Learning from the "Veterans," Forming Cliques / Pursuing the Strong Is Human Nature

"Albus, it's your turn to grade." Just as Dumbledore was lost in thought, Akinbad whispered a reminder.

The three judges have already given their scores, and now only he remains.

Dumbledore had just heard their report, and he also felt that Hermione's performance today was indeed perfect.

"A perfect score! My opinion is in line with the other three judges!" Dumbledore announced loudly to the audience. "Miss Granger has received the highest score to date: a perfect 40!"

Upon hearing Dumbledore announce the result himself, the entire room erupted in cheers once again.

Hermione waved happily to everyone before turning and walking into the tent.

The other three were also in the tent at the moment. Upon seeing her enter, Cedric Diggory immediately offered his congratulations with great joy.

On the contrary, both Phoebe and Viktor Krum looked rather unhappy, especially Viktor Krum, who already knew that his score was the lowest.

At that moment, the four judges entered the tent together, followed by Harry had served as a referee for one of the matches.

"Champion, you've all done a great job," Akinbad said with a smile to everyone. "At Albus's invitation, I have a few words to say to you. The Second Task will begin at 9:30 a. m. on February 24th next year. You can rest as much as possible in the meantime. However, we have one more question for you to consider."

He smiled mysteriously and pointed to the Golden Egg in Hermione's hand, "This is the treasure you worked so hard to obtain. Do you see the crack on it? You need to find a way to decipher the clues inside; that will guide you through the second trial. That's all~"

"Everyone displayed excellent form today, and thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities. That's all for now, Hermione, let's go."

Harry, acting as the referee, briefly summarized the competition process before calling Hermione over to leave together.

"Wait a moment, Miss Granger, I have a question for you." But at that moment, Akinbad suddenly called out to Hermione from behind, seemingly asking meaningfully, "How did you come up with the idea of using the Flame-Freezing Charm? It seems to be a rather obscure spell, doesn't it?"

"This..." Caught off guard by the question, Hermione hesitated.

"It was just a coincidence that I learned it, Mr. Akinbad," Harry replied in a low voice. "Hermione knows many spells; this is just one of them. And in fact..."

"The spells Hermione can't learn haven't been invented in this world yet!"

Chapter 649 Learning from 'Predecessors' and Forming Factions

Babajide Akinbad... this suddenly appearing vice president of the International Confederation of Wizards, his last question made Harry a little suspicious.

Because the question, when translated, is essentially asking... why Hermione was able to come up with the idea of using the Flame-Freezing Charm to cheat.

Cheating is rampant in the Triwizard Tournament, a tradition that has lasted for hundreds of years. Even if Akinbad had no prior experience with the tournament, Albus Dumbledore would have subtly reminded him of it once he joined the organizing committee.

However, even when it comes to cheating, there are differences in the quality of the methods used.

Why did Viktor Krum fail? Wasn't it because Durmstrang's cheating methods weren't sophisticated enough?

The tournament organizing committee probably knew from the start that the news about the Dragon would be leaked, which is why they added another restriction on the Dragon... a female Dragon mother who is currently incubating her brood and carrying dragon eggs.

Harry and Hermione, along with Olympe Maxime, were accompanied by Hagrid, allowing them to observe the Dragon up close in every detail, and naturally, they also learned about the Dragon Egg.

However, Igor Karkaroff clearly didn't know anything about these Dragons, so the only information he relayed to Viktor Krum from his spying was that the dragon tamers had brought the Dragon.

Having only obtained this information, Viktor Krum naturally resorted to the Conjunctivitis Curse —a universally acknowledged excellent spell for dealing with Fantastic Beasts like Dragon that possess strong magic resistance and high vision—and thus ended up at the bottom.

In other words, the reason the competition organizing committee brought the dragon egg along was to trap such stubborn cheaters.

The problem now is that Hermione's cheating methods are not only ingenious, but also incredibly powerful!

The Flame-Freezing Charm is said to lower the temperature of flames, but who else would dare to expose themselves directly to Dragon's breath like Hermione?

Unless, from the very beginning, she was absolutely certain that the Tree Bee Dragon's flames were completely ineffective against her!

So Harry figured that Akinbad must have become suspicious.

But what he needs to confirm now is whether this suspicion arose after the other party saw the Flame-Freezing Charm, or...

He already had preconceived suspicions about Hermione before the competition even started...

"Great! They're finally back!!"

The bronze eagle-headed door knocker readily allowed Harry to pass, and as the door to the Eagle House common room opened, a cheer immediately reached Harry's ears, temporarily pulling him out of his thoughts.

Luna Lovegood had specifically told him that the students from Eagle House planned to celebrate with Hermione after her match, and Harry hadn't refused.

Because he decided to start putting aside his pride and interacting more with these classmates.

Things are different now. Having fallen out with Dumbledore, Harry actually needs to be even more mindful of his prestige in the house and within the school.

Has anyone noticed that Harry's current status and situation at school are actually exactly the same as Voldemort's?

He was a top student favored by professors and a strong figure admired by his classmates. Everyone in the school treated him like a darling. But the only one who remained wary and suspicious of him was the former professor of Transfiguration, now the Hogwarts Headmaster.

Therefore, Harry thought he might as well replicate Voldemort's rise to power, try to gain a group of followers in the school, and have them serve him as much as possible after graduation.

He was confident that he could succeed, partly because the campus environment in Britain and the West provided fertile ground for his 'entrepreneurship'.

Do you remember, in Western schools—or to put it more simply, Hogwarts —the teacher-student relationship was very distant, and once students left the school, there was no such thing as a teacher-student bond.

Otherwise, how could those scoundrels from the Ministry of Magic have dared to return to school and act so arrogantly?

They were all once Albus Dumbledore's students, but after leaving school, they harbored a burning desire to send Albus Dumbledore to the crematorium... If they didn't know they couldn't beat Albus Dumbledore, they probably would have already pulled out their wands and attacked.

Based on this, if Harry were to gather such a group of people, there would be little need to worry about their loyalty to the school or Dumbledore after they leave.

Another possibility for success is that Harry realizes he, like Voldemort, has found their weakness.

Back then, Voldemort found the weakness of Pure-blood glory and tricked a bunch of Pure-blood Wizard into joining the Death Eater. Harry can definitely do something similar now.

But what he advocated was not the glory of Pure-blood, but the self-salvation of wizards.

By using General Social Cognition, the young wizards in the school are shown the real development of the outside world, thereby instilling in them a sense of crisis.

Only when they truly understand the reality that wizards may be wiped out by Muggle will they genuinely need the Boy Who Lived can protect them from danger.

As for who will be the Boy Who Lived, Harry might as well play a minor role.

Well... to put it simply, Harry decided to make use of these students.

Harry didn't see anything wrong with it, because firstly, he wouldn't force them, and secondly, the students could also benefit from him; it was simply a matter of everyone getting what they needed.

Besides, compared to Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort, Harry probably thinks he's a good boss, right?

At least that's what the Weasley family's three children and their daughter-in-law all thought.

So, now that he's decided to take this path, he should naturally join the student group and show that 'sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone'.

When Harry and Hermione entered the common room, all the Ravenclaw students were already gathered there.

The normally dignified and proper young intellectuals have gone completely wild today. They prepared a huge amount of snacks, pastries, and various drinks in advance, and some of them, not wanting to miss out on the fun, even encouraged the first-graders to pick up Butterbeer!

Even the usually deep and majestic starry sky dome was set off with a meteor shower tonight, making the atmosphere feel as if someone was setting off fireworks inside a house.

Led by Roger Davis and Cho Chang, the Quidditch players brandished their brooms. There were no Quidditch Match this year, so the only time they could celebrate was during the Triwizard Tournament.

Many other students were also cheering enthusiastically, some even waving their college scarves excitedly.

During this time, Luna Lovegood even unfurled a huge painting that had just been completed, which depicted Hermione's brutal scene of whipping the tree bee dragon with a spell!

When the painting was fully unfurled, the cheers in the lounge reached their peak.

(P. S. I'm late again today, sorry~)

Chapter 650 The Pursuit of the Strong is a Human Instinct

Tonight's Ravenclaw Common Room is definitely the liveliest it has been in recent years.

The students, having gone wild, were jumping and hopping around the room. They surrounded Hermione and Harry, practically piling food and house scarves all around them, while chattering away with all sorts of questions.

For example, wasn't Hermione really afraid of that Dragon?

And how exactly did that Wendelin the Weird use his Flame-Freezing Charm?

"That Flame-Freezing Charm, actually... um!"

However, just as Hermione was about to turn a party into an academic seminar, Luna Lovegood promptly shut her up with a cake.

Now the students could finally continue cheering for Hermione.

Without a doubt, Hermione was the star in the eyes of these students at that moment.

This is a result Harry is happy to see, because it signifies that Harry unconventional plan, which focuses on the student level, is not just wishful thinking.

If we follow the logic of the Sorting Hat, Ravenclaw, with its strong intellectual temperament and even obvious tendency to belittle intellectuals, is actually the least suited to this kind of personality cult and idol worship.

Unlike the truly unassuming Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw's so-called indifference to worldly affairs is actually a manifestation of self-righteousness.

It's because they look down on it that they don't bother to compete.

But something equally interesting is that the vast majority of Ravenclaw can clearly remember the 'great figures' who came from their house. They even add these names to the Prefect' speeches and recount them to the freshmen every year...

This has led to some major misunderstandings.

For example, Bridget Winlock, a famous 13th-century Arithmancy and the witch who first discovered the magic of the number '7', is believed by many Ravenclaw to have been born in Eagle House.

In reality, Winlock graduated from Hufflepuff in 1220... A few years ago, a pair of Prefect from Eagle House and Hufflepuff House even had a fight over this.

Therefore, in reality, whether it 'Ravenclaw or other houses, Hogwarts' young wizards actually share many commonalities besides the character traits defined by the Sorting Hat.

For example, chasing after the strong, craving power, yearning for honor, and hoping to gain recognition.

If Harry can meet these expectations, they will naturally be happy to serve Harry in the future.

"This Golden Egg... it seems quite heavy?" Amidst the commotion, Will curiously lifted the Golden Egg from the table. "Hermione, should we open it and see what's inside?"

"But I feel I should unravel the clues myself..."

"Open! Open! Open!" *N

Hermione initially wanted to refuse, but on the other side, several boys started egging her on, quickly arousing the interest of the entire college.

Even some of the girls who were usually close to Hermione started to offer advice with giggles.

For example, Qiu Zhang.

"Just open it and take a look!" she pleaded, feigning curiosity. "There are so many of us here, maybe we can unlock the secret of the Golden Egg in no time."

"Hermione, since everyone's so eager to see it, let's open it and take a look," Harry chimed in with a smile. He knew pretty much what Cho Chang was up to, but he didn't think she was siding with outsiders; on the contrary, he was happy for her to do so.

After all... Cedric Diggory's treatment in this Triwizard Tournament was truly terrible.

The other two principals went to great lengths to help their own Champion, going so far as to cheat on them and even personally assist them in the competition.

However, due to concerns about the Goblet of Fire of Fire's conspiracy and other reasons, Albus Dumbledore simply ignored Cedric Diggory.

Therefore, if Harry didn't secretly help out Cedric Diggory, who was neither loved by his grandmother nor his uncle, he wouldn't be a very good friend.

"Well... okay."

Seeing that Harry had already agreed, Hermione stopped hiding it and gently pried open the groove on the Golden Egg with her fingers.

As she moved, everyone craned their necks to look, but they soon discovered, to their surprise, that there was nothing inside the Golden Egg.

Buzz!!

However, in the next instant, an extremely terrifying, piercing scream suddenly swept through everyone's eardrums, shaking them so much that they almost lost their Imperio on the spot!

"Shut it! Shut it off right now!!" Terry Boot, who was closest to the camera, quickly covered his ears, his face showing extreme pain.

"I think this is as terrifying as the scream of Mandrake!" Michael Corner muttered in the corner, still shaken. "Granger's next challenge might be repotting the Mandrake without ear covers."

"What a joke! You'd get yourself killed!" Qiu Zhang glared at the rambling boy, annoyed. "I think it's saying something, not just screaming, it's just that sound..."

"It's Mermish," Luna Lovegood answered calmly. She had actually figured it out; Qiu Zhang was trying to trick Hahelu and the other two into revealing information.

However, this much of a clue is enough. Cedric Diggory is a smart man, and to explain things too explicitly would be to underestimate his intelligence.

"Indeed, this is Mermish. It seems that the second riddle can be solved before February 24th."

Hermione shrugged casually, glancing down at the bracelet she'd been wearing on her wrist for the past two years—it was supposedly a gift from someone to Harry as a token of friendship, which Harry had later given to her.

It seems the second round of this Triwizard Tournament will be utterly unchallenging...

As night deepened, the noise in the Ravenclaw Common Room gradually subsided, but the revelrying students did not disperse; instead, they remained gathered there.

"Is there... something wrong?" Harry asked, puzzled by the hesitant expressions on everyone's faces.

"Um... Harry, could you... teach us magic?"