HP North Star's Radiance

On Halloween, October 30th, the Slytherin students would put on their cloaks early and line up in the front hall. After lining up, they would be led to the lawn in front of the castle.

As October arrives, the weather is gradually getting colder, but thankfully it hasn't rained yet, so it's not too damp and chilly. The night sky is a clear, deep blue-purple, the moon is pure white, and the air is crisp and refreshing.

Draco turned to Praris and said, "My dad had considered sending me to Durmstrang... but my mom disagreed; she didn't want me to go so far away..."

Praris smiled, her eyes narrowed. "The weather's so nice, Pansy. Does Durmstrang have such nice weather?"

Pansy replied, "They're in the north of Scandinavia, where it's extremely cold, and you can hardly see the sun in winter."

Prares said to Draco, "You're quite lucky to be able to enjoy this beautiful scenery with us."

After a long pause, Draco managed to squeeze out, "It's barely watchable."

Representatives from the other two schools were nowhere to be seen, and Praris began to feel sleepy, her head gradually nodding off.

Pansy, worried that Praris might fall, reached out to catch her, but suddenly noticed that Draco was quietly shifting his position.

He had originally been standing crookedly so that he could easily turn around and talk to the two of them, but now he was almost facing Praris directly.

If Praris really falls—

Pansy sighed.

She thought that Draco's heart must be beating fast right now, just like when she pretended to fall, tears welling up but not falling, waiting for Jacob to fall for her trick and carry her on his back.

"there!"

A loud sound rang out, and Praris looked up groggily, seeing a pink and blue carriage pulled by celestial horses speeding through the air, cutting through the sky.

The carriage came down to the ground with a loud bang, startling the students.

"Keep an eye on them!"

Terence roared, his usual good manners vanishing. It turned out Neville had been startled by the carriage and stomped on his foot.

A young man in a light blue robe jumped out of the light blue carriage. He touched around on the edge of the carriage and found a ladder for getting out.

A woman taller than Hagrid descended gracefully from the carriage via a ladder, followed closely by students in blue silk robes.

There were no younger students among them; they all looked like adults.

Draco scoffed and said, "Beauxbatons."

Hogwarts is in the Scottish Highlands, while Beauxbatons is in the south of France. The attire of these thirteen students is clearly inappropriate, and the cold mountain winds of the evening have them shivering.

During Dumbledore's conversation with the Giantess, they learned that the headmaster of Beauxbatons was Madam Maxim. Madam Maxim, concerned for her students, requested to enter the castle early, to which Dumbledore readily agreed.

The students from Beauxbatons have gone inside, but the students from Hogwarts are still waiting in the cold wind for the Durmstrang team to arrive late.

It seems that although the host country has the advantage of playing on home turf, it still has to endure a lot of hardship in order to fulfill its hospitality.

"In the lake!"

It's Gryffindor shouting again. I really don't know why they're always so energetic.

The water in Black Lake sank from the middle, creating a large whirlpool on the surface. A ghost ship, like those from legends, rose from the bottom of the lake. The ship quickly sailed towards the shore, where a plank was set up not far from the shore, and students disembarked one after another.

"Oh!" Pansy exclaimed in annoyance, then shut her mouth.

Praris glanced at her sharply, then at Durmstrang's group.

Sure enough, a tall boy with blond hair and gray eyes was standing in the middle of the crowd, talking to a boy with a hooked nose and thick eyebrows.

The students from Beauxbatons had already entered the castle, while the students from Durmstrang followed their headmaster, Karkaroff, into the Great Hall with the Hogwarts students.

After some hesitation, Durmstrang's students decided to sit at the Slytherin table. Draco, who was very interested in Quidditch, struck up a conversation with one of the Durmstrang students.

That person was the boy who was chatting with Jacob; his name was Krum, and he was supposedly a Quidditch star player.

Prarese's impression of this person was from the Quidditch World Cup; she remembered that he caught the Golden Snitch, but his team didn't win.

“I thought you’d want to sit at the other end,” Prarese teased Pansy.

*Adapted from a poem by Pessoa.

Chapter 76 The Battle of Ages

Pan Xi snorted: "Why should I hide? If we have to distinguish right from wrong in this relationship, then it must be him who is no good."

“He’s watching you,” Prarese reminded Pansy.

Pansy poked at the dishes on the table with disdain and muttered a curse under her breath: "Are we going to be eating potatoes all the time from now on? Why is Durmstrang so popular with Germans? Damn Germans, can't they find another table?"

“I have to remind you,” Milison said with a regretful look, “there are also a lot of potatoes on the other tables.”

Pansy looked at it and said, "We can still have French food. It would be great if the seafood in the French fish soup was mussels. White wine and mussels are a perfect match."

After the meal, Dumbledore introduced the Triwizard Tournament committee to the students, consisting of Mrs. Maxime of Beauxbatons, Mr. Karkaroff of Durmstrang, Mr. Ludo Bagman, Director of Sport and Physical Education at the Ministry of Magic, and Dumbledore himself.

Students from each school who meet the age requirement will have the opportunity to throw slips of paper into a magical artifact called the "Goblet of Fire." The Goblet of Fire will then select "warriors" to represent the three schools in the competition.

The "warrior" needs to pass three levels, and the judges will score the "warrior" based on the performance in each level.

Dumbledore drew an "age line" around the Goblet of Fire, and those who did not meet the age requirement would not be able to cross the age line to throw the note.

The process of a candidate sending out a note signifies a unilateral magical contract between the candidate and the Goblet of Fire. Once the Goblet of Fire chooses that candidate in return, it's as if the Goblet of Fire has also signed the contract; once the contract is formed, neither party can back out.

The Slytherin students immediately began to whisper among themselves:

"Could we ask an older student to help pass the note?"

"How effective are anti-aging agents?"

"This isn't fair! I was only one month short!"

"Will the Confusion Spell work?"

How will you know if you can succeed if you don't try?

"Who knows the Disillusionment Charm?"

"How about Apparition? Oh, I forgot we can't use that at school!"

"Keep your voice down! You don't have a license!"

"Could you have a house-elves or owls cast it?"

"Would the Summoning Charm work to make the Goblet of Fire fly here?"

Even after everyone had returned to the common room, the Slytherins were still happily searching for ways to circumvent the rules, and none of them felt they should abide by the "seventeen years old" rule.

Praris suddenly found it very interesting; if Miss Stella were still at school, she estimated she would make a fortune.

First, make some money selling the Age-Enhancing Potion, then make some money teaching others how to use the Disillusionment Charm and the Confusion Charm, then make some money for submitting notes on behalf of others, and then open a betting pool to see who will become the "Warrior" of Hogwarts and which school will be the champion.

Before the deal is finalized, she will definitely sign a contract limiting the cooperation, meaning that she will have to pay the money after the work is done, regardless of whether the deal goes through or not.

Then he took the money and bought her and Sinister a few bottles of good wine. The two of them went on a drunken rampage at the Astronomy Tower, breaking several star charts and globes.

Praris sighed, suddenly understanding Winnie's words about youth.

Just like every summer vacation before, Hogwarts has always been here, but some people leave and never come back.

At that moment, two Slytherins walked slowly past Praris, their arms around each other's shoulders.

"Want to take a bet? I bet the Champion comes from Slytherin!"

"You're betting on Slytherin, so what should I bet on?"

"You're limiting yourself, aren't you? Let's bet on Gryffindor! If the champion is in Slytherin, you won't be too upset if you lose; if the champion is in Gryffindor, at least you'll have money; if the champion is in another house, neither of us will win, it's a tie! Doesn't that make sense?"

Prarese laughed; that's exactly what she'd said to Millie when they watched their first Quidditch game. Professor Sinister even praised them both for their talent.

There is no such thing as Slytherin being forever young, but there will always be Slytherin being young.

Milison, standing next to her, also heard these words and whispered to Praris, "She's still too young. If the Warriors were in Gryffindor, even if they made money, they wouldn't be happy."

"Based on experience?"

"Based on experience!"

Milison and Praris followed the crowd into the common room, where many Slytherins were still awake and sitting around the sofas discussing something.

“Look! Prince is here. Our Miss Prince has been quite taciturn lately,” Selwin said with a smile, sitting in the crowd. “She’s quite different from when she was in the foyer!”

Selwyn clapped his hands again and said, "Oh, right, since Prince is here, why don't he give us some pointers on our little deception plan, so that everyone can have a chance to compete for the champion's position and add glory to Slytherin's honor?"

Prareas frowned inwardly. Was Selwin using her to elevate her status as an upperclassman? Or did she think Prareas was also eager to show off her knowledge?

The students present immediately waved to her and invited her to chat.

Prarese disliked this kind of passive social interaction. She couldn't simply claim she had no ideas; if she actually gave advice and someone tried it and had problems, she would be held responsible.

Praris recalled that most of the students present were just a few months shy of seventeen, barely above the age limit.

Praris humbly shook his head: "I wouldn't call it giving pointers. How could I possibly give pointers on Dumbledore's magic? As for solutions... they are not impossible, but they are simply not easy for us."

“What do you mean?” Selwyn asked.

“Unfortunately, I overheard your discussion during dinner just now.” Praris paused for a moment. “The age line is a kind of predictive magic, while the name is the shortest spell. I suppose some of you here have taken arithmetic divination classes, and in arithmetic divination, name divination is the most basic method.”

Several Slytherins nodded.

She also wanted to give an example, such as how people often use "Mysterio" instead of "Voldemort" because names are considered magical. Winnie had said that calling Mysterio by his name was dangerous while he was alive.

But who can blame them for having such a close relationship with Slytherin? This example doesn't quite fit here.

“That’s true.” Selwyn nodded. “So you mean?”

“A name tag submitted on behalf of someone else is absolutely not recognized by a magical contract.” Praris sat down in the seat that Selwyn had found for her. “The same goes for the Age-Enhancing Potion and the Disillusionment Charm. The Age Line can identify a person’s true age and cannot be deceived by their physical appearance.”

"what--"

The Slytherins expressed their regret.

“As for the Summoning Charm, also known as the Summoning Charm,” Praris paused for a moment, “Many items in the shop have anti-Summoning Charms, also called anti-theft Charms. Unless Dumbledore is out of his mind and forgets to cast the charm, otherwise…”

"what--"

The Slytherins once again let out a unified sigh of regret.

Winnie's special training and the compressed file she received were anything but ineffective. The reason the mysterious man lured Winnie with ideals rather than coercion was precisely because Winnie's erudition in spells was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

“Finally, there’s the Confusion Charm.” Praris paused. “It’s certainly feasible, but only if the Confusion Charm is powerful enough to confuse Dumbledore’s magic. A wizard of that level—has no reason to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Besides, it’s illegal; the Ministry of Magic is on the judging panel!”

"Let's call it a day, let's call it a day." A Slytherin girl shook her head. "It seems the only way now is to dig a tunnel from underground in the middle of the night."