for why he thinks this way, it could be that he has more important things to do, or it could be that Hogwarts is already a sure thing. It's not impossible that it's both.

"Do you think the flood during the competition might have been caused by Rice?" Daphne wasn't distracted by her sister's words; her thoughts drifted back to the second stage of the competition.

The sudden natural disaster left a very deep impression on the contestants.

All the competition was interrupted midway, and no matter where they were on the leaderboard, their only mission for those few days was to escape and preserve their qualification for the competition.

After the disaster subsided, they all felt a sense of relief at having survived.

Many people suddenly realized: no wonder a competition was set up in the Black Lake before the second stage of the competition! If you don't have strong enough diving ability, it's best to withdraw from the competition early.

Unlike the other clueless contestants, Daphne and Astoria had some other thoughts when they saw the flood and the mud.

They suspected Rice was involved, but they had no evidence, and besides, the scene before them was simply too astonishing.

"No way, have you forgotten the extent of that flood? Half the continent was submerged..." Astoria said she didn't believe it, but deep down she still tended to believe that Rice was responsible.

She felt that even if Rice wasn't responsible for the great flood, he was definitely involved.

"You're right." Thanks to Astoria's tireless efforts, Daphne finally turned her attention to the upcoming match.

The players have just been informed that the organizers will draw lots to pair them up, and then they will duel their opponents in a Quidditch arena that has been transformed into a dueling ground. The winners will advance. A further draw will then determine the final four, the champion, the runner-up, and the third-place finisher.

"Not surprising at all." Daphne shrugged, then looked at her sister. "I hope to see you in the finals."

Astoria smiled in response, but inwardly she thought, "I just hope my sister doesn't get eliminated by Cedric or Hermione halfway through."

She felt that her sister was unlikely to beat Hermione, and Cedric couldn't be guaranteed a win either.

I am quite good at countering Hermione, with a win rate of over 90%.

Astoria didn't take the other players seriously at all.

With a sunny smile on his face, Mr. Bagman strode quickly to the contestants.

He quickly looked around and saw that all sixteen people had arrived, so he smiled happily.

"Alright, everyone's here. Now let's go to the players' preparation room!" With that, he took the lead and led the sixteen players toward the team's locker room at the Quidditch stadium.

Upon entering the lounge, the athletes found Mr. Henry already waiting inside. Above them were the sounds of footsteps and chatter from the audience as they entered.

Mr. Henry was clutching a silk bag in his hand.

When Bagman led the contestants in, he raised the silk bag in his hand to them.

"In the bag are clay sculptures of the sixteen of you. Next, Mr. Bagman and I will each draw one sculpture, and the two people drawn will be your duel opponents, who will need to come up on stage to compete. The winners will advance to the next round of the quarterfinals. I don't have much to say, just good luck to everyone, and hope you can get through this competition safely."

The contestants nodded solemnly. At this stage, there were no weaklings among them; they were all elites from their respective schools—those from weaker schools had simply been eliminated entirely.

This refers to the schools Durmstrang and Busbarton, while the Russian school Kodosdorez is now only staffed by its vice principal, Ekaterina.

They were also the bottom three schools in this competition.

The lottery has begun.

Mr. Henry first drew his wand and pressed it against the silk bag, then used the levitation charm to retrieve a clay figure.

"Ms. Catherine," Mr. Henry said, looking at the vice-principal of Cordostadt Magic School.

Most of the players in the lounge looked serious.

While there are no weak fighters among the contestants, there are always differences in skill level. Ekaterina is undoubtedly one of the most formidable opponents.

Ekaterina walked up to Mr. Henry with a blank expression.

Cordosdorez has already suffered a crushing defeat in the championship, and now she must win back her pride in the individual competition.

Mr. Henry has drawn his lot, and now it's Bagman's turn.

He also took out his wand and used the Levitation Charm to randomly select a contestant's clay sculpture.

After seeing the face of the clay sculpture, most people present breathed a sigh of relief and believed that there was no behind-the-scenes manipulation in this competition.

Because the contestant Bagman drew was none other than Hermione Granger from the host school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In the eyes of the contestants from other magic schools, Hermione had already been eliminated.

How could this girl, not even seventeen years old, possibly be a match for Catherine? Did Miss Granger receive her Hogwarts acceptance letter when she graduated from Cordostadt?

Hermione looked quite nervous as she walked out of the lounge with Ekaterina amidst the sympathetic glances of the other contestants. Accompanied by Mr. Henry and Mr. Bagman, they headed to the dueling arena.

A few seconds later, a commotion arose above the crowd, indicating that the two contestants had entered the arena.

Then, the voice of Minister of Magic, Ms. Burns, rang out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first round of the Round of 16 of the final stage of the Global Young Wizards Tournament is about to begin. Please welcome our contestants: Hermione Granger from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Ekaterina Feodorovna from Cordostadts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Everyone has seen our contestant, so now please welcome our referee, the Duel Tournament Champion, Professor Felius Frivi!

A burst of applause and cheers erupted in the arena. Minister Bones raised his voice, forcefully drowning out the applause as he continued to preside: "Duelists bow to each other, three—two—one, the duel begins!"

Hearing the cheers from above, which were much louder than usual, Astoria frowned.

"How can the school allow so many shady characters to come in?" she complained. "It's one thing for teachers and students from other magic schools, but how come they even let people from the Secret Order in?"

Daphne waved her hand.

"It's alright, with Professor Dumbledore and so many headmasters here! If they dare to cause trouble, we can just send them to Azkaban. Besides, their leader, Mr. Gryffindor, said that it was all a misunderstanding before, and now that he has come to apologize in person, the misunderstanding has long been cleared up."

Astoria fell silent. Although her sister's words made a lot of sense, she still felt uneasy deep down.

While Minister Burns was presiding over the match, Bagman and Henry returned to the locker room.

Just as they were preparing for the second round of drawing lots, a sudden exclamation came from above.

Both of them stopped in their tracks, trying to figure out what had happened.

They found out very quickly.

Another male voice rang out—it was the voice of the host of the famous American wizard radio station "Universal Magic Voice," who was the commentator for this competition.

"Good heavens, what did we just see?! Ekaterina collapsed in an instant! What on earth happened? I didn't even see what spell Miss Granger used—but anyway, the first quarterfinalist of this competition, and also the dark horse, has been born! She is Hermione Granger from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—"

boom!

A deafening roar erupted from the Quidditch pitch, sounding like an earthquake to those in the lounge.

Bagman couldn't hide the smile on his face. He said to Mr. Henry with a laugh, "Let's hurry up and draw the lots, don't keep the audience waiting..."

"Alright." Mr. Henry didn't waste any more words and directly took out the clay sculpture of the next contestant.

This time, it was Astoria who was touched.

It's not surprising that Hogwarts was selected in the last two rounds, as they have the most students making it to the Round of 16, with five, accounting for more than a quarter of the contestants.

Astoria's opponent is Hideaki Yamashita, an albino wizard from the Magic Institute.

Upon seeing that she had been chosen, Yamashita Hideaki Astoria smiled, her eyes narrowing into slits.

Astoria ignored him and walked straight into the dueling arena.

After the identical announcements ended, Astoria calmly looked at the Japanese shaman before her.

"Admit defeat, or you might lose your life." Astoria was poised to strike, quietly preparing herself.

She didn't expect to get her opponent to give up with just a few words, but delaying the game would be to her advantage.

"Oh dear, that's a terrifying statement." Yamashita Hideki still smiled. "I observed you in that world. Your magic is terrifying—is it the ability to manipulate blood? You're not lying."

Astoria's face darkened: the other party knew his information, which was not good news.

However, she doesn't think this will have any impact on the outcome of the match.

"If it were before the second stage of the competition, I would have definitely conceded without hesitation, but now... I've also had some amazing experiences in that world," Yamashita Hide said in heavily accented English.

At the same time, he reached into his robe and pulled out a long sword—heaven knows how he managed to hide such a long sword on his person.

Astoria's eyes widened suddenly. She sensed an extremely strong magical fluctuation from the knife, as if it were imbued with a domain.

"Rise, Cloud Mist Maru!"

Instantly, a thick mist erupted from the blade, enveloping Yamashita Hide's body in just a few seconds.

"Whirlwind Sweep!" Astoria attacked without hesitation.

Having been taught by Rice, she couldn't allow her opponent's mist to spread, so she immediately used magic to try to dispel it, while also using her ability to manipulate blood to try and interfere with Yamashita Hide.

Yamashita Hide suddenly felt a sweet taste in his throat, and his nose was filled with the smell of blood.

But he was prepared. He simply wrapped the mist emanating from the blade around his body, forming a protective layer that greatly reduced Astoria's influence on him.

However, he understood that this was merely a temporary measure; if the stalemate continued, the fog's protective effect on him would only weaken, but it wasn't a major problem, because his goal wasn't to win the match after all.

Astoria's spell shattered the mist emanating from the blade, but something unexpected happened: the shattered mist transformed into hundreds of thin white threads, drifting into the air and then instantly expanding. Soon, the entire arena was filled with mist.

Her incantation actually helped Yamashita Hide spread the fog!

The spectators were initially surprised, but then realized that the fog was just ordinary fog, and apart from making their robes wet, it did nothing harmful.

Little did he know, Godric Gryffindor, standing among the Gryffindor students, was already smirking.

The Hogwarts destruction plan is launched!

The fog is just a smokescreen; the real trick is hidden behind it!

Faced with the thick fog, many spectators took out masks from their pockets and put them on, and it was unclear why they would carry such a thing with them.

Unbeknownst to the audience, several inconspicuous little boxes in a corner of the arena were also emitting white smoke. The smoke mingled with the white mist that filled the entire arena, gradually spreading downwards.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, goodnight!

The next update will be at midnight tomorrow night!

(End of this chapter)