New Term

The Troll took Ron's roar as a welcome.

Its shoulders slumped down, and it opened its mouth wide to roar.

Ron could even smell the troll's Troll foul breath.

Before they could react, the Troll launched the first attack.

After roaring, the Troll strode forward with heavy steps and began to charge towards the crowd.

"Impedimenta (Impedimenta)!"

Cedric, as expected of someone who had been trained by Harry using the Emerald Lumos, was the first to react and immediately cast a Impediment Jinx on the Troll.

The Impediment Jinx struck the armored Troll, causing only a brief moment of stagnation.

These Troll are armed with specially made armor by the Goblin under the Runcorn's Magic, giving them a strong immunity to Charms.

Of course, while this armor is powerful, it still cannot protect against the Killing Curse.

But here's the problem: these students who are still studying at Hogwarts certainly wouldn't use a spell as overly advanced as the Killing Curse Charms.

After all, not everyone is Harry, with the Philosopher's Stone and Ancient Magic, who can use various Charms without any emotion.

"Do something!" Cedric roared back, casting the Impediment Jinx on the Troll once more.

The group then seemed to snap out of their daze. They weren't exactly afraid of Troll Troll, but its size of over four meters was quite imposing, and the armor it wore certainly attracted their attention.

"Bomb him with the Exploding Charm, Seamus!" Hermione shouted, raising her wand and joining Cedric in casting Impediment Jinx on the Troll, occasionally throwing out two Disarming Charm as well.

But the Troll seemed unfazed by the Disarming Charm; it swung its spiked club, deflecting the Disarming Charm and rendering it completely ineffective against its weapon.

Seamus had also prepared his Charms. He had noticed the troll's Troll strong Charms resistance—this kind of Magical Creatures naturally had super strong Charms resistance in its skin, and it was wearing a special suit of armor. Fortunately, Seamus was quick-witted. Instead of blasting the Troll's body, he used his Charms to blast the ground in front of the Troll.

Environmental destruction is still quite useful. While the Troll Charms resistance is strong, a brain the size of a walnut is indeed not enough.

In its view, the small beam of light emitted from the stick waved by the little person in front of it had no effect on it, so it didn't pay much attention to it.

However, as it continued walking forward, it accidentally stepped into a crater created by Seamus.

Its forward momentum faltered for a moment, and as it ran, it nearly fell to the ground.

"Now!" Cedric shouted, "Crushing Spell!"

The Charms struck the Troll on the forehead, sending it staggering backward.

Others followed suit, using their own favorite Charms.

Ginny also raised her wand, and after a moment of preparation, she aimed it at the Troll's head Crushing Spell.

"Reducto (Crushing Spell)!"

A dazzling light appeared and struck the Troll's head accurately.

With a bang, the Troll's head was blasted to pieces by the Charms.

The headless body swayed and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Seeing the Troll fall, everyone couldn't help but look at Ginny with the eyes of someone witnessing a miracle.

"Ginny, what's wrong—"

Hermione asked, her eyes shining.

"Looks like Ginny's future boyfriend needs to watch out," the Twins chuckled. "Look at that, such a powerful 'Crushing Spell, I really doubt he can last even one round against Ginny— "

"If it were me dueling Ginny," Cedric grinned, "I absolutely wouldn't dare use the Protego to take Ginny's Reductor Curse head-on—oh my god, that's terrifying—terrifying—"

Ginny also came to her senses. She knew she had a bit of talent for the Reductor Curse Reductor Curse, but she didn't expect it to be so powerful.

"Is this what a born master of the Reductor Curse is like?" Cho asked, stunned and somewhat envious. "He's really strong—"

"It looks like they've won," Mr. Bagman said from the platform. "Let me see—it was Ginny Weasley who finally defeated the Troll. Congratulations to her—her Reductor Curse was truly extraordinary."

"I told you long ago, Ginny has quite a talent," Mrs. Weasley said, clapping her hands.

"Well done, Chaser!" Mr. Weasley also stood on the platform, clapping and cheering.

Mr. Bagman waited a moment, then said again, "Alright, you've defeated the first enemy. Now—even more powerful enemies await you. Of course, there's nothing new; the Troll you'll face will increase from one to two!"

Ron grinned.

"I really wish I could take a break, but that seems like a pipe dream right now," he said, shrugging. "But it's still much better than having spiders around."

"That's true," Cedric said, panting. "If it were Acromantula, I'd rather turn around and leave right now—at this level of difficulty, we'd be facing hordes of Acromantula."

Ron looked up, and just imagining the scene made him feel tired and disillusioned.

"I'm tired. Let it all end," he sighed. "I really hope this never happens to me in my life."

A fulfilling holiday always goes by too quickly, but the students in these Dueling Club don't think so.

During their summer trial, they encountered Magical Creatures including, but not limited to, Troll, Fire Dragon, Erumpent, Niffler, and Thunderbird.

Some trials were conducted in groups, while others were conducted individually.

What impressed them most was that Harry actually managed to get them a Chimera so they could fight alongside him.

This creature is a magical, bloodthirsty, and violent being native to Greece. It has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of Fire Dragon; it is also known as Chimera.

The Ministry of Magic classifies it as the highest level of ×XX××—of course, classifying it as a 5X-level Magical Creatures is not because its strength is 5X, but because 5X is the highest level.

Unlike the Fire Dragon, there is only one record of a wizard successfully killing the Chimera in history. However, this wizard later fell off his Pegasus due to exhaustion and died.

The famous Caerphilly Catapults Quidditch player, "Dangerous" Day Llewellyn, was killed by a Chimera while on vacation in Greece.

They fought with all their might, but only managed to draw with the Chimera, until the Chimera got bored and let them go.

"I never want to face Chimera again in my life," Ron said angrily after the match.

"We don't have much of a chance to encounter the Chimera again," Hermione replied, exhausted.

Soon, the day of School Opening's start arrived.

They traveled from the Isle of Wight to King's Cross Station.

Harry didn't forget to bring Anne along, but now that Cassandra and Pabbie have graduated, Anne is the only friend left from a hundred years ago.

"There are a lot of new books to buy in the new year, but I've already bought them all for you," Sirius said with a grin. "Now, we need to cross Platform Nine and Three-Quarters —as usual, let's not attract the attention of the Muggle."

"What I don't understand is, is there some kind of ritual required to depart from King's Cross Station?" Harry asked, puzzled. "Why can't we just take a carriage back to school?"

"Oh, it's the rule," Sirius said, scratching his head. "I don't know exactly why, just think of it as a kind of magical ritual at Hogwarts."

"Before there were trains, how did everyone get back to school?" Ron asked a thought-provoking question.

"You talk too much!" Mrs. Weasley shoved Ron into the wall of the platform. "Next, Ginny— " They passed through the wall one after another and arrived at the familiar platform.

Ron remained seated on the ground, clearly not expecting his mother to push him like that.

They barely exchanged a few words on the platform when the train whistle sounded, signaling everyone to board.

The students on the platform began to hurriedly board the train.

"Hurry, hurry," Mrs. Weasley said impatiently, giving them all a hasty hug. "Get in the car quickly, and remember to write if anything happens—especially you, Ronald. I don't want to go the whole semester without a letter from you until you complain about your Christmas present!"

"I understand, Mom!" Ron said with a sigh.

They didn't carry any luggage; it was all in Harry's wallet.

Cedric and the other older students returned to their respective groups, especially the Weasley twins, who immediately began searching for Lee Jordan as soon as they got on the bus.

Such like-minded brothers are hard to find even with a lantern.

"Let's go," Ginny said, turning to Anne. "If we hurry, we can still save them seats."

"Oh, okay," Anne replied softly, squeezing into the carriage with Ginny.

After squeezing around for a while, they finally found a carriage big enough to accommodate them.

Just then, Ron pulled Hermione from behind and squeezed through.

"Hey, Ginny," he said breathlessly, "Oh, Anne —it's packed everywhere, I can't find a seat!"

"What are you talking about?" Ginny turned her head, glanced into the private room behind her, and said, "There's still room in there, it's just Loony Lovegood all by herself—"

"Huh? Is this okay?" Ron was a little scared. He felt that Luna was a bit crazy, like Dumbledore— but not in the same way.

"Don't be silly," Ginny said, laughing. "She'll be fine."

She opened the door and pulled Anne into the private room.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry followed them inside.

"Hi Luna," Ginny said, "May we sit in these seats?"

The girl sitting by the window looked up.

She had a head of messy, dirty, waist-length golden hair, very light-colored eyebrows, and one eye that bulged outwards, which gave her a perpetually surprised expression.

This girl exuded a distinctly eccentric air about her. Perhaps it was because she had stuck her wand behind her left ear just to be safe, or perhaps it was because she was wearing a necklace made of corks from Butterbeer, or perhaps it was because she was holding the magazine upside down while reading it.

Her gaze swept over Ginny and landed on Anne.

"Mm," she nodded in response.

"Thank you," Ginny said, smiling slightly at her.

They sat inside the carriage, Luna peering at them through an upside-down magazine titled "The Quibbler."

She didn't seem to need to blink as often as ordinary people; she just kept staring at Anne.

Anne felt a little uneasy under her gaze. She didn't know if she should say something, since she felt it would be inappropriate not to say anything while someone was staring at her like that.

"You're Ginny, I know that."

Luna spoke softly, her voice ethereal. She turned to look at Hermione, Ron, and Harry, calling out their names.

"And you?" Luna looked at Anne again. "I don't think I've seen you at Hogwarts before. Are you a Hogwarts student this year?"

"How did you know?" Anne asked curiously.

"You don't look like a freshman, because you're definitely over eleven," Luna analyzed in her ethereal voice. "And almost every year Hogwarts has transfer students, so I figured since you're already on the train, you must be a Hogwarts student, right?"

"You're so smart," Anne said sincerely. "Are you a Ravenclaw?"

"Exceptional intelligence is a person's greatest asset," Luna said in a singing voice. "You have many Healers on you, Anne —many troublesome shrimps."

"Harassment?" Anne asked doubtfully, looking around but seeing nothing.

"Ignore her," Ginny whispered in Anne's ear. "There's no such thing as Healers." Luna sighed softly, raised the upside-down magazine to cover her face, and fell silent.

"What exactly is harassment?" Anne asked Hermione curiously.

After spending so many days together, Anne already knew that Hermione knew a little bit about everything.

In her opinion, Hermione must know about harassment.

"Oh, it's something like a mosquito or a fly. It's an invisible creature that floats into people's ears and messes up their brains." Hermione reached out and tapped her temple with her index finger. "Luna believes such things exist, but who can say for sure? After all, no one has proven that it doesn't exist, right?"

"If you look at it from that perspective, then the harassment definitely exists." Ron pulled a bottle of Muggle beverage from his pocket, twisted it open, and took a sip. "But I think Muggle drinks are still stronger—what's this? Oh— Fanta, Apple flavor, I like Fanta."