Chapter 179: Tournament, Thunderstorm
Draco held a piece of parchment in his hand, while Crabbe and Goyle behind him carried a pile of Weasley fireworks. The three returned to their dormitory in high spirits.
"My love and research for Wizarding Cards weren't in vain. This championship is the best proof!" Draco unfurled the championship certificate handwritten and stamped by Fred and the others, admiring his name on it.
The stamp was newly carved by Fred and the others this week, and the championship certificate was also written a day in advance, one for each house. They were given to the hosts of their respective houses, letting them fill in the name after the champion was decided.
"Congratulations." Ethan congratulated Draco on winning the championship.
"Hehe." Facing Ethan's congratulations, Draco suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
Because the competition he participated in was organized and hosted by this roommate of his, and two guys he found displeasing were also involved.
Although he really wanted to join as an organizer rather than a contestant, considering that the others hadn't expressed this desire, he temporarily put this idea aside.
He also knew that if it were just him proposing to join, the two Weasley brothers would most likely not agree.
"This matter needs long-term planning. It would be best to pull John in together," Draco thought to himself.
"You go on with your business. I'll discuss with Goyle and the others what deck to use for the duel tomorrow."
"Mm."
For the entire Sunday, Ethan perfected his new Transfiguration and continuously simulated it using items around him, striving to complete the three-headed dragon Transfiguration as quickly as possible.
While Ethan was studying hard, the first Hogwarts Wizarding Cards Tournament also achieved a complete success.
Draco, who had gone out early in the morning to prepare, returned looking somewhat disgruntled, holding a silver medal and a commemorative photo.
"Second place?" Ethan, who was looking at a miniature dragon heart, glanced at the things in his hand and asked.
"Mm, first place is a sixth-year Ravenclaw student, Liam Brown, from the pureblood Brown family." Draco was somewhat unwilling.
"Just a little bit. If I had just drawn one more Spell Card, I could have won the match against him, and the championship would have been mine!"
After three rounds of duels, the final results of this tournament were out. Liam Brown, with three wins out of three matches, became the Hogwarts Champion. Draco lost only one match, settling for second place. The Hufflepuff representative, who lost all three matches, only received a consolation prize.
"Sixth year, no wonder. Fewer classes, more time. And a Ravenclaw too." Hearing the house and year, Ethan didn't find it strange at all.
Looking at Draco, who looked somewhat unconvinced in the photo, Ethan teased, "I estimate if you want to be the champion, you'll have to wait until he graduates. This guy clearly doesn't lack money like you, and has more time to research this."
Draco was even more disgruntled. "No need to wait for him to graduate. I'll definitely beat him next time!"
Pinching the silver medal in his hand, Draco made a bold statement in front of Ethan.
"Goyle, Crabbe, let's go. We'll use the five Galleons we won to buy you guys food!"
Disgruntled Draco took out some extra small prizes from his pocket and placed them on the table, tossed the golden Galleons in his hand, and took his two followers to the common room to find those "resellers".
These upper-year students would take advantage of the opportunity to go to Hogsmeade on weekends to buy things for lower-year students on their behalf, and would stockpile a small amount of popular snacks, selling them between the two weekends to earn some pocket money.
Today happened to be the day they returned from Hogsmeade. Presumably, they had plenty of stock and should be able to satisfy Draco's purchasing desire.
After the three left the dormitory, Ethan looked at the photo Draco had slammed on the table and felt somewhat emotional: "I really didn't expect the Gryffindor champion to actually be Neville."
In the photo, Neville, holding a purplish-red medal high in his hand, smiled extremely brilliantly, forming a sharp contrast with the disgruntled Draco, who kept running toward the edge of the frame, trying to leave the photo.
That night, the twin brothers found Ethan in the Great Hall and summarized the experiences and shortcomings of this tournament in the Room of Requirement.
"The match schedule is passable, but the time it was held was too late. Final exams are coming soon, and everyone's minds are on studying. Attention to Wizarding Cards has decreased.
"Especially the fifth and seventh years, they have to focus on O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts and have no time to participate in the competition at all."
"Fred is right. Next time we host it, we should do it earlier. I think the middle of the second term is just right.
"After a term's time, first-year students, even those who haven't heard of Wizarding Cards before, can become familiar with them.
"Moreover, in the lower years, the pressure regarding academic performance isn't that great, so they should have more time to participate in this kind of competition.
"Judging from the people who signed up this time, apart from the sixth-year students, the first and second years had the most sign-ups."
"Furthermore, we can bring up the registration before Christmas. This way, even during the Christmas holiday, they can go to the shop to buy some new card packs or high-level cards, increasing the sales of our Wizarding Cards." George smiled smugly.
"Well said." Fred and George high-fived.
"So, what do you think? Ethan." The twins looked at each other and asked in unison.
Ethan nodded. "I think your considerations are all very good. It's just that this competition was also proposed temporarily by us, and there is indeed plenty of room for improvement."
He put forward some of his own views:
"When the second Hogwarts Wizarding Cards Tournament is held next year, it would be best to start the preliminaries a month in advance.
"That is to say, after the Christmas holiday ends, we should organize them to participate in the competition.
"However, we only need to take one day out every Sunday to hold half a day's competition. This won't take up too much of their rest time and won't arouse the dissatisfaction of the professors.
"After four preliminaries like this, let the winners have internal house duels, and the final house champions will duel. This can attract more attention.
"Of course, in this case, we have to provide more rewards, but don't worry, I'll provide these.
"Also, the medals this time were a bit simple, and the certificates were also a bit simple. Next time, we'll state the time and session number on the medals, and the certificates can also be changed to metal so they can be kept for a long time."
"Indeed. After the next session is held, we can rely on this tournament to apply to start a club." Fred was still thinking about the club.
The three continued discussing the schedule and other arrangements for the next Wizarding Cards Tournament for a while and formed a Wizarding Cards Tournament Organizing Committee.
"As the biggest sponsor, you be the Chairman. George is the Secretary-General. I'll execute it and be the CEO." Fred assigned tasks to everyone and attached titles.
"Go ask the other few too. I saw Draco and Neville's results were not bad in this competition, and also John and Hannah. If they are willing, they can also be given a few positions. Although useless, they sound nice."
"Sure." Fred nodded in agreement.
"By the way, did you come to the Room of Requirement during the day yesterday?" Ethan suddenly remembered the matter of the sundries being rummaged through.
"No? We were busy with the competition all day yesterday. What? Did someone else discover this secret again?"
The two were a bit nervous. The current Room of Requirement was their most important research and development venue. If they lost this place, they really wouldn't know where to go for focused research.
"No, maybe someone barged in by mistake. It should be fine." Ethan conversely comforted the two of them, but was also pondering where he should find a venue in case the secret of the Room of Requirement was really discovered by others.
The matter of the Wizarding Cards Tournament this year was temporarily concluded.
Fred and George meticulously wrote the competition rules and pulled the other few people into the Organizing Committee as titular committee members.
Ethan, as the titular Chairman, completely ignored these and focused on doing his own things.
The research on the three-headed red dragon Transfiguration was indeed quite dangerous. In the days waiting for the storm, he frequently entered the school hospital wing at a frequency of more than twice a week.
"What's wrong with you! This is already the seventh or eighth time you've entered the hospital due to internal organ damage." Madam Pomfrey complained about him while pouring a large glass of potion for Ethan.
And Ethan just kept smiling, obediently drank the potion, and lay on the bed just like that, not saying a word.
"Still two hours. Just leave on your own when the time is up." Madam Pomfrey didn't ask anymore either, because having asked many times, Ethan never told the reason, and every time it was the exact same internal organ damage, just lighter each time.
So in the end, the matron even skipped the examination, letting him leave directly when the time was up.
As the weather gradually warmed, Hogwarts' thunderstorm season was also approaching.
Starting from the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw a week ago, light rain fell sparsely non-stop, but there was no thunder.
Because he lived underground, Ethan couldn't judge whether it was raining outside at all. So this week, he often sneaked out of the dormitory at intervals at night, looking outside through the windows in the entrance hall to see if it was raining and if there was thunder.
On the first Saturday in late May, due to the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, his Potions class was predictably canceled.
In the misty drizzle, Ethan looked up. Besides watching the performance of the two teams on the field, he actually focused more of his attention on the gloomy sky.
"According to the weather forecast, there will be thunderstorms these two days, but I don't know what time it will thunder.
"Sigh, truly uncomfortable."
Ethan yawned in the rain, clapping his hands in agreement, celebrating Slytherin scoring another goal.
Although this match was affected by the light rain, compared to the match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw last term, it didn't delay much time.
With Madam Hooch's whistle, Slytherin won all three Quidditch matches of this school year with a score of two hundred to twenty.
When dispersing, the little snakes excitedly discussed the impact of this match victory on the House Cup at the end of the school year.
"Another fifty House points! Now, compared to Ravenclaw, we are leading by more than a hundred points. As long as we don't have idiots like Gryffindor, we are guaranteed to win this year!
"After all, there are no items worth gaining points for this year."
Compared to the elated Slytherins, the Hufflepuffs who lost the game weren't particularly disappointed. After all, they were mentally prepared when the other two houses fell.
But not being disappointed didn't mean they had no complaints: "Broomsticks have too big an impact on the game. If this continues to be the case for the next few years, I think Slytherin will keep winning."
"Who told them to be rich? Most of us can only use the school's broomsticks, but they received private sponsorship. Nothing we can do." Seeker Cedric, although unwilling, still accepted this result.
Just now he clearly saw the Golden Snitch first, but because his broom wasn't as fast as Draco's, plus the interference of Slytherin's Bludger, he missed the Golden Snitch, causing Hufflepuff to lose regretfully.
So he secretly decided in his heart that when he went home, he would beg his father to buy him a new broomstick. Although the broomstick in his hand was better than the ones in the house, it still couldn't compare to the latest Nimbus 2001.
Soon, everyone on the pitch was gone, and Ethan was still sitting in the stands, looking at the sky.
"Forget it, let's go back first. This rain is almost stopping; it won't thunder." Seeing the light rain slowly become sparse, Ethan twisted his somewhat sore neck and left the already empty pitch.
Although the rain stopped, the sky was still gloomy.
Unable to see the sun, Ethan also didn't know the specific sunset time. He could only make a judgment based on his previous experience, arriving at the Black Lake at about the right time to practice the spell.
After more than two months of practice, the current Ethan, when chanting the spell, could clearly feel a more robust and powerful heart beating vigorously, synchronized with his own heartbeat, and it was constantly growing stronger.
After practicing the spell a hundred more times than before, Ethan went to the library, preparing to complete the homework accumulated due to recent actions.
Because he always felt thunderstorms would arrive tonight, he chose a seat by the window this time.
Although there was a lot of homework to write, because his mind was preoccupied, Ethan wrote the homework in front of him absent-mindedly, occasionally looking up out the window.
"Ethan, what's wrong with you? Your homework is all smudged with ink." Hermione had long seen that something was wrong with Ethan.
"Yeah, why are you always looking out the window today? Is something going to happen?" This was the first time Harry saw Ethan in this state. He also looked at the pitch-black night sky outside the window and asked curiously.
"Nothing. I feel there might be thunderstorms tonight."
"Thunderstorms?" Harry didn't understand.
During the period when Ethan first started holding the grass leaf and his speech was unclear, Harry happened to be trying his best to investigate the identity of the person who attacked Ron. Every time he hurriedly borrowed other people's homework to copy in the common room, rarely coming to the library.
Therefore, he rarely communicated with Ethan, so he didn't know Ethan was learning Animagus.
However, Hermione, who understood the ins and outs, immediately realized why Ethan paid such attention to the weather.
The girl said, "The thing you have to do is indeed quite important. There is still time to write homework. How about you go wait in the entrance hall? Don't miss it."
"Mm, then I'll go first." Ethan also felt that in his current state, his mind wasn't on homework; he didn't even know what he wrote.
So he nodded, rolled up the parchment on the table that was no longer usable and threw it into the trash can, packed his things, and left.
"Even if it's a thunderstorm, what impact does it have?" He had just taken a few steps out when he heard Harry asking Hermione this question in a low voice.
"A very advanced Transfiguration requires a thunderstorm environment. You don't need to know the rest for now." Hermione didn't explain much. After all, with their current Transfiguration level of normal second-year students, they couldn't learn Animagus yet.
"Actually, Harry might have a chance to learn it. After all, to keep Lupin company back then, the remaining members of the foursome all learned this advanced Transfiguration!" Ethan thought to himself as he walked out.
Boom! Just as he walked down the last step and arrived at the castle entrance hall, Ethan heard a loud thunderclap coming from outside the door.
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