Chapter 401: Celebration
Chapter 401: Celebration
Felix emerged from the temporary tent, his gaze passing through the makeshift pillars of the stands, and he could see a few figures bustling about in the distance. Hagrid's figure was easy to recognize.
He walked over and saw the towering Hagrid holding a tangled mass of chains, which he dropped with a loud thud onto the empty ground beside the Swedish Short-Snout. Charlie raised his wand, and the chain lifted, slithering like a snake to the side of the fire dragon, which was still unconscious, occasionally spitting sparks from its nostrils. "Click!" The chain secured around its ankle.
"Done", Charlie wiped the sweat from his brow. "Hagrid, you should step back a bit..."
"It's sleeping soundly", Hagrid said, fondly stroking the blue fire dragon's spines.
"Felix", Charlie greeted, looking at Hagrid with a helpless expression, "If it hunts in its dreams... it won't be pleasant to get caught."
Felix looked around. A few conscious fire dragons were growling lowly, and there were still some staff members in the arena. Many of their faces were familiar after they removed their fire-resistant hats.
"When are you planning to leave? There should be a celebration tonight."
Charlie looked up, thinking seriously for a moment. "We'll stay tonight, but not for the celebration... It's a task Mom assigned. She wants me to talk to Ron and the others, to make sure their young minds haven't been affected."
"Mrs. Weasley is very worried?"
"Yeah, how to put it... She's already quite anxious..." He mimicked his mother's worried voice: "How could they participate in the tournament? They're too young! Little Ron was even bitten by a goblin while tidying the garden and cried his eyes out..."
The next second, his face grew serious as he said earnestly, "We didn't dare tell her the truth. Luckily, the newspapers didn't go into much detail. She flipped through them so much but found little useful information, only a lot of gossip—Dad was happy her attention was diverted, discussing whether Krum had secretly altered his age... Just a joke."
Felix chuckled, the image of Mrs. Weasley chattering and looking worried already vivid in his mind.
"It seems she doesn't know much about fire dragons."
He moved closer to the black Hungarian Horntail, which comically lowered its head, its massive, fierce head drooping. Without its aggressive aura from the competition, even its yellow eyes looked more tolerable.
"Don't breathe on me", Felix muttered, patting the spines on its head. "I didn't expect you to be a female. How did you not recognize that the egg you were protecting wasn't yours?"
The Hungarian Horntail panted heavily, its breath stirring the dust on the ground, and it glared at the surrounding staff with dissatisfaction.
"Oh, it looks like they not only took your egg but also cast a Confundus Charm on you. That's terrible..." He spoke while examining a black, shiny scale on the Hungarian Horntail's neck.
He had transferred the Ministry of Magic's confidentiality agreement to it, and now that the competition was over, the effect of the contract had disappeared.
"We didn't steal its children", Charlie said. From his angle, he could only see half of Felix's body, as if the fire dragon had swallowed him whole. He couldn't help but smack his lips. "Tsk! You two are so close."
"Want to go to the castle?" Felix asked before leaving.
"Once I'm done here. I need to go to the owlery first, write a letter to Mom, and tell her everything that happened today." His face suddenly scrunched up. "Well, maybe not everything. At least I won't mention its height."
He pointed to the enormous Hungarian Horntail, which gave him a disdainful glance.
Felix and the reluctant Hagrid walked back, Hagrid looking back every few steps, his boat-like feet moving slower than Felix's.
"Are the Blast-Ended Skrewts doing okay?" he asked.
"Alright, a few died, they ate too much lettuce..." Hagrid said without thinking, but he immediately turned to look when he heard the fire dragon's roar.
"Will they hibernate?"
"Oh, uh... hibernate?" Hagrid came back to his senses, staring at him blankly. "That's a good question, I haven't thought about it..." He pondered, "Although manticores don't hibernate, Fire Crabs do. You're right, I should prepare for it."
Felix nodded. He didn't care about the Blast-Ended Skrewts; he just wanted to distract Hagrid.
The Blast-Ended Skrewts were the offspring of two magical creatures, and there were many such creatures in the magical world. However, very few could exist stably. Most creatures created with wizard involvement were often lost in the annals of time, their existence recorded only in ancient magical notes.
The two parted ways near Hagrid's Hut.
When Felix entered the castle, the Great Hall was in a commotion. Students from all four houses were there, celebrating like it was a festival. They sang joyfully, and the "pop-pop" sounds of fireworks filled the air, creating a moving image of "Medieval Wizards Battling Dragons."
A loud cheer erupted from the crowd.
The six heroes were surrounded by students, looking a bit uneasy. Cedric smiled shyly, while Roger Davies held a goblet of wine, chatting with the quietly seated Collin, occasionally running his hand through his flowing hair. Not far from them, Harry and Hermione were sitting by the Gryffindor long table, quickly devouring their food—they were starving. They listened intently as Ron, sitting at the table, vividly recounted his story, holding a strawberry pie in his hand.
Felix estimated the time; it was clearly not mealtime, so the students must have raided Hogwarts' kitchen.
The Weasley Twins stood together with their friend Lee Jordan. Fred kept rubbing his hands, while George desperately tried to hold him back, "Think about it, we'll become the school's public enemy."
Lee Jordan winked at him, gesturing towards Professor Hooch.
Fred turned around and grinned, "Alright." Reluctantly, he put away the dungbomb he was holding.
Then, as if by magic, he produced a bag of custard cookies, "How about trying these? We have a responsibility to liven things up; Zonko's fireworks are too dull."
"Would you like to try one, Professor?"
Felix picked up a cookie, examined it for a moment, and a beautiful canary flew out, circling them three times before quickly disappearing.
"Does it taste a bit strange? Is it because of the magic?" he asked with a smile.
The twins shrank back, pulling Lee Jordan, who was about to explain, and quickly slipped away. They weaved through the crowd, setting up traps, and then joined the group where Harry was sitting, handing the cookie to Ron, who was enthusiastically describing his inner journey.
"Oh, thank you—" Ron took the cookie without looking, took a bite, and said, "Where was I? The Hungarian Horntail was breathing fire—Hermione's Phoenix and Harry were fighting it, it was intense. I told myself I had to do something, so I calmed down and cast a powerful spell—"
"You mean 'Lumos'?" Fred beamed, "I can count at least twenty people in the school who know that spell."
"That's different!" Ron argued, "Casting a spell comfortably from a cushion and doing it under the eye of a fire dragon are two very different things. I'm telling you, it was at least sixty feet long!"
At that moment, he suddenly turned into a giant canary, perched on the Gryffindor long table, startling everyone.
"It's a canary cookie..." Hermione said quickly, glancing at it.
"How did you know?" Harry asked, watching the large canary with interest as it turned its head back and forth, causing everyone to laugh.
"Fred and George Weasley put up advertisements in the common room", Hermione explained.
After about half a minute, Ron started losing feathers, which flew around, and he blushed, stammering, "You two... be careful, or I'll cast a nasty spell..."
"Oh~ You're different after facing a fire dragon, aren't you? You're brave enough to make threats now... So, can you continue your story about the fire dragon, brave sir? We're all very curious." Fred bowed politely, asking.
"Of course! I'm not just all talk." Ron perked up.
Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, lingered in the corner. He kept flexing his fingers, hesitating whether to step in and stop the chaos—there were too many of them, almost the entire school. Beside him, Professor Flitwick kindly said, "Let the students celebrate and have fun. I'll remind them to clean up."
Felix strolled over to Snape, whose expression matched the polished armor nearby, both out of place in the joyful atmosphere.
"They're doing well, aren't they? There are Slytherin students among them too."
"Do you want me to write a commendation letter, Felix?" Snape asked, tucking his arms into his black cloak.
Felix mumbled something that sounded like, "I hope so."
"Rumor has it Moody turned your office upside down?"
"Our Headmaster gave him the authority", Snape said softly, glancing at the Great Hall where canaries were suddenly appearing, a look of disgust on his face. "You can't avoid it. Best to hide anything you don't want seen... Mad-Eye Moody has keen eyes and a sharp nose."
"Oh, I will." Felix said with a bright smile.
(End of Chapter)
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