"Then what are you waiting for?"
"Right!" Draco took off running toward his chosen arena.
"Lucius, is this really a good idea?" Narcissa asked, sounding a bit worried. "Draco is a Slytherin student, after all."
"What's there to worry about?" Lucius replied coldly, then started walking toward the Slytherin arena.
In reality, Lucius was just acting on his vanity. Most of the students in Slytherin were the children of his acquaintances. Even if he didn't approve of Draco's recklessness, all Draco had to do was defeat one or more of them, and that would be enough for Lucius to boast about for ages.
The reason was as simple as that, a common case of a parent's competitive nature.
Meanwhile, the scene shifted to the Fairy Tail arena. This was the most captivating arena of all, because the young witch on the platform had already won two consecutive victories.
Luna had defeated two challengers, one from Slytherin and one from Hufflepuff. Now she was facing Pansy Parkinson, a girl from Slytherin who was very much infatuated with Draco.
On the arena, Luna remained completely unfazed, whether by Pansy's insults or her curses. She simply waved her wand and quietly said, "Expecto Patronum!" A small, silver-white rabbit promptly appeared and kicked Pansy right off the arena.
Luna Lovegood of Fairy Tail had achieved a three-win streak, leaving the surrounding spectators utterly stunned.
"My goodness, that child is incredible!"
"I know. She's only a first-year and she can produce a full-fledged Patronus. Many Aurors can't even cast that powerful charm!"
"Look, someone else is going up. This time, it's a third-year from Ravenclaw!"
"I took a look, and the average skill level of the Ravenclaw students is very high. A two-year gap should be enough to defeat that girl, right?"
Seven minutes later…
"Wow, she was defeated again!"
"That's four wins in a row! Are the students from Fairy Tail so powerful?!"
"Even though it was a tough win, it's unbelievable for a first-year to defeat a third-year student!"
"I remember Minerva wasn't even that impressive in her time!"
The stands were filled with gasps and murmurs of discussion, mostly from Hogwarts alumni. Meanwhile, reporters from the Daily Prophet and other news outlets were snapping photos of Luna. Her performance, along with her previous discovery of the Moon Frogs, was more than enough for the front page.
But just as everyone was expecting Luna to perform even better, Victor suddenly decided to switch her out.
"Luna, come on down and get some rest. Let Hermione go up," Victor called to the arena. After the last battle, Luna's forehead was covered in sweat. If she continued, she might become exhausted. Seeing Luna obediently walk off the arena, Victor turned and patted Hermione's head with a smile. "Hermione, I'm counting on you."
His action completely melted away the young witch's annoyance. She just gave an arrogant huff, then picked up her wand and went to the arena.
In less than half a minute, she blasted the new challenger off the platform, causing another round of gasps and cheers!
The offensive and defensive battles on the five arenas were in full swing, and at that moment, an interesting person quietly approached Victor.
"Mr. Dreyar…"
Hearing his name, Victor turned around and looked at the man. He was a stranger, very young, with a nervous and shy expression. He was wearing a brown jacket over a gray shirt, with gray-white striped trousers. An old-fashioned camera hung on his shoulder, and it was obvious he was a reporter.
"Hello, can I help you?" Victor asked curiously.
"Hello, Mr. Dreyar, I'm Bryce Calhoun from the Daily Prophet. I just became a professional reporter last month," Bryce said politely, extending his hand. "Would you mind if I took a few minutes of your time? I would really like to interview you."
"Of course, go ahead and ask," Victor agreed after a few moments of thought. He had a good impression of this young Daily Prophet reporter. At least he didn't have an arrogant or pushy attitude. If it were a reporter like Rita Skeeter, he wouldn't hesitate to use the Imperius Curse to make her jump into the Black Lake and feed the fish.
"Really?! Thank you so much!" Bryce's expression immediately changed from nervous to excited.
In the past, only Rita Skeeter had the chance to interview Victor. No one else, not even after months of searching, could find him. So, he had only approached Victor, a ridiculously young legendary figure, with a hopeful attitude, and he couldn't believe it had actually worked!
Seeing Victor agree, Bryce fumbled a bit, taking out his notebook and quill. "Then, Mr. Dreyar, if you don't mind, we'll begin."
"Go on, ask whatever you want," Victor said with a friendly smile, which made Bryce feel that the person in front of him wasn't as unapproachable as the legends suggested.
"Mr. Dreyar, I heard that you are the organizer of this Grand Wizarding Tournament. Why did you suddenly decide to do this? What was your motivation?" Bryce asked his first question.
"Mr. Calhoun, did you also graduate from Hogwarts?" Victor didn't immediately answer Bryce's question, but instead asked a question of his own.
"Yes, I was a Hufflepuff student, and I graduated five years ago," Bryce answered reflexively, then looked thoughtfully at the tall castle in the distance. "To be honest, this is the first time I've been back here since I graduated. I really miss the time I spent studying here."
"Then let me ask you, in your seven years of study, did Hogwarts give you a memory that you will never forget for the rest of your life?" Victor asked again.
"Of course!" Bryce answered reflexively again.
"Then tell me about it."
"I..." Bryce was about to speak, but his mind suddenly went blank. He realized that in his seven years at Hogwarts, there really wasn't anything worth remembering for a lifetime.
Victor smiled, seeing the bewildered expression on Bryce's face. He turned to look at the lively scene below and began to answer the question that had been asked earlier.
"Mr. Calhoun, I can't say that this four-day tournament will give all the students here a memory they'll never forget, but I can guarantee that ten, twenty, or even fifty years from now, when they think of Hogwarts, they will remember fighting with all their might for their own honor and that of their House."
"Old Hogwarts was too old-fashioned. By holding this tournament, I wanted to add some new shine to this ancient magical school. Of course, there are also some personal reasons, but those are not worth mentioning."
As Bryce listened to these words, he followed Victor's gaze to the field below.
The familiar yet strange Quidditch Pitch was packed with people. Muggles and wizards who were usually separated were sitting together in the stands, chatting happily even though they didn't know each other.
In the aisles, there were vendors with large boxes on their chests, selling their products: potions, herbs, snacks, toys, and more. They were making a decent profit on every round they made.
Bryce watched it all with a hint of fascination, then nodded as if he understood something. "Thank you, Mr. Dreyar. I think I understand what you're saying."
Thinking back on all the years, students and professors had come and gone, but the castle itself seemed to have not changed much, save for a few more ghosts.
Compared to Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy, which had been gaining fame over the last decade, Hogwarts had a certain stagnation. Everyone could remember the name Hogwarts, but many could only remember the name itself.
At this moment, Bryce suddenly thought of another question and asked eagerly, "Is that also why you founded the Fairy Tail Guild?"
"Not entirely," Victor replied. "But aside from my personal reasons, I did create Fairy Tail with the intention of changing Hogwarts's decaying state."
"I see," Bryce said, jotting it down in his notebook, then asked his second question. "Mr. Dreyar, I know that you are a wizard from a Muggle family and that you had no previous contact with magic. You are also only a second-year student. So, I am very curious, what motivated you to do these things?"
"To be honest, I can't answer that question," Victor said, shaking his head. "Because I don't even know myself what made me want to do these things. Sometimes, people just inexplicably, for various reasons, become someone they never imagined they would be. Just like you, Mr. Calhoun, you turned from a professional Quidditch player into a reporter, didn't you?"
"How did you know that?!" Bryce asked, utterly shocked. He didn't remember ever mentioning that he used to be a professional Quidditch player.
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