The Bard at Hogwarts

Time always seems to pass by day by day without noticing.

Time soon came to the end of November.

In the morning of the day before the competition, all the warriors were invited to a special classroom in the castle.

It is said that according to the tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, the warriors' wands must be checked before the competition.

…

The second floor of the castle.

An empty classroom, because most of the desks here are concentrated in the back of the classroom, leaving enough space in the front.

However, in the front, there are three tables side by side, covered with a red velvet tapestry.

Behind the table, there are six high-backed chairs.

Since it is a wand test, Ollivander, the only wand maker in the British Isles, is naturally indispensable.

Similarly, there are five referees on the scene, including three headmasters including Dumbledore, and two directors Bagman and Barty Crouch.

It is worth mentioning that compared with the calmness of others, only Bagman, who is in charge of magic sports, is excited and seems to be a little impatient.

In the classroom, Harry sat aside, quietly watching everything around him. After the most rigorous special training, he could always detect everyone's actions without making a sound.

On the other side, Ino noticed Harry's gaze early on, and was alert and even a little stressed. He looked like a second Moody.

But he didn't think it was a bad thing. Harry's biggest drawback in the original story was recklessness. Now that he has become cautious, he may avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

"Warriors, time is running out! If you can, please come up in turn. After all, you will need to deal with an interview with the Daily Prophet later!"

Bagman, the director of the Department of Magical Sports, stood up and continued half-jokingly:

"Of course, there is no order. If you want to draw lots, I can do it now."

However, after looking around, Bagman couldn't help but cast his eyes on Ino.

There was no way. In his sight, the other three warriors looked a little abnormal.

Krum with a dull face, Fleur who was delicate, and Harry who was extremely vigilant.

"Okay! Since there is no order, I'll go first!"

Facing Bagman's gaze, Ino slowly stood up, walked to the velvet table, and then handed the wand to the gray-haired Ollivander.

"Long time no see, Mr. Ollivander!"

"Yes! Long time no see, I still remember the story of the elder mother!" Ollivander carefully took the wand.

After watching carefully for a moment, he whispered: "There was no need to check, but they insisted, saying that the rules were like this."

It seemed that he did not approve of this kind of inspection. Although Ollivander's voice was very small, it was just enough for the people present to hear clearly.

But fortunately, Ollivander still had a sense of propriety. He stopped with just one sentence, and then turned his eyes to the wand in front of him again.

He held the wand in one hand, and when the wand passed through the air, a beautiful elderberry flower bloomed on the tip of the wand.

"Elderwood body, phoenix tail feather core, 12 inches long, moderately flexible..."

Olivander listed the wand's information like a treasure, and then handed the wand in his hand to Bagman next to him.

After Bagman took the wand, he just glanced at it and handed it to old Barty Crouch.

However, an interesting scene appeared.

Unlike the routine work of the two directors of the Ministry of Magic, the performances of the three headmasters were different.

After Karkaroff got the wand, it was like receiving a hot and fragile item. He gently picked it up with both hands and handed it to Madame Maxime in a blink of an eye.

After receiving the wand, the eye-catching headmistress was naturally not as cautious as Karkaroff, because her attention was not on the wand at all.

Madame Maxime looked at the students in front of her, and the appreciation and regret in her eyes could not be hidden.

Faced with such a straightforward look, Ino was not clear about the reason. Some time ago, he visited the carriage of Beauxbatons and declined the other party's kindness while delivering books.

Now it seems that Maxime still seems to be unwilling to give up.

But fortunately, it is not the time to chat. Mrs. Maxime pinched the wand with two fingers and handed it to Dumbledore.

Under the gaze of several people, Dumbledore was like a child who found a new toy and immediately took out his wand.

Two almost identical wands were placed on the table. These two wands are really similar, whether in color and length, or even the knots on the bone wood wand body.

Dumbledore hid the two wands under the table, and took them out again after a while, smiling:

"Guess which one is yours."

Faced with this trick of coaxing children, Ino did not expose it, but looked at it with interest.

"It doesn't seem to be visible on the outside..."

Ino stroked his chin with one hand, pretending to be thoughtful.

"Hahaha, I knew you couldn't guess it!" Dumbledore laughed happily, as if a prank had succeeded.

However, the two of them sang in unison, making everyone else present look helpless.

Especially Ollivander, who was a little angry!

After all, a wizard who couldn't recognize his own wand was the biggest failure in his eyes.

Considering that there were still people waiting behind, Ino didn't want to waste any more time, and immediately laughed:

"Although I can't tell, my wand will bloom!"

After the words fell, there were two almost identical wands on the table, and one of them actually had small white flowers blooming on the wand.

Seeing that the joke was over, Bagman stood up again.

"Mr. Swinburne! Now please go to the second classroom on the left, where there will be a special reporter from the Daily Prophet to interview you."

...

At the same time.

While Bagman was talking, Rita seemed a little absent-minded in the second classroom on the left.

As a special reporter for the Daily Prophet, she relied on her talent to learn a lot of unknown secrets.

But the more she understood, the more she felt scared.

Once upon a time, the Ministry of Magic, which was full of factions, now seemed to be firmly locked by an invisible spider web, and even twisted into a rope.

This sounds ridiculous, but as a gold medal reporter who has been in the industry for more than ten years, Rita keenly discovered the problem. She knew too well what kind of results would be represented behind some subtle changes.

Maybe it doesn't seem to be a big deal now, but that's just not the time.

"I hope I can keep up..."

Rita whispered to herself in the empty classroom.

She felt a little uneasy when she thought that the person who caused all this would be the subject of an interview.

Her golden hair swung unconsciously.