The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

"This morning, we hid the Goblet of Fire in the maze. No one knows the exact location... The maze is difficult and dangerous. If someone encounters a dangerous situation that is difficult to cope with, hold up your wand and shoot red sparks..."

"Whoever touches the trophy first will be the champion!"

"Now...listen to my whistle!"

"three two……"

"Game start!"

As a short, sharp whistle sounded in his ears, Harry held his breath and ran into the maze.

After passing through the shrub wall, the entrance behind you is immediately surrounded by plant branches. The voices of the audience are instantly inaudible. The high hedges cast dark shadows on the path. The strange-shaped shrub branches are like a group of twisted monsters hidden in the darkness. , waiting for the warriors who let their guard down and become careless to fall into their trap.

Several "fluorescent flashes" sounded one after another, and there were several bright lights nearby.

The path of the maze was twists and turns, and every few steps you could see double or even three-way intersections. Harry sped up his pace and ran, turning left and then right. Several bright lights followed him. Unknowingly, it was submerged in the thick night.

The leather shoes stepped on the soft grass and fallen leaves, and the sound of footsteps was mixed with the rustling swaying of the surrounding forest leaves. The neighing of the leprechauns reached the ears from all directions. The high walls of the maze shrubs made the surrounding area airtight. But Harry could always feel the coolness on his face, as if there was wind blowing through him.

The maze is getting darker every minute, and the sky above the maze gradually turns dark blue.

Harry held up the glowing wand in one hand and kept looking behind and around him. He seemed to feel that someone was watching him from a secret place, but when he looked carefully, those suspicious figures turned into the shadows of tree branches.

The slender and twisted branches and leaves are more like the shadow of a house elf.

Harry's thoughts flashed across his mind. He smiled and continued to run forward. He never encountered any obstacles, as if the entire maze was empty. He didn't know how long he had been walking, but he suddenly turned into a narrow passage and encountered a fork in the road again. mouth.

Looking at the silent fork in the road, Harry couldn't tell whether the maze was trying to fool him with the illusion of safety. He didn't dare to make any random choices anymore. He held the wand flat in his hand and whispered to it:

"[Show me the way]"

The wand was like the pointer in a compass, spinning around twice, and finally the tip of the wand was pointed at the dense woods on the right, which was the north.

The maze route map he had seen before appeared in Harry's mind, and he roughly estimated his current location, feeling confident. To go northwest from the center of the maze, the best way right now is to take the fork on the left and then turn right as quickly as possible.

"Susu..."

Turning into the left aisle, the roots and branches of the shrubs on both sides grow wildly. The plants on the left and right close together, and the narrow aisle in the center is immediately squeezed by the hard branches.

In order to avoid being swallowed by the plants and being embedded in the tree wall, Harry threw away his steps and ran quickly.

The entire maze seemed to have finally been activated. All kinds of monsters jumped out from both sides of the road along the way.

The huge stone monster could emit magma-like sparks from both ends. Harry used the Obstacle Curse to temporarily hinder its movement. After completely running away from a safe distance, he turned back and with the help of the firelight, he could barely see that it turned out to be a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

The thing was huge, ten feet long, and looked like a giant scorpion. Its long stingers were rolled up on its back, and its thick armor supported it as it rushed through the maze.

There is also the dementor transformed by the boggart, twelve feet tall, with a hood covering his face. His rotten and scabbed hands stretched out straight towards him, with only a thin layer of skin covering the hand bones, which was cold. Slimy water vapor enveloped the whole body.

He didn't recognize it right away, but fortunately the Patronus Charm could also scare away Boggarts.

Harry continued to move forward, keeping his steps as brisk as possible without making any noise, and listened warily to what was happening around him.

Turn left...turn right...turn left again...

The cunning Devil's Vine would suddenly jump out while he was on the road, grab his ankles and lift him up, knocking him down. Fortunately, he had experience in dealing with Devil's Vine...

Xinkpunk was a golden mist floating in the air, strange and gorgeous. When he broke free from the shackles of the devil's vine, the thing shone innocently towards him in the moonlight.

He didn't encounter anything in the next thirty minutes. He turned on the same wrong road twice and encountered several dead ends... When he was walking on a long and straight path, he met a person. Incomparably strange monsters have only been seen in Loren's letters and "The Monster Book of Monsters" before.

Sphinx, its body is like a scary large lion, with a long yellow tail covering its huge paws, and a tuft of soft hair at the tip of the tail, but she has the head of a woman, with an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, and eyebrows Hanguang, but his voice was low and hoarse.

"You are very close to your goal. The fastest way is to get past me..."

Ten minutes later, Harry passed the griffin with a friendly smile and nodded toward it reservedly. I silently recited this riddle about spiders in my mind, planning to go back and test Ron.

Following the direction pointed by the wand, I ran across a path, then turned the corner, and my eyes suddenly became bright.

On the base of the stone table a hundred meters away, the Goblet of Fire shone temptingly.

Just when Harry was in a daze, a familiar figure rushed over, but at the same time, there was a huge thing beside the hedge on the left that was moving quickly this way, and Cedric was about to hit it.

"Watch out to the left, Acromantula!"

…

The night is getting darker, and the moon is like a curved hook.

The Quidditch stadium stands.

The two female professors sat in the corner of the back row, looking boredly at the bush maze, isolated by tall hedges. Only sporadic rays of magic light occasionally lit up, and then quickly disappeared.

Professor Bathida Barbling is wearing a close-fitting robe with wide sleeves and long hem, and fluttering skirts. Her charming face, fair skin, and graceful figure attract many eyes just sitting here.

She yawned boredly: "Pomona, do you think this way of watching the game is not very smart?"

"Well..." Professor Sprout squeezed his hands together and pursed his lips tightly.

Professor Babling held her shoulders and shook her: "Okay, don't be so nervous. Cedric is currently leading the score, and there is still a high possibility of winning."

"It's because the possibility of winning the championship is so high that I'm so nervous." Professor Sprout's voice trembled when he spoke. "If he has the same score as Beauxbatons' Delacour, I would be relieved."

"why is that?"

"Hufflepuff hasn't received such honors in hundreds of years. Let alone the Goblet of Fire, I haven't even seen the Academy Cup a few times." Professor Sprout muttered.

Babbling sighed. The little wizards of Hufflepuff have a gentle personality and are the most popular among the four houses, but they are also the least competitive. The House Cup has been going back and forth between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It flows, and occasionally it falls into the hands of Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff only gets lucky once in a while.

"Pomona, don't be too nervous. It's useless to be nervous." Babling patted her back, trying to give her some comfort.

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't win the championship..." Professor Sprout whispered, "I'm more worried that Cedric will be injured and disappointed..."

"That child has been very good since he entered school. He has excellent grades and plays Quidditch very well. He has never made me worry. When he was selected as a warrior a few months ago, he even approached me and wanted to learn more magic skills..." Sprout's face was a little blushing, "I'm not good at this, so I asked Filius for help. As you can see, he learned the Bubble Charm very quickly and well.

"I heard that Minerva worked with the headmaster of Ilvermorny as a dueling training instructor. I asked him if he wanted to join in. He was tempted, but he felt that it would be unfair to Harry, who is also a warrior..."

"He is a good boy." Babuling looked at the twinkling lights in the maze with a complicated expression.

…

The spider's huge fallen body crushed a hedge, and its long hairy legs lay spread out on the ground.

"Harry! Are you okay?"

"fine!"

Harry and Cedric gasped and gasped at the spider corpse. Their robes were torn by the barbs on the spider's long legs, stained with disgusting and sticky secretions, and some blood stains from scratches.

After waiting for the cold sweat on their bodies to dry, the two looked at each other and smiled at each other.

"Go get it, you almost got it." Harry leaned against the hedge and let his sore legs rest for a while.

Cedric looked at Harry, then turned to look at the trophy. The golden light reflected the longing expression on his face. He took a deep breath:

"Take it, you should win, you saved my life."

"That's not the rule. Stop showing off your style." Harry was a little annoyed with his stubbornness. "Whoever gets there first will score. You got there first. I can't outrun you."

"No..." Cedric shook his head, "You told me there was a fire dragon. If you hadn't warned me in advance, I would have been eliminated from the first project."

"You told me the secret of the golden egg, and we were even."

"You should have scored a little higher in the second event. You stayed back and rescued all the hostages."

"I was the only one who foolishly took that song seriously!"

"..."

Just as the two were arguing fiercely, a hoarse and dull voice sounded from behind: "You two can take it together!"

"Professor Moody!"

Harry and Cedric cheered in unison: "Why are you here!?"

"Some accident happened. Fleur and Graves sent out a distress signal, so I came over." Moody limped towards them and said, "If two people take it at the same time, Hogwarts will still win. You are the joint champion.”

"This..." Cedric's eyes flashed with emotion.

Harry said with a smile: "Listen to Professor, come on."

Just as Harry and Cedric were grabbing a handle, Harry caught a glimpse of Professor Moody also holding his hand on the thin handle of the trophy. The next second, a hook was suddenly caught behind the navel, and their feet were lifted off. Touching the ground, the trophy dragged them forward amid the whistling wind and swirling colors.

…

"Sir! Mr. Morgan!"

In the afternoon before the finals, the house elves in the kitchen were preparing dinner for the evening. The aroma of various soups filled the busy house. Fortunately, the Hogwarts kitchen was built underground and was not too hot.

Accompanied by joyful cheers, a house elf dressed in a well-dressed waiter's costume ran over swinging his slender arms and legs. The movements were so large that Loren was worried that he would throw his limbs away.

"Mr. Morgan, Xiaomai misses you very much! Summer vacation is about to begin, and Xiaomai thought I wouldn't see you for a long time... Xiaomai received Easter eggs from you and Miss Granger. The chocolate is very delicious, and the eggs are filled with The socks are also very comfortable…”

Xiaomai babbled for a long time, and finally slowed down. He was too guilty to look into Loren's eyes: "But the weather is getting hotter. Xiaomai doesn't want to wear socks, so Xiaomai just wants to go barefoot."

Loren smiled gently: "The gift I give you is something that belongs to you. You can wear it whenever you want."

The house elf's bat-winged ears twitched: "Yes, sir."

"How are the books and notes I asked you to read?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan..." Wheat's relaxed muscles tensed up again, and he replied in a low voice, "I'm reading very slowly. I've only read two chapters so far, the discovery of the New World, and the conflict between colonists and indigenous people..."

He knew the words individually, but he couldn't understand them when they were put together.

"It's indeed a bit slow." Loren muttered nonchalantly, "But we agreed from the beginning. If you're not in a hurry, you can take your time."

"Okay, sir."

At this time, Twinkle, who was wearing a blue and white skirt, ran over quickly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan, I can't move away because I'm frying meatloaf."

Loren looked at the house elf. Her cheeks were much plumper than the last time they met. The gray skin was no longer clinging to the bones, and there was more flesh and blood. The big protruding eyes were no longer withered. god.

"The final of the Goblet of Fire is coming soon. After tonight, Barty Crouch will leave Hogwarts. Are you ready?"

Shining's face suddenly stiffened, and even her breathing became stagnant. The special moments of the past few months appeared before her eyes...

When he was in the elegant wizard clothing store, Dobby pointed at the shelves and shouted:

"Look at this hat! Sparkly, pink!"

After her first shopping trip, she cried loudly by the kitchen fireplace: "House elves shouldn't need wages, and they shouldn't use the money given by their masters to buy their own things!"

Gradually, she could safely use the wages paid by Principal Dumbledore to shop, and she could lie on her crib and plan where to go for weekend entertainment...

Later, instead of following Dobby for shopping and vacation, she was able to give Dobby suggestions on where to go...

After a long silence, Winky sobbed twice. She rubbed her nose with her fists and looked up at the little wizard in front of her: "I'm ready, sir."

Loren hummed softly: "I'll give you a task..."

"Okay, sir!"

…

Watching the three people who touched the trophy disappear in an instant. In the hedge wall crushed by the Acromantula entity, two tennis ball-sized eyes blinked a few times and slowly disappeared into the dark shadows.