Niffler Competition

This amusing scene at breakfast attracted a lot of attention, but the young wizards didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about discussing it.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's main topic of discussion remained the Triwizard Tournament. The four Champion had all used highly creative methods to enter the water during the Second Task, making them eagerly anticipate what surprises the Champion would bring in the Third Task.

At the Slytherin table, Draco watched Harry's retreating figure, hands covering his mouth, and clicked his tongue in disdain. He suddenly realized—

I was so naive back then, actually treating someone like Harry as my number one imaginary enemy...

Just because his attempt to make friends on the train failed, he developed a vengeful mentality, targeting Harry in everything he did...

While he was spending a lot of time and energy on Harry, he completely overlooked how his younger brother had quietly grown up to be so remarkable...

The people who know Skylar's strength best are Draco and Eleanor. Others may still be immersed in admiration and respect for Skylar's performance in the Triwizard Tournament, but Draco is very clear about the level of his ancestor. Similarly, Eleanor is the same; she has personally fought Barbarossa and knows exactly what level of strength Barbarossa possesses.

No one else knew, but these two were certain— Skylar had defeated a quasi-magician!

This is the thought that has been lingering in the minds of these two people recently.

Draco clenched his fist under the table. He knew it was time for him to grow up—catching up with Skylar might be unrealistic, but it certainly didn't mean he should remain at the level of barely catching up with Potter. The desire to truly become stronger took root in his heart for the first time, waiting to sprout in the future.

The afternoon class was about Care of Magical Creatures.

When the young Slytherin wizards arrived at Hagrid's Hut, they discovered that one person was missing from Gryffindor. Harry hadn't arrived yet, probably because his hand injury was quite serious.

Last Monday, Hagrid returned to his teaching post and took over Professor Gela-Plane's teaching schedule.

Perhaps because he wanted to prove that what Professor Grubbly-Plank could do, Hagrid could do as well, he didn't continue his lesson on the Blast-Ended Skrewt, but instead continued Professor Grappleland's lesson on Unicorn. As it turned out, Hagrid's knowledge of Unicorn was no less than his knowledge of Troll, and even Draco and Pansy, who had always disliked Hagrid, couldn't find any fault with his teaching.

At the end of the previous lesson, Hagrid told them that the lesson on Unicorn was finished, and that he was now standing outside the hut waiting for them, with some open cardboard boxes at his feet that they had never seen before.

Draco frowned, pointing disapprovingly at the cardboard boxes. "Tsk tsk, what's that? Could it be a newly hatched brood of Fire Dragon monsters?"

Skylar smiled faintly and said, "Brother, don't jump to conclusions. Don't we all learn from our mistakes? Even if Professor Hagrid doesn't seem very bright, compared to Professor G. P. Lamb's performance, surely Hagrid isn't so stupid as to be completely unaware that he has lost all the students' support?"

"Besides," Skylar said, pursing his lips, "as Dumbledore valued right-hand men, I dare say Dumbledore has certainly had a good talk with him—" Hagrid must also already know about the problems with his previous teaching methods and the content he chose.

"That had to be for the best," Draco scoffed.

"Don't worry, if Professor Hagrid still doesn't repent, I will use the power of the Faculty Hiring Committee to replace him!" A cold glint flashed in Skylar's eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. As his strength improved day by day, his fear of Dumbledore had lessened considerably, and he no longer needed to be as timid and hesitant as before when doing things.

Voldemort and Dumbledore, frankly speaking, were only terrifying in terms of their own strength.

What kind of people were in Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix —down-and-out Werewolf, lame retired Auror, clumsy Auror, and petty thieves? Apart from Professor McGonagall and his close friend Ephias Dogie, there were hardly any decent ones.

As for the Death Eaters, they're nothing more than a bunch of temporary actors who think, "I'm just here to work." The truly loyal and respectable ones are only Antonin Dolohov and Bellatrix Lestrange.

Skylar understood the situation perfectly. As long as he demonstrated enough strength to contend with Dumbledore and Karl, even if he was slightly inferior, it wouldn't matter. Just being able to hold them off for a few minutes would be enough. Skylar's camp was well-equipped with soldiers and supplies, and had a wealth of powerful generals. The Auror, Hit Wizard, and scouts indirectly influenced by him were already formidable. Add to that the Vampire Royalty, the Six Hag Clans, the Silver Spear duelists, Snape, and Karkaroff, and their strength would be enough to overwhelm the other two sides. Not to mention his intelligence advantages, including the Auror intelligence department, the Trace network, and the Divination teller.

Real war is never about winning or losing a battle in a short period of time. The outcome of a single battle is actually insignificant to the overall situation.

The real outcome depends on the sufficiency of resources and the foresight of intelligence.

Leaving Voldemort aside, let's talk about Dumbledore's side.

In the original books, Dumbledore's death, the leaderless Order of the Phoenix was practically a mess. In the "Battle of the Seven Potters," simply moving Harry from Little Whinging in Surrey to the Burrow in Devon required a huge amount of trouble, using six people as bait to distract them. In the end, due to a lack of intelligence, they were ambushed by more than thirty Death Eaters, resulting in Moody's death. And let's not forget, the Order of the Order of the Phoenix was constantly losing members, with almost no replacements.

If the Order of the Order of the Phoenix were led by Skylar, they could easily obtain a recycled Portkey from the Ministry of Magic, and even use the Vanishing Cabinet for a completely secure transfer. That's a clear advantage in resources. It's fair to say the Order of the Order of the Phoenix's logistics are inadequate!

The real reason Skylar couldn't bring himself to break ties with Dumbledore was that he still owed Skylar a Dumbledore. He had indeed accepted the Abatair Fragments from Dumbledore and received guidance on the secrets of the Fidelius Charm and Bloodline Fusion. Giving up kindness was not Skylar's style.

Fine, I'll find a chance to repay this favor first.

When everyone got closer to the box, they discovered it contained many furry black creatures. Each creature had a long, protruding snout on its black face, somewhat resembling a duck's bill, except its nostrils were at the end of the snout. Its front paws were flat, like shovels, quite peculiar. They looked up at the whole class, blinking their eyes, seemingly confused by the attention they received.

"These are Niffler," Hagrid and the other students gathered around and said. "They're usually found underground. They like Winky things... Look, look!"

A Niffler suddenly leaped up, trying to bite off Pansy Parkinson's watch from her wrist. Pansy screamed and backed away.

"Very useful little treasure hunters," Hagrid said happily. "We can have a good time with them today. See over there?" He pointed to a large patch of newly turned soil. "I've buried some gold coins there. Whoever picks Niffler and digs up the most gold coins will get a prize. Take off all your valuables, then pick a Niffler, get ready, and release them."

The young wizards took turns going up to choose Niffler. Actually, all the Niffler looked pretty much the same, so most of the young wizards just picked one randomly.

For some reason, ever since Skylar mastered the Snake Animagus, he found that he seemed to have gained some inexplicable qualities. If he wanted, he could even distinguish the gender, emotions, and aggression of Fantastic Beasts from their auras, as if he had suddenly gained some kind of beastly intuition that only Fantastic Beasts possess.

Skylar blinked, and in the blink of an eye, his pupils suddenly narrowed to Snake Eyes, before returning to normal. None of the young wizards present noticed the change in Skylar.

Skylar stretched out his hand, picked out a rather short and stocky Niffler, handed it to Daphne, and then randomly picked another Niffler for himself.