A Well-Meaning Warning

Thursday, May 27th.

In Gryffindor, morning classes are taught by Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration, while in Slytherin, classes are taught by Professor Burke in Alchemy Class.

With final exams just a month away, professors have stopped teaching new material and started reviewing what they've learned this semester.

Transfiguration began with a review of the use of various Switching Spell. Professor McGonagall even hinted that if one could master even Cross-species Switches, a perfect score would be guaranteed. Of course, in this class, apart from Hermione, Professor McGonagall didn't expect anyone to actually achieve that and get a perfect score.

Harry and Ron's performance was only mediocre, and Hermione probably deserves a lot of credit for it. As for Neville, he is seriously behind schedule, Professor McGonagall has serious doubts that Neville will be able to pass Transfiguration in the O.W.L. Examination by this time next year.

This semester's alchemy course covered the basics of alchemical runes; however, most of the runes were extremely simple, such as those mentioned before the Yule Ball. They were mostly used on clothing to make it lighter, more comfortable to wear, or to provide functions like automatic ironing, automatic repair, and temperature control. If Madam Malkin of Diagon Alley knew about this, she certainly wouldn't be happy.

These runes were far too simple for Skylar. He had already successfully inscribed invisibility magic on the Supreme Robe, comparable to the Cloak of Invisibility of Invisibility. Compared to that, what were those runes that claimed to automatically iron or repair themselves?

After the Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall kept Harry behind.

"Potter, you're at the Quidditch Pitch downstairs at nine o'clock tonight," Professor McGonagall told him. "Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the Champion what the Third Task is."

The same scene and dialogue played out with Skylar.

The afternoon class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was attended together by Gryffindor and Slytherin.

This is Hermione's favorite class. You could even say that for the entire week, this is the time Hermione looks forward to most.

For some reason, Professor Moody seemed to particularly like pairing her with Skylar. Ever since that class at the end of March (the one where they were supposed to learn Salvio Hexia but instead learned the Shield Charm), Hermione had been paired with Skylar in every Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Although Gryffindor and Slytherin took three courses together: Potions, Magical Creatures, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was only in Defense Against the Dark Arts that Skylar and she had the most interaction. Even though Skylar never talked to her about anything other than Defence Against the Dark Arts, she was still secretly pleased, because at least during that time, Skylar's time belonged to her alone.

Of course, Skylar's generous guidance, disregarding the differences between the academies, which allowed her to make rapid progress in Defence Against the Dark Arts, was also one of the reasons she liked the course.

While her classmates were still struggling to master the Shield Charm, Hermione had already secretly begun studying "Protego Totalum" and "Protego Horribilis" with Skylar. It must be said that Hermione was extremely shocked when she learned Hermione Skylar had already mastered the derivative spells of these two Shield Charm and had created his own protective magic from them.

She had seen Skylar's protective magic in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, but at the time she thought it was a secret inheritance passed down only within Pure-blood families. She never imagined that Skylar's understanding of spells had reached the point where he could create his own. The gap between the two of them once again made her feel that they were insurmountable, and it also inspired her even greater determination to become stronger.

At 8:30 p. m., Skylar said goodbye to Daphne and Astoria and went to the hall, where he ran into Harry was just coming down the stairs.

"What do you think it could be?" Harry asked Skylar as they descended the stone steps and disappeared into the overcast night. "Ron keeps talking about the underground tunnels; he thinks we're looking for treasure."

"Following the usual practice of the Triwizard Tournament, the first two events are different each year, but the final event has never been changed—" Skylar seemed to have thought of something, and he smiled before saying, "If you asked Granger about this, she would probably tell you that she had seen information about it in a report..."

"That's true," Harry scratched his head, "You and Hermione are the same type of person, you know so much."

"It's not that we know more, Harry," Skylar said, looking at Harry with his grey eyes, "It's that you don't value knowledge enough. Let me give you some advice: you're the Boy Who Lived, and the mark on your forehead signifies that your life will never be ordinary. If you continue with this complacent attitude, you'll have big problems in the future."

Harry frowned, somewhat displeased, and said, "What do you mean by that?"

"If you really want to know," Skylar said calmly, "Go ask Dumbledore. He's the one who should be explaining this to you."

Skylar was merely offering a well-intentioned reminder out of affection for the original protagonist; whether Harry listened or not was no longer Skylar's concern. Skylar knew he had rewritten the fate of this world, meaning Harry's protagonist aura had been halved, and if Harry were to carelessly—

He will die.

Seriously, Harry is no longer the protagonist in fairy tales who is protected by fate and can survive no matter how reckless he is.

It could even be argued that, given his fame and status, the probability of his death was far greater than that of any other character in the original work.

Harry snorted in displeasure, clearly not taking Skylar's words seriously. Harry came from a family that could be considered semi-abused, which shaped his personality of despising authority and distrusting elders and adults. In the original books, he displayed this personality to the fullest extent, never heeding the advice and orders of Dumbledore, McGonagall, or the Ministry of Magic, and always acting according to his own will.

He dared to disobey even Dumbledore, let alone the lectures of Skylar, a student in the same year as him. He felt disgusted as soon as he heard it, to the point that he even forgot to ask what the Third Task was.

They walked along the dark lawn toward the Quidditch Pitch, then entered the pitch through a gap between the stands.

"What have they done here?" Harry stopped abruptly and asked angrily. The Quidditch Pitch was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as if someone had built countless long, low walls that stretched out in all directions in an intricate and winding manner.

"It's a shrub wall!" Skylar said, looking down to carefully observe the low wall closest to him. It was a wall made of a very special kind of plant. Skylar gently plucked a leaf from it, and soon a brand new tender leaf grew back on the bare branch, all in less than five seconds.

"Interesting. Is this to prevent contestants from using Blasting Curse or cutting spells to break through the wall?" Skylar thought to himself. Even with his extensive knowledge, he couldn't name the plant. It seems that Hagrid's abilities, who built this wall, were greatly underestimated in the original story.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice called out.

Ludovic Bagman stood in the center of the field, with Eleanor and Katrina standing beside him. The two women stepped over the low walls and walked towards them.

"So, what do you think?" Bagman asked cheerfully. "Good progress, isn't it? In another month, Hagrid will have them twenty feet tall. Don't worry," he said with a laugh, noticing the displeasure on Harry and Cedric's faces, "Once the Triwizard Tournament project is over, your Quidditch Pitch will be back to normal! Well, I think you can probably guess what we're up to here, right?"

Seeing Bagman winking and keeping him in suspense, Skylar smiled and said, "It's a maze, right? It looks quite interesting."

"That's right!" Bagman said, "It's a maze. The Third Task is very simple and straightforward. The Triwizard Cup is placed in the center of the maze; Champion is the first to touch it will get full marks."

"We just need to get through the maze?" Eleanor asked. Although she came from a powerful Pure-blood families, her family was obsessed with alchemy and didn't know much about worldly affairs.

"There will be many obstacles," Bagman said cheerfully, hopping around on his tiptoes. "Hagrid has provided a whole bunch of animals... and some spells that must be broken... things like that, you know. And Champion leader in points will enter the maze first, and that's you, Mr. Malfoy," Bagman said enthusiastically to Skylar. "Next will be Mr. Potter and Miss Hohenheim, and finally Miss Monroe. But you all have to fight to succeed; it all depends on your ability to overcome the obstacles."

After the meeting, Skylar suddenly had a flash of inspiration and patted Harry on the shoulder.

"Harry, may I talk to you in the woods? Don't worry, it's just some personal stuff, it won't take up much of your time."

"Sure, no problem," Harry said, slightly surprised.

The two walked side by side into the dark Forbidden Forest. Harry's expression grew increasingly serious, and Skylar even noticed that his hand was already tightly gripping his wand in his pocket.

"Don't be nervous, I mean no harm," Skylar chuckled. It seemed Harry was still quite wary of him, but he seemed to be overthinking things. Under Dumbledore's watchful eye, even Barty Crouch Jr. the eccentric wouldn't dare do anything to Harry, let alone Skylar.

They finally arrived at a quiet clearing, some distance from Beauxbatons' stables. Skylar stopped under a tree and turned to look at Harry.

"Alright, what did you want to say by calling me here?" Harry asked in a slightly impatient tone.

"It's about Cho—" Skylar, observing Harry's somewhat ashen face, before continuing, "Do you like her?"

"This is none of your business!" Harry said angrily, feeling that Skylar was simply making fun of him. Well, it couldn't be denied that Skylar had ulterior motives for doing these things, but using this as a topic did indeed have the intention of teasing Harry.

"Of course it's my business, you know Qiu is a core member of my fan club, my most hardcore fan. It's okay for me to show concern for her, right?" Skylar grinned mischievously. "I think Qiu might like me a little, but... sigh, I already have a girlfriend..."

Harry was disgusted by Skylar and didn't want to continue the conversation, so he turned to leave.

Suddenly, an unusual noise came from the bushes.

A man suddenly stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree; it was Mr. Crouch. Barty Crouch. He looked like he had been wandering for many days; his robes were tattered, he was covered in blood, his face was scarred, his beard was unkempt, and his complexion was ashen and haggard. His once-neat hair and beard needed washing and trimming. His appearance was certainly peculiar, but what was most strange was his behavior—

He seemed to be talking to someone, someone only he could see. He kept muttering and gesturing to a tree, and Harry couldn't understand a word he was saying, but he seemed to hear the name "Weatherby," leading him to guess that he was somewhat mentally unstable and was mistaking a tree for Percy.