Chapter 543: Wisdom and Discernment
Chapter 543: Wisdom and Discernment
The next morning, right after breakfast, Professor McGonagall summoned Kyle. This time, the viewing area was even closer; it encircled the Black Lake right across from the castle gates.
By 9:50 am, just ten minutes before the start of the event, the seats were filled with spectators, eagerly awaiting the commencement of the competition.
Despite the lingering cold, the atmosphere was vibrant with excitement as people enthusiastically waved their flags.
The five judges had taken their places, and after a month, Dumbledore reappeared at Hogwarts.
He looked a bit haggard, as if he hadn't slept in a while, but his eyes remained bright, and he exuded an air of excitement.
As Kyle passed by, he overheard Dumbledore sharing a joke with Professor McGonagall, who was standing behind him. However, Professor McGonagall seemed too anxious, her eyes fixed on the Black Lake and Kyle, to find the humor in it.
As the time drew near, Ludo Bagman, the commentator for the event, stepped forward. He pointed his wand at his throat and cast a spell, "Sonorus!"
His voice immediately boomed like thunder, reverberating around the Black Lake.
"The brave warriors have arrived, and the competition is about to begin. I'd like to give you all a brief explanation of what to expect.
This leg of the tournament will test your wisdom and discernment. Warriors must first venture into the Forbidden Forest and find three keys. These keys will then be used to rescue your most precious treasure, which is currently trapped in the Black Lake.
I believe you are already aware of this, so I won't elaborate further.
The only thing I want to emphasize is to make good use of the stones in your possession. Each stone can be exchanged for a clue about the keys from the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. With three stones, you can gather clues for all three keys. The speed at which you uncover the hidden information within these clues will be crucial to your success."
He paused for a moment, scanning the crowd before glancing at the judges' table. After receiving a nod from Judge Crist, he continued,
"We've made a slight modification to the scoring criteria for this second task. We've established a rough grading scale based on the time taken to complete the task.
Firstly, any warrior who finishes within an hour will receive a minimum score of eight points.
For those who complete it within two hours, the score will range from five to eight points.
And finally, any warrior who takes longer than two hours will receive a score of five points or less.
So, I must emphasize to every warrior here that time is of the essence. You must make the wisest choices."
Whether it was Kyle, Fleur, or Krum, they all listened intently to his words.
As the time ticked closer to ten o'clock...
Bagman checked the time and said, "Alright, I'll blow the whistle in a moment, and you can set off. I'll count to three.
One... two... three!"
The sharp whistle pierced the cold air, and the audience erupted in cheers and applause.
Without hesitation, Kyle sprinted towards the Forbidden Forest before him.
Three centaurs were already standing there, saving them a significant amount of time.
In a tacit understanding, each of the trio approached the centaur closest to them.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the centaur before Kyle was Firenzo, with whom he was most familiar. They had met not long ago.
Without wasting words, Kyle took out a stone and handed it over.
"I need to know the clue for the key."
After receiving the stone, Firenzo began to chant softly, "What you seek lies hidden in the eye of the Serpent, when the clock's hand jumps ten times, and the serpent coils five. Then shall it be revealed..."
Kyle furrowed his brows in thought.
The clock's hand likely represented a direction, ten o'clock, and the serpent coiling five times... perhaps a measure of distance.
"This direction..."
Firenzo's voice whispered in his ear again, and he pointed his tail diagonally to the side, deliberately lowering his voice, "Five miles ahead, and you shall find it."
Five miles? Kyle hadn't expected the centaur to offer such a hint. He nodded slightly, realizing this after Firenzo had already retreated back into the Forbidden Forest.
Without further ado, Kyle raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!"
He waited a few minutes, but nothing happened.
Firstly, there was no doubt that Kyle's spell was cast correctly, so the obvious conclusion was that this particular task didn't require testing the warriors' flying abilities, or perhaps the judges had decided to increase the difficulty by banning the use of brooms altogether.
After running for about ten minutes, Kyle suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed as he sensed something amiss.
It was too quiet.
Having ventured into the Forbidden Forest before on multiple occasions, he knew that even on the outskirts, there would be animals and insects aplenty, filling the air with their chirps and calls.
Yet, in the last ten minutes, he had heard nothing but his own footsteps... which was unusual.
Unless, just like in the first task with the Quidditch pitch, this area had been magically enlarged.
There was also the issue of distance.
Five miles... it didn't seem that far. Even without a broomstick, with the aid of spells, it should only take about ten minutes.
But that was under normal circumstances. With the dense trees in the Forbidden Forest, one couldn't simply run in a straight line, doubling the time required to at least twenty minutes.
Finding one key would take twenty minutes, and there were three keys to locate, not to mention deciphering the centaur's riddle and making their way to the Black Lake. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed impossible to complete the task within an hour.
But surely the judges wouldn't set an impossible time limit without reason.
There had to be something he wasn't considering.
Kyle quickly recalled Bagman's previous words...
This task tested wisdom and discernment... if wisdom was about solving the riddle, then what about discernment?
As he walked slowly forward, deep in thought, he faintly heard Bagman's voice.
"Twenty minutes have passed, warriors. Make good use of your time."
No...
Kyle abruptly stopped and, without hesitation, turned around and started running back.
He was a wizard; why did he have to find the keys? Only by skipping the time-consuming search in the forest did he stand a chance of completing the task within the hour.
Yes, this was discernment... at least, that was Kyle's interpretation, and he was willing to take the gamble.
On his way back, he even encountered Fleur, who looked perplexed by Kyle's decision to turn back.
"Listen..." Kyle said hastily, "I don't think we need to look for any keys. It's too time-consuming, and it's impossible to finish within an hour. I plan to go straight to the Black Lake."
"What?" Fleur exclaimed, incredulous. "But the rules state that we need to find the keys in order to..."
"Don't forget that we're wizards," Kyle interrupted.
Fleur still looked hesitant.
Kyle didn't say anything further. After all, this was just his speculation, and no one could be sure if it was correct.
He continued running back and finally burst out of the Forbidden Forest after ten minutes.
"Oh, we have a warrior emerging already..." Bagman shouted. "Has he found a key?"
At the judges' table, Dumbledore and Judge Crist unconsciously smiled, while Karkaroff and Maxime looked less than pleased.
Kyle didn't pay attention to Bagman's commentary. Seeing the change in the judges' expressions, he became even more convinced that his idea was correct. He hadn't even reached the first key's location and had only turned back halfway, yet half an hour had already passed.
If it took this long to find one key, there was no way they could collect all three within an hour.
Without hesitation, Kyle made his way directly to the edge of the Black Lake.
There were many ways to breathe underwater, such as using Gillyweed, which he happened to have. He had bought it from the apothecary in Diagon Alley and had taken it out specifically last night.
However, Kyle didn't plan to use it.
The effects of Gillyweed lasted for exactly one hour, and half that time had already passed, which would be wasteful.
Instead, Kyle took out his wand and cast a spell, creating a large bubble around his head before diving into the Black Lake.
The Bubble-Head Charm, while not as agile as Gillyweed for underwater movement, was still a good alternative.
Cheers and applause erupted once more from the stands.
The spectators didn't need to consider the intricacies; they only knew that Fleur and Krum were still in the forest, and Kyle was leading the pack...
(End of Chapter)
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