Ai was not as calm as Keresis. The run just now had used up most of his energy.
He slowly slid down from Buckbeak's back, feeling his knees were shaking.
His muscles were aching all over, and even breathing felt like it was on fire.
Buckbeak turned his head and stared at Ai, who was holding his body with his amber eyes in confusion.
Ai smiled bitterly and let Buckbeak leave.
He slowly walked to Hagrid's house. Although he was exhausted, he had gained more from this adventure than he had imagined.
After seeing the powerful magic, Ai decided to change the direction of his research.
He would focus on the ancient magic and the magic recorded in the Book of Abraham. He would try to understand the magic theory involved as soon as possible.
Ai sat in Hagrid's house for more than an hour, drinking tea and discussing the breeding of fried tail snails.
He did not know what happened to the fried tail snails, fire crabs, and the manticore scorpion-tailed beast in the ruins, but they must have died in such a large-scale collapse.
If Hagrid knew about this, he would definitely cry out loud again.
When it was almost five o 'clock and the sun was setting, Ai dragged his tired body back to the castle.
As soon as he walked into the castle hall, he saw a large group of students crowded around a notice at the foot of the marble stairs.
"What happened?" Ai asked. Beside him was Ernie McMillan from the Hufflepuff Academy.
He squeezed out of the crowd, his eyes shining.
"Only one week!" Ernie said excitedly.
"What do you mean only one week?"
"The competition for the top three!" Ernie answered quickly. He was trembling with excitement. "The school just put up the notice. The representatives of Bob Barton and Durmstrong will arrive at 6 o 'clock in the evening on Friday, October 30th. The afternoon classes will end half an hour earlier. Please send your school bags and textbooks back to the dormitory and gather in front of the castle to welcome our guests. Then, you will attend the welcome banquet."
"Oh, Bob Barton and Demstrong are coming?!" Ai was enlightened. Calculating the time, it should be soon.
He had just received a letter from Gabrielle, who told him that the Boothbottom students were ready to go.
Not surprisingly, her sister Hibiscus Chinensis performed very well in the school's internal primary selection and was very favored by Mrs. Maxim. Gabri also became the only junior student of Boothbottom who had the opportunity to visit Hogwarts.
"Ai, you're here. I haven't seen you for the whole day. Where did you go?!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed out from the crowd. They had just finished reading the notice.
"I went to ask Professor Moody about the course," Ai said simply.
"Well, here I go!" said Ernie; "I wonder if Cedric knows it; I will go and tell him."
"Cedric?" said Ron, somewhat perplexed, as Ernie hurried away.
"That's Diggory!" said Harry. "He must be going to participate in the championship."
"I remember now. That idiot. He also wants to be a warrior of Hogwarts?" Ron frowned.
They pushed through the chattering crowd and walked toward the auditorium.
"He's not an idiot. You don't like him because he defeated Gryffindor in the Quidditch game," said Hermione. "I heard that he's a very good student, and he's even a prefect."
From her tone, it seemed that the prefect's position itself explained everything.
"Oh, really?!" Ron frowned, as if he wanted to refute Hermione.
But in the end, he didn't say anything. Since the last incident, the two of them had been very careful with each other.
In the following week, while Ai was focused on studying magic, there were obvious changes in the castle.
Now, no matter where he went, people seemed to only talk about one topic: the Triwizard Tournament.
Rumors quickly spread among the students, like highly contagious germs: who would compete to be a warrior of Hogwarts, what events would be included in the tournament, what was the difference between the students of Boothbottom and Durmstrong, and so on.
Ai was naturally a popular candidate for the Hogwarts's warrior, although he did not meet the seventeen-year-old standard set by Dumbledore.
But there were still many people who thought that he would find a way to participate in the tournament and become a warrior.
After a period of heated discussion, this rumor stopped abruptly.
The news that Ai did not intend to become a warrior and participate in the tournament spread from Gryffindor's small circle.
While feeling sorry and thankful for Ai, the little wizards also chose the strongest student in their hearts.
Most of the senior wizards who had reached the age of seventeen seemed to think that they had the possibility of becoming a warrior.
While everyone was talking about it, the castle was also thoroughly cleaned.
Many dirty portraits were scrubbed clean, although the people who were scrubbed were very dissatisfied with this.
They sat curled up in the picture frames, muttering gloomily.
Every time they touched the new pink flesh on their faces, they would grit their teeth in pain.
The armor on both sides of the corridor suddenly became shiny and no longer creaked when they moved.
The janitor, Argus Filch, guarded the entrance of the auditorium every day during mealtime. Whenever he saw a student forget to clean their shoes, he would fly into a rage, scaring two first-year girls into hysterics.
The other teachers were also very nervous, trying their best to make everything look perfect.
On the morning of October 30th, when everyone went downstairs for breakfast, they found that the auditorium had been decorated.
There were huge silk banners hanging on the wall, each representing a school of Hogwarts. The one with a golden lion on a red background was Gryffindor, the one with a bronze eagle on a blue background was Laclau, the one with a black badger on a yellow background was Hufflepuff, and the one with a silver python on a green background was Slytherin.
Behind the teacher's desk hung the largest banner.
On it was the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake joined together, surrounded by a large letter H.
Ai, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Corin, and Ginny looked around and sat down at Gryffindor's table.
Next to them, Fred and George were discussing something in low voices, uncharacteristically avoiding the crowd.
Ludo Bargmann was hiding from them. The letters that the twins had written to him some time ago had all been sent back unopened.
"It's not very pleasant, I admit." George said to Fred in frustration, "But if he doesn't talk to us in person, we'll have to send the letters to him, or put them directly into his hands. He can't hide from us forever."
"Who's hiding from you?" Ron asked curiously, walking over and sitting down next to them.
"No one. I hope you can hide from us," Fred said, seemingly unhappy to be disturbed.
"What's not pleasant?" Ron asked George.
"Because I have a silly nosy brother like you," George replied. (To be continued.)
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