Gods' Protection
At 11:30 p. m., Skylar cast an Invisible Phantom Charm on himself and quietly left the Slytherin Common Room.
Skylar's destination was Hagrid's Hut.
If the original plot hasn't deviated from the original story, today would be the day Charlie Weasley and his group transport the Fire Dragon from the Romanian Dragon Reserve to Hogwarts. Hagrid, as the gamekeeper, would be responsible for designating an area as a temporary habitat for the Fire Dragon, so he would have to be in charge of welcoming the guests from Romania.
The field was pitch black. Skylar walked along the lawn toward the light emanating from Hagrid's Hut. Beauxbatons' huge carriage was also brightly lit, and as he approached Hagrid's Hut, he could hear Madame Maxime speaking from inside.
After waiting for about five minutes, Hagrid finally stepped out of the house, walking briskly and humming an off-key tune as he headed toward Beauxbatons' carriage.
Hagrid knocked three times on the door marked with two crossed gold wands.
Madame Maxime opened the door. A silk shawl was draped over her broad shoulders. She smiled slightly as soon as she saw Hagrid.
The two exchanged a few meaningless greetings, then walked side by side toward the edge of the temporary enclosure. As they walked, they had gone quite a distance around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the castle and lake were no longer in sight.
Suddenly, several men shouted and yelled from ahead.
Four enormous Fire Dragon came into view.
Yes, it's Fire Dragon; the plot hasn't changed.
Moreover, the Fire Dragon were sent from Romanian Dragon Reserve, and Skylar, as the second-largest shareholder of the farm, knew most of the employees there. This meant that the possibility of these Fire Dragon being replaced or even tampered with was extremely low, because if there had been any abnormalities at the Fire Dragon farm in the past few months, he, as the major shareholder, would have had no reason not to know.
Incidentally, the leader of the dragon farm was an acquaintance of Skylar's, a illegitimate member of the House of Malfoy who was placed there through Skylar, while Charlie Weasley served as the deputy leader.
Although the Weasley were at odds with him and belonged to different factions, Charlie acknowledged Skylar's abilities in raising dragons, a magnanimity Skylar was not lacking in. Of course, keeping his job and position was fine, but if he wanted a promotion to a key position, that was out of the question.
Skylar saw Karkaroff, who was also following the two, but he didn't care.
So what if these people know the question?
The magical Confidentiality Pact set up by Dumbledore are something they absolutely cannot break with their power.
Didn't you see that even Hagrid didn't dare invite Harry to watch this scene? Skylar would bet Hagrid had the idea, but once he revealed it, he would be bound by the power of the contract and unable to move.
Skylar was quite pleased with this situation. He hadn't made this suggestion for the sake of winning the match; it was actually his first move against Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch Jr., and he wanted to see how Crouch would counter it and help Harry win the first challenge. At the same time, he was also very much looking forward to seeing how the Champion would perform when none of them knew what they were about to face.
The next day, November 22nd, in the morning.
Knowing the question, Skylar was confident. He hid in Chamber of Secrets, practicing his Transfiguration and reviewing his strategy for defeating the Fire Dragon.
He has more than five ways to deal with the Fire Dragon, but he can't be satisfied with just winning the game.
He must demonstrate his potential and win decisively.
He's going to win this round in the coolest, most dazzling, and awesome way possible!
Therefore, the Conjunctivitis Curse can be ruled out first— Eleanor and Katarin are both direct descendants of families with a long tradition of learning, so how could they not understand the principle that the Conjunctivitis Curse can break the Fire Dragon?
Using Transfiguration to create a puppy to lure the Fire Dragon away? -- That won't work. What if the Fire Dragon's breath roasts the puppy alive?
Using Hypnosis Magic to put the Fire Dragon to sleep? -- Don't be silly, Fire Dragon have extremely high magic resistance, and you don't have the Veela bloodline bonus...
Using Sonic Boom Charm followed by Flash Charm to stun the Fire Dragon and then quickly snatch the Golden Egg? -- That's one idea, but it doesn't seem flashy enough.
Fiendfyre Curse, Chain-Explosion Curse, Soul Attack? -- This might even slay a dragon.
Wait, does slaying a dragon count as a victory?
Skylar was in a dilemma. He finally realized that even slaying a dragon was not as difficult as showing off!
He glanced at the books he had placed on the table, books he thought might be helpful in his First Task: * The Secrets of Human Transfiguration *, * Abatair Volume Four *, * Forbidden Transfiguration *, * the Secrets of Space *, and that one...
His eyes swept over the book in the far corner of the table, and a bold idea popped into his head. This plan was likely to work, but only if he could ensure that the Fire Dragon could not attack him.
He abandoned his reliance on Transfiguration and instead began practicing the protective magic he had been studying for some time.
He had already mastered the three spells: Shield Charm, Protego Totalum, and Protego Horribilis. The more powerful the spell, the more restrictions it had.
Similarly, he also knew how to use the Guruni spell to release Eihwaz.
Eihwaz is the most powerful protective spell he currently possesses, but its duration is too short. It's fine for dealing with Peter Pettigrew's wave of attacks, but it certainly won't be enough to handle a continuous barrage of Fire Dragon attacks.
However, this did not prevent him from finding a new path.
First, he must find the optimal one among the three Shield Charm variations, meaning that the effect must be stronger than the Shield Charm, but the incantation cannot be too complicated, and at the very least, the casting time cannot exceed the Protego Horribilis.
In his view, the speed of casting spells is key; if one cannot fully unleash the magic, no matter how powerful the magic, it is all for naught.
He has an advantage in this respect.
He can cast spells with both hands.
As long as he casts this new protective spell, and at the same time uses Guruni to cast a spell on Eihwaz, the two protective shields combined will surely ensure complete safety.
The reason why the Ancient Runic Magic Symbols has a short duration is that the magic power of the drawn symbol has nothing to carry in mid-air. If it could attach to other spells and use other spells as a carrier, its effect would be prolonged and it would not disappear so easily.
Just do it. Anyway, I have Time-Turner, and I have plenty of time to figure out this magic.
He began to break down the Protego Horribilis, which even Professor Flitwick took nearly five minutes to recite, demonstrating just how long the complete spell was.
The first change Skylar made was to remove the least important spell syllables one by one. These pronunciations did not help in the process of converting magic into spells; they were purely for the convenience of the spellcaster to change the tone of the spell and improve the fluency of the spell. For a spellcaster of Skylar's level, they were already superfluous.
The second key improvement was to sacrifice some of the protective range. He picked out the spell syllables that specifically expanded the protective range and removed most of them. As long as the protective range was enough to cover him 360 degrees without any blind spots, it would be fine.
Finally, using the Shield Charm and the Fianto Duri Spell as references, he specifically selected the syllables of the spells that would increase the strength of the protection and added these sounds one by one into the spell.
And so, Skylar focused intently on tinkering for several hours.
Finally, he picked up a piece of parchment covered in scribbles, a look of satisfaction on his face. "Done!"
"Let's call this newly created magical combination 'Gods' Protection'!"
Just then, Skylar put down the parchment, and with a snap, Winky and Dobby appeared at the same time.
Dobby bowed respectfully and said, "Master, as you instructed, we have been monitoring Moody and the area around Hogwarts with the Scrying Mirror, and haven't seen any suspicious individuals. However, we received information from the Alchemy Workshop that a group of unfamiliar faces, about five people, have recently appeared in Hogsmeade Village."
Skylar's eyes Winky. Were they coming? This bunch of monsters and demons!
He said in a deep voice, "Well done! Do you know where they've settled?"
"It's an empty old house on the edge of the village. Dobby has already contacted Amelia Bones on behalf of the master and obtained the Hogsmeade Village record from the Magical Land Deed Registration Division. Please take a look, master." With that, he respectfully handed over a parchment scroll sealed by a secret spell.
Skylar nodded, approving of Dobby's cleverness and resourcefulness. He knew how to get things done without being told, and he was becoming more and more efficient.
Skylar drew his wand, lightly touched the scroll with the tip, saw the name on it, and revealed a wicked smile. Just as he finished reading, the parchment scroll suddenly burst into flames, and soon vanished into nothingness, leaving not even Ashes.
"Dobby, go contact Bathory. She can transform into bats and shadows, which is good for stealth. Have her help me find out the identities of these people."
"Yes!" Dobby the order and left.
"Winky, how's Harry Potter doing?" Skylar asked in a deep voice.
"Master, lately, due to the various rumors and attacks against him, Potter seems to have given up on himself. He has hardly practiced for the competition, and has even neglected his daily studies. His Charms was originally held back by Flitwick because he failed the Summoning Charm, but fortunately Moody took him away, saying he would give him private tutoring to help him master the Summoning Charm."
Ah, I see. Even if Barty Crouch Jr. couldn't tell Champion the competition events, he could still prepare all the necessary spells and tools for Harry beforehand?
It seems I really shouldn't underestimate these people; they're smarter than I imagined!
"Good, Moody didn't find out, did he? That prosthetic eye of his is quite troublesome."
Winky replied respectfully, "No problem. Master's Invisible Phantom Charm is indeed powerful, and it works even on us Sprite. I stood right in front of Moody and he didn't even notice me."
Skylar nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "What about those families in France? How's your contact with them going?"
"We have already made contact with the Delacour Family. Mr. Delacour has agreed to your offer and conditions. He will lead several families related to him to form an alliance with the master. All the details are written in this secret letter." After saying this, Winky respectfully took out a crimson envelope, which emitted a very obvious magical fluctuation.
Skylar chanted the incantation in French: "Finite Incantatem!"
After a while, the magical fluctuations on the envelope slowly dissipated. According to the pre-arranged code, if this letter were to accidentally fall into the hands of someone else, and that person were to recite the antidote in English or Latin, the letter would explode, giving that person a big surprise.
Skylar glanced at the contents of the letter, then put it into his locked folder, in the France category.
The letter is essentially a magically binding alliance agreement, which details the names of every family closely associated with Mr. Delacour, and they will all form an alliance with Skylar according to the agreement.
Although the Delacour Family is a Half-blood family, Mr. Delacour's mother-in-law is a Pure-blood Veela, so through his wife Apolline Delacour, the Delacour Family has a very close connection with the Veela tribe in France.
Veela are a type of humanoid creature born with an innate ability to charm. They usually appear as beautiful women, but when angry, they resemble Harpy. Although they are few in number and possess no other powerful magic besides their charm, they have married many wizards and fathered numerous Half-blood offspring.
Centered on the Veela tribe, a vast and complex network of interpersonal relationships can be developed, which has benefited the Delacour Family, giving them immense connections within the France wizarding world.
Of course, he claimed publicly that they were all his cousins.
The Evreux Family, the Bonacord family, the Amorinu Family...
These families, all of Half-blood, each possess expertise and achievements in various fields within France. Through marriage alliances with Veela, they have secretly formed a network of connections no less powerful than that of Pure-blood families — the Evreux Family is a family of herbalists, Mr. Evreux holds a high-ranking management position in the Magic Garden of the Pyrenees (the owners of the Magic Garden are the Ministry of Magic of various Europe countries); Mr. Bonacord is the France representative of the International Confederation of Wizards; Amorinu is the editor-in-chief of the <Le Cri de la Gargouille>...
The letter also stated that his daughter, Phoebe Delacour, was aware of the alliance between the two families and would unconditionally cooperate with all of Skylar's actions during her stay at Hogwarts.
Excellent! Now, even the matter of planting spies in Beauxbatons' carriage has been resolved.
[The "ally" Delacour Family has been acquired!]
[The "ally," the Evreux Family, has been acquired!]
[The "ally," the Bonacord family, has been acquired!]
[The "ally" Amorinu Family has been acquired!]