Chapter 362

“Harry went to the hospital wing?”

When Felix returned to classroom seven, it was still some time before noon and quite a few people had not left yet, so he asked the commentator, Lee Jordan, who had combed his hair into locks.

He heard his passionate commentary as soon as he came in, and he certainly had much to do with the fiery atmosphere on the field. However, his voice was a little hoarse after a long time of commentary.

“Yes, Professor Hap.” Lee Jordan said, “He got the invitation card, but his face didn’t look that bright, his friend Granger took him to the hospital wing, along with Fred and George’s brother Ron.”

As he spoke, a figure got tossed out by the black hovering gate, and Felix waved his wand lightly to keep her safely land on the ground.

“Oh, thanks, Professor Hap.” Angelina Johnson said with gratitude.

Felix nodded and looked at the black door, which was covered with handprints of all sizes, and he saw a student deliberately half-squatting and pressing her dirty hands on the edge of the door. “It’s a symbol of courage.” Lee Jordan said, and Felix smiled blankly.

He raised his wand and gestured toward the black steps nearby, where the earth bulged up into a small mound, the center soil began to slide down in all directions, the grass on the ground was turned upside down, and as the crowd watched, a pointed monolith broke through the earth. The monolith towered about six or seven feet high, and on its smooth stone surface, four names glittered and shone like stars as the crowd gathered and stared –

Cedric Diggory.

Roger Davies.

Collins Foley.

Harry Potter.

The young wizards gazed at the four names, their hearts welling up with endless envy; it would be great to have their names on there as well.

When Felix heard Angelina mention what Cedric said about the secret, he smiled slightly and with another wave of his hand, those four words appeared at the top of the monolith: courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness.

“You should have realized that all of you can try multiple times.” Felix spoke calmly, sending his voice out far enough for everyone to hear, “Here are a few more words of advice–”

“Each failure will put a great mental burden on you, and it is best to rest for half an hour to an hour before trying again unless you have an extremely tough and strong mental disposition.”

The young wizards were talking, and words like “Potter”, “Amazing”, “Awesome” came out of their mouths, even the words Harry encouraged Angelina with “I’ll prove it to you” was brought up, and Draco Malfoy mouthed in disgust: “Saviour Potter!”

Felix smiled faintly –

“As for the test, I think many of you have already guessed it: confronting your fears. Of course, if your fear is something funny, such as a mountain of garbage, a smelly boot, then you will meet some interesting and bizarre creatures that I have specially prepared for you, even Headmaster Dumbledore full of praise for it.

It’s not just my credit either, I took some special reference from the Muggle movies and the creatures that the previous Tournament contestants had faced.”

Those young wizards who participated in the selection glared indignantly at him, their eyes spitting fire. This morning, they had been chased by monsters, wrapped by snakes, squashed by giants, knocked around by trolls, and treated like a ball by a “clacking ” transformed car …

Their encounters are so bizarre that they could be compiled into a book of hunting stories.

“I can see that you can’t wait to continue the challenge,” Felix said with a smile: “Well, one last thing, the whole selection will continue until next Monday, I will return to confirm the final list then.”

“Don’t even think about being smart and casting a spell on the monolith to put your name on it …”

—–

Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey handed Harry a glass of potion in annoyance as she personally supervised him chugging it down. Harry drank that disgusting fluid, which smelled like poor quality vegetable juice, and wiped his mouth vigorously, thanking God that he didn’t have to listen to Madam Pomfrey’s nagging at last.

Ron sat beside Harry’s feet and fiddled with the invitation card, he stroked the delicate patterns on the golden card over and over with a look of envy, “It’s beautiful.”

“How did you do that Harry, any tips?” He couldn’t resist asking.

“My trick probably won’t work for you guys, I don’t think anyone will cast a killing curse at you …,” Harry said with a big yawn, Madam Pomfrey’s potions always work fast, so before he steeled his nerves to drink it.

“You’ve to deal with the killing curse?” Ron’s body shook, the card slipped from his hand, and he caught it with his leg.

Hermione covered her mouth, “Is it that curse? The one demonstrated in Professor Moody’s class?”

“Yeah, the green light came at you from all sorts of angles, and every time I thought I was going to die.” Harry said lazily, “The only way to get out of that state of mind is to get out …”

“That’s bizarre! I tried a few times halfway through, telling myself it was all fake, only to go in and forget all about it.”

“So did we,” Ron said, “Hermione and me. I tried twice and saw a dozen kinds of spiders, and surprisingly, they are different every time, can you believe it?” He said incredulously, “There was an orb spider that you just had to poke it and pus would come out of its stomach, and when my spell hit-” He paused briefly, remembering some bad memory, his face scrunched up intensely.

“I faced all sorts of academic blows, failing exams, being called in to talk with professors, being kicked out of school for not being able to use my magic, or having magical accidents …” Hermione sighed, “and like you, I completely forgot that It’s just a bizarre test in a creepy place, I felt like I’ve suddenly got lost in thought and can’t remember why I’m there.”

“Maybe that was the professor’s point.”

“But how can we pass if we don’t remember and think it’s real every time?” Ron said.

Harry said thoughtfully, “We should not only consider what happened inside the black door, the professor did not emphasize the importance of power, but the emphasis on growth? Don’t forget, we will only forget that we are in the trial in the black door, but when we go out, we will remember everything. And suddenly you will discover the gap between the two trials, which is the key for us to overcome our fear and to grow.”

“So the test is actually a way to verify that you have reflected and grown?” Hermione said perceptively.

“No, ha ah – yes.” Harry’s eyelids drooped, with sleepiness.

He tapped his head, “There’s something else I need to tell you. There’s an enchantment on the invitation card, supposedly done by Professor Hap, that’s very, very interesting, and I highly recommend you guys, you … try it!”

Before Harry could finish his sentence, he fell asleep on his pillow crookedly. He was too tired today.

“What kind of enchantment is that, anyway?” Ron stared at the golden card, flipping it over and over, and handed it to Hermione, “I didn’t find anything.”

Hermione took it and pulled out her wand and pointed, “Revelio! Aparecium!” After a while, she said hesitantly, “It should be a one-time enchantment, only the first person who gets the card will be rewarded with it.”

Ron said regretfully, “I wish I could shake Harry awake and ask him about it.”

After lunch, the two returned to classroom seven again, before that they had asked for a large no. of potions from Madam Pomfrey to soothe their spirits. Hermione begged and pleaded for some time before Madam Pomfrey reluctantly gave it to her.

At this point, Lee Jordan has disappeared, a full morning commentary was a great burden on his voice, according to Neville, he intended to urgently order a box of Ice Mice with owls, to lower the pain in the throat.

Hermione shot a glance at the extra black monolith and gave a slight hum.

In the afternoon near dinner, Harry came back, he was first excited to read through the names on the monolith from the beginning then when he saw “Angelina Johnson”, Harry was sincerely happy for her. He also saw the name of Cho Chang, he did not know whether to be happy or sad – he already knew that Cho Chang agreed to become Cedric’s girlfriend.

Before he had time to think more, Angelina rushed over to him and gave him a warm hug, “Thank you, Harry.” Spinning him around, she pulled him into the Gryffindor crowd.

“Oh, there’s our champion Potter!” The twins said cheerfully. Fred bowed in a pretentious manner, “A million honours, we are in need of your tutelage.”

“Don’t, I’m not-” Harry waved his hands in embarrassment, “I’m not that old.”

The twins wrapped their arms around his shoulders left and right, “The Ageing Potion will have your share,” he nudged towards Lee Jordan, “Lee got the access, but we need to buy at least an ounce before we can get it, and we want someone to split it … ”

“Don’t you guys get a cut?” Ron asked.

“That’s true, George, we’ve been a little lavish lately and forgot we had a debt we hadn’t collected.” Fred said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Makes sense, we’ve only just started this month, and we’ve already spent thirty galleons.” George said.

“Thirty galleons!” Ron glared, annoyed, “And you won’t even buy a new dress for your brother!”

The twins looked at each other.

“That’s pretty much how we roll with it,” Fred shrugged, “And with all the money exchanged for materials, we could only afford to loan you some feathers to make your own dress by gluing it on.”

———–

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