Cheating

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The second round of the Magical School Potion Championship arrived silently with the retreating night.

Early that morning, Albert woke from a deep sleep, stretched lazily, got dressed, washed up, and prepared to head downstairs for breakfast. By chance, he ran into Professor Slughorn at the stairway, yawning. The elderly man was clearly unaccustomed to getting up early.

"What do you like for breakfast? Have Isabelle get it for you, and remember to eat plenty." Professor Slughorn sat beside Albert and fussed over him. "Before the second round ends, you won't have time to eat. Most of your time will be spent traveling or searching for potion ingredients."

In fact, most contestants had received similar reminders from their team leaders.

During the coming second round, the contestants would likely be unable to eat for quite some time. If hunger left their limbs weak, they would hardly be able to complete the task properly.

Albert had always wanted to complain: why couldn't the organizers prepare some food and water for the contestants?

He was probably not the only one who wanted to complain about that.

Still, there were not many contestants with an appetite like Albert's. Most of them were nervous. That was a normal reaction for competitors—not everyone, unlike Albert, had seen the big leagues.

Yes, Albert truly was not nervous.

Perhaps Hogwarts had given him too many thrilling experiences, making Albert somewhat numb to them.

Put another way: he had seen too much.

Is that all?

Halfway through breakfast, someone from the organizers arrived, saying they had brought the contestants a set of clothes to be worn during the upcoming competition.

They came in various colors, along with each school's crest.

Honestly, they were ugly.

And Albert was strongly opposed