Inside the compartment, the Sky Magic Hermione had cast was utterly useless against Victor. He simply deflected the high-pressure wind column from her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic without a scratch.
Despite being unharmed, Victor played the part, falling to the ground with an overly dramatic groan. "Ouch! Ouch! That hurt! Hermione, are you trying to kill me?!" he exclaimed, giving her an incredulous look.
Hermione just stared at him blankly, seeing right through his feigned injury. Yet, for a moment, a strange thought crossed her mind: had she actually hurt him?
As time went on, curious young wizards began to gather in the corridor, peering at the compartment door that lay on the floor, wondering what all the commotion was about.
Inside, Hermione, noticing the attention from outside, saw Victor was still shamelessly groaning on the ground. Feeling her face heat up, she finally couldn't take it anymore. "Get up!" she said.
"Ouch… what? Did you say something?" Victor pretended not to hear.
"I said, get up!" Hermione went over and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him to his feet.
"No, I won't! I'm injured! I'm a patient now!" Victor whined, continuing to lie there stubbornly.
"What will it take for you to get up?!" Hermione asked, her face red with frustration.
"Say you're not angry anymore, and I'll get up."
"Fine, I'm not angry!" Hermione ground out through gritted teeth. "Now get up!"
"Hehe," Victor chuckled, then sprung to his feet with a single, fluid motion. With a wave of his hand, he fixed the broken door.
BOOM!
The young wizards in the corridor stared at the compartment door that had magically reassembled itself, their expressions a mix of astonishment and confusion.
Inside, Hermione huffily returned to her seat by the window, reverting to her earlier silent treatment. But Victor knew she wasn't angry anymore; she just couldn't bring herself to admit it. He pushed the chocolate cake on the table toward her and said, "Try it. I made it myself. It's going to melt if you don't eat it."
Hermione glanced at the cake, seeing the chocolate was indeed beginning to soften. She let out a soft huff, and reluctantly picked up a fork to take a bite. As the smooth, sweet taste filled her mouth, her body released a flood of dopamine, and the young witch's stern expression gradually softened.
Seeing her change, Victor smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair, which made her puff up like a kitten with its tail stepped on.
"Get lost!" she said, her face flushed.
"Ha ha ha…" Victor burst into laughter.
And so, with this strange atmosphere hanging in the air, the Hogwarts Express rumbled on towards its destination.
Choo Choo…
Whoosh…
The train slowly pulled into the station, and the new school term officially began.
At the start-of-term feast, Dumbledore announced that the end-of-year exams in June would be canceled. Instead, the school would be holding a Grand Wizarding Tournament.
After Dumbledore finished speaking, Victor, as the president of the Fairy Tail Guild and organizer, went up to the podium to announce the rules for the tournament.
The Grand Wizarding Tournament would be held on the Quidditch pitch. The preliminary schedule set the tournament to run for four days: the first day would be the Arena Battles, the second day a preparation day, and the third and fourth days would be the Team Battles.
Arena Battle Rules:
Each of the four houses and the Fairy Tail Guild will defend one arena. One side will defend while the other attacks. Only one person from each side may participate at a time.
Teams may attack at any time they wish, but the attacker cannot be more than two school years above the defender.
Neither the attackers nor defenders may use the Unforgivable Curses, or any Dark Arts, jinxes, or magical artifacts that cause serious injury, permanent disability, or death.
As long as rule three is not violated, both sides may use any means at their disposal, including but not limited to alchemy, magical curses, magical creatures, potions, etc.
If either the attacker or defender is down for 10 seconds or is thrown out of the arena, they will be considered defeated. (A gentle reminder: being thrown outside the arena without touching the ground does not count as being eliminated.)
The Arena Battles will last for one day, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with a break from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The team that holds the most arenas at the end of the day will be declared the final winner.
Team Battle Rules:
The four houses and the Fairy Tail Guild will each form a team of 5-7 members for the Team Battles.
Team members can be substituted during the match, but the game will not be paused, and each team is only allowed two substitutions.
If a team member is eliminated, the team can send in a substitute. Each team is allowed a maximum of two substitutions during the entire match.
The Team Battles will be held in two rounds. The first round is a double-elimination tournament: the five participating teams will face each other twice. The top three teams, based on the number of wins in both rounds, will advance to the finals.
The second round is the final. The three qualifying teams will enter the Wizard's Canyon to compete. The team that completely eliminates the other two teams will be the final winner.
During the match, no Unforgivable Curses, Dark Arts, jinxes, or magical artifacts that cause serious injury, permanent disability, or death may be used. Apart from that, anything goes.
The map for the final round of the Team Battles is as follows: The Wizard's Canyon (a three-lane Summoner's Canyon—I think it's the image below, but triangular instead of square as there 3 bases).
In addition, the champions of the Arena Battles will receive a trophy and 10,000 Galleons, while the Team Battle champions will receive a trophy, medals, and 5,000 Galleons.
In the Great Hall, the young wizards stared at the holographic projection above Victor's head, speechless. It took them a while to react.
"10,000 Galleons? Are they kidding me?!" one Slytherin exclaimed. Even with their family's wealth, they couldn't just throw that much money around.
"Wow! The champion's prize is so many Galleons! If we actually win, even if we split it among everyone in the House, we'd each get dozens of Galleons! That's almost half a year's worth of expenses for my family!" a young Hufflepuff said, counting on their fingers.
"Please stop daydreaming. To get that prize, you at least have to have the skill. The people in the Fairy Tail Guild are elites selected from the entire school. Under the guidance of their Guild Master, most of us probably wouldn't last two seconds before we get pummeled," a Ravenclaw who knew of Victor's terrifying strength said calmly.
"I don't care. How will we know if we don't try? I refuse to believe I can't beat Fairy Tail if I just work hard enough!" a Gryffindor said, filled with fighting spirit.
"Forget it. If you want to win, you'd better focus on the Team Battles. Most of the Fairy Tail members are lower-year students. Only Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw is a fifth-year. We might be able to win by focusing on our team strength."
"That's right. Almost half of the teams from the four houses are upper-year students. It'll definitely be no problem for us to compete for the Team Battle championship."
"Though I don't have much faith in Hufflepuff for the Team Battles. Professor Flitwick is a dueling champion, Professor Snape needs no explanation, and Professor McGonagall is a Transfiguration master. But Professor Sprout's expertise in Herbology doesn't seem very useful."
"Who said that? The rules only say you can't use jinxes or artifacts that cause death or serious injury. It doesn't say you can't use other things. If I were on the Hufflepuff team, I'd prepare young Mandrakes. They'd be an absolute killer move during the match."
"Oh, you're right! Why didn't I think of that? I'm going to write that down and tell Professor Sprout."
"Bloody hell! You tricked me into that!"
After the feast, the young wizards buzzed with discussion, and the Hogwarts owl army was already assembled. Each owl held an invitation in its beak, ready to fly to the homes of every Hogwarts student, inviting their parents to attend the Grand Wizarding Tournament at the end of the term.
Over the next few months, to prepare for the event, Victor allocated 80% of Hogwarts' house-elves to help with the construction of the Quidditch pitch.
Due to the large scale of the event and the number of participants, the Quidditch pitch's original spectator stands were temporarily dismantled. The old towers were replaced with low spectator stands, designed and laid out exactly like a standard football stadium. The green grass was replaced with five large arenas made of sturdy granite.
Under Victor's control, these five arenas could be combined into one at any time. A tent area was set up around the perimeter of the pitch to serve as a lounge for parents and participating students.
Meanwhile, the news of the Grand Wizarding Tournament seemed to be growing. Dumbledore had done something to make what was originally an internal Hogwarts matter known to everyone.
The scale of this tournament was now vaguely surpassing even the Triwizard Tournament, with rumors that the International Confederation of Wizards would even send representatives to attend the event.
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